Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto or One Piece. Alright Japan, you did knights, pirates, and who knows what else. Now it's time for the genre wheel to come around to a theme I haven't seen in a while. That's right, a cowboys and outlaws setting! I command a mangaka with talent to get on this project!
...And also pay me a disgusting amount of money for planting the seed in their head. That's got to be worth something.
Chapter 50: Back In the Saddle
(Twenty-Two Months Later)
'Cocoyashi Village is so far away,' Nojiko thought to herself, gazing out at what seemed to be an endless stretch of ocean. They were nowhere near the East Blue, 'I wonder how everyone is doing. I wonder how Nami-chan is doing.'
An idle pair of thoughts, but the last one she was certain she would find out about soon enough. The time was running down on Luffy's proposed break for his crew, and she would guarantee Nami would be front and center when they hooked back up to keep sailing.
Nojiko's blue hair was longer, cascading down her back, still with the red ribbon in it. She wore blue trousers and a light green button-up blouse that clung tightly to her buxom frame, three buttons left undone to allow her chest some room to breathe and the sleeves rolled up.
It was a nice enough day, and Nojiko's method of dress allowed her to enjoy the ocean breeze as she rested against the railing at the side of the ship, eyes closed and drifting off in thought. She would have to get her fill while she could. At best, the good weather was only going to last for the time being. Things always seemed to get rough sooner or later on this stretch of sea.
"How's it feeling out there pretty lady?"
If it wasn't her favorite person in the world?
Naruto now wore black pants wrapped with bandages around his ankles, and a short-sleeved orange shirt underneath a durable black armor vest he claimed was worn by special forces in his home. On the backs of his arms he wore black armguards with orange sleeves to protect the skin underneath. He no longer wore a headband, letting his golden hair fly free across his forehead.
A smile tugged at Nojiko's lips as she rested one of her hands over the two that Naruto had placed on her abdomen, one directly against her bare skin underneath the bottom of her blouse, "Well," She started before pointing out in a few different directions of their heading, "Don't go that way, that way, that way, or that way. Otherwise you'll kill us."
Naruto winced. It was just one thing after another with this place, "Is it that rough?"
Nojiko turned over her shoulder to level Naruto with a rather flat look, "If you go far enough in one of those directions, it'll start hailing," She informed him.
It got quite the curious response out of him, "Really?" Just hail? Inclement weather was the least of their problems since they'd hit these waters, "Compared to some of the stuff we've gone through so far, that doesn't sound so bad."
This sentiment was quickly debunked.
"The hail is the size of glaciers, and if they don't hit the ship directly, they'll set off waves that'll sure-fire capsize us," Nojiko said, "That's just one of the directions."
Nojiko almost had to laugh at the lemon-puckered expression on Naruto's face after hearing her breakdown of what would more than likely happen if he disregarded her warning, "Well… I'm so glad we have you to see that stuff coming."
Early into her efforts to try and reel in her Kenbushoku Haki, Nojiko found that she couldn't really keep it from feeling out for things,
With much work, she was able to find a way to direct its use when she didn't need it for battle. It was long and grueling, and the migraines it triggered were debilitating. Thank goodness they had a doctor who knew how to handle that sort of thing. Muret had recommended several methods for quelling the pain in her head, one of which Nojiko immensely enjoyed.
Naruto enjoyed that particular one as well, but that was neither here nor there.
Over time, the normal, standing, default use that Nojiko had found, in part thanks to her extended use of her elemental guns, was the ability to literally feel the weather and paths of the currents around her.
This was the use that gave her the most peace of mind by far. Instead of sensing all of the brutal wildlife and other things with open, hostile intent to kill them even when they were nowhere nearby, the ability to sense the weather and the abrupt climate shifts that could occur in a heartbeat on the Grand Line was extremely useful seeing as how they lived on a ship.
A ship that was now in the most unknown stretch of sea in existence.
The New World.
It hadn't been that long since they had entered the New World, having run out of leads for Naruto to search for along the Paradise portion of the Grand Line and as many of the four seas that he could reach. For the better part of seventeen months, they had split their time between searching for signs of Naruto's apocalypse tree and training.
They had learned quite a few things in their travels all over the globe however that they hadn't before. Some that a few of them sort of wished that they hadn't.
For instance, the gigantic, bottomless waterfall pit that sat underneath Enies Lobby had been from one of the roots of the Shinjuu Tree.
So had the entirety of the Sabaody Archipelago. It had just adjusted to its surroundings, of being a part of a tree constantly surrounded by saltwater. To Naruto, it made sense, as the 'roots' of the mangrove trees that comprised the landmark allowed ships to defy physics via the resin it produced.
"Naruto, just how big is this tree supposed to have been?"
And whenever it came up, he had never quite been able to give them an answer that they could understand. He didn't seem to like talking about it at all.
