Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto or One Piece.

Punk Hazard II

After she left the Thousand Sunny, Naru didn't waste time as she ran across the sea until she eventually reached the other side of Punk Hazard. With her excellent speed, it didn't take long for her to arrive, and as soon as her feet landed on the snowy ground, several thoughts came across her mind at once.

Earlier when she recognized the burning island as the infamous Punk Hazard, she could already guess what was about to come the moment her dear brother said that he wanted to explore the island.

Inwardly, Naru sighed as Luffy's decision had more or less had sealed her Fate for the next few days.

Thinking that this place was where a certain mad scientist currently residing, and said mad scientist was also connected to a certain tyrant due to a business partnership that also had something to do with a certain Yonko, and not to mention that even her brother and his crew were willing to be here despite her warning of a possible danger, she already had this feeling that they would not be leaving this place smoothly without any problem anytime soon.

Since this was an enemy's territory, she didn't wish to attract trouble as soon as they were here. But after considering that her brother's presence was just too strong that he would definitely attract some troubles anyway, she resigned herself to her Fate and just let him to do whatever he wanted to do while they were still here. Even she herself knew that trying to lay low would be almost impossible with Luffy being here. Hence why she let them to wander around the burning island that definitely had nothing there, while she alone went to the other side of the island where she knew that the main base was supposed to be located somewhere there.

In other words, she was merely using her brother and his friends as a form of distraction while she herself went to do her own things alone. If they were to be discovered anyway, they might as well just split up and let her handle the other matters.

What other matters?

Of course it had something to do with that Caesar Clown.

Recalling her conversation with Yuzu earlier, Naru sighed, but in the end, she didn't dwell on it too much. The past was the the past, and now she had to prepare herself for what she would have to face here. Plus, there was simply no way for her to get out of the situation now that she was here. According to what Luffy had said back at the ship, there was already a problem existing on this place before they were even here. And it also didn't help that the brat Luffy was more than willing to get dragged into that problem as well.

She wasn't sure if Caesar Clown had anything to do with the killing of those unfortunate people, but if he did, then he might have already known that the Straw Hats Crew were coming here. Which also meant that she should be expecting the enemies to be looking for them soon.

Therefore, instead of wasting time, she might as well just get this over with and find the boss as quickly as she could before the situation could get out of hand. It would be good if she managed to find that man as soon as possible before her existence here was exposed. Only then would she be able to decide whether to go on with the extreme plan that she had in her mind or not.

With her head full of many thoughts that only she knew, Naru continued to look around the place. Depending on her sensory abilities that she had honed ever since she was born, she managed to avoid some people that she believed working for Caesar. And by the looks of it, they were patrolling around the area, looking for something.

What else would it be other than the intruders?

It was good to say that her abilities to sense people's presences were quite good, especially when she had couple of decades to train herself. Making good uses of her abilities, she eventually found a big building that she had been looking for while avoiding the people here.

"This should be it." She said to herself as she looked at the building in front of her.

Without any hint of hesitation, she pushed open the large door of the facility and proceeded to enter the building like she owned the damn place. Once the door was closed without making any sounds, she brushed off the remaining snow on her person before looking around the place carefully. It wasn't until she was sure that there was nobody else around the area that she started to move.

Avoiding the eyes of the Surveillance Snails on the wall was easy. Based on how tall the building was from outside, she wasn't surprised to see that there were 3 floors here. As she wasn't here to waste time, it didn't take long for her to be done with inspecting the first and second floor first. In short, she was already on her way to the third floor.

Abruptly, as soon as she arrived on the third floor, her expression changed slightly when she sensed a familiar but foreign presence somewhere around here. Immediately, a wave of memories of a certain old man resurfaced in her head.

Even though it was such a long time ago, but she could still remember the feeling of Ryuo that was the exact same feeling as Chakra that she hadn't felt ever since she had been reborn into this world. As she had already came to term with herself that Chakra simply didn't exist here, but Ryuo did, it didn't take long for her to recover from her shock.

Knowing that there was supposed to be a samurai from Wano in this place, Naru wondered if the person possessing such a large amount of Chakra-like-presence here was the same samurai. After all, old man Kozaburo did say that only the people of Wano possessed Ryuo. So it wasn't wrong for her to assume that the samurai was the owner of this strong presence.

Curious and wary, she followed the presence and she was eventually brought to the front of a closed room. With her sharp sense of hearing, she could hear a grumble of someone inside.

"Anyone outside?! I demand to be released this instant!"

"Just wait until I get out and have my body back, I will cut all of you bastards one by one!"

Those were the words that she heard before she decided to open the door to meet the person that seemed to be kept here as a captive rather than being a subordinate of Caesar Clown.

When she opened the door, she expected to see a man since the voice that she heard obviously belonged to that of a male. However, she didn't expect to see several pieces of flesh with eyes, nose, ears and mouth scattered on the floor instead. Based on how they were divided, they were obviously cut into pieces by a sharp object. Presumably, a sword.

She blinked.

The eyes staring at her also blinked.

Two pair of eyes stared at each other. One was calm without any ripple of emotion, while the other one had the unconcealed surprise, a little bit of delight and also wariness shown in them.

Not caring about the little bit of awkwardness, Naru channeled a Kakashi-Sensei and gave him the eye smile. "Hello there."

"You..." The eyes on the ground blinked again. Seeing that the person standing before him was a young lady wasn't what made him speechless. It was the fact that the clothes that she wore were similar to the clothes worn by the people of his land! Maybe because his subconscious mind thought this young female as a fellow countryman, but the wariness that he had against her had completely disappeared.

"Young lady! Please help me!" He begged.

