Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto or One Piece. Wait on second thought, maybe I could become a pirate myself and terrorize Japan's seas until they give me the rights. That won't backfire on me right fellas?

"Talk" Talking

'Think' Thinking

"Ugghh." The tied up form of Don Krieg moaned pitifully. The once feared pirate of the East Blue was now reduced to a shadow of his former self, he was thoroughly stripped of whatever weapons remained on him, his hands and feet bound, and he was starved for two whole days since his defeat. Despite his situation however, the former Captain of the now disbanded Krieg Pirates glared at Naruto, his head restrained in a leather device to keep his mouth from moving too much due to the right side of his jaw being shattered. The worst part was they didn't give him anything to dull the pain. Sadistic bastards!

"I know you're hurting Krieg, but in all honesty you're lucky enough to be alive. If Gin wasn't as weak as he was, you would be dead." Naruto shrugged his broad shoulders in an uncaring manner, honestly he didn't give a damn if Krieg died or not, he was a pitiful creature among humans and that was saying something as far as mankind was concerned.

"Yersh is gonha pay fo 'is!" Krieg attempted to bark at the blonde fishman in a desperate attempt to cow him into letting him go free. All he managed though was to drool all over himself, and look like an idiot. It was almost enough to make Naruto laugh. Almost.

"Says the pitiful human with a broken jaw, cracked ribs, and looking like a half-starved mutt." Naruto continued to mock the former Captain. "Listen to me, your crew is disbanded. I wouldn't be surprised if they went all the way to the end of the world to escape from you. And we're not too far off from Loguetown, when we get there I'm taking your ass to the Marines for that bounty on your head."

Krieg narrowed his cruel eyes at the man watching over him and began to struggle against his restraints. It was no use of course, the manacles were made out of strong iron and steel that had already cut into his wrists and ankles.

A rapping on the door to the temporary brig ended the struggling. Naruto stood up and opened the door to see Bashura greeting him with a smile, the big man crouched down and entered the room without too much difficulty. "How's the other guy holding up?"

"He's resting for now, the poison is still ravaging his body." Bashura said, his voice holding a little bit of sadness for Gin's condition, it however made Krieg happy even if he couldn't express it. "He has a strong will, most men would have given up by now. He sure is something else, isn't he Cap'n?"

"Yea, I guess he is." Naruto's right eyebrow twitched in annoyance, seriously he was not their Captain. "How long until until we hit Loguetown?"

"One hour tops."

"Good, because the sooner we get there, the sooner we can-"

"Dammit Uzumaki! When are you going to take Arlong's head out of the freezer!" Kotetsu's voice shouted at them from the kitchen, that was impressive considering that the kitchen was two floors above them.

"So that will not be an issue anymore." Naruto sighed in irritation. "I'll come get you when I see the island, and hopefully we won't have to deal with this crap anymore."

An hour later Naruto and his three hitch hikers and one prisoner reached the docks of Loguetown. Stepping off the ramp Naruto stretched his arms out and sighed in satisfaction, while the ship was wonderful compared to that stupid gunboat, nothing beat dry land. It was a sentiment shared by both Kotetsu and Bashura when they stepped onto the planks, the latter holding the bound form of Don Krieg.

"All right, Kotetsu do you know anything about this place?" Naruto asked the sandy-haired swordsman.

"Loguetown is the birthplace of Gold Roger the "Pirate King", and it was also his place of death. The island is mainly a tourist attraction for civilians and passing pirates to come and view the execution platform Roger died on. However there is a love-hate relationship on the island between visiting pirates and the Marines that inhabit it. Just don't do any law breaking and they'll leave you alone." Kotetsu paused for a second before palming his head. "But this was before I was assigned to Iron Island, just be careful guys."

"Will do crew mate Kotetsu." Bashura grinned before handing Krieg over to Naruto, he then noticed the slightly wet burlap sack clutched in his right hand. "Cap'n, you're really taking a head into the Marine Base? Would they deny you the money because of your...species?"

"They damn well better not." Naruto narrowed his eyes at the thought, and seeing Kotetsu not so subtly gesture at the improvised cloak he was wearing, the blonde shook his head. "And I'm not going to hide myself either. It would not only shame me, but my entire race to hide who I am." Slinging Krieg over his shoulder like he was luggage, and tying the burlap sack on his belt, Naruto began to walk towards the Marine Base.

"Did you even tell him where to find the Marine Base?" Bashura asked with a raised non-existent eyebrow.

"Nope, he didn't ask." Kotetsu repressed the urge to laugh.

"You are a mean little man."

(Loguetown - Forty or so minutes Later)

"Son of a bitch, where the hell is this place?" Naruto grumbled to himself.

For almost half an hour the tiger shark fishman found himself wandering aimlessly through the streets of Lougetown. Krieg had long since gained consciousness and tried kicking his way to freedom, but he was knocked out several more times by Naruto slamming him into the ground, ans scaring the hell out of the general populace.

Finally when the fortieth minute ticked by he had enough and turned his attention towards the nearest humans. "Hey, do you know where I can find the Marine Base?"

"Maybe I do, maybe I don't. How much is this information worth to ya?" Naruto rolled his eyes when his two buddies chuckled and patted their buddy on the back. Great, of all people he had to run into hoodlums.

"Never mind, I'm going to ask someone with a little more common sense." Before he could take two steps, the three hoodlums surrounded him in a triangle formation.

"Now hold it there fishie." The first hoodlum he spoke to, a lanky young man with red hair pulled a pair of brass knuckles and palmed his empty hand.

"You think you can just walk by us without paying the toll? Your kind needs to do it after all." Another one sneered at him. He had a black leather jacket with matching shoes, blue jeans and a greasy pompadour.

"Hey fishie, before we take your tax. Tell me, are your kind cannibals? I mean you eat fish after all." The final one was ugly as sin, and wore a red hoodie, black pants and green sandals.

Naruto only gave them a dull stare, and for once he was actually wishing he was around the three jackasses that he was traveling with. At least they weren't three bumbling racist retards. "Okay, three things. One; you three are ignorant. Fish are a completely different from my species, so it is not cannibalism." He snarled at the mere thought at being called a cannibal, yes he bit off Kuroobi's and Saint Mjosgard's fingers, and Arlong's pectoral muscle, but he spat them out dammit! "Second; I don't like your faces, your ugly human faces. And three..." Pivoting on his right heel, Naruto used Don Krieg as a club and batted the three idiots into nearby buildings. "Did you really try to rob a fishman? You're lucky enough that I find you unworthy to snap in half!"

Feeling satisfied that he beat the hell out of three idiots, the blonde walked away from the scene of his assault and batter. It wouldn't be until later before he realized he still had no idea where he was going.

While Naruto was busy getting himself lost, Bashura found himself raising a non-existent eyebrow at the populace backing away from him like the plague. Was he really that scary? I mean yes, he was an eight foot tall, heavily tattooed man with a tomahawk holstered on his belt, and a harpoon clutched in his hands. But he had a top hat, everybody loved top hats right?

Eh, it really didn't matter right now. Instead he was heading towards the nearest medical store thanks to Kotetsu's directions. He as no doctor in any sense of the word, but he did know a thing or two about poisons, not just how to make them but how to cure yourself of them...well by 'cure' I mean he knew how to make the person get stabilized until they could get themselves a real doctor to help with Gin's condition.

