Konoha: I Have Hidden Identity

Chapter 22.

A ship was sailing on the azure sea.

Suzuki was the captain of this ship, and not only that, he also hired some sailors.

Days ago, when Suzuki arrived at the port of Drum Island, he found that leaving the island quickly was actually a bit difficult because merchant ships at the port were not available all the time.

To leave as soon as possible, Suzuki directly spent money to buy a ship; it was not big, only about 10 meters long and four or five meters high.

Such a ship cost Suzuki thirty million Berries.

However, because he had already eaten a devil fruit, he wasn't very keen on riding a small boat anymore; a small boat could not withstand big winds and waves, and if it capsized, it would be disastrous.

Devil fruit users are unable to swim. Once they come in contact with seawater, or as more parts of their body touch seawater, their strength and abilities weaken, until they are completely powerless.

Even though Suzuki had chakra to keep himself afloat, it was difficult to avoid these negative effects.

Although chakra could also form a kind of armor on the body surface, that type of almost physical chakra was too draining.

Chakra is essentially a formless and intangible energy; whether it's treading water or climbing trees, it utilizes the adhesive properties generated by chakra, akin to something similar to gravity.

When treading water, the surface of the foot does have substantial contact with the water.

Of course, Suzuki usually wore shoes, and while treading water was still possible, the risk was much greater than before.

Later, Suzuki bought some food and metal, hired a few sailors, spending over a million Berries.

The weather in the waters near Magnetic Drum Island was poor, with blizzards occurring occasionally.

The blizzards, along with some waves, caused the ships to sway, like a small animal about to fall into a tiger's mouth, yet it continued to struggle against the sea.

Suzuki sat by the deck in the cabin, watching several sailors he had hired skillfully maneuver the ship and couldn't help but sigh:

"This money was well spent; otherwise, with my sailing skills, if I went out to sea alone, I'd probably capsize very quickly."

Then, as Suzuki looked at the falling snowflakes, he stretched out his hand to catch a few and thought about the upcoming journey and the destination:

"It's a bit far; crossing the Grand Line is indeed no easy task."

The gap between the Grand Line and the Four Seas is difficult to traverse.

Traveling from the Four Seas to the Grand Line requires crossing the Upside-Down Mountain, and if one isn't careful, the ship could be violently struck against the cliffs by the raging currents.

Moreover, the Upside-Down Mountain is basically a one-way street; if one wants to return from the Upside-Down Mountain to the Four Seas, they must go upstream, which is much more challenging than directly crossing the Doldrums.

The best way to return from the Grand Line to the Four Seas is actually to head toward the Sabaody Archipelago and then use the exclusive passage through Mariejois.

This is a passage exclusive to the World Government and the Navy, but it occasionally allows merchant ships to pass through, although a hefty toll is charged.

So, Suzuki was not heading to the Upside-Down Mountain or the Doldrums; instead, he was sailing toward the Sabaody Archipelago.

It had been two days since he left Drum Island, and this journey from Drum Island to Sabaody would take at least another month.

The long journey had just begun.

With about ten days left before his second return and quite some time needed to reach Sabaody, Suzuki decided to take this opportunity to experiment and practice the powers of the Baku-Baku no mi.

He got up from the bench in front of the cabin and said to the few hired sailors:

"The blizzard should be settling down soon, right? Thanks for your hard work. I'm going to rest in my room; if you get hungry, there's food in the kitchen."

The skilled sailors looked at the gradually calming blizzard and breathed a sigh of relief, laughing as they called back to Suzuki:

"Hahaha, okay, thank you, Mr. Suzuki~"

Suzuki waved his hand behind him and returned to his room.

After closing the doors and windows, he took out some miscellaneous items from under the bed, including hemp rope, cement, and even plastic bottles.

Then, Suzuki opened his mouth, which kept getting wider, and he spat out some metal he had purchased at the Drum Island port.

The Baku-Baku no mi was indeed powerful; these metals scattered across the floor, piling up like a small mountain, weighing even over 10 tons.

However, Suzuki did not feel like he was carrying 10 tons at all; he could even carry much more.

Looking at these metals, Suzuki felt a bit sentimental:

"Unfortunately, I'm at sea right now; I can't experiment with the volume and weight limits of swallowed objects. Otherwise, I would know how large the unknown space of the Baku-Baku no mi is."

Thinking of this, Suzuki suddenly remembered when Baroque Works' Mr. 3 once swallowed himself and turned into a peculiar wax barrel.

He couldn't help but think he could try this method, just to see.

So, Suzuki opened his mouth again, but this time, instead of swallowing something else, he bizarrely wrapped his own body with his mouth in reverse.

As his body was completely swallowed by his mouth, Suzuki's body vanished without a trace, leaving only a mouth in place.

"Truly amazing~"

Suzuki marveled.

He was now in the strange space swallowed by the Baku-Baku no mi, dimly lit and quite vast, with no visible end in sight.

What was even more astonishing was that Suzuki's mouth was still outside; all the other parts of his body were in the alternate space.

Yet, this separation of body parts did not cause him any harm; he could even speak.

Remembering how Mr. 3 had eaten himself and left only a mouth, it seemed Mr. 3's chin had a large iron barrel attached, which explained the barrel appearance.

Moreover, when Mr. 3 came out of here, his originally plump body became tall and slender.

This change seemed very natural, a concept Suzuki had a hard time understanding before eating the Baku-Baku no mi.

Was Mr. 3's ability so well-controlled? Could he only consume fat without taking in anything else?

How was the transformation between fat and thin so seamless, without the usual wrinkles that come from normal weight loss?

Now that Suzuki could access the Baku-Baku no mi and had entered this peculiar space, he began to understand a bit.

The Baku-Baku no mi is essentially a kind of spatial ability!

His mouth and body were clearly in different places, yet he felt no discomfort; this was obviously very similar to Trafalgar Law's Ope Ope no mi.

Suzuki speculated:

"The Baku-Baku no mi is very likely similar to the so-called Ope Ope no mi, both have names that are unrelated to space, yet most of their abilities express a perfect control over space."

It is indeed very possible; the room of the Ope Ope no mi can almost be considered perfect control over a part of space.

And the Baku-Baku no mi similarly represents an almost perfect control over internal space!