If lowering his dignity as a proud warrior of his country could give him the freedom that he was desperate for at this moment, then he was willing to lower his pride and begged another person for it.

After all, he wasn't doing this for himself!

Naru stared at those eyes that full of desperation, and didn't react for a couple of moments. In the end, his sincerity eventually moved her heart as she entered the room and closed the door. She then unhurriedly crouched down and started to grab the fleshes one by one, rearranging them according to her feeling.

Seeing that she was willing to help, he was delighted. "Young lady, I express you my utmost sincerity for your help!"

"No problem." She responded back with a smile.

Once she was done, she took good look at the head that was twice as big as her own and noted the topknot above his head, and asked "You're from Wano, aren't you?"

As she had already went to Wano once, she knew that the people there had their own hairstyle that differentiate them from the people outside of their country. Seeing the topknot on top of his head, there was no doubt anymore, this man right here was indeed someone from Wano.

The samurai's eyes widened in surprise, but not much. Her whole attire and appearance itself screamed that she was a fellow countryman, so it shouldn't be impossible for her to not recognize him as someone from their land.

Naturally, Naru knew what he was thinking about. The expectation shone in his eyes was too obvious for her to ignore. After all, this wasn't the first time that someone had misunderstood her as a person from that particular country. Since she had the habit of concealing her presence, the samurai surely wouldn't be able to detect her Chakra. So she could only assume that his misunderstanding came from the way she dressed.

Before the samurai could say anything, Naru beat him to it first. "I'm not from Wano if that's what you're thinking about. But I've been there before." She admitted. "And you have the same hairstyle as the men I've seen there. That's how I can tell that you're from Wano."

This time, he was truly surprised. Not a fellow countryman, but someone from outside. Not just that, but also someone who claimed to have been there before!

"Not from Wano, you say?"

She shook her head. "I'm from Uzu."

He looked confused at the name of this place. "I've never heard of that place before."

Naru didn't mind his cluelessness as she was familiar of Wano's state of isolationism. "I'm not surprised you didn't know. Uzu is a new established country, and it's quite far away from Wano."

"So it's a new country. I see." He nodded.

She smiled and started to introduce herself. "My name is Naru."

Since the young lady had given her name, he naturally returned the courtesy by introducing himself back. "The name given is Kin'emon! It is a great blessing for us to meet, Naru-San!"

"Likewise." She nodded, before she went straight to the point. "By the way, were you the one who went around cutting people of this place earlier?"

"It is indeed I, Kin'emon!" He didn't even show any hint of remorse for what he had done. Not like she cared that much.

Then she just proceeded to explain about the distress call from earlier of how there was a scary samurai who went around attacking and killing people on this island. Hence, why they were here to help the people attacked by the supposed evil samurai.

Hearing her words, Kin'emon was infuriated and immediately explained to her about his own circumstances. While it was true that he had attacked some people earlier, but that was only because they were standing in his way from rescuing his son, whom had been taken to this place.

Naru nodded in understanding. She didn't sense any hint of him lying, which meant that he was being truthful. Even the worry and anxiousness that she could see in his eyes were genuine emotions.

A person who could display such fragile emotions to someone he just met was simply a honest guy. Plus, she believed that the people he had attacked earlier must have been Caesar's own subordinates.

"Then, how did you end up like this, Kin'emon-San?" She asked, feeling impressed that someone had the ability to behead people without actually killing them. And it was such a clean cut too! With not even a single drop of blood.

At her question, his expression turned grim. "A man came out of nowhere and suddenly cut me into three parts!"

He didn't know what happened to his body, but cutting them not enough, even his head was cut into several pieces! Kin'emon was annoyed at his situation, but he was also angry at himself for allowing such thing to happen! If it wasn't because he let his guard down, then how could he end up like this!? Not to mention that this was such a disgrace to his pride and dignity as a proud samurai, but who knew what poor Momonosuke had gone through the more he, Kin'emon, was stuck in this room with no ability to move!

With his leg, he couldn't move. Without his arms, he couldn't use his swords! He was useless in this situation! How could he find Momonosuke in this state?!

Suddenly, he went still when something clicked inside his head. Looking up, he stared at the young lady who was still crouching in front of him. Before he could process anything, the words had already flowed out of his mouth.

"Young lady, please lend me your help once again!" He begged desperately.

"Okay." She agreed without any hint of hesitation.

"Eh, really?!" Kin'emon's eyes went as wide as saucers at her quick response. She didn't even blink before she agreed just like that!

"You really agreed to help me?" He asked, feeling baffled by the turn of event.

Naru shrugged her shoulders. "Why not? I'm here to find a certain man anyway, so I might as well just help you to look for your son while I'm at it."

His heart was moved, though it wasn't present at the moment. He was so grateful that he could cry. Although he didn't actually cry, but he did sniffle a little bit as he said "I, Kin'emon will surely repay you one day! If there is something that I can help you with, do not hesitate to ask for my help!"

She didn't respond to his words. Instead, she took the head carefully and said "Alright, let's get you out of here."

Naru carried Kin'emon out of the room and continued to look around the place. Once again, she didn't forget to disable all of the Surveillance Snails that they had encountered along the way.

"That was very impressive, Naru-Dono." His way of calling her had changed to a more respectful manner since she had agreed to help him.

As she knew that she couldn't change his way of addressing her, she merely gave him a helpless smile and said "Thank you."

It wasn't much actually. She merely shot a harmless wind-based needle shot to the snails' pressure point to knock them unconscious.

"If you don't mind me asking, what exactly are you doing for a living?" Kin'emon asked carefully, trying not to sound rude. Since she claimed to have come from this land of Uzu, and she even wore the same attire from his land, he wondered if they had the same cultures.

