Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto or One Piece. If I did I would be one of the most infamous pirates of all time!
"Talk" Talking
'Think' Thinking
Well this is the first entry in this journal of mine. Honestly, I have no idea what that that postman was thinking when he gave it to me, but whatever.
To those who don't know who I am, my name is Uzumaki Naruto. I'm the only child of Namikaze Minato and Uzumaki Kushina my real parents. I am the adopted son of King Neptune, and Queen Otohime. I am the adopted sibling of Prince Fukaboshi, Prince Ryuboshi, Prince Manboshi, and Princess Shirahoshi.
Was that too much to take in at once?
Well let me explain real carefully. I am a tiger shark fishman. Yea that's right a fishman, and if you want to stop reading go ahead, but if you wish to continue reading then I won't stop you.
After all, this is going to be one hell of a story someday.
"Huh, Carmen did a hell of a job." Naruto said to himself while he looked in the seven foot tall mirror resting several feet from his desk.
Thanks to Carmen's suggestion, the tiger shark fishman changed into one of the many sets of clothing she bought for him. It was strange that they all fit him perfectly, but he wrote it off to being a strange power human woman possessed.
Currently he wore a long blue Captain's coat that went to his the middle of his shins with golden trimmings, and golden blank epaulets secured onto his shoulders. The upper back of it had a sliver cut out to make room for his dorsal fin. Beneath his coat, he wore his black vest that had small, but incredibly powerful magnets woven into the back, and a pair of plain white pants. The only thing that he now wore from the island were his black open-toed sandals, and his black belt that had a silver belt buckle that depicted an angry bull shark's head on it that hung diagonally at his right hip with his white watertight pouch on the back of it, and his shark tooth necklace that hung off a strong chain.
He had to admit he looked pretty badassed.
However, a frown soon came to Naruto's face. The look suited him well, too well in fact. He looked like a well respected pirate Captain and he knew that he was far from one. After all how could he take pride in being one where he absolutely loathed the people he was traveling with. Well maybe loathed was too harsh of a word, if anything he found himself tolerating them more and more everyday.
"Thanks for the coat Carmen," Naruto said to himself before taking the coat off and draping it on his arm. "But your timing for it is pretty awful."
Opening the closet to his room, Naruto placed the coat on a coat hanger and hung it next to shirts of various colors, and a dozen pairs of pants. It sure didn't seem like much, but it did comfort him that he would not have to wear the same outfit everyday, he would have to thank Carmen somehow. After closing the closet door, the blond turned to take a look at what he called his room.
From what Bashura told him, the room used to belong to Kuro. It was pretty spacious, the room being as large as a living room within a house, and three small circular windows that let in just enough light thanks to Naruto parting the purple curtains. A striped couch was settled on the right side of the room near the windows, and an oak desk with a matching chair sat a few feet away from it. Sitting upon the desk was a large leather bound book and a ink and pen, along with a candle.
To the left side of the room was a single bed with black sheets covering it. And resting among the wall, firmly secured in-between the windows were two wooden shelves with a wooden bar each to secure his trophies. Placed in one of them were Kuro's glasses and his retracted Cat Claws, and securely placed in the corner of the room was Arlong's Kiribachi; they were his trophies from killing the both pirate Captains.
His room was good, but it didn't feel like it was his. Eventually he would have to do a whole makeover to get it to feel like his. In fact he would have to work on the whole damn ship! Seriously what was Kuro's thing with darkness? Was it suppose to make him more fearsome or something? Mainly everything was supported by candle light or oil lamps, the only thing that even had electricity was the kitchen.
"I hate them so much." Naruto groaned wearily. The day he was 'officially' made Captain those four jackasses bombarded him with a list of complaints, or suggestions about their living conditions in the ship.
Apparently Carmen was dissatisfied with the lack or electricity in the ship; a trait that was shared by all of them apparently. And she was not happy about the out of date freezer they stored their food in, something about the plates and silverware, and something about the furniture. Bashura had concerns about the cargo hold, and the lack of life boats. For Gin, the First Mate desired cleaning and repair kits for the guns and cannons, and lots of leather. Kotetsu, thankfully did not really require anything other than some sharpening stones.
Seriously, who knew it would be this much of a pain in the ass to run a ship? Naruto did not envy Fisher Tiger at all, seriously if he had to deal with the likes of a crew like these guys every single day well then bless his departed soul.
"Ugh, one thing at a time. Right now I need to ask Bashura how long it will be until the next island." Upon exiting his room and getting up on deck, he was greeted by a tired Kotetsu who was standing at the helm, and Bashura waving at him with a grin on his face.
"Morning, Cap'n!" The Catman greeted the fishman.
"Morning." Naruto returned the greeting, he didn't rebuke his title this single time. "Hey, how long will it be until we reach the next island?"
"We will reach Cactus Island in three hours if the wind keeps up." Bashura said.
"It's a good thing too, I'm getting a little restless." Kotetsu said tiredly. "Seriously, we need more room on this ship or something to do exercises."
"I know, I'll add it to the list." Scratch off Kotetsu not requiring anything else. "I got the money for it, but we need the supplies, and manpower, and especially the time to do it." Naruto scratched the back of his head irritably. "And we just have not had the time for any of that."
"Being chased by the Marines can do that to you." Carmen's voice turned their heads to her presence. She was dressed in a long-sleeved, light blue form fitting dress with matching heels, the only jewelry she wore were a pair of sapphire earrings. Perfectly balanced in her right hand was a tray filled with cold glasses of lemonade. "Sorry for the interruption, gentleman. But I figured you three would like something cold on such a hot day."
"Thank you Carmen, this is much appreciated." Bashura took what looked liked the biggest glass into his beefy hands, and took a long drink from it. "Mmm, delicious."
"I agree, did you make this out of real lemons?" Kotetsu asked.