"Okay, let's see..." Bashura held note in his hands as he tried to read Kotetsu's chicken scratch writing. "I'm a little surprised, wouldn't a swordsman have good calligraphy skills?" Narrowing his yellow eyes the savage-looking man barely made out the words 'Across from the Gold Roger Bar'. He looked up and saw the sign for the 'Gold Roger Bar' on his left side, then looking to his right he saw the sign for 'Doc Oc's'. "Doc Oc? What a strange name." (1)

Shrugging his gigantic shoulders, Bashura entered the medical store just as Luffy was leaving the bar. Immediately he was greeted by walls of various roots and herbs. Splints, crutches, gauze and even a defibrillator. "Hmm, neat."

"Oh, hello sir!" A cheerful, sophisticated voice made Bashura turn his attention to the side. He was greeted with the sight of a medium-sized man with dark brown hair that was shaped into a bowl cut, and thick spectacles. Attire-wise he was dressed as a typical doctor with a white medical coat and dark blue scrubs. Thankfully for him the man didn't seem frightened of his stature. "I am Doctor Octavius, and this is my shop. What can I do for you?"

"Oh, um yes. Do you have any leaches?" Bashura casually asked.

"Uh, leaches?" The doctor had not been expecting that question. "Son, why do you need leeches?"

"I need them to help such the blood from my crew mate. He has been severely poisoned for over three weeks, and if I do not do something soon he could very well perish."

"Hmm I see." Octavius headed behind the counter and began shifting studying the labels. He scoffed seeing what wouldn't work, fiddled with his glasses, and tapped his right foot before finding what he needed. He packed two handfuls of herbs into separate clear bags, found another and did it the same exact way. The bowl-haired man then labeled them with a pen and placed them on his counter. However before he rang them up he went to the back room and came out with a jar full of leaches, a bottle full of pills, and another bag full of shredded green leaves.

"All right, this here is Mugwort." The doctor pointed at the first herb he packaged. "Make sure he drinks this with some sort of tea. It will induce sweating, promote appetite and bile production, and tonic for digestion. It will also provide tonic for nerves; and is a mild sedative. I mainly use this for bronchitis, colds, and fevers. But it can be used for colic, and kidney ailments." He then pointed at he second one. "This is Crabapple, it will cleanse the system, make sure your crew mate is near the bathroom because it is pretty powerful stuff. The pills are antibiotics, these green leaves will help create antitoxins, but the leaches...well you can take them if you want."(2)

"How much will all this cost?" Bashura asked. He figured he had enough funds after they pilfered from the bodies of the dead, and robbed a quarter of Krieg's man-of-war battle ship, but it didn't hurt to ask.

"Three-hundred and eighty-nine beli. It's a little pricey I know, but-" The sound of paper and coin hitting the counter caused him to blink. That certainly was fast, and he didn't even give his 'This is pricey but worth it speech', after all his shop was the best in in town.

"Can I get a satchel for this?"

After Bashura left the shop with his items in tow, the savage-looking man's nose smelled something sweet. He blinked several times and followed the scent, he passed through alley's, walked down several streets, and even accidentally walked through a house; scaring the occupants, until he came across a small happy girl with a five layered ice cream cone.

He stopped right in front of her, scaring both her, and her dad. Bashura for once had a serious look on his face and knelt down, his yellow eyes burned into her big brown ones. "Little girl," He said in a dead serious voice.

The little girl's father soon began to panic. 'Oh man this is son not good. First Captain Smoker, and now this guy! Oh God, please spare my darling little Yu!' He began to cry anime-style tears. Man what was up with today!?

But then at the flip of a switch Bashura's face became all cat-like ( AN: Sorry folks, I have no idea what it's called but it's supposed to look like this :3 See? Cat face, that is what I will refer it to in future chapters ). "Where did you get that ice cream?"

"Huh?" Yu blinked in confusion. The big scary man liked ice cream too? Sweet!

Let it be forever known that Bashura loved his dairy products.

On the ship Gin spat out another mouthful of water. "Ugh, nasty." He said eyeing the pink water before dropping the glass into the sink.

For two days Gin found himself at a loss. He fully expected to die on the sea, just expiring in the lifeboat to use as a coffin and having the sea take his body. He probably was close to death, but the interference of Naruto and his 'crew' stopped that. At first he was ungrateful, he couldn't voice it because he couldn't talk without coughing up blood, but now...well he didn't know. He finally managed to put Krieg down and free his former crew from his influence, but what was left for him? He had no home to go back to, no wife, hell he never expected to live this long; he even expected to keel over by the end of the week.

"Screw it, at least they're better than Krieg." Using the walls as support Gin staggered until he was outside on the deck.

"Ahh, I'm going to miss this." Gin felt the wind blow through his scruffy black hair, and smelled the salty sea. While life on the sea didn't treat him the best since he was a kid, he couldn't deny that he grew to love it. Nothing could really ruin this moment.

"Hey! Lookie what we got 'ere." An obnoxious voice said from the side.

"Well, that is a mighty fine ship. Must have a good lotta cargo in it." A second voice said.

"Come on boys, lets take this baby over! Hurry before the Marines show up."

And just like that it was shattered by some damn pirates. "Hmph, I needed to stretch my muscles anyways." Gin muttered to himself before retreating into the ship. Hey, he couldn't fight these guys barehanded after all.

Several minutes later the band of pirates bordered the Bezan Black and took in the sights. Hmm, not bad. There were some nicks and replaced materials, but they really didn't worry about the ship. They were after the cargo, that was what they wanted.

"Oi, Mills go check the inside of the ship. We need to see if anything is worth what we can sell in town. If not...well I'll decide on it later bwahaha!" The Captain of the murderous thieves laughed out loud.

"Got it my Captain." Mills happily saluted his Captain and opened the door that would allow them access to the ship. Only when he opened it, did his eyes widen in shock when he saw Gin glaring menacingly at him. And then he knew no more when he felt the left part of his chest being blown to meaty chunks.

The entire crew looked over to see Mills drop dead with the entire side of his left chest missing. And there stood Gin, he still wore his blood-stained shirt and ratty pants, but strapped diagonally down his chest was a leather baldric that held four flintlock pistols, a leather belt that had two more holstered on his waist on his backside, and two snap-away holsters that held his tonfa's tipped with heavy iron balls. Held in his sweaty hands was a smoking double-barreled shotgun.

"Holy shit! It's Gin "The Demon Man"!" One of the pirates shouted in fright.

"Bullshit, I heard he was dead!" Another chimed out.

"Shut up you scurvy dogs! Who cares if it's a member of the Krieg Pirates? It's just one man against twenty of us. Take your balls out of yer purses and kill the sumbitch!" The Captain screamed at his subordinates.

It was either due to stupidity or the courage coming from their Captain did the crew snap back into shape. Several of them drew their cutlasses', while a couple pulled out their own flintlock pistols.

Despite being in the middle of dying Gin had no desire to be taken out by a bunch of ragtag thieves. Taking a deep breath the former Combat Commander calmed himself before springing into action. Lifting his shotgun he fired off the last round in the chamber, the trail of buckshot hit two men, dropping them down to the deck with a bloody splat. Dropping the shotgun he bolted forward, his hands fast as lightning from years of practice went towards his back and pulled out his first two flintlock pistols.

He fired them at two men, one that swung a cutlass and another aiming his own pistol. The musket round tore through the cutlass-wielding pirate's left eye, and he dropped dead, the other one hit the pistol-wielding one square in the chest causing him to fall backwards. Dropping his two pistols Gin immediately went for the bottom two on his baldric, as soon as he pulled them out he fired off to the sides, killing two more pirates. Pivoting on his right foot Gin quickly dropped his pistols and unholstered his final two pistols and shot two more dead at point blank range. This time he didn't drop them, instead he jumped at the nearest pirate, flipped his pistols so his hands were gripping the barrel's and wood tightly and cracked a pirate's skull wide open with the butt's of his guns.

