Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto or One Piece. Actually I own very little. Sucks.
Chapter 2
Naruto stepped out of the shack he had cobbled together in the forest. To him it was impressive for an eight year old among hundreds scrounging for resources. He had arrived in Gray Terminal a couple of weeks ago and despite it being much poorer than Konoha he loved it. Here nobody hated him for events beyond his control.
However despite his newfound joy in his change of living arrangements that didn't mean he was going to live in Gray Terminal. No, he had built his home in the forest just outside and fought the smaller wild animals for food. But he regularly made trips to Gray Terminal to search through the junk. It was on one of these trips that he met the first two people he would call his nakama.
"So how much did you get?"
Naruto perked up hearing voices nearby. He clambered up on top of the nearest pile of junk and spotted two boys that looked to be his age. One of them had short blond hair and was wearing a blue jacket over a pair of blue shorts. He also had a black top with blue goggles on it. The other had short black hair, a red tank top and black shorts. The one in blue was counting money.
"Damn, you got more than me Ace!"
"It doesn't matter who got more Sabo. Once we have enough we'll get out of Gray Terminal and become pirates!"
"Yup!" replied Sabo cheerfully.
"Pirates? That's cool." commented Naruto.
"Wahh! How long have you been there? Actually it doesn't matter. Ace! He saw where we hide our treasure, we can't let him leave!" The two of them hefted the pipes they were holding and rushed him.
Naruto watched as the two ran at him. Compared to the villagers in Konoha they were pretty fast but Naruto had been attacked by shinobi before as well and, unfortunately for Ace and Sabo, they just didn't compare. He sidestepped Sabo's wild swing and kicked his wrist, knocking his makeshift weapon from his hand. He turned, ducking under Ace's swing and sank his fist into his stomach, incapacitating him as well.
"You guys aren't that bad." Naruto commented casually as the two glared at him. "Here." He fished a small bag out of his pocket and tossed it to the two of them.
Ace continued to glare at him as Sabo moved forward cautiously. Sabo slowly opened the bag and gasped. "Sabo? What is it?" Sabo turned back towards Ace clutching a stack of beri. "W-what? That's almost as much as the two of us have gathered together in almost five years!" The two of them turned back to Naruto. "Your just giving this to us? After we attempted to kill you?"
"Have either of you ever actually killed someone? Would you have actually been able to go through with it?"
The two of them stopped and stared at each other. Then they sweatdropped. "Yeah, your right. Still this is a lot of money and-"
"What am I gonna use it for?" Naruto interrupted. "At least the two of ye have an idea of what to use it for."
Ace sweatdropped at his offhand reply. 'He's so uninterested its almost funny."
"Well I've decided!" declared Sabo.
"Hmm?"
"When me and Ace get out of Gray Terminal you're comin' with us Naruto. Your our new brother!" Sabo declared, a grin splitting his face. Ace soon agreeing.
Naruto stared at them before he started to smile. It looked like the nakama he'd wanted to find had found him instead.
It had been two weeks since Naruto had met Ace and Sabo and they had almost settled into a routine. Everytime Ace made his way through the forest from Dadan's, the bandits he lived with, he collected Naruto and the two of them would continue on until they met Sabo in Gray Terminal, where they pooled all the money they'd collected together and added it to the stash. However today wasn't as normal.
"And he just followed me into the forest, completely ignoring all the animals. I hope he gets lost or-" Ace continued to rant on about the kid who had recently been left at Dadan's by Garp, the man Ace considered his grandfather. Apparently the kid was dead set on becoming Ace's friend.
Naruto and Sabo huddled together as Ace continued. "How long do you think he'll be like this?"
"I dunno. We'll just have to hope the kid leaves him alone or he'll never stop." However they underestimated this specific kid. He would most certainly not leave Ace alone.
It was almost six months of listening to Ace complain about this kid, Luffy, before it came to an end. Although not in the way anyone expected. Ace was meeting with Sabo alone today. Naruto was in the forest, attempting to catch his dinner for the next week.
