Chapter 6: Deals with a demon

A few days ago

Pain. That is the first symptom anyone that had been knocked unconscious for a long period of time registers. It starts off as a small prickling sensation at the back of your mind, before it quickly escalates to a full blown throbbing sensation that makes want to rip your head from your shoulders and discard it. Unfortunately such an action would result in one's untimely death. So one has no choice but to stomach the pain and hope that it disappears rather quickly.

Nico Robin, daughter of Nico Olvia, was having a lousy day, more so than she usually did. She had woken up to the sensation of her head feeling like it was burning from the inside-out thanks to the pain of being unconscious for…she didn't know how long. After that she was forced to wonder about her current whereabouts, seeing as how she was tied up and couldn't really do anything. All she could see in front of her were grey walls. All four walls that made up the room she was in were grey, and the room itself was a bit dark, barely letting in any light. The only way light that entered the room was through a small window that was attached at the top of the room.

After that came the sudden realisation that she was hungry…scratch that, starving. Her body felt weak, weaker than it usually did and her stomach growled, almost pleadingly, for food. As much as she wished she could help her stomach satiate itself, she couldn't. She was tied up and she was weaker than she had ever been before. Even while living with her horrible aunt, Roji, she had never felt as weak as she did now.

On top of all of that she realised something else, something she had done in an effort of self preservation. She had abandoned Naruto. She had met a really sweet boy that seemed to have a bit of a crush on her, and she let him down. He had pretty much sacrificed himself so that she could go and get some help, but she decided against it. All of those years she had spent running from people, being betrayed by people, learning not to trust people, had finally taken their toll on her. She had finally found people that were willing to fight for her, care for her, and protect her should the need arise, but she just went and spat it all in their faces.

She was trash. She was the epitome of what human cruelty could create when festered in one vessel. She was someone that did not deserve love, she did not deserve to be cherished, she did not even deserve to be crushed on by a boy, especially one as kind-hearted as Naruto. She deserve nothing but death.

She deserved to die.

"I hear you can read ponyglyphs." a cold, menacing voice said behind her. Turning around quickly, Robin was greeted by the barely lit face of the bandaged man that had separated her from Naruto, Zabuza.

"I don't know what you're talking about." Robin said to the man holding her captive.

"You know, a lot of people take me for a dunce and a savage seeing as how I seemingly portray the image of killer, but I can tell you this right now...I am far from it." Zabuza said, while walking towards Robin very slowly.

Robin looked at the man walking towards her with cold eyes, eyes gained through years of hurt and misfortune. She could tell that he was trying to scare her, to make her think that she depended on him in order to live, but she didn't. And she would show him.

Chains rattled as Robin stood up and crossed her arms in front of her chest, looking to activate her devil fruit powers in the hopes of snapping Zabuza's neck.

… Nothing happened.

"What?!" Robin said as she fell down to the ground in fatigue. She couldn't understand what was going on.

"Sea Prism Stone cuffs." Zabuza said as he finally reached the girl. He cupped her face and brought it close to his as he leaned down to stare at her eyes with a gaze that looked like it could penetrate her soul. In all honesty, it frightened the heck out of Robin, and Zabuza probably knew it.

"You're a smart girl, Nico Robin. Avoiding the marines for as long as you did is quite admirable. Especially when your age is taken into consideration." the bandaged face man began, "However, it seems like you've never come into contact with Sea Prism Stone. I'm glad I had the honour of introducing it to you."

Robin wanted to puke at that exact moment. Fear had gripped her mind. Weakness caused by Sea Prism cuffs gripped her body. And Zabuza's rotten-fish stinking breath had gripped her nostrils, which lead to a weakened stomach.

"What do you want from me?" Robin finally asked, while fighting down the urge to puke, not because she didn't want to, but because she was afraid of doing it to Zabuza's face.

"Glad you asked, girl." Zabuza said as he finally let go of Robin, allowing her weak body to crumple to the floor, "You see, I know all about you. The young prodigious daughter of Nico Olvia, who could read ponyglyphs. I came across this titbit thanks to the fact that while I was still serving in the Marines, I was able to overhear this being discussed in a private meeting. I was just an Ensign then, watching over the meeting from outside, making sure no one entered. There were two of us. I just so happened to have been a skilled hunter, and as such, sound doesn't escape me easily."