The sound several pistols going off alerted Gin, and he dropped both pistols this time, grabbed an unfortunate schmuck and used him as a human shield. The man gurgled in pain as multiple musket balls impacted his torso and died painfully. But not before Gin quickly pilfered his flintlock pistol and dagger, which he quickly fired at one of the assholes reloading his pistol and nailing him right in the face, and thew the dagger barely a second afterwards. Gin watched in satisfaction as the bladed weapon hit a charging pirate right in the throat, and he died gurgling on his own blood.

The Captain's mouth fell open in stupefied shock. Barely a minute ago he had twenty-one men, and Gin "The Demon Man" dropped thirteen of them like they were flies!

"Oh God, he killed Charlie!" The man next to him screamed.

"Fuck Charlie! There's only eight of us left!" Another man bellowed as he frantically tried to reload his pistol.

Gin only coughed up a mouthful of blood, once again staining his irreparable shirt. Dammit! His body was giving out from all the sudden movements. He had to end this fast. Dropping the empty gun, and letting the bullet-ridden corpse fall to the side, Gin's hands went to the snap-away holsters and he brought his tonfa's into his shaking hands. Using his immense willpower he managed to stabilize himself and began to twirl them at high speeds.

"I hope you guys have prepared yourselves. Because I'm not going to hold back any longer." Gin coughed out before bolting at the panicking pirates.

Their screams barely lasted a minute.

"Final-fucking-ley!" Naruto exclaimed loudly. After nearly an hour of being lost the tiger shark fishman finally found the Marine Base to turn in his bounties. It was a good thing too because Arlong's head was beginning to smell again.

Ignoring the surprised Marines the blonde barged through the front doors and went to the secretary's desk. Using his usual blunt tactics he dropped Krieg's tied form on the desk, "All right, I got two bounties that need to be turned in. Where's my cash, also I need to send a message as well."

"I don't do that." The old woman at the desk said dully. Wow, not even a muscle twitch, that was one steel-nerved crone. "I just stamp papers and make appointments. The bounty office is to the left of me, the gal's name is Emily, please try not to scare her. She's new and does not have my level of tolerance for your kind."

"My kind?" Naruto narrowed his eyes. Several Marine recruits and Seaman brought their hands to their respective weapons, violence was absolutely not allowed in the base. Not by them, and especially bounty hunters.

The woman however didn't bat an eyelash. "I mean no offense. Emily has had little experience with bounty hunters, let alone fishmen."

"Yea, yea, whatever." Naruto picked up Krieg and turned towards the left like instructed; much to the relief of the men and women present. It was a straight shot, not even he could screw this up. Hell he found the giant sign of 'Bounty Turn In's' to be more than quite helpful. Opening the door the blonde walked into the room with the entire back wall filled with various wanted posters, but other than that it had several chairs and what looked like a ticket booth. The entire room was empty, so he headed towards the unoccupied, iron-barred booth near the back wall. Thankfully there was at least a service bell he could use.

"Hey! Come on I got two bounties that are in need of some cashing!" Naruto rung the bell loudly, and accidentally crushing it after the last ring.

"One second!"

Unfortunately it took ten more minutes for Naruto to be greeted by an average-looking brunette with an annoyed expression as she dropped a thick pile of freshly minted wanted posters on her desk. "Sorry for the wait, sir. Now what do you..." She opened her brown eyes for a second and froze when she saw the fishman stand in front of her.

"Oh for the love of Neptune. Yes, I'm a fishman. Get the fuck over it and take this asshole off my hands, he's actually beginning to be a nuisance." He would be a little surprised if he had some bruises on his back from Krieg's kicking, oh well it was a small inconvenience either way.

"Oh, right." Emily opened the gate and beckoned Naruto to show the face of the criminal. As soon as Krieg's semi-conscious ugly mug, she squeaked in surprise. "You captured Don Krieg!"

"No, I'm turning him in for the guy that defeated him."

"For the guy who...what?"

"Ugh, a guy traveling with me was the one who kicked his ass. Unfortunately he cannot come into the the town due to being poisoned by this bastard, so I'm doing it for him." Say what you want about him, but Naruto gave credit where credit was due. Plus he never took credit for something he never did himself, that was wrong on so many levels.

"Okay then?" Emily picked up a green Den Den Mushi with a yellow shell. "Guards, we got ourselves a live one. It's Don Krieg; bounty seventeen million beli."

"Hold it, I also got this." Pulling the burlap sack off his belted waist, Naruto dumped Arlong's severed head onto the floor. Emily squeaked in horror seeing the soulless dead eyes of the sawshark fishman. Well more like dead eye since his right eye was hollowed out, and his face bruised and cut up from the beating he got from his killer. Picking Arlong's head up by his tangled black hair, he said to the woman, "This one is mine, I killed "Saw-Tooth" Arlong and his entire crew."

Emily only squeaked again, damn was this woman part mouse or something? But to her credit she managed to keep he composure and talked into the Den Den Mushi again. "A-And we got a dead one. It's Arlong; bounty twenty million beli."

"Also, mind making a message for me?"

"What?"

"Please have it say, 'Dear Jinbe, I got Arlong and his entire crew for you. Yea I know I was only to get Arlong, but he sicced them on me, but we're square now, don't make me do it again! Signed- Uzumaki Naruto'. Got that?" Naruto asked the trembling woman.

"C-rystal." Emily nodded in response. Man was this guy intimidating.

To her relief though ten Marines marched into the room. Two were carrying metal brief cases full of money, and they handed them both off to the fishman. "Here you go, thirty-one million big ones." A gorilla-looking Marine congratulated the blond.

"What? Hold it buddy I'm supposed to get thirty-seven million combined out of these two." Naruto protested.

"If you brought Arlong in alive you would have. However, because you brought a dead one the bounty was deducted by thirty percent, thereby making Arlong's total bounty fourteen million beli. I don't make the rules kid, I just hand out the money." The gorilla-looking Marine apologized. "I would also give you the bounties of the rest of his crew...but we need proof, and sorry kid you don't got their heads either."

God dammit, in his anger towards Arlong he forgot that Kuroobi, Chew, and all the others probably had bounties themselves. What a missed opportunity, and as much as Naruto wanted to protest and beat the crap out of them, he knew they were right. Quite honestly he was not really in it for the bounties, he wanted to get his mission done and over with. But now he had to take the long way home; however long that would take. Eh, he would live, after all it's not like thirty-one million beli was chump change. "All right you win, just take these guys off my hands."

Krieg tried once again to free himself, his body squirming like a worm nearing a hook. But the gorilla man beamed him in the head with his ham-sized fists and shouldered him with eight Marines surrounding him in a circle formation, their flintlock pistols aimed squarely at the unconscious pirate Captain. They were not taking any chances with this guy. The one unfortunate bastard left in the group however had to hold in his breath when he placed Arlong's head back in the burlap sack and tied it shut, man did the dead fishman stink!

Gripping the suitcases in his hands Naruto departed from the room without another word. For once he was happy that things were finally looking up.

When everyone left, Emily sighed out in relief. Man that was scary, who knew that she would ever see the day a man...well fishman would bring in two high priced bounties. Moving over to the wall that held the current wanted posters, she took out a red marker and drew a giant red X across Arlong's grinning visage before tearing it, and Don Krieg's poster-that she also crossed out with the marker off the wall and placed them in the empty captured/deceased pile.

"All right, now I have some space for all these new ones." Sighing she picked out a couple posters and tacked them on the wall. Emily repeated this process until she came across one that made her eyes widen. The poster contained the face of a young man with wild sandy-blond hair and pale gray eyes with constricted pupils, seventy-five percent of his face was wet with blood, and he had an insane grin that showed his perfect white teeth.

