I own neither One Piece nor Naruto

OoO

Vivi had been having a good day today. It seemed that she had been paranoid for no reason, she even had went so far as to provide Kappa with Royal Guards to escort him.

Wherever he went, they went with him because she feared that some rogue Baroque Works member, still undercover in the rebel base, would make an attempt on the poor boy's life but she clearly had underestimated Naruto's marines intelligence division.

They had been successful in rooting out any and all Baroque Works members and placing them in the palace dungeons for until Smoker arrived.

The weird thing about the Intelligence division was that all of them looked similar, almost as if they were clones of each other…..no way that was true…it was just her paranoid mind playing tricks on her…right?

Anyways, the point was that Kappa had testified and provided proof of Crocodile and his lackeys' involvement in the civil war and the rebels had calmed down. It also helped that most of the rebels knew Kappa. Add Kohza's reassurances and all was good, it was all uneventful really.

She also had gotten the good news that all the Straw-Hats had been healed and Terracotta had informed her that the party was ready to begin.

She trudged back home and was not surprised to see that Luffy had already started eating and the party was now underway.

Even though Usopp was bandaged from head to toe, it seemed that Chopper had given him the go ahead to move around because he was there standing on the table, and telling bold li-ehrm-legends about himself to the Royal Soldiers, Chopper seemed to be lapping everything up that he said. Zoro was in a drinking contest with some other soldiers and Pell and it seemed to be a tough competition.

Sanji was, as usual, flirting with the girls from the palace household.

She was missing something….Nami! Where was she?!

After half an hour of searching, she found Nami standing by the railing on the Palace roof overlooking the city with a sake bottle in her hands, but something felt off.

Nami was….crying

OoO

Nami had just woken up from her slumber and she felt rejuvenated. The cuts she had suffered during her fight with Miss Doublefinger were absent, there were no scars either. 'Was this all a dream?' she thought, but then realized that she was on a bed, and the room looked too…expensive?

Her clothes were full of holes, thanks to Miss Doublefinger but fortunately a set of clothes had been set down for her by the into the new set of clothes, she moved towards the sole door in the room but not before checking herself out in the mirror.

The door led into a long hallway, which had balconies at frequent intervals. Stepping into one of the balconies, she took in the view of the city, Alubarna. She deduced that she was in the palace what with Royal Guards manning the entrance to the building she was in or it might be a prison but she doubted that. The city looked so lively even during the night, people were out in the streets celebrating something…what? She didn't know.

She could feel the cold desert wind caressing her skin, the stars shining above her and moonlight shrouding her in its soft glow. If one were to look up at Nami, they would assume she was some kind of goddess because of the heavenly beauty she seemed to be radiating in the moonlight.

She stood there for a long time, just drinking in the view and feeling the cold yet pleasant air around her. The city looked so peaceful that she could hardly believe that they were fighting tooth and nail just a few scant hours ago or just yesterday. She wasn't sure how long she had been asleep.

Feeling the burning in her stomach, Nami began her quest to quell the growing pangs of hunger she was feeling.

As she was walking down the hallway, a guard approached her out of the shadows.

"Nami-san?" he asked/said.

"Yes?" she responded.

"Vivi-sama had asked me to tell you to head towards the Banquet Hall after you woke up."

"Sure." She said.

And then started walking towards the Banquet Hall.

(Thirty Minutes Later)

'Argh!' she grunted, she was lost here. How could she be lost? She was the ship's navigator, she wasn't supposed to get lost, Zoro was supposed to be the directionless idiot.

She cursed herself for not asking the Royal Guard the directions for the Banquet Hall.

As she turned around a corner, she saw a light coming from the room on the far end of the hallway so she started walking towards it.

There were colorful bright flashes of light outside the palace followed by the bursting of firecrackers. It seemed that the city was celebrating the end of war, but Nami paid no heed to it.

She started running towards the room as she was hopelessly lost, the sound of her footsteps masked by the noise outside.

She arrived at the open door just in time to see Naruto sitting on the edge of his bed, buttoning his shirt. There was a girl lying on the bed, asleep. Naruto put on his open toed sandals and walked around the bed. He caressed the girl's cheek affectionately and mouthed something and then he turned around and left the room through the window.

