Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto and One piece. But if a devil gave me a deal where I could get ownership instead of my soul I would gladly take it!
Whisker-marked Pirates
Chapter 3: Slowly, but surely!
There was peace down in the cabin. Obito had been asleep throughout the night, completely undisturbed. However, the same could not be said about the ship's deck.
"What kind of idiot forgets to get food?" Karin exclaimed loudly.
"The same idiot that had extra time after I got us a job," Naruto answered.
"B-but I got these fishing rods," she boasted, pointing triumphantly towards the rods.
"Good luck fishing then. You could've at least gotten a fishing net instead of that," the blond grumbled.
XxX
Pirates rarely ever fished, and even more rarely, they fished with fishing rods.
For starters, the ocean has a far more diverse catalogue of fish. That means that the fishing rod might easily break or get pulled in if a big enough fish takes the bait.
The ocean is extremely deep. Rods usually work out in shores or other coastal areas, but the ocean has far more depth. Rods are never long enough to be preferably use.
In addition, there are better alternatives, like fishing nets, which were also available in the shop from which Karin had stolen.
Nevertheless, Karin was standing next to the ship's edge with a frown on her face, using the bait she took from the shop on her rod. It seemed that this might not be as fun as she envisioned at the start.
XxX
As the morning came, Naruto woke up from a short nap he took right next to Obito's bed. On this day, however, Naruto decided to start practicing with his sword.
"What's the name you have given it?" Obito asked, even though the blond was sure he still sleeping.
"I-I haven't decided yet," Naruto was caught off guard.
"Then we need to fight, kid," Obito stood up smirking before continuing, "Let's go up top."
Naruto was confident he could be the marine fodder army, but this was an entirely diffrent beast.
As they came up top, Karin was still sulkingly sitting with a bucket that had only one fish that she caught throughout the whole night. The blond felt a bit bad for being harsh that morning, but she wasn't in the right either.
"Wait a minute! The ship!" he shouted to Karin, who took off to steer the ship in the right towards Loguetown. He still wasn't happy about how he had acquired the map and compass, but it would have been horrible if they started their trip without them.
"Why aren't you wearing your vest?" the scarred man questioned Naruto as he ran about.
"Don't want it damaged in a spar, hehe," he smirked before getting ready in a preferred position.
Obito laughed at that, "Wait, you think we're fighting with actual swords?"
The blond had never seriously trained with a sword and didn't know what it was like. However, he used to use a wooden sword that he had carved himself and fought Karin, who used a long stick that is very similar to what they are about to do.
Obito threw a wooden sword that was the length of two combined Naruto's arm sizes.
"Don't tell me you took this wood out of the ship?" Naruto stared at him with squinted eyes.
"Do you think of me as a fool? I thought you knew better than that, Naruto. If you're wondering, I've got my ways." He said before both got into fighting position.
Without any clear strategy in mind, Naruto rushed forward with the only thought of swinging the sword as hard as possible in the direction of his opponent.
As he came at Obito, Naruto swung the sword sideways towards Obito's abdomen. However, the scarred man moved so fast out of the way that Naruto fell in a comedic fashion on the floor.
A grumble came out right before the next attack, which was just as swiftly avoided.
Obito sighed, realizing just how bad Naruto is at swordsmanship. "While you'd never hit me with such strength and speed, you wouldn't be able to hit a child with such a bad swordsmanship."
Seeing the confused look, he continued, "The way you swing a sword is… awful. Your stance at the beginning of the fight was solid enough, as you kept your knees bent and your balance seemed to be distributed evenly between both legs. The problem is everything else."
He sat down, knowing that this is going to be a long conversation.
"You hold onto the sword with a grip that could choke a man. When you attack, you shake your sword so much that it would never cut anything properly. You need to hold your sword as steady and cut with straight precision. Furthermore, don't hold the sword with such ferocity. It isn't your enemy; I am."
Then he once again stood up and started walking around Naruto. "Even if you hit someone, the attack wouldn't be used to its full potential. Before you swing the sword, you should wind-up by bringing the sword backwards," he finished his lecture.
