I shall now begin...the DISCLAIMER! Ehhh, Brook? What are you doing here? I'm not going to include you in the story jut yet!

Brook: Oh, Author-san, your callousness hurts my heart! Although, I don't have a heart anymore... Yohohohoho! Let me say the disclaimer.

Ehh...alright, Brook. Take it away.

Brook: Author-san does not own any characters mentioned within this work of fanfiction, Naruto, One Piece, or any other works referenced in this story. This fact is so astounding, I would die from shock! Ah, but I'm already dead...Yohohohoho!

Vice-Admiral Uzumaki Naruto was bored.

It may perhaps be baffling to understand why such a man could be bored. This was a man, who, save for the lack of a 'D' in his name, could be considered one of the same individuals who were reputed to be stormbringers; catalysts for upheaval and shifts in the world. Indeed, one may be tempted to see him potentially as "Uzumaki D. Naruto", for he too was a man of great charisma and character, said to be able to enthral the minds and souls of any one with a heart. Moreover, like that of the clan of D., he was said to have a great dream.

What this dream was, few individuals would perhaps still remember indeed, for he did not often regale his dreams to anyone. Yet it could be said with absolute certainty that those whom he did impress his dream upon would have been bewildered at the magnitude of such an undertaking, and in disbelief towards his desire to accomplish such a dream.

And yet many who knew him would realise, however, that Naruto could certainly achieve his dream, whether it be the comrades he battled with side-by-side on multiple gruelling campaigns, or perhaps the young men and women whom he toiled with to rebuild countries and cities following any struggle against pirate vagabonds, or even the grumpy Nine-Tailed Fox Kurama, his lifelong companion from birth, a mystical being thought not to be made from flesh and blood. Rather, it was held by legend that there were similar beasts, all with tails, numbering nine in total.

Where this legend came from, there is no consensus, even amongst the historians throughout the four blues. Some say the legend is Wanoan in origin, for the mightiest of the beasts was spoken of as a Nine-tailed fox, not unlike the kitsune of legend in Wano's folklore, and there were three more resembling respectively an ushi-oni – which, if the whispers were to be believed, usually have an ox's head with sharp upward-curving horns, wicked fangs and a slender tongue; a nekomata – mystical cats believed to hold dominion over the souls of the dead, and the weakest – the tanuki. Yet others argue that the legend holds elements of tales reminiscent of Kano country, pointing to the depiction of the Four-tailed Sage Monkey, Son Goku, a figure thought to be a corruption of the tale of Sun Wukong's journey to the west. To this day in Kano country, the legend has become immortalised in the minds and hearts of the men and children of that land.

Indeed, though the origin of Kurama is under dispute, what is for certain, was that Naruto was a man who simply inspired you to believe. Yet even those who know him are not so sure why. Was it perhaps the warm eyes that reminded you of the sea as you looked into them, or perhaps the three whiskers on each cheek that simply made you want to coo over his adorable face, or maybe perchance it was the black button-up jacket with red armband adorned with a spiral crest on his right arm, clashing quite horribly with his orange pants, all resting underneath his marine coat. Maybe, as the more delusional would think, it was the right hand, wrapped in linen bandages, looking like a mummy's arm. Whispers at length speculated that Naruto had indeed lost his arm in combat, that he instead sported a replacement.

"Oi, Laxus!" Naruto suddenly cried out from where he was sitting – that is, at his desk at the marine base known as G-U, in the Grand Line, under his own personal jurisdiction. "I'm bored!"

"Damn it uncle, go beat up some pirates or something! Don't keep complaining to me that you're bored!"

"But Laaaxus," Naruto began to whine, "I already beat up all the pirates around this place, you know!" He moved to get up from his desk and chair. "And all the other vice-admirals always get pissed at me whenever I go to their territory and do their job for them." He began to pace around and around. "I already beat up Kiba and Gajeel for today's morning spar. You refuse to fight me. Shizuma is out patrolling. Kurama is sleeping and doesn't want to wake up. Gaara and Juvia are both doing their own training. Konohamaru's with Bickslow overseeing our new battleships' construction, and THE RAMEN ISN'T READY YET! THERE IS NOTHING FOR ME TO DO!"

"Maybe, uncle, check if the fleet admiral wants us to do anything?"

Uzumaki Naruto was not Vice-Admiral Laxus Dreyar's uncle, however, at this point, he was the closest figure resembling anything like family to him now. Indeed, looking at Laxus, one could almost mistake him for Naruto's son, for his hair, just as Naruto's sun-kissed, rich blonde hair was left in a short, clipped, haircut, so too was Laxus' hair. Moreover, had Naruto yellow eyes not unlike his hair and a lack of his whiskers, with slightly more pointed chin, one would see Laxus' face, sans a lightning-bolt shaped scar just crossing his right eye, yet leaving his vision intact. On his head he wore a pair of headphones, covering both his ears, each with a spike jutting out from each loudspeaker driver, the whole device coloured a metallic black, whilst underneath his marine jacket lay another jacket lined on the sides with a grey fur, clashing against the black of his second jacket, which hid a buttoned-up purple shirt and overlaid his own black pants.

