It had been a month since he had left Sabaody and he was currently somewhere in the east blue and if his map was right, he was close to an island called Cocoyashi village. He was sitting in his small boat making plans about what he was going to do. First he had to find a ship, then he would find a crew of his own. He wasn't sure how big he wanted his crew to be, as long as they were strong that was all that mattered. As he looked up from his boat he noticed a green haired guy with three swords tied to a boat. 'It looks like Roronoa Zoro the pirate hunter, I wonder what he's doing tied up in a boat.'
"When I get free from this, I am going to kill you both," Zoro glared as he watched Johnny and Usopp swim off when they saw the first signs of Mermen. They had left him tied to the mast of the small ship. 'Those damn cowards', he was going to make them pay for this. As he turned his head he saw a small boat with a single man on it with spiky blond hair that reached his shoulders.
"Yo, do you know that you are tied up?" pointed out the man.
Zoro gained a tick, "of course I do. Can you give me a hand?"
"Sure," smiled the man, then stood up and stretched his arms and legs. Zoro gained a slight twitch as the man took a good three to five minutes to stretch.
"Name is Uzumaki Naruto."
"Roronoa Zoro."
Naruto jumped from his boat and landed in front of Zoro, just as he was about to untie the ropes three blurs burst out of the water and landed on the ship. "Hehe, look what we got here, a couple of humans," smirked one of the Mermen.
"Yeah, and one is already tied up for us," said the other.
"This doesn't look good," blinked Naruto.
'I am going to kill Usopp and Johnny,' thought Zoro.
Arlong's Park
Naruto was confused as to why Mermen were all the way out here. From what he remembered they never left Fishman Island unless they were pirates and the only mermen pirates he remembered were the sunny pirates, but they were supposedly disbanded.
Arlong smirked as he looked down at the tied up prisoners. "What have we got here? A couple of Pumans." The Mermen laughed while Zoro frowned and Naruto tilted his head in confusion. "What is a Puman?"
"You humans are so filthy and disgusting that I decided to call you Pumans to describe what you truly are," laughed Arlong. This incited another round of laughter.
"That is the stupidest thing I have ever heard. I have heard three year olds come up with better insults," deadpanned Naruto.
What is going on out here? I can barely concentrate up in my room," demanded a feminine voice. Out from behind Arlong came a pretty orange haired woman. "Nami? What are you doing with him?"Demanded Zoro.
"You know this man Nami?" asked Arlong.
Nami smirked, "yeah, he is one of the pirates I tricked into believing I was his friend, what an idiot." Arlong and the others started to laugh as Nami looked down upon Zoro. She ignored Naruto who blinked in confusion. Zoro's eyes widened as Nami showed him the tattoo on her upper right arm, the tattoo that was identical to the Jolly Roger that Arlong flew on his flag. "So you really are with them. I thought you hated pirates, but it looks like that was all a scam," glared Zoro.
"Ha-ha, idiot. I only joined you to get your treasures and money. Now that I got that, nothing else matters", smirked Nami as Arlong and the rest of his crew laughed.
Naruto noticed her posture and the way she looked at Arlong, it was obvious that she did not like the mermen and was probably being forced to work for them. It seemed that Zoro also seemed to notice it as he jumped backed into the water.
They were all surprised by his action. "What a fool, saves us the trouble of having to deal with him", laughed one of the Mermen. Nami clenched her fists before kicking off her shoes and diving in. Arlong narrowed his eyes as Nami came back up with Zoro who was coughing up water. "Idiot", she started to kick Zoro over and over again where he had been injured by Mihawk. Zoro coughed up some blood as Nami looked down at him dispassionately.
"Ha-ha, looks like you're not as all bad as you pretend to be," smirked Zoro before grunting as he was kicked again.
Arlong look right at Nami, "what do you plan to do with these two?" He completely ignored Naruto.