"A ninja." She answered, though she could hardly call herself a proper ninja these days. If it weren't for her jutsus in her arsenal, she couldn't even be called a ninja anymore. Especially if one look at her current lifestyle. Other than dealing with the troublesome political issues between her country and other countries, her current life was quite idle and peaceful.

Nobody actually dared to pick a fight with her because of her reputation and terrifying powers. Even the marines or the World Government didn't try to do anything to her or her kingdom even after what she had done to Mary Geoise. With no conflicts for her to solve, she had no chance to properly use her profession as a ninja.

These days, she was just playing the role of a leader of a kingdom in peace.

"So there are ninjas in your country as well?" Kin'emon wanted to ask whether they also have samurai in Uzu while trying to look at her who was behind him. But since he had no neck at the moment, it was just his eyes moving left and right trying to have a glimpse of his benefactor. He failed of course.

"There is only me." She stated. "In Uzu, we have no samurai or other ninjas other than me. The country itself has just come into existence 8 years ago."

'8 years ago, I was 16.' She thought as the memories from back then came rushing into her head, causing her to feel a little bit nostalgic. Time flew so fast, she thought.

"Naru-Dono, earlier.. you said that you have been to Wano before..." Kin'emon seemed hesitant for a bit, but he eventually finished his sentence with a careful tone. "How... What is your judgement of the current Wano?"

Although she noticed his hesitation and the way he changed his question, Naru didn't think of it too much. Since he was a person from that land, Naru was sure that he knew exactly the condition of his own country better than she did. So she gave him her honest thought.

"Not so good."

Suddenly, she heard the samurai gritted his teeth. He was angry, she noted. But she had the feeling that his anger wasn't actually directed at her. Perhaps because he knew it himself what kind of condition his country was in, and find it difficult for him to accept it.

She waited for the samurai to say something, but after a few moments passed, the man still hadn't made any sound. Naru naturally took it as him not wanting to continue their topic. Instead, she swiftly changed their subject of discussion to his missing son.

She asked how old was he and what did he look like, etc. Kin'emon didn't comment anything at the sudden change of topic, instead he just answered her harmless question truthfully.

However, the duo's conversation was cut off when they heard noises coming ahead of them. Their expression turned serious, but they remained calm. Naru knew that these people would not pose any threat to her, so it would be okay even if they ended up stumbling upon each other as she could just knock them out before something were to happen. Suddenly, her expression turned confused when she somehow managed to detect four familiar presences that shouldn't be here, among those people.

Walking soundlessly until she reached the end of the wall, she peeked at the corner and her face instantly turned darker at what she saw.

"What are they doing here?!" She muttered under her breath, loud enough for Kin'emon to hear her words.

Curious, he tried to extend his neckless head to take a peek, and managed to catch a glimpse of a group of people wearing strange yellow attire that covered them from head to toe, hiding their appearance. He recognized these people to be the same as those who had thrown his head inside the room he was in earlier. Some of them were carrying three unconscious people and a furry animal wearing a strange blue hat.

Judging from the young lady's expression, she should know them.

Kin'emon was right. She indeed knew them.

Those unconscious people that were currently being carried were none other than Nami, Sanji, Franky and Chopper!

They actually got kidnapped to this side of the island!

Even though her time was them was short, but she still understood their character and knew that they were capable people of their own. But seeing four of Luffy's friends in this state, Naru didn't waste time and immediately took action.

In a quick and swift action, she managed to blend in between them and knocked them unconscious. These unfortunate people didn't even know what happened to them before they all fell down unconscious one by one. The moment they fell to the floor, the four Straw Hats were also dropped, but Naru managed to grab Nami who was the nearest to her and save her from hitting her head on the floor. As for the other three, they could deal with a little fall.

"Are these people your friends, Naru-Dono?" Kin'emon asked. Admiration shone in his eyes after seeing how quick she dealt with the enemies.

"Mm, they belong to my little brother's crew."

Hearing the word 'crew', the samurai's face suddenly changed to that of a hostile expression. "Are these people… pirates?"

Naru was startled when she sensed the growing hatred and anger from him. Did he suffer a bad experience with pirates before? Nevertheless, she answered "They are good people."

"...Naru-Dono's friends are definitely good people." He responded after a short silence, deciding to trust the young lady's judgement. Even though the hatred and anger were still there, but they were not as strong as earlier. At this, Naru was impressed at his ability to control his emotions.

He had proven himself to be somewhat a rational person who didn't put every pirate under the label of bad pirates just because of his bad experiences with some bad pirates in the past.

It didn't take long for the four kidnapped Straw Hats to regain their consciousness as soon as Naru woke them up. Sanji was the first one to notice Naru.

"Naru-San! How come you're here?"

"Ehh where are we? What happened?"

"Who are these people?!"

Seeing that they were somewhere unfamiliar instead of being on Sunny while being surrounded by a bunch of strange people that seemed to be unconscious, Sanji immediately figured out that they must have been ambushed and were knocked out using a sleeping gas since he had seen his friends lying on the deck, before he too lost his consciousness. His confusion as to why these bastards were knocked out was answered with Naru's appearance who stood quietly next to Nami.

"How are you guys feeling?" Naru asked when all 4 members of the Straw Hats finally took notice of her presence.

"Did you know that I'm in trouble so you came to save me?! Naru-San ~"

Naru sweat dropped when Sanji had noodle-danced his way to her side. A hint of contempt flashed across a certain samurai's eyes as he looked at Sanji.

"This man resembles that of a pervert, Naru-Dono. You should stay away from him."

