To Walk the Path of Freedom

"Can you two be quiet! Your constant noise is hurting my head!" Scolded Lucy as she regained her consciousness from within the cell with Naruto and Russ. "Aww sorry feathers, the noise a little too loud for ya? Well deal with it then!" Answered Russ as he shook the mechanical stubs he had for arms at her. Of course this comment did not sit well with Lucy and she glared daggers at the marksman in response to his words.

Of course Naruto just chuckled at the bickering between the two. "Hey don't worry! Kiji is still out there and I trust him to come and help us!" Naruto voiced with an enthusiastic attitude. After he spoke Lucy immediately went silent and clenched her fists from within her restraints. "Don't count on it Naruto!" She began to explain. "Before I fought this dirty bastard, Kiji had the chance to come and save you but according to him he ran away!" The navigator explained as she gestured towards Russ who was a little ticked about being called a 'dirty bastard'.

Naruto's eyes immediately went off of Lucy and glued themselves back onto Russ. "Is this true?" He asked the marksman, not wanting to believe Kiji would just leave them all to be captured. Russ looked over and chuckled. "That bastard saw us n' ran! Took a squad of Marines with him though!" He relayed to Naruto who had his doubts for a second about the fish-man but than immediately threw those thoughts to the back of his head. "No, Kiji would never betray us and run away. He's one of the strongest people I know and wouldn't get freaked out by a couple of Marines! I believe in him!" Naruto proclaimed but the other two occupants of the cell did not seem to share his beliefs

"Just wait, pretty soon the Celestial Dragons will get word of us being captured. Then Naruto, you'll be executed and I'll be forced to be a slave for the rest of my life." Lucy exclaimed, depressed because there was a good chance her old life would come back to be her new way of living. Russ gritted his teeth. "Oh boo hoo! So what the Celestials make you a slave! It's paradise over what's going to happen to me!" He yelled back at her and Lucy flipped herself over to directly face him. "In what way is being a slave for those cruel bastards paradise! You have no idea what I had to endure! I had to kill anyone put up against me! I had to eat the scraps that livestock were to lazy to eat! I had to restrain myself from taking my life every single day! So don't tell me the hell I went through was paradise, because it wasn't! It was a nightmare!" She told both of them

The marksman continued to grit his teeth before responding with words of his own. "But after all of that ya still came out okay." He said and Lucy was ready to interject but Russ continued to speak. "I think it'd be safe to say that each one of us shares discontent for the Government." He finished but Lucy was quick to speak up once again. "Yeah I'm sure you do! Naruto and I had both had things taken away by the Government! They hurt and killed the ones we love! The only thing the Government gave you was a paycheque!" Explained Lucy with anger in her voice

"You're wrong!" He yelled back. "You're wrong." Russ spoke again, some sadness seeping over his voice. "I wasn't always like this ya know. Like robotic I mean. It was done to me by a group of scientists. They called themselves MADS. Awhile ago I lived with my sister and though our parents were gone we still lived an alright life, poor and hungry all the time, but we had each other. Until MADS came to our island, they wanted volunteers ya see, for their experiments. I refused to help em. But the they started tellin' all of us that if ya would help em out they would gave ya some money and food after it was done. Hundreds of my island's people went in there lab, not a soul came out. That lab sucked the island dry of its resources, food became scarce, money even scarcer. Then everything changed on that day. . ."

Flashback. . .

"Hey, big bro! I think I found a way to get us some food!" Exclaimed a young girl, dressed in a simple pink dress with flowing dirty-blond hair that was done up in a ponytail behind her head. She also had gorgeous teal eyes which matched the ribbon that flowed through her hair. "Coraline, we tried everythin', there's no way we can still live 'ere. I know you think that leaving Ma and Pa behind is a bad thing but we ain't got a choice." Came Russ's voice, explaining they needed to leave the island

The girl pouted. "But this is our home Russ! How can you be so quick to throw it all away!" She yelled back at him before running away down the street and out of sight. The man just watched his sister run away and gave a sigh. "That girl, always so head strong." Russ mused to himself as he started to walk back to his home which was not too far from his current location.

After a few minutes of walking the future marksman arrived at a small wooden shack just on the edge of a forest and tried opening the door. He laid his hand on the knob and pushed and only after putting most of his weight into it, the door opened to reveal a dirty interior with very little of anything. "Might as well get dinner goin' while she's out." Russ spoke aloud, while he walked in and closed the door behind him. He looked through the few cupboards in the kitchen area and could only find some stale bread along with a little bit of cracked noodles.

