Guardian Soul Chapter One: The Man Sealed in the Merry! Naruto Uzumaki?!
Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto or One Piece they are owned by Masashi Kishimoto and Eiichiro Oda
The current Time Period was known as "The Great Pirate Era". It was a time where there was a thirst for adventure in the world with a vast sea. The world's population was highly dominated with pirates. Many years prior a legendary speech was spoken. Gold Roger, or actually Gol. D. Roger, was spoken. A speech that issued the Great Pirate Era all at once. Pirates worldwide still continue to search for his treasure, the One Piece, the man said to get it would be known as the "Pirate King"!
In the large ocean of the Grand Line only a short distance away from the island of Alabasta was the Going Merry, the ship and crewmate of the Straw Hat Pirates.
"Luffy stop eating all the food!" A blond member of the crew yelled at his captain, this was Sanji the cook.
The captain named Luffy grinned at the man before continuously snatching the food in the fridge. He turned his head behind to see Sanji approaching. In a very normal action to the crew the boy stretched his arms akin to rubber and launched away towards a higher part of the ship.
In the Crow's Nest of the ship was a green-haired man who was lifting three weights much heavier than his body. One rested in his mouth, and one other in each hand. The person was known as Roronoa Zoro the crew's swordsman. Zoro sighed as he heard the familiar ruckus of Sanji and Luffy fighting.
"LUFFY AND SANJI!" An angry feminine voice shouted. The two who were called gulped and sweatdropped and looked to see an orange-haired girl with an angry look approach them. She was Nami the crew's navigator.
Sanji grew hearts in his eyes as he saw her and began spinning around. "Nami-swan!" He called to her.
Only seconds later Nami looked down at a dazed Luffy and Sanji. Both men now carried several bumps and bruises courtesy of Nami.
"Nami-swan looks even lovelier when she's angry." Sanji murmured to himself still in daze.
"Quiet down I still have to finish my map of Alabasta." Nami huffed and then left back into her room.
Two other people exited the interior of the ship and looked around to see their Captain and Cook lying on the ground.
"Oi Luffy!" The dark-skinned human called. His most unique feature was a long nose; his name was Usopp the crew's sniper. Luffy turned his head to the person and gained stars in his eyes like a child.
The other person next to him was a strange addition to the crew. Actually it depended on your definition of strange. The person was literally a two-leg walking reindeer with a blue nose; his name was Chopper the doctor of the crew. Usopp had two arms extending out of his head making him seem to be a reindeer as well.
Luffy laughed along with Usopp and Chopper at the look. "Robin me too!" Luffy yelled in a childish voice.
A middle-aged woman sitting in a chair on the upper deck laughed at the antics of the crew her name was Nico Robin.
This was the Straw Hat Pirates, a strange bunch some others may say but to each other they were a well-knit family.
In the salty breeze of the noon Luffy walked through the ship and with a pout on his face. "Stupid Sanji not letting me take seconds." His stomach rumbled as if his stomach agreed with him.
Luffy's eyes scanned around the ship before something yellow caught his eyes. He looked at the floor to see a blond boy around his age, with three whisker marks on each cheek wearing an orange jumpsuit resting. He rubbed his eyes as if he was dreaming. He had looked at the floor once and the boy was still there.
"Oi! Was there ever anyone blond here with us?" Luffy asked.
"You idiot I'm blond." Sanji replied exiting the kitchen. "Why?" Sanji eyes looked to where Luffy was looking and his answer was questioned. "Who to hell is this?!"
"Luffy and Sanji what did I tell you about making so much noise?" Nami asked with an irritated expression. Luffy simply pointed to the ground as if to answer Nami untold question of what the noise was about. "Huh?"
"Hey Robin did you see this guy on the ship before we left Alabasta?" Nami questioned.
"As far I can tell I was the only one on." She replied and looked at the boy with interest.
"What's everyone looking at?" Usopp questioned along with Chopper in unison the three current lookers pointed to the blond. "Eh?"
"Is he hurt? Where's the doctor?!" Chopper shouted in panic. The current crewmates around him pointed at himself while sweat dropping. "Oh yea I'm the doctor." Chopper stated as he waved his arms around before getting serious.
"What's all the commotion about?" The green-haired swordsman inquired as he climbed down the crow's nest.
