Chapter 14: Rush to the North!
XXXXXXX – East Blue, Syrup Village, South Beach
Night. Such a quiet time. A time when most are sleeping, or just doing their own private things during this time. Some would read – and/or having a small snack – before going to bed. Some would simply sit on their front door step and enjoy the night around them, listening to the house settling or the bugs chirping, taking those few minutes to simply relax, calm themselves and mentally prepare for the next day.
Night also has another attribute: fear. Most children have a natural fear of the dark, for which nighttime represents. They can not see at night, for it is too dark. As such, they fear that dark, often doing whatever they can to relieve themselves of that fear. Whether it's to have a nightlight, going to mom and dad, or simply laying in bed, wide awake until sleep finally consumes them.
The south beach of Syrup village was such a place where these two concepts of night really hit the small group gathered there, specifically the 'Great Pirate Captain' Usopp himself. And to a lesser extent, Uchiha Sasuke himself.
Sasuke could still remember that one night when all of his clan, all of his relatives, all his family was killed. By that one man. Sasuke could still remember seeing the aftermath and how deeply it scared him. It didn't help matters either that he had been dumped on Gold Island, left completely alone (unless you count Gaimon). That first year on that island had been the hardest: he hadn't known what to do, had no place to go, was in despair, felt an incredible amount of hopelessness and absolutely terrified. And night only magnified those feelings to the utmost degree.
It had taken three weeks for Gaimon to work up the courage to try and talk to the boy. Normally, he would had driven the boy off the island (or at least talked to him and learned what happened) but he had witnessed how that boy arrived…and found that he didn't have to heart to do his 'Trial of the Forest' act. But Gaimon didn't know how to try and comfort the boy, so he waited. Or more accurately, he stalled. When he finally went to Sasuke…that encounter hadn't worked out well. Sasuke had just killed a snake-rabbit and was visibly shaken at what he had done. Before Gaimon could utter a word, the shaken eight-year-old saw him and snapped, chased him vigorously with a large stick and kunai, muttering words like 'hunt', 'kill' and 'eat.'
Sasuke could still remember all those memories and how he felt now in the present situation. But he'd be damned before he let ANYONE (especially Naruto) find out about that little fact.
"It's perfect!" Usopp called out. Sasuke looked at him, anxious to get his mind off his memories and on to other things. Usopp was pointing at a large amount of oil on the slope. "There's no way they'll make it up this pass…not with all the oil we poured down on it."
They had formulated a battle plan, the primary tacticians being Usopp, Shino, Nami and surprisingly Sakura. It had two main parts.
The first step was to stop them at the hill, which would serve as their main defense. In addition to the oil slick, they had buried a surplus of exploding tags underneath, producing a miniature minefield. They had also put several on the cliffs themselves, unfortunately, that left very few left to the shinobi themselves. Though the cliffs weren't big enough to cause a severe avalanche, it would throw debris in the pirates way, and that would lead to confusion and disorder, which the Straw Hats could use to their advantage. The narrow passage also meant that the Black Cat pirates wouldn't be able to surround them, meaning that they couldn't all attack at once while they were coming through this pass. And finally, the Straw Hats would be able to attack them from the top of the pass while the pirates were slipping, avoiding debris and getting away from the various explosions (all of which set to go off at a hand gesture from one of the shinobi so the exploding tags wouldn't go off prematurely) and Naruto's horde of Kage Bunshins.
The second line of defense would be in the forest itself, where many traps were set up using wire with kunai, logs, rocks and various other debris. There were even a few of the classic 'dig a hole and cover it' traps. Here, the Straws Hats would be able to create discord and havoc by all these traps, in addition to hit-and-run tactics, such as attacking, then retreating quickly through the trees, doing anything they could to stop the pirates here. That was a tactic that would favor the Straw Hats immensely, especially since this island was Usopp's home. Meaning that he thorough knowledge of the woods themselves.
Hopefully, by this time, the villagers would have noticed that the pirates were actually coming and give them time to flee and…hopefully…prepare some sort of counterattack.
