Reading Guide

"Gaki" Biju talking

'Gaki' Biju thinking

"Hello" Person talking

'Hello' Person thinking

"Gaara stared up at the half full moon" Flashback

"Negative Hollow" Technique name

- Elemental Countries - Place

"YOU CANNOT ESCAPE YOUR DESTINY!" Obi-Wan

Disclaimer: When I rule the world, then I shall own One Piece and Naruto, but mainly One Piece.


- Thriller Bark: Mast Mansion -

Trafalgar threw down the report and massaged his temples.

"That bad?" Luffy asked, completely focused on his game.

"More than," Law replied. "Turns out we majorly underestimated these shinobi."

"That all?"

"Hardly. I can only say that I'm glad I chose Robin-ya as our Kumo agent. Their intelligence appears to be top notch and Robin's ability to get information she shouldn't have is top notch as well."

"Mmmm, okay."

"You don't care do you?" Law asked, shaking his head.

"Nooooo!" Luffy's agonized scream almost deafened Law. "I was this close to getting a new high score! Why? Why? Why?" Luffy ranted. After regaining his senses he saw Luffy kneeling in front of the pinball machine with his head in his hands. The pinball machine had been given to Luffy by Daimon, one of the captains that Luffy had recruited. Apparently Daimon had got it while visiting some out of the way island in the New World. Franky had liked the idea and modified the machine to make it more 'fun.' Honestly, the thing had too many lasers for Law's taste. 'That thing is more dangerous than a weaker Vice-Admiral,' Law mused to himself.

"Well, now that your game is over, care to pay attention?" Law asked, refocusing on the subject at hand.

Sighing, Luffy got to his feet, "Sure, might as well."

"Good," Law replied. "The first part of Robin's report is all about the abilities of these shinobi. It appears that we underestimated them. Some of them, the Five Kage in particular, could probably stand up to Vice-Admirals."

"Really?" Luffy asked. "Do they use Haki or devil fruits?"

"Neither, they use some type of power called chakra. It appears to be similar to devil fruit abilities, but the powers granted by chakra are more versatile and those who use them retain the ability to swim."

Luffy frowned, "That sounds too good to be true."

"I agree," Law said, "And I don't believe for a second that this 'chakra' isn't related to the devil fruits in some way. The only question is how. . ."

"Pointless," Luffy said.

"Huh?"

"I said it's pointless, we don't have the information to figure it out right now. Maybe later, but not now. What else is in the report?"

Law smiled, it had been a long time in coming, but it had begun. Due to long term exposure to a person possessing intelligence of Laws level Luffy was beginning to engage in the extremely rare act of thinking.

"Well, the other main issue that she brings to light is a possible civil war," Law said.

"Civil war? Why?"

"Well, tensions are high between the Great Nations, and if left alone they will certainly go to war eventually. This is both a good and a bad thing."

"I know," Luffy said, surprising Law. Sure, Luffy had started to think more often but figuring out why a civil war would be a good thing would require advanced logical reasoning, exactly the type that Luffy didn't have. "If I was sitting at a table with two other people and their were three pieces of meat I would grab one and eat it. But, if the other two people looked like they were going to fight over one of the pieces of meat, I would wait for them to start fighting and then grab two pieces of meat. This is like that, right?"

'Figures, any higher reasoning that occurs in his head involves meat in some way shape or form. Well, at least he gets the concept,' Law thought. "You're basically correct. In the World Government thinks that there will be a civil war they are likely to hold off until the start of the war before invading. If they were to invade while these shinobi were having an internal conflict, the shinobi wouldn't stand a chance, no matter how skilled they happen to be."

"Shishishi, well then we just have to act before that happens right?" Luffy laughed. 'I can feel an adventure,' he thought to himself.


- Land of Wind: Suna -

Gaara sat alone in a booth in the restaurant. Like last time, the place was empty. Of course, it hadn't been empty when he had first entered, but that issue resolved itself quickly. Gaara had his head in his hands thinking.

The Shukaku was roaring in the back of Gaara's mind making it hard to concentrate, but he persevered.

'It's a pity that the only time the Shukaku is lucid enough to talk to me is the few days around the new moon,' Gaara thought to himself. He shared a very interesting relationship with the Shukaku.

During the New Moon and near that time of the month, Gaara was able to converse with the Shukaku with few problems. Still, that lasted a few days at best. After just a few short days Shukaku would go silent, usually for a period of about eight hours. When the eight hours were up, Shukaku would once again begin to speak. He would ignore any attempts to speak with him, and instead constantly mutter about killing and destruction. The mutterings only got worse as the Full Moon approached, each day their volume increased. On the actual night for the Full Moon Shukaku would usually scream continuously, never pausing even once until the sun rose in the morning.

