-The Next Day-
-Sabaody Archipelago-
The Sabaody Archipelago was almost a paradox.
It was an island, but it wasn't really an island at all. The Yarukiman Mangroves that formed the island's 'ground' were just the roots of tremendous trees, and they didn't even generate a magnetic field for the Log Pose.
It was the end of Paradise, but it was also the entrance to the New World. It was the one place that Pirates entering the New World had to arrive at, but it was also situated at the foot of the greatest center of governmental power in the world.
Today, the Archipelago was abuzz with activity. During an average week, pirates and criminals could often make the streets dangerous to walk. Right now, however, the law was on high alert, which meant that the average citizens were living their lives with greater confidence than normal. Even the slave trade was less active than usual given that the majority of the Nobility had fled the island, returning to Mariejois in light of the murder of one of their number.
So in some ways things were peaceful. Sure there were stories about an Admiral's death, and hushed rumors of Revolutionary attacks in other parts of the world, but here it was safe. At least, for the normal person.
A cloaked figure wandered through the odd island, reminiscing about the last time he had been here, so many years ago. Before, no one had cared about him at all, but now he was the wanted man.
"Granddad! You're too slow! We're gonna miss the circus!"
Rushing past him, a little girl called out excitedly to her dawdling elder as she zipped forward and back again, easily covering five steps back and forth for every one her grandfather took.
"Ohhh, don't you worry… They'll still be around when we get there…" said the old man, probably too quietly for the little girl to hear. Though, it wasn't like she was paying attention anyway.
Buggy, captain of the Buggy Pirates, watched them go with no small degree of puzzlement.
Somehow, even though it had felt as though he had been tap-dancing on firecrackers, his crew had made it all the way to the end of Paradise, but now he was regretting docking here at all. The fact was that this was the most dangerous place for him to be right now, but it was also where he had to go if he wanted to enter the New World.
This would be more relevant to Buggy if he had wanted to enter the New World at all, but frankly he just wanted to turn right back around and start doing some actual raiding for a change. Unfortunately, his crew had gotten it into their heads that since Buggy had spent a great deal of his life in the New World as a part of Roger's crew, he was ready to lead the Buggy Pirates to glory.
Maybe he shouldn't have overstated his own contribution quite so severely. He had just been a cabin boy. He really didn't want to go to the New World anytime soon.
So, now they were all waiting patiently as Buggy debated whether to go along with his crew's expectations or if he should come up with some extravagant reason to send them all back down another route looking for riches. In the meantime they were laying low, disguising their ship and their identities as he delayed the inevitable.
In short, no one should know that they were here. So why were there excited townspeople rushing towards the docks shouting about the circus?
Curious, he trudged on, stepping carefully over the irregular wooden ground that could make travel in certain parts of the Archipelago treacherous.
He arrived at the seafront to the noise of a raucous celebration. Crowds were milling here and there, with lines for tickets stretching out in various directions. Children ran by carrying bags of snacks and string balloons made of the floating sap bubbles that were ubiquitous throughout the island. Suspiciously identical buff blond men ringed the area, glaring at anyone who looked like they were about to start trouble.
At the center of it all was a ring of colorful buildings, enticing shouts, and enchanting smells, presided over by a carnival ship with the figurehead of a mighty lion.
Or… maybe it was a sunflower, or just the sun? Honestly, it was a bit hard to tell.
Hung here and there over every one of the sails were tremendous banners proclaiming the circus to be a production of the Merry Sunshine Carnival, with others proudly proclaiming the words 'SPONSORED BY CRIMINAL BRAND DESIGNER CLOTHING' and topped off with a drawing of an orange cartoon starfish. Without even thinking, Buggy glanced up to the brim of his new hat which had the Criminal brand faintly embossed on the underside.
Still moving onward through the increasing throng, his thoughts halted as he collided with an outstretched arm. One of the beefy blond guards was sneering down at him.
"Hey, bub. You want in, you gotta get a ticket. That's the rules."
Before he even registered how enraged he was, he found himself thrusting outward with a pair of knives. The guard's hands flicked down and smashed his wrists away, the knives falling from his suddenly numb hands. He barely had a chance to react before the guard jerked a thumb over his shoulder and stepped aside.
"Times bein' as rough as they are, we do indeed have a policy of acceptin' knives as payment, especially from someone in costume. Welcome to the carnival, man. Enjoy the attractions. Watch yourself."
Buggy glared back at the guard but moved on nonetheless, wincing at the heavy blow he'd been dealt. He'd barely passed by when the guard called out again.
"Hey, man. Lemme give you a hand."
