Hey all! Sorry for the wait, this chapter was a bit tricky to write...honestly, I didn't know the best place to put a break in between...
Also I'm on vacation soooooo yeah lol Hotel wifi for the win!
So behold! The SUPER MEGA WANO CHAPTER
In its 10k world glory!
That double my usual lmao.
Room of Authority
"This is absurd! Twenty percent of all the money in the world has fallen in the hands of the Revolutionary Army," One of the Five Elders growled as he read the report as to what had happened on the Gran Tesoro. They had allowed Gild Tesoro to act independently of the World Government as his own sovereign nation at sea, yet the man went on to acquire an insane amount of wealth that could rival even their own.
They had allowed a single man to control so much of the money in the world in hopes that he would be a great ally. And to that point he was a great source of slaves for them, bankrupting several notable pirates and criminals who found themselves trapped on his ship.
Yet they failed to account for what would happen if he ended up losing.
And that was exactly what had come to pass. Uzumaki Naruto along with Portgas D. Ace somehow ended up on that oversized boat and took down the owner, laying claim to it and everyone on board. From what their spies told them, they liberated everyone on board and forgave the debts of anyone who was stuck with nothing to their name.
They then redistribute the wealth among those slaves and let them go!
Worst off, several had decided to join the Revolutionary Army which also gained some of the treasure for themselves. They knew that the Casino King had acquired quite a few rare treasures over the years, many of which could prove to be dangerous in the wrong hands. Like the hands of the Golden Devil…
"We can't just let him continue like this, we need to take immediate action or risk sullying the image of this council," The taller mustached man said knowing that the more they allowed Naruto to run rampant across the world, the more the authority of the World Government would be questioned by those who lived under them. The more infamous the blond became, the more people would be encouraged to revolt and join his cause.
He was someone potentially just as dangerous to them as his leader himself.
"Are you suggesting that we send the Admirals after him?" the one with a cane asked figuring that it would be the best solution to the issue at hand.
"Sending all three Admirals after one person would look disastrous, however," The elder holding a sword said. "Regardless if they are a revolutionary, Uzumaki Naruto is still but one man. An attack on that scale would also cause others to doubt the strength of the Marines, especially if one is killed during the conflict," He explained, feeling that a move on such a scale would require an extreme amount of planning to avoid having it leaked to the public.
An enemy that would take all three Admirals would cause a major panic, especially if they failed to defeat him. Should they take that step and fail, it would take them years to fully recover from that step back.
"How about we send Hawkeye?" One suggested to the rest.
It was a rather powerful suggestion. Hawkeye was one of the few people who likely rivaled the Yonko, having clashed with Red-Haired Shanks several times in the past. The strongest and most skilled swordmaster in the world who wielded the black blade Yoru. If he won, then it was merely a Shichibukai beating a criminal, if he lost and died then it was one liability out of the way.
"I agree," The long-haired one followed by the rest of the Fiver Elders.
"Then it is decided, we'll have Dracule Mihawk hunt down Uzumaki Naruto!"
Naruto smiled as he saw an island in the distance, the very same one that his Log Pose was pointing at so intensely. That was how he knew that he had found the very place Ace had headed off to. He had been a bit delayed due to some storms making it irritating to fly along with stops to eat and sleep.
As he floated in the air, he winced at the sheer amount of misery coming from the island nation. It was as if the entire place was one huge bundle of darkness. Even the natural energy on the island was relatively weaker compared to any other place he had gone to in this world. The walls around the area would have made getting in by ship extremely difficult, luckily his Six Paths Sage Mode made that obstacle a piece of cake.
…bleh…cake…
He didn't know if he'd ever be able to look at cake the same way after his extended stay at Totto Land. Three weeks…three whole weeks of nothing but cakes, cookies, and an endless assortment of other pastries. At least Smoothie was able to make juice, assuming she wasn't juicing SOMEONE. The thought still didn't sit well.
Looking around, he noticed the wreck of the Piece of Spadille on a nearby beach. As he landed, he noticed several faded prints in the sand. People had been here recently, and from the looks of it had completely scavenged whatever supplies were left on the ship when they strayed onto the sand.
"Those idiots are lucky I bought extra food," Naruto grumbled as he reached out with a chakra arm and pulled the ship out from the sand, standing it back up. "Hm…" he humbled as he looked at the footprints that led up into what looked like a bamboo forest. Following the trail, he decided to power down back into his base form to conserve power, it wasn't like he couldn't reenter it in moments should he really need it.
Not that he's really needed that power so far…
Every time he used his strongest form, it was more for convenience than anything else. Even against Gild Tesoro, he could have won without resorting to it's power, but the ability to simply control the gold through his chakra was too easy of a solution to pass up. It was part of the reason that he really wanted to fight a Yonko. He wanted to see if there was anyone in this world that could give him a real challenge.
The sounds of activity reached his ears as he entered what appeared to be a small village. Despite how depressing the entire island felt, this one at least felt a bit more joyful. Glancing around he saw the empty containers that had at one point been on the Piece of Spadille. Meaning that these were the people who found the wreck…
At the very moment that he was noticed, the entire village seemed to go into alert. It was almost like he had activated some sort of life or death response in them. In their panic one of the girls tripped and fell on a rock, cutting her knee open. The purple haired girl started to cry as she held her bleeding leg.
"O-Tama!" One of the men yelled out as they saw Naruto approaching the girl only to kneel down and hold his hand towards the wound. A warm orange glow coated his hand as he used his chakra to heal the scrape before it could potentially lead to a scar.
