1. Pirates!

"Hey, look!" Naruto yelled to the rest of his team. "I've never seen a ship like that at the docks before." He pointed to a strange ship docked to the pier. It definitely wasn't one of those small fishing types. Its figurehead was that of a ram, and it seemed to have a huge bush growing out of the center of its deck.

"Of course you haven't," Sasuke said. "Ships come in and out of these docks all the time. You can't expect to know every single one of them.

"I agree with Sasuke-kun," concurred Sakura.

"That's what you think, smarty-pants! I've seen and explored every ship that has entered these docks, and I intend to keep that up. I'm goin' aboard."

"Oh no, you won't!" interrupted Kakashi. "Remember what happened the last time you ran off? You got us all in trouble."

There was no answer. Naruto was already speeding off in the direction of the ship. Kakashi sighed and started to run after him. Sasuke and Sakura followed more slowly. Naruto climbed up the ladder hanging over the side of the ship with the others close on his heels. When Sasuke got there he stopped suddenly, causing Sakura to almost crash into him.

"What is it?" she asked, a little irritated.

Sasuke muttered, "Something's not right about this ship," but he started climbing up the ladder anyway, with Sakura in his wake.

Just as the last of Team 7 got on board, a gust of wind caught the sails and the ship lurched forward. Everyone, surprised by the sudden jolt, tripped and hit the deck. Naruto looked back to see if he could jump off and gasped in surprise.

The dock wasn't there. It had been replaced by a carpet of dark blue sea. There was no land in sight. The others heard him and looked too. Sakura was so surprised that she fell over again. Everyone stared at the vast expanse of sky and water in shock.

"We must have walked through a portal," Sasuke said half-disbelievingly.

"But portals don't really exist, except in stories," Naruto countered.

"Well, this kinda is a story, you know."

"Waddya mean 'it kinda is a story?'"

The two were so caught up in the argument, that they didn't pay attention to Sakura when she screamed. Kakashi turned around, saw what she was scared of, and immediately aimed a kunai at the person. There was a whirl of blades, and the small weapon fell harmlessly to the floor. The others turned around at the noise and gaped at the guy. Kakashi stared at the person in surprise.

He was tall, wore a black bandana around his head, and held a sword in either hand, with another one's handle clamped between his teeth. He stared right back at the jonin.

The staring contest ended when a black-haired kid wearing a straw hat and a scar under his left eye came from behind the swordsman and punched Kakashi in the gut. He fell back, more in shock than pain. The kid had just stretched his arm to over twice its normal length!!!

"Luffy!" rebuked the swordsman. "You didn't have to do that."

"Well, he was attacking you," Luffy retorted.

"He was being on his guard. It's called defending yourself, dope-head."

Naruto, thinking they were enemies, shouted out a challenge. "Hey, stretchy kid, I dare you to fight against me!"

Sakura bonked him on the head. "Baka, didn't you hear what they were saying? They're probably surprised that we were on their ship in the first place."

"Who are you?" the swordsman asked, pointing to Kakashi. "And who's that quiet kid?"

"I'm Hatake Kakashi. And that's…"

"It's common courtesy to say your own name before requesting another's," Sasuke interrupted. "Anyhow, I'm Uchiha Sasuke."

"Roronoa Zoro," the swordsman replied. He sheathed his swords and took off his bandana, revealing a shock of green hair.

"Hey, I bet you're dying to know what my name is, right?" Naruto asked, a little jealous of Sasuke.

"Well, I'm interested!" answered the rubber kid. "My name's Luffy, what's yours?"

"Naruto. I'm a ninja."

"Cool! I've never met one before. It must be really fun being a ninja. Almost as fun as being a pirate."

All of a sudden, there was silence, only broken by the crying of gulls.

Luffy scratched his head. "Was it something I said?"

Sakura, who had finally gotten over her initial shock, replied, "Y-you guys are pirates?"

"Sure are!" Big smile from Luffy. "I'm the captain."

"Where is the rest of your crew?" Sasuke asked challengingly.

"They're below deck," Zoro offered. "Do you want to go meet them?"

They walked down the stairs into a room, apparently the lounge room, because four people were sitting by a table playing Go Fish. They all looked up at the new arrivals.

They were teens; a girl, two guys, and one strange reindeer-like creature. They didn't look at all like pirates.

"Guess what?" Luffy said. "We found four ninja! These are Naruto, Sasuke, Kakashi, and I forgot the pink-haired girl's name."

"It's Sakura."

"Whatever. Anyway, they were on our ship because… wait, how did you get on our ship?"

Sakura, seeing a chance to get back at Naruto for getting them all into this, said, "Well, you see, Naruto here decided to sneak aboard your ship. The rest of us were following –"

"Wait a second," the girl, a spunky, orange-haired teen, interrupted. "There's nothing but ocean for miles around. What docks are you talking about?"

"We must have walked through a portal. That would explain why I felt so weird when we started up the ladder." Sasuke said. Before Naruto could argue, he added, "By the way, who are you guys?"

"I'm Nami," she said. "And these are Sanji, Ussop, and Chopper." She pointed to each of them in turn.

"Hey, Sanji, it's your turn," said Ussop. He looked something like a teenage Pinocchio, with the long nose and eyes that looked like they were painted on his face.

"All right, all right," Sanji replied. "Got any twos?" His yellow hair covered one of his eyes, and smoke was coming up from the cigarette in his mouth. Sakura noticed that he looked at Nami, well, differently than the others.

"Are you asking me?" asked Chopper. He looked something like an overly fat baby reindeer (sorry to those of you who like Chopper), and he wore a big red hat with a white X in the middle.

"Yes, I'm asking you."

"Yeah. sigh"

"Yes!" Sanji jumped up. "Game over. Let's count the pairs."

"It's obvious," Sakura interrupted. "Nami won. Look at the pile of pairs she has. It's larger than any of yours."

"Nami! You're so good at this game!" Sanji said with obvious love in his eyes.

"Yeah! I win!" Nami shouted. "Come on," she said to Sakura. "Let's go to my cabin and talk. It'll be nice to talk to another girl for a change, instead of all these guys."

"Hey, Naruto!" Luffy offered. "I'll show you around the ship."

"Sure!"

Sanji went out of the room to make lunch, and Ussop went to get some 'target practice' with his slingshot. Sasuke said, "I'm going back to the deck to get some fresh air and figure out how to get back home."

"Can I go too?" asked Chopper.

Sasuke stared at him for a moment, then said, "Stay out of my way…weakling." Then he walked off.

"Fine!" Chopper stomped out. Soon, there was no one in the room except for Zolo and Kakashi.

Uncomfortable silence between them.

"So, uh," Zolo shifted position. "What's it like, being a ninja?"

"Oh, it's cool. You learn how to walk up trees without using your arms, use kunai…"

"Whoa, back up. Climb trees without using your hands? That's impossible."

"No, it isn't. Come on, I'll show you. Would Luffy mind if I used the mast for a tree?"

"I don't think so."

5/21/2007