Chapter 18

"Call me what you may but don't you think going to the home of one of the Yonko is a lil' bit of a bad idea?" Russ asked to anyone who was listening. "I mean c'mon. He's got to have cannons upon cannons upon-" Russ started to continue to speak before being interrupted by the sight of the island coming into view

Rose chuckled as she got up and laid her hand on the marksman's shoulder, "What was that you were saying about canons on top of canons?" The shipwright asked him with a slight grin on her face

Looking out at the island of Sphinx, it could be seen that it was nothing more than a beautiful island that was untouched by any conflict. There was no trace of any iron guns sticking out of the rock or any pirate ships that were docked at the island.

Russ then scoffed slightly as he shook Rose's hand off of his shoulder, "You do know that appearances can be decivin' right? My guess is that they're tryin' to lure us in. . . and then snap that the gates shut behind us and kill us!" The sniper spoke with shock as he brought a hand to either side of his face and expressed pure terror which made Rose then think quietly

"Hm." She began as she brought her hand to her chin. "OH MY GOD YOU MIGHT BE RIGHT!" She yelled out with an equally frightened expression as Russ which annoyed Lucy as she made her way to the deck of the ship

Lucy sighed, "Be quiet you two! You don't know what you're talking about! Sphinx is a village that is overcome with poverty, the people there are probably calm natured and just happy to be alive. I can't imagine that any of them would try and harm us, so cool down." Lucy told Rose and Russ as they began to calm down

"You're as wise as ever Lucy-chan! Thank the gods we have you on our crew!" Kinshiki yelled as he too made his way onto the deck and started to gush over Lucy, much to Russ's disgust

"It's been a year since we've picked ur' ass up back in Wano and everyday since then I still regret not going with the capn', cause if I went we wouldn't have a pervert like you on this ship!" Russ told the samurai as he unsheathed his sword and slashed it at the marksman only for Russ to take his lever-action rifle off his back and block the sword with it.

"Is that so marksman!" Kinshiki spoke to him as a tic mark grew on his head

"Is too!" Russ responded with his own tic mark

Lucy facepalmed before turning around and breaking up the fight, over the past year Russ had been less focused on teasing Lucy but in her place came Kinshiki. The two had started an intense rivalry and competed in pretty much everything. To someone who just met the two men would automatically think that they hated one another but in reality the two held a lot of respect for one another and both had a strong friendship for the other.

"I see that you two are back at it again. (sigh) You'd think that by now you guys could just sort out your differences and by nice and chill like yours truly." Gem told the two men as both of them stared at him with an intense glare. This caused the helmsman put his hands up tiredly, "Well I guess not everyone is capable of being like me. Well I'm going to go back into the ship and take a nap-"

Gem was interrupted by Lucy before he could finish his sentence, "Don't even think about it! You're always off sleeping in the ship or when we're above water in the helm! This time you're going onto the island and are going to help look for this Ponoglyph! Understood?" The navigator explained as Gem just sweat dropped

"I suppose." Gem answered the woman

"Is anyone else want to volunteer and go or are we going to draw names from a hat?" The navigator asked the crew

Yuri had raised his hand to go and Reeve also volunteered to go and find the Road Ponoglyph and so did Kiji as he made his way onto the deck. "Okay so that makes three, I guess I'll go onto the island as well while the rest of you wait here for Naruto to return." Lucy told them

"Wait, when did he say that he would be getting back again?" Reeve asked Lucy, but before she could answer Kiji answered for her

"He told me that it would take him a few days to make his trip and instructed us to go onto the island and get it without him and then we would regroup. He also went on to tell me that if anything goes wrong on either end then we should call him using this transponder snail." The fishman informed the crew as he showed them the transponder snail

The jaguar mink looked out to sea, "I hope that he's okay wherever he went."

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With Naruto. . .

Naruto had heard from Pedro that the people of the destroyed island Ohara had discovered a way to translate the Ponoglyph's and since no one had any clue what they said or had an idea of anyone that they could go to to translate the ancient writings this was the crews best bet. It had been a few days since he had arrived at the scorched island and found nothing but rubble and ash on the ground and everywhere he looked. Eventually, Naruto found the destroyed trunk of a giant tree that laid dead across the island and investigated. Inside was a bunch of heavily damaged scriptures and chard corpses that laid littered on the ground. Moving further into the tree, Naruto found a metal room, the door to the room looked just as chard and burnt as everything else but once inside of the room it was a different story. The room was completely clean aside from the dust that still lingered on the few books in the space. In the centre of the small space was a chest, the chest was made of wood and looked to be pretty standard in design. However, inside of the chest contained the key to the One Piece, it was a translator or in-fact a book that had phrases and words beside symbols that appeared on the Ponoglyph's. The Yonko took the chest in hand and was about to set off from the island until he was met by one big ship of Marines in his path. Any other person would probably choose the wise choice of fleeing and not worrying about fighting, but Naruto always liked a good fight and that's what he wanted to do.

