Hey again! Sorry for the delay and the admittedly shorter chapter than usual but grad school is a bitch and well, this doesn't pay bill lmao

But I'm dedicated for now soooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo

here we go!

Naruto let out a sigh of relief as he sat through yet another bowl of ramen before ordering another one to be brought to him. Baccarat looked almost appalled by the sheer amount of noodles that the blond revolutionary seemed to be able to consume without slowing down. Sure it played into her plan to have him burn all his money on expensive food at ten million beri per bowl of ramen, but it was insane to watch.

To Naruto, the price on the food didn't matter at all. He had been in this world for months on end and this was one of the FEW times that he had been able to enjoy his favorite food. Turns out that living on a boat limited one's options on food unless they had an excellent chef on board. "Man, this is the second best ramen I've ever had!" Naruto declared as it beat out the food on Whole Cake Island, but didn't compare to Teuchi's ramen.

Knowing that he would never taste the man's godly noodles again filled him with a deep sadness…

A sadness he would fill with noodles, even if they didn't compare.

"Second best? It's rare that our food would be beaten in quality," she commented as Tesoro had wasted no expense in hiring some of the best cooks in the world. Foods from all over could be found here. All at a level that even a Celestial Dragon would be willing to eat.

"Old Man Teuchi's ramen can't be beaten. The guy was cooking up the food of the gods!" He declared as another bowl was placed in front of him to his delight. He noticed that no one made any effort to let him know how much money he was spending on this dinner. He had ordered a few mixed drinks for him and the redhead to enjoy while they ate and he figured that his bill must have been insane by now.

Baccarat chuckled as she ate her gold-dusted steak that alone would have cost nearly two hundred million beri on the ship. The blond seemed to be treating her well on this little adventure of theirs so she figured she'd enjoy the free meal from him. After all, by this point, she figured that most of the Spade Pirates would be already in severe debt. She had drained them of some of their luck so that they would lose most of the time but win enough to keep going.

She had been rather peeved about what had happened with Naruto's luck. There would have been no way that he'd win after the amount that she'd taken. Yet somehow he had found it possible to win despite his severely nerfed luck. Part of her feared that he might also have the power to manipulate his luck, rendering her ability useless against him.

"Well well well, if it isn't our newest VIP," a male voice said boastfully as many of the restaurant goers gasped at the arrival of a man wearing a pink suit. Naruto gazed at the man while slurping away at his ramen.

"It's Gild Tesoro in the flesh!" One of the patrons at the restaurant.

"Please forgive my debt!" One of the waiters begged.

"Can I borrow two million beri for a bet later today?"

However, Naruto couldn't help but focus on the cries for forgiveness. To have their debts erased. For their freedom. For the freedom of their families. And it just kept going and going…

"So…what do I owe the honor?" Naruto asked as he finished his meal, wiping away some of the leftover broth and turning towards the owner of the ship. He drew in Nature Energy as he prepared for a fight, his eyes hidden behind his sunglasses to avoid tipping the man off.

"Why, I came to see how your earnings were doing? After all, your friends seem to have had a rather bad streak of luck unfortunately," the richest man in the world said in a mockingly sad tone. It was clear to everyone around that he wasn't sad about the fate that beheld the Spade Pirates. "Unfortunately I had to call in their debts due to the sheer amount that they were losing, but when they didn't have enough," he lamented, sitting down beside Baccarat.

"And what does that mean?" Naruto demanded in a rather harsh tone of voice.

"I'm afraid that the only way for them to pay me back would be if someone else paid their debt off, or by working it off," Tesoro told Naruto, making it clear what he was implying.

"So you made them your slaves," He growled.

"Why is it simply the rules of the Gran Tesoro, if you can't pay back with money, then you pay back with work! I'm not running a charity after all!" the ruler of the ship said, presenting the members of the Spade Pirates to the blond, their bodies encased in gold. Even Ace had fallen into the trap, a collar around his neck that was likely made of Sea Stone. "Of course, you could always pay off their debts if you won enough. Or with your own bounty if you turn yourself over," he offered, wanting Naruto to be made his slave to then sell to some Celestial Dragons who would pay him top dollar for such an infamous person.

Naruto narrowed his eyes, "I see," he muttered as he stood up. He noticed Baccarat starting to reach for him but lashed out with a punch that didn't make contact with her chest, but still, everyone could see it cave in as if it had. The redhead was lifted up from the ground by the brute force of the invisible blow, blood splattering from her mouth as she went flying through one of the golden walls. "Well, thanks for the meal, it'll be on the house right?" he asked as he took his glasses off and threw them to the side to reveal his toad-like eyes.

Baccarat crumbled to the floor as she hit another wall, her ribcage shattered by the overwhelming force behind Naruto's punch. Even with all the luck she had gathered from the fools on the ship, it wasn't enough to avoid the sheer power of nature that filled Naruto's attacks.

