A/N: I hope you liked the hints I dropped in this chapter! Yes, the hints and the groundwork are being laid for Naruto to potentially follow Luffy on his journey! WOOT! The question remains however, will he survive the coming battle and realize his dream? Or will the pains of his past swallow him whole? Read on to find out, and, don't forget to review! I really appreciate all your kind and heartfelt words and know this: I AM GETTING BETTER BY THE DAY! My health is beginning to improve! I plan to update all my works, as I plan to prove with this chappy!

Ambition

"What's this?" Rayleigh blinked. "Look's like everybody's watching us."

"No, really?" Naruto sweadropped as he brushed some dust of his vest. "Never would have guessed." For the first time, he regretted wearing such an exorbiant outfit. Not only had it warranted uneccessary-but desirable-attention, the gaudy lappels of his jacket were beginning to harden thanks to the crusted blood he'd obtained during his escape. A small frown adjourned his features as he wriggled out of the sleeves, the flimsy blue jacket choosing instead to slump over his shoulders immediately thereafter.

Coupled with his gaudy trousers and ridiculously platinum blond hair, it made for a rather humorous scene. An old man, a boy, and a giant, subsuquently making their grand appearance on stage, in full view of the guards and the jailers. Rayleight, of course, was completely relaxed, thanks to that sack of money they'd stolen backstage. Damn but the old coot would always be happy so long as he had money to gamble with, Naruto mused.

Then he found a familair face amongst the rookies.

"Isn't that...?"

"If it isn't Hacchi!" Rayleigh exclaimed suddenly! "It's been awhile, what're you doing in this place?" Immediately thereafter, his smile withered; drying up into a concerned but all the same compassionate frown. Naruto took note of it as well. A strange reindeer-like creature was frantically wrapping the fishman in gauze; because, he was wounded. In the brief span of inattention that it took to notice this, Rayleigh finally seemed to come around to the here and now.

"Hacchi...

"How did you get those wounds?" He paused. "No, no, you don't have to speak." Slowly stroking his beard, his gaze took in the ruined Auction House. It lingered upon Camie, glanced over the inert Tenryubito, and finally, settled upon the pirates who appeared to still be in the midst of a conflict with the guards. Everyone had fallen silent and Naruto knew as well as his father that the impasse created by their arrival would not last much longer.

"So that's what happened." Silvers Rayleight abruptly smacked one fist into an empty palm. "Alright then, I understand the situation." Suddenly, and without warning his gaze locked upon the guards. "Geez, you sure had a hard time, Hacchi." Now it was the boy with the strawhat who found himself bearing the brunt of the Dark King's gaze. "So you were the guys who helped him?"

Wuh-oh.

"Well then...

Naruto felt the willpower before any semblance of it manifested. Even then at point blank range, he almost stumbled from the force of his father's own haki. Grimacing against the powerful surge, the room swam before his eyes for a moment; then he drove the haze from his vision. The guards and jailers were not nearly as strong-willed; neither did they have the necessary fortitude to stand up to such a massive burst of ambition.

It emerged as a small ripple; spreading across the stands in an overflowing wave that engulfed everyone and everything that existed before Rayleigh's gaze.

"That strawhat certainly suits a fearless man such as yourself." Rayleigh grinned once again at the blue-vested boy with the hat of straw. "We've been waiting to meet you for quite some time, Monkey D. Luffy." Naruto, however, wasn't listening. A heated flash of fury flickered through his mind as he recalled a painful image; of the celestial dragons that had irrevocably savaged his youth in the years past.

A low hiss escaped his lips.

"Damn Tenryubito." Naruto growled, his attention locking upon the inert form of Saint Shaulia. "Hey pops, they're already out cold. It would be a mercy to kill them right now, ya know?" he asked, his thumb inching forward slightly to rest on the guard of his sword. With an almost unnoticed movement, he pushed the digit forward and unlocked his blade from its sheath with a practiced movement.

Rayleight frowned.