"What did you say?!" Sanji automatically responded as he glared at Kin'emon, only for his eyes to widen in surprise when he realized that Naru was holding onto a big severed head that was glaring back at him.

"Gahhh it's a talking head!" Chopper and Nami screamed at the same time as they looked at Kin'emon in fear.

"Ah! That raccoon just talked!" Kin'emon exclaimed in surprise.

Chopper's fearful expression suddenly turned fierce at his comment. "I'm not a raccoon ya bastard! I'm a reindeer!"

"A talking animal!"

"Where did ya get this talking head, Naru-Sis?" Franky asked as he lifted his sunglasses to take a good look at Kin'emon.

Naru, who was amused with the others' reaction, calmly introduced Kin'emon and explained his own circumstances to them. After hearing what she said and the confirmation from the samurai himself, they now understood that the call that they received earlier was from one of Caesar's subordinates. As Naru had already informed them about this place being an enemy's territory, Sanji and the others didn't dwell on the matter of the call that much.

"Then this must be Caesar's place." Nami said as she looked around the place.

Naru nodded and said that while she had been here for a while now, she still hadn't seen Caesar Clown. Instead, she found Kin'emon.

The four looked at the head, and Sanji could feel himself growing in jealousy of the samurai for being held so carefully by a beauty like Naru-San like that. He was jealous dammit!

"It must be tiring having to carry such a big head by yourself, Naru-San. So just leave this job to me!"

Before Naru or Kin'emon could say anything, the head had already been snatched away by Sanji who was holding him by his top knot.

"Release me this instant!"

"Shut up, you stupid head!"

"Both of you shut up!" Screamed the angry Nami as she punched both Sanji and Kin'emon on the head.

"Y-Yes, Nami-San."

"To be hit by an indecent woman, my pride as a warrior has been wounded!" Kin'emon cried out, only to be hit by the annoyed Nami once again. Only then did he became obedient.

"Nami is scary..." Chopper whimpered as he held onto Naru's baggy pants, while Naru just sighed.

Once everyone had calmed down, their topic of discussion changed to what exactly happened to Sanji and the other three. As Sanji had expected, they had been ambushed by Caesar's men and were taken to this place. Thankfully, Naru was already here before something could happen to them.

"What about Brook then?" Chopper asked out of concern. All of them were here except for Brook who was nowhere to be seen.

"These bastards probably thought that Brook was truly dead so they didn't take him with them." Sanji said calmly.

The others looked at each other before they nodded in agreement.

"That skeleton will surely be fine on his own." Franky said, assuring the youngest with his words.

"Then, what are we supposed to do now?" Nami asked. "If we stayed here any longer, there might be some other people coming after us soon."

"I already promised Kin'emon-San to help him look for his son, so I'll be staying here with him for the time being." Naru responded. "Anyway, I've already disabled most of the surveillance snails around this building, so it will be fine if you guys want to leave this place first."

"No thank you. I think staying with you is a safer option." Said Nami as she attached herself to the older woman's arm. Though this was a dangerous place, but following after Naru was way better than being on their own.

"Naru-San, Nami-Swan! I will protect both of you from danger with my life!" Sanji declared with love in his eye, while secretly thinking that he would not going to let the samurai to be with Naru-San alone.

"This is going to be a super adventure." Franky grinned, while Chopper who had already climbed upon his broad shoulder, cheered.

Naru had no problem in letting them to tag alone, and told them that they should try to be as lowkey as they could for the time being as to not attract the enemies' attention to themselves as of yet. They all agreed with her, and Nami then suggested to move the unconscious people from here and hide them somewhere.

"What about there?" Chopper pointed to a certain room that was labelled as 'Biscuit Room'.

"Biscuit room? That screams 'suspicious' to me." Commented Nami. Her guts were screaming at her that the room definitely had nothing to do with biscuit whatsoever.

Naru narrowed her eyes at the door and frowned slightly. "There are people inside."

Inside, she could feel many presences, but these presences seemed more pure-like that reminded her of innocent children. Hence, why she wasn't as wary as she should when she was in an enemy's territory. Without saying anything, she walked towards the closed room. The others followed closely behind her with confusion written all over their faces, leaving behind the still unconscious people.

Naru then opened the door, only to see a bunch of children with different sizes inside the room.

"Children?!" The Straw Hats exclaimed in surprise.

While the others were surprised, Kin'emon was the first one to react. "Look, there are really children in this place! My son must be here as well! Good children, is there a boy named 'Momonosuke' here?!"

However, seeing a head without a body screaming at them only scared the children away as they retreated backwards in panic. They were not familiar with these strange people at all.

"Stop screaming! You're scaring them away!" Nami yelled as she punched Kin'emon in the head to stop him from scaring away the children.

Naru who seriously didn't want to attract Caesar's attention, quickly closed the door and proceeded to place a special kind of barrier to prevent anyone from entering the room. The unconscious subordinates of Caesar were left outside, and the sight would no doubt alarming more people later. Then she noticed a few Surveillance Snails and dealt with them before they could take notice of her.

"But why are there children here?" Asked Chopper.

"What else? They must have been kidnapped as well!" Kin'emon claimed, causing the Straw Hats to frown. Knowing that Kin'emon was also looking for his son whom he claimed had been taken here, they didn't doubt his words about the possible kidnapping at all.

When the kids saw some strange and unfamiliar people barging into the room, they were afraid, especially when a head with no body was yelling at them. However, although they were afraid, they were more curious to know who were these people. So, they all kept a distance between them and the strangers and just stared at the strangers with eyes full of curiosity.