"Look at the ground baka marimo." Sanji insulted. Ignoring the insult Zoro looked at the ground.
"Is he dead?" Zoro bluntly questioned. As if to answer the question Luffy and Usopp began poking the blond with a stick that materialized from nowhere.
"You idiots! Just check if he's breathing!" Nami shouted at the two's idiocy.
"He's breathing, but his pulse is slower than normal." Chopper gulped realizing the intensity of the situation. In a matter of seconds the demeanor of the crew grew even tenser. "Someone carry him into the infirmary." As ordered Zoro picked him up and walked towards the right of the ship.
"It's the other way Zoro." Chopper informed, the green-haired swordsman honestly had no sense of direction. The reindeer was inside the infirmary for hours literally. By the time of dinner he still wasn't out yet.
"Chopper still isn't out with the mystery man." Luffy called with boredom.
"He was in there since noon." Usopp commented.
"Maybe he's dead." Robin neutrally commented on the matter.
Usopp slapped the air. "I'm starting to think you're more pessimistic then I am." The sniper muttered under his breath.
"Don't be so negative about it, besides Chopper's probably just making sure everything's all right." Nami added in.
"Hey guy's he's awake!" The voice of Chopper filled the room.
All members entered the small room of the infirmary and stared at the blond's blue eyes. The blond clutched his head as he stood up.
"How should I explain?" He questioned as he rubbed his chin. The crew raised their eyebrows. "I guess I should just say first that I'm Naruto Uzumaki!" He shouted with a bit of cheer in his voice. Most of the crew sweat dropped at his cheerfulness all of a sudden all but Robin.
She looked at the blond with interest. 'I've heard of that name somewhere.' She thought. She nodded her head when the name came to mind once again.
"I'm-" Luffy began his introduction before being interrupted.
"Monkey D. Luffy the man who will be the King of the Pirates." The blond finished the captain's sentence. Luffy gained stars in his eyes.
"You can read my mind! You're like a mystery man!" Luffy looked with awe.
"I don't know how-" The blond didn't finish his sentence as he clutched his head again.
"He probably just saw one of your Wanted Posters." Nami concluded.
"No I haven't." Naruto quickly replied, the blond sighed as he clutched his head in pain once again. "It'd be hard to believe but I'm the soul of your ship." The blond straight out said.
"Eh?!"
"What are you trying to pull?" Sanji asked with suspicion.
"Even though I remember being somewhere else at one point I have all the memories of since the Merry was created." He explained.
"Wait a minute if he actually is the soul of the merry then he'll know about everything that's happened on it." Usopp stated as he looked at the blond. "Where did we get the Merry?" Usopp asked. It was a question that only the members of the crew and/or a certain ally of the crew would know.
The blond clutched his head in pain before answering. "Syrup Village." Everyone's face took a look of shock. Either this Naruto Uzumaki was a stalker or he actually was the soul of the ship.
"If you were the soul of it then why didn't you appear till now? " Zoro asked. His question was pretty reasonable to ask compared to his earlier ones.
"I don't actually know." He said as he scratched his head sheepishly.
"You're not lying?" The rubber captain asked and Naruto nodded his head. Luffy rubbed his chin briefly before slamming his hand on his palm. "Then join my crew."
"Huh?" Naruto simply muttered.
"Like I said join my crew." Luffy repeated.
Naruto closed his eyes in thought before answering. "Sure."
Hours later after dark most of the crew were sleeping, all except the two newest members. Naruto sat cross-legged as he thought over the current set of events.
'The last thing I remember is fighting in the war.' He clutched his head in thought. Naruto tensed as he turned around to see Robin. "You're Robin right?" Naruto asked unnecessarily. He already knew who she was to begin with.
She nodded before moving closer to him. "I see you're in deep thought." She noted.
He nodded. "I don't actually ever remember being a part of this ship. I remember actually participating in a war."
Robin raised her eyebrow. "You wouldn't mean the 4th Shinobi World War would you?" He stood up quickly and grabbed her shoulders.
"You know what it is?!" He asked before realizing what he did. He sheepishly scratched his head before moving his hands off her. "Hehe sorry about that."
"No problem." She calmly said. Honestly Naruto would have been expecting a slap or something.