'I don't care how you came across this information.' that's what Robin wanted to say, but she couldn't, due to the fear that she held for the man.

"Anyway, I was able to piece together why the World Government wanted you dead. I, on the other hand, did not. I needed you, Nico Robin, I still do. I need your incredible insight on Ponyglyhs in order to find the most unattainable treasure the world over."

Robin knew the next words the man was going to spit out before he even spit them.

"I need you to help me find One Piece."

Robin was on the money. Like so many before him, once they learned the truth that she could read ponyglyphs, they wanted to use her special skill set to try and find the Pirate King's treasure. A huge part of her wanted to say no almost instantly. She disliked the guy, and she'd be damned if he tried to use her to get ahead in life. She did say that she deserved to die, and this would have been the perfect opportunity to do so. Okay, not really perfect, but it was better than serving the tenryūbito.

"Where's Naruto?" that's what made her hesitate to say no to him. She needed to know if the boy that had saved her before was alive, and if so, try and save him as well.

"What's that now?" Zabuza said.

"Naruto. The boy I was with, where is he?"

"He's locked up in another room. You were separated from everyone else we captured on that island."

"Why?"

"This entire room is made from Sea Prism Stone. In case the cuffs weren't enough to sedate you."

"... I see. Let him go."

"What?"

"I said let him go!"

"And why the heck would I do that?"

This was a bit of a tough one for Robin, she had been so used to being rescued, taken in and cared for, only to be betrayed later on, that it was kind of hard for her to say her next words, "If you let him go, then I promise to help you in your endeavour to find the One Piece."

"Hahahaha… what makes you think I would do something like that? In case you haven't noticed sweet-cheeks, you're not in a position to make demands. I mean I could-"

"-kill me? As if. You lost the ability to scare me with death the second you told me that you needed me. So as far as I can see it, you have no choice but to make it happen."

"Grrrrr...what makes you think I could, even if I wanted to? I don't run this human trafficking operation, someone else does!"

"I don't care if Gold Roger himself ran this. Let Naruto go, and I swear I'll help you."

There was a tense silence between the two, with Zabuza contemplating what to do next, while Robin, with fire she didn't know she had deep inside of her, stared at her captive. Was this the power that one derived from fighting for something?

"Fine." Zabuza acquiesced, "I'll find a way to let your boyfriend go."

Robin looked at the man with a prideful smirk on her face, realising that she had won, despite her sorry state, "He's not my boyfriend."

"I don't care." Zabuza replied as he turned around and slowly walked away from the girl, already thinking about what he had to do. There was no way in hell that Gatō would allow the blonde kid to leave, even if he threatened to end the fat bastard. It would spell doom for him. So he had to devise another solution.

Gatō usually sold his slaves to the tenryūbito, but if persuaded enough, maybe he could sell the kid to someone else. But who would have enough money to buy the kid. He's a trained fighter, and Gatō already knew of this fact, which is why the kid was their most expensive catch. Nico Robin was someone he had to hide from the greedy bastard. He probably would have used her as a ticket to operate in broad daylight, seeing as the World Government would give an arm and a leg to anyone that would hand over Robin.

He did not have a lot of options when it came down to it. Only a tenryūbito, or someone as loaded as one, could afford the kid. But who?

"What if...?" Zabuza had stopped just after he had left the room Robin was in. He had paused mid-step when an idea hit him, "Of course."

There were five men that were known for only buying fighters, because they used them to compete against each other in a silly dick measuring contest. And the one that was closest to him lived in…

"Ah, the Fire Temple."

Now – Fire Temple

Everyone watched the two boys that stood in the middle of the five story high dojo affectionately referred to as a temple slowly circling each other. The boys, Naruto and Sora, looked at each other with contempt and hatred respectively. Naruto could see the hatred in Sora's eyes and wondered why the boy hated him when they had just met.

"You know…" Naruto began, "I don't wanna fight you."