"Since you can't even swing the sword properly, you'll swing it until I see you've improved enough to be considered swordsman. NOW START SWINGING!" he shouted, which surprised both teenagers as they they looked at each other.
But Naruto complied. As instructed, he quickly tried to use every muscle he had to strengthen his attacks, instead of simply relying on his arms. However, it didn't turn out so well.
"Ow, what the hell was that for?!" Naruto shouted when Obito hit him with the back of his wooden sword.
"Since you're so terrible, you must start doing it slowly. Focus on your form, and once again, make sure you don't kill the sword with your grip," Obito instructed, clearly getting into a bit worse mood because of the blond's incompetence.
With each hit to Naruto's head came an angry scream. However, to say that slowly working on improving the basics made Naruto better at swordsmanship than before is an understatement.
Without proper basics, there is no chance of getting anywhere.
XxX
(A week later)
It seemed pretty obvious to Naruto and Karin that they were very unlikely to make their full trip without entering another island or two to resupply.
Karin managed to catch about one more fish a day, which was not enough since two fish for one day weren't anywhere close to enough for feeding her, the hyperactive blond, and an all-powerful marine.
She also managed to break one of the rods after something far bigger took the bait than what was expected for the rod to hold. The resources they had were also dwindling.
It also doesn't help that the ship now had some problems. They weren't sure whether they missed a spot after the first storm, but there seemed to be some parts of the ship that are broken.
However, not all things were going badly. Obito had helped Naruto get into better shape. He didn't give him a second to relax, constantly hitting with the back of his sword.
After passing the at least minimal grip and control of the sword requirement, Obito moved onto some simple techniques. Vertical, horizontal, and diagonal cuts weren't that hard to learn, but without them, a swordsman cannot be anything but amateur.
Obito had made a good plan for Naruto, constantly increasing his speed when swinging since he now had good form. After half an hour of that, he moved on to the techniques that he previously taught him.
XxX
After a long-winded day of training and inspecting the sails, Naruto never had time to relax. As soon as everything was done, he went to sleep. However, today Obito asked him to meet him alone on the deck at night.
As the stars gazed down upon the ship's deck, Naruto saw Obito drinking him rum.
"Y'know, just because you're on this ship doesn't mean you can drink my rum!" Naruto retorted.
Obito chuckled, "Consider this payment for your training."
Naruto sat down and put his head on the ship's border. Instantly, he poured himself a drink into a wooden tankard that Obito had placed on the ground, presumably for Naruto to use.
Without wasting a second, Naruto downed half of the tankard in a matter of seconds before asking, "Why did you want me to come alone?"
Obito smiled a bit and said, "What do you think of the marines?"
Naruto put his hand on his chin, pondering, "I know quite little about them, so I'm not too sure. When I was a kid, my parents always joked about marines but didn't seem to hate them that much, and I don't think there are any marines in Ninkai Country."
Naruto then finished the drink before continuing, "And in the place where I've been living in, there was not a soul besides me, Karin and some villagers we hardly interacted with. I guess I'll find out sooner or later!"
"You can find out if you join us," Obito suggested, knowing full well that Naruto wasn't keen on joining the marines.
Naruto scratched his head and responded, "Nah, I'll pass. I wouldn't want to make my parents enemies. Though it would be pretty funny since they sheltered me for so long." Both of them laughed at that.
As they were laughing, Naruto noticed that Obito was genuinely laughing, as if he knew his parents. "Old man, do you… Know my parents?"
"I wasn't very subtle about that, so I'm surprised it took so long for you to find out. Guess you're a mamma's boy." Obito once again laughed, a laugh that seemed much more normal than what he had a week ago.
"Since you're a marine… are my parents your enemies?" Naruto couldn't help but ask.
"All pirates are my enemies. However, with some, I've longer history," he responded, and a silence engulfed them before he continued, "Your parents are more or less good people. I wish to capture them, but hopefully, I'll manage to get them a more lenient sentence. Though it seems that the Yellow storm Pirates are becoming a bigger threat to the world government each day, so I'm not sure what I'll be able to do."
