Chapter 17: What it takes to win

XXXXXXX – East Blue, Syrup Village, North shore

A buzz saw like sound lingered throughout the air, leaving a touch of confusion in several of the minds of those that were gathered at the North beach, namely Luffy and co.

"What is that sound?" Usopp asked, never hearing anything like it before.

"It's probably Django finishing off your friends," Kuro answered, looking directly at the young liar. "Go see for yourself, though you may be too late…"

Zoro readied his sword, never talking his eyes off of Kuro. "You better hurry to their aid," Zoro told Usopp.

"If you can," Kuro added, a mocking sneer in his voice now.

"Damn you," Usopp said as he tried to pick himself up, but failing miserably. "You lived in the same house as her for three years! Don't you have an ounce of feeling for her?!"

"Not an ounce," Kuro confirmed. "As I said: Kaya was a pawn I needed to further my plan. When she dies, then I'll say my thanks."

"You unredeemable bastard," Zoro hissed.

"Who wants to redeem him?" Luffy asked, snorting out angrily.

"I'll never let you scumbags win," Usopp declared, finally managing to get to his feet. Usopp knew that if he didn't hurry, they would definitely be killed. He had to move now! Gasping loudly, he put his feet under him, put his hands on his knees and barely managed to stand up. He then started running (though it was more like walking) up the slope.

Kuro looked at Usopp as he struggled up. "You can still move? Impressive for one such as you." He then called out. "Butchie."

Butchie responded immediately, running towards Usopp with his cat nails ready to go. Zoro intercepted him easily and with one quick and precise movement, struck Butchie right in the face with the back of his sword, leaving a large impression across the other man's face. Butchie collapsed right there and did not get up again. All the pirates gasped anew as to how easily a super powered Butchie had been bested by the swordsman again!

Usopp himself collapsed mere seconds later, face first and butt hanging in the air. Everyone could hear the sound of laughter coming from Kuro at the sight. "You look ridiculous! But you're much safer on the ground like that. If you caught up with Django, you'd only be killed."

Usopp didn't move from his position, but said. "Doesn't matter…gotta protect them…I gotta protect those kids! I'm…Captain Usopp! And they're my crew! I'M A BRAVE WARRIOR OF THE SEA! I WILL NOT LET YOU LAY A FINGER ON ANY OF THESE VILLAGERS!!"

Kuro and the pirates stared laughing again. "Look at him! He's shouting threats with his rump in the air!" One comment, only to get a louder amount of laughter in response as others began wisecracking jokes.

Until a large boulder came crashing down, barely missing the group.

"Make fun of Usopp again," Luffy said in a dark tone, looking at the pirates out of the corner of his eye. "And I'll kill you."

The pirates shut up immediately.

By this time, Zoro sheathed his two swords and was picking up Usopp. "Luffy! I'll carry Usopp and go after that hypnotist with Usopp. Maybe we'll catch up with that badger kid while we're at it." As he put Usopp on his shoulder, he looked at his captain. "Where the hell did you get a badger anyway?"

"Cause of his hair!" Luffy replied happily, pointing at the back of his head, where Shikamaru's pineapple hair style was located. "It looks exactly like a badger's tail! And badgers dig in shadows to hide in the ground to trap their favorite meal: beef flavored pigs and the shadow trap freezes the pigs in place! Don't you know anything? It's common sense!"

"Common sense is something you're lacking more and more everyday," Zoro said.

"Coming from a big, stupid head who gets lost everywhere he goes!"

"Like you're one to talk! Who was the moron that got caught by a giant bird and hollering like a baby!?"

"YOU WANNA FIGHT, DAMMIT!?"

"BRING IT ON, WUSSY BOY!!"

"Ahem," Usopp said loudly from Zoro's shoulder. "Can we go save Kaya and the kids first?!"

"Oh, right," both Luffy and Zoro said, completely forgetting the argument. Zoro then repositioned Usopp on his shoulder and charged up the hill. Kuro then looked at them directly, and flexed his fingers and thus his Cat Claws. "So, brats, who gave you permission to climb this slope?"

"I did!" A fist came and nearly missed Kuro and as a result, slammed hard into a tree. "Run guys!" Luffy shouted.

Zoro and Usopp merely gave a thumbs up as Kuro watched them leave, this time making no effect to stop them. "Do you really think that those two can stop Django? You're truly a fool. You know nothing about being a pirate. Usopp won't be able to stop Django, much less myself."