His eyes flickered up just as a fireball shot at him, grabbing the girl he leaped out of the way. The ball of flames curved up as it missed and dissipated in the air before it could hit one of the bamboo trees. Glaring at the source, his face soften as he saw that it had been Ace. "Maybe look before you throw a fireball hothead!" Naruto scolded at the sudden attack from his friend.
"Oh shit Naruto!" Ace said, his face brightening as he saw that his traveling companion had finally arrived at their promised meeting point. "Sorry about that, I heard the commotion and assumed that maybe Kaido's men were attacking," He mentioned, walking up to Naruto and giving him a pat on the back.
"Is he your friend?" the girl asked as Naruto put her down and flicked Ace in the nose with a slight amount of Senjutsu causing the man to feel it despite his Logia Devil Fruit.
"Ow!" Ace cried out holding his nose.
Moving his gaze down to the girl, his face brightened, "I guess you can say we're friends, saved his ass a few times," he told her smugly.
"It was only once!" Ace retorted angrily but was interrupted when the rest of the Spade Pirates came out to join them.
"About time to made it here Naruto," Masked Duece said with a smirk spreading across his lips. He had been a bit anxious about facing Kaido, but with Naruto around, he was certain that they would be able to bring the Yonko down.
"Sorry, there were a lot of slaves on the Gran Tesoro and even more money to go over and give out," The blond mentioned shivering a bit at the memory of all logistics they had to do over the sheer amount of wealth stored on the ship and the people who had been held captive. There was also the matter of the records kept on board.
Human trafficking records, drug and alcohol shipments, and information of several pirate crews affiliated with Gild Tesoro. The one that stood out the most among the affiliated pirates was one of the Shichibukai- Donquixote Doflamingo, a former World Noble. Dragon had been particularly interested in any records surrounding that man.
The crew looked a bit unsettled at the mention of slaves, having almost become slaves themselves had Naruto not beaten Tesoro in battle. They had been caught in the gilded trap so easily, spending millions of beri that they didn't have on food, gambling, and other luxuries.
"You know…we never celebrated your victory!" Ace said nudging the blond's side.
"Don't we have a Yonko to beat?" Naruto asked figuring that now that they were all here they could just go and face the Beast Pirates.
"Oh come on! You just spent the last few days traveling here, besides…the people of this village could really use some cheering up, the rulers of this place have turned it into a shitshow," Ace mentioned, his face becoming more serious towards the end.
Looking around the village, he could see that people were rather underweight. It was a stark difference from the splendor of the Gran Tesoro.
"When did you become so serious brat?" Kurama asked wondering if maybe the pressures of war and this new world were making his host a more serious person. Frankly…he didn't know how to feel about that…
Naruto paused for a moment at his partner's words.
"Right," he sighed palming his head before giving Ace a smirk, "Bet I'll drink you under the table again?"
"You're on!"
A few days later
"Wow!" Tama explained as she saw Naruto throw several kunai, piercing into several targets painted on the bamboo trees with perfect accuracy. "How did you do that?" she asked in awe at the skills that the blond had with kunai.
"Practise," Naruto said smugly, enjoying the feeling of someone being in awe of his shinobi skills. In reality, it wasn't a lie, Sasuke had always been better at shurikenjutsu than him. It wasn't until he started putting more practice into it that he was able to constantly hit his targets.
"Can you show me how? I wanna become kunoichi one day!" she told him excitedly.
"Oh is that so?" Naruto said pulling out another kunai and handing it to her. Tama looked at the blade in her hand with starry eyes. She could feel the weight of the weapon, it wasn't overly heavy but not light to a child like her. "Here copy me," Naruto said, drawing a second kunai and looking at one of the bamboo shoots without a blade already in it.
Slowing down his motion for the girl to follow, he threw the kunai into the sturdy plant, its blade digging in deeply. Tama gripped the kunai and threw it, doing the best she could to mimic Naruto. Instead of flying true to its target, her's dropped down and hit the ground a few feet in front of the shoot. "Awww…" the purple haired girl said, disappointed by her throw.
Tama felt a hand land on her head, jolting her from her short stupor. "Don't be so glum, when I first started I couldn't hit anything for the life of me, if you keep trying I'm sure you'll make a fine kunoichi!" He said trying to give her a pep talk to raise her spirits. Tama smiled brightly at the blond before running to retrieve the kunai he'd given her.
"Yeah!" she declared before returning back to him and looking at the bamboo. Trying again, she put too much force into it and it strayed way to the left. Tama stomped her foot and puffed her cheeks out before running after the kunai to try again.
Naruto sat down as he watched Tama try again and again to hit her mark with the kunai until she finally managed to hit the target. It wasn't dead center but it was close enough to count. "You did it!" Naruto exclaimed as Tama jumped up in joy, ecstatic that she managed to finally hit the target.
"I did it!"
"Good job," Ace said walking up to them with three sticks of dango, one for each of them.
"Ace!" Tama yelled running up to the fire user. "I promise, I'll become a great kunoichi and join your crew," she told him, reaffirming her dedication to getting off the island and traveling with the man who saved her village.
"You have a lot of work to do then Tama," Naruto said leaning back against the bamboo stem. "Throwing a kunai is only one step in a long journey," he told her.
"Will you teach me more Naruto-sensei?" she asked, wanting to learn as much as she could from the man before he left.
