A/N: This is what comes from obsesssing over One Piece too much! I go crazy with conspiracy theories! This ficlet is a byproduct of a challenge that I might have heard of a while back, but no worries, in case any of you haven't noticed, I'm updating regularly now and NONE of my stories are abandoned! Updates for ALL of them are on the way, as I have demonstrated with Prince of Darkness and Nakama! Oh, and for any of ye who wonder, this takes place shortly as in, just after the Alabasta Arc!

A/N: (Continued) Someone mentioned this idea to me by chance, and, well, since we know little or nothing of Pluton (or its twin, Poseidon) I figured, hey, why not? What if Pluton was a person? Or at the very least, a massive weapon of ungodly destruction that was fused with the shell of a man and thought to be human? I hope you all like this original idea, Sorry if any of you are confused! Please review! Reviews speed my recovery and the updates of My Pride is a Hurricane, which will be following soon and forthwith!

Oh, and remember...NO CANCER FOR ME! YOHOHOHOHO!

I suspect I might die for asking this question too many times...but won't you please review? Then again I'm a skeleton so I'm already dead! YOHOHOHOHOHO SKULL JOOOOOOOKE!

Discovery

It was early fall and the heat was searing. He squinted into bright sun as the dust devils swirled about him, kicking up little puffs as he jolted toward the ground. He closed his eyes at the very last instant and braced himself for the inevitable pain; the jolting agony of the incoming impact. Having awoken earlier to find himself airborne was nothing as he compared it to just how rough his landing was about to be.

"Such insolence."

Something cracked across his face and sent him sprawling.

It was the earth.

He slapped into the ground hard, his broken body flipping over as he skidded onto his back. He bounced; one, two, three, four times, before the momentum of his impact drove him back to earth. His head kissed an iron-hard root, made all the worse by the thickness of his skull. Black spots swam before his eyes and left him blinded. He tried to stand; and a broken rib all but drove the breath from his his lungs.

Up, damn you! Get up! Swearing and spitting he got on his hands and knees and tried to stand, eyes watering, ears ringing. Pushing his hands against the gravely and granite soil, he'd made it all of halfway, a half-assed oath leaving his lips before the shadow fell upon him; before he raised his gaze and realized what exactly he was looking at. He'd landed in a strange paw-shaped crater, and he ached everywhere. Absolutely everywhere. Unable to sustain the effort required to stand, he fliped onto his back, all semblance of calm deserting him as gazed up into the blazing sun of the desert.

This field he'd landed in should have been bursting with wheat ready to be harvested. Instead, it was severe and dry. Almost as if the life itself had been sapped from the soil. It was an eerie, time consuming thought, and one he could not afford to entertain. The clouds where gathering in overhead; a sandstorm of sorts must be coming. He tried to stand; tried to force his body into some semblance of movement, in hopes of finding shelter before he was struck by the full brunt of blast.

To say that he failed miserably would have been a massive understatment.

He blinked, driving a bead of sweat from his eyes. He could feel the grains of sand at his back, intermingled with the scent of fire, the unamused and smoldering irises of heat and hell itself, come to claim his life. Hot. It was just too damn hot. What was the point in getting up? Precisely. There was no point. Best just to lay; to perish, and let all and any trace of his existence be swept away from the world.

Plink.

Or so he'd hoped.

Plink.

Wearily, he creaked an eye open. A droplet of moisture struck his nose, eliciting a slow series of blinks as his bleary mind struggled to comprehend it. Then another. And still another. Rain, he realized. There would be no sandstorm; because it was raining. Just as it had been back on the island. He tasted it on his tongue and chuckled; it was a deep, throaty sound, one that confirmed his fear that he'd broken something during his self-induced tumble.

Perhaps his luck-whatever it was-had begun to take a turn for the better.

"Good heavens!"

With the last of his strength, Naruto bid his eyes be open once more.

"Wha-?"

It was a girl. Late teens at the most. Long hair swirled darkly about her face. Sweat glistened on her skin-perhaps it was rain-and her features were twisted into a sentiment he didn't recognize, not at first. Pity, mayhaps? No, that wasn't quite it. He couldn't find words for the anxiety in her face, but, if he could, he would've named it a close kin to concern. Ah, that was it, then. Ponderously, he both realized and recognized the sentiment.

Concern.

Someone was whisper-no, speaking to him. Hands were shaking his shoulders, defying the blackness that crept in around the edges of his vision. A voice kept calling out too; jarring his senses and refusing to allow his death; lest he sink into that great and terrible abyss alone. Alone. He'd always been alone, hadn't he? Prior to his awakenin Naruto wasn't entirely certain if he'd had any friends; let alone someone who would profess intense concern for his physical being.

