Chapter 22

Portgas D. Naruto

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"W-what happened? W-where am I?" Naruto asked himself as he regained consciousness after letting the effects of the dart pass

All around him he could hear murmuring as if people around him were trying to be quiet to see what he had to say. He then sat upwards and rubbed his eyes, still feeling a little groggy he looked around to see a bunch of women surrounding him, each one of them studying him. He gazed over each one of them and saw that they all had their eyes on his lower body. Naruto raised a brow as he looked down to come to the conclusion that he was missing his clothes.

The Yonko then did his best to quickly cover himself before looking back at the women with a nervous smile, "Uh yo." He voiced with a small smile as the women gasped at his words

"IT SPEAKS!" They all echoed as Naruto sweat dropped

The Yonko rubbed the back of his neck, still doing the best he could to conceal his nether regions. "Would any of you happen to have any spare clothes? Or maybe MY clothes?" He questioned the women as they once again went back to murmuring

One of the locals then cautiously stepped forward and pushed some clothes on the ground to him within his cage. The man looked down to see the clothes being offered to him and picked them up and began to change in front of the girls as they all looked on in fascination and a few of them taking down notes. "Man! What is that hanging thing between your legs?" One of the women asked

Naruto went red and started to laugh, "Oh you don't need to worry about that, it's uh a man thing!" He responded nervously

"What about that sack! Can we touch it?" Another questioned as Naruto did his best to prevent a nose bleed

"Ummm I don't think so, um uh. . ." Naruto tried to speak as all of the women continued to analyze him. "Look, the man is getting flustered, perhaps it was something we did?" One of the women said to another as the other just shrugged

Naruto just shook his head as he continued to get dressed, he put on his pants and his shoes before he was about to put on his shirt and noticed that there was no shirt to put on. He then looked through the pile of clothing and only saw some rough clothe instead of his cloak and shirt, with all of the items he was carrying missing. The captain of the Whirlpool Pirates then rushed to the bars of his cage where all of the women were and questioned them, "Where is my shirt and cloak!?"

"We gave it to the Snake Princess!" They all chorused as Naruto face-palmed

Naruto looked up from his palm with an angered look and responded to the women, "I don't give a damn if you gave it to the Snake Princess! I want it back! And I want it back now!"

Each one of the women were taken back by his distaste that he voiced against the Snake Princess, and stumbled back away from the cage in shock. To them no one dare speak ill of the Snake Princess and what the man in front of them was doing at this moment was going against everything they had ever come to know. They all readied their arrows and took aim. "No one dare speaks ill of the Snake Princess!" Voiced a short blond haired woman

'Crap! Looking at their arrows I can see that they are coated in haki, if any of them him me I'm down for the count. I need to get out of this cage, but I can't bust out through the front it's Seastone. I guess the only option is up.' Naruto thought as he prepared to jump, leading with his fist

He jumped just as the women's arrows were shot at him, busting through the roof of his little 'cell' with his haki coated fist. He then landed on the building behind the crowd of women, shocking them that he was able to escape so easily. He then stood there, shirtless, as they all took aim at him once again. Seeing this, Naruto brought his arms close to his body and proclaimed, "Ice Fortress!" Within an instant a ball pf ice surrounded his body and all of the arrows that the group had fired had been lodged into the dome of ice

"W-what is this power!" One of the women spoke with absolute shock

Another bared the same facial expression before speaking just after, "Do all men posses such abilities?"

"Nope! I'm one of a kind ladies! Now tell me, where is the Snake Princess?" Naruto questioned the women as they began to attack him once again

The Water-man sighed as he raised his arm towards the group and uttered, "Freeze." Before long each one of them was unable to move and all of their arrows had fallen onto the ground away from them

"Where is the Snake Princess! I don't want to hurt you guys, so tell me." Naruto asked as each of them struggled for freedom instead of answering him

The group that Naruto had before him were unresponsive, he was about to try and squeeze some information out of them in a different way before a few new women wearing white cloaks stepped into the picture. Each one of them had their arrows drawn back, ready to fire, but chose to talk instead, "Man! Your presence on the island has been heard by many, and the Snake Princess would like to see you for herself! Come with us and we will bring you to her!" One of them spoke as Naruto smiled and jumped down beside them

"Well it's about time; anyway sorry guys!" He spoke back to the group he had restricted with his abilities as they were all let go from his hold

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Minutes Later. . .