Buggy spun with teeth bared. "I don't need your help, gorilla, so keep your nose to yourself!"
The guard shook his head, hefting something in one hand. "No, your hand. You dropped it. We don't accept no limbs as payment except in special cases, you know?"
Shit. His arm had been so numb he hadn't even noticed he'd accidentally detached his arm using his Devil Fruit power, but the guard seemed to take it in stride, chucking the errant hand in his direction. It started floating the instant Buggy regained awareness of it, and he snatched it out of the air and reattached it, turning away and grumbling as the guard waved cheerfully in his direction.
Buggy would have fought harder, but he just didn't want to draw attention to himself before he found out what was going on in here… Yeah... that's it.
The noise of the festival grew in intensity as he drew closer to the colorful commotion. He had to hold himself back from buying some of the delicious-smelling festival food. A well-dressed blond man in a colorful mask was flipping vast quantities of food in massive skillets while an octopus Fish-Man served takoyaki beside him. Buggy's stomach rumbled, but he wasn't here to enjoy himself.
A sharp, wooden *THOCK* marked the noise of a knife impaling itself in a wooden surface- something that Buggy was quite familiar with- and he spun to see what was going on at the center stage. Two young ladies in colorful outfits were performing an acrobatic act with throwing knives, looking somewhat confusingly bewildered to be up on stage at all. The crowd ooh-ed and ahh-ed appreciatively as the ladies performed one trick after another, each one both death and gravity defying, but Buggy couldn't bring himself to be properly amazed. His fists clenched at his side.
Though the performers were wearing masks, that was clearly Sakura and Hinata up there on stage. He'd recognize their deadly skill anywhere. What the hell were those two doing here of all places? Hadn't they planned on going home after finding their friends on Water-7? Well, it didn't matter anymore. That bitch Sakura had made his life a living hell any time he had tried to act as the captain. They'd humiliated him at every turn, and even seduced his crew out from under him!
They deserved a terrible and righteous vengeance, and their presence meant there was only one thing he could do.
"Shit…" he muttered, turning quickly away and sidling off into the crowd, "I've gotta get the hell away from those two before they see me..."
He left the central area as fast as he could, which, admittedly, wasn't very fast. Fighting the crowd to move backwards was almost useless unless he wanted to draw attention to himself, so he moved forward until a surge pushed him in the direction of a sideshow shack. Buggy smirked. If he knew anything at all it was how carnies thought, and you could tell a great deal about their capabilities from the things they stuck in the side-shows. Coming out the other end should also put him further away from the bulk of the crowd. He quickly detached his feet from the rest of his body, stepping nimbly through the gathered people as his body floated slightly above the rest of them.
"Step right up! Step right up!" shouted a long-nosed man wearing a mask that resembled a stylized sun. He stood before a building bedecked in red and yellow cloth, yelling through a metal cone loudspeaker so that he would be heard over the din. "Feast your senses inside the House of Mystery! Amazing wonders that are too horrible… or dangerous to keep out in the open! Tours starting right this very moment!"
Soon he was inside.
-House of Mystery-
Inside the shack a fiddling melody danced aimlessly up and down the scale as it filled the rooms with enchantment, though Buggy couldn't tell where it was originating. Aside from that, this was clearly a bog-standard sideshow shack. In other words, it was filled with lies.
The truth was that people came to places like a sideshow for the lies, and the sideshow caller was at the top of his game, deftly making up stories for everything inside. To Buggy's trained eye it was clear that his stories were wildly off-the-cuff. Especially when one child pointed to the masked green-haired man sleeping against the wall in the corner.
"Mommy, isn't that the guy who was arm-wrestling everyone outside earlier?"
The caller stepped in without hesitation.
"Ladies and gentlemen, that there is a terribly sad story. This man is indeed the twin of the man you may have seen outside, but this twin has been asleep for ten straight years! The both of them were cursed by an evil sea-witch, and now one of them can never sleep, and the other can never awaken! Our Carnival has been desperately searching for a cure, but until we find that witch there's just nothing we can do… So children, when your mothers and fathers tell you to be careful around the docks at night, I implore you! Do not go out alone! For this fate could await you as well!"
As people watched the snoring man with visible pity, Buggy ignored the blatant lies. There was something familiar about the man, though… Like he'd seen him somewhere before…
After a short, solemn pause, the caller added, "But, his twin brother will be taking on two challengers at a time in the main theater area after a fifteen minute break. I'll make sure of it. Moving on!"
The crowd shuffled forward, pulling Buggy along with them.
"Behold! The world's fattest man!"
