1,330Alright everyone, AmusedLight here with the rewrite, or better yet, the Reboot of the story.
Yeah, hate me for it, lol.
So, I went over everything and made the decision to say "fuck it" and simply take a new approach. So, this story will begin years before canon and will have different crossover elements, but the main story will revolve around Naruto and One Piece.
Also, no spoilers, but alternate universe elements won't be excluded from the storyline also, so be warned in the future. Also, I plan on Naruto's story years to be before Luffy begins his voyage to the Grand Line, so if you expect me to start again at Impel down with Luffy, sorry, but you're reading the wrong story.
Finally, before you guys ask, yes, I still plan on this being a harem fic, however, I won't be showing you guys the list as you'll have to read it to find out. I will, however, promise you that the harem is going to consist of girls from different animes, so look forward to that.
For anyone asking for lemons in the future, hold your horses. I'm planning this out like my Star Wars Reboot as I want to see if it will work first. Since, "A Jinchuuriki's Destiny," has gone well, my writing skills have gotten better, and I have some beta readers who've been helping me, I think I can promise for the story to turn out better.
(Betas, I haven't forgotten you two.)
So, for now, I hope you guys like the Reboot of this story and that all of you can forgive me for the misleading info I've given you guys.
Also, I don't own any of the animes that will be used, like One Piece and Naruto. They belong to their respectful owners. I'm just a fanfiction writer with time on his hands and a crazy amount of imagination.
Let's begin!
sixteen years prior to the plot
1506
The Holy Land of Mariejois.
Mariejois, a place known as the home to many of the most powerful rulers of the world and an architectural utopia viewed as a glimpse of Heaven itself. A place where only those with the bloodline of the earliest rulers were allowed to live and be blessed to live long and prosperous lives.
Located on the Red Line, it also serves as the headquarters of the World Government, an organization that established itself over eight centuries ago that, in the public eye, is meant to preserve peace and stability in the whole world, preserving justice throughout the whole world.
However, to those not blinded by the "greatness" of this city, they knew that this piece of "Heaven" was actually Hell on Earth.
"Ugh!" A body dropped to the ground, exhausted and malnourished as seen by his body. Due to being so skinny, the man's ribs were disturbingly visible along with several other parts of his body showing the bone.
"You worthless slave, get on your feet!"
The one saying that was holding a leash that was connected to numerous chained slaves who were being walked around like pets he wore a white robe outfit that showed he was of royal blood. The man carried a golden pistol that he now was aiming at a slave who had fallen down. He was one of the World Nobles known as the Celestial Dragons.
The fallen slave struggled to move, let alone stand, as he was close to death's doorstep.
"Hmph, it seems you're not capable of being a servant to me anymore," The Celestial Dragon turned a wicked smile on his face, "Then I guess your usefulness has reached its limit. Goodbye."
BANG!
THUD!
That was the last sound from the slave as his body laid lifelessly on the concrete road, spending his last moments being ridiculed and humiliated by his oppressor who just seemed to laugh with the situation, "Sususususu~ you stupid slave, that's what you get for not obeying me!"
It was common knowledge that the Celestial Dragons viewed themselves as Gods, who were given the right to do whatever pleases them in the open eyes of the world. Even if those acts were beyond despicable.
The slaves who were forced to crawl on their hands and knees were some poor souls that were forced to witness another unfortunate man's life get extinguished. Soon, they were being barraged again by their owner.
"Move it! I want to get to my daddy's mansion!" The Celestial Dragon ordered them with a chuckle that he puts his hand in front of with a giggle. "Sususususu~, he supposedly bought some new slaves, so move, you stupid fish!"
As tired they were, the slaves submitted to their master and continued to crawl towards his mansion like dogs, they could only work themselves even more if they wanted to have a break from this daily, back-breaking nightmare that they lived in.
When he said fish, he meant it literally as the slaves who were carrying him were Fish-Men, a species of humanoids who came from the sea. Having resemblances to any kind of animal that swam in the vast ocean, they like humans are able to communicate in the same language as anyone else.
Unfortunately for them, they were always met with discrimination from humans most of the time, making it nearly impossible for them to come up to the surface and stay with their own kind. But even that didn't prevent them from being targeted, like their merfolk counterparts, from the cruel fate that is slavery.
They were already treated badly, unfairly, and shunned like vile creatures that were best kept away like a plague that needed to be avoided. But being slaves to a Celestial Dragon only made such treatment even worse.
"Daddy! I've returned!" The Celestial Dragon shouted as his slaves kept on crawling throughout the hallway, right to the door right that brought them to the living room of his father's mansion that was filled with an immense amount of wealth that no other would ever be able to touch.
And sitting in the middle of the living room was an overweight human-ish man sitting on his expensive antique sofa that was strong enough to hold his weight, he was being served by his female slaves who were dressed in explicitly revealing clothes that they were forced to wear, with one of them holding a large drinking glass filled with red wine.
"You've returned!" Donquixote Mjosgard said with glee at the return of his father right before he stopped in front of his father who he respected dearly. "How was your trip to the Sabaody Archipelago?"
"I have nothing to complain about, thank you for asking, my son," The father halted the slave from giving his wine. "But please, send your slaves outside first, I cannot stand their smell."
"Of course, daddy," Mjosgard turned to his guards and ordered them. "Take them back to their cages," The men in armor nodded to their master and began taking the Fish-Men slaves, with much humiliation, crawling back to their cages where they would be forced to wait for their return of Mjosgard.
"Okay, now they're gone, want to tell me what you've bought, daddy," The son asked with a smile that didn't seem to fade away.
The Father simply took another sip from his glass of wine and then replied to his son, "Well, I will say that when I went to the Auction House, I wasn't expecting anything new. You know, the merchandise and so forth, good-looking women, giants, merfolk, Fish-men. So, initially, I didn't think I'd find something interesting," The Lord of the Donquixote Family said as he had a big variety of slaves that he owned personally.
Mjosgard found himself confused by where his father was going, "What do you mean, daddy?"
"Well son, here's a question for you," The father began with a question he would give. "What knowledge do you have of Shinobis?" He asked his son as he started the conversation with that subject.