Hopefully…strange how such plans and ideas to save the village had be reduced to 'hopefully' in mere minutes.
All had different opinions of the plan. Luffy and Naruto didn't understand a word of it, but had nodded in agreement with everything that had been said. Sasuke and Zoro didn't really care about 'tactics', 'strategies' and 'plans.' Usopp and Sakura felt immensely pleased with themselves with all they had thought up, while Nami and Shino merely said. "It's adequate."
They had spent a good portion of the night coming up with this plan and the reminder of it for preparation, including all they knew about Captain Kuro himself. Kuro had been known as Kuro of the Thousand Plans, referring to all the numerous and brilliant plans he had come up, all of which had been successful. In addition, he had a former bounty of 16,000,000 berries. Former due to the fact that virtually everyone in the world believed Kuro had been caught and executed. Currently, Shino and Naruto were setting up the last of the traps in the forest. They seem to be taking their sweet time…or maybe Naruto just blundered up and set them back…as the sun was about to come up and with it, the attack.
"It's dawn…" Luffy said, looking at the sun slowly emerging at the horizon.
Zoro grinned as his left hand rested on his sword. "Here they come…and those two are going to be late it seems."
And so they waited…and waited…and waited…
"Where the hell are they?" Sasuke yelled yet again.
"It's dawn…" Luffy said again, stating the obvious and looking around. "Right?"
Zoro merely nodded, not speaking. His entire focus was on the beach.
"Maybe they over slept?" Sakura suggested eagerly.
"Who 'yarrred?'" Nami asked out of the blue.
They all looked at her funny.
"No one said 'yarrred,'" Zoro replied. "Looks like you're just imagining things."
Nami didn't appear to be listening to him. She merely cupped a hand around her ear and had a slight strained look on her face, as if she was trying to hear something far away. "Maybe it's just me…but I think I hear someone yelling 'yarrr' to the north of us…"
Usopp paled. "NORTH!?"
Nami put her other hand on her opposite ear. "I definitely hear something!"
"I hear it too…" Sasuke confirmed, his eyes narrowing. "We're in the wrong place…"
"What!?" Sakura and Zoro shouted, Luffy's mouth nearly dropped.
"Er…there's another landing on the north beach!" Usopp cried out desperately, grabbing his head in despair.
"You mean we're on the wrong beach!?" Luffy shouted in disbelief.
"All that planning…all those traps…" Sakura muttered, feeling overwhelmed with the reality of the situation hitting hard. "All our efforts…all for nothing…"
"But the pirates had their secret meeting here…" Usopp said, as if somehow this whole disaster was his fault and he was looking for any sort of justification. "I just assumed…"
"We've got to get them before they attack the village! Which way should we go?!" Luffy interrupted, grabbed Usopp by the collar and shaking him, as if that would make Usopp talk faster.
"N…north…" Usopp chocked out in between shakes. Nami and Sakura pulled Luffy off quickly. Usopp took a couple of deep breaths to calm himself and then added. "If we run straight North, we should get there in about three minutes. There's another pass there almost exactly like this one! We can stop them there!" His voice grew firmer, his determination returning. He brought up a fist and clenched it hard. "We WILL stop them there!"
Nami slapped the sides of her face. "OH NO! OUR SHIPS ARE AT THE NORTH BEACH! THEY'LL TAKE OUR TREASURE!!"
"Leave it to you to think of money first," Sakura said.
"I'll be there in twenty seconds!" Luffy declared, taking off in an instance. Usopp ran next. A few seconds later, so did Sakura.
"Hurr…" Nami started. Unfortunately, she had been a tad too close to the oil slick. Immediately, she lost her balance and yelled.
"Nami!" Zoro said, the first to notice. "What're you doing!?"
"Help! I'm slipping!"
Before Zoro could respond, Nami grabbed his sash and pulled him near her, allowing her to get free of the oil slick. Unfortunately, this meant that Zoro was now on the oil. By pure instinct and pure accident, he too reached out and grabbed the first thing he could. In this case: the back of Sasuke's collar. As Zoro tumbled, he accidentally threw Sasuke back. The next thing Sasuke knew, his head hit the canyon walls at the bottom and he was completely disoriented. Zoro came tumbling shortly after.
