To Walk the Path of Freedom
Since arriving on Dawn Island, the family of three had begun their new life in the East Blue. It had been almost 10 years since their arrival and yet so much had happened that it had felt like a lifetime. The first being that Ace had finally grown up into a child and was now running around without the aid of his mother. The child had grown up idolizing his brother as Naruto was the one played with him and taught him how to fight along with Garp who would visit every now and again. The youngest of the two brothers had also grown to despise his father Roger despite both Rouge and Naruto explaining to him that he loved them and was a good man. You see, Ace held firm to the belief that he, his brother and mother all had to live in fear of the Government and the Marines because if they were recognized then they would have to suffer for what Roger had done. Ace had also been bitter at the fact they had to leave their original home of Baterilla because of Roger, and he would never admit it but Ace was also jealous of both his mother and brother that he never had been able to spend any quality time with his father that he could remember. But all this hatred for his father would cause him to occasionally bump heads with his brother who still idolized Roger and believed him to be a good father for sacrificing everything for his family.
Each member of the Neo Dadan Family as Dadan herself called it would come down from the mountain and visit the village very often which lead to Naruto and Ace getting to know the now Party's Bar owner Makino quite well to were both of them considered her like an older adoptive sister. She would tell the brothers of her run ins with Shanks who Naruto could not wait to see again when he sailed out to sea once more as it was both Shanks and Buggy who he used to play with and hang around during his time on the Oro Jackson. Makino would also be caught day dreaming from time to time of the red-haired Pirate, something that Naruto would tease her about non-stop.
The bandits that had taken in the Portgas family had also opened up more with the village as the years passed. Much to Rouge's discontent, they had taught Naruto and Ace how to thieve and steal from them but had promised Rouge that they would only do it to the richer people who lived further into the Goa Kingdom.
The Neo Dadan Family had also seen some new additions in the last couple of years as two new boys had joined their ranks. The first was named Sabo and he was the son of the King and Queen of the Goa Kingdom but could not stand his family. He had round eyes, a missing tooth, and short curly blond hair. He wore a large black top hat with a pair of blue goggles wrapped around it, a blue jacket with the sleeves rolled up, a cravat and a pair of light blue cyan shorts held up by a belt with an elaborate flower-design buckle. He hated the way how they saw themselves above others and elected to cast out various citizens of their Kingdom into the stain on the land known as Gray Terminal. Ace and Sabo got along very well when they first met as they were the same age and Sabo had taken on Ace's mindset of looking up to Naruto too. Both Sabo and Ace had even gone as far as to get old pipes and use them in combat and training as a means to copy Naruto's finesse with his staff that he had acquired so many years ago.
Last but not least there was one more boy who had been living with the family. His name was Monkey D. Luffy, the biological grandson of Monkey D. Garp. Luffy had black shaggy hair which was kept under a straw hat that was gifted to him by Shanks. Along with that he wore a white tang top along with cut off jeans and sandals and wore a scar with two stitches under his left eye. Moreover, the boy was also the user of a paramecia Devil-Fruit known as the Gomu Gomu no mi. Luffy had originally been an outcast as Ace and Sabo would refuse to speak to him and Dadan and the bandits would usually leave him to his own devices. However, Rouge acted as an adoptive mother for the boy and would treat his wounds when he got hurt as well as comforting him when he got upset. Another person who enjoyed Luffy's presence was Naruto. The boy may not have been that smart but he reminded Naruto a lot of himself and his father which drew him to spend a lot of time with the boy. Eventually what Luffy wanted had came to pass as all four boys began to think of themselves as brothers and were as close as could be.
The one who had probably changed the most was Naruto himself. He had grown quite significantly in the last 10 years, now being around 6'1 at the age of 16 years old. He had also swapped out his old clothes for a simple black t-shirt along with dark red cargo shorts and black boots. During his time in Foosha Village, Naruto had also been able to master his staff with the help of Garp whenever he came to visit. The teen had also accompanied Ace, Sabo and Luffy a lot of the time to keep them safe from harm and to clear the way of any unwanted trouble. Whenever their adoptive grandfather Garp wasn't around, Naruto would train his brothers by letting them all attack him at the same time with the younger boys rarely ever connecting with a hit. Together as brothers, the boys had also recently fought the likes of the Bluejam and his Pirate gang in Gray Terminal when they lit it ablaze and went after Ace and Luffy. Naruto stood against the man and his crew alone as he did not wish Dadan or anyone else to have to dirty their hands with that "scum" as he put it. After a few minutes, Naruto proved to be the superior fighter before retreating back to Foosha Village with both Ace, Luffy and Dadan. Though Sabo could not come with them as he had been apprehended by his father's royal guard who threatened to kill the brothers if he did not return.
