Chapter 4 Start: An Axe has no hand and Baratie

"Hey, Boss." Kidomaru called out, "You said you were a Lightning Man, right?"

"Yeah?" Naruto looked confused at the random question from his sniper.

"So how did you and tomato do all that other shit? I didn't know the Rumble Rumble Fruit let you cut shit up with a kick." Tayuya asked, but Naruto covered her mouth and made a shushing noise, before looking to his mom, who was on the other end of the deck, and thankfully she didn't hear.

"Don't ever say that about Kushina! She will fly into a murderous rage if you call her that!" Naruto pointed out before he retracted his hand.

"About the question though, Captain?" Monet asked, to which Naruto's mood lightened and he laughed.

"Yahahahaha! Enough with the formalities, Monet. It's just us on this ship, call me by my given name." Naruto insisted, to which Monet replied with a smile.

"Very well….Naruto, we are all curious about how it is you and Kushina can do those things." Monet asked.

"Oh, that's Rokushiki or Six Powers. They're the advanced techniques the higher ranked Marines and Cipher Pol's know. I'll be teaching my crew how to do them. Might as well start now!" Naruto said happily as he walked to the main deck so he could demonstrate, calling over the everyone.

The others that weren't Kushina were quite eager to learn some new tricks, but Nami was an exception, saying, "Hey, remember that I'm just a partner. Once I have 100,000,000, I'm out." Even if she liked Naruto – she couldn't deny anymore - she was too close to finally freeing her village. She almost had enough, and 6,000,000 more would do it.

Naruto looked at her dryly, "Oh, and how do you plan on getting that gold?"

Nami simply smirked, "Same way I've been doing it! Stealing from Pirates!"

Naruto sighed, "Nami, could you have beaten Buffoon?"

She looked surprised, "What, Buggy? Of course not!"

"Right, him. Anyway, how do you plan to steal from the Grandline when you can't even beat that loser? Here in East Blue you didn't even think Devil Fruits were real. In the Grand Line, everyone who's anybody has one. And I probably mean that literally." Naruto said with complete seriousness.

Nami looked stricken, "Well…" She blustered before she deflated, "Fine…" She mumbled, defeated.

Naruto stretched, "You know, I may as well show you guys the techniques now. We've got enough space to practice the first 4."

"Okay, Nami, take out that staff you're hiding under your skirt."

The girl's face instantly flamed red and her fist whizzed forward and crashed into Naruto's nose, "PERVERT! HOW DID YOU KNOW ABOUT THAT!"

Naruto merely turned into lightning and chuckled, "I'm that good." The others were either laughing or chuckling at the antics.

Nami huffed but took her staff out, connecting the pieces until it was all connected, "Alright." She said waspishly, "Now what?"

Naruto got up with a snicker, "Try and hit me."

Nami smirked. An excuse to beat on a Pirate? Even if it is Naruto? "Alright."

She swung the staff with all of her strength, aiming to hit Naruto upside the head. "Paper Art." Naruto said the word and – just as the staff neared him – he seemed to flow around the blow almost like air. She stumbled from the overextension but recovered admirably. She swung again, and the same thing happened. She unleashed a flurry of strikes but couldn't land a hit even once. Soon, she was using the staff to hold herself up and was panting heavily.

"Paper Art." Naruto repeated before explaining, "You basically make your muscles relax and go limp, so that you can simply flow around attacks."

"Wow." She breathed, "That one does sound pretty useful." And it seemed perfect for her. She was already very nimble and agile. A couple of the newer members thought so too.

Naruto chuckled, "If you think that's cool, watch this." And with that, he back flipped off the boat.

Nami screamed, "You idiot! You can't swim!"

She whirled around, "Someone, go get him!" She ordered in panic.

Kisame merely pointed with a grin. Nami turned and felt her jaw drop. Naruto was hopping up and down on the air. "Moonwalk."

"You're flying!" Nami screamed in shock, "How are you doing that!"

"Not quite. Take a look at my feet." Naruto said as the members saw the poofs being produced under his feet. "I'm not flying. I'm jumping with enough force that the air becomes a platform for me to jump off."