"Sorry Zoro! But our treasures in danger!" Nami shouted from the top without a hint of remorse. Seconds later, she too disappeared, with the last words of, "Don't worry about me!"
"Someday…" Zoro said, his face exploding in pure fury. "I'm gonna kill that girl!"
"Not…if I…kill you first…" Sasuke said in a monotone, rubbing his head furiously.
The others were running as fast as they could to the north beach.
Usopp was running hard. "I swear I won't let them get to the village! But that guy sure is fast! I can't even see him!"
Luffy chanted. "Head strait north…head start north…"
Nami said. "If they've touched my treasure they're dead!!"
"North…north…why do I feel like we're forgetting about something?" Sakura asked herself as she ran.
XXXXXXX – In the forest by the South beach
"I'm telling you Shino, we should just wrap this way and everything will be set!" Naruto shouted, who was currently tangled up in a mess of wires. He was desperately trying to get undone, but failing miserably.
"If we listened to you, both of us would be tangled up. Not to mention I would be a 'hideous blob monster' as you put it." Shino replied, making no move to help. "In addition, your logic has hit an all time low."
"You know that I was trying to say 'know-it-all Bug Nerd!'"
"And that's any better how? And the proper term is insects."
Naruto and Shino were currently…preoccupied…
XXXXXXX – at the South beach
"I'LL KILL YOU, YOU SMART MOUTHED LITTLE TWERP!!"
"NOT IF I KILL YOU FIRST, YOU SWORD OBSESSED FREAK!!"
Sasuke and Zoro were currently…busy…
XXXXXXX – back at the others
"Must be my imagination…" Sakura concluded to herself as she continued to run.
At the north beach, the Black Cat pirates were charging up the hill, with loud cheering and happy glees in their eyes, anxious to finally do something after spending a week anchor at the shore, which would leave anyone bored out of their mind.
"Lead Stars!"
That's when several of them suddenly got hit in the head with small 'lead stars'. That ones that got hit fell to the ground, grasping their faces and hollering in pain. One pirate looked for the source. "Someone's at the top of the hill!" He shouted, pointing in the said direction.
Django looked at the figure on the top of the hill, a young man in overalls, checked bandana on his head, a large bag on his side, slingshot in his left hand and goggles. "You!?" Django exclaimed.
"My name is Captain Usopp! I've been waiting for you bastards! We're fully prepared for battle! Turn back now if you value your lives!" Usopp shouted, causally tossing more of his 'stars' in his right hand.
XXXXXXX – at the South beach (again)
"Damn...how do I get up there?!" Zoro demanded, attempting to run up the oily hill again. He then saw Sasuke brushing himself off, not seemingly in a hurry at all. "What the hell do you think you're doing!?"
"Enjoying seeing you squirm and frustrated." Sasuke replied. He then put his hands together and his feet gave off a faint, blue glow. He then ran to the cliff and actually started running on it, completely avoiding the oil slick. He then got to the top and smirked at Zoro.
"Don't just stand there! Help me!" Zoro yelled as he continued to run with all his might, even though he was starting to slid back down again.
"Sure…" Sasuke replied. Zoro then watched as Sasuke brought up one hand, with his fore and middle fingers stretched out. Then, "Boom."
The area right in front of Zoro exploded, thanks to exploding tag buried there. The shockwave sent Zoro tumbling back to the bottom of the canyon and crashing into a cliff.
"Now we're even." Sasuke called down, showing no remorse in his voice at all. He then took off.
"SASUKE!!! COME BACK HERE SO I CAN RIP OUT YOUR GUTS AND STRANGLE YOU WITH THEM!!!"
XXXXXXX – outside of Syrup Village
Shikamaru, yawned, still cursing himself that he was up this early…of his own accord to. He was currently walking around the edge of the village, wondering if he had gotten up in vain.
