Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto or One Piece. Come on world, just hand over the rights. You know as well as I do that I do what I want and I take what I want, giving me the rights to both of the series would just cut out the effort I'd have to put out to get it. I don't really want to threaten or blackmail anyone… But I would kill someone, in front of their own mama for the rights to Naruto or One Piece.
Do not fuck with me. But relax, I'm not evil enough to prolong it. I'm just going to go in there, step on their necks and shoot them in the head… because that's how I roll.
Enjoy the chapter.
Chapter 29: The Show Must Go On
Naruto headed back out to the nearby island of St. Poplar to find the CP9 group. He promised he would head back their way soon, and he was a man of his word. Hopefully they hadn't decided to clear out and they decided to stay and see what he had to talk to them about. He no longer held any ill will against them. They were following orders, it was no different than the shinobi of any hidden village. To be upset with them would have been petty, especially after they had all been defeated thoroughly already.
Hopefully that same regard extended from them to him. All he wanted was Robin back. He had taken her, and that was that, there shouldn't have been anymore conflict between them. If they were anything like him in the aspect of the mission being a mission and nothing more then the talk should have been fine for them to have.
Thinking this to himself, Naruto walked through the town he had been to a few days prior. No one came with him because he hadn't told anyone where he intended to go. After the revelation of the new bounties, Naruto set out on his own while the Straw Hat Crew headed to where their new ship was being built by Franky. Thinking of that, he couldn't help but be excited to get back out on the seas on his new, improved ship. Vivi was usually so excited to tell him about what she had seen he almost felt bad when he shot her down and instructed her not to tell him anything. It was rather funny though to see the young princess noticeably fidget whenever she felt the need to talk about the ship.
With that thought out of the way, Naruto looked around the streets filled with people for any sign of CP9, 'Maybe they did leave after all? I mean, I came back to the same place I found them before, that should have been the first place they waited for me.'
"So it is you after all."
Naruto turned around to find Kaku standing there with his hands in his pockets, "I thought that Jyabura and Blueno were just shell-shocked and having flashbacks after seeing someone that looked like you, but it really is you."
"In the flesh." Naruto said in confirmation, "Is Rob Lucci healed yet?"
"He's conscious, and after he woke up he was willing to hear what you had to say. Hence why we're still here." Kaku explained, "Come with me." He said as he began to lead Naruto through the town, "We're not going to ambush you if that's what you're thinking."
"I know you aren't." Naruto replied in an even-toned manner, "Why would you? You guys got blamed for the Enies Lobby thing just as badly as my crew and the Straw Hats. Fighting me wouldn't do anything about that."
"Spandam got away." Kaku said with a hint of anger in his voice, "He's horribly wounded, but he was able to pin the entire situation on us. Blaming us for his calling in of the Buster Call. He's getting off scot-free. It makes me sick, the man isn't even a soldier, he's a suit. And for following orders and putting our bodies in jeopardy what did we get in return after all those years of work? Nothing but a knife in the back."
Naruto nodded as he let the man vent. It was clear that he hadn't been able to complain about anything for years. Naruto rubbed his chin, "What if I said I wanted to help you guys out?" Kaku gave him a disbelieving look, "Hey, think what you want. Just wait until I say something first before you start making up your mind."
Kaku nodded wordlessly and proceeded to lead Naruto to a small hospital. Once inside they immediately made their way to Rob Lucci who was surrounded by the other members of CP9, all of them looking at him warily. Kumadori pointed at Naruto dramatically, "Did you search him before you came inside Kaku? YOYO!"
Naruto raised an eyebrow and looked at everyone else in the room, "You do know that if I wanted to do something to you all I wouldn't need weapons to pull it off right? I don't even have any on me. I left everything back at Water 7 as a show of good faith except for what I came to give you."
Kalifa nodded before pointing at him and speaking in a dry manner, "That's sexual harassment."
Naruto face-faulted on the ground and picked himself up, pointing back at her and getting ready to yell before he thought about it, "I guess that last line could be sexual harassment… I don't know. Anyway, who cares? That's not why I'm here." He then got down to business, "What are you guys planning to do once you all get ready to leave?"
Lucci immediately spoke up from his hospital bed, "We're not going to join your crew." He said, the pigeon on his shoulder shaking its head as well, "Your goals and ours do not coincide."
Naruto rubbed the back of his neck, "I kind of figured you would say that so I brought this." He said, reaching into his sage coat pocket which put everyone in the room on the defensive, "Calm down, damn!" Naruto exclaimed before slowly drawing his hand out of his pocket, "Yes, this is a weapon, but it's a gift." He finally removed it all the way to reveal a Hiraishin kunai.
Jyabura took it from his grasp and studied it, "This is that strange knife you threw at the Tower of Justice that we blocked. It's just a super-speed beacon isn't it?"
"Nope." Naruto said with a grin on his face, "It is a beacon though. This allows me to find you anywhere in the world and teleport to your location. No matter where it is, I'll be there in only a moment. If you throw it to the ground or something like that it sends me a signal that you want my help or whatever and I'll be right there."
Lucci looked at the unassuming weapon, not even surprised at this point after hearing from Blueno of what Naruto was capable of and even seeing some of it himself while he fought Luffy, "Why would you do this?" He decided to ask instead, "Shouldn't you want revenge?"
"Why would I want that?" Naruto said in return, "We won. We got everyone back safe and sound, and other than a few injuries that everyone's recovered from by now for the most part nothing happened because of you. You guys were following orders. I understand, I used to have to follow orders too."
Blueno looked at him in surprise, "You were a Marine once?"
"No." Naruto said, shaking his head, "I never worked for the World Government, but my job was a lot like yours in a bunch of ways." A frown then came to his face, "I was never betrayed by my superiors though."
