Chapter 8

The Whirlpool Pirates had finally arrived at the great elephant that harboured the land of Zou. Since Naruto deduced that there was no way to keep the ship following the giant elephant in its tracks, the Water-man told Kiji, Russ, Gem, Yuri and Rose to stay behind on The Great Wave as Lucy flew both himself and Reeve up to the top of the elephant to meet with the Mink Tribe.

"Remind me again why we're here Naruto?" Lucy spoke walking hesitantly through the jungle, trying to avoid bugs.

Naruto, unlike Lucy, was looking forward to the journey to the Mink village and was leading the way proudly, "Well we're not here to see anyone in particular. I wanted to get a little more food for the voyage to Big Mom's territory and. . . well. . . see the Mink Village!"

"So you're telling me we're navigating a thick jungle just to go sight-seeing!?" Lucy exclaimed rather irritated

"D-don't forget about the food too Lucy." Responded Reeve, timidly

Lucy just grumbled after Reeve's words as they continued to navigate the intense and thick jungle. Eventually the small group came across a small clearing in the trees.

Naruto looked back at Lucy, "Hey Lucy!"

She grumpled, "What do you want you fool!"

"I would like you to fly up through that space in the tree leaves and take a look around if you don't mind." Naruto responded, unfazed by Lucy's insult

Without saying another word she transformed and flew up to take a look around. When looking around Lucy could see forest in each direction for as far as the eye could see. However, she then spotted a giant tree not very far away. Flying back down to her group she transformed back into her human form and began her report.

"So there's a giant tree about 1 and a half kilometres from here if that's what you're looking for Captain." She explained

Naruto thought for a second, "Not exactly but let's go check it out!"

Lucy just facepalmed as she saw her captain run off in the direction of the giant tree, Reeve following closely behind. Shrugging it off as normal she started to jog after her crew, unaware of the group that was watching them.

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A few minutes later. . .

Lucy had been trying to catch up to her overly excited captain and Reeve but the two of them always seemed to be getting further away from her. Eventually she made her way through one final clearing and saw Naruto and Reeve at the base of the giant tree.

Panting, Lucy said, "Jheez, you guys need to slow down. . .just a little bit."

"Ah don't worry Lucy! It's because we ran that made such great time!" Naruto spoke patting Lucy on the back in an anime style

This lead Lucy to hit Naruto in the face in retaliation, however Naruto's head just exploded into drops of water and after a second, reformed into a laughing expression.

He laughed, "Ah don't worry Lucy I'm just messing around with you! Just be glad you don't have my younger brother Luffy as a captain. He acts very loud and obnoxious all the time."

"Wonder where he gets it from." Lucy spoke under her breath sarcastically

Naruto was about to say something else but Reeve interrupted him, "Hey guys! Look over here! There's an opening in the bottom of the tree!"

Naruto and Lucy ran over to Reeve and saw what he was referring to. The hole was giant in size, easily being able to fit an average sized boat through it, however, the group didn't know what lied in the cave.

"So what do we do?" Lucy asked to no one in particular

Naruto smiled, "We explore it of course. Come on!"

The three walked inside the cave and saw that moss was everywhere in sight, and it covered branches, roots and the ground itself. Upon walking a little further down into the cave the group had layed their eyes upon a red surface that was inserted directly into the tree. The surface was blood red and looked very unnatural compared to what was around it. Upon further inspection, Naruto had noticed that there were odd symbols located all along the surface.

"W-what is it?" Asked Reeve, still marvelling in the sight of the red surface

Naruto not looking away from the markings responded, "It's a poneglyth."

"And what exactly do they do?" Lucy spoke

Naruto made a small upward lip curve, "They normally tell tales of the Void Century, but this one is different."

"H-how so?" Reeve said, a little scared to ask

Naruto now made a full grin, "These red ones guide you to the legendary island of Raftel. The location of the great treasure, the One Piece."

The other two members of Naruto's crew had their eyes practically outside of their heads at the mention of such a thing.

"THE ONE PIECE!?" They chorused

"Yep! That would be the one. However to truly know its location you must find the 3 other Road Poneglyths, only when the information on all 4 are met will the secret location of Raftel be found out." Naruto responded

Reeve looked at his captain, "Where are the others located?"

The Water-man brought his hand to his chin, "2 are said to be under the watchful eyes of both Big Mom and Kaido, while the other is unknown."

"I see." Responded Reeve a little deflated

"Do you have a desire to find the One Piece and become King of the Pirates Naruto?" Lucy questioned him

Naruto took a second to think about the possibility of becoming the next Pirate King, of course the wealth and power that came with the role were great but it just didn't seem to be his main goal. The Water-man wanted more than anything else to be able to protect the people he held close to him like his crew, Rebecca, his mother, and his two little brothers. Along with that Naruto also wanted to be free from the governments restraints and be able to just live his life doing as he pleased.