A chilling coldness gripped her heart when saw that act of affection, she was not sure why but there was a twinge of pain in her chest. She moved closer to the bed and examined the sleeping girl shocked to see who she was.

The girl had a peaceful smile on her face and was blissfully unaware of Nami.

She didn't know what overcame her, it was all a blur as she ran away from the room and somehow ended up on the roof with a sake bottle. She was teary-eyed and after taking a few gulps from the bottle, the floodgates that were holding her emotions back opened.

"The scene kept replaying in her mind again and again. Each time she saw what Naruto did, imagining the affection in his voice, her chest started throbbing more and more with each image until she couldn't hold back anymore and started sobbing.

Nami barely heard the door to the roof open and didn't even notice the figure standing by her.

OoO

Vivi POV

Nami was….crying.

Vivi gingerly placed her hand on Nami's shoulder to comfort her but Nami flinched at the contact.

Nami turned around and looked at Vivi, biting her lower lip.

Vivi moved in for a comforting hug and Nami allowed her form to be enveloped.

"W-Why?" Nami mumbled, "Why does it hurt to see another girl with him?"

"What do you mean?" Vivi asked in a soothing voice.

"H-He brought Nico Robin here, she's sleeping in his room now." Nami sobbed.

Vivi was wondering who he was when Nami spoke again.

"Why does it hurt to see him with her? She's a criminal, why is Naruto helping her, isn't he a marine?!" Nami bit her lip, as she clenched the rail with her soft hands.

Oh, she was talking about Naruto, then it hit her as well. Why was Naruto helping their enemy? Wasn't Nico Robin the one who had helped start the civil war?

"Nami….what-what did you see that led to…this?" Vivi asked

"He-he caressed her face really n-nicely, affectionately…. why is he acting so familiar with her? Doesn't he know she's a wanted criminal? She killed Igaram!"

"Uh….actually…Igaram is alright, he arrived in Alubarna today."

Then Vivi realized something, she never asked Igaram how he survived the explosion that Nico Robin had caused.

"That's good news, but that still doesn't excuse Naruto acting so chummy with her, isn't it enough that I lik-" Nami stopped speaking abruptly.

"Yes?" Vivi asked unsure where this was going.

"Enough that I…..like him." Nami said slowly, and then blushed furiously.

"You like Naruto?" Vivi asked again, just to be sure.

"Y-Yeah." Nami sniffled.

"Is this perhaps jealousy you feel seeing him with another women?" Vivi inquired with a small smile.

"Wha-! Why would I be jealous of that...-that tramp?!" Nami huffed.

Vivi giggled at her friend's jealousy, "If you are so worried why Naruto is so 'chummy' with Nico Robin, then why don't you ask him about that? Come, let's find him." Vivi said as she pulled Nami to her feet.

OoO

Naruto had flashed himself in his room in the palace, he had requested a room where no one could bother him so the King had given him this one. It was situated in the Old Palace and no one ever really came here since it was mostly abandoned.

Robin was sleeping now, or rather was unconscious, since she had been already tired in the desert after her venting the anger and add to that the strain of teleporting the first timers felt had knocked her out.

He dug out a yellow shirt from his travel bag and tore off the rags he was wearing, his current shirt had been torn to pieces when Robin was…uh…venting. He buttoned the shirt and turned around to face Robin's sleeping form.

He looked at her face, now that it wasn't twisted into a snarl or utter disgust at him, and he felt he could really appreciate it now.

Robin had really grown over the years, she wasn't that little eight year old girl now, she was a woman grown. She hated him now, detested him and was outright disgusted by him, at least that's what he had deduced.

He had gently laid her down on the bed. He didn't know what came over him but he caressed her cheek. At that moment she wasn't a woman in his eyes, she was the bubbly but still somehow solemn little girl he had made friends with the second time he had visited this world.

Wishing her goodnight, Naruto started walking towards the window.

All he wanted was to sleep because after the day he had had he was really exhausted mentally, but since he had brought Robin into the Palace he felt like the least he could do was inform the King of his decision because those were good manners instilled into him by Old Man Sarutobi.

He went to the throne room where he supposed the king would be and he was correct. The king had just ended the meeting with his council of advisers when Naruto entered.

"Ah, Naruto-san…why aren't you at the party?" Cobra asked Naruto as the last of the advisers filed out of the room.