After walking through the village with the Kuja Pirates and being escorted into Boa Hancock's palace, Naruto had been brought to a room with a lot of decorative snake ornaments that were spread across the walls and that were placed on all the edges of the room. One of the members of the Kuja walked to his side and spoke to him, "Wait here, the Snake Princess will be out shortly." After speaking the Kuja retreated to outside of the room, leaving Naruto alone

The Yonko decided that he'd respect the Snake Princess by remaining put for the time being, but before long many minutes had passed with no sign of anyone coming. "You know what I've had enough! I'm not waiting any longer to get my things! I need to get a move on to Water-7, like it or not, the Snake Princess is about to get a visitor in that room of hers!" Naruto spoke angrily

He then ran strait forward to where the Kuja had told him where the Snake Princess would enter from. He made a few turns and ran through corridors until he arrived at a decorative door that had steam seeping out from under it. Feeling confident that this was the room, Naruto busted through the door and was greeted by a very pleasant sight. Right in front of him was the naked form of Boa Hancock, who had her back facing him; looking at her back one could see an odd mark that had looked to be branded upon her.

Naruto payed no attention to her naked body as he looked around all over the room for his things, "Where did you put my stuff lady!? I can't get to the next island without it and I would really appreciate if I got it back!"

Boa was lost for words as she say this "man" do as he pleased in her bathhouse and began to fume. "How dare you! How dare you intrude on my bath you filthy man! You should be put to death for doing such a thing!" She explained as she turned to face him, pointing at him and bending her back so that her face wasn't in view

A tic mark then grew on Naruto's head as he turned to face the Snake Princess with an angered look on his face, "Well maybe if you didn't take away all my stuff then we wouldn't be having this problem!" He told her with shark teeth

"Such a hideous creature! I'd be doing you a service by killing you!" She spoke to him, also having a tic mark adorn her head

Naruto laughed at her words, "I'm a damn Pirate! I'd like to see you try snake lady! I'd. . .I'd. . .I-" Naruto countered as he just now began to notice her nake figure right in front of his face and got a little distracted

Hancock then stood up from her bath and prepared to attack him, "Love-Love Beam!" She yelled as a heart-shaped pink beam shot out of her hands at Naruto who widened his eyes before jumping away from it. Hancock then tried to attack the Water-titan a few more times and he kept avoiding the attacks by jumping out of the way, creating lots of noise in the process.

Eventually, Boa began to tire out and seeing this Naruto stopped moving and stood before her once again, "Can I please get my stuff back now!?" He asked her while she panted a little

The room went quiet before the door behind the two bursted open revealing three new people that Naruto didn't recognize. "Sister, we heard noise, what's wrong?!" A giant lady with a snake-like tongue and mint coloured hair asked

"W-what is that t-thing! Is it a man?!" Another giant lady voiced, this one having brown hair and having a little more extra weight

"Hmm so the rumours on the island are true. But this man, he's different from the others. . .in some way." An older woman spoke silently to herself as she observed Naruto

During the time that the new figures entered the room, Hancock had gotten the chance to grab her robe and was now standing out of the water and by the other women in the room looking at the Yonko, "This man has saw my mark sisters. . ." Hancock began to say as the three new figures were shocked to the core hearing this

"Sandersonia, Marigold! Attack him!" Hancock ordered as the two sister sprung into action and began to try and hit them with there fists

Naruto began to sweat as he avoided the blows from both of the gigantic sisters, each blow they threw at him was immediately followed up by another and Naruto was still trying to figure out the best possible way to take the two giants down without bringing the building down on top of them. He then thought of an idea and waited for the next strike. Before long it came and Naruto dodged and watched as it connected with the stone on the ground, using the moisture in the air he froze Marigold's hand to the ground and then delivered a kick to the side of her face.

