Naruto, One Piece 1. New Life

New Life

"There he is. That demon stole my bread, get him!"

Naruto Uzumaki ran through the streets of his home village, Konoha, as he was chased by a mob of villagers.

Their attacks were something he was used to by now but he still tried his dammedest to avoid getting a beating where he could. As he tucked into an alleyway near the docks he saw a fish barrel and quickly jumped inside it to give the villagers the slip.

Ever since his ojii-san died a couple years ago the villagers had always been like this to Naruto for reasons he couldn't really understand. He figured it had to do with a combination of his late parents line of work coupled with a set of distinctive facial birth marks he had.

Being a small time west blue village every bit they had was needed and any ill fortune really hit them hard. This was an issue because his village had some really bad history with the local foxes always eating up all their supplies and stealing things, made worse when a group of pirates under a Kitsune Jolly Roger came and nearly leveled the village. Add to that a superstition that his whisker marks made him a devil child made worse by his accidental consumption of an actual _devil_ fruit and you were left with a very unpopular Uzumaki. All of that didn't even include the fact that both of his parents had become pirates in a super powerful crew just after he was born, which certainly didn't make anyone in the village trust him in the least. A little part of him hatted that his parents had left him alone…

But truth be told, he couldn't find it in his heart to blame them.

The open sea, a chance to make a name for yourself, and being able to say even for just a single brief flicker of a moment that you mattered enough that the world would be forced to acknowledge you. Naruto would do anything to have that kind of life, to feel the kind of love that recognition must bring with it.

When he heard stories about men like the pirate king Gold Roger he felt such an unimaginable envy for him. Known the world over for better or worse, the pirate king Roger had the acknowledgement of every single person on the planet. Naruto would give anything to have that kind of happiness and had tried to leave many times to get out of the village and strike it on his own but the only traders in the village were locals who knew about his reputation and never let him on their ships.

As his thoughts came to an end Naruto let out a sigh of relief once he heard the distinct sound of the mob fade away, Naruto was getting ready to pop the top off his barrel and head out when his ears were assaulted by several loud rapid bangs. Feeling his head reeling from the noise he didn't have time to act before the barrel he was in got tipped onto its side and started rolling.

As Naruto tried to open the barrel he was left dizzier and dizzier until the barrel finally came to rest and he heard a man bellow out "Alright capt'n all the barrels are loaded and ready to go."

"Aye mates all hands on deck. Next stop Ohara Island."

When Naruto heard this, his eyes widened as he started frantically trying to open up the top of his barrel only to find that the earlier banging had been nails closing the barrels lid down. Panic rose up in the back of his mind as he started trying to kick the barrel but only served to tire himself out.

As Naruto panicked and was about to use his devil fruit and bust out, he looked through a knothole in the barrel and out a gun port to see the village start moving away.

For a moment he couldn't believe his eyes as he saw the village that he had been trapped in for his entire life begin to shrink from buildings and people to dots and specks until finally he couldn't make it out from the rest of the horizon.

In Naruto's mind his excitement was building to unimaginable proportions and only his newfound desire to stay hidden kept him from screaming a victory screech at the top of his lungs.

He had done it. He was actually leaving his village on a ship set off to a destination of adventure. Granted he hadn't been meaning to this time and it kinda ruined it for him a little bit to know that he only got away thanks to an accident but even that minute sadness was washed away when he looked back out and saw nothing but a vast blue expanse of ocean.

This was it. This was the beginning of Naruto Uzumaki's actual life. He would get wherever this "Ohara Island" was, sneak out and then wait till the ship left and he would finally be free to start his life as a free man of the seas. He would find himself Nakama, get a boat and a crew and then he would become a pirate that could make his mom and dad proud.

With his course set in his mind Naruto made himself comfortable and grabbed one of the fish to munch on as he waited for his arrival at his new life.

XxX

"I don't understand how a five year old can possibly eat as much as you do Robin. You're such a freeloader. Look at how much my daughter ate, she was content with half as much food as you." A fat red-haired woman spat as she jammed food in her mouth

"Gomen'nasai Roji Obasan." A young black haired girl said sadly as she scrubbed the floor.

"Well you should be sorry. Coming into our home and forcing us to deal with the stigma of having a freak in our house, it's bad enough without you hogging up all our resources like you own them. Don't forget to wash the dishes and take care of the laundry after we all go to bed, I don't want to have to look at that disgusting magic trick of yours." Roji said again still stuffing her face.

"Gomen'nasai Obasan I'll take care of it." The girl said as a tear slipped from her eye and fell onto the floor.

"Hmph well we're going to bed now robin. Don't come up stairs for any reason and make sure you're quiet when you're working, understand?" The fat woman said as she and two others got up from the table and went to the stairs.

"Hai Obasan." Robin said as the lights shut off and all that was left to illuminate her was the moonlight shining in from the window.

She let out a sigh as she finished scrubbing the floors and walked over to the table where she gathered up all the plates and utensils. She walked over to the sink and sat the plates down before turning on the water and grabbing a plate as she began to scrub. After the plate was clean she held it out and a hand sprouting from the counter took it and passed to another hand that then put it away in a cupboard.

Looking out the window she saw the laundry on clothes lines and went to dry them as another pair of hands sprouted and took over doing the dishes for her. She went outside and started folding the laundry before putting it into a laundry basket that sprouted feet and walked inside before hurrying back out now empty.

After finishing her chores robin went inside and prepared herself a place on the floor to sleep. She had tried the couch several nights ago and awoke to Roji hitting her so she now simply put a blanket under her and a pillow. As she grabbed one more blanket and draped it over herself two of her hands materialized out of the floor and began delicately tucking her in, it was a self-gratifying act but was something that made Robin feel calmer and happier even if the fake affection was self-made. She often thought of what it must be like to have a family that cared for her enough to do something like tucking her in bed at night or reading her stories. Seeing other kids walk around town happily with their friends and family made her wonder what kind of feelings something like that must bring. Robin prayed every day for the time when her mother would return to her and they could hold hands and be a family again and then take Robin out to see with her. That was why she kept studying in the tree of omniscience so that one day she could be an archeologist just like her mom.

Someday her mom would come back for her and her new life could start.

XxX

Naruto's sleep was interrupted when, much like the day before, he found his world being turned on its side and rolled around.

Through the sounds of wood rolling across wood and clattering boots steps he was able to hear a loud voice bellow out "Aye men. Unload the last of this shipment over by the fish fellers stall. The merchant has already paid so we can be off as soon as ya finish up."

Ignoring the fact that the constant rotations were making him start to lose his lunch, or whatever the last meal he had was, Naruto managed to let a grin find its way onto his face.

Feeling the barrel come to rest Naruto was finally able to let his mind settle as he readied his plan 'so this is the first stop on my journey eh. Watch out Ohara Island there's a new pirate in town and his name is…'

XxX

Robin had awoken to a light nudging by Rogi's foot, a welcome change from being hit, and promptly handed a list of groceries that Rogi wanted her to get from the market.

On the list were various day to day items that were needed in addition to cake ingredients and a large fresh fish to make a special birthday dinner for Rogi's daughter Mizuria, which was why she currently found herself at a fish venders stall asking for some west blue cod.

"Before you ask sir, no the fish isn't for me. It's for a celebration of Obasan's so you don't need to feel bad about giving it to me." Robin said quickly as she noticed the merchant was about to protest.

The merchant quickly softened as he remembered that Rogi's daughter's birthday was soon "Oh well in that case I just got some fresh cod in today let me open up the barrel here and…"

"**UZUMAKI NARUTO!" **screamed a blond boy who smashed his way through the lid of the fish barrel and accidently knocked out the fish vendor before he jumped up and stood on both edges of the barrel in a triumphant pose.

He was a scraggily haired boy with bright blues eyes who had odd marks on his face and was wearing a well-worn pair of black cargo shorts and a dingy white tee-shirt with a large orange dot on it _and_ plastered across his face was the biggest grin she had ever seen.

For several seconds the entire market square was silent as everyone stopped to look at the strange child they just saw jump out of a fish barrel until one of the sailors noticed him "Oi Mitch it's that god damn demon again, get it." One said as he motioned to a friend and the both brandished firearms

For a split second Robin's eye widened in fear as two large sailors came rushing down the street towards he and her mind racked itself trying to figure out what she had done

"Oh crap I forgot I was supposed to sneak out of the barrel this time, but by now you should have learned that no one can catch the mighty Naruto HAHAHAHA shit!" he said jumping up as a shot hit the spot his foot had just been.

"hehehe c'mon now guys can't we talk this out for a bit…no…well…by then" the blond child said with a nervous look on his face as jumped off the barrel and kicked it at the men, tripping them, before he ran down the street.

As their dust trail faded from view Robin was left wondering for a moment who that child had been and why he had answered to her moniker but soon remembered why she was here.

She bent down and poked the fish vendor who was still out cold from the blow to his head. Shrugging she took out a 20 beri note and placed it on his head before grabbing a fish from the barrel and walking back home nonchalantly grocery bags in hand.

XxX

"So you got everything on the list then?" Roji said looking between a slip of paper in her hand and Robin.

"Hai Obasan. It's all on the counter ready to be prepared." Robin said not making eye contact with Roji

"Mhmm what kind of fish did you get? Did you buy something good?" Roji asked as she crumpled up the list and threw it on the floor

"I got a West blue Cod that had been shipped in this morning. It was the freshest thing they had and I believe Mizuria likes cod." Robin said sharply as she bent down and picked up the paper before putting it in the trash.

"You listen here _Demon _don't presume that you know what my family likes or not. Just be grateful that Mizuria really does enjoy cod or you would have been in big trouble. Now hurry up and prepare dinner then make yourself scarce, I don't want to see you at Mizurias party scaring the children understand… good. The recipes are on the counter, you have an hour to get them ready and in the oven but, make sure I get to be the one to take them out and frost the cake, got it?" Roji barked while maintaining a glare on Robin.

"Hai Obasan I'll get started" Robin immediately said as she walked over to the counter and a flurry of hands got to work on the various food items.

"God that trick of yours is disgusting girl but at least it gets work done. Hurry up and then go hide somewhere in the back of the house alone understand?"

'Alone' Robin thought sadly as the weight of that word sank in again reminding her that she had no one on this island to turn to, no Nakama to share her thoughts and feelings with. No one in the world to really turn to when things got hard. Just a few kind scholors, a library of books and a town full of people who hated her…

And her Alone

"Hai…Obasan"

XxX

Naruto panted heavily as he sat against a tree on what he assumed was the edge on town.

He had managed to give those guys the slip and hadn't even needed to use his devil fruit since the two were such horrible shots. Though they had chased him linger than normal, but he had assumed that was because he had actually succeeded in him attempt this time instead of being caught on the docks back home.

As he was thinking about this he noticed the sun start to go down and felt his stomach choose that moment to make its presence known. As he rubbed his stomach and started thinking about a place to go he saw a brightly lit house in the distance with a multitude of people walking into it and a light buzz of chattering people.

'Hehe a party is perfect. With so many people in there I'll totally be able to snag myself a bite to eat without being noticed' Naruto thought as he began walking towards the house. When he arrived he slinked his way into a group of people chatting and made his way inside where he quickly found a table full of party snacks.

Just before he was about to begin eating he started to overhear bits and pieces of various conversations the all seemed to mention someone in particular.

"Did you hear about what that girl did the other day? She was using that trick of hers make a cage around herself like some kind of freak"

"I heard that she hit the Rorwick kid for no reason and then ran off when his mom showed up."

"Oh god that little demon girls is a menace I can't imagine what it must be like having to share a house with it?"

"Have you seen the little monster tonight? It lives here doesn't it?"

After hearing enough and eating enough Naruto began to wander off when he noticed all the children running outside and heard one ask his mother "Mom can I go play outside with everyone?"

"Oh of course dear as long as everyone is together you'll be fine" she said

Naturally Naruto's curiosity forced him to follow outside through the back door away from the adults and when he got outside he noticed all the kids were standing in a circle throwing rocks at something. As he shoved his way through the group he saw something that horrified him.

On the ground currently receiving a small scale stoning from all the children present was a little black haired girl that looked to be his age and was huddled in the fetal position with a cage of bloodied arms defending her.

Naruto felt his anger boil up at the spectacle and when a large boy next to him was about to throw another stone he grabbed his hand. "Just what in the fuck do you think you're doing?" Naruto growled staring down and letting his hair cover his eyes.

"Oh you must be new in town kid? Everyone knows that girl is a demon child. A monster freak of nature" the chubby boy said as he tried to jerk his hand away only to find Naruto's grip rock solid. "oi kid let go of my hand."

"So let me get this straight, all of you are enjoying yourselves right now by beating up an innocent little girl, is that right?" Naruto said still gripping the boys hand as he looked round at the children who had all stopped throwing rocks by now.

"Yea what of it. We're doing the town a favor by dealing with this demon so let go of my hand and buzz off or we'll beat you up too." The boy said earning a resounding chorus of yeas from the crowd.

"I'll give you all one chance to leave this poor girl alone before you force me to kick your asses understood? One last chance and then everything after will be your own fault got it?" Naruto said as he kept adding pressure to the large boy's wrist making him wince slightly.

"Ow, you think I'm scared of you Choten, Gouza kick this little runt's ass." The boy said as two more children ran at Naruto and both through punches

As the fists neared Naruto's head he looked up at the kid and let a devilish grin slip on his face "Bad idea"

Both the boy's fists seemed to pass right through Naruto's face as he appeared to release the first boy making the children think the forced him to let go until all three boys cried out in agony and clutched their fists which were now covered in severe burns as was the first ones wrist.

All the other children looked at Naruto with fear in their eyes including the three now on the ground. Capitalizing on this fear Naruto utter the line he had been saving for just such an occasion.

"Boo"

All the terrified children immediately ran off in different directions, somehow forgetting about their parents in the house, leaving him with the girl who was covered in various cuts and bruises. Naruto walked over to a garden hose and took his shirt off before wetting it down and using it to wipe off her Wounds

"I'm sorry you had to see that but I really can't stand it when people call one another Demons. Let me wash those cuts okay." Naruto said as kneeled down and started whipping off the blood on arms.

"You're that boy from the market today aren't you? The one from the fish barrel." She said as he finished getting the blood off and tossed his shirt on the ground

Naruto scratched behind his head and laughed sheepishly still whipping the gashes "Hehe so you saw that did ya? Yea not one of my better moments but I was nice to finally make it to a new island." He said helping her up and finally getting a good look at her. She looked to be around his age with beautiful shoulder length raven hair and a pair of sparkling blues eyes.

For a few moments Naruto simply stared at her with a small blush coming to face as he thought about how pretty she was until he remembered something he heard a pirate in the tavern back home say about meeting beautiful women.

He quickly made an overly dramatic bowing motion and held out his hand to her palm up "My name is Uzumaki Naruto, what pray tell might yours be Ma Cherie?"

Robin looked at him for a moment suspiciously before hesitantly placing her hand on top of his "Nico Robin, what _pray tell _are you doing?" she asked sarcastically

Naruto quickly placed a kiss on her hand before looking up at her "I've heard that this is the proper way to great a beautiful woman."

Robin retracted her hand and crossed her arms "You shouldn't associate yourself with me Uzumaki-san; I'm a demon child so you might not want to be around me." Robin said darkly

Naruto tilted his at her in curiosity "You don't look like a demon to me."

Robin looked at him before waving her hand towards the house causing a trail of hands to sprout out of the ground "I have powers that make me a demon." She said expecting him to be scared or freaked out.

Her answer however was a wide eyed Naruto looking at her in awe instead of fear "That…is…SO…COOL!"

Robin's eyes widened slightly for a moment "You're not afraid of that?"

"HAHAHA why would I be afraid of something like that, being able to grow arms out of stuff is soooo cool. Sides I can do cool stuff too…" Naruto said as he held up his arm which soon dissolved into a reddish haze. "Cause I ate a devil fruit."

Robin looked at the cloud that was now his arm with amazement as a flurry of thoughts flew through her mind. 'He's got devil powers too. He's the same as me.' She thought joyously as she tentatively reached for his vaporous appendage only to have it turn back into flesh when she got close.