Naruto's honest feelings towards this farce of a spectacle garnered him an even greater look of animosity from the blue haired boy that currently faced him.

"An elephant doesn't consider the qualms of an ant worthy of its attention." Sora responded. The way that they blue haired boy spoke reminded Naruto of some of the stuck up bastards in Konoha. They never talked like normal people, looking to use proper etiquette instead of the normal way of speaking.

"Okay dude, I'm going to pretend I understood what you meant with that remark." Naruto said as he looked at the boy without so much as a care in the world.

"Oh, that's easy to decipher...you're not worthy of being in this ring with me."

"CAN THIS FIGHT GET STARTED ALREADY! I'M NOT GETTING ANY YOUNGER OVER HERE!" screamed a random fan.

Just as Naruto was about to retort, he saw Sora making a mad dash at him while shouting, "Stop wasting my time!"

Without batting an eyelash, Naruto was able to block the first right cross that the boy had sent to him with relative ease. Two more punches followed the first, each one easily blocked just like the first one. Deciding to switch things up a little, the boy introduced kicks into the equation, trying twice to sweep his blonde opponent off his feet with quick sweeps that Naruto was able to simply back away from with relative ease by lifting the leg that was being attacked at the last second. Once the two quick sweep attempts had been thwarted, he quickly opened some distance between him and his opponent by jumping back.

"Dude, what the fuck?!" Naruto said in anger, "I wasn't ready yet!"

Sora got into his battle stance, which involved him twisting his body sideways and placing his right foot in front of his left foot and performing a horse stance. His arms were at chest level, and made to look like claws.

"Battle does not wait for you to be ready. It expects you to forever be on your toes!" as soon as the word toes had left Sora's mouth, he launched himself at Naruto at speeds that seemed impossible for someone his age. The crowd could be heard murmuring in awe by both boys.

Sora jumped into the air, hoping to use gravity as means of increasing the impact of his downward punch. Unfortunately for him, to someone like Naruto, who had fought with a woman as deranged as his mother could be whenever they trained, the punch might as well have been telegraphed.

Naruto got out of the way of the strike by sidestepping it, and was thankful that he did a split second later, because the floorboard that the punch made contact with instantly turned into splinters. Naruto used this brief moment to try and open up some distance between him and his opponent. Too bad the other teen was not willing to comply with what Naruto thought was a good move, because he was immediately onto Naruto like a rash.

The crowd's murmuring, at this point, was now full blow excitement.

Naruto was forced into ducking and weaving between blows all the while thinking about his current situation. He now had some clarity on what was going on. These guys must be human traffickers that bought kids and made them fight against each other all so they could make a quick buck. Or Thirty million. He was not really sure.

Taking a quickly glance to the sides while bobbing and weaving in between Sora's strikes allowed him to look at Shibuki and the two dudes protecting him. He guessed that they must have been really strong.

Sora jumped up and performed a spinning kick, which like the gravity punch, was pretty much telegraphed to Naruto. He grabbed the offending leg in mid-air and decided to try and see just how strong these guys were. He could already tell that Sora was not going to be an issue, but if he wanted to escape, then he would have to find a way past the two men standing at Shibuki's sides.

Naruto spun on his heel while holding Sora's leg, before he let go as soon as he was in line with Shibuki. Naruto watched Sora fly towards Shibuki, fast.

"Nice." Naruto said, not being able to help the excitement that came with that throw. It honestly felt really good to vent out a little bit, especially after the crap he has been through recently.

THUD!

If Naruto's eyes could jump out of their sockets, then they would have at that moment.

He had just borne witness to Sora being stopped in mid-air by a fist, one which struck so fast that Naruto was pretty sure that even he would not have been able to dodge it. Naruto watched as the young man he was fighting fly for two seconds, before his face and the floorboard became acquainted. Hard.

Sora being punched really fast wasn't what shocked Naruto. No, it was the fact that the fist that delivered the punch was not attached to any arm in particular, choosing to float in the air, and it was the size of a human torso. Naruto was sure that if a fist that size was made to punch with all of its might, then he would find himself back on Konoha Island.

Sora was lucky that he was given a love tap.