"You got it!" He replied brightly.
A week had passed since he started training Tama in the shinobi arts and she was taking to them rather quickly. But something had happened recently that Ace had to pull him from Tama's training to talk. "Apparently Kaido's men kidnapped a few children recently, must have been while we were out by the boat getting it ready," the Spade Pirates' captain told his crew and the blond revolutionary.
Naruto frowned as he didn't like the idea that pirates had kidnapped three civilians. He couldn't see a real reason for that besides using them as slaves or worse. The man who went by Tenguyama Hitetsu had told him that the Beast Pirates sometimes experimented on their prisoners which didn't sit well at all. It reminded him of Orochimaru and all the lives he ruined across his world with his experiments.
"I'm going," Naruto said firmly, his eyes changing colors from blue to gold-orange as he drew in a massive amount of natural energy from the surrounding area.
"Oi! Kaido's mine remember! Beating doesn't help my goal if you're the one who kicks his ass!" Ace yelled out at the blond. What did it matter if he was going around beating the Yonkos if he wasn't the one even doing the beating? Part of him knew that it was partly why he had asked Naruto to join him on this crazy quest he had made for himself. An assurance that they'd be able to win, but then did he really beat a Yonko?
"If you want to fight him then he's all yours as long as we free the kids," Naruto said his body starting to glow brightly illuminating the village. The surrounding people watched in awe as the blond's clothing changed to black and gold, his hair spiking up to resemble small horns.
"Wow, your yojutsu is amazing Naruto-sensei!" Tama exclaimed at the strange power her teacher was showing off.
Smirking, he turned towards Ace and the rest of the Spade Pirates. "I'll head there first and start taking out any guards I run into, Kaido is all yours," he called out before floating up into the air and flying to Onigashima.
Onigashima
"Gah!" two guards cried out as they were knocked out by the arrival of the glowing blond. They never had a chance as he came down on them like a meteor, slamming their faces into the stone floor. Looking up at the massive tori gate, he couldn't help but be a bit disgusted by how extravagant just the entrance to the island was. There were massive statues of foxes and ornate bridges and decorations.
Walking into the building, he quickly noticed just how deserted the place was. He was expecting an army of pirates to meet him in battle, but instead, there was just a few guards and nothing else so far. Compared to Big Mom's base, this reminded him much of his home world. He recalled Dragon mentioning that whenever he talked about his original reality, it reminded him of what he heard Wano was like.
"This place really is huge," He muttered, creating multiple clones in order to better search for the captives.
*jingle*
The light sound was the only alert he needed to know that he wasn't alone. He caught sight of a woman with red horns coming down onto him with a large kanabo. Pivoting he swung his fist and met the weapon in a heated clash.
Black lightning crackled violently from the point of impact. He could hear the grunts of effort coming from the woman as she tried to overpower him but he didn't budge regardless of how much force she put behind the attack. It was then that he got a better look at his assailant. It was what appeared to be a woman with white hair that shifted to blue further down its length with red horns poking out. She wore a white sleeve-less kimono top with black diamonds over each breast and blue swingles on the bottom. She wore red hakama pants and a large purple and white nio-dasuki around her waist and behind their back. Locking eyes with her, he noticed how orange they were.
"I guess there was someone here after all!" Naruto yelled putting more power into his punch and launching the horned woman back.
"There's an intruder!" he heard as several pirates came charging at him.
A wave of flames washed over them as Ace arrived at the scene, blasting away the Beast Pirates with one blow. "About time you showed up Ace," Naruto jabbed before leaning back to avoid another swing from the woman who had charged out of the hole in the wall. "Are you Kaido?!" Naruto asked as he spun around and lashed out with a kick toward her side.
The white haired warrior grunted, bringing her weapon up to block the kick. Once again sparks flew as they clashed. The area around them started to crack and shatter as their clashing might tore the area apart. "I am not Kaido!" she roared in fury, almost as if he had insulted them severely. "Who are you?!" the kanabo wielder demanded as an explosion emanate from their collision forcing her back once again.
Looking down at her weapon of choice, she grimaced as there was a dent in the metal despite her haki reinforcing it. Bringing his food down, he jabbed his thumb into his chest, "I am Uzumaki Naruto, if you're not Kaido then who are you?" he answered then asked in return.
"I am Yamato!," She answered back fiercely.
"Where is Kaido!" Ace demanded as one of Naruto's clone came back with three girls and the Spade Pirates, they must have joined his clones while he was exploring the area.
"Neither my father nor any of the officers are here," she replied, lowering her weapon. Ace's initial attack had ignited the area and the clashes with Naruto were shaking the entire base down to its foundation.
"That's Kaido's daughter?!" One of the Spade Pirates asked in shock.
"I am Yamato!" She repeated, hating simply referring to her as the daughter of her asshole of a father. "If my father is who you're after then take the captives and leave," Yamato told them, not wanting any more destruction of the interior of the island.
"Then we should go," Ace said feeling that there was no other point in sticking around the island if their target wasn't around. Destroying the base would accomplish nothing but enrage the Yonko when he returned. He was certain that wouldn't help anyone, if anything he might even take it out on the people of Wano. Glancing at the woman, he caught sight of the handcuffs around Yamato's wrists, "Naruto…" he said.
"I know," He replied as he looked at the Spade Pirates who started to lead the three back out, he himself powering down back to his base form.
