Authors Note: I had a different story put up on this genre but for some reason, it was taken down. Straw Hat Maelstrom was the story's name and it featured Naruto joining Luffy and Zoro, and said blonde giving Coby a Mythical Zoan Devil Fruit. This story features a Naruto joining the crew but at a different point because I don't feel like writing any arcs before the Logue Town Episode.
(Logue Town...)
"This is where we must part ways… for now."
Two figures stood on a roof of a tall building. One of them was taller than the other, and unlike the latter, the former was covered in a cloak, so it was difficult to make out what they were wearing or seemed to look like though, unlike the former, the latter wasn't wearing any such so it was easy to make out the spiky blonde hair, the cerulean blue eyes, the whisker-like tattoos on each cheek, and the fact that said figure was a male with a leanish muscular build. The blonde was garbed in a pair of orange pants, a mesh undershirt, a pair of dark blue sandals, and finally, an orange and black turtleneck jacket.
It was the former who spoke.
"Although I wish that you would've stayed a bit longer back in the base, you've grown strong enough to take care of yourself in this treacherous sea. It shows great maturity in not only your skills, but also your personality. You've come a long way from being that short little boy I first met 6 years ago… Naruto-kun."
"Hey I was 14 back then, and I wasn't short!"
"So, you say."
"Sensei~"
The robed man just laughed at his student's antics because, despite the fact that the blonde may be older, stronger and more mature, time and time again he, Naruto, proved that at heart, he was still the same boy he knew, took in, and trained with all those years ago.
He admired that about his student.
Mode somber, the robed man turned around, walking to the opposite edge of the roof he stood on, as soon as the wind started picking up.
"You should probably get to the ship because things are about to get... windy."
He tilted his head back at Naruto, looking over his shoulder to glance at the blonde.
"Promise to write back to base from time to time?"
Naruto grinned.
"Believe it."
And with that, the robed man's form - not before he gave his student a side smile - disappeared with the wind, leaving Naruto standing there alone, well alone with the hawk that that just landed on his shoulder - the one he was petting with his hand.
"Dragon-sensei..."
The blonde looked at the clouds, his grin shifting to a smile.
"Don't worry, I'll make sure to look after your son; it's the least I can do after everything you've done for me, right, Kree-chan?"
"SKREE!"
And with that, he too disappeared with the wind, leaving the amount of people on the roof to zero.
[Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto or One Piece…]
[Chapter One: The New Member…]
Nami and Usopp ran as fast and hard as they could to their destination.
The Going Merry...
They were trying to outrun the gathering of storm clouds above which signified the beginnings of a rather huge storm, which would be bad if they got caught in and were unable to move in, especially because including Zoro, Sanji, and Monkey D. Luffy, they were pirates headed towards the Grand Line, and there was a Marine stationed here on this Island to prevent this from happening as much as possible.
They couldn't risk their ship destroyed by the marines, or washed up by a storm...
It was why the two ran as fast as they could to Merry, while Zoro and Sanji went to retrieve Luffy from the situation he'd managed to get himself into that involved a separate group of marines - led by their marine officer: Captain Smoker - and a separate group of Pirates led by their wacky captain: Buggy The Clown.
"Honestly," panted Usopp. He was carrying Sanji's prize for winning the cook off: the Blue Finned Elephant Tuna, which was a difficult task, especially while running as hard as he was. The sniper will make sure Sanji paid for this. "Couldn't we have gotten out of this place without Luffy getting us into trouble?"
"No time to worry about that idiot when our ship may be in danger." stated a frowning Nami, concern growing even more as she felt the rapid drop of air pressure, however the redhead's expression brightened the moment she saw a familiar sight. "I see Merry's sail's! Hurry, she's just a little bit further!"
And as they eventually arrived at the port Merry was parked, she and the Sniper paused at the sight before them.
"W-wha…"
Indeed, the marines and one Buggy's men, the Lion Tamer, had arrived before them, but that wasn't what surprised them; what surprised them was the sight of the two groups knocked out sprawled on the ground, right in front of their ship with Cannons, Rifles and firing equipment littered around them.
"Yip!"
As they navigated their way around the knocked-out bodies, the pair looked up to where that bark came from their gazing, and as they saw that it came from an yellow furred fox cub with just a single waving tail sitting in front of Merry, instantly every moment of worry was gone as Nami squealed.
"KAWAII!"
She snatched it up, dropping everything she had in her hand in order to pick up said fox smother it in her generous bosom; meanwhile, Usopp climbed the Merry, successfully managing to drop the very large tuna on the deck of the ship, before he turned to his nakama, and frowned.
"Oi Nami," He called out, "What are you still hugging that fox for? Aren't you the one that predicted how bad this storm is? Shouldn't we be planning an escape route before more marines to show up and seize the ship?!"
