1,644And we're back! Wow didn't think the first chapter would do so well!
Well onto the next!
Wind Granma
"So where are we off to now Dragon?" Naruto asked as they sailed through the sea. While he still felt a bit sea sick, he was getting more used to being at sea. It had been a few weeks since they left Alabasta and his encounter with the woman known as Nico Robin. Dragon had given him some details about her and her past. How her home had been destroyed by the Marines because they dug those nose too deep into some lost knowledge that they wanted to keep buried.
It angered him that the people who were supposed to be protecting the weak were instead using their power to oppress and manipulate the story to make the people of Ohara look like monsters. From what Dragon had told him, not even civilians who weren't involved with the researcher were spared. Nico Robin had been the only survivor.
"Sabaody Archipelago, we got a tip that a particularly large shipment of slaves were going to be auctioned off soon. Some of them are members of the Revolutionary Army that got captured during a failed mission at a Marine Base," Dragon told the blond as he wanted to save his subordinates on top of the rest of the innocents that had been captured. He knew how cruel the Celestial Dragons were, especially to people they knew hated them. "I have little doubt that if they are sold to the World Nobles, they'll be tortured for their own amusement," he almost growled out.
A heavy scowl appeared on Naruto's face when he heard that, "You know the more I hear about these bastards the more I just want to punch one in the face," he commented as everything he had been told about these people made him sick to his stomach. How they treated those under them. How they saw themselves as above humans, above the law even. As far as they were concerned the law was made for their own benefit and didn't apply to them. And the Marines just accepted it.
Dragon chuckled lightly, "Careful, if you want to get an Admiral called on you, punching a World Noble will typically do the trick," he warned lightly. While he wouldn't mind punching a few of the World Nobles himself, he knew that getting an Admiral called on them wouldn't exactly be the best idea. A full on fight with the Marines wouldn't exactly be something he wanted in the middle of an highly populated island.
It was that cautiousness that prevented him from talking to Nico Robin when he found her with Naruto in Alabasta. He doubted he would have enough time to convince her to join them before the place was swarmed with Marines. They barely made it out without major conflict to begin with. A wasted opportunity as Nico Robin would have furthered their goals greatly, but escape was his top concern.
"Well then, let them come," Naruto said, slamming his fist into the palm of his hand with a wide, confident smirk. He didn't know how powerful these Admirals would be, but he figured that if he could fight people like Madara or Kaguya, then he doubted that these Admirals would be that much stronger given what he had seen from this world so far.
"Admirals are no joke Naruto, I would recommend not taking them too lightly," Dragon told his alien companion. While he doubted that Naruto had shown him his true power and from what he had already seen, the blond was exceptionally powerful, he didn't want to take the chance of him underestimating the three Admirals and getting in over his head. He didn't even know if Naruto had a way to hit them since he assumed that Haki wasn't a thing where he came from.
"Hm, well anyways what's the plan?" Naruto asked as he saw the bubbles of the island appearing in the distance and growing ever closer. He had been growing a bit anxy from being on a ship for so long and he couldn't wait to stretch his legs on land.
"We're going to try and break into the auction house and liberate those being held there. A team will try to sneak in through the back entrance, but we'll need a distraction to lure the guards and Marines away from there. Our contact on the island said that a Shishibukai will be guarding the World Nobles attending," He said knowing that whoever would take the job of distracting those who would try to stop them would likely have their work cut out for them. Fighting one of the Warlords wasn't an easy feat for most people. He figured that he would probably have to do it himself given that his other commanders were out on their own missions for now.
"I'll do it," Naruto said casually, feeling that he might as well just go strong with these Shichibukai. He was never one to hide and that Admiral had already seen him use the Rasenshuriken. In reality he wanted to figure out where he stood in this world powerwise. Most of the people on the Wind Granma didn't really pose much of a challenge for him and Dragon was too busy for a serious spar against him.