Marigold grunted before she recovered from his attack, "You'll pay for that man!" She said as herself and Sandersonia began to morph into snake-hybrids as of the result of a Devil-Fruit

"Devil-Fruit users eh! You two just made this a whole lot easier than it had to be!" Naruto exclaimed with a smile as he rushed the two sisters

The two snake women prepared for a punch or a kick but the only thing they received was a hand touching each of them softly. They both were puzzled at their opponents actions before they both felt extremely weak and fell over. Boa Hancock and the older Kuja were shocked that some of Amazon Lily's top combatants were defeated by a mere touch of all things.

Hancock herself was about to get involved once again with the fight while the Kuja elder came to a realization after watching Naruto use his abilities and stopped the Snake-Princess. "Why are you stopping me from fighting Elder Nyon, this man had just taken out both of my sisters! He must not be allowed to live!" Hancock complained as the now revealed Elder Nyon came to a shocking realization

"Snake-Princess do you not know who this man is! He's one of the four most powerful pirates in the world! One of the Yonko, Portgas D. Naruto! I don't know how I didn't see this earlier, but if you were to attack him you'd stand no chance!" The older woman said as Naruto just laughed and rubbed the back of his head in embarrassment

Hancock exhaled, "So be it." She spoke, standing down

Elder Nyon then took her attention off of Hancock and put it back on Naruto, "Why have you come here Yonko, I doubt that you have come to start any kind of quarrel?" She asked him as Naruto nodded

"No I haven't, I actually got lost on my way to Water-7 and ended up here somehow. And then I woke up in a cell without my clothes and went to go find my things so I could be able to continue my journey." Naruto explained with a smile

Elder Nyon closed her eyes and nodded along with his words before speaking once again, "I see I see, well I think it would be in our best interest to see you on your way Yonko. The Marine Corp wouldn't take too kindly to spotting one of the four Emperors on one of the Seven Warlords territories."

A lightbulb went off in Naruto's head as he put two and two together and concluded that the Snake-Princess was in fact Boa Hancock, one of the Seven Warlords of the sea. "Ah then you wouldn't mind showing me to my log pose and clothes now wouldn't you?" Naruto asked the two women as Hancock just growled a little

"I suppose not." Hancock said with a little bit of hidden anger

"Oh and before I forget, what was that mark on your back Hancock? It looked oddly familiar." Naruto asked her as both the women grew weary

The Snake-Princess growled before she raised her voice at him, "If you must know man, it's a brand! A brand of slavery from the corrupt World Nobles! As long as it's on my body it's to represent that I belong to another, that I'm someones property!" Hancock lashed out in a fit before Naruto walked over to her at sat down before the two

"I take it you don't like the Celestial Dragons?" Naruto questioned her as she made a fist

"What was your first clue!" She screamed back at him, Elder Nyon chose to remain quiet, not wanting to upset either side

Naruto sighed, "Those noble bring nothing but chaos and destruction in their path and breed hatred in others; when I was younger they took my younger brother from me. He was setting sail to fulfill his dream but was too close to one of the Noble's ships and was blown up, his death made me so overwhelmed with hatred and despair that I killed the Celestial Dragon." Naruto began to say as both woman gapped at the fact that the man before them had not only stood against a Celestial Dragon, but had killed one

"I can't speak for you on what horrors you had to witness and be apart of while near the World Nobles but I know from personal experience how much pain and suffering they can be the root of." He then reached out with his palm and touched the Snake-Princess's back, his hand glowed for a second before he wavered a bit in his legs and finally dropping his palm

Naruto then grinned at Hancock before speaking once again, "We might've been fighting moments ago but I know that someone shouldn't have to live as another's underling, so maybe without that mark on your back you can live free! Like me!" Naruto voiced as Hancock dropped her robe enough for Elder Nyon to look at the brand mark

Much to the older woman's surprise the mark was gone, "I-I-It's gone Snake-Princess! Your mark! It's vanished!"