"Son...

"Actually, you can forget that." He announced brusquely. "I've made up my mind." Abruptly, the tapered tip of the wakizashi stabbed outward. Precisely one second after that and the bubble of Saint Shaulia's personal oxygen helmet burst wide open. "I'm going to kill them." His words were soft; slow, deadly. "All of them. Each and every one of the so-called descendants of those kings deserve to die, starting with-

"No!"

Naruto flinched as sharp cry pierced the silence.

"Don't!" They repeated!

Caimie's head broke the surface of her tank and she breathed shallowly the feeling of raw terror giving way to an unsettling numbness. Voices drifted in her ear causing her to twitch and try to focus on what was happening to her. The voices sounded calm and so very pleasant. Somehow, she found herself breathless; the word hitching in her throat as she beheld the one who gawped at her.

"D-Don't kill anyone, mister." She whispered softly. "Please, not for my sake."

"You?" Naruto guffawed at the mermaid. He vaguely recalled her, the mermaid who had been brought in and subsuquently "purchased" by Saint Charloss. Well, given that her owner-to-be was currently placed in a coma, did she really have any reason to speak on their behalf. Just the thought of it made him want to stab someone-preferentially the Celestial Dragons-but for now, the sheer shock of her words restrained him.

"C-Caimie...Pappug stammered, absolutely terrified by the scene unfolding before them. For a split second, it seemed that Naruto just might follow through with his threat. It stretched on for what felt like forever, as he blade neared the pale and pristine throat of Saint Shaulia. Muscles bulged and swelled in his neck; tightening the cords of his arms as he struggled to restrain himself from further action.

"Mister?" For some reason, Naruto found this to be incredibly funny. He was far too young to be called an old man! He was only eighteen for crissakes! Well there was another way to resolve this situation without bloodshed, after all. Still chuckling, he jammed the wakizashi back into its sheathe. Fine. He'd let those pompous fools live. However, the flames of defiance still roared high in his eyes as he turned toward Caime.

"Fine." He all but spit. "However, its not "mister". I have a name, you know."

Freeing her was the least he could do, or so he told himself as he approached.

"Oh, I never gave you my name, did I?" He paused, then laughed aloud. "It's Naruto." He extended his hand to her. "Uzumaki D. Naruto! Pleased to meet you!" Slowly, warily, she took his hand and allowed it to be held. The silence seemed to stretch on into eternity, the human peering deeply, intently into the eyes of the mermaid. She flushed for a moment, then turned her gaze away when he smiled; because he'd just touched a finger to the device.

"C-Camie." The mermaid replied meekly, her eyes flying wide seconds later as she remembered the consequences of having the collar removed. "W-Wait, what're you-

Too late, he laid hands upon it.

"!"

"Let's get this collar off you." With a viscious twist of his wrist and ankle, the incessant chiming of the countdown went eerily silent. And with good reason, she realized. Now that the man had removed his glove, now that he had physically laid a hand upon the instrument of her demise, she had gained her freedom. In his hand, the explosive collar had b een reduced to a pile of molten slag within a clenched fist.

"Be at ease." He reassured in the wake of her terrified expression. "I've eaten the Gōka Gōka no mi: Model Kagatsuchi."

"Nani?"

The silence was deafening.

"I'm a Hellfire man." Naruto explained further with a snap of his fingers. "Lookie here." Ignited within his palm was a small globule of solidified flame, the very reason that the collar had melted in the first place. Even as she gawped at it, the light vanished, leaving her cloaked saviour to smile pleasantly back at her. Camie blinked, staring at Naruto's hand as if it were the strangest thing in the world.

"Sugoi!" Naruto heard someone shout-it sounded a great deal like Monkey D. Luffy-only for that someone to be humorously struck across the head.

"Shut up, Luffy!" An as-of-yet unamed girl with orange hair hissed sharply! This isn't the time to be impressed!" Naruto took notice of her for only a moment before returning his attention to Caimie.