"Huh!? I'm outside the village!? He said head north, so I just went in the direction that seemed coldest!!"
Shikamaru stopped and looked at the direction for the source of the voice. He saw that Straw Hat guy himself. What was his name again? Ruffy? He watched at the young man vigorously looked around and ran back south.
"Oh…great…" Shikamaru moaned. He should had known things wouldn't had been so easy. He knew he should done something about it.
During the night, he had found that he couldn't sleep. Not with what was at stake. It wasn't a man's job to just sit back and do nothing if something this dangerous.
So, a few hours before sunrise, he had gotten up, dressed and walked himself down to the south beach. He didn't know why he was going, or what he expected to accomplish, but he felt that whatever he was going to do, it would start there. He saw the small group and was quite amazed at what he saw, and the only time he had been amazed was where his father actually volunteered to work and did something.
He had seen their determination – which they were so focused on that they didn't notice him this time around – and how several of them actually had brains and used them, a rarity in this village. He had learned about Klahadore and his real identity of Captain Kuro and his plan, something not even he had seen or predicted, since he never socialized with the man (ok…he didn't socialize anyway, but that was beside the point). With all the traps, Naruto's mass Kage Bunshins and their will to win, he actually thought that would be enough to drive off the pirates.
Or maybe he just let himself believe that so he wouldn't have to do anything…
And now, he saw that all crumbling down with that idiot's one simple line: He said head north, so I just went in the direction that seemed coldest.
He didn't know which he Fuffy had been referring to, but that didn't matter. The direction part did. North. The Straw Hats had been at the south. The fact that Nuffy was trying to go north meant one thing: the pirates were coming from the north, not the south.
Shikamaru mentally kicked himself. He should had gotten his dad, mom, anyone and did something. Now…it may have been too late.
He squatted down right then, put his hands in a familiar circle and considered his options. In chess…the King was the goal. The thing that you had to protect and what your opponent was after. In this case…Kaya was the King. She was the key to Kuro's plan. If he couldn't get to her, then his plan would fall apart. Hopefully anyway.
He briefly thought about raising the alarm himself, but he immediately discarded that idea. The villagers were so use to Usopp's lies that they wouldn't believe, even if it came from his own mouth. And to be perfectly honest, he wasn't a credible source either, not with him constantly lazy and never doing anything. No, they wouldn't believe until the pirates showed themselves.
With that thought in mind, he started walking towards Kaya's mansion.
XXXXXXX – North beach
Usopp was looking down at the pirates, nearly a forty of them, all of them wearing their cat ears. Except for Django, of course. His legs started shaking again, and he slapped them with his free hand. 'Wh-what? I'm the first one here?! The Straw hat guy was way ahead me…'
Django hmphed at him. "It's you. That little barnacle that overheard our plans. Just what do you think you're doing?"
Usopp flung his hand in front dramatically. "This is your final warning! Leave now while you still can, for I have ten million fighting men ready to crush you all!"
The pirates looked at him. "That's the worst lie I've ever heard…" One of them said.
"TEN MILLION!? REALLY!?" Django cried out, panicked and trembling.
"C'mon, Captain. He be lying!"
"Does he think we're fools?" another one asked.
Usopp let out a large gasp. How did they see through his lie so easily? They must be MIND READERS!! Or maybe invading cats from some sort of mysterious island! No wonder Kuro was so feared! He had an army of mind reading cat people!
"You'll pay for you deceit, you little brat," Django said angrily. He was about to add to the threat when one crewmen shouted that he just found 4 or 5 million berries.
"WHAT!?" cried out several people, including Django and Usopp.
"F-five…million…berries…" Usopp repeated, saying the words slowly. He had never seen that much money before. "Why would they have so much money?" Suddenly, an idea hit him in the head. "That's my treasure!"
That got the pirates attention. They all looked at the young man as he continued. "But I'll let you have it!"
"Huh? You're going to give us the treasure?" Several pirates asked completely bewildered. They're victims willingly giving them that much loot? That was a first.