Dragon didn't seem too convinced as to letting Naruto go up against someone like a member of the Seven Warlords of the Sea. Of course he knew who would be the Shichibukai that would be there already. His spy had told him that Bartholomew Kuma would be the one with the World Nobles. It so happened that Kuma…was also his spy. So he would have to put up a convincing fight against whoever went up against him or risk blowing his cover. "Are you certain? Members of the Shichibukai have been known to be able to take on entire fleets on their own," Dragon asked to make sure Naruto was certain he wanted this.
Normally Dragon would outright refuse someone so new volunteering to perform such a dangerous job, but Naruto had proven himself the strongest among his subordinates. However the smirk on the blond's face -filled with such confidence- swayed him ever so slightly. He could see a strange golden energy starting to rise from the shinobi that made his skin tingle. "Trust me Dragon, I can more than handle myself! After all, I fought a goddess before. How bad can one person be?" he claimed much to the amusement of all the crewmembers who overheard him.
"A goddess he says, Dragon I think the new guy has gone loony!" One of the men laughed out loud. They all knew that the whiskered blond was exceptionally strong, but to claim to have fought a goddess was absurd.
"I'll show you!" Naruto growled, holding his fist up, ready to clobber whoever doubted him.
"Enough," the commander of the Revolutionary Army said, ending any discourse on his ship. "Naruto, if you feel that you can hold your own, then I'll put my faith in you," he told the blond, silently hoping that he wasn't making a mistake.
Sabaody Archipelago
Having docked their ship in one of the many ports, Naruto followed behind Dragon through the several areas of the tree-made island. While Naruto was still wearing the outfit he bought in Alabasta, Dragon had pulled his cloak's hood over his head. Apparently despite the Marine base on the island, the island has a rather prosperous dark side.
"So where are we going?" Naruto asked the older man who weaved around people, his face covered by the shadow of his hood. Naruto didn't know exactly where they were going, but Dragon had insisted that they head to some bar before they did anything else on the false island.
"We're going to see a few people of interest, no need to think too much about it," Dragon replied not seeing a need to go more into it as he was certain that Naruto being from another world wouldn't know who the people they were going to talk to were. "We're here," the dark haired man said as they arrived at a building with a green ball for a roof.
"Shakky's Rip-off Bar?" He asked with a flat look on his face.
Dragon chuckled as he pushed the doors open and entered the bar, Naruto following closely behind him. Looking around there were some rather strong looking pirates around drinking. Behind the counter was a woman with dark hair in a bob-cut smoking a cigarette. Walking closer to the bar counter, Dragon sat down. "Anything you'd recommend?" Dragon asked the woman who looked at the man with a questioning look.
"Not everyday someone like you comes around," She said before her eyes flickered to Naruto who sat next to Dragon and gave her a warm smile. "Must have something to do with the slaves that just got shipped in," the woman commented, placing two beers down for them. "And the new revolutionary, Uzumaki Naruto," she said, having seen the updated posters being delivered around the island a few days ago.
"How do you know my name?" Naruto asked, wide eyes by the fact that she knew his name already.
"Given you have a wanted poster? It's not that hard to guess," she replied in a teasing tone as an older looking man with long white hair and beard walked out from the back. The man looked at the two and sat down next to Dragon.
"To get a bounty of a hundred million Beri right off the bad, you must have done something pretty bad," the man commented as he looked at the blond who chuckled and scratched the back of his head.
"Not really, I just stopped…what was his name? Aokoji was it? He tried to freeze our ship," Naruto asked, looking at Dragon who facepalmed at the fact that the shinobi had forgotten the name of one of the three Admirals.
"Aokiji," Dragon corrected.
The older man laughed out, as the woman handed him a beer as well, "So young and facing the Admirals? The new generations really are something else, right Shakky?" he asked the woman with a wide smile on his face as he couldn't help but respect any youngster who had the balls to get between an Admiral and his target, granted he figured that Dragon would have been able to handle it. "So how can we help you two?" the man asked.