Nami put her sandals back on and scowled as she looked at the two, "lock them up until I can find something to do with them. I'll make sure it is very painful." Arlong smirked, glad to see where her true loyalty lied.
"Hey, Roronoa, can we break free now or is there something keeping us here?" asked Naruto.
Zoro raised an eyebrow, "you can get free?" Naruto nodded and a tick appeared on Zoro's forehead.
The Mermen grabbed the two and started to push them towards the dungeons located beneath Arlong Park. "Too late now, damn her for reopening my wounds. I need a bit of a break to rest," grumbled Zoro.
"To answer your question I didn't want to kick their ass since you seemed to have some personal grudge against them," grinned Naruto.
A smirk appeared on Zoro's face, naruto reminded him a lot of Luffy but just a bit smarter, though they both had the same carefree attitude.
Cell
When the door to Zoro's and Naruto's cell opened up, they both looked up to see Nami standing in the door way. She tossed a knife that cut through the ropes binding Zoro before tossing his swords down in front of him. "Get out here. Just take your ship and leave, what is going on here doesn't concern you at all. Ok? So just leave!" ordered Nami angrily before leaving.
"That is one bipolar chick. I like her," grinned Naruto standing up while the ropes that were binding him lay on the ground.
"How did you do that?" asked Zoro while placing his swords on his waist.
"I ate the wind wind fruit, so I can cut through almost anything." Explained Naruto.
The two walked out of the cell and up the stairs leading out of the place. Naruto ,placing his hands behind his head said, "so, what is the plan? Do we just beat everyone up? Kill them? What do we do?" Zoro smirked as he placed his hand on the hilt of his sword.
"I promised my captain that i would bring back that girl and i can't go breaking a promise now. So, first thing I am going to do is kick all those talking fishes asses then look for Nami."
Naruto grinned, "bet you I can take more out then you."
"You're on!"
"Alright!" The two ran outside to begin their contest.
In less than ten minutes, all the Mermen were knocked out cold. "Aha, I got one more then you," cheered Naruto victoriously.
Zoro scowled, "you got lucky, that's all. If the rest were here I would have won."
Naruto just nodded humoring the angry swordsman. Zoro had to admit, Naruto was a strong fighter, he didn't take a single hit and didn't even use his powers. Most devil fruit users that he had met or fought relied heavily on their powers. Naruto seemed to enjoy fighting whether using his powers or not. "I got to say, I expected more. I heard Mermen were physical stronger than humans in water and on land," said Naruto sitting down on the ground.
"Guess we ran into a weak bunch," said Zoro sitting down in Arlong's chair.
"That sucks, so what now? Wait for them to return or go looking after them? I hate waiting," said Naruto.
"Let's go into town. I need to look for some idiot nakama of mine and kick their ass," smirked Zoro. Naruto hopped to his feet and the two left Arlong's Park.
Cocoyashi Village
Naruto laughed a bit before Zoro shut him up by pointing ahead. There up ahead was a town. They walked into it and Naruto blinked. "Yo, what happened to that house?" Zoro looked , to see a destroyed house as if it had been hit by an earthquake, yet the other houses seemed to be fine. That is strange. "Hey you," said Zoro while walking up to one of the villagers, "I'm looking for Arlong. Have you seen him?"
"Arlong?, he just left after being attacked by some long-nose guy with a slight shot," said a villager.
"Long-nose with a sling shot?" Naruto tilted his head.
"That's Usopp," groaned Zoro.
A villager came running through the village panting heavily. "What's wrong Jim?" asked another villager.
"That long-nose guy. I just saw him get captured by a group of Fish men. They took him to Arlong Park," panted Jim heavily.
Zoro's eyes widened. "That idiot, he'll be killed after what happened before we left. I have to hurry before he is killed." The swordsman took off with Naruto running right beside him. "Mind explaining who Usopp is?" asked Naruto matching Zoro's speed with ease.
"He is a friend and a nakama," that was all that needed to be said. The two picked up the speed and if the situation was't so serious, Zoro would have been impressed that Naruto was keeping pace without any problems.
