I don't own Naruto or One Piece, if I did I would not have taken so long in writing anything! Sorry guys I'm getting better I promise! Also I really don't own the characters in the omake for obvious reasons!
"Talk"
'Think'
Gin waking up was honestly something I was grateful for. To have someone who knew what they were doing around the ship was a huge weight off my shoulders, there were things that needed to be done that I would never have imagined. But most importantly, he began to train everyone who needed it.
That was everyone by the way, I'm not going to write what Gin made them do just in case someone has any bright ideas of following in his footsteps.
We were attacked by Baroque Works on our way to the island by the way. I guess they were apart of the forces that were surrounding the island, but two of them tried to mess with us. Gin set one ship on fire while I sank another by myself, I don't want to brag but it was pretty flawless for the both of us to do what we needed to do. We did dock at an abandoned town, Kotetsu distracted them and blew several of them into bloody chunks with the cannons and then...stuff happened.
I don't exactly know what happened with most of the people I was with. I do know Gin damaged several buildings with explosives, both him and Bashura fought Fujin and Raijin, a pair of gigantic idiots. Carmen, Shizune and Kotetsu fought against Miss Mother's Day while Igaram guarded against Miss Goldenweek. I personally fought against Mr. 6. And must I even mention the fight?
It wasn't much of one, he was a devil fruit-user, a Zoan that turned himself into a tiger man. I killed him before he even began fighting, I honestly didn't want to do a long drawn out fight especially when we were on the clock. When I got down into the town Gin was covered in vomit, Bashura was black and blue, Shizune and Carmen looked like drowned rats, and Kotetsu looked like he ran fifty laps around the country. Oh, and apparently Goldenweek used those special paints of hers to make Fujin and Raijin into slaves...to an extent, it just made them perfect pack mules.
Before we could decide where to go we saw over a dozen of ships on the horizon. I was going to go and wipe them all out, but they were obliterated by fire! I only knew one person who could use fire like that and grew excited.
I got a chance to see Portgas D. Ace again.
The route to Water 7 was not what one would call normal, after leaving Little 7 they had to divert their route because the sea was frozen. Literally frozen over with ice that went on for at least ten nautical miles. There was even a thin trail on top of the water like someone rode a bicycle on top of it.
Kotetsu turned completely white and threw up over the side of the ship. Before anyone could see what was wrong with him, their lookout flashed away into their ship. Shizune went to check up on him, and Naruto pretty much told everyone to return to their stations while the situation was dealt with.
This is where we could find Vivi in her room with Carue resting in the corner. The Princess of Alabasta had a bright smile on her face as she regaled her adventure so far to her father back at him.
"You're already at Water 7? That's great news Vivi!" The voice of Nefertiti Cobra exclaimed over the den den mushi that looked remarkably like him.
Vivi couldn't help but smile hearing her father's voice again. She meant to do it after finding Jack Lee's treasure, but with Foxy trapping them into a Davy Back Fight, and the events that followed afterwards she simply didn't have the time. Now he was making up for it.
"Yeah, honestly after going through Mock Town and everything else...well it's been quite a couple of interesting weeks." She said, understating everything that happened.
"Vivi, you know you can always come home if it gets too much for you." Cobra said, his voice serious as a heart attack.
"Father, I'm fine. I went through much worse when I was in Baroque Works. Plus I got the entire crew to teach me new things that I know I'll need down the road if I'm to become the Queen of Alabasta."
"Ha! Be careful Vivi, I may be old but I'm not old enough to relinquish my throne to you just yet!"
Vivi couldn't help but giggle from hearing that. Resting on her bed she looked over at Carue who was napping in the corner. "Let's hope that is not for a long time. Now, I told you about the Davy Back Fight and Jack Lee's treasure, what is going on at home?"
"You're not going to believe this, but some strange fellow named Gedatsu fell from the sky and nearly landed on Goro while he was on Ukkari."
"Kohza's uncle, he's still there!? Wait...did you say this man fell from the sky?" Vivi exclaimed in shock.
"Indeed, through a series of strange events Gedatsu helped Goro find the hot springs he had been looking for, defeated the Dirt Boss to dig for them and Forest Boss to build them, and somehow managed to find an old tunnel that connected Alabasta to the island. The next thing everyone knows there is a resort built there."
"That...that's amazing! I can't wait to see it when I come home again. What happened to this Gedatsu fellow?" Vivi curiously asked.
"Well, he's a clerk at the resort. Nice guy, but like I said a very odd fellow. We recently renamed the island Ukkari Hot-Spring Island to make it officially a hot spring island. I tell you Vivi, I can't go a week without it now." Cobra joyfully laughed.
"I'm glad to hear that everything is going well. I'll call you soon, okay? Give everyone my love."
After saying their goodbyes, the Princess of Alabasta laid her head on her pillow and looked at the busted ceiling of their ship. So much had changed in only a few weeks, the next thing Vivi figured would happen was Alabasta would be fully rebuilt by the time she returned home.
She could only imagine what the cities would look like, would they be grander than what she remembered? What would Rainbase be converted into? Would Nanohana be completely rebuilt? Oh the thoughts were almost too much to imagine!
"Quack!"
Vivi immediately looked over to see Carue waddling up to her, his beady eyes looking at her, head tilted to the side in confusion.
"Father is doing great, Carue." The blue-haired maiden said, reaching out and rubbing his beak. "I'm glad things are going well over there, I guess I am just a little homesick."
Her longtime companion rubbed his beak further into her hand, nuzzling it.
"It's okay, I do miss everyone but I know I'm needed here. Believe it or not I like it here, everyone's a little strange but that's what makes it so fun! Bashura looks scary but he's nothing more than a big kitty cat. Kotetsu takes things a little too seriously at times, but he has an appetite that can make Luffy have a run for his money."