"I will attend the party later, but I had to tell you something." He said in a serious tone.

"Go on." The King told him.

"Cobra-sama, what are your thoughts on Nico Robin? What kind of person do you think she is based on your encounter with her?" Naruto asked the King.

"Well, all I can say is she is not what she portrays herself to be and she is definitely not what the world thinks of her. What I mean to say is that she had a chance to tell Crocodile the location of the weapon but she didn't, not even when her life was on the line. She saved Luffy-san from the Crocodile's poison even when she didn't have to. I think she's a good person who's been dealt a bad hand in life." The King finished saying.

"That's good, because I'm helping her. She's in my room and I intend to have the Straw-Hats take her in, she needs good people around her." Naruto said bluntly.

"Risky move, but I don't see any problem with that, I'll tell the staff not to go into the old section of the Palace until you leave. How about that?"

"Thank you Cobra-sama, I appreciate you doing this."

"Now then, how about we go to that party. I would like to thank this country's saviors." Cobra said as they he motioned for Naruto to walk with him.

"So tell me Naruto-san, why are you helping out Nico Robin? I know that you are too much of an inquisitive person for your own good but what led you to helping her?"

"Let's just say that I've known her since she was a child and I'd like to think that we….were good friends. I once made a promise to protect her and I'm not one to go back on my word so here we are…." He said.

"Bu-But she's certainly almost ten years older than you…..how could you have known her since she was a child?!" the King asked in bewilderment.

"Let's just say I'm older than I look and leave it at that." Naruto said with a sly smirk.

The King was going to say something when Naruto was promptly whisked off by Luffy and Usopp towards their table.

"Naruto, this is my Nii-chan, Ace!" Luffy introduced them.

"I know, I've met him before." Naruto told Luffy, "How are you Ace-san? I hope Smoker-taichou didn't give you much trouble." He continued.

"Nah, he was no trouble at all but man was he persistent…I must thank you for looking after Luffy when Smoky came, that saved me the trouble and let me go all out against him." Ace said to him.

"No need to thank me, I was just helping out a friend." Naruto said politely.

"Before I forget why I came here, let's get this over with" Ace said as he got something out of his pockets.

It was a thick piece of paper but Naruto could sense some chakra from it, chakra that was exactly the same as Ace's.

"This is my vivre card. It's attuned to me so if you ever need to find me Luffy, then follow this card. It will keep moving in the direction which I'm in." Ace said as he tore the piece in half.

He gave one to Luffy and surprisingly the other one to Naruto.

"Keep it on you Naruto-san, if you ever need help with anything and I mean anything, then come to me and I'll be glad to help. Consider this as my gratitude for helping Luffy out." Ace told Naruto.

"Uh…thanks….I guess. Here take this, if you ever need help, just throw this on a solid surface with the pointy end first and I'll be there in a flash." Naruto said with a solemn smile as he gave Ace his Hiraishin kunai.

He would have left a seal but he wasn't sure how his seals could affect the Logia user. His seals were connected to the person's chakra circulatory system and not just on the surface of the skin, at least not in the case of living beings. He used different type of seal for non-animate things. From what he had heard from Smoker-taichou, the Logia users could transform their bodies into the base element of the respective fruits they ate but the problem was that Naruto could not sense chakra from the Logia user. At least not the normal chakra, Ace was filled to brim with Nature Chakra, even his body seemed to be made up of Senjutsu Chakra, and it was surreal to be honest. The only reason he had even been able to sense Ace was because his body was so attuned to Nature Chakra.

He knew that Senjutsu Chakra could take on a physical appearance, like his Sage Dust techniques for instance, but the nature of Ace's body transcended that. Ace had no chakra circulatory system, if one were to imagine a chakra system, then it would be like plumbing in a house with pipes that provide a way for water to travel throughout the house. But Ace had no pipes in his body, the body was filled with Senjutsu Chakra to the brim, not unlike how you would fill a bucket.

So that's why Naruto opted to give Ace his Hiraishin kunai instead of a seal on the body. Plus he had warded the kunai with protective seals so there was no fear of the Hiraishin marker getting damaged like it was in Robin's case.

After the pleasantries were exchanged, he was challenged by Zoro to a drinking completion.

After once again coming out as a winner, he asked Luffy, who was busy stuffing his mouth with meat, where Nami and Vivi were. But he didn't have to wait long as he was dragged into a corner of the room by Vivi.

