The upper body remained unchanged, but a fluffy tail appeared behind, its fur black with hints of white, and the lower limbs transformed into a form resembling that of a beast.
By Caesar's own standards, this Devil Fruit was a success—perhaps even a decent outcome.
The fruits he creates are inherently subject to random mutations. The fact that an animal head didn't grow where his butt was or that his own head didn't transform into an animal's rear was already a pretty good result.
"Chief Spandam, this… this is…"
While the transformation of his lower half did enhance his physique somewhat, Nero discovered that he could no longer revert to his original form.
"Oh, that's correct," Spandam replied. "There's a minuscule chance of obtaining a perfect ability, a high probability of failure resulting in becoming a laughing Non-Ability User, and a small chance of acquiring an imperfect ability. Your situation is nothing to worry about."
Hearing that, Nero suddenly felt a strange gas surging wildly within his body. Soon, he couldn't hold it anymore.
Pfft!
With a loud noise, a massive cloud of yellow gas filled the room. The stench hit Spandam's nose instantly, and the acrid fumes shot straight to his head, knocking him out cold.
The gas wasn't from anger but was instead a result of the Devil Fruit's ability. At this moment, Nero had transformed into an incomplete Skunk Human.
The loud noise attracted others, but the stench kept everyone at bay. Only after the yellow smoke dispersed did someone manage to pull Spandam out.
As for Nero, this ability made him feel too embarrassed to face anyone, so he had already bolted out the window.
When Spandam regained consciousness, bad news reached his ears: somehow, the entire branch's civilian staff had learned that Spandam had been knocked out by a fart.
Among the chiefs of CP9 throughout history, Spandam was undoubtedly the most inept, whether it was in terms of ability or strength. While losing face wasn't new to him, this incident left him feeling utterly humiliated.
"Who was it?! Which b*stard leaked this?!"
"Sorry, I accidentally let it slip, chapapa."
A rotund man standing on the side explained; he was literally round, both in head and body, so much so that his neck was barely discernible, and his mouth was exaggeratedly stitched with a zipper.
This was Fukurou the Silent, a member of CP9. His ability to keep secrets is comparable to Sentomaru; no matter what secret came his way, it was bound to get out.
Even with a zipper on his mouth, Fukurou couldn't suppress his urge to reveal secrets. He often blurted out classified information while walking down the street, which rendered him unsuitable for any covert missions.
He is also directly responsible for the spread of the news about why Spandam fainted.
"Fukurou… you b*stard!"
"I couldn't help it! It slipped out by accident. Besides, chief, you're partly to blame. Who told you to have a Power Level of only 9? That's way too weak, chapapa."
A Marine soldier armed with a weapon has a Power Level of 10, and that's referring to the most ordinary, untrained average soldier. Spandam's Power Level of 9 has successfully lowered the strength threshold of the World Government.
"Shut up! Close your zipper!"
"Yoyoi!! I'm terribly sorry, chief. This is all my fault. I shall now commit seppuku to atone for my mistake..."
A man with long pink hair, dressed like a kabuki performer, drew a sword and stabbed his stomach. However, just before the blade made contact with the stomach, he used Tekkai.
"Yoyoi!! What a shame—I didn't die…"
This was Kumadori the Lion, another member of CP9. His hobby was frequently attempting seppuku to express remorse, only to use Tekkai during the act. He was another of Spandam's eccentric subordinates.
"That's enough, both of you! Chief, what do you want from us?"
Jabra interrupted the bizarre antics; he is one of the more normal people among the CP9 members present.
With Rob Lucci and the others carrying out an undercover mission in Water 7, only these three remained here.
Despite being thoroughly infuriated, Spandam still pulled out another Devil Fruit.
"Chief, that thing… it's not like the one Nero ate, is it?"
"Of course not! This one cost me 100 million Berries. It's way more valuable than his."
Unlike Caesar's semi-finished product, this fruit was one of the finished products refined by Queen.
As a seasoned scapegoat, Queen knew how to deflect blame from himself.
Within the Beasts Pirates, everyone became perfect Ability Users, while outsiders often ended up with bizarre, semi-finished products. Even an idiot could see these fruits had been processed a second time. To change this perception, Queen conducted a special deal.
Queen took several Devil Fruits that had been refined by Arceus and handed them back to Doflamingo, instructing him to resell them at high prices. This arrangement was a secret known only to Queen, Doflamingo, and a few high-ranking members of the Beasts Pirates; Caesar had no idea it was happening.
Through this scheme, the success rate of these Devil Fruits became a matter of probability. The Beasts Pirates purchased many of them and used special screening methods, resulting in a higher number of successful users.
Though Queen couldn't entirely avoid blame, he could always shift part of it onto Caesar.
Over the years, it was rare to encounter someone like Caesar, who would willingly take the blame, and Queen wasn't about to let that opportunity slip by.
As for where the fruits would end up, Arceus couldn't care less about where these "trash" ended up. He never thought much of these artificial devil fruits in the first place. To him, their only value lay in how they reignited a craze of overtime work within the Beasts Pirates.
The group of once-quiet king of involution* began to work again. [TN: Involution describes a phenomenon of intense competition where individuals exert excessive effort in areas that may not yield meaningful benefits, often leading to a sense of frustration and exhaustion.]
Meanwhile, Queen used this scheme to offset the expenses that had to be paid and even earned some extra profit on the side.
Doflamingo, too, used these few special fruits to expand his market.
You could either pay a hefty sum or gamble on your luck. For those with limited funds but dreams of obtaining a Devil Fruit, this was a unique opportunity.
In a way, neither the Beasts Pirates nor Doflamingo suffered losses. This scheme later came to be known as the "Queen Scam," or alternatively, "Queen's Blame-Shifting Technique."
The fruit Nero ate was purely for experimental purposes, and since Nero wasn't an official member, Spandam didn't mind using him as a guinea pig. However, Jabra and the others were different—they couldn't be treated as random test subjects.
"Jabra, you're already a Devil Fruit user, so Fukurou, Kumadori—who among you wants this fruit?"
For a broker, reputation is everything. As someone navigating both the light and dark sides of the world, Doflamingo understood this well. Anything he sold at a high price had to be authentic, which convinced Spandam that this fruit wasn't a fake.
"Chief, you're not giving me this fruit to get back at me, are you? Chapapa."
After some discussion, Kumadori declined the fruit, leaving Fukurou to eat it.
But as he glanced at Spandam's smiling face, a deep sense of unease welled up in Fukurou's heart.
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