She looked at the cracked ceiling, her mood brightening even further as she described the other members of The Ocean Sword Pirates. "Carmen is a perfectionist in her craft, but she has such a drive to be better. Shizune...hehe she is definitely the mom of the crew, but she is kind and caring like any doctor should be. I don't know too much about Donovan yet, he's excitable as a puppy but he's a genius when it comes to inventing things."
Vivi then frowned when she thought about the next person. "Marianne...I still don't like her. What she did on Little Garden with her partner is not something I can overlook. And I still question her loyalty considering what she did with that stunt she pulled. Then there is Gin...I'm just glad he is on our side."
She then grew real quiet when she thought of the Captain of the crew. He was the one who brought them all together, somehow, he managed to make this crew of misfits, outcasts, and degenerate's work. How his sharp toothed grin encouraged them to do better, how his fighting prowess helped save the day when it was really needed. The way he moved with such confidence was befitting of a King. And the way his muscles moved when he…
Immediately Vivi's eyes widened and steam escaped from her ears. "Oh no, I did not just think that!" She quickly sat up and placed her hand over her chest. "Calm down Vivi, it was just a stray fantasy. You did the same thing with some of the other boys you came into contact with growing up, it's no big deal! No big deal at all!"
That was what she kept telling herself at least.
Meanwhile in their not-so-private radio room, Naruto was looking at the den den mushi in his hand that had curly dark-blue hair and thick lips. He had a indengeous look on his face. "Zala, mind telling me that again? Because I think I misheard you."
"I don't think you did. We got more than our share of treasure by Cricket and have settled in Mock Town. We recently bought a building from a resident who had enough of the island and made it ours." Zala's voice purred, causing the blonde to sweat-drop.
"Why...why would you do this? I know you're an unwilling member of my crew-"
"Not exactly unwilling, with Crocodile in Impel Down we were left to fend for ourselves, Marianne did us a favor, even if you are...well the reason some of us were thrust into this situation."
"Hey, I never fought any of you. If I or any of my crew did, you all would more than likely be dead like Mizuki and all those other assholes." Naruto protested.
"It doesn't matter anymore, Captain." Zala replied, and the tiger shark fishman could swear she was smirking on the other end. "We renamed the place the Spiders Café, it's a new version of what I used to own. Bentham's crew serves under us not only as guards but servers, why, we even got the Roshio Pirates to join us."
"The Roshio Pirates? Zala, who in the world are they?"
"Perhaps I should say the remainder of the Roshio Pirates joined us. Apparently, their Captain, Roshio, was killed several weeks before we arrived. They were stuck here leaderless until I came along."
"Didn't they have a ship? I mean what about their First Mate, or why didn't they just leave?" Rubbing the back of his head, Naruto tried to figure out the logic of them simply staying in that shitty place.
"Apparently their First Mate was killed the same day in an unrelated incident, there are only ten of them so it's not a giant increase in number. And apparently their ship was stolen as well."
Naruto could only roll his eyes and slumped into the chair. Well, this was not the worst thing he heard all day. He just didn't know what to feel about having another crew under him flying his banner.
"Alright...what exactly are you guys doing over there? I know you're not just running a café, especially with all that money you guys got. So spill it."
"My, my, bossy, aren't you?" Zala said in a teasing voice, but it suddenly went from teasing to serious. "We figured we could do something besides keeping our heads down for now. I have Mikita as our cook, Babe is also here as security. But I sent Gem and Drophy with several of our people out to gather information."
"Information about what?"
"Everything of interest, from pirates with bounties that can be cashed in, to up-and-coming pirates that should be watched out for. Let's not forget about the Marines and World Government."
"And what have you found out so far?" Naruto asked. He knew from experience that information was key between life or death, and in the Grand Line they needed every scrap that could be provided.
"We only uncovered a pirate crew you need to absolutely watch out for. They are called The Kid Pirates; they are responsible for causing mass destruction and civilian casualties throughout their journey from the South Blue to the Grand Line." Zala informed her Captain.
"I hate them already." Naruto growled out in anger. Again, Hody Jones' lessons about humans being evil hit him. But he closed his eyes to calm himself, now wasn't the time to get angry over something he had no control over. "Who are the most prominent members?"
"Actually, there are only four members of the crew. Heat and Wire are the only ones whose bounties I have been unable to find. But "Massacre Soldier" Killer and "Captain" Eustass Kid are easily the most powerful."
"What the hell kind of name is Killer? More importantly, Kid's epithet is Captain?"
"I'm not the one who gives them their names or epithets. Blame their parents or the Marines." Zala huffed in response. "I would tell you their bounties, but they're practically changing by the day."
"There is no need to do that, Zala. Just keep up the good work." Naruto replied before looking out the window to his room. "We're going to be going silent for a while, just got to Water 7 and our ship is going to get a major overhaul."
"Be careful, Captain." Zala hung up her den den mushi, and Naruto was left alone with his thoughts.
Three months ago, Naruto would never have imagined the situation he found himself in. Never would he imagine fighting the likes of Capone "Gang" Bege who had a devil fruit that could turn him into a castle and shoot cannon balls out of him along with the other stuff he saw.
Then there was "Surgeon of Death" Trafalgar Law, a man with a terrifying bounty. Naruto honestly had no idea what sort of power the man had at his disposal, but he wasn't going to go out of his way to fight the guy. But his senses told him to not mess with him, he was dangerous as they came and no good would come from a needless conflict.
Now there was this asshole Eustass Kid and Killer. A couple of punks who apparently got off on killing innocent folk, if Naruto ever ran into them, he would tear them a new asshole, if anything his entire crew would get in on that action just to either cash in a serious bounty or simply be rid of them.