"May I remind you that violence is explicitly banned here? I'm afraid that's going to cost you," the gold user said, attempting to encase Naruto with the gold that had fallen onto him when they arrived, only to find that it wasn't working at all. "What the hell?"

"Nice try," the jinchuuriki growled, throwing a Senjutsu-enhanced punch at the man's face, only for the gold on the table to rise up and block the punch like a shield. Naruto narrowed his eyes as the gold dented from the power of the force behind his jab. A thick vine of gold wrapped around his waist and pulled him back as everyone seemed to run away from the ensuing fight between a criminal whose name was becoming exponentially more infamous and the ship's owner.

"I believe that's mine line," Tesoro said as he made sure to reinforce the bindings around the blond with more gold, knowing that the man had more up his sleeve than just throwing a few punches. He wasn't arrogant enough to believe that he beat someone worth one billion beri that easily. "Now please give up before your debt goes even higher than it already is," the billionaire said with a wide smirk on his face as he started to engulf Naruto in gold. "You wouldn't want your precious friends to be thrown into the ocean now would you?" He asked as his minions took the statues of the Spade Pirates away from the battle.

"Bastard…"Naruto growled before his body was engulfed in golden-orange chakra. With a grunt of effort, he tore his way out of the golden restraints. "I won't let you get away with this you asshole!" the jinchuuriki said as he created two shadow clones at his sides which flickered away to retrieve the Spade Pirates and save them before they would be lost to the sea.

Tesoro kissed his teeth as he forgot that the blond could create clones of himself to act for him. "You'll die before you'll leave this ship a free man," he declared, narrowly blocking a punch from the blond with gold-reinforced arms. Even with the enhancement from the precious metal, he couldn't help but wince at the power behind the punch.

Snapping his fingers, gold shot from all directions towards the glowing shinobi. Naruto jumped away from Tesoro as the tendrils slammed into where he was standing before, stabbing into the ground. His eyes widened as even the golden floor of the restaurant spiked up like lances out of the ground. "If you wanna fight then lay down and die!" the green-haired man laughed as he manipulated all of the gold in the building around Naruto to crush him in a coffin of gold. "Fanciulla d'oro" He called out victoriously.

"Chou Odama Rasengan!" Naruto yelled as he formed a massive orb of spiraling chakra, tearing through the gold, rushing towards the gold user but the man had already slipped out of the restaurant and out onto the streets. "Damn it!" He growled following after the man only to find an insane amount of gold moving about.

"Damn it, the entire ship is an extension of his power," Kurama noticed as his host dodged a massive spike that came out from one of the adjacent buildings only for another to jolt out and almost take their head off if not for Naruto using a chakra arm to pull himself away. However just as he avoided one, another followed by another came out as all of the gold on the ship was used against him.

"What's wrong brat? In too deep?" The Casino King asked mockingly as he kept manipulating the gold to attack the blond from all angles, with more coming towards him from across the ship. He couldn't afford to let someone so valuable slip away from him and losing would ruin his reputation forever.

Naruto caught one of the building sized spikes only for it to melt and wrap around his chakra arm. Luckily the arm had no real mass and he was able to pull it out by reabsorbing his chakra back into his body, but that didn't fix the issue that he was currently surrounded by the substance. Everywhere he looked, there was gold ready to lash out at him. A shimmering death trap worth more than most countries.

"This is like fighting Gaara all over again…" he muttered as the way the man used the gold reminded him of his red-haired friend. More annoying however was that Tesoro was keeping a distance from him, making sure not to get close enough to get grabbed or hit my his chakra arms. Firing a major attack would be too dangerous as their ship was inside of the Gran Tesoro, and if it sank hundreds of thousands would die with it.

"If he won't come to us, then we'll bring the battle to him," Kurama said as the tsunami of gold around him came down, flooding the streets despite some people still trying to escape, covering them in the metal.

Smirking, Naruto ran up the side of one of the nearby buildings as the gold closed in before kicking off into the air, hoping to leap over the wave, but the gold moved upwards with him, coalescing around him. It barely managed to wrap around his foot, but that was all that it needed to drag him down into the larger mass of gold. "Damn it!" he yelled as his body was submerged.

"I got you!" The Casino King declared as he forced the gold to constrict around the glowing blond. Squeezing and tightening around him until it formed one massive shimmering orb. Tesoro breathed heavily as he had never been forced to use his Devil Fruit to such an extent. To use so much gold at once left him exhausted. "Now to turn you…in…" he said before his confidence faded and his face started to pale.

The massive golden orb was shifting, almost like it was breaking down into sand instead of being one solid object. "Shit no!" Tesoro yelled as he rushed towards the orb and placed his hands against it, sparks rushing out around the entire thing as he attempted to assert authority over the element his fruit ruled over. However, it was a losing battle as control slipped further and further away. More gold rushed around him, adding to the ball in a futile attempt to win out in the battle of wills.