If nothing else, learning that made everyone realize just why Naruto was somewhat concerned with the entire thing. He had been searching for two years and had come up with more and more evidence that his original hunch had been correct about Devil Fruits being the remaining incarnation of the Shinjuu, but never any definite proof.
…If only someone could give him some valid information from before 700 years ago, he would know for certain. Which was where being very close with perhaps the last archaeologist in the world and having access to teleport to her came in extra handy.
He didn't know what it all meant though, even if he could prove that everything was connected.
Either way, everyone else was along for the ride, very much so, which was more than Naruto could have possibly asked for, "So which way's the Log Pose telling you's safe, babe?"
Nojiko lifted her right wrist to take a look. Unlike the Log Pose she used to have for the Grand Line, she needed a new one that could keep track of three islands at once. The New World islands had very unstable magnetic fields and needed a stronger Log Pose to navigate the waters.
Looking at the upgraded Log Pose over Nojiko's shoulder, Naruto squinted his eyes in confusion, "I still don't have any idea how you work that thing."
Nojiko was more than happy to explain. The more people on the crew who knew how to do more of the delicate things required to get them from place to place was all the better for them, "Each needle locks onto the magnetic field of a separate island, which is how you navigate on the Grand Line in the first place. But in the New World, some islands will just up and change their magnetic fields or lose them altogether," She said, "On this Log Pose we have three needles, one representing the stability of a different island's field. This way, if we lose one or even two magnetic signals, we should still be able to navigate."
The blue-haired woman looked up over her shoulder after her explanation to find Naruto smiling blankly at her. Oh, how far some of that must have gone over his head.
"Yeah. Still not sure how you're doing that, but I totally trust that you know what you're doing anyway!" He said, completely confident in her capabilities to steer them safely through the most dangerous sea in the world.
Nojiko sighed and reached behind Naruto's neck to pull him down into a quick kiss, "Stick to your strengths, O' Leader."
XxX
Inside of the ship, Miss Valentine sat reading a newspaper while some of the other crew members were at work training. The reason she sat around supervising despite the fact that she wasn't involved on this occasion was because most of the participants were using her powers for the benefit of their practice.
Sitting off in a chair in the corner, she lowered the paper covering her body long enough to get a view of what was going on, to make sure none of them were in any kind of danger of being badly injured. Muret would have a fit if Miss Valentine let any of them get hurt due to negligence with her Devil Fruit abilities.
The blonde woman's hair was still cut and styled short the way she preferred it. She wore a pair of white heels and a form-fitting yellow short-skirt dress, cut low at the shoulders with white accents including frills around the wrists of the garment, and a diamond-shaped opening at her navel.
Looking over to her nearest crewmate, Miss Valentine raised an eyebrow in query, "Are you done yet?"
"Yeah, I think that's good for today," Yosaku confirmed with a grit of his teeth, seemingly still able to swing his oversized, overweighed sword freely despite the weight opposing him. Bringing it to a stop mid-flight, he was careful not to slam it onto the ground, otherwise it might have done serious damage to the interior of the ship, "Thanks Valentine."
"Don't mention it," The sunny, blonde woman said with a smile, walking up and tapping the sweaty Yosaku with her fingertip. Suddenly it seemed as if the weight of the world had descended from his shoulders, eliciting a sigh of relief from him, "You're a monster, you know that?"
Yosaku gave a goofy grin underneath his swordsman headguard and face protector in response to the praise for his raw strength. He now wore yellow plaid pants and armored brown boots that went up to his knees, as well as a black shirt with the sides cut out to simply go over his head and a white sarashi cloth wrapped around his torso. Keeping the shirt from flapping all over when he moved was the brown harness he wore to hold Kubikiribouchou on his back.
She had placed 3500 kilograms extra onto his body itself, to go along with the 2000 that his sword already weighed, and he seemed to be just as fast as he had been nearly two years ago. His raw strength was horrifying, and what he had just displayed wasn't even the full scope of it. He was just doing a routine workout.
Unfortunately to anyone in his path, he wasn't quite as slow anymore either. He still wasn't ranked amongst the speedsters on the crew, but he was also carrying a one-shot kill device and had vastly improved his chances of making contact with just about anything he could swing it at.
Speaking of speed...
"Are you finished yet Johnny?" Miss Valentine cheerfully called out across the room where more work was currently being done.
Looking over to the other side of the training area, deep down in the hold of the ship, both she and Yosaku took note of the unmoving Soren, surrounded by a blurry, constantly moving rope trap that whipped around him without surcease. It wasn't meant for him though, it was meant for the figure stuck within the fray.
In it all, she could see the moving blur, representing the figure that she knew as the second swordsman of the Foxhound Pirates, the speed-based Johnny. His training was to avoid the rope traps set up by Paulie, and get to Soren in the center to cut him as many times as possible in one attack. If he was too slow or telegraphed his movements, Soren would have little mercy on him and would make sure to burn him with one of his acidic techniques if the opportunity arose.