"Huh, my crew." Naruto said to himself. And it wasn't the first time he wound up thinking this way, ever since Alabasta and what he would describe as a near death experience, he found himself tearing away from Hody's teachings.
Now don't get him wrong, Hody made a lot of sense. Humans were nasty, racist, and generally awful people. But then there were the good ones who wanted to help change things for the better, and then there were people who just wanted to try and live their lives.
In a way it was just like Fishman Island. There were lots of people who wanted to just live their lives, Queen Otohime wanted to change things for the better, and there were a lot of rotten people as well, especially in the Fishman District. Besides being different species, they were practically the same.
Huh, maybe Queen Otohime was onto something?
"Hey Uzumaki, I think we're nearing Water 7! Get your scaly ass up here!"
"Damn it Gin, nothing about me is even remotely scaly!"
Or not, but then again Gin was his own breed of human.
Setting the den den mushi onto the rack with the others, the blonde tiger shark fishman got out of the so-called radio room and closed the door to it. Immediately the door itself fell off the hinges and crashed onto the floor.
"I hate this ship so much." Cursing at hopefully the last thing that fell off this hunk of crap he trudged up onto the deck where members of his crew were waiting for him.
When he arrived on the deck, the blonde tiger shark fishman looked past the bow and saw the strangest sight he had seen so far. And after entering the Grand Line he had seen a lot of odd things.
"Is that a giant frog?"
"Yes, I think it is." Shizune handed him a spyglass. "I think it's heading towards the lighthouse over there."
Looking through the glass, Naruto indeed saw a giant frog with yellow-brown skin swimming towards the lighthouse. He had black hair worn in a chonmage and numerous scars on his belly. It seemed to turn around and bared sharp teeth and took up a sumo stance.
DING!
"What the? Carmen what is going on?" Naruto asked.
DING!
"How should I know?" Carmen demanded.
DING!
"Well, whatever it is, it's getting louder, and annoying." Marianne bordly intoned.
DING!
Kotetsu went white as a sheet, unlike everyone else he knew exactly what was going on. He didn't like it, it honestly felt like a pit opened up in his stomach.
"Stop the ship! Stop the ship right now, we must not go any further!"
DING!
"Kotetsu calm down." Shizune said with worry in her voice. The entire time she checked up on the sandy-haired teen, he was in a state of shock. His body shivering, sweat pouring out his body, it was like some sort of boogeyman popped out of his nightmares and stole the will to fight out of him.
He didn't talk, he honestly wouldn't say what was spooking him, but he did manage to calm down after a lot of coaxing from her. But now it seemed that progress was just about to be undone.
"I can't calm down, we're near the-"
DING!
HOOONK!
Everyone on deck looked in disbelief as a train, an actual giant train roared past them on the ocean itself. It collided with the frog who took a sumo stance to try and stop it, but it couldn't stop nearly twenty thousand tons of coal powered steel. The poor amphibian went flying and splashed right into the ocean.
"What the fuck was that?" Gin bluntly asked after the train chugged past their ship.
"That was a sea train, I've heard about them but never seen one before." Kotetsu told them as they watched the black smoke dissipate in the distance. "Listen, I don't know much about them, but those sea trains are literally the only things that can literally move on water due to the tracks underneath it."
"Then tell me wise guy, what in the world is that?" The First Mate demanded, pointing at the building the train passed by.
"It's a train station, Gin." Kotetsu replied in a deadpan voice. It may not have been common knowledge to those not of the Grand Line, but it was to him. Granted it was an unfair advantage, but life wasn't fair. "I suggest we dock there and introduce ourselves so there are no complications."
"What do you mean by complications?" Naruto asked. Ever since he left Fishman Island his life had been nothing but complications, he did not need to have any more.
"Water 7 is a complicated place, they build and fix ships, sure, but pirates are different from merchant ships, or even the Marines. And unfortunately, I have never been there before, so I don't know the procedures."
"Wouldn't Donovan know? He said he was from Water 7." Carmen asked.
"He is finishing up his projects and did not want to be disturbed." Vivi answered for their newest crewmate. When she receives a few confused, and scathing looks she blushed in embarrassment. "He said he was really close to finishing! Besides, we can get information from the lady at the station, can't we?"
Vivi pointed out three of the oddest individuals the crew had ever seen, they honestly had to blink several times to make sure they weren't imaging things.
The first person was an old woman dressed in a train conductor's uniform that consisted of black boots, a pink overcoat, rolled up cream-colored pants that had red roses that went from her knees to her shins, a white long-sleeved shirt and purple buttoned up vest with a tie tucked into it, and a large conductor's hat.
But it was her facial features that caused them to stare. It looked as if she was perpetually smiling. It didn't help that she was overweight, making her body shape, along with her strange smile, causing her to look like a frog. Her light blonde-green hair was done in pigtails and puffy didn't do her any favors, nor the bottle of booze in her hand.
The second was a young and vibrant girl. She wore her blonde-green hair in pigtails that stood upward, and were puffy at the end, along with red sandals and a short white shirt over a striped dress, of orange and red stripes. Like the woman she had a very large smile on her face that stretched out the small amount of lipstick she wore.
The last was a rabbit that was mostly light blue in color with a cream-colored face and front. Like the two other women it seemed to be smiling as well.
"Ohhh another crew of pirates! Granny Kokoro, this is the second one today!" The young girl happily exclaimed.
"Nagagagaga! So, it appears to be Chimney, I think the last one passed by four hours ago." Kokoro laughed before taking a swing from her bottle of booze.