"Ahaha...you're supposed to shake." Naruto ammended, peering at her for the first time. "Erm...if you want to, that is. I'm sorry if I frightened you."

She was fair-haired, larged eyed, and with a delicate point to her chin. Not full figured but certainly not petite either. As far as most women went she was beautiful, but then again, Naruto's definition of beauty still had a ways to go, all things considered. Regardless of the fact, he found his mouth working on the words that defied him; remaining rooted in his mouth. He forced the smile back into place and awaited her eventual reply so he could return home...

...and hopefully banish the vision of this gorgeous beauty from his head.

"Arigatou!"

Sheathe and all the wakizashi fell from his hand, clattering uselessly to the floor with an audible plop as she frantically seized him in a furious embrace. It skittered across the stone and gravel and dirt, out of reach. Abashed, he felt arms fling themselves around his neck, and then there was only the crunch of broken debris beneath his feet as he struggled; both to keep himself from falling, and her from sloshing out of the tank, lest she herself fall out and become traumatized further.

He couldn't make himself move, couldn't think; he simply felt.

The smooth skin of her cheek brushed against his scruffy, whiskered one. Her hair filled his nostrils with the clean scent of delight and disbelief. She hugged him fiercely, the notes of strong hard arms joining with supple firm stomach and back joining with the pure feminine softness of her chest pressed against his making a chord of perfect acceptance.

"Thank you." She whispered. "Thank you so much!"

After a while he realized that she was shaking inside his oversized cloak, and she failed to stifle a sob. He frowned over her shoulder, trying to decide if it was kinder to leave her to her thoughts for a time, distract her with meaningless conversation, or draw her out and let her tell her story. Just five minutes ago, he hadn't known she even existed Now he found himself in the awkward position of comforting a beautiful mermaid, and quite frankly, such a task was terrifying.

Naruto fumed at himself and everyone in the room.

She'd seen more murder and cruelty in a few hours than most people do in a lifetime. And he'd certainly contributed to it with his furious skirmish on the stand. All she knew of him was that he'd stolen her out of a slaver camp, savagely cutting down anyone in his path. Regardless of the reasons he gave for his actions, she had to wonder whether his motives were truly honorable or not. And he was covered in blood for crissakes!

"Oh," she whined, burying her face into his chest as she finally fell apart, her eyes bursting with hot tears. "I know I'm safe now, but still, I just...I just can't...stop...crying!"

Not knowing what else to do, he squeezed her and said,

"It's over now, Caimie-san."

She nodded but did not answer. She held him tighter. Such strength! He felt a rib begin to crack under the strain of her renewed vice; the likes of which was almost enough to drive the oxygen from his lungs and leave him altogether breathless. She fisted her hands into the lappels of his jacket; her tears doing more damage than any violence she could possibly commit. Abashed by her actions and the butterflies boiling in his stomach, Naruto resigned himself to patience; he would wait as long as it was neccessary.

"You're safe." He supplied weakly, doing his best to untangle himself from the snifling vixen and failing miserably. "Remember that." Incredibly, he found that he'd laid hands on her shoulders-when had he done that exactly-and he forced himself to smile. He didn't want to smile; he'd much rather be butchering the three Celestial Dragons that had dared to make her cry in the first place, but smile he did and his smile remained a beacon of compassion in the middle of such abject malice.

Caimie blushed.

"Naruto-chin...

"Well, as touching as this scene is, shouldn't we be getting the hell out of here?" Naruto turned to see a strange looking man with an equally strange looking ducktail emerging from backstage, swinging a ring of keys around one finger. Another one of the strawhats, perhaps? And why the hell didn't he have any pants? Dismissing that matter for the moment, he forced himself to straighten; bending at the knees.

"Well, you're right about that." Rayleigh nodded. "I'm afraid I won't be doing that again so you'll have to create an opening when we get outside." Naruto grimaced; because it meant that, once again, it was being left to him to find a way out of a situation that involved mass notoriety. Great! Lovely! Why couldn't Rayleigh ever let things lie and just settle himself down like any normal parent?

