Author's Notes:
So here we are with my next instalment. We are finally leaving Whisky Peak and setting sails for Little Garden, while slowly introducing Kakashi to some of the crew. Hope you'll like it, but before that, let's take care of replies and a very special shout-out.
Replies:
frankieu: hehe, yea there will be a lot of talking in this chapter. I hope I was able to get enough humour sprinkled across it, to create a more captivating read.
thor94: don't worry. All four members of Team 7 will become powerhouses to be reckoned with. And talk no jutsu will also play an important part in the story.
Vongola Ninja: I really love how you enjoy the story so far. This chapter is basically the B to get us from A to C, but one needs some filling between story chunks where actual stuff happens, and this is how that looks like (personally, I thought it's funny, but I wrote it, soooo xD). Hope you'll enjoy it ^^
TheTansFriend02: Thank you for sticking with me! Hope you'll enjoy what's still to come xD
Seta88: haha, yeah it was really fun to write Naruto's fight with Vivi. I often felt the sexy jutsu didn't get enough credit until Naruto used it on Kaguya. Thank you so much for your input regarding the curse seal. I try to keep all necessary details in mind but I'm not so arrogant as to think I could remember every detail of these two colossal stories. So, comments like that are much appreciated! I won't reply to the rest of your review, because I'm certain I'd leave some major spoilers if I tried, so please just bear with me until IT happens xD
qtar1984: hehe, I guess we'll have to wait and see xD but considering that I specifically went through the trouble of pulling Naruto out of the Elemental Nations AFTER he signed the summoning contract, I don't think I'm telling any spoilers when I say that summoning will play an important role in this story. Patience will still be important. Let's not forget, that the entirety of Fish Cake so far, spans over less than one day. I'm not trying to mimic the pacing of the anime here (I'm the last one who'd want that), and this chapter specifically is mostly about pushing things along, but some developments will take some patience to get to.
Special shoutout to my 100th follower:
NisseLind: Whoever you are in real life, to me you will always be the 100th follower of this story of mine, and I can't tell you how happy and proud that makes me. Thank you all for waiting for my updates and I wish you a great time while accompanying Team 7 on their journey through the Grand Line!
Disclaimer
I do not own Naruto and I do not own One Piece. That honour lies with their creators:
Masashi Kishimoto and Eiichiro Oda
Many thanks again to Lapin de Lune for beta reading my very first own fanfiction!
Chapter Eight: Brave no Jutsu
Not quite at the beginning of the Grand Line (but close enough), there is a small village on an island, which seemed to have cacti as big as mountains. The name of the town was Whisky Peak, and normally it would provide one with scenic views of quaint two story stone buildings, villagers going about their lives, and spectacular ocean views. On this very night however, a visitor would come upon a very different scene. What they would see, are streets filled with unmoving bodies, some of which had taken their last breaths, while others were moaning from the beating they received. The beautiful buildings were riddled with bullet holes and various pieces of debris from different materials could be found throughout this whole mess. One specific part of this fallen paradise didn't even have any buildings left standing. There was only rubble and some wayward walls, which didn't receive the message that they had no business still standing upright.
Right in the middle of this battlefield, there stood a group consisting of pirates, ninjas, bound and unconscious Baroque Works agents and a royal with her loyal duck.
On Nami's request, Kakashi had decided to set Vivi and Karoo free. As far as he understood, his Genin team had decided to embark on a cruise with a group of pirates of all things, only to end up drugged and fighting their way through an entire town's worth of bounty hunters. Granted, this crew and especially their captain, didn't seem the ruthless cut throats one might associate with the term pirate, but nonetheless, the copy ninja wasn't feeling comfortable with the situation at hand.
To make matters worse, it was only moments ago, that Sasuke displayed an extreme level of hostility towards Naruto, only mitigated by the Uchiha's obvious fatigue, which caused him to sit down on the floor and lean against one of the few standing walls. Luckily for the still-recuperating Sensei, both kids decided to ignore each other. Of course, they were doing so in such a way that clearly communicated their grievances to their teammate, but Kakashi decided to be thankful for them not actively trying to smash their heads in. That also gave him the opportunity to take part in the rather vital discussion that was taking place between the pirates and the princess.