The crew then docked near what was revealed to be Shift Station, several of them undocked. Bashura and Shizune elected to stay behind with Marianne and Kotetsu; the latter who seemed to be under the weather. That left Carmen, Naruto, Vivi, and Gin to meet with the strange trio.
"Hi! I'm Chimney, this is Granny Kokoro, and my cat Gonbe." Chimney introduced themselves.
"Meow!" Gonbe, the obvious rabbit greeted them.
"Hello. I'm Uzumaki Naruto, this is Gin, Bashura and Kujaku. They are my crewmates." Naruto introduced himself and the people with him.
"Aren't you an interesting lot. I haven't seen a fishman as Captain of a bunch of humans before." Kokoro laughed.
"Trust me when I say every single one of us are on that ship by our own free will." Vivi humbly bowed towards them.
"We believe it, Naruto doesn't look to be that bad of a guy." Chimney exclaimed with a wide smile. "I also saw that you had a run in with Puffing Tom."
"That frog had a run in with that train." Gin said, looking towards the area where the frog went flying.
"Oh, that was just Yokozuna. He tries to stop Puffing Tom on a daily basis, and he will be back as usual. But it's such a pain in the butt, he's always breaking the rail guards and scaring people on the sea train." Chimney huffed.
"Nagagagaga! So where are you all heading off to? If you're going to take the sea train from here you could reach St. Polar, the town of The Spring Queen. The Carnival Town of San Faldo, or how about Pucci, The Gourmet City?" Kokoro took another big gulp from her bottle. "Of course, if you're involved with the government there is another train you could take..."
The sound of Kotetsu throwing up and a woman screaming caused them to look at the deck.
"Geez, this is completely unlike Kotetsu." Naruto remarked, hearing another round of barfing. He would have to look into what was going on with their lookout a bit later.
Carmen turned towards Kokoro after hearing about Pucci. That was a destination she would have to head towards later for her personal reasons. After all she doubted anyone remembered her promise.
"Actually, we're hoping to get to Water 7. As you can see our ship…" One of the railings broke off and fell into the water at that very moment. "Er, it really needs repairs."
"Then you're going to the right place, Water 7 has the best carpenters in the entire world gathered in one place." Kokoro slowly stood up from her chair and stumbled into the station. She took a swing from her bottle and began rifling through her desk.
"That is one strange woman, er, no offense." Bashura said, looking down at Chimney,
"Oh, that is just granny being granny." Chimney said, smiling big and wide. "Trust me, she's only doing something to help you out."
"Meow!" Gonbe hopped into Chimney's arms.
"So...what's up with that rabbit?" Gin questioned the odd antics of the animal.
"Rabbit? Sorry mister but Gonbe is my cat, I know he looks a little strange but he's my best friend!" The small girl smiled.
"But that-"
"Gin, that is a cat. A strange cat, but a cat." Bashura looked at the First Mate telling him to drop it, there was no real need to argue with a little girl regarding a rabbit of all things.
"Here you go, take these." Kokoro stumbled into Naruto, laughed as she rightened herself and handed him two pieces of paper. "It's not much but it's a simple map and letter of recommendation. Water 7 is a big place so don't get lost."
"I don't think that will happen, we got someone who is actually from the place. But we will take the map and letter just in case. Thank you." Naruto said, looking at the older woman closely. She was definitely strange; something was off about her, but he could not for the life of him understand why.
"Oh?" Kokoro hiccupped, "Well good for you, I hope this person serves you well. Chimney and Gonbe will be coming with me back to Water 7 soon, I know we will meet again since the log pose takes a week to reset there, so you might as well have some leisure time!"
"I think a lot of us will like that. Take it easy Kokoro." Shaking the older woman's hand, Naruto and the rest returned to their ship and set off once more.
After departing from Shift Station, the crew of The Ocean Sword Pirates learned two things. The first was the "map" Kokoro gave them was nothing more than a doodle, a completely useless piece of paper. The second was the first sight of Water 7.
Water 7 could only be described as layered. The architecture was very colorful, consisting of using a tan or peach color for the walls and roofs which were many tiles red and semi-circular; nearly all the roofs are of red color and texture. There were canals wide enough for ships, and the city itself resembled a giant fountain in a volcano shape.
"I've been around a lot of places before, and I have to say this is an impressive city." Gin whistled after viewing Water 7 for the first time.
"Yeah…" Naruto had to admit, it wasn't like the man coral homes of Fishman Island, but he found it breathtaking.
"I agree…" Bashura said, his jaw completely unhinged.
"I thought Alubarna was impressive, but this...not even our highest tower can match this. It's so beautiful." Vivi said, a smile forming on her hidden face.
"Quack!"
"This place has a very rich history, I've heard of it, but never been." A somewhat pale Kotetsu said, his stomach more settled after losing his breakfast.
"..." Was Marianne's response. No one was surprised by that.
"If we're going to be here for a week, we need to find a place to stay, and of course map out what we're going to do-"
"Don't worry about it Shizune!" Carmen patted their doctor's shoulder. "We've been stuck on this ship for far too long, we should spend this week enjoying ourselves. I say we go on a shopping trip; we can get some brand new clothes, good food, perhaps shoes…" She glared over at a sheepish Kotetsu, it would be a while before she forgave him for throwing up on her sandals.
"I think we need to deal with the main issue first," Gin lightly tapped one of the many crates that were tied onto the deck with his boot. "We need to unload this stuff and sell it. Without the money we can't fix this ship, let alone buy a new one. Bashura, Kotetsu, Goldenweek-"
"My name is Marianne." The former Baroque Works agent protested.
"Fine, Marianne, I want you all to come with me. We got a lot of stuff to haul."