"And who the hell are you guys?" the strange looking man demanded loudly. "What in the hell is going on here?"

"I suppose you could call me an ally." Naruto answered stiffly, exchanging a terse glance with Rayleigh. "For the moment. That being said, we need to leave." Naruto forced himself to tear his gaze away from the blushing maiden for a moment, suddenly aware that the auction house was utterly deserted, save for the pirates and the slaves, the latter having been spared the burst of haki and as a result, reatained their concsiousness.

"Caimie-san, can you...walk?" He let the question die on his lips when the obvious occurred to him. Well of course she couldn't walk! She was a mermaid! Mentally smacking himself for such an obscure idea, the blond sheepishly scrubbed at the back of his head in apology. Rayleigh only grinned of course; amused by t

"I...I can't walk." She confessed, her glance shieing nervously to her tail. "Sorry...

"Then I'll carry you." Naruto answered swiftly, elbowing his way past Rayleigh and Franky. "Up we go!"

"Eep!"

Caimie squeaked, even weaker as he reluctantly scooped her up. She slumped against him, flushing as he placed a hand behind her tail in an effort to steady himself. Kami she was light! Hoisting her up against his back, Naruto locked both arms beneath her waist; momentarily causing her to flush and convulse, stiffening beneath the vice that held her fast.

"A-Ah!"

"Hold tight." He murmured to her, grimacing when Caimie quietly complied. He pushed himself upright; bending and straightening at the knees. A great and terrible clamoring could already be heard outside as they made all due haste. Strangely enough he could feel the blonde's eyes on him burning like a branded iron in the back of his head. What on earth was his problem, anyway?

Silently, he resolved to do all he could for his erstwhile passenger, but before that, there was the matter of escape. A Marine Admiral could arrive at any given moment, and he had absolutely no desire to be present at the time of his arrival. He began to ascend the steps, ignoring Rayleigh when the old man paused to speak with Luffy; because why should he care about some upstart rookie when a woman's safety was at stake?

Precisely.

He recognized a few faces amongst them, though, through their wanted posters only. That orange-haired woman was none other than the "Cat-Burglar" Nami. That green-haired marimo man with three swords had to be "Pirate-Hunter Zoro. Yikes, what a scary looking guy. The rest were rather easy to recognize as well. "Cotton Candy" Chopper, who was apparently the doctor of the crew, someone called Usopp, who, Naruto suspected to be this "Sogeking" and that musclebound man must've been "Cyborg" Franky.

It was only when he came to the last two members of the group that Naruto was given pause. What the hell? A skeleton? There wasn't a wanted poster for this one. Maybe it was some manner of decoration or sorts? Yes, yes, that had to be the case. Th-There couldn't possibly be such a thing as a living...breathing...couldn't...possibly...be...a...a...

"Hello there!" Brook chose that very moment to tip his hat. "Pleased to meet you!"

"Gah!" Naruto yelped aloud! "G-Gh-Ghooooost!"

"AH!" Brooke wailed! "A ghost! Where? Where is it!"

"Its you!" Naruto shouted!

"Ah!" Brook cried. "So I'm the ghost? Yokatta! You nearly scared me to death! Although...I AM ALREADY DEAD! Yohohoho!" Naruto didn't know whether to laugh or cry at that one. He absolutely hate hate hated ghosts, but did a living skeleton qualify as one? Ghosts weren't supposed to be this funny. How could a skeleton move, talk, AND have an afro that large?

"Just what the hell are these guys?" Naruto mumbled to himself as he stepped around the cackling skeleton. First a talking reindeer, a speedo wearing cyborg, and now a dead bunch of bones just strutting around the halls? Just what in the hell was this crew?

"That was Brooke-chin!" Caimie beamed. "Brooke-chin's is Luffy-chin's musician!"