"But of course, it would be an insult for me not to." Carmen giggled before turning towards Naruto. Giving him a pleasant smile, she offered one of the glasses. "Come now Captain, aren't you thirsty?" The chef opened her eyes and Naruto could have sworn he saw malicious intent coming from her, "After all, that has to be the only reason you're not wearing that coat I bought you."
"Yea, that's the reason." Naruto lied through his sharp teeth as he took the glass. "Have any of you seen Gin?"
"Well...either he is working in the armory, or..." Their resident navigator started to say.
"OH GOD WHY!?"
"Yep, I thought as much." The Zoan-user nodded his head hearing Gin's cries of agony.
Naruto palmed his forehead with his free hand, "You are definitely not a doctor Bashura."
Three hours later the motley crew came in sight of an unusual island. Apparently Cactus Island lived up to its name with several cactus-shaped mountains, with what looked like tens of thousands of spikes littering them. Resting at the base of the mountains were hundreds of homes, with a couple dozen ships anchored in the ports surrounding the island.
"All right, do any of you have a clue what to expect from this island?" Naruto asked the four on deck.
"I know the Log changes in less than one day." Bashura answered. "That's what I'm feeling anyways."
"I got nothing Uzumaki, never been to this part of the Grand Line." Kotetsu shrugged his shoulders.
"I assume you two know nothing as well?" Naruto asked the First Mate, and the chef.
They both nodded their heads in return.
"Well all right, everyone arm yourselves. We got a lot of unknowns here, so use something you're comfortable with." Of course that order was redundant to the guys, it was Carmen who was an unknown factor.
Before they docked in port, Naruto was greeted by a mass of people waving their arms, and cheering for their homecoming. When they set anchor and stepped onto the docks, they were greeted by a tall man with a small red nose and, blond hair in a style that looked like a wig with three thick curls on each side of his head. He was dressed like a gentleman, wearing a blue suit, white undershirt, and shiny black buckled shoes. Clutched in his large hands was a saxophone.
"Welcome to Whiskey Peak, the town of music and liquor!" The odd-looking man greeted Naruto with a large smile. "I am Igarappoi, the Mayor of this town."
"Um, greetings. I am Uzumaki Naruto, and these are my companions." Naruto gestured towards his hitch hikers. "This is our second stop on the Grand Line, and we need to, I guess stay here until our Log Pose resets."
"Ho-Ho, it's not a problem young man. Most of our visitors are travelers just entering the Grand Line, it's how we get most of our business." Igarappoi said with a wide grin. "In fact, we got a pirate crew that arrived no more than an hour ago. Do you wish to join us? The Captain simply cannot get enough of our food, and his crew are enjoying the company of our most beautiful women on the island, and drinking our finest ales with gusto!"
"Hmm..." Naruto looked over to Gin, "What do you say? Should we stay a while or is it an unnecessary risk?"
"I say we stay." Gin shrugged in response. "We have been traveling the sea for too long now, I think a night in a town will do us some good."
"I assume the rest of you agree?"
After receiving many nods, Naruto turned towards Igarappoi. "Well it looks we're staying here for the night."
"Splendid, please follow me to the tavern. The festivities are in full swing, and it's like my wife always said, the more the merrier!" The mayor of the town laughed a little too loudly for Naruto's tastes.
After being guided through the town, Igarappoi threw open the double doors, and Naruto and company were greeted by the most unexpected sight. At the largest table, Luffy was stuffing himself silly with a various assortment of meats, Nami and Zoro were having a drinking contest with a good lot of the townsfolk, and Sanji; along with Usopp to a lesser extent were flirting with the various lovely women in the establishment. All was joyous and merry, but when Igarappoi threw open the doors, disturbing them all from their partying everything went dead silent when both crews locked onto each other for the first time.
"You!?" Zoro pointed at Kotetsu.
"Gin!?" Sanji yelled in shock.
"Straw Hat!?" Gin's eyes widened.
"Sanji!?" Carmen's voice rang out.
"Not you again!" Nami bolted up, readying her collapsible staff when she looked upon Naruto.
"Shark-man!" Luffy seemed to be the only one to greet the newcomers with a joyous, food filled smile.
"Oh shit, not you guys." Naruto palmed his face harshly.
"Carmen!" Sanji leaped to his feet, huge pink hearts springing out of his eyes. For some asinine reason the chef twirled towards her, keeping perfect balance on both the tips of his shoes. "Oh, my lovely Carmen. You beauty is like a beautiful rose in bloom in the middle of a wasteland, one that I would gladly pick without the use of saftey-" With a flick of her wrist, the pink-haired woman produced a fan from her right sleeve, swung and nailed the blonde-haired chef right in the face, causing him to comically crumple to the ground.
Raising an eyebrow, Naruto looked to see his chef wielding a small iron fan. The weapon was snapped shut, but that looked like it hurt if the weirdo on the floor twitching was any indication. "So...a small iron fan is your weapon?" Way to state the obvious Naruto.
"Mhmm, it's much more elegant than a pistol or a sword." Carmen flicked it open to reveal a dozen steel separators with suspiciously sharp points at the top of it, but settled in-between the separators were beautiful rose patterns tailored into the silk fabric.
"I take offense to that," Kotetsu protested loudly. "Also, what the hell? You were in a cook off with this guy, you accepted defeat gracefully."
"I admit he is a wonderful chef, but he's a womanizing pervert."
That made a lot of sense to Naruto's group that day.
After Carmen's proclamation of pervert hating, Sanji brought himself back to his feet. His fixation on Carmen gone, for now, he settled his lone eye on Gin. "I see you finally left Krieg."
"Yep." Gin shrugged in reply.
"And you crewed up with a fishman? No offense to you of course." Sanji really did not mean any offense of course, after all Naruto did kill the monster that hurt Nami after all.
While Naruto shrugged off whatever Sanji was saying, and walked off towards a random table. Gin however stayed where he was and told Sanji the truth. "Yea, I crewed up with a fishman. He's a antisocial pain in my ass, but he's been taking care of my poisoned ravaged body, got Carmen to put some delicious food in my belly, and a roof over my head. He's all right in my books."
