Saint Naruto (CH 10) (Patreon)

A/N: This story is rated M for mature content not suitable for children.

x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x

Chapter 10: The Iron Gate of Paradise

One Piece Universe

The sea did not flow down; it climbed into the clouds.

Where the four great oceans of the world collided at the base of the Red Line, massive, roaring canals of churning sea water defied gravity, surging upward into the mist-covered peak of Reverse Mountain.

The Imperator Storm hit the entrance channel at forty knots.

The colossal black warship, three hundred feet of reinforced dark titanium, powered by the captive electrical reserves of Saint Naruto’s Raijin fruit, did not struggle against the violent, red-water rapids. Her hydro-stabilizers slammed into the stone canal walls with a screeching spray of white water, holding the vessel dead center in the canal as she roared straight up the mountain face.

On the forward observation deck, Nami stood at the brass railing.

She wore a tailored coat of dark blue silk over a high-collared white blouse, her orange hair tied back neatly with a black velvet ribbon. In her hands, she held a set of platinum-plated sea-compasses, her brown eyes tracking the wild, erratic needle jumps caused by the strange magnetic fields of the Red Line.

She wasn't trembling. For eight years, the sea had been a cage, a place of fear and debt. Now, standing on the prow of an imperial dreadnought, the sea felt vast, terrifying, and completely hers to conquer.

"The magnetic flux is doubling every hundred meters," Nami reported, her voice clear and precise over the deafening roar of the upward rapids. She turned her head toward the quarterdeck stairs. "If we hit the crest at our current angle, the cross-winds from the South Blue channel will pitch the ship fifteen degrees to port!"

Kuina stood three paces behind her, leaning casually against the iron housing of a deck cannon. She wore her obsidian leather armor, her arms folded over her chest, the dark Cursed Meito Karasuba resting at her hip, while the pristine white Wado Ichimonji remained strapped across her back.

"The ship won't pitch," Kuina said coolly, her dark eyes looking out at the rising red stone walls rushing past them. "My Lord does not permit his vessel to tilt."

Above them, on the high quarterdeck throne, Saint Naruto sat with one leg crossed over his knee.

He wore no coat against the freezing mountain winds. His open silk tunic exposed his chest, where the translucent blue circuits of his Raijin power pulsed in steady, rhythmic flashes. His golden hair flapped slightly in the gale, his cold blue eyes watching the white mist at the summit.

"Vane," Naruto spoke flatly.

"My Lord!" Captain Vane barked from the steering wheel deck, his hands white-knuckled on the mahogany helm.

"Full power to the starboard propulsion drive. We are not steering around the crest. We are going straight through."

"At once, Saint Naruto!" Vane yelled into the copper engine tube. "Engines to maximum output!"

BOOOOOOM!

The turbine housing at the stern of the Imperator Storm flared with a blinding, pale-blue electric arc. The black ship accelerated, breaking the surface of the mountain stream and shooting over the rocky summit of Reverse Mountain like an iron missile.

For three seconds, the dreadnought was airborne, suspended three thousand feet above the clouds. Below them lay the vast, endless expanse of the Grand Line, Paradise, stretching out into a horizon choked with strange, swirling weather fronts, sea kings, and distant, unexplored landmasses.

SPLAAAASH!

The warship slammed into the central downward canal, carving a fifty-foot wave of white foam into the red water as she roared down toward the entrance of Paradise.

Nami gripped the railing, her heart hammering against her ribs, a wide, breathtaking smile breaking across her face. "We did it... We're in the Grand Line!"

Kuina glanced at the young orange-haired girl, a subtle, approving twitch at the corner of her lips. "Get back to your instruments, Navigator. The real work begins now."

At the base of Reverse Mountain, where the four mountain canals converged into the wide, dangerous sea of Paradise, sat Twin Cape.

Floating in the calm, sheltered waters beside the twin lighthouse was Laboon, the colossal Island Whale, whose massive, scar-covered head broke the surface like a black mountain of flesh. Sitting in a folding lawn chair on a wooden deck constructed directly over the whale's blowhole was Crocus, the former doctor of the Roger Pirates.

Crocus held a newspaper in one hand and a cup of black coffee in the other. He adjusted his small round glasses as he looked up at the sound of roaring water echoing down the mountain canal.

"Another set of rookies...?" Crocus muttered to himself, setting his coffee down. "The sea has been loud this week. First the green-haired boy who lost his swords at the Baratie... now this..."