It was...a strange sensation.

For want of anything but that, he suddenly found himself capable of breathing again. Strange. Hadn't he had a broken rib not five minutes before? Really, hadn't he? She was holding him. He could smell her. Not her precisely; rather, the silky sweet scent of her perfume, as it seeped into his nostrils. It was not an unpleasant aroma. When next his eyes did open, he could see her right there, so close to him, that she almost seemed a part of him.

Dimly, he became aware of one key fact.

'I know her.' Some small snippet of memory pricked him just them; flooding him with a myriad of sights and sounds so intense that he nearly closed his eyes against them. In his mind, somehow, he knew this girl. He knew not her name, nor her place of her birth, nor even her dreams and aspirations. Somehow, he just knew. Her face burned within the back of his mind; stoking the flickering embers of his heart.

Her eyes were closed and her face was wet, too, although perhaps not from only the rain. Was that a memory of the past, or perhaps the present? Eventually, besieged by the visions, he settled upon the latter. Who are you, he mused silently, and why are you crying on my behalf? Surely these tears were not for his sake? His face burned thrice with shame at such an implication.

"You...

He reached up and touched her cheek, felt her start and almost pull away.

Their eyes met.

"I...know you." He choked out; it was a raspy, weezing sound.

"Can you stand?" Her face betrayed nothing but the latter; abject fear, anxiety for his well-being. For a moment, she looked as if she might say more, but those alabaster blue eyes ultimately betrayed her, even as she pursed her lips. Strands of cerulean hair tickled at his nose-stirring the faintest sense of nostalgia-and he gratefully accepted her aid despite the sudden sense of vertigo he experienced.

'Who are you?'

Weightless, impossible, miraculous-no, there were no words for how he felt in that instant. She pulled him upright; forcing him into a sitting position. His headache protested; naturally, his body was against being moved so suddenly, so swiftly. He took that opportunity to take in his surroundings. He had not, in fact, landed in a field, as he had first surmised. There were buildings here, the pockmarked signs of battle scattered about the streets.

Streets?

Countless men-some in uniform and others not-stood amidst the rain. Even as he looked on, the weapons fell from their hands. Each and every one of them stare upward well beyond the range of human eyesight, and spread their arms wide. They were tasting the rain, he realized. Some great battle had been fought here in the plaza as a spattering of bodies and of blood would indicate; but that battle was over.

'What the hell is going on?'

His felt his world was coming apart at the seams.

Countless facts illuminated his mind in response to this one, inadmissable query. Like a river of endless information, they streamed past him, invisible strands of knowledge, of data, waiting to be plucked. It felt as though his brain had been crammed full of an encyclopedia of information; and now his body was paying the price. Black spots speckled his vision once again, blotting out his world with a swift and merciless stride.

"You incompetent fleshling."

Naruto tensed, his skull flaring in unison with the next migraine. Something was wrong. Terribly, terribly wrong. He bent double and clutched at his temples; because suddenly the pain was all but exrcuciating. It felt as if a giant had just clapped two hands over the length of his body. A great and terrible prescence loomed over him, its words passing through his skull as though he were made of paper.

"What in kami's name?" Naruto whispered.

The girl was speaking to him; but all the colors and sounds of that world had been irrevocably muted. And as he looked on, that reality faded altogether. In place of it he stood before the bars to a great cage, inscribed with the very tatoo which he so shamefully bore. Just by looking at it, that blatant and disgraceful mark, he had the sudden desire to cover it up, or erase it completely.

"You disgrace the name of Pluton." Once again, the monotone voice snarled through his ears, spitting at him from within the depths of the cage. "You, a mere shell of your former self, dare to shun me?" His right arm ached and throbbed where the brand had been placed. He felt the power again, bulging, swelling, dying and stretching to get out, to escape the confines of its prison.

"I don't know who you are." Incredulous, Naruto found himself speaking to the creature that wrapped itself in the shadows of the cell. "And besides," He added sullently, "I've enough voices in my head as it is without a dispossesed voice telling me what to do." This remark, though unintended, seemed to strike a chord of sorts with the creature. In the blink of an eye it had reared backwards; jamming a massive paw through the cells of its cage.

"Impudent pup!" It boomed! "You would do well to fear me, after all this time!"

"Yeah about that...I don't even know you." Naruto deadpanned. "I take it...I'm supposed to know you, then?"

