Chapter 1
The tall blond teenager walked along the trail he himself had defined in the middle of the big forest that populated most of the island's surface, pensatively eyeing the sky. He wore a simple black vest and pants, accompanied by sandals.
A week had passed since he had eaten that damned fruit, and even though he did not regret it, he wasn't sure he liked it.
Yet again, he wasn't sure he liked anything at all. The whole island was deserted except for him. Always had been. At least, since that cursed day.
Ten years had passed since the incident that doomed his life and haunted his dreams every day. Ten years since everything had been taken from him for some sick psychopath's amusement.
Every friend, every loved one, every little nook and cranny he called home. Everything.
He shook his head. No. He wouldn't think of such things in such a beautiful day. It was time to put it all behind him.
Fortunately, living with a fishing population for six years, even if they were his first six years of life, awarded him with advanced knowledge of how to build small, yet durable boats.
And that's what he had done. He was on his way to his small vessel, carrying hopefully enough food and water to last him until he reached the nearest village, city or whatever there was out there.
If he made it, great, he'd try to make something out of himself. If he didn't, well, it was not like he cared anyway.
He was on his way, wondering what to do if he reached land. Would he become a hunter? The fruit he had eaten would certainly help with that. Heck, it'd certainly help with pretty much everything.
The blond finally spotted his small carrier, but something was wrong. He didn't remember it being so big and having a symbol of crossed bones with a weird moustache-wearing face in front of them on the sail.
Wait a fucking minute.
He sped up only to drop his bag and open his mouth in outrage. In place of his small boat was a gigantic pirate ship. Multiple weapon-holding people were laughing and telling each other jokes as they set up camp in the beach. Next to them was a group of snipers who were having fun making splinters out of Naruto's small vessel.
Memories of fire, screams, cries and blood filled the teenager's mind. Memories of that awful, endless night flooded him as he remembered how the damned pirates came and destroyed, pillaged and burned everything except himself and a small doghouse, where they told him to live in. Memories of the people who cared for him dying and losing their heads to swords haunted his mind and he snapped.
He dashed for the group of four shooters who were tearing his boat up into ribbons. A shout of warning came to life, but it was too late. He was already too close to one of them, and all the man saw as he turned was Naruto's flying dragon kick hit him right in the face, sending him flying into the very vessel he was destroying seconds later, unconscious.
The second pirate tried to hit Naruto with the butt of his flintlock rifle, but the young boy simply ducked under it, swept out his legs from under him with his right arm, spun and side kicked the man, sending him flying against a sand dune.
Two shots were fired by the remaining conscious snipers. Shots which the teenager jumped away from, rolling around like a madman while trying to dodge them, yet still approaching.
One of the shooters simply dropped the rifle and took out a scimitar, ready to gut him up as he rolled forward towards him.
The blond had to do a handstand and push himself up to dodge the cut, but quickly capitalized, catching the man's head between his two leg's, swinging around and wrenching him, making him do a front flip in the air before crashing down on his own rifle, squealing in pain.
The last one took aim and shot directly between the eyes of Naruto, but he wasn't there anymore. He had ducked, and them jumped, rolling back and hitting him in the face with a dropkick. When he was trying to get up, the blond punt kicked him, knocking the light out of his world.
…...
A woman with long, blond hair and blue eyes watched closely, as literally all of her snipers, men with fame and reputation being beaten aside by some blond boy who seemed like he was barely in the middle of puberty. She was sitting on top of her ship's mast, looking down with amusement and curiosity.
The boy was like a small whirlwind, spinning around the swordsman group, avoiding all of the bladed weapons and retributing with hand-to-hand combat.
He had knocked out around fifteen fighters when the first cut appeared on his skin. And then fifteen more for the second.
But it was evident that the numbers were overwhelming him. Every movement was witness of his decreasing speed, strength and precision.
He jumped over two slices, but was too slow to duck under the third, and had to spin to the side, deflecting it with his left arm, but leaving a deep gash on it.
That's when he stopped, just looking down at his wounds and closing his eyes.
"Came here for round two, did you fuckers? Ten years later. Well, if you think that's all I've got, you're damn wrong. The real fight starts now."- he let the words flow out of his mouth as electricity sparkled around his body.
His initial speed and abilities came back, perhaps a bit enhanced, and his reflexes went through the roof. At one point, he had ten swordsmen attacking in quick succession, and yet, he could effectively dodge each of them, quickly counter-attacking with twice the strength.
If I am to avenge them, I've got to be strong. And that means accepting any power, even if it comes from the Devil! He thought to himself as he sidestepped a vertical slash, responding with a spinning hook kick that sent the attacker flying into one of his friends.
The purple vest-wearing woman decided she had seen enough and jumped off, turning both her arms into wings made out of blue fire, gliding down onto the battlefield.
It wasn't that her dark gray pants were as tight as could be or that her vest had only two buttons actually buttoned, which barely prevented her large, braless, G-cup breasts from flopping out or even that she was drop-dead gorgeous the reason for the pirates' shock. It was that their captain had actually come down to face the teenager herself, something she only did in critical situations.
"C-Captain Maria! Why did you come down? We could handle it!"- a pirate quickly said, trying to prevent any discomfort from reaching the woman. It only took this "Maria" a single glance at the pile of unconscious bodies scattered across the beach to shut him up.
"Apparently not. Besides, I was bored. Now, step aside. I'll take care of this boy."- was her response, as Naruto clenched his fists.
"Don't take me so lightly."