The events with the Bluejam Pirates had happened a few months ago and it had still left a sour taste in Naruto's mouth at the fact that he was forced to return to a life in which he hated all because his father threatened to kill Naruto, Luffy and Ace. "It's disgraceful!" Naruto exclaimed, getting up from his prone position on the tree branch he was laying on
Luffy pushed himself up to look at him from the grass below, "What is Naruto?" Luffy asked him to which Ace turned and wished to hear what was going on. "Sabo left because I wasn't strong enough to protect him! And now he's being treated like some bargaining chip for those damn nobles!" Emotions ran wild in Naruto as he spoke. "You saw how much guys Sabo's Dad has! He must have millions of soldiers ready to gun anyone down!" Expressed Ace which garnered a nod from Luffy
"If that was you instead, being neglected by your parents and being pampered just to be married off to be never heard from again. Would you want someone to save you?" Naruto asked both of the boys as they quickly exchanged a look with one another. The silence only confirmed that Naruto was right. "He's like a caged bird! A slave to his parents! And it pisses me off! I'm not letting some smug, arrogant, bastard take a member of my family away from me! Not again!" He continued to rant before landing a punch of anger on the tree. This caused the branch Naruto was sitting on to break into pieces which caused him to drop off only to land on his feet.
He walked a few steps in the direction of Gray Terminal before turning around. "I'm going after Sabo." Said Naruto's stern voice. "Both of you should go home and wait there." He followed up his previous words. "What? We can't! He's our brother too!" Ace protested which Naruto ignored. "Yeah!" Luffy chimed in
After hearing his brother's voice their complaints the oldest of the three responded to them, "Both of you aren't ready for what's about to happen. There's a chance that I get branded as a criminal for what I'm about to do and I'm not dragging you two down with me. I already watched someone sacrifice everything for me and I was helpless to do anything! I'm not letting it happen again! So do as I say and go back to Dadan and Mom."
Both of the younger boys reluctantly agreed with Naruto and decided to go back to the house. "Don't die Naruto!" The two shouted at him as they ran off to which he smiled. "I'm not planning on it!" He voiced to himself before running down the opposite side of the mountain into the charred remains of Gray Terminal.
As Naruto made his way down, he began to smell the overwhelming scent of burnt flesh and burnt garbage which brought him to the brink of throwing up but luckily he held his stomach. He chose not to look around and observe the corpses of the people who were not able to make it out alive and kept his mind on saving his brother from a life he did not want to live. He continued his path towards the giant wall that separated the Goa Kingdom itself from Gray Terminal and knew that he could not climb it or destroy it but instead elected to go around it. He turned towards the direction of the ocean and ran on an angle to intercept the part of the wall that had met the water so he had a means to get around into the kingdom itself to find Sabo.
Before long Naruto had run into some trouble which was the form of 3 guards from the Kingdom to do what he assumed was kill any survivors. He hid behind an overturned wagon, only peeking out to see where the guards were located and the 16 year old bought his time until they got a bit closer. 'Now!' He mentally screamed as he drew his staff and slammed it into the side of one's head, knocking him out. Naruto then rolled away from the downed man and arrived just below the second guard and in response to that brought up his staff, hitting him in the chin with enough force to life his body off the ground and knock him unconscious. His eyes then locked on to the third and final of the guards who drew his gun in response to Naruto attacking his squad. The teen, not having enough time to run at the man, threw his staff like a spear and watched as the metal staff collided with his forehead. He then ran at the discombobulated guard and caught his staff right as he spun around and delivered the final blow to his head.
All three guards had been knocked out and Naruto kept moving towards the place where the wall and the ocean met to get around hit. After a few more minutes of running and some hiding from more squads of guards, Naruto had made it to the seem of the wall and saw that a single sentry looked over the corner of the wall. The teen looked to see if there was any way to get around him and saw that there was a white line of brick that came off the wall a tiny bit. Though the brick was put there for decoration purposes the teen was quite confident that he was able to shimmy across it and get into Goa.
He picked up and threw a rock in the opposite direction of himself in hopes of drawing the sentry's location which was successful. Seeing his gaze leave his general area, Naruto ran and put his back to the wall and began to shimmy across the decorative white brick and only stopped once as some of the brick had broke beneath his feet. No to long after he was on the other side of the wall and ran between some building to not look suspicious when the sentry looked back his way.