"To be the King of the Pirates, it's not for me. However, I do intend to find the legendary treasure and along with it uncover the entire history of the void century." The Water-man said

Lucy and Reeve smiled as Reeve responded, "I'm behind you all the way captain!"

"Alright!" Naruto proclaimed while raising up his hands

He the turned back to Lucy, "Lucy you got that map-making kit I told you to grab right?"

"Of course I did. Why, do you want to make a map of the island or something?" She asked while raising a brow at him

Naruto responded, "Not a map but a copy. A copy of that poneglyth so we can get it properly translated. I personally can only read every third or forth symbol and can barely make out what it has to say. So I plan to take this copy with us so if we do find a person who is able to read it we can have them decipher it for us."

"That's a good plan. Here you go." Lucy handed her captain the supplies she was carrying

The Water-man took the ink in hand and splashed it all over the face of the red surface, making sure that every spot was covered. He then took a giant sheet of mapping paper and pressed it to the surface, and holding it there for a few seconds. Then finally, Naruto layed it down on the moss covered floor and awaited for it to dry for a few seconds before folding it over and stashing it in Lucy's bag.

"Alright, now that that is concluded let's get a move on." Naruto proclaimed has he made his way towards the caves entrance but found it to be blocked by a number of figures

"What now!" Reeve spoke in shock

Lucy sighed, "Who knows."

"You will go no further trespassers!" A leopard mink yelled at the group

Naruto studied the mink for a few seconds, seeing that he was missing his left eye and covered it with blond hair. He also wore a green cape along with green pants and shirt. The mink also stood fairly tall, not a whole lot smaller than Kiji or Yuri.

The Water-man just lifted up his hands, "Calm down we mean you no harm. We were just looking at this poneglyth here and were about to go and look for the mink village."

"Why!?" The mink yelled, readying his sword, "To raid it?!" He continued

"No, just to look at it. We're on a journey you see an-" Naruto spoke but was quickly interrupted by the mink

"I don't care! You have trespassed in sacred land and are an enemy of Zou! Take them away!" He proclaimed, sending his subordinates to capture Naruto's group

The three got into an attack stance as they saw the group of minks slowly approach them. Reeve then spoke, "Captain! What should we do?!"

"Nothing! These minks are not our enemy and we need for them to see that so do not attack! Reeve, you and Lucy stay behind me and I'll take the point! I've been told that they would lay down their weapons if a solution could be reached without violence but I don't know why they won't!" Naruto commanded to his crew

"Roger!" They responded with serious expressions

The minks then eventually backed the group of Whirlpool Pirates up to the poneglyth and had their swords at the ready to strike at any given moment. The leopard mink then made his way down from the cave entrance to in front of the legion of minks.

"Prevent them from escaping the sacred cavern! I'll take care of this man myself!" He said to his company

Naruto frowned, "I'm not going to fight you. Once again, we are not your enemy! We are just here exploring and looking for food to bring on our journey!"

"Enough of your lies! I will use the lessons given to me by the late Pirate King to defeat you and defend Zou from scum like you!" The leopard mink barked

Naruto froze for a second, "Wait, you know the old man!?"

"Never address him as such!" The mink said as he launched at Naruto with his sword at the ready to strike

Naruto dodged the best he could, avoiding the sword strikes from the mink. Of course the animal-human hybrid in front of him was no laughing matter, he seemed to be well trained in the sword and looked to be reading the Water-man's next move with haki. Eventually the mink got the jump on Naruto and was able to make him move back enough so he was against the wall with Lucy and Reeve.

The mink then jumped at Naruto and company with his sword ready to commit on a devastating blow. "Now you will perish and the Land of Zou will be safe!"

"For the last time I said stop!" Naruto yelled raising his hand

Just as Naruto raised his hands the mink was suspended in mid-air, unable to move a muscle.

The mink grinded his teeth together, "W-what. . . have y-you. . .done to. . .m-me!?"

Naruto breathed, "Since I am able to control water, I took control of all the water in your body and suspended you in place. I told you before, I do not seek a fight with you. If you will listen, we are here to gather food for our journey to Totto-land. We are not here to raid or plunder, we just need supplies so we can go and take on Big Mom."

Upon hearing her name, the whole gathering of minks froze up. "BIG MOM! She is the one who attacked our homeland to see our poneglyth! She ruthlessly had her grunts chop down numerous minks in search of it!"

Naruto released him and followed up, "We are not affiliated with her at all, we seek to bring her reign to an end."

"If that is the case then we are terribly sorry for acting against you." The leopard mink spoke as he made a low bow of respect

Naruto chuckled, "No worries, you were just defending your homeland."

The leopard continued with his low bow, "Thank you for understanding."

"Pardon me but what is your name sir." Reeve asked walking up to the mink.

The mink lifted his head and replied, "My name is Pedro, the leader of the guardians."