"And what exactly are we supposed to do about-"
"Everyone, if I may?" Donovan exited from the bowls of the ship with both Carmen's fan, a box, and the gauntlets in his arms. He still had that huge smile on his face, if Naruto didn't know any better it was from a sense of accomplishment.
"As you all know I used to live here, I know every bit of Water 7 like the back of my hand. The first place we need to go to is the Galley-La Headquarters, the owner can use some of his workers to haul the treasure from the ship to Cashing, take it to one of the docks, and after you all give your input to what you want for the ship you can galavant all over Water 7." Donovan grinned at them, the nails in his mouth rolling from his words.
"That honestly makes a lot of sense." Vivi gave her input. "Donovan, what is the owner of Galley-La like?"
"Oh, he's the best. Firm but fair and knows his ships inside and out. Hell, I heard he apprenticed under the legendary shipwright Tom!" He laughed in glee from telling the accomplishment of Water 7. "Ahh...you're going to like it here."
"Hey Donovan, what exactly do you have there?" Kotetsu pointed at the stuff in his arms.
"Bwahaha I'm glad you asked! Everyone, I got a couple goodies." Walking over to Carmen, he presented her with the battle fan. "Carmen, it took most of the night, but I got the Dials settled in your fan. I actually rooted around and managed to find a book about them buried in those blueprints. I tell ya Carmen I got some proper ideas with them Jet and Flame Dials once I found out what they looked like."
Taking the fan, the pink-haired chef looked at it and saw small, but noticeable differences where the fire paint was. Testing the balance, she noticed that it wasn't awkward to handle, the balance was still perfect.
"Thank you, Donovan, how do I use it, exactly?" She asked.
"I haven't exactly tested it, but I managed to make them activate by swinging the fan." He received a lot of dirty looks. "Don't worry! I didn't cut or light anything on fire. Now Carmen, if you find a place to practice, I say go wild, trust me you will not regret it." Donovan said with a very wide smile.
"Thank you, Donovan. I appreciate it."
Giving the pink-haired chef a nod, Donovan turned towards Gin and presented him with a pair of golden gauntlets that went to the elbows. "I think you will appreciate these."
"Krieg's old gauntlets?" The former Combat Commander looked at the pieces of armor in distaste. "I thought those were thrown into the sea."
"You can blame me for that." Naruto stepped forward and raised his right hand. "I wanted a trophy for us kicking Krieg's ass. But unlike Kuro's stupid cat claws, or Jack Lee's boarding axe and cutlass, Krieg's gauntlets deserve some more use with your special brand of violence."
"The Captain is right. I resized them to fit your arms, I removed those diamonds and filled them in with the metal from my own body. I took a few samples of the steel Krieg himself used, but I cannot replicate the Wootz steel...at least not yet." Donovan crackled, causing many to sweat-drop. The mere thought of him getting giddy over this was disturbing. "I used my devil fruit to create a new net, fixed the launcher for it, and refilled the flamethrower. Trust me, with your deadly combat abilities it will be unpredictable in the future."
"I think you should take them Gin." Shizune said, looking at the gauntlets and then back to him. "You said we needed every advantage on the Grand Line. I think this will count as an advantage."
Grumbling irritably Gin looked at the gauntlets and took them off their shipwright. "I'm not a fan of the gold color, it clashes with my outfit."
"Clashes with your outfit? Crewmate Gin, if I didn't know any better, I would say you were some sort of fashionista."
"Bashura, that is not funny. Not funny at all." Gin growled at their navigator.
"Now for the last bit." Opening the box in his hands, they would see a strange device that had a hook on the back, and it was no longer than Carmen's pinkie finger.
"Donovan is that what I think it is?" Vivi asked.
"Indeed, it is, everyone this is my automatic lifejacket. For devil fruit-users like me the sea is a death sentence, now if you fall into the water it'll inflate after sensing the difference in pressure. Kotetsu, Bashura, Carmen these are for you."
"Hold on, are you sure these will work?" Kotetsu asked before their shipwright moved behind him and set the device at the back of his shirt collar.
"On my life, why else do you think there were so many explosions?" Donovan laughed.
"Honestly, I thought it was because you were explosion happy." Gin grumbled.
"Says the man who blew up and burned down the Sexy Foxy?" Gin honestly did not have a response to that. "Now everyone, I don't want to be that sort of bossy kind of guy, but I suggest you follow my directions. Water 7 is big, pirates aren't supposed to go through the main entrance, and many other rules you must follow. Are we cool about that?"
Naruto shrugged his broad shoulders. "I don't have any problems with it. Let's get going, the more time we spend out here the longer it will take to get our ship fixed."
(Galley-La Headquarters)
Docking wasn't too much of an issue, neither was getting to the Galley-La Headquarters. Carmen, Marianne, Bashura, Kotetsu, and Carue stayed behind on the ship to keep any looters from getting funny ideas. That left Naruto, Gin, Vivi, Shizune and Donovan himself to venture into Water 7.
They rented three Yagura Bulls, apparently native animals that Donovan swore up and down would be their quickest way to get to their destinations. It was strange riding on the aquatic horse-like animals, but after seeing some very strange things since they started traveling together it was a nice kind of strange especially when it came to the canals.
The only other odd thing they had to deal with were people in masks. They didn't do anything, but in all black clothing and white masks they did keep far away so as not to cause any trouble. But after taking the water elevator they made it to the main street of Water 7 and they found themselves at the headquarters.
It was there they met Iceburg. He was a six foot six tall, lightly bearded, middle aged man with blue hair and similarly colored lips. He wore a red and orange striped jacket over an unbuttoned orange shirt with a wide collar, black suit pants and black shoes.
His secretary, Kalifa, was a slim, pretty woman with blue eyes and glasses with long strawberry-blonde hair tied up into a bun. She had small, studded earrings and wore a yellow long-sleeved jacket that exposed her cleavage, a black skirt that showed off her long legs and high-heel boots.