Perhaps the rubes in the crowd were fooled by the appearance of the completely spherical young man who was even now stuffing into his mouth a chunk of bone-in meat that looked like it had been claimed from a dinosaur, but Buggy was not fooled. That was Straw-Hat Luffy, who was wobbling back and forth in the dirt right in front of him. He hadn't even removed his straw hat.
"I- *BURP* I'm gonna be the Pirate King!" roared the bulging behemoth, causing numerous folk with gentle sensibilities to step back in horror.
The caller reacted instantly.
"Please calm yourselves! Unfortunately, his is a sad story as well. The immense amount of food he has had to ingest as a result of his condition has led him to contract, uhhh, cholestotoxicosis, which results in delusional hallucinations. Right now he is under the illusion that he is none other than the famous pirate Straw-Hat Luffy."
Buggy winced as several people nearby muttered about how terrible that was, and also how much sense it clearly made. Luffy looked back at the caller with betrayal.
"But, I am Straw-Hat Luffy! See? I've got my hat and everything!"
Struggling futilely, Straw-Hat tried and failed to reach the hat sitting on his head, achieving nothing more than rolling slowly yet inevitably forward onto his face. The caller shook his head as his captain's muffled shouts intensified, but made no move to help him.
"Sad, sad stories, each and every one of them. Please, donate upon exiting to raise awareness of cholestotoxicosis in your area. Anyway, moving on!"
The crowd shuffled forward, pulling Buggy along with them.
"Behold! Ladies and Gentlemen I give you a real, live, mermaid!"
The crowd stared in amazement at the young woman swimming upright inside the tank of water. She waved back at them cheerfully, exclaiming,"Hello, humans! My name is Keimi! It's very nice to meet you all!"
The excitement lasted just until someone noticed what Buggy had seen right away.
"It's just a costume," said a fat little child up front.
"What? No it's not," assured Keimi.
"You've got a zipper in your fin," pointed the kid. "You can see it right there."
"What? No way," laughed Keimi, looking down to where he was pointing. "I would have noticed if I had a zipper in my- HOLY CRAP! THERE'S A ZIPPER IN MY FIN! AM I JUST A HUMAN IN A SUIT AFTER ALL?!"
The caller was quick to restore order.
"Now, now, Keimi, remember what we talked about? About the zipper we put there?"
"Oh… oh, right. Sorry, I mean, uhhh, didn't you know, child? When a mermaid reaches a certain age their legs can split in two? And it, ummm… looks like a zipper? Anyway, it's rude to stare!"
No one was convinced. As this was one of the last exhibits to be shown, the crowd was very displeased by the obvious fakery.
The crowd shuffled toward the exit, pulling Buggy with them, until the caller's piercing voice demanded attention once more, standing before a final black-draped enclosure that seemed to be where the shack's pervasive music was coming from.
"Ladies and Gentlemen it wouldn't be right to leave without witnessing the main attraction! Behold! The final mystery of our carnival!"
The black curtain fell away in a billowing heap, revealing a terribly thin man in tattered clothing, facing away from them as he fiddled away on his violin. Just before people's surprise turned to annoyance the man spun around to reveal a figure that was completely skeletal. It laughed and danced merrily as the onlookers stood paralyzed before it.
"Hello everyone!" exclaimed the dancing skeleton. "Good afternoon to you all, and I hope you've been well-entertained! If you enjoyed my performance there will be a live musical concert at five o' clock on the dot at the Main Stage, full of electrifying energy courtesy of yours truly! Until then, have a wonderful stay here at the carnival! Yo-hohohoho!"
The spell of paralysis broke immediately, and the crowd screamed in horror, carrying Buggy out of the shack in a wave of terrified carnival-goers. Desperate for freedom, he detached his head and floated about, looking around for a free path to the exit. As he flew above his body, he cursed viciously to himself.
"Straw-Hats think they can fool me, do they? Think they can take my theme, huh? I'll expose them to the entire island and then I'll show them what a real circus is capable of! A true Carnival of Pain!"
It was at that moment that Buggy noticed his body being tugged in an unusual direction. He looked down to see his headless torso being pulled out of the crowd by a chain of linked arms that seemed to be entirely without a body. Frantically separating his body into its component parts to escape the kidnapping attempt, he was stunned by a sudden and very worrying pain in his crotch that intensified until he cancelled the separation. Struck by a feeling of foreboding, he looked to his abductor's destination.
The House of Horrors.
Gulping, Buggy floated down after the rest of him, poking his head nervously into the dark building that seemed suddenly empty of all visitors.
"H-hello?" he called out, his head floating deeper into the darkness. "W-what do you want from me?"