"Well I'm glad to see you're alive at least. You were touch and go for a long while." The chef of the Straw Hat Pirates commented.
"You do not know the half of it." Gin remarked.
"So, what happened to Krieg anyways?" Sanji could not help but ask, the man after all, did attack his place of work.
"I will tell you that story over a cold glass of rum." Gin paused to cough lightly in his left hand. "My treat."
While Gin was reacquainting with the man who saved his life, Kotetsu; now with two mugs of ale in him sat in front of Zoro. The green-haired swordsman did not look even remotely amused, if anything his looks alone would have disintegrated the sandy-haired teen into oblivion.
"All right, before you try and kill me, just hear me out all right." Now either it was the liquor, or the urge to live, Kotetsu was not sure. But he needed to get something straight with his fellow Kitetsu-wielder, or else things would go really badly for everyone. "I'm sorry I tried to kill you and take your swords."
Zoro's posture changed a little bit, and he lifted his mug to his lips to swallow his alcoholic beverage. All right, so far so good. "I am also sorry if I said anything to offend your senses. That however was not entirely me, that was Magara, a deranged psychopathic swordsman that my mind...I guess developed during the battle my Marine Unit took on Morgan "Moonscar" McCrite, and he surfaced when the Iron Island Massacre happened when the Marines slaughtered everyone other than myself."
The only reaction he got from the three-sword user was a raised green eyebrow. "He is me, only horrific in every way imaginable. For example, I want to collect all the twelve Supreme Grade Swords, the twenty-one Great Grade Swords, and the three Kitetsu blades so they don't fall into the wrong hands like corrupted Marines, or pirates that will kill without any sort of hesitation. Only he wants to use them to kill everyone, you get me?"
Drowning his mug, Zoro let out a light sigh of satisfaction before speaking for the first time. "You're not going to take my swords though, are you?"
Kotetsu could not help but smile. Finally, it seemed like he found someone he could actually talk to about his beliefs, as odd as they were. "No, you do not view swords as tools. You see them as partners, and take good care of them." He gestured at the Wado Ichimonji, "For example, even though your guard is down, you always take the briefest of glances at that sword. It must mean the world to you. And I can say the same thing about Sandai Kitetsu. It may be a problem child like Nidai Kitetsu, but I see you treat a Cursed Blade with an equal amount of respect as if it were any of the Supreme Grade Swords, or even the lesser ones as well."
A smile came to Zoro's face, and he chuckled loudly. "You're not the asshole I thought you were then."
A minor tick came to Kotetsu's cheek when he heard that, "However I still find the use of a three sword style highly ridiculous."
Zoro gave Kotetsu a strained smile, "Oh really now?"
On the other side of the tavern Bashura happily settled himself into the booth Sanji was occupying until they showed up. The sound of the wood creaking under his weight caused Usopp's skinny body to straighten up in fear.
'Oh my God, look at that monster!' Usopp mentally screamed inside his own mind. And who could blame him? Bashura was an eight foot tall man that probably weighed at least three of him, with arms the size of tree trunks that would easily snap him in half like a twig. And those tattoo's, every single line of black ink covering his brown skin made him look like a savage from the far off lands.
A serving wench came over and handed Bashura the biggest mug they had, which still looked quite puny in his meaty hands. After politely thanking the lady for her kindness, the navigator of Naruto's group brought the mug to his lips, and practically inhaled the contents down his throat. After guzzling it down, he lowered it to reveal a white creamy mustache upon his upper lip. "Mmm, now that hit the spot."
"W-What!?" Usopp blinked his eyes rapidly to make sure he was not hallucinating, "Milk? Why are you drinking milk in a bar!?"
"A growing boy like me needs his calcium." Bashura said with a wide grin.
"G-Growing!? You're twice the size of my entire crew!"
"Your crew?" Bashura raised a tattooed eyebrow.
"Yea, that's right!" Springing to his feet, Usopp dramatically clenched his fist and placed it over his heart. "Across the seas every man woman and child has heard of my famous exploits. Tales of how I defeated a thousand men with only fifty of my own are of legend. The ladies love me, the men respect me, and the children want to be me. I am the King of Snipers, Captain Usopp!"
The Zoan-user only dully looked at the long-nosed liar like he was an idiot. "Right, sure you are. Waitress we need some water, this guy's pants are on fire!" He said, immediately losing interest in the Straw Hat Pirates sniper.
Usopp could only collapse in despair at being found out, a gigantic rain cloud soon forming over his head as a sign of depression.
And while everyone else was conversing, Naruto was happy to be by himself and out of the spotlight. A mug of rum was clutched in his bandaged right hand, his third one within the hour, and five plates full of meat and vegetables were all ready settling in his belly, and he was working on the sixth at the moment. The blonde quietly observed the party going on, everyone was cheering, dancing, eating and drinking to their hearts content.
But despite their cheerful natures, the tiger shark fishman kept his wits about him. Something was not right about this town, the townsfolk were being way too friendly to a bunch of pirates and whatever the hell his group was. Business or not, it was highly suspicious. That was why he kept an eye on the four that he had the privilege to travel with.
As far as he was seeing, Kotetsu and Zoro were hitting it off if their glaring and trying to out drink each other was any indication. Bashura seemed to have been ignoring the long-nosed weirdo, who seemed to have somehow put off the friendly navigator, huh, he never thought that to be possible. Gin and Carmen seemed to have been enjoying Sanji's company, granted the blonde-haired chef went from lecherous to sociable at the drop of a hat. However he did not see that straw hat weirdo or Arlong's former slave.
After swallowing a mouthful of steak, Naruto closed his eyes for a second and drank down his rum. The sound of heavy foot steps, and a light body sitting across from him caused him open his eyes to see the orange-haired woman sitting across from him, and the strew hat looking more like a balloon with that large...elastic torso of his, oh God dammit another devil fruit-user. Just freaking perfect.