"That's amazing! Can humans really learn these things?!" Nami looked dumbfounded. None of the Marines who had bothered to give even a token effort at freeing her village had ever done anything remotely like this.

"Of course, though with the Marines, you will typically only see this among the Cipher Pols and higher ups," Naruto called, "The next one I'm going to show you is actually the easiest of the six to learn. It's called Shave."

"Shave? What's that?" Tayuya looked confused, which was exactly how Naruto wanted her.

He vanished from their sight in a burst of speed and Tayuya yelped as she heard a sound behind her and then screamed loudly as she felt arms pin hers to her side. "Gotcha!" Naruto grinned as he was enjoying messing with his musician, before he started tickling the poor woman.

Tayuya burst out into laughter as the boy took her down and started making her laugh, "Ahahahahaha! Stop, dipshit!" She sputtered as he just continued tickling her and her face started turning red. She squirmed under his relentless assault before she finally managed to trip him, and he fell on her, laughing.

Her face was a bright red as she turned and saw him on top, "Jack ass! Get off!" She yelped, though her face's color didn't change at all. Kidomaru, Kushina, and Kisame were laughing quite audibly while Konan and Monet were amused by the antics. Nami was glad he wasn't messing with her like that and at the same time, displeased he wasn't messing with her like that.

"Right, you're up Kisame." Naruto called out as he stepped towards the Fishman, "I want you to punch me as hard as you can."

Kisame's face didn't change at all, even if Nami's did. Kisame grunted as a fist flashed forward directly into Naruto's gut. "Iron Body." Naruto seemed to steel himself as Kisame's fist impacted, and nothing seemed to happen for a moment. Then Kisame pulled his back and shook it, while Naruto explained what happened "Iron Body allows you to harden your muscles to mimic the hardness of iron, allowing you to withstand physical attacks without taking damage."

"No kidding." Kisame waving his hand around, trying to get feeling back into it. "It definitely felt like I had tried to punch iron."

"Yahahaha, then there is the Tempest Kick, which you've already seen." Naruto said as he kicked out at sea, and they watched as the very ocean parted a couple meters. The water quickly rushed back into the gap created, sending a large column of water into the air.

"That's amazing." Nami said, "Are we really going to learn these? There's just no way humans can do stuff like this, right?"

"It depends on how badly they want to know them." Naruto said, "I can't see you trying to tank a punch with Iron Body. Yahahahaha."

Nami huffed, "Yeah, you can cross that one out." She smirked, "But Paper Art and Shave look like they're right up my alley."

"That's the spirit! Now, I have one more technique to show you." Naruto said as he went below deck and grabbed a 2 inch thick plate of iron and held it up. "Kushina, I want you to demonstrate this time."

"Finger Pistol!" She said clearly and loudly. She pointed her index finger and jabbed it straight through the dense metal. She pulled it out, revealing a perfectly circular hole in the metal.

Konan understood immediately. Her imagination kicked into overdrive, turning into a thought bubble above her head of a chibi enemy conveniently dressed like Akainu. In the thought bubble, her chibi self stabbed Akainu a bunch of times with her finger and chibi Akainu fell on the floor with 'x' marks over his eyes.

The others were having similar thoughts. 'That shithead. I could definitely learn some of this useful shit.' Tayuya thought.

'I guess the Captain wants to earn our trust.' Kidomaru thought.

'I don't know about that finger move, but with the others, I can find her.' Monet thought.

"I may make it look easy, but I sprained or broke my fingers SO many times learning it, dattebane!" Kushina whined like a little kid.

At that, the other ladies all cringed.

"Anyway, Finger Pistol is the last one you should attempt to learn if you don't want too many broken fingers, and we don't have a healer yet anyway. Now, when we get to Shell's town, I've got some stuff I gotta do, so Kushina will handle you're training." Naruto said, and everyone nodded. "Now, let's start learning Paper Art."

Nighttime

"Oww…" Nami moaned pitifully as she tried not to move much. She was covered in welts from being smacked around all day. The other girls and Kidomaru weren't faring much better. The full moon was high in the air and there wasn't a cloud in the sky.