"Moreover, uncle, why would I fight you? You are strong, much stronger than I am right now. Your strength is comparable to our admirals and you have nothing left to prove to me nor the other officers here. Besides, do you want me to wreck the base in our spars?"

"But you could always get better, Laxus." Naruto stubbornly insisted.

"Damn it vice-admiral Uzumaki! You know that out of all the other officers here, I'm the next strongest after you and everyone knows it!" Laxus angrily retorted. Honestly, he thought, his uncle is a monster and a battle maniac. What Marine HQ was thinking when they gave this moronic idiot command over ten total vice-admirals and rear admirals to station in G-U base…before he realised that no, Marine HQ was not what put them here. Naruto brought them all here himself; after all, theirs was the very definition of motley crew.

He owed it to Naruto for his place here at G-U. To him, uncle was really all that he had left, not since his cruel father left him to rot, and the old man…the less that could be said for him, the better. Unfortunately, he was still an idiot. Admittedly, he could use his brain; many marines could attest to it, for who would be otherwise able to organise and execute a scheme infiltrating five full marine battleships onto Whole Cake Island? Unfortunately, however, he often chose not to use it.

"Commodore Uzumaki is being re-assigned to patrol the Grand Line with her 99th division," Laxus suddenly remembered. "Maybe you could call her to check in on how she is doing?"

"Himawari, huh…." Naruto muttered as his hand clasped the receiver of a transponder snail on his desk. A species of snail noted for their telepathic abilities harnessed by marine and pirate alike to near-instantaneously transmit messages across the world, this snail was not like most others, for it was not just one snail; attached to the large, orange snail adorned with black receiver on its spiral-patterned shell, was a smaller, white specimen, with two small horns jutting out from the head. This snail acted as an encryption method for the larger one; many unsavoury and unscrupulous individuals lurked about the Blue Seas, and those who should never hear what is said behind the closed doors of G-U Marine Base. Just as Naruto prepared to punch in numbers on the keypad affixed to the shell of the transponder snail, however, the door to the office suddenly opened.

In strode another individual with marine jacket, wearing it as such, arms within its sleeves. The bearer did not, however, in any way, resemble a human, for he was not. His appearance, rather, was that of a humanoid panther, with sleek fur which looks quite like the night sky, and small round ears atop his head, whilst his grizzled face was complemented by a small scar running down his face, just outside his right eye; it seemed like he had a beard, for his whiskered face had many white hairs near his mouth. Behind him, he carried a large sword on his back, with a wickedly sharp blade and terrible design on the guard of the weapon, resembling a howling cat with eyes gleaming with feral fury. The sword's blade looked to nick the ground, yet it did not, being perhaps a hand's breadth away from the wooden floorboards of the office. Just underneath the coat, his tail swished back and forth gently, never touching the blade nor the surface of the floor.

"Vice-admiral Panther Lily," Laxus greeted him as he came in, to which he received a grunt in response from his fellow vice-admiral.

What exactly was Panther Lily? If one were to examine his features without the marine jacket, his characteristics looked quite similar to two different species in the world – the Exceeds of Extalia, a race of cat-like winged creatures blessed with the capability to channel and harness basic amounts of magic, and the Minks of Zou – said to be animal-like humanoids capable of mystical powers. Panther Lily, however, was both, yet neither; for he straddled both worlds. His is a cruel tale, for he was born a hybrid to a Black Panther Mink father and Exceed mother, though he grew with deformed and defunct wings. As his father passed away a mere two moons after his own birth, he was raised by his mother in the land of Extalia, left to endure the scorn and derision of his brethren, until the day of his exile. Why he was exiled, he has revealed to very few, and it is believed that he is yet to fully divulge his secrets.

To this day, however, he is a proud Marine vice-admiral, under the command of vice-admiral Uzumaki Naruto, the man who reignited his lost hope; who provided him a family for him to cry and laugh with; who restored to him what he could not have. For he became a fruit eater, with his fruit, the aptly named Neko Neko no Mi, Model: Exceed (Cat-Cat Fruit, Model: Exceed), restoring to him the wings he was robbed of from his birth.

"Vice-admirals," Panther Lily began in his baritone voice, "we have detained another vessel passing by G-U, laden with slaves."

"And?" Uzumaki Naruto could not help asking. It was routine on G-U; any slaver ship found was to be sunk, the slaves given medical treatment and repatriated to their homes, and the slavers executed. For Panther Lily to simply inform him of this…something important must have come up that would demand his attention.