However, Naruto did not bat an eyelash and gulped down his drink and stared straight at the woman. "Yes?"
"Why are you here?" Nami demanded.
"Well, my father met my mother. They went out on a few dates, married and one magical evening after they got married-"
Nami's hot glare cut him off for any further smartassery. "Why are you here with a bunch of humans? Did you enslave them like Arlong did with me?"
"Whoa, Nami that is pretty-"
"Shut up Luffy." Nami resisted the urge to hit her Captain, "I need to know. He may have killed Arlong, but that does not mean I even remotely trust him."
Naruto only gave the navigator of the Straw Hat Pirates a flat glare. Already he felt a migraine coming coming on from being in close quarters with a bunch of humans, but this was going over the top for him. Seriously, him as a slaver? "First of all, Nami was it? I am here because that prick Arlong destroyed my Eternal Log Pose. It was the only thing that could get me home, and now I have to go back the long way."
"Yea, sucks to be you. But that does not explain why you have four humans following you." Nami crossed her arms across her somewhat impressive chest in annoyance.
"Well the swordsman of my crew," Yea he said crew, it was much easier to say than whatever bullshit would Naruto could come up with at the moment. "Yes the blonde guy talking with the green-haired one, I picked him up on an island full of butchered Marines."
"Say what!?" Luffy nearly gagged on his gigantic chicken leg when he heard that.
"Yea, he...or his other self killed them, and attacked me. We were attacked by Marines and we eliminated them all." Naruto shrugged off their shocked looks. "After killing them, he joined up with me out of necessity. Then there is Bashura," He pointed at his savage-looking navigator. "He was the second guy that joined me. We were about to land on the Gecko Islands when were were attacked, by all people, the supposedly late Captain Kuro of the Black Cat Pirates."
Again Luffy nearly choked on his food, this time it was a whole ham he shoved down his throat. "Captain Kuro!? I cannot believe he returned there."
"Are you serious?" Naruto's face practically screamed 'Are you fucking kidding me?'. Unfortunately for him, Luffy was very serious, and so was Nami apparently. "Yea, my navigator used to be apart of his crew. The guy hid in the Bezan Black when you kicked Kuro's ass, but apparently Kuro is one hell of a sore loser. Bashura told me that he came back to massacre the entire island. I killed him instead after he wiped out his entire crew."
"You killed Kuro?" Nami's eyes widened in surprise. Luffy had a tough time beating the quick-footed pirate Captain, and all he was able to do was knock him out, and send him on his way.
"I snapped his neck after Bashura broke his back, and burned the body afterwards." Naruto took another drink, completely ignoring Luffy's outraged look. "You got a problem there straw hat?"
"Killing Kuro was completely unnecessary." Luffy said, almost if he was pointing out an obvious fact.
"What I did was completely necessary. Did you not consider that he would not come back? With you gone the island was defenseless, and easy pickings to a monster like him." The fishman got up and poked Luffy's fat belly. "You would have indirectly caused all their deaths by not killing that man in the first place, you fucking little marshmallow!"
Before Luffy could shout, or swing in his defense, Nami clasped Naruto's wrist with her hand. "Do not poke my Captain, I do not care if you're right or not. But keep your mitts off of him."
Naruto yanked his wrist out of her grasp, almost like he was burned. "As for Gin," He continued, pushing the confrontational from his thoughts. "We found him half-dead in a lifeboat from a bad case of poisoning, and a very pissed off Don Krieg sailing after him in a God damn Man-of-War Marine battleship. Thankfully, Gin used his voice to knock them all out, and knocked Krieg's ass out with those tonfa's of his." Naruto stopped to finish off his drink, "After chaining him up, and leaving him starving and in pain for two whole days, I dropped him and Arlong's head off at the Marine Base in Loguetown. Got a neat thirty-one million beli after some deductions for Arlong being dead and all. Not a bad amount of money if I say so myself."
When the word 'money' sprang from Naruto's mouth, Nami's eyes lit up with beli dollars. "You got Krieg's bounty? He was probably weakened thanks to Luffy, so-"
"I'm not giving you any of my hard-earned money." Naruto immediately cut the former thief off, "It is not mine to give," He pointed his thumb behind him towards Gin laughing at Sanji getting a face full of Carmen's iron fan. "If you took all that cotton out of your ears, you would have heard me say Gin beat Krieg's ass. Idiot, half of it's rightfully his." Finding himself losing his appetite Naruto removed himself from the table.
"Hey wait a minute-" Nami's eyes widened when the blond turned towards her, his glaring blue eyes sent shivers down her spine.
"I'm done talking with you. Enjoy the party." Naruto left the tavern without another word.
Once he shut the door, Naruto reached into his pouch and pulled out the lone cigar he brought with him to land. Placing it between his lips, he lit the end of it with one of his matches, and inhaled. Immediately, his frenzied nerves began to calm themselves, and he let out a sigh of relief.
For the next hour he stayed out there, letting his blood cool, and his temper deflate. The meeting up with the Straw Hat Pirates was completely unexpected, Naruto honestly did not expect to meet up with the rude orange-haired woman ever again, or Luffy after he backhanded him in her hometown. Quite honestly, the tiger shark fishman did not know what to make of that crew. The green-haired swordsman looked like he could handle himself, he killed people before that's for sure, the blonde that was chatting up with First Mate and chef; also a powerful fighter, but him killing someone was questionable at best. Then there was the long-nosed liar, he was all bark and no bite, he fully expected him to die in the Grand Line. Nami...was a mystery, she stole lots of money and other valuables, but he seriously doubted she was a stealer of lives. And then there was that Luffy character, he seemed to be strong; after all he got back up from a hit that could turn a human head into jelly, but he was an ignorant idiot. How he was a Captain of anything was a mystery to him.