Something brushed his ear, but nothing was around him. He turned his head left and was started by the sensation of his missing torso being spun right.
Then the wall was full of eyes and mouths.
"Hello there, mystery visitor. I can't help but notice you've figured out our little secret. I'm afraid it doesn't matter anymore, however, as you've now become trapped in here. With me."
The voices tittered, laughing out of sync in a way that made his spine crawl.
Or maybe that was this devil woman running a finger down his spine? It was hard to be sure.
"This House of Horrors will be your personal hell until I become convinced you won't… 'spill the beans,' as I believe the phrase goes. Please do try to have fun. This is entertainment, after all."
His blood curdling screams were seen as completely and totally normal by the Carnival-goers. One of the Naruto guards, however, turned to watch the attraction with no small degree of pity.
"Geez," said Naruto. "That lady runs a hell of a horror-show…"
Fifteen minutes later, Buggy exploded from inside the shack a quivering mess.
"Holy s-shit! She's everywhere! She can see everything! I can't escape! Gotta get out of here! Can't get safe!"
Several nearby families watched the crying clown in horror, deeply disturbed by his wild hair and running makeup.
"M-mommy!" exclaimed a young girl. "Why is the clown with the big red nose screaming at us?"
"WHO THE HELL HAS A BIG RED NOSE, HUH?!" screamed Buggy.
The incoming knife arrived one second later as Sakura reacted to the familiar scream and threw with murderous intent all the way from the stage area. Buggy watched in horror as a tiny divot appeared in his red clown nose.
He ran terrified from the Carnival grounds, all attempt at stealth forgotten along with all thoughts of vengeance.
-Later that Evening-
As dusk began to fall, Naruto watched the Carnival's closing with satisfaction. Brook's show had really brought the house down, and he was even now talking excitedly about the attention he had earned.
Chopper had finished treating the last of the children who had managed to accrue scrapes and bruises, while Nami was eagerly counting their earnings, muttering to herself about the allure of doing this every time they entered port. The current tension on the Archipelago had made their impromptu carnival even more successful than Naruto had guessed, capturing crowds that might instead have gone to the Sabaody Amusement Park. Now the lights of the Park were flickering on in the distance, summoning those people who wanted yet more entertainment.
Naruto was letting his clones come back home one at a time, laughing as they did so. Normally he hated jobs that required him to do grunt work with a large number of clones, but this time had been different; at the start of the day he had told each of his clones to really 'get into the spirit' of life out here in the Grand Line and pretend to be completely bonkers. Now, every time one of his shadow clones evaporated it brought with it stories and experiences that made him grin.
"Naruto, I don't know whether to be impressed or pissed off, but we got through this alright," said Sasuke, coming up behind him.
"Hey, what's there to be pissed off about?" chuckled Naruto. "I already heard a bunch of would-be kidnappers spreading the word that our 'mermaid' is just a lady in a fin-suit, and some Marines are convinced we've got a really bad Straw-Hat Luffy impersonator. You just gotta think like these guys, you know?"
"What, you have to think like you're stupid beyond belief and half-mad to top it off? Yeah, I'm not surprised you managed it. No, I'm pissed off because Nami stopped everything else I was doing when she realized my hypnosis act was bringing in so much more money."
Sasuke collapsed to the bench with an exhausted thump, rubbing his eyes and massaging his forehead. "Ugh… I'm wiped out."
Naruto laughed. "Oh, boo-hoo, look at me, all the ladies think I'm so cool up on stage. It's just so damn boring."
As his friend glared at him from between his fingers, Naruto started speaking in a high falsetto and batting his eyes up to the sky.
"Oh, that magic act was so wonderful! I sure wish I knew what was under that mask! Maybe he looks just like the legendary copy ninja! Oh, I bet he's so dreamy! Unless he's got some stupid fish lips or something!"
"Really Naruto?" asked Sasuke. "You're bringing Kakashi's mask into this? I thought we all agreed to never speak of that mess ever again."
"Hey, don't blame me. I'm not the one who started copying the guy. Oh, but hey, enough about that. Some of the others are planning to go see that guy that's supposed to be doing the coating for the ship. Someone named Rayleigh or something. I think Luffy, Usopp, and Robin were going along, but Sakura said she was going to stick with you."
Sasuke nodded, thinking it over for a moment. "Yeah, sure, whatever. I'll find her and we'll go out there to meet this guy. I'm kind of curious what the process is. You're not coming too, are you?"
"Hell yeah I'm coming. I don't see why- hold on, wait a second…"
Naruto paused as one of his last clone's memories flooded back to him, alerting him to a developing situation. Grinning, he turned back to Sasuke.