Naruto wasn't sure how to respond to that, but he said, "I see," before changing the subject a second later, "We'll have to get onto an island to resupply. Hopefully, the deal doesn't have a timer?"
"No. I'm not in a hurry to get there at all," Obito responded while still having a smile over his face. It was not often he interacted with anyone.
XxX
Travelling by ship was getting on Karin's nerves. Well, not so much the sailing with the ship, but the amount of work she had to do. Cleaning, preparing the food, and steering - it was far more than she could handle. It also didn't help that they now had another mouth to feed.
What worried her even more was that Obito didn't seem to have the Devil fruit he promised on him. However, she had a suspicion that he possessed some sort of teleportation powers since he kept pulling things out of thin air, such as a new chair that looked like it belonged to a king.
"Naruto, shouldn't we ask him to show the goods he promised us?" Karin voiced her opinion.
"There's no need. I trust him more than enough to believe his words," Naruto smiled while looking at the ocean before continuing, "He's a vice-admiral, after all. I doubt people with such titles would be dishonorable."
Unbeknownst to them, Obito was listening to their conversation and had a sad chuckle at Naruto's words.
"We need more crew members, Naruto." She said, wiping the sweat off her face.
"Well, there are three of us…" Naruto began to say
"Two of us. That guy is a client, who obviously isn't here to work." She shot back.
"Fine, fine. The food you make doesn't taste that well anyway. We do need more members in the Yellow Star to make it a legitimate ship," Naruto responded, to which Karin angrily looked at him.
'But how are we going to get anyone to our ship without any pay?' Naruto thought to himself before conveniently spotting an island a few minutes later.
XxX
(Ineimori)
It was another peaceful day in Ineimori, as per usual. The island would generally be considered hot by most standards, but the land is filled with trees that reach heights unseen in most places.
The trees provide shadows for people who want to rest from the sunlight. The same shadow is the Nara clan's special ability, passed on for generations. The technique originated from Ninkai Country, and it still houses some of the Nara clan. However, most have moved to East Blue in search for a more peaceful life.
The majority of the island's population belong to the Nara clan, a group of individuals specializing in producing Shōgi, a popular game in East Blue.
It was as peaceful as it can get in Ineimori. It'd be a shame if a group of teenagers came here and disrupted the order of things. Hopefully for the citizens, this time they won't be stealing anything and drugging old men. Hopefully, that is.
XxX
"Yosh!" Naruto exclaimed as he stepped onto the sandy shores of the island. Karin followed closely behind him.
"The rum is ending. You would make my day if you kids could find something more to drink," Obito said loudly from his newly transported chair, with no intention of moving out of it.
Karin, roared back, "As if! We never promised to give you free food, let alone free booze!"
"That's our first priority, old man!" Naruto retorted, earning a fist to his head from Karin.
After Naruto dusted off his precious green vest and cleaned the sand off his black boots, he inspected the vast wilderness in front of them. The dense forest seemed daunting, and Naruto knew the chances of getting lost in here were high.
"Any ideas?" Naruto asked Karin, who pulled out the stolen compass that she luckily took from the ship.
Quickly thereafter, they started walking across the dense forest towards north, hoping that they'd hit something of interest. Not the best strategy, but from what they observed on the ship, all the shores seemed to be covered in forests anyway.
Despite the warm climate, the trees here were mostly coniferous, boasting needle-like leaves. Naruto, who enjoyed reading about different climates and islands, assessed that the winters must be very cold in this region.
After a couple of hours, they finally left the forest and stumbled upon a settlement that barely qualified as a village. Houses there were scattered far apart from each other, and were mostly made of timber and logs. Their dark gray color contrasted well to the white-painted wooden windows, which glass seemed old and full of cracks.
As they went along a path that was surrounded by tall grass, they didn't receive any glances, as they had anticipated on such a desolate island. The people seemed to be more concerned with resting in their chairs outside or laying on the ground.
Karin broke the silence that had been present for quite some time, "So, your plan is the same as last time?"
Naruto just casually placed his hands behind his head and said, "Of course! Let's hope we find a bar soon and hopefully find someone to join us there."