"So, you saw how strong these guys are, right? Our offer stands at one billion Berry. Only one billion and we will safely bring you home, what do you think? That shouldn't be a problem for a princess like you, right?" the orange-haired girl who introduced herself as Nami was pressuring… I mean offering the princess, who took a seat on a stone slap with a clearly nervous and slightly cowering posture.
"Quack!" Karoo tried to console his friend. Vivi gave the duck a thankful pat for his efforts.
"I… I'm sorry… I can't promise you that. That's far too much… "
"What?! Come on sweetheart, you are royalty! Isn't your country worth a measly billion to you?"
"Believe me, I would if I could! But… my country, is in the middle of a civil war!"
The princess' declaration was enough to shock Nami into backing off before Vivi took a deep breath to explain her circumstances in detail.
"You see… Alabasta was once a peaceful country. Our economy was strong, the people were happy, and the monarchy was just. But some years ago, certain rumours started to surface, accusing my father of heinous crimes against his people. Soon after, there were protests and without warning, those protests turned into violent uprisings. The people organised into militias and then bonded together into a revolutionary army… it truly came out of nowhere! My father always did what was best for the people and he would rather die than do anything to their disadvantage. But somehow the situation grew worse by the day… cities were plagued by terrorism in the guise of patriotism… our citizens were killed in the name of our country, while the masses cheered for it… until we finally found out what caused it all. There was an organisation that was responsible for the riots and uprisings. An organisation that turned our beloved country into its personal marionette, to achieve their own nefarious goals! They call themselves… Baroque Works!"
By this point, Naruto had left his teammate's aggravating vicinity and was openly sobbing at Vivi's story. Meanwhile, Kakashi took everything in, even though somewhere along the dramatic decline of Alabasta, he fished out a familiar small book from his pocket and started reading as if he wasn't listening.
"Once it was clear that we were being played, I was able to convince my father to let me investigate this organisation on my own. With Igaram and Karoo as guards, we left the royal palace behind and went undercover. It was a lot of work, but we finally managed to infiltrate the organization responsible and quickly rose through its ranks, while conducting our investigations. One after another we uncovered the identities of their agents and their abilities."
Somewhere between the thoroughly demolished neighbourhood, Luffy had managed to find a wooden barrel of all things, on which he made himself comfortable. He didn't seem to care all that much about Vivi's story. Nami on the other hand was quite devastated.
"This sucks! Of course, you can't pay us. There is no money to get in a civil war. It's a lose-lose situation… "
"Don't care. I got snot on my swords while trying to save the princess out of the goodness of my heart. Anybody care about that?"
"Not true, dattebayo! You saved her because you owe Nami money for when she paid for your swords."
"I PAID MY DEBT BEFORE THE DAY WAS OUT!"
Feeling kind of down from the missed business opportunity didn't mean Nami would leave the swordsman off the hook so easily.
"Stop your whining! I already told you, that you only paid back the money I lent you, not the 300% interest that still accumulates. I own your ass now, got it?"
"Grrrrrrr, I will end you… "
"Hey, Vivi?" the Straw Hats quieted when their captain decided to participate in the discussion. It wasn't much, but more than enough for Kakashi to deduce a surprising amount of respect these pirates held for the frequently punched boy.
"Ehm, yes?"
"Who's the boss of these assholes?"
Where previously the princess' face had shown an abundance of grief and desperation, there was now fear as all colour quickly evacuated from her cheeks.
"Oh no… I can't tell you this! You would all be in terrible danger!"
Nami completely agreed with Vivi's assessment of the situation. That's why she immediately tried to stop Luffy from this line of questioning.
"Hey Luffy, wait a minute! This is a guy that is powerful enough to take on an entire country… we shouldn't get involved here if there's nothing in it for us."
However, her captain disagreed and was about to press the issue when Naruto provided the answer he sought.
"Didn't you listen, Luffy? It's her evil uncle! He wants to kill his brother and rule Alabasta in his stead, dattebayo!"
"Oh, her uncle? I get it now! Damn princess, your family sucks, shishishishi!"
"SIR CROCODILE IS NOT MY UNCLE, DAMN IT!"
Then there was silence… for a moment…
"SIR CROCODILE?!"
The reactions following Vivi's blunder were quite diverse, but not as violent as Nami's who had the monarch's shoulders in an iron grip while wildly shaking the poor girl back and forth.
"WHY THE HELL DID YOU TELL US HIS NAME!"