"Sabo!" called out Ace, "Are you there? Sorry for being late."
Sabo jumped down from a nearby tree, discarding Naruto's absence as he tended to go off on these trips a lot and they were used to it by now. They quickly pooled their money, Ace adding Naruto's who usually left his in his shack for Ace to collect if he wasn't there.
"Awesome! You got loads! Where'd you get it all?" exclaimed Sabo.
"A bunch of people near the gate. They might have been carriers for some merchant ship."
"This is amazing! I wonder how much we need to buy a pirate ship?"
"Pirates?!" They heard a voice exclaim, "I wanna be a pirate too!"
The two looked down to see the figure of Luffy who had apparently followed Ace through the forest, Sabo recognizing him from Ace's stories as well as his trademark straw hat. "See Ace, this is the reason I told you to live here with me!" exclaimed Sabo, standing over the form of Luffy's bound body. Now he know's our secret!"
"Let's kill him." decided Ace.
"Yeah." agreed Sabo, neither noticing the similarities to a previous situation. "Alright Ace, he followed you. You kill him."
"WHAT? I'VE NEVER KILLED SOMEONE!"
"SAME HERE! I DON'T KNOW HOW TO DO IT!"
However their argument was quickly interrupted by people nearby, attracted by Luffy's cries for help. Unfortunately these people turned out to be members of the Bluejam Pirates, searching for Ace in order to get revenge for Ace stealing their money. Ace and Sabo quickly fled. The pirates were going to keep looking until Luffy accidentally said Ace was his friend and they decided to 'persuade' him to tell them where Ace was hiding.
Ace and Sabo watched for a while before deciding that their treasure wasn't safe and decided to move it. After moving it all, and ensuring it wouldn't be found, they returned to see Luffy still refusing to say anything about Ace or the treasure.
Naruto arrived to spot Ace and Sabo hiding in some bushes while some kid was beaten up. He quickly made his way over to them. "Oi, what's going on?"
Sabo would have jumped at the sound of Naruto's voice were it not for Ace grabbing his shoulder. "Dammit Naruto!" he hissed. They quickly explained the situation to him.
"Alright." said Naruto, "I think I've figured it all out." He then proceeded to stand up and walk out into the clearing, intent on addressing the pirates. "Hey! All of you can clear out now."
Behind cover Ace and Sabo facepalmed at what they believed was their soon to be dead brother.
"Yeah?" sneered one of the pirates, "Who's gonna make us?" His face promptly met Naruto's foot. "Me." As Naruto quickly began fighting the pirates Ace and Sabo stared. "Sabo we have to help him!" "Yeah, you're right!"
The two quickly joined the fray and within moments the pirates were dealt with. Sabo then grabbed Luffy and they ran in case anymore pirates came. They didn't stop until they had made it back to Naruto's shack. Ace and Sabo sat down in an attempt to catch their breath while Naruto calmed a hysteric Luffy.
"T-they were gonna kill me! A-and they-"
"Shut up!" snapped Ace. "How long are you gonna keep crying?! I hate weaklings and crybabies like you!"
Luffy stifled his sobs while Naruto turned to Ace. "You could be a little nicer. He did just get beaten around 'cause of you." Then he turned to Luffy. "But why do you wanna be his friend so bad?"
"Cause there's no-one else!" stated Luffy. "Without him I'd be all alone!"
Naruto looked back at Ace's open-mouthed look of disbelief and Sabo's smirk. "Well I don't know about them but I think your pretty cool. You can come out here whenever you want."
He was quickly joined by Sabo, and slightly after Ace's, sounds of agreement. Naruto smiled. His nakama continued to grow.
Alright! Had this almost done for about three days now but couldn't think how to end it. Not altogether satisfied but it'll do. Also, in regards to Devil Fruits for Naruto, please don't send stuff like time, elements or dragon zoans. Not only is the last one overdone I don't want Naruto to be dominating every fight. I want him to lose some , as well as grow