"You alright?" She looked up to see Naruto had taken a seat next to her prone form, "You all did pretty well today."

She threw a dirty look at him, "That was well?" She didn't look amused in the slightest, considering Naruto had been hitting her with his golden staff for most of the day.

"Yep!" He confirmed with a smile, "You managed to do it a couple of times at the end. Paper Art was not really my cup of tea, so I didn't get that close until about the 7th day of learning it, and every time I did it wrong I got hit by dad."

She felt a shiver run down her spine. "Well…" She said nervously, "It couldn't have been that bad. He was your dad, he wouldn't hurt you right?"

The dead look he gave her made her shiver again, "My dad would often punch me through trees and boulders trying to improve my Iron Body."

"You poor thing." She giggled helplessly at his pouting. They sat in companionable silence for a few minutes, with Nami's look darkening by the minute. Every time she felt happy on this ship, she remembered that he was a Pirate. And then she remembered what Pirates, or rather, a single group of pirates did to her.

Naruto saw her worsening mood and decided to do something. He wrapped his right arm around her and grabbed under her thighs. She stiffened, "What the hell are you-!" Naruto lifted her up and plopped her down onto his lap, before reaching for her shoulders, "DoiIINNNGGGmmmmmmm!" She moaned helplessly as Naruto started to massage her shoulders.

"Jeez Nami, you're so stiff. Your muscles are way too tight. It's no wonder your having issues with Paper Art." Naruto commented as he started massaging her shoulders and back. Despite herself, she felt herself melt into the massage and relax as his fingers worked their magic.

She relaxed and allowed him to continue working her over with a pleased groan. A few minutes passed, with Nami being putty in his hands, before Naruto spoke up again, "Hey Nami?"

"Hmm?" She was feeling too good from the massage to say much more.

"Why is it that you want exactly 100,000,000 Beri? Does it have something to do with why you declined to eat the Gold-Gold Fruit?" He asked.

And just like that, the mood was ruined. "Its none of your business." She closed up again.

Neither moved for a moment, before she felt Naruto's forehead on the back of her neck. His arms wrapped around her waist and pulled her closer to him. "We're friends Nami. If you ever need anything, don't hold back on asking. I prefer seeing you smile."

Nami felt her face turn red. Why was her heart beating so fast? She could feel his sincerity and lack of any ulterior motives. She bit her lips as tiny tears started forming in her eyes. She shook her head minutely.

He was silent for a moment, "It's okay if you're not ready right now." He said before getting up, "Just know I'll still be here when you are."

He almost missed her teary-eyed whisper, "Thank you." Eventually, Nami leaned back and fell asleep.

Naruto leaned on the rails of the starboard side of his ship after getting up. Eventually, Kushina, who was still up, walked over to him and rubbed his shoulder. "What's wrong?" She asked.

"Its nothing, just…lately, every night, I've been thinking about something." Naruto said and Kushina motioned for him to continue, "Seeing the Word Nobles and how they are running the planet into the dirt, makes me think that maybe a world without them in it, wouldn't be so bad. That maybe a world run by Grandpa Xebec wouldn't have been all bad."

He looked at Kushina with pleading eyes, "I don't know where this path I am on will lead me, but I would rather not walk it alone. Will you promise to always stand with me, no matter what decisions I make from here?"

Kushina wrapped him in a hug and whispered, "Of course. You're my precious sochi. There's nothing in the world I wouldn't do for you."

Shells Town

2 days later

The crew arrived in Shells Town the next day. "Alright, while Kisame and me are in town, Kushina will continue your training." Naruto said as he and Kisame started to disembark.

"Tch, figures he'd leave us with the sadistic tomato." Tayuya muttered not realizing that Kushina heard her.

"What was that...?" Kushina trailed off with a threatening undertone, her hair becoming a wild mane and her eyes becoming yellow as she assumed the persona of the "Red Hot Habanero".

"Ummm, n-n-nothing," Tayuya said fearfully as she backed up.

"First rule of training: DODGE!" Kushina shouted as she smashed Tayuya in the face.