Luffy had no idea what to make of this name or his navigator's newest source of aggression. As was slowly becoming common practice, Naruto voiced the question on the tip of the captain's tongue before he could do so himself.
"Hey, Zoro. Who's this Croc guy? And why is Nami murdering the princess?"
The aforementioned swordsman's grin was fixed in a predatory grimace, that the genin already associated with Zoro expecting an exciting fight.
"Hm… have you ever heard of the Seven Warlords of the Sea, kid?"
Kakashi pretty much heard the capital letters in that title, and he wasn't a fan of the foreboding feeling settling in his gut.
Luffy on the other side was now smiling like a total lunatic.
"Woooaaaaa, so the crocodile is like that hawk guy who sliced you up at the Baratié? That's so cool!"
"Huh? How did Zoro lose to somebody? Isn't he like, really strong, dattebayo?"
"Hmpf, yeah kid, I'm strong all right. But back then I had to accept that there's still quite a way to go before I can compete with the best. The man Luffy is talking about… his name is Dracule Mihawk. Also known as the best sword fighter in the world. We met him in the East Blue, not long before we entered the Grand Line. He split an entire Galleon in two, with nothing but a lazy swing of his sword. This is the man I'll have to defeat, for me to achieve my dream, and it's also the guy who completely obliterated anything I threw at him with nothing but a fucking butter knife… when he finally drew his sword, he left me with this." The swordsman lifted up his shirt and revealed a grievous scar spanning over his torso, which should have belonged to a fatal blow.
Kakashi would have expected a certain level of gloom to brush over Zoro and his captain, but what he witnessed instead, was their bodies brimming with excitement. Not only were they about to challenge a foe, who for all intends and purposes should be far superior in physical prowess and manpower, but they were happily dragging his team into this mess, which didn't endear them to the copy ninja, at all.
"Excuse me, Nefertati-hime?" Vivi raised her head and came face to face with the only person in the world who could produce a charming smile with nothing visible but a single eye.
"If I understood you correctly, this entire island only caters to this organisation. But there must be some way to bring food to this place. Some trade routes that connect you to the rest of the world. Any possibility that allows a safe passage for my students, would be more than welcome."
Zoro and Nami immediately understood the reason behind Kakashi's inquiry, and somehow it won the adult ninja quite some points with them. Their own superior in rank and rubber braininess, however…
"Huh? Why are you asking that? You guys are part of our crew, already! The Going Merry will bring you wherever you want!"
"Yea, sensei! Luffy is totally awesome, and they already said that they'd help us!"
A sigh escaped the Jonin sensei.
"Please forgive my abruptness, Captain Luffy… but my main concern must be the safety of my students. I'm sure that in my absence, all three of them conducted themselves in an exemplary manner. Nonetheless, your crew seems to be in the process of challenging a highly dangerous foe, while throwing themselves into the political machinations of a foreign country. Right now, this Crocodile has no idea about our existence. With just the four of us, and our faces unknown to the enemy, we should be able to… "
*scribble scribble… scribble scribble scribble*
High on a single column stood an otter. Said animal was clad in a purple-dotted, white onesie while riding a menacing vulture with goggles and a yellow cap. The scribbling sound was the result of the otter using some charcoal on several pieces of paper. When it was done, it turned the sheets around and showed the pirates and ninjas seven photo-realistic charcoal drawings of their faces, which it had just produced in a matter of seconds.
Vivi was the first to react to the animal's appearance. "Those are Mr. 13 and Miss Friday! Stop them or they'll get those pictures back to Sir Crocodile!"
Kakashi and Naruto let a salvo of shuriken fly towards the pair, but the vulture jumped into the air and escaped the deathly projectiles with an astonishing performance of aerial acrobatics. They quickly reached altitudes, which made them untouchable to anything the jonin could throw at them.
The copy ninja's legendary eye smile had turned into a frown as he turned to the giggling pirate captain. Vivi decided to voice what Kakashi already feared.
"Oh no! Those were the Unluckies… they are Sir Crocodile's personal line of communication between himself and his agents. They are known to sniff out any potential threats and report them to their boss! He will know about all of you within a matter of days!"
Nami laid a comforting hand on the princess' shoulder. Her countenance seemed to glow with mercy and empathy. "Don't you worry Vivi. You will have nothing to fear from that big old handbag threatening your country."