Having experienced dealing with children since Ace was a baby, Naru stepped forward with a gentle smile and tried to assure the children that her group meant no harm to them.

"We're here to look for a boy. His name is Momonosuke." She said, before glancing at Kin'emon.

Quickly, he described what Momonosuke was supposed to look like as he stared hopefully at the children, hoping that they could give him the answer he was desperate for.

However, the children only exchanged a confused look with each other before they shook their head.

"I'm sorry, but we have never seen a boy who looks like that in here." Said one of the kids, who was a giant girl with short dark hair and big auburn eyes.

Kin'emon looked dejected, but he didn't want to give up. "Then I'm sure he is kept somewhere else. Naru-Dono, it seems like I have to trouble you for awhile longer."

"By the way, you kids, why are you here? Where are your parents?" Chopper asked.

The girls squealed when they saw the cute fluffy Chopper on top of the shoulder of a robot-like man whom was idolized by majority of the boys in the room, causing their guard to lower even more and answered his question honestly.

"Because Master said that we are sick." One of the kids answered. "We haven't seen our parents ever since we were taken here."

Seeing him mentioned 'parents', the other kids started to show a sad expression.

"I miss my parents so much."

"I wanna go home!"

"I wanna see my mom!"

Listening to the children' words, Naru's group frowned even more. There was no doubt anymore. These children were indeed kidnapped! The 'Master' they referred to should be Caesar himself.

"Despicable!" Nami muttered under her breath.

"What are we going to do now?" Chopper, the one with the softest heart, asked in concern.

But before anyone could respond to his question, they heard noises from outside. Sanji signaled them to lower their voices just as someone tried to open the door from outside. Realizing that the door couldn't be opened, the person outside started to bang on the door harshly.

"It's no use! The door is locked!"

"All of the snails in this entire Section B have collapsed, including those in the Biscuit Room. The intruders must be hiding inside!"

"What about the children then?"

"Quick! Someone go and inform Master about this!"

"This is bad! We have been found out!" Chopper panicked as they listened to the people talking outside.

"What should we do now?" Nami asked, staring at Naru.

"Don't worry. Nobody will be able to enter this room without my permission. And I promise that I will not going to let anything happen to all of you for as long as I am here." She replied.

Her words comforted the nervous Nami and Chopper, since they had confident that they would be okay as they have Naru here with them. However, now that the enemies had started to notice them, they couldn't just stay in this room forever. If they leave this room now, they would still have some times to leave the building before more people come. But, Nami then took a glance at the children, and her heart felt discomfort at the thought of having to leave them here when she knew that these children were kidnapped.

"We need to contact Luffy and the others." Sanji suddenly said. "We have to tell them of our situation first."

Naru agreed.

"We should call Brook first if he has already awake. If he is truly left on the ship, then we can go over there first." If they leave this place, then they should at least have a clear objective of where to go or what to do.

"But we don't have a Den Den Mushi. Those bastards must have taken them away when we were unconscious." Sanji cursed.

"Here, use mine." Naru gave Sanji her own personal Den Den Mushi that she had taken from one of her storage seals around her wrist. Being with her for several days, the Straw Hats had already gotten used to the sight of some things appearing from out of nowhere around her.

But for Kin'emon, it just seemed like she had taken a snail from under her wide sleeve.

Using the Den Den Mushi, Sanji called the familiar number of the Den Den Mushi on Sunny, hoping that Brook would pick it up.

After a few moments, the call was picked up.

At the same time, Thousand Sunny.

Standing over the several unconscious bodies lying on the snowy deck, Brook sighed. He was just done dealing with some intruders on Sunny. However, before he even realized it, he had already knocked them out before he could ask then about some important questions regarding his missing friends.

He had been surprised when he was awake to see some intruders rummaging through the ship with his friends were nowhere to be seen. Besides his friends' disappearance, he was also surprised when he realized that the ship was now on the snowy land of Punk Hazard that Naru-San had went off to, instead of being outside of the flaming sea waiting for Luffy-San and the others.

"I hope Sanji-San and the others are alright." He said to himself.

Puru puru puru puru!

Suddenly, a familiar ringing of a Den Den Mushi was heard coming from the galley.

"Hmm?"

With his light bones, Brook then jumped over to the second floor, entered the galley and picked up the call.

"Hello~"

"Brook!" He heard several familiar voices calling out his name. Then he heard the voice of Chopper asking if he was fine.

"Yohohoho! I am well! With that being said, I am so worried when I didn't see any of you guys! Is everyone all right?"

"We're good. Naru-San is also here with us." Informed Sanji. "Brook, you're at the ship now, right?"

"Well, yes."

"Then where is the ship now? We're going to head over there now."

Brook hummed as he picked up the Den Den Mushi and left the galley. He then looked at his surrounding, before he focused on the massive building in front of him.

"I'm not sure exactly where is this place, but there is a massive building in front of the ship with the label of 'PH-006' on the other side of its wall. Will that help?"

This time, Naru was the one who answered.

"Then you're just outside of the building we are in right now. Brook, wait for us."

Back to Naru and the others.

"Well, you guys heard him." Naru said as everyone stared at her. "The Sunny should be outside of this place, so it won't take long for us to reach the ship if we were to leave now."

Hearing the conversation between the strangers, the children who had been a silent observer for a while now decided to be brave and approach them on their own.

"Wait!" One of the children walked closer to them and asked "Are you guys leaving this place?"

"If you are leaving, can you take me with you as well?"

"Yeah, me too!"

"We want to go outside too!"

"Big brothers and sisters, please take us with you too! We are not sick anymore!"

"We want to see our parents!"

"Please!"