"Halt in the name of the Marines! You are trespassing on locked down waters! State your name and business and don't resist arrest!" The marines shouted from their ship as a few boats began to paddle over to his position to apprehend him

Naruto grinned as he started to walk towards the ship, the water freezing beneath him allowing him to walk on it. "Sorry guys but I don't plan on be captured today, more so by a bunch of rookie Marines still stationed in the blue seas! As for my name it's Portgas D. Naruto! And I was just passing by; sightseeing you could say!" The Yonko yelled up to them, not breaking his trademark smile

"P-P-P-Portgas D-D. N-Naruto. THE YONKO?!" The Marine troops screamed out creating a huge wind that hit Naruto and made his hat shake on the top of his head

The Pirate Captain adjusted his hat so it sat soundly on his head before answering their question, "The very same!" He exclaimed which caused all of the Marines to panic as the Yonko jumped from the water onto the deck of their ship

The Marines were quick to get over this fear though because one by one they started to attack him in hopes to bring him down. The first Marine slashed his sword at the Water-man only for it to pass right through him and get lodged into the deck of the ship, which gave Naruto the opening to uppercut him, knocking the Marine out. Then three Marines tried to blitz the red-head at the same time, two from his sides and one from in front of him. Naruto then vaulted the Marine coming for him from the front right as the two others were at either side of him and extended his legs, sending the two Marines flying back into other soldiers.

Naruto then landed behind the Marine he had just vaulted and laid a hand onto his back, "Ice Time!" The Yonko exclaimed as he was frozen solid

The Yonko then looked forward to see a bunch of Marines barely able to hold up their swords as Naruto raised his hand towards them, "Storm Cyclone!" He yelled out as a thin line of water launched out of his palm and then began to expand into a cyclone of water which threw the Marine in every which direction.

Without warning, a Marine behind the Yonko tried to stab his head with his sword only for Naruto to see this with his observation haki and tilt his head ever so slightly for the blade to pass harmlessly passed his head. Once the hilt of the sword was overtop of Naruto's shoulder, he then grabbed the hilt and pulled the whole man over the top of his head and slammed him into the deck of the ship in one movement.

With only a few Marines left standing, one tried to attack Naruto with a sword strike at the Yonko's knees only for him to jump up and land on the blade of the sword mid strike, this caught the Marine off balance and he fell over. Naruto then gripped the mans face with his hand and asked him, "Who is the captain of this ship?"

The Marine just spat on his hand, "Go to hell Pirate scum!" He spoke. Naruto just sighed at the man's actions as he tightened his grip on his face.

"Moister Absorption!" Naruto exclaimed as the moister in the man's body began to flow out of him and into the air as his skin began to grow looser and looser until it looked like the Marine had been without food and water in a long time

"So I'll ask again, who is the Captain on this ship?" Naruto asked, this time with a little less patience

"It's i-it's-" The man was cut off by the sound of a woman's voice

"Me!" Said a woman standing a few metres from the Yonko. She had a burgundy suit on, with long flowing cherry blossom hair, and brow eyes.

Naruto smiled as he released the Marine which fell unconscious before his face could hit the ground, "And what might your name be miss?" Naruto asked the woman with a raised brow

"Hina! And Hina is going to be the one to take your ass to impel down Portgas D. Naruto!" Hina exclaimed in the third person as she charged at the Yonko

Naruto laughed as the Marine Captain charged him, "Is that so! Well then let's see what you got!" He exclaimed as Hina brought her fist to his face which he pushed away with the palm of his hand which left her wide open on the side. The Yonko then went for a quick punch to the side but Hina managed to turn her body enough so that her leg made contact with his head.

Naruto's head bursted into water particles and then slowly started to piece itself back together, before he could react she charged at him with her arm out in a "v" shape prepared to strike. The captain of the Whirlpool Pirates then brought his arm up to block the strike, but instead of blocking the attack Hina's arm had managed to stretch itself around Naruto's own arm before going through it and leaving an iron binding in its place.

The bind then constricted Naruto's arm as Hina proclaimed, "Iron Bind!" She spoke out

What Hina had left on Naruto's arm had kept on constricting his arm until Naruto had no choice but to get it off by using force. He held up his arm to his face and then slowly made a fist before proclaiming, "Ice Body." He said calmly as his whole one side began to freeze over along with the bind, and then was broken into pieces by Naruto's other hand.

"C'mon guys let's go help out Captain Hina!" One of the Marines shouted as himself and a few others began to charge at Naruto with their swords drawn.