Vivi allowed an uncertain smile to show on her face. "You really think that?"
Nami's second hand reached for Vivi's other shoulder. "Of course not. After all, how is he gonna hurt you afTER I FUCKING STRANGLED YOU TO DEATH!"
"Quack qua qua Quack!"
It took a cursing Zoro and a surprisingly aggressive guard duck to pull the orange-haired harpy from the coughing monarch.
"LET ME GO, ASSHOLE! MAMA GOT TO COMMIT REGICIDE! THERE'S A FUCKING WARLORD AFTER OUR HEADS!"
There was another peculiarity that came with having your entire face covered, except for one eye. That was the inability to hide an uncontrollable twitching of said organ, that was caused by his vicinity to these people.
'Guy might have felt right at home here… why couldn't it have been his team?'
"Well, sensei… you got to admit, those were some damn good pictures that cat drew, dattebayo…"
"Sigh… that was an otter, Naruto, not a cat… so about that offer Captain Luffy?"
"Hey, Zoro, you think that warlord is strong? This is gonna be lots of fun, shishishi!"
"Heh, who knows? But we are on Baroque Work's death list now, so there'll be lots of strong fighters in our way."
Nami broke down in tears, truly done with this world.
"Why didn't I just stay with Nojiko, to look after our tangerine trees… I'm sure she has no warlord gunning for her… "
"N-Nami… I saved 500.000 berry… it's all I have so please don't cry…" Vivi tried to console the forlorn navigator.
"Fear not! All shall be hrgh… ma… maa… maaa… all shall be well, for I have a plan."
Yes, there was no doubt left in Kakashi's mind. Some random omnipotent deity (otherwise known as a bored fanfiction author) created an adventure which was meant for Guy and threw him into it instead. There is absolutely no other explanation for this gorilla of a man wearing a perfect copy of the princess' outfit, in size XXXXXL, with a couple of life-sized dummies under his arms.
"Igaram? What are you wearing?!" the monarch stopped her useless attempts to help Nami, in favour of greeting the hot pants-wearing guard.
"Bwahaha, this day gets better and better!"
"Whoa, you look totally freaky, old man!" shouted the resident air and rubber brain, and in doing so, caused an unlikely harmony to emerge between Nami and Kakashi as from the deepest part of their soul emerged the words: "I'm surrounded by morons… "
"Your Highness, please listen carefully. Once somebody was registered as an official target within the net of Baroque Works, they would immediately be targeted by the organisation's strongest agents. If you happen to know Sir Crocodile's secret identity on top of that… well, I think you understand what I'm alluding to."
"Yes, I understand. Not only agents, but around 1000 members of Baroque Works will join in on the hunt." Vivi agreed with a nod before Igaram continued.
"Exactly. So, to give you a head start, I shall impersonate you, for as long as I can. I will sail straight for Alabasta with these dummies acting as your new guardians… please stop poking them, good sirs."
Luffy looked up from his gentle probing of one of the dummies, while Naruto stopped right before he stuck a Kunai into one of the vaguely human-shaped sacks.
"So, these ugly things are supposed to be us?" Luffy asked.
To which Naruto pouted: "I think I'm prettier than that. Right, Sensei?"
Instead of affirming his student's question, Kakashi further participated in the conversation at hand.
"A decoy, huh?"
"Yes, I will act as a decoy. While your pursuers waste their time with me, you shall travel to Alabasta by following the normal route, provided by the log pose."
This casualness with which their crew was robed into what was basically a civil war, while not receiving any compensation to boot, was enough to switch Nami back into her Harpy form:
"NOW WAIT A MINUTE! WHO THE HELL SAID WE ARE GOING TO HELP THE PRINCESS GET HOME?! We haven't signed any contract yet… no contract, no help, you got that?!"
His navigator's protest left Luffy slightly baffled: "Huh? What's the problem?"
"Weren't you listening Luffy? They want us to bring the princess home." Zoro explained.
"Oh, ok, yeah sure. No problem."
"DON'T YOU GET THAT WE HAVE A FREAKING WARLORD AFTER US!?"
"Excuse me, Igaram-san, was it? Considering that this… Sir Crocodile seems to be after us, might you give us some more information on this person? From what swordman-san-"
"Name's Zoro… "
"Ah yes, thank you. From what Zoro-san told us, the very title of warlord seems to indicate some level of battle prowess. Any information would be much appreciated."