'Now begins the hard part which is finding and rescuing Sabo.' Echoed a voice inside of Naruto's mind before he was quickly distracted by the screaming of a man. Looking over, he saw a man shouting on the streets. "Help! Some kid stole one of my boats! Royal guards help!" He panicked down the street but Naruto ignored him before he saw said boat sailing just off of the docks
He squinted his eyes to make out who was sailing the boat as his eyes lit up in excitement after seeing a top hat with some blue googles tied off to the bas of it. Naruto ran as fast as he could to get as close to the ship as possible and managed to swerve around a few onlooking bystanders prior to getting to the edge of the dock to call out to the Captain of the small fishing boat. "OIIIIII SABOOOO!" He yelled at the top of his lungs which seemed to get his brother's attention
The boy waved back as he was too far out now to say anything back. Naruto watched him disappear from sight, and after a few short seconds a black flag had been raised with an "S" in the middle of cross bones. The elder gleamed in response to the sight as he cupped his hands over his mouth again. "I'LL SEE YOU ON THE GRANDLINE SABOOOO! DON'T FORGET ABOUT YOUR TRUE FAMILY!" Naruto finished, proud of his brother for forging his own destiny and living on the path of freedom
Of course this happiness was short lived as over the horizon came a giant ship, more than 50 times bigger than Sabo's, carrying the seal of the World Government. People all around began to gasp as Sabo was right in line with the giant vessel. "T-That's one of the Celestial Dragon's ships!" A civilian exclaimed in shock. Naruto turned back to watch Sabo's ship as it sailed even closer to the gigantic vessel. "Dammit this isn't good! C'mon Sabo! Get out of that thing's way and make it to sea!" He spoke in a distressed tone, not wanting Sabo to end up as the newest victim of the Celestial Dragons
Everyone present at the port could not take their eyes off of the scene in front of them as the boy sailing the small fishing boat attempted for his dear life to change the course of his boat. Eventually all hope seemed lost prior too an odd wind blowing the sails on Sabo's ship to make it move out of the way as everyone, Naruto included took a sigh of relief. Though, everyone had put too much faith in the Celestial Dragon as not even 20 seconds later a shot was heard off the water which was immediately followed by a fireball consuming the small vessel.
BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOM!
The explosion echoed off of the buildings in the Goa Kingdom making some reach for their ears, however, Naruto did not take his eyes off of the sight before him. Just like that he was transported back to that day, with the same helpless look on his face as when his father left to hand himself in. "No. . . " He whispered. "I-I lost him. . .m-my brother I lost him. . ." He fell to his knees with a thud
Naruto's mind raced to the time when they had all first become brothers, as it was all he could think about after what he just witnessed happen to Sabo.
Flashback. . .
"You mean it?! You guys really want to become brothers!?" Beamed a happy Luffy as he jumped around on the hillside him, Ace, Sabo and Naruto were positioned on
The oldest of them smiled, "There's nothing I would want more Luffy! All I'm saying is that no one on all of the seas shares a bond like all of us! I don't care what blood has to say! You three are my family too!" His words cut deep as Ace wiped some tears from his eyes and Sabo smiled and nodded in agreement
Once the boy finished wiping his eyes he reached for a bottle and put it on the stump in front of them with four sake cups. "You know there's a chance we might all be on different Pirate crews." Sabo told everyone to which Ace shrugged
"So what! It's our connection as brothers that will bond us together wherever we are on the seas!" Ace added off of Sabo's words, and poured everyone present a cup of sake to share
Luffy gave a trademark laugh as he lifted his to the sky which caused a little to spill. "I promise that I'll become the King of the Pirates!" He yelled out as the other three caught his drift
"I promise that I'll never die and leave you guys alone!" Ace followed Luffy
Sabo then lifted his up with a smile. "I promise to always have my brother's back when they need it!"
The three then turned to the eldest for his promise and they watched as he sat motionless for a second. "I promise. . .I promise that I'll keep you all safe and that I'll be strong enough to always protect you from harm!" He yelled out as each of them hit the sake cups together before drinking
"Now we're brothers!" They all cheered
Back in reality Naruto sat there for a moment, not moving a muscle. 'I promise that I'll keep you safe. . ." His mind played these words back to him over and over. He looked up to the sea to see the burning pile of rubble that was Sabo's ship and saw the flag burn to a crisp right before his eyes. "I p-promised. . .I-I-" His muttering was stopped as his attention directed to a black object floating nearby in the water. Naruto reached out and managed to lift it out of the sea prior to getting a good look at it. The object in question was Sabo's hat, and it had burn marks all over it and it was practically falling apart in his hands. His hands shook as he held it but then he grasped it tightly before taking the the goggles off of the hat and tying them to his own
He clenched his fist and slammed it against the cobblestone ground, creating a crack where his hand had made contact. Without explanation, everyone nearby began to feel a sort of drowning feeling as some even fainted on the spot and fell over. Before long the feeling had stopped and by that point at least three quatres of the people watching the scene unfold with the Celestial Dragon had fainted on the streets of the Goa Kingdom.