However, the Yonko didn't intend on having to fight some lowly punk Marines and their captain at the same time and so decided that the men charging at him from the opposite side of where Hina was standing wouldn't be joining in their fight. "Almighty Push!" Naruto yelled out as the Marines charging at him were blasted backwards into a pile, each one of them knocked out

Hina grinded her teeth a bit at the sight of her men being so easily defeated but pressed on with her fight anyway, "Iron Prison!" She exclaimed as bars began to rise on the ship's deck and come at the Yonko from either side. Naruto just smirked at the attack as he, at the last possible second, ran at Hina as fast as he could and jumped at her. Hina, in an attempt to protect herself, brought her hands to cover her face and upper body but in the process brought the cages to rap around a wide perimeter of the two. Within a blink of an eye the iron bars condensed around the two, bringing the two of them right next to one another, squeezing against each other.

Naruto laughed at the sight of him and Hina being bound together, "Well I'd at least expect you to buy me dinner first!"

"Hina did not expect this to happen, it was only by luck did you manage to get me to catch myself in my own attack, I've been defeated." She told him with a blush as Naruto turned to water then moved his leg back and stepped out of the bind

He then picked his chest back up and looked back to Hina, "Well it was fun, maybe you'll catch my nest time gorgeous!" He exclaimed with a smile, which caused Hina to grind her teeth and blush, as he jumped off of the ship into the water, making his escape

But before he could escape, three other Marine ships had arrived on the scene. Instead of falling into the ocean and swimming away Naruto landed on a spot of ice he had made and stared down the Marine vessels. "Jheez, it was fun earlier but I gotta get a move on would you kindly get out of my way and let me pass?!" Naruto questioned as he yelled up to the three vessels

'I got to make this guy move, if I get shot underwater it'll hit me, I can't change into water when submerged.' Naruto thought to himself

A big brute of a man then walked forward and put his leg onto the figurehead of the ship and looked down at the Yonko, "Listen here you Pirate scum! I'm Axe-hand Morgan and you'll be coming with us!" The man yelled back to him which made Naruto sigh

"So much for asking kindly." Naruto stated quietly to himself, no one else hearing him. "Well I guess I'll have to move your ships by force then! Ocean Explosion!" Naruto yelled out as he released a small ball of light into the ocean which travelled under the surface of the water until it reached right under the ships. Once there, it exploded, causing the ships to shake and rock as streams of water shot out in every direction. Seeing the attack going Naruto made a fist and then swung it out to the side of his body, "Freeze!" He yelled as all the water in the air and under the ships had turned into solid ice, making the ships be trapped in an Iceburg.

The Yonko then saw Hina run back to the railing of her vessel and looked over it to meet him in the eye. Naruto just kept his grin up and he gave her a wink before jumping into the water and going to regroup with his crew with the chest he had found.

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With the Whirlpool Pirates. . .

The small group had managed to find their way onto Sphinx and find a hidden village in a valley, much like the village on Elbaf. The inhabitants of the village had knew from right when they arrived that they were not from Sphinx but were kind and nice to the crew anyway. Eventually, Kiji led the group through the mountain range as they arrived at another smaller valley, but this one had no evidence of human or animals being here. At the back of the valley was a grand water fall that sparkled and odd colour when hit by the sun's rays. The group quickly checked it out and found a short cavern which revealed the final Road Ponoglyph. They were overjoyed that they had found it and without and delay got an etching of it and ran back to the ship at high speeds.

"So you guys actually got it!" Lucy exclaimed with a smile on her face as she hugged the group with excitement

Russ grinned as he walked forward, "Well ya know I was leadin' the charge through countless enemies! At one point I was carryin' the kid on y back as I made my way through the scarred and treacherous terrain on the island!" The marksman exclaimed with a proud smirk as the whole crew sweat dropped and sighed at his antics

"Yeah like anyone could ever stop me!" Reeve told him with some anger in his voice from his abilities being downplayed

Gem then brought his hand to the back of his head, "To be honest there's quite a few things that can stop you." He told Reeve, but the boy didn't hear it because he was too preoccupied with glaring at Russ

Yuri then stepped in and held back Reeve from trying to get at Russ, as Lucy walked behind the marksman and hit him right on the back of the head. "Ow! What'd you do that for!" Russ yelled at the woman

"I did that because you're teasing Reeve you idiot! He's only a kid!" Lucy exclaimed and Russ was about to argue back before a water cyclone spun right out of the water and onto the deck of the ship, revealing Naruto

He waved, "Hey guys! What did I miss?" The captain asked as he brought the chest in hand and plopped it down on the table

"Eh not much, just Lucy scolding Russ again." Rose answered simply as RIM beeped along on her shoulder

Naruto laughed, "So the usual then." The crew chuckled along. "Hey did you guys find the last of the Road Ponoglyphs?" Naruto questioned as Kiji presented him with an etching of the stone

"YES THIS IS PERFECT!" Naruto exclaimed with absolute excitement

"Did you find what you were looking for Naruto-taichou?" Kinshiki asked as Naruto opened the chest and presented the book before them

He smiled, "Yea I did! Now let's go get the One Piece!"