Sora lied still for a few seconds, before he slowly rose to his feet. He shook his head off whatever cobwebs that were starting to cloud his vision.

"You know..." Naruto said, drawing the boy's attention to him, "...there's no way you can beat me, so let's end it right now?"

"Really? You're stronger than I am? Well lets see if you'll be saying that after this…" Sora replied, before he added, "Weapons!"

Naruto watched on in curiosity and mild trepidation as four katana, two broadswords, a ninjatō, a trench knife, a chain, three shields and a spear all rained down onto the battlefield, courtesy of the audience in attendance.

He bobbed and weaved in between the weapons as they rained down on him and Sora. Sora was already on him like a rash as he plucked a broadsword out of the air and slashed down at Naruto in one fluid motion.

Unfortunately for Sora, he only met thin air, as Naruto ducked to the side. He picked up the ninjatō that had been thrown and quickly slashed upwards with it, catching Sora's right triceps. Naruto quickly jumped back, looking to given himself some breathing room to think of an escape plan.

He saw, in that instant when he tossed Sora at Shibuki, one of his guards intervened without throwing a single punch, at least not physically.

'There's no way in hell I'm going to be able to beat that guy in a fight.' Naruto thought to himself, as he watched Sora rip his white garments around his right arm and try to tie them around his injured triceps to stop the flow of the blood, 'I'm pretty sure the blue-haired one has similar strength. If I want to escape, then fighting them isn't an option.'

"You.…you injured me." Sora said calmly. Naruto just tilted his head slightly as he watched the boy finish his ministrations on his right arm.

"I…" the boy began, before a gleeful, almost crazed smile, came onto his face, "I'm really happy, because now I don't have to hold back!"

Naruto was glad he was quick on his feet, for if he wasn't then he wouldn't have been able to dodge Sora as he closed the distance between them both without breaking much sweat, before he swung his broadsword down really fast, smashing the floorboard and sending wood splinters into the air.

The splinters acted as a camouflage for Naruto as he quickly got within striking range of Sora, but just as he was about to slash at the teenager he saw a glint in Sora's eyes, and his sixth sense went into overdrive, causing him to quickly twirl his ninjatō downwards, making it so he was able to block the broadsword that was reverse slashed at him really quickly.

That proved to be his undoing as the strength behind Sora's attack had somehow sky-rocketed, which meant that Naruto was sent flying into one of the support beam, which he met with his back in a loud thud. He bounced off it slightly, before coming to a stop on his knees.

"Okay… ow!" Naruto said as he looked up. Quickly ducking to the side he was able to avoid a downward slash that would have torn him in two, before he had to duck a vertical one that followed right after. Sora's speed and strength had shot up for some reason, and Naruto wanted to know why.

Quickly jumping into the air and performing a back flip, Naruto used his sword, while he was upside down, to push Sora's horizontally slashing sword down onto the ground. As soon as the broadsword touched the ground, Naruto quickly landed on the ground, before he jumped onto the flat side of the broadsword, stopping Sora from picking it up and hopefully use it against him. Or at least, that's what Naruto thought.

As soon as Naruto stepped onto the sword with both feet, Sora growled like a vicious animal and flung Naruto across the room, towards Shibuki.

'Shit fucks! Oh, hell no. I don't wanna get that massive punch that Sora received earlier.' Naruto thought as he was flying towards Shibuki. Thinking quickly, he stuck his sword into the floorboard, creating a deep line as he went back a few more feet, before he came to a complete stop and he quickly stood on top of his sword's hilt.

"He's very agile and can come up with plans on the fly." Naruto heard the bearded man say behind him, but he didn't really have any time to think about it as Sora came in fast and slashed at Naruto quickly. The blonde haired boy flipped over his blue-haired counterpart, making the other boy miss completely. This action unfortunately separated Naruto from his one saving grace during the fight, the ninjatō.

Naruto chose the moment he landed as the moment to back pedal and try to think of a way to end things. He could feel himself tire out, while Sora stayed the same, in fact he seemed to get more energetic as time went by. And feral if the crazed look he was shooting Naruto was anything to go by.