The only thing Naruto could do was glare at the giant vessel as it pulled into the port on its side, blocking out the sun in some parts of the city due to the sheer size of the vessel. The teen elected to stay out of sight for now as to not draw attention to himself and hopefully be able to sneak into the ship without much trouble. After a few minutes of waiting, the side of the ship began to lower itself down and crushed the cobblestone port and even crushing a few civilians who did not get out of the way in time. Of course all this did was anger Naruto further as he could not bare to watch more people suffer at the hands of the World Nobles. Once the ramp had descended and civilians had back away, a man wearing a black suit with sunglasses and a black fedora stood at the top of the ramp. "Presenting his royal highness of the Rosward Family! The esteemed and all powerful Saint Jalmack!" Presented the man as he then bowed in the direction of the World Noble before retreating out of sight to allow the Celestial Dragon to make his appearance
Looking at the Noble, Jalmack seemed to have a similar hairstyle as the entire Rosward family, but his looked to go up in two bulbs. He also had a wide chin and wore a red earring on his right ear. Moreover, as with all other World Nobles, Jalmack wore a thick white suit adorned with medal-like knobs on the front. He also added a cape to go along with it which flowed down his back. The most stand out feature about the man was indeed the rectangular glass helmet he wore, which the nobles attributed to as not wanting to breathe the same are as the commoners. "Bow trash! You are in the presence of a World Noble! Show your respect!" He yelled as one after the other the civilians and nobles gathered all began to drop on their hands and knees
The teen looking onto the situation cringed. "What an asshole! Seriously who does this guy think he is, God?" He complained a little too loudly as some of the nearby civilians "shhh'd" him but Naruto just retreated further away from the commotion as he needed to find a way onto the ship. Saint Jalmack walked down the ramp accompanied by more men wearing black suits, sunglasses and fedoras. They seemed to operate as the Noble's bodyguards whilst he roamed around the Goa Kingdom, and before long they had begun to walk down the street as the people that they passed began to get up and cower away in hopes of not drawing attention to themselves.
As they walked, Jalmack felt his coat pocket and picked out a metal bullet and marveled at it for a moment. It was immediately after that a the Noble drew his gun and fired in the direction of the civilians and struck a man in the chest. "That extra bullet was not very comfortable in my coat pocket. Be grateful that you were shot by me scum." He said as he continued to walk with a smug smile on his face
Everyone present could not believe their eyes. The Celestial Dragon had just killed a man because the extra bullet he had in his pocket was bugging him. Naruto gritted his teeth, he could not take anymore of this Noble terrorizing the Goa Kingdom and everyone being helpless to do anything. He then ducked and maneuvered through the crowd before he arrived at the ramp that connected to the massive vessel. The teen scanned the ship to see if there was any other way to get on it that was not as obvious as running up the ramp. He looked to the side of the ship, "Bingo!" He exclaimed, seeing an anchor's chain connecting the top of the ship to the bottom of the bay
Without a moment to lose the teen jumped headfirst into the water and swam underneath its surface to reach the giant chain. Gripping it with his two hands, Naruto climbed up the chain with his staff on his back and only stopped to look how the situation with the Celestial Drago was progressing a little ways away. He was almost at the top before he head the sound of foot steps coming from above him and he took a hint and glued his body to the side of the ship and hung onto the railing. As Naruto expected, it was another one of the men dressed in black though he was holding a gun and seemed to be inspecting the ship to make sure no one got aboard. In a quick motion, Naruto pulled himself up and grabbed the man's shirt and pulled him over the railing as he let him go to fall into the water below. He watched the spot in which the man had landed and saw his body float to the surface of the water and continued to see it drift closer and closer to the shore due to the small waves. Naruto looked back and focused at his task at hand as he pulled himself up and over the railing and took cover behind some barrels on the deck.
He watched on as guards circled the the deck of the ship as his eyes once again scanned for a way into the ship. He looked around and assessed his options prior to deciding on slipping down through the door located on the surface of the deck. Naruto bought his time and like the incident with the sentry waited for the right time to go before running. Right before he was there he slid on the deck and fell through the hatch in the floor as it was open. He then caught himself by holding onto the frame of the hatch and silently let himself down to the floor below without making a sound.
