Chapter 25

Portgas D. Naruto

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A few days had passed since Water-7 and Naruto along with his 3 top men, Kiji, Russ, and Lucy had all been sailing non-stop to Sabaody to get the answers that they wanted so badly. Currently, Naruto was standing at the very top of the Great Wave, which was out of the water and was looking out towards the sea. His eyes then glanced down to his hand as he sighed. 'I need to get to the bottom of this problem I've been having with the Mizu Mizu no mi, as of recently certain things that I could do with it have become harder. It's gotten to a point where I can no longer swim in the water like I used to be able to, all I can do is just separate the water off my body so I can move freely underwater. I takes up too much energy to do that, even though I still get the same result it's . . . strange.' Naruto thought to himself as smalls waves rocked the boat.

He then brought his hand to his forehead and looked out to the sea once again and spotted Sabaody way in the distance. The Yonko then cracked a small smile as he turned his back to the island with his coat making an audible sound as he turned and made his way back into the ship to alert them that they had almost arrived at their destination.

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Minutes Later. . .

Within a couple of minutes the group had arrived on the coast of Sabaody and had docked their boat at one of the groves. "Rayleigh doesn't live too far away so it should only be a short walk over there." Naruto explained as he grabbed a small bag of things and tucked them away under his cloak

"Can we expect the Navy to come looking for us here?" Lucy asked as she too was getting ready to see Rayleigh

Kiji shook his head, "It's unlikely, Sabaody is full of illegal activity which you'd think the Navy would be all over but they're not. The only chance we have of encountering anything close to a threat is if a Celestial Dragon decides to sail over here and browse for slaves."

"Ain't that the truth. Damn Nobles!" Russ expressed as he made his way towards the door and the rest followed him out to the shore

The crew began to walk off of the grove in which they docked and into the more populated part of the island. They each had some sort of clothing that partially hid their faces, not wanting to be recognized among this crowd in fear of starting a panic which could spiral out of control fast. They kept walking towards there objective when Lucy accidentally bumped into something. Turning around she had seen that something was a man, a large one at that. The man in question had black hair, along with a "x" shaped scar on his exposed stomach. But perhaps his most noticeable feature was his weird smile.

"You better watch where yer walkin'!" The man yelled out in Lucy's face

Lucy, being smart and not wanting to start something, bowed slightly to her displeasure, "I'm sorry. Please forgive me sir." She told him plainly

"Hmmmmm I don't know if I should! You bumped into Demaro Black! One of the top Pirates in Sabaody! I should teach you a proper lesson in respect!" He yelled as he brought a fist up as Kiji came to one side of Lucy and Naruto to the other as Russ moved some clothe from his hip revealing a gun

The man then began to sweat bullets and then did a fake cough, "O-on the other hand I'll think I'll be merciful today and let you off with a warning." He said before running away

The group then continued onward as Russ spoke up, but only loud enough for the group of four to hear, "Jhee Luce ur' a real hit with the ugly ones. I wonder how Kinshiki feels about that." He told her laughing to himself

Lucy grew angry but decided to let it go. "Shut up idiot." She told him as they all kept walking

Eventually, the Whirlpool Pirates made it to the outskirts of the island and spotted a stone building on the top of a hill. Naruto then took the lead as he jogged up the hill with the other following him and they got to the front door. "Here we are!" Naruto exclaimed as he pushed open the door to reveal a lady smoking a cigarette, wearing a leather jacket with black hair, and brown eyes standing behind a bar.

"Hello, how can I help you bunch today?" she said plainly as she leaned over the bar, staring at the group that just walked in

Naruto then ripped of the clothe he had around his face until it was just his hat left. The lady then began to smile which Naruto returned. "Shakky! It's good to see ya!" He exclaimed as Shakky walked around from behind the bar and gave the man a hug

"It's good to see you too kid! My look how you've grown! You're turning out to be quite the man!" She told him as Naruto just rubbed the back of his head

The woman now known as Shakky looked to the side of Naruto to spot the other three people who were with him as they too took off the clothe over their faces and heads. "Ah Naruto this must be your crew I presume!"

"You got that right! This is Kiji!" He began pointing at the Fishman who had his arms folded as he nodded to her

"Lucy!" He continued signalling her attention towards his navigator who smiled and made a peace sign

"And Russ!" He finished as the marksman simply tipped his hat

Shakky cracked a small and laughed a bit, "You guys must've done quite a lot on your journeys to be classified as one of the Yonko crews."

"You could say that." Lucy spoke out with a smile

Shakky then leaned over the bar once again and exhaled some smoke from her cigarette. "I take it you're here for a reason and not just dropping in for a drink."