"Well," Kisame said as he began with walking with Naruto into town, both of them disguised with long cloak and straw hats, "That chick will be a master of Paper Art by the time we get back, or she'll be dead."

"Gaahahaha, you should have kept you mouth shut, Tayuya!" Kidomaru laughed.

"Hey, want to see something funny?" Naruto said to Kisame as he elbowed Kisame playfully and turned to his ship. "Hey Kushina! Kidomaru has been calling you Tomato behind your back!"

Kidomaru went from laughing to gawking in shock at his captain. "N-No fair, captain!"

"DODGE!" was all Kidomaru heard before he too was punched in the face and sent flying across the deck.

"Shehahahaha! That was funny! You are a sadistic one, Naruto." Kisame laughed.

"They could use the training." Naruto shrugged as they walked into town. "Something I was wondering, why did you refuse to learn any of the techniques besides Shave and Moonwalk?"

"I'm already a master of Fishman Karate and Jujutsu. Shave and Moonwalk seemed like useful techniques to learn, but I wasn't interested in the other's." Kisame answered.

"Well, if you ever change your mind," Naruto said as he looked Kisame over. Underneath the cloak and hat, Kisame wore a black tank top, blue pants, with a brown belt and brown combat boots. Samehada was strapped to his back with a thick brown leather strap. On Kisame's left shoulder was the Red Sun tattoo of the Sun Pirates from when he was still a member.

As they walk into town, they see that it looks pretty quiet as there are few people out on the streets. They head towards the local pub and walk in, they're greeted by a pretty woman and a little girl.

"Hello! Welcome to my Café, I'm Ririka, how can I help you Gentleman today?" She said

"I'll have some seafood ramen and whiskey on the rocks, my friend here will have fried shrimp and crab meat with herbal tea. We've sailed here from Fushia Village and its been a long journey so we're really Hungry." Naruto said as they used the lie to stay undercover.

"My you've come far, Fushia Village is all the way on Dawn Island. Sit down and I'll get you both your orders." She smiles at them and walks back into the kitchen as Naruto and Kisame take a seat at one of the Tables.

A little girl comes up to them and says, "Hello My name is Rika! What's your names misters?"

Naruto Smiles at the little girl and says, "I'm Naruto, and this is my friend, Kisame." He motions to Kisame who bows his head a little and says,

"Nice to meet you little miss."

Rika smiles at them and says, "What do you guys do? Are you a couple of Sea explorers? Or Pirate Hunters like Zoro-Niisan?"

"Pirate Hunter?….Zoro?" Kisame asked.

Rika Nods at this and says, with tears starting to bubble, "Yeah, Zoro-Niisan was really nice!"

Ririka comes up and sets their food out. She looks at them and says "Who are you boys talking about?" Kisame thanks her for the food and says

"Pirate Hunter Roronoa Zoro. At least, that's who I think little Rika was referring to." Kisame said and Ririka gained a sad look on her face.

"He was executed a few days ago." She said.

"What did he do to get arrested by the Marines?" Naruto asks, maintaining control of his emotions.

"Nothing! Zoro-Nii was just protecting me from Helmepo's stupid wolf!" Rika speaks up.

Ririka looks at the two men to explain and says "Helmepo is the son of the Commander in charge of the base here, Captain Morgan. He's a spoiled brat and walks around the town like he owns it. He used to make his wolf attack people, and anyone who spoke out against him he told his father about and they were punished. About a month ago Zoro-San came to town. He stumbled into the café here, hungry and tired, so Rika and I gave him some food and Rum. He seemed like a pleasant enough man. But then Helmepo came in with his wolf and the Marine Guards his father has assigned to him at all times, demanding that he and his mutt be served. Rika sometimes helps me to serve the customers, well that day was one of those days and as she was taking the little Tray of Drinks over to Helmepo's table she tripped and Spilled it all over the wolf."

Naruto and Kisame both listen to this with rapt attention, and in Naruto's case slight anger since Zoro had been executed, while Ririka takes a drink of some water offered by her daughter and then continues.