"So, what?" Lucci said, still not convinced of what Naruto wanted, "Do you want us to sail under your colors or something along those lines? Do you expect us to follow your orders? Tell me what it is you want from us?"
Naruto visibly frowned at Lucci's suspicion, but he guessed that the man had a point. He had been an operative in an organization of spies and assassins before now, "No, none of that. It's just that you guys remind me of me I guess." He chuckled when they all looked at him strangely, "Really. In a manner of speaking I was kind of cast out of the military system of my home continent. After I left my home it didn't take long for people around the continent to forget my character, but that was mostly the next generation settling in. Eventually every military program didn't trust me, but were still wary of me so no one ever attacked me or tried to use me. Still, it's not too different if I actually sat back and explained it to you." He extended his hand to Jyabura, "If you don't want it then just give it back. I'm not going to make you guys want to befriend me."
Jyabura looked over at Lucci to get an indication of what he was to do. Lucci closed his eyes before speaking, "Fine Uzumaki Naruto. With our lot currently not any better off than yours as fugitives of the World Government we'll accept your weapon." He opened his eyes and locked them directly with Naruto, "Do not betray us Uzumaki. We already have one person on our hit list that we intend to destroy, do not make us switch targets to you once our revenge is complete."
Naruto raised his hands into the air and started to back away, "Hey, you're thinking of the wrong guy if you think I'd do something like that. But one thing that I need to say, don't let that revenge thing consume you. If it happens it happens. If it doesn't, then don't let warfare and anger be the thing people remember you for once you're gone." Once he got near the door he turned around, stopping right before walking out of the room, "With the kunai you guys can reach me anytime. Call me when you guys decide to get yourselves out of here. We can talk more then." He said as he walked away.
Kalifa turned her attention away from the now vacant doorway to Lucci, "So now we're supposed to be allies of the Foxhound Pirates?"
"Why not?" Lucci said, taking the Hiraishin kunai away from Jyabura, "We're already criminals. Why not align ourselves with the strongest one?"
XxX
(Water 7 – Dock 2)
In a flash of yellow, Naruto appeared, scratching his neck and yawning in a lazy manner, "Yeah? Did someone call me?" Before he could say anything, his left arm was glomped by Vivi and he found himself being dragged, "What the hell?"
"The ship is done!" Vivi chirped happily, "That means that you can't avoid it anymore, I'm showing it to you, and you can't give me any excuses this time!" Behind them both, Carue was helping her by shoving Naruto along with his head and beak.
"Okay, okay." Naruto said, laughing at how fired up she seemed to be about it, "What about everyone else? Aren't you going to get them?"
"They're already here." She replied, "Now come on! You didn't show up right when I threw the kunai, what were you doing?" She asked, giving him a look of suspicion.
Naruto looked away from Vivi, "Stuff…" He heard her growl at him slightly and rolled his eyes, "I'll tell you all later. You guys have to hear it anyway, but enough, where's my damn ship? Is it badass?"
Vivi smiled as she pulled him around a corner and pointed out where the finished ship was sitting in the water, "You tell me."
Naruto's pupils dilated and he let out a girlish shriek. Picking up both Vivi and Carue he ran towards the ship as quickly as he could and ran up the side, landing on the deck where he immediately noticed a change he had instructed, "Holy shit! He actually got soil and grass put in? I was just being an asshole when I wrote that down." Grass ran all over the deck and stopped at the doors to the hold and the stairs. However even on the upper levels of the ship, around the back and at the helm, there was grass.
Stanley appeared from the inside of the ship when he heard Naruto scream like a girl, "I followed yer every order to a tee Mister Uzumaki. You get yer money's worth with me. That was easy compared to a few other requests."
Naruto looked up and grinned at the pattern that had been inscribed on the front and back of the sails, "Aw, that's perfect! They're all flawless the way I needed them to be! Now I can speed the ship up in a safer way with wind chakra... and do other stuff!" He looked over at Stanley, "Did you do what I told you to with the masts?"
"Aye." He said, scratching his head, "I don't know why you requested a hollow place in the masts though. And the holes in it?"
Naruto grinned, "This is why." He reached into his coat pocket and pulled out a tangerine as he walked over to one of the masts and placed his hand holding the tangerine against it, "Noji-chan is going to love this…" He said as he started making hand-seals.
Vivi tilted her head in confusion, "What are you do-?"
"Shh." Naruto shushed Vivi as he held the snake hand-seal, "I need to concentrate or I'm going to mess the mast up and we're going to have to wait here until it can be fixed. Now, Mokuton Hijutsu: Jukai Koutan (Wood Release Secret Technique: Nativity of a World of Trees)!" Naruto shut his eyes and focused as hard as he could, he couldn't let a lack of control over the Mokuton destroy his ship, but his crazy idea needed to be done now.
Vivi looked at the mast as the sounds of bark crackling drew her attention, "No way…" The hollow inside of the mast filled up with a tree and the holes coming through were filled with large, thick branches that quickly grew leaves and tangerines on them. The hollow top of the mast up at the crow's nest had the top of the tree peek out and go up several more feet before forming a canopy over the crow's nest.
Vivi and Stanley stood speechless as Naruto walked over to the other mast and did the same. He grew a tree on the inside of a mast.
His job complete, Naruto walked back over to Vivi and Stanley, dusting his hands off, "And that's why I wanted it hollow."
From the hold of the ship, the others came outside and looked at the trees that Naruto had sprouted. Nojiko looked up and saw the tangerines hanging off of the end of the branches and her jaw dropped, "Naruto-kun did you-?"