The words died in Crocus's throat.

Emerging from the fog of the downward canal was not a wooden pirate ship or a standard Marine galley.

It was a leviathan of iron and static.

The Imperator Storm slowed her descent, her massive titanium bow slicing through the calm waters of Twin Cape with a low, heavy rumble that made Laboon let out a deep, curious whale song that reverberated through the sea floor.

Crocus stood up slowly from his chair, his eyes narrowing as he took in the flag flying from the mainmast.

"The World Government... No, not just the Navy," Crocus whispered, his old face hardening into cold, cautious steel. "The crest of House Aurelius. Saint Naruto himself..."

The black warship came to a dead stop fifty yards from the lighthouse, her heavy titanium anchors dropping into the seabed with a resounding THUD.

A wooden gangplank lowered from the lower deck.

Saint Naruto walked down the ramp, stepping onto the sun-bleached planks of the lighthouse pier. Kuina walked half a pace behind his right shoulder, her hand resting lightly on the hilt of Karasuba, her eyes scanning the old doctor with sharp, analytical precision. Nami followed, holding a fresh leather-bound logbook to her chest.

Crocus did not bow. He stood his ground, his arms folded across his floral shirt, looking at the young Celestial Dragon with calm, unbothered eyes that had seen the end of the world alongside Gol D. Roger.

"A Saint of Mariejois in Paradise," Crocus said flatly, his deep voice carrying over the sound of the waves. "The Five Elders must be getting nervous if they're sending their private executioner to inspect the lower seas."

Kuina’s eyes narrowed instantly, a fraction of an inch of black steel leaving Karasuba's sheath. "Watch your tongue, old man. You are speaking to a sovereign of the World Government."

Naruto raised a single hand, stopping Kuina's movement effortlessly.

He looked at Crocus, his icy blue eyes taking in the old man's posture, the medical gear strapped to his hip, and the subtle, deeply buried aura of an old veteran who had conquered the sea.

"Crocus," Naruto said smoothly. "Former ship's doctor of the Oro Jackson."

Crocus’s eyes widened slightly, though he did not break his stance. "So my file isn't completely buried in the Navy's archives."

"Your file was cleared by my personal authority six years ago," Naruto replied, taking a step forward until he stood three feet from the doctor. "House Aurelius has no interest in arresting retired ghosts who spend their final days nursing a whale. I am here for information."

Crocus let out a dry, raspy laugh. "Information? A World Noble asking a retired pirate for directions?"

"The Grand Line's magnetic field has shifted over the past forty-eight hours," Nami stepped forward, her voice businesslike and sharp as she opened her logbook. "The standard Log Pose routes leading toward Whiskey Peak and Little Garden are showing abnormal magnetic decay. Something is pulling the local sea currents south toward the Kingdom of Alabasta."

Crocus looked at Nami, surprising himself at the young girl's professional tone, then looked back at Naruto.

"The Baroque Works syndicate," Crocus stated flatly. "Mr. 0 has been deploying artificial Dance Powder and localized magnetic interference across the Sandy Island sector for six months. He's trying to isolate Alabasta from Marine supply routes."

"Sir Crocodile," Naruto murmured, a small, dark smirk playing at the corners of his lips. "A Seven Warlord of the Sea who thinks he can hide his ambition behind a desert sandstorm."

"Crocodile is dangerous," Crocus warned, his tone growing serious. "He possesses the Suna Suna no Mi. In the desert, he is invulnerable. He's been building a private army of ten thousand bounty hunters under the World Government's nose."

"An army of dust," Kuina interjected coldly, her hand returning to her hip. "They are irrelevant."

Naruto turned back toward his ship, his navy coat flapping softly in the sea breeze.

"Give the doctor five thousand Berries for the sea charts, Nami," Naruto commanded lazily as he walked back up the gangplank. "We are setting course directly for Rainbase."

"Rainbase...?" Nami stuttered, quickly writing down the coordinates in her logbook. "My Lord, that's the central operational hub of Baroque Works! We'll be bypassing all five standard Paradise trade stops!"

"I didn't come to Paradise to sightsee, Nami," Naruto's voice echoed back from the quarterdeck stairs, cold, absolute, and electric. "I came to collect a kingdom."

For three days, the Imperator Storm cut through the strange, chaotic waters of Paradise.