All of this, Kakashi said with charm and levity. It was the next part, however, which left Nami with a pronounced shiver going up her spine, while drool ran down her chin.
"While you provide us with anything worth knowing, please consider, that withholding any information that might further endanger us, will be covered by heavy monetary penalties within any mission contract that is still to be signed. Furthermore, taking into account the financial situation of the crown, any base compensation will, of course, be left open-ended, to be freely decided by us, once the mission is complete. I have some basic contracts with me that should cover every eventuality."
Normally, such matters would be taken care of by the acting Hokage. Nonetheless, any jonin was trained to take over negotiations of mission contracts and compensations. There was always a possibility for missions to go F.U.B.A.R. and in such cases, a proper shinobi was to ensure that any route advantageous to themselves and their village was to be taken. It was how Kakashi was allowed to continue quite a few of Team 7's missions once further information considerably raised the mission's ranking. That last mission to Snow Country only started as a protection detail for an actress. Once Fujikaze Yukie was revealed to be the missing princess Kazehana Koyuki, that contract was quickly modified through several loopholes left in the original document. The result was a highly profitable agreement between the newly dubbed Land of Spring and Konohagakure no Sato.
Of course, the jonin Sensei wouldn't be able to witness the boons he negotiated for quite some time. So, why not try using this fucked-up situation to gain some funds for his team's approaching travels.
Zoro was certain that his soul left his body, as Kakashi's smiling demeanour perfectly added to Nami's evil persona: 'Oh god… not another one… '.
Said greedy harpy… cough… I mean businesswoman, looked upon Kakashi as a kindred spirit, with her eyes turned into pulsing berry symbols. It was much later, with contracts signed, ts crossed and souls sold, that the group left their meeting place among de rubble behind.
"psst… Mr. 5… I think they left… "
"shut the hell up…"
"but… how long are we-"
"the night and the entire next day if we have to."
"but have you heard what they said? The boss-"
"I said shut up! We were unconscious, we didn't hear anything. Now close your eyes or I'm gonna explode the both of us!"
"Hmpf… fiiiine… "
***later, close to the pub***
While Luffy, Zoro and Vivi accompanied Igaram to his ship on the coast, Nami decided to walk with the ninja squad that now officially joined their crew… at least for the time being, that was. The little dealing she had with a now awake Kakashi, quickly revealed that she couldn't approach this guy the same way she did the kids. He seemed like a laid-back guy, almost aloof, even. Quick with a sarcastic joke to lull anybody into a state of trust towards the trained assassin. To somebody like Nami however, it was quite obvious that anything she might imagine gathering from the ninja would be precisely what he wanted her to see, nothing less and nothing more. The only assumption she was willing to make so far, was that he cared about his student's safety, and even in that regard, she couldn't certainly say how much.
For now, however, they were on the same side. So Nami did her best to keep some small talk going with their new crew mates. If not for gaining more information about the guy, then at least to keep up an amicable atmosphere. He kept his questions superficial, mostly focused on their location and other general things, which Crocus informed them about.
He was a shrewd negotiator for sure. From what she saw in those negotiations, he could have suckered Vivi for everything she was worth if he wanted to. The final agreement however was quite fair in her opinion. The scroll Kakashi produced dealt with several different outcomes for the mission, including a huge payday in case of the best possible outcome. He called it a standard royal heir protection contract. Nami most definitely needed to keep her eye on Kakashi's dealings with her captain. She was certain that a more formal agreement for their participation in this mad house of a crew was quickly approaching, and for that, nothing less than Nami's A-Game would suffice.
What wasn't quickly approaching, was the pub they were walking to. Sasuke made his disagreement known when Kakashi offered to carry him. So, it took them quite some time to reach the small building they partied in, only a few hours ago. As they slowly made their way, the streets grew littered with more and more bodies. Some apparently had become closely acquainted with at least one of Zoro's swords. Others were riddled with bullet holes, and some lucky few were moaning from being beaten to a pulp by an overwhelming number of pubescent fists.