The sound of metal striking signified that Johnny had once again reached Soren, but the crew's second-mate didn't flinch whatsoever despite being cut. Nor did his body show the effects in the slightest. With his Tekkai active, Soren could endure blows the likes of which Johnny had been throwing for as long as needed.
It was a good method to train them both. Iron sharpened iron after all.
Miss Valentine walked over to the kill switch and turned off the rope trap, bringing the training to a sudden and abrupt end.
Soren looked up in surprise, his focus having been on keeping entire body as tight as possible to deflect Johnny's sword blows. Johnny slid to a stop, startled by the shutting off of the ropes he had been dodging at high-speed the entire time.
"Hey!" Both of them complained as one, "We weren't done yet!"
Miss Valentine walked over to Johnny and tapped him, similarly to Yosaku moments before, to relieve him of the additional weight she had placed onto his entire body for training purposes, "Workout time is over with, boys."
Still keeping his head shaved, Soren wore a black half-bandanna and black pants. For the purposes of his training, which involved Johnny trying to cut him up, he had removed his top, a dark red short-sleeved shirt, keeping it tied around his waist for the duration of the exercise. His body was significantly muscled from his extended use and development of the Rokushiki techniques.
Johnny wore black trousers and a long, dark blue coat with loose sleeves over a black undershirt. The coat was left open except for the thick belt around his waist that held his sheath and kept the coat closed. He kept his left arm free of the garment, letting it hang off of his shoulder. He still wore his sunglasses and kept his hair in a thin, ponytail that draped over his shoulder.
Soren scoffed and put his shirt back on, slapping Johnny on the back one good time, knocking him off-balance temporarily, "Good stuff. A lot of that actually hurt," Which was impressive, given how steel-solid he'd developed his Tekkai to be.
"You're a masochist," Johnny rebutted, sheathing his katana with a metal ringing noise.
Miss Valentine had by now turned her back to exit the training room in the hold of the ship, "He's not the one weighing himself down with 5000 kilograms just to train speed," She jabbed out of the blue as she left.
Johnny rolled his eyes behind his sunglasses at Miss Valentine's laugh that trailed through the corridors of the Natural Disaster and made to depart as well, "He doesn't have to with that Soru crap of his! He didn't even have to break a sweat today!"
Johnny worked hard for his speed, all from scratch. It was all his own legs pumping. There wasn't any special technique to it like Soren's or a Devil Fruit trick behind it like Miss Valentine's. And then he had to put all of the work into making his sword draw faster! It was a nightmare!
"You're acting like I didn't put in the work for it," Soren remarked with a toothy grin, knowing that Johnny was touchy about his quickness, "Besides, I have to be careful about that. It's dangerous for me to sweat, remember? Unless you want your sword to melt."
Johnny gasped, clutching the Kusanagi like a child, "You wouldn't."
XxX
Naruto knocked at the door to Vivi's quarters before getting a 'come in' for his troubles. Cautiously, he poked his head in, catching sight of Vivi sitting on her bed, reading. She gave him a wave and put her book away, "Yo. You wanted to talk to me?"
She kept her long, wavy hair kept out of her face save for a few bangs with a clip at the back and wore a necklace comprised of her smaller Peacock Slasher jewels. As Vivi had grown up more, so had her attire. She wore a white/silver gown cut off at her knees with gold trim and accents.
The girl was royalty, so even when she was casual she had to dress like it.
"Yep. You don't mind, do you?" Vivi patted a place on her bed next to herself and pulled her knees up to her chest as Naruto walked over and took a seat as requested. If only her people could see her, their princess, influenced the most by a mysterious, foreign mystic. But it was a habit to have him sit on her bed, a place where she was comfortable, when they would have big talks.
It was a fairly normal thing. Vivi often sought Naruto's advice for various reasons. Though he was the kind of person that he was (enough said about that), he had years and years of life experience, had seen and taken part in many things of great importance.
But this time, the talk wasn't about her or any of her concerns. It was about him, and what he was after.
"I've always got time for my princess," Naruto joked with a smile. Vivi knew full well that there was little else for him to do other than train and make sure everything was running smoothly. That didn't require all of his attention, "What's up?"
"What are we doing here?"
Naruto raised an eyebrow at such a blunt question. Vivi was normally far more roundabout and flowery with how she worded everything. Even questions, "Do you mean 'here' as in sitting in your room, or 'here' as in the whole crew out here in the New World?" He asked daftly, "Because you asked me to come and see you here."
He was doing it to get to her. She knew he was. Even so, nine times out of ten it still worked. This was one of those times. Eyebrow twitching, Vivi wished she could headbutt him, but knew it would hurt her way more than it would him, "I mean all of us out here in the New World."
Getting out there was a fright-fest and a half, and it seemed like every other day something popped up that made them wonder just what else could be out there.