"Well Helmepo didn't think it was an accident and so he ordered the wolf to attack my little girl. She was frightened, however as the wolf went to lunge at her Zoro-San reacted, he killed the wolf in an instant saving Rika's life. However, Helmepo didn't react to well to it and started to make demands of Zoro-san, and so Zoro-San made a deal with Helmepo. The deal was that if Zoro-San could survive for a month without food or water, then Helmepo would release him and leave me and my daughter in peace, as he had threatened to burn down the Café which is also our home. Zoro held out til the end and we've been left alone since."

"Darn it." Naruto growls as he drinks some more whiskey as Ririka gets up.

"You were gonna recruit him, weren't you?" Kisame said.

"We could always use more members. He seemed like someone who might work well with our group, but now I can't because of that stupid Marine." Naruto said, getting more annoyed, taking a sip of his whiskey.

Just then a tall, ugly, blond haired boy in a purple suit kicks the door to the Café in and walks in with 3 Marines flanking him and says, "Heh still in business I see. Well that's a shame, isn't it boys?"

The three Marines with him, even though they secretly hate the little brat, all nod yes at his question. The purple suited boy sits at a table with his feet up on it and leaning back in his chair as Ririka brings him a glass of juice.

He looks around and says to his guards loud enough for Ririka and her daughter to hear him "How long was it since we had that Pirate Hunter executed?"

One guard speaks up and says, "3 days, Helmepo Sir."

"Right right, you know I can't believe that he thought I was gonna leave this place here be!"

Rika gasps at this and says, "But you promised! You promised you'd leave us in peace after you killed Zoro nii-san!"

"I lied! I'm going to come back tomorrow and burn this place to the GROUND! HAHAHAHA!" Helmepo laughs like an idiot.

Naruto gets more annoyed and lightning begins to spark around his body, just barely holding his body solid. He looks at Kisame and says. "You up for a little bloodletting?"

Kisame gains a bloodthirsty grin, "I was wondering when Samehada and I would get the chance to cut loose. So, just the kid or..."

"The whole base, and we'll leave one survivor." Naruto said as they finished their meals and got up, walking up to Helmepo.

"Is there something you want filth? Well speak up!" Helmepo said stupidly when they walked up, which that bravado was quickly replaced by unadultered fear as Naruto grips him by the throat, causing him to choke, and lifts him up.

"Put him down!" The Marines said as they pointed guns at Naruto. They may hate the brat, but Morgan would kill them painfully if anything happened to the brat. Only for Kisame to appear in a flash of speed by them and swing Samehada, the dense, bandaged wrapped sword hitting them so hard that their necks snapped, and they died.

"Hey, Ririka-san, cover your kids eyes and ears. You don't want her seeing this." Ririka does so as Naruto turns his attention back to Helmepo, raising his other hand and pointing a finger at him. "Finger Pistol: White Lotus!" It was essentially just an ordinary finger pistol but as a rapid-fire version, as he pierced the body of Helmepo multiple times, leaving 30 holes in the kids body. Naruto tossed the dead brat to the ground.

Naruto turned back to the frightened Ririka and smiled, saying "Thank you for the food. We'll take care of Morgan for you."

Naruto and Kisame tossed of their cloaks and hat's, revealing themselves to the world as they made their way to the Marine Base.

Back on the Red Dragon

"You seem to be struggling there. Is mommy being a little too rough on you? Should I take it a little easy?" Kushina taunted with a sadistic smirk at the downed Tayuya and Kidomaru.

"Please, no more. Shit." Tayuya whimpered from her spot on the ground.

"We give up," Kidomaru whimpered next to her.

"I think you overdid it, Kushina-san," Monet said as she read a newspaper after getting her practice, lounging around after her own practice was done.

"Then they shouldn't be making fun of my hair!" Kushina said and Konan, Monet and Nami sweatdropped, though nobody was about to point out to the volatile red head that Kidomaru wasn't making fun of her hair, for fear of being next.

It was then that they heard an explosion in the distance, everyone turning their heads to see the fire and smoke coming from the Marine Base.

"Their attacking the base," Kushina said in confusion.

"Why is the Captain and Kisame-san attacking a Marine base?" Konan wondered.