"I'm not taking you lightly. Heck, you just defeated half of my men single-handedly. But I do hold myself up high in consideration. Now, let's get to it!"
Both her arms turned again, together with her whole body, becoming a phoenix made out of blue flames, and flying directly towards Naruto, ducking under his right roundhouse, and quickly going back to her human form, keeping only her arms as wings, before turning around sharply and hitting the boy with a kick of her own, which sent him flying and tumbling through the dunes and right into the ship, falling to the ground with a shriek of pain.
"God d-damn it..."- he groaned as he tried to get up, managing to do so. He looked like he was about to do so when Maria suddenly appeared in front of him, flying. His eyes widened as she ducked under his weak right cross, and kicked off the ground, flapping her wings as she grabbed him and flew up high.
She spiralled as he tried to fight her off, but she was too strong, and he was too weak and tired.
The woman suddenly turned sharply, this time heading head first into the sand.
She released him, letting his body get completely paralel with the ground, before flipping and going for a left, horizontal tornado kick.
"Renge."
The kick connected, but to Naruto, it felt like dozens of light-speed kicks that sent him flying down, as he clutched his now broken ribs, and crashed against the sand, creating a big crater with him inside it.
Several seconds went by.
"W-Wow."- one of the pirates muttered. The teenager that had been beating the shit out of them minutes before was now all broken and battered, with smoke coming off of his chest. Maria just shrugged it off and turned around, heading back for the ship.
"*Cough, Cough*"
She froze, looking back at the blond who was now on his knees, trying to get up. She could see for herself that he had internal damage, but yet, he still moved. Not the run-of-the-mill guy, are you?
"Get him to the ship and have the doctor cure him. There's something I want to check out."
…...
The Next Day
"Maria-sama, the boy's awake."- the medic of her division announced as Naruto blinked his eyes a few times. He still felt pain of course, but he had felt worse, and so just shrugged it off, getting up from the bed.
"So what's it now that I'm your prisoner? What are you going to do?"- he asked, grasping his torso, which now hurt even more. Maria shrugged.
"Well, you've got two options. One, you are decapitated via sword to the neck, Two, you walk the plank."
Naruto blinked a couple of times, dumbstruck.
"So, I die or I die? What kind of stupid fucking option is that?"
"Be happy that you have one. So which is it?"
"I'll walk the plank. At least then I'll have some sort of dignity."
She nodded and dragged him up and out of her personal "chambers", quickly grasping the attention of most pirates around. The look in her face and the way she was headed said it all. They were now in high sea, Naruto noted.
"Nice, I haven't seen someone walk to their death in years. This'll be fun!"- one of them commented.
"Speak for yourself."- Naruto responded, making the other laugh.
The "plank" was already set up, as if they were expecting his decision. Maria uncuffed him for some unknown reason, and pushed him further, unsheathing a sword in the process.
"Go ahead. You're a Devil Fruit user, so your death will be agonizing and painfull in those waters. I'd speed the process up if I were you."- she advised. Naruto smirked as he turned around, having his back to the sea.
"Sure thing, sweetheart. See you around..."
He jumped back, diving to his death, and cutting off the pirates' field of vision. They all cheered for another kill, but Maria wasn't convinced. It had been too willing. Too quick. She ran, and just like she thought, Naruto was still up, floating.
No, not floating. He was hovering up and down, as a pair of electric-yellow wings flapped by his sides, replacing his arms. Then his legs turned thinner, and his feet into talons. His torso became a mass of yellow feathers, and his head turned into a bird's face and beak. (Think Zapdos.)
He flew up, passing the ship and giving off the best smirk that a bird possibly could, before roaming off. Maria was right, he was a Mythical Zoan type, just like herself.
Even though he had a headstart, she had a whole lot more experience with her animal form, and caught up in less than five seconds.
As she went over him, she flipped and grasped both of his "shoulders" with her talons, waiting a few moments before flapping her wings as fast as she could, readying herself for a peaked flight.
The trick ended when they became just a thin white line in the sky, crashing onto the ship, slightly bending the wood. As the smoke dissipated they could see Maria with her right foot holding a smiling Naruto down.
"Meh, I knew you'd catch me."
"If that's true, tell me, why do you not fear death?"- she asked, raising her eyebrow
"That's an easy one. I've got no purpose in life what-so-ever. If I have no reason to live, there's no reason to fear the end of living."- was his response. She smiled and sighed, as if knowing she was about to do something she'd regret.
"I like your style, and although I hate saying it, you're strong. So now I give you a third option."- the blond woman announced. Naruto faked glee.
"Oh boy, what do I get now? Do I get the choice to shoot myself instead of jumping into the water or getting beheaded?"
A tick mark appeared on her forehead as she fought back the urge to kick and stomp his face down.
"No, you idiot. I'm offering you the chance to join the Whitebeard Pirates and fight for us. You'll get a purpose to live, a family, many fights and become a subordinate to the next Pirate King."
All of the pirates around them smirked as Deja Vu hit them. This was how most of them had been recruited before. It never failed.
"Those privileges are not enough for my to join the WhiteShit pirates. I don't care for any of that."
"Then what would you want?"
"I want a chance at revenge."
"As long as it's no one of our own, you've got yourself a deal."
(Chapter 1 for you, mates. I know, I know, I'm creating another fic, but this one is just to scratch an itch and to experiment with. I have the feeling this first chapter isn't so great, but I promise the next one'll be. No worries! As always, Favorite and Follow. Any doubts you may have, you can ask me anything through a Review or a Pm. Thank you and see you next time!)