"You don't want to touch that Robin-chan, It's really reeeally hot and you'll get burned like those kids did." He said still smiling at her until he heard the telltale sounds of a mob approaching "Oh crap it looks like those kids found some adults. Robin-chan do you have a place to hide till the heat dies down?"

Robin looked at him for a moment trying to look for any signs of deceit or ill intent and when she found none she grabbed him by the arm and started leading him into the woods towards the center of the island. As the broke through another layer of trees and got to the central clearing of the tree of knowledge Naruto halted and stared up at the gargantuan tree before him silhouetted by the blazing sunset.

"So cool, Robin-chan look at how big that tree is that has to be the biggest tree in the whole wide world eh. And look at that, it's got windows and doors and stuff in it like a house or something. Robin-chan is that where we're hiding?" Naruto sputtered rapidly suddenly unaware of the encroaching mob.

"Hai Naruto. Now run already so we don't get in trouble people are still coming." Robin said as she tugged on his arm.

"Oh wait a minute I forgot something hang on I have an idea to throw the mob off." He stopped and turned around and pointed his hands to his left "Taiyo Taiyo Decoy" he screamed and a ball of that reddish energy from earlier formed and quickly flew away from them before coming to rest above the ground about a hundred meters away. He then grabbed robin and pulled her into a bush while motioning for her to stay quiet. As the mob ran past them and looked around Naruto started moving his hand lazily in a bobbing motion which seemed to control the ball of light attracting the villager's attention.

"Hey look over there they must have grabbed a lantern or something, get the demons" a man with a torch said as he led the mob after the ball of light which Naruto motioned around the far side of the big tree before dissipating it.

Naruto grinned as he watched the people run off after what they thought were "the demons" until they were out of sight. "Hehe I forgot I could do that trick. Gomen'nasai Robin-chan I guess we didn't need to run away after all. Arigato anyway though it was real nice of you to help me out like that." he said before pulling his knees up to his chest and looking down at the ground "Most people would have left me."

For a moment robin looked at him and saw a striking parallel to the way she felt every day. 'Maybe…'

"Uzumaki-san, can I ask you why you're on this island. The only thing here is the tree of omniscience and, forgive my saying this but, you don't seem the type who would journey to an island for a library." Robin said shaking Naruto from his momentary slum

"Oi what's that supposed to mean are you trying to say I'm stupid just because I can't read. Well I aint. Furthermore how the hell did you know I couldn't read?" Naruto shouted standing up and pointing at her in a childishly accusatory manor.

"Heehee Forgive me Uzumaki-san I wasn't aware you were literature-challenged I'm sorry I offended you. You still haven't answered my question though." She said tilting her head in curiosity "Why are you here all by yourself on an island known only for its library?"

Naruto looked at her with a glint in his eye and suddenly jumped up and struck a heroic pose "I have come here to find Nakama who are willing to join me in my epic crusade to become a great pirate and journey to the grand line."

Robin froze for a moment when she heard him utter that word. 'Nakama, someone else looking for others here of all places.' She thought as she carefully took in his appearance "How old are you Uzumaki-san?" Robin questioned.

Naruto held up his hand with all digits extended "I am five years of age, a ripe time to begin my adventure on the high seas HAHAHAHA." He shouted boisterously.

Robin looked at him darkly her hair casting shadows over her eyes "you are prepared to face challenges so horrible and unspeakable that only a single man in all of history has lived to speak of them. Monsters and demons the likes of which cannot possibly be imagined by our feeble minds not to mention the infinite hordes of other pirates that patrol that sea as though it was their own. Men who have such immense power that they are capable of making the very marines quake in their boots at the sight of them. All of these trials you believe you have the power to overcome despite the fact that you are but a child so young he hasn't even learned to read." She said calmly while Naruto began sweating slightly with a look of fear on his face.

"Well _maybe _I'll wait till I'm a little bit older before I hit the G-line." He said hesitantly before regaining his valiant look "but I'm still good enough to handle somewhere like west blue. And its not my fault I can't read. No one back home ever taught me"

"Hmm I see. Back to my earlier question which you still have yet to answer. Why choose the first stop on your adventure to be an island with only a library to its name." Robin asked sitting herself down on a log and letting her feet swing idly

Naruto quickly turned around and embarrassingly poked his index fingers together "well I certainly didn't wind up on accident after hiding in a fish barrel if that what you were asking."

Robin opened her mouth to ask him what he was talking about when a low growl sounded from her stomach causing her to blush slightly and making Naruto laugh "Yea I'm still a bit hungry myself come to think of it. I saw some good stuff down by the market and now that all the adults are probably at that party or in that mob it won't be guarded. C'mon I can't have my Nakama going hungry can I" Naruto said as he held a hand out for her.

Robin stared at his hand for a moment letting her mind catch up with the whirlwind of activity that the blond beside her was proving to be. In the time span if a little under a half hour she had gone from getting the worst beating to date at the hands of the other children on the island to possibly making the first friend of her life. All of it laid out in front of her and summed up by the open hand in front of her waiting for a response

"Na..Nakama?" Robin asked tentatively, as though wanting it too much would make the chance vanish.

Naruto smiled gently "Of course Robin-chan. You're the first person in the whole world who's ever talked to me like I was a real person and you were willing to help me get away from that mob. I'd really like it if you would consider me your Nakama too but I can understand if you don't want to considering what I…" he said before being cut off when Robin enveloped him in a tight hug

"Hai… Naruto-san… I'd like that so much." she said her eyes started glistening slightly as tears of joy started forming.

Naruto was briefly stunned as he wrapped his mind around what was going on before he was filled with a tremendous feeling of elation. Standing in front of him and hugging him was a girl who had just called him her Nakama. Even better she was a really pretty girl who had called him her Nakama. And best of all she was a really pretty girl with powers like him who had called him her Nakama.

Naruto felt tears well up in his eyes and wrapped his arms around her before he sobbed loudly "*sniff* then its official. You and I are Nakama now, and no matter what we'll always be that way all, from now until forever." He said pushing her away slightly to look her in the eyes.

"Hai Naruto-san." Robin said nodding vigorously until she noticed that Naruto's shirt felt oddly skin like and warm. With a small blush appearing on her face she looked down to see that he was shirtless and remembered he ditched his shirt at her house "um Naruto-san you're not wearing a shirt."

Naruto looked confused for a moment before he looked down and remembered "Oh Ya I lost my shirt didn't I. Well in that case onward to free food, free tee shirts and friendship" Naruto smiled brightly at her turning around and grabbing her hand as he ran towards the hopefully still deserted market with robin both of them laughing the whole way

XxX

Three weeks later

In a peaceful clearing in the middle of Ohara Nico Robin was sitting under the shade if a tree reading a book on the history of the Drum kingdom, surrounded by a tranquil silence that was only permeated by the soft chirps of birds…

"Oi Robin-chan what are the books you're always reading about. I know it's the same thing cause its always the same sets of letters on the front. It's always A.r.c.h.e.o.l.o.g.y. or H.i.s.t.o.r.y. and V.o.l.u.m.e with different numbers after it. Every time I see you, you have one of those types of books what're they about?"

And by Uzumaki Naruto who was currently hanging upside down from a branch above her and staring in her face with his arms crossed.

Robin closed her book before looking up at Naruto and pulling him from the tree down to the ground and then crossing her arms to summon hands and feet to trap and carry him. "That's it Naruto I'm sick of you asking me what I'm reading all the time. We're going to the tree of omniscience and we're finding someone to teach you to read. That way you can find a way to occupy your time productively."

Naruto struggled against the bonds as he fought to free himself "noooo I don't want to go to the mart people place they'll all make fun of me for being stupid just like the kids on the island only they'll be adults and it won't be cool to hit them. You can teach me can't you?"

Robin sighed before looking back at him "Naruto-kun I can promise you that no one at the tree of Omniscience will make fun of you for being illiterate and I'm a learner not a teacher. Just ask nicely and I'm sure someone will help you learn. Then you can go to the library and learn about everything in the whole world."

Naruto scoffed at that thought "Robin-chan no library can have that many books and besides it's not called the "tree of knowing everything" it's the tree of omniscience, whatever that means."

"Omniscience _means _knowing everything if you knew how to read you could learn that in the library. Now stop complaining, we're already here." Robin said as they arrived at the front door of the tree of Omniscience and the hands and feet growing out of Naruto dissipated allowing him to stand up and promptly try to escape only to be tripped by another of Robin's hand sprouting from the ground and grabbing him. "I was hoping you could make a good impression on Clover-sensei but if you insist on embarrassing yourself its fine by me. I have no problem dragging you in there and strapping you into a desk until you start learning." She said with a deceptively polite smile as she knocked on the door

"I could melt my way out of here if I really wanted to you know." Naruto said glaring at her from his bound position

"And I could snap your neck as your sleep in retaliation." Robin said just as the door opened up revealing a slim elderly man with green hair and a green beard stylized to look like clover petals. "Hello Clover-sensei I was wondering if there was anyone available to assist me in teaching Naruto-kun how to read. I'm not very good at… teaching other people things."

"HOHOHOHO" the man bellowed heartily with his hands on his stomach "so Naruto-san has finally decided to join the ranks of the literate, or rather from the looks of it he's finally driven you to force him into our ranks."

Robin looked down at the bound Naruto encased in arms and being walked in by an array of small legs causing him to resemble a centipede "I think it's more the latter than the former. Although if he wants his dream of being a great pirate to ever happen he has to at least be able to understand what all those funny symbols we call words are."

"Wait a minute Robin-chan" Naruto said as he wriggled in his bindings until he was sitting up "I can be a fine pirate without knowing how to read. Besides with my first mate by my side I won't need to read anything you can do it for me."

"_Sure _Because nothing says respect me I shall be the pirate king quite like 'Robin-chan what does this note say, Robin-chan are those signs good or bad, Robin-chan is that a Marine ship or an ugly pirate ship'. If you act like that no one would take you seriously." She said sarcastically mimicking his voice.

Clover look on at the two as their argument went on with a happy gleam in his eye. 'I never thought our little Robin could be open up so much like this. She's almost nothing like the shy reserved wallflower that used to slink into the library and vanish into the books like a ghost. I can't necessarily say I agree with your dream Naruto-san but the impact you are having on Robin is more than worth it'.

"If you refuse to learn how to read Naruto I won't sail with you ever, not in a million billion trillion years. I'll just stay on this island and you'll have to have adventures alone." Robin said turning around and dissolving the appendages on Naruto

"C'mon Robin-chan you can't really mean that." Naruto whined waiting for a response "Robin-chaaaaaan cm'onnnnnnn" he whined again still to no avail "Fine then if it means so much to you I'll mrnm mer ter meed" he finally said crossing his arms and grumbling

Robin turned her ear slightly towards him "That was that Naruto? I can't hear you when you mumble."

Naruto huffed and sat up straighter "I said I'll learn how to read, happy now. You win I'll get all smart and stuff, but… only if you agree to concede to one of my demands as well."

"I'm not going to agree to anything until I hear it and even still, I'm the one with all the cards at the moment." Robin said turning back around to face him.

"That may be but in all fairness shouldn't I get something I want too. You're going to make me able to read with you and do smart stuff together so I want you to train with me from now on. It's boring all by myself, and getting stronger will make you more badass." Naruto said jumping up and giving Robin a thumbs up.

"My time is already spent studying to be an archeologist and doing chores for Roji. When would I find the time to train with you?" Robin replied

"Who said you had to do what she says anyway. She's mean to you all the time and hardly really takes care of ya. You should tell her to shove it and come live with me, I wouldn't ever make you do chores and stuff and I'm not mean like she is." Naruto said with a smile

"You live in a tree house you built yourself. I'm amazed that you haven't frozen to death by now, and unfortunately they are my legal guardians so what little law there is, is on their side." Robin said dismissively

Naruto crossed his legs and held up three fingers "In order; My tree house is top notch Cause I'm awesome, I can't get cold cause of my devil fruit and if I'm nearby neither will you, and who cares if their your legal guardians they don't act like a family to you so you shouldn't have to deal with them." He listed before putting a hand on his chin. "Tell ya what, if I can learn to read in a week from today and convince Roji-baka then will you move in with me so we can train together?"

Robin looked at Naruto as she weighed her options. On the one hand no more Roji and considering where his house was probably no more villagers. On the other hand a potentially frigid and no doubt poorly made tree house. But then again…No Roji…potential death by hypothermia…No Roji…Potential Death…No Roji…death…Roji…Death…Roji…dying…Roji dead. Ah Roji dead such a nice thought.

"Very well Naruto-kun. Against my better judgment I will accept your terms with a twist. Should you fail to fulfill your agreement you will do my chores for the next three months. Are these stakes acceptable?" Robin asked holding out her hand for a hand shake.

"Hai." Naruto said as he shook her hand "Just you wait robin soon I'll be so smart that… I'll um… do super smart things all the time. Oi Clover-sensei bring on the smartification I need to read ASAP" Naruto said as he turned to Clover

"HOHOHOHO right this way Naruto my boy I haven't anything else to do so I shall begin your instruction post haste." Clover said as he beckoned Naruto to follow him over to a large desk. "Oh and Robin about the books you wanted they are on my desk so feel free to get them whenever you want and your welcome to stay here and read is you like."

"Hai Arigato Clover-sensei" Robin said as she walked over and got them before finding a nice cushioned seat to start reading.

Sparing on last glance at Naruto before she opened her first book a smile was brought to Robin's face as, even out of earshot, she could tell he was making a fool out of himself based off of his overly exaggerated motions. It was puzzling to her that she didn't find his antics nearly as annoying as she expected she would. Were any other person to be acting in such a manner she would have dismissed them as useless Bakas unfit for her time. Was she so starved for attention that the simple fact that he showed her affection and what still appeared after three weeks to be genuine companionship really enough to make him valuable in her mind? No, there was something else to it. The bond was more than a cooperative need for companionship. On some level they were bonding and becoming compatible with one another in a manner that Robin hadn't experienced before in her short life. And despite the dark corners of her mind telling her to shut away and ignore him…