"Oh my, a second letter of introduction in an entire day by Kokoro?" Iceburg said after looking at the letter of introduction, and then promptly tearing it up. "You're in need of ship repair I see. Well, you have come to the right place, but first...Kalifa."
"Of course, Mr. Iceburg." His beautiful secretary pulled out a thick folder from somewhere, where none of them even saw where it came from. "Sword of the Sea'' Uzumaki Naruto, Gin the "Man-Demon", "Blood-Soaked" Kotetsu, and "Flag-Bearer of Freedom'' Marianne. These four have bounties on their heads that add up to one-hundred and fifty-one million beli. You started off in the East Blue, and currently have eight...pardon make that nine members." She said, looking at Donovan. "Yes, "Ironclad'' Donovan...make that a total of two-hundred and one million beli."
'That's...that's way too much information.' Gin found himself sweating. The sharp look in Kalifa's eyes were unnatural, this was one hell of a secretary.
Naruto wasn't doing any better. Unlike Gin, he only thought of the bounties that combined in his crew. That meant they were bigger targets for the World Government, it was probably a blessing that they didn't know about Zala and the others. Damn it this was starting to get worse by the day.
To their surprise Iceburg didn't even bat an eyelash.
"I see, welcome to Water 7. And Donovan welcome back, I'm glad you are in good health." He greeted them.
"Bwahaha! It's good to see you again Boss, how is everyone in Dock Four doing?" Donovan greeted his former employer.
"They are doing well; they are keeping busy just like every dock worker under my employ."
Soon the group was ignored when both former employer and employee started chatting. It was honestly odd, very odd.
"Um, Miss Kalifa does this happen all the time?" Vivi asked.
"Not necessarily." Kalifa adjusted her glasses. "It is somewhat rare for some of our workers to be hired on by pirate crews, but not unheard of. Of course, they need to pay for us to release them from our service."
"Wouldn't that make it hard on you?" Carmen questioned them. "Like any business if you lose workers wouldn't your guys suffer?"
"Not at all "Five-Alarm" Carmen." Kalifa replied. "This is Water 7, the City of Water and home to the best shipwrights. Almost everyone here aspires to be one, they are like celebrities here. In fact you missed a few of our best earlier today beating up a pirate crew who refused to pay...also it's good to know you aren't a captive."
"Ha! Of course not, I'm with these guys voluntarily after getting onto the wrong ship. If it wasn't for me, they would all starve to death!" The chef of the crew said in a haughty manner.
"And if it wasn't for me they would die of their wounds, there is no need to get too haughty Carmen." Shizune deadpanned.
The pink-haired chef puffed her cheeks at their doctor. "I have the right to brag about my skills, Shizune!"
"I think we're forgetting about the main reason we're here. We got a ship that needs to be repaired, so can we get into a dock now?" Gin irritably asked.
Kalifa adjusted her glasses once more. "If you want Dock One, I'm afraid you're out of luck. But I do know we have space in Dock Two if you are interested in getting second best."
"We'll take it." Naruto prevented any bickering that might have occurred, Gin was definitely going to argue with this woman to get them the best, and he did not have time to listen to any of it. "Gin our ship is going to fall apart if we even sneeze the wrong way, if it's second best then we will take it."
"Grr fine…" The First Mate growled out. "But we're going to need a few people to help us out. Donovan said we could get to Cashing to exchange old and jewels for beli. We have more treasure than we can carry. We'll pay you guys for a few bodies to help move them so we can pay you for our ship."
"That can be arranged. Mr. Iceburg, sir!"
"What is it?" Iceberg turned towards them with an annoyed expression, that was when they noticed a white mouse sticking out of his breast pocket. It also didn't help that the man was picking his nose with his pinkie finger. "Can't you see that I'm talking here?"
"Excuse me, Sir. But our newest clients are going to need help moving a massive amount of treasure and will need to have their ship moved to Dock Two." Kalifa replied, completely unfazed by her boss' attitude.
"Oh, alright. I'll leave you to pick out the bodies, and since my schedule is clear for the day, I'll show them around Dock Two."
"Very well, Mr. Iceberg. If you will please follow me." Kalifa turned on her heels and began to walk in the opposite direction. Gin followed her for obvious reasons, Carmen and Shizune followed to keep him in line.
That just left Naruto, Vivi and Donovan with Iceburg. Finally, they were in range of getting their ship fixed.
(Cashing)
Gin was tapping his finger irritably against his bicep. Ten thousand beli and dozens of carts and people later they all arrived at the appraisers. Now he fully expected it to take a hot minute for the man, some weasel named Ishigo Shitemanna appraised every gold piece, jewelry and gem they looted from "Black" Jack Lee's underwater base.
"My, my, this is quite the haul you have here." Ishigo ran his right finger over his very large mustache. The number of hours taken to properly examine the value of everything brought to him this day was taxing, and unfortunately for him adding up rapidly.
"Yeah, I know. We hauled it up ourselves." Gin irritably growled. "Now quit jerking us around and tell me how much we got!"
"That's sexual harassment." Kalifa's professional tone caused not only him, but the two other women to snap their heads towards her in shock.
"What the? How the fuck is that sexual harassment!" Gin yelled out in surprise.
"The term means-"
"We know what that means, you don't have to say it!" Carmen yelled; her face flustered from the conversation going from normal to completely unexpected.
"Yes, sorry." Iceberg's secretary fixed her glasses once again.
"So how much is all this worth? I mean we got an estimate from our partners who helped raised it from where we found it but-"
Ishigo cut Shizune off, he may have struck out earlier today, but he was not going to this time. "This is a good sum; I would say it's worth three-hundred million beli…" He would feel a cold, murderous stare coming from the scruffy looking First Mate.