"Naruto, you have lot of explaining to do." Vivi said to him in a scolding tone.

"Wha-! Wh-" Naruto began to say but was lightly slapped by Nami, who he hadn't noticed until now.

"Ow! Why did you do that Nami-chan?" Naruto asked, tenderly rubbing his reddening cheek.

Nami wobbled slightly as she took a step closer, getting in Naruto's face, her cheeks flushed likely from the sake.

"Y-you bastard. Gallivanting with s-shome t-tramp while I'm here, worried about you. D-Did you think you could just throw me away like zthat?" Nami slurred.

"I beg your Pardon?" he asked her and then confusedly looked at Vivi and asked, "What has she been drinking?!"

"Don't bother Vivi, anshwer me….w-why ish zthat b-bitsch in your room." She demanded venomously while trying to maintain her balance. She leaned heavily on Naruto and started poking her index finger onto his chest.

"Isn't it e-enough z-that aye like you…huh? W-Why you go and bring another-another girl?!"

"Nami! What are you doing?!" Vivi asked alarmed.

"Telling him zthe truth…..anshwer me Naruto." Nami poked her finger again.

A little bit of brief backstory, Naruto had a really-really soft spot for Robin because he could see his childhood friend and relative in her, Karin Uzumaki.

Before meeting Naruto, Karin had lived in Kusagakure where she and her mother were treated worse than trash. They had to live on the outskirts and always on alert because they never knew when someone might decide that they were no use to the village. He could see parallels between Robin and Karin, they had led similar lives and because of his closeness to Karin he could relate to Robin and his blood boiled when Nami started calling Robin names. In that haze, he never forgot that Nami had confessed to him.

"NEVER call Robin-chan names like that. She already has had enough of a bad life without others treating her like shit and now you too?!" Naruto spat out those words with rage filled intensity.

The look on Nami's face mellowed his anger and he put his hands on her shoulder to stop her from running away.

She looked just about ready to cry, her lips were quivering and she had a look of betrayal on her face.

She struggled to get out of Naruto's grasp but was unable to, so she started hitting his chest weakly.

"Let me go you bastard…" she said weakly.

"Nami-chan…..I'm sorry, I shouldn't have had that outburst." Naruto apologized.

"Why not? You already found another girl….if not that you have Tashigi…I'm jusht another girl in your life... aren't I?" she said bitterly.

"Nami-chan, how many times must I tell you to get this through your skull, you're my nakama, my friend…not just some girl I met. I would do anything for you and the other guys and I'm sure you'd do the same for me. Together we share a bond that not even death would violate. You're my precious friend so stop putting yourself down." He said.

"Then who is that girl to you? Why are you so protective of her?" Nami asked as tears flowed down her cheeks.

"I'm just as protective of you as I am of her. She's my friend as well and she's had a bad life, that's why I was so angry at you for speaking like that….I thought you would understand her pain but then you went and said something like that." He said as he wiped her tears with his sleeve.

"I was going to introduce you guys tomorrow, I intended to ask Luffy to take her in as a crew member but now…I'm not so sure." He told her solemnly.

A million thoughts were running through Nami's head but the most prominent was about the fact that Naruto was disappointed in her. She hated this wrenching feeling in her gut about letting him down.

"I-I'm shorry for calling y-your friend names, it's jusht that I…I didn't want to l-lose you." Nami said with her held down.

"What do you mean lose me? I'll be there with you guys till the end if I can help it." He said with a chuckle, his previous anger all washed away.

"I-Idiot." She mumbled silently.

"Huh? You said something?" he asked innocently.

"Nothing, jusht that you're an idiot." She smiled to herself, all the previous pain and jealously gone….for now.

"Come Nami-chan, stop crying, you're not gonna lose me so let's enjoy the party." He said pulling her out of darkness of the corner and into light of the Banquet Hall.

Vivi was left there dumbstruck, how could her marine friend be so dense?! He just forgot about Nami's confession and did he….did he friend zone Nami?

But she was soon dragged into the party by Sanji and chose to forget about it in favor of enjoying the celebrations.

Her people were finally free.

OoO

The party had raged on till the wee hours, some of the Straw-Hat members were drunk, some were bloated with food and one was sleeping with his head rested in the lap of one of the female dancers with blood coming out of his nose and a perverted smile on his face.