All in all he viewed the Straw Hats as mild annoyances, and gave them a fifty-fifty chance of surviving the Grand Line.
After letting the cigar burn all the way to the stub, the blonde tossed it to the side and leaned against the wooden walls of the tavern. They were going to spend the night here, stock up on a thing or two if possible, and then leave for the next island at the earliest time possible. The noise of the laughter from the occupants literally caused Naruto to propel off the walls with a wide-eyes expression. Good God, what were they doing in there to cause so much noise?
Before he could make it to the door, he heard a slight gasp that caused him to turn on his heels, and readied himself to attack. However before he could form a droplet of water for his Water Shot, Naruto stopped dead cold in his tracks.
Standing ten feet away was a woman was wearing a light blue long-sleeved jacket with white fur along the collar, a pair of white short shorts that went past mid thigh, an emerald belt around her slim waist, and a pair of white high heel boots. The top she wore was highly unusual, along the stomach and breasts were circle patterns. What he noticed most about her was her long wavy blue hair pulled back into a long ponytail, and gray eyes. She looked awfully familiar, almost like he caught a glimpse of her face ages ago.
"Son of a bitch." Naruto swore out loud. Add six or seven years, plus puberty going well for you, add in a slender body, prominent large breasts, and a air of royalty around her, then you had...no freaking way.
Upon spotting him the young woman's eyes widened, and she ran as fast as she could. Naruto, delayed a few seconds by her sudden departure immediately bolted after her. The mystery woman ducked into a building, slamming the door shut. At first Naruto stopped and twisted the doorknob, only to find it locked. Sighing in irritation he kicked it open, the door broke off its hinges easily, only to reveal the woman was not inside.
Naruto noticed that the window was left wide open and immediately dove out of it. Rolling twice until he stood upon his feet, the blonde fishman captured a brief glimpse of blue hair out of the corner of his eyes. Immediately turning to his right he pumped his leg muscles hard, leaping a solid ten feet. When he reached the corner of the building he was met with the woman's retreating figure climbing one of the largest buildings, jumping and flipping at a speed that was acquired through years of practice.
"You're a fast one, ain't ya?" Naruto said to himself, impressed that this woman was unusually fast, and dexterous. "But while good, you cannot outdo a fishman." Taking a deep breath Naruto sprinted through the street, upon reaching the building he jumped ten feet into the air, and latched his fingers into the stone foundation. No, he did not catch the ledges of the stonework, his fingers penetrated the stone like a hot knife through butter.
Through the intense practice of Fishman Karate, Naruto's fingers were a tough as steel, practically like fishhooks that separated the warriors of Fishman Island from the civilians. Using nothing but pure arm strength, the blonde climbed up the building until he reached the top. Arriving just in time to see the mystery woman gracefully leap from the edge, and landed on a roof top without batting an eyelash. Naruto easily followed her, bracing himself for impact, and to roll to lessen the shock on his legs.
Too bad he overestimated the integrity of the roof. Naruto landed on the roof, and it immediately caved in under him, sending him crashing into what looked to be a kitchen of someones home.
"Son of a bitch!" Naruto pulled himself up from what used to be a table. He brought his right hand to his dorsal fine, and tenderly rubbed it. "Fucking ow! That woman is so going to pay for this!" He meant both figuratively, and literally. There was no way in hell he was going to pay for the damage he caused to this house.
After opening the door to the empty house, Naruto barely caught sight of the woman's blue hair when she hopped over another room and ran across a thick wire. Again, he found himself impressed at the woman's speed and dexterity. "You may have your fancy moves, but that will not stop me!" Naruto yelled after her. Bending forwards he sprinted towards the houses she was running over, moving his forearms up to cover his face, the fishman busted through the walls of the first house, and then the second house, and then the third house, finally when he passed through the fourth house he caught the woman jumping onto the roof of the fifth house.
Jumping ten feet in the air, Naruto dug his fingers into the the wooden walls once again and climbed his way onto the roof. Immediately he ducked his head when he heard a whooshing sound, it saved him from getting scalped, but not the few strands of blond hair that fell to the street. He knew the woman was trying to force him to pop his head up, or stall long enough for her to flee again.
"Not on my watch." Looking down Naruto saw an open window to the top floor of this building. "How fortunate for me." It was odd that the buildings he busted through had been completely empty, and apparently this one was as empty as all of them. Again how strange. But that did not deter him from swinging into the room.
After rolling to reduce the impact, and getting to his feet Naruto strained his ears to hear if the mysterious woman was on the roof. The sound between the wood was faint, but he could still hear the whooshing sound of whatever she was wielding. Keeping quiet as remotely possible Naruto positioned himself underneath what he thought she was standing, and jumped upwards. His hands burst through the roof, and he somehow managed to grab onto what felt like soft leather, and used his natural weight as gravity.
The roof the woman was standing over gave out, causing her to come crashing down into the fishman's arms. She felt him move his arms tightly around her torso, and braced himself when they both hit the floor. Like the roof it could not handle the combined weight of two people crashing down upon it, and they fell onto the last floor of the house. But instead of landing on a table, the two of them landed on a bed. Of course the force of them landing on it broke the mattress from the supports, and the woman ended up straddling him when he let his arms go...lets just say it was a very awkward position for the both of them.
It did not help that the mystery woman moved her waist and pushed on Naruto's chest to try and move off of him. Nor did it help that Naruto moved his hands to her shoulders, tightly gripping her to keep her stark still so she could not escape. Again, it was so awkward that the both of them began to get a twinge of pink on their cheeks.
"All right, enough running already." Naruto said through gritted teeth. This was a first for him is all respects of this messed up situation. "I know who you are, you may not look the age, but you're that girl from the Mariejois meeting nearly six years ago."
"You're mistaken, I've lived here all my life." The woman continued to twist her body, and failed to try and escape from his iron grip. "I was never in this Mariejois place, I was out killing a whale six years ago!"