"Even if you were a pirate with a hundred obedient men, you still couldn't beat Usopp," Luffy countered.

That statement stunned the Black Cat Pirates, while Kuro just looked at Luffy. "Me? Lose to a pretend pirate?"

"That's right."

"HAHAHAH!!!" Kuro broke out. "How amusing!" Kuro then vanished, though his voice could still be heard. "Then tell me why I would lose to him!?

"It's your style," Luffy answered, dodging a strike to his head by leaning back at a 90 degree angle, then bringing up his right foot and striking Kuro right in the chin. "YOU DON'T EVEN LOOK LIKE A REAL PIRATE!!" He shouted as Kuro flew into the air from the strike.

Kuro flipped in the air and landed on his feet easily. He then looked at Luffy, his gazing hard as he spat at some blood from his mouth. "Answer me one thing before we fight for real: why are you, an outsider, sticking your neck out for this pathetic village?"

Luffy smiled proudly as he answered. "Because there's someone in this village I don't want you to kill."

"Ah," Kuro replied, voice full of mockery. "How simple. Is it enough to die for?"

"It's good enough for me," Luffy said, readying another fist. "But I'm not gonna get killed!"

XXXXXXX – Forest by the North beach, Shikamaru

Shikamaru was furiously looking through the forest. Crap. Where were they?!

He then heard the buzzing sound, looked over his shoulder and saw an entire section of trees fall down. Ah…that's where. He hurried over towards that direction, wondering once again where the hell his father was.

He arrived a few minutes later. Kaya was lying against a tree, with her eyes closed and looking away, with Django kneeling right in front of her, waving his ring around. He then saw the three kids sleeping soundly on the ground.

"I won't let you hypnotist me," Kaya said defiantly, eyes still closed.

Shikamaru grabbed a kunai from his pouch and throw it strait between the man and Kaya, where it embedded itself in the tree. Django jumped back, while Kaya instinctively recoiled. "You heard the lady," He called out. "Back away slowly."

Django slowly turned around and faced him. "So, you're the little ninja brat from earlier. How did you find us so quickly?"

"Please, even a total idiot could had found you from the big trail you left behind," Shikamaru pointed with his thumb over his shoulder to the ruined forest.

XXXXXXX – in another part of the forest

"Which way!? Which way!?" Zoro demanded.

"East! East! I said East!" Usopp answered.

"How do I know which way is East!? Just say right or left!!"

"Okay then! About face right!"

"BACK THE WAY WE CAME!?"

XXXXXXX – back to the other part of the forest: Shikamaru vs. Django

"Is that so?" Django asked, as he pulled out two rings and began twirling them on his fingers. "Then I'll just…"

He never got a chance to finish because at that moment, the three boys suddenly jumped up, with Carrot grabbing his face and glasses and Onion throwing blinding pepper into Django's eyes, Django yelled in frustration as he crashed to the ground, where Pepper hit Django in the…sore area…hard with his bat, making Django squeal quite loudly.

Kaya looked at the three in disbelief. "You guys!"

Pepper waved his bat enthusiastically. "We just pretended to be hypnotized!"

Onion nodded eagerly. "Yeah! We wouldn't fall for the same trick twice!"

Carrot grinned happily. "Now for Phase 2 of our plan!"

"Well, well," Shikamaru spoke up this time, actually having a small grin on his face. "I have to say that I was impressed with you three." He made the rat sign again and then shouted. "You did good, now get her out of here. I'll make sure that he can't follow you."

The boys groaned and complained about not being able to finish their master plan, but lead Kaya away regardless. Shikamaru then sent his shadow forward, at the last second, Django rolled out of the way, and looked directly at the young kid. "I'm…not…so…hurt…that…I…can't…" He began slowly picking himself off the ground, while rubbing his area vigorously. "dodge…your… stupid…shadow…" He took a deep breath then yelled. "I won't fall for a trick I've seen before!"

"So you aren't as stupid as you look," Shikamaru said. He then gave a small sign and continued. "How troublesome. Look, you can't win so why don't you just do both of us a big favor and surrender?"

"Hell no!" Django roared, reaching down and grabbing the two rings he discarded, threw his arms back and then threw both of them at Shikamaru. The lazy shadow kid simply took a side step and let the rings soar past him. "You'll have to do better than that."