"Ninjas?" Mjosgard said with little knowledge he knew from that word and said, "Like those from Wano country? I heard that country was foolish enough to let itself be taken over by some pirate," Mjosgard said with added insult, "I don't know why you have to bring up those failures."
The father sighs, "I didn't mean them, my son, I meant the Shinobi from the Shinobi Lands."
"The Shinobi what?"
"The Shinobi Lands. Let me explain," The father repeated with a clearly irritated sigh as he lectured his son about it. That it was a large continent that was located at the end of the New World, with its landmass stretching out almost half of the Red Line, and was the home to its warrior cultured society that was similar to that of the Wano country itself.
"Wait, you say that there is a large continent that is not under our control?" Mjosgard said, wondering. "Why haven't we subjugated these people under the World Government yet?"
"For that, my son, is because it's a wild country," The father told him. "Unlike Wano, it's a war zone that is constantly under conflict. There's no order, no civility, nothing that even resembles the norms that we know, my son. It's not that we haven't tried either. The government has sent multiple envoys over the last few centuries but all that was left were the remnants of wrecked ships. So it was unanimously decided to stay away from that continent."
That did not mean that they would let themselves be intimidated by these tribal animals, they just made sure to isolate that continent from the rest of the world, meaning nothing would go in or out without any given permission from the World Government, even if it was for a humanitarian crisis, even if they specifically asked for such support.
"Such barbarians," Mjosgard said, listening to all of this. "But where are you going with this, daddy?"
"Because, son, I have a rare commodity that has cost me a lot of money on that auction."
Mjosgard's smile widened with actual surprise as he figured it out. "You mean?"
"I'll show it to you," The father said holding his free hand out.
Snap!
With a single gesture, the doors behind the father opened and one of the guards came in with a child, just a child, who had dirty blonde hair and wore a simple black t-shirt with a red-black whirlpool on it while wearing white shorts and blue sandals, the clothes looked like they hadn't been washed for weeks as dried sweat and dirt could be seen.
Wearing an explosive collar around his neck, the child looked like he went through a brutal beating, with bruises visible on his small arms and legs and the lashes he had received earlier on his back. But the most visible pain wasn't his physical one, it was seen in his face.
His whiskered cheeks, blue cereal eye colored face that formerly was always filled with determination, was now filled with despair as he was now facing his new reality.
"A boy? You bought a human boy, daddy?"
"Bring him here," The father said as the boy was forced forwards to the middle of the room, with the slave women not even daring to have a quick glance at the young boy, but feeling absolutely horrified to see such a young boy being given the same fate as them.
Forcing the young boy on his knees, the guard then yanked the boy's hair, so he would face his master as he was talking to him.
"Tell me, slave?" The obese man asked with little input. "Your seller said that you had a name right before you were sold off, tell me what it was," The boy just stared up to the man who looked down to him with little to no respect. He just looked down and said nothing before he inhaled and then did the unthinkable….
He spat whatever liquid he had in his mouth at the Celestial Dragon. It didn't even land on the man's feet, but the act itself was an insult.
The boy's eyes glared at the Celestial Dragon after doing that, making even eye contact with the large obese man before he got his head shoved against the ground by the suited guard.
"You little bastard," Mjosgard shouted in anger at the disrespect of this brat. "We'll-!"
"Quiet down, son."
"But daddy!"
The father held his hand up for silence as he observed the young slave who just did what he actually expected from the boy. Then he smiled and suggested.
"I know something to teach this 'thing' a lesson he won't forget."
And hearing that, young Naruto was just laying there, listening to these guys' chuckles as he heard the seething sound of something, looking up, he saw one of the guards pulling out something.
It was a branding iron, a burning one.
"Now you see, boy," The father said with a smile, "What you will get now, like any other slave in this city, is the Hoof of the Soaring Dragon. With this, you will bear our mark on your back, you no longer will be someone with a name anymore, but instead, you'll be a possession of the Celestial Dragons." The chuckle turned into laughter joined by his son.
Naruto just stared down to the ground as he felt his shirt being pulled up by the guard who was restraining him while the guard with the branding iron was nearing his back. His life was about to turn for the worst, and he knew it.
Yet still, Naruto didn't seem to let a single tear come from his eyes.
"Let's begin with your punishment."
Later
Basement
In the basement of the fat Celestial Dragon, there were several large cages left in the dark where numerous of the slaves were left to lay in the cold without any provisions, food, or blankets, with the only thing given being the scars and bruises they had.
Inside one of those cages, was the just burned and beaten up boy, Uzumaki Naruto, the eight-year-old from Konoha, the village also best known as the Hidden Leaf Village. Now laid against the rails of his cage, that was way too small for his head to be given space, he laid cramped in it, half beaten to a pulp and his small back still trying to recover from the burning iron that was seething into his skin with no medical treatment to it.
Clutching the collar around his neck, the young boy sighs as he just gave up and continued to stare down to the cold floor he was forced to sleep on for now. Knowing that he'd finally settled his long painful journey, you'd wonder how it came to this.
How did Naruto become the victim of such an awful experience of slavery? Well, the short answer, laid in his village, where he was betrayed by someone he knew.
Someone he thought he could trust.
Flashback
Hidden Leaf Village
Sitting at his desk in the classroom, Naruto was going through yet another day of detention for getting to class late. It was his first year at the academy and it's already been six months since he started. Luckily, he wasn't the only one who occasionally got in trouble.
Munch!
Sitting next to him, eating from a bag of potato chips, was Akamichi Chōji, a classmate of Naruto's and one of the few who weren't afraid or avoided Naruto. Meanwhile, sitting next to Choji was the pineapple-styled, black-haired best friend of the big-boned guy, Nara Shikamaru who spoke his signature words.
"How troublesome, where's Iruka-Sensei?" The lazy Shikamaru wondered as he yawned due to waking up from a nap. He looked outside the window and saw the sun was going down and that it'd be dark soon.
"Meh, it's almost dark. My mom's going to be nagging at me again for being late for dinner."
Chōji just stopped munching from his snacks and asked his friend out of curiosity. "Shikamaru, what's your mother preparing for today?"
Shikamaru sighs while leaning on his hand, "I don't know, it's too troublesome to try and figure it out if you ask me."