"Ah," Nami's eyes widened, pausing from her smothering of the fox as she remembered why she was in a hurry to get here on the first place. "You're right!" She stated, before she dropped the fox on the ground, picked up her items and threw them on the ship, before climbing on herself. "Thanks Usopp! I nearly myself for a moment; we can worry about the knocked-out marines later! Right now, we have to get ready so that by the time the others get here, we can make quick retreat!"
The fox watched from him spot as the two hustled, panting with his for tails swaying behind him even as the rain trickling from above, washed its fur.
"Yip, yip!"
With a mighty show of jumping strength, it took off into the air and landed on the railings of the Merry, before walking along it and jumping on Merry's head as Usopp was busy arguing with the cute redhead about her current decision.
"We can't set off without Luffy and the others! We have to wait!"
"Why? So that more marines can come and sink our ship? Luffy can stretch remember?! He can get the others on the ship when he gets here!"
"Yip!"
"Mmm?"
Usopp and Nami, pausing from their argument at the bark, looked up to see the familiar fox sitting on the head of Merry, Luffy's seat. This earned a sigh from Nami who walked up to the fox and held her palms out to which the fox landed on.
"Yip!" the fox barked. "Yip, yip!"
"Sorry little guy," Nami said, "but it seems that we can't take you to where we're going. Looks like this is where we'll have to part ways." Dropping its ears in sadness, the fox whimpers out a sad whine which brings tears to Nami's eyes in response, before she brings the fox up and hugs it to her bountiful chest, sobbing. "Aww! I just can't bear to leave such a cute little thing behind for all those nasty marines to have a piece of you! Usopp, let's keep it! He can even be our cute little mascot!"
Usopp was about to answer with a resounding no, but the sight of something caught his eye.
"Nami-swan!"
"Sanji!"
The redhead blinked at the sniper's cry, before looking to where she heard her name being called and saw the familiar face of Sanji staring back at her with a love struck look on his eyes while he ran from the marines that were chasing after him.
"Sanji-kun!" She cried in surprise. "But where are Luffy and Zoro?!"
Sanji's love struck look immediately disappeared as he stopped next to the ship.
"Those idiots can take care of themselve-"
"Sanji, behind you!"
"Yip!"
The fox leaped out of Nami's grip at Usopp's cry - ignoring her protest - just as the marines were about to attack Sanji, and before her, Usopp and Sanji's eyes, it disappeared in a flash of golden yellow, reappearing and disappearing all over the harbor just as the marines dropped one by one, before appearing and sitting down on the Merry's railings with a happy and oblivious look on its face as the last of the marines dropped to the ground.
"Yip, yip!"
Sanji hopped onto the deck of the ship, walking over to Usopp and Nami who were both looking at the fox taking it's place on Nami's hands with equal amounts of surprise on their faces. The blonde puffed out a small cloud of smoke as he stopped in front of the pair.
"That's some strange fox." He stated, voicing out Nami and Usopp's thoughts - well Usopp's more than Nami. "So, who's this?"
The redhead squealed in excitement, hugging the fox against her bosom.
"He's my little Kyu-chan! I don't care what Luffy says; I'm keeping him!"
The fact that it had a devil fruit ability - it wasn't difficult to deduce that it got its power from a devil fruit as they lived in a world that contained fruits that give people and animals abilities upon consumption - made the fox all the more appealing to her.
"Stupid Fox, stealing Nami-chan's attention like that."
And instead of feeling as curious as he was before he knew what the fox was, the cook huffed, turning away from it with a bout of jealousy while crossing his hands over his chest while he grumbled to himself quietly, which the cute redhead, meanwhile, ignored, as she continued to coo the fox she was snuggling. Usopp, meanwhile, walked up to Sanji with a concerned expression on his face as he was looking at the harbor.
"Zoro and Luffy sure are taking their time with this. Do you think they could've been caught?"
With his hands shoved into his pockets, Sanji walked up the stairs that led to the kitchen.
"Well Luffy ended up having some marine captain challenge him while that stupid swordsman was stopped by a cutie marine." He stated. "So, if anything, they might be rounding up their fight about now if not, then we'll have to sail without them."
Usopp frowned.
"But-"
Before the sniper could say a word in protest to his crewmates decision, however, the gust of a powerful green wind chose that moment to bellow a mighty roar, moving all any items not shackled to the ground with the massive strength it came with, including the Merry, where Sanji, Usopp and Nami were holding onto for their - and a certain fox's - lives.
"Arg, what's with this wind?! Where's it coming from?"
"Who cares? Just hold on for your lives!"
"Yip!"
And they would've been blown away from the ship had they not held onto it as they did and were continuing to do as random items - including humans - flew from different parts of the city and into the ocean below until eventually, it - the wind that is - died down.
*Cue a trio of groan.