'Damn.' He thought prior to pulling the ingredients out onto the counter and walking over to the fireplace to start a flame to cook. In a matter of seconds, a match was lit and thrown into the wall cavity and flames began to rise up. The man gave as smile and began boiling the noodles but his focus was torn away from his cooking because of a knock on the door.

He looked over to the door and listened as another knock was given. 'What the? Who the hell is lookin' for us?' Another thought came into Russ's head as his curiosity got the best of him and he walked to the door and pulled it open. Standing there was what looked to be some weird creature, he had very long, spiky, black hair, yellow eyes, and two curly horns growing from the back of his head. He was rather tall , and wore purple lipstick and dark makeup on his eyes. He had a small flat nose and long thin eyebrows. "Hello you must be Russ! A pleasure to meet you!" The human who Russ thought was a creature of sorts spoke with a sinister undertone

"W-who're ya!?" Russ demanded to know and the man let out a weird sounding chuckle. "Ah yes! My name is Caesar! Caesar Clown! And I am one of the researchers at the nearby MADS facility!" The now named Caesar told Russ who made a fist at his answer. "What the hell are you doin' here! Haven't you and your friends taken enough!" Came an angry response from the home owner but Caesar did not lose his grin

He chuckled again. "Perhaps we have but that is not the reason for my visit! I am here to get your signature for Coraline's treatment! Today she found us and well asked to participate in our program so that she may receive food! And normally her signature would be enough but she is too young to give consent herself so we need her guardian's signature as a means to not do something that would lose us favour with the World Government!" Caesar explained with a villainous smirk and Russ lined up and punch on the man

He threw his fist as hard as he could at Caesar and watched as it harmlessly passed right through the scientist. "That won't work on me! But I do need that signature if you don't mind." Caesar boasted and grabbed the back of Russ's head and pulled his arm back with his other hand and put the brother of Coraline in a lock. "W-wait you bastard! What i-if I went instead! Leave her out of this and take me!" Pleaded Russ and Caesar pondered this for a second before grinning and letting him go and fall to the floor

"Deal!" Caesar stated, extending a hand to Russ who took it and shook it

Flashback End. . .

"They never planned on honouring it. They ripped me apart and put me back together again. I'm convinced that they just used research as an excuse to torture people and see what their breakin' points were. Though I was the only lucky one, out of all the test subjects they had for their Pacifista program, I was the only one to survive. Queen, Caesar, Judge, Vegapunk. Each one of those men took 'way my freedom and turned me into this monster." Russ told them with a hint of sadness in his voice

At these words, Lucy calmed down and took pity on her once foe while Naruto fumed. "What happened to you sister?" He asked the marksman and the two Void Pirates watched Russ's expression turn sour. "Despite me tellin' them I'd take her place they lied to me. I found out later that by the time I first got to there lab she had already been killed. At the end of it they got their monster, and I got cheated out of a normal life. I was so helpless, do you know what that feels like? Knowing that if you had just a lil more strength you could've saved your loved ones." Russ asked Naruto and he nodded

"Come with us Russ! I won't accept no for an answer!" Naruto demanded of the marksman who shook his head. "Why the hell would I join you? Do I gotta remind you that not ever two hours ago I shot you in the leg!" Countered the bounty hunter but Naruto laughed. "Well what happens happens. The truth is you're like us! We all know what it's like to suffer and it's because of that we need to stick together! What do you say!?" Naruto asked again and Russ laughed

Before he could answer Lucy spoke up instead. "Are you sure Naruto? Why not wait until we get into the Grandline so we don't have this perv on our crew?" She tried reasoning with her Captain and Russ glared back at the navigator. "Watch it feathers! Or would you like to know how it feels to be hit dead on by my laser beam?" He taunted back but she just huffed and turned away. He then looked back at Naruto who still had his grin on his face. "If you some how manage to get me outta here in one piece then I'll consider it. That's my answer." He told Naruto who smiled warmly

"Great! Now all we need is Kiji to pull through and save us!" Beamed the Captain of the Void Pirates

Elsewhere on the island. . .