The rest of her was too intrigued.

~~~~~~~~CHAPTER 1 FIN~~~~~~~~


	2. Their First

Their First

"Goodnight Naruto-kun, Robin-chan. Naruto be back early tomorrow morning alright and Robin I hope you like the books I picked out for you. Sayonara." Clover shouted as he waved at the two from the Library door.

"Night Clover-san I'll be back as soon as Ya open the door tomorrow morning." Naruto shouted, happily with his hands in his pockets

"Arigato Clover-sensei I'm sure I'll love them." Robin shouted back as a small train of eight books with legs followed her. Three weeks ago she wouldn't have dared to use her powers so blatantly due to shame and fear of reprieve, but with Naruto nearby the villagers willingness to berate her or try to start things had diminished.

"Eh Robin-Chan you mind if I walk home with Ya?" Naruto said nervously as his eyes darted back and forth as though he was an animal looking for predators

"Not at all Naruto-kun, but why are you so nervous. Did the lesson go badly or did clover-sensei tell you something to make you on edge?" Robin asked as they made for her house

"Nothing has me on edge robin-Chan what makes you think I'm on edge cause I'm not." Naruto said a tad too quickly to be genuine

"You're acting as though we're about to get jumped and although I appreciate it you usually let me walk myself home. Clover-sensei said something to you didn't he? Most likely with regards to the kids you've been "fighting" if you could even call it that." Robin said as she thought back on the wounds those three boys from a few weeks ago still had.

"In my defense they have been asking for, and if they're too dumb to learn not to pick a fight with a living mass of pure badass then it's their fault. Sides I fought one of them without my powers like a normal person and he was still a bitch about it." Naruto defended brightening a bit when he thought about the kids he'd beaten up and bringing a smile to Robin's face as she no doubt remembered the same

"Naruto-kun that had to be the worst one of all." She said laughing as she remembered Naruto decking an older boy across the face with a blow that almost knocked his teeth out. "I don't know if your fruit boosts your physical abilities or if it's all that moronic _training_ you do, but that punch didn't quite count as "normal person". Back on the subject though, was I right, did clover-sensei say something to get you so worried?" Robin asked, her smile receding slightly

Naruto put hands behind his head and let out a sigh as he started somehow walking with her while solely focusing on the sky

"_Okay Clover-sensei time to get started with this whole reading thing. What's my first step?" Naruto asked still pumped up from his challenge to Robin._

"_Well the very first thing you must do is make me a promise about a very serious matter." Clover said seriously_

_Naruto lost his excited demeanor and looked at Clover oddly "Um sure Clover-san whatever you need but why are you so serious all the sudden?"_

"_It's the matter of the children you have been getting into fights with. I know that they have all probably asked for it by antagonizing you or robin but I would like you to cease directly behaving in such a way for two reasons. One, to uphold the reputation of this library given that you are now in a sense a student here. We are a group of learner and knowledge seekers and we don't need someone pathologically violent in our ranks. The second reason is the fact that those who have had run-ins with you are having difficulty healing and various people in the village don't like it. I'm aware of the basics of your power and know that only time can help those wounded by it, but be aware that if you were weaker or you slept somewhere people could reach; you would be dead by now." Clover said remaining dead serious through the entire explanation._

_At hearing the word dead Naruto broke out in a nervous sweat "C'mon Clover-san it can't be that bad…right?"_

"_I'm afraid that everything I said was fact. Which is why I'm quite grateful that Robin will likely move in with you. If your escapades continue she would likely become a non-incendiary scapegoat for the peoples rage." Clover said very seriously_

"_What's that supposed to mean Clover-san?" Naruto asked nervously half of him knowing the answer and the other half fearing what it knew_

"_It means that Robin may be killed"_

"Yea… um clover clover-san told me I can't fight anymore now that I'm a student of his, cause it would be bad for the library's image. He was really nice about it and said he understood that the other kids all start stuff with me but it won't make it any easier to ignore them."

"It would be good for you to learn some restraint before some truly stupid kid ends up permanently crippled." Robin said, momentarily entertaining the thought of Naruto splitting one of the bullies in half "And if it's that big a deal for you I can help, I'm used to dealing with this sort of stuff without mutilating people."

Hearing Robin say made Naruto stop walking eyes still fixed on the stars "That was something I never asked you about the day we met. Why the hell weren't you fighting back? I've seen your powers and I know how smart you are, if you really wanted to you could have beat all those kids to a bloody pulp but you were just sitting there taking it." He said before bringing his arms down and looking her in the eyes with a veil of fury behind his "What stopped you from fighting back!?"

This time it was Robin let out a sigh and looked up at the stars. It was no mystery to her that several of the fights were started based solely on comments someone made about her while Naruto was in earshot. Despite how grateful and she was to finally have someone willing to defend her she understood that violence and wave making would only hurt them in the future. As her eyes focused on the innumerable pinpricks of light that dotted the night sky they were sifting through each one as she sifted through the words in her mind to find the right ones. Words to describe to someone as spirited and independent as Naruto why it was sometimes necessary to submit to the collective will in order to protect certain things.

"Understanding made me stop. I understood that of all the outcomes I could have forced that one ended up the least painful in the long run. Had I beaten those kids up it would have started a snowball with the adults leading to Roji. I didn't act because I understood that all the people I relied on for food, shelter and survival were on the side of the bullies. I'm not sure if you survived entirely on your own by stealing what you needed whenever you got hungry but I haven't. I've thought about it, but this island isn't large enough for me to always stay hidden and I can't leave until I finish what I need to. If I were to act out or fight back I would lose the only opportunity to become an archeologist like my mother and with it the only chance at my dream." She said solemnly before looking back down and smiling gently at Naruto "Sometimes defending the things that are precious to you isn't as grand as fighting an enemy or kicking a jerk's ass. Sometimes it's being able to deal with what is thrown at you without breaking down. Do you understand what I'm trying to say Naruto-kun?"

For a second he was about to protest about how fighting to defend you pride and honor mattered too until some words he heard a few hours earlier echoed through his mind

"…_Robin may be killed."_

Naruto softened when he remembered those words, whatever rage he had before the conversation gone like the winds of the calm belt. "I… yea Robin-chan I think I understand. I can understand the protection people thing but I still don't think that lying down and showing the world your soft belly will help. If someone threatens your dream then beat em up and it someone stronger comes then beat them up until they have no one left and you win. But then again I guess if push really comes to shove I might be willing to swallow my pride to protect what matters to me."

Robing turned around and wrapped him in a hug "I'm glad." She said before leaning in and whispering in his ear "If all the touchy feely stuff doesn't work I like to imagine myself eviscerating them and snapping their spines. Food for thought."

Naruto comically wide eyed at Robin's last statement was left stuttering when robin walked off "My house is right here thanks for walking me home Naruto-kun."

"Um…yea…I…um…thanks for letting me walk with you semi-insane Robin-chan." Naruto stuttered out

"Insane is just a word used by fools to brand the inspired. Goodnight Naruto-kun" Robin said with her back to him as she walking through the light of the door, her trail of books following.

"Yea night Robin-chan."Naruto said as the door closed and he numbly walked back towards the tree of omniscience where his tree house dwelled, his thoughts too focused on the insanely inspired girl he had just walked home.

XxX

The following week passed by uneventfully or at least as uneventfully as possible for Naruto and Robin. True to his promise Naruto had refrained from fighting anyone despite no shortage in people looking to start things with him. The only real difficulty had been the urge to allow the kids to cook themselves trying to hit him as opposed to dodging out of the way of their blows.

Naruto had diligently been studying under Clover's tutelage and was confident that he would be able to prove his literacy today and unless Robin chose something outrageous he had faith he would pull through. Unfortunately it was Robin he was talking about and he had foolishly allowed her the right to choose the test book which is why he now found himself sitting in a seat near the larger orrery in the middle of the library sweating bullets as Robin casually perused a section of books that had titles three paragraphs long.

Naruto had hoped that the chance to get away from Roji would make Robin go easy on him and find a picture book or something fit for a normal child, but it seemed that her desire to win the bet was more important at the moment.

"Here we are, this is the perfect book to prove yourself with Naruto-kun." Robin said as she lugged a massive dust covered brown book back to him and slammed it on the table "just the first few paragraphs and I'll admit defeat."

Naruto gulped as he opened the books and his eyes widened in horror "Um Robin-chan don't you think that I could oh I don't know…PRACTICE ON SOMETHING FROM THIS CENTURY! Look at this think thing it looks like it's 200 years old." He said flipping through the pages and generating a dust cloud.

"hmmm close, it's actually 242." Robin said with a smirk "When I said I wanted you to learn to read I meant read at my level or at least close. It won't help very much if you read foolish little picture books like every other kid in the village. Besides most of the words are phonetic so you'll do fine."

"Um if you say so. ehehem from the top A bri…ef in…tro…duct…ion to the in…trin…sic val…ues of His…tor…ic…al Rec…ords Chap…ter one. So how was that, I'm done now right?" Naruto said closing the book and smiling at robin and she stared at him expressionlessly. "Ah c'mon Robin-chan that aint too bad for just a week, right?"

Robin scratched her chin and let out a long hmmm before she spoke "It's good enough for now…if that is… you can define what you just read. So long as you can understand it, speed won't matter and I'll consider this a win for you. Be grateful I lack the patience wait here as you struggle to try and read the first paragraph."

Naruto gulped and looked back down at the title page for a second racking his brains for answers "Ummm okay well A means one duh. Bri…ef I think means like short and quick. In…tro…duct…ion is like ummm meeting someone when you introduce yourself since they sound kinda the same. In…trin…sic is the…uh it's like when…oh I got it it's inside stuff like organs and stuff, yea like that. Okay val…ues is how much stuff is worth, His…tor…ic…al is stuff that's happened in the past, rec…ords are things that cool people break and Chap..ter is a part of a book. There pretty good huh, I'm a regular super genius now right?"

"Well it's honestly better than I expected it to be except for the actual reading which you are horrible at. But so long as you can sound out words and understand them decently you can improve. I'm actually amazed you knew what those words meant." Robin said with a slight grin before sighing "What a pity though. I was hoping to have you be my work slave for a couple months."

"Soooo that means I win right?" Naruto asked tuning out everything else robin had said

"Hehehe Hai Naruto-kun that means you win." Robin said with a laugh

"WOOHOO! Now all I have to do is convince Roji-baka and then you can move in with me and we can train together" Naruto shouted as he jumped out of his seat and ran to the door before stopping and grabbing Robin's hand "C'mon Robin-chan we have to go convince Roji."

"Naruto I feel you are underestimating how hard this part will be. Roji won't listen to anything you or I say. How do you plan to convince her." Robin said calmly, ignoring the fact that she was almost being dragged by Naruto towards her house

Naruto turned around and smiled at her again managing to keep running straight "You worry too much Robin-chan. Mark my words I swear that Roji will let you go peacefully…even if I have to use force."

"Um there's an intrinsic flaw with your logic Naruto-kun." Robin said with a sweat drop

"There's no time to discuss my insides. Right now we need to act." Naruto said valiantly not missing a step as he continued his charge

"You still don't seem to understand how hard this will. Nothing you say to Roji will get her to agree, if only because she knows it would make me happy." Robin said ignoring Naruto's apparent misunderstanding of the word intrinsic.

"Nah you're just worrying too much Robin-chan. I'm sure that after we make a clear logical case Roji will understand." Naruto said happily as they neared the house.

"About that…" Robin muttered ominously.

XxX

"What do you mean no?" Naruto whined desperately staring up at the overweight red haired woman in front of him

"I said no you little mongrel. However disgusting it might be keeping it around the house has made my life simpler. If it goes then I have to start doing housework again." Roji said angrily

Naruto clenched his fists and felt smoke start radiating off his arms as he fought the urge to punch Roji in the face. Remembering what he had promised Robin and Clover about beating people up he hissed through clenched teeth "Please reconsider Roji-_san_. I know you don't like having "our kind" in your home so why would you pass an opportunity to let Robin-chan go?"

Roji scoffed at him "Because demon, if she's here then I don't have to work. The towns people don't hold it against me because they know that I hate her like they do and I get free labor out of it. Nothing short of a mob or Arma-freaking-geddon would make me get rid of such a useful work slave so you can give up trying. And don't get any ideas about just leaving without my consent. If I catch any wind of something like that then I'll have the entire village bearing down on you two like a pack of wolves understood. I have quite a bit of pull with people around here."

Naruto glared up at her furiously from under his bangs "Yes Roji-baka I understand perfectly. We're not done here and I promise you're going to regret this. C'mon Robin-chan let's go." He said as he and Robin turned to leave only for Roji to grab Robin's arm and pull her inside.

"Not so fast you little monster, you still have chores to do today so you can stay here." Roji said as she pulled Robin through the doorway inside the house

"Oba-san please let go of me. You're hurting my arm." Robin said with an odd amount of calm while Roji twisted her arm awkwardly.

"Oi let go of her BAKA-Roji." Naruto shouted as his arms became enveloped in a barely noticeable red haze.

"Listen up Demon. This thing" Roji said shaking Robin by her arm "is legally mine. She is under my roof and I am her legal guardian so I can treat her any way I see fit. Now get out of here before you do something you regret."

Naruto growled and felt his lips pulled back in a snarl as he prepared to burn Roji to a crisp however he was stopped by Robin whispering "Naruto-kun remember what I said. Fighting here won't prove anything and it won't help. For something like this I recommend a bit more _finesse_."

Naruto looked at her oddly before his eyes brightened in understanding and a devilish grin appeared on his face "Fine I'll leave. But know this Roji-baka, you have called down upon yourself a maelstrom of ill tidings and bad luck that your puny mortal mind cannot comprehend. I shall call forth a whirlwind of curses to befall you each more terrible and insidious than the last. I curse you Roji with a plague of bad luck that I shall only lift when my demands are met." Naruto said accenting his speech with over the top motions and hand gestures that would have looked to most people like a silly child acting foolish.

To roji however, since she and the other townsfolk believed he and robin to be actual demons, was suddenly left ashen faced with fear at the prospect of Naruto's curse. Contemplating the various hexes and plauges the now angered demon could muster left her almost paralyzed with fear. She let go of Robin and fearfully locked eyes with Naruto who was still wearing his trademark evil grin "Y…you're lying aren't you little monster. T…there's no way you can actually do something like that."

Naruto and robin both looked shocked for a moment that Roji actually bought such complete bullshit but quickly overcame their shock to keep the ruse going "oh I assure you Oba-san Naruto-kun's power is not to be trifled with." Robin said

"That's right Ro-baka if you don't let Robin leave peacefully then I will rain misfortune down upon you like a tsunami." Naruto said raising his hands and bringing them down to simulate a large wave

Roji gulped at the display and backed into her house as she drew the door closed "I… I don't want to hear another w…word out of you demon. You're lying and it will take more than lies for me to give up my meal ticket." She said as she grabbed ahold of Robin again and pulled her inside with her. "C'mon runt you have dishes to clean."

Naruto cast his eyes to the ground dramatically before cackling maniacally at the sky "MWUHAHAHAHA very well Ro-baka. The die has been cast and soon you shall feel the infinite annoyance that is a non-lethal Naruto."

XxX

Roji leisurely walked through the market looking at all the new dresses that had just been brought in from the mainland. She had decided last night that she would get her daughter something to make up for all the shouting that the two demons had gotten into the night before and felt a dress would be the perfect gift especially considering she had to burn one after _that _girl wore it.

So here she was perusing the few window displays in the town's small market when her eye caught a beautiful yellow dress that would look perfect on her daughter. Roji walked up to it and looked more closely at the dress admiring the stitching and the sublet floral patterns on the straps. After setting her mind on getting the dress she was about to enter the shop when she noticed something odd in the reflection of the glass display window.

It looked to be some kind of round orange shape that was flying towards her from the roof of a building across the street.

When Roji turned around to look at it her world went dark and a loud POP was heard as a balloon filled with orange paint exploded in her face

"MWUHAHAHAHA this is but a taste Ro-baka. You have entered the gauntlet of the Demon king." Naruto shouted from his triumphant perch on the building, slingshot still in hand while several people on the street helped Roji get cleaned up. "By the time I'm done you won't be able to walk four feet without looking over your shoulder in _pure terror _MWUHAHAHAHA."

Roji got the paint out of her eyes and looked up at the blond staring down at her "GET DOWN HERE YOU LITTLE MONSTER!" she screamed as she threw a rock at him

Naruto smirked as the pebble burnt up before touching him "You know what you have to do to end the pain Ro-baka. Release my dear Robin-hime and I shall end your torture. Continue to resist and the consequences will get worse and worse. Now, I await your response, Naruto AWAAAYYYYYYY." He shouted as he ran towards the side of the build the crowd was in front of and jumped off looking as though he would fall into the arms of the people he had just called out.

Just after he began to descend from his initial jump everything from his waist down dissolved into a deep red gaseous haze and propelled him off into the sky like a rocket, leaving behind him a cloudy contour trail of rapidly fading red.

The people in the crowd were reacting to the display in a variety of ways ranging from shock and awe to anger and rage however the most extreme reactions were from two merchant sailors that were looking at the display with terror filled eyes.

"RUN TO THE SHIP MITCH THE DEMON HAS DECLARED WAR ON ANOTHER POOR SOD!" One of them screamed dropping the box he was carrying and running like a child

"MOTHER OF GOD RALPH, TELL THE CAPTAIN TO RAISE ANCHOR AND SET SAIL IMMEDIATELY. THIS WHOLE ISLAND IS DEAD TO US" The other shouted as well running to catch up with his friend. "DEAD TO US!"

The remaining townspeople looked on with bewilderment at the actions of the two and simply chocked it up to the insane ramblings of psychopaths unaware that the island they hailed from had been pranked into the dark ages.

XxX

"Roji-san are you all right?" a concerned woman asked as she and a few others helped her up and gave her a rag to wipe the paint from her face.

"Yea yea, I'm fine just a little shaken up." Roji growled as bits of the apparently quick drying paint flecked into her eyes. "I am going to make that demon pay of it's the last thing I do though."

The other townsfolk looked at one another worriedly, many taking the reaction of the sailors to heart, and were beginning to worry about just what the child's declaration might mean. They were of course aware that the power he had was terrifying, a much purer expression of demonic power than the girl, who could only sprout limbs when and where she pleased. The boy had the power of burning air as far as they could tell, proven by the burns on various children who had fought him and his ability to seemingly disintegrate anything thrown at him. One particular shop keeper had bravely tried to beat him with a steel pipe and it had simply passed through his head like a ghost. The second swing saw the pipe caught by the child and then promptly melted in its palm like wax near an open flame.

All of his terrifying power had always been something that was glared at and kept away, but if something Roji had done actually managed to anger him enough to declare "war" on her than most of the town wanted nothing to do with it.

An odd looking but well-dressed middle aged man with a round belly and an almost jolly green mustache and beard walked through the crowd and loudly cleared his throat to get Roji's and the crowd's attention before speaking. "ladies and gentlemen I think we all know what has to happen now. Miss roji must give that little demon his 'Robin-hime' back. Surely there is no harm in relegating the both of them to the derelict tree house the boy lives in and we all know the only reason you might have to keep _her _in your home in that deep down you care for that demon. Frankly I don't see how we should have to be put in danger just because she won't give up the girl."

Murmurs of agreement rose up through the crowd as many people saw the wisdom in the old man's words. Many not counting Roji that is, who was already trying to work up an argument to protest his train of thought. "Now wait just a minute bub. I don't have any love for the thing that shares a roof with me but I'll be dammed if I'm going to simply give this new demon everything he asked for got it. We beat the first one this newcomer isn't any different." Roji said earning a small chorus of "YEA" from likeminded folks

"Oh but this one is different. He is a logia user, which makes him nigh immortal, he can't be hit like the girl can, why no he can't even be touched. If he were to go on a rampage he has the power to set fire to this entire town and we would be powerless to stop him. Even the marines often fear a confrontation with those who have tasted of a logia fruit so what hope do we have to 'beat' this demon as you put it. If he was pushed far enough or if the girl he obviously cares for if hurt then I have no doubt that he would burn the entire island to ash in revenge" The old man said leveling a glare at roji that her at a loss for words.

Hearing him use the term rampage filled her thoughts with images of real demon and actual hellfire consuming the town and her family instead of the village pariah she was used to. She and the town had always used the term jokingly to show that she was an outcast but hearing this apparently wise man's words conjured images of terror. She thought of robin going to the boy and telling him about the years of neglect she had suffered and riling him up until he swooped down to the town and consumed it in a blaze of death. Looking around at the faces of the people in the group she saw that most of them agreed "I… I suppose that given what may happen it won't be such a big deal to let her go." Roji said with a defeated tone.

"Letting her go would be a good start, but I think that only a turnaround will undo what's been done. If the girl tells him enough stories of pain and sadness then boy may wish to rampage simply to get revenge. Demons will get very violent when they are mistreated, threatened or hungry. Though they have been known to protect those that get on their good side or give them food" He said making sure to eye a food vendor when he said the words hungry and food.

The vendors got the idea and one of them quickly hatched a plan to help earn himself a bit of public goodwill "if that is what it takes than I will make the sacrifice necessary to keep our town safe. A shall start leaving out food offerings to keep the demons content and well fed. Though it may drain my coffer a bit I'm more than willing to do so for the good of our fair city."

"Now wait a minute Touza I don't think that any one stall should have to bear such a burden. I will help you as well. With both our stall we could muster a full meal, more than enough to keep them from causing trouble." Another stall owner said trying to earn his slice of the people's heart.

As the crowd began to brainstorm about ideas and a small slinter followed Roji home to tell robin she could go, none of them noticed as the green haired man slinked away behind a building and began walking towards the tree of omniscience. As he walked he reached down the front of his shirt and pulled the full form of his beard out along with a pillow, removing his apparent belly. He then reached behind his head and untied a few knots which then let the full form of his massive hairstyle take shape again.

When he reached the door he opened it up and was met by his good friend Roche "Hey Clover-san, how did the plan work?" Roche asked as he took the pillow from the professor and tossed it back on a chair.

Clover chuckled lightly as he grabbed a book off the wall and settled down on the couch. "Perfectly."

XxX

Robin had been working the entire time since she and Naruto had asked Roji to let her go. The new work load that Roji had whipped up was more taxing than she had been prepared for, mostly the lack of sleep.

In truth it was perhaps foolish for her to not show signs of weakness sooner for then Roji would have had the satisfaction of winning and it would have been done with. Instead robin had outpaced any foolish task she gave her and was ready to move onto the next, which only made Roji mad enough to step up the difficulty till robin snapped.

Wincing again as she felt another one of her hand whack itself with a hammer she reapplied her focus to the current task at hand. Roji had instructed her to dismantle, repair and repaint the fence around the house before she returned from the market or she would receive a beating. Robin was aware that the impossible deadline was due to the fact that she had used her devil fruit rather blatantly to beat the rest of Roji's tasked in a rather Naruto-esque show of prideful stupidity.

A tragic flaw that she had found in her devil fruits abilities was the fact that her body bore the strain of the flowered appendages as though they were still attached. What seemed like magic winder hand catering to her every whim was actually her feeling the aches and tiredness of all the combined hands after a long day of work. Given the way Roji had been driving her without rest for the past two days robin felt as though her arms were about to detach from their shoulder joints and fall off. For all the heart he had Naruto's little speech really hadn't helped robin deal with Roji

She would need to find a way to speak with the Baka soon if she was to have any hope of getting out of Roji's clutched though for despite all the bravado he spouted at heart Naruto wasn't a strategist. A tactician perhaps, but the line between strategy and tactics is what separates the winner and loser in a real war. Naruto's plan probably involves making Roji uncomfortable which will in turn only make Roji lash out at her more which truthfully doesn't help all that much.

Once she finished the fence and found Naruto she would tell him the proper way to deal with the situation, all she had to do was find him and…

"Hey Robin-hime, how's the fence building going?" Naruto said casually as he stuck his head in the middle of robin's line of sight somehow managing to appear in front of her out of thin air.

Where most would have jumped or leapt back in panic Robin simply smiled slightly at Naruto before a hand materialized out of his back and whacked him on the head. "So good to see you Naruto-kun. How have you been? I've been here working…a lot." She said sweetly while Naruto fell to the ground and clutched his head in a show of melodrama.

"Oi robin-hime why did you hit me? I just got back from valiantly defending your honor against the evil Ro-baka-saurus with my mighty paint water balloons and this is how you thank me." he said point to a bump that had somehow managed to rapidly form.

"No, that's how I thank you for getting me stuck with a month's worth of work in just two days. I haven't stopped working since you maniacal laughter spree because Roji was mad at you and therefore me. And if what you just said was true then she's going to come walking up the road with a small mob and I'm probably going to get beaten up or worked half to death." Robin said with a sigh and she pinched the bridge of her nose. "When I said non-violent I _actually _meant subtle. You know subvert the townsfolk, discredit her in the public eye pressure her into your pocket, not dump paint on her until she gets pissed off and takes it out on me."

Naruto looked at robin sadly as her and clovers word rang out in his head. His actions weren't helping at all and from the look of robin she really had been getting worked into the ground in the last 48 hours. She had big bags under her eyes and looked about ready to collapse from a strong breeze with the disheveled look being accentuated by the small rips and tears in her dress. Even her other hands were working rather lethargically and despite his comedic performance the blow to his head had been rather gentle and weak. Naruto felt his gut twist with guilt and his hand clench as he looked at her in that sorry state and knew that he had made Roji so mad with his hijinks. But that didn't mean he wasn't going to stop and let Roji win. If robin wanted subtle than subtle she would have "don't worry robin I have it all worked out now." He said perking himself up and smiling at her "I'll get roji to let you leave and I'll do it without her knowing it's me. All I gotta do is get some wire, a bag of feathers, some sugar, a few firecrackers, a whale…"

Despite still feeling as though her muscles had been put through a wood chipper Robin smiled as she watched Naruto begin concocting some moronic hair brained plan to help her. The fact that he was trying meant a lot to her and even if he was going about it the wrong way it made her happy to have someone trying so hard to help. "Naruto before I tell you all the reasons that you won't be able to get a whale to beach itself on Roji why don't we try something a little more practical. I was thinking we could…" Robin said until she noticed the mod she predicted come into view "On second thought we can talk later right now you should leave okay. If Roji sees you we'll both get in more trouble."

Naruto looked over his shoulder and saw the approaching group before grunting out an affirmative "I'll be nearby, if they try something I'll stop them."

Robin laugh as she lightly shoved him towards some bushes "If it's a real issue then I'll handle it myself. You're not the only one with a powerful devil fruit you know. Now stay here till things calm down." Robin said as she pushed Naruto into the bush and went back to work on the fence as the crowd approached.

"Hello oba-san, townsfolk. The fence you requested I finish has not been completed yet and I will accept whatever punishment you have, but aside from that Is there something I can help you all with?" she said as she mentally prepared herself for the worst.

When the crowd saw that Roji had been making her work robin noticed that many of them became oddly pale and looked as though some eldritch abomination was going to swoop down and punish them for it. Some monstrous winged beast that would swoop down from the sky and begin slashing its way through the crowd severing head and splitting bodies. But such a thing only occurred in her imagination and her daydreams what could possibly be making the people so panicky.

"Yes dem…I mean Robin, we have something we would like to make clear to you and you…friend." Roji said slightly nervously, an emotion that completely caught robin off guard, though not as much as the next sentence. "I will allow you to leave this house and live where you please and several of the market stall owners have even agreed to begin leaving food out for you two to keep you at bay… I mean healthy and well fed. All we ask in return is that you stave off your demonic wrath and instead use it to protect us. I also wish to personally apologize for all the mistreatment that you have endured in my house and ask that you not hold it against me or my family. Gomen'nasai." She concluded before pressing her face into the dirt and bowing, an action that the rest of the town's people mirrored.

The action left robins mind, for the first time since she could remember, completely shut down and unable to process even the tiniest iota of information. 'R…R…Roji is…is bowing t…to m…m…me. Roji i…is b…bowing to me. This… this can't be happening. This all has to be some overly realistic dream I'm having. No force in the known universe is capable of causing this. This can't be real. Far too good to be true. Far far far too good to be true.' Robin thought as she tentatively walked towards the still bowing mob, aware that as she got closer they all panicked more. When she got close robin decided to test the reality of the situation the same way she had been told to by Clover 'if you can feel something then there is no doubt it's there, of all the senses touch is almost impossible to fool' so naturally robin decided to try something she had wanted to do since the first time Roji barked a command at her.

Robin stood inched from Roji's face, still pressed firmly into the dirt and reared her leg back. "Roji guess what?" Robin said, startling Roji into bending her head up just in time to see a bare foot smash into her nose "I hate you." The kick held an astonishing level of force for a girl robin's size and easily flipped Roji backwards and into the air over the rest of the mob before landing on her back unconscious a good four yards away.

Just as one person in the crowd was about to stand up and retaliate he was pulled back into a bowing position by two others. "What the fuck are you doing we can't let that monster walk all over us." He whispered angrily

The one on his right looked at him fearfully and simply motioned for him to look ahead. When the first man did so he instantly paled and began thinking of ways to thank the other two for no doubt saving his life for standing in the bushes near the house, now in plain view, was the demon boy himself looking at the scene with what had to be the smuggest look of satisfaction any of them had ever seen.

Naruto then walked out of the bushes triumphantly with his little five year old chest puffed out in victory. "See Robin-hime I told you I had it under control. I didn't even need to use the rest of my pran… I mean my plagues. Yep it seems that these people were smart enough to concede before I started unleashing my… um ooh I know, my demonic powers on them. Ooooooooh" Naruto said dissolving his arms into red haze and waving it around in an attempt to mimic a ghost and earning a round of terrified cries from the villagers.

Robin still trying to connect the dots in her still short-circuited brain hadn't even heard Naruto and was staring intently at her foot. A foot that had just clocked Obaka-san hard enough to knock teeth out. A foot that had been waiting to do that for as far back as she could remember. Whatever Naruto had done he had managed to terrify the entire town into submission and he had apparently managed it without spilling a single drop of blood. Standing just to the left of her was a blond kid who for all intents and purposes should be categorized as one of the biggest morons she had ever met yet he had done what she only dreamed of. Out of nowhere some dunderhead demonic knight clad in a burning halo of armor had managed to make one of her oldest dreams come true.

Still filled with the adrenaline from the kick and her mind still stuck three steps in the past Robin did the only thing that she could think to do at that moment. She turned to Naruto and quickly kissed him on his cheek before hugging him with all the strength she had. The shock on his face was evident as his eyes widened almost enough tear his eyelids before his entire face went red as a cherry.

It wasn't perfect.

It wasn't amazing and picturesque.

It wasn't the kind of kiss a princess should give to her valiant knight after he fought against an evil dragon and a dark horde.

It was a brief and unexpected peck and thinking about how impulsive it had been Robin suddenly went redder than she had in her entire life.

But it had been their first, and there was plenty of room to improve from there.