Glancing back at Yamato, he narrowed his eyes slightly. Unlike the pirates before, she wasn't giving off any negative emotions which were directly directed at them. There was certainly something there, a deep source of negativity in her heart. Glancing at the cuffs around the woman's wrists, he figured that she were some sort of slave. But they were also Kaido's kid?
As they walked out and got the three girls aboard the Piece of Spadille, he glanced back to see Yamato waiting behind them with a serious look on her face. He wondered why she had come all the way here if the kids were free to go. "You guys go on ahead, I'll stay back for a bit," he told the Spade Pirates.
"I'll stay too, I kinda wanna see this," Ace said feeling that Yamato and Naruto would clash again.
Walking back to her, she narrowed her eyes at them. She knew next to nothing about them, but the way they carried themselves piqued her interest. Both were amazingly strong, she knew that to be true. One had demanded to fight her father, while the other effortlessly deflected whatever was thrown at them.
"Say do you want to come with us?" Naruto offered, surprising Yamato with the offer put before them.
"I can't leave," the young woman replied drawing her weapon. "But I want to finish what we started back then," Yamato told Naruto, wanting to test themselves against someone so powerful. Someone who had done something very few besides Kaido had been able to accomplish.
"I'm only interested in fighting Kaido, so she's all yours Naruto," Ace said leaping up onto a massive rock to watch the second round of the clash between Naruto and Yamato. Naruto nodded his head as he activated his Kurama cloak.
"You look different from before," Yamato mentioned, their grip tightening around the handle of the kanabo. No, there was something else to it, even looking into Naruto's eyes, Yamato could tell that something was different from their previous bout. "You feel different…"
It was a shock to Naruto that Yamato had been able to notice the difference in his chakra. "Yeah, figured that it would be fairer to use this form, to be honest with you, I only used my previous one to fly and in case Kaido attacked me," He told Kaido's heir only to see them become enraged.
"Don't look down on me!" Yamato yelled, rushing at Naruto. If he felt that she wasn't strong enough to face his strongest form, then she'd show him otherwise!
Naruto leaped back in the nick of time. The ground shattered from the force behind the attack, shaking the area with raw force alone. Yamato wasted no time in rushing back at Naruto, swinging at his head with a furious roar. The blond ducked under the swing, a plume of smoke bursting forth in from of the Kaido's daughter.
In a split second, Yamato felt a foot connect with their chin, sending them spinning through the air away from Naruto. Planting her feet into the ground, Yamato caught the brief flash of an orange glow to the right. Swinging Takeru at full power, she hit a copy of Naruto in the stomach, causing it to explode into smoke. "What the?!" she questioned before a fist made out of the same orange energy that coated Naruto came out of the ground and slammed into her stomach, sending them up into the air.
The sound of swirling wind caught her ears from above, looking up Yamato saw Naruto holding a massive orb of spiraling blue energy, thrusting it down towards them. "Rasengan!" The Naruto above her roared.
Reacting quickly, Yamato swung her weapon up at the massive Rasengan. Gritting her teeth, she tried to fight against the attack, using as much Haki as possible but gravity wasn't an ally in this situation was combined with Naruto's downward momentum, she found themselves being pushed back down toward the ground.
Yamato landed on her feet, teeth clenched as she fought to push Naruto away this time. Each time they collided, it always ended in Naruto's favor. She wouldn't allow it to happen again! "AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH" Yamato yelled, muscles crying in pain as haki coated them. Despite the herculean effort needed to keep up with the glowing blond, at the moment she felt a bit more liberated from the leach Kaido had put on them.
Naruto's eyes widened as Yamato began to push him back. Ace jumped out of the way as a bolt of black lightning struck where he had been sitting, obliterating the rock. "Oi! Watch it!" He complained, getting a side glare from Naruto before he abandoned the attack. The undoing of the Rasengan pushed him back and knocked Yamato off balance due to the sudden gale.
"What's weighing you down? I can feel it, something is chaining you down!" Naruto yelled much to Yamato's shock. Holding his hand out towards Kaido's heir, red and blue energy rapidly gathered into a dark purple orb the size of a cannonball that condensed down into a small orb. "Bijudama!" he called out, firing toward Yamato.
"You wouldn't understand!" She yelled out, swinging Takeru at the orb using both hands. The sheer weight of the energy pushed her back, her heels tearing through the stone below as they dug deeper in. "You don't understand what it's like not being free!" Yamato shouted, spark exploded around her before the Bijudama was knocked back towards Naruto who sidestepped it, letting it explode in the ocean behind him.
Yamato wasted no time, rushing at Naruto at full strength, ramming her kanabo into the shinobi's guard, sending him sliding back. However, she didn't stop, continuing to swing at him over and over again, only for Naruto to either block or evade her attacks. "You don't know what it's like to never be able to achieve your dreams!" she cried out only for Naruto to step inside her guard.
"I know exactly what it's like," he replied, his fist slamming into her stomach. Yamato spat out from the force of the impact that lifted her entire body off the ground before rocketing them through a boulder. "To feel helpless, to feel trapped. I know exactly what it feels like. To want something, to desire it with all your heart and know that you can not achieve it!" He yelled at her as she pulled herself out of the rocks.
"Yet you're free now!" Yamato roared at him, swinging her kanabo wildly at him. Only for Naruto to weave around her attacks with relative ease. Grabbing Yamato's weapon, he pulled her closer, knocking them off balance. Yamato's eyes widened when Naruto's foot dug into their gut.