Naruto's grip on her shoulders only tightened until she ceased her struggling. It was not enough to hurt her, it was just a warning that he could do much worse than a simple squeeze. "Don't bullshit me lady. I have no idea how you got yourself to look like you're in your thirties, but there is no way I can mistake you for anyone else."
"Well you are-" She looked into Naruto's eyes, and she knew that there was no use hiding it any longer. Her cover was blown, by some one she never thought she would ever see again. "So you're the fishman who saved my life from Wapol."
"I remember kicking a fat pistol-wielding asshole in the back of the head." Naruto said, his sharp teeth flashing at that awesome memory.
"I never thought I would see you again." The woman said with a smile full of gratitude, no longer lying she opened up a little bit, but kept her guard up. "I always wondered who my hero was that day. Thank you, um," She turned her head to the side, embarrassed, "What is your name?"
"Uzumaki Naruto." Naruto said.
"I'm Nefertari Vivi." Vivi introduced herself.
"The only child to Nefertari Cobra?" While Naruto didn't know much about the nobles from the revere all those years ago, he did remember Jinbe telling him about the noble family from Alabasta. He thought the whale shark fishman was exaggerating a bit, but they were better than the World Nobles, that's just something he figured to be impossible, but Vivi, she did not call him a fish or try to enslave him. So she definitely had that going for her.
"The very same." The blue-haired princess said, "I'm sorry about running, and attacking you. I just could not get discovered...not yet."
"What the hell are you talking about?"
"It's, a complicated matter. I'm sorry, but it's important that the fewer the people know, the better."
"I see..." Actually he didn't, Naruto knew that she was hiding something important. "So, enjoying your seat?"
Vivi's face flushed a little brighter, and she moved off of his lap. She brushed her left hand on her jacket sleeves to wipe away the dust she accumulated from their fall together. Naruto noticed that a wire was hanging off her left pinkie finger, and dangling from it was a sharpened sapphire that resembled a peacock's tails feather. Huh, so that was what nearly scalped him.
Getting off the broken bed, looking a little more ruffled that he would have liked, Naruto looked over towards Vivi, just to make sure she wasn't too injured. He was rewarded with her flicking him in the forehead. The blonde blinked several times, his mind processing exactly what the fuck just happened. "The hell was that for?"
"I'm not in my thirties mister Uzumaki, I'm sixteen." Vivi huffed, highly offended by such a guess to her age.
"You could have fooled me." Naruto rubbed his forehead, he wasn't even mad about that, after all Madam Shyarly unleashed a whole can of whoopass several times when customers or workers did anything rude or swore in her presence. Hell, he remembered when one of Hody's men came back like he aged thirty years because he guessed her to much older despite her still having a tail, but then again that guy was constantly wasted, and not the brightest anyhow.
"Some makeup and pulling my hair back can do wonders for disguising oneself." The Princess of Alabasta said. "I don't wish to be rude, but you need to get out of here. You and your friends back at the tavern."
"They aren't my friends." Naruto rebutted a little too harshly, "They are just a bunch of hitchhikers that I picked up due to crap being out of my control. And that Straw Hat kid is no associate of mine."
Vivi had to visibly fight from flinching at the harshness of his words. Again it reminded her of what she saw during the Reverie after he knocked out Wapol when she looked into his eyes. She saw the uncontrollable anger, and great sadness, and bitterness that kept her up at nights; guessing what would cause someone only two years her senior to have eyes like that.
Those emotions were still there. The anger was maintained by strict discipline, but ready to be unleashed at anytime. The sadness had dulled but the aches could still be seen, and even now when when he looked at her he saw the bitterness increasing, yet it was restrained by something she could not identify.
Vivi mentally shook the thoughts from her mind. "Irregardless, the food and drink the townsfolk served you were laced with a sleeping poison. It's slow acting, but when it takes hold you're out for nearly forty-eight hours."
"What?" That could not have been good for anyone in his party. He personally drank three mugs of rum, and five plates of meat and vegetables, and three fourths of his last one before Nami and Luffy ruined his appetite, personally he felt fine, no drowsiness whatsoever. "They poisoned us? Why the hell would they do that for?"
"Whiskey Peak is full of experienced bounty hunters." Vivi said nervously, "This place has captured many pirates starting out on the Grand Line, and have turned them in to the World Government numerous times. In fact we were after the Captain of the crew that arrived before you."
"Well good luck with that. That straw hat kid looks like an easy catch."
"Straw hat? You mean the green-haired swordsman isn't the Captain?"
"No he isn't, and the only reason I know this is because I was bitched out by their orange-haired thief for grabbing that gluttonous idiot." It honestly surprised him that he already had a crew of four people. But then again it could be the same for him. "Yea I don't believe it either."
"I see." Well that was certainly a surprise, but then again they did not receive the current wanted posters this week, so it was a wild guess for all of them. "And what about you? Are you a pirate?"
"I don't have a Jolly Roger," Naruto said, that meant something didn't it? "So, I guess I ain't one. But just to be safe, I'll get those guys and leave this place asap."
Vivi sighed in relief, but before she could reply, the sounds of powerful explosions was heard a mile away. "Oh no, something is not right!"
(With Zoro, and Naruto's crew - Around the same time)
"Ahh!"
"That's what you get for attacking us!" Both Kotetsu and Zoro bellowed at the unconscious nun and small child what tried to kill them.
It was complete pandemonium in Whiskey Peak. Barely a few hours ago both crews were partying like there was no tomorrow, but during their conversation Zoro confided in him that something was off about this place, and after some careful drinking the two were not caught unaware when the bounty hunters pounced on them.
Were they a bit drowsy? Yes, yes they were. But they were better than Usopp, Sanji, Luffy, and Gin; and only because the latter kept himself awake with his coughing fits.