"I don't know." Kushina said in frustration as she hadn't gotten supplies yet. Turning she began given orders. "Monet, Konan, go see whats going on and see if they need help. Nami, Tayuya, Kidomaru, help me get the ship ready for departure!"

A few Minutes Earlier

The marines on the base were minding their business when suddenly they heard "Tempest Kick: Cross Fang!" A large cross-shaped cut appeared on the gate and a second, later, exploded in their direction, the gate and section of wall closest to it crumbling down.

Naruto and Kisame climbed over the crumbled gate and bodies of several marines as more were starting to show up.

"Go wild," was Naruto's only order before they began slaughtering the Marines indiscriminately.

"Tempest Kick: Soaring Phoenix!" Naruto announced as he unleashed a Tempest Kick at the snipers above that took the shape of a bird while leaving a fiery trail behind it. The air blade hit the wall and split it open, whilst splitting the fools unlucky to get hit by it in half.

He saw a line of marines in front of this ugly statue and raised his one leg, pulling it back, before announcing, "Tempest Kick: Maelstrom!" With that, Naruto began to kick rapidly, unleashing a storm of air blades that seemed to go in every direction, the cries of dying Marines being heard. When he let up, all that could be seen was a destroyed statue and a pile of shredded Marines.

"1000 Brick Fist!" Kisame announced as his punch collapsed the chest cavity of a Marine, sending the already dead man flying, before swinging Samehada, which had some of it's sharp scales showing and bloody from killing several dozen marines already, the shark scaled blade shredding the Marine's flesh.

"Well, this is quite fun! We should do this more often, Captain!" Kisame shouted in approval at his captain. They had already killed half the Marine base.

"I imagine we will be doing this more when we get to the Grand Line!" Naruto shouted back as he killed a Marine with Flying Finger Pistol before Morgan's voice interrupted them.

"What are you waiting for men!? Kill them!" he yelled.

"Sir, we cant beat them," said one Marine.

"Yea they're monsters!" said another one.

"We will only die if we face them!" said one more marine. By now Morgan was shaking with rage.

"This is a direct order! Every marine who is spouting weakness, pull out your gun and shoot yourself in the head!" Morgan yelled. At first, Naruto thought he was crazy to give an order like that because no one was stupid enough to follow such an order, but Naruto was surprised when he saw the marines actually brought their guns up to shoot themselves.

'What a bunch of useless idiots. If their so eager to die, I'll help them!' Naruto thought to himself. Naruto reared his head back and gathered blue lightning in his mouth before announcing his attack.

"45,000,000 Volt Lightning Dragon Roar!" He shouted, releasing the beam of destructive Lightning at the Marines, generating a large explosion and leaving many Marines that were about to shoot themselves deep fried and dead. The ones that weren't dead were numb and unable to move as the lightning temporarily paralyzed them and had strong electrical burns.

"M-Monster," The marines started to say, at least the one that were prevented from killing themselves when they watched their comrades die.

"Captain!" came Monet's voice. Naruto looked up to see Monet and Konan flying above him. Monet with her harpy wings and Konan with Paper Angel, where she conjured two wings made of paper to use. "Kushina was wondering why you were attacking the Marine Base."

"These idiots cost us a potential crew member." Naruto growled before he got an idea. "Hey, since you're here, how about you join in?" Monet seemed to approve of this idea, showing her sadism, while Konan was indifferent to the slaughter of Marines, having killed plenty as a Revolutionary.

"Kisame, you can have Morgan." Naruto said, making Kisame grin and make his way towards Morgan while Naruto turned back to the Marine grunts.

"Paper Shuriken!" Konan said as she conjured pieces of paper, shaped them into shuriken, and sent them at a group of Marines, killing them.

"Snow Rabbit!" Monet swings her wing to release numerous solid hardened snowballs with small rabbit-like ears, whiskers, and eyes. The snowballs hit the Marines, the extremely hard hits killing quite of few of them.

"Flying Finger Pistol: Gunslinger!" Naruto announced as he crafted his fingers into the shape of a makeshift pistol, each shot firing a sharp, compressed air shockwave that acted like a bullet, piercing the enemy without needing to get close. Each one was a perfect headshot that left a hole in each Marine's head.