Naruto crossed his arms over his chest and sat cross-legged, eyes closed. His go-to pose for when he had something legitimate to speak to someone else about, "You know what we're doing here. Unless anyone else has anything that they want or need handled, we're looking for any signs of the Shinjuu. Plus a Devil Fruit for me to study."
"You don't want to find One Piece?" Vivi asked, before cutting off Naruto's instinctive response to anything pirate-related before he could even get it out of his mouth, "Yes, I know you're not a pirate. But we're on the second half of the Grand Line. We've come all this way as it is. Are you sure you don't want to go after it? You probably could."
"We probably could," Naruto corrected, patting the top of the young lady's head, much to her chagrin, "But personally, no. Not unless everybody else suddenly wants to for whatever reason," Whatever One Piece was, whatever it stood for, Naruto didn't care.
He was as curious about mysteries as the next person, but he didn't want to spend the next entire portion of his life searching for something just because it was something that everyone else wanted. He wasn't a greedy person, at least not for material possessions.
He didn't crave power, either politically, or personally within himself and his techniques. All he wanted was the ability to achieve his goals, and those goals were to do everything he could to keep the world from falling into the disasters of its past.
That was why Vivi liked him.
"Vivi-hime."
Naruto's call to her broke her from the thoughts that put a smile on her face, "Mmm?"
For once, an air of complete seriousness accompanied Naruto's words. Vivi hadn't seen him like that when talking to her in quite some time, "Why didn't you have us take you home?"
"Ah?" Vivi's smile became wide and uncomfortable as she tried to reason her way out of trouble, if she was even in any, "B-Because if I went back home they would just take me to Mariejois, for questioning."
Naruto didn't need his ability to sense lies to know that Vivi wasn't telling the truth. She was too honest to make up stories like that, "They wouldn't do anything to you or Alabasta, because they know that I would be there in a heartbeat, and they don't want any part of that. Not without an Admiral they know can beat me, or worse."
The story out there was still that Naruto had kidnapped Vivi, but Naruto was more than certain that no one in any real position of power in the World Government believed that. He had taken her to protect her from the machinations of the World Government, and they had to be aware of that.
By now they also had to be aware of the fact that not only did he have a means of having her reach out to him whenever she needed to, he would show himself for any conceivable reason she could muster, and if someone were trying to take advantage of her he would bring down full-scale hellfire. He would raze whatever he needed to the ground to make sure she was not victimized.
Simply put, it just wasn't worth it.
Getting to Nefertari Vivi for her outdated association with the Straw Hat Pirates during Alabasta's time of troubles, and subsequently leading the fight against one of the government's (former) Shichibukai would not pan out for the trouble trying it would be.
...Not that she even needed intervention of that level from him any longer. She had learned her lessons in battle well. Anyone that wasn't remarkably tough would find themselves hard-pressed to try and take anything from her, if they even had the will to stand up to her in the first place. But that required another explanation entirely to understand.
This was about why Vivi wasn't going home to the country she loved and had put her life on the line to save once before. It was her choice, and Naruto didn't care. He absolutely adored her. Everyone loved having her around. She was just as much one of them as anyone else on the crew. But she did have another life, and he at least wanted to have her reasons for why hanging out on a ship with the most eclectic cast of individuals ever amassed was preferable to her birthright that she had actually earned through her actions to save her people.
Realizing that she was on the spot, Vivi mustered every ounce of her dignity and poise, which in the face of Naruto wasn't that much, "N-Naruto. I'm eighteen now," She started, trying to find her verbal footing.
Naruto felt a speech coming, and figured she was having trouble getting her words underneath her. Wanting to hear what she had to say, he gave her a few seconds to settle herself, "Yes you are, and I'm super proud of you."
Vivi was thankful for the interjection, if only for the time it gave her to muster her confidence, "Ever since I started traveling with all of you, I've learned so much about the world. And I've learned a lot about myself," She said, "It's fine to be the kind of leader that the people of Alabasta can love, and I wouldn't trade that for anything. It's just that I also want to be the kind of ruler that the rest of the world respects. That's what they need."
So that once she was in power, nothing like what happened with Crocodile would ever happen again.
So that once she was in power, the World Government wouldn't try to send an Admiral to strong-arm her the way they tried to with her father.
It was more than just the strength to fight battles that she wanted.
She wanted the self-confidence to know that she was capable of making the right decisions to take her people in the right direction. She didn't want to hesitate or crack under pressure. She wanted to be more than just an example of kindness and beauty to her people. She wanted to be a real role model across the board.
"I want to be… a little bit like you," The gentle princess said with a blush at such a frank admission. As embarrassing as it was, she had Naruto's full attention and she couldn't stop now. It had taken a while just for her to get the guts to start talking, "It might sound silly to you, but I think you're a good leader. You brought all of us together, and you've even got CP9, Jewelry Bonney, and Boa Hancock willing to stand up with you if you need them."