Karin sighed, fully aware that they were dependent on luck for food since they had no Berry until they reached Loguetown with Obito.
The walking was taking its toll on Karin, and she finally had to stop for a break. The temperature was already bad enough in the forest, but without many tress around it, it's insufferable.
"I'll stop here. You'll ask me not to go into the bar anyway," she said, and right after that, she went to search for a tree that had shadow to hide from the sun.
"Fine by me. In a few hours, I'll be back with a load of money and a new crewmate!" the blond responded enthusiastically.
With Karin out of the way, Naruto decided to do a light jog to speed up the process and to continue building his strength. As he picked up the pace, a few moments later, he finally noticed building that stood out from the rest. It was made of red bricks and appeared to be better maintained than the others.
Without any clear-cut plan, Naruto decided to knock on the light brown wooden door and possibly ask a few questions to the people who lived there.
The door quickly thereafter opened with a man who seemed to be in his early fourties, with one massive scar spanning from the right side of the face to his nose, and another on his forehead spanning even further than the first one.
"Hi there! Would you know where I could find some sort of bar around here?" Naruto asked, slightly taken aback after noticing the man with black hair and a ponytail gaping his mouth at him.
Naruto's green vest had a red and black whirlpool-like symbol on its right shoulder, and his blond hair with piercing blue eyes made the middle-aged man beyond surprised, since he looked like a carbon copy of his captain. Additionally, the black scabbard on the blond's waist also bore the same whirlpool-like symbol.
"W-who are you?" the man was tensed at the sight but quickly recomposed himself and spouted, "I'm not coming back no matter what you said, kid."
Naruto just raised an eyebrow at that, before saying, "Are you okay, mister? It seemed as if you saw a ghost. I'm just looking for a bar around here."
The man's shocked features quickly changed, and he coughed before responding, "Is that so? Me and my son can lead you to one bar that's not too far from here."
"That'd be great! I'll wait outside," Naruto responded with a smile on his face and went through the door.
"Shikamaru, get over here quickly!" the man shouted to his son and once he came the father put his hands on the teenager's shoulders, continuing, "The kid outside might be from the pirate group I was once a part of. If he decides to fight or do something, you quickly run and search for help. Got it?"
The black-haired teenager with the same ponytail as his father's responded by shaking his head up and down. Quickly thereafter, father and son armed themselves with flintlock pistols and placed them in their belt holsters.
It was a simple but ingenious strategy that was created a few decades ago by the same middle-aged man, Shikaku Nara. The Nara's shadow technique allows them to control an opponent's movements as they wish, and then they can put their hands on their belt bolsters and draw their guns, while the enemy would be taking nothing but air.
As the aforementioned teenager entered through the door, he greeted the blond, whom his father had been talking about.
"Hi. The name's Naruto Uzumaki!" he said, and both boys shook hands together. The guy Naruto was pressing hands with wore dark pants that seemed to be too small for him and a dark gray shirt.
"Shikamaru Nara. A pleasure to meet you," he said, observing the boy and sensing no danger from him.
Naruto smiled before looking at the older man and enthusiastically saying, "Show me the way, old man!"
The man answered by waving his hand, indicating Naruto to follow him, and started walking along a barely visible path of trampled grass.
The two Nara members remained tense, while the blond felt as relaxed as he had been before he entered the house. "Seems to be a pretty peaceful island. Would be a shame not to even know the name of it," Naruto said, implying that he doesn't even know where he technically is.
"You don't even know the island you're on?" Shikamaru asked, looking at his father in confusion, as if to ask if this was the guy he was afraid of.
Shikaku Nara was also surprised by the answer and said, "Ineimori. A place rarely visited by anyone, really. Why did you decide to ship here, if you don't even know the name?" Shikaku asked with a raised eyebrow, unsere whether the kid was joking or being serious.
"We got a bit lost, but we at least think our ship is heading in the right direction," Naruto scratched his ear before continuing, "The supplies we have are also running out, and we could use another crewmate on our ship. Oh, and I didn't catch your name, old man." Naruto said with a smile, pointing his finger to himself when mentioning his crew.