"Yea we are. Do you know where Rayleigh is?" Naruto asked the woman as she looked up and thought

"Let's see, he said he had a job this morning coating another ship headed for the New World. He left a couple of hours ago so he should be back any minute now." Shakky answered them as the crew made themselves comfortable

Right on cue, Rayleigh walked through the door and spotted the group. "Hey I'm back . . .Fishcake, is that you?" Rayleigh asked with a smile as Naruto grew a tic mark and the rest of the crew plus Shakky laughed at the young man's expense

"I told you not to call me that old man!" Naruto yelled at Rayleigh as the man began to laugh

He then spoke between chuckles, "I know I know, it's just funny to see how worked up you get about it! So what're ya doing here kid!?" Rayleigh finished

"Well we're on our way to Fishman Island but we wanted to discuss something with you. You told me that the weapon Venus was with Big Mom, it wasn't." Naruto told Rayleigh as he just shrugged his shoulders and sat down

He then relaxed at the bar as the Whirlpool Pirates awaited his response. "Well then it's somewhere else." He said plainly

Naruto stared at him silently before slightly narrowing his eyes at him. "WHAT DO YOU MEAN IT'S SOMEWHERE ELSE, HOW CAN YOU SAY THAT SO CASUALLY!?" Naruto yelled as Rayleigh leaned back in his chair

"I mean you said it yourself, she doesn't have it and as long as she doesn't she can't hurt anyone with it. I trust you know as well as I do that the World Government wouldn't have it because they would've used it already. The same could be said about Kaido as well, and both Whitebeard and Red-Hair wouldn't go about using an ancient weapon." Rayleigh said simply as Naruto grabbed a chair from one of the nearby tables and plopped it in front of Rayleigh's

Naruto leaned forward to look Rayleigh in the eye at his level, "Old man, I need you to tell me where you heard about Venus' location."

The older of the two shut his eyes and tilted his head up a little and began to think, "I remember being in the marketplace when I overheard two individuals talk. It didn't sound like much until I heard one of them ask if the shipment to Big Mom was ready to go. Of course this spiked my curiosity and I decided to follow them as they began to relocate because as anyone knows, the streets of Sabaody aren't the best place to have a discreet conversation. After following them for a few minutes I heard the second part of the conversation that mentioned that the "weapon" as they put it was on track to be delivered to her. The last thing I heard the two say before parting was that they knew nothing of what the weapon was, all that they knew was that it bore the name of Venus."

"Then by all rights it should be with that ugly lady." Lucy said from her spot across the room

Kiji nodded along, "She's right, all signs point to Big Mom. If the weapon isn't with her then where could it possibly be?" The fish-man questioned out loud as the group of people in the room began to think except for Russ who just looked at his hand as he wiped some dirt off of his nails

"Well I mean, what'f we blew that sucker up already. Or better yet, what'f it was stolen." Russ stated, not looking up from his hand as the room's occupants nodded along with him

"That's a very real possibility, the New World is full of high caliber Pirates that would all jump on the chance to raid a ship." Shakky explained from across the bar

It was then Kiji's turn to speak, "Since she was a Yonko at the time her jolly roger would have most likely scared away any regular Pirates from attacking one of her ships, and the only people who would attack a Yonko is another Yonko, and well us too." Kiji hypothesized to everyone

"So then we can scratch Kaido off the list because we raided his stronghold and found nothing of the sort, as well as Shanks because he would never go out of his way to squabble with another unless he absolutely needed to." Naruto talked as he lowered fingers on his hand as he went through the names of the Yonko one by one

"What about Whitebeard?" Kiji asked

Naruto shrugged, "I don't know if it was him who took it." He then looked and brought his hand to a fist, "But I intend to find out. I needed to speak with him about another matter as well concerning one Portgas D. Ace."

Lucy sighed as her captain began to get ready to go once again, "And just like that as soon as we go somewhere we leave right away to chase another adventure."

"Still beats what the rest of the crew is doin'." Russ spoke as he moved from his spot in the room past Lucy and towards the door

Shakky turned to face Naruto as she called out to him as he made his way to the door, "Hey Kid! Come here and look at this." She told him as he began to walk back over to the bar

He looked on as Shakky presented a newspaper in front of him as he just looked on in a smile. "...Luffy..." He spoke softly

The newspaper was not the same that had been shown all across the blue seas and the Grandline for many years but instead was a different brand, meaning that it came from a different source from the other paper. The article read on how Strawhat Luffy had taken down Gekko Moria on the legendary ship known as Thriller Bark. "You know this is most likely the one and only time you'll see this paper." Shakky responded simply

Naruto raised a brow, "Why's that?" He questioned

"Because the Government will have whoever wrote it killed or enslaved for treason, the article shows the Warlords as weak and thus the Government body as weak." Rayleigh interjected

"That's horrible!" Lucy exclaimed

"That's the reality of the situation, the Government doesn't want their name dragged through the mud." Kiji told them

Naruto inhaled and then exhaled quickly, "Right." He spoke quickly. "Rayleigh, Shakky, it was good seeing you both even though it was very brief." All of the crew had exited and Naruto threw up his hood as he looked back at the two before smiling, "I know Luffy will come by any day now and when he does congratulate him for me. Tell him he reminds me more and more of Roger each day!" Naruto finished with a grin as he took another step outside before stopping once again and peeking back inside. "Rayleigh I found it you know." He said simply

Rayleigh instantly knew what he was suggesting, nodded and cracked a smile, "Congratulations kid I know your old man would be proud to hear that, remember never stop following your dreams."