"Did you hear the Captain has Portgas, that bird girl, and Russ the bounty hunter in custody!" Explained one of the Marine patrols to his partner. "Wow, looks like she's due for a promotion! I know we'll be moving out soon to the Grandline anyway but damn she's good at getting stuff done!" Came a response, courtesy of the other Marine in the patrol

"You bet! Plus she's really nice to look at too! With those seductive hips and full red lips of hers!" The first Marine began to gush over his commanding officer which made the other patrolman laugh. "Just wait until the new Captain comes in to replace her! I hear it's some guy named Smoker! A buddy of mine is in his battalion and told me he's a real hard ass!" The other told him. Though unaware to either Marine there was another set of ears listening in on the conversation

A few seconds later, both of them heard a rustle come from the bushes next to them. Without hesitation, both Marines drew their weapons and pointed them at the rustling bush. "W-who the hell is there!?" Yelled one of them, with some fear in his voice. "Y-yeah! If you don't come out we'll shoot!" Ordered the second Marine as they both watched a huge figure step out of the tree line where the bush was

"H-hey! Put your hands w-where we can see them!" The first Marine ordered the figure but as it raised its hands to the sky it quickly formed a fist with both of its hands and swung down on the Marine, knocking him out. "W-what the-" Began the other Marine who was swiftly hit in the stomach and into a tree. The figure then dusted himself off and walked down the path where the two Marines previously were walking on. "Those humans never shut up." Spoke the figure who after stepping into the setting sun was revealed to be Kiji

He walked down the path a little further to see that it lead to a cliff that overlooked the ocean. The fish-man was shocked that it did and looked down below to see that the tides weren't that bad at all and he could make an easy swim if he really wanted to. "If I so desired it I could leave this place, and go back into exile. I'd be done with the humans I've travelled with and I could finally go back to being alone like I wanted." Kiji voiced out loud to himself as he weighed out his options

"It's not like I wanted to travel with them, in fact the only reason I did was to pay them back for helping me defend my island from Cipher Pol. If I left now then I'd never see or hear from them again and it will be like the last couple of days were just a bad dream." Kiji had begun to say but turned his head down the other side of the fork in the path and saw a fortified building on the coast of the island. "If they're anywhere then Lucy and Naruto must be held there." He reasoned and went to take a step closer towards the cliff to jump off into the ocean but found himself struggling to do so

The fish-man once again peered down at the ocean before sighed. "Dammit." He cursed as he turned his body to face the building he was originally looking at. 'It may not be my ideal situation, but Naruto is my best bet at returning home. Looks like I got to break the idiot out so he can honor his word and take me back to Fish-Man Island.' Kiji's thoughts blazed as he stormed off in the direction of the building

He elected to stay in the tree line as to not be seen by any sentries and moved as far as the wall off the building. Once Kiji was there he put his back to the wall and looked up to the sky 'Dammit Naruto.' He cursed in his head prior to making a fist and punching the wall, square in the middle. "Hundred Brick Fist!" He yelled. Kiji then watched as cracks formed all around his his fist and chunks of stone fell off of the structure before the stability was gone and the wall collapsed.

"HEY THE WALL IS DOWN!" One of the Marines in the base had yelled out as before long sirens began to sound and Marines began to rush out of everywhere it seemed and prepared for an attack. In response, Kiji lifted both of his fists and pointed them at the collection of Marines. "Fallout!" He exclaimed as the group flew in every direction from the attack and Kiji went further into the base to find his friends

He took turn after turn, knocking down more walls around the base and looked inside to find his friends but so far had no luck in doing so. "Hey stop there!" One Marine yelled out behind Kiji and the fish-man just swung around and hit him overtop the head and knocked him to the floor. He then watched as another was about to raise his weapon at him but Kiji was faster and grabbed the gun and threw it away. He then picked up the Marine by the collar and stared intently at him. "Portgas D. Naruto, and Lucy. Where are they?" He asked, in a calm and collected manner

"Go to hell!" Exclaimed the Marine, unsheathing a knife from his leg prior to swinging it at Kiji. Though the fishman was far too skilled a fighter to be hit and Kiji just grabbed his wrist and squeezed it enough so the knife fell from the Marines grip. "I'll ask again human, Portgas D. Naruto, and Lucy. Where are they?" He said once again in a calm manner and the Marine continued to show struggle. "I'll never tell a Pirate where our prisoners are!" Came the response, and Kiji gritted his teeth

The fish-man then gripped his arm and crushed it with his strength, breaking every bone inside of it. "Portgas D. Naruto, and Lucy! Where. Are. They." Kiji repeated sternly and the Marine could only point to a building with his other arm. "About time you talked." Were the last words the Marine heard before he was thrown into some rubble and Kiji once again walked closer to his captive friends.