Wanted Dead or Alive

"Blood-Soaked" Kotetsu

$65,000,000 Beli

"Oh my God, what a monster!" Emily exclaimed after reading the information that came with the posters that showed what he did to deserve such a bounty. Unfortunately the next one showed a picture of a tanned teenager with untamed black hair underneath a woven straw hat with a red band running across the bridge of it, and a two stitched scar under his left eye grinning joyfully.

Wanted Dead or Alive

"Straw Hat" Monkey D. Luffy

$25,000,000 Beli

While not as high as Kotetsu's, Luffy's bounty was abnormally high from defeating Buggy "The Clown", and Don Krieg the first time. But at least he didn't massacre an entire island full of civilians and killed four Marine units. However the third, and last page she would be doing for the rest of the day caused her to become white as a sheet. The picture showed the face of a tanned-skinned, spiky blond haired tiger shark fishman with blue eyes. He had whisker-like markings upon his cheeks, three barely visible gills on his neck, and had a vicious shark-like grin that showed his sharp teeth.

Wanted Dead or Alive

"Sword of the Sea" Uzumaki Naruto

$45,000,000 Beli

"Oh that is it!" Emily exclaimed loudly. One high bounty that migrated into the East Blue she could handle, two were getting a little ridiculous, but a third one and the fact that he walked out of her office barely ten minutes ago was crossing the line; especially since he murdered an entire ship full of Marines. She knew that there was an unspoken agreement to not arrest pirates in Loguetown if they weren't doing anything, but this was something she personally could not overlook. Lives of Marines were at stake here!

Picking up her Den Den Mushi, Emily pressed the button on top of the shell and spoke into it. "Captain Smoker, do you hear me?"

"What is it Emily? I'm a little busy here." A rough voice responded through the Den Den Mushi.

"I'm sorry to disturb you, but I just got the new batch of wanted posters. And I got one that you need to catch him before he leaves."

"Who's the perp?"

"It's Uzumaki Naruto, he's a tiger shark fishman. The kid killed "Saw-Tooth" Arlong, is accompanied by a man that defeated "Foul Play Krieg", and is responsible for killing Captain Nezumi and his entire crew-minus the cabin boy. He has a bounty of forty-five million beli."

"So this is a serious pirate, good. I'll alert the men, thank you Emily."

"You're welcome Captain Smoker. Oh, before I forget I believe there are two others that you need to know about." She quickly shuffled through some more papers before finding what she needed. "Along with their known accomplices."

"I'm all ears."

While things were in the process of exploding in everyone's faces, Kotetsu found himself watching a cooking contest wrapping up. Man, who knew that there would be such grace in cooking? If he could compare it to anything, it would have been the masterful sword fighting the samurai showed him during his stay on Iron Island. That Sanji dude was pretty good with his hands, and so was that woman he was "battling" against. What was her name again? Oh well, at least it was entertaining.

'Hmm, now that I think about it we do need a chef. I'm getting pretty dang tired of eating nothing but sandwiches.' Kotetsu thought to himself. Sure they were filling, but he missed the taste of cooked meat, hell he would do almost anything for something other than sandwiches.

As soon as he finished that thought, the competition ended. The woman admitted defeat before there could be any judging. Huh, kinda anticlimactic, but pretty good sportsmanship otherwise, good for them.

After applauding them, Kotetsu turned on his heel to escape the crowd, after all he was a wanted man, and he would rather not deal with any Marines at this time. He would like to keep the rest of his day kill free thank you very much! When he parted from the crowd and found himself heading towards the nearest swords shop, he nearly bumped into someone when he opened the door to said shop that had Magara; his inner psychopath screaming at him.

The man he nearly collided with was an average sized, muscular young man with lightly tanned skin and cropped green hair. He wore a simple white shirt, black trousers tucked inside black boots with a green haramaki wrapped around his right hip. The man had three identical gold earrings on his left earlobe, and a black bandanna tied around his left bicep.

It was the three swords tucked on the right side of his green haramaki that really caught his attention. As the last disciple of Mifune, Kotetsu was taught a lot about swordsmanship, and how to ID the various swords throughout the entire world; since Mifune literally beat knowledge into his head. The first sword he instantly spotted was the Wado Ichimonji (Straight Road of the Harmony); a sword with a pure-white hilt and a circular hand-guard. The sheath was painted white and the type of the blade was a straight blade. It was one of the twenty-one Great Grade Swords, just like Kurosawa.

The second one he spotted was the Yubashiri (Snow Run), a long katana with a black handle. It had a cross-shaped guard and a black lacquered sheath. The blade itself was normal in appearance and had an irregular pattern. Though mostly black, the sheath and the handle both had thin yet elaborate gold designs on them. It was one of the fifty Skillful Grade Swords, a step down from the Great Grade Swords.

However the last sword was what was making Magara scream at him, and Nidai Kitetsu (Second Generation Demon-Splitter) pulse. This one was also a katana with a black sheathe, handle and a golden circular guard with an inch of golden metal near the top of the handle and the middle of it as well. The blade, should it be shown had a small purple flame design on the cutting edge of the blade itself. It was a Grade Sword, the lowest quality of all the swords. However if Kotetsu's suspicions were correct this was the Sandai Kitetsu (Third Generation Demon-Splitter).

On the other end Zoro was looking at a teen that was probably a year younger than himself. If he were to guess the teen stood chin-level with a slim build. He wore a pair of blue jeans, black shoes and a hooded tan jacket that hid his entire upper face in cloth and shadows. Strapped to his belted hip was a Marine-issued sabre on his right hip, and hanging off his left hip was a katana with a black scabbard, the guard was bone white with four crescent moons that covered the dark maroon handle, and a crimson tassel hung from the end of it that held a small ceremonial bell attached to it.

Zoro felt his newest sword, Sandai Kitetsu pulse at his right side. Well it looked like the "problem child" of his swords found something interesting about this man, or more importantly the katana on his hip.

"Please tell me that you're not carrying a cursed sword." Kotetsu dully asked.

"Just bought it actually." Zoro replied, resting his hand on the hilt of his cursed blade.

"I don't suppose you would be willing to part with it. Whatever you paid, I'm sure I can double it."

"Nope, sorry I already tested my luck against the curse and won."

"You won?" Kotetsu asked suspiciously. "You don't simply win with these things. You're going to eventually die thanks to it, and it will be a horrible death."

"Hmph, it seem like you know what you're talking about." Zoro eyed the fellow swordsman suspiciously. "What sword do you have?"

"It's the Nidai Kitetsu!" A new, female voice drew Kotetsu's attention. Turning towards the opening of the door, he saw a woman with chin-length, dark blue hair, and dark brown eyes nearly obscured by rectangular red framed glasses. She wore a light red and pink polka dotted shirt with a blue leather coat with a furred collar and edge linings over it, blue navy pants, and a pair of black shoes. Clutched in her white gloved hands was a katana with a green handle and a guard with a four-petaled design. The sheathe was very elaborate, with the first half being green and bumpy designed; while the second half was white and smooth, he even noticed that there are circular designs embedded on the entire sheathe.

"And that's the Shigure (Rain in Late Autumn), not bad considering it's a Grade Sword." Kotetsu dryly commented.

Ignoring the insult the woman approached him and began dotting all over his sword. She didn't touch it out of respect due to the fact that swordsmen never liked to have their weapons touched; herself included among them.

"This is amazing, I honestly cannot believe I got to see two of Kitetsu's swords in my lifetime. How did you get it?"

"I got it on an island...its curse remained true for the inhabitants." Technically it was true, that sword had been on Iron Island for many years and with Kitetsu's three swords being undeniably cursed by causing misery and tragedy to its owners. It was a half-lie, one that he could live with. "And that's why I'm on a quest to collect the blades to prevent it from happening ever again." And that was the truth for him, a vow he made while running from the Marines.