The elder started laughing — a deep and thunderous laugh broke out that confused both teenagers, before the man said, "What kind of sick joke is this? I'm done trying to decipher you, kid. Tell me already, whether you're a part of the Yellow storm Pirates? "
"Do I look that similar to my parents?" Naruto laughed before continuing, "I'm not a pirate at all, though. Well, not by name, anyways," Naruto thought the last part aloud, remembering that he had already committed a crime that could probably mark him as a pirate.
The man instantly let out a breath that he didn't know he was holding and murmured while looking at the ground, "What are the chances of being visited by the captain's son at random after our disagreement and my departure?"
"Did something happen between you and my father?" the whisker-marked teen questioned.
"That would be an understatement. I was the navigator of your father's ship, and I was the first person to join the Yellow storm Pirates, so we were very close friends," the man sighed before continuing, "But we had a big disagreement. Your father's dream shifted from stealing from the rich and giving it to the poor to gaining enough money to overthrow the World Government and unite the whole world under his organization."
"Not that I didn't see a point in that. I trust Minato to be better than what the World Government is right now, but the plan seemed to be far more risky, complicated, and dangerous than simply stealing from the government and sharing its wealth."
"I see," was all that Naruto responded with before a heavy silence enveloped the group, leaving them to ponder in their own thoughts as they walked toward the promised bar.
XxX
Karin was frustrated, but not at Naruto, Obito, or the island. She was mad at herself for stealing once again.
'Why in the hell am I getting all these chances,' she thought, trying to justify her actions and convince herself that she is better than that, though deep down, she didn't feel bad at all.
As she walked around searching for something interesting, she came across what seemed to be a farm, with its owner sleeping on a very uncomfortable wooden chair. It felt like fate itself was teasing her.
With the previously stolen green backpack, she filled it with various canned jars which housed various meat, fruits, and vegetables.
'How could I just leave this opportunity alone?' the red-headed girl pondered, grinning at the treasure she managed to find.
After packing everything that could possibly fit in the backpack, she noticed a tiny, white-furred dog nearby. The dog didn't bark; it simply stared at her.
Karin just pulled her head to the right and smiled, patting the dog gently while saying, "What an adorable puppy. Do you want your lovable Karin to take you on an adventure?"
However, she quickly changed her mind; there were already enough troubles on the ship for Karin. And that'd be another mouth to feed!
What she didn't know was that she had made a big mistake. Not only did she spent time talking with the owner's dog, but she also mentioned her name out loud. Her luck wasn't as great as it had been previously, as this dog could not only understand human language but also talk.
XxX
Shikamaru was definitely interested in who the blond was and what he was planning to do on his adventure. Not only were their fathers close friends, but the teenagers were also close in age.
Noticing the stare given to him by Shikamaru, Naruto asked, "You want to join my crew, don't you?"
Shikamaru grinned, "As if I'd want to do something so bothersome. Why would I go out of my way and travel across the world with you?"
"Don't you have any aspirations? Dreams or something?" blond questioned, searching for a way to hook him onto the idea of joining his crew.
"Nope. Not a single one," Shikamaru replied, almost as if he was proud of the fact that he had no goals in life.
"Really? That sounds so boring," Naruto said, starting to give up on the idea. The guy didn't seem to be interesting to travel with anyways.
"Well, I love that boredom," Shikamaru insisted.
Listening carefully, the father of the boy knew what his son's answer would be, bet he still held onto a bit of hope that Shikamaru might have something in mind. After all, even Shikaku himself still had things he wished to do, like becoming the greatest Shoigu player in the world.
"How about you think about it more, Shikamaru," were the father's words that surprised Shikamaru.
"No way you're serious about that? All you've been doing is the same as me, which is absolutely nothing," the teenager in the ponytail responded.
Without hesitation, the father stopped and said, "Naruto, you wanted to get a new crewmate here? Well, I can give you one for free, no charges. There's hardly anything the kid knows besides our clan's secrets and how to play Shoigu."
Naruto beamed at his words and replied, "You had me at giving him for free!"
Despite Shikamaru's excuses and pleas for him to stay, Shikaku didn't budge. It seemed like too good of a chance to let his son become a bit more self-dependent and let him see the world as it is.