"Do you mind explaining to us Pedro on why you were so quick to a fight?" Lucy spoke with her hands on her hips

Pedro looked down, "Our homeland, Zou, has been the victim of raids done by the Big Mom Pirates. She has stopped at nothing to ensure that she have a copy of the poneglyth. When we saw you lesser-minks traversing the forest we had assumed that you were of the Big Mom Pirates in search of the poneglyth once again."

"I guess that makes sense." Lucy said, calming down

"All that aside, can you show us to the mink village?" Naruto asked Pedro

Pedro smiled, "That I can."

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A few minutes later. . .

The group of Whirlpool Pirates and the minks had navigated through the jungle in the direction of the famed mink village and had found it. Some minks were a little on edge about the human presence, but when Pedro had explained what was going on everyone had come to greet the Whirlpool Pirates and introduce themselves. Eventually the group of humans and minks had navigated to a campfire because it had now gotten dark.

"So Pedro you really have 2 leaders leading over Zou?" Reeve asked curiously

Pedro nodded, "Indeed. One rules from 6am until 6pm and the other 6pm to 6am. Both of the leaders of Zou were members of Gol D. Roger's crew and are extremely strong."

"Wow that's really cool." Reeve spoke, astonished

"It is. By the way Naruto, didn't you say you knew Gol D. Roger as well back during our fight?" Continued Pedro, now questioning Naruto

Naruto grinned, "That I did! I was pretty close to Gol D. Roger if I do say so myself."

"I can only remember him fondly. During his time here in Zou many years ago he gave me words that drove me forward to become the mink I am today." Pedro spoke

Naruto laughed, "He did the same thing with me too Pedro!"

"Really?" Wondered Pedro

"Ok that's enough Naruto, the next thing you'll say is that he's your father or something crazy like that." Lucy exclaimed, not really paying attention

Naruto then laughed extremely hard which caused the others to look at him in a funny way.

"What's so funny!?" Lucy said with a little bit of anger in her voice of being laughed at

Naruto wiped the tears from his eyes, "The funny part is that he is."

"Is what?" Questioned Pedro

"My father." Naruto responded with a honest smile

Lucy half-knowingly shrugged, "Oh well that makes sense, you do seem to carry some likely trai-"

"WHAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAT!?" Screamed everyone present at the fire

The Water-man adjusted his hat and laughed, "Yep! That's my old man!"

"T-that's incredible! I didn't know that the Pirate King had a child!" Spoke Pedro with astonishment

"Well actually he had two, my brother Ace and I." Naruto replied to Pedro

Lucy then looked into her bag for something and once finding it, held it out for all to see. "This Ace?" She asked

In Lucy's hand was a wanted poster with the very familiar face of Portgas D. Ace on it.

WANTED

DEAD OR ALIVE

PORTGAS D. ACE

67,000,000 beli

"Wait he set out on his journey?!" Spoke Naruto with a little bit of shock

Lucy shrugged her shoulders, "If this is the Ace person you are referring to then I would guess so. I checked the paper we got with our bounties and it said that he was the only person to make it into the Grandline from the east blue since Roger himself, excluding you of course."

Naruto smiled, "That's great for him, though we can't get caught up with that right now." He turned to Pedro, "We need supplies Pedro, can you show us where to get some?"

Pedro nodded them and signalled them to follow him.

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Later. . .

Pedro lead the Whirlpool Pirates into the building at the centre of their city, and in it they found the current leader Nekomamushi. Nekomamushi was a lion mink that was a little more rounded than the other minks he also sported a red cape along with white robes. But the most distinguishable feature about the lion mink was the scar that ran down the side of his face.

"Why have you come here humans?" Spoke the lion mink with a booming voice

Pedro dropped to a knee, "My lord, the leader of these humans is the former Pirate King, Gol D. Roger's son. They seek supplies to go off to fight the Big Mom Pirates."

Nekomamushi was surprised by this information, "He seeks to disrupt Big Mom, and he's Roger's son no less. Very interesting."

"Why do you seek to anger one of the Yonko?" Questioned Nekomamushi

"I seek to take down Big Mom because of what she stands for, she enslaves her own children to do her bidding and kills massive amounts of people to gain wealth and power. But that is not the worse thing." Naruto started to explain

Everyone looked at Naruto in a questioning look, wanting him to continue. "She seeks to resurrect one of the ancient weapons to use against her enemies."

The look of shock was spread on the faces of the group except for Nekomamushi. "Then why make an enemy out of her when you could side with her or avoid her all together?" The mink asked

"What she plans to do could lead to backlash from the World Government which could lead to a war. My teacher told me what he knew about the ancient weapons and described to me the power that they posses. And I'll be damned if I let a monster like her parade around with a device that is able to level islands at a time!" Naruto explained

Just as Naruto was done his explination, a racoon mink stumbled into the castle dressed in green and looked at Nekomamushi, "Lord Nekomamushi! The Big Mom Pirates have returned to the sacred forest! Our guardians are holding back their forces but we have heard that a new enemy has come with them!"

The lion mink stood from his seat, "Who!?"

"A Sweet-Commodore!"