"So do you know anything else about it?" He asked eagerly he needed any answers he could get.
"All I know is that it happened 10,000 years before the Era of Pirates began from what I've gathered. It was ruled by Ninja in population and a main fighter was Naruto Uzumaki but that's really all I know." She finished.
"So I'm like a legend? Wait what do mean gathered you're saying there are places where I can find the information?" He asked completely not shocked of being in the future. She nodded. "Where can I find them then?"
"They're scattered everywhere across the Grand Line I can't even tell where most of them are." She said depressing Naruto's mood a little bit.
"Well I guess I'll search for them!" He had made up his mind rather quickly. "By the way what am I searching for?" He sheepishly scratched his head at his insolence.
She chuckled with mirth being the emotion in her brown eyes. "You'd probably find your answer where I found the information I gave you, in a Rio Poneglyph. They appear to be giant blocks with history written in them most likely in a different language." She wisely explained.
"So I'm guessing you're looking for them too?" Naruto asked with excitement. His answers may have been far but the Uzumaki always had a great sense of adventure.
"Yea I'm looking for information on the Void Century." She silently chuckled here she was telling her hopes and dreams to someone she had just met.
"Void century?"
"It's a time period that not really known since the World Government doesn't allow the research of it." Robin answered.
"I guess to repay you for giving me this information I'll help you find the Poneglyphs about it." The blond stated already having made up his mind.
She slightly frowned but quickly hid it. "I appreciate the help but honestly I don't need it." She said hiding her discomfort Naruto raised his eyebrows noticing the façade.
"I've already decided it's too late. I'll help you, that's a promise and I never break those." He smiled before yawning and heading to bed leaving a slight frown on Robin's face which the blond didn't see.
She mainly had a few thoughts running in her mind, ones that made her frown. It wasn't Naruto, in her little time of getting to know him he seemed to be a nice person. It wasn't the crew, they had accepted her on will something that had never happened to her before.
Her thoughts were focused on what may happen in the future. If THEY may come back to find her, would she have to run away again losing all the trust and friendship the crew had given to her. She felt as if she was dragging each and every one of them into a huge trap and Naruto offering to help in he studies of Poneglyphs was only moving them in deeper.
The next morning Naruto sat at a table across from the long nosed sniper. He was told that when a member joined that they were questioned.
"Name?" The sniper asked.
"Uzumaki Naruto." The blond calmly replied.
"Specialties?" The man asked.
"Fighting!" The blond yelled.
"Occupation?"
"…" It was a question Naruto hadn't but should've expected. "As a way to repay you back for taking good care of "me"…" Naruto stated putting emphasis on the word me, it felt pretty weird to refer to himself as the ship. "I'll be your guardian!"
Luffy raised his eyebrow before a grin made its way to his face. "So you can fight right?" Luffy asked still maintaining his grin.
"Are you kidding I've beat an entire army, and defeated some of the strongest people I knew!" He laughed.
"Alright then let's fight!" The captain ordered as he cracked his knuckles.
"He can't." Chopper said. "His heartbeat rate is still slower than average it may hurt his body if he were to fight." Luffy frowned at the fact.
"Can you at least show us a technique?" Luffy asked, his face perked up when Naruto nodded.
"Kage No Bunshin!" They blond shouted with no hand signs. A cloud of smoke covered Naruto for a second before quickly dispersing.
"So what he made a cloud of smoke." Zoro said before his eyes widened when the smoke disappeared.
Luffy, Chopper, and Usopp's eyes gained stars at the sight before them. Where once stood one Naruto now stood two.
"Sugoi!" Luffy yelled as he moved up to touch them, they were both solid so they weren't illusions. Zoro and Sanji looked dumbfounded while Nami and Robin looked slightly shocked.
"So you must have eaten a devil fruit?" Nami questioned. Her reply was in the form of Naruto shaking his head.
"B-But how's that possible then?" Sanji asked still quite dumbfounded.
"It was techniques that the people I knew used, they were called jutsu." He explained.
"So you can do more of it?" Chopper asked.
"Yep." Naruto quickly dispersed the clone and held out his palm. Slowly a ball of blue light formed in it.
"WOW!" The three exclaimed as they watched it. Naruto laughed seeing their expressions before allowing the ball to disperse.