"We captured a World Noble on the ship." Panther Lily's voice rumbled, as Laxus suddenly began laughing.

"I cannot believe –" he gasped as he continued to hold his head whilst he continued, struggling to let out his words, "-that those weaklings would seriously try and come past G-U marine base, knowing our reputation! Do they have a death wish? Everyone knows our commander's loathing for that trash! Hahahahaha! So, they've sent themselves to their deaths!"

Naruto's face was suddenly robbed of his warmth, as he rose up, beginning to stalk towards the door.

"You're not even going to try and talk to him?" Panther Lily questioned. Naruto could, from what he saw, connect with anyone he talked to if his heart was in it. For he himself, alongside Laxus, and perhaps almost all the Marine Soldiers at the base were living testimonies to their leader's unnatural charisma. Furthermore, Naruto always saw the good in people; only the irredeemable ones did he send off to face the justice of the World Government to the Great Prison Impel Down.

Naruto didn't even bother to turn his head.

"What can I do? I can only connect to individuals who have a heart."

The Grand Line branch base of Marine Headquarters at Uzushiogakure no Sato, the "Village hidden in the whirlpools", also referred to as G-U, was named for the ancient village built on the island perhaps dating to the time of the void century. However, to this day, even historians cannot say with certainty when exactly the towering skyscrapers which dominated the skyline of the island littered with an abundance of high, yet not-so-steep hills of the island were erected, for the village was also thought to have once existed beyond even the time of the elusive Void Century, the unknown century ending eight hundred years before the events of our current happenings.

Whoever built the village certainly had a good eye for the lay of the land. There was only one natural port entrance, located to the south-east of the island. What was otherwise not inhibited by the hills surrounding the coastlines of the island could not be readily accessed, for giant maelstroms lurked close to the shores of the land, said to devour any foolish ship which dared to get too close. However, contained within the confines of the hilly land, lay a fertile plain, criss-crossed with rivers flowing from the hills with rapid want, clashing against their banks.

Before G-U base was established, Uzushiogakure lay in ruins, its once-mighty skyscrapers toppled and left to rot in the dustbin of history. Now, though the village is no more, its legacy remains, for much of its old land and architecture was adapted and transformed into G-U base. Uzushio was built near the only natural port, and for good reason; Nagatsuki harbour was quite large, although its entry point, flanked by two great stone sculptures mounted on two hills, made for a great chokepoint, for it was only wide enough to allow for the passage of two Marine battleships – of the standard Grand Line make, mind you – to leave the port at a time. Upon the arrival of the Marines, the entrance to the bay was fortified further by the addition of a gigantic gate, with a great spiral – the symbol of Uzushiogakure – etched onto it. In the past, Nagatsuki port housed the armada of Uzushiogakure, multiple fast ships with sails resembling the junks of Kano country's Happo Navy; nowadays, the port brims with large ships, each with three large gun batteries, one at the bow and one on each flank. These ships are considerably large, towering even over the giants of the Marines.

Beyond Nagatsuki harbour was the former academy of Uzushiogakure, now repurposed as the training barracks for Uzumaki Naruto's Marines. The structure was a large building, close to an open courtyard littered with various pockmarks and scattered fragments of shrapnel. Here, many marine soldiers, appearing not unlike specks on the ground, could be seen; some would be holding firearms, ranging from rifles, most commonly the .338 Justice-giver rifle of the Marines, however, the keen eye could also recognise the SGI-16 make of assault rifle, known for their quite unique fixture of the ammunition box mounted below the firing chambers of the rifle. Platoons upon platoons swarmed across the field, some circling around the course, some moving across in a horizontal line in extended file.

The actual academy itself retained much of Uzushiogakure's architectural style. Though it was not a towering structure, it still looked great, for the gates were tall; tall enough for even the tallest humans to enter through. The architectural style of the roofs and surrounds resembled that of Wano, for they were constructed that way, albeit with glass windows peppered throughout the walls of the building proper. Marines were very many here, some perhaps sitting with their comrades at attention, eyes affixed towards a screen illuminated by a Projecting transponder snail; the screen holding very many words next to a diagram, of what it cannot be very certain, although it admittedly held various shapes and arrows, others with stained aprons and grey welding masks worked at benches, hushed, excitedly chirping; still others were polishing their rifles, yet they did not exude airs of relaxation, for they knew they had to be ready, whether for training, deployment or to suffer the whims of their esteemed vice-admiral.

Deep under the hills of the northern half of the island lay the only structure of G-U not within the old village proper. The holding cells, as they were known, buried deep within the underbelly of the base, saw very little patronage of light or soul. Indeed, since marines at G-U base always transport their apprehended prisoners to Impel Down for holding, the prison rooms were almost always empty. Almost.