"Yep." He said with a grin before Nojiko ran up to him and threw her arms around his neck to give him a massive kiss, "I might have tried something like that sooner, but my Mokuton control sucks. If I just went ahead and tried it without a base and an outline like the mast I probably would have destroyed the ship." He looked at Stanley, "You've still got the flag of the crew right?" Muret went inside and handed it to him, "Sweet."
The others watched Naruto run up the side of the mast, disappearing into the leaves of the branches and continuing on up towards the top. From the smile on his face he seemed to be loving things as they were. Once he reached the top of the mast and the top of the canopy his trees had formed he planted the flag in the top firmly and headed back down.
Once he made it back down, a huge smile still on his face, Naruto looked at everyone else, "Well come on, what else? Show me the place."
At the back of the ship there was a formal sparring ground as per Naruto's directions, triple-reinforced and with actual boulders set up around as natural obstacles. Seeing that made Naruto wonder if he could try and grow a tree or two back there as well. Maybe when he got more control.
The figurehead of the ship was a featureless face with a pair of angry Rinnegan eyes and a sizeable tube between them both that led up to the helm of the ship. This was so Naruto could aim certain attacks out of the front of the ship in a focused pattern.
On the sides of the deck sat the cannons, same as always, with spaces to hold cannonballs in case of battle.
Inside of the ship the first room, just as before, was the common area, with walls painted with the Foxhound Pirates jolly roger. With a door off to the side leading to the captain's quarters, a.k.a. Naruto's room, and a hallway leading to the other rooms on that floor of the hold that belonged to the others, with many extras still vacant in case of more crew members. The room had been extended and given more space for couches, side tables, and a larger table that held a known map of the world and would keep the route that the ship was currently on. It also held the two Den-Den Mushi that Naruto had salvaged from the Sea Train and bookcases that were currently empty.
Instead of the kitchen being one with the common area it was now a separate room directly off to the side with more space and devices for Miss Valentine to use, as well as a larger refrigerator and freezer to go with a large pantry, all fully stocked. There was also a place to keep live fish so that they would have a small stockpile of fresh fish when they wanted it.
Like always, Naruto's room had the largest window of them all, spanning the entire back wall of the room. On a desk sat all of his fuuinjutsu supplies as well as current projects. There was no need to hide them, he was the only one that comprehended what they were. In one corner of the room sat a pole that Naruto would sit atop, balancing on a board, to train his ability in Sage Mode. There was also a Den-Den Mushi that was attached to an intercom system of sorts. Naruto could project a message to one room, multiple rooms, or all rooms on the ship if he needed to. Still stabbed into the headboard of his bed was a single Hiraishin kunai, and each of his remaining Hiraishin kunai were pinned up on the wall behind a framed case.
Nojiko's wall had a display for all of her guns and places to keep the ammunition for the respective guns. She even had targets on her walls for shooting at in her leisure if she was bored. Attached to Nojiko's quaint room was a small side room that held a desk, a wall full of maps, and all of the things she would need to navigate, as well as a window to see outside.
Muret's room had an office attached to it that would be the place where the others would be treated. It contained all of her medical equipment as well as a bunch of medical technology that Naruto was able to procure for her on his dollar.
Soren's room had a rack against one of the walls that held three large barrels off of the ground with a tap for each. One contained lemon juice, the second contained the booze of his choice, and the third contained water, for him to stay hydrated and so that he could keep his acidic levels high… and so that he could get smashed in the comfort of his own room.
Johnny and Yosaku's rooms were attached together, as a joke at first by Naruto, but the two didn't seem to have any problems with this. Therefore he kept that aspect as it was.
Miss Valentine's room contained a rather lavish bed, as per her request to Naruto in the past that he finally had the opportunity to fulfill. She also had a rather large walk-in closet for the clothes that she enjoyed purchasing when she had money and when they were in new areas.
Vivi's room had beds for both her and Carue. She also had a display for her jewelry from her home that she brought with her. And as a joke that Naruto got a good five minutes of laughing on the floor out of, and Vivi got a good five minutes of stomping on a laughing Naruto who was on the floor out of, she had a long metal pole in the center of the room leading from the floor to the ceiling.
Down in the lower levels, they now had a brig for prisoners, and there was even a room for interrogation, with a one-way mirror and a tiny observation room on the other side. The cargo area doubled as an armory for extra weapons and cannonballs and was also the area where clothes would be washed.
On the third lowest level, and the bottom level of the ship, there was a formal dojo-like setting, probably for Naruto to be able to meditate in, or maybe for more tame training methods that required control instead. In this area there sat the bottom of the trees Naruto had grown, rooted firmly to the floor securely. Due to the ship having been rebuilt with Naruto's Mokuton generated wood it merged with it, with only faint root marks on the floor. This was news to Naruto, and welcome news, because if the ship hadn't incurred incredible damage in areas that were built with the triple-tough Mokuton, chances were he could regenerate it if he could reach the area.
Also on this floor at the back of the ship was a room held a backdoor only Naruto had the key to open, a wet dock that could double as a swimming area and a small ship that was to be used instead of Naruto having to run the entire crew ashore by water-walking whenever they needed to head towards land.
"Kami!" Naruto yelled to the sky as he walked back outside and lay down on the grass of the deck, basking in the slight shade of the trees in the mast, "It's so awesome! Worth every bit I paid for it!" He sat up and looked at Stanley, "Did you put in the-?"
"Aye." Stanley said, proud that Naruto thoroughly enjoyed his work on his ship, "Everything as ye requested. I would wait until ye were out on the open ocean ta' test that however." He warned.
Naruto's eyes widened, "You put that in too? I was really just messing with you that time when I put that in the plans."