As the fish-man approached the wall he scoffed. "These Marines, erecting a house of cards where ever they decide to stay. Everything is fine until someone has the will to blow it all down!" He expressed and punched open another wall and watched as brick and stone alike crumbled because of bis inhuman strength. He looked inside the building and saw three Marines beginning to scramble to stop him but Kiji beat them to it. "Poseidon's Roar!" Came Kiji's yell as a wave of energy came from his body and rippled outwards, cracking the ground underneath him and splintering the wood nearby.

In response to the attack, all three Marines were shot back into rubble and the fish-man took a step inside and spotted a passage that lead down to a basement.

With the others. . .

"What the hell is goin' on up there!?" Russ wondered out loud as all three people present kept there eyes glued on the ceiling. Naruto flashed a grin. "I know what that is! About time he showed up! These cuffs are chaffing my wrists!" Spoke the Captain of the Void Pirates with a smile and Lucy just sighed. "I highly doubt that's Kiji Naruto, I told you, he didn't even want to come with us in the first place and he probably ran off to go back to his home or something of the sorts." She responded to him but her Captain just shook his head

He kept his smile on his face. "I'm confident Kiji is coming back for us! Cause he knows we would do the same for him!" He exclaimed. Before anything else could be said, the door leading outside of the room that contained their cell was busted open by a flying Marine, who landed against the cell wall, unconscious. Then, Kiji walked in through the door frame with his trademark scowl on his face. This sight shocked Lucy to the core as she had so little hope in her fellow crew mate, Naruto was beaming as he saw his friend return to help them and Russ was just excited to be able to leave.

"I hope that you all haven't lost confidence in me." Kiji voiced which earned a laugh from his Captain. "Not for a second! I knew you'd come and find us!" He voiced back to the fish-man who grabbed the keys off of the unconscious guard before putting them into the lock on the cell and opening it. Lucy and Russ got up and made there way out of the cell and stretched out a little bit, with Russ finding his arms nearby in the room and reattaching them to his stubs.

Lucy looked over with a little bit of disgust. "You can just do that!?" She asked him with a disgusted look on her face. The marksman looked back at her and cocked a grin. "Yeah I can! Why? Ya jealous?" He smirked to which she sharply turned away. "Yeah right, as if!" Came her response

Naruto couldn't care less about the bickering between Russ and Lucy, he was just glad that Kiji ended up coming back for them. "I knew I could count on you!" Naruto expressed with a bright smile on his face. "I see, but we're about to have a legion of Marines surround us any second now. I was not exactly discreet when getting into the base and getting you both out. And are we doing something about the bounty hunter?" Came the question form the fish-man but Naruto just waved it off. "No, he's not our enemy anymore! The Marines took him prisoner as well so we made an agreement that if we got him out of here he'd join us!" Came the response from Naruto and Lucy sighed

"Kiji maybe you can convince our 'brilliant' Captain that we don't need a dirty pervert on our crew!" Lucy spoke through sarcasm as Russ gritted his teeth. The bounty hunter cursed at her, "Another word outta ya, and it'll be a bullet between the eyes!" The only thing Naruto could do was laugh as the two clashed yet again. "Thanks for the compliment Lucy but we have other things to worry about!" He spoke, getting serious all of the sudden

Russ sighed and leaned up against the broken stone wall and pulled out his pistols. "Well, anyone gotta plan?" He queued to the group. "As a matter of fact! I have an idea!" She shouted out as she made her way in front of the 3 men with a smile. "Naruto! Can you get behind the approaching Marines?" She asked her Captain who nodded in return. Lucy kept her smile up and then looked to Kiji. "Good, then if he can do that then that gives each of us the opportunity to get out of the building and make a break for it!" She explained the last parts of her plan

"Why not fight em! Each one of those bastards deserve an old fashioned kick 'cross the ass!" Explained the marksman as he did not let the glare that Lucy shot him go unnoticed. The navigator turned her body towards him and had a tic-mark on her forehead. "We can't just go around fighting everyone you know! What if they already have reinforcements on the way? What do we do when they get here?!" She asked him rhetorically

"Fight."