While other rookie crews struggled against sudden blizzards, sea monsters, and erratic magnetic storms, Naruto's flagship operated with absolute, military perfection. The conductive silver tattoo etched into Kuina's back acted as a secondary lightning rod, channeling Naruto's residual Raijin aura into the ship's internal power core, allowing the vessel to maintain a constant speed of forty knots regardless of wind or sea state.

Inside the grand stern cabin on the third night, the air was warm, thick, and quiet.

Naruto sat at his black marble desk, reviewing a series of economic reports sent via private Den Den Mushi from House Aurelius financial agents in Mariejois.

Standing beside his chair was Nami.

She wore a soft, velvet training tunic provided by Naruto's tailors, her hair falling loosely over her shoulders. She held a feather quill in her right hand, carefully adjusting the ink lines on a large, high-resolution parchment map of the Alabasta Kingdom.

Her fingers were steady, but her body was warm, standing close enough to Naruto that she could feel the faint, rhythmic pulse of his electric heat against her hip.

"The river routes near Nanohana are completely dried up," Nami murmured, leaning over the marble desk, her chest pressing slightly against the dark wood as she pointed her quill at a region marked Rainbase. "Crocodile has diverted the natural water table to feed his private casino oasis while the surrounding cities starve. It's... it's horrifying."

"It's efficient," Naruto corrected her softly, without looking up from his ledger. "A starving population doesn't rebel against a conqueror; they look for someone to give them bread. Crocodile is simply executing a standard takeover strategy."

Nami’s jaw tightened, her brown eyes looking up at his handsome, emotionless face. "You talk like it's just numbers... These are real people, My Lord. Thousands of families are dying of thirst while he plays hero in the newspapers."

Naruto stopped his quill. He slowly turned his head to look at her.

The room fell into an intense, suffocating silence.

Nami’s breath caught in her throat. She realized she had crossed a line, she had spoken to a World Noble with the emotional indignation of a commoner.

"My... My Lord..." Nami rasped, her hand shaking as she tried to pull back.

Naruto reached out, his long fingers wrapping around her wrist, stopping her movement. He didn't squeeze hard, but his grip was absolute iron.

"Do you know why Arlong failed, Nami?" Naruto asked softly, his voice low, hypnotic, and heavy with power.

"Because... because you destroyed him..." Nami whispered.

"No," Naruto murmured, pulling her wrist gently until her body was forced to turn toward him, her thighs pressing against his leather-armchair armrest. "Arlong failed because he was emotional. He let his hatred for humans cloud his management. He spent eight years gloating over ninety-three million Berries in a dirt village when he could have owned the entire East Blue trade network if he had simply paid his taxes and managed his assets with discipline."

He reached up with his free hand, his thumb gently tracing the smooth line of her lower jaw, trailing down her neck to the high collar of her velvet tunic.

"Crocodile is making the same mistake," Naruto continued, his blue eyes flashing with a faint thread of pale static. "He thinks his Devil Fruit makes him a god. He thinks he can hide his ambition behind desert dust and private syndicates. He forgot that every grain of sand in Alabasta exists because the World Government permits it."

Nami stood frozen, her heart hammering against her ribs like a trapped bird. The electric heat radiating from his thumb against her throat was intoxicating, making her knees feel soft and weak.

"And you...?" Nami gasped out, her eyes locking onto his. "What do you want with Alabasta?"

"I want its trade routes," Naruto replied flatly. "I want its gold mines. And I want the Baroque Works intelligence network integrated into House Aurelius."

He pulled her down into his lap.

Nami let out a soft gasp as her hips landed against his strong, warm thighs. She didn't fight him. For days, she had watched Kuina's absolute, fierce devotion to this man, a devotion forged not through fear, but through the overwhelming, magnetic pull of his supreme strength.

Naruto hooked his fingers into the soft collar of her tunic, pulling it slightly to the side to reveal her left shoulder, where the pale blue storm crest of House Aurelius sat permanently etched into her pristine skin.

He brought his lips down onto her collarbone, pressing a firm, possessive kiss directly over the mark.

ZZZZT.

A jolt of warm, liquid static shot through Nami's bloodstream, making her fingers clutch tightly at his silk vest, her head tilting back as a quiet, involuntary sigh escaped her lips.

"You are my navigator, Nami," Naruto whispered against her warm skin, his hand sliding around her waist, pulling her flush against his chest. "Your job is to chart the path. My job is to own everything at the end of it. Do you understand?"

"Yes..." Nami whispered, her eyes closing as she melted against his body, her fingers tangling in his golden hair. "Yes, My Lord..."