Stanley nodded, "Through the eyes of the figurehead it is." He grinned at Naruto, "Don't look so shocked. You gave me the designs to those seals o' yours, I simply put 'em where ye requested 'em. One behind each eye, and a trail that connects ta' the helm. There should be one hell of a kick now so watch it."
Naruto smirked, "I will. It should be one hell of a chakra monster though. Good thing only I can use it."
Soren crossed his arms as he walked around the deck and leaned against the mast under some of the shade, "So it's time to go? Finally? We've been here for way too long you know, I'm getting kind of stir crazy just doing nothing." The others all seemed to echo that sentiment. A rest was nice but there was a time and a place to do so, and in this instance it had passed.
"Yeah." Naruto said, kipping back up off of his back to his feet, "It's definitely time to go. I think we've overstayed our welcome here anyway." He looked at Nojiko, "Did it reset yet?"
The navigator of his ship nodded, "As of two days ago Naruto-kun. We can leave whenever you're ready."
"That's good." They all turned their attention towards the end of the ship where Paulie stood, leaning against the railing with a cigar in his mouth, "Because Garp is back. Apparently he was sent back after Luffy." He noticed the apprehensive looks on their faces, "Don't worry. Their ship is fixed and they got away clean."
Miss Valentine sighed in relief before pouting, "They never even said goodbye."
Naruto shrugged, "Whatever. We can call them when we get out of here and bitch about it then. Who's ready to roll?" He asked everyone, getting a round of cheers from the more exuberant members of the crew, "Good, because I'm not getting busted today, and I don't feel like wrecking the city… again."
Stanley walked up to Naruto and grabbed his hand in a firm shake, "Well I have to say lad, it was a blast working on yer ship for ye. Have fun working with everything ye got installed that we didn't get ta' show ye. The plans are in yer quarters for when ye want ta' read them."
Naruto returned the handshake happily, "We'll be back at some point, I'm sure. Then you can see how well your work went for yourself. Until then though-." He jumped towards the helm and took the wheel, "-It's time to get the hell out of here!"
Stanley laughed loudly and jumped off of the ship. Nojiko ran to the side and yelled down to him, "Stanley can you lower us down to the ocean from here?"
"No need." Naruto said to her from his spot at the front, confusing her. "Even if he did that we'd be surrounded. Nah, this way's going to be better." His grin turned manic, "We're going right off of the edge."
Muret, having been there long enough to know that he really wasn't bluffing about this fact, and being the only one that was smart enough to panic at the moment, ran inside to her room. If she was going to die she was going to die in her new digs.
Soren walked up to Naruto and smacked him one hard on the back of the head, "What in the hell is wrong with you! We're going to die you idiot!"
"No we're not." Naruto grumbled back, holding the rising bump on his skull, "Valentine-chan if you could? You're going to have to time this good."
Miss Valentine nodded with a smile and kneeled down on the deck, focusing intently, "Kilo Kilo Henkan (Kilogram Conversion), ready for use Naruto."
"What did she just do?" Nojiko asked as they came to the edge of the upper district, overlooking the entire city of Water 7 that they would get a close-up view of when they crashed into it.
Naruto explained, "My dear Valentine is about to make us light enough, with the exception of the Seastone bottom and everything inside, to float our asses out of here." He pointed up at the sails, "Those are wind seals, and I can activate them from right here by design. In the water they'll let us gain speed easier without me having to exhaust myself just for a little push. But for right now…" With that he channeled his chakra to the wheel and the ship steadily began picking up speed until it went over the edge.
Everyone with the exception of Naruto and Miss Valentine, who were both laughing at everyone else, shut their eyes and screamed at the top of their lungs as the ship went over, but realized that they were still upright and weren't falling to their deaths yet. Yosaku opened his eyes, "Wait, we're not dead yet." He ran to the edge, "We're flying?"
"Not flying." Naruto said from his place behind the wheel, "Floating. There's a difference. Not too long from now we're going to come down into the sea, but for now we're drifting through the air thanks to my awesome seal design skills, ship ideas, and Valentine-chan's powers."
Soren looked over the edge and saw that they were floating directly over the Marine ships that had the area surrounded, "Ha! Kiss my ass! You can't catch me, I hang out with lunatics! And you can never take a pair of lunatics alive, let alone an entire crew of them! At least one of them always has some suicidal plan that should never work in a million years but always does! God I love this crew, I need a drink!" He yelled, walking away with his hands held up in victory.
"I'm not a lunatic." Nojiko pouted.
"You will be." Everyone else said simultaneously as if it was a fact that simply hadn't come to pass yet.
XxX
On the Marine ship in the bay, Garp looked up in the air at the massive vessel flying overhead. He had just seen Luffy and his crew escape from them in a similar manner, only now it actually appeared to be flying, "Um, tell me if I'm wrong or not, but ships don't usually fly do they?" He asked his entire crew who were all looking up, stunned, "Strange, because I swear I've seen that twice today… So what do we do?" He asked the man laying in a lawn chair nearby.
Aokiji, covered from head-to-toe in bandages, pulled his sleeping mask up to look up at the ship that was flying over them, "Nothing. The mission was to pick me up and get your grandson, not Uzumaki Naruto. They didn't even know he was still here so it can slide."
"But then Sengoku would just bitch some more, and I kind of don't want to hear that again. I could just hit him with this." Garp suggested, tossing a cannonball up and down in his hand as if it were a baseball, "That would shoot him down."
Aokiji shook his head and pulled his mask back down, "At this range it would never even get close. You need to be closer for a projectile like that to even have a fighting chance of hitting him."