The two ran down the trail when a sudden noise made them stop. It sounded like someone was screaming. Both turned around and their eyes widened, as a small boat came crashing through the woods with a man wearing a a straw hat yelling while having a large smile on his face. "Zoro!"
"Oh shit!" Naruto/Zoro said before getting clobbered by the ship.
It hit the side of a small plateau and completely destroyed it. "We made it!" yelled Luffy with a large smile.
"Luffy! What the hell are you doing?" yelled Zoro angrily.
"Aww man, that dude, that was awesome!" laughed Naruto.
Luffy blinked in confusion, "what do you mean? I came here to help you get Nami back. How come you haven't got Nami back yet? And where are Usopp and Johnny?"
"Who is this guy?" asked Sanji pointing at Naruto.
"No time! We need to hurry! Usopp was captured by Arlong and if we don't hurry he will be killed!" yelled Zoro about to run off.
"It's too late. Usopp is already dead," said Johnny showing up with tears streaming down his face. He fell to his knees as everyone turned to look at him. Johnny said while punching the ground. "He is dead! Nami…murdered him!" A stunned look appeared in everyone's eyes except for Narutos who truly didn't understand what was going on.
"What? Don't say something like that," yelled Luffy grabbing Johnny.
Johnny continued to cry, "I am not making it up. I saw it with my own eyes! She killed him! It seems she has been a member of Arlong's crew this whole time!"
"Shut your mouth! Never in a million years would Nami kill Usopp!" yelled Luffy angrily. "She would never do that to a friend!"
"But-but-"
"What was that you said about friends Luffy?" All turned to see Nami standing there with a bo staff with her arms folded across her chest. "What are you doing here?"
Luffy blinked, "what are we doing here? You are our friend. We came to get you."
"What a pest," Nami had an emotionless look in her eyes.
"I am so lost," stated Naruto.
"Me too," admitted Sanji, "but doesn't Nami-swan look beautiful?" Naruto sweat dropped as a hearts appeared in Sanji's eye.
"Friends huh? Don't make me laugh. You are just pathetic enough to deserve each other."
"Damn you! You killed him! I watched you do it!" yelled Johnny pointing a finger at Nami. He started to shake. "Now Big Bro Usopp is gone!"
Nami smiled, "yep that's right. So why don't you kill me and get your revenge?" Johnny stuttered in confusion. "Word to the wise, because of your friend's stupidity, Arlong is prepared to kill Zoro and his crew. I don't care how monstrously strong you think you are, you are no match for the real monsters." Naruto scratched the back of his head, "that was mean."
"I promise you that if you stay on this island you will all die. So you have a choice to make," smirked Nami, "life or death."
Zoro glared angrily while Sanji was smiling, "her heartless face is so hot. Hi Nami-swan, it's me Sanji. Let's run away together!"
She pointed her staff right at them. "Now leave from here, you are an eye sore!"Luffy looked at her before falling back on the ground. "Big Bro Luffy," shouted Yosaku and Johnny.
"I'm sleepy."
"How can you sleep at a time like this?" Zoro asked.
"I don't want to butt into their affairs, but I am not leaving either. Good night," said Luffy closing his eyes.
Nami clenched her fist, "fine! Whatever! Do whatever you want, it's your funeral." She ran off not bothering to look back. Naruto leaned back and put his hands behind his head. "So, is this your whole crew Zoro?"
A sigh escaped Zoro as he took a seat on the ground. "Yeah. Guy lying down in the middle of the road is our captain Luffy. Johnny and Yosaku are old Bounty Hunter partners of mine and the idiot with the cigarette is our chef."
"Cool."
"Big Bro Zoro, we should leave the island." Johnny suggested as Yosaku nodded his head.
"Now that we know the truth about Nami, there is no reason to stay here."
"My reason for staying is right there," Zoro looked at Luffy who was sleeping. "As long as he stays, so do I. If you two want to leave then go."