Naru, the Straw Hats, and Kin'emon stared at each other and shared a tacit understanding. Knowing that these children were kidnapped, it wouldn't sit well with them if they just leave without helping them. Naturally, they decided to help.

"Then, Naru-San, what should we do? Trying to leave this place in such large group will definitely attract more attention from those bastards."

"It's fine. I will be your backup." Naru said confidently. "Like I said, as long as I am here, there is no way that I am going to let anything to happen to all of you."

She continued.

"Listen, beside the people outside, there shouldn't be more people in this building unless they have already called for more backups. The surveillance snails have been disabled earlier, so we will have no problem even if we want to escape with everyone in this room. Our obstacle right now, are those outside. Sanji, Franky and Chopper, I trust that you three can handle them just fine, right?"

The three people mentioned gave her a grin.

"You can count us!"

"Leave them to us!"

"Big sis, you're taking us with you?" Asked a little girl who was the closest to Nami.

Nami gave her a comforting smile and said "If you guys want to come with us, then be sure to be obedient and listen carefully!"

The face of the children who plead to follow instantly brightened up with joy.

"Alright everyone, get ready!" Informed Naru as she removed the barrier, and Franky immediately blasted open the door with his Radical Beam.

"So cool!" Chopper and the boys cheered with stars in their eyes as they stared at Franky.

"Warghh! What kind of power is that?!" Even Kin'emon couldn't help but to feel impressed at what he saw.

When the door suddenly exploded, the people outside were caught off guard and started to panic when they were attacked. Some were being kicked in the head by a person who was holding onto a screaming head with no body, some were being pushed away roughly by a big furry creature that could do martial arts movements, while a robot-like man was shooting some kind of laser beam from his fingertips.

The battle was obviously one-sided with Sanji's group taking the upper hand. It didn't even take a full minute before all of those people in yellow suit ended up groaning in pain on the floor.

"Naru-San, we're done here! Let's go now!" Sanji waved at Naru who was standing protectively in front of the children with Nami.

Naru nodded at him before turning to look at the children and said in a stern but gentle voice "Remember to stay close to us, and don't separate from one another."

"Yes, Big Sis!"

Satisfied with their response, she then turned around and gave a nod to Sanji before started to lead everyone all the way to the exit. Just like what she had said earlier, nobody was around to get in their way, so it didn't take long for the whole group to reach the main entrance of the building. The moment they saw a big metallic door, Chopper who still in his Kung Fu Point, took action by pushing open the door with a great strength using his palm, letting out a battle cry as he did so.

As soon as they went through the door, everyone except Naru and Chopper couldn't help but to shiver when they were greeted by the strong cold breeze of air blowing in their direction.

"Cold!" Nami shivered as she wrapped her arms around herself.

"Yeay! We're finally out!"

"We can go home!"

I can finally see my parents again!"

Although they were shivering, the cold didn't seem to bother the children as they cheered with a joyous mood while looking around the snowy land with sparkling eyes. Their pure reaction caused the adults to wonder how long had they been here ever since they were taken away from their respective home? Looking at how happy they were for simply being outside, Sanji and the others were glad that they stumbled upon these children.

"Alright then, shall we go now? It best if we can reach the ship as soon as possible. This place is too cold and too risky for us to be here any longer." Naru said.

The others nodded, but Nami stared at the shivering children in concern and said "What about the kids? Will they be fine walking in the snow like this?"

At her words of concern, the others looked at the shivering children and were also worried if the children wouldn't be able to handle the harsh cold until they reached the ship. Not to mention warm clothes, they didn't even have shoes on!

Fearing that the Big Sisters and Big Brothers wouldn't take them along because of how much of a burden they could be to them, one of the giant kids stepped forward with an anxious look.

"It's okay! Us, the big kids can carry the small ones, so please don't abandon us here!" The big girl, Mocha said timidly. Another kid her size, a boy with blonde hair nodded furiously next to her.

"We promise that we won't be a burden!" He said. Following after him, the other big-sized children also expressed their own willingness to carry their small friends so that the Big Sisters and Big Brothers wouldn't have to worry that much about them.

Naru and the others felt heartache for them. How badly had they been treated here that they wanted to escape from this place that bad? Even Sanji felt pity and uncomfortable seeing the kids acting like this. Nami and Chopper had tears in their eyes, while Franky already had tears streaming down his face. Kin'emon on the hand felt anxious and even more worried as he was busy thinking what kind of suffering had poor Momonosuke endured in this kind of place.

Looking at the poor children, Kin'emon then said "I can help everyone!"

"You? What can you do?" Asked Sanji with a doubtful look. His doubt was with a reason. After all, Kin'emon had no body at the moment. They couldn't figure what could he actually do to help them in this situation without any limbs.

Sensing the dubiousness from everyone around him, Kin'emon snorted before he lifted up his chin proudly and said to Sanji. "Don't underestimate me! You haven't even seen what I, Kin'emon, am capable of yet! You! Quickly go and pick some rocks for me!"

A tick appeared on Sanji's forehead when the samurai had brazenly demanded him to do something as stupid as picking rocks at this time. "Stop fooling around!"

"I'm being truthful! I can help! So go and pick some rocks now!"

"How is picking rocks can be of any help?!"

"I'm telling you it can!"

"Arghhh! Fine!"

Passing the head over to Chopper, Sanji went over to one big boulder that was heavily covered by the falling snow, and didn't hesitate to destroy it by kicking it with his flame-covered leg. With one powerful swing of his leg, the boulder was destroyed into tiny rocks. Picking up a bunch of rocks, he then carried them over to everyone and glared at the grinning Kin'emon.

"Here! Happy now?!"