"I'll ask you again," growled an imposing figure with a marine coat draped over his shoulders, hand firmly clamping on the neck of a much less imposing one next to him, "what are the names of the slave traders you bought from and where are they?"

"Ack-ugh-how dare you! Unhand-ack-agh me at once!" Choked out the overweight man, before a hand grabbed his face and smashed his head to the ground, before he found himself again, held in the original position.

"Gihihihi," the first man began to chuckle. He was quite fearsome looking, for his appearance was quite strange. He had an unruly mane of long and very spiky black hair which extended down to his waist behind his shoulders, where a belt tied up the black tunic he wore. It appeared to be torn around the edges, both near the holes for his arms, as well as the lowermost edge of the tunic, just covering from the knee his light brown trousers, bloused, accompanied by steel-toed black leather boots. However, what was more awe-inspiring was perhaps his eyebrows, or lack thereof, for where eyebrows were expected to be there were what appeared to be metal dots, three above each eye, fashioned as if an eyebrow; two on each side of the nose, another two, in a small vertical line, on his pointed chin, and four each on the forearm, nicely lined up. Or maybe it would be his blood-red eyes with slit pupils; eyes of a dragon, gazing upon its pitiful prey. Maybe even the feathery ornament on his right shoulder, jutting upwards, accentuating the scarred demeanour of his right arm.

"I don't even know what the bossman wants with trash like you," he mused as his right arm suddenly began to shift, glowing with light, as if a flash, before suddenly it stopped to reveal a long, wicked spiked blade of sharp, polished iron. It was most definitely a thick blade, for it was formed out of an arm, and it did not seem to greatly taper off. The blade looked quite like a chainsaw, and its spikes began to rapidly run along the edges of the blade as he brought it close to the fat man's neck. "If it were up to me, we would have simply executed you on the spot."

"How dare you!" the fearful lump managed to bite out, "how dare you strike me, a World Noble! I, Saint Nutzlos, will have you court-martialled and executed-"

The blade met the skin of his face, grazing it lightly, and Nutzlos screamed. Not a robust scream of righteousness, nor a heartfelt scream of worry and hope, merely a pitiful cry for help.

"Oi, Gajeel," yet another voice rang from outside the cell. "Naruto wants to know if you've been able to get anything from this piece of trash."

"He won't say anything because this fat fuck doesn't have any concept of common sense. They're fucking World Nobles; what did he think they would be willing to tell us?" Gajeel Redfox looked at Nutzlos, saint no longer, for he lay dead, the chainsaw blade having accidentally bisected him as Gajeel turned around to reply to the other voice.

"Laxus isn't going to be happy with this mess that you made."

"Tch. I'll take my chances." As the iron blade began to morph back into his forearm, Gajeel grinned. The Tetsu-Tetsu no Mi (Iron-Iron fruit) was certainly a very versatile fruit; for it was this ability that propelled him up through the ranks, up to vice-admiral. One of the few Logia-class devil fruits throughout the seas of the world, this one was perhaps special; though it, like all other Logia class fruits, facilitated the creation, control and the transformation of the eater's body into a natural substance, the iron of the fruit did not allow for the intangibility other Logia fruits provided, for the iron formed was a solid, crystalline iron; with Gajeel's transformations appearing similar to some Paramecia fruit transformations. With it, any tool – or cold weapon – was within Gajeel's reach and imagination. "Besides," he grunted, "remind me why we gotta do all this cloak-and-dagger bullshit, Kiba?"

Vice-admiral Inuzuka Kiba was a man of average height, just slightly shorter than Gajeel, perhaps by about one or two centimetres. Unlike many of the vice-admirals at G-U, he did not choose to wear a marine coat. Rather, his attire featured a black dress tunic, decorated in gold trim at the cuffs and emblazoned with golden thread 'Justice' on its back, alongside a pair of dress pants, black in colour, matching his tunic. He wore his untamed brown hair freely, leaving it to hang at his shoulders, whilst his dark, intense eyes were complemented by feral grin and two red triangles, one painted on each cheek. Perhaps they were clan markings, perhaps a family tradition. Hands in pockets and leaning next to a wall, Kiba let out a small breath.

"We all want to kick World Noble ass, but we can't go wild on those motherfuckers publicly without the top brass pitching a fit about it, so we gotta clean it up."

"Che. You do it then! My powers aren't good for this sort of thing."

"Oh, fuck no!" Kiba angrily retorted; his visage curled up in rage. "I'm not eating World Noble again! That shit tasted so damn disgusting! Their meat is so toxic, even cats won't eat it!"