"We were hoping that you and Shakuyaku would have some information about the auction house Rayleigh," Dragon replied to the former right hand of Gol D. Roger. While Kuma had been able to get them a date and time, as to when the slaves would be on the island, he hadn't been able to give them more details due to having needed to be around the World Nobles attending the auction.
Shakky took a drag of her cigarette as she seemed to contemplate the request from the revolutionary leader. "From what I heard, there is a back room entrance that's typically only guarded by a few Donquixote Pirates that Doflamingo left on the island last time he was here to keep an eye on the establishment. It's a straight shot towards there they hold the slaves, you just need to find a way to remove the explosive collars," she told the two members of the Revolusionary Army.
"And of course there is Kuma who has been spotted on the island with a group of World Nobles, not exactly an easy opponent for the average person," Rayleigh added as he looked at Naruto.
"Anything I should know about him?" the blond asked wondering what he would be walking into. He of course wanted to make sure that he didn't underestimate his opponent too much. Dragon had told him about many of the Devil Fruits that existed, he didn't want to run the risk of running into something that could put him in a bad situation if he didn't handle it properly.
"Bartholomew Kuma, he ate the Nikyu Nikyu no Mi. In essence it allows him to repel just about anything he touches. This includes air, people, and long ranged attacks. He's even able to push out the pain and fatigue in people and push it into another. He's also been modified by the World Government using cybernetics, making him a cyborg," Rayleigh answered, figuring that the blond was going to be the one to take on Kuma. While he was still green, his starting bounty spoke for itself, he had to have done something that really grabbed some attention. "He typically attacks by pushing the air in ranged attacks, and can condense a large amount into a bomb of sort. He however needs to be able to touch whatever he's repelling with his hands, so they're tie up; he can't use them to block or attack," he mentioned, figuring that the young boy could use all the help he could get against one of the Warlords. "Dragon, if you wouldn't mind, I'd like to talk to you in the back," Rayleigh said motioning for the tattooed man to follow.
Dragon nodded and looked at Naruto, "Stay here until I return," he ordered, wanting to make sure that the blond didn't try to leave the bar and get into trouble. Seeing Naruto nod his head, he followed after the older man who closed the door behind them.
"Dragon, are you sure that kid can handle this? I'm not typically one to get involved with your business, but I've never heard of him before the wanted posters dropped. Does he even know how to use haki?" The former hand of the pirate king asked, worried that Naruto would be getting in over his head against someone like Kuma.
"As far as I know, he doesn't know how to use Haki, but I have seen him repel an attack from an Admiral while heavily injured. Now that he's fully up and healthy, I need to know where he stands in terms of strength if he's going to continue being part of my army. And if Kuma is too much of an opponent, then I'll step in myself and let the others handle the slaves," Dragon replied beliving in Naruto after what he witnessed on the ship when Aokiji caught up to them. The sheer devastation of his 'Rasenshuriken' and his claims of having fought against a goddess needed further investigation.
"You're using a Shichibukai as a test for your new recruit?" Rayleigh asked not sure if he heard right before chuckling. "Well, there is probably a good reason. Where did you find this kid anyways?"
"He fell from the sky," Dragon replied, smirking as he left the back rooms only to find that Naruto had beaten up several men with swords. "What happened…"
"A few guests got a bit rowdy when they got their bills, but he managed to clean them up," Shakky replied with a smirk as the blond shinobi had taken care of the pirates with ease. She had been rather surprised with how easily Naruto had been able to deal with the ten pirates. It looked like he hadn't even tried despite them having pretty sizable bounties.
"Well good job," Rayleigh said looking at the people who attacked his wife. None of them were dead, instead they all had been knocked out without taking too much damage. From the looks of it, they had each been knocked out with just a hit or two. Dragon had mentioned that he couldn't use Haki, meaning he beat them all with his natural strength as far as he knew.
