When Ross woke up, he was already on the ship. The old ship doctor sitting nearby lit up with excitement when he saw Ross regain consciousness.
"Captain, you're awake? I knew my medical skills were just fine!"
The old doctor spoke with confidence. Even though he had never received any formal training, that didn't mean he wasn't skilled.
"Maud, how's my injury?"
Ross sat up on the bed, his body wrapped in bandages. Beneath them were layers of tough, well-built muscles, along with numerous scars.
Some of the wounds were from fights with ninjas, but most were from his younger days, battling in underground black markets against ordinary people.
"Your lung was pierced. Normally, someone with that kind of injury would be dead by now. But I performed surgery on you and patched up the hole with some tape.
If you're lucky, you'll hold out for about twenty days."
"Of course, during those twenty days, you need to rest. No intense activity."
Maud explained. Like he had said before, he had no formal training, so his medical skills were limited. For a wound like this, just slapping some tape on it would have to do.
"Twenty days? That's more than enough."
Ross didn't doubt his doctor. After all, back in his gambling days, it was Maud who had always patched them up.
"By then, the Devil Fruit Shisui gave me will be ready. I can just use its power to fix this."
Ross stepped out of the cabin and saw a figure sitting on the bow of the ship, wearing a straw hat. A smile appeared on his pale face.
"Shisui, you…"
Before Ross could finish, the figure sitting at the bow turned around.
It was Karin. Her red hair swayed in the sea breeze, and for a moment, Ross felt as if something inside him had drifted away.
His gaze shifted toward the ocean.
The voice of his vice-captain came from the side.
"Captain, Shisui left two days ago."
"I see… That guy… he should've at least taken an umbrella. What if he catches a cold?"
Ross lowered his head. But he was too tall—no matter how much he bowed, his face couldn't hide in the shadows.
Without saying another word, he walked to the bow and sat where Shisui always did.
He remained there from morning until dusk, watching as the sun sank below the ocean.
As night fell, he was still sitting there, alone on the deck, his figure looking a little lonely.
No one spoke. No one disturbed him.
…
"I've always had good luck, Shisui. You know that, don't you?"
Ross finally lifted his head, sitting on the bow.
From his pocket, he pulled out a letter Shisui had left for him.
On the envelope, the abilities of the Devil Fruit Shisui had left behind were written down.
"The Luck-Luck Fruit—grants the ability to alter reality with a certain probability.
The exact effects are unknown, but if the user pays an equivalent price, the success rate increases."
Reading the vague description of the fruit's ability, Ross was a little surprised. A fruit that relied entirely on luck.
Of course, he didn't think it was weak. Strange abilities like this were far superior to those that simply reversed things with ordinary Ninjutsu.
"So, this is the perfect fruit for me?"
Ross wasn't sure if it truly suited him, but he knew one thing—if this fruit had fallen into that "big fat sheep's" hands, it would've been the weakest Devil Fruit in the ninja world.
"Since I'm already at the gambling table, I might as well go all in. I'll bet everything on this ship."
Ross clenched his fist as the ship headed straight for the Land of Wind. The battle for the Devil Fruit was about to begin.
And this fruit was the biggest bargaining chip Shisui had left him.
In fact, this was the best Shisui could do. The ability to rewrite reality—within the Uchiha clan, only the technique "Izanagi" could achieve that.
But Izanagi required sacrificing an eye to undo damage.
What Shisui did was reverse the technique, using the reversal effect of Izanagi to create a Devil Fruit.
For Shisui, who had already lost his eyes, most of the Uchiha clan's ninjutsu were no longer usable.
But not being able to use them was one thing. Knowing how to use them was another.
It's like taking an exam without a pen—you can't write down the answers.
But if I just input the answers directly into the system, there's no problem, right?
That's basically how the Devil Fruit was created. The "data" of ninjutsu was directly recorded, and through this method, the fruit was born.
Of course, since Shisui had never used Izanagi himself and had no way to test it, he couldn't guarantee the fruit's true power.
But still, Shisui was a genius of his generation in the Uchiha clan. Even if he hadn't tested something, he could still tell whether it would work.
And the result? The reversal of Izanagi was possible, though the effect was weaker and the influence spread over a wider range.
As for how much weaker and how much wider? Shisui had no idea.
So from the moment Ross's fruit was cultivated, its ability had already been activated.