"Uhh, I'm gonna have to bail on that. A friend I met on Water-7 just showed up and I want to say hello."
"Alright, get the hell out of my face then," said Sasuke, waving as he turned away to find the others. "Later, man."
Naruto waved back and dashed off in the direction the clone had last been located. He found who he was looking for at the water's edge, gazing off at the lights of the distant Ferris Wheel with an awed reverence.
"Hey, Tobi!" called Naruto.
His friend Tobington turned around in surprise and Naruto snickered to see him. Once again, the man was dressed in a loud button-up shirt, khaki shorts, and a thick pair of sunglasses. When he saw Naruto take his mask off, his face brightened immediately.
"Naruto! Great to see you! Did you see the Carnival? They're awesome!"
"Yeah, I know, man. That was us! I told everyone we should put on a circus show and they were all like, 'No, that's stupid,' but who's laughing now, huh?"
"I'm laughing now!" agreed an enthusiastic Tobi.
"Damn right you are. Sorry I didn't find you earlier- I guess I must have missed you when we were selling tickets."
"Oh, totally. I am super forgettable," agreed Tobi, apparently without any hint of sarcasm.
Naruto shook his head and looked out across the water at the distant amusement park. Standing here like this it would be pretty difficult for anyone to see anything more than two people talking, so he felt safe leaving his mask off, though Tobi continued to wear his thick sunglasses for whatever reason.
"So how's it going," asked Naruto. "I know you said you were gonna be in the news last time we talked, but I guess the front page is being hogged by all this Marine business, huh?"
"Uhhhh… yeah, that's right!" said Tobi, nodding rather energetically. "What a shame, huh? Ignoring all of that, how did that business with your friends go? I've been thinking about it since I left. Please tell me you got the girl in the end!"
A stupid grin washed over Naruto's face in response.
"Hell yeah I did. I just tried to be myself and it worked. She's at the circus right now, actually, but I'm sure she'd like to meet you!"
Chuckling, almost giggling, Tobi held up both hands. "Whoa, no thank you. I already said I'm not too good with people. Besides, I've got a lot I need to get done tonight if I'm going to be ready for tomorrow."
"Tomorrow? What's happening tomorrow?"
"Oh, a lot of things, I guess. 'The Big Day' and all that. Probably nothing you need to worry about. What about your best friend, though? Did you talk to him? Is he still leaving?"
Naruto shuffled uncomfortably, looking out over the waves that washed over the Yarukiman Mangrove root system.
"Well, yeah… kinda. I think he's still not sure about whether he'll stay with us or not, but at least he knows we're there for him and we'll have his back if he comes home. It's just that… well, what with this whole big mountain range we're gonna cross I keep thinking that I've gotta know whether he's staying or not before we get into the New World, or whatever. It sounds like it'll be pretty hard to go back home once we're on the other side…"
Sighing, Naruto shrugged.
"It sucks ass, but one way or another I think Fish-Man island is as far as I can go right now, you know?"
Tobi nodded solemnly, frowning a little more than would have seemed natural. Come to think of it, Tobi had seemed to be acting a little odd, and it wasn't until just then that he realized the man hadn't yet mentioned pooping even once. Naruto considered this as the older man added his own concerns.
"Yeah, I suppose I'm kind of in a similar predicament," said Tobi. "I've been having a whole lot of fun this last month, but this is pretty much the end of the line for me. On the one hand it's a shame, but on the other hand, wow! Like, something awesome is happening!"
"Something awesome?"
"Yeah… well… I guess you got me thinking. You know how sometimes... you have to leave home, and even though it makes you sad you still know it's the right thing to do?"
Naruto gave him an odd look. "Is that what you're dealing with? Leaving home?"
Tobi shook his head emphatically. "No, no, not at all. I don't have a home at all anymore, and I don't think I ever will again. It's just... kind of like that."
"You don't sound very happy about this," observed Naruto. "Look, you helped me out last time, so I guess it's only fair to return the favor. What's bothering you?"
"M-me? Bothered? No, no way. That's not the right way to put it."
"Well what is the right way, then?"
"I… I don't think…"
"Don't try and hide it, man. I can see something's been on your mind. Is this about one of those jerks you sail with who's been giving you trouble?"
"I… I, uhh… Well…"
"Come on. Spill it."
Tobi dropped his gaze to the ground, staying silent for several seconds. "No, it's not them. I'm… thinking about… well, I guess you'd call him my father."
Naruto blinked. That hadn't been what he had expected. "Oh, yeah?"