Naruto looked around to see no guards in sight but instead saw many different sized chests and cargo that the Noble's ship seemed to be carrying with them. He walked over to the nearest chest and flipped it open to see that it was full with beli. "Woah that's a lot of money." He spoke, not bothering to stay super quiet. Instead of just leaving it there, the teen brought a thin burlap sack out of his cargo pockets and un ruffled it and out dropped another couple of bags. He quickly filled up the bags full of money and then left them to sit there as he explored more of the ship to see if he could find anything to either harm the Celestial Dragon or damage his ship.
He opened a few more chests to reveal such things as guns, metal sheets and even more money. "This guy must carry his entire fortune with him every where he goes. Pretty stupid if you ask me." He spoke to no one put himself. Portgas D. Naruto then turned another corner but quickly retreated back behind a few chests as he saw a guard who appeared to be talking to a girl in a cage made of a dark metallic grey material.
"You know I could let you out! IF you decide to do something for me!" He spoke to her with a perverted grin adorning his face. The girl in question wore a beaten up yellow tang top with dirty white shorts that were torn and had plenty of holes in them. She looked no older than Naruto and had blond hair that was pulled back in a messy ponytail and had blue eyes that looked as though they had lost hope. "Won't you assholes take a hint! Leave me alone!" She yelled back at him which only fueled the guard further
He chuckled, "All that squirming will only make it harder! Besides that egomaniac Jalmack doesn't have to know that I had a little. . .fun with his caged bird!" He continued to say and Naruto had enough and snuck up behind the man. He tapped his shoulder which stunned the guard and he turned around quickly only to have his leg be taken out by the end of Naruto's staff and then he followed up with another quick hit to the man's head, knocking him out. "She said no." Spoke the teen before he looked back at the caged woman
"Who the hell are you? And what are you doing here!?" She asked him, getting right to the point as Naruto bent over to inspect the man's body. "The name is Naruto, and well I'm just here to avenge my brother. That bastard Celestial Dragon shot his ship down when he tried to set sail and get away from the crappy life he had here. You?" He spoke, not taking his eyes off the man's body
She looked at him in a puzzled look before answering his question. "The keys are in the left pocket. And my name is Lucy. I was captured when I was a child and taken away from my home in the North Blue." She told him and Naruto grinned pulling out the keys to the cage. "Well I got good news for you! You get to go back and see them!" He exclaimed unlocking the cage for Lucy to step out. "No. . .I can't. . ." She began to answer which struck Naruto as odd
"Why not?" He asked with a raised brow. She looked back at him. "When that bastard came to me home when I was a girl he picked me out of thousands of others. Jalmack wanted what he called 'a premium slave' so he ordered the slaughter of everyone on my island. My brothers, my sisters, my friends, my family, my everything, all gone and killed by a man who has too much power." Lucy told him and Naruto sighed in response. "It's terrible what these World Nobles do, today I lost my brother because he crossed their path. And before that my father, he needed to sacrifice his own life to save the lives of myself, my mom and my brother." He looked back in her direction as Lucy had begun to stretch after finally getting out of the cage she was in. "Where are you going to go?" He asked her and the girl looked at him
"I don't have a place to go. My home was destroyed and everywhere I go I'll no doubt be hunted like a dog to be returned to the Nobles. To them I have value, they marked me with their mark. . . along my back." Lucy began to say as she moved her hair which revealed the mark. The boy clenched his fist in response to the sight before his mind lit up with an idea. "Why not come with me! I plan to embark on my path to freedom very soon and I need a crew to help me with my goal!" The boy said enthusiastically before Lucy frowned. "I have no interest in becoming a Pirate if that's what you're suggesting! Besides, I work better alone!" She told him as she unveiled a pair of white feathered wings that sprouted from her arms and Naruto fell back in shock
'A Devil-Fruit!' His mind blazed. "It's the Tori Tori no mi: Model Dove if you're wondering. Jalmack fed it to me when I was a child in hopes of enjoying my torment as I transformed." She explained to him as more of her body transformed and before long she was in her hybrid form. "Thank you Naruto for freeing me and maybe we might meet again someday." She finished by flying up a couple of feet before falling right back to the ground