Needless to say, Gaara couldn't stand it. To cope he usually spent the entire day and night of the Full Moon isolated in the desert, as much for his own sake as anyone who would be so unlucky as to approach him at such a time. He was never able to sleep on that night, but then again he was never able to sleep period. He could count the number of hours of sleep he had gotten in his life on his fingers. The Shukaku might be willing to have civil consecrations with him, but if Gaara was to go to sleep, well, Shukaku never was the type to show restraint. Ironically, the same thing that prohibited him from sleeping was the same thing that made it survivable. Due to the Shukaku's chakra, Gaara had been able to function with only about five minutes of sleep per year.

He wouldn't even have the five minutes, but there was always someone to fight, and Suna couldn't have anyone but their 'secret' weapon risking their lives. Some of the opponents were so strong that Gaara was forced to use the Playing Possum Jutsu, and he often did, if only for the few minutes of rest it afforded him.

The door of the Oasis opened, startling Gaara out of his thoughts. Ignoring the rantings of the now slightly less then sane Shukaku, Gaara focused on Crocodile and Daz who were walking towards him.

"Have you made your choice?" Crocodile asked after taking a seat across from Gaara and lighting his cigar.

"No, I would like more information before making a decision," Gaara said.

"Hn, good choice," Crocodile responded, "Never go in blind if you can help it. Anyhow, allow me to explain. I'm sure you're aware of the sea that surrounds the Elemental Countries, right?"

Gaara nodded. "Of course I am, although I cannot claim to have seen it for myself."

"That's not an issue, it's the fact that it exists that you need to worry about."

"The fact that it exists?"

"Hn, okay, rather the fact that things exist in and beyond it," Crocodile amended. "And quite a few of those things have now focused their attention of the Elemental Nations."

Gaara's face remained stoic. "That's hard to believe."

"Whether of not you believe it, things exist out in that sea, and they're coming here," Daz said, speaking for the first time.

"What sorts of things, then? And why? Why now, for that matter," Gaara asked.

"The first two are easy, the third I honestly don't have an answer to," Crocodile admitted. "As to the first, a group known as the World Government and a militaristic organization known as the Marines are your biggest concern. The World Government is an over-arching power that controls an alliance of over one-hundred and seventy countries while the Marines are a group that posses military power that surpasses everything that the Elemental Nations has to offer. To give you a frame of reference, the Five Kage are probably as strong as a Marine Vice-Admiral."

"The rank of Vice-Admiral is the third highest in the Navy, or Marines, they go by both names," he continued. "There are probably about fifty of them in the Navy, although a decent number of them are giants and weaker than the human ones."

"Giants?" Gaara asked incredulously.

"You'll know one when you see one, until then lets move on," Crocodile said. "As you can see, the Elemental Countries wouldn't last a month under the onslaught of the Navy, and that's without even factoring in the World Government."

"Now as for why, well, they want the land. I'm not going to give you a geography lesson, but the World Government wants an island in this part of the sea that is under their control. They used to hav most of the island in this area under their thumb, but due to a certain incident the islands broke away from them. Without an island to act as a staging point, the World Government can't really do anything. Do you see?"

Gaara's eyes widened. "They want to use the Elemental Nations as their staging point."

"Exactly," said Daz.

Gaara closed his eyes for a moment, then they opened again. "I'm in. But, I must ask, what exactly is your group? If you have the power to stand up this World Government then you must be quite the group."

Crocodile smiled for the first time since he had landed in the Elemental Nations. "Kuhahahahaha, we aren't really strong enough to fight them head on, not at the moment at least. Our group has two leaders who will be dealing with that problem, so no need to worry. As to what we are, well, to put it bluntly we're pirates. By extension I suppose that makes you a pirate. Maybe you need a new name. Gaara of the Sea, perhaps? Kuhahahahaha."


(A/N: Yosha! Done with Suna for the time being, but we'll be going back again later. Now, I guess I should address the power level issue. I have received several comments about the Ninja being to weak. My response to that is sorry, I guess, but that's the way it is. Later in the story they'll be stronger and some will even be slightly overpowered, but for now they are pretty weak. Honestly, if Tsunade challenged Zoro right now it would look like Zoro vs Mrs. Monday. Hopefully that gives you an idea of where the Ninja stand. If you don't like that, well, there are plenty of Naruto/One Piece Crossovers with overpowered Ninja out their, it shouldn't be too hard to find one.)

[A/N P.S: If anyone has any ideas for the quotes or funny comments in the Reading Guide, please don't hesitate to comment or PM me.]