~~~~~~~~CHAPTER 2 FIN~~~~~~~~

Thank you for reading everyone please review and pm me if you would like to discuss anything.


	3. Aint All Bad

Aint all bad

~~~~~Temporary authors note. ~~~~~

~~~~~I edited the end of chapter two, consider a brief re-read. ~~~~~

~~~~~Thank you. ~~~~~

Naruto stood stiff as a board as his mind struggled to piece together the situation unfolding around him.

His plan had worked, far better than he had thought it would, and now the villagers were bowing down to him.

Check

Robin had taken what looked like vengeance against Roji in the form of a kick that looked like it reshaped her face.

Check

But then his brain had a short-circuit that left it sputtering and unresponsive. Something so unexpected had happened that it left his mind unable to process it properly.

Robin-chan had kissed him. A beautiful girl had kissed him, entirely of her own volition, and said girl was currently crushing him in a hug that must have had the strength to bend steel.

Naruto tentatively raised his hand to the spot on his cheek where Robin-chan had just kissed him. It felt a lot warmer than usual, though the blush covering his face made everything feel a tad warmer.

As Naruto's mind continued to listlessly wander at the thoughts of what had just happened he became aware that everything that had just happened was witnessed by a crowd of people who two days ago would have been as likely to kill him as speak to him.

Naruto gulped as he looked at the crowd of wide eyed onlookers before he whispered to robin "Um robin-chan, not that I'm not happy, cause really I am, but…" he pointed at the crowd "I don't really want to stick around these people anymore."

Robin turned around to see what Naruto pointed at and saw the crowd of villagers still staring at the two of them fearfully. Blushing even more at the sight of the large crowd robin quickly let go of Naruto and cleared her throat "I don't want to either. How about you show me the hovel I'm going to be sharing with you from now on."

"Oi my tree house isn't a hovel; it's a masterpiece of Uzumaki engineering and the pinnacle of tree house technology." Naruto announced proudly before he ran over to the pile of boards robin had been using on the fence "That said while were down here would ya mind grabbing some of those fence boards and some nails. I'm not saying I need them or anything but it might be nice to finally have walls without holes in them."

Robin laughed lightly as she waved a hand over the pile of boards and they all sprouted legs "Allow me to reiterate. You live in a Hovel."

"Correction robin-chan, _we _live in a hovel. Now c'mon lets go get you moved in." Naruto said happily as he grabbed the remaining boxes of nails and the tools before running off towards the tree of omniscience, robin and her train of walking boards following close behind.

XxX

"Well what'd I tell ya, it's a nice place aint it." Naruto said proudly as he stood on a large tree limb and looked up at his home. "Or at the very least it will be nice once we fix it up a bit more. You know make it more secure and permanent. C'mon I'll give Ya the tour and then you can get settled while I fix it up a bit."

Robin looked at the structure with a pleasant amount of surprise on her face. All in all it wasn't as bad as she had expected it to be. Granted her expectation had been a roof and a blanket but it was still not nearly as bad as it could have been. Naruto had found a stable looking split point in the trunk of the tree very near the top where the main trunk appeared to separate into four fairly thick branches that folded out like flower petals before wrapping back into a single trunk and continuing upwards a short way. It left a fairly decent platform on the main trunk and the four branches seemed to form not only the corner posts but also part of roof of the hut with an extra branch forming something of a bridge to the hut's floor. Very little of the structure was actually Naruto's doing, he simply put up four beams between each branch/posts and hung what looked like heavy cloths from them. Above the beams were crudely made wooden panels that blocked off the triangular openings in the roof before the branches came together in the center. Looking at it robin didn't think the tree house looked very warm or livable, especially when the temperature fell at night, but she then remembered that Naruto had said he didn't get cold at all because of his devil fruit, something she made a note to ask him about later.

As Naruto continued to climb toward it and robin followed, her legion of building materials behind her having swapped their feet for hands, she began to look closely at the way the tree was growing around Naruto's little den.

Looking at the foliage around her Robin found it seemed extremely odd for the tree to grow in such a manner when it didn't seem like the norm for a tree. The formation was near the top of the tree and in fact robin could clearly see through the sparse leave yet the branches still had a diameter of about a meter. Not only that but there didn't appear to be any reason for the odd growth pattern that she was seeing not to mention an odd density of increasingly diverse plant life.

Where the rest of the tree had been rather uniform, with little to no mosses, or symbiotic plant life the area around her was thick with it with creeping vines climbing on most of the branches and mosses of various colors growing on every available surface of the tree. Everything she had seen or read stated that at this distance from the canopy-line all there should only be pencil thin branches and nothing but the hardiest of secondary plant life. But the branches around her looked thick enough to survive a windstorm and the flora she was seeing was something she hadn't seen anywhere else on the tree…heck not even anywhere else on Ohara.

"I have to say Naruto, you undersold this place. It's certainly a lot nicer than I thought, even if the actual tree house part stinks. I little effort though and this place will pass for nice. You're really lucky that you found such a nice place to live." Robin said as she stopped in front of the hut's cloth door.

Naruto smiled beside her and pulled open the flap "If you think the outside looks great you won't believe how the inside looks." He said beaming as he swept his hand around the interior of his home.

Robin however didn't share his excitement and to her the hut lost any and all magic the exterior inspired, the second she saw the interior.

It was fairly dark since it had no windows to let light in, the air was very stuffy and musty, no doubt due to the cloth walls having been rained on, and there was an odd hole in the floor boards Naruto had built. As far as furnishings were concerned all robin could see was a mound of blankets on one side of the room and bowl with a spoon next to it.

"Well, you were kind of right Naruto. I certainly don't believe it." Robin said as she walked in with the building supplies following her and piling themselves in a corner. "Might I ask why there is a deliberate looking hole in the floor?"

Naruto looked at said hole for a moment before nervously scratching the back of his head "Oh you saw that did ya. Well that hole is a… well it's a… um it is a latrine. As a tree house I don't have plumbing so that is where I… you know… go to the bathroom." Naruto said sheepishly.

"That's disgusting. That's going to have to change somehow, and so is the wall setup you have. I'm not sure if you notice but this room feels like an armpit because of the wet cloth. Even if I'm coming from a slave like situation I'm not going to be living in a moldy death trap. We're going to have to rebuild this place from the ground up." Robin said as she walked up to one of the "walls" and pulled it down before producing a notepad from nowhere and jotting things down on it.

Naruto looked between the now open wall robin was inspecting and the average sized pile of building materials that they had. "Um robin-chan I don't wanna burst you home improvement bubble but we don't have enough supplies to rebuild this place that much."

Robin stopped inspecting the size of the opening she made for a moment at Naruto's statement. He was right, they didn't have enough here to do what she wanted to and there wasn't anywhere else she knew of where they could find some. They had gotten lucky when they capitalized on Roji's unconsciousness and stole her things but there wasn't anyone else in town building anything. But then again the villagers had seemed pretty terrified of them now, and if they were terrified then there might be a chance that they would give in to requests.

"Naruto-kun" Robin said sweetly as she turned towards him with an evil smile on her face "We're going shopping."

XxX

To say that the people of Ohara were on edge would have been an understatement of the highest order.

The implications of the news that the newest demon to inhabit their village was a literal fireball waiting to blow had not been lost to most people and it left the entire town terrified that vengeance was coming. Everyone had seem how close the new demon was to the Nico girl and if she told him about the stuff they did to her than it would only be natural for him to exact his unholy revenge upon them. It was this fear that was filling everyone on the main street as they watched the two demons walk through the market hand in hand smiles plastered on their faces. Normally a tirade of insults and condemnations would be getting hurled at the two but not today. No today the street was deathly silent as no one save a few hushed whisperers dared speak a word many even going so far as to hold their breath until the two passed them.

As the two continued they came upon a shop that sold building materials and both stopped. "Okay Naruto now remember the plan. I do all the talking and you just keep yourself busy. If I need you I'll ask alright." Robin whispered in his ear.

Naruto smiled widely at her "No worries Robin-chan, why I bet this guy will give us the whole shop if we ask. I mean just look at everyone else, it's like they all saw a ghost or something." He said happily

'Or a pair of demons' Robin thought laughing to herself as she thought about the hushed word she had heard on her way here. Naruto seemed oblivious to it but robin had heard everything that had been said about them while they were walking. 'It's not perfect but even fear has its uses' robin though as she opened the door and entered the shop.

The shop was fairly small for a supplies shop but robin figured that was because you were meant to ask the owner for what you wanted and he would get it from the back. 'Good that makes this easier' she thought as she walked up to a small "Ring for service bell" and rang it until a round looking man came out from the back room.

"yay a quit ringing the bell I'm coming Im…" he said stopping and going pale as soon as he saw who it was that was in his shop. "W…what do you t…two want?"

Robin smiled inwardly at the man's reaction to them and took it as a sign that things would go smoothly "We would like to procure some building materials for our home so that we don't have to bother you fine folks in town as often, and were hoping that you would be able to help us." Robin said wearing the most innocent and pleasant smile she could manage and pulling out a piece of paper that she placed on the counter, "I've written everything we need right here."

The man grabbed the list with a shaky hand, almost as though he feared the paper would explode at his touch and then read it silently before gulping. "Well I have everything you need Demo… I mean miss, but it's going to be quite expensive to get you everything on here."

Robin fake pouted at the man's word "Well that's a shame. Naruto-kun won't be very happy to hear that." She said motioning to Naruto who was entertaining himself by balancing tools and supplies on his nose "I'm sure you've heard he has quite the _explosive _temper. It would be a shame if he got angry and, did anything reprehensible don't you think?"

The man lost what little color he had left and nodded vigorously before he scurried into the back room before returning with an armful of supplies. "I can have the rest of it for you shortly. Please wait a moment while I find it for you." He said before he began cycling back and forth between the back of the store and the ever growing pile of supplies.

"Wow Robin-chan you sure got a lot more than I thought you would. Can you manage your whole make limbs grow out of the boards thing again or do you need help?" Naruto said as he stopped playing with tools and walked over to watch as the store clerk assembled a massive pile of supplies for them.

"I'm pretty tired right now so if you could take as much as you can carry then I'll handle the rest." Robin asked as the clerk finally stopped getting things

Naruto looked at the pile for a moment "As much as I can carry. Okay then" he said as he ran up and started stacking most of the boards into two single stacks which he then hoisted onto his small shoulders. "Is this enough Robin-chan?"

Robin laughed as she watched Naruto lift and shoulder most of the pile like it was nothing "There must be something about your devil fruit that makes you stronger because that isn't normal." She said as she waved her hand over the remaining supplies and legs sprouted from them. "Let's head back and get the tree house repaired. It's going to be getting dark soon."

"Lead the way Robin-chan." Naruto said happily as he followed robin and the caravan of goods out of the shop.

XxX

The repairs had gone a lot faster than Naruto had thought when Robin told him what she wanted to do. With the help of her extra hands and Naruto's ability providing them with light after nightfall putting up the new walls had only taken about half an hour and the interior only another twenty.

The new layout was pretty much the same thing as before except the cloth walls were now wood with widow holes in three of them and a cloth covered doorway in the fourth. Robin had also insisted that he find a way to put walls around the latrine hole and build a seat above it with another hole in it, but other than that the interior was pretty much the same.

"I gotta say Robin-chan, I like this new design a lot more than my old one. It certainly feels a bit more…stable than the old setup don't ya think?" Naruto asked as he nailed some of his old bed cloth above a window to act as a curtain.

Robin nodded to him as a pair of her hands finished nailing on the new door flap "it's a good start but it still needs furnishings and such." She said before she yawned loudly "But we can take care of that tomorrow, I'm really sleepy right now so I'm going to go to bed."

Naruto scratched his head "Um I normally just sleep propped against the wall with a blanket but we used them all to make the curtains and door out of. I already burned the moldy stuff like you told me to but I think there is still a blanket over there that hasn't been touched. You can have it if you want." He said as he finished up the last curtain.

"But if I take that then where will you sleep?" Robin asked

"Eh my devil fruit keeps me pretty warm most of the time so I don't need anything like a blanket. You can have it." Naruto said cheerfully as waved his hand at the orb of light in the center of the room causing it to vanish and leave the room dark save for beams of moonlight streaming in from gaps in the wood and the yet to be replaced roof panels.

As Naruto was walking to the far side of the room he was stopped when Robin grabbed his hand and stopped him. "You can't possibly expect me to take the last blanket for myself and leave you in the cold." She said patting her hand on a spot against the wall next to her. "It's big enough for us to share, at least for tonight."

Naruto looked down at the spot with a smile on his face before sitting down next to her with his back propped against the wall. She then handed him the other side of the blanket to wrap himself in "Thanks Robin-chan. This means a lot." Naruto said softly.

Robin smiled and pulled the blanket tighter around herself "I know it does." She almost whispered "From what you've told me, I've had a pretty similar life to yours. One filled with bad luck."

For a moment both of them were silent and robin thought that Naruto had drifted off to sleep until he spoke again. "Do you hate em Robin-chan?" Naruto asked, not feeling the need to explain who "em" were.

Robin thought for a moment about Naruto's question and remembered herself thinking that many times in her life. When she had truly terrible days that left her filled with doubt she would often curse her mother and to an extension her father for leaving her behind. She would feel betrayed and hurt knowing that she was left behind to fend for herself. But whenever she found herself cursing her parents she always admonished herself as soon as she was in her right mind again. She had always been secretly terrified that her mother hated her just like all the other townspeople did and that was why she was so scared that if she hated her mom then, for some reason or another, her hate filled nightmare would become reality. And worse still if robin stopped believing in her mom and started hating her than she would lose the only goal she had in life.

Before robin had a chance to answer the question though Naruto spoke again "Sometimes I hate mine. I hated them a lot after Granpa Hiruzen died and I got sent out on the streets. But whenever I tried to hate them I would worry that if I hated them then all that would be left of me is hate. I feel that life's a lot easier is you just say it's all bad luck and move on, hate just makes hate." He muttered quietly, as his eyes turned towards the moon and gained a deep look of longing.

"Yea Naruto-kun …I know what you mean. I know they didn't leave cause they hate me, but I still sometimes wish I had someone to tuck me in at night or tell me a bedtime story." She said as she scooted closer to Naruto and looked up through the hole at the moon

Naruto laughed lightly before he turned towards her "I'll trade you a bedtime story for a lullaby." Naruto said with a smile.

Robin smiled at his offer "Fine Naruto-kun but I've never sang before."

"Well I've never told anyone a story before so I guess we're even. Now then I got one story I can think of so here goes." Naruto said before clearing his throat "There once was a kingdom in the center of the seas filled with all the greatest wonders in the world. And In that kingdom there was a beautiful princess who lived in a dark tower, for the queen of the land hated how smart and pretty the princess was so she locked her up. But one day a sea knight came to the kingdom atop a mighty cod and proceeded to challenge the evil queen to a duel. The queen instead sent a horde of evil zombies to attack the prince and princess but the prince was a total fucking badass and he beat them all until they were worshiping him. The queen was so terrified that she let the princess go free but not before the princess decked her across the face and the two of them lived happily ever after, until some other disaster befell them at a later date. The end. So how was that Robin-chan?"

Robin was laughing to herself at Naruto's fairytale version of recent events "I suppose I like it, but I'm not a fan of the ending much too realistic for a bedtime story."

Naruto laughed lightly as well "Well I'm a pragmatist deep down, at least I think that's pragmatist means. Anyway now it's your turn."

Robin sighed "Fine Naruto-kun, but I don't know any songs so you'll have to settle for humming."