"You're an interesting little Marine. Most I've come across as a member of the Sun Pirates somewhat valued their men's lives," Kisame said in a bloodthirsty tone that sent shivers up Morgan's spine. Morgan quickly caught himself and swallowed his fear before speaking.

"They were weaklings, all that matters in this world is power and titles. A weakling like you could never understand that!" Morgan yelled before charging towards Kisame. He swung his axe at Kisame but was blocked when Kisame brought up Samehada.

"That downwards chop from your right hand won't do anything," Kisame said making Morgan's eyes grew wide as dinner plates. While Morgan was frozen in fear, Kisame continued, "Samehada doesn't cut like an ordinary blade, it rips and shaves you to bits!" With that, Kisame forced Morgan's axe hand back easily while swinging Samehada, shredding Morgan's side, leaving him bloody.

Morgan yelled out in pain and tried to jump back to put some distance between him and the bull shark man, but he didn't get to go far because Kisame was already behind him with his arm pulled back ready to strike.

"Water Shot!" Kisame swung his arm, releasing several drops of water that was hanging on his hand, making the drops become bullets. The water bullets, pierced right through Morgan and the rubble in front of him, killing him with moments.

During that time, only several marines were left alive, which Naruto allowed because he wanted someone alive to tell what happened to today. He had also found Zoro's swords while they rampaged through the base. 2 were no good, but Wado Ichimonji was, and he gave it to Konan, who was needing a sword of her own.

Regathering in the courtyard, they made their way back to the ships, making a quick detour to grab some supplies and getting away before the Navy could send any backup.

Several Days later

It was a beautiful day, with the sun smiling down on the tranquil sea, with nary a cloud in the sky. A cool breeze blew through the air as Naruto and his crew ambled along in their boat.

Naruto himself was on his conductor throne, reading a book while the ship moved quickly through the calm waters.

Kushina and Kisame were practicing swordplay against each other.

Monet was sitting on her regular chair, reading one of the many books she seems to have in her collection. Nami was relaxing and enjoying the weather as well, but she was also keeping a close eye on their course.

Konan was reading a newpaper to keep track of current events while Tayuya and Kidmaru were napping.

It was a quiet day for the crew. One that was eventually broken by their captain.

"Hey Konan, aren't there any pirate crews in this area of the sea with a notable bounty that we could go mess up?" Naruto questioned eagerly.

"Hmmm…I can't be too sure but I heard whispers of Don Krieg being spotted in these waters a while ago." She replied.

"Don Krieg eh? I think he had about 17 million on his head. That will add nicely to our growing bank balance. Let's get searching then. Nami, any islands close by?"

"NO, but we are coming up on a floating restaurant." Nami answered.

"Oh, thank god! Maybe we can get some real food, instead Ramen every meal, everyday!" Tayuya shouted, quite eager to get someone who can cook something other than Ramen.

"Baratie, huh? I've heard of that place. They supposedly have great chefs that are also excellent fighters. We might even pick up a cook for our crew. It's settled. Nami, take us into Baratie!" Naruto ordered.

A few minutes later

As the gang pulled up to the Baratie, they took the time to marvel at its unique design.

It was a large ship anchored in the middle of the ocean. There were at least three levels to it and quite a spacious deck. The strangest part though was the giant fish-head figure head at the front of the boat.

They all noticed the Marine ship that was docked beside them, but didn't make any fuss about it as they were currently just 'bounty hunters'. Even though 4 of the crews members had slaughtered a Marine Base, there had not been enough time for the hospitalized survivors to get word to Marine HQ about their actions, so currently they were operating under no bounty.

He also noticed that Monet had lost her harpy legs and wings, looking human. He assumed she was blending in, though he was unaware Monet could switch to Human limbs. He would have to ask about that later.

The group made their way into the restaurant and took up a table at the far corner. They spotted the Marine that was probably in charge of the ship they saw. He had a horrible fake tan, along with a few scars in his face as hell as bubblegum pink hair that made Naruto snicker. His concerns about being caught vanished once he saw this idiot.