"You know nothing!" Naruto yelled back at the white-haired woman as her body folded from the impact. Yamato's body skipped across the ground, launched from the kick. Holding her side, the kanabo user stood back up and glared at the Golden Devil of the Revolutionary Army.
"If you don't like the fate you got! Then change it!" He yelled forming a Rasengan in hand as he ran towards her. Yamato threw herself out of the way of Naruto's attack, watching it pulverize the rock behind them, grinding it away. "Follow your dreams!"
"It's not that easy!" she yelled back swinging at his head only for it to be blocked. "My father! It's all his fault!" Yamato yelled as she managed to hit Naruto cleanly in the chest for the first time, knocking him back.
Getting back up, Naruto wiped some dust off his shoulder.
"Brat you better not start acting like Madara…"Kurama told Naruto dully.
"So it's all your father's fault?" Ace asked, his fist clenching as the temperature around him started to heat up. Anyone could tell that Ace was getting angry from the flames coming off him alone. "Are you making excuses?" he growled, the flames growing ever stronger around him before they exploded in fury. "You can't choose your parents, Yamato!" the captain of the Spade Pirates yelled at the.
"Ace…" Naruto said softly.
"You can't choose your parents…" He repeated as his flames calmed down.
"Shut up! You don't have to tell me that," The horned woman replied, "As long as he's my father, I don't have freedom!" she claimed angrily. "I've been confined to this damn island, and put in handcuffs that'll explode if I step out…" She said, her hair shadowing her eyes. "I have no choice, but to stay here my entire life," Yamato told them, her fist shaking in rage, rattling the chains attached to her handcuffs. A constant reminder of her imprisonment. "All because I was born to that asshole named Kaido!"
"Even though those handcuffs were unavoidable, even if you hate your father…"Ace said walking up beside Naruto. "Why do you letting them chain you?!" he asked no, he demanded an answer.
"There are things we can not avoid in life," Naruto spoke up looking at his palm where the Yang Power seal once was before locking eyes with his opponent, orange meeting orange. He thought back at all the things he had placed on him since he was young that he couldn't control. Being a jinchuuriki, being hated by his village, being hunted by the Akatsuki, having to confront his darkness, fighting in a war, fighting against Madara then Kaguya… coming to this world. "But we forge our own destiny! So don't tell me you can't change who you are!"
"What do you really want to do?" Both asked simultaneously.
Her eyes widened as she stared at the two in front of her before turning toward the giant statue of her father in his dragon form. Gasping, she dropped her weapon and grabbed her head.
"Think about it, don't you know the answer…deep, deep inside your heart?!" Ace asked Yamato.
"Inside of my heart?" Yamato repeated, bringing her hand over her heart. "I…I…" she stuttered for a moment as she thought about her answer. Her face hardened, finally coming to an answer. Walking forward, she stepped towards Takeru and picked it back up.
The two watched as Yamato jumped up at the statue of Kaido over the gate and slammed down her kanabo onto its head. Naruto could tell that she was unleashing more power in that strike than she had in any strike against him. A smile spread over his lips at the sight of Yamato liberating herself from the shackles she let other place in her heart. Cracks started to spread over the stone dragon before in a flash of light it shattered from the impact. Massive pieces fell down to the ground with a large bang.
"All the stuff I've been telling myself," She said as tears started to swell in her eyes as for the first time she felt truly free, even if for a moment. "But I realize now, I wanna sail the sea and go on an adventure! I wanna live like Oden, and live free. To get off this crappy island," She said bowing her head, her tears dripping down to the ground. "I wanna live freely!"
"Then do it!" Naruto declared as he walked up to Yamato, his form changing into the one she first saw him in, nine black orbs circling behind him. Taking her hands, he brought them up, two orbs floating forward and looping around the cuffs much to Yamato's shock. When the revolutionary retracted the orbs, the chains fell to the ground while the handcuffs she'd worn since childhood was nowhere to be seen. "There, now you can live however you want, Yamato," he told the woman, giving her a wide grin. "You're free!"
She…couldn't believe it. Looking at her wrists, she saw that the cuffs were truly gone. Looking up at Naruto, her years couldn't stop coming down. All her life, she wanted to be free, and now these strangers had…given it to her. "I'm…free?" she asked looking to him for confirmation.
"As a bird," Naruto replied before finding his face buried in Yamato's chest, her arms wrapping around him, bringing him into a crushing hug but accepted the embrace and hugged her back.
"That's right!" Ace yelled, punching the head of Kaido's statue with a flaming fist to leave a large dent in it.
"Luffy, always went on about his dreams, he would declare 'I'm gonna be the King of the Pirates!'" Ace told them remembering his brother fondly before realizing what he'd told them. "Oh, I said it! Shit please don't laugh!" he begged to know that people tended to take someone wanting to become the Pirate King as a joke most of the time.
However, his two friends couldn't help but smile. Yamato was even in tears. She told them that according to Oden, Gol D. Roger had uttered the same words to Oden and Whitebeard before he set sail to wherever he was heading off to. "Those were the same words that the great man Oden followed said!" Yamato exclaimed to them.
"They sound like quite the individuals, I wouldn't mind meeting either one, one day," Naruto laughed at how ludicrous some of the details in the story were. He could imagine that Yamato would look up to Oden. He is certainly a character, to say the least. Someone so goofy yet driven.
"We could share a drink with him and Luffy," Ace suggested to Naruto.