Naruto yawned before he scooted himself closer to robin. "I'd be more than happy with humming Robin-chan."

And so robin began humming a gentle tune that she was making up as she went. She hadn't ever had anyone sing to her that she could remember so she simply hummed soft notes that she thought sounded nice together. As she was humming she felt herself getting sleepier and sleepier and she soon found herself resting her head on Naruto's pleasantly warm shoulder.

Robin kept humming lightly until she felt Naruto lean his head against hers as he was no doubt falling asleep. "So what do ya *yawn* think?" she asked as she closed her eyes.

"Hmm you should sing more Robin-chan it's nice." He said before drifting off to sleep.

As robin's mind began to fade to dreamland it entertained one last thought…

'I think I saw a book of songs in the library'

XxX

Robin awoke to the smell of delicious food and the sound of someone gorging themselves rather loudly. As she opened her eyes she saw Naruto sitting cross-legged in the corner with a mountain of packaged food stuffs around him. "Eh robin-chan guess what. They gave me a bunch of free food at the market when I went to steal breakfast and it's all prepackaged so it can't be poisoned. Aint this great?" he said happily as he tore open a bag of chips and shoveled its contents down his throat.

"I hardly think chips count as breakfast Naruto-kun." Robin said as she got up and sifted through the pile for something healthy.

Naruto stopped eating for a moment and looked closely at the bag in his hand "oh, that's what these are called. I've never had em before but the package had a picture of a happy guy in a sombrero so I figured they had to be good for you." He said before he resumed eating

"You should be able to read what the bag said." Robin muttered as she finally found a prepackaged sandwich which she began to eat.

"I did but it said it was a bag of tor…tillas not chips." He said as he finished off the bag and threw it in a pile of trash.

"It's tortilla. The Ls are silent, but that's not important." Robin said as she finished the last of her sandwich "What's the plan for today?"

"Well… we could start training. It was the entire reason you decided to move in with me and it would be nice to get started sooner rather than later." Naruto said as he turned around to face her

"Fine then Naruto-sensei." Robin said sarcastically with an added bow "what is the first step of my training oh wise one?"

Naruto sat for a moment stroking a nonexistent goatee in what he felt was a very sensei-ish way until an idea popped into his head "I got it. I'll take you to my super-duper secret training spot and then we can start." He said as he walked out of the tree house to the very edge of a branch and motioned robin to follow him.

"Um Naruto-kun wherever this spot is don't you think it would be easier to climb down the trunk than a branch?" Robin asked cautiously to which Naruto responded with a wide grin

"Get on my back and I'll take you to it." Naruto said as he squatted for her to get on.

Robin looked at Naruto oddly, having never seen much of his devil fruit she wasn't quite sure what his plan was, but she doubted he would do anything stupid enough to get her or himself hurt so she complied. "Fine but I can walk on my own you don't need to carry me." She said as she climbed onto his back.

"Ah you would be right robin-chan…if I planned on walking." He said as he started running towards the end of the branch with no sign of stopping.

"Naruto what in the hell are you…AHHHHHH" Robin screamed as Naruto jumped off the branch and they started sailing towards the ground at a lethal speed. Or at least that was what robin saw before she shut her eyes. She opened them after a few second which should have been enough time for them to hit the ground and found herself flying through the air still on Naruto's back while his lower half was a plume of red vapor.

"HAHAHAHA I'm sorry Robin-chan but the look on your face. I just had to, it was priceless, far too good to pass up." Naruto laughed as he started descending towards a barren and rocky beach on the far side of the island.

Robin glared daggers at Naruto's back as they landed "I'm not going to let that slide you know." She said menacingly as Naruto's legs solidified and she hopped off.

"Good then it will make the first step that much easier." Naruto said as walked a few feet away from robin and took a ready stance "I want you to fight me using everything you can even your devil fruit. It will help me know what I'm working with. Im not going to use mine since its… well sort of lethal"

Robin cocked an eyebrow at Naruto "You sure you want me to do that Naruto-kun. I think you're underestimating me."

Naruto scoffed at the thought "No way robin-chan, I'll be fine. Do your worst."

Robin shrugged her shoulders and casually waved her arm at him. Naruto's eyes quickly darted around to see where the hands would sprout from until he felt several vice grips tighten around his throat, arms, and legs before he was pulled backwards into an upside down crab walk.

"So Naruto-kun, still want me to use my devil fruit?" robin asked tauntingly as she stood above his head.

"Argh No…that's… fine… just please… let go… of …throat… me… like… air." Naruto choked as the arms around his throat tightened before vanishing into flower petals and leaving him panting on the ground

"Did I forget to mention I can sprout limbs from other people to? Must have slipped my mind." Robin said innocently

"You didn't have to get back at me so soon." Naruto wheezed before he jumped back up like nothing happened "But it kinda worked out okay, I know what to do for training now and I have a new sparing rule, but first let me ask this so I don't embarrass myself again. Robin-chan could you please explain or show all the things your devil fruit is capable of?"

"As far as I can tell my fruit lets me sprout body parts from any surface I want be that the ground a tree or as you demonstrated another person. I mostly use arms and legs but I've also been able to sprout eyes and ears when I want to see or hear something. Is that about what you wanted to know?" Robin said as she sat down on a chair made of arms that she had just made as a demonstration.

Naruto had an amazed look on his face when he had heard the description "So you can whip up a bunch of limbs to do whatever you want all the time. Man you must be super lazy."

"Actually I still feel anything that happens to the limbs be that fatigue or wounds and if I make a lot and they all get tired then once they're gone I get as exhausted as each of them combined. Even right now sitting here I'm actually holding myself off the ground." She said before standing up and dispelling the armchair.

Naruto looked a little bit crestfallen at the details of robin's power. "So if I had turned all vapory and touched/charbroiled those arms then…"

"Correct. I would have lost my real arms and been very very very angry." Robin said in a teacherly tone.

"Oh. Well then I'm glad I didn't do that then, but still that's a super badass power. You could like do what you did and choke people, unless they have a devil fruit like mine, but still I bet not a lot of people do." Naruto said excitedly "and I bet if you got stronger than the limbs you sprout would be stronger too right?"

"That's my understanding of how it works." Robin said pausing for a moment as a thought came to mind "what about your fruit Naruto-kun?"

Naruto had a stumped look on his face as he tried to start explaining the little he knew about his fruit. "Well I can turn into super-hot gassy stuff and I can make it and I think maybe shoot it too but I'm not sure. The coolest thing I can do is make my bottom half into it and then fly around but you already know that. I don't think its fire cause it looks more like a cloud than a flame since it doesn't do the wispy thing… truth be told I don't know very much about it and I'm not even sure what it's called, I just got hungry one day and when I was running from the villagers I found a fruit that tasted like shit and now here I am."

Robin thought carefully for a moment about what Naruto had just said. It wasn't too uncommon according to clover-sensei for a devil fruit to be unknown but most of the time a record of it exists somewhere. That had been how she learned what her fruit did. Thanks to clover-sensei she found a book on devil fruits that had hers in it, which means Naruto's might be in there as well.

"Naruto-kun, if we go back to the library then we may be able to find out a bit more about your devil fruit." Robin said as she turned to head inland only to be stopped by a hand on her shoulder.

"Not so fast Robin-chan, book learning is an activity for the evening. Right now is training time and now that I know what I'm up against I have an addendum to the rules." Naruto said as he got back into his ready stance. "This time I don't use mine and you don't sprout anything out of me. That should make this a little more even."

"If you're that insistent on getting beat again then fine, I'll spar with you and abide by your rules but after this we go to the library, deal?" Robin said as she got into a stance Naruto didn't recognize.

"Deal." Naruto said as he ran forward with his right arm cocked back to deliver a blow. Robin saw him running and flicked her wrist causing multiple arms to sprout out of the ground between him and her each trying to grab his feet. Naruto saw this and jumped onto the upward facing palm of one before he started running on top of them, when he got to robin he swung his right arm to punch her in the cheek but she duck under it and socked him in the kidney so hard he had to jump back and disengage. As soon as he was away Naruto saw that robin had sprouted a bouquet of arms around her right elbow and had hit him with each one at the same time. "Okay a bit better than I expected even without the whole choke me and suffocate me thing. You're a bit faster than I thought but I still have the strength card."

"Don't forget Naruto-kun, if I have eight arms sprouting and punching the same thing I'm effectively eight times as strong. Still think you have the "strength card" on me?" Robin said before doing the classic 'bring it on' motion with her hand, or rather hands as all nine of them were doing the same thing.

Naruto got a tick on his fore head and charged forward again, staying vigilant of any limbs in his path, and threw a right jab to robin's left side. Just like before she dodged the blow but this time Naruto slid his arm under hers and grabbed it before he turned on his heels so his back was to her. For a split second Robin wondered what he was planning until she felt herself getting flipped onto her back by her still trapped arm. While she was in the air robin sprouted two arms that pushed Naruto's hands off which broke his hold grip before she swung her legs and used the momentum to flip back the way she came.

Naruto still had his back to her and before he could turn around he felt eight hands gripping each of his legs and felt the real Robin lock him into a full nelson. "Okay okay Robin-chan I get it you can fight too. Happy now." Naruto grumbled before turning his head away and pouting "You totally ruined my sensei moment."

Robin laughed slightly as she dissolved the arms that had Naruto's feet bound and released him from the full nelson. "Gomen Naruto-kun but clover-sensei I have read a few books on martial arts. I'm guessing all you have is street fighting?"

"Well ya, I mean until a few days ago I couldn't read and people who try to beat you up tend to not offer pointers." Naruto said sarcastically

"Then aren't you glad the world biggest library in on this island and someone forced you to learn to read." Robin said happily as she started walking back towards the library. "Naruto-kun aren't you co…AHHHHHH" she screamed as Naruto flew into her and grabbed her bridal style.

"C'mon robin-chan, walking is for losers who don't know people that can fly." Naruto laughed happily as they headed towards the library

XxX

"HOHOHOHOHO so Naruto-san actually wants to learn about something without a bet being made. This is surely a day that will be remembered forever. Come in come in and let me know if I can help." Clover-laughed as he ushered Robin and Naruto inside.

"Arigato Clover-sensei we were actually hoping you could help us with a couple things." Robin said politely

"Well then ask away child." Clover replied with a large smile

"Naruto would like some books on martial arts and all around combat and he also wants help learning about his devil fruit." Robin said before standing on her tip toes and whispering in Clover's "and I would like some books on music and learning to sing."

Clover smiled inwardly at robin's last request, his mind already putting the pieces together. "Well the books you want Robin-san are in section 2 block 14 on the second floor, and the ones I'm sure Naruto-san wants are in section 2 block 30, but I would like a demonstration of Naruto-san fruit before I let you both loose. It would benefit all of us if you knew what you were dealing with don't you think?"

Naruto shrugged his shoulders "Sure clover-sensei. What do you want me to do?"

Clover waved his hand at Naruto "Oh I'm sure anything at all will suffice. I'm aware it's a logia type and from what you've said its likely fire but I want to see for myself. How about you make your arm into it."

Naruto complied and held up his left arm which quickly dissolved into a very dark red cloud that was giving off a great deal of heat. Clover leaned down for a closer look "Remarkable, simply remarkable. Roche come here and tell me what you think of this." Clover yelled, beckoning for a young brown haired man to come over.

"Hai clover-sempai what is it." He asked until he got a view of Naruto's gaseous arm. "Oh my. That certainly isn't what we thought it was, is it?"

Clover didn't take his eyes off Naruto's shifting and fiery appendage "No I dare say it is not what we hypothesized. Roche pass be something expendable"

"Hai Clover-sempai." Roche quickly ran outside and returned with an armful of rocks sticks and a chunk of what looked like steel

Clover grabbed a long stick and held pointing towards Naruto's arm "Naruto-san I want you to try and burn these things when we touch your arm with them, all right?"

Naruto nodded and smiled "Sure clover-sensei. I used to do this too when I figured it out, it's pretty fun. Knock yourselves out."

Clover started to slowly inch the stick close to the gaseous mass. When the stick was still a few inches from the red mass it caught fire leaving Clover and Roche in awe.

Naruto laughed sheepishly and scratched the back of his head in embarrassment. "Gomen clover-sensei I made that a bit denser than I should have. I figured you wanted to play around so I turned up the juice."

"What do you mean you made it denser?" Clover asked intrigued

Naruto tapped his chin in thought "well I can make this stuff hotter and colder but I can also make it thicker or more umm not thick. When I make it thicker then it burns stuff more and the air around it gets really hot too, but if I make it as light as I can" Naruto said waving his hand at Clover and Roche and causing a faded pinkish cloud to waft in their face which made them panic until they only felt a slight warmth "then all you feel is a warm cloud."

"And what happens if you make it hotter Naruto-san." Roche asked fascinated by Naruto's devil fruit power.

Naruto shrugged "Umm it gets hotter and changes color sort of."

Clover remained fascinated by this. "Could you show us that Naruto-san?"

Naruto held his right arm forward and looked to be flexing the gaseous limb as the red haze started glowing brighter until it was yellowish orange. After it turned orange Clover grabbed some of the stones and the chunk of metal and began to drop them on top of the limb. To everyone except Naruto's amazement the small stones vanished when they touched it and the metal fell through it but as a molten blob. Even robin was looking at the display with awe since she hadn't seen Naruto use his powers for anything other than flying.

Clover stroked his large beard in thought "I believe I have read about something like this Naruto-san. Give me a moment." Clover said as he walked to a shelf in the library and grabbed a large book which he began flipping through. "You have something from the pyrotechnic family but it seems hotter than standard fire or magma. Let's see where was…ah here it is, the Taiyo Taiyo no mi."

Clover had his finger on a tribal rendition of someone surrounded by an aura of flame and floating in the sky as a group of people below bowed down. "The Taiyo Taiyo no mi, or solar solar fruit is an immensely powerful logia type devil fruit which endows the user with the power of the sun and stars. Records of this fruit are not as concrete as most others but it has been put in the same category as the Buchi, Goro, Mera, Kaze, and Tsuchi fruits as a primal elemental force. Despite not having concrete historical records, the many legends which are the only reference to the fruit tell of its multitude of applications most notable being its unimaginable destructive power. Some cultures held that the eater of the fruit was an embodiment of their god while others believed that they were the sun in physical form. Aside from these scattered tales however the Taiyo Taiyo no mi remains unstudied by grand line scientists and may be nothing but a myth however account from many tribal people of the fruits respective owners becoming angry and unmaking island have yet to be concretely disproven. The most famous of these cases came from a secluded tribe in the south blue whose legends said that their god once demanded passage to the other side of the red line and after being told it was impassible proceeded to carve a mile wide hole all the way to west blue. Initial explorers called these locals fools but a later expedition found that behind a dense jungle a hole of only slightly smaller dimensions went 100 miles through all the way to west blue. Due to actions of an arrogant world noble most records of the tunnels creation have been covered up and official record states that a world noble used their heavenly power to make it. Due to this the true nature of the tunnel was forgotten and it was named TenryūbitoTen no michi and then went on to be the main means of commerce between south and west blue." Clover read aloud stopping at the end where there was a photo of a marine battleship that looked like a speck next to what had to be the most massive hole in existence which seemed to go on forever.

Naruto was switching between starring at his arm and at the last illustration in the book. Naruto couldn't wrap his mind around how anything of that scale could be possible let alone the fact that his fruit was the one that did it. The power to reshape the world in such a way the even history itself had to take notice

"Do I really have that kind of power?"

Clover laughed and patted Naruto on the back "Hai Naruto-san, it would seem that you possess the same power that allegedly made that tunnel. This is a most exciting development, I would like a chance to study your powers more closely when we have a chance but for now let me show you and robin to the books you wanted. C'mon Naruto-san times a wasting" Clover shouted as he and robin towards a flight of stairs.

"Uh right, arigato clover-san." Naruto said numbly as he followed Robin and Clover up the stairs but not before he cast one last glance back at the book.

'Guess my luck aint all bad'