"Well you're not getting this from me, not unless it's off my cold, dead body." Zoro said, his voice turning deadly serious.

"Relax. I'm going to get that sword, but I'm not going to start a fight in the middle of town where people could get hurt to get it." Kotetsu rested his hand upon Nidai Kitetsu's hilt. "That would be the stupid, irresponsible thing that gives our kind a bad name."

"Amen the that." The green-haired man agreed.

The two then parted ways, leaving behind a very baffled swordswoman. She was about to follow Zoro to question him some more, but the Den Den Mushi in her jacket pocket stopped her dead in her tracks. Pulling a white snail with a cream shell out she spoke into the microphone in the shell. "Master Chief Petty Officer Tashigi, reporting in Captain Smoker."

"Tashigi I'm en route to the city square. The men say that it's "Straw Hat" Luffy, a pirate with twenty-five million beli on his head. I want you to join me as soon as you can."

"Roger that Captain Smoker."

"Also, keep an eye out for his crew mate "Pirate Hunter" Roronoa Zora, he has green hair and three swords on him at all times. I also want you to tell me if you see "Sword of the Sea" Uzumaki Naruto, a blonde tiger shark fishman; he's the one who killed Captain Nezumi, and "Blood-Soaked" Kotetsu, he is in possession of the Nidai Kitetsu, and is wanted for the massacre of Iron Island. Do not engage these last two Tashigi, over and out."

Unfortunately for Smoker, Tashigi did not hear the last part. At that moment her entire body was frozen, barely two minutes ago she was admiring their swords. She even helped Zoro pick out his two newest ones. But now that she found out they were horrid pirates something in her just snapped, Tashigi would be damned if those two got away with those swords!

"What the fuck?" Naruto raised an eyebrow when things started to get...weird. Okay, things were already weird for him, but this was something different.

The clear blue sky suddenly filled with black clouds and it began to rain, lightning struck several buildings, and green fog came up to his knees. All right the first two weren't all that unnatural since they were near the Grand Line, and that place was notorious from going sunny for a day to rainy for a straight week; he had to thank Jinbe for showing him how messed up the sea could be when he took him out on his missions. But the green fog was a little much, hell it was completely unnatural in his opinion.

Suddenly he heard someone screaming and turned his head just in time to see a screaming Luffy and Sanji carrying what looked like a Blue-Finned Elephant Tuna running past him. After following the route Naruto saw a muscular white-haired man, smoking two cigars at the same time in his mouth. He wore a large thick white and blue specialist Marine jacket that he kept open with greenish fur lining the neck, wrists and hem. He had many cigars strapped to the jacket and had the kanji symbol for "Justice" written on the back of it like Kotetsu's bloodied Marine coat. Strapped to his back was a Jutte. He also wore brown leather gloves, blue jeans with a brown belt and large military issue brown leather boots.

His right arm was held in a vice grip by a tall man clad in a long green cloak that covered his entire body, minus what looked to be a long-sleeved purple shirt if his exposed arm was any indication. A flash of lightning briefly revealed his sinister-looking face that had a permanent grin with some stubble on his chin, no eyebrows, powerful black eyes and a red tribal tattoo's on the left side of his face.

Naruto's heart stopped in his chest when he saw the sinister-looking man's face. How could he forget? That man was Dragon "The Revolutionary", a man who took the top spot for "The Most Wanted Man in the World". Even standing nearly fifty feet away he could feel the immense power radiating from him. It was absolutely horrifying, not even Hody Jones could have produced that much power even if he tried on his best day.

Dragon turned towards him, and another flash of lightning revealed his face. He was still giving him that sinister grin that sent shivers up his spine like when he was a kid. "Ah, "Sword of the Sea" Uzumaki Naruto. I'm surprised to see you in the flesh so soon." He greeted the blonde in an authoritative voice.

"Sword of the what?" Naruto barely managed to say before narrowing his eyes at the two. "What the hell is going on here!? Answer me Dragon!"

"There will be plenty of time for that." Dragon threw the Marine away from the both of them like he was nothing more than a piece of trash. He didn't even flinch when the man dissipated in a huge cloud of smoke when he his the first building, and began to reform himself. God dammit another Logia-user, if Naruto hated anything more than humans, it was humans with that type of Devil Fruit!...Minus Ace, he respected the guy for being the only one to beat him in a fight dammit! "But for now, I suggest you leave this place. It is about to get a little...chaotic."

Another flash of lightning struck, this time it smashed right in front of the blonde, obscuring his vision. By the time he could see again, Dragon was gone, and the Marine was nearly solid again.

Now normally Naruto never ran from a fight, he had a reputation on Fishman Island after all for never backing down. But this was far beyond his level, better to do a tactical retreat and fight another day. And that's what he did, he bolted far away from where the Marine was, past several fleeing people and pirates alike. It wasn't until he arrived at the Bezan Black that was already halfway from the docks. That was good, he knew that the people he was traveling with were smart enough to get the fuck out when things got too hot.

Naruto jumped with his powerful leg muscles and dived into the water with his suitcases clutched in his hands. It was an easy swim for him being a fishman, the salt water never stung his eyes, and the feeling of wet clothing never bothered him in the slightest. When he neared the hull of the Bezan Black, he noticed a strange gray substance coating it...it felt...off to him. It felt like the sea, and yet not like the sea. Maybe Kotetsu could explain that to him when he surfaced, after all they did make a clean escape.

Unfortunately for him he was greeted to the sight of twenty-one corpses littering the deck. Gin sitting on a Marine-issued crate, surrounded by two dozen other crates and barrels that clearly weren't there before coughing up a storm and that was what he peered as normal. What wasn't normal however was seeing Bashura restraining two women in ropes. Wait a damn second, did one of them have a Marine jacket on? Shit this cannot be good.

"All right," Naruto let out a sigh as he set the brief cases on the deck, and took notice that Kotetsu was steering the ship out of the harbor with wads of tissues stuffed up his nose. "I don't really want to ask, but why do we have two bound women on the ship?" Hey, it may sound weird to ask that, but there was honestly no way to ask the right way for this sort of thing.

"...This will be a little hard to explain Cap'n." Bashura said with a sheepish expression on his tattooed face.

(With Kotetsu, fifteen minutes earlier)

"Blood-Soaked" Kotetsu!" An enraged female voice alerted the sandy-haired teen to the point where he unsheathed both his swords to block Tashigi's attack.

Tashigi disengaged and began her full on attack to try and capture, or kill the "Butcher of Iron Island". Like many Marines she did not take the news of one of their most promising Marines in many years killing his comrades and butchering civilians in a single day very well. Admittedly she knew little about the man she was trying to capture; except he was a well talented swordsman if his successful blocking techniques were any indication. That he was the one who killed Morgan "Moonscar", ate the Quick-Quick Fruit, and was the eldest son of...

Before Tashigi could complete her thought Kotetsu suddenly went on the offensive. He back flipped back and darted forward, he swung the flat end of his cutlass and struck her right in her sword arm. That hurt, but it didn't hurt enough for her to drop her sword. Gritting her teeth the glasses-wearing woman yelled out and swung Shigure's sharp blade at his right side. Kotetsu saw that attack coming a mile away, he simply dropped the Nidai Kitetsu down a little bit and blocked the blade.

"Mirage Sword Style: Crawling Blue Serpent!" Despite having her glasses firmly placed on her face, Tashigi's eyes could not follow her opponents left arm, or more accurately his sabre. At first she thought her prescription needed to be upgraded when she was the blade take on the form of a blue serpent. She moved her katana down to the side to block the strike to her hip, but the blade curved like a snake and struck her hip with the flat end of the sabre.