"Good! Good!"

"Don't mind me asking, but what are you going to do with these rocks, Kin'emon-San?" Naru asked kindly.

"I'll change them into some warm clothes!"

"HUH?!"

Facing everyone's baffled look, Kin'emon huffed. "Just wait and see! Naru-Dono, please put one rock on top of your head for me."

"What trick are you playing right now, you stupid samurai! We have no time to play around!" Sanji yelled at him, but Naru just listened to Kin'emon's instruction and really placed a small rock on top of her head.

"Like this?" She asked. Without responding to her, Kin'emon closed his eyes in concentration and mumbled 'Fuku Fuku no Jutsu' under his breath that was heard by Naru with her sharp hearing.

Suddenly, as if it was magic, a warm long coat that reached her knees appeared over her own clothes. The coat was colored in light purple and have fur around its collar and at the end of its sleeves. Because it was unzipped, the others could still see her original clothes underneath the jacket.

"Wow! The rock just turned into a coat!" Chopper exclaimed with stars in his eyes.

"Come! Everyone, please put a rock on top of your head, and I will change them into a warm cloth for you!" Kin'emon said proudly as he looked at Sanji with a provoking gaze as if he was trying to say 'Heh, you believe me now?'.

Though he was annoyed, Sanji didn't bother to fight with him. Instead, he just waved dismissively at him and said in a casual manner. "Fine, you're great."

Next thing they knew, all of them were wearing a warm outfit identical to the one Naru was wearing, complete with a warm boot. Only, the children' outfits were in light yellow, while the Straw Hats' were in black colour.

"Thank you!" The children said their thank to Kin'emon, feeling happy for their new clothes.

"This is really warm." Said Nami as she checked herself out. "And the jacket is to my liking too."

"That was very impressive." Naru complimented Kin'emon as she touched the new piece of clothing. Since she knew that there were ninjas in Wano and they were also quite similar to the ones in her past life, she wasn't surprised to see his ability to use jutsu. In fact, she was mostly impressed that someone was actually able to cast a jutsu without any hand sign. She didn't even feel the flow of Ryuo coming from him!

"How did you even do this?" Chopper asked curiously.

Satisfied by the compliment and the positive responses from everyone, Kin'emon laughed before he began to answer Chopper's question.

"Actually, I ate a very weird fruit one day. And ever since that day, I am able to use a jutsu even though I am not a ninja! With this power, I can disguise myself and also everyone else! I don't know much about foreign clothes, but I've seen some of the people here wore this kind of clothing to keep them warm. But I warn you, the clothes will disappear once you take them off or once they suffer too much damage."

"Ahh, so you're a Devil Fruit user then." Sanji commented, while Naru nodded in understanding. It turned out that he didn't actually cast a real jutsu, but instead used his Devil Fruit's ability and misunderstood the power of the Devil Fruit as a jutsu used by the ninjas in his homeland.

"Alright then, let's start moving." She said and the others nodded.

Since the place described by Brook was not that far, Naru led everyone and walked alongside the wall of the building. Naru, Nami and Chopper who was holding onto Kin'emon were walking at the front, while Sanji and Franky were at the back to guard them. Because the snow was falling down heavily, their track was soon covered, leaving no trace of them.

Not soon after that, Naru started to feel a familiar presence. Smiling, she said "We are almost there. I can feel Brook 's presence."

"That's great!" Nami was delighted. She couldn't wait to soak her body in a hot water.

Actually, it wouldn't take long for them to reach the Thousand Sunny since the place was just around the corner. But since they had children with them, and because of the thick layer of snow on the ground, it still took them a while for them to reach the place. Not soon after that, they finally managed to see a small harbor with 3 ships currently docked there.

Beside the other two ships, Naru and the others recognized the Thousand Sunny immediately. In front of the ship was the familiar figure of Brook who was in the middle of building a snowman, even though there were already several snowmen around him. It seemed like the Soul King had no better thing to do while waiting for them.

"Oi, Brook!" Chopper immediately called out to him.

"A skeleton?!" Kin'emon widened his eyes in surprise upon seeing Brook. He didn't expect that the friend they were talking about was a dead man with nothing but bones! But before he could ask the others anything about Brook's peculiar existence, he suddenly noticed something. The thing that he saw was so familiar and it was currently heading towards the unsuspecting Brook.

Immediately, he called out to Naru. "Naru-Dono, that...!"

Naru also noticed that something was heading towards Brook. Before the samurai could even finish his sentence, she had already disappeared from her spot, surprising Nami who was standing next to her with her sudden disappearance.

"Ehhh? Where did she go?!"

"Over there!"

At Chopper's loud voice, everyone's attention then fixed on the sight of Naru who had just made a sudden reappearance in front of Brook who was screaming as he fell backwards in shock. What surprised everyone the most was not the fact that she just disappeared and reappeared like magic, but it was due to the fact that she was now holding onto something sharp as she protected Brook from a sword that was heading towards him in a fast motion. And the owner of the sword was surprisingly, a body with no head and no legs.

"Eeekkkk!"

"A body with no head and legs? Don't tell me…!" Nami looked at Kin'emon in shock.

"There is no mistake! That is indeed my body!" Kin'emon exclaimed with a wide smile on his face.

"What happened? Why did you guys stop?" Asked Sanji who had just arrived with Franky following closely behind him. They were confused when the people at the front suddenly stopped moving. Worried, they immediately came forward.

"Kin'emon found his body." Answered Nami as she pointed over to where Naru, Brook and Kin'emon's body were.