Luffy's stomach rumbled as his thought process quickly switched. "Sanji when's lunch?" He asked.
Sanji looked towards the sky before moving into the kitchen. "I guess I should start cooking it's around noon anyway."
Everyone else resumed what they had previously been doing. Naruto entered the kitchen finding not6hing better to do.
"Anything I can help you with?" The blond questioned. His fellow blond gave him a critical eye.
"I still don't trust you." He openly spoke causing Naruto to sigh.
"I had a feeling you didn't but I can prove I'm actually the soul of the ship." He moved closer to Sanji and whispered something in his ears causing the cook's eyes to widen.
"What color?" He asked.
"Orange." The blond quickly replied. Sanji quickly swirled out the door only seconds later.
"SANJI YOU PERVERT!" Nami yell coursed through the ship. Only seconds later Sanji walked in with bruises and scratches and a bit of blood running down his nose.
"You were right." He goofily said with a smile on his face. Naruto chuckled.
'I can't believe he actually checked if her underwear was actually that color.' Naruto thought.
After Sanji settled down Naruto assisted in making the first half of lunch before exiting. He walked into the infirmary to see Chopper just working on a paper.
"Naruto you came just in time I have to make sure if your heart is working ok." Chopper told the blond. Naruto nodded and sat down. "Take off your shirt I have to see if the slowed heartbeat is having any effects on your body."
Naruto followed as ordered and took off the top part of his jumpsuit. Chopper looked over the boy's check in shock and gasped.
"What is there anything wrong?" Naruto questioned in concern.
"No but the scar on your body." Chopper made out. On Naruto's chest was a large scar that was placed where his heart was. "How'd you get it?" Chopper asked in horror.
Naruto shook his head. "…" He made his hair shadow his eyes as his body grew extremely tense. Chopper noticed and calmed down.
"I didn't mean to bring up any bad memories or anything." He began with sadness in his voice.
"No problem it's just something personal." He said a bit plainly.
Chopper quickly moved on not wanting to continue to build on the saddening atmosphere. "It doesn't seem that your body is taking any effects even though your heartbeat is still slow."
"So is everything alright for now?"
"Yea just come see me if you experience anything unusual." Chopper replied. Naruto nodded and smiled.
"You're a good doctor Chopper." The blond praised.
"Shut up baka I'm not happy at the appraisal." Chopper oddly said as he waved around with a smile.
Naruto chuckled before walking out, and moving onto the crow's nest. He looked inside to see Zoro lifting weights. The swordsman must have not noticed the blond because he kept his attention on the weights.
"You must be crazy about training." Naruto stated causing Zoro to move out of his trance.
Zoro raised his eyebrow at Naruto appearance before sighing. "I won't easily believe you like Ero-cook." He simply stated as he looked at the blond. Naruto sighed once again.
"I really don't have anything that would make you believe me." Naruto said. He actually wasn't sure himself if he was actually the soul of the Going Merry, even though his memories suggested it.
Shortly after that Naruto moved to another room of the ship. Inside he saw Usopp messing around with some chemicals. Usopp looked up from his experiments to see the blond enter.
"Naruto, have you come to see the Great Captain Usopp in his workplace?" Usopp said with a grin. Naruto nodded causing Usopp to move his long nose up. "I guess I could teach you a thing or two."
Naruto watched as Usopp messed with a bottle with red liquids with a skull sign of death. Usopp extracted some of the substance inside a small ball.
"I have an idea for one of your attacks." Naruto declared after some thought about his fighting style. He whispered in his ear something. Usopp grew a face of deep thought before nodding.
"That'll help in lots of situations." He replied with a smile. "How many can you give me?"
"Probably a couple hundred." Naruto answered. "I'll get to you whenever I can."
It was only shortly after that he left to explore another part of the ship. He entered another room to see maps scattered everywhere in a disorganized fashion.
He looked around and saw no one in so in a matter of minutes with the use of his Shadow Clone Jutsu the whole room was clean and tidy. It was only a minute after that the door to the room opened. Naruto turned around to see Nami looking at the room with wide eyes.
He smiled as he sheepishly scratched his head. "I saw it was a little messed up so I decided to organize it."