"Fight!"

"Shoot 'em!"

Came the response of each of her companions and Lucy just grasped her forehead. "I can't with all of you." She spoke in a frustrated tone. "Naruto, just get up there and cause a ruckus so we can leave!" She pleaded with him as he laughed and grinned. "Alright! See ya in a second!" Naruto told them all before he teleported away from the group

With Naruto. . .

Soon after teleporting outside of the ruined building, Naruto looked around to see that there was no movement in the base what so ever. His eyes scanned across every pile of debris and crater left by Kiji's rampage. 'No way they'll just leave us alone and let us go.' Thought the red-head

His eyes quickly darted to an elevated position that was a tower, destroyed by Kiji. Naruto saw as a few loose rocks fell from it and landed on the ground below with an audible thud. He cracked a smile as he thought to himself once again. 'Got ya!' He spoke out proudly in his mind

Moments later a gunshot could be heard echoing across the base. From the ruined tower that Naruto first suspected to contain an enemy, came a bullet that was shot at the Pirate Captain in question. The sniper saw as dust was kicked up from the bullets impact and the sudden movement from Naruto so he took his sight away from the scope of his rifle and took a step back to watch the dust clear.

The Marine sniper continued to eagerly look at the sign of a body to report back to his fellow comrades who were hidden all around the building, covering themselves in camouflage to hopefully ambush the Void Pirates. As he waited, the sniper felt a hand fall on his shoulder and a voice begin to stir begin him. "Did you get him?" Asked the voice which prompted a swift turn from the sniper to spot that behind him was none other than his target, Portgas D. Naruto.

"W-What the-" The Marine stuttered in disbelief prior to picking up his sniper and attempting to gun-bash Naruto in the head. In response, the Pirate stood completely still and watched as the weapon passed through his body and soon after the Marine fell through as well, putting too much force behind his attack which in turn took him with it. Naruto was quick to grab the fallen Marine with his hand and lift him up by the collar. "Say hi to your friends for me!" Grinned the man as he kicked the sniper in the back, sending him falling off the tower into the rubble that was not too far below

"Almighty Push!" Yelled Naruto as debris and rubble flew away from him in every direction, exposing the Marines that were hidden in it and around it. "Hey it's Portgas! In the tower! Shoot him!" Ordered a Marine as bullet after bullet whizzed by the Void Pirate's Captain, causing him to take cover. 'As much as I would love to just run out there, I can only phase through what I can see coming at me. There's too many Marines all around me, shooting from various directions. Time to close the distance!' Blazed Naruto within his mind

He was soon to teleport again by another Marine and land a punch in his gut. He turned quick to see three more taking aim at him from the opposite direction. Naruto stomped his foot to the ground as a wall of dirt and rock rose up to block the bullets. "Almighty Push!" He uttered again, moving the wall of dirt and rock towards the Marines and knocking them out in the process

The man then turned his body back 180 degrees to look at more soldiers coming towards him with weapons raised. "Stand down Portgas! The Marines are the only group with power here!" Yelled the centre Marine with a passion. "Shift!" Came Naruto's response as gravity shifted around the men to some rubble that was about 10 metres away. Everyone present watched as the Marines began to slip before falling through the air ending with each one colliding into the rubble and being immobilized. Naruto's attention then shifted to any more Marines around him and where his crew was hiding, but he only saw a small group of 8 approaching them at a brisk speed.

"Hey guys! Get out here!" He yelled back for his crew and watched as a bird flew out of the building holding Russ in its talons. The bird transformed back into Lucy prior to landing beside Naruto, with Russ not landing so pleasantly as he was dropped a few metres by Lucy when she was still in the air. Kiji also joined the group at their Captain's side, though he did choose to just walk over. "There's a group approaching from that direction! See them!?" Asked the Captain of the crew to his subordinates

Lucy put her hand over her eyes and peered. "Seeing as though they're not that far away I don't see how it's possible you don't see them! Plus one has pink hair it seems." Explained the navigator as Russ was quick to respond to her. "If it's so hard to see, why'd ya needa squint and stuff. Ain't you a bird? Aren't they suppose to have good sight?" His questions kept coming which prompted Lucy to sharply turn her head in his direction and yell out, "One more word and it comes off!"