Naruto was never one to shy away from abundant praise. As a matter of fact, his ego demanded that he do something once a week that got the people around him to question whether or not he were human, but there was just something about the way Vivi spoke of him that made him want to tone it down and humble it some.
"Vivi… I'm one hell of an awesome shinobi, and captain of a handful of kickass people-," Uzumaki Naruto was not necessarily the best at 'humble', "-But you're giving me a little too much credit here. It's more all of you guys than it is me."
Frowning, Vivi shook her head and set it on Naruto's shoulder, "No, you might not know how to do everything," Because the bulk of his skill set seemed to be based on fighting and survival, "But you've found people that know how to do the things you can't. People that have the knowledge you don't have. And you've got them to believe in you more than anything else in the world. I don't think there are whole lot of people in the world that could have made this work for them."
A good leader wasn't an expert on everything. A good leader was someone that could recognize that they weren't, and could find the right people to fill the necessary gaps for them. People competent enough to do what was needed, and loyal enough to adhere to the requests you had for them.
It was yet another thing she could learn from. Alabasta would have many parties out for themselves, their own gains, trying to get what they could for their aims out of the country. It would be up to her to coordinate that into something that would work for the better of the country as a whole.
Both of Vivi's tiny arms wrapped around one of Naruto's as she remained on his shoulder, "I want to stay, because I think sailing with this crew, and seeing the world and how you handle it, is the best way I can learn how to be a good ruler for Alabasta," Lifting up her head, she gifted him with the biggest, most beautiful smile she could muster to truly exemplify her gratitude, "So I just wanted to say, thank you in advance for keeping me on. I honestly wouldn't want to be anywhere else in the world right now."
Naruto looked into her bright eyes and felt as though he were searching the very soul of the wholesome princess. It was the clearest thing he had ever seen.
Nefertari Vivi was the purest creature that he had ever lain eyes on, and she was too good of a person to think so highly of him. It made him feel like he was dirtying her just by being that close and touching her, but he knew that she wouldn't have had it any other way.
Naruto had to look away and fake a laugh, his gaze tilted up to the ceiling to hide the fact that he was fighting back some moisture from his eyes, "Heh… did anyone ever tell you that you're damned good with those speeches?" He told her with a wide grin, patting his chest dramatically, "Seriously. You got me right here. I think even Soren would've shed a tear on that one."
Vivi puffed out her cheeks in indignation at the playful tone, "Are you making fun of me?" She asked, wondering if most of what she'd said had really gone over Naruto's head. Those thoughts vanished once a pair of lips planted themselves onto her forehead.
Naruto pulled back, getting a good look at Vivi's red face, "No. You stay for as long as you need to," She never had to ask him permission for almost anything. She had a good head on her shoulders, but the girl was so polite sometimes when she didn't have to be. It hurt to hear her ask for things she had no need to ask them for. It must have been a nobility thing, "You know you can do anything you want, right?"
...A proper nobility thing. Vivi was raised right, unlike a lot of other high-born people he'd met over the course of his life.
With her resolve built, Vivi decided that she'd dragged her heels for long enough, Naruto giving her the green light to do whatever she wanted notwithstanding. She reciprocated the kiss on her forehead with a kiss of her own. One significantly more intimate.
To her surprise, Naruto wasn't startled by what in her own mind she had deemed as a sudden action, and had done more than just went along with it, bringing her in closer so she could savor the moment. She didn't need the encouragement, but it was much appreciated.
Vivi parted with him, slowly pushing herself away before opening her eyes and blinking, as though she were processing what she had just done, "...Um..." She had thought of how she would have gone ahead with her first kiss, but had always neglected to think about just what she would say afterwards.
The scenes in her head had never really gone very far after that point, at least the ones she'd had while she was awake.
Fortunately, Naruto was never at a loss for words, "That was your first one ever, right? I wasn't gonna have it be some mousy little peck," Which would have been what she'd have gone for. Once again, too polite for her own good, "You deserve much better than that for as long as it took you to come to me with it."
He knew? But she never said anything to him, and for all the needling Miss Valentine gave her about it, the woman had always made sure never to do it around Naruto, "You mean you knew? For how long?" Naruto didn't say, but his smile and his shrug told her that it hadn't exactly been a recent discovery, "...That long, huh?"
How embarrassing.
Naruto would have done something about it sooner to make things less awkward for the poor thing, but he was in no position to grab for another woman. He just chalked it up to being something Vivi would have to do herself to grow up, "I'm pretty sure you get why I can't go for girls myself in my situation," He told her, "You would have had to come to me."
"Well, you're intimidating!" Vivi reasoned, pouting at how she'd been biting her nails for ages thinking about what she could do to get his attention, when it had been just that simple the entire time.