"Yes I will!" Usopp confirmed. "In exchange, you leave immediately!"
"Is he trying to bribe us?" One pirate asked.
"What a shame…I was actually looking forward to slaughtering someone…" another stated.
Django, however, said. "Are you nuts? Of course we'll take the treasure, but why should we leave? Payback for tricking me earlier, if nothing else." He put on a wicked grin at the end of that statement. He then pulled out his ring again. "Now, when I say 'One, Two, Django,' you'll step aside. One...Two…"
"Yikes. Isn't that some sort of weapon?" Usopp asked himself, trying to recall all the details from the time Django had used it yesterday.
"Djan…"
Nami then appeared behind Usopp and hit him in the back of the head, causing him to stumble downward, avoiding Djano's ring as Django finished saying '–go'. "Don't say such foolish things, buster!" Nami shouted at Usopp. (Django had moved off to the side, happily smiling and waving a hand by for anyone to go past him). Usopp had fallen to his knees and rubbing his head furiously, while Nami turned her sights on the pirates. "The treasure on that ship is mine! And I'm not giving up one berry of it! Hang on to it for me, because I'm coming for it!"
She then refocused her attention on Usopp. "What's the big idea!? Giving away my treasure!?"
"I was trying to save my village," Usopp retorted, still rubbing his hand and standing on his feet. "And that hurt! Did you have to hit me that hard?"
"You idiot, I just saved your neck." Nami said. She pointed at Django. "We were so focused on what we know about Kuro, that we neglected to share what we knew about Django, or any other members. Don't look at that guy's ring when he starts counting. He's a hypnotist."
Django – who had recovered from his own hypnosis by this time – gave a low growl in frustration, while Usopp asked. "A what-no-tist?"
"A hypnotist…," Came a voice from behind. Nami and Usopp looked behind them, to see Sakura arriving, huffing and puffing. Obviously, exhausted from sprinting from one side of the island to the other. "…is a person…who is able…to put someone in…a trancelike state…and give…mesmerizing commands…making the person…do what they say…"
Get…now they were mind controlling, mind reading invading cat people! Usopp grabbed his head in fear and began wailing like a baby.
Sakura smacked him on the head this time. "Oh shut up and pull yourself together." She then looked at the horde of pirates and gulped herself, shaking slightly. "S-so…where's Luffy and the o-others?"
"I don't know," Usopp said, rubbing his head once again. What was it with woman that made them punch people in the head, just to make a point? One of the many mysteries of life. "Maybe he got lost…or scared and ran away."
"Must be lost then…" Nami said firmly, recalling the details of Luffy's fight with Buggy. "Damn. And just when we really need him. And Naruto. All those Kage Bunshin things would be a real blessing right about now."
Usopp nodded in understanding. "Ok, you two go and attack them. I'll back you up with my slingshot."
"What!? Why me!?" Nami protested immediately.
"What am I supposed to do?" Sakura cried out. Where were the real men when you needed them?
"You're a ninja and you have a staff for close combat! And you both like to hit people, so go bash some pirate heads in!"
"What can I do against an army of ruthless cutthroats?! Send Sakura!"
"What!? I'm supposed to fight on my own!? Shannaro!!"
"You're the NINJA!!!" Both Usopp and Nami exclaimed.
"I'm only a beginner! I can't fight forty on my own! What's your excuses!?" Sakura demanded.
"You don't expect me to do it, just because I'm a man!" Usopp retorted, pointing at his shaking knees. "Look how scared I am!"
"Well, look at me! I'm starting to cry!" Nami shouted.
"You're as dry as a bone!" Both Usopp and Sakura yelled.
The Black Cat pirates had sweatdropped halfway through this little argument, until Django finally said. "We've no time for their foolishness. Just charge over them and head for the village, you sea-devils!"
All the pirates 'yarrred' again, held up various weapons – swords, knives, axes, guns, etc – and started running up the hill. Nami noticed first and paled slightly. "HERE THEY COME!!!"