~~~~~CHAPTER 3 FIN~~~~~

Author's note

Same set up as before so let's get started. Exact same level of amazement at how many people enjoy my story and I'm thrilled that so many people posted reviews and even more thrilled that so many people answered the questions from the last little quasi-poll, it helped me shape a lot of the stuff going on in my head about this story. Now im going to say the format for this because I have changed ch 2 slightly and removed the unsightly and now unnecessary authors note. So heres the set up I like for authors notes, I'm going Q and A from reviews then my own Q and A to you. Enough of that time to get started.

apocalyps24:

You didn't have a question but there was mention of how long they are going to be young. They leave ohara for their first adventure next chapter but it will have been a short time skip (3 months) and they will return before ohara gets glassed. There's just somewhere they need to be timeline wise while they are still young. I apologies if it's taking a while but please do bear with me. It will get better eventually. I promise.

Hmm im actually a bit shocked, that wasn't even actually a question and it was still the only thing I could answer. Im torn between happy that I haven't confused anyone and sad that I don't get to tell you guys anything. Oh well onto to my questions.

How do you guys feel about me replacing the XxX line break with a date and year. I already have a story timeline so its more you the fans' preference than anything else.

The plan I have in mind for naruto's crew is as follows, I plan to use one other op character and two Naruto characters that I really like coming up to a total of five which I'm not likely to change. Five is a small enough number for them to operate under the radar if they want but keep it from just being Naruto and robin. I was also playing with the idea of ace and luffy being trained by Naruto who then rings them along on his own journey one stop being the island name is from. That's kinda a spoiler but since it isn't decided yet and this authurs note will only be here till I publish chapter 4 it shouldn't matter. Anyway tell me what you think about that concept.

Okay that was all I want to know for now, depending on the feed back I may or may not say who I plan on using. I have also decided that I like the way Naruto and one piece mesh so I may have more characters make cameos but im not sure yet it doesn't matter for about 2-3 more chapters.

And finally this chapter marks the end of the prologue arc and next chapter will either be the "Journey to the city of death, His name is Roger" arc or the "A score left unsettled, return of the kitsune pirates" the city of death being more main plot and the other one is a quasi-filler I have in mind. As with most things I do the order is up in the air.

Now to those who read through the entire chapter I commend you for your commitment and would only like to ask of you once more. Kindly write for me a beautiful captivating review so that I might hear you words and my story might grow stronger. Give me a sonnet…no give unto me a novel analyzing every rapt detail of my work so that I might picketh apart each and every one of mine own flaws until all that is left is a superb writer rising from his own ashes like a golden phoenix.

But if you don't feel like that then anything will do. Thanks for reading everyone and feel free to pm me if you want to talk about something.


	4. Bloody Rain

Bloody Rain

Naruto panted heavily as he fired another ball of plasma at the rock wall in front of him. But just like all the others the ball simply hit and splashed apart without melting more than an inch.

For the last six months Naruto and Robin had both spent most of their time training or reading and both had managed to improve quite a bit. Robin was able to sprout around 200 arms without too much excretion and was able to do so without hand gestures anymore. She had even been trying to get some kind of wing setup working but as of yet it was still too heavy to fly. Naruto had managed to ramp his heat his body and small plasma blades up to a bright yellow, which was able to vaporize most things and melt the rest, but he was having a problem with projectiles, so for the last month Naruto had decided he would figure out some way to fire a blast of plasma without it falling apart. The problem he kept getting was finding a way to keep the plasma dense once he threw it. His body was fine and with a swat he could carve through stone like paper but as soon as he tried to extend it more than a foot it lost its shape and faded into the air. He had robin help him read a whole science text book on the theories and physics behind plasma but even with robin explaining it to him a lot of the stuff went over his head. All he had gotten from it was that heat wasn't the problem since he hadn't gotten any different results whether he used low red or yellow hot. He knew the key was density but at the moment he couldn't find a way to project it outwards for more than a foot or two.

"Naruto-kun maybe it's time to take a break from that. If you fixate on one concept for too long then you're going to burn yourself out. Besides even if it isn't working the way you want it to, you have still managed to melt most of that cliff." Robin said from her spot under the shade of a nearby tree.

Naruto glared angrily at the aforementioned cliff "I have to keep trying robin-chan. You saw what the book said, I have one of the most powerful devil fruits in the five seas, and I won't stop I'm strong enough to do that."

Robin chuckled lightly "Naruto-kun that tunnel may have taken whoever made it years or perhaps even decades. Not to mention whoever made it was almost assuredly not five years old." She got up and walked over to Naruto before putting a hand on his shoulder "The tree of omniscience didn't grow in a day. C'mon lets go get some food."