Lucy stayed face down on the ground for a moment and Naruto snickered behind her. "Did you mean to do that?" He asked, doing his best to hold back his laugh. "No of course not! I guess I'm not used to flying considering I've been in that damn cage for so long!" She cursed to which Naruto helped her up. He then heard footsteps across the wood above them and some dialogue that could not be understood. "Well like it or not it looks like we'll be working together on this one Lucy! Seems things are about to heat up!" He explained to which she sighed, "Yayyy. . ." She gave a weak response
"Are there anymore people on the ship other than these perverted guards?" Asked the boy and Lucy gave a headshake. "There are some down near the other end of the ship, why?" She asked him with a raised brow. "Well, before I found you I was about to rig this thing to blow so I would like to ideally get all the people off this ship so I don't hurt anyone who's innocent." He told her and Lucy laughed out loud. "You're serious?!" She began and he remained looking at her with a serious face. "Oh my lord you're serious, well in that case take the keys and go let them out. I'll stall over here and give you some time." She told him
The teen was about to run off before he stopped himself. "Lucy, when you're done over here meet me on my end! And bring those burlap bags around the corner! It's money to help my village!" He told her and she shooed him away. Naruto ran down the ship in the room full of goods and loot leaving Lucy alone who faced the guards who approached her from the hatch Naruto entered. "Time to see what I can do after all this time! Feather Tycoon!" She yelled out as her wings swung in various directions with her feathers swinging and slicing at the guards who were all helpless to do anything. She turned the opposite way to see guards had also made their way to the other side of her. "Feather Missile!" She followed up with as some of her feathers shot off her wings and impaled the armed guards and left them to drop to the floor
To the Devil-Fruit user's joy more and more had come to replace the guards she had already defeated. "Wow you guys just don't know when to quit do you!" She grinned before fighting off more of them
With Naruto. . .
The teen ran down the crowded lower deck as he ran over top of boxes and parkoured around obstacles in his way to get to the other people Jalmack had held hostage on his ship. He eventually spotted a small group of people, each one of them wearing a collar and dressed in dirty brown clothing being overseen by two guards, armed with weapons. Though Naruto did not particularly care as he knew he could quickly overwhelm them with his speed. He jumped off of a tall crate which allowed the boy to slam the end of his staff onto the head off one of the guards before throwing the staff at the other which knocked the weapon out of his hand. The guard gritted his teeth and then charged Naruto with his fists to which the boy responded by readying his own. The guard led with a powerful right hook which Naruto ducked under and swepted his leg which led to the man falling on his back.
Without any hesitation, Naruto's next move was a swift elbow to the gut and knocked all of the wind out of the man. Now the unconscious form of two guards laid on the ground as Naruto bent over to undo the shackles off of each of the captured people. "Thank you sir! You freed us!" Spoke an older man. "I can't wait to go home!" Exclaimed a young girl who beamed at the feeling of being free
All Naruto could do was smile as he had managed to save some people today. "Are there any more of you?" He asked the now freed slaves who looked each other over to make sure everyone was accounted for. "Yes, this appears to be everyone! Thank you so much for your kindness!" A woman told him and he smiled and nodded. "I need you all to get out of here through one of the hatches in the ceiling and get off of this ship. A friend and I should have taken care of all the guards and we need you off this ship before it explodes." He told them as each former slave rushed out of here
"Before you go!" He held back to them as the group of people stopped. He threw them a burlap bag full of money, "Take that so that each of you can get home and live your lives a little more comfortably from now on." They all thanked him one by one as they ran off.
The teen then looked around the surrounding area for anything that would create enough of a boom to blow the giant ship up. He flipped open box after box looking for anything and it looked like for a few minutes that he wouldn't be able to find anything. He tried his luck for what felt to be like the tenth time and grinned as he saw the contents of the box. Inside was what looked to be at least 100 frag grenades, if all detonated together should create a big enough blast to set off some of the ammunition that Naruto had found earlier and destroy a sizable portion of the ship. He pulled some out of the chest and saw that they came in sashes of 10 so he wrapped two sashes around his chest before his eyes caught something else.