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A Week Later. . .

The Whirlpool Pirates had managed to decipher what the symbols read on the Ponoglyphs and were able to pinpoint the exact location of the island Raftel. After a week of sailing they had arrived at the mysterious island and were greeted by a great fog over top of the island's terrain. Navigating through the fog, the group saw that the mystical island looked to be some old fortress with various old cannons and weapons lying about on the ground, untouched for centuries. Going into the fortress they saw writings above a seat that looked to be a throne, they crew tried to piece together what it said but the writings were too badly damaged to read it. Eventually, the crew decided to go separate ways to try and cover more ground and find what they came for.

Naruto had stayed in the throne room and looked around for anything that may hint to the location of where the treasure was on the island but only saw moss over moss. 'The only place in this whole room that isn't mossy is the left side of that damn chair! What the hell, this sucks! Wait a sec, the left of the chair?' Naruto thought to himself as he walked over to the chair and looked at the scrapped moss on the floor, seeing that the chair must've been moved.

The Yonko then put as much force into the chair as he could and behind it revealed a set of stairs that led downwards. "Hey guys I think I found something!" Naruto yelled back to the crew, not taking his eyes off of the route ahead of him, walking towards it. After walking through the tunnel for a bit Naruto arrived at a large open room that was filled with glittering gold and shiny jewels.

But it wasn't the gems or treasure on the ground that caught the man's eyes, it was the pirate ship the laid up-right upon all of the treasure. "I-it's Dad's ship!. . . . . . . T-the Oro-Jackson!" Naruto said aloud as a few stray tears fell from his eyes

The Yonko then ran across the gold and treasure on the ground and made his way onto the deck of the legendary ship of the Pirate King. Journeying through dusty ship, Naruto found his way into the captain's quarters. Inside he saw that the room was filled with dust and dirt, there was also a map of the world with an "x" over most islands, maybe signifying that the Roger Pirates had explored it. Next to some of the traditional pirate items in the room was a withered letter, Naruto couldn't really make out the name on the seal but opened it anyway.

(If you play the One Piece ost- Mother Sea for this part I'm sure it'll be good!)

To Whom it may concern,

While I was on an island a man came up to me and asked me if the only thing a pirate cared about was his treasure. I told

him that he was absolutely right, back then the only thing that was on my mind was finding loads of the stuff and rising

to glory. But as I think back on that now I still think that that man was right, but the meaning of treasure is different

for me now. Over the years I had found numerous friends who had helped me achieve my dreams, Rayleigh, Gaban, Crocus, hell

even those tow kids that keep causing a ruckus on my ship, Shanks and Buggy. But it wasn't until I met the most beautiful woman

in all of the seas that I got my most precious treasure. She had gifted me with the most beautiful boy I've ever seen, my own son,

Naruto. And it's because of him that it pains me so much to be leaving him behind. I know that if I leave him then the threat of the

Government tracking down my family will be gone, but it still pains me so much. There isn't a thing in this world that I wouldn't

give to be able to be a part of his life a little longer, to teach him how to fish, to show him how to fight like his old man. Or just to say that I'm proud of

him for one last time. But to answer that question from earlier, treasure is the most important thing, but the only treasure that I consider important

is my family.

- Gol D. Roger

Once the Yonko finished reading the letter, tears began to flow down his cheeks as he felt the tremendous heartache that his father must've felt at the time he wrote this. He then put the letter in his pocket as he turned to see what appeared to be a picture on the ground, he knelt down to pick it up to see that is was a picture of Roger and Rouge smiling as they held a baby Naruto in their hands. Taking the picture out of the holder, Naruto flipped it over to look at the back and saw that it read 'My Treasure'.

Naruto made a heartfelt smile as he placed the picture into his coat pocket where the letter was stored and began to walk off the ship before a hand that looked a lot like his father patted his shoulder. Naruto quickly turned his head around but didn't see anything, the captain of the Whirlpool Pirates then smiled, before he muttered something out, "Thank you Dad, for everything."

"Hey captain get out here!" Kiji yelled up to the Yonko as Naruto ran out on to the deck and looked at Kiji

"What is it Kiji? Did something wrong?" Naruto questioned frantically as he saw the whole crew looking at something at the other side of the room

There was a moment of silence before the whole crew started to laugh out loud at the sight before them. "I-I understand why the Roger Pirates called this island Laugh-tale now! Bwhahahaha!" Naruto managed to say as he laughed