Chōji suggested, "Why not come eat at my place? We're having barbeque at my house, mom told me I could invite you."
"Troublesome, sure, why not. As long as I eat something, my mom won't bother me too much."
Naruto looked out the window while the two had their conversation, thinking about how he'd have to go fetch his own food and then go home. Suddenly, something happened that surprised him.
"Oi, Naruto, want to come over for dinner?"
The young boy, thinking he'd misheard, slowly turned his head to the two boys and looked at them with a half-stunned expression, "Eh?"
Chōji just smiled and repeated, "Do you want to join us for dinner? Mom said I could bring friends for tonight, said she would make a BIG feast tonight," He said, excited at the thought of eating so much meat.
Being cautious, Naruto asked, "Are you sure? Does your mom know about me? I don't think she'd take kindly to strangers."
"Oh, my mom? She said she'd love to have you come over," Chōji clarified it by saying, "When I mentioned your name, she looked very happy for some reason," He said as he was confused by his mother's first reaction.
Naruto felt like smiling and was about to accept.
However, the door opened, catching the boys' attention. They were expecting it to be Iruka-sensei but were surprised to see it was someone else. Standing there was instead the white-blue-haired academy instructor and colleague of Iruka.
"Mizuki-Sensei," Naruto said in surprise standing up to see the academy instructor who would often talk to him, "where's Iruka-Sensei?"
The instructor chuckled when he walked into the class, "He was called in by the Hokage, said he needed to meet him before he left for Suna. So, I came in his place."
"Oh… right," Naruto remembered that Sarutobi Hiruzen the Third Hokage, who Naruto knew as 'the Old Man,' was leaving the village for Suna soon. Sarutobi was the leader of the village and also one of the few who cared for Naruto but rarely spoke with him due to his long hours of work.
"Come on, Naruto, you know he's just doing what he's supposed to do," Mizuki said trying to speak compassionately with the blonde before turning to the other two, "You two are free to go, there's something I need to discuss with Naruto first," Shikamaru and Chōji nodded and walked over towards the door.
"See you, Naruto," Chōji said, waving him off as he was the first one to exit the class, Shikamaru, on the other hand, was being observant, noticing the backpack that Mizuki had before going out.
"Bye, Naruto," Shikamaru lastly muttered out for some reason, not knowing why as he closed the door behind him. Not knowing that this would be the last time he'd see Naruto for a very long time.
Once the door was closed, Mizuki felt more comfortable and approached the young Uzumaki who kept staring out of the window as he saw his two other classmates leave the schoolground in a hurry.
"Naruto, would you please turn around to me?" Mizuki asked him, "I got something I need to show you."
"Huh?" Naruto turns his head around slowly. "What is it, Mizuki-Sensei-"
WACK!
Suddenly, everything went dark for Naruto as he fell down to the ground with a strong headache being the last thing he felt. Meanwhile, standing over him, was Mizuki who wore a menacing grin while holding a baton in his hand.
"I got you now, demon."
Naruto's eyes opened up as he found himself tied up against a tree with Mizuki sitting right across from him while a fire was going.
"I see you decided to wake up," Mizuki said with that same grin on his face that turned into a chuckle, "I was kind of getting worried there."
"M-Mizuki-Sensei, what ar-"
"Shut it, Demon Fox," Mizuki snarled at him with anger as he stood up and walked over to the tied up boy, "You don't know how much I've wanted to do this," He said right as he kicked the boy right across the face, hitting the boy nearly in the eye.
Having yet another concussion, Naruto slowly turned back and looked around to see where he was at. Not recognizing these parts of the woods.
"Don't even try, we're a long distance from the village anyway, we're closer to the ocean than we are to the village," Mizuki said as he kept on chuckling, "Plus, it's not like the Third Hokage will be able to help you, after all, the desert is even further away than the village."
"My head," Still dealing with the concussion, Naruto moaned, "It hurts…"
"Let me fix that."
CRUNCH!
That was the sound of one of Naruto's ribs cracking, as Mizuki basically had kicked into the young kid's chest with as much pressure as he could.
Naruto began coughing in pain as he now tasted blood in his mouth as he slowly looked up to the sensei that had been nice to him ever since he entered the academy. However, now he noticed Mizuki had the same look the villagers had been giving him wherever they saw him or pulled their children away from him.
"That look….why?" Naruto could only ask him as he was clueless now to this point, "What have I done to any of you? Why does the village hate me!?" Naruto shouted in anger as he was done with all of this, "Tell me, you bastard! What is it!? Tell me!"
Those words were met then with one thing: silence, utter silence from the boy as the wind swirled through the trees. Leaves falling off and flying through the air. Waiting for a response from his kidnapper.
Mizuki then happily obliged by telling him, "Because you've got the Nine-Tailed Fox sealed inside you."
Naruto's reaction was that of utter disbelief, as he felt unable to breathe for a moment before his mind began to race through several thoughts.
"Y-You're lying-"
"Why would I lie to you?" Mizuki asked the boy, "Haven't you noticed that everyone in the village shuns you? Avoided you?"
Naruto's head sank further and further as Mizuki said all of this.
"W-Why? Why hasn't anyone told me about this?"
"The Third Hokage forbade anyone from talking about it on the day you were born. Nobody was authorized to tell you about what you are. All of this was done, in order to make sure everyone in the village kept this secret away from you."
"Even-"
"Yes," Mizuki said, "Even your beloved Iruka-sensei, whose parents were killed by you, knew about what you are and kept it a secret. Basically, everyone lied and deceived you, knowing full well you are the demon freak that destroyed our village. That's the reason why the village will never accept you!"
It all started to become way too much for Naruto as he started thinking back to all the people with whom he had interacted. And all that he was thinking of could be paraphrased into one sentence.
Was everything he knew a lie?
"So are you going to kill me?" Naruto asked Mizuki. "Isn't that the reason you kidnapped me? Away from the village so you can finally end my life?"
Mizuki smiled and said, "No, that would be too easy. If I kill you now, then you'd just break free and unleash your revenge on the village. No, I've got something better planned on how to get rid of you for good. So for now, good night."