"Fine. You stay, but I am not. My role as a guide has come to an end," said Johnny.
"Yeah, I am with him. Guess this cuts our reunion short," said Yosaku. The two bounty hunters waved goodbye as Zoro turned to look at Luffy who continued to sleep.
"You said Usopp had a long nose right?" blinked Naruto.
"Yeah, why?" asked Zoro.
Naruto lifted a finger and pointed down the road. Zoro and Sanji turned to see Usopp running towards them. "I knew she couldn't have killed him, nami-swan is a sweet girl," smiled Sanji.
"Zoro! Luffy!" yelled Usopp. Luffy woke up slowly and Usopp unable to stop in time tripped over the young pirate captain. "Usopp! Did Nami do this to you?" He lifted Usopp up who now had a bent nose from crashing face first into the ground. Naruto laughed loudly while Zoro and Sanji shook their heads. "You know, we kind of heard you were dead," said Zoro.
"Stupid Johnny. He was spouting nonsense the entire time," yelled Luffy.
"Well, in a way it's the truth. But I am alive, because she saved my life," said Usopp. He then went on to explain what happened when he sneaked into Arlong park.
"So that is how Nami saved my life. It appears she has some hidden agenda," said Usopp.
"Man, you guys sure have some crazy times. But I don't think this concerns me. I'll see you all around," grinned Naruto giving a small wave.
Luffy blinked, "who was that?" Everyone face faulted as Naruto had been here the entire time and he just now noticed him? How slow could Luffy be?
Naruto walked away with a large fox-like grin. 'Man I am starving. I think I'll go get something to eat. I wonder if they have any ramen here.'
He walked around the village whistling when he finally found a ramen restaurant. Frankly, the village reminded him of his first mission with team 7 to wave country. Now all he had to do was go back to Arlong park and find his boat. Five minutes later he arrived at Arlong park and noticed almost all the villagers were gathered there. He turned to one of them and asked "Hey what's going on in there?"
"Those pirates came in here and fought Arlong and his group and won but there's no sign of the straw hat kid anywhere." The villager answered. Naruto walked past the villagers and walked into Arlong park and saw that the whole compound had been destroyed with Nami and a blue haired girl helping Zoro, Usopp and Sanji find their captain.
"Luffy!" Nami exclaimed as she picked the boy out of the rubble and helped him up.
"I did it Nami now you can come and be my navigator again." Luffy said in a weak voice as Nami started crying.
"You did it, Arlong Park is destroyed." One of the villagers exclaimed as the others bursted into cheers.
"Hold it right there."
Everyone turned around to see a Marine captain that looked like a weasel with about a hundred marines flanking him. "I came to deal with Arlong for making a full out of me, but since Arlong has been defeated I will take you pirates out. Nobody would believe that a no name pirate like you took out Arlong while I, Commander Nezumi takes all the credit and gets to keep Arlong's treasure." Naruto narrowed his eyes at the name he had heard of the marine captain that was posted here to protect the village from pirates, but started taking bribes and turning a blind eye at everything Arlong did.
"You are Nezumi?" Naruto asked in a pissed off tone.
"Yes I am, who the hell are you?" Nezumi asked in an arrogant tone. Naruto walked up to him and picked him up by his throat, the other marines and villagers were shocked by his actions. The marines then pointed all their guns at him. "Hey release the captain or prepare to die." One of the marines said as he pointed his gun at Naruto.
"Kill him now." Nezumi said. As soon as Naruto had let go off him the marines started firing . They were all shocked when the bullets went right through him. "A devil fruit user and a logia one at that." One of the marines said in fear.
Naruto walked to them and opened his palm, "Wind Whirlwind" he exclaimed as whirlwinds appeared on both of his hands and he fired it at the marines. Within 30 seconds all of them were on the ground half dead with cuts and bruises all over their bodies while Nezumi and the villagers looked at Naruto with fear. He walked up to the marine captain, picked him by his collar and with his wind powers threw the man into the ocean.