The mighty Uchiha tried to keep the last vestiges of his dignity by walking under his own strength. Passing by the evidence of the battle his teammate was involved in, right after ingesting enough drugs to put a small horse to sleep, however… and to see him now easily promenading through this battlefield with his hands folded behind that damnable empty head as if there was nothing out of the ordinary!? Of all the emotions Sasuke felt, dignity wasn't one of them…
He should have been there. He should have known not to drink something offered by a random stranger! He should have been given the chance to prove his worth by burning wave after wave of these… Sasuke took some deep breaths as another bout of dizziness started to cloud his mind. He associated the cold sweat on the back of his neck with another effect of the strain he put on his body, but unbeknownst to him, it was his subconsciousness recognizing the alien quality of the dark thoughts going through his head.
Naruto only listened with half an ear to his sensei's chit-chat with the straw hat's navigator. Most of it was stuff he already knew, and Kakashi would most likely want to talk to their team again once they had a little more privacy. The blonde did a lot of goofing around when Vivi told her story, and he really sympathised with the princess' situation, but truth be told, it wasn't what was on the forefront of his mind. That privilege belonged to the brooding Uchiha sending Naruto death glares from behind him.
It was by far not the first time the Kyubi's container became the target of such hateful stares. He was even kind of glad for them sometimes… Naruto was the victim of quite some beatings until he learned to interpret the intensity of that look. Most wouldn't do anything, being far too scared of any punishment for breaking the third's law. Some, however, would not be so easily deterred… his own birthdays were among the worst until he got old enough to successfully hide or run away.
The jinchuriki's skills in reading the various complexities of people's emotions from their expressions were mostly non-existent and certainly leagues behind the Hyuga's prowess in cold reading… hatred however… somehow came easy to him…
What Naruto saw in Sasuke's eyes … was strange. There was hate in abundance, more than enough to expect an immediate fight, actually… but then again… it was as if it wasn't genuinely directed at him. Naruto felt as if he just happened to be the target of that pure and unadulterated rage, while his spot could have just as easily been replaced by some tree daring to stand in Sasuke's way. No, Sasuke wasn't looking at him, but past him! And to make matters even more confusing, he wasn't even sure if it was Sasuke who was looking at him… Yeah, that doesn't make any sense at all…
Sighing at these convoluted observations, Naruto stopped looking at the night sky and quickly regretted that decision. Neither he nor his clones actively killed any of the lifeless bodies lying around. He did however cause quite a few of those corpses by tricking the Baroque Works goons to fire their weapons at each other… better to continue with his cloud watching before he lost his ability to swallow the bile in his throat.
When they finally reached the pub's entrance, Nami and Naruto were just about to step through, when each of them felt a hand on their shoulder. Once both had their attention on the jonin, he let go of their shoulders and pointed in front of their feet. Nami needed to really focus her eyes, to see what Kakashi was pointing at. There was a thin threat spun across the threshold.
"It looks like Sakura has been busy. Please let me go in first, and try to follow my footsteps precisely, so as to not trigger one of her booby traps."
With that, the silver-haired man cautiously stepped over the wire and successfully ignored Naruto's snickering at his sensei's choice of words.
"Oh god, Sanji… I think this is the day I die… blargh!"
"Shut up Usopp… it's not so… oh please kill me… blargh!"
"You two are such babies. Only a little longer and the purging jutsu will have run its course. Now stop complaining, already!"
Sakura was standing with crossed arms behind two of the guys that Kakashi remembered to be part of the Straw Hat Pirates. Both were holding tightly to a pair of flowerpots while emptying their stomachs into them.
"Well, it seems you have everything under control here, Sakura."
"Sensei!"
The second she saw her teacher up and about, the young kunoichi rushed him and threw her arms around his midsection. Kakashi suppressed the slight groan that threatened to escape when Sakura tried to squeeze his innards into a paste. Instead, he closed his arms around the girl. He felt tremors going through her body, which were accompanied by a stream of tears overwhelming her.
"I… I… *sniff* I was so worried, Sensei! I didn't know *sniff* *sniff* if I made things worse!"
"Maa, maa, everything is going to be fine now. As far as I'm aware, you guys managed to organize a ship for us to travel on. Let's get back to it, and then we can talk."