"He died years ago," She told them, looking at the book in her hands as the memories of her father's crimes came back to her. "But…" she said looking a bit nervous, maybe I could drink with you two and Luffy one day?" Yamato asked them, looking absolutely adorable despite her stature.
"You idiot," Naruto said knocking Yamato lightly on the head before pulling her into a drunken hug, "You were already included," the blond told Yamato, warming her heart ever so slightly. "You're our friend now, which means you can drink with us whenever we're together!"
"Thanks…I want to set off to the sea, and live free like Oden did before he died. And have adventures with the two of you and Luffy to one day!" Yamato told them. Thanks to Naruto, her dream was no longer impossible. Without the cuffs, nothing was keeping them on this island any longer.
"I'm sure you will be like him," Ace said tossing his bottle back.
"No, I will become him!" Yamato exclaimed proudly but found her cheek being pinched by an admittedly drunk Naruto. Kurama had decided to let his jinchuuriki fend for himself, and he was very much so…a lightweight. "Hey! What's that for!?" she asked.
"What was the point of being free if you become someone you're not!" Naruto questioned, not really understanding wanting to become someone else. Saying that she wanted to become someone else, even if it was someone they admired…it reminded him too much of Kabuto and his obsession with Orochimaru, going to the point of absorbing part of the sannin and risking being overtaken by his body. "You're Yamato, not Kozuki Oden. If you stopped being Yamato, then that's the same thing as dying. Do you think Oden would want someone to die to become him? It's one thing to follow in someone's footsteps, but trying to completely become someone else…that's not life! That's not being free! You're just shackling yourself to someone else's identity!" Naruto rambled on, his face flushed from the sake he'd been drinking.
Yamato paused as she realized what her new friend was telling her. Was what he was telling her true? What would Oden think if he saw her trying to be him? To talk like him, to act like him, to become him.
At first, Yamato thought that maybe Naruto thought like Kaido and believed that her trying to become Oden was a stupid idea. However…he brought up a good point. To change everything about yourself to become someone else…was that really freedom? What would Oden…do…
Her mind flashed back to Kaido telling her to live for him. Wouldn't she be doing the same thing if they did that for Oden? Just for a different person.
"You're Yamato. Be Yamato. Live like Yamato. Live life however you want, but be yourself," he told her, leaning back again a rock as he picked up another full bottle of sake.
"I...don't know if I can," she replied honestly.
Naruto gave her a light punch in the shoulder, "Then you'll learn!" he exclaimed loudly, bringing her into a one-armed hug before laughing loudly. Yamato stared at the laughing blond before smiling warmly. "Never give up on who you are Yamato," Naruto said, letting her go before leaning back on a rock. "I can sense darkness, you know! And you have very little inside of you, and it seems directed at a really shitty person!"
"Thank you, Naruto," Yamato replied, not really sure what to say.
Ace sighed, "I wish Kaido had been here, I would have loved to punch his face in," The flame user mentioned, feeling that the man deserved more than just a beating for everything he'd done in Wano alone.
"I'd shove a Rasenshuriken down his throat!" Naruto growled, having seen how the people of Amigasa village suffered. Had Ace not arrived when he did, they might not have survived until
Kaido was defeated. They likely would have starved to death or been forced to eat the poisonous animals that came from the wasteland that was now their country. All on all, Kaido disgusted him just as much as Big Mom.
"Rasen-what?" Yamato asked, having heard him yell Rasengan before during their fight but not Rasenshuriken.
"It's like…the upgraded version of the Rasengan, but it does a lot of damage on a cellular scale," he pointed out, making sure she knew why he didn't use it against them in their battle.
"Cellular?" Yamato and Ace asked at once, either knowing what he was talking about.
"Ugh…I'm too drunk to explain it…" Naruto sighed, not really wanting to explain the biological implications of getting struck by a Rasenshuriken. That was a lot of nitty-gritty details that he didn't quite understand himself even after Tsunade gave him an explanation as to what happened.
"Probably not important then" Ace shrugged.
"Sooooo are there any big names rising up recently?" Yamato asked curiously.
Ace hummed as he thought back to some of the more recent wanted posters he had seen of new names. "There are a few like Caven-something making a name for himself along with Trafalgar Law and Capone Bege, but none of them hold a candle to us!" Ace declared proudly before his grin grew wider. "But the best one will come in a few years, my brother Luffy," Ace said looking up at the night sky.
"Talking about your brother again?" Yamato asked with a pout.
"Like you should talk! All you talk about is Oden!" Ace yelled at the white and blue-haired woman.
Naruto chuckled as he watched the two argue back and forth. "Both of them sound like interesting people, I do hope to meet your brother one day Ace," he stated, knowing that the boy he was talking about was also Dragon's son.
"I'm sure you will, you work for his father after all," Ace told Naruto.
"Wait what?!" Yamato questioned looking between the two of them. "You two aren't on the same crew?" she questioned. Given their friendship and how they showed up right after one another, Yamato had assumed that they were both on the same pirate crew.
"I'm not a pirate, I'm a member of the Revolutionary Army," Naruto replied since it wasn't a big secret to the world at large that he was a member of the group trying to topple the World Government. "I just happened to run into Ace while hiding from the Marines and Big Mom Pirates. We had a few drinks and the next thing I know I'm at sea looking for Kaido!" He explained.
Yamato looked a bit disappointed in the fact that he friend wasn't a pirate however, "What do you do then Naruto?"