Looking back up, Naruto then saw Mizuki raise a baton to slam it over Naruto's head, before knocking him out yet again.
"I will say this though, you're going to a place where demons like you belong."
Later
Naruto was suddenly jolted awake as he felt himself hitting the ground, his hands bound behind his back, as were his feet. He slowly opened his eyes, taking in his surroundings as he noticed that he wasn't in the forest anymore. He was at a fishing harbor where numerous ships were docked and the sound of the ocean and seagulls could be heard. All of which, were new for him to see and hear.
However, if it weren't for his current situation, he would've taken the time to enjoy the beautiful sight of the open sea.
"Ah, you must be Mizuki."
Hearing a new voice, Naruto turned to see his former sensei walking up to a round-looking guy with strange clothing who had a frown on his face.
"That's me, you must be the one from the Human Shop if I'm correct?"
"Yes, I am, though, I must say, it took me and my crew some convincing of the local businessman, Gatō, for us to conduct business here. Apparently, he runs most of the shipping routes through the Land of Waves and forced us to pay a big penny to be here," The round man said with an obvious frown on his face, with his eyebrows being the only thing visible as he wore his shades over his eyes, "So, you better have something I can take back, the ship's leaving in a few minutes."
"I've got it right here," Mizuki said, kicking the bound Naruto over to the man, "One boy, eight years old and a fresh Academy student."
"A child?" The man didn'ttt look impressed and was actually very skeptical, "You made me wait an extra day for a brat? What use do you possibly think I'd have for him?"
"Well, considering the way this land is, how's your shopping trip?"
"Don't even begin with that," The man said not in a good mood, "You try and bring in some good slaves for the auctioning when every single person can kill you in the blink of an eye," The man said, revealing himself to be a slaver, "Mermaids, Minks, Giants, Dwarfs, nowadays, customers want something new, something exotic. But you try and find something that Disco thinks is worth selling. He didn't even care when I captured three girls from the Amazon a few months ago."
Naruto just laid there, wishing he could scream for help but the gag in his mouth prevented it, while he had to lie helplessly as his freedom was being negotiated away.
"Well, maybe I got the solution to your problem, my friend," Mizuki said with a proposal on his mind, "From my understanding, you know quite a bit of history about us Shinobi, ain't that right?"
The slaver nodded with his arms closed, "I know the standard, yeah. About the village, the ranks, the history, whatever I needed to know to keep myself out of the spotlights, but what's that got to do with anything?"
"Well, here's a different question for you," Mizuki then asked, "Do you know about the Tailed Beasts?"
"I've heard that they're powerful beasts. Nine of them, to be precise, and that they are sealed inside human containers, Jinchuuriki if I'm right," The slaver said as he recalled what he knew, "From what's common knowledge, they're mostly used as weapons by their villages. Why? What's that got to do with this kid?" He asked, looking down at the gagged child.
"Simple," Mizuki replied with a grin, "He's one of them."
The slaver's eyes grew wide as he looked floored with what was just told to him, "Don't bullshit me."
"I'm not. He's our village's Jinchuuriki," Mizuki then made his offer, "And I'm willing to give you this freak for free."
"Prove it."
Mizuki pulled the child up and raised his shirt up before using a small amount of chakra around his fingers to reveal seals on the young kid's stomach. Convincing the slaver as he had been given a book that showed what the seal on a Jinchuuriki would look like. Once he showed he boy's stomach seal, he put a second on the boy's back, with the Chunin explaining that it was to seal Naruto's chakra to hide them from sensors.
The slaver had to take a moment to cope with what he just heard. He wasn't a stranger to situations like this, he knew that this offer had enormous gains but also came with great risk. He wanted to be sure that he was making the right choice before accepting the offer.
"You do know that selling me this Jinchuuriki will get your ass in a lot of trouble, right? That's ignoring the fact that this is going to get you labeled a traitor for selling your own village's Jinchuuriki."
Mizuki just chuckled at that, "As if I hadn't thought of that."
"Then why do this?" The slaver asked, starting to think this was some kind of trap, "What possible reason makes you think your village won't hunt you down for this?"
"Simple, Lord Orochimaru."
"Orochimaru? One of the Sannin?" The slaver asked, "Why would he help you?"
"I've been offered to join him, by the same person who helped me get this freak out off the village without any notice," Mizuki explained, while not saying the man's name, "In order to join his organization, he wanted me to do serious damage that would hurt the village, and what bigger damage can there be than taking away their Jinchuuriki and selling it off to some other continent?"
"I don't know, man. This sounds way too risky," The slaver said, as he was hesitant about getting into more trouble on his way back to Sabaody.
Mizuki pressured him, "Think about the money you can earn from it," He said looking down evilly at the barely conscious Naruto, "Surely something like this freak will gain you a good coin, especially if it's from this continent."
Hearing this brought the slaver to think, and even smile as he asked one more thing, "You sure this boy holds one of those demons?"
"Absolutely."
The slaver then was the second one to crack a smile, "Then we've got ourselves a deal."
They shook hands in front of the boy, it settled his fate right there and there.
Holding his fragile and scared hands around his ankles as he thought back again. The experience he had gone through was still traumatizing to him, but also deeply angered him also.
And that anger was boiling inside him.
Shoved to his knees, Naruto was presented in front of a crowd of wealthy people who were laughing and enjoying this spectacle as the announcer was about to begin.
"Now for the next one! What we have right here is a young boy! However, don't be deceived by his looks because this boy comes from the Shinobi Continent!" The announcer said as he was glad to hear the many gasps and cheers from the excited crowd.
The stories about the Shinobi continent were very well known throughout the Grand Line, as they were viewed like gladiators from Dressrosa or giants from Elbaf from the many rumors of what they could do.
Meaning many would gladly empty their pockets for this rare opportunity.
The glee on the man's lips could be seen by Naruto.
"Yes! The land of Shinobi! Where even the youngest children are trained to be cold-blooded warriors! A fine exotic piece that anyone with the finest eye can see is worth every penny! We'll begin with the normal fee of 700,000! and for another fact about this boy is-"
"850,000!" One rich noble shouted out in haste.
"Hold on, I haven't fully finished yet-"
"I bid 875,000!" A woman then bid higher. Starting a race for bidding as others soon followed.