XxX
The new Yellow star's ship member didn't pack all that much. All he took was a similar-looking green vest to Naruto's, however, it didn't have the same symbol on its shoulders. Besides that, he took 50 000 Berry, which wouldn't get him anything too worthy, but Nara's do not possess much money, so that's all he could muster.
"Are you ready? I've made Karin wait long enough," Naruto shouted out loud to make sure Shikamaru heard him.
A second later, Shikamaru forcefully swung the door open, causing it to slam against the other side of the house, his face showing obvious discontent.
"I see you're very glad to join us. Now let's hurry up! We have a quest to do!" Naruto gestured to himself, signaling Shikamaru to follow his lead, and they both started walking towards the place where Karin was last seen.
It was getting late, and the sun was setting. The forest seemed to be even darker than the already dark and bleak place that is Ineimori.
Luckily, Karin didn't wandered off to too far from where she was before. Or so it seemed to Naruto.
"So, your bar plan worked again," the red-headed girl asked.
"What bar-," Shikamaru was instantly shut down with Naruto's hand covering his mouth.
"Of course! A plan that works 100% of the time," Naruto beamed and stepped forward to Karin.
Before Naruto could introduce the new member, who appeared to be getting ready to kill them both, Karin instructed, "Let's move before it gets even darker. I don't want to be stuck in this bleak place any longer than I have to."
"Don't be like that, Karin. Bleakness in itself has its charm," Naruto said to Karin, though what might be offensive to everyone in Ineimori didn't even provoke a reaction from Shikamaru.
Once they stepped into the forest, Shikamaru noticed after a few minutes that the girl in front, leading their trip, was tense and looked rather confused, so he asked, "Are you sure where we are going, right?"
The girl shivered just a bit before answering loudly, "Of course, ummmm, you!"
The black-haired teenager quickly gave his name, "My name is Shikamaru," before continuing "So where are we heading, Karin?"
"To the ocean! That is… obviously somewhere north?" Karin inwardly cringed at her obvious lie, turned around, and started walking in what the compass showed as north.
Naruto and Shikamaru glanced at each other before Naruto corrected, "But when we came into this forest, we went to the north. Wouldn't we come back to the village?"
"I… I forgot," was all that Karin could give in response.
Naruto looked at Shikamaru and gave him a smile that the dark-haired boy didn't understand before the blond said in almost an official tone, "From this way onward, as the captain of the Yellow Star ship, I give you the right to steer the ship and be our navigator, Shikamaru Nara!"
"What are the other options?" Shikamaru asked, searching for an easier way to live through the hell that is soon to come.
"Cleaning the ship, cooking, searching for ways to get more food, helping me maintain the ship—" before the blond teenager could continue, Shikamaru took the compass and started walking ahead of the crew.
"Of course you gave him the job that requires the least amount of work and left all the hard work for me," Karin angrily said to Naruto.
"Don't worry; we'll get more crewmembers—" Before the blond could finish his sentence, he remembered the fact that they were also here to resupply.
"Did you, by any chance, get anything to eat?" Naruto asked while sulking inwardly at the thought of not having anything to eat.
Karin gestured toward her backpack and said, "When did I ever disappoint?" She then quickly corrected herself, "Besides the last time when I got us fishing rods instead of a fishing net"
XxX
As the new crewmates finally found about to find shore, they noticed they couldn't spot their ship. That's mostly due to the fact that it was pitch black darkness.
An decision was made – wait throughout the night.
"So we'll be just sitting in this god-forsaken island throughout the night in darkness," Karin said voiced her discontent with the idea.
"Either that, or we can blindly walk around the island and possibly get further away from the ship," Shikamaru tried reasoning.
"How about we put up a fire?" Naruto suggested.
"With what exactly-" before Karin could finish the black haired boy grinned and lit up a lighter, before lighting up a ciggarrete.
"I'll make the fire in an instant, dattebayo!" Naruto instantly said and went into the forest to cut branches with his gray sword.