Hancock then began to feel an overwhelming amount of emotion as she began to cry tears of joy, finally being able to have a little bit of detachment from her past as a slave under the World Nobles. Out of pure instinct she swung her arms around the man before her who she once a few moments ago thought of as an enemy but had now thought of as a sort of saviour. She embraced him hard as she cried into his bare chest, finally letting go of years of suffering and torment.

"T-Thank you so much!" She told him as she looked up to him with watery eyes

Naruto rubbed the back of his head and grinned, "Don't mention it!"

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A Week Later. . .

A week had passed since Naruto had awoken on the island of Amazon Lily and he had quickly come to be accepted on the island, Boa Hancock and her sisters had their brands removed from their backs, courtesy of the Yonko and in their eyes had been placed into debt to the kind man. Though Naruto didn't see this to be the case, decided that they didn't need to repay him. With a lot of convincing from Naruto's behalf, both Sandersonia and Marigold had dropped the whole debt thing after treating him to a couple great banquets, but Hancock kept at it, now offering herself to him whenever she got the chance and asking for the two of them to be wed.

The rest of the women on the island had also come around to like Naruto, seeing him as a kind gentlemen, a great contrast to the image of men they had grown accustom to thinking about. Most women on the island, especially the Boa siblings still had a distaste towards the male gender, but Naruto was now seen as one of the few exceptions on the Maiden Island.

"Alright guys! Thanks a lot for the past week! It's been a blast!" Naruto waved to the group of females that had gathered on the beach to see him off

"WE'LL MISS YOU! SEE YOU SOON NARU-BRO!" They all echoed to him as he laughed heartily

Elder Nyon then got the taller man's attention and handed him an eternal log pose, "I know it's not the correct island you're looking for but with this pose it should get you close to Water-7 so that you only have to worry about your regular pose resetting once before sailing to your desired destination." The older woman spoke

"And where might this be leading me?" Naruto questioned her with a puzzled look

She sighed, "The pose will lead you to the island known as Enies Lobby, from there you only need to either ride the sea train or let the pose reset before going to Water-7. I trust a man with power equal to what you possess can handle some of the governments henchmen?" She asked him with a smile

"Shouldn't be a problem." He answered

The captain of the Whirlpool Pirates then walked onto his ice boat and was preparing to sail off. "Don't be a stranger Naruto, you're always welcome back on the island! Just don't bring anyone with you!" Sandersonia told him as he laughed and nodded to her

"You bet!" He said with a huge smile

"Next time you come back I want a rematch! No Devil-Fruits! Haki verse haki!" Marigold exclaimed to him

Naruto nodded, "You're on Marigold! Just you wait!"

The Yonko then turned his head ever slow slightly to see Hancock launch herself at him and tackle him to the ground of the ice boat. "Beloved don't leave without me! We need to have a romantic cruise of the Grandline! Just me and you, husband and wife! Together forever!" Hancock gushed as Naruto's jaw dropped as a huge sweat drop formed on his head

The man then stood back up to his feet and removed Hancock from him and responded to her, "I don't know about that one Hancock, but I'll defiantly come by sometime and visit you again!" Naruto told her with a thumbs up

She then brought one hand to either side of his face and gushed once again, "Oh my! It's practically a wedding proposal!" She exclaimed with happiness

"No it's not!" Elder Nyon yelled at the Snake-Princess

Naruto could only laugh at the antics of his new friends as he began to set sail once again, going back into the Grandline. Once he was far enough away from the island he extended his open palm to the sky before bringing it back down into his body and making a fist, "I'll be seeing you soon Strawhats! You too Luffy!"