"I bet 890,000!"
The announcer liked where this was going and went with it, "890,000 for the boy, anyone higher?"
"950,000!" A man shouted louder.
Naruto just sat there and watched. He watched in horror how people were yelling numbers and waving money around like a pack of animals. Trying to buy a young boy who, until recently, was an academy student.
"I want that child for my collection!" A noble looking man from the North Blue said, "So my bet is next, 975,000 is my final offer!"
A woman just three rows down the noble put up next, "I bid upon that 990,000 Berries for the young boy. He can be of great help to me."
The man next to her asked, "How? He's just a boy?"
The woman chuckled with a malicious grin, "No, but when he grows up, those whiskers and blue eyes will be a satisfying feature for me."
"1,200,000!" Another one raised up.
"1,500,000!"
"My highest bid! 2,500,000!"
The announcer with the star-shaped shades, whose name was Disco was seeing that he was not making much money on this brat and was about to tell of this so called 'demon' and decided to pull on the shackled kid's hair and was about to pull his shirt off until someone made another bet.
"25 Million Berries."
Those words ended it all, all the bets were off when that one voice became the center of the room. With all the buyers turning towards that voice they saw who it was.
It was the only World Noble present for today's auction, the Lord of the Donquixote Family and father of Mjosgard. Everyone with any sense of mind would know not to bet over the World Nobles and learned to give up on this bet.
"I'll give 25 million berries for this boy from the Shinobi continent," The World Noble said.
Disco was a bit disappointed he wasn't getting much more of this child but also, he knew better to object to a World Noble, but he still made a small fortune on this child and announced then next with his gavel and shouted.
"SOLD! One boy from the Shinobi Continent for 25 million berries!"
Once he heard that, Naruto could only do one thing, that was the defiant thing to do. He glared, his eyes glared at the World Noble who bought him, the only show of resistance he could do before knowing he would live life in despair by this monster.
And he would find out quickly how much a monster these guys could be.
End Flashback
"Hey kid."
Naruto raised his head up from his thoughts of misery, he looked around to know who it was and saw that most of the cages were empty, thinking he was going insane.
"To your right, kid. The cage to your right," Slowly turning his head to the right, Naruto saw something that left him to raise his head up to see the person who was speaking to him was a large man.
The man was in fact, a large muscular guy, he had light pinkish skin color with strong arms, a goatee and a ponytail and with a long tail that showed he was no human.
"W-Who are you?" Naruto asked, a bit amazed by the height of this guy.
"I'm a friend, no need to fear me," The Merman introduced himself, "I guess you're the new slave that World Noble's been talking about, right?"
Naruto calmly nodded, "Y-Yeah."
"You doing alright, kid?" the merman asked as he saw the boy was in bad shape, "Those bastards gave you a hard time, I see. Even against children they don't hold back."
"Why are they called 'World Nobles?" Naruto asked as he was still not in common with that title.
The Merman by this looked confused at the kid, "Seriously, kid? You don't know who they are? Where are you from anyway?"
Naruto looked down for a moment and then answered, "I'm from the Village Hidden in the Leaves."
This caught the merman's attention as he was new to hearing this, "You mean you're from the Shinobi continent?"
"Apparently, that's what they're calling it," Naruto said to the merman, "My name's Naruto Uzumaki."
"Aladdin, nice to meet you, Naruto," The merman named Aladdin smiled at the human boy and noticed the numerous bruises on the boy's arms and legs. He also saw the boy recently received the Celestial's Dragons' mark.
Naruto noticed the way Aladdin looked at him, "Something wrong, Aladdin-san?"
"Your wounds, they're exposed, kid. Clean yourself up," Aladdin threw the kid a small rag to his cage, "Why aren't you much bothered? Those wounds look pretty painful to bear."
"Believe me, I'm used to it," Naruto said while whipping the blood off his arms, "Back home, the villagers would throw rocks at me and chase me away from their stores."
"Are you serious?"
"Yes, sir," Naruto said as he tried to clean his legs with the bloody rag with the clean parts that were left on, "And then, every year on my birthday, a mob would chase me, call me names, trying to hunt me down, but I always outsmarted them."
"Why would they do that?" Aladdin asked, disbelieving at what he was hearing from this kid, but could not see him lying, he was rather shocked that the kid was speaking about it so casually, "Where were your parents?"
This made Naruto pause from cleaning his bruises, with his eyes covered in his hair's shadow, he muttered out the unfortunate sentence, "I'm an orphan, I don't have any parents."
Upon hearing this, Aladdin regretted asking this question, "My apologies."
Naruto just smiled at the Merman, "It's no problem, you just didn't know, but it's okay," Naruto said as he continued cleaning his legs, "I learned to take care of myself and I had an apartment, though it gets lonely," He said slowing down with the scrubbing, as he knew the loneliness was perhaps the biggest hole in his life.
Aladdin felt almost heartbroken by listening to the boy's story and felt like this story could be similar to many others.
'He sounds like a decent kid who was dealt a bad hand. Reminds me of some of the guys from the Fish-Man District, kids being on their own with nobody to look after them,' Aladdin thought as he still needed to figure out what the boy meant by being hated by his home village. However, he was broken from his thoughts when he heard the door opening.
The two turned to the door and heard laughter.
"Sususususu~"
That laugh got Aladdin to tighten his fist as he recognized it right on.
"It's him, of course."
"Ah, you, I see you're still breathing," Mjosgard said, noticing Aladdin in his cage, "Your kind is a very fascinating species, but personally I would prefer to have myself a beautiful mermaid, but your kind is so useful."
Wanting to smash this human's head against the wall with all his power, Aladdin could only sit there and grind his teeth together, having no other choice but to accept the humiliation that this bastard was giving him.
"Then there's you."
Naruto turns his head towards the bastard who branded him just earlier and had that same grin on his face with the guard behind him, wearing the suit and tie with shades.
"My daddy told me about your situation, that you're from the other side of the Grand Line, The Shinobi Lands to be precise," Mjosgard stated the information to the child slave, "He was surprised that he managed to buy you for only 25 million Berries."