Naruto laughed, and eventually it managed to put a smile on the princess' face in the end. He could pick on her all day, just so long as they could stay as they were. He cuddled her close, letting her know that he was hers for as long as she wanted him.
He might never be able to become her king in the future, but he was her captain for right now. That was all that really mattered to her at the moment.
XxX
(Inside of the Natural Disaster – Common Area)
Immediately after finishing her supervision of the others' training, Miss Valentine made a beeline up to the common area of the ship. A smile was present on her face and a newspaper was clutched in her hand as she had a target she wanted to speak with post-haste.
The gentle tap of her footsteps off of the wooden floors eventually reached someone's ears, someone who didn't necessarily need to use doors, or make noise, but often did the latter anyway.
Miss Valentine stopped, slightly startled at the sight of a pink-haired young woman, poking her body halfway through a wall in her astral projection form.
It was Perona's method of choice for getting around the ship. Her control over the powers the Horo Horo no Mi gave her were greatly improved and she rarely missed opportunities to go around in spirit form.
Perona wore a strapless dress with frilly, alternating black and lavender layers, red high-heeled boots, and a large black top hat with white flowers around it. She had taken steps to make herself look much more grown-up as time had passed, letting her hair grow out further, styling it into long curls down her back. For some reason she had gotten a tattoo of a pink bat on her right arm, in honor of 'Moriah-sama' she said.
Naruto recalled afterwards that he didn't remember Gekko Moriah being pink. But Perona had selective thinking when it came to things that she liked. Pink was cute, so the tattoo was pink.
Her personality hadn't changed really at all though, other than the fact that she had grown used to her surroundings and accustomed to the Foxhound Crew.
"Valenti~ne, I'm hungry."
Sometimes way too accustomed.
"So go make a snack," Yes, Miss Valentine normally did make small snacks upon request, but you had to be much nicer about it than the ghost girl was being. Miss Valentine was absolutely not a doormat, "You know exactly when mealtimes are by now. I don't change those."
Normally perky, the subject of preparing food was enough to deflate her, "I still don't know how to cook," And not for lack of trying. She had really tried to learn, but was eventually barred from doing so after she literally burned through a quarter of their supplies in three days failing to produce anything edible.
Miss Valentine, despite having lent her time and efforts to actually trying to teach Perona how to cook back when that had been a thing, found this to be hilarious, "Kyahahahaha! That's unfortunate, isn't it. I guess that means you'll just have to wait like everyone else."
Perona crossed her arms in a pout and slowly floated circles around Miss Valentine as she continued along her way. If she hung around for long enough, whenever Miss Valentine was done with whatever she was on her way to do, there was a better than average chance that Miss Valentine would wind up making something anyway.
It was this line of thinking that caused her to go along with the crew's resident chef, following the sound of soft piano music emanating from the common area. It was the kind of music they had all become very used to hearing, as it was the favorite of another of their crewmates in Byron.
Lo and behold, as they entered the large living room area, they found Byron seated at a bench in front of the instrument, focused on the music he made that filled the ship almost every day.
Byron's dirty-blonde hair was feathered wore a pristine red suit with a white vest and white dress shirt with a puffy collar. Thin, white piano-player gloves adorned his hands. All-in-all, it was a stark departure from what he had worn previously, just after he had been liberated from his status as a recently sold slave.
His performance was disturbed when Miss Valentine stood behind him and held the open newspaper in front of his face. It was distracting, but it didn't keep him from playing. He had memorized the keys he needed to keep his tune going, "Yes? You wish for me to see something."
Still smiling, as always, Miss Valentine tapped her fingers on a specific article, attracting his attention there, "Take a look."
She didn't say anything else, instead counting on Byron to read. He was courteous enough to regard a request from a friend and chivalrous enough to go out of his way to do so for a lady. Seeing as how Miss Valentine was both, it was academic for him that he would take heed of whatever she was trying to show him.
His eyes vacantly scanned the words on the page until he was drawn to a set of words that stuck out to him.
...Dandy Pirates...
Miss Valentine's green eyes lit up and her smile grew larger as his fingers dropped limply onto the piano keys and his mouth fell open. Apparently her hunch on taking this to him had been correct, "I thought you might want to read this. That's your old crew, isn't it?"
She didn't get a response for the longest time. Even Perona had quit hovering around Miss Valentine to take note of Byron's statuesque state. She waved her hand in front of his face and even put her hand through his head to try and get some sort of a response out of him, but she received none, "Is he alright?"
"Give him a minute," Miss Valentine insisted, waiting patiently. She had somewhat expected this. There was a litany of unresolved issues there.
A minute turned out to be three minutes. Eventually, reality kicked in and Byron's brain turned back on, picking up where it had left off, at Miss Valentine's question about the pirates identified in the paper being the name of his old crew.
"Indeed it is," Byron said before standing up and leaving the common area abruptly, "…Please, excuse me for a moment."