"So this is what they meant when they said he had multiple abilities?! But how can he have mine as well?!" He questioned in fury, giving everything that he had to keep the spherical prison in shape and under his command. 'He's a monster…no…" He thought as the gold started to part to reveal the silhouette of the horned teen with cross-shaped pupils.

"He's the Devil…" He muttered before being forced to move away as the orb broke down into a massive pile of sand that crashed through the streets of his ship.

Taking a deep breath Naruto started to walk toward the stunned billionaire, clenching his fist before rushing toward the man. Tesoro growled as he felt some control return to him as the blond seemed to rush at him. Gold wrapped around his entire body, forming a sort of battle armor. His teeth grit together as he swung at Naruto as well, using his Haki and gold to reinforce his arm.

As the two clashed, gold dust was blown around into the air by the air pressure. However, while Naruto was able to maintain his punch, the golden man's armor quickly crumpled and his Haki gave out soon after. Blood splattered as the force of Naruto's punch caused Tesoro's arm to rupture in many places, his bones warped and shattered from the power of his Six Paths Sage Mode before he was sent flying back into his tower.

The richest man in the world stood back up slowly, his right arm hanging loosely beside him as if it had been completely ravaged by the impact. The gold of his tower wrapped around it like a cast, allowing him to painfully move it once again. "Damn this brat…" he said through gritted teeth as he saw the blond glaring up at him, waiting for his next move. He hated the defiant look on Naruto's face. That look told him that he couldn't do anything to him. That he was weak compared to him.

He had sought out wealth so that no one would ever look down on him again. So that he would be the master! So no one would ever take anything from him again.

"I will not lose to the likes of you!" He roared as all the remaining gold from around his toward began to wrap around him, forming one massive golem-like armor around him that dropped down to the ship below. "Rrrrrraaaaaaaaaaaaah!" Tesoro yelled as he rushed at Naruto in his ultimate mode. The blond leaped out of the way of the golden fist as it shattered the street under them.

The golem looked up at Naruto and fired a harsh golden beam at the sage. Naruto narrowly avoided it and shot towards the golem, punching it's chest hard enough to send it sprawling back with a huge indent in it. "How many lives have you ruined Tesoro?" Naruto asked as he floated back up into the air, controlling the golden sand with the power he gained from Shukaku, sucking it into one massive Rasengan.

"Senpo: Jiton- Cho Odama Sakin Rasengan!" He called out as he dove down towards Gran Tesoro, giving back to him everything that he had taken from those unfortunate enough to fall into his trap. The man tries desperately to block the attack, having the golem bring its arms out, but the Rasengan easily grinded through it, adding the shaved-off gold into itself before it slammed down onto the ship's ruler.

The entire vessel shook violently as Tesoro was drilled through the entirety of the ship and into the ocean below by the attack, its force completely overwhelming him. Looking up as he was forced down, all he could see the swirl of gold, water, and blood as his body was torn apart by the incredible attack. In his last moments, he wondered if his beloved would have been disgusted with what he had become before the darkness of the New World's ocean swallowed him.

"Gotta say, that was the most expensive jutsu ever…" Kurama pointed out as there had to have been a few million if not billions of Beri worth of gold in that Rasengan.

"Not the time Kurama…" Naruto said, hating having to kill someone. Part of him wondered if the man could have been reformed. If he could have changed his life for the better had he had one more chance? But those were what ifs that were long since gone now.

"Naruto!" Ace's voice called out to him, he and his crew rushed towards the blond, having been freed from their bonds when Naruto defeated Tesoro. "Damn, we really owe you one huh?" The captain asked as looked at the hole created by Naruto's Rasengan. Luckily the ship was large enough that one hole like this wouldn't be enough to bring it down due to the turtles that carried it had gone under to keep the ship afloat.

"Let's not talk about owing people after this fiasco…" he said deadpanning the World Noble from before started declaring that all the gold on the ship was now his property due to the ruler's defeat. "Give me a moment…" the blond growled as he walked towards the man cracking his knuckles, ready to ram his fist through him.

"Oi! Shut up, you own shit!" He yelled at the man, scaring the hell out of the Celestial Dragon who looked around and saw that no one was going to stand up for him here. He had no Admirals or Marines to back up his claim, and a really angry revolutionary who he knew would kill him if pushed.

"You…I'm gonna go get a drink…" he said scurrying away from the blond towards one of the bars, hoping to maybe still get a beer…or something heavier.

"Damn, you can be really scary when you need to eh, Golden Devil?" Ace asked jabbing his elbow into the side of the blond. "So I guess we're leaving now?"