Naruto was about to insist he stay until his stomach growled loudly which earned a laugh from Robin. "C'mon there're still a few vendors that have free food for us." Naruto didn't protest the rest of the way and allowed robin to lead him back towards town.

XxX

When Naruto and Robin made it to the market they noticed a lot less people glaring at them than normal. After a few of their little "demon extortion" incident three months ago the townspeople had quickly stopped fearing them and went back to treating them like they used to. Luckily Robin had guessed it would happen and she used their window of free stuff time to stock up on stuff that they needed. They had managed to get a pair of mattresses and more blankets along with enough preserved food to last them for a while but Robin said that it was still nice to have actual food once in a while. Since she moved in with Naruto, Robin had found that his diet was so poor it was a miracle he was still alive let alone able to function as a person. So whenever they had the chance robin tried to get good nutritious food for the two of them. That however left the issue of actually getting nutritious food when everyone was beginning to hate them again but luckily a few of the cowardly vendors were still afraid enough to feed them.

The odd thing though was whether they were hated or feared Naruto and Robin wouldn't be able to walk through the market without glares curses or tense silence. Today however it was as though no one even noticed they were there.

Robin turned towards Naruto "Naruto-kun, keeps your eyes peeled. Something weird is going on."

Naruto nodded as he looked around them and then frowned "I kinda feel a little sad. You get used to being the center of attention, bad or not, and it's weird to suddenly not be noticed"

Robin shook her head and laughed "Only you could miss getting cured and glared at."

They soon made it to a small butcher shop run by a stout but very skittish man whom they had come to rely on in the past few weeks as a steady source of protein. When they entered the shop however they were again ignored as the people in line were huddle together and chatting amongst themselves.

Robin focused in on their conversations and heard them talking about some execution.

"Did you hear how they caught him?"

"I heard that Garp-san finally beat him"

"When is the execution supposed to be?"

"The paper says it'll be in two months. They want time to find any other members of his crew and make sure the turnout is good."

"Why do they want so many people to show?"

"They probably want to make an example of him; I'm thinking of going."

"Where are they having it?"

"The bastard said he wanted to die where he was born so it's going down in Lougetown back in the east blue."

"How ya plan on going then?"

"Through the Tenryūbito Ten no Michi to south blue then take a government ferry up to east."

"That's across the grand line! How're managing that?"

"They got some new ships that can go through no problem and they are even offering free rides to people."

"Wow sounds like quite the event. I might see about going myself."

Robin turned towards Naruto "Naruto-kun could you wait here for a moment and get the food. I need to get something from the market."

Naruto looked at robin oddly before he shrugged "Okay Robin-chan, I'll get ya some of those sandwiches ya like." He waved to her as she left the shop

Robin walked outside and soon spotted a stand where she took advantage of her newfound anonymity to quietly sneak up and steal a newspaper. Emblazoned on the front page was a photo of Gold Roger himself being hauled off in massive chains. Beneath it was the caption "THE KING OF PIRATES GOLD ROGER CAPTURED AND SET TO BE EXECUTED IN TWO MONTHS TIME"

Quickly reading the article Robin found that everything the people in the shop had said was true. Gold Roger had been captured by Vice admiral Garp and was set to be executed in Lougetown two months from now.

Robin shook her head sadly "Naruto-kun isn't going to be happy about this"

"What am I not going to be happy about?"

Robin looked up from the paper and was surprised to see Naruto standing in front of her with several wrapped sandwiches in his arms. "You said I wasn't going to be happy about something. What's the matter?"

Robin showed Naruto the headline "I hate to show you this Naruto-kun but it seems that Gold Roger-san has been captured and is going to be executed. Gomen, I know you looked up to him." She said sadly

Naruto handed her the food and held the paper in his hands. There in black and white was a photo of Naruto's Idol wrapped in chains and being paraded around by marines like a dog. There in black and white was the strongest man in the world shackled and bound. He didn't know what to think, didn't know how to handle finding this out. He shouldn't have been surprised, after all the world government was the most powerful force on the planet…

But more than that... he was the only link he had to his parents. "I'm going to go. I need to meet him in person and this might be my last chance."

Robin looked at Naruto like he was insane "You do understand that its thousands of miles away right? We're only six years old that's too young to be going on some round the world quest just to watch an execution."

"I'm serious Robin-chan; I know how crazy it is but I really have to do this. It's… important to my dream."

Robin softened when he mentioned that. Naruto's dream of being a great pirate to make his parents happy was one the resonated with her own desire to be a great archeologist and make her own mother proud. It didn't assuage her doubt about the foolishness of the plan, but knowing what it meant to him did change her mind a bit. "Even if I were to agree to your plan there's the matter of getting there and getting Clover to allow it."

Naruto waved her off "No worries. I got a plan to get us there and as for Clover-sensei he doesn't need to know. Technically we both don't have legal guardians so we can do whatever we want. I know you want to learn about history and stuff and I heard that Roger-san has been all the way to the end of the grand line so he probably knows all kinds of cool stuff. So whaddya say, you in?"

Robin thought on Naruto's word diligently for a moment. What he said was the truth and if anyone knew a lot about history, and more importantly the poneglyphs she had been secretly learning about, it would be the man that conquered Raftel, so in reality she would actually be learning more by going than by simply staying "Okay Naruto-kun, What exactly do you mean _a plan_?"

For some reason the widening of Naruto's grin didn't fill her with hope.

XxX

"Some days I really regret meeting you Naruto."

"Oh c'mon it isn't that bad is it besides there's plenty of food in the other barrels if we get hungry and once you get used to the smells it's pretty comfortable."

The two found themselves sitting together inside a large barrel of what looked like gunpowder and were now playing the waiting game until they arrived at… wherever the barrel was being shipped.

Robin was still amazed that Naruto's so called plan had worked "How are there even barrels being shipped out from Ohara? We don't have any industries except books and tourism."

Naruto laughed "My Jiji once said that every dock in the world has barrels of something going conveniently close to wherever you need to go. If you have stealth and can stomach some interesting smells then it's like free travel wherever you want to go."

"Where exactly _are _we going?" Robin asked skeptically "You did pay attention before we hopped in right?"

"Nah it wouldn't be as much of an adventure of I knew exactly where we were going. But I saw a world gov flag and heard them say something about the tunnel so at least it won't be another island."

"Well then do you at least know how long this will take? Seeing as you seem to be an expert."

Naruto tapped his chin in thought "Well Ohara is pretty near the tunnel, but then again we could take lots of little stops or something, although this is a government ship so they are kind prompt, but then again the weather can be bad…Certainly no more than two months. Cause after that there won't be any point in going still. So just try to keep your spirits up and the trip will fly by."

"Naurto…"

"Ya Robin-chan?"

"I'm going to kill you when we get out"

"I like the energy Robin-chan keep it up."

XxX

Luckily for Robin's sanity and Naruto's health they felt the barrel they were hiding in being moved after only about a day's journey. "See Robin-chan I told ya this was a good plan. I bet we're already at the tunnel." He said as the barrel finally stopped rolling.

Robin contorted herself to face the wall of the barrel and found a knothole that she looked out of. The area they had landed in was rather dank and depressing with large storm clouds blanketing the sky and bringing down heavy rainfall. The knot hole was facing away from the ship and gave Robin a clear view of what had to be the largest city she had ever seen being besieged. It looked like a forest of steel and piping rising into massive narrow towers with roaring flames lapping at them like the tongues of hungry dogs. She couldn't see the ship they had come in one but she could still hear the sounds of rapid footsteps and men angrily barking orders to people over the cacophony of exploding shells and rifle fire. "Naruto-kun we should probably find a way to get out when the coast is clear. If you use your power to gently burn the top of the barrel we could probably sneak…"

"Commander Sakazuki, I am captain Kishiro of transport ship the Jericho we have your reinforcements and heavy artillery sir Dr vegapunk even sent some of the prototypes he told you about."

"Understood. Men unload the cannons and open the powder barrels. Level the coast and then move into the heart of the city. Kill everyone you see until not a single revolutionary remains. IN THE NAME OF JUSTICE!"

"HAI SAKAZUKI TAICHO."

Before Naruto and robin had a chance to react the lid of their barrel was pried off and they came face to face with a marine who looked at them surprised for a moment before harshly pulling them out of the barrel and throwing them on the ground. "Captain we've got a pair of stowaways. Orders?"

A large imposing figure in a captain's coat looked down at Naruto and Robin as he was flanked on either side by a dozen marines. "Stowing away on a government vessel is a crime and absolute justice demands absolute punishment. Both of them must die, children or not there can be no leniency in justice." The marines responded and took execution fire positions.

Staring up at the guns Naruto's eyes widened in shock as the world around him seemed to slow. He saw the man hold his open hand up signaling the men to ready their rifles and watched as they pulled back the hammers of their flintlocks. He would be able to survive easily by dissolving into plasma but robin wasn't as bullet proof as he was so he had to think fast. Just as the captain was about to close his fist Naruto saw the open powder barrel next to him and made a snap decision. In a terror and adrenaline fueled display of speed Naruto pushed robin behind him with his left arm and simultaneously flung the barrel of black powder forward with his right. As he pushed the barrel, spilling some it contents in front of the marines, he pivoted on his heel and grabbed robin bridal style before dissolving his legs into plasma for flight. This time however Naruto put an extreme amount of energy into his legs and generated a flare of plasma that not only shot them forwards but also detonated the black powder and all the surrounding barrels.

The resulting blast managed to kill all of the marines except for the captain somehow, but unfortunately the massive shockwave also hit an unprepared Naruto square in the back and launched him into the upper window of a blown out skyscraper. Naruto and robin crashed through the deserted room and tumble a few times before coming to a stop and trying to catch their breath. When Naruto tried to stand up he fell back down and was wracked by a coughing fit that had flecks of blood in it.

"Naruto-kun!" She screamed as she rushed over to see what was wrong. Naruto was clutching his entire chest in pain and Robin was horrified to see his entire back shredded and bloodied from shrapnel. She gently slung his arms over her shoulders and started out of the room into a hallway with Naruto's feet trailing behind. "Hang in there we're going to be fine."

Naruto coughed again as twin trickles of blood escaped his mouth and dribbled onto robin shoulder. "Gomen Robin-chan, I don't think I can be much help right now." He laughed hollowly, a far cry of his normal joyous tone "I really fucked up didn't I?"

Robin felt tears start falling from her eyes as she looked at the blood and heard rasp of Naruto's voice. 'He must have taken the brunt of the blast that hit us. I need to get him away from this battlefield to some medical aid.' "No Naruto-kun you didn't fuck up. It's going to be okay, you're going to be okay." As she was walking she sprouted four more arms from her back to carry him better and started running towards what looked like a staircase. Just as robin was about to take a step into the stairwell a cannon ball tore into the floor below and the stairs started to crumble out from beneath her. An arm rope sprouted from the ceiling and caught Robin before pulling her back onto the prior floor as the stairwell fell away to reveal a fifty foot drop to the streets below.

Robin looked down to try and sprout an arm ladder but the falling wreckage sent up a smoke cloud that obscured her view too much. Robin became frantic as she started trying to think of some way to get out of the doomed building and get Naruto to safety.

As she was thinking about it she looked up and saw some of the pipes weaving through the city were connecting the building she was in to another one. With a flick of her wrist three ropes of arms sprouted from the pipe midway and swung towards her. Robin grabbed the arms and swung towards the second building and sprouted arms on its wall to grab her just before another cannonball crashed into the building she just left sending it and the pipe crashing down in a cloud of concrete dust and steel.

Robin shielded her eyes with her real hands as she spawned a cluster of arms going down the building making ladder rungs.

As soon as she made it to the ground robin ran deeper into the city, away from the coastal bombardment but into heavy infantry fire fights. "Naruto-kun are you all right?" her response was a loud bout of coughs and a larger pool of his blood spilling onto her shoulder.

"I'm fine Robin-chan but I'm feeling really weak and sleepy…and cold. I f…feel really really c…cold." He stuttered as his body started shaking bringing with it another fit of blood soaked coughs.

Robin's basic medical knowledge was enough to recognize the signs of shock. "Naruto-kun please, _PLEASE _hang on just a little bit longer! I'll…I'll find a spot for you to rest and then I can…I can dress your wounds and we can leave." She kept running till she came to a concrete gulley that led into a drainage tunnel. Robin slid down the rain slickened banks of the gully and quickly ran inside the tunnel to find a safe place away from the fighting and the rain.

Robin finally found a dry area on a small maintenance door platform where she managed to lay Naruto down but he screamed as soon as his back touched the floor. Robin yelped at his scream and pulled him back off the ground and into a hug, with one arm hovering above his back and the other on his head.

The wounds looked worse now that she took the time to look carefully. The entire back of his shirt was burned off and his lower back was riddled with deep shrapnel lacerations and burns. His upper back at least only had two or three cuts but they were still deep enough to stain all of Naruto's back a deep crimson color. All of this was only what robin could see. The way he had clutched his chest could mean he was suffering from internal bleeding as well. Robin gently laid Naruto down on his stomach, wincing as his face contorted in pain. She looked at his back and carefully peeled the burnt on bits of shirt from it doing her best not to cry as Naruto screamed with each burnt strip of cloth and skin she pulled away. Once she had the pieces away she ripped the end of her skirt and gently covered naruto's back to try and keep him even a little bit warmer.

He needed something to dress his wound and something to keep him warm, but she also needed to find him some kind of antibiotic not to mention the potential internal injuries and any broken bones he might have and…and… and she didn't know what to do. Robin broke down and buried her face in her hands as she let her tears fall unbidden. "Damn it Damn it Damn it" she pounded her fist on the ground "You can't leave me Naruto-kun, you just can't." She cried as a single lone tear fell towards the awaiting ground where it fell silently amongst the countless other raindrops

"You're all I have."

XxX

"Nagato did you find anything good this time?" a hooded girl with a sack on her back asked her equally hooded companion as they rain through the rain soaked back streets of Ame.

The other hooded figure shook his head "Gomen Konan-chan but the soldiers broke through the east line while I was looking and smashed open another pipe. The whole block flooded and I had to get out before I got a chance to get a lot."

She sighed "No its fine, I got enough to last the both of us a few more days at least. C'mon the hideout is up ahead." They hopped over a busted concrete wall and both slid down into a small canal like drainage gully and kept running. "Wait a second. Nagato look up ahead, you see that." She stopped and pointed towards a pipe they were approaching that had two shapes in it.

He looked ahead and held a hand up to shield his eyes from the rain and got a better view of a dark haired girl about their age sitting above a prone form with tears in her eyes "It looks like another person lost someone to the war." He shook his head sadly "We should help her Konan-chan. Being alone in this hell isn't something I would wish on anyone."

Konan looked at him and then back to the sack she was carrying before she sighed "Yea I guess we should." Konan cupped her hands to her mouth "HEY YOU OVER THERE! ARE YOU ALL RIGHT? DO YOU NEED ANY HELP?"

The crying girl looked over at them and frantically waved for them to come over. "PLEASE MY FRIEND HAS BEEN HURT! I NEED HELP"

Nagato and Konan were both surprised to hear the body in front of her wasn't dead and ran forward to see what was the matter with him. Konan kneeled down next to girl over the body and lifted the purple cloth she assumed to be the girl's torn skirt off his back. Konan was horrified when she saw what his back looked like underneath it for it was burnt all over and riddled with various cuts that had left the entire area coated in blood. "Oh my god what the hell happened to him? Actually nevermind it doesn't matter right now, Nagato reach into my loot sack and look for a first aid kit. I think I got one today." She said as she took the skirt cloth and held it in the rain outside.

"Found it Konan-chan, it looks like it has some disinfectant, gauze and some stiches but we still need to get him somewhere if we're going to treat him properly." Nagato said as he looked through the contents of the small medical kit.

Konan wrung the rain water out of the now clean cloth and grabbed the disinfectant from the kit which she poured on the cloth. "Yea it doesn't look like he'll last long here. But first we need get him moveable." Konan ripped part of the cloth and handed it to the girl "Nagato hold him down, and girl you get his legs and rub his back with that. By the way I don't want to just call you girl so could you tell me your name?"