Garp shrugged and took aim at the airborne ship, "Genkotsu Ryuusei (Iron Fist Meteor)!" He hurled the cannonball into the air as if it weighed next to nothing and watched as it sailed into the air towards the Natural Disaster.
A strong gust of wind flew from the ship and hit the cannonball, slowing and eventually stopping its momentum in the air and forcing it to plummet back down into the water as the ship continued to float on out of range.
Aokiji didn't even bother taking his sleeping mask off to watch it happen, "Told you."
Garp stared at the ship before he began to laugh, "It looks like my grandson aligned himself with a strong guy didn't he? He didn't even need Luffy's help to get away!"
Aokiji didn't say anything out loud as Garp continued to laugh, 'More like Luffy didn't need his help to get away.' Aokiji said to himself before letting out a yawn, 'Oh well. Fighting him again now would only bring up the same result. We'll have our rematch Uzumaki Naruto.'
XxX
The Natural Disaster finally landed back on the surface of the water rather gently and the ship returned to its normal weight as it touched the ocean.
"And that's how you do that." Naruto said, rather pleased with how they got away. He turned away from the wheel to Miss Valentine who was also rather pleased with her performance, "You're getting good with your powers. Thank you Valentine-chan." He said, holding her and giving her a light kiss.
"That was impressive."
Everyone turned to see that Paulie was still on their ship. Johnny palmed his face, "Aw man! Now we have to turn around and go back, we took Paulie!"
"You idiots." Paulie said, shaking his head as he walked towards Naruto, "I'm not on here by mistake. I'm here because I want to come with you."
"You what?" Naruto asked him, "Why would you want to come with me?"
Paulie grumbled, "I would have come to you about this before, but you disappeared that day you were at Galley-La HQ and I wasn't able to find you again. We had to work on the ship for the Straw Hat kid." He walked up to Naruto, who let Miss Valentine go in case trouble was about to start, "What kind of shipwright can say they've never been on a ship?" He let out a laugh, "Iceburg was going to start grooming me for vice-president. I don't think I'd be any good at a job like that yet."
Naruto raised an eyebrow, "And what exactly do you think coming with us will do for you?"
"A leader needs to know how to operate under duress." Paulie started, "A leader needs to know how to keep his cool and look at situations from enough sides to act properly." He pointed at himself, "When Iceburg went down because of those CP9 guys I didn't do that. I blamed all the wrong people, I didn't even bother trying to figure out or solve anything. I can't lead like that." He then switched his point over to Naruto, "But you. You and that kid Luffy. When you headed into Enies Lobby you two never panicked, and you seemed to have the way out of an impossible situation. That was a damn impressive thing for me to see." He then smirked, "Besides, I can't let that idiot Franky be the only one that goes out on sea as shipwright."
Miss Valentine put her hands on her hips, "You can't just join our crew like that. You just told us you were joining and that was that, it doesn't work like that."
Naruto shrugged, "I forced two of you to be here so why not the other way around for once?" He said in good humor, "Alright fine. Go pick a room, and I hope that you can deal with all of us because there's no learning curve to being on this crew."
"I'll manage." Paulie said with a smile until he turned around and looked at Miss Valentine, "You shouldn't show so much leg with your outfits, that's not respectable." He then pointed at Vivi, "How old are you, 16? Dress like a 16 year old should girl." Ignoring the rather offended faces of the two girls he then looked at Nojiko and almost lost it, "And you! You show too much cleavage with your clothes, and too much of your body! And why do your pants ride so low on your hips! Show some decency!"
Nojiko cocked one of her pistols and growled angrily, "Just go get your room before I initiate you properly." She finished with a rather evil smirk.
Yosaku moved up to Paulie's side and hissed a low whisper, "Psst! Hey! She means she's going to shoot at you!"
Paulie walked away with a deadpan look on his face, "Thanks… I never would have cracked that code if it weren't for you." He said sarcastically.
Yosaku didn't get the sarcasm though, and was content that he had done his good deed for the day. Naruto simply grinned as he turned his attention back to the steering wheel, "You see Noji-chan? Threatening people with casual violence from firearms isn't exactly the sign of a sane person. Admit that you're slowly being driven insane with the rest of us."
"Yeah." Miss Valentine nodded in fervent agreement, "Acknowledging that you're going crazy helps you enjoy it more."
Nojiko just stared at them both blankly before turning around and heading inside, "I'm taking a nap. The heading is steady east northeast. I'll check progress later when I wake up."
"You can't sleep the crazy away Noji-chan!" Naruto yelled before dodging a gunshot directed at him, "You can't shoot it away either!"
"You are the crazy in my life!" She snapped back before heading to her room.
XxX
(A Few Days Later)
It was night, and Naruto was heading out to the deck to create some Kage Bunshin to man the ship for the graveyard shift. He was also simultaneously in the middle of a conversation on the Den-Den Mushi, "No Luffy! I will not Hiraishin over so that I can break into Sanji's refrigerator for you! Act like a ninja and just steal the combination, that's what I'd do. I've got more important things to do right now."
"Like what?"
"…Like not help you eat your entire ship out of house and home!" Naruto snapped at him over the line before calming down and compromising, "Until you get ramen I will not help you steal food… I can get into my own food and eat that instead. There's less of a chance of me getting beat up that way."
"Okay…" Luffy said in a dejected manner until someone else's voice came over the line, "Hey Naruto, Usopp said he has something for you."
Naruto frowned, "You guys are going to wear me out with the Hiraishin aren't you?" He said before breaking into a smile, "Oh well, I wouldn't have given it to you if I didn't want you to use it. Just give me a second to set up my night staff." Hanging up the Den-Den Mushi and putting it back inside, he went outside once more and created a staff of twenty, "You guys know what to do."
"Yes boss!"