The Ensign gritted her teeth to bite off the pain from her bruising side and pivoted on her right heel in retaliation. Gripping Shigure's hilt with both hands she swung with all her might to try and disarm him of his sabre to even the playing field, but to her horror the sabre bent away away from her attack just like a snake would do in the wild. It was after she missed her opponent completely she knew that she left herself completely open and tried to move to defend herself.

It took five seconds for her to do that.

It was five seconds too long.

"Mirage Sword Style: Trial of Three Paths!" Once again pouring the power of his devil fruit into his arms he began to attack Tashigi with a barrage of brutal, but non-lethal force. The flat ends of his sabre and katana struck Tashigi all along her athletic body with bruising force. From her perspective her opponent seemed to have six arms instead of two and it made it real hard for her to see which one was real and which one wasn't. She tried to block, futilely I might add, and found herself soon laid prone on the cool cobble stones of the street with her body wracked in pain.

"And stay down!" Kotetsu hollered at the downed swordswoman. He did not enjoy fighting a defeated opponent anymore than killing them, there was room for potential with her, but as it stood at this point in time she was no match for him. Hell, he did not even think she was a match for that green-haired guy either.

"Shut up you filthy criminal!" Tashigi growled hotly as she slowly stood back up on her own two feet, her hands gripped Shigure's hilt tightly to ready herself to attack once again. "I won't allow you to escape after what you have done!"

Falling into a tunnel vision-like state Tashigi once again charged as fast as her body would allow. But unfortunately or fortunately for her, she clumsily tripped on a single cobblestone that was a tiny bit out of alignment with the rest causing her to stumble. Of course she tried to regain her balance, but just ended up tripping over another cobblestone, and left Kotetsu quite baffled on her rotten luck. And that luck continued to deteriorate when she tripped over another cobblestone and fell past his loose defensive stance and smacked him square on the nose with the bottom of Shigure's hilt.

The Chief Petty Officer heard the cartilage in his nose break and blood splattered on his face. Not taking the chance of him recovering Tashigi moved one of her legs behind his, and used her weight to trip him so he fell straight on his back with her landing right on top of him. With his arms wide out and his swords scattered out of reach, she placed Shigure's sharp edge at his throat and held it there.

Panting in exhaustion and pain, Tashigi couldn't help but grin in victory. She had done it, she captured a murderous traitor to the Marines. "You have the right to remain silent "Blood-Soaked" Kotetsu, there is no way out of this for you."

A psychotic smile appeared on Kotetsu's face, and in one swift move he struck Tashigi in the ears with both his clenched fists. A loud ringing sound rang in the young woman's ears as she cried out in pain, then a violent headbutt caused her to reel back when she felt her own nose break, and the left lens of her glasses crack. A double-palm strike to her chest sent her flying off Kotetsu's body, and roughly impacting the hard, unforgiving cobblestone street.

When Tashigi regained her senses, she looked on in heart stopping fright when Kotetsu gathered his swords and stood up on his two feet. The swordsman gave her a wide, insane smile. His eyes wide, pupils constricted, and showing no hint of sanity. The fresh blood on his face; a mixture of hers and his own made him look like some sort of monster. "Yea baby I'm free again! Oh man being trapped in that little pussy's mind was fucking pissing me off!"

Magara was back again, all thanks to a still healing broken nose being re-broken once again. The man man began snickering with joy, his mad thoughts busting with violent images of Marines being cut to bloody pieces. And the woman with the fancy sword was the first in the long list of targets. "Thank you for freeing me bitch." Unfortunately that was him being nice, go figure. "But now I'm going to cut you fucking throat out!"

Tapping into the powers of his Devil Fruit, Magara practically flew at the shaking woman, Nidai Kitetsu's ebony black blade ready to cut her throat wide open.

Clang!

The black blade connected with the small purple flame designs on a steel blade. Finally for the first time in many, many years two of Kitetsu's swords finally met each other in battle. "Sandai, how have you been buddy?" Magara asked the katana itself.

"He was good until you showed up." Zoro, now wearing his black bandanna on his head, Wado Ichimonji's hilt clutched in-between his teeth, Yubashiri clutched in his left hand, and Sandai Kitetsu clutched in his right one. Zoro narrowed his thin green eyebrows as he regarded the psychopath. "You're not that kid from the sword shop."

"No shit moss-head, I'm someone much better yo-" Magara didn't get a chance to finish his sentence, instead of saying more insults he was kicked right in the belly and sent flying down the street.

"Nobody calls me that! Not that shitty cook, and certainly not you!" Zoro bellowed at him. Completely unaware of Tashigi, the green-haired swordsman bolted after the psychopath.

'Son of a bitch that fucking hurt!' Magara thought as he pried himself from the wall of a shop. Seriously, what kind of person could kick someone three miles away down a street?! That pissed him off, and yet...a vicious smile soon came upon his face. It excited him, because once he killed that man it would show he was worth of wielding two of Kitetsu's cursed swords.

"Blood Sword Style: Crimson Flow!" Once again tapping into his Devil Fruit powers Magara jumped to the left and hit the wall of the neatest building with his left foot. Using the momentum, he rebounded off the building's wall and sped towards the building across the street. Hitting the wall again, he ricocheted off towards then ext building; but this time he left a deep footprint in the wall. And he did the same thing over, and over again, leaving more damage on each building's walls. That was the nature of this technique, he built up destructive speed by ricocheting off of hard services until he hit his target, and with that much speed nothing would survive when his sword struck flesh.

Zoro however the the exception. He jumped to meet him in midair and collided with Magara; sword to sword. The shock wave from the both of them shattered windows, peeled paint, and created a crater that they landed below and began to exchange vicious sword blows. Sparks rang from their blades when they collided, loud clangs echoed throughout the empty street, and neither fighter was letting up any time soon.

Magara dropped down onto his knuckles, unwilling to let go of his swords, and mule kicked Zoro right in the chest. As Zoro skidded back, his boots throwing up the cobblestones and leaving deep skid marks. Magara held the blades of both swords behind him and charged. "Blood Sword Style: Rain Crimson!"

Zoro however crossed his two swords across his chest and placed the blade in his mouth horizontally behind them. "Demon Slash!"

Zoro then bolted at Magara and the both of them clashed, somehow the both of them blocked what would have been fatal attacks, but the area around them became a war zone. Windows once again shattered, paint peeled, but some unfortunate buildings lost entire walls from their attacks.

Stuck in a deadlock, Zoro kneed the insane swordsman right in the stomach to disengage them for a brief second. And using that second to his full advantage, he spun with his swords to create a dragon-like tornado that both slashed and blew away his opponents. The force of the attack easily lifted Magara straight off the ground, and found himself littered with light cuts upon his exposed flesh before crashing through the shop window of another building.

That didn't keep him down for long though. Magara stubbornly walked through the shattered window, glaring daggers at Zoro. "What the fucking fuck was that!?"

"Three Sword Style: Dragon Twister." Zoro replied.

"Hehe HAHAHA! I love it, put some more force into it and you could cut some idiotic cunt monkeys into ribbons." His smile became especially malicious when he thought of the ways he could utilize it. "Thank you moss-head, I'll send you off to hell without any pain. Blood Sword Style: E-Gak!" Before Magara could do anything remotely violent, he was snatched up by the neck by a muscular, black-furred arm.

Zoro dropped his guard when he saw his psychotic opponent snatched up by a humanoid black panther wearing a rough black sleeveless vest, red pants with a brown leather belt with a new satchel attached to it, and a top hat resting upon his head. What the hell?