The port city of Nanohana was burning under a hundred-degree desert sun.

While the surrounding towns of Alabasta crumbled into dry clay under the artificial drought, Rainbase, the central gambling capital operated by Sir Crocodile, flourished like a lush, artificial emerald in the red desert sand.

In the center of the city sat the Rain Dinners casino, a massive, golden pyramid topped by a gigantic, stone-carved crocodile holding a solid gold orb in its jaws. Palm trees, crystal-clear water fountains, and marble walkways lined the entrance, guarded by hundreds of heavily armed Baroque Works mercenaries dressed in silk coats and turbans.

Inside the VIP penthouse suite at the top of the pyramid, the air was cool, scented with sweet plum tobacco and cold wine.

Sir Crocodile sat behind a high desk of dark teak wood. He wore his heavy, dark-green fur coat over an orange-striped suit, a thick golden hook replacing his left hand, a fat Havana cigar clamped between his teeth.

Sitting across from him was Miss All Sunday, Nico Robin. She wore a wide-brimmed white hat, a leather coat, her dark blue eyes scanning a series of intelligence reports.

"The rebel army is moving toward Alubarna," Robin reported smoothly, setting a sheet of paper on the desk. "Kohza has gathered sixty thousand men. Princess Vivi has crossed the desert with the Straw Hat pirates and is heading toward the oasis to intercept them."

Crocodile blew a thick ring of gray cigar smoke toward the high ceiling, a low, raspy chuckle echoing from his throat.

"Shahahaha... Everything is moving according to schedule," Crocodile growled, his golden hook tapping against the teak wood. "Let the rebels slaughter the royal guard. Once both sides are exhausted, the Dance Powder evidence will be revealed, and I will step in as the savior of Alabasta. King Nefertari Cobra will cede total authority to me by nightfall."

"And the ancient weapon?" Robin asked, her voice entirely devoid of emotion. "The Poneglyph beneath the royal mausoleum?"

"It will be mine," Crocodile sneered, his yellow eyes burning with ruthless ambition. "With Pluton in my hands, even the Five Elders will have to bow to....."

BOOM!

The heavy, ten-foot solid gold doors of the VIP penthouse were blown inward.

The iron hinges sheared off like wooden toothpicks, the massive golden slabs spinning through the cool air of the penthouse before slamming into the far marble wall, shattering the hundred-thousand-Berry glass wine display into a million sparkling fragments.

Crocodile’s cigar froze between his teeth. His golden hook snapped up, his body instantly dissolving into a violent swirling cloud of yellow sand as he stood up from his desk.

"Who dares...?" Crocodile snarled, his voice echoing with raspy, murderous rage.

Walking through the dust and broken glass was Saint Naruto.

He did not rush. He walked with slow, deliberate rhythm, his hands resting in his trouser pockets, his navy coat draped over his shoulders, his blue eyes taking in the luxurious penthouse with a look of mild disgust.

Behind him stepped Kuina, her dark blade Karasuba half-drawn from its sheath, her Armament Haki flowing smoothly down her arms. Beside her stood Nami, holding a leather map case, her brown eyes sharp and confident.

Guernica of CP0 slid into the room from the side shadow, his porcelain mask completely unbothered by the sand swirling through the air.

Crocodile re-formed his physical body behind his desk, his yellow eyes narrowing into slit-like points as he recognized the young golden-haired man standing in his doorway.

"Saint Naruto..." Crocodile spat, his cigar dropping onto his desk as his jaw tightened. "What is a World Noble doing in my private office?"

Naruto stopped ten feet from the desk.

He looked at Crocodile, then shifted his eyes slightly to the right, looking at Nico Robin.

Robin sat motionless in her chair. Her pale skin had turned as white as her hat. Her hands were clutched tightly in her lap, her blue eyes wide with a deep, primal terror that went back twenty years to the burning trees of Ohara.

A Celestial Dragon... and CP0, Robin thought, her breath coming in fast, shallow gasps. They found me...

"Sir Crocodile," Naruto spoke, his voice cool and clear, instantly subduing the roaring sandstorm in the room. "You have been operating an unregistered military corporation on World Government territory."

Crocodile let out a low, dangerous growl, his right arm turning back into swirling, razor-sharp streams of sand (Suna no Mi).

"I am a Seven Warlord of the Sea!" Crocodile roared, his voice filled with arrogant, desert pride. "My immunity is granted directly by the World Government! I answer to Marineford, not to some spoiled child from Mariejois!"