Naruto nodded in satisfaction. His clones seemed unusually obedient tonight, none of them smarted off at him like they usually did, "If anyone comes looking for me, tell them I'm with the Straw Hats and I'll be back in a bit." With that, he disappeared in a flash.
XxX
(Aboard the Thousand Sunny)
Naruto appeared on the new Straw Hat ship in a flash of yellow with his arms crossed as he looked around the new vessel, "Huh… nice place."
"Whoa!" The group that had amassed to actually see the technique up close firsthand (Luffy, Chopper, Usopp, and Robin) were rather impressed. Apparently seeing it from a distance and seeing it right in front of their faces as clear as day were two different things. Chopper looked at him with stars in his eyes, "That's so cool Naruto!"
Naruto scratched his hair, "I guess so. But you guys have seen me do that before, haven't you?"
Luffy shook his head eagerly, "Not from as far away as you were when you did it! Unless…" He then got a suspicious look on his face and used his powers to get up to the crow's nest for a quick look around, "Nope! Your ship's nowhere near us! It's still awesome!"
Naruto looked at the small knife stabbed into the ground and noticed that they had grass just like his ship, "It's time-space manipulation. I also barely understand how it works, just that it does work. You guys better take care of this though." He said about the kunai.
Robin walked over and picked it up, "I think I'll keep a hold of it myself. Or do you really want Luffy to keep it?" She asked with a smile.
Naruto looked up at the straw hat wearing boy waving at him from the crow's nest and back to Robin, "Yeah you keep it. After all, I trust you Robin-chan." He said, teasing her slightly before yelping in shock. He could have sworn that something just pinched him on the-, "Did you-?"
"I don't know what you're talking about Naruto." Robin said as she walked away back inside, making a show of swaying her hips as she did so, not that anyone else besides Naruto really got the gist of the conversation or Robin's mannerisms as she left.
Naruto just stared after her until she disappeared from his sight, he then remembered why he had come to their ship in the first place, "Oh yeah. Usopp, what did you want to give me?"
Usopp smiled as he held something behind his back, "Well Nojiko found me after everything that happened and told me about her fight with the CP9 lady and how she probably wouldn't have gotten so hurt if she were faster, since unlike Nami she didn't have illusions to attract attention and attacks away from her. So I thought about it and I found a way to help her out."
Naruto had to internally agree. Even with his help there was only so much speed she could get. She was so much better than she was when she first got on the ship that it wasn't funny, but that wouldn't cut it going forward from here on out. She wouldn't get better fast enough in that department for it to be significant. At least with Johnny he was already fast and his body was preconditioned for the harsh training he made him do. And Vivi, while she wasn't fast, was impulsively sudden. Her speed was in nimble bursts. If she needed speed she had Carue for that.
Naruto was curious as to what Usopp had. After all, he had invented Nami's weapon, he had also made his own and those were rather impressive tools. They might have become rather legendary weapons in the Elemental Nations with time, "Alright Usopp what do you have?"
Usopp seemed even more excited that Naruto had an interest in what he had to show him, "Well when we were up on Skypiea there was this guy that moved fast using a pair of these." From his back he revealed a pair of what looked like metal u's with a space for a woman's size foot in each.
"Skates?" Naruto asked with a tilt of his head, "That's kind of dangerous isn't it? And unless Noji-chan can build a ton of momentum wouldn't those be more of a bother than anything?"
Usopp shook his head and chuckled, "Waver Skates. These are really versatile Naruto. When these are active she won't even be touching the ground. She'll hover slightly above it and move that way. And they're super-fast at top speed." He pointed to a shell-looking thing that was on each side and also seemed to serve the purpose of helping to keep the foot secure in the skates, "These are Jet Dials. Dials are what I used to make my and Nami's weapons better. I couldn't finish these though until I had Franky's help."
That was all Naruto needed to hear after the performance he had seen the weapons give. Usopp extended the Waver Skates to Naruto who took them graciously, "I can't really tell her how to use them since I don't know how, but once she learns how I know she'll love them. If she needs help I would ask Nami, she has a Waver, but it's not anything like these."
"Thanks Usopp…" Naruto said earnestly. That was really cool of him to help Nojiko out like that. Naruto wasn't sure how he was going to do it, but Usopp went ahead and solved an issue for him, just like that, "Really. I don't know how I can repay you."
Usopp waved it off casually, "Don't worry about it. If anything I'm the one repaying you. You helped save my village and you helped me out that night in Water 7 when I needed to come to a decision. If this means we're even then it's a small price to pay. Just make sure that when she gets good on them Nojiko comes and thanks the great Usopp-sama for his engineering skills!"
"You've got it." Naruto said with a grin, "She's going to love these."
XxX
(Two Days Later – Natural Disaster Dojo)
"I fucking hate these things!" Nojiko exclaimed, sitting on the ground in a heap, breathing heavily and glaring at the Waver Skates, "It's been two days and all I know how to do is stand up straight on these things! Falling hurts!" Nojiko now wore a white t-shirt that only went as far down as right above her navel, over that she wore a red leather jacket that she left open. She also wore grey leggings that only reached her thighs and over that she had on a red leather mini-skirt and her usual holsters that she always wore with her around her waist and over her back.
Naruto, who had been sitting in on her practice and meditating until her loud shout, opened his eyes and smirked at her, "Do you want me to kiss the boo-boo and make it all better? Please say yes."
"Maybe later Naruto-kun…" She said under her breath, "I'm angry right now."
Naruto raised his hand into the air, "I don't really care. Angry sex is awesome sex and it will calm you down and clear your head… because you'll have vented on me. I don't mind, I promise."