At this statement and because of the look of seriousness in the navigator's eyes, Russ decided that it may be in his best interest to be quiet. "So what's going on?" Kiji asked, getting to the point of why Naruto called them over. "That lady, she's the Captain of the Base. Her name is Hina." Naruto responded to his first mate and Russ followed by speaking, "Yeah, she's the beauty who hired me! And, that guy, the guy with er is the new Cap'n of the base. Think is name is Smoker, Smokie? Somethin' like that."

"Smoker? Weird name. But I know that Hina won't be easy to beat. She's a master at hand-to-hand combat." Came the explanation, courtesy of Naruto that was quickly met by words from Lucy. "And? We can take them on, 4 to 2. Those fodder Marines don't even count." She proudly exclaimed

The Captain nodded his head. "No, you three go. I can take her! I know it! And I don't want any of you getting caught up in this mess! I'll meet you all at the ship! Go! That's an order!" Naruto yelled out to them as Lucy was shocked that Naruto was so ready to let them save their skin by sacrificing his. But the silence was interrupted by Russ who took a step forward. "Ha! You're not my Cap'n, not till ya get my outta here in one piece! So I don't gotta take any orders from ya! And it don't matter if I get outta here with your friends. The bet was that you get me outta here." The Marksman told Naruto and Kiji and Lucy followed suit, choosing to stay by their Captain's side and fight

"I want to take on Hina! She's mine! Kiji you take Smoker! And Lucy and Russ, you two deal with the Marines with them!" Ordered Naruto to which Kiji gave a firm nod and Russ and Lucy both sighed, not being able to have a real fight. The group of 4 then ran towards the oncoming Marines as both groups met with a flurry of bullets.

Naruto ran by a few soldiers and clashed his arm against Hina's. "Ready to lose again Hina!?" Naruto quipped which earned a grin, courtesy of Hina. "Hina is the superior fighter, you should know that!" She countered as the two separated and both got into their respective fight stances.

However, she did not give him a lot of time as Hina was quick to throw her fist at Naruto's head to which he used his hand to direct it to the side and moved his head as well to avoid the attack. The ladder countered with a swift roundhouse kick to Hina's ribs but the lady predicted his moves. Bringing up her leg and dropping her arm, Hina had cushioned the blow and successfully blocked it. "Bind!" Hina yelled, swiping her arm at her opponent

"I'm not falling for that again!" Came Naruto's response, dropping his body below the attack. He slid his foot along the ground and went for a low kick to make her stumble but Hina had just jumped back in a flip. "Marine training is second to none Naruto, Hina knows that you can't deny it." Hina's calm voice rung over to Naruto's ears which made him crack a grin. "Yeah it is pretty good! I wouldn't say it's the best though! That geezer sure knows how to train em! But I've learned more since I left Hina! And now I'm the better fighter!" Naruto expressed, not dropping his grin for a second

She scoffed in response, "Enough of this! Hina is taking you in! Just like Hina promised!" She began to charge Naruto again as he raised his hand towards her with all of his fingers grasping the air around him. His other hand then fell onto his straightened forearm as Naruto proclaimed. "Spatial Pressure!" His voice echoed

The effects were immediate as Hina immediately struggled to move right after Naruto voiced his attack. "W-what is this?!" Hina yelled at her old friend in a shocked expression. He cracked her a smile in response. "W-well! I-It's a little t-thing I've been working on recently! Just like your bind, it b-binds you in a c-certain position!" Explained the Pirate Captain while the Marine gritted her teeth

"D-dammit!" Hina exclaimed as she struggled to get out of her bind. She watched as some sweat rolled down Naruto's temple as he kept his shaking hand steady and her head then turned to her fellow Marine that was skirmishing with Kiji. "S-Smoker! Take out P-Portgas! He needs to be still w-when restraining Hina!" She cried for help from Smoker

The Logia user ducked out of the way of some rubble that Kiji had tossed at him and ran straight for Naruto with his weapon drawn. "Bout time someone took care of you Portgas! Get ready to be served justice you bastard!" Smoker yelled out, sticking his weapon forward in an attempt to stab Naruto but was met only by pain in his side. Kiji had managed to catch up to Smoker and punch him in the side. "One Hundred Brick Fist!" Kiji expressed with Smoker being knocked back away from Kiji's Captain