"I'm sorry, can you repeat that? I get the feeling I heard something stupid come out of your mouth." Gin's fingers were twitching, they were far away from his weapons, but they were a clear warning sign from his aggravation.
Carmen had her giant folding fan ready to club Gin if he got out of control, and Shizune was ready to sedate him with one of her many poisons. Both learned that in this crew they needed countermeasures in case someone; mainly Kotetsu, went out of control.
"Ah...I mean, ahem sorry it seems I misspoke." Ishigo wiped away the sweat building up on his brow. "This entire amount is worth six-hundred million beli. I don't have that much on hand today, another crew walked off with three-hundred million earlier this morning. I need some time to get that much in cold hard cash I swear!"
The glare Gin gave the appraiser lessened, but his fingers did not stop twitching. "Give me a receipt for what it's worth, and we will return before the week is over. Will Iceburg allow us to pay what we have on hand as a down payment and give the rest after we receive our money?"
"I can give him a message and we can come to an arrangement." Kalifa said after fixing her glasses.
Both Shizune and Carmen let out collective sighs of relief. They didn't need to worry about any blood being spilled today. For them that was a win.
(Dock Two)
"I have never seen such a massive place in my life!" Vivi exclaimed in glee. The dry dock was filled with numerous ships of all shapes and sizes. They even saw their own ship being loaded into it by wheels, it honestly was a sore spot for the entire place with how shoddy it looked compared to the pristine ships.
"It's not Dock One, but Dock Two is nothing to sneeze at either. Neither of my docks are truth be told, even though I'm the Mayor of Water 7 I run a tight shift to make sure none of my employees are messing around." Iceberg said, smiling as he greeted the numerous workers as they walked past them.
"It's true. Dock Four got whipped into shape when I was an apprentice. Mr. Iceburg separated the good from the bad, beat up those who deserved it, and made honest workers out of all of them." Donovan shed a little bit of history about their docks, it was honestly enlightening.
"That's cool and all, but our ship…" Naruto pointed out their ship and sweat-dropped when the bowsprit broke off and fell with a terrible crash. "Uhh…"
"Oh for the love of...Donvan what is your professional opinion of their ship?" Iceburg demanded.
"Bwahaha! It's held together by tar and prayers!" Donovan laughed.
"It's unfortunately true." Naruto sighed out in irritation.
"Everyone! I need your attention right here right now! For those not working on any projects right now I need all hands to work on that ship over there!"
"YES MR. ICEBURG, SIR!"
The roars of the workers nearly knocked the crew off their feet, and the rampage of feet making their way towards the ship sounded like a thunderstorm. And then they saw the other members of their crew being led off the ship.
Unfortunately for them, the inspection took several hours. By the time they even got done Gin and the others managed to join them.
"Hey Captain, great news." Gin greeted them with a wave and a yellow piece of paper on hand.
"I hope it's none of that good news bad news thing." Naruto said.
"Unfortunately, you're right. Good news is we got ourselves six-hundred million beli to work with." Gin smirked, showing off the receipt. "The bad news is that the appraiser didn't have that much cash on hand, we have to wait a few days before we get all of it in full."
"Mr. Iceburg, they do have the funds but just can't pay in full right now." Kalifa approached her boss. "They are willing to pay what they have up front and the rest later. If that is acceptable of course."
"Of course, it is. I'll draw up the paperwork when I get back to my office." Iceburg dug his pinkie finger into his ear. He eyed one of the workers approaching them with a clipboard in hand. "Report."
The man reporting was tall, had peach-pale skin and had a potbelly. He had brown, short, wavy hair, and brown eyes with thick glasses on his face along with striking cheekbones. He wore a white t-shirt, blue jeans and brown work boots with a tool belt around his waist.
"Sir, we looked over every inch of The Nautilus and after removing those giant metallic plates, and several other things I have to say the ship is going to need a massive overhaul. The mast is broken, the deck is a mix of various wood from another ship, the electricity is now completely shot, their water is...well I'm afraid that it would be better to make a list of what isn't wrong with the ship."
The entirety of the Ocean Sword crew palmed their faces. They knew it was bad, Donovan said so, but was it really that bad? Apparently so.
"What isn't wrong with our ship?" Naruto demanded.
"The keel is actually in perfect condition. From what we discovered it's made out of Iron Wood."
"That's sexual harassment." Kalifa said.
"Iron Wood? Are you sure, Hank?" Iceburg asked, ignoring his secretary.
"I'm absolutely sure Mr. Iceburg." Hank replied. "Whoever first owned this ship apparently wanted to make it entirely out of it but ran out of funds. And after that I fear shoddy work made up the rest of it."
"What do we do then? I know the Captain would want to keep the sea stone on the bottom of the ship, and if the keel is Iron Wood then we want to keep it." Donovan asked.
"Well son, I would recommend just getting a whole new ship. But if you are attached to this one, we could work out what you want if you got any ideas."
Hank actually backed away when every single member of the crew gave him a demonic smile. They had some ideas alright.
(Water 7 Streets - Two hours later)
"Bwahaha! Wow! Did you see the looks on their faces?" Donovan loudly laughed. It caused the citizens to look at the group oddly, it didn't help that several animals ran away.
"I have never seen someone go so pale." Bashura said.
"That smoking guy literally ate his lit cigarette by accident. I have never seen smoke erupt from someone's nose, mouth and ears." Kotetsu remarked. His normal dour expression was replaced with a smile for once.
"I feel bad though, we did put in a lot of ridiculous requests. Did you really need to make the kitchen so big Carmen?" Shizune asked their chef.