Through all this, her Sensei slowly patted Sakura's pink hair, until she calmed herself enough to take a step back. Kakashi seemed all right, but the apprentice medic-nin remembered her analysis back at Crocus' lighthouse. There was absolutely no way he was back to 100% with what little she could do for him. It was when she took a closer look at her teammates, however, that alarm bells really went off in Sakura's head. There was nothing wrong with Naruto, whose clothes had accumulated a bit of dirt, here and there. Sasuke on the other hand looked like the walking dead. His right hand was holding his neck, obviously trying to regulate the pain caused by Orochimaru's seal. His skin was even paler than usual, and there was a slight purple colouration beneath his eyes.
"Sasuke-kun…" the unsure fangirl inside of her almost caused Sakura to shut up. The budding medic in her, however, whose voice was gaining more and more similarities with Lady Tsunade's, had other ideas.
"*sigh* ok, all three of you on that couch!"
Not quite aware of Sakura's change in attitude, Naruto tried to protest.
"What's wrong, Sakura-chan? I wanna get back to the-"
"I TOLD YOU TO SIT YOUR ASS ON THAT COUCH, RIGHT NOW!"
Both boys felt their souls leaving their bodies for a second. They didn't know what they were facing there. Kakashi was the only one who recognized his genin's behaviour as the typical m.o. of a battle medic. It was a certain attitude, mixed with the slightest pinch of killing intent, that was normally only seen in far more experienced shinobi of the trade. Of course, the pinkette had quite a road ahead, to start demanding the respect of anybody beyond a genin, but her surprising development still made him proud.
"You heard her boys, on the couch with you."
About half an hour later Sanji and Usopp were back to normal. Kakashi was told that he was as well as could be expected, but under no circumstances was he to use any nin- or gen jutsu. Even chakra enhancements were only tolerated within limits.
Naruto had some scrapes and bruises, which were already vanishing as if by sheer magic. Sakura was left completely baffled by that, but her sensei quickly stopped her from asking any questions.
Sasuke was the worst of the bunch. His body was physically weakened as if he had been awake for several days. Because of this, the narcotic was running wild within his system. On top of that, there was what appeared to be an inflammation around the curse seal he was still hiding from Naruto.
Her diagnostic jutsu told her, that even though it seemed inactive, the seal was still forcing his body to push through the effects of the drug. Sakura despised the feeling she got from being anywhere near that disgusting mark, so she didn't even ask for permission before flying through a set of hand seals and laying her green glowing palms on Sasuke's chest.
"Mystical Purge Jutsu!"
"blargh!"
As her crush's head quickly disappeared in his very own flowerpot, the Uchiha was robbed of his opportunity to protest.
After liberal use of the mystical palm technique, lots of throwing up and some fast-acting vitamin supplements, Sasuke had to begrudgingly admit, that he was feeling much better. He would most likely crash sometime later, but lucky for him, he wasn't suffering from any chakra exhaustion at all. Somewhere behind that broody facade of his, Sakura even managed to gain the slightest bit of respect for her actions, and with his seal now truly dormant again, that black cloud covering his mind became far easier to handle.
Done with any examinations, the door to the pub opened and Sakura's trap triggered. From a multitude of directions, a swarm of different pointy and sharp metal projectiles targeted the moss head who just stepped through the entrance. Most people would have ended up as a very dead imitation of a pin cushion, but instead, Zoro's Wado Ichimonji appeared and easily deflected them all.
"Hm? What are you all doing at the coast? I thought you were going to the pub?"
Sanji whistled at the demonstration of Sakura's defensive measures. Usopp and Nami had their chins almost dislocated in the face of such violence displayed by the cute pinkette.
"Damn, and Luffy is gone now. I told him to head for the water… that guy can't follow a straight path to save his life… "
"WHO ARE YOU TO TALK!"
"DO YOU SEE ANY WATER HERE?!" The sniper and navigator yelled in harmony at Zoro's atrocious sense of direction.
Decidedly ignoring any potential headache, caused by the thought of travelling with an entire crew worth of people that might somehow be related to Guy, Kakashi started gathering up his students to leave for the Going Merry.
"Sakura, remember to collect anything you used in your traps. It might be quite some time until we get the opportunity to stock up on the kind of tools we use."
The sensei already explained this to Sasuke and Naruto on their way here. Most of the weapons Naruto used, were in fact copies created when he summoned his shadow clones and Sasuke only left behind a single kunai embedded in a palm tree that he hadn't retrieved. A palm tree on an island, which was actually a ship inside a whale… oh, there comes the headache again…
The first thing they saw when the group started to make their way towards the awaiting caravel, was a blinding light behind the buildings, far out on the ocean. That was soon followed by-
*BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOM*
-a terrible shock wave, strong enough to shatter some windows within the village. By now, the light was replaced by a staggering column of smoke rising on the horizon, most likely produced by blazing fires some hundred meters out on the water.