'Okay. I only have one chance to make this work. If I fail, it's over for me.' Naruto said as he stopped back pedaling when he was next to the Katana that had been thrown into the arena.

Picking up the sword, Naruto held it with one hand, and beckoned Sora with the other. Sora, being the unhinged animal that he was right now, obliged. He made a mad dash straight at Naruto, with his broadsword drawn back, looking to cleave the blonde in half. He smirked when he saw the blonde within arms reach, not moving an inch as he brought his sword forward. There was a swoosh of sword cutting through air, followed by a squelch of sword meeting flesh, and then…

… Sora stood still for a few seconds, looking at nothing in particular. "Huh…well that was easy." and then he fell onto the floorboards, face first. The boy known as Sora died not long after that, lying in a pool of his own blood. Blood that originated from a slash across the boy's torso.

Naruto stood with his back to the now dead boy. The now former champion of the Fire Temple. The katana that Naruto was wielding was now stained with blood. Blood that was not his.

The crowd was silent as they let the events of what just happened wash over them. The blonde boy that had challenged their champion had been one moment away from being bisected by the broadsword of their beloved champion, only for him to suddenly disappear from their very eyes and appear behind the champ. The champion died not long after, and the blonde boy did not have a single scratch on him.

Their silence was broken by Shibuki's voice as he proclaimed, "Ladies and gentlemen, the winner, and new champion of the Fire Temple, Naruto!"

That seemed to do the trick as they all burst into a raucous cheer. Naruto looked up and saw people celebrating his victory, some were even crying. Others were livid (they had probably placed bets on him).

"Soru?" Asuma turned his head after he heard from the person that stood with him in protecting Shibuki, "From someone so young?"

"Our supplier did say he was a gifted fighter, Chiriku." Asuma replied while he studied the boy before him. The boy just stood still, simply looking at all of the people around him as they cheered him on. It spoke to the bloodthirsty nature of this world, for there to be people that actively cheered one boy killing another. It seemed like the boy had similar thoughts on his mind, judging by how his face contorted slightly in disgust.

"Gifted or not, it's still impressive that he would have learned such an advanced skill at such a young age." Chiriku felt that it was indeed impressive that the boy could learn such a skill. He wondered who could have been the one to train him.

"Not to mention that he was able to cut a Haki user when he wasn't using any at all." Asuma added.

"Indeed." Chiriku had seen Sora use Haki a few times subconsciously whenever he faced someone that was his superior in combat. Sora seemed to tap into it through rage. Perhaps the boy thought that it was just a rage-fuelled power boost of some kind, not understanding exactly what he was doing. Either way, Sora was a very talented young fighter who, if he had lived long enough, would have been one of the best fighters in the world. Too bad that would not happen.

He did not think that the boy that Sora fought was anything impressive. Until he cut up Sora. Now, colour Chiriku impressed.

"Alright, we've let the kid shower in praise long enough now," Asuma said while moving to the centre of the arena, "time to put the animal back in its cage."

Somewhere in the North Blue – Marine Ship

Jiraiya the gallant was a great many things. A great man with an equally great heart, a great pervert with no equal as far as he was concerned, and a great marine who was an even greater fighter. One thing that Jiraiya was not great at however was being patient. Sure he had some patience, with it coming from age and experience, but when compared to his fellow contemporaries within the marine corps, he was clearly lacking in that department. Unfortunately for him, the assignment that he was on required patience more than anything else.

Hunting down a group of missing people, at the behest of his former mentor Sarutobi Hiruzen, Jiraiya was going against the clock. He wanted to find these people, especially the little blonde boy that had been highlighted by the Mayor of Konoha Island, before they found themselves being sold into slavery.

Jiraiya hated the system that he worked under. When he was young he had vowed to rise to the top of the marine ranks and change the organisation from the inside out, especially the whole slave trade-thing that they tended to turn a blind eye on because the tenryūbito partook in it. It made his blood boil every time he thought about the fact that someone was going to be sold into slavery, and there was nothing that he could do, especially with tenryūbito around. He did his fare share of slave-freeing in secret, but it would never be enough. He needed the full support of the marines in order to end this hellish system.