"Hey!" Usopp shouted suddenly, his hands reaching into his bag. "I just remembered I have some caltrops!!"
"You've got some goodies in there!? Gimme, gimme!" Nami said eagerly.
Sakura repeated to herself, as she grabbed a few shuriken from her pouch. "Caltrops…those should come in handy. We should feel lucky he didn't use them earlier."
"Get the hell out of our way!!" Several pirates shouted, coming very close to the top.
Usopp and Nami finished getting the caltrops. "You want hell!?" Usopp shouted, as one, he and Nami throw all the caltrops they could, while Sakura throw her shuriken "How about this hell!?"
XXXXXXX – Naruto and Shino again
Naruto was still tangled up in the wire, with Shino merely standing there, arms folded, and looking at him, still making no move to help.
"So Bug King!? Are you going to help me or not!?"
"Insects. And it depends. Are you actually going to listen and allow us to set up these traps properly, or continue to do things your way and delay us even longer?"
"If you had helped me earlier, we wouldn't be late! So don't blame all this on me!
Before Shino could respond, a loud and familiar voice was heard, shouting, "HEAD STRAIT NORTH! HEAD STRAIT NORTH!!"
Luffy.
Both Shino and Naruto looked in the direction of Luffy's voice. Luffy himself came into view shortly later, running at full speed in their direction. Both Shino and Naruto attempted to say something, but Luffy was so focused that he continued running at full speed. As a result, he ran into Naruto, which resulted in the two of them rolling across the ground (fortunately, getting Naruto free of the tangle mess in was in) right into Shino. Now all three of them were rolling until they crashed into a rather large tree.
"Hey guys!" Luffy said happily. "Do either of you know which way north is?"
"Can you get your foot off my face first?" Naruto asked, it took a few minutes, but the three managed to untangle themselves from each other.
"Luffy. What brings you here?" Shino asked. "Has the fighting started already?"
"They're on the north beach! We have to get there fast so I can send that butler flying!"
"WHAT!?"
XXXXXXX – South beach again
Zoro was laying on the ground, breathing heavily. "Damn those two. When I get my hands on them, they're dead! Simple as that! First Nami and then Sasuke!"
He then got back on his feet and unsheathed two of his swords. "It's just a stupid oily hill." He said as he ran up once again, sticking his swords in the ground and allowing him to finally get up the hill.
"Now…which way is north…so I can kill Sasuke first," Zoro said, changing his mind.
XXXXXXX – back at the north beach
The pirates were screaming as they either stepped on some caltrops, or hit with some shuriken. While Usopp was firing more 'lead stars' at the staggering pirates, causing them to fall back to the bottom of the hill, moaning in pain.
Nami patted Usopp and Sakura on the shoulders. "Great job you two! Keep it up! I'm going to take a breather!"
"You haven't done anything yet!" The other two yelled. Nami didn't pay any attention to them, as she turned around, only to realize that there were caltrops behind them, which had been thrown by her.
Usopp was busy chewing her out that he didn't noticed a pirate with a stone hammer coming up right behind him, Sakura barely had time to shout a warning. Usopp turned in horror to see to see the hammer coming strait for him. Then suddenly it stopped.
It took Usopp a few seconds to return to reality and realize what had happened.
Sasuke was standing in front of him, a hand firmly grasped on the hammer, stopping it in its path. Usopp felt his mouth drop in surprise as Sasuke kick the man in the stomach. "Hello, scaredy cat." He told Usopp.
"SASUKE!!!" All three shouted happily. Usopp added. "Y-you…you…helped…me…that guy was going to…"
"I merely took advantage of an opening," Sasuke retorted, not looking at Usopp and turning around to face the pirates. He saw the pirate he had kicked actually do a backflip in midair and land firmly on his feet, grinning madly and readying his weapon again.
Sakura was dumbstruck. That was an impressive move for some lowlife grunt of a pirate. Were they all like that!?
"You move well." Sasuke said, calling on the pirate he had kicked. He then cracked his knuckles. "This is going to be more fun than I thought."