"It was like that for days I never thought I would have the time to clean it." She said with a sigh of relief. "Thank you so much!" Cleaning all of that wasn't Nami's strong suit especially with having to manage so many maps at once.
"It was nothing." He smiled. "Your maps are pretty detailed by the way."
"I try my best. I've been drawing maps since I was a child too." She asserted. "One day I hope to draw a map of the world!" She slightly shouted with determination. "It does sound a little silly but I really hope that I'm able to do it."
"It's not silly at all. I use to have a dream to become the head of where I lived, a lot of people tried to deter me out of it by I kept trying. Even though I may have never managed to do it I never thought once that it was silly at all." He smiled remembering his past a little bit.
"You did say that you used to be somewhere else before you found yourself with the Merry. You have any idea where it could be?" Naruto shook his head at her question. "Maybe we'll cross it while we're on the Grand Line." She reassured him.
"Yea maybe." He hoped they somehow did end up on it. 'The whole Elemental Land probably ended up being separated into separate islands.'
Next Naruto found himself on the upper deck of the ship next to Robin who was reading a book. She slightly closed the book to look at her company. "Anything I can help you with Uzumaki-san?" She questioned adding in the honorifics.
"No reasons to call me by my last name just call me Naruto or even Naruto-kun is fine." She nodded."So why're you reading a book?" He asked. "It's the Grand Line a pirate's whole adventure waits here!" He said slightly getting pumped.
"I find this book interesting." She simply replied as she closed her book fully. "Have you read any books Naruto-kun?"
"Yea, I actually went to school as well." Naruto answered, not many people currently attended a place where they got education. All they really learned was to read and write and that's it. "If you attended school where I live you probably would have became a ninja or a person who supports behind the scenes."
She nodded at his explanation before opening her book once again only to have it snatched from the blond accompanying her.
"Come on Robin it wouldn't hurt to lay off a book once and a while." He smiled watching her trying to grab the book.
After finally giving up trying to retain her book she replied. "Then it wouldn't be hard for you to read a book as well." He laughed before handing her the book back.
'Naruto-kun how much do you know about the members of the crew?" Robin asked in the comfortable silence between them.
"Pretty much everything from likes, fighting styles, and even history." He said answering the same question.
Robin's eyes widened at the last thing he stated. "So you know about my past too?" She said sadly.
Naruto frowned before giving her a nod causing her to deepen her face in her book.
"But honestly I don't care, pasts are bullshit to me." He straightforwardly said. She looked at shocked.
"But…" She began before being interrupted.
"Like I said Robin it doesn't matter. I'm the guardian of the crew anyway if someone comes to take you." He cracked his fist. "I'll kick their ass. Plus everyone else wouldn't give up without a fight too." He smiled at her.
She turned her face back to her book to hide her apparent blush from coming in contact with Naruto's eyes.
A little bit later, Naruto looked around to find Luffy sitting on the head of the Merry. The boy must've noticed him because his face perked up when he saw him. The devil fruit eater stretched his arms onto Naruto's shoulders.
"Naruto help me get into the fridge." The young boy whispered.
Naruto raised his eyebrow to question Luffy. In response the boy's stomach rumbled. "I know you're hungry but why me?"
"You can create clones and turn into other people." Luffy explained once again gaining stars in his eyes.
Naruto sighed before he created a clone that looked exactly like Nami. The clone Nami entered the kitchen and seconds later came back out with a plate of food. In-between chewing Luffy thanked Naruto.
After that the two took a fishing rod and began quickly sitting and waiting for the fish to bite while conversing on random topics all together.
A/N: So how was it? I tried to make a good understanding of everything before introducing Naruto. After that I tried to make him get closer in friendship and trust with most of the crew. Now to explain somethings.
Naruto is not the strongest but he is stronger than others. I won't have him defeating every enemy in his path because currently he doesn't have the power to do that. As will be shown in the next chapter Naruto has many missing techniques for reasons that will be explained further along the story. Honestly right now I can't really rank his power but I'd definitely categorize him among the same tier of Luffy, Sanji, and Zoro, maybe even slightly higher.
As for pairings if you didn't know already. The pairing is Naruto x Robin and I MAY add Nami if the majority of voters agree, so I'll be posting a poll soon so that you guys can vote.
That's pretty much all for now, so make sure to review and tell me how it was. See ya!