"Come to think of it, I haven't named the ship yet."
With all the girls watching, Kotonoha Katsura covered her chest, face flushed, desperate to change the subject before anything embarrassing happened.
"How about Makoto!" Sonoko Suzuki raised her hand.
Ran Mouri laughed. "A little too on the nose, don't you think?"
"What about you, Nayuta?"
Nayuta grinned. "Puppy Woof-Woof."
Eri Kisaki adjusted her glasses. "How about Outlaw?"
Yukiko Kudo flicked her hair. "I think Starlet suits it better."
Reze rested her chin in one hand. "Hell's Devil."
"Miku?"
Miku Nakano kept her head down, gathering every scrap of courage she had. Her voice came out barely above a whisper. "Um, what about... Daigokumaru? Like Oda Nobunaga's ship..."
Silence.
Then: "No."
Ichika, Nino, Yotsuba, and Itsuki spoke in perfect unison.
Miku puffed her cheeks out until she looked like an angry dumpling.
Finally, every pair of eyes swiveled to Makoto Nishikado.
Because at the end of the day, the final call belonged to the one man aboard.
Makoto thought for a moment.
"Harem."
"No way!"
The girls shot him down in unison. The volume startled Pochita so badly the poor thing nearly jumped out of his fur.
Makoto tried again.
"Transmigrator."
It didn't land with any kind of dramatic flair, but the more you thought about it, the more it fit. Everyone on this ship was a transmigrator, after all. There was something about the name that felt like cutting through waves, forged for exactly this journey.
The girls exchanged glances and nodded.
Anything was better than Harem.
...
Makoto changed back into his clothes, found Tom, and settled the remaining balance.
Tom's hearty laugh echoed across the dock. "I heard the name you picked. Fine choice!"
Makoto smiled and turned away, climbing back onto the Transmigrator's deck.
The great ship pulled away from port, bearing toward the far edge of the horizon.
...
"Makoto, how are we getting to Fish-Man Island?"
Alice Nakiri draped herself over the railing, gazing out at the endless ocean.
"Ordinary ships need to stop at the Sabaody Archipelago first for hull coating. Only then can they dive deep enough."
Makoto's smile carried a hint of mischief. "I'm not ordinary."
The words barely left his mouth before massive gray-black ribs of chakra erupted from his body, swelling outward, stretching, spreading.
Susanoo.
Incomplete, but more than enough to encase the entire Transmigrator.
The gray-black energy skeleton wrapped around the orange hull like a colossal cage, forming an enormous barrier.
Enclosed within Susanoo, the Transmigrator began to sink.
Seawater parted on either side.
Sunlight faded.
Darkness closed in.
"Whoa..."
Girls pressed against the railings, staring out at the undersea world, voices full of wonder.
Schools of fish in every color imaginable drifted past Susanoo's frame.
Towering kelp forests swayed in the deep currents.
Every so often, the shadow of a Sea King swept past in the distance, only to bolt the moment it sensed Susanoo's terrifying energy output.
"It's so beautiful..."
Yotsuba Nakano's eyes sparkled.
"My first time seeing the ocean floor!"
Kei Shirogane gripped the railing, practically vibrating with excitement.
"Makoto, why aren't we stopping at the Sabaody Archipelago?" Alice asked. "I heard it's fun."
He shook his head. "It's a mess there right now. Probably nothing worth doing. Let's head straight to Fish-Man Island. Plenty to see there too."
He glanced at Beam at the helm. "Besides, Beam's been waiting long enough."
Back when Makoto had taken the girls to the pool, Beam had stayed holed up in his room the entire time to avoid the awkwardness. Keeping him waiting any longer felt wrong.
"An island exists ten thousand meters below the sea?"
The girls could barely wrap their heads around it.
"Seriously?"
"Ten thousand meters? The water pressure alone..."
"Fish-Man Island... are there actual mermaids?"
"Mermaids!"
The discussion exploded. Every one of them was fascinated. Who hadn't grown up on mermaid stories?
Alice's eyes went wide. "Are mermaids all supposed to be gorgeous?"
"I heard their songs can entrance sailors..."
"That's a siren, not a mermaid."
"Do they make deals with sea witches to trade their tails for legs?"
The chatter bounced across the deck, the energy more school field trip than pirate voyage.
Then Alice seemed to remember something. She turned to Makoto.
"Makoto, didn't we get a pretty impressive Devil Fruit from the Navy? What's its power?"
The question yanked every mermaid-obsessed girl back to attention. They all turned to look.
Because Alice had touched on something critical.
With Yu Ishigami and the Fab Four gone, life aboard had gotten more comfortable. At least there was no need to worry about being overheard at night. But security had become a bigger concern.
Makoto was strong, but he couldn't watch nearly twenty girls around the clock.
None of them expected to fight alongside him. They just didn't want to hold him back.
They'd learned about Haki training from the Kuja Pirates, but most of their abilities came from the Naruto world. Ninjutsu specialists, basically. Mages.
Only Ran Mouri and Yotsuba Nakano had gotten the hang of Haki so far.
Saeko Busujima and Ai Hayasawa were raw beginners, barely past the starting line.
The rest, even veterans like Utaha Kasumigaoka, Megumi Kato, and Airi Akizuki, hadn't even touched the threshold.
Couldn't be helped. They were either mages or assassins. Close-range brawling didn't fit their skill set.
Given enough time, they might eventually develop Haki on their own. But reaching "Ryuo" or "future sight" levels was a distant dream, let alone Supreme King coating.
Which meant the primary path to getting stronger in this world was Devil Fruits.
Makoto blinked.
He'd honestly forgotten about it until Alice brought it up.
A thought, a tap into his inventory.
A blood-red Devil Fruit materialized in his palm.