"I apologize for my crew mate's behavior, usually he is much more nicer than this." Bashura apologized.

The fuck! That thing could talk? And was the crew mate to that psycho? This was really grating on Zoro's sanity, and he was traveling with a rubber idiot that he called his Captain, an orange-haired thief/navigator, a long-nosed liar/sniper, and an asshole chef.

"God dammit Bashura! Let me go you mother-" Bashura's massive bicep pressed down on his windpipe and chocked him into unconsciousness; curiously his swords were still clutched in his hands. Now that was impressive.

"Like I said, I apologize for his behavior and actions. Please have a good day, and escape from this accursed town." With his peace said, Bashura ran away with his crew mate clutched underneath his arm.

"Huh, well that was weird...hold on it feels like I'm forgetting something." Zoro said with a scratch of his head.

Three minutes later Bashura and a back to normal Kotetsu were preparing to set sail and get the hell out of Loguetown. At first they found it odd, and a little disturbing that they had twenty-one corpses on their deck and an assload of crates and barrels. But they got the short story from Gin, who in the simplest of terms, killed the idiots who tried to rob them, stole their cargo, and just for the hell of it robbed a pair of Marines that passed by their ship at gunpoint for a special crate they were carrying. He didn't kill them, just knocked them out cold because it was too troublesome to do so. There was a fine line between killing someone in a fight and those who were carrying out their tasks after all.

Before the trio could head out, a familiar scream alerted Kotetsu, and low and behold Tashigi was running at them with single-minded intent of taking Nidai Kitetsu from him. The Chief Petty Officer ran up on the gangplank, Shigure gripped in both hands, her battered form running on adrenaline and pure willpower. She sure had guts, and was stubborn as a mule, but unfortunately that was not enough.

Because all Kotetsu had to do was move out of the way, leave one leg out for her to trip on, and gravity happened. Tashigi fell right on the blood splattered deck, and Bashura sat on her.

"Well that was anti-climatic." Gin deadpanned, honestly weren't the Marines supposed to be made out of tougher stuff? Or was it because they were just in the East Blue? Eh, honestly he didn't give a flying damn.

"I've already had enough of her for one fight. Bashura, please keep her subdued with...yourself. I'll go get some rope." Kotetsu rubbed his throbbing temples with a sigh. Man this day could not get any worse.

"Ahhh! What are you doing on my ship!"

(Present Time)

"Her ship?" Naruto's voice took on a tone of irritation.

"Apparently during the confusion and mass chaos the town suffered from that green mist, and lightning storm." Bashura said while eying the two women, and pointing at the one with fiery pink hair and large pink eyes. She was dressed in a dark red flamenco dress with white frills, a green sash she used as a belt with a large red rose on her hip, and hot pink high-heeled shoes. She was also wearing a a gold headband and a silver-emerald necklace that matched her diamond-shaped emerald earrings. "That one thought our ship was hers, and entered through a secret hatch that her ship has."

"We have a secret hatch on the ship?" Naruto raised an eyebrow in confusion.

"Fuck if I know." Gin shrugged his shoulders. "I know squat about this ship, and I think it goes double for you guys."

The tiger shark fishman only shrugged his shoulders in response, he wasn't wrong in that regard. They all really had this ship for barely two weeks and never really explored it, and the only things they; as men found were their own rooms, bathrooms, and the kitchen.

"What should we do with them Cap'n?" Bashura asked.

"Send the Marine woman back, just put her in a lifeboat and lets hope we never see her again. The other..." He looked at the pink-haired woman, and was once again torn about what to do with her. No one would miss her if she just simply disappeared, but then again Otohime's teachings just kept fucking nagging at him. Ugh, fine conscience you win again you bastard! "No harm will come to her, no shackles, ropes, or anything to restrain her. However..." He pointed a finger at her. "You're going to be watched. Deal?"

"Fair enough, now will you please untie me? This rope is going to leave a mark on my dress." The woman asked, surprisingly her voice was calm and very polite for a woman in her situation.

"I'll handle it miss." Bashura said with the usual grin on his face.

"Please, call me Carmen."(3)

"Carmen? Oh that'z right, I saw you in that cooking contezt. Thoze were some zanzy movez." Kotetsu's funny sounding voice, thanks to his broken nose finally spoke up.

"Thank you my dear swordsman." Carmen gave curtsy bow to the sandy-haired teen once she was untied. "And you, my big guy, do you have a Den Den Mushi on this ship? I must tell my assistants where I am, or I fear that they will tear apart the island to search for me."

Bashura scratched the back of his head, the lady sure was nice, it was a nice change of pace. "Um, maybe?"

When the twosome left the present company, Kotetsu locked the wheel in place and walked towards Tashigi. The woman glared up at him from her position, and despite her situation she seemed very defiant of them all. "So, these are the people you associate with. I'm not surprised "Blood-Soaked" Kotetsu."

"I'm just traveling with them until something better presents itself." Kotetsu frowned at her. Bending down he pulled Shigure from the deck and unsheathed it. "Shigure is a fine blade, I see you have taken great care of him as well."

"Get your filthy hands off him you disgusting pirate!"

"And why should I?" Kotetsu raised an eyebrow, and tilted his head.

"Why?" Tashigi demanded. "It's because of your kind. Using these precious swords for such evil purposes, they deserve to be in the hands of those who uphold the law!"

Suddenly Kotetsu's personality shifted. Gone was his gentle appraising nature, instead it was replaced by someone cold and calculating. "You believe me evil, don't you?"

"By traveling with the likes of Gin "The Demon Man", and "Sword of the Sea" Uzumaki Naruto, and what I saw when we fought, I know exactly what kind of man you are." The swordswoman nearly snarled at him. "You used your swords like tools and murder innocents, warping their natures to your own selfish needs-" Tashigi's head jerked to the side, her right cheek stinging from the unexpected backhand Kotetsu gave her.

Sheathing Shigure, Kotetsu grabbed Tashigi roughly by the hair, knelt down and faced her eye-to-eye. "Now you listen to me Marine. Swords are more than simple tools to me, they are something that are supposed to be treated with respect. And no sword truly belongs to anyone regardless of who they are or what side they fight for. A sword will obey whomever holds it and does not recognize good, evil or anything." He then looked at Nidai Kitetsu, the "problem child" that was entrusted to him. "Nidai is no exception, sure he is a pain in my ass, but he wants to be reunited with his three brothers just as much as he wants to kill people."

"That's a lie, swords deserve to belong to the right and just." Tashigi tried to block out his words, his filthy, lying words. (4)

"Then you do not deserve Shigure." Kotetsu looked up to see Naruto carrying a lifeboat towards the edge of their ship. Seriously? They could have just put her in one one one of the wenches, wait did they have any of those? Man they needed to explore the ship some more all right. Seeing him throw it overboard, the sandy-haired swordsman nodded before tucking Shigure into his belt.

"No! Don't you dare take Shigure!" Tashigi struggled against her restraints, unfortunately for her it was all in vain. For when Naruto picked her up by her bindings it was all over.

"I won't use Shigure, he just doesn't suit me. But you will not be getting him back anytime soon." Kotetsu promised her that much.

Naruto then threw her overboard. There wasn't a splash, but a grunt of a body hitting wood.

"Would you have gone after her if you missed?" Kotetsu raised an eyebrow in question.

"Maybe." Naruto shrugged his broad shoulders. "Now can you tell me what the hell that gray shit on the bottom of our ship is?"

Kotetsu palmed his forehead at his Captain's lack of thought. Seriously, how did he not know this stuff?