Both Carmen and Bashura were up and kicking. The Explanations for why were simple for Carmen, she did not eat or drink anything that was either supervised or made by her. Bashura however was a mystery, the savage-looking man ate and drank everything that was handed to him without any complaint, and a gigantic smile on his face to boot! He should have been knocked unconscious with the rest of the Straw Hat Pirates, but instead he was gleefully punching people into unconsciousness with his meaty hands.
"Man what a clusterfuck this is." Kotetsu sighed tiredly. Sweat was dribbling down his forehead, and he wiped it away before slapping himself to stay awake.
"Shoulda drank more carefully." Zoro responded in a neutral tone. Unlike his fellow swordsman he showed no hint of exhaustion.
"I doesn't help that I'm not much of a drinker anyhow." The sandy-haired teen slapped himself again. It somewhat worked when he felt a small burst of energy course through his body.
"Pfft. Lightweight."
"Enough with the jibber jabber. Do you think we got them all?" Bashura dropped his latest punching bag onto the hard ground.
It sure looked like it, nearly one-hundred people were knocked unconscious from the combined assault of the three men. The three deliberately tried not to kill anyone in the town, mainly because it looked like they were after Luffy's bounty, and when they saw Gin they went after them as well. It was how they earned their livelihood, and killing someone who was just trying to earn their pay did not suit well with the three of them.
...That however did not mean that they would go easy on them, seriously fuck that.
"Yes I think so," Zoro scratched hte back of head irritably. "Did your two crew mates get away?"
"Yes, Carmen and Gin thankfully escaped after the initial confusion." Those two worried Bashura the greatest. While Gin was remarkably strong, he was not in the best shape. One slip up was all it could take to put you in the ground, and unfortunately Gin's coughing was so erratic that he probably would not have made it during this fight. Carmen was an unknown to them all. While a great cook, it did not look like she could engage in combat and come out uninjured.
He would have to ask Naruto to have her demonstrate something other than cooking when they got out of this.
The sound of someone clapping disrupted their minor reprieve. The person clapping was a middle aged man donned with long red hair with a crown on top of his head, and the number nine painted on his cheeks. He wore green royal clothes along with an ornate red scarf.
Standing next to him was a tall, muscular woman with dark skin and pink hair pulled into short twin-tails. She wore a short dress with a magenta and white diamond pattern, and three green flowers holding it together, and white boots that went to the middle of her shins. Grasped in her right hand was a large club, and firmly placed on her knuckles were a pair of brass knuckles.
And standing in front of them was the Mayor of the town, firmly clasped in his hands was his saxophone. "I see you're no ordinary pirates. To think that Baroque Works's agents could be defeated so easily." Igarappoi sighed in dissatisfaction. "But then again, the twenty-five million beli bounty on your head proves how dangerous you are "Straw Hat" Monkey D. Luffy."
Zoro sweat-dropped at the lack of the guy's information. That was just sad. "I'm not Luffy, he's the guy that could not stop stuffing his face with meat. Is this what Baroque Work's fallen to these days? Lousy information and pirate capture?"
The man in the royal clothing narrowed his eyebrows. "What do you know of our organization?"
"I know that a good lot of you are bounty hunters, and you have done several operations throughout the world." Zoro scratched his head as if trying to recall something. "The only reason I know about you guys was from a guy who called himself Mr. 7. Apparently he came the the East Blue to recruit me into your ranks, and I agreed on the conditions that I would be the boss." The green-haired swordsman shook his head. "The damn fool got so mad that he attacked me, and I took his head off in response."
"That certainly explains the new Mr. 7." The muscular woman commented, her voice was surprisingly a soft high-pitched voice more commonly associated with small, frail girls. Seriously that was weird, she was the tallest, and most muscular woman they had seen in their entire lives. "Irregardless, we're going to take you down."
"I don't think so." Kotetsu twirled his blades three times and settled into a loose stance.
"I like it when they fight." The royal-looking man exclaimed brandishing two steel bats in his hands. "I am Mr. 9 of the Baroque Work's organization. Prepare yourselves!"
Zoro made a move to engage him, but Kotetsu cheated by activating his devil fruit power, and flashed in front of Mr. 9. However instead of engaging him sword to bat, Kotetsu's right leg flew up, and nailed him right in the sternum. "Stay down!" Was the sandy-haired teens battle cry as he sent Mr. 9 flying into a wall.
"Really? A kick?" Zoro deadpanned.
"I'm not going to bash my swords against steel bats. That's just stupid." Kotetsu said as he looked at Mr. 9's unconscious form. "Bashura however...well, let him have his fun."
Turning to where the savage-looking navigator was fighting, Zoro sweat-dropped when he saw the man leaping and dodging acrobatically against his two opponents.
"Igarappa!" The man who revealed himself to be Mr. 8 attacked using his saxophone. When he played it, the beautiful melody the saxophone filled the air, and then it fired out a blast of bullets like a giant shotgun. Bashura easily managed to jump over it with cat-like grace, and rebounded towards the Baroque Works agent, who dropped his saxophone and pulled on the loops of his necktie with his thumbs. "Igarappappa!" Gun barrels hidden in the curls of his hair extended outwards, and fired explosive bullets.
"Not good enough!" Flexing his right fingers into like he had claws, Bashura bent his muscular body into unnatural angles like that of a cat. He dodged the bullets, the projectiles missing his flesh by mere inches, and when the bullets impacted the wall, he used the explosion the rocket towards Mr. 8. Swinging his muscular arm Bashura nailed his opponent right in the face, and sent them both to the ground with bone jarring force.
After burying Mr. 8's head into the ground, Bashura brought his thick forearms up to block a savage club strike. After Miss Monday's club broke in half she began to pummel his forearms with her duel Superhuman Knuckle-duster technique. Bashura took it with determination, his face barely wincing when his skin started forming purple bruises. The muscular woman delivered the devastating punches until her body was sweating buckets, her face red from the lack of air, until finally she could not lift her arms anymore. Her energy was completely spent.