Dragon rubbed the bridge of his nose, "We better leave before the Marines arrive here," he said, pulling his hood down and putting the money down for the drinks they had but Shakky pushed it back towards him.
"Consider it a thanks for whiskers taking care of those punks," she said, having taken a liking to Naruto during the time that Dragon and Rayleigh.
Flashback
Watching the two men walk to the back to talk about who knew what, Shakky looked at the blond who drained his beer with less intensity than she was used to compared to others. "So why did you join the Revolutionary Army?" Shakky asked the blond while gave her a warm smile.
"Frankly, it's mainly because Dragon took care of me when I was at my lowest. When he found me, I frankly had nothing. I saw that he had a point when it came to this world's corruption," Naruto said knowing what he felt when he accessed his power to sense negative emotions. Dragon had felt like someone he could trust while the world itself felt horrible due to the corruption of the World Government.
Shakky took another drag of her cig as she listened to Naruto, "Just understand that once you directly go against the World Nobles by helping Dragon with this, there won't be any going back for you, especially if you end up hurting one of them," she warned knowing that those people never let anything go. Once you got on their bad side, you were going to stay there until you died.
"If the World Nobles and Marines are as bad as I've heard and seen, then I don't care if they hate me," he responded, feeling that the government that managed the majority of the world was extremely flawed. He didn't think that everyone in the Marines were bad, but they were complicit in the atrocities they commited. Dragon had told him about what happened back on Ohara when he asked about Nico Robin.
To wipe out everyone, even those who weren't involved in the 'crimes' committed that got the Buster Call ordered, that was insane.
"I see, well I don't particularly disagree. I've seen a lot of shitty things in my life. What do you seek to accomplish?" She asked him wondering if he was just another of Dragon's lackeys or if he had his own goals in mind.
Naruto's smile turned somber at the question, almost as if he was remembering something fondly from his past. "I want to bring peace to the world, so no one has to die a needless death. Where everyone can live in harmony," he told her honestly as he thought back to his time with Jiraiya before his death at the hands of Nagato.
"Live in harmony huh? Sounds nice, but given how people are I say that might just be impossible," She said as the drunken men looked at their bills in shock and began to get riled up by just how much they were being charged by the owner.
Naruto smirked, "I've been known to make the impossible, possible ya know," he told her confident that he would one day be able to do it. He didn't know how, but he had seen back in his homeworld how people could all band together. If it could be done once, it could be done again, he was certain of it.
"Hey bish! Whaz wit these pieces!" He slurred out, clearly drunk beyond being able to talk and walk normally as he stumbled against the counter, his bill in hand showing an extraordinarily high total.
"That's your bill, so pay up," Shakky insisted as she wasn't about to lower the prices for these scumbags.
"Fuk off!" The man yelled as he pulled his sword out but had his face slammed into the counter by Naruto.
"Captain!" The crew yelled as their leader was knocked out by the blond man who stood up and cracked his knuckles, the man sliding off the counter and onto the floor. The rest was over quickly, despite being vastly outnumbered, Naruto managed to get out completely unscaved from the altercation.
Flashback End
"It was nothing," Naruto replied with a wide smile as Dragon motioned for him to follow as he took the money back and went for the exit. Given how much the woman charged for her services normally, he wouldn't look a gift horse in the mouth. "See you two later!" the blond shinobi called out as he walked after the olderman.
Rayleigh smiled as he watched the two leave, "It's rare for you to take such a liking to someone so quickly," He said to her as he leaned back against the bar counter.
Shakky smiled as she looked at the blond walking alongside Dragon, or maybe Dragon was walking alongside him. "I have a feeling he will help change the world one day," she told her husband. There was just something about him that made her want to trust him. The way he spoke with such conviction and certainty in his beliefs. "He said he wants to bring peace to the world," Shakky said with a chuckle, "What a dream."
"People have achieved the impossible," the older man replied, recalling his past alongside Gol D. Roger.