"You've forgotten." The voice echoed with a great and terribly clarity; and an air of finality. "Haven't you?"

"What?"

An unamused snort wormed its way through the cavernous halls of rock and gravel.

"Forgotten what?" Naruto cursed himself for his weakness; a pleading tone had entered his voice. "Do you know why I can't remember anything other than my name?" But if it was answeres he sought, then the eerie ghoul residing in the darkest reccesses of his mind was none too accomadating. It chuckled; a cruel, thorn filled laughter tinged to the sound of squelching blood.

"I see no reason to imbue you with my knowledge."

"Damn you!" Naruto swore. "Just what the hell are you!"

In short, it took little amusement from his lack of understanding.

"First you forget the past, then you forget the girl, and now...this?" The voice, wherever it came from, sounded incredulous. "Incompetence! Don't bother looking for me you twit," And here the gnashing of teeth filled his mind, "I'm speaking to you from beyond the barriers of your own imagination." Confusion was met with a droplet of blood that leaked from his nose as the gravid entity interrupted him yet again.

"YOUR MIND!" It yowled aloud.

Naruto cringed.

"Your mind!" The letters engraved into his arm seemed to pulse with an otherwordly glow. "I'm using the link between us to speak with you through telepathy, you twit! And speaking of mind, you'd musn't tarry." Before Naruto could even form the question, he found himself berated yet again. "Do you honestly think that you're safe here? FOOL! Never lower your guard, especially in the prescence of that woman! Your psyche is fragile enough with the two of us as it is! If you were to suffer a shock such as that-

"What in blazes are you talking about?" Naruto could feel his ears beginning to ring. The voice was leaving him with more questions than answers. And what was this voice? Did it symbolize an alter ego? Another side of the same coin; a persona that dwelled deep within the blackest pits of his most private, innermost thoughts? He scarcely knew what to make of the sudden revelation, that he just might not be alone-or safe for that matter-inside his own head.

"Ah, I've seen that face many a time before. You aren't going to heed my warning and abandon this quest, are you?" At first, it-the voice-souned almost hopeful; at least n the beginning. But as time stretched on, as it neared the end of its sentence, the voice dropped into a guttural growl. Its words became edged with disgust, disdain, and dissapointment.

"Very well." It scoffed. "See for yourself then, little fledgling. She'll betray you, just like the rest."

A trickle of outrage wormed its way into the creature's tone when it beheld the expression of the one who bound it. The little one's face had pursed in an expression that stank of defiance and outrage. It reeked of uneccessary emotion and stubborn stupidity. Behind the bars, the creature reared back; so that it might better inspect this body who did not waiver as the rest had; who refused to falter under its penetrating glare.

"So boy, what will you do now, now that you've escaped the island and made contact with your past?" It asked. "What is your purpose?"

Naruto blinked, struggling to come to terms.

"My...purpose?"

"Yes, your purpose!" The disembodied voice snapped back. "Your drive! Your ambition! Your goal! Why is it that you survived when all the others perished? That you thrived, excelled even, when you were expected to fail? What is it that drives you so, what is it that makes you want to live when the world istelf would see you dead, or worse, a weapon aimed at their enemies? I demand that you tell me this instant!"

Naruto blinked, frowned, then blinked again.

"My...purpose...

Talk about putting the cart before the horse. His memories were vague; they were fractured, indistinct at best. They slipped through his fingers like water whenever he tried to grasp them; always there, but never solid enough for him to gain a successful purchase. Fury built within him at the thought; that he might never truly know who he was, who'd been, or whomever he might become.

Ultimately, these thoughts settled on the one truth he did know.

"I want to be free." Despite his lack of knowledge about the world-and himself-he knew in his heart that this was true. Deep down, deep down in the deepedst darkest corner of his mind, he knew this to be true. Freedome. The right-no, the privelige, to do as he pleased. Really, was that too much to ask? Naruto didn't think so. Was not freedom the undeniable right of every man that roamed the earth?

Of course it was!

"So you choose freedom, then?" The disembodied voice laughed; it was a hoarse, dry cough. "Ha! Long has it been since I've heard those words from your lips! I think we're going to get along just fine, you and I." It paused, stretching the silence into eternity. "I suppose I should impart you with some of my wisdom, after all-

Abruptly, their surroundings began to dim.

"Argh, my power is spent!" The red-eyed creature lamented. "Come here, boy." It wedged a claw through the bars of its prison; not enough to reach him, just enough to beckon. Despite himself, Naruto took a small, limping step forward. The claw receded, sinking back into the shadows of the dark as he approached. And then he found himself before the bars, peering into the murky gloom that shrouded the prison and its prisoner.