Perhaps because the body had sensed Kin'emon, or because Kin'emon had recognized his own body, thus controlling it now, but the body suddenly stopped resisting and retreated a few steps away from Naru, who also seemed to realize that the thing in front of her was not an enemy, but in fact, another missing part of the samurai. Glancing at how excited Kin'emon was upon seeing his body, only then did she relax her stance, before storing away her kunai.

"Na-Naru-San..? What is that?! A headless ghost?!"

Naru turned around and stared down at the panicking Brook on the ground, only then did she remember that they forgot to mention about Kin'emon to Brook during their call earlier. Hence, why Brook was so shocked to see a body with no head nor legs suddenly appeared out of nowhere trying to attack him.

It was also a mystery as to why the body would start to attack Brook for no reason. Perhaps because it didn't have any sense to see and hear, it just attacked anything by instinct?

Just then, they heard the familiar voice of Chopper calling out to them.

"Guys!" The reindeer waved his arm at them. Behind him was the rest of the group with Sanji holding onto Kin'emon smiling head.

Though Brook was happy and relieved to see friends, he was more surprised to see Sanji with a severed head with him. "Sanji-San! Why are carrying a head with you?! Whose head is that?!"

As he was already informed of some children that they had rescued, Brook wasn't that surprised to see Mocha and the rest. He was a little bit taken aback to see that some of them were giant children since he didn't expect their size to be that big, but other than that, he still welcomed them with a warm greeting. Although, some of them teared up a little bit when a tall living skeleton suddenly approached them.

Thankfully, there was Chopper to calm the kids. He then kindly explained about Kin'emon's existence to the still confused Brook. At the same time, their topic of discussion was already being released from Sanji's grip.

"My body!" Kin'emon cried out in joy upon seeing his body that had already made its own to its separated head. After the two separated parts had joined together, Kin'emon quickly expressed his thankfulness towards Naru and the others, more-so to Naru. If it wasn't because she stumbled upon him and willing to help him, he wouldn't even have the ability to escape from his cell!

"Alright everyone, get onboard the Sunny! It will be super warmer up there!" Franky said as he struck a pose, making the boys happy. "To the ship!"

"To the ship!" The kids chorused after him.

"Sanji-Kun, can I trouble you to prepare some warm meals while I take a hot shower?"

"Anything for you, Nami-Swan..!" Sanji replied with his hands clasped together, and heart in his eye. Only after Nami had went up to her room did he snap out of his trance before he made his way to the galley.

While Sanji was busy at the kitchen, Franky and Chopper took care of the kids by letting the smaller children to rest inside the aquarium bar. Due to the big size of some of the kids, they couldn't enter any of them room. Instead they just stayed outside, sitting together in a circle. Even so, they were quite happy to be there while waiting for the Big Bro with swirly eyebrow to finish cooking.

Seeing that the others were doing fine, Naru was about to go and change out of her wet clothes because of the melted snow, only to stop on her track when she saw Kin'emon who was standing near the railing as he looked at the facility before him with a grim look.

Thinking for a while, she then decided to approach him.

"Later, I will have to return back inside since I still need to find a certain man." She suddenly said.

Even without his legs, Kin'emon still managed to reach the heigh level of her shoulder. If he were to have his legs now, wouldn't he be as tall as Brook? Perhaps, even taller than the Soul King himself.

"Would you like to follow me? We can search for Momonosuke in the meantime."

"That is a definite, Naru-Dono! How could my heart be in peace if my boy is still inside, probably suffering an injustice while I am fine being here? If something were to happen to him... I won't hesitate to pierce a sword into my chest..!"

Naru didn't show any hint of disapproval over his words. She just nodded in understanding, since she herself was a parent to a little girl. Remembering Tama, her adopted daughter, she couldn't help but to wonder if she had eaten her meals, had she been sleeping well, or did she miss this mother of hers? Due to her busy works, Naru hadn't returned to Uzu for many weeks ever since she had left to the Fish-Man Island.

"I have a daughter too, so I completely understand your feeling as a parent."

Kin'emon looked at her in surprise with wide eyes and a gaping mouth at her sudden revelation that she actually had a kid. Realizing that his reaction would be considered rude, he immediately fixed his expression.

"My apologies. You just didn't seem like a person who is already with a child. May I ask how old is she?"

"She should be around 7 now. Also, Tama is actually my adopted daughter. I found her in Kuri when she was still a baby. It was just a coincidence, but I met Tama's real mother, and she passed her baby over to me before she passed away right in front of me."

Kin'emon was startled upon hearing her words.

Naru continued. "I don't know how Wano is doing now, but the places that I visited back then were really terrible. A lot of people were abandoned by your government, forced to do labor works and even starved to death. Starving... that was how Tama's mother died. I'm afraid if I didn't take her away from that place, she would've been dead due to starvation long time ago..!"

With displeasure displayed all over her face, she said to the samurai "Kin'emon-San, I really hope that Wano has changed its ruler in these past few years. Just based on what I saw 7 years ago, Kurozumi Orochi is truly not suitable to be the Shogun of Wano..!"

Once she finished her sentence, the wooden railing beneath the man's palms were broken into pieces as he gritted his teeth while releasing a terrifying aura that caused everyone who was nearby to be startled.

"...Kurozumi Orochi...!!"

- End of Chapter 27 -

Sorry for the long wait! Life has been kinda hectic for these past few months. Thankfully, another torturous semester has just ended! Now I'm back to continue this story.Let's hope I can reach Dressrosa arc before the beginning of another torturous semester in a couple of months. *smile in pain*

Btw, I have adjusted chapter 1 - 26, fix some things, added some scenes etc. Feel free to have a look if you guys want to :)

Thank you for taking the time to read this story. Have a nice day!