Indeed, for Kiba too was a fruit eater, of the Inu Inu no Mi, model: Cerberus (Dog-Dog fruit, model: Cerberus), which gave him the ability to morph and walk as a terrible, three headed dog. His form was quite monstrous, both in size and appearance; he could tower over Marine battleships – the ones present in G-U and deployed for Buster Calls – with his three snarling heads and glowing red demonic eyes inspiring terror and awe within any pirate weak-willed enough to let the unearthly horror take hold of their psyche. Indeed, for very often Vice-Admiral Kiba would, against a pirate fleet, rip and tear asunder with his triumvirate of heads massive pirate vessels and consume whole pirates in body and soul. However, to him, he drew the line at eating World Noble. Not out of any sympathy for their kind. No, for the marines of G-U were unified in their hatred of the folk that call themselves Celestial Dragons.

How could they not? Though bound to their whims in name, each marine at G-U developed a loathing for their atrocious activities. Considerable numbers of these G-U marines lost a loved one to slavery or a World Noble's murderous whims. Even some of G-U's men, such as many fish-men marines themselves, had found themselves former chattel of these damned "Celestial Dragons". Who could forget the perverted atrocities committed upon body and soul by those monsters upon them? Therefore, to the marines of G-U, their evisceration of the refuse in the form of man was but mere karmic retribution for their sins. Was this justice? One could argue that it was not, for the law does not tolerate those within the law acting outside of its processes. However, what alternative was there? For the World Government's laws would have indicted the descendants of the nineteen families but for the Five Elders of long, long ago, who passed down an unwritten decree that those of supreme royal blood (that is, of the nineteen founding families of the World Government who relocated to Mary Geoise) shall neither be prosecuted nor indicted for any offense. That the 'blood of the gods' shall not spill or be spilt.

To the marines of G-U base, this is "Justice". That "Absolute Justice" be applied to all who dare defy it; that the ends justify the means; if it takes the sacrifice of those good-for-nothing World Nobles to bring prosperity and peace to even a small village, G-U Marines would swarm Mary Geoise without another word. Alas, such work was left only to clandestine happenings across the small pockets of the New World directly under the oversight of the island where Uzushiogakure stood.

As such, standard procedure at the base was to discreetly dispose of their carcasses, most often through devil fruit powers, and provide evidence that the base detained and executed slavers who were impersonating World Nobles. Unfortunately, though World Nobles were sinful and worthy of naught but death, World Noble meat was toxic and unpalatable, perhaps due to the unholy amounts of fat smears and streaks scattered throughout the flesh of such refuse.

"Fine," Gajeel sighed. "I'll do it myself, then." And with that, suddenly, his entire body began to shift, becoming iron, before his arms suddenly developed into massive slabs of iron; slabs which began to crush and squeeze Nutzlos' corpse, leaving behind only a red-tinged puddle of what looked quite like mud.

"We're done here."

"Yes, we are. Going to yell at the recruits again?"

"Gihihi, no." Gajeel started to chuckle. "I have a training exercise for half of them today and the rest tomorrow; they'll be too occupied they won't have the audacity to let me yell at them! Gihi!"

"You're not going overboard, are you?"

"Nah. These guys are tough. Probably tougher than those pansies at headquarters. 'Sides, I'm pissed that we got beat so easily by the bossman. We've got to step up our game, too."

It may seem mind boggling for a Marine officer at a branch base to make such a declaration, for the soldiers stationed at HQ were usually the elite forces of the Marines. One must keep in mind though that many officers of G-U base were trained and developed at HQ. Though they were often quite strong, considerable proportions of the officer corps considered themselves abandoned by HQ and left to rot. G-U, to them, was their real home; their haven where they could experience inner peace and tranquillity. The G-U training protocols, therefore, were based around HQ's; they were designed to produce Marines of greater calibre. Sengoku could admit that G-U Marines were just as strong, perhaps even stronger, than Marine HQ's own soldiers.

The base was quite large, with two large shipyards holding what looked like Marine battleships in them, although greater in size and armament, looking as if two battleships were made into one; there were many rocket launchers, not unlike those on Himawari's own ships, affixed onto the main deck, accompanied by yet two more cannon batteries near the bow, flanking the main battery common to all marine battleships, alongside multiple maintenance docks servicing the remainder of the marine fleet. Floating near one of the two large ships, in the air, was an armoured figure standing on what appeared to be a series of five totems of wood, with another five moving in a vertical circle just behind his back. He did not wear any tunic like Kiba, nor the Marine coat favoured by Panther Lily, Laxus, Gajeel or Naruto. Indeed, Rear-Admiral Bickslow dressed in an outfit which could be said to be a fusion of plate armour with a cloak. His eyes could not be seen clearly, for he always kept them under the visor of his freshly polished steel plate helmet, whilst his pauldrons contained engravings – on the left, the spiral of Uzushiogakure; on his right was cut "Justice". His cloak, just zipped, concealed hints of breastplate underneath it; it reached up to his knees, giving way to steel boots and tightly bloused black leggings. One could almost mistake his cloak for a Marine 'Justice' coat, for it was the same pure white, albeit for the lack of stylistic effects.