Looking just past the open crate was a small chest, no bigger then a fishing box. Curiosity got the best of the boy as he reached for the chest between the cracks of some crates. Eventually his hand landed on it and he pulled it out and placed it on the opened lid of the grenade cache. He looked up from his recently found chest and then spoke. "If I were you I wouldn't stand there." He warned as there was a guard that was behind him aiming at his back
"You're in no position to tell me anything you criminal! You have no leverage on me! Soon an Admiral will be contacted from our communications room and you and everyone else that followed you on this boat will be trialed and killed!" The guard told Naruto who smiled. "Well thank you for letting me know what part of the ship I should go after next but I really think you shouldn't be standing there." He warned again and the guard cocked his gun
"Oh yea-" Was all he managed to utter as Lucy had come from behind him and hit the man over the head with one burlap bag full of gold. "He warned you!" She told the downed guard before tossing Naruto a bag. "Sorry it took so long, I had to make sure I paid you back!" She told him with a laugh, holding the bag of money over her shoulder
He smiled back at her. "Thanks Lucy! But you didn't owe me anything! I did what I thought was right and there's no price on doing the right thing!" He explained with the same smile he always wore but her attention was quickly caught by the small box in front of him. "What's that?" She asked him and Naruto pulled the box in front of himself so that they could both have a better look
"I don't know, but I'm going to find out!" He enthusiastically yelled while pulling the box open. When it did open the two teens looked in the box to see a very peculiar fruit in the shape of a sphere, decorated with black swirls all over it. The stem seemed to go in an "S" shape across the top of the fruit, and a note was attached to the inside of the box. Naruto quickly read it before throwing the box away so that he only held the fruit in his hand. "What'd it say?" Asked Lucy as her curiosity flared
He locked eyes with her. "It said that this fruit is the Suki Suki no mi?" He told her and Lucy nodded understandingly. "I've never heard of that one before but it seems that with that fruit someone might be able to control space to some extent." She voiced her thoughts and watched Naruto eye the Devil-Fruit. He then connected his eyes again with Lucy. "Here take it." He told her, extending the Devil-Fruit towards her
"W-what! This Devil-Fruit can control space and you're just going to give it away like that!?" She asked him with aloud voice and the teen smiled in return. "It does sound cool to control space and all that but all I wanted was to avenge my brother, not eat any Devil-fruits or anything like that. Besides, you could probably sell it for quite a lot and have enough money to be able to avoid the World Government for good." He explained to her and Lucy was shocked to say the least
She took the Devil-Fruit in her hand and looked at it. "That's the nicest thing someone has ever done for me. . ." She began which made Naruto smile in response. A small smile cracked on her lips before she grabbed Naruto's shoulder and shoved the fruit into his mouth. "But I'm not letting you get one up on me again Naruto!" Lucy explain as Naruto choked on the fruit before swallowing
"You could've killed me!" He breathed heavily from a prone position to which she laughed and helped him up. "Yeah but I knew you'd pull through. There's something about you Naruto that's just. . .I don't know, but we should get out of here and kick Jalmack's ass!" She told him which earned a smile from the boy. "Let's do it!" He added to her words
Lucy began to transform into her bird form which easily put her at around 2-3 times her original size but Naruto noticed while in the form of a white dove she still kept some traits from her human counterpart. "Lucy grab those two chests to your left, they're full of money. I'll take the bags with myself and leave out the way I came." Naruto walked her through his plan but she just put her head underneath his legs and flipped the new Devil-Fruit user up atop her back. "Light that grenade and hold on tight!" She ordered him as Naruto pulled the pin and dropped it back into the cache. "HERE WE GO!" She yelled, bursting through the wooden deck as various guards looked shocked as they ran from other parts of the ship to come and get them.
The pair flew around the boat and Naruto lobbed live grenades into places that looked important such as the communication rooms, and the helm just to name a few. They waited a couple of seconds as explosions erupted all over the ship and some guards, fearing for their lives, jumped ship. The group continued to bombard the ship and before long it looked as though it was about to sink into the bay.
"Hey Lucy!" Naruto began as he leaned closer to the bird-human's face. "Jalmack is over there in the main square!" He told the giant bird who nodded and flapped her wings as the pair soared overtop the Goa Kingdom until they dive bombed down to the street in front of Jalmack and many on looking pedestrians.
The Celestial Dragon began to panic as he stumbled back onto his ass and crawled away from the duo. "Get back! I-I'll have you two killed for this!" He screamed as he continued to crawl away while Naruto walked after him. The Noble managed to struggle to his feet before pulling a little girl from the crowd and aiming the gun at her head. "Take another step and this filth will have her brains splattered across the street!" He ordered Naruto who stood still.
"Mommy, Daddy help me! I'm scared!" The girl panicked before she was yanked back by Jalmack. "Shut your mouth commoner or I'll kill you!" He told her, with evil in his voice. Jalmack's eyes then went over to Lucy. "Slave! Get him your master commands it!" He tried to command her to which she did not listen. "Are you screwed in the head?! I said get him slave!" He yelled out again but Lucy shouted back
"I'm no one's slave, not anymore! I'm free just like the rest of the people aboard your ship!" She told him which caused Jalmack to grit as he had lost a lot from the destruction of his ship. "Dammit! Then I'll have an Admiral hunt you both down! I'll have every man and woman at my disposal come after you and kill you both!" Jalmack yelled at the two Devil-Fruit user's
Naruto took another step. "Jalmack! You killed my brother this morning! What do you have to say for that!?" Portgas D. Naruto asked the Celestial Dragon who chuckled. "All I have to say is he wouldn't' be the first! And now you will die!" He yelled, taking the gun off the girl's head and pointing it at Naruto. The boy went wide eyed in response as Lucy looked over to him and tried to save him. It was too late as Jalmack fired the weapon and it hit Naruto square in the chest which caused him to slump over on the street and hold his chest.
