"Bartolomeo? Found him!"
The moment Bardock's request left his lips, Enel had already swept the entire town with his Mantra and locked onto the target. When it came to global search and track, his Observation Haki was practically unrivaled. "I'll go test if he's a Devil Fruit user right now."
Crack.
With a faint crackle of electricity, Enel vanished.
Bardock reached out a hand, intending to stop him and tell him to be gentle, but he was a second too late. Sighing, he lowered his hand. 'Well, whatever. It's not like he's going to actually kill the kid.'
At this point in time, Bartolomeo was still just a child. He hadn't yet begun his infamous career as a ruthless underworld mafia boss, but he was already the undisputed 'Boss' of all the street urchins and delinquent kids in the neighborhood.
When Enel materialized in a flash of lightning, Bartolomeo was in the middle of leading his 'gang' of little kids in a noisy game.
The sudden, impossible appearance of the tall, imposing man terrified the other children, who immediately scattered and hid. However, Bartolomeo was incredibly bold for his age.
"Hey, you! How the hell did you just appear out of nowhere?!" the green-haired boy yelled, crossing his arms and glaring up at Enel.
"Tch. It's literally just a little kid?" Enel sneered, his eyes filled with profound disappointment. He had assumed that anyone Bardock was specifically looking for must possess some kind of terrifying, hidden potential. Instead, he found a snot-nosed brat playing make-believe gang leader.
"Bastard! Stop looking down on me!" Bartolomeo roared furiously, charging forward and throwing a wild, completely untrained punch at Enel's stomach.
Theoretically, if Enel simply engaged his passive Logia intangibility, Bartolomeo would have punched pure lightning and been instantly electrocuted. However, that wouldn't confirm if the boy possessed a Devil Fruit or not.
Instead, Enel casually reached out and caught the tiny fist. With a gentle flick of his wrist, he tossed Bartolomeo through the air.
The boy tumbled across the dirt, feeling like his entire body had been violently shaken apart. But he was incredibly tough. He immediately scrambled back to his feet, glaring at Enel with pure, burning hatred.
"Good. Your eyes have a lot of spirit," Enel noted with mild approval. "Now, watch out. Try not to die! One Million Volt: Discharge!"
To properly test if the boy had a defensive Devil Fruit, Enel fired a concentrated bolt of lightning from his index finger. He deliberately paused for a fraction of a second before firing, giving Bartolomeo a tiny window to react and deploy a barrier if he had one.
Bartolomeo didn't move an inch. He simply stood there, completely paralyzed by the blinding light.
Realizing the kid had absolutely no defensive powers, Enel casually flicked his finger upward at the absolute last microsecond. The lightning bolt completely missed Bartolomeo's face, grazing the very top of his head instead.
The sharp smell of burnt hair instantly filled the air. Bartolomeo's iconic, meticulously styled green rooster-crest hair had been completely incinerated, leaving a smoking, bald patch right down the middle of his head.
"Looks like he doesn't have any powers at all," Enel muttered, thoroughly disappointed.
Bartolomeo stood completely frozen, trembling. He slowly raised his hand and patted the top of his head. He felt nothing but scorched scalp.
"YOU BASTARD! YOU RUINED MY HAIR!" Bartolomeo shrieked in absolute agony.
Ignoring the screaming child, Enel raised his golden staff. "Lightning Metallurgy."
The gold at the very tip of the staff rapidly melted and flowed backward, revealing a small, jagged chunk of dull grey stone embedded in the core. It was Seastone. Enel had recently acquired it by violently dismantling Smoker's Jitte, embedding it into his staff as a final, absolute countermeasure against Devil Fruit users.
In a flash, Enel appeared directly in front of the screaming boy and abruptly pressed the exposed Seastone directly against Bartolomeo's skin.
Bartolomeo didn't weaken, nor did he collapse in a lethargic heap. He didn't react to the Seastone at all. Instead, his eyes lit up fiercely.
'An opening!'
With every single ounce of strength his tiny body could muster, Bartolomeo violently kicked upward, aiming directly for Enel's crotch.
Having definitively confirmed that Bartolomeo absolutely did not possess a Devil Fruit—let alone the Barrier-Barrier Fruit—Enel had absolutely zero reason to continue playing with the brat. Before the lethal low blow could connect, Enel dissolved into pure lightning and vanished.
Bartolomeo's kick struck empty air. He stumbled, then began furiously kicking the dirt. "DAMMIT! If I ever see you again, I'll kill you!"
He desperately rubbed the bald patch on his head, his eyes welling up with tears. His magnificent rooster crest was his absolute pride and joy! He had no idea how many months it would take to grow it back to its former glory.
A few seconds later, Enel reappeared next to Bardock and quickly relayed his findings.
Bardock sighed softly. Since the Barrier-Barrier Fruit clearly hadn't spawned yet, there was nothing he could do. He wasn't going to halt their entire voyage and wait around just for a single Devil Fruit—unless that specific fruit possessed an absolute, world-changing tactical advantage.
If it was true that Devil Fruits actively chose their hosts, then Bartolomeo's chances of eventually acquiring it were still incredibly high. Bardock mentally noted that he would make one final stop in Loguetown right before they officially left the East Blue, just to check again.
Under the intensely watchful, terrified gaze of the hidden Marine informants scattered throughout the port, Bardock and his crew casually strolled back onto the White Dragon, acting as if they didn't have a care in the world.
The white galleon smoothly lifted off the water and sailed away, heading toward their next destination.
The moment they left the port, the Loguetown Base Commander frantically scrambled to the Den Den Mushi to report their departure to Marine Headquarters.
Vice Admiral Garp, who was currently sailing out of Marineford on a massive battleship at maximum speed, immediately received the updated intelligence report. However, since his fleet had only just departed the Grand Line, even if his ship suddenly sprouted wings, he wouldn't be able to reach Loguetown for days.
For now, he had absolutely no choice but to let Bardock's crew sail freely across the East Blue.