(Two Days Later)
The whole village celebrated Arlong's defeat with food and wine as everyone was in a festive mood. Luffy was eating his life away, Usopp telling the children of his 'brave exploits as a pirate', Sanji flirting with the women as usual and Naruto with Zoro sat in a barrel drinking.
"So what do you plan on doing?" Zoro asked Naruto.
"Not sure.I have got to find a new boat since your captain destroyed mine when it was in Arlong park." The blond replied.
"You could come with us."
"Nah, I want to have my own adventures and find my own crew, but thanks for the offer though."
It was now morning and the villagers where there to see Nami and the straw hat crew off. Naruto was talking with Sanji and Zoro.
"Hey thanks again for your help." Zoro said as he nodded at Naruto.
"No problem I"ll probably be seeing you guys in the grand line." Naruto said as he began to walk away.
"Hey, who is that guy?" Luffy asked as everyone who heard the question could only sweat drop, including Naruto.
"You know Monkey D. Luffy you're just like Shanks said you were. Anyways, I'll be seeing you in the grand line." Naruto said and Luffy was shocked.
"Hey how do you know-" He could not finish his sentence seeing that Naruto had disappeared.
Naruto walked to what was left of Arlong's park and stepped into the compound. He walked away to the back and pulled a latch that was on the ground. He found it when he had his clones search the compound inside and out and found this secret latch.
He descended down the steps and took a lighter with him. When he reached the final staircase he turned on the lights and smiled at what he found. It was a ship the size of a marine battleship. It was made of wood and had all sort of weapons in it from cannons to swords.
'It seems like Arlong wasn't planning on staying in Cocoyashi village after all.' Naruto thought to himself as he went inside and searched the ship. He got outside and pulled another lever on the wall as the back door opened completely and he steered the ship outside. After making sure that was all, he stepped outside and sensed a presence hiding behind the trees.
"You know you can come out now, I know you are watching me." Naruto said as the person that came out happened to be Nami's sister. If Naruto remembered, her name was Nojiko. "You know you didn't have to hide if you wanted to talk, you could have just approached me."
"Sorry, I thought you were going with Luffy's crew."
"Nah I decided to find my own way and my own adventures, since my boat got destroyed in the battle I'm going to be taking this baby off Arlong's hands."
"Well then I'm joining you." she said as Naruto turned around and looked at her with surprise.
"Wai,t if you wanted to be a pirate why didn't you join your sister then."
"Well I wasn't going to go at first but when I thought about it why should I be the one stuck at home while my sister enjoys her life in the seas." Nojiko said with a smirk.
"You really are going through with this aren't you?" He asked in a tired voice.
"Why do you have anything against a woman joining your ship?" Nojiko asked with a frown
"No, but I don't want that bipolar girl you call your sister coming after my ass if something happened to you."
Nojiko could only giggle at his description of Nami. "Well I'm pretty sure I can take care of myself, besides where are you going to find a navigator?"
"I'm from the grand line, I know my way around, but since you're a navigator I guess it couldn't hurt to bring you along. You might want to tell the villagers you are leaving also so that they don't think I kidnapped you." Naruto said in a defeated tone.
Two hours later Nojiko and Naruto were on board the ship and had gotten everything they needed to travel in the seas.
"You ready?" Naruto asked her.
"Yea I'm ready to leave."
He nodded as the ship started sailing away from Cocoyashi village into the seas, it was then that Nojiko decided to ask a question that had been nagging her since he agreed to let her join him.
"Say Naruto, where are we heading now?"
"Well we are going to the north blue before we head to the grand line. There is a new pirate that is rumored to be really strong, I' m going to convince him to join the crew." Naruto explained.
"So how many members are you hoping to have for your crew?"
"I don't really care,as long as they are strong and loyal crew members it doesn't really bother me. Which is why I would like to have our crew ready before we head to the grand line.