Django's only response was to grin, then Shikamaru heard that buzzing noise again. He looked back and saw those things returning, like boomerangs. Shikamaru had to duck quickly to avoid those this time, only to turn around and notice a third ring coming at him. This one hit his right shoulder and he howled in pain. "That's right!" Django shouted. "That's what you get! Ha! Ha! H – " He suddenly stopped as he realized he couldn't move.

"Ha," Shikamaru finished, standing up. "Caught you." To prove it, he moved his left hand to grab his injured shoulder and Django mimicked the action. "HOW!?" the man yelled.

"You avoided the initial shadow that much I give you. But just because you saw my opening act doesn't mean you know the full trick," Shikamaru replied. "For instance, we're in a forest with shadows everywhere. Making it very easy to have my own shadow sneak through them and catch you from behind."

"Damn you!"

"Nice going!" cried three familiar voices. Shikamaru looked at the source and saw Onion, Pepper, Carrot and Kaya were clapping in approval.

"Didn't I tell you four to run?" Shikamaru whined, rubbing his head to fight off a headache. "You know what…don't answer that. You three just get ready."

"Ready?" All three young boys asked confused.

"On the count of three, all three of you hit him hard in the face, got it?"

"Yes sir!" Onion, Pepper and Carrot cried eagerly, while Django swore loudly. Shikamaru then counted to three and they rushed towards the man, and jumped up. At the last second, Shikamaru disconnected his shadow as the frying pan, baseball bat and shovel hit Django hard in the face and smashed his face against a tree. The man fell to the ground and didn't move.

"You four alright?" Shikamaru asked, walking towards them.

Kaya nodded. "Yes. We're fine, but what about your…" She trailed off and pointed at Shikamaru's shoulder.

"It hurts like hell, obviously, but I'll live," Shikamaru replied. He then looked down and smiled at the boys. "You three did well." The three boys turned bashful and smiled, rubbing the back of their heads and all muttered 'it was nothing.'

"I'M GOING TO KILL YOU!!!"

Shikamaru swore under his breath and all five of them turned around. Django was standing again, furious. His glasses were broken and lying on the ground, revealing that his eyes were as heart shaped as his glasses had been. "DO YOU KNOW WHO THE HELL I AM!? I'M DJANGO THE HYPNOTIST!! WITH A BOUNTY OF NINE MILLION BERRIES ON MY HEAD!!! I WON'T LOSE TO YOU PACK OF PATHETIC CHILDREN!!" He took out two more rings and shouted. "I REFUSE TO LOSE!"

That's when a shadow hand emerged from the nearby tree trunk, grabbed Django's head and reslammed it. Once again, Django fell to the ground, but this time, he was unconscious. The boys all awed in delight, while Kaya looked at Shikamaru. "That was impressive."

"I…didn't do that," Shikamaru admitted, not sure what just happened himself.

"No. I did."

As one, all five of them turned around and looked at the speaker. He was dressed in grayish pants, had the same fishnet like shirt Shikamaru wore, with a green vest over and some tattered coat thing over that. He wore the same sandals as Shikamaru did and had several scars on his face.

Shikamaru's jaw dropped. "Dad?"

"Dad?" The three boys repeated, with Kaya wondering what was going on.

Shikaku came into full view and he looked directly at his son. His stance no longer that of a drunk, or even a lazy person. He was completely focused, aware of his surroundings and all business. "Where are the rest of them?" He demanded. He spoke with an authority in his voice that held no play, silliness or any other sort of tone that Shikamaru was familiar with. Not even his mom acted this serious.

This was his father!?

Who the hell was this guy?

Slightly behind him, Shikamaru saw his mother. She no longer wore her apron and work clothes, but was dressed in a large black jumpsuit, with the same green vest, the same sandals and her hitai-ite securely tied around her forehead. But Shikamaru was barely registering that she was there.

"Shikamaru," Shikaku said, now looking directly at his son. "I say again: where are the rest of them?"

For the life of him, Shikamaru could not answer. He was still entirely taken back in this abrupt and professional demeanor his dad was using. This was nothing like the man Shikamaru had known…or thought he had known…all his life. This was someone entirely different. A shinobi. A Jonin. A professional. Someone was ready to get down to business and not mess around. It was…breath taking. And overwhelming.

Kaya looked at Shikamaru, then back at the two older Naras. "Um…there were all at the North beach. Several of them, about three or four, including Usopp, were fighting Klahadore and the pirates."