The pattern on its surface looked like boiling magma, ready to erupt at any moment.
Logia-class. The Mag-Mag Fruit.
Makoto gave them a brief rundown.
"The Mag-Mag Fruit, Logia type. This one ranks near the top among all Logias in raw destructive power."
Anyone who'd seen Akainu's performance at the Summit War could attest to that.
Sure, part of that was Akainu himself being ruthlessly effective, but the fruit's potential was undeniable.
Even in the hands of someone with no creativity, it would never fall behind the curve the way the Plume-Plume Fruit had.
After the brief explanation, Makoto tapped into his inventory again.
A pale white Devil Fruit with smoke-like patterns appeared in his other hand.
Logia-class. The Plume-Plume Fruit.
"The Plume-Plume Fruit. Logia type. Lets you turn your body into smoke."
"Compared to the Mag-Mag Fruit, it's weaker. But it's still a Logia."
He glanced at the girls.
Two Logia Devil Fruits, laid out before them.
Every pair of eyes lit up.
Two Logia Devil Fruits. In front of them. Right now.
But it didn't take long for every gaze to lock onto the blood-red Mag-Mag Fruit.
No surprise. Makoto had made the hierarchy crystal clear.
The Mag-Mag Fruit was top-tier among Logias.
The Plume-Plume Fruit beside it? He hadn't even bothered explaining it in detail. That said enough.
Even so, only one person could eat each fruit.
The girls had traveled with Makoto long enough to read the room.
A powerful Devil Fruit needed to go to someone with the talent to match.
Girls like Hina Ebina and Sonoko Suzuki, who hadn't even become proper ninjas in the Naruto world, had middling talent at best. A basic protective fruit was plenty for them.
Hand them a top-tier fruit like the Mag-Mag, and they'd never unlock its full potential anyway.
The same applied to the newer fighters like Kei Shirogane, Moeha Fujiwara, and the four Nakano sisters. They needed time to build foundations before jumping straight into a top-tier fruit.
To squeeze every drop of potential from the Mag-Mag Fruit, the choice had to come from among the best of the best.
"Makoto, what if Ran takes it?"
Sonoko nominated her best friend without a second thought.
It made sense. Ran sat firmly in the top tier of fighters among the women on board.
Setting aside the walking glitch that was Nayuta, only Reze could reliably beat Ran in a straight fight.
Even Kotonoha, who'd recently gained the power of the Sword Devil, couldn't match Ran in raw combat.
Ran was a veteran who'd been with Makoto since the Naruto world. Her karate foundation combined with chakra training, plus months of grinding through the Eight Inner Gates and introductory Haki, put her composite fighting strength solidly in the top three.
But Ran shook her head.
"I'll pass, Makoto."
"I haven't fully mastered the Eight Inner Gates or Haki yet. Besides..." She glanced at the Mag-Mag Fruit. "Something about it doesn't feel right for me."
Makoto nodded. "Ran's right."
The Eight Inner Gates plus even two colors of Haki would be more than enough to push Ran to Kage-level. Adding the Mag-Mag Fruit on top of that would be gilding the lily.
"Then... what about Utaha?"
Megumi Kato's voice was gentle.
Megumi knew the Mag-Mag Fruit wasn't for her. She was pure assassin. A brute-force elemental like magma clashed with everything about her style.
But Utaha was different.
Utaha Kasumigaoka had been among the most talented in the original group of players. She'd slacked off on training in the real world, pouring her hours into writing instead, but her natural gifts carried her. She excelled at shurikenjutsu and, after years of disciplined practice, had even learned the Rasengan.
Megumi figured Utaha could handle the Mag-Mag Fruit.
Makoto considered it, then shook his head.
"Utaha's fighting style doesn't match the Mag-Mag Fruit."
Her combat approach was like a watered-down fusion of the Uchiha clan and Minato Namikaze: shuriken, Body Flicker, Rasengan. Precision and tempo. In other words, a technique fighter.
The Mag-Mag Fruit was pure, unapologetic brute force.
One punch. Burn through everything. Done.
The styles couldn't be further apart.
"What do you think, Utaha?"
She brushed a strand of hair aside. "I get it."
Makoto noticed the faint curve of her lips. "When we get back to the Naruto world, I'll get you a pair of Sharingan."
He'd been thinking about it for a while. The Sharingan was the perfect upgrade for Utaha.
Her best skill was shurikenjutsu. Pair that with the Sharingan's dynamic vision and hypnotic abilities, and it was a match made in heaven.
The problem was timing. During the Uchiha massacre, Utaha hadn't been there. She and Makoto hadn't been close enough back then for him to include her. And at the time, he'd been gambling with his own life just to land Fugaku Uchiha's Mangekyo through sheer luck. Going back for extra pairs hadn't been an option.
No matter.
Itachi and Obito still had theirs, didn't they?
When the time came, he'd harvest from those two and have the Sharingan installed for Utaha.
"That might take quite a while," Utaha said with a knowing smile.
Clearing the One Piece world was nowhere in sight yet, let alone returning to the Naruto world.
"So? It'll happen eventually."
His tone was matter-of-fact. "I'm not going to let you die. That's final."
The words sent hearts racing among Utaha, Alice, and the others nearby.
This infuriating man. How was he this smooth without even trying?
Utaha's smile turned sweeter. She crossed the deck in three quick strides, black-stockinged legs carrying her straight to Makoto, and threw her arms around him in a full tackle of a hug. Then she kissed his cheek, hard.
"Mwah."
"Alright, alright. Back to business."
He patted her back.
...
Back to the matter at hand.
After all that analysis, the pool of candidates suited for the Mag-Mag Fruit had narrowed to almost no one.
Finally, Makoto turned his head and looked to the other side of the ship.