Rear-admiral Bickslow was perhaps the greatest beneficiary of the Totto land campaign. Though only a rear-admiral, he held one of the most terrible fruit powers in existence – the Soru Soru no Mi, formerly possessed by "Big Mom" Charlotte Linlin. "Here, eat this." Naruto had said few words when he had suddenly torn off such a fruit from an orange tree, which had been planted in a garden next to Big Mom's corpse, just before Whole Cake Island had begun to sink into the depths of the New World.

Scholars however argue that the powers of the Soru Soru no Mi choose whether their eater is worthy of it, for though Linlin and, according to previous apocryphal accounts, the previous eater, Carmel, could tear their own soul to produce powerful homies greater than the normal soul-infused objects the fruit was capable of, Bickslow held no such power; his resembled a much darker seith -magic; for through his fruit, those trapped in his gaze are subject to his control and manipulation. Perhaps that visor was introduced just for this, so that his gaze did not turn on friend, only foe.

Bickslow began to float down on his totem-made platform, before leaping off onto the platforms of the dry dock as the five totems returned to circling around behind him. Briskly, he walked down the deck, taking note of what the technicians and shipbuilders of G-U's comments on the Dreadnought-class battleships being produced. Pleased, he let out a laugh, a short, brisk, pleased laugh, before his eyes caught the sight of a Marine coat covering a figure with black button-up shirt and orange pants. Smiling, he summoned five totems from the ten dolls behind him, again re-forming a platform which he jumped on, before flying to meet the Vice-Admiral.

Uzumaki Naruto was not alone when he arrived at the docks. Although he came not with an entire squad or more than a small detachment, to him, Vice-Admiral Laxus Dreyar was more than a match for any collection of Marine soldiers. Like many other Vice-Admirals at G-U, Laxus too consumed a Devil Fruit, converting him into a walking natural disaster. Indeed, for his was the Goro-Goro no Mi, turning him into a lightning man, of all things; a fruit considered by many observers to be 'invincible'. Nothing, however, ever was; and Laxus knew this, for he himself had endured many of Uncle's strikes as part of their training spars before this day.

He still remembered the phantom aches on his face.

Bickslow, gracefully landing on the ground proper with hands outstretched and legs just slightly bent, quickly snapped to attention, saluting in greeting. Naruto responded in kind, before gesturing for Bickslow to report.

"The projects are on schedule, Boss, Laxus." Bickslow began, his grin, perhaps seen by some as quite a sick one, remaining on his face.

"Excellent job, Bickslow!" Naruto applauded, whilst Laxus merely gave him a grin. "How is the fruit, you know?"

Bickslow obliged the unspoken command, his totems arranging themselves into two spinning pentagons. Green energy appeared in the centre of each shape – perhaps this was a mystical soul energy; it cannot be said for sure. Thankfully for Naruto, none of the energy blasts fired were directed at any of the precious ships of G-U. Laxus looked on with pride. Bickslow was one of his – before uncle gave him his redemption – his personal Marine unit, the Thunder God Tribe. Who wouldn't be happy to see their subordinates come this far?

Their internal musings were suddenly interrupted as a marine soldier frantically rushed towards the admirals.

"Vice-Admiral Uzumaki, sir!"

"What is it?"

"It's the fleet admiral! He wants to talk to you!"

"So," the voice of Fleet Admiral Sengoku rang out from the Transponder Snail on Naruto's desk, "What is this I hear about you killing another World Noble?"

"Who the hell told you?" Naruto's voice was deathly silent. Even the vice-admirals in his office with him, Laxus, Gajeel, Kiba and Panther Lily, could feel a pressure on their shoulders. Their superior officer was anything but amicable.

"A ship carrying a World Noble disappears near G-U." Sengoku continued. "Any sane man could put two and two together."

"I've always been very careful about this."

"You've got to stop, Naruto. I can't let you keep doing this; just will you let them go and not interfere-"

"Not. Interfere."

"Oh, for goodness' sake, Naruto, will you just…"

"To. Let. This. Scum. Go."

"Do you even know what…"

"What is Justice to you, Gensui?"

A blank silence enveloped the room. Did their commander seriously ask this of the fleet admiral? The admirals understood that Naruto was perhaps almost reckless with his words, but this?

"Either way Naruto, I cannot let you kill any more of the Celestial Dragons! That is an order!"

"No."

"Excuse me?"

"You're trying to make me give up on executing justice, aren't you?"

"Damn it Uzumaki, do I have to…"

"You can give up on me giving up!" Naruto angrily shouted into the receiver. Laxus and Gajeel could have sworn that his eyes, once warm and inviting, as the sea, suddenly became cold, full of darkness.

"And I thought Garp was bad! STOP GIVING ME TROUBLE, UZUMAKI!"