Naruto hummed as he thought about what he did and why. "The outside world isn't a good place, to be honest Yamato," he said honestly, seeing no reason to give Kaido's daughter any dilutions of how the world outside Wano was. "Sure, a lot of places are better off than Wano, a lot better. But many are in the same situation. The World Government, while offering security abuses its authority to control people, to take away their freedom. Just like Kaido did to you," he growled, eyes burning an angry red. "We fight to give people back their freedom, to liberate them from the shackles of the World Nobles! Who suck them dry and take them as slaves!" He yelled, slamming his fist into the rock, leaving large cracks.
"Amazing! So you're like Oden when he tried to liberate Wano!" She explained, eyes wide in admiration for the blond and his mission. She recalled when Oden tried to face her father to kick them out of Wano. The clash between Oden and Kaido had been legendary, even if it ended with the samurai turned pirate losing the fight.
"I guess!" The blond shinobi replied scratching the back of his head.
"Naruto, you asked me about my dream before, but…" said poking her fingers together in a way that reminded him of Hinata back in his home world. "What's your dream?"
"Peace…" he replied simply before taking another drink of sake. "I want to see a world where there no more war, no more fighting, where people can understand each other and live peacefully and help one another grow," he told Yamato. Even if it wasn't his original home, it was his home for now…likely until he died and beyond. "It was the dream of my sensei Jiraiya," Naruto said remembering his time with the man.
"Was?" Yamato questioned.
Nodding his head the blond seemed a bit more somber. "He was killed a while ago in battle, by a fellow student of his who went down the wrong path," he replied thinking back to his battle against Nagato. "Nagato… Jiraiya'a previous student went through a lot. He came to believe that the only thing that could unite people was immense pain, so he wanted to create a super weapon that would show inflict so much pain on humanity, that they'd never fight again in fear of it being used on them," he stated, recalling Nagato's plan for the world once he obtained all the Tailed Beasts.
"What the fuck?!" Ace yelled in horror that someone would go that far for their ideals. To suppress the world with fear to achieve peace. "Did you beat his ass?"
"Don't worry, I beat some sense into him afterward," Naruto reassured them. "Before he died he acknowledged he might have been wrong, and gave his life to revive everyone he killed attacking my home."
"I want to know more about Jiraiya!" Yamato asked excited to know about the person who inspired her friend.
"Jiraiya was man things…first and foremost he was a super pervert!" The blond declared, making Ace face-plant at the announcement. "He'd spy on women in the bath, and ogle them in the streets, he even wrote an entire porn series that he published for the world to see based on what he saw during his 'research'," Naruto told two not bothering to sugar coat who Jiraiya was.
Ace couldn't help but laugh at the description of the man his friend looked up to. Naruto had hit the nail on the head when he called Jiraiya a super pervert. Yamato on the other hand looked starstruck, amazed by how free and carefree Jiraiya seemed. She remembered reading in Oden's logbook how he'd go off and sleep with numerous women in his youth even if his father disapproved of such behavior.
"But he was also someone who loved those he cared for. Someone who would take time out of his day to talk to you. Jiraiya-sensei, saw the darkness in the world even if he couldn't feel it like I can. And yet instead of accepting it, he wanted to fight against it, and make the world a better place for everyone," Naruto went on to Ace and Yamato who could see some of what Naruto was saying about Jiraiya in Naruto himself.
"Sounds like an amazing person Naruto," Ace said holding his wake up in the air. "To Jiraiya!" He toasted.
"To Oden!" Naruto said holding his up.
"To Luffy!" Yamato joined in,
The three took a swing of sake together before Ace fell forward into onto the snow. Yamato stood up panicked, believing that Ace might have died on the spot. "Ace!" She cried out shaking the son of the Pirate King much to Naruto's amusement.
"He's fine Yamato, he does that from time," he laughed as Ace woke back up slightly groggy from being shaken by the tall woman.
"Don't laugh at me! I was worried!" she yelled giving Naruto a light punch in the shoulder. As the two laughed on, she couldn't help be feel a warmth in her heart. For her entire life…she had been alone. She had been a prisoner to her own family. Everyone around them saw them as nothing more than Kaido's heir. Just an extension of their captain. But now in just one day, she had friends!
"Huh? What's wrong?" Naruto asked, seeing tears start to swell in Yamato's eyes. Going to their side, he gave his one-time foe a worried look.
"I'm just…so happy, I have friends!" Yamato said, smiling brightly at the two.
A few hours later, Naruto was sitting looking at the ocean before him. A smile on his face as Kurama pumped red chakra throughout his body, burning away the alcohol at a rapid pace. Ace and Yamato had fallen asleep so he took the time to watch the sunrise.
"I thought you left," Yamato said from behind him, waking over to where the blond was sitting and joining him. "Is something wrong?" she asked the blond who shook his head.
"No, just thinking," he replied casually and he leaned back on his hands.
Yamato looked at the serene face of her liberator and couldn't help but think back to their battle the day before. "Before…" Yamato started getting his attention. "You said that you wanted something, but could never get it…" she mentioned noticing how his face changed ever so slightly away from the serene look. "What did you mean?"
Naruto fell silent, making Yamato fear that she pried too deep into his private life. "Sorry you don't have to answer if you don't want," the kanabe wielder said, retracting their question to avoid upsetting her new friend.
"It's fine, it's just never an easy thing to talk about ya know," he responded, locking eyes with Yamato as his own tears started to come out. "Ever since I was young I wanted to become my village's leader, their Hokage. Originally, most people in my village hated me, they called me a demon and treated me like a nuisance," he exploded deciding to give her a basic foundation of his formative years back in Konoha.