"Yeah… I know it's kind of ironic for me to say this, when I was actually the one who… uhh… that is, since you don't have any parents... but mine are dead too…"
Naruto sobered as Tobi continued to talk. "I… kind of never had a mother, but my... father was and is really important in my life. He died… when I was a little older than you are now? Well, it doesn't really matter when it was, but I guess I was really still just a kid in all the ways that were important."
"Yeah?" asked Naruto, trying to follow all of the other man's odd asides and self-edits.
Tobi looked up, watching the moon as it lurked in the evening sky. "Yeah. I did everything he told me to do and nothing else. He was everything important in my life. Actually, he… wasn't in very good health, and I spent all of my time caring for him."
Naruto furrowed his brow. "Sounds a bit overbearing to me, but caring for him sounds nice of you, I guess?"
Tobi shook his head emphatically.
"No… I didn't do it because I was a good person. It was just… 'what I did,' you know? He was all I knew." Tobi sighed. "He maybe wasn't even that good of a person himself, but he had such good dreams. And then he died. I didn't know what to do, so I just kept doing what I thought would make him happy. He had a dream, and eventually it became my dream, too. I'm working on making it come true right now, actually, and..."
The sentence stopped right there. When the pause lengthened to the point that Naruto realized he wasn't going to continue, the young man spoke up.
"Umm…" began Naruto. "I'm sorry, I actually really don't get all this dad stuff… But, I do know one thing for sure."
"Yeah?" asked Tobi.
The young ninja grinned. "No matter what you do, you can't have someone else's dream be your own. You just can't."
Tobi paused, staring back at his new buddy with a furrowed brow. Finally, he asked, "Why not? What if I really want to?"
Naruto mentally stumbled. Sometimes he had trouble picking the right words, but this had felt like the sort of line that was supposed to work.
"Umm, look," said Naruto. "So, this best friend of mine that I was talking to you about last time? His name's Sasuke, and he had an older brother who left him a lot of messages about the things he thought Sasuke should do with his life. So sometimes Sasuke gets these weird ideas about what he has to do to make his brother happy, you know? Even though his brother's been dead for a long time now. But his brother didn't really know what would make Sasuke happy- he was just trying to give his best guess, even though Sasuke was just a little kid at the time. So now I think he's not really sure about whether he's leaving home because it's something that he wants or if it's something his brother wanted."
Listening to this, Tobi started scratching his head.
"Couldn't it be both?" he asked.
"Well... yeah it could be… but… look, what's the thing you're trying to do, anyway, huh? What's your dream?"
Tobi shook his head. "Sorry. I can't tell you that. But I can say it's super important. It could make the world a much better place for everyone."
Now Naruto was the one scratching his head in confusion.
"Hold on… so, it's something you can do… something you wanna do… and something that makes the world a better place? So… what's the problem?"
"Well… the problem is that my dream is…. going to get me killed."
"W-what?"
Tobi returned to staring up at the moon.
"My father… he had a dream that he gave his life for, and it's really amazing and really going to help a lot of people, but it's also really tough to make it come true. I'm just not good enough to handle it on my own. But he was that good, and I can make sure he gets another shot at it. In order to do that though, I'll need to die. It's the only way to make it happen."
Naruto gaped open-mouthed at Tobi with bewildered disbelief until the older man stopped looking up at the moon and met his eyes.
"Whoa, hold on!" exclaimed Naruto. "What the hell are you talking about?! You can give him another shot if you die?! Didn't you say he was dead already? Is this some more Devil-Fruit bullshit?"
Tobi shrugged.
"Look, the details aren't really important. What's important is that this is something I've really wanted for my whole life. It's my dream!"
"That's not a dream that'll make you happy, though! What's the point? Come on, man, you don't wanna do this. It's written all over your face."
"Well... maybe the thought of it does make me a bit sad, but… I don't think all dreams have to make you happy, Naruto. I think there are sad dreams too. Things that you know you have to do no matter what. This has always been the most amazing thing in my life, and I really, honestly, truly do want to do it."
"But you're gonna die!" exclaimed Naruto, though his words should have been obvious.
"Lots of people have dreams where they know they're going to die if they succeed. It doesn't make it any less important to them. Sometimes there's something out there that's more important than your own life. This one is mine."
Naruto grabbed his head in both hands, running his fingers through his messy hair as he tried to find a way through this conversation. It really shouldn't be this hard to stop a friend from getting himself killed, but...
"Auugh, man, this would really be a lot easier if I knew what the hell this dream of yours was… You still can't tell me?"