"Guess we'll be having a smoker in our ship. Great, just great," Karin grumbled. She remembers that in the Uzumaki island of Ninkai country her father constantly smoked in doors whenever they wanted to swim to a closeby island, not caring for a moment of other people's wishes.
"Then I'd guess you'll need to deal with it," Shikamaru grinned before continuing, "Don't worry, I'm not that big of a dick. I won't smoke in the cabin."
"Hah. I'd break your neck if you'd do otherwise!" Karin gave a grin herself.
With that, they heard Naruto coming out of the forest as loudly as one could do and putting a bunch of dry Spruce branches, which Shikamaru lit up with his lighter.
"Yuck! Why does it smell that badly?" Karin once again complained, which started to irritate Shikamaru who himself loves to complain.
"You'll get used to it. The burning aroma might feel a bit strong for you, but for us this is as pleasant as it gets," Shikamaru said, clearly showing that the smell more than pleases him.
A silence engulfed the newly made friends. The only thing that could be hear are crickets and branches burning and quickly thereafter each and everyone went to sleep.
XxX
"Decided to camp a bit, eh?" Obito came around of nowhere scaring Naruto and Karin.
"Where the hell did you come from?" The girl quickly screeched at the man.
"Space-time powers," was the only answer he gave, which confused all 3 of them. Even Shikamaru woke up from his fake sleep and looked at the man.
"I've been worrying that you kids decided to abandon me, your precious client. So I decided to search for you and luckily for me, I found you in an instant."
"Do you take my word so worthlessly?" Naruto asked In a light manner.
"Hmph. Of course not, but the girl doesn't seem that trustworthy to me at which she rose her hand with a tick on her face.
"I see you somehow managed to get someone from Nara clan. I wouldn't take one onto my ship but you do you. Name's Obito Uchiha," Obito said in a laughing manner, clearly in a good mood for whatever reason.
The boy stood up with a look of concern glancing towards both Naruto and Karin. Then, with a suspicious stare he gave his hand shook their hands.
"Shikamaru Nara," was what he said, not taking his eyes off of him.
Then, before the Nara boy could react Obito put his hand on Shikamaru's head. "I'm Uchiha by name. By my dedication, I belong to the World Government," he said triying to reassure the boy.
Shikamaru didn't say anything at all for a long second, and just quickly glanced between Naruto and Obito before deciding to give up and put his hands behind his back.
"What a drag…" was all he could say showing that he has accepted the fact that he'll be in the same ship as an Uchiha.
Obito smiled with a sad smile, understanding that nobody in this world and their mother trusts an Uchiha or anyone that affiliates with them.
"Go on kids," he gestured, and once they came forward Obito quickly disappeared out of sight.
When Naruto turned around to check on him, he thought aloud, "So he wasn't lying about the space-time powers, was he?"
XxX
As soon as Shikamaru stepped onto the ship, he looked back at the island that he had been living on for so long. There was a lingering thought in his head the he might never come back here, or worse, not come back at all.
Before sadness could engulf the anxious teen, Naruto put his right hand on the pony-tailed boy's shoulder and enthusiastically assured, "Get ready! We're about to depart and go on an adventure you'll never forget!"
Well, he was certainly right about never forgetting this adventure. Whether it'll be as positive as the blond thought, and if Shikamaru will come back in one piece to his homeland, was another question altogether.
Another island, another crewmate — I mean adventure. Next chapter, I might finally include some One Piece characters. Took a while, didn't it?
What does "Ineimori" mean? "Inei" means shadow, and "mori" means forest in Japanese. Pretty fitting for the Nara, I'd say.
I think addressing how strong Naruto is compared to other Strawhats should be due. Think of him as relative to the beginning Zoro, but with even more endurance and speed, and slightly worse swordsmanship.
Anyways, Naruto might be getting Kyūbi Kyūbi no Mi someday! Or he might get an entirely different Devil Fruit! Or hell, he might not be getting one at all. Who knows? Well, I guess I sort of know, but as my favorite Sopranos quote list says, "You steer the ship the best you know. Sometimes it's smooth. Sometimes you hit the rocks. In the meantime, you find your pleasures where you can."
Anyways, Dendras out.