Naruto grew a frown on his eyes as he had learned his lesson to not directly glare into the eyes of a World Noble.
"But he told me that when he went backstage to collect you, he had to pay a lot of hush money," Mjosgard said with a chuckle at the boy, "To keep your real value down from the crowd, he paid over 75 million Berries to keep all the information about you from being spoken."
That figure made Aladdin's head pop up after hearing that number and he was astonished when he realized the kid's real worth.
'100 Million Berries for this boy!?'
Mjosgard's sly grin was still on his face as he continued to talk, "Apparently, you're not just any boy from that continent. You're what they call a Jinchuuriki, no?"
Naruto looked away as he heard that word before, not wanting to hear about it. Plus, he barely even knew what was real now. In a little over a week, he's been kidnapped by a former teacher, learned of a demon sealed inside himself, sold to slavers, was auctioned off, and just a moment ago, met a huge Fish-Man for the first time in his life.
Presuming this silence as an act of resistance, Mjosgard found himself a good reason to teach this brat some discipline.
"I guess you don't want to talk about it, fine by me. Guard, take him upstairs."
"As you wish, Saint Mjosgard," The guard complied and opened the gate to grab the kid for his justified punishment.
"Consider this as a warning, and I'm being gentle."
"Huh?-"
BANG!
THUD!
Aladdin just watched in shock as he saw the noble Mjosgard just shoot his golden pistol, hitting the young boy as he fell backwards into his cell.
"Agh!" Naruto seethed in pain, he laid his hand over his shoulder where he felt the stinging the most and found out he was bleeding from it, not knowing what it was, but the bullet went clean through but the pain for the young eleven-year old was unbearable.
"Sususususu~," Holding the smoking gun, Mjosgard smiled at the sight of the young boy being in pain, "Now, I hope this was a good enough lesson for you to understand, so go on and cry for your mommy," The Celestial Dragon said while laughingly walking back upstairs while the bodyguard went for the other cage.
"You are coming with us."
"What?"
"Daddy said I could have you for a few weeks. So come with me," Mjosgard said as the bodyguard started to drag Aladdin out of the cage with chains, "With luck, I might even add you later to my collection of fishmen slaves, sususususu~!"
Dragged out of his cage, Aladdin looked back at the cage where the boy was in but then was forced to look forwards by the bodyguard before he went up the stairs to his new home for the moment.
Once the door closed down behind them, the room was left in darkness again as Naruto now laid yet again alone in the darkness.
*Shred!*
Naruto bit his teeth inside the rag and started tying it up around his wound to try to stop the bleeding, over the bullet hole. Making a knot with the dirty blood-covered rag, this was the only thing he could think of doing now.
Releasing a big sigh of frustration from his mouth and laying his head back against the rails behind him, Naruto tried to have some rest, even when his fingertips were covered in blood, the boy was not aware that his wounds were already healing.
But this was only the beginning of a long and painful journey that Naruto will have to survive.
Time skip
Mariejois
1509
Three years
That's how long it has been since Naruto arrived in Mariejois. Ever since he arrived at this damned city, he just felt disgusted. Mariejois wasn't a utopia, it was a rotten city filled with spoiled, unlikable, old bastards, who were enjoying their undeserved fortunes on the backs of their slaves.
Even in the eyes of a young orphan boy, he could recognize garbage disguised as humans by simply looking at them. Their behavior disgusted him. It was beyond inhumane as they were all more relatable to criminals instead of being called, "Saints."
He'd spent almost a third of a year in the Donquixote household with no access outside the mansion, only being able to look outside from the small window that was on his side of the cages that were bigger now, though, they were all in the basement.
Naruto's presence was actually kept a secret from the other World Nobles, with the only two knowing about his existence being Mjosgard and his father. If rumors of a human from the Shinobi continent being in Mariejois were spread, then they knew that people wouldn't stop until they got their hands on Naruto. Due to this, Mjosgard and his father kept rumors from being started as they kept everything tight-lipped. That, however, did not mean Naruto was better off than the rest of the unfortunate souls.
Currently, the streets almost resembled a ghost town as there were only the knights patrolling the city. One such patrol was currently walking down an alley while they passed the small window where Naruto was watching them from behind the bar-blocked window.
Naruto's body had undergone some changes from when he first arrived. For one, it was skinnier due to the little food being given to him. Next, it was also covered in numerous scars and bruises he had received from the Donquixote family members. Beatings, floggings, burnings, even electrocution wasn't off the list for these people. His wounds would heal, but the scars remained, completely visible for all to see what these "gods" were willing to do to a child.
"You see something there, kid?"
Turning back from the window, he looked at his fellow slave, the Fish-Man, Aladdin. Who recently returned from Mjosgard's estate after another period of time. Hearing that the son owned a whole group of Fishmen who he saw being paraded through the streets from time-to-time.
"Nah, Mr. Aladdin, just a quiet night, I guess."
Aladdin brought out a dry chuckle, "Please, kid. Just call me Aladdin, I'm not a big believer in formalities."
"Oh, okay," Naruto rubbed the back of his head and gave that fox grin, "Sorry about that."
Unable to stop it, a warm smile appeared on Aladdin's face. Knowing the kid for almost half a year, he'd grown to like him. During the times he was with the kid in their cages, he learned about where he used to live, and in return, he told Naruto from where he was.
"Hey Naruto."
"Yeah?"
"You told me your birthday was in October, right?" Aladdin asked the boy, remembering it from the first conversation they had.
"Uhm, yeah, it's on the tenth," It was odd to suddenly bring up his birthday. Especially since it wasn't for another three weeks.
Grumble
Naruto grabbed his stomach as it growled, alerting Naruto of his increasing hunger.
"Ow," Naruto said as he held his stomach, "It hurts."
Aladdin asked him, "They haven't given you much, have they?"
"No, just some moldy bread and some disgusting meat," Naruto said as he had eaten it before realizing all of it was spoiled, making him almost throw it all out, "All they did was laugh once they saw me realize that it was spoiled."
"Here."
Naruto looked up only to be surprised when he caught a small paper bag. Looking inside, he began salivating when he saw what was there.
Inside the bag, was a small sandwich filled with some fish, meat, and leaves of lettuce.