What it would eventually become depended entirely on luck.
Meanwhile, on the other side, Shanks had already left the Land of Waves.
But heading straight from the Land of Waves to the Land of Fire would be too obvious, so he deliberately took his ship south first before entering the Land of Fire from the south.
As for Zabuza and his crew, since he was the captain of the Blade-less Pirates and the Land of Wind was about to become unstable, they didn't join Shanks' fleet.
Looking at the "invasion" map that Zabuza had drawn for him, Shanks couldn't make sense of it at all.
"Gato, can you understand this map?"
On Shanks' ship, aside from him, there was also someone named "Gato."
Shanks didn't have much hostility toward Gato. Compared to the things that happened in Konohagakure, Gato's actions were nothing—he could almost be considered a good person there.
Given the era they were in, aside from being a ruthless businessman, Gato didn't actually have much to be criticized for.
In fact, given the state of the world, people like Gato were "necessary."
After all, if you followed the original story, once Gato died, the Land of Waves would simply get a new ruler. And by the time of *Boruto*, the Land of Waves had even started expanding into the Land of Water.
Compared to that, Gato could almost be considered someone who loved peace.
"Shanks, this is something specifically designed for ninjas. How would I be able to understand it?"
Gato examined the map for a while. If he could actually understand it, that would be strange.
"But Shanks, as long as we hide our identities and enter Konohagakure as regular people, there won't be any problem at all. If we follow this route south, we'll reach the Land. The Land has frequent trade with the Land of Fire, and once we join a trade caravan, we can easily enter the Land of Fire."
Gato explained. Ninjas had their own ways of doing things, and merchants had theirs.
"Getting into the Land of Fire is one thing. But how do we get into Konohagakure?"
"Because of the recent pirate invasion in the Land of Fire, the Daimyo allocated ten billion to Konohagakure and made a deal with them.
For now, Konohagakure is recruiting large numbers of regular people to form a non-ninja militia to maintain law and order in the Land of Fire."
"The other four major nations made similar moves. Because of this, underground intelligence networks were able to quickly infiltrate all five great nations through various channels.
That's why Konohagakure doesn't have much defense against ordinary people," Gato explained.
After hearing Gato's latest information, Shanks understood.
The ninja villages of the five great nations already held significant military power. When counting every ninja in a village, the total easily reached twenty to thirty thousand.
And these weren't ordinary people—they were ninjas.
However, with the rise of the pirate era, relying on ninjas alone was no longer enough.
There was also another, even more important factor—Devil Fruits.
Devil Fruits not only gave ordinary people a way to fight against ninjas, but they also showed governments a new kind of power. No one wanted power to be in someone else's hands.
But the Daimyos of the ninja world had always been protected by ninjas. Now, that same protection had become a chain that restrained their ambitions.
And this was especially true for the Land of Fire.
Other countries would just send a few ninjas to guard their Daimyo.
But during the collapse of Konohagakure, the entire elite forces of the Aburame and Inuzuka clans—thousands of ninjas—had rushed to the capital of the Land of Fire.
At first, the Land of Fire's Daimyo was grateful to Konohagakure for their response when he heard about the pirates.
But when it turned out that the capital remained completely safe, and the Aburame and Inuzuka ninjas were still stationed there, the Daimyo realized that any plans he had couldn't be carried out.
In the end, the ten billion ryo given to Konohagakure was a compromise between both sides.
Even Nara Shikaku was stunned by the move, and even the Aburame and Inuzuka clans themselves didn't expect things to turn out this way.
They left the village out of fear, but somehow came back with ten billion ryo.
"I see… But how do you know all this?"
Shanks looked at Gato with a sharp gaze. This guy was hiding a lot of secrets.
Under Shanks' stare, cold sweat dripped down Gato's forehead. He glanced up at the ship's mast. The ship might have been different, but that spot was all too familiar.
"Shanks!!! I swear I didn't use your name to scam people on purpose…"
"I didn't sell your information, Shanks…"
Stripped down to nothing but his pants, Gato was now hanging from the mast.
Everything had a price.
And for Gato, knowing so much came with a cost—most of his information had been fabricated using Shanks' name.
Meanwhile, in the Land…
Several jonin arrived at the site where Ross's group had fought the bounty ninjas a few days ago.
"This is the place. Search the Land for any relevant leads. If you find anyone from the Uzumaki clan, report back immediately."
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