"Justice is supposed to be universal! So that we can make this world a better place for everyone! Furthermore, those pieces of shit do not deserve any mercy from me! They hurt so many people! The families of my friends and family in the Marines! And if their deaths bring prosperity and peace, then I do not care! This is Absolute Justice!"

"Did they really deserve to die, Uzumaki? Do you think that they deserve to die? What happened to your 'Merciful Justice?' Huh?"

"MERCIFUL JUSTICE? MERCIFUL JUSTICE? YOU THINK THE WORLD NOBLES DESERVE MERCY? YES, THOSE UNREPENTANT BASTARDS DESERVED TO DIE, AND I HOPE THEY BURN IN HELL!"

Silence reigned through the office.

"I will order a Buster Call on G-U base if you don't cease this lunacy!"

Naruto could only growl out his response.

"You can try."

Again, another pause rang throughout the office.

"So be it, Uzumaki! As long as I am Fleet Admiral, you will never receive any more promotions! You will never become an Admiral! I will make sure of it!"

"Save it, Geezer." Naruto slammed the receiver of his transponder snail onto its holder. "Fucking Sengoku." He bit out, as his aura around him felt no longer awe-inspiring, instead being replaced with a miasma of terror and hatred surrounding his very being. Laxus shivered; uncle was very much scary whenever he was like this. "That fucking coward," Naruto continued to rant, venom dripping from his words, "dares to tell me to give up on what he doesn't have the balls to do?"

None of the vice-admirals nor Bickslow were willing to interrupt whenever Naruto was like this. Why would they? Although their boss was normally a kind and understanding man, whenever he became enraged at anything, you would ideally want to step very far away from wherever you were. Naruto's power did not merely rest in his extremely dangerous Devil Fruit power. Certainly, the Ganma Ganma no Mi was perhaps one of the most powerful Logia fruits, and it certainly matched Naruto's usual energetic personality to a T; it afforded Naruto the ability to create, control and transform into gamma radiation, not unlike its more controlled cousin, the Pika Pika no Mi, consumed by Borsalino, or Admiral Kizaru.

Whilst Naruto could do what Borsalino did with laser beams with his gamma rays, he unfortunately could not make use of Borsalino's reflection skills and abilities, for his gamma rays were much too powerful and would often rather attenuate through the material rather than reflect off it. Yet the most dangerous part of the fruit was its ability to create anti-matter, for, as scientists have thought, matter and energy were ultimately linked, and Naruto's gamma rays provided the perfect means to produce matter and anti-matter in pairs, to merely re-release the energy in a different condition, often creating great and powerful explosions. However, normal eaters of this fruit could not achieve such levels of control needed to accomplish this, nor shield themselves from the antimatter generated. And Naruto normally would not, had Kurama the nine-tailed fox been sealed in him from the beginning.

Uzumaki Naruto was himself descended from the people of Uzushiogakure no Sato, a mysterious population of Shinobi – the Wanoan name of warrior-assassins who struck in the night and wielded mystical powers beyond Wano's normal abilities. Uzu people, along with the inhabitants of similar lands, wielded a mystical power known as chakra – said to be a combination of spiritual and physical energies requiring unlocking and training, not unlike Haki – the manifestation of willpower. Devil fruit eaters experienced many complications when interacting with chakra, however. Certain Zoan fruits did increase one's affinity for chakra usage, as did certain Paramecia fruits, whilst all Logia fruits were said to change the body on such a fundamental level, leading to the inability of the chakra network to properly function.

That is, unless one had access to Senjutsu chakra. By absorbing the nature energy from one's surroundings, shinobi trained in this art, known as sages, could bypass many of chakra's normal limitations. Attacks became fortified, whilst senses were fine-tuned and enhanced. For Naruto, Kurama was his main way of gaining this natural energy. Though he did train as a sage in his youth, the consumption of that Devil Fruit limited his own ability to balance Senjutsu chakra without Kurama's help – though it took quite long for him to secure it.

Senjutsu chakra allowed Naruto to complement his powerful haki with the devastating potential of his gamma rays in ways never seen before. The silence ensuing from the weariness and fear held by the admirals in the presence of their commander was only broken by the monotone of the Transponder Snail.

"Puru…Puru…Puru…Puru…Puru…Puru"

Naruto retrieved the receiver, still incensed by the memories of his previous conversation. "Who is this?"

"You know who I am, Uzumaki." Came a harsh, gruff voice from the snail. Unlike when Sengoku was calling, instead of a facsimile of glasses adorning the snail's eyes, it took on a more menacing expression, eyes narrowed and face set in a near-permanent scowl.

"Admiral Sakazuki. Why are you calling me?"

"Sengoku called about Nutzlos, didn't he?"

"How the fuc-"

"I'm not going to say the same things that Sengoku is saying."

"You still didn't answer my question." Naruto started tapping a pen he held in his other hand on his desk.