Naruto looked at Aladdin in shock as he shakes his head while saying, "I can't."
"Consider it as a birthday present," Aladdin said with his genuine smile, "Just go on and eat it already."
"Thank you," Naruto said to the Fishman, "Really, thank you."
This was actually one of the very few gifts he'd ever been given on his birthday, even if it was in a place like this.
"You're welcome, now eat."
Not sparing a moment, Naruto dived in and began eating the sandwich to the last crumble, devouring it with all the hunger he had.
As Aladdin kept watch, he started hearing some noise outside his window and looked to see what the noise was. What he saw confused him. The night sky was it's normal, deep blue color, however, on the other side of the city, it was turning dark red rise up from where he knew laid the public cages for slaves.
"Stand up!"
The two slaves quickly turn their heads to the door as they saw two bodyguards walk down and open the door of Naruto's cage and drag him out.
"Hey, get off me!" Naruto shouted as the bodyguard dragged him by his arms up the stairs, "Bastards! Let me go!"
"Saint Donquixote has summoned your presence, slave. Be honored by that you're called in this late hour by royalty," The bodyguard with the shades said with a straight face.
"I don't give a damn who he is. Let me go, bastards!" Naruto shouted as he kept being dragged upstairs by them until the door closed right behind them. Left alone in the basement this time, Aladdin turned back towards the window in hopes of finding out what was going on.
Not long after, the merman couldn't believe his eyes as he realized what he was witnessing.
Coming out of the street that had been consumed by the flames, was a tall figure walking down the street with numerous weapons, it only took a moment for the Merman to realize who it was.
"No!" Aladdin's eyes widened in awestruck disbelief, "Why is he here!?"
STUMP!
Naruto laid on the ground, with his face kicked in by the bodyguard who made his nose bleed, again. He laid right in front of the Lord of the Donquixote Family who was now on his own with three other suited bodyguards in the room.
"You're a pesky little brat, I'll give you that," The multiple-chin man looked down on the boy with a frown, "But I'm running out of patience by now, show me what your demon is, now!"
"Like… I told you… I can't!" Yet again, this bastard didn't understand that he couldn't do what he was asking, "You're asking me to do something, I have no clue what to do!"
In his time as a slave in this household, the father and his son had knowledge about the Fox being sealed inside his body and, for the dumbest reason, wanted him to release that Fox or summon it, so they could use it. Which, to Naruto, was incredibly stupid of these people.
"You're just making excuses, boy, and you know it," The Celestial Dragon said with little interest in the arguments, "Now, show me the demon!"
"I can't!"
"I'm getting tired of this. Guards! Restrain and force him," The impatient Celestial Dragon ordered.
"I told you I can't-!" Naruto's head got shoved to the ground as now both his arms and legs got pinned down with the rest of his body by all the bodyguards except one who stood next to the World Noble.
"I know for a fact Jinchuuriki are able to use the power of the Tailed Beasts," The World Noble said as he'd learn about it through undisclosed sources, "Those beasts are rumored to be as powerful as the Ancient Weapons, so I want to see that power."
"Even if you'd get it out of me, it's suicide!" Naruto protested as his head was forced against the ground. "My village was almost destroyed by it, and it took the 4th Hokage's life to stop it!"
"Your village must be a bunch of weaklings if they cannot beat it. Guard," Then the bodyguard next to the Noble walked up to the boy, "Go on."
"Of course, my lord," The bodyguard replied as he pulls out a shock stick from behind his back and began pointing it at Naruto's neck as sparks of electricity could be seen coming from it.
"Well if you won't do it, I'll force it."
The stick punctuated into Naruto's neck and his body started getting shocks into his body while the bodyguards kept the boy down while he began screaming in pain.
Meanwhile
Inside the mind of the young Uzumaki, a large prison gate with bars and a watery floor began to tremble, this was the home of the monster that has been sealed inside Naruto for the pastime he was alive.
On that same gate, a paper seal of the 4th Hokage was placed on it, and that seal had been damaged as small traces of red bubbly chakra were oozing through the bars from within the prison.
Minutes go by as the child was getting again electrocuted, and this was not pleasing the beast that was contained inside the seal for one bit.
For him, they reached the limit.
"Hmm, they're at it again, I see."
That voice came from the Nine-Tailed Fox himself, as he was witnessing the torture these sacks of human filth were performing on a child that was refusing to give in to their foolish wishes.
"I despise you, kid, I really do."
The fox's giant claws spread across the prison bars in anger as the red mist was oozing out now into the rest of Naruto's mind.
"But if they want to see a demon, I'll show them one…"
"We're seeing some results, my lord, look."
In a matter of moments, that red power now covered Naruto's body slightly as the other bodyguards kept their hold on the boy with ease and no knowledge of what they were witnessing.
The Celestial Dragon was satisfied with the results he was getting. "Perfect, finally I'll see what this demon of his has. Carry on."
"Of course," The bodyguard said as he turned the shock stick back on, and was about to poke at the boy's neck again.
CLING!
"What the?"
The stick was grabbed before it could reach the kid's neck again, the bodyguard tried yanking it out but the grip on it was too strong, and by the looks of it, the boy did not grab it with his hands that were still restrained by the others. Instead, he held it with his mouth as his teeth were now like fangs, yanking it like an animal that was now growling in angry manner.
"He's holding it with his teeth!"
"Off, Off!" the bodyguard who held the boy's head ordered him. "Do what you're told, slave!"
CRACK!
Suddenly, instead of letting go, Naruto snapped the shock stick in half with a snap of his jaws. Suddenly, the guards and the triple chinned Noble finally took notice of the uneasy feeling that was filling the air. A feeling that brought fear to those who were in it's path.
Uncontrolled rage.
Sweat began rolling off his face as more began to drip off his chins and he felt himself in need of some air, "W-What is this?"
"GGRRRRRRRRRRRR!"
The Noble gasped as he quickly looks down and realizes where it was coming from. It was the boy. It was then that Naruto looked up at the Noble, with the Noble no longer recognizing the boy.
His whiskers had darkened of the appearance of a mink and his teeth were no longer like that of a human's but that of a wild animal. However, both of those paled in comparison when compared to his eyes. Once, they were deep blue, however, now they were blood red!