Naruto nodded and grinned once again before he yelled back at them, "Remember to check the papers because I'm not done turning the world upside down yet!" He exclaimed as he ran off to join the rest of his crew

All that was left inside were both Shakky and Rayleigh, the woman of the two was about to retire to the back room before the older of them spoke up. "You wanna know something Shakky, every time I see the kid, whether it be in a paper or in person he seems to be more and more like his dad. He has an unparalleled kindness like his mother but seems to resemble more like his father." Rayleigh told her as he smiled and wiped a tear from his eye

Shakky smiled as she embraced his side and nodded.

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A few seconds later. . .

Naruto ran up to his crew that were all cloaked once again and were walking towards the Great Wave. "So is it still the plan to go down to Fishman Island?" Lucy asked him as he nodded and swung his hands behind his head and began to walk

"Yeah, it's one of Whitebeard's territories so with any luck we might find him there or find someone who knows where we can find him." Naruto told them as the all continued to walk along

Russ then chuckled to himself, "How does it feel to be goin' home Kiji?" The marksman asked the giant fish-man as he just lowered his head a little

"I feel nothing, life there was anything but pleasant, I lived in squalor and could not even stop my younger brother from leaving to be a human hating menace." Kiji told them as question marks began to fly above the Yonko's head

"Brother!? That's the first time I'm hearing about this." Naruto said to the fish-man

Lucy nodded along, "I'm curious Kiji, who is your brother?"

The fish-man sighed, "His name is Arlong. He's my younger brother." Kiji told them as the three of them gasped

"Never heard of him." They all chorused as Kiji just chuckled

Naruto took a few steps in front of everyone else and looked back onto them as they all continued to walk, "Does anyone else have any brothers or sisters I don't know about?" He asked them as Russ just shook his head

"I did have a sister but she passed a long time ago as you already know." Russ told them as Naruto nodded along and then turned to Lucy and leaned into her a little making a huge grin as he awaited her response

Her brow furrowed. "What?" She asked. "Don't look at me like that you idiot!" She scolded him lightly, and then continued her words. "But to answer your question no, I don't have any siblings, at least none that I can remember."

"I see I see. Well anyway the ship is just up ahead let's go everyone!" Naruto told his crew as he ran off in a straight line towards the ship while the rest of the crew sighed

"You know for someone so powerful he sure does act childish sometimes." Lucy said as she jogged after him

Russ laughed as he began to run ahead of her. "You should take notes feathers, I think I see a wrinkle or two on your face!" The marksman exclaimed with a laugh as he followed closely behind Naruto

"WHY YOU!" Lucy yelled out as she too sprinted after her captain, intent on making Russ pay for his comment

Kiji pinched his brow before quickly following after the group. "It really does feel like I'm babysitting these three sometimes."

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A few hours later. . .

The crew had finished their decent down to fish-man island and docked their ship on the outskirts of the city and made sure to stay clear of the fish-man district according to Kiji. They had made their way into the central part of the island and were now on route to the castle where King Neptune resided.

"You know Lucy and Russ this island is home to something super important to all of us." Naruto stated as the group kept pace with him

Russ looked in his direction. "And what might that be?" He asked in his accent

"Well this is where the Whirlpool Pirates were first created!" Naruto told them happily as the two of them nodded along

Lucy's eyes then narrowed a little bit. "Didn't you tell us that before? I could've sworn I heard that from you before." Lucy tried to recount as Naruto chuckled

"Maybe I did maybe I didn't who knows, but what matters is that you know now." He told them as they got closer and closer to the castle until they were right outside of it

"Well now's a good of a time as any." Naruto took one step onto the castles grounds and numerous guards rushed their way to either side of him and pointed their weapos at th Yonko

"Halt! State your business human!" One of them yelled at him

Naruto put up his hands to show he's not a threat and the three crewmates behind him did the same. "Woah woah woah, we're just here to see Neptune, we only want to talk we mean no harm."

The guard did not look like he was going to believe them until a voice sounded over top of all other sounds. "Stop!" Boomed the voice

A figure then jumped down from above and Naruto got a good look at him before he chuckled sarcastically. "Marco the Phoenix, who do I owe the pleasure." He told him sarcastically

"What are you doing here Portgas!? Aren't you suppose to be in the New World way off at the end of the Grandline dwelling in the cabin of your ship?" Marco responded to him with a quick jab

Naruto laughed, "I could ask you the same question pineapple head!" He spoke back

"My business here is none of your concern. What have you come for?" He demanded to know

"I came to see Neptune. I wish to ask him of something. Wait hold on, is your boss here?" Naruto asked/demanded

"Perhaps he is." Marco said before Naruto busted by him and into the palace to search for the Yonko