"Your fight is not with my Captain, it is with me." Explained Kiji, taking a few steps towards the Marine he had just knocked back. "Dammit! How can you touch me!?" Frantically asked the Marine which prompted a small grin from Kiji. "You need not worry about how I do what I do." Finished the fish-man, lining up another attack

"I guess it doesn't matter! White Out!" Yelled Smoker as his arms turned to smoke which enveloped Kiji inside with his hands and wrists being left untouched by the smoke. "It won't be that easy." Spoke a calm Kiji, laying his hand on the smoke which shocked Smoker as he started to feel weak while Kiji gripped his body

The fish-man kept his hand on Smoker as he began to move closer to the ladder's position, walking over to him. Eventually, Kiji had made his way in front of the Captain and grabbed him by the neck, lifting him up above himself with one arm. "Y-you better w-watch yourself! C-cause in a m-minute I'll b-be outta this t-thing and I'll b-be bring both y-you and that d-damn bastard o-of a Captain of y-yours in to f-face justice!" Smoker managed to speak with the sea-stone padded hand around his throat

The Devil-Fruit user soon after began to struggle more and cough as Kiji's grip tightened. "Never insult Portgas D. Naruto in front of me. He is easily one of the most unpredictable, talented, and skillful fighters I have ever encountered on the seas. That man has stood toe to toe with whichever foe has come his way. Unlike so many others, in the short time I have been with him he's never run away from a fight. So don't go kidding yourself that you can take him down, because you don't posses the abilities nor the strength of will to be able to even touch him. Now get out of my sight!" The fish-man explained to the Marine, tossing his body in the air while cocking back a fist

"One Thousand Brick Fist!" Yelled Kiji with his fist connecting with Smoker's torso, knocking him back into a pile of rubble

Naruto watched on the whole scene with shock as his one time enemy spoke so highly of him. Hina saw the events occur at the corner of her eye with disbelief as someone was so easily able to defeat Smoker. "D-dammit! Y-you'll pay f-for that! H-Hina will m-make s-sure you p-pay!" She managed to get out, still struggling to move because of Naruto

Kiji faced her while she spoke but chose to remain unresponsive for a minute before speaking. "He is not dead, just injured." Kiji explained and saw some relief wash over Hina but very quickly she was back to glaring at him. "T-That's g-great Kiji, but c-can you grab t-those sea-stone c-cuffs off of Hina! I'm s-starting to lose c-control here!" Pleaded the Captain of the Void Pirates to his first mate who nodded and grabbed them off of Hina prior to cuffing the woman

After hearing the cuffs click on, Naruto let go of his attack and fell back with a thud. "Dammit that takes a lot of focus and concentration! It's still far from perfect but damn! I was surprised I was even able to do that much!" Naruto exclaimed happily to Kiji who stood beside him. Rustling then could be heard behind the two before both Lucy and Russ popped out of the thicket. "Where have you two been!? You missed all the action!" Asked Naruto to which Lucy was quick to respond as they both walked over to Kiji and Naruto

"Well, we lead the rest of the Marines that were with your friend there into the forest to take care of while you guys fought." She told her Captain, handing him a canteen of water after seeing his was tired. "It was quite easy, damn Marines are lost without a Cap'n to guide 'em!" Russ chimed in prior to looking at the restrained Hina and having a smile light up on his face

He walked towards her. "Well well well! Never thought I'd see ya again miss! And I don't think you woulda wanted to see me again either, as you locked me up!" The marksman begun to say as he walked in circles around the restrained Marine. He then stopped in front of her and reached inside his coat to pull out a revolver and pointed the barrel right at her head. "I suppose since ya have no interest payin' what you owe, I'll just take my payment in blood!" He explained pulling back the hammer with his thumb

Russ was fully intent on pulling the trigger until a hand fell on the gun and moved it away from the captive Marine's face. Turning to his side, Russ spotted Naruto looking into his eyes with a slight glare. "We're not shooting her Russ! She's beaten! There's not need for anymore violence!" Ordered Naruto and the marksman looked away sharply. "Dammit! Fine, but she had it comin'!" He explained to him, before walking away from Hina

"Hey Lucy, can you get the ship ready and finish collecting anything we need for the Grandline? If it's all the same to you I want to leave." Naruto asked Lucy, being careful not to order her as she could get very angry if talked to the wrong way. She nodded before walking off with Kiji, and Russ in tow which just left only Hina and Naruto together in the field of ruins and rubble.