Naruto didn't look angry. He slowly pulled his right hand out of his pocket.

"Your immunity was granted by House Aurelius, Crocodile," Naruto said softly. "And today... House Aurelius revokes it."

"YOU ARROGANT LITTLE BRAT!" Crocodile screamed, his patience completely snapping.

He swung his right arm forward with terrifying speed, launching a massive, crescent-shaped blade of compressed, flying sand capable of cutting a stone skyscraper in half.

"DESERT SPADA!"

The yellow sand blade roared across the penthouse floor, tearing up the thick Persian carpets and marble tiles.

Kuina stepped forward to intercept it, her hand wrapping around the hilt of Karasuba, but Naruto raised his left hand, stopping her.

Naruto didn't dodge. He didn't draw a weapon.

He simply raised his bare right palm.

ZZZZZZZZZT!

A localized dome of pale-blue, solid electric energy materialized three inches in front of his palm.

The Desert Spada hit the electric barrier and instantly vanished. The extreme, thousand-degree heat generated by Naruto's concentrated Raijin voltage fused the thousands of grains of flying sand in a microsecond, transforming the lethal razor-blade of sand into a useless, glass plate that shattered into fine dust against the floor.

Crocodile’s eyes dilated in total, unadulterated shock. "W-What?! Glass?!"

"Sand is merely unrefined silica, Crocodile," Naruto said, his voice cold, calm, and terrifyingly precise as he took a single step forward. "To a master of lightning... you are not a logia user. You are raw material."

Crocodile’s face twisted into a mask of frantic rage. He launched himself over his teak desk, his golden hook glowing with lethal purple poison as he thrust it straight toward Naruto's chest.

"DEATH SPREAD: CRESCENT CUTTER!"

Naruto didn't even raise his arms to block.

SHIN!

Kuina moved.

Her body blurred into a dark, invisible line. Karasuba left its sheath with a sound like ringing glass.

CLANG!

Kuina’s black, Hakified blade caught Crocodile’s golden hook mid-air. The sheer physical pressure of her Armament Haki slammed into Crocodile's arm, the dark Cursed Meito biting deep into the gold alloy, sending violent hairline fractures spider-webbing across his weapon.

"W-What?!" Crocodile gasped, looking at the dark-haired woman holding his full power back with a single arm. "Armament Haki... in the East Blue?!"

"You've been sitting in the desert for too long, Warlord," Kuina whispered, her cold dark eyes looking straight into his. "Your Haki is dead. Your speed is pathetic. You are nothing compared to My Lord."

Kuina flexed her wrist, running a fine thread of Naruto's channeled blue lightning down the edge of Karasuba.

BOOM!

An electric shockwave exploded from the point of contact, blasting Crocodile backward across his penthouse. He slammed through his mahogany desk, rolling across the ruined floor before coming to a stop against the base of his golden throne, his coat torn, his gold hook smoking and cracked.

Crocodile pushed himself up, blood trickling from his mouth, his yellow eyes wild with disbelief. "N-No... I am Crocodile! I fought Whitebeard in the New World! I am the king of this desert!"

He gathered every grain of sand in the penthouse, his body expanding into a giant, forty-foot sandstorm that filled the entire top floor of the golden pyramid.

"DESERT LA SPADA!"

Naruto walked through the swirling sandstorm as if it were a light rain.

The blue circuits across his chest flared with absolute, blinding brilliant light. The air in the room reached five thousand degrees in a fraction of a second.

"Kuina. Nami. Step back," Naruto ordered softly.

Kuina grabbed Nami’s arm, instantly retreating through the ruined doorway as Guernica dropped a protective Armament barrier over them both.

Naruto raised both hands, his fingers opening wide toward the forty-foot giant of sand.

"RAIJIN SECRET TECHNIQUE: GLASS EMPEROR."

BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOM!

It was not a bolt. It was a localized nuclear flash of solid, blue lightning that filled the entire top three floors of the Rain Dinners pyramid.

The deafening roar of superheated air shattered every piece of stone, gold, and glass in Rainbase. The entire forty-foot sandstorm, and every grain of sand Crocodile had dissolved his body into, was instantly superheated beyond the melting point of stone.

When the blinding blue light faded two seconds later, the sandstorm was gone.

Standing in the center of the ruined penthouse was a colossal, forty-foot statue of solid, red-and-black volcanic obsidian glass.