The Noble only now realized his mistake as Naruto now had the appearance of a demon!
The Celestial Dragon panicked by this, "He's turned! Restrain him!"
Naruto's teeth quickly bit the leg of the guard that was still holding the broken shock stick and began destroying it with all the strength he had while the others tried to restrain him.
"AAAH! MY LEG!"
One of the guards pulled out his gun and aimed at the boy's back, but it was already too late.
"Take him out, now!"
Basement
A pair of shackles dropped to the ground as well as the remnants of an explosive collar.
"That feels better," Aladdin said rubbing his neck as he finally had that damn collar off, "I don't know how to thank you for doing this, Fisher Tiger."
Fisher Tiger was the Fishman who'd just done the unthinkable. He'd attacked the Holy land of Mariejois and was on a mission to free all the slaves he could find.
Fisher Tiger was an extraordinary Fishman, standing nearly ten feet tall with salmon-pink colored skin. He had a flat nose, wide lips with a bit of hair, a thick beard, and sideburns. On the back of his head, was a spiky dorsal fin sprouting under his long, dark, curly hair. He currently wore a cameo bandana with a fitting shirt and was armed with a sword and some firearms for his crusade against this city.
"Don't be, this had to be handled," Tiger said not wanting anything in return except for information, "Are there any other slaves in this house? I'm planning on getting everyone out of here."
Aladdin nodded and was about to mention the women servants when suddenly…
"SHOOT IT!"
BANG! BANG! BANG! BANG!
Those gunshots alerted the two fishmen with Tiger pulling out his loaded pistol and wondering if it was for him.
"KILL THE BRAT!"
Realizing who they were talking about, Aladdin began running up the stairs, "No!"
"Aladdin!? Wait, where are you going!?"
"Young Naruto is up there! I've got to help him!" Aladdin shouted as he burst through the door, with Fisher Tiger running straight behind him. In a matter of moments, they had reached the first floor where the female slaves were running out of several rooms. They suddenly ran into the Fishmen with Fisher Tiger stopping them.
"What happened?"
"The living room! That's where the shots were coming from!" One of the women said hysterically as she was panicking, unable to explain anything else.
"You help these women, I'll check out the living room," Fisher Tiger said as he ran up forwards.
"Right," Aladdin nodded as he went to help the girls with their cuffs and collars. Hoping to join the fight soon so that he could help his friend.
As he entered the room, Fisher Tiger was stunned at what he saw, not believing a single thing his eyes were witnessing.
The living room was severely destroyed, as there were claw marks everywhere with splatters of blood covering the walls. Walking further into the room, Fisher Tiger started to see dismembered body parts that were lying in small pools of blood with streak marks on the floor leading to several dead bodies. As if something had dragged them across the floor before killing them.
"What happened here?" Tiger wondered as he walked further into the room, ignoring the blood and body parts, in search of a small boy until he noticed the body of the last person he expected to be among the corpses.
Lying there, flat on his stomach, was the body of a Celestial Dragon, with his head having been turned completely around, with his neck having been twisted immensely, showing he was dead of a broken neck.
Meanwhile, sitting next to the fireplace, was Naruto, covered in blood as he held a blood-covered stick in his tiny hands, completely in shock at what he'd done.
"Naruto?"
The boy looked up with wide eyes at the Fishman, not recognizing him, and just stared at him with his trembling hands.
"Don't worry, I'm a friend of Aladdin," Tiger said as he took a softer approach and puts his pistols away, "Let me help you, okay?"
Naruto did not move a muscle as Aladdin ran into the room and saw the state of carnage by himself and couldn't believe what he was seeing.
"Aladdin, check on the Celestial Dragon. I know it's unlikely, but see if he's alive," Fisher Tiger told him as he knelt before the small boy, "Listen, let me help you."
Naruto didn't respond, but he did lower his guard as he let go of the stick. It slowly slid out of his hands and onto the floor where Fisher Tiger picked it up and threw it into the fireplace.
"Good, good," Fisher Tiger said as he wiped the blood off the boy's head and cheeks that was lingering on his small face.
Aladdin took a look at the Celestial Dragon and knew he was dead once he saw the man's neck, but the man's face still held the horror he had witnessed just before his death.
"Tiger, he's dead."
"Ugh!"
Naruto suddenly began gasping as he fell into the arms of Fisher Tiger, who quickly realized what was wrong as he saw the two bullet holes on the boy's back.
"Aladdin, he's wounded!" Tiger warned him as he lifted the boy up, "We need to get out of here, now!"
"But-"
"Go!" Tiger said handing Naruto over to the merman as he reached for his bazooka rifle and aimed it, "I'll be the distraction. Go to the outskirts at the southern part of the city. There's a ship waiting there, we'll go straight back to Fish-Man Island!"
Aladdin hesitated but noticed the boy's wounds were severe and nodded, "Fine, I'll wait there for you, but you better come back alive."
"Will do, now go!" Tiger shouted as he jumped out of the open window and began running for the center of the burning city again.
Running out of the city, Aladdin was carrying the wounded Naruto with numerous slaves around him who had managed to evade the security and marines that were entering the city.
Humans, Minks, Mermen, Fishmen, Giants, all of them were running for the lives that they were desperately hoping for.
"Aladdin!"
The merman looked around and noticed the other fishmen slaves from Mjosgard's estate had also been liberated.
"Everyone! I'm glad to see you all!" Aladdin said relieved to see them, "You going to Fisher Tiger's ship?"
"Yeah, he told us where to go. We figured you had also been freed," One of them with a scar said while running, "Every last one of us were freed thanks to him, but this is going to put a price on his head!"
"He knows, but that doesn't matter now," One of them, a fellow merman with spikey hair said, "Let's hurry to the ship and wait for Fisher Tiger."
"Right," Aladdin said and turned his attention back to the young boy that was in his hands with potentially fatal wounds. Not only that, but this boy will have to face hardships like no other for the actions he'd committed.
Actions that would force him to a life on the seas.
And that was it for this first chapter, folks!
I wanna thank my two Beta writers, Tachyon99 and reaperofsanity. Couldn't do it without them.
Till next time.