Zoro immediately took command of the situation.
"Everybody run to the Merry!"
"But, Luffy is still with-" Naruto tried to intervene while they were already running, but was interrupted by the other blonde in their group.
"Don't worry about Luffy, kid. He's not our captain for nothing!"
"Listen to them Naruto. We'll meet him and Vivi at the Merry!"
And true to Nami's assumption, they met Luffy just as he arrived at their ship, princess and duck unceremoniously thrown over his shoulders. The entire crew hurriedly prepared their ship to set sails, in the process of which, Kakashi demonstrated a surprising level of expertise in the process.
"Luffy! What happened?!" Nami exclaimed between the bustling crew.
"The old guy left on his ship, and then the entire thing blew up!"
Her captain deposited their royal passengers on deck and that's when the orange-haired pirate was able to take a closer look at Vivi's condition.
The girl was stiff as a board, a wet sheen covering her eyes without spilling over. A trickle of blood was running down her chin, where she was biting into her lip. The sails were already starting to catch the winds, when Nami pulled the bluenette into a tight hug and spoke with absolute conviction.
"Don't worry, we'll get you there. I know they don't seem like it… but those idiots saved the entire East Blue, and that was when they were only four! Baroque Works? Sir Crocodile?! Pah! The Seven Warlords of the Sea are nothing to write home about in comparison!"
That speech, added to Luffy's shout of "Full speed ahead! Let's get out of here!" shook Vivi out of her stupor. She took a step back, gave her cheeks two strong slaps with both her hands, and gave her new friend a reassuring nod.
"Hey, princess!" The Going Merry was now on its way so that left Zoro's hands free for now, as he approached the pair.
"Mr. Bushido?"
"So, how many people exactly are gonna be after us?"
"I… I'm not quite sure… there are about 2000 people in the service of Baroque Works, and I was told there are several town or city-like bases comparable to this one."
"So… they'll send a thousand people after us?!" Nami exclaimed incredulously.
Again, it wasn't the conversation at hand that held Naruto's attention. He was watching Luffy, who stood apart from the rest, right at the bow, beside the Going Merry's figurehead, and not atop of it for a change. From the outside, the young pirate captain seemed to be on the lookout for any approaching danger, but it didn't take a genius to understand, that he was looking far beyond what his eyes could see. The genin approached his new friend, just when they were re-entering the dangerous waters of the Grand Line.
"Hey… so the saxophone guy is really dead?" Luffy turned his sombre expression to one of his new crew members. The kid quickly claimed a special place in his heart, just like all the others who sailed under his jolly roger, and the feeling was recuperated by the young ninja, who already started to consider Luffy as one of his precious people. Naruto's smile was just as absent as Luffy's when he approached him.
"Yea… he was amazing, you know? A really brave guy." The straw hat captain took his crew's namesake from his head and looked at it with fire burning in his eyes.
"Crocodile… it doesn't matter how strong he is… I'm gonna smash that asshole's face in!"
The young jinchuriki took that as his cue to let a mischievous grin appear on his face, giving it a fox-like quality. He held up his fist to the older boy, who reciprocated the fist bump, now a determined grin spreading over the captain's cheeks.
"Believe it, dattebayo!"
*chapter end*
Author's Nother:
And that's a wrap! This chapter was tough to write because there is honestly not a lot of stuff going on here, except for the end everybody already knew was coming.
I think my most important addition to this chapter is some further insides into Naruto's and Sasuke's view of things and mental developments (especially a little foreshadowing of some future moral dilemmas). I purposefully didn't get too deep into Kakashi's thoughts on the situation. That's because I plan a slightly deeper dive into the jonin's mind in chapter 9, and already doing so here seemed to cheapen what's to come.
We have Kakashi making his first impressions, AND the Straw Hats making their first impressions on him. We have some comedy sprinkled in between, but all in all, this chapter is only supposed to connect the previous chapter with what's to come. Some of it was actually written while I was on vacation in Dublin. Make of that whatever you want xD
As always, feel free to leave a respectful review, and until next time!