Miss Valentine and Perona followed Byron down the hall until he stopped in front of Vivi's room and threw the door open before heading on inside without even knocking. Strange behavior for a person who was all about manners, decorum, and propriety.
"Oh, gosh!"
"Uh... occupied?"
That sounded like something interesting had been interrupted. Miss Valentine couldn't poke her head in through the doorway fast enough, laughing with her hand to her mouth when she saw Vivi sitting extremely close to Naruto in her bed with a beet red face, both fully clothed. Damn. No fodder for making fun. But sure, there was no evidence of anything sexy happening, that didn't mean she couldn't fabricate that there was.
"Ooh, Vivi finally got Naruto to start doing the fun stuff with her," Miss Valentine remarked brightly, happily bouncing in place, "Could I make a suggestion?"
Vivi waved her hands defensively, wishing she could sink her body back into the headboard and the wall, "W-We were not!" All they had done was kiss. They were just having a moment, not doing anything dirty. Dirty things weren't a daytime activity in her opinion anyway.
As much as the novelty of seeing Vivi lose her composure never wore off, she'd just had a major self-awareness moment and didn't need anything counteracting that so soon, even unintentionally. Half of Vivi's Haki was affected by her self-confidence, "Valentine-chan, stop picking on Vivi or we're not doing fun stuff for a while, 'ttebayo."
No. Not a chance. That dog wouldn't hunt, monsignor.
Miss Valentine began to laugh nervously as she slowly backed out of the room, "Kyahahahaha... oh, what's that Perona? You're hungry? I'll be right there!"
"Yes! Finally!" Perona exclaimed from elsewhere on the ship.
Naruto let out a breath of relief that he was able to nip that in the bud without much teasing of Vivi. Oh, sure she was going to get it later like no one's business once Miss Valentine got her without him within earshot, but that wasn't his problem, and she always seemed to be able to deal with it gracefully enough whenever she thought he wasn't around. It was then that he noticed that Byron was still there, only down on the floor with his head bowed.
Vivi and Naruto both looked at each other, not sure what to make of it. The whole thing was extremely awkward, "Byron, are you bowing to me, or to Vivi? Because I thought we got you to stop bowing to her all the time," Naruto said. No one on the crew should have been bowing to anyone else on the crew, "She's not your princess."
"It may not be this humble pirate's place, but Naruto-sama I beseech you! I have a request!"
Naruto was growing progressively more uncomfortable as Byron remained on the ground. He hopped up from Vivi's bed and grabbed the musical pirate by the shoulders, forcing him to stand up on his own two feet once again.
"Byron, stop bowing," Naruto demanded dryly, "Seriously, get up. Come on, you're embarrassing yourself. There's no need for any of that. I told you that if there was anything my crew needed, I was there to help make sure they got it, right? So just come out with it and tell me what you're after."
"I want to go and confront my old crew!" Byron passionately shouted, loud enough to get Naruto to lean back in alarm, "Sir, they were my comrades! Most of them I gathered from the West Blue, our home. We traveled together for years! And they… they turned against me and sold me into slavery."
His words weren't overwhelmingly loud, but it felt as though they had echoed through every corner of the ship.
"You want revenge?" Naruto couldn't have blamed him if he did. He wouldn't have endorsed it necessarily, but he would have understood. Soren was already starved for vengeance, but he wasn't going out of his way and/or putting anyone in danger to get himself a piece of Doflamingo, so it was fine. Why couldn't someone else?
"I honestly don't know what I want. But I can't just leave it like this. We fought together. We bled together. We took on most of the Grand Line's first half. We were going to take on the New World together... and though I love my time on this crew-."
Naruto held up a hand to stop him. Byron didn't need to say anything else about it as far as Naruto was concerned, "I get it. And I guess we have a destination now... because I didn't know where the fuck we were going before this."
He didn't seem to have a boner for murder, which was good. At least he would be reasonable about it, at least it seemed that way. That was better than most people could expect given the circumstances. Hell, CP9 were still trying to get to Spandam for sticking them with the blame for the disaster at Enies Lobby. At least
"Thank you Naruto-sama," Byron almost bowed again, but Naruto grabbed him by the face as though his skull were a basketball to keep him from starting.
With a grip on the gentlemanly pirate, Naruto dragged him out of the room, still gripping his face, "Don't thank me. We didn't do anything yet."
Byron could thank him after everything was settled, and they hadn't even gotten started yet. They still had to get Nojiko to tell them which way to go, because none of them were going to work that out on their own. Not on this particular sea.
XxX
"What?" Nojiko wondered aloud after being told of the forthcoming travel plans for the Natural Disaster, "I thought we were looking for those tree root things, or a Devil Fruit to study."
Naruto had a nervous grin on his face. He had gotten to Nojiko in the middle of sniper practice, so no matter what she was going to be in an exceptionally calm mood because of what it took to hit her target buoys from as far out as she was aiming from, but as the person responsible for their travel routes there was always a chance she'd be miffed at the sudden change, "We were, but we can get back to that any time. This is super-important. It's not even for me. It's for Byron."