"Vice-Admiral Jiraiya, sir!" a young ensign said behind the legendary Marine, causing said marine to turn around.

"Yes?" Jiraiya enquired with a raised eyebrow.

"Sir, we're an hour away from Wave Island, sir!"

"Alright. Notify me when we're about to dock."

"Sir, yes, sir!"

"Okay. Dismissed."

The young ensign saluted, turned on his heels and marched out of the room, leaving Jiraiya alone once more in his quarters.

Wave Island was an island that was not too far from Konoha Island. The island had been famous for its heavy amounts of piracy before it was taken over by the Gatō Corporation. The corporation was a famed shipping company that operated in upper North Blue. Gatō, the own of the corporation, somehow drove all of the pirates off the island, reducing piracy around these waters to only an occasional occurrence.

Jiraiya was a smart man. His experience with piracy told him all he needed to know about how a single organisation could not fight off piracy, no matter how localised they were. Just look at how the Marines were failing spectacularly at their job all over the world. Jiraiya refused to believe that what the Gatō Corporation did in these waters to drive away pirates was legal. The most prevailing theory that he had was that Gatō used pirates as a means of shipping his products around. Specifically human products.

This was why he was paying the man a stop first. While it had never been confirmed by any of their investigations into the matter that Gatō was involved in the slave trade, the fact that there was now an uptake in people going missing around these parts, and with Gatō Corporation being the only shipping company around…well, one plus one equals suspicious business rat.

… And Jiraiya had the perfect rat trap.

Fire Temple – Holding Cell

Naruto was not sent back to the room he had first found himself in when he regained consciousness earlier on. Now he was in a holding cell, with hand and neck cuffs attached to him. The holding cell had several people there, all different ages. He had quickly picked on a few other kids around his age, but the majority of people were much older than him. The fact that he had beaten Sora had already reached the people in the holding cells, as most of them were giving him looks that ranged from curious to furious.

He guessed that one or two of these people wanted a shot at Sora. The guy seemed like the type to rile up people the wrong way. Naruto did not care about this though.

He had a blank look on his face as he thought about the events that he had partook in earlier, and the words Asuma said to him after. Today was just a start. Apparently he would have to do this every day until he either won ten straight fights, or he succumbed to death. Sora had been on a six match winning streak. No wonder the guy was in such a rush to make it seven. He just wanted to get out of here.

He kept thinking about how he needed ten victories, and he would be free. If these were simple matches that only required that he knock someone out, he would have absolutely no problem going the full gamut if every opponent that he faced was around Sora's level. Unfortunately for him though, this was a fight to the death. Murdering ten people who did not deserve it simply because someone said that he has to do so was not his thing. Sora died because he had attacked first. It was all self-defence. This was a concept that his mother had drilled hard into him.

That thought invariably lead to him thinking about his mother, and how distraught she probably was back on Konoha Island. A part of him felt really bad for being too weak against the combined might of Zabuza and his goons. Naruto genuinely believed that there was no opponent he could not overcome, given enough time. He could think on his feet, which was a concept that was also drilled into him by his mother.

A sigh escaped Naruto's lips as he wondered what his mother was up to right now.

"You know…" a young voice suddenly said from somewhere within the shadows of the holding cell, "Stress will probably kill you quicker than anyone in this place."

Naruto tried to peer through the darkness to see who it was that spoke to him. When he could not see the person that spoke to him, he simply said, "Oh, and how would you know? You a doctor or something?"

There was a small laugh that escaped from the cell, before a voice added, "Yes. Yes I am."

"You sound kinda young to be a doctor." Naruto proclaimed.

"That I am as well." the person that said this slowly walked into the minimal light that permeated around the holding cell. He wore a simple short sleeved beige shirt, with dirty blue shorts that spotted prints all over the pants and black dress shoes that seemed to clash with the outfit that the boy was wearing. He had the same chains tied to him that Naruto also had.

"Who are you?" Naruto's raised eyebrow was a clear indicator of his curiosity.

The boy seemed to smirk a little as he said, "The name's Law. Trafalgar Law."

To be continued

Haki?! This early into the story? Well, I certainly had no plans for it. But the more I wrote, the more it made sense.