"Why?" Yamato asked, wondering why someone so noble and heroic would have been seen as a demon.
Pulling his shirt up, he revealed the seal on his stomach. "When I was born, my village was attacked by a masked man who used the power of a powerful creature to cause mass destruction. My father sealed it inside of me at the cost of his own life. My mother died trying to protect me during the attack. So they hated what I held, and so they hated me too," Naruto explained to them, not bothering to hide anything from his new friend.
"Why would your father do that to you?" she asked, feeling that no good father would place a curse like that on their kid.
A sad smile spread over Naruto's lips, "The creature...his name is Kurama by the way, my father wanted to put his trust in me to one-day master Kurama's power. That glowing form I used against you, that was Kurama's chakra mixed with mine," he explained. "But I did punch him in the stomach when I met his ghost!" he added on.
"GHOST!?"
"Well...it was a fragment of his soul... Well anyways, I eventually became friends with Kurama. He's my partner now. We fight together as one," he said patting his stomach.
"You're amazing you know," Yamato looking at the blond with extreme admiration.
"That's not something I hear every day, typically I'm called an idiot!" He laughed before returning to his story. "Anways..."
"Eventually I became a shinobi and was put on a team. I wanted to be the Hokage, the leader of my village. I wanted to become the Hokage…so everyone would recognize me. So everyone would finally see me as who I was and look up to me as the strongest. Later I realized that it wasn't simply being the strongest, but also being the person the villagers looked up to and rely on to protect them," he told Yamato, recalling all the times throughout his life that he told people what his dream was. "'I'm gonna become the next Hokage' I used to say it all the time," he mentioned, quoting himself.
However that didn't answer, why couldn't he do that anymore? "So, why can't you now?" she questioned, wondering what was stopping him. It certainly wasn't a lack of power, his punches hurt nearly as bad as her father's own. If his full strength could be compared to a Yonko, then she was certain that he could become the leader of one village.
"I can't…because all that happened in another world. A reality separate from this one, with different rules and powers," he said, a golden aura radiating around him for a moment as he took Yamato's hand and let her feel his chakra. "I was fighting someone, and in their last moments, they sent me here, to this world," the shinobi explained to Yamato who looked down at her hand.
The energy he was giving off was warm, like fresh rays of sunlight in the early morning. It was full of vibrant life and passion, and yet she could also feel a twig of sadness buried deep within the brightness.
"Another world?" she questioned, confused by what he meant.
"Yep, a world where Haki and Devil Fruits don't exist but rather we have chakra. Where the world is mainly water and islands, there is one main continuent with a few islands around it. A world I can never return to now," Naruto muttered, his fist clenching in anger.
Yamato stared at Naruto for a moment, taking in everything that she had learned about him in such a short amount of time. It was still a lot to wrap her head around, a whole nother world. One where everything they knew didn't exist. He was stranded here… "I'm sorry you…have to go through this Naruto," Yamato said softly. For her, dreaming to set off on an adventure like Oden seemed impossible a few hours ago, with only a set of handcuffs holding them back. But for Naruto, his dream was an entire reality away. Regardless that didn't take away from who he was in her mind, if anything it went to show his dedication to peace.
"Is there a way for you to go back?" Yamato asked. Part of them wanted the answer to be no, despite the implications. She didn't want her liberator to one day just…disappear. It was selfish of them, but the thought was heartbreaking.
"No, I can never return. The way I got here required certain things to happen at the same time, and I have no way of replicating it or even knowing if I'd return home," Naruto answered directly. He knew that there wasn't a chance in hell of him going back to the Elemental Nations. "So don't worry, won't be leaving ya anytime time soon," he quipped.
"How did you know?!" Yamato asked, her face red as Naruto seemingly had read their mind.
"I sensed you were worried and assumed," he laughed, relaxing a little as the sun began to rise over the horizon. "Ya know, I don't dislike this world for all it's worth. Back home, I know I would never be able to live a normal life. I would be a shinobi until I retired or died. But here, I have the ability to go anywhere, and do anything. I'm not bound by a village anymore," he stated, the rays of sunshine making the sea glitter.
"And I have some awesome new friends too!" Naruto added, giving her a wide grin.
"Hey, do you think that maybe, I could join you on your travels? Me, you, and Ace?" Yamato asked, wanting to get off the island now that they were free.
"Sure!"
And there we go! I honestly didn't know where would be a good place to break into two chapters so I decided to just make one long one. Hope it was enjoyable
Um...so to address a thing that I just wanna get out of the way now.
Yamato's gender identity. Look, I don't care for politics. For the purpose of this story, I will use female pronouns and refer to them as female. From my point of view, the only reason Yamato wanted to be a man, was because Oden was a man. Most if not all of my trans friends (when you work in mental health you know quite a few...) agree with my reasoning. Even in the vivre cards, Kikunojo was listed as a woman at heart, while Yamato flat out said, female.
So I am sorry if this offends anyone. But that is how this story will treat the subject
Please leave a review, Whitebeard at 600 XD
Oh yeah! If you guys have time, please check out the fanfiction Heaven's Fall by SSJeanne35. She's a good friend of mine and she's come such a long way as a person over the last few years. So give her a shot! It's a Fate/Toaru cross over btw. Toaru is the "A Certain Magical Index" franchise btw!
Laters