"Just three or four?" Yoshino spoke up this time. "There were seven of them earlier at the restaurant, not counting Usopp. Are they fighting somewhere else?"

"I…I don't know…" Kaya admitted, while each of the three boys merely shrugged nervously. The two Naras looked at them, then at each other. Yoshino then took off in a direction, while Shikaku looked at the five. "She'll track down the others. She's better at it than I am. I'll go to the beach and settle things. Shikamaru, you take these four and wait for us at the edge of the forest." He then started walking off, and Shikamaru finally found his voice. "Wait."

Shikaku stopped and waited.

"You…actually came," Shikamaru started. "Both you…and mom."

Shikaku turned around and gave his son a small smile. "You bet your rear we did. Like you said: this is something we can't sit out on." He put his hand on Shikamaru's shoulder. "Good job, son."

Shikamaru slowly let himself smile in return. For the first time in his life, he was proud he was his father's son. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Usopp being carried by sword man and heading their direction. He muttered. "You're late, slowpokes. Work's all done."

Location: Forest near North beach. Winner: Shikamaru. With some help from Carrot, Onion, Pepper and his father.

XXXXXXX – another part of the forest, with Naruto and co.

"What's there to clear up?" Naruto asked Shino. "About how awesome we were and how they sucked?"

"Not exactly," Shino responded, not taking his eyes off of the Rain ninja. "You're allies are all incapacitated. There is no one to help you. Now I want you to explain why the Rain shinobi are helping these pirates."

Baiu looked down. And then softly. "As you were told earlier, we were working with the Pirates. It's part of New Amegakure's new policy."

"New Amegakure's new policy?" Sakura repeated. "Wait a minute…are you saying that the village itself has been reformed?"

Baiu gave a small nod. "Yes. Under our great leader, Hanzo-sama, the scattered remnants of the former Hidden Rain managed to regroup and reform our village, if only at half of its original strength."

Naruto felt a grin rise on his face. Cool! The Rain village was already reformed and gathered. Half their work was done already! One village down, 23 to go. All he had to do was convince these Rain guys to join up and he was one step closer to completing Iruka-sensei's dream!

"You said new policy," Shino stated out loud, breaking Naruto out of his thoughts. "Elaborate."

"When our village first reformed seven years ago," Baiu answered, his voice low. "We tried to keep the old ways: offering ourselves to the clients, train our young for new recruits. Trying to start over and build life anew. But…that didn't happen. The few we revealed ourselves didn't trust us and betrayed us to the Navy and the World Government. We've had to relocate ourselves over and over and over again to avoid them. Even with Hanzo-sama's great strength, we can't stand against the entire world. Eventually, we adopted our currently policy: we've become a harbor for pirates."

"What?!" All four leaf ninja shouted.

"Hanzo-sama decided that we no longer had a place in the world. The people did not trust shinobi anymore. The Government and its Marines are constantly hunting us, like all the shinobi left. With nowhere to live in the light, it was decided we would thrive in the dark. We established our village in a new location and do whatever we deemed necessary to survive. Hanzo-sama had some previous connections with pirates and we used those connections to alert the pirates that we would support and supply them, which gave our village life and a purpose. The pirates, being the greedy fools they are, agreed immediately.

"That was two years ago. Since then, numerous pirate groups have used our village as a supply and relief port. In addition, it was decided would lease some of our shinobi forces to pirates willing to pay for them. In exchange, we get a cut in on their profits they make. That's why I and my companions were here. Django rented us out for this raid to eliminate the four shinobi that were here."

Sasuke snorted. "And you say that you don't work for them."

"We don't! We work with them! There's a difference!"

"Call it what you will," Shino said. "But the result is the same."

"Hold on a minute!" Naruto interrupted. All eyes turned to him. "What's this crap about the people not trusting shinobi!? We've never had that problem!"

"World Government Propaganda," both Shino and Baiu answered. Shino then added, "When the Shinobi Villages fell, the World Government decided to cover up the exact details. They informed the world that the shinobi villages were planning on declaring war on the world, much like what is happening with the Revolutionaries in the South Blue and that all the missions we were undertaking were to finance that objective. By doing so, the World Government effectively turned the world itself against the shinobi, which makes it much easier for them to find and control us."

"But we never – " Naruto started again.