"I can say the same to you, pretty boy." The man replied, his grin growing wider as he twirled his stone hammer again. He and several others took off running at the group, faster than any of the others had been. The man with the stone hammer jumped in the air and attempted to smash Sasuke, who easily dodged. Usopp attempted to use his slingshot again, but the pirates were close this time. One kicked Usopp in stomach and knocked the wind out of him. He then elbowed Usopp right in the face. Usopp could feel some blood flowing free as he wobbled backward, before falling on his butt.
Nami immediately ran towards Usopp and would had hit his attacker in the back on the head, but the third one calmly stood in front of her and blocked her weapon with his sword. With sheer brute force, he shoved the weapon, and its owner, back so hard Nami was sent crashing into the side of the cliff, and slid to the ground, moaning in pain.
The pirate grinned at his handiwork as Sakura actually jumped on his back and began, pounding his head, pulling his hair and whatever else she could think of. The man gave a small scream, more out of irritation than anything else.
'Something's wrong here…' she thought to herself as she pounded away. 'These three seem stronger than the rest. And there's something…familiar about them. Something that I should recognize, but what?'
Sasuke meanwhile, had dodged the stone hammer again. He jumped back once again, pulled out several kunai and threw all three of them at the man. The man merely twirled his hammer around at an incredible speed and easily deflected the kunai. Sasuke made no visible expression to that as his hands merely flew through a familiar set of seals. "Katon: Gokakyu no Jutsu (Fire Style: Grand Fireball Technique)!"
"That the best you got!?" The man demanded before he responded unexpectedly: he actually threw his hammer towards the fireball itself. The hammer hit the fireball and burst threw, nearly hitting Sasuke. Caught by surprise, Sasuke was force to dodge yet again, which opened himself to receive a punch on the side of the face. Sasuke snarled, as he spun around and kicked the man in the face.
The second pirate – the one that had hit Usopp – kicked him in the face and then grabbed Sakura from his crewmates back and threw her directly at Sasuke. Sasuke turned just in time to see the pinked haired girl coming strait at him and barely manage to catch her.
"Sasuke…thank y- "
"Don't bother," Sasuke interrupted, dropping her right there. Sakura fell on the ground and was about to ask what he did that for, when she saw that the pirate with the hammer (who had recovered it by now) was swinging it at the boy. Sasuke barely had time to cross his arms and brace himself as he felt the hammer hit him and send him crashing into the cliff.
Sakura gulped slightly. If Sasuke hadn't dropped her like that…she would had taken force full of that swing. Her mind was working furiously, trying to understand what the secret of those three pirates were. High agility…advanced skills…it was almost as if…wait…could it be?
Sakura pointed accusingly at the three pirates and yelled. "You're shinobi, aren't you!?"
The battlefield was silent for a moment, as Nami, Sasuke and Usopp all looked at the three shinobi. That's when Django started chuckling softly. "You're pretty smart, pink hair," Django said.
"So…she's right?" Nami asked, rubbing the sore parts on her back.
In response, the pirate with the stone hammer, the pirate with the sword and the other all held up a head, forming the half tiger seal and erupted in smoke, dropping the henge they had been using and revealing three new figures.
Sakura, Sasuke, Nami and Usopp all looked at the figures. They were completely different from what they looked like as pirates, all three wearing large tan jumpsuits with the standard kunai pack on their legs. All had a hitai-ite with four strait lines on it.
The one with the stone hammer had spike brown hair that seem to lay off to one said, bandages wrapped around his forehead, leaving two holes for his eyes and some weird breather thing on his mouth. "I'm Oboro."
The one with the sword had short, busy hair, the same breather thing and also had bandages along his forehead. Unlike the first one, there were no visible eyeholes to see out through. "I'm Kagari."
The last one had a bald cap on, the same breather thing in the mouth and also the same bandages across the forehead. Unlike the other two, one either had two eyeholes or no eyeholes, he only had one eyehole for his left eye. On his back was a crossbow. "And I'm Mubi."