It was a cloudless night and the stars and the moon were shining their soft glow on the palace. Bathed in the silver light sat Naruto, meditating and searching for his inner balance. He was reminiscing about the past. His life in the elemental nations, his friends and…..them.

God! How much he missed them both. Ino's brutal honesty and Karin's caring attitude, the wounds of losing them were still present, and their echoes leading to his heartache. He couldn't even bring them back from the afterlife, sometimes he just felt so useless for letting them die.

Even today, all that planning he had done, it had been useless. It was that sheer luck of his that no one had died in today's battle.

This being his first time living in another world, he was a bit apprehensive about taking a more active role in the on goings but if he wanted to achieve peace in this world, then he would need to stop being the pacifist that he was. He needed to assimilate as much information as soon as possible for him to make his move.

This decision of his was the one that created the first ripple in the sea of destiny of this world. In a yellow flash, he disappeared from the roof.

OoO

Naruto appeared in a room where shelves were stacked with scrolls. He moved in a sure way towards a shelf, he was a man who knew what to do next. After a few seconds, he moved away from the shelf, a scroll in hand.

He walked towards the table in the center of the room and sat by it, opening the scroll. The scroll was safeguarded against unwanted intrusion by having seals that only allowed its master to open it, anyone else trying to open the scroll would fall into a powerful genjutsu and then their chakra would be absorbed by the scroll to strengthen its defense mechanism.

There were three seals that Naruto had to bypass before he could read the contents of the scroll. He pulled upon his Uzumaki chakra and let it flow through the seals, the seals lighted up with a bluish-orange glow. Then he added Kurama's chakra into the mix and the color changed to dark red and finally he added the Six Paths Sage chakra and the seals glowed a brilliant hue of gold, the color of sun before there was a popping sound and out came another scroll.

It was the Forbidden Scroll of Sealing, it was here on Mount Myoboku because Sandaime had deemed Konoha an unsafe place for it and thus it was placed here, away from the greed of humanity. It contained within itself the dangerous-to-use sealing techniques such as the shadow clone jutsu, eight trigram sealing style.

What he was going to do was forbidden, no one was supposed to learn techniques from the Scroll of Sealing by the decree of the Shodaime but he was never the one to follow rules.

The technique he wanted to use was called, 'Seishin Bunshin no Jutsu'. This technique was dangerous for the fact that it split the user's spirit into equal parts and created a clone that could sustain itself indefinitely and create its own chakra but it consumed a huge amount of chakra to create one and threatened the integrity of the users psyche.

With each clone, the user lost a part of his soul and with that, a part of his mind. It was redundant technique for the most part but Naruto had theorized a loophole that might help him create such clones without losing parts of his mental self. This technique would help him learn all the matters of the pirate world faster than he could do it alone.

After scribbling down the technique's theory and its hand signs onto another blank scroll, he rolled it up and sealed it up within the first scroll again. He placed it on the shelf, where it was indistinguishable from all the other scrolls that adorned the walls.

He exited the room and made his way towards Ma and Pa's house. On the way, he met some early risers practicing toad kata and made small talk with them.

They were all relieved that Naruto hadn't abandoned their clan and had just been on a long break….a very long break.

He knocked on the door and a Ma's voice called, "Come in Pa, did you bring the bog devil flies that I asked you to?"

"I'm sure he will bring them when he actually comes home." He said cheekily.

"Naru-Chan!" she cried out as she jumped in for what seemed like a hug. Naruto spread his hands to embrace his other baachan but was awarded a hit from the pan of death, with the oil grease flying all over his clothes.

"OW! What did you do that for?" he asked nursing the growing bump on the back of his head. "And I just had these clothes dry cleaned." He added.

"What were you thinking Naruto? It's been a year since I last saw you! Where were you? We were worried." Shima said as she hugged him at last, slightly teary eyed.

"I'll tell you everything, that's why I came here but most of all is because I missed you guys." Naruto said as he gently sat down on the mat.

"Ma! Is that human sandals outside our door? Is it who I thin-" an old voice called out as the figure entered the room.

"Pa! It's so nice to see you guys both again." Naruto told Fukasaku.