"Yes~" The pink-haired chef twirled on her toes, honestly, she felt weightless for the first time in weeks. "A big kitchen with state-of-the-art kitchenware. I can create the most exquisite dishes for a chef of my standing! And money is not a problem either!"
"And it nearly cost us nearly everything we had." Gin tilted his head to look at the greying sky. "It'll be worth it though; we need the best ship on the sea."
"Gin, how did we get an extra one-hundred million beli?" Marianne asked the First Mate in her usual bored voice. "You didn't steal it, did you?"
When the veteran pirate went quiet and turned his head to the side, everyone gave him a dull look.
"Gin…" Kotetsu sighed in disappointment.
"What? So, I took a few more crates, big deal! Cricket was pulling out boxes of treasure by the day, we needed the money! Don't you judge me!"
'We are definitely judging you.' Was the collective thought of almost everyone.
The only three who weren't thinking that were Naruto and Vivi who were trailing behind them with Carue.
"It seems so unreal, is it strange that I'm kind of going to miss our ship?" Vivi asked.
"Yes, it's very strange." Naruto replied without missing a beat. "I was on that floating hunk of junk from day one. I am not going to miss the splinters or the lack of electricity, and let's not get me started on the plumbing."
"Quack!"
"Yes, thanks for reminding me of all the water I had to bail out numerous times."
Vivi could only giggle. She wasn't going to exactly miss all the problems of their ship, but change was a good thing. She would have her own room that suited her own tastes, that made her happy.
The two of them passed by several people wearing the same masks they saw earlier, it honestly gave Naruto the creeps. There were dozens of them, it didn't help that there were several mask stands.
It caused him to look at Vivi and her exposed brown eyes, and then the piece of cloth that covered her face from the nose down. That wasn't going to help much if she got into a real fight. Sure, her hair and body were covered but he did not desire her to get in trouble because someone tore her clothing away in a fight.
"Hey Kujaku." He called her over to one of the stands. "I just had a thought, and we need to give you some more cover. Pick out whatever you want."
Raising a delicate blue eyebrow Vivi moved next to him and looked over the rows upon rows of masks. Some looked far too plain, one looked like a musketeer, a few were domino masks, then she came across the animal masks. After scanning for several seconds, she picked up one that suited her perfectly.
The mask in her hands was a peacock masquerade mask that was deep purple in color, slit eye holes and and a small beak for a nose.
"A peacock mask, how fitting. We'll take it." Naruto reached into his side pouch and paid the vendor. They may have given thirty million beli as a down payment, but they still had roughly four million left over to live off of until their ship was finished.
Hindsight was definitely twenty-twenty. No sooner did Vivi put her new mask over the upper half of her face, they entered the hotel Iceburg recommended for them and encountered the Straw Hat Pirates.
Only...something was wrong with them. There was an aura of depression around them and Usopp was nowhere to be found.
'Oh no, this is not going to go well.' Naruto thought to himself seeing the normally rambunctious and cheery crew looking like someone stole their money, destroyed their ship and ate their cute reindeer doctor at the same time.
He got two out of three right.
(Omake)
"Guys, this is a serious deal on the line. Mr. Iceburg has expressed that everything needs to be perfect, can I trust you all to take notes and behave here. Because if you don't, I'll kick your ass." Hank said to the three men sitting in the room with him.
Hank looked at the first man, a pale, skinny man with sandy blonde hair wearing an orange hat that said the word Mack on it, and glasses with sunglass clip-ons. He wore a button up pale maroon shirt with a white undershirt, navy blue jeans and work boots. He finished smoking his cigarette and said, "Yep."
Hank then looked at the second man, he was overweight with peach skin, a circular chin, and light red-brown hair that was balding on the top, while the rest of his body was ironically hairy. He had unmaintained eyebrows, and small circular eyes. He wore a white tank top, blue jeans and brown work boots. He finished sipping a beer and nodded. "Yep."
Hank then looked at the last man, he was somewhat lanky with a potbelly, hazel eyes, platinum blonde hair, orange-tinted tan skin, and a strong somewhat rectangular chin. He wore a dark gray shirt, blue jeans, and work boots. He finished sipping his own beer and nodded at Hank. "Mhm."
"Alright come one in, one at a time." Hank took a seat with his friends he knew since childhood.
The first person to come into the room was Gin with several blueprints in his arms. Taking a seat across from them he set them down onto the table. "I'll make this quick and easy. We got these blueprints from someone who doesn't need them anymore. I want them to be used on our ship."
"What are you crazy?" The skinny one said after unfolding one of the blueprints. "This is a laser beam; we don't have anything like that!"
"Shut up Dale, we actually have theirs. It was stored away in the bottom of their ship." Hank chastised his friend.
"I also want a hell of an armory made up and a separate room for treasure, I'm pretty much the only one who keeps track of our money." Gin added onto the list.
"Dangol'lotstodo,man. Wecanknockdowntwo dangol'wallsinthebacktoseeforsize." The tan one said in such quick words that Gin had a hard time to understand what he just said.
"Not a bad idea Boomhauer. We could easily implement that in the building." Hank said to his friend. Gin honestly wondered how the hell he manged to understand the guy.
"If he wants guns and explosives, I could show him how to make a bomb out of a roll of toilet paper and a stick of dynamite." Dale said before lighting up another cigarette.
"Dale, I don't think he needs to know how to make a bomb like that. I mean look at him, he's a pirate, he knows how to make proper bombs." The obese man said.
"Shut up Bill, just because you were forced out of the Marines and your wife left you doesn't mean you know more than I do about bombs."
Bill soon began crying after that, and it was completely pathetic. Gin looked at the four he was forced to give his plans to and wondered if they were going to get screwed or not.