Nami groaned. Great. They were shinobi. As if a horde of rampaging pirates wasn't bad enough.
"Stop introducing yourselves, you idiots! We don't have time to waste on them!" Django suddenly yelled out. "We're late! We must sack the village! Have you all forgotten Captain Kuro's orders!? If we ruin his plans, he'll cut all of our throats! Do you understand that, you addled brain fools!?"
All the pirates, even the three shinobi, paled and gulped very loudly. Immediately, they cried 'to the village!' and took off running towards it, completely ignoring and bypass the four people. Usopp weakly grabbed the closest pirate and attempted to stop him, only to receive another kick in the face, giving him an even more bloody face and causing him to roll down the hill.
"Please! Stop!! PLEASE!! Don't massacre my people!" Usopp pleaded at the pirates.
That's when all the pirates suddenly came flying back and landed very roughly at the bottom of the hill.
"Um…thanks…?" Usopp said, not sure what just happened.
All eyes looked at the top of the hill, with Nami saying. "Well…it's about time you guys…"
"Captain!" One pirate said, shaking and pointing a trembling finger at the time of the hill. "You never said we'd be facing demons on this job!"
One man had a black bandana on his head, casually resting a sword on his shoulder. "Not much of a challenge. That was pitiful."
One young man had a straw hat, and rubbing his arm as if he was rolling up a sleeve, despite having none. "How could I know? Now I'm in a bad mood."
One kid had an orange jumpsuit on and was pointing at the pirates. "Those guys are a bunch of weaklings! We set up all those traps for these wimps?!"
The last kid merely pushed up his sunglasses with his forefinger. "Rain shinobi. This is inconvenient."
"Nami! You marooned me in that muck! Sasuke! You tried to blow me up! You're both dead!" Zoro yelled.
"Damn you, Usopp! Why didn't you tell me which way North was!?" demanded Luffy.
"Naruto Uzumaki! Here to save all your butts! Except Sasuke's!" Naruto declared.
"Things have gotten…out of hand…" Shino commented.
"Are they all crazy?" Django asked, tipping his hat back for a better look at the so called 'demons.'
End of Chapter 14
A/N: Not as much action here as I originally planned, but at least we got all the Straw Hats at the right place, where the fun can really begin next chapter.
I had several things to consider when I was writing this chapter. Specifically, if the Straw Hats should figure out early which beach the Black Cat Pirates would be coming from and successfully ambushing them on the right beach, but in the end, I decided to go with the manga's way with them starting out on the wrong beach. Made it more dramatic and chaotic, at least for me.
One thing that I was always curious about was what other sort of preparations the Straw Hats could had done if they had just a few more people and some more resources, specifically since Nami is supposed to the third smartest person in the East Blue and Usopp's fairly creative, so I just add some things to the original manga plan. I had fun with that, since I like playing strategy based games on my computer.
Speaking of the smartest people, I've been debating on how Shikamaru would rank in that category. According to Oda, Ben Beckman – Shank's first mate – is the smartest character/highest IQ of all the characters introduced during the East Blue Saga, with Captain Kuro second and Nami third (as previously stated). Due to the fact that we've seen little of Ben and Kuro mangawise, I wasn't sure if Shikamaru would be smarter than them or not. If he was smarter than Kuro, then he could had potentially seen Kuro's true character (heck, he may had been able to see it regardless if he was smarter or not), so to get around that, I deliberately made sure that Shikamaru had no contact with Kuro, eliminating the potential risk of exposing Kuro's plan too soon.
Sasuke's scared of the dark. Who knew?
Enter the Rain Genin: Team Oboro! Anyone remember them? There were the guys that got their butts kicked by Team 7 and Kabuto during the Second Exam. There were always planned to be in this arc, just wasn't sure when to introduce them.
Nami's Ultimate Idiot Competition – Luffy: 22, Naruto: 20
May the Kage Bunshin and Gomu Gomu no Bazooka be with you!
Disclaimer: I do not own One Piece or Naruto. They belong to their respective owners: Eiichiro Oda and Masashi Kishimoto.