"Of course you wouldn't…" She said, rolling her eyes as she stood back up, "I just want to try this a few more times." Activating the skates again, in a burst of air they levitated her roughly six inches off of the ground, "I can feel how strong these are just from lifting off."
Naruto sighed from his meditative position, "Try doing what I said Noji-chan. Take it slow. You already know how to go forward. Going back should be the exact opposite, and turning your feet in the right direction should be how you turn."
"I don't need to learn how to creep along in slow-motion Naruto-kun." She said, getting used to her footing before trying anything, "I need to be able to move and evade. I need to be fast. Kalifa tore me apart because I couldn't get away even though I could see her with my Haki." After everything had gone down at Enies Lobby, she finally understood, after an explanation from Soren, what her ability to see things in battle before they happened were. However it was useless if she still couldn't avoid the things she could see coming. Naruto mumbled about how at this point she might as well have the 'red, spinny eyes of evil', whatever those were.
"Walk before you run." He said to her, "Before a shinobi learns to water-walk they learn to tree-walk first, and before they learn how to do that they learn how to channel chakra to their feet in the first place. It's a foundation that you build on. Now glide in slow motion or I'm going start trial-by-fire if you remember exactly what that entails."
Nojiko paled slightly. Naruto hadn't thrown anything at her in quite a while and she had been enjoying it. No need to go back to those days of terror again. Nojiko slowly pressed down with her toes, tilting the Waver Skates forward ever so slightly, getting a harsh jerk out of them that almost knocked her down, but after letting up immediately she caught her balance and stayed upright.
"Keep going." Naruto said encouragingly, "Then when you can handle that, go a little faster. You don't need to go all out with them right now, especially if you can't handle it." He stood up and walked over to her, "At least you have the option of taking it slow. When I was learning Hiraishin I didn't. We're talking years of me hitting solid objects flying out of a wormhole I ripped in time-space. Not really fun." He walked fifty feet in front of her and turned to stop where he sat back down on the ground to meditate there instead, "You can stop for the day when you can reach me from there without falling. If you fall you have to start again from right there, and I'll know if you don't."
Nojiko nodded and looked down at her feet, 'Okay, just get fifty feet over to Naruto-kun. That shouldn't be so hard right? Just bit by bit.' And in a series of jerky forward movements she did make it over in her first try, bringing a smile to her face.
"Good." Naruto said, standing back up, "You can stop for today. The next time though, I want you to do it in one fluid motion. No stopping and starting like you just did." He gave her a kiss on the cheek as she deactivated the skates, "You've got to crawl before you can even walk Noji-chan."
She nodded and took the skates off of her feet placing them securely on her belt holster each tucked around a pistol before calling out to him, "Naruto-kun! Will you still kiss the boo-boo?" She said, trying to give him puppy-dog eyes as she followed him out.
XxX
(Alabasta – Alubarna Palace)
King Cobra crumpled the paper in his hands after reading the new bounties of the Straw Hat and Foxhound Pirates and finding that Vivi had her own sizeable bounty for her return, 'Alive they say…' He thought to himself, 'As if what they will do to my daughter and force me to do with my country would be any more humane than allowing her brought to them dead. If she's 'rescued' she won't be coming home.'
He then remembered the bounties of Naruto and all of the other Foxhound Pirates and remembered the papers saying that they were 'allies' of the Straw Hat Pirates and he smirked, "Good luck trying to get her away from them though… My dear daughter you have found yourself some reliable company."
XxX
(The Next Day – On Deck of the Natural Disaster)
Today was such a nice day out that the entire crew decided to rest up outside. Everyone except for two people, Naruto and Vivi, as he was still in the midst of conditioning her the way he wanted her to be. Vivi wore a light green turtleneck top with no sleeves and a white skirt to go with her usual white high-heeled boots.
"Jump." He ordered as he manipulated the wires around her on the ground. Once she was in the air he brandished a harmless wooden set of shuriken, "Parry." He ordered as he threw them at her. The Alabastan princess used her unique weapons to cut them in half and out of the sky. Before she even hit the ground Naruto gave her another order without missing a beat, "Jump again."
Vivi did so immediately and noticed him prepared to trap her once she landed again, so thinking quickly, she slung out one of her long chains of sharp jewels and stuck the end of them into the mast to keep herself from falling into Naruto's trap, "What about fighting fair Naruto?"
"Fuck a bunch of fighting fair!" Was his eloquent response, "Your enemy isn't going to fight fair! And now that I know you can do that I'm going to stop going so easy on you, now get up that mast higher Vivi-hime!" He said, rapidly moving his fingers to reveal that he actually had wire that went up that high as well. Vivi yelped in fright as she saw the glare off of the wires from the sun and started going higher with a combination of jumping up the side with her legs and keeping a hold of the mast with her weapons. Naruto looked over to Muret who was sitting against Funkfreed in elephant form, she was on stand-by in case Naruto got Vivi hurt, "She's really doing well. Look at that." Vivi at this point found her way to one of the branches in the mast and sat down in it, sticking her tongue out at Naruto and pulling her eyelid down at him, "I never even taught her any of that, the girl's a natural… almost like a ninja I'd say." He said to the medic before yelling up to Vivi, "You think you're safe? You'd better hope I don't come up there! I'll show you how safe you are!" He let out a chuckle when he saw Vivi shake her head fearfully.
Muret let out a small laugh as she continued to lean against her snoozing elephant casually, "I'm glad I don't fight." She glared at him when she noticed him looking at her intently, "I'm not going to be fighting. Forget it right now. I swear, I'll do terrible things to you like drug your food if you start that torture you call training with me." Funkfreed cracked an eye to see what his master was sounding so angry about, but after making minute, passive eye contact with Naruto he didn't really care anymore and tried to go back to sleep.