Wind Granma
Dragon and his crew were going over the plan one last time before they begun their operation to free their friends and the rest of the slaves from the auction house. "Naruto will start by causing a conflict to bait out Bartholomew Kuma from inside," the tattooed man said looking at the blond who was leaning against a wall. "Naruto, I can not stress it enough that you do not kill him if it gets to that point. Try and incapacitate him as best you can, but killing is completely out of the question," he stressed, knowing that shinobi from Wano typically went for the kill. Naruto claimed not to be from there, but he figured they might have some similarities.
While he might be posing as their enemy, that was mainly for show. Kuma was one of his most trusted comrades who had helped him on countless missions. He was currently risking everything by getting so close to the World Government and he couldn't risk blowing his cover. It was why he would try and push Naruto away if he could make it seem realistic, if not then Dragon would step in and save the blond teen.
"Killing isn't really my style," Naruto replied, having avoided killing many people throughout his career as a shinobi. Sure there were times where had no other choice, but typically he tried to keep his opponents alive.
"Good, then a small team of us will infiltrate the auction house and make our way to the cells where they're holding the slaves. Luckily we know how to safely remove the slave collars without setting them off," Dragon said as they had someone who knew how to undo the collars.
Naruto stopped listening half way as he decided to talk with Kurama.
"Really getting into this huh?" Kurama asked as he didn't expect his partner to go so head long into this whole revolutionary deal.
"Not like I have many other choices. I'm kinda already a criminal according to the people who run this place. From what I've seen our options are to stay here and try to help people, become pirates and rob people, or join the Marines and scam people, or explore and hope we end up doing anything. But our best chance of bringing peace to this world is with Dragon," Naruto said, having thought about what he could do if he decided to leave the Revolutionary Army. His choices were kinda limited.
"Fair points," Kurama replied as he could see where Naruto was coming from. "I guess it would be good for us to know how we compare to these Shichibukai if we're going to try and help this world. If we find ourselves lacking, then we'll likely need to focus more on training," The Kyuubi stated as he knew that they wouldn't get that far if they were defeated fairly easily. Dragon had mentioned something about the Yonko, which seemed to be almost like the Kage of pirates. They would most likely be opponents they would have to face at some point in the future.
"I'm sure we can take him, I refuse to let our dream die," Naruto replied as he was confident that if Dragon had been willing to let him fight, then he expected him to be able to at the very least survive against this Kuma person. After all, he would be a piss poor distraction if he died instantly…
"How are you going to go about it? Will you use my chakra?" The titanic fox asked the blond who contemplated how far he would go against Kuma.
"I think I'll start off with Sage Mode, given what that Aokiji guy did when he attacked our ship I don't think going in without at least that might bite us in the ass," Naruto told Kurama as he knew that being punched while in Sage Mode was a very different from being punched in his base form. A punch that would knock him out normally would only knock him back while in Sage Mode.
"Dismissed," Dragon said as he finished going over the plan with the crew of the ship. Walking out of the room, Naruto walked to the room he had been given onboard the Wind Granma. Getting into bed, he looked up at the ceiling and steeled himself knowing that tomorrow he'd have his first major fight in this world.
And there we go! Prelude to Naruto's first big fight in the series against Kuma.
Anyways please remember to leave a review! Probably my favorite part is reading them since it gives me feed back as to how the story is going. People who've read my Game of Thrones Fanfic "Stag of Storms" will know that I have changed parts of the story based on feedback because people pointed out that I messed up. Also some times people give REALLY good suggestions in reviews and PMs. Sometimes those making it into the story itself! Looking for a good nickname for Naruto that Pirates and Marines would call him.
Feel free to PM
OH YEAH
And vote on the poll! If there is a certain girl you want in, VOTE. Or if you want it to just be Robin, ALSO VOTE.
Not gonna lie romances probably won't start for a while so there is time lol. For now the focus is establishing Naruto in the One Piece world
Welp! Later!