"Is that all?" Bashura lowered his arms in disappointment. His yellow eyes glaring into Miss Monday's black ones. "A woman of your size, and muscle mass should have delivered bone shattering punches." He clenched his right fist tightly until his knuckles turned white. It honestly disgusted him that a woman who's body mass was exactly like his delivered such weak punches, and with tools to help deliver them no less!
"This is how you deliver a punch!" Raising his right arm, the Catman delivered a powerful sucker punch to the muscular woman's face, and sent her straight into la la land.
"You all right Bashura?" Kotetsu asked with a raised eyebrow. Up until now he never seen his cheery navigator get so worked up, or so disappointed before.
"I will be fine, crew mate Kotetsu." Bashura answered in a slight huff as he rubbed his arms. "Just, find me some rope."
Zoro rolled his eyes at the two and grumbled under his breath. Seriously why did they have to have all the fun?
After five minutes the three agents regained consciousness. They were battered and bruised, and tied up, but they were still alive and kicking. The three glared at their captors, and that was all they could do.
"All right your three, start talking. I want to know everything about this...Baroque Works organization of yours." Kotetsu demanded the three. His right hand resting on the hilt of Nidai Kitetsu's hilt.
"Like we would ever say anything!" Miss Monday said through harshly clenched teeth.
"We may have been defeated, but the joke's on you pal, we ain't through. Not by a long shot!" Mr. 9 exclaimed through a bloody smile.
Mr. 8 however was silent, his blood dripping down his face through the top of his head slowly making a small puddle on the ground. To his captors he seemed completely unconcerned with his own safety, instead he seemed to have been worried about something, or perhaps someone else.
"I do not think we will get anything from them." Bashura stroked his tattooed chin thoughtfully. "Far too stubborn."
"Is that Log Pose of yours done with its whole reset thing?" Kotetsu asked.
"A few hours ago it did."
"Then lets get out of here."
"Just like that?" Zoro raised an eyebrow. "You're just going to up and leave after getting attacked."
"I rather not spill anymore blood, or cause anymore violence." Kotetsu said in defense to his reasoning. "Sometimes it's just better to leave when you've got the chance."
"Well, you're not going to get that chance cutie." A female above them said with a lighthearted laugh.
Craning their heads upwards, the trio and prisoners looked to see a smiling, highly attractive woman standing on the rooftops. She was a short, pale woman with short blonde hair and bright green eyes. She was wearing a yellow and orange hat, as well as a yellow dress with a lemon-like pattern, lemon earrings, and white high-heeled shoes. Clutched in her yellow gloved hands was a bright green parasol with blue stripes.
Her partner was a tall, dark-skinned man with black hair in short spiky dreadlocks. He wore a brown trench coat with a the number five embroidered on it, a pink cravat and a pair of sunglasses. Currently he was picking his nose with his right pinkie finger.
"Mr. 5 and Miss Valentine!" Mr. 8 shouted in disbelief.
"So the boss sent back up. Good!" Miss Monday exclaimed with glee.
"Na, we aren't here for you chumps." Mr. 5 coolly said while he rooted the inside of his nostril. "In fact we're here for another reason. One of you losers knows the boss' secret. And you all know we aren't supposed to know each others names, pasts, or nothin'. These people are on the island, and they are of the royal kind."
Mr. 9 began to profusely sweat. "It's not me! This crown is a fake!"
"Kyhaha! Oh that we know about," Miss Valentine giggled. "The people we're looking for disappeared from Alabasta two years ago. And guess who joined the organization around that time?"
Mr. 9 and Miss Monday turned towards Mr. 8, who by now was sweating bullets.
"You guessed it." Mr. 5 pulled a good sized booger from his nose, and rolled it between his thumb and index fingers. "And here is the kicker, they are none other than Igaram, the leader of the Royal Guard of Alabasta." He began to chuckle before announcing the next name. "And Nefertari Vivi, the Princess and sole heiress of Alabasta."
"What?" Kotetsu's eyes widened when he looked at the exposed Igaram.
"Royalty? Oh my." Bashura whispered to himself.
Zoro only raised an eyebrow in response. This was unusual even for him.
"Zoro!" The trio looked over to see a still very fat Luffy stomping over towards them, and man did he look mad. "What is the idea of beating the snot out of the people who gave us food, huh?!" To them it was obvious that Luffy was not getting the picture. "That is not how we repay the kindness of strangers!"
Zoro palmed his head with an audible smack. 'Can this not get any worse?'
At that very same moment, Mr. 5 dropped his booger from the roof, and they were all engulfed in a large explosion.
Armageddon: Well ere is the next chapter folks! Now if you're wondering why I've been updating Spiraling Shark like crazy, and I know a good lot of yo aren't, I'll tell you the simple reason. I have been having pirates on my mind of months now thanks to Assassins Creed Black Flag coming out, and now that I have it...well PIRATES. I can now plunder from the greedy, with my blood and my steel, and rob the rich of their ill gotten gains and make them kneel! And if you know where I got that from, then props to you...and I don't own it. Seriously I respect the guy who made it far too much to blatantly steal it.
So with my peace said, I leave you with this new chapter and I go back to playing Black Flag. Wooo!
Lt. Doom:...Yea folks, Armageddon has gone into game mode, and when he gets like that he won't stop until he finishes something. So, I guess late folks. And wait for the next update from one of his other stories...or this one, whichever one that sparks his fancy.
Pvt. Liquor: You all heard the Lieutenant, as for me I'm off to get me some rum and some booty of both kinds!
Lt. Doom: You are staying at the base right here Private!
Pvt. Liquor: *rips off his military uniform to reveal a full stereotypical pirate outfit with a already half-drunk bottle of rum* Arr me hearties, there is no Private Liquor. Yer talking to Marcus "Booze Hound" McDagertooth! And I will find One Piece and rule the seas bahaha!
Lt. Doom: Dammit Private get back here!
Pvt. Liquor: NEVER!
Lt. Doom: Dammit Liquor!