(The Grand Line - One Week Later)

The crew of the Bezan Black finally made it to the Grand Line. It was a piece of cake really, thanks to the Sea Stone coating the bottom of their ship. Apparently Kuro was not too fond of Sea Kings and killed off an entire Marine ship just to keep them away. Well, that wasn't exactly true if what Kotetsu told Naruto. Sea Stone not only could incapacitate Devil Fruit-users, but mask them from Sea Kings and other sea-dwellers.

That was good enough for them, even though Naruto knew that he could kick any Sea King ass that threatened them when they traveled through the Calm Belt...and by traveled they meant Naruto pushing the entire ship through the Calm Belt. To him it was a personal challenge, and if he was honest with himself it would give him an excuse to kick some Sea King ass.

Hey, at least it was better than going up Reverse Mountain. Only a crew of idiots would do that.

Their new crew mate "Five-Alarm" Carmen, was adjusting surprisingly well to their band of misfits. Thanks to her they managed to find the Den Den Mushi room so she could get in contact with her assistants, both by the sound of it, were extraordinarily relieved to find her alive and well. Apparently the three of them had an agreed upon location in the Grand Line should they have gotten separated, and she would be staying with them for now until they reached a place called Cook Island; wherever the fuck that was.

Honestly Naruto dd not care when she met up with her assistants. She was odder than the other three on board, she too...flamboyant, twirling and dancing as she cooked her dishes. Not that he was complaining of course! Carmen's dishes were freaking delicious! Much better than sandwiches and spam, hell even Gin was beginning to look better from whatever Bashura and Carmen have been giving him due to his whole poison issue.

But despite all of this Naruto found himself out on the ship late at night, his arms set on the railings of the ship and most recently a lit cigar hanging from his lips. Apparently the crate Gin stole from the Marines was full of cigars, they weren't fancy or tasted good, but they sure did calm his nerves.

"I'm nearly a month late," He muttered to himself on this night as the smoke drifted from his mouth. "I wonder how Shira-chan is doing without me?"

(Fishman Island at that very moment)

"Shirahoshi please calm down!" Manboshi and Ryuboshi pleaded their little sister, but to no avail. She had not stopped crying since nearly three weeks ago when their adoptive younger brother failed to return home.

That was not like their little brother at all, yes he had recently turned to violence towards them. That they could accept, but Naruto breaking a promise, that was something they could never believe. Naruto was notorious for keeping his promises, and had not broken one yet until he left the kingdom on Jinbe's orders. What could have happened to him they often wondered. He was strong enough to defeat them single-handedly, and powerful enough to punch out sea creatures. What could have delayed him so long to break such a promise to their darling little sister?

King Neptune had already pulled his daughter into a hug to try and calm her, but just like his sons he did not succeed in comforting her. Like so many things in his life, he once again failed to even calm his own daughter, something that only Naruto could do nowadays. He didn't know if it was the power of the Sea King in him, or something else he and Shirahoshi shared in their time together.

"Manboshi, please fetch Madam Shyarly! She will know what is taking Naruto so long!" Neptune ordered his youngest son.

"Right away!" Moving as fast as his bubble ring would allow him, Manboshi set a new record on Fishman Island that day by fetching the owner of the Mermaid Cafe.

Shyarly was briefly informed of the situation, but found it much worse than she imagined. "That poor girl." She whispered to herself before she hardened herself when the prediction she witnessed all those years ago came to her mind. "Everyone out, I must do this alone with the Princess!"

The three mermen did not need to be told twice what to do. If anyone could possibly help Shirahoshi it would have been Madam Shyarly. After the doors to the Hard-Shell Tower closed did Shyarly float up to the sniffling mermaid. "You remind a lot of Naruto when you was younger." The mako shark mermaid said with a soft smile.

"Yo-you know my onii-chan?" Shirahoshi said through sniffles.

"He did odd jobs for me when he was a little boy." Shyarly responded with a cheerful smile. "Now what seems to be the problem? Is it because he has not returned from his journey?"

The pink-haired mermaid only nodded, suddenly feeling embarrassed by the older women.

"Calm yourself child, and behold!" Shyarly pulled her crystal ball from her travel pouch and held it up for her to see. "Allow me to show you Naruto's whereabouts, and prove to you that he is still of this world!" Placing the crystal ball upon her lap, the dark-haired woman hummed loudly, her purple nail polished fingers tapping upon the smooth ball until an image appeared.

Both Shirahoshi and Shyarly looked into the crystal ball. The image was fuzzy, not that it was any surprise since the mako shark mermaid was best known for predicting the future, and not searching for someone in the present. Minutes ticked by until the image finally cleared up to reveal Naruto flicking something from his fingers into the ocean before turning around. (5)

Both mermaids were greeted by his tired vision, blood staining the upper right half of his white Criminal design pants, and white gauze wrapped around his abs and right bicep. Other than that though he seemed to be in good health, which caused Shirahoshi to sigh in relief.

"Hmm this is odd." Shyarly said.

"What is odd?"

"Look."

Shirahoshi gazed into the crystal ball, and was amazed to see Naruto greeting an eight foot tall, savage-looking human male wearing a top hat. That brought a great smile to her face seeing her adoptive brother getting along with humans, just like their mother wanted them to.

But for Shyarly she saw that Naruto wasn't being too friendly towards the man, in fact it looked like he was tolerating him. There was no outright hate, but it wasn't acceptance either. Just like before, many years ago Shyarly remembered seeing his body standing in front of flames with many others. She wasn't sure what that meant, but it was an omen if she had ever saw one.

Would he give into his hate, or let it go? That was the billion beli question.

Armageddon: Hello everyone, long time no see eh? Well I apologize for that...well not so much since I have been too busy with work, seriously twelve plus hours a day, four to five, sometimes six days a week. I have also been playing Saints Row IV, and that I do not apologize for! After all it's Saints Row bitches!

Ahem, I'm also going to apologize if the ending seems lack luster or sloppy. My co-author, Agurra of the Darkness has been AFK and has not been able to properly help out if seeing plot holes and such. So there will be changes later on, or maybe not. Really I don't care at this point, I'm just damn tired.

Now onto the chapter number things!

1. If you know who this guy is then congratulations, and no I do not own him. It was just for a rib nudging.

2. Those are real plants, they might or might not help with poisoning, but I would not recommend poisoning yourself to try it. But they do help purge your body of impurities.

3. For those who guessed then you're right. Carmen is going to be their Chef, after all she is almost as good as Sanji, and breaks up the sausage fest that had been happening. She will be the last character I add for a while, since for the past three chapters I added them like crazy. Also, if she seems too at ease being with strangers, let me remind you that she was only seen in one episode thirteen years ago. I don't remember her all that much, but she will be calmish in this story, if a little eccentric if her profile is right of course. So please don't bitch about it.

4. I am not bashing Tashigi. She at that time firmly thought that swords were supposed to be in the hands of those she viewed as good. So maybe getting Shigure taken away will teach her something, plus that asskicking as well.

5. All right I'm going to level with you. I know Shyarly cannot do that, she can only see the future. But Shirahoshi is going to play an important part in this story and she needed to see her big; favorite brother. I man come on gone for nearly a month without a word? That ain't the Naruto she knows. So I'm using the Scrying spell from Dungeons and Dragons to have Shyarly look upon our favorite tiger shark fishman from time to time.

Now for the Kotetsu and Zoro fight scene, credit goes to Raidentensho for coming up with it. If not for him this chapter would be much shorter, and lets face it would you rather see that or a one-sided fight between Zoro and Tashigi? I didn't think so. Now I'm not going to take up any more ideas...not unless they are damn good and I have nothing else planned for that chapter. Should I find it interesting I will contact you, and give you the credit you rightfully deserve. So that mean no anonymous accounts, seriously how am I to answer questions or contact you if you do not have an actual account?

That is all for now, later folks!