Seeing his crew enter the tree-line, Naruto then sat down in front of Hina and looked at her. "So how've you been?" He asked her simply to which she was taken aback by. "What do you mean?" Came her quick response, with a bit of anger laced into her voice

"I was just asking how you've been Hina. It's been awhile since we've seen each other. I wanted to see how my first friend was doing." He told her with a soft smile which seemed to crack away at her anger a little. "Hina has been fine." She spoke simply, not adding any more to the conversation

Naruto then chuckled a little. "You never were the talker. Even when we were kids training with Garp onboard his ship." He reminisced, smiling at his female companion. "Hina supposes Hina wasn't. But don't waste your breath on Hina! Hina knows now to always expect disappointment when it comes to you!" She yelled at him and Naruto was left unfazed

"What do you mean?" He asked her with a raised brow. "You left us! You left. . .Hina too! You could've been a great Marine with Hina but you left Hina alone! Why?" She asked him with her eyes getting a little bit wet. Naruto gave a big sigh. "I couldn't stay Hina, if I did then people would've come after me and my family. Your people would've come after me." He explained to her which took her back a bit

"Hina's people?" She questioned him to which he nodded. "Yeah, the Government I mean. Only a select few people know this so I need you to swear to me that you won't tell anyone." Exclaimed the Captain of the Void Pirates

Hina gave his a questioning look. "What? Why would Hina-" She was cut off by Naruto. "Swear it Hina!" He raised his voice at her

She then gave a sigh. "Fine, Hina swears Hina won't say a word." She finished and Naruto nodded. "My father was a Pirate Hina, and a very famous one at that. His name was Gol D. Roger, you probably know him as the Pirate King." He had begun to say as Hina's jaw dropped

"Gol D. Roger! He's one of the most infamous Pirates to ever live! He's your father!?" She frantically asked and he nodded again. "Yeah, he was my dad. When he left his crew, myself, him and my mom went into hiding. Eventually the Government caught up with him and he told Garp he needed his help to rescue us. That's why my mother and I were on the ship with you all. And it's also the reason I didn't want to become a Marine. I couldn't become the very thing that took my father away from me. Not that I could become one even if I wanted to." He finished explaining to her

Hina stayed silent, now for the first time in years understanding why Naruto didn't stay with her. "I'm sorry I had to leave Hina, I liked being around you and it hurt me when we had to say our goodbyes. And I know that we're on two different sides of the law now but I still want to be on good terms with you Hina. You may not feel the same way but you mean a lot to me." He told her a little awkwardly with a small blush on his face

She looked at him before looking sharply to the ground, trying to hide the blush she had. "Hina supposes that this will be acceptable. But don't think that this will stop Hina from being the one who catches you!" She finished which earned a laugh from Naruto. "I would never dream of it! And I wish you luck on that!" He told her before kneeling down behind her and unlocking her cuffs

She was too stunned to speak as Naruto quickly walked to the other side of her and brought his face close to hers and made eye contact. His bright smile beamed before placing a kiss on her forehead. "I'll see you on the Grandline Hina!" He finished saying as he ran off to join his crew

Hina sat there for a second prior to a smile making its way onto her face. 'Travel safe Naruto.' She thought to herself

A few minutes later. . .

Naruto had run through Loguetown and found his ship once again prior to making his way onto the deck. "Well, are we ready to go?" Asked the Captain of the ship to which Lucy looked up at the sail and then to the sea. "Everything looks good, except for that giant eyesore laying against the railing!" She sneered, looking the spot in question

Russ saw Naruto, Lucy and Kiji looking at him and he looked behind himself to just see the sea. "Hey wait! I'm not a damn eyesore feathers! You better watch that tone of urs or you'll be gettin' cooked over a fire! Courtesy of me!" He raged back at her though the crew ignored him

"The anchor is raised." Kiji explained to the crew

Naruto grinned. "Perfect! Let's head to the Grandline!" He yelled as the crew smiled, sailing towards their destinies

Alright! That's another chapter in the books! I just want to start off by saying sorry, I was ass deep in school work and work work for the passed month and I had not time at all to post a new chapter. I wish I coud say I'm out of the woodwork now but I do have exams coming up in a month. I'll try to get out a new one but no promises. However, once I am done school I plan on updating every week if I can! Anyway I hope you all enjoyed the chapter and have a happy Tuesday everyone!

Qwert out!