"I'm gonna call Dragon, have him come and redistribute the wealth remaining on the ship to the people here. A lot of them have been enslaved for a long time, some money to their name might help, but someone has to manage it or people will just fuck each other over…" Naruto lamented as he pulled out a Den Den Mushi and called the leader of the Revolutionary Army to give him the news.

Ace stared at the back of the blond before motioning for his crew to follow after him. He knew that Naruto would have his hands full for a bit with the Gran Tesoro being in his hands, making the wealthies non-World Noble in the world. "Hey, Naruto! We'll see you in Wano okay? Don't be late, we won't wait forever!" Ace yelled back at his friend who turned and gave him a thumbs up before wincing as someone yelled over the snail.

The rest of the crew gave him their thanks for saving them as they followed after Ace towards their next adventure, sure that they'd see the blond soon again.

Naruto smiled as he watched hundreds of ships sail away from the Gran Tesoro. "You know, this might rival Fisher Tiger's liberation of slaves," Dragon said with a slightly proud smile on his face as he approached the blond and joined him leaning over the golden railing.

"I don't like to compare good deeds, freedom is freedom, regardless of how many people are freed," The Jinchuuriki replied honestly, shocking Kurama a bit. A few years ago, Naruto would have been jumping up and down, telling the whole world just how awesome he was. Now here he was, calm and humble despite his amazing acts. "I'm just happy that those people will finally have their lives back," he added on.

"Good, that's why we do what we do," Dragon said, glad knowing that the blond didn't do any of this just for personal glory. It was why they formed the Revolutionary Army, it was why they became some of the most wanted and hated criminals to the World Government. To tear down oppression, and give people a reach chance at freedom. A chance to live their lives without the Marines or the World Nobles breathing down their necks and demanding money for next to nothing. There was very little glory in what they did.

"Quite of few of the people on the ship decided to join the army. Many had no where to go or had been branded by Hoof of the Soaring Dragon. Some simply wanted to fight back against people like Gild Tesoro who enslaved and forced others to do their bidding. I wonder what would have happened to them if you hadn't shown up," Dragon mentioned, having gotten quite a few new recruits in. Many had little training, but some were ex-Marines who had fallen into debt and later slavery, some were former pirates.

"And the gold?" Naruto asked.

"We gave everyone who left a fair amount to restart their lives. The ones who stayed we'll drop off on safer islands or we'll be joining us longer term. The gold is theirs but some have donated a portion to us as thanks," The tattooed man answered honestly. It had been a rather large win for them. A few billion Beri were now in their coffers from donations and a large influx of recruits. "By the way, you received a letter from a Miss All Sunday," Dragon mentioned as he pulled out an envelope.

It had been dropped off at their Alabasta branch in the dead of night. No one saw to left it, but Dragon knew from Naruto's encounter with the woman that it had to have been Nico Robin aka Miss All Sunday.

"Thanks," Naruto said taking the letter.

"I'll leave you to it, if you want to respond, she left instructions as to where to leave any letters you send back for her," Dragon said before leaving Naruto to his letter. He was very interested in Nico Robin and having her join them, but not to the point that he would overstep in Naruto's private affairs.

Naruto looked down at the envelope, "To my fellow demon," he read out. It was the top line of the letter. A small smile crossed his face as he leaned back and read through it. Of course, it didn't tell him much about what she was up to, but she did mention a bit about her past on Ohara before its destruction. Part of him was congratulating him on his immense bounty, having overtaken her as a demon so quickly.

"I hope to hear from you soon, Miss All Sunday," He read the last line before heading to the room that he had taken for himself while they were on the Gran Tesoro to write a reply back to her. It was the start of their relationship as pen pals. Of course, he only referred to her by the name she noted in her letters. He knew that she was wanted by the World Government and accidentally leaking her real name and location wouldn't be the nicest thing to do.

Getting his stuff ready, he prepared to take off towards Wano. It had been around two weeks since he parted with the Spade Pirates and he was already starting to miss them. Looking at the log pose on his wrist, he could see the faint craving on the side that read 'Wano'. It had been in Tesoro's vault along with several other valuables.

One of which was now strapped his hip, a sword in a withered black and purple saya with a similarly worn grip. It looked ancient to the naked eye but to anyone who looked at the blade itself, they'd know that it was a marvel of a sword. Sleek black with a perfect edge. Dragon had called it a Black Blade, not that he really knew what that meant.

However, he did feel something coming from the sword. It was almost as if the blade had a darkness to it, a malice that lingered on the blade itself. Part of him thought that maybe it was haunted or cursed, but once he drew it, the darkness receded. He could still feel it, but it wasn't actively rebelling against him.

"Wano, here I come!"

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Leave a review behind with your thoughts, ideas, yadda yadda yadda (wtf it autocorrected to this...well I hope its right! XD)

Also, happy holidays to whoever celebrates them today

Later!