"Whatever. Good job on that, by the way."

"You are so lucky that this call is encrypted."

"And that's the only reason why I'm even calling you in the first place, Uzumaki."

"I'm more surprised that you're not trying to chew my head off for this."

"We're not really that different, Uzumaki." Sakazuki's voice cut through the room. "Perhaps the two of us are the most dogmatic enforcers of justice there are in the navy, are we not?"

"Your 'Thorough Justice' is nothing like my 'Merciful Justice', Sakazuki!"

"Only because I am incapable of your canny ability to inspire pirates to truly repent!" Sakazuki paused, before continuing. "Look, Uzumaki, you only take in and accept those pirates who truthfully desire to make things right, don't you? Your 'Merciful Justice' is only extended to those pirates willing to set things right."

"Sakazuki, I honestly don't know whether you're scarier when you're spouting all that 'Thorough Justice' dogma or when you step back and actually think through what you are saying. Because you are scarily close to making me believe in that bullcrap of yours."

"If you had said this sort of thing to me years ago, I probably would have killed you on the spot." Sakazuki stopped, before talking again. "Nor would I have let you continue whatever it is that you are doing right now."

"Get to the point."

"Anyway, how much longer until you complete construction on the Dreadnought- class battleships?"

"Bickslow's almost got them finished, but…"

"Excellent work."

Naruto wanted to heave out a sigh.

"Whatever. Your daughter has been reassigned to the Grand Line."

"I heard." Naruto paused in his talking, whilst the admirals in the room looked around at each other. "I believe in her. She's strong, you know? And I'm proud of her no matter what."

"Don't get sappy on me. I would know, I trained her, didn't I?"

"Tch."

"Good job. For the sake of absolute justice."

The call soon ended, and Naruto simply returned the receiver to the snail. How the fuck did Garp manage to get away with whatever the fuck he did, he bitterly thought, he had no idea. Seriously, it just wasn't fair. The old man had the balls – balls even he did not have – to disparage the World Nobles straight towards their face. Perhaps, Naruto sullenly mused, the only reason that Garp had yet to massacre the entirety of Mary Geoise's Celestial Dragons was that such an act did not suit Garp's style. He was the sort who would get right into one's face, ready to jaw with whoever dared to speak back to him. Subtlety did not exist in Garp's vocabulary. How sad that Naruto could not emulate the Hero of the Marines here.

He knew that what he was doing was not truly justice either. Sure, it was in the spirit of absolute justice and concern for the civilian folk that drove him – and perhaps something much darker within his heart. And Sakazuki found out. Dammit. At least it was not the Sakazuki of five years ago.

That Sakazuki would have, upon hearing of Naruto's actions, in a massive fit of hot rage, initiated a plethora of Buster Call attacks upon the G-U base, Marine or not, with him at the helm, raining a bombardment of molten lava fists from the sky onto those who dared violate the commands of the World Government. Never mind that G-U was enforcing what justice it could enforce. Never mind the reputation of the Marines which would have been greatly crippled. This Sakazuki, the Sakazuki of today, Naruto didn't know which was scarier.

Sakazuki was not Sengoku, that was for sure. Whilst that goat-geezer was content to maintain the status quo and the balances of power, Sakazuki, Naruto remembered, although persisting in his dogmatic reverence towards Absolute Justice, became much more patient; much more reserved in his rage. Whereas before he could be compared to an active, rumbling volcano, ready to erupt at the slightest provocation, now – what the hell did I create, Naruto thought; this Sakazuki was more comparable to a ravenous pack of wolves lurking in wait, ready to unleash their fury anytime. He had never remembered Sakazuki holding a distaste for the World Nobles, however. Since when did he snap out of his unholy reverence for all things Celestial Dragon? Naruto did not know. And he did not wish to continue ruminating on it. Thinking about those despicable World Nobles left a sour taste in his mouth.

He let his mind wander as he relaxed into his seat, sighing. Thinking about his beautiful and strong daughter, who had grown so much, and his estranged son, his greatest shame, for he could not protect him back then; his family had become irrevocably broken since that fateful day. How he longed for a day where he could be united with Uzumaki Boruto in a warm embrace, as father and son, but he knew, and he lamented that he knew, such a hope no longer existed within this accursed world.

He understood, of course. Boruto could not stay, not after what he did. However, his own loneliness gnawed at him constantly, prowling, ready to chip and weather at his resolve. How could he not? His daughter was separated from him by his and her own duties, whilst his son embraced the seas as a means of salvation, and his wife – Uzumaki Hinata – Naruto could feel the tears build up at the corners of his eyes.

The silence within the room was finally broken, as Laxus stepped forward to talk to the sitting Vice-Admiral.

"Uncle, about that thing I asked…"

"Oh, yeah, of course. Go ahead."