"Ahh I see, so where were you born anyways?" Nojiko asked with curiosity.
"Well I was born from somewhere far away from here and when I was twelve I moved to the grand line and lived there up until a couple of months ago." Naruto replied with a reminiscent look on his face.
"You lived in the grand line?" Nojiko was clearly surprised since everything she heard about the place was that it was a pirate's grave yard. "What part of the grand line did you live in?"
"Well I lived on an island called Sabaody its between the red line and the new world, it's also a resting place for a lot of tourists and pirates that want to enter the new world, heck there are even world nobles that visit all the time. Don't worry when we get to the grand line I'll take you there, it's amazing." Naruto said with a smile.
Nojiko walked out of her room and stretched when she noticed it was morning and saw Naruto in the front of ship sitting on the railing and reading a newspaper.
"Hey I see you are up, good morning."
"Yea,good morning to you also, so what are you doing?"
"Just reading today's paper. Oh yeah, there's something I have to talk to you about."
"What's up?"
"I want to talk to you about your training regimen."
"training regiment?"
"(sigh) Nojiko there is a reason why the grand line is known as the pirate's graveyard. There are things there that you won't be able to comprehend unless you have seen it yourself. As you are now you aren't ready to go into the new world so that's why I'm going to use this opportunity to train you."
"Ah ok, I see, so what are we going to work on?"
"Alright tell me what sort of weapons you're comfortable with." Naruto asked.
"Well I'm comfortable with swords and guns."
"Alright then cool, I'll train you how to use both."
Nojiko nodded happily. She could finally get stronger so that the people close to her won't get hurt like her adopted mother did. After seeing how Nami fought back against Arlong it showed her that she had to fight for herself and the people she cared about just like her. She had promised herself that she would not back down again, that was why she got on this ship with Naruto. Speaking of the ship there was something that had been bugging her since they left Cocoyashi village.
"Hey Naruto?" Nojiko asked the blond haired pirate as he read the newspaper. "What's up?"
"Well since we left I haven't seen in you in the control room once and I wanted to know how the ship was moving by itself." Nojiko asked in a curious tone.
"Oh yeah I never showed you." Naruto said as he got down and stood in front of her.
"Showed me what?"
"This." Naruto said as he made some weird hand signs and then two Naruto's popped out of nowhere and Nojiko freaked out.
"How the hell did you do that? Is that some type of devil fruit ability?" Nojiko asked as her eyes almost popped out.
"No, it was something I learned in my hometown." Naruto chuckled as he could remember the first time he showed It to Uncle Ray and Aunt Shakky.
"Wow, with this why do you need a crew?"
"Well..." Naruto said as he punched one of the clones and it disappeared in a puff of smoke. "As you can see they are not that durable."
"Ah, I see that's pretty cool."
"Yupp."
"So who's the person that you wanted to recruit from the North blue?" Nojiko asked as she sat down next to the blond.
She watched as he pulled out his bag and brought out a wanted poster and handed it to her. She looked at it and saw a picture of a dark skinned male with black hair, side burns and a small goatee. Nojiko had to admit he was really cute. She then looked at his name.
Name: Trafalgar Law (The Surgeon of Death)
Bounty: 80,000,000 Beli
Abilities: He has eaten an unknown devil fruit that allows him to split and manipulate people's bodies.
DONE
I KNOW PEOPLE ARE GOING TO BE MAD AT ME FOR HAVING HIM IN THE SAME CREW WITH A SUPERNOVA BUT TO BE HONEST IT'S SOMETHING I WANTED TO DO FROM THE BEGINNING SINCE LAW IS ACTUALLY MY FAVOURITE ONE PIECE CHARACTER.
I WAS ACTUALLY THINKING OF ADDING BONNEY TO THE CREW ALSO BUT I'M NOT SURE IF I SHOULD DO IT BUT IT'S UP TO YOU GUYS.
ANYWAYS UNTIL NEXT TIME.