"Musician?" Naruto blinked, aghast. "He just bones!

"Hai!" Brook laughed! "Indeed! I am "Dead Bones" Brooke, after all! Yohohoho"

"Urusei!" Naruto retorted, shifting so that he might better secure his grip on Caimie. "I wasn't talking to you!"

"Oi, punk!" Now his attention was dranw to one "Black Leg" Sani, who looked nothing at all like his wanted poster. "You'd better not drop Camie-chwan or it'll be your head!"

"Punk?" No matter how much he might want to, Naruto just couldn't let that comment slide. By the time the aformentioned insult reached his ears, he'd already slowed. Now, he frowned at the infamous cook, careful to keep Caimie on his back and his hands beneath her. "You're Sanji, right?" Sparks sprayed between their eyes as they stared one another down.

"You wanna go, asshole?" Naruto snarled.

"Sanji-chin," Caimie began, oly to have herself cut off by said cook. "There's no need to-

"Sure thing. Just Put Caimie-chwan down first, bastard." Sanji took a puff of his cigar, deliberately exhaling smoke into the blonde's face. "Then I'll kick your ass with one foot tied behind my back!" He would have said more, but he realized too late that he was talking to empty air. Naruto had already moved on, and was, much to the the cook's dismay, conversing with Nico Robin.

"Is he always like this?" Naruto asked without even glancing at Sanji. "Threatening of a complete and total stranger, I mean." Somewhere in the background, Franky had just tossed the slaves the keys to their shackles, and they were currently in the proccess of unshackling themselves. Rayleigh seemed to have finished his conversation with Luffy as well; he was shouldering Hacchin by the time Naruto thought to spare the old man a percursory glance.

"GWAH!" Sanji facefaulted. "Robin-chwan! How could you betray me like this!"

"Cook-san has his moments," She admitted, sparing a glance for Rayleight at that very moment. "You on the other hand, seem to be quite the competitor in this game." For a moment Naruto flushed under the weight of her words; his cheeks flaring scarlet as Caimie wondered what at what it was that Robin seemed to be suggesting. Well, whatever it was, it left Naruto-chin sputtering and stammering, so it must've been somehting important, she mused.

"C-C'mon, I'm just a ship coater. I mean, I'm not even a pirate...

"So that's Rayleigh's kid, huh?" Trafalgar Law hadn't moved from where he sat since the brawl with the Tenryubito began. Now he arched an eyebrow toward the nonplussed blond, but other than that eerie smile, he did little to show his concern for the situation. "He's a real spitfire, that one." Naruto neared the exit with Caimie in firm in his arms, and stomped toward the door.

Eustass Kid only chuckled.

"Looks like a legend showed up." He scoffed at the blushin lad. "Jeez, look at that one! If he's the son of the "Dark King" then this kid's probably nothing to sneeze at, either."

"COME OUT WITH YOUR HANDS UP!" A voice boomed from outside, amplified by a loudspeaker. "Mugiwara no Luffy! We demand that you release the Tenryubito at once! An admiral will soon be here! We will not be held responsible for any losses you might suffer through lack of cooperation!" Eustass cracked a shit-eating grin at that moment, his hands freeing themselves from the heavy sleeves of his fur-coat.

"Seems we're surrounded, then."

"Hold tight." Naruto repeated, shrugging his shoulders at the very same instant. "I'm heading straight for Grove Thirteen, old man! You'd better come back home after all this, you hear me?" Rayleight laughed boisterously at the blond, even as he straightened and prepared to make a dash for it. Would he stay and fight? Would this be the stage that ultimately introduced him to the eyes of the world and his enemies?

Only time would tell.

"Yosh!" Luffy smacked one palm against a fist. "Don't think for a second that I'm letting you three hog all of the fun!"

A/N: Next time: Tender Feelings and the beginnings of a brawl! Relationships are probed and brawl begins! Naruto Vs. Kizaru, Kuma...and KUMA? The Pacifista's emerge!