"Nope. 'Fraid not. You know, it's kind of crazy, but you're the first person I've ever talked to like this in my life. Weird, huh?"
"Uughh… Okay, just… ignoring that really pathetic piece of information for now, just… look… just promise me one thing."
"Yeah?"
"You gotta have your own dreams too, you know? So... promise me you're gonna think about things that you wanna do that aren't something your dad chose for you. That's gotta happen! Don't you have anything like that already?"
Tobi chuckled.
"Well, I don't really see the point now. Assuming we can find the last thing we're missing, this could all happen as early as tomorrow. There's not really much time left for taking it easy and enjoying life."
Naruto's exasperated expression turned to wide-eyed horror.
"T-Tomorrow?! You're planning on dying tomorrow, and we're just sitting here talking about it?! Man, screw this, I'm not letting you kill yourself or whatever without even knowing what this is about!"
Naruto stepped up and grabbed the taller man by the collar of his colorful dress-shirt, pulling him down until they were face-to-face. When he spoke, his voice was a low, threatening growl.
"I'm not leaving till you tell me what's going on here, dude. Maybe I can't talk you outta this after all, but I can sure as hell beat some sense into you…"
Tobi smiled again, but this time there wasn't any mirth in it at all. Just a sad and wistful sort of amusement.
"I'm sorry, Naruto. Sorry for… well... a lot of things that I did to you, I guess. You've really been more of a friend than I deserve, but you're also very, very wrong. There's nothing you can say to talk me out of this, and there's no way you can beat me, either. Please don't take this the wrong way, but... it's time to say goodbye. So… goodbye."
Tobi didn't move a single muscle, but everything changed. The sunglasses exploded off of Tobi's face, exposing the distinctive circular pattern of his eyes for the first time. In the space between one moment and the next, Naruto's body flew backwards, struck with a horrible sense of vertigo as several different flavors of sideways ganged up on him until each direction became both up and down. His grip on Tobi's collar slipped and he soared away like an arrow in flight, shooting up and above the treeline, off into the ocean, faster and faster. The wind rushed in his ears and Naruto screamed with surprise until the Sabaody Archipelago became little more than a glowing speck in the distance.
Then he hit the water, bouncing and skipping across the waves with painful impacts until he came to a splashing halt. He broke the surface a moment later, clawing and thrashing until he got his bearings.
"That son of a bitch!" roared Naruto, trying to pull himself onto the surface of the water with both hands and failing, splashing around and smacking the water in anger. "What the fuck does he think he was doing?! Tobington?! Seriously?! Agh, it was so damn obvious, too!"
It hurt. This was the silliest, stupidest, most ridiculous bullshit thing to happen to him in all his time out here, and this was the thing that hurt him the most. Those eyes were unmistakable. The guy he'd been making friends with was none other than the leader of Akatsuki. The man who'd killed his parents.
"Who the hell does he think he is, anyway?! That asshole does all that to me and then expects me to care about him?! Screw that!"
Eventually, Naruto stopped splashing, floating on his back in the gentle waves and trying to make sense of what had happened.
"God, I must look like such an idiot," muttered Naruto. "Hell, he looks like a huge idiot from where I'm standing. Why the hell was he telling me all that stuff?!"
No one answered. The lights of the Sabaody Archipelago continued to flicker in the distance as the lights of the stars slowly came out overhead.
"Screw this," growled Naruto, standing up correctly this time and beginning his sprint back to the island. "That asshole can't die until I get a chance to kill him myself."
-Elsewhere-
-Sabaody Archipelago-
The night was finally settling into place as Trafalgar Law ran headlong through the alleys, scattering debris as he moved at his maximum speed. What had started as a terrifically successful mission to extend invitations to the Rookie Summit to several of the arriving Pirate crews had ended the moment he had realized he was being followed.
The stalking had started normally enough, as these things went. A shadowy figure lurking in the distance. Ominous hissing noises. Then his opponent had cornered him.
Though the bounty poster for the Undertaker, Orochimaru, was hilariously inaccurate, the pale man's black and red robes left no doubt as to who he was up against. It was just that Law wasn't used to being outclassed these days.
He stalled in place as he felt the murderous presence wrap itself around him again, and he extended his power.
[OPE-OPE NO MI: ROOM]
The Ope-Ope Fruit possessed the power to designate wide areas around himself as his own personal operating theater, granting him great control over everything inside it. The dome-shaped field poured rapidly from his body, passing through several nearby buildings as his awareness filled the area.