It was as if he were staring at a watercolour painting; the colours of the world beginning to melt, blurring in the area that surrounded the cage. Transfixed, he gawped at them and the strange tapestry, utterly oblivious to the rising water at his feet. By the time it had reached his calves, he stood less than a foot away from the bars. Standing so close he could make out the faintest of silhouettes just beyond the iron curtain that separated them.

"Closer." It hissed, sounding suddenly so strange.

He complied.

"Let me see your face." The voice commanded, softly, deadly, lacking the venom it had posessed prior to their discussion. "Let me look upon you with my own eyes." What it meant by that he would never know. Everything happened so fast. One moment he stood across from the cage. The next, he was within arms reach. Only then as he took that last, fateful step forward, did Uzumaki Naruto realize his peril.

"Ah," The blurred voice of a woman-how did he know that it was a woman-gasped. "It's been so long...I'd nearly forgotten what you looked like."

"Nani?"

A pair of hands scraped through the bars and found the lapels of his jacket. He grunted; because suddenly he was being hauled forward, pressed against the searing irons that held the voice captive, just beyond his reach. Almond eyes of burning scarlet nictitated to life; looming above a pair of pale and pursed lips. They splayed up against him for a brief moment; hesitant, wavering, tracing delicate circles against the rippling muscles of his chest.

For a time, nothing seemed to happen.

He struggled to draw breath, but nothing would come. A strange moisture stung at his eyes-tears-but knew not why. Some part of him, some small, infinitismal portion of his personality yearned for her touch; for the scent of her perfume and the embrace now offered to him so freely. It tore open a hole in his heart. Who was she, this woman, that his body recalled and yet his mind could not?

"Who are you?"

The shadow hid her face. Thunder and lightning danced through the grief stricken sky as she raised her gaze to meet his. She was both terrible and beautiful to behold. Death and suffering followed her as her stewards. Her tails-nine of them-drew a third of the armies sent against her to hell and those that remained were nothing more than a great feast for vultures. She was the one for whom darkness was created...she held the soul of the enemy of all living things. She was...

Something lost. His head throbbed in a moment of raw, piercing clarity. Something that has been forgotten. And still the water rose, reaching his chest. The figure beyond the shadows cringed; fisting delicate fingers against with his for the span of two beats. She made as if to pull away, then, but he would have none of that. But neither would she; because she drew back from him when he drew near.

"You're...

"Stop." She spoke; it was a soft, delicate whisper. "Don't say it!"

Naruto took one limping step toward the cage, and then, just like that, the vision was gone. The world faded to black. The water swept past his head and swept him inward; a flailing heap of arms and legs that found itself hauled into the cage by the current. He experienced the faintest touch on his cheek, then something sent his mind hurtling back toward the surface, and to conciousness...

A dull roar filled his ears as wamr light exploded across his eyes...

0o0o0

In a bland white room, Uzumaki Naruto stirred.

He awoke to warmth of white sheets and the sound of snorting. Sunlight splayed across his face, leaking through the window. Naruto blinked, brushing back the blankets that lay scattered about the bed. His eyes widened all too explosively at the sight that greeted him. Sprawled out across the floor, with naught but the hardened to greet her body, lay the girl he'd met in the square.

She had laid herself halfway across his bedside, having fallen asleep with her knees ont he ground, but her arms and head nestled firmly against the bed. Naruto blinked away the cobwebs from his eyes and forced himself into a sitting position. Absentmindedly, he noticed that he'd been rather heavily bandaged. Cute. Wait, what the hell? He wasn't thinking of the bandages, rather, his attention was fixated upon the sleeping beauty at his bedside.

This must be her home, he mused.

He could hear the faintest commotion coming from just beyond his door. It would appear that she, whomever she was, had guests. Though part of him yearned to stretch out his hand and touch her face, he resisted the strange impulse. Instead, he reached for the sheets beneath him, and tore a thin strand of fabric away from the comforter. First, and foremost, he wanted to cover up this blasted tattoo on his arm.

Damn but she was a light sleeper..

...you're awake!"

Naruto froze.

The girl-he still couldn't recall her name-was staring. Not only at him, her attention was fixed pointedly upon the metallic engravings etched into his right arm. His tattoo. She was staring at it as if it were either the most fascinating thing in the world, or the devil itself. He forced himself to swallow, lest she find some flaw in his expression that could be used to further exploit his sudden weakness.