"Uh-huh..." Nojiko said, leaning against the banister of the ship. She was listening, but the majority of her concentration was on keeping her eyes posted to her target three miles away amid the rolling waves, "And you expect us to find this place, right now?"
"People have been there. It's on a map, see?" Naruto said, stooping down to Nojiko's side with their map of the New World, or what had actually been logged of it, in hand.
Nojiko turned her head from sniper practice and raised an eyebrow at her boyfriend as if to ask him if he were serious. A map wasn't enough. He knew that. She knew he knew that. It eventually clicked that he wanted her to reroute them and send them elsewhere.
A wry look came to the woman's face as she set her rifle aside and turned onto her side and leaned her cheek on her hand, supported by her elbow on the grassy deck. Naruto had to admit, with the way her cleavage was framed by that shirt it was awfully tempting not to jump on her for a literal roll in the grass. Now was a time to be semi-serious, "So how about it Noji-chan? You can make it happen, right?"
Nojiko sighed and stood up, taking a look at the map and the marks she had made on it relative to their position, "It's not just a matter of knowing where it is. Even if it's on a map, the only way we even know where we're going half of the time is because of the Log Pose, and because I've got precog," But she could read the map, and the area they were looking for according to the newspaper article that had spawned all of this wasn't that far east of one of three islands. The three islands they had a Log Pose lock onto at that very moment. This was workable, "Alright, alright, hold on a second."
There wasn't any reason not to go other than the fact that it would render her previous work moot, and it was for the peace of mind of someone important to them. In preparation for her forthcoming action, Nojiko massaged her temple.
Having seen this routine before, Naruto smiled and took his position at the helm while Nojiko walked past him to the bow, "Haki Roulette?" Naruto asked.
Nojiko confirmed Naruto's hunch with a nod, "Haki Roulette."
From where they were, the Log Pose pointed to three islands. That was the way things had shaken out once they had surfaced onto the seas from underwater. The three islands were Risky Red Island, Mystoria Island, and Punk Hazard. One of them was the right destination, and it was up to Nojiko's limited foresight and what little they knew about these places to help them pick.
With a sigh, Nojiko stood at the very front of the ship while Naruto took the wheel. According to the three separate direction on the Log Pose, she would direct him to turn in one so that she could try and pick up some kind of signal for where they were going.
Her formerly useless-ass psychic Haki, as she had called it herself at one point during her training, was finally good for something. It took time, effort, and a lot of migraine relief, but Nojiko was able to get it to work for her. Once they started far enough along the path, she should have gotten a hit. That was the plan.
Naruto turned into the direction of one of the island signals, prompting Nojiko to shut her eyes and focus intensely, eventually getting visions of an island that was a depleted, poisonous wasteland. They had read enough papers for her to know that this was Punk Hazard after a particular accident. Definitely not the one they were looking for.
Trying again, she had Naruto turn them in a different direction. After thirty or so minutes this time, she received visions of an island where the dirt was mostly red clay.
Well if islands were named for obvious traits about them, this one was a dead ringer for Risky Red Island, and that was where they needed to go. The island that had been reported as recently being sacked by Byron's old crew was very close to Risky Red Island.
"This way's the ticket," Nojiko said, making sure that Naruto had the proper heading as she jumped back down from the front of the ship, "Tell Byron to go get his ass-kicking shoes shined, or get Vivi to write him an epic speech about how much his old crew blows. You know. Whatever he needs to do."
Naruto met her with a grin and a hug, twirling her around once before setting her down. He loved it when Nojiko came with the cocky banter the way he himself often tended to, "You're like a walking Vivre Card," He commented, still holding onto Nojiko, "Does your head hurt?"
The femme sniper furrowed her brow, wondering why he would even ask her that. Using her Haki for just that much wasn't nearly enough to give her fits the way it used to, and he had to know that, "No," She said, wondering what he was getting at before she remembered one of her more favored therapies to deal with her Haki migraines, "...Maybe."
Nojiko might not have needed it anymore, but Haki migraine therapy, or at least one method of it, was always welcome.
Alright, you bunch'a jerks. New World, splattering all up in your face.
The Foxhound Crew is loose, and they're out looking for the crew that screwed over one of their own. Forthcoming, some quick closure and background for the crew's musician Byron before we get into the real.
Side note: So, there are like 5 to 8 islands that there are any real amount of detail on, therefore I may be freestyling a good number of them, Risky Red Island included. Which is fine with me. I was ready for that in the first place.
In any case, the crew is back, they're better than ever, and it's time to get down.
Now I've got to go record for the Fandom Flux Podcast (link near the top of my author profile), because Kenchi likes money and the chance at making lots of it one day in some way, shape, or form.
Kenchi out.