There. The snake-bastard was on a nearby roof, leaping down into the alley in a barely visible blur. Law's nodachi flicked out with lightning speed and the blade's edge extended invisibly all the way to the end of his Room. It cut through Orochimaru's torso without spilling blood, also dividing the tops of the buildings in the same slice.
Law didn't wait to survey the damage. He simply resumed running, covering as much ground as he could as the rubble crashed to the ground behind him. Moments later snakes burst from the severed halves of Orochimaru's torso and twined themselves together like writhing vines, recombining the two halves until his flesh seemed completely undamaged once more.
"How impressive," hissed the pale man, resuming the pursuit. "This is simply making me want the Fruit more and more. Show me everything it's capable of."
Shit. Law had already discovered that there was no point to fighting this guy, and he was far too out of breath to consider arguing about the infeasibility of trying to kill someone for their Fruit.
The problem was that it wasn't even clear to Law if he was fighting the real Orochimaru or not; he'd heard rumors about a ninja's ability to generate clones capable of battle. To stand a chance of defeating this man he'd have to go all in, but doing so would reveal all of his tricks with no guarantee he would kill anything except a clone. Far better to run, assuming that was an option.
He'd gladly take Sasuke's advice of avoiding Akatsuki after running into this lunatic. Still, it would have been nice if they had avoided him.
Soon he was approaching the areas at the fringe of the island, filled with warehouses and commercial buildings. Orochimaru was gaining on him, moving with an inhuman speed that seemed not even to tire the man.
Law took a deep, shuddering breath and then extended his Room once more. Glancing into a nearby window he saw a shelf of lumber set inside the warehouse.
Steeling himself for discomfort, he pushed his power to the limit and swapped the position of a piece of lumber for his own body. He appeared inside a warehouse that seemed also to serve as a factory floor, and he fought down the disorientation and nausea as he dropped immediately out of sight.
Ugh… Teleporting his own body was something he still wasn't used to.
Eyes adjusting to the dim light, he took stock of his surroundings. He had undergone years of training to see every battlefield not as it was, but as it could be, and as long as he remained inside the boundary of his Room he would have the advantage. There he waited, gathering himself and his information.
It was less than a minute before he felt Orochimaru step out of the shadows in front of him, practically hissing with pleasure. Law leapt backwards, landing on top of a stack of crates.
"Wonderful…" said Orochimaru. "The books said nothing of personal teleportation. Such a useful ability."
"Undertaker… What does Akatsuki want with me?" asked Law. "You must know that even if you do kill me the Fruit's next emergence will be highly unpredictable."
The snake-man laughed, stepping closer. "Oh, such unimportant details. And this isn't Akatsuki's goal at all. Call it… a pet project of mine, and leave it at that."
Law kept his eyes on the man in front of him, but from the senses granted to him by his Room he could feel something creeping along the floor behind him, like a thin film sliding across the ground.
Was that film the real Orochimaru, with this figure in front of him just the clone, or was the new presence some form of attack that would strike when it got close?
Well, it didn't really matter right now, did it?
Smirking, Law raised his hand, middle finger proudly extended, and then everything happened in a single instant. Pieces of lumber moved here, a support beam moved there, a large chunk of machinery appeared in the air right in front of him. His scalpel flicked upwards with a surgeon's precision. Orochimaru saw what had been done, but was helpless to stop it. A giant makeshift lever and fulcrum along with associated supports formed a crude catapult with Law himself as its payload. The weight of the falling machinery launched him up into the air, and his blade flashed outwards- a thin line of silver in the dark- causing a smoothly-cut hole to appear in the ceiling.
He was through it in an instant, flying through the night air with dizzying speed, traveling up into the canopy of the forest city until his Room was established at the height of his jump. A sliced branch let him swap his own position, gasping as he collapsed onto the thick mangrove wood, fighting down nausea once more. In moments he had cut out a Law-shaped hole in the tree, swapping the excess material up into a higher branch as he ducked into hiding. If the assassin followed him again he might not be able to fight back.
Luckily he'd laid one more trap.
Below him, the warehouse collapsed with a tremendous clatter as the supports finally gave way, and the screams of the terrified populace were audible even from here. Soon, the Marine's fast response units would arrive.
They probably wouldn't fare too well against Orochimaru, assuming they found him at all, but it was the principle of the thing. Besides, he didn't get along well with the Marines anyway.
About half an hour later, he felt capable of descending and making his way back to their ship's scheduled meeting place. Akatsuki, he decided, was a menace, but leaving the island after personally arranging this meeting with so many other pirates would be fatal to his reputation. That was something he couldn't afford.
He would have to ensure that the rest of the Rookies banded together to keep Akatsuki from going wild. If not, the results could be catastrophic.