"We've only been to small islands," Sakura said, speaking up for the first time. "Most, if not all, have little to no interaction with the World Government and its policies. As I told you: when my family was traveling around, my father never admitted that he was a shinobi, and Yoshino-san said that this place had never encountered Shinobi before, so that's we haven't had any real problems."

Naruto paused at that and remembered what Koby had said when they had been at Shell Town, the place where Captain Bastard Morgan's base had been stationed. That many of the people were nervous when they were around him. At first he had thought it was because they somehow knew of his secret…but…what if it had been the fact that he had been a shinobi? Now that he thought about it, during those two years he had been by himself, whenever he had asked about the shinobi, he always got negative glances.

He was so lost in his thoughts that he almost missed Shino's next question. "Where is New Amegakure located?"

"I won't tell you," Baiu insisted.

Several bugs flew out from Shino, hovering menacingly. "You will tell us. Or you can end up dead like your companion."

"I refuse," Baiu said, even though he lost the coloring in his face. "I may be a wimp, but I'm still a shinobi! I won't betray my village to the likes of you!"

No one responded immediately, even as Shino and Baiu looked gazes. Then before Naruto could say anything, Shino calmly walked forward and hit the Rain ninja, making him fall unconscious. "We'll let my clan interrogate him and the others for further information. Whatever we decide to do with the Rain Village, we'll do after we've learned everything we can about their current predicament. First we need to secure the rest of them."

"Gotcha," Naruto said, as they all began taking out wire and moving towards the unconscious Rain ninja. Naruto went to that tall one – what was his name again? – and bent down to tie him up when he noticed something strange. He looked over the Rain ninja and slowly looked him over. He was in very bad shape, covered in numerous bug bites and who knew what else. Slowly, Naruto pressed his fingers against the man's neck.

No pulse.

Naruto instinctively fell back on his butt and shouted in surprise, gaining the other three's attention. "What is it, Naruto?" Sakura asked.

Naruto pointed at the corpse and shouted. "He's dead! He's really dead!"

Sakura's jaw dropped at that, while Sasuke looked interested for some odd reason. All three looked at Shino, who looked back. There were several moments of silence and no one said anything. Finally, Naruto said. "WELL!?"

"Well, what?" Shino asked.

"Well why did you kill him?!"

"Why are you so surprised? I did state that one of his companions was dead."

"I…thought you were bluffing," Naruto admitted weakly, while Sakura just nodded in agreement. "To just get that guy to talk…"

"It was no bluff," Shino replied, pushing up his glasses.

"Well…why?" Naruto asked. He didn't kill before and no one from the group had killed prior to this, so why did Shino kill now? And why was he so damn casual about it!?

"I deemed it necessary," Shino replied simply.

"That's all!?" Sakura and Naruto yelled.

"Yes." Shino answered. He almost sounded bored. "Killing is always an option, not just for shinobi, but for pirates, marines and civilians alike. It is a matter of preference and circumstances that determine if that option is needed."

"You act like you have killed before," Sasuke spoke up.

"I have."

All three, even Sasuke, looked at Shino in surprise. "What? Who? When?" Naruto blunted out. Zaku had still been alive when Shino had returned with him after all.

"That is not important," Shino said. Was it Naruto's imagination, or was their a tone of reluctance in the bug user's voice now? "What is important is that killing is always an option. Even for yourselves."

Sakura looked down. "I…I don't think I could kill someone. I didn't kill Kin. Just…defeated her."

"I…wouldn't want to." Naruto admitted.

"And you two want to be shinobi?" It was Sasuke who spoke. "The word shinobi has the word kill in it."

"You didn't kill any of these guys…did you?" Naruto asked.

"No. But I do intend to kill someone." Sasuke retorted. "And nothings going to change that fact. Or the fact that Shinobi are trained to kill. End of story."

"Sasuke is right, in a sense," Shino interjected. "While killing is always an option, it is not an option you have to pursue." Sasuke snorted at that, but Shino continued. "From what I've seen, Luffy does not kill his opponents. Morgan and Helmeppo were still alive when we left, after all. Luffy fits the model of those who prefer to defeat their opponents and crush their dreams, which could argued as being more effective and less merciful than killing someone. In any event, no one will think any less of you if you do not kill. And as such, you should display the same respect to those that do decide to do so."

Neither Sakura, nor Naruto looked convinced, but they reluctantly nodded anyway. Sasuke merely snorted again and they went back to work.