"Ah, Zoro look! Nami and the others are still here!"
Usopp blinked away his disoriented state at the familiar voice.
"Ah? Luff-"
"Gomu-Gomu no… Rocket!"
And suddenly, a pair of bodies smacked into his, knocking him over to the ground once more...
Monkey D. Luffy had arrived.
"Yosh, made it!"
Nami wore a relieved open-mouthed smile on her face as she saw the red vested straw hat wearing man suddenly being pushed onto the ground by the green haired man he stood on - Roronoa Zoro - a man who garbed in a white shirt, a pair of green pants, a pair of green boots, and finally, a large green sash which was wrapped around his waist.
"Get off, you freakn' rubber bastard."
"You guys, you're here!"
But then she stumbled a bit, before she could say anything, and she looked up to see Sanji coming down from probably pulling the sails of the Merry, and then she looked to her side to see Usopp setting up the anchor.
"Yo, Nami, what's up with the Fox?"
She glanced at Luffy, the one who spoke to her, and petting 'Kyū-chan's' maw, she replied, "He's my pet, and I'm keeping him. Got a problem with that Captain?"
At this time, Merry had sailed quite the distance from Logue Town, thanks to the storm, but with the way the waters were acting and with the visibility granted, it was difficult to steer, though that didn't mean that they were going to give up on their trip.
Luffy grinned. "Nope."
Smiling and nodding in appreciation, Nami placed her fist on her hips and was about to say something, however, before she could, she spotted a flash of light and her eyes suddenly widened as they gained a sheen of excitement.
"Look, that light!" She was pointing to it, what she called out, a light shining from a lighthouse pointing to somewhere, and nothing could curb the pure joy and excitement she felt, and she knew the entire crew were feeling the same right now because said light meant one thing, "The Grand Line is somewhere nearby! That's one of the Guideposts to the entrance!"
"Yip!"
"A-are you sure it's okay to sail in the middle of this kind of hurricane?" stuttered Usopp in worry. "Won't we drown?"
"Nope!" grinned Luffy in response to his sniper's question as he patted his Straw Hat, settling it on his head. He stepped towards the head of the Merry, looking at the direction the light pointed at with a determined expression. "The Grand Line is somewhere up ahead, which means that further up ahead, is One Piece… our dreams…"
"So," smiling, Nami turned to look at her captain. "What now?"
"Right now," said Sanji, walking up to the assembled group of people with a barrel of Sake in his hand, smiling, with earlier grievances forgotten as he placed the barrel in the middle of where the group gathered in a circle and stepped back, put his hands in his pockets, and then placed his right leg on a section of the top of the barrel he had brought. "We should say something to mark this special occasion; after all, this is only just the beginning of our greatest adventure."
"Yeah, let's do it!" walking up to the barrel, Luffy followed his cook's lead, placing his leg on the barrel's head. "To become the Pirate King!"
Sanji smirked. "To find all blue!"
"Yeah, I get it." smirked Zoro, following the two's lead, placing his leg on a section of the barrel's head. "To be the greatest swordsman!"
Deciding not to be left out in the spirit of things, Nami placed her leg on the barrel. "To draw a map of the world!"
And finally, Usopp, though he was slightly shaking, steeled his resolve and declared his dream: "To become a brave warrior of the sea!"
A moment of silence encased the entire crew, even the fox who was now Nami's 'pet' decided to watch the events before him in silent anticipation, even as the crew raised their legs in unison with the straw hat wearing male grinning more than his entire crew.
"Let's go: TO THE GRAND LINE!"
"Yeah!"
And with that, the barrel was smashed to pieces.
'Infiltration,'
The fox smirked, eyes glinting in victory.
'Successful.'
End.
Authors Note: Well, there it is. Already a part member of the crew and things have changed. With Naruto around, the Ship didn't have a premature departure and thus was around when Luffy and Zoro arrived. Sanji didn't have to face the marines chasing him and got on board Merry faster. Nami was a bit distracted to give Usopp and Sanji orders to depart and so on. Things will change due to the fact that the blonde is around. What things you ask? Well stay tuned to find out.
Extra Notes: In case you weren't able to make out, Naruto is from an AU Elemental Nations and arrived in the One Piece Universe at the age of 13. I'm sure many of you can guess what events led to his arrival to this world at that age. Oh, and in Naruto's universe, there could be a few extra things that happened right before or in fact during said events - like for instance, maybe a drop of blood or a skin-cell from a certain Uchiha interacted with our favorite Jinchiruki's blood back when he was stabbed through the chest all the time - so who knows? Maybe you might see this version of Naruto get a power up that the Canon Naruto never received.
Shout Outs: I'd like to give a huge shout out to VT Creator and Lone Wolf-01 who helped me with the story's construction and beta respectively. Be sure to check out their profile for their awesome various stories.
Peace.