"Naruto, my boy. Where have you been for the past year? Ma was so worried about you that she wouldn't even allow me to eat in peace." Pa complained as he dropped the basket containing some kind of big red flies on the kitchen counter. "Not that her food is edible." He said to Naruto just low enough for Naruto to hear which brought out a small smile on his face.

"I was visiting other...well…worlds. Did you guys know that there were other worlds? I have theorized that they are actually other planets based on differences that I have found. Like for instance the world in which the Biju's are in has three moons!"

"One other world had different animals that talked and walked like humans not unlike summons on our world but they had flying vehicles! And these are just among the countless ones I have visited. "He said.

While Naruto was speaking, Ma had transferred the flies and other all kinds of colorful insects into a bowls and was setting them up on the table.

"Speaking of these new worlds…I have…well…sort of adopted a one of them now, I was there for the last month or two and I even summoned Gamabaku to inform you that I was alright, but I see now that it was not enough. I apologize for worrying you guys, especially you Shima-baachan. I have friends and people I'm duty bound to protect there and I don't want them to know the horrors of fighting amongst each other that we've seen.

"Even far from home, the Will of Fire burns brightly among some in that world and that has given me cause enough to interfere, I want to help bring a form of order there, the government seems corrupt and the world is run over by pirates. I want to help people of those world just as I somehow did for this world." He ended his explanation and started eating.

Over the years, he had grown accustomed to eating all kinds of stuff and eating insects was no longer revolting to him.

"So, how have the Elemental Nations been doing?" he said through a mouthful of crunchy beetles.

"That depends, when was the last time you left that tropical island of yours?" Pa asked.

"About forty years give or take." Naruto said as he took a sip of water.

"Well, in Konoha there is no longer a position of Hokage, the village is run smoothly by a council of wise men comprised of both ninjas and civilians. There are six members, a healer, a scholar and a priest, these are the civilian leaders of the council and the Jounin commander, the ANBU commander and the head of ninja academy's teachers association and or the head of medic ninja association run the villages.

"Other nations seem to follow similar arrangement, and the peace has been strengthened by marriage pacts among every nation. All the Daimyos with their village's respective council meet up every six months to discuss ideas on how to advance this world without the help of chakra. The levels of chakra levels in humans are decreasing as well…maybe it's because there is no infighting among the nations. I'd give it another two or three centuries before the ninja system will be dismantled due to miniscule chakra levels."

"That's good….right?" Naruto asked.

"Well it is for the most part but…ah never mind. So, how many days are you here for this time?" Pa said changing the subject.

"I'll be leaving soon, I have to go meet the Bijus too, asked them if they will help me protect the new world, something that Rikudo jiji told me is the reason. He says there are other beings far powerful than him and me and that I'll need all the help that I can get to defeat them should they ever deem me a threat." Naruto told them as he got up to wash his hands.

They talked about his old life, their new life about Gamakichi and his three children and how they all were formidable summons. In the end they talked for about three hours.

"Call us if you ever need any help, we've still got a few centuries in us before we become like the Great Toad Sage, senile and fat." Pa told him as he hugged him for one last time.

"Be safe Naruto and summon us to the new world sometime, I want to see these…new friends of yours."

Naruto grinned.

"Sure, I want you guys to meet them as well but one surprise at a time."

After bidding them farewell, Naruto exited the house and went to the top of the hill, the same hill where he once practiced his frog kata.

"Well, let's see…hmm…not this…not this one either…Aha!" he mumbled to himself as he found the scroll he was looking for.

Channeling some Senjutsu chakra in the scroll, he threw the scroll in front and it glowed a bright golden and then there was a void tunnel of utter darkness in front of him with light at the end.

He had finished making the miniature dimension hopping seal when he was on the ship that was headed to Alabasta.

Jumping in, only one thought crossed his mind, "Here I come guys!"

OoO

Well this is mostly a filler chapter, sort of setting the scene for the next arc. Read, Review and PM me your favorite scene in the chapter, mine was writing drunk Nami!

By the way I am writing two other stories simultaneously along with this one, they are called 'The Spider' and 'Jon Snow – The Arachnid' if you love this story and are interested in those fandoms kindly check those out .

Check my profile if you need more info on the stories.

This chapter was beta-ed and reviewed by KizunaUzumaki and Lightningblade49, check their stuff out if you're interested.

Have a nice day :)