Inside the clear, dark center of the massive glass statue, frozen mid-scream, was Sir Crocodile. His physical body had been completely trapped and fused inside thirty tons of solid, melted silica, unable to move a single muscle, unable to shift into sand, his Logia invulnerability completely nullified by the total vitrification of his element.

Crocodile’s yellow eyes were visible through the smooth glass surface, wide, bloodshot, and filled with a horrifying, eternal terror as he looked out at the golden-haired young man standing below him.

Naruto walked up to the base of the massive glass statue.

He reached out, tapping his finger lightly against the smooth obsidian surface.

TAK.

"You were right about one thing, Crocodile," Naruto murmured, his voice echoing through the silent, shattered penthouse. "In the desert... you are sand. But sand belongs to the glassmaker."

Silence descended over Rainbase.

The thousand mercenaries guarding the casino below had fled into the desert the moment the top of the golden pyramid flared like a dying sun.

Inside the smoking ruins of the penthouse, Nico Robin sat frozen in her chair. She looked at the giant obsidian statue holding the frozen form of Crocodile, then turned her pale, trembling face toward Saint Naruto.

Naruto walked past the statue, stopping in front of Robin's chair.

Kuina and Nami stepped into the room behind him, their weapons lowered, looking at the dark-haired woman with quiet curiosity.

"Nico Robin," Naruto said softly, his blue eyes looking down at her. "The Demon Child of Ohara. Bounty of seventy-nine million Berries."

Robin closed her eyes, letting out a long, shuddering breath. She slowly raised her hands, preparing to yield to CP0.

"Execute me, then," Robin whispered, her voice hollow, exhausted from twenty years of running through the dark corners of the world. "I am tired of running."

Naruto let out a low, smooth laugh that made Robin open her eyes in shock.

"Execute you?" Naruto murmured, reaching down and gently lifting her chin with two fingers, forcing her to look into his eyes. "Why would I execute the only living person on this ocean who can read the Poneglyphs?"

Robin’s breath hitched in her throat. "Y-You... you know...?"

"I know everything, Robin," Naruto said smoothly. "I know Crocodile used you to find Pluton. I know the Five Elders want your head because they fear the truth of the Void Century. And I know you are tired of serving weak, desperate men who treat your intellect like a weapon."

Guernica took a step forward, holding out a white leather folder stamped with the gold seal of House Aurelius.

"As of this moment," Guernica announced, "the global Marine bounty on Nico Robin is suspended by direct imperial decree of Saint Naruto. You are classified as a private scholarly asset of House Aurelius."

Robin stared at the white folder, then up at Naruto's cold, strikingly handsome face.

The dark, suffocating weight that had pressed against her chest since she was an eight-year-old girl standing on the burning shores of Ohara suddenly vanished, replaced by an overwhelming, breathtaking sense of safety.

"You... you are protecting me from the Five Elders?" Robin whispered, tears welling up in her deep blue eyes.

"The Five Elders do not enter my territory without my permission, Robin," Naruto said, his voice absolute, regal, and ironclad. "You will read the ancient stones for House Aurelius. You will uncover the secrets of this world for me... and in return, no Marine, no Warlord, and no World Government agent will ever lay a finger on you again."

Robin’s hands trembled violently. She slowly slid out of her chair, dropping to her knees on the shattered floor, her forehead pressing against the leather of his boots.

"I am yours, My Lord," Robin wept softly, her dark hair falling around her face. "My mind... my life... my loyalty... belong to House Aurelius forever."

Naruto looked down at his three retainers, Kuina, the sword of iron; Nami, the eye of the sea; and Robin, the mind of the past.

He turned his eyes toward the large bay window looking out over the vast, golden sands of Alabasta.

In the distance, across the dunes, the small shape of the Going Merry was just visible, carrying the broken green-haired swordsman and the desperate straw-hatted captain toward the desert capital.

Naruto smiled, a cold, magnificent expression that promised the total transformation of the Grand Line.

"Nami," Naruto commanded softly.

"Yes, My Lord?" Nami replied, stepping forward with her logbook.

"Set course for the royal capital of Alubarna. King Cobra has a debt to pay to House Aurelius... and it's time we collected."

Chapter End

x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x

A/N: How will the Straw Hat crew manage now that Naruto has taken in members who might have joined them? Only time will reveal the outcome. I plan to begin writing my Naruto x Bleach story and may or may not continue with this one. Until next time!