"Are you feeling any better?" She asked, lightly. "Are your wounds causing you any pain?"

"N-No." He managed, though he couldn't keep the flush from his face. "I'm...fine. Thank you for your assistance, miss...?"

"VIVI!"

The name all but shattered against his ears.

Naruto swung around, his legs scissoring out from underneath him as the door was inexplicably smote inward, almost as if someone had forcibly kicked it down. Indeed, some one had taken the opportunity to veritably burst into the room. Barging in directly behind the shattered frame came a young boy wearing a loose fitting tunic and a strawhat, shouting at the top of his lungs.

Interestingly enough, he was speaking around a mouthful of fruit. Amazingly, he swallowed it all in one bite, and his stomach immediately gurgled for more. For a moment, it was an almost pitiable sound. Apparently this was not the case for the starving boy with the hat of straw. He rubbed at his stomach for a moment, seemed to realize that this was not, in fact, the kitchen, and immediately recognized the girl sitting at Naruto's bed.

"VIVI!" The boy shouted! "Where's the kitchen! I need food!"

"L-Luffy-san!" Vivi blushed. "I-I didn't know you were awake!"

"Well of course I'm awake! How else would I be looking for the kitchen!"

Okay, time to leave.

"I...should be going."

Despite himself and the burning desire to say more, Naruto forced himself out of bed. Unfortunately, this both earned and aroused Luffy's curiousity. Now, Luffy, being Luffy, chose that very moment to notice the most distintive and obvious feature about the stranger in Vivi's bed. He was still trying to decipher it in fact, when the blond attempted to shoulder his way right on past the inquisitive youth.

"Whoa!"

Luffy, not-surprisingly, being made of rubber and what-not bounced right back. Not one to be so easily denied, he swiveled, turning his attention after the retreating blond; who seemed perfectly content to leave the two of them behind, despite lacking his shirt and jacket. He'd barely made it three paces before Vivi flung herself from the bed and gave chase for him.

"Nanda?" The boy squinted at Naruto as he brushed past. "Who's this guy?"

Vivi flushed.

"A-Ano, Luffy-san, this is-

"Plu-ton?" Peering at the engraving upon the blond's arm and shoulder, Luffy sounded out the word in confusion, and Naruto forced his fists to unclench. "Oi, blondie-ossan, is that your name?" Somehow, Naruto's body reacted. A small, imperceptible tremor raced up and down his spine. He shivered. Shuddered. Convulsed, at the very mention of a name that had forced him to run for his very life before arriving here.

Somehow, he just reacted.

Naruto flung his hands outward, revealing thin circular holes within them. Light began to swell within his palms, gathering, building up into a deafening thrum. Surprised by the lightshow though he might've been, he was all too aware of what his body was doing; modulating the amount of power. Within seconds, he cradled two specks of light in either palm.

"ITS NOT OSSAN!" Naruto wipped one such speck at the strawhat lad. "I'm only eighteen I'll have you know!" It swerved at the last second however, gracefully demolishing the very room the three of them had just exited. Naruto sweatdropped as the circular holes in his hands receded, leaving them normal, unprotected palms, just as they'd always been.

'What the hell?'

"Sugoi!" Luffy gawked openly at the gaping crater he'd only just occupied. Stars shone from his eyes and he practically seemed to shine from a massive overdose of extreme coolness exposure "A beeeaaaaaam!" He all but squealed!" That's it! Blondie-ossan! You're going to become my nakama!" Both Naruto and Vivi simultaneously facefaulted in the exact same instant, with the former making it to his feet first.

"THE HELL I AM!"

A/N: I hope you all liked the mystery and intrigue, and the humor towards the very end! Oh, and did I mention Naruto's very body was modified, as he's, well, PLUTON? To be Introducing the Strawhat Pirates! Naruto past is somewhat revealed? And how on earth does he know Vivi? All these questions and more will be explained in the next chapter, so, stay tuned!

And, as promised, here is a brief sneak peek of the next chapter!

Preview:

As if to confirm Nami's suspicions, Naruto and Robin caught each other's gaze, with the latter catching sight of the former's tattoo.

"This is...!"

An overpowering sensation of pressure bore down upon her like an invisible hand. She sensed something enormous nearby, silent in the dark, like a giant passing within arms reach. A gravid deadly prescence too huge to grant her notice. She glanced to Naruto and saw him grimace, fingertips pressed against his temples. A droplet of blood fell from his nose.

It's him, she thought, amazed. Even I can feel it...Pluton!

Until next time, Ja ne!