The Noble then started to dance and laugh prior to approaching Naruto and looking down at him from over head. "I must say you had me worried their for a second! But look at you now! Bowing at my feet! Doesn't this just feel right to you commoners! Kneeling at the feet of the superior human!" He loaded his gun again and shoved it to the top of the boy's head. "Anything you want to say before I wipe you from this world?" Jalmack asked with a victorious smirk
Naruto looked him in the eye. "Got ya!" Was all he expressed. "Wha-" Jalmack began but was cut off by an uppercut from Naruto as the noble flew a few meters down the street and broke his dome on the impact on the cobblestone. "Y-you bastard!" He shot again to which Naruto opened his palm towards Jalmack
"Almighty Push!" He proclaimed which made the bullet fly right back to the Celestial Dragon, striking him in the chest. Blood poured out on the white uniform for a second as the noble soon became motionless and died. Screams could then be heard across the Kingdom, some of happiness and rejoice and others of panic that the World Government would surly send and Admiral in investigate
Lucy walked over to Naruto and put her hands on her hips. "Well I'd be lying if I said he didn't deserve it. So what's your plan now?" She asked him as they both looked a Jalmack's corpse. He sighed, "I can't stay or else I'd be putting everyone in danger, if what he said was true and an Admiral does come I'm not going to stick around and watch as they hurt the ones close to me to get to me. The only way to keep them safe is to voyage out onto the sea." Naruto explained to her
"And have you ever sailed a ship before?" She followed up with another question. He shook his head no. "Well then you can use some help! I'll most likely get blamed for your mess too so we might as well stick together for the time being. Plus I'm not too bad at navigating either!" She told him and Naruto responded with a smile. "I need you to do me a favor first. We need to go back to my village to tell my Mom, she'll be pissed but she'll understand." He told Lucy who nodded as they flew off towards Foosha
Back at Foosha Village. . .
"What the hell were you thinking!" Rouge scolded her eldest son with tears in her eyes as the 'Neo Dadan Family' had just gotten over the loss of Sabo. "Mom that bastard killed Sabo! I did what I thought was right!" He argued back to which Rouge just hugged him. "I know. . .you know you're a lot like your father in that sense. Not following the rules and doing whatever you want. (Sigh) Just make sure that you don't get into too much trouble out there!" She told him and Naruto took a step back to stand beside Lucy and the bought hey were going to take to start their journey
Dadan would never admit it but she was torn between being sad for the loss of Sabo and Naruto's departure but also happy her best thief would be going on to start his grand journey. "Get out of here brat! You're abandoning the Neo Dadan Family! An offense punishable by death!" She yelled at Naruto which caused Lucy to sweat drop. "I'll miss you too Dadan, Dogra, and you too Magra! I hope you all never change!" He told the bandits as Dadan began to cry on the ground again as the other two waved goodbye to him
"Makino! Keep being the cool older sister you are! I can't wait to see you again!" He spoke to her which made some tears drip down her eyes. "Don't forget about us on the open sea Naruto!" She yelled back in response
Last but not least were Ace and Luffy, both of which were standing right beside their older brother. "Don't go too far cause I'll be coming to kick your ass on the Grandline Naruto and become the Pirate King!" Ace explained to his brother but Luffy butted in. "No way! I'm going to be the Pirate King and get a cool navigator like bird lady!" Luffy cheered to which Lucy grew a tic mark
"My name's not bird lady you runt! It's Lucy! Don't you forget that!" She scolded Luffy who just chuckled at her antics
Naruto did not bother to argue but instead chose to pick up Ace and Luffy and bring them in for a hug. "I'll see you two on the Grandline soon! And don't worry, I'll let you two decide who becomes the Pirate King!" He finished by putting down both the boys
The eldest of the 4 brothers then turned and stepped on his boat with Lucy to begin their journey and to begin the era of Portgas D. Naruto, the man who would become free from the shackles of the World Government.
Alright! That's another chapter in the books and I hope you all enjoyed! I would really appreciate everyone's thoughts on this new rewrite so far and I'll be glad to answer any questions anyone has!
Take care!
Qwert