Muret still wore her brown boots with white medical crosses on them, but now she had on a short-sleeved white button-up shirt that was unbuttoned enough to show cleavage and a jean skirt.
Naruto waved off her threat and picked his ear, "Meh, I'll just build up an immunity to whatever you use on me after a few times." He formed a Kage Bunshin and yelled up at the young princess, "New game Vivi-hime! The game is to survive the Kage Bunshin until five minutes run out. He'll dispel automatically, but if you can beat him I'll accept that too!" The clone cracked his knuckles and grinned ferally up at Vivi before running towards the mast to begin the exercise, "You better get moving! He really will beat the crap out of you if he gets the chance!"
That was all Vivi needed to hear to get herself into gear. With a gulp she stood up and prepared for Naruto's incoming Kage Bunshin and a battle at elevated positions.
Paulie walked over to Naruto now that it seemed he was done personally messing with Vivi, "So where are we going next?"
Naruto looked over at a sunbathing Nojiko and Miss Valentine, "Noji-chan says the next island is a place called Constellation Island. And as always I have no idea what's supposed to be there, so that should be fun all around." He said to the newest member of the crew, "So what's up?"
"Nothing much." Paulie said absently, "Just running a little maintenance check. I know it's only been a little while since you got this ship, but anything can go wrong, you know? If you think something's wrong with the ship don't hesitate to tell me about it." He then switched topics and glared at Miss Valentine and Nojiko, not that they were much the wiser about it, "Why do you let these women go around on your ship like this? Women these days dress so outlandishly."
Naruto shrugged, "I do it because every woman on my ship is good looking and I'm not a prude like you." Paulie growled at him, not that Naruto was threatened at him in any way, "And they dress just fine with me. You should have seen the way a lot of female ninja from my continent dressed. If you reacted like that every time you saw one of them you'd have been a dead man."
"Yeah whatever…" Paulie said, "…Pervert."
"Prude." Naruto fired back at him.
Paulie took offense to that and growled at him, "What was that you dumb blonde?"
Naruto didn't back down from a guy he already knew he could beat and got in his face, "You're blonde too you dumb bastard. Don't go talking bad about your own people like that!"
A tired female voice got their attention, "Done." Vivi said, out of breath and covered in light bruises and scratches as she limped towards Naruto. She gave him a weary gaze and got as close to his face as she could get, "Your clone… is so mean…" She said before resting her forehead against his chest to keep her footing.
Naruto was able to wrap an arm around her before she went limp and kept her from falling out on the ground. Instead, he laid her down gently, "Medic." As Muret looked her over, Naruto shook his head and spoke in a surprised manner, "She beat the clone."
"How?" Muret asked as she started to get to work on cleaning Vivi's small cuts, "It's you isn't it? It has all of your combat abilities right?"
Naruto nodded and smirked, "Pretty much. She got beaten up for a bit before she went up to the crow's nest where Soren was and used him like a human shield. Then she kicked my clone in its junk when he got past Soren and beat her up a little bit more. That was how she beat it." He kneeled down by her and moved a stray bang out of her face, getting a smile out of the unconscious girl, "Vivi-hime is tough. Tough and opportunistic. I like that."
Muret sighed as she finished working on Vivi, finding no significant injuries on her person, 'At least his clones know how to restrain themselves.' She looked up at Naruto, "Well she beat it on her first try in less than five minutes. Are you impressed?"
Naruto leaned over and scooped Vivi up in his arms, "Actually I am. I knew she'd last the five minutes, but her actually managing to win or at least get a clean hit was more than I expected. I guess I need to stop underestimating everyone on this ship. Everyone's getting stronger, even our little princess." He groaned as he picked her up, "Who isn't that little…" As he fully stood up straight Vivi headbutted him in the nose, "Ow… did she hear that?"
Muret smirked at him and leaned back against Funkfreed, "You should know better than to test your luck like that with a lady Naruto-sama."
Naruto fought the urge to hold his nose as he carried Vivi inside, "Yeah, yeah. Especially a princess with a hard head." He said before looking at the sleeping girl in his arms, "You're doing great. I'll tell you that again whenever you wake up, I just wanted to say it right now." He wiggled his nose in discomfort after saying that, "You nearly broke my nose though… maybe you should start fighting with your head." He said with a chuckle as he made it to her room.
Carue sat up from his slumber in his bed and noticed Naruto carrying Vivi in. He let out a curious quack as Naruto set her down on her bed, "It was just a little test that she wound up passing. She's fine, just tired. I worked her hard today." He sat down on the bed and took her boots off before tucking her in, "Vivi-hime is really cute." A sharp peck in the small of his back alerted him to a glaring Carue who swung his head towards the door. Naruto took the hint and threw his arms up defensively as he started to leave, "Fine, I'll check up on her later. You want something to eat duck? I'll bring you something."
Carue let off a positive quack and Naruto nodded, giving the fowl a salute that was returned right back with Carue's wing.
As Naruto shut the door to the room and left Carue alone with Vivi he sat by her bed and placed his head by her, letting her latch on to him in a hug. Only when she was certain that Naruto was gone from her room she let a small amount of pink tint her cheeks, "He thinks I'm cute."
Chapter done. Next chapter will begin the next story arc in earnest so… yeah. I've got that going on too. It should be pretty awesome all things considered if I do say so myself. And I never pat myself on the back. You guys all know how humble I am right? Yep, that's what makes me so badass, my humility. It just makes me so great.
I'm feeling good, even with a broken hand, hoping you're feeling the same. Hope you're digging what you're reading because I like writing it. Until next time like always…
Kenchi out.