The guy was currently bragging about being a lieutenant, clearly trying to impress his date. His breath caught in his throat though, when he spotted a woman coming out of the kitchen. Most of the patrons in the restaurant had their eyes on her as she elegantly made her way across the floor.

She was a tall woman, standing at about 5 ft 9 inches. The high heels she wore pushed her up to about 5 ft 11 inches. She had shoulder-length dark pink hair, covering her right eye and curling upwards at the tips. Her skin was unblemished and was accentuated by her red lips. One of her most striking features though, was her piercing blue eyes. She was dressed in an elegant maroon gown that hugged the mesmerizing curves of her body. Her breasts were large, at least a D-cup, and instantly drew the eyes of many men in the restaurant. The plunging neckline of her dress that showed a tantalizing amount of cleavage didn't help matters at all. The dress reached all the way down to her ankles but had a slit on the right side that went up to just above the middle of her thigh, showing off a provocative view of her alluring legs that look like they were carved out of marble. Said thighs also had a '6' tattoo on each leg. The red high heeled pumps on her feet finished off her ensemble.

All in all, she was an extremely beautiful woman, one that was bound to draw attention regardless of where she went. Her eyes though, were like glaciers as she looked at the Marine captain, whom she delivered a dish to. He tried to flirt with her, in full view of his date whose mood was rapidly declining, but the woman just looked at him like she was looking at a lower life form. It was a look that could shrink the egos of most men. But this guy was either that confident in himself, or too stupid to recognize the look.

Naruto kept his eye on the woman though, something about her was different. He couldn't place it, but there was something special about her.

As her watched her walk away from the idiot Marine, completely ignoring his advances, he grabbed onto her arm tightly and seemed to threaten her into complying with his demands. The entire staff of the Baratie froze at this. The temperature seemed to drop a few degrees as the woman glared at the Marine with contempt, before unleashing a storm of powerful kicks that made most of the men present want to curl up into a ball and cry for their mommies. The end result as a bleeding and battered Marine Lieutenant who was left in the corner of the restaurant without anyone paying him any mind.

The woman dusted herself off and made her way over to Naruto's table, where the occupants were watching her with some interest.

"Welcome to the Baratie. My name is Reiju, and I will be serving you today. May I take your order?" She drawled out, while looking at them coldly. Naruto figured that it was probably her default expression.

He smiled at her, causing her to raise an eyebrow at him. It was strange for her as she was used to men throwing themselves at her, but this guy just looked at her with interest that had nothing to do with her body. There was no lust in his gaze. It honestly unnerved her a bit. The stare down lasted a scant few seconds, but Naruto got the answer he needed. He smiled he and his crew placed their orders.

After a while, she finally collected herself and made her way to the kitchen, away from the strange group.

"Yahahaha, I think we just found ourselves a cook." Naruto said with a grin. Kushina just rolled her eyes, already anticipating her son saying that from the beating the woman put on that Marine. Monet just nodded silently, she would reserve her judgment until she tasted Reiju's cooking. Tayuya didn't mind. Anyone who beat up a Marine lieutenant without fear like she did couldn't be that bad of a person.

After a bit of a wait, their dishes were finally brought out. The crew wasted no time in tearing through the meal. They were surprised at how delicious it truly was. Naruto didn't hold back his compliments.

"This tastes delicious! You're a great cook, Reiju." He complimented. Said woman let out the first smile that the crew has seen from her at the honest praise from Naruto. It was a good sight.

Chapter End

I decided to have the crew pay a visit to Shells Town, though I am skipping Syrup Village, since Kuro is dead in this story. However, since they took longer to get there, Zoro would have already been unfairly executed at this point.

I'm cutting it off right here, so the next chapter will be devoted to Don Krieg and Dracule Mihawk's appearance.

Reiju will take the place of Sanji in this story as the cook. More will be explained in next chapter.

I understand some are upset that Naruto doesn't really fit as Xebec's grandson. Naruto is still Naruto, but I am trying to slowly get him to the point where he would be willing to take up his grandfathers dream, albeit slowly.