In the bushes a little bit away, Yoshino felt herself impressed by what she had just witnessed. This young group – or at least the Aburame – understood much about the shinobi lifestyle and world in general. Shikamaru would benefit greatly from interacting with them a little bit. She then decided to make herself known, so she stepped out and said loudly. "Looks like you four did alright by yourselves after all."

Naruto and Sakura jumped at her sudden appearance, while Sasuke and Shino didn't so much as flinch. Shino looked up, and saw a small figure dot far in the sky. He then turned back and said. "Yoshino-san, I believe we have some things to discuss."

"Yes," She replied. "I believe we do."

XXXXXXX – back at North beach.

"MY PLAN! MY PLAN CANNOT FAIL!!!" Kuro shouted, while Luffy was grabbing him in a large bear hug like hold.

"BELL!!!"

Luffy's stretched out neck jerk forward and his head slammed into Kuro's. Hard. Very hard. The force made Kuro's head jerk back considerably, with teeth, blood and the shattered glasses flying backwards. Kuro tumbled backwards and fell on the ground, while Luffy rolled over him, trying to regain his bearings.

"He did it!" One pirate shouted, out of pure amazement. "He beat Captain Kuro!"

"Kuro of the Thousand Plans, who outfoxed the Navy itself, he was really beaten by that kid!" Another one added. "He trounced Kuro!"

Then as one, the remaining Black Cat pirates shouted. "WHO ARE YOU!?!"

Luffy finally stood up and looked at them. Flashing his trademark smile, he answered. "Monkey D. Luffy!!! Do you really think I'd let a pirate who gave up his name and quit the sea beat me!? A real pirate would die before he did either of those things!" he then stomped on the ground and pointed at them for emphasis. "And you all better remember that name! Because one day, I'm gonna be the King of the Pirates!!!"

"Is he crazy?!" Several of the pirates asked.

Luffy then picked up the unconscious Kuro, throw him over his shoulder and then hurled him through the air towards the pirates. "Take this garbage with you! And never come back!"

The pirates picked up their fallen and ran out of their like bats outta hell, more than one screaming loudly.

Luffy watched them go as he started breathing louder and faster. He then fell forward, only to be caught in Nami's strong right arm. She then gently laid him on the ground and smiled at him. "So…even the mighty Luffy faints from blood loss. What made you so mad?"

"I hate them." Luffy answered immediately. "They're no good!"

Nami looked at him silently, then gently picked up his straw hat and handed it to him. "Well…there are pirates. What did you expect?"

"I want fifty steaks."

"…of course…"

Up on the top of the slope, Shikaku looked at the two. "So…they really did it." He chuckled softly to himself as he stretched. "Look's like I got up early for nothing." He watched the ship lower its sails and begin to pull out into the open sea.

End of Chapter 17

A/N: I wanted to wrap up the Kuro arc with this chapter, but with all the material I had left, it was going to end up being two chapters regardless. Oh well.

Shell Town is the name of the town where Morgan's base is located, and like with Orange Town in the Buggy arc, I forgot to look up the name during the Morgan arc. Oops. I'm only human.

So…Shikaku and Yoshino showed up after all. Admittingly, I've been stalling and undermining the adult shinobi in this fic so far. Prime reason is that this story focuses around the Straw Hats and how the Rookie Nine fight and develops, so I don't want the adults butting in unless it's absolutely necessary. That was part of the reason why Sakumoto ended up as disabled, and why Shikaku was a lazy, drunk sheriff. There were just ways to keep them out of the fighting and let the Rookie Nine do what needed to be done, along with Luffy and the others. Not that I dislike their characters or anything, just don't want them interfering.

The subject of killing has been something that I've wanted to touch on for awhile. 'Naruto' and 'One Piece' have different views and beliefs on it, so integrating the two different concepts has been…interesting to say the least. The One Piece side favors just defeating opponents and crushing their dreams is more than enough, and that there's no point in killing the person afterwards (though some characters like Zoro kill sometimes anyway), where as the Naruto side, they are ninja and they are trained to kill and even put in situations where killing is justified and expected, such as the Forest of Death. Though, obviously, they do not have to kill, but it is somewhat expected of them.

Gum Gum Bell (Gomu Gomu no Kane) While grappled onto an enemy, Luffy stretches his neck backwards, then snaps it back for a devastating head butt to the opponent's face. This was first seen being used to defeat Kuro. Canon technique

Nami's Ultimate Idiot Competition – Luffy: 29, Naruto: 23

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.