Robin sat on top of Nartuo's legs as she and Konan rubbed the sterile cloths on his back. "I'm Robin, and my friend's name is Naruto. Oh god he isn't moving!" She got off and put her fingers to his neck to check for a pulse and was thankfully met with a weak beat.

Nagato let go of Naruto's arms and held his hand over him. "We need to get him moved before this gets any worse. Konan-chan, carry my pack and I'll levitate him."

"Got it." Konan took his bag and went back to the entrance of the pipe where she held an arm out as a small paper butterfly landed. The bug unfolded itself into a flat sheet and the wrapped around Konan's arm and then practically melded into her. "The coast looks clear for now but we have to move fast, the west and south line just got broken through and the marines are shelling the coast. If we stay to the back alleys then we should still be fine though"

"Got it." Nagato nodded as he held his hands over Naruto and raised them up causing Naruto to rise as well until he was about two feet off the ground. Nagato grabbed the needle and thread and tossed it to konan who quickly stitched the largest of the gashes on naruto's back shut. Nagato then took the gauze and wrapped it around Naruto as he floated in the air until his entire torso was covered and all the gauze was used. He turned towards Robin who was looking at Naruto's floating form with worry on her face and handed her his cloak revealing his odd ringed purple eyes and bright red hair. "Here cover him with this it should keep him from getting soaked. Our hideout is a little ways ahead, he'll be safer there."

Robin nodded and draped the thick cloth cloak over Naruto before she and Nagato moved towards the entrance. Robin could still hear the sounds of gunshots and fighting over the pounding rain but she was willing to trust the other girl's judgment about how safe everything was. "I'll follow you just please help Naruto-kun."

The group and Naruto's floating form quickly set out from the pipe and began ducking and weaving through numerous back streets as the headed deeper into the massive city. Often when they turned a corner robin could see marines and some kind of a militia fighting each other on the main roads with the militia steadily losing ground.

They eventually another drainage tunnel similar to the one from earlier but this time Konan produced a key from her cloak and used it to unlock the door on the maintenance platform. Inside was a small room with boarded up door and two crude beds setup in addition to a small pile of food and supplies in the corner. Nagato moved Naruto over to one of the open beds and gently lowered him onto bellydown it before he took his cloak back and put a blanket over him. "There, it's warmer in here so he should recover sooner." Nagato said as he grabbed three logs and put them in a small dip in the center of the room before he started trying lighting it. "Now that we're safe could you give us an explanation please?"

Konan set he bag down and pulled off her cloak revealing her amber eyes and cerulean hair. "Hai, I can't imagine what could have caused those wounds and you don't seem to be natives."

Robin checked Naruto's pulse and his breathing and was happy to find both felt a tad stronger. "We stowed away on a ship hoping to get to the Tenryūbito Ten no Michi and when we were found a commander ordered we be killed. Before they could fire Naruto-kun threw a barrel of gunpowder at them lit it. The blast set off other the rest of the barrels and killed the marines but the shockwave also wounded him." Robin didn't feel she should tell them about how he flew away and how she escaped from the building.

Nagato finnaly managed to light the small fire and warmed his hands in front of it. "If that's the case then why don't you have any wounds?"

Robin looked momentarily surprised by the question until it sank in and she started to gently cry. "Naruto was between me and the blast. He pushed me behind him right before he did it."

Konan walked up to her and hugged her. "It's all right we know how you feel. Our closest friend gave his life to save us when this stupid revolt started." She started to cry like robin was. "Fighting had broken out in the building above us and that door had been open. While we were eating dinner a soldier must have thought we were rebels because a grenade fell down the stair and landed in front of us. Without even thinking Yahiko-kun threw himself on top of it and died a second later."

Nagato looked down at the fire with sad distant look in his eyes. "That was almost a year ago." He grabbed his knees and hugged them to his chest "I cant believe this war is still going on."

Robin sniffled and wiped her eyes. "What exactly is this war about? I'm from Ohara and there hasn't been mention of anything like this. Why is the military attacking this place?"

Konan scoffed "Yea the marines don't want anyone to hear about this little fuck up so they've blockaded all goods and information from Ame to the outside."

Robin looked at konan curiously when she called the situation a "fuck up". Nagato say her confusion and explained "the war started because the boss of Ame Hanzo wants world noble status and the marines said no. So Hanzo shutdown the kairoseki processing plants and cut off the marine's supply. Then the marines sent an ever increasing supply of troops to put Hanzo down but his men and their guerilla tactics have held off the marines for about a year now. The marines would normally level the entire coastline and then wheel cannons in to level the rest but there isn't anywhere else in the world that has the processing plants we do."

Robin thought for a moment about where she had heard the term Kairoseki from. "Isn't kairoseki the rock that nullifies devil fruits?" robin asked.

Nagato nodded "yep, the marines use it a lot these days and it's important to their power on the seas. Problem is its very very difficult to forge and the only place in the known world that can is right here. The entire nation of Ame is the only furnace in the world that can readily produce the stuff."

Robin looked at nagato with wide eyes. "You mean to tell me this entire country is one giant industrial complex."

Konan let go of robin and sat down by the fire "Have you seen all of the pipes going through the city?" Robin nodded in response. "They transport the molten Kairoseki from furnaces to forges all around the city, and some of the bigger pipes have tracks in them to carry finished products to a shipping center on the docks."

"How in the world did the government build a place this…amazing?" Robin was in awe that such a place could be built by even the world gov's power.

"No one knows who built the place. I've heard some people say it's been here forever. Gov just found it and moved in, then Hanzo wormed his way into a position of power and there you have it." Konan said as she went over to the food pile and grabbed three packages of unopened ramen noodles. She went outside for a moment and came back with a small pot full of rainwater that she put over the fire before dumping the noodles into the pot and adding the flavor. She grabbed three bowls from the corner and handed one to nagato and robin before she sat back down "Here you're probably hungry and this stuff will be decent once the water boils."

"Arigato Konan-san, and arigato to both of you for helping Naruto-kun."

"We were happy to help. This land can be very…unforgiving." Nagato said as he dipped the side of his bowl into the pot and got some ramen. "The foods ready"

As robin and konan reached up to get some food they were stopped by a loud moan coming from Naruto and turned to see him weakly trying to crawl out of bed "Must…have…ramen. Hurt…move…but…Ramen…worth it."

Robin laughed gently, happy that Naruto was awake and acting like his old self again. She filled her bowl up and sat her back against the bed as she held the bowl up to his mouth. "here Naruto-kun, try not to move too much you're still very injured."

Naruto happily slurped up the ramen "Arigato Robin-chan and awesome job saving me. Hehe, I thought I was a goner after I crashed."

"Well next time maybe you'll do something besides blow up a gunpowder shipment. Honestly Naruto I thought we were past those kinds of baka-esque moments." Robin chided sarcastically.

"Hmph, fine then next time I'll let you get shot then you'll be all "oh no I'm dead" and it will really suck" Naruto said trying to cross his arms only to be wracked with pain.

Robin laughed again at naruto's attempt at childishness "Maybe you can be sarcastic again after you rest a bit more." She got up and filled the bowl with more ramen for herself.

"Eh robin-chan I meant to ask, where did you find such a nice place to crash anyway? I mean you got a bed _and _ramen in here it's like a five star hotel."

Konan cleared her throat and then smiled brightly when Naruto looked over "Actually you can thank Nagato and I for that. This is our house."

Naruto looked around the room and saw the other two figures sitting by the fire. "Oh, well thanks for saving us and all. I'm afraid we don't have anything to give ya for helping out but if ya need anything I'll do all I can."

Nagato waved him off. "Don't worry about it. People have to stick together in this hell."

Naruto looked at Nagato with a pout on his face at the dismissal of his offer. Naruto forced himself up on his elbows, waving robin off when she tried to stop him, and then swung his legs off the bed so that he was sitting before he looked to Nagato again. "I insist you allow me to somehow pay you both back. It would ruin my stellar reputation if I were a moocher so as soon as I can move properly I'll help repay you both for your hospitality" Naruto said as he weakly gave a thumbs up and earned a small laugh from robin.

Konan looked at the display and allowed herself to smile 'he's like a blond Yahiko'. She got up and grabbed a metal top that she put on top of the fire pit to smother it out. "We can deal with all that tomorrow. Your wounds are still bad and you need your rest. Robin-san if you like you can take the other bed and Nagato and I will make do on the floor."

Robin shook her head "I'm fine sitting her against Naruto's bed. A blanket would be nice though."

Nagato took his cloak off again and handed it to her. "Here you go robin-san. Konan-chan you can take the bed I'll be fine for the night."

"No its fine Nagato, we could share for tonight." She said as she got in bed and patted a spot for him which he crawled into. "Goodnight Naruto-san, Robin-san we can talk more tomorrow."

~~~~~CHAPTER 4 FIN~~~~~

Okay chapter four done I took a few chances in this that I'm not too sure about but I'm looking forward to hearing what people think.

First off thank you for 10k views and I'm sorry since I know many people didn't want Naruto character but I really like nagato and konan as children. They aren't the crew I mentioned before but looking at it I may include them.

If there are any questions about any fruit they might have then I purposely left it unsaid since im still evolving the idea though konan's will be paper based, maybe a logia, and Nagato's will have the deva's power at least. Probably not the other paths unless I have a breakthrough idea about how to implement it. As for the rinnegan I'm probably not doing anything with it so for now the only reason his eyes have it is because that who he is and I like the look of it.

Next up is a different style I tried this time around wherein I used the word said and its synonyms a lot more and in many places didn't actually reference a character saying what they said at all. Let me know what people think of it.

I also would like a critique of the brief action scene since I don't feel I write good action scenes and would like to hear constructive criticisms about it.

And to people who have mentioned my grammar could you give me an example of a specific instance so I can look for more like it. Just saying grammar is a tiny bit too broad for me.

Now as for plot type questions the big one is whether konan and nagato follow robin and Naruto out of ame and on to lougetown or if they simply help them leave. And on that same note wheather or not people would enjoy seeing them as members if naruto's crew.

The idea I have for naruto's crew so far which im willing to spoil since its still an idea is as follows

Naruto (duh)

Robin (also a given)

Zabuza (father was kisame but was killed by gove since zabuza is half fishman)

Maybe haku (as zabuza's sister)

Anko (one of the Boa sisters who are freed in that event)

Konan

Nagato

If that lineup is something you have an opinion I would love to hear it to help me decide things more.

Im sorry I didn't meet my normal 7k word total and im sorry that this AN is sloppy but I won't be able to write as much soon so I felt I should do this.

Please review to help me get better and thank you so much for reading.


	5. Towers

Towers

Robin's eyes slowly fluttered open as she ascended back to the world of conscious ness from her dreaming state. She didn't need an alarm clock to wake herself up and simply awoke every morning at a consistently early time made obvious when she found the others were still sleeping soundly. Deciding to let them sleep in she quietly eased herself out from under Naruto's arm and walked outside.

Back on Ohara Robin would have found a rainy morning peaceful and calming, but the rising of the sun brought little reprieve from the torrential down pour and even though the fighting had stopped the day shed a fresh light on the horrors of last night. Even from the entrance to the pipe she could make out several smoldering objects that were managing to stay lit even in the rain, along with the more disturbing sight of corpses in both civilian cloths and marine uniforms strewn about haphazardly. The tiny patches of sky robin could see between skyscrapers and the overhead clutter were still shrouded in grey clouds and the only sign that it was daylight was the slightly lighter area she assumed to be the sun.

"Whatcha staring at?" a voice robin recognized as Konan's asked from behind her.

"The rain." Robin said as she turned back to look up at the sky. "It's certainly a heavy storm to be able to last all night without letting up."

Konan tilted her head in confusion "Let up? The rains of Ame never "let up". It didn't get the name for nothing you know."

Robin looked at her wide eyed "If it's always like this then how do you get sunshine, or plant growth. A constant deluge would wash away all the soil."

Konan chuckled and waved her hands beckoning to their surroundings. "Look around Robin-san, have you _seen_ any soil since you got here. And as for the sunlight, let's just say you'll wind up as pale as Nagato and I if you stay here too long."

Robin chuckled at Konan's joke but it left her wondering about something that had been on her mind since the debacle at the docks ended. "Hey Konan-san do you know where Naruto and I can find the Tenryūbito Ten no Michi. He'll still probably want to go to roger's execution despite his injuries."

As Konan was about to tell Robin about the difficulty in leaving Ame, the door to their maintenance room home opened revealing Nagato. "Konan-chan, I checked Naruto-san's back and it looks like it might have the beginnings of an infection. Do we still have some of the liniment from last week?"

Konan sighed and shook her head "No I gave the rest of it to some kids that had cuts and stuff. If we're lucky there may still some at the pharmacy we raided last month, if not then I know where I might be able to nab the ingredients for it. I don't think it'll be too hard to make."

Nagato nodded and turned to robin. "Would you mind going with her Robin-san. It's not that I don't trust you and Naruto-san but it would be foolish to leave two people we just met with all of our things you know?"

Robin understood his reasoning and despite a small childish part of her mind wanting to feel insulted she decided to comply. She really didn't think there was anything to fear in leaving Naruto with Nagato and if she was in their position she probably would be even more careful and mistrusting than they were. "I'm fine with that, just keep Naruto-kun safe okay Nagato-san."

Nagato nodded and went back inside leaving Robin and Konan alone once more. Konan gave Robin a scrutinizing once over before reaching into a box next their home's door and tossing Robin a small pack and a long sleeve cloak similar to hers. "The cloak is water proof and blends in around here a lot more than that dress of yours and that pack has what we'll need along with room to carry stuff. I keep a fast pace and I don't want to have you lagging behind so I want to know that you can handle a scavenging run with me. This might be out of the blue but do you and Naruto-san have devil fruits we should know about?"

Konan wrapped the cloak around her and buttoned up the top part of it, letting the back act as a cape of sorts. "That depends on whether or not you and Nagato-san do. It wouldn't be very smart to lay out our cards if we know nothing about you guys."

Konan smirked at robin's answer and held her right arm out horizontally. Robin's eyes widened as the black of the cloak turned snow white and began flaking away into sheets of paper that floated around as though they were caught in a gentle breeze. Soon Konan's entire arm had flaked into a decent sized cloud of papers that were gently floating around her until she held out her left arm and about three fourths of the papers rushed into it and began to tightly fold themselves into the shape of a short sword. The remaining papers all proceeded to fold themselves into tiny four winged butterflies that started flying around her in small lazy circles. "I ate the Kami Kami no mi, I'm a paper woman." She said before holding the sword out as it and the butterflies unfolded and rebuilt her arm. "There, I showed you mine now how about you show me what you've got."

Konan watched as Robin nodded and waved her arm producing a small trail of flower petals. Just as Konan was about to comment on how useless such a power was she felt a multitude of arms sprouted from all over her body and grab each other locking her in place. "I can sprout them from any surface I can see. As you can no doubt tell that includes other people." She said before waving her arm again and dispelling the hands into flower petals. "Now then if there's nothing else let's get on with this. I want to get Naruto-kun his medicine as soon as we can."

Konan nodded to Robin and walked out to the entrance of the pipe. "Try to keep up; I don't plan on slowing down for you."

Robin smirked and followed Konan outside out into the rain; pulling her own hood up once she left the cover of the pipe. "I assure you that won't be an issue."

XxX

"Oh kami I feel like shit. Eh Robin-chan is there any more of that ramen? " Naruto asked sleepily as he cracked his eyes open only to be met with an empty room. "Robin-chan? Where'd ya go!?" he yelled frantically, trying his best to get out of bed only to feel something force him back down.

"Oi oi oi don't move around so much Naruto-san. You're going to aggravate your injury more." Nagato said causing Naruto to shift his eyes to the head of the bead where Nagato had a hand held over the same spot Naruto was feeling the force. "Don't worry about Robin-san, she left with Konan-chan to get some medicine for your back and they should back in a few hours. In the meantime just try not to move your back much okay, you tried fate once with your little explosion trick on the docks, I would try it again."

Naruto scoffed at Nagato's statement and tried to defiantly turn his head to the other side only to be met with a force holding him down. "Nani!? What gives why the hell can't I move?"

Nagato withdrew his extended arm and Naruto suddenly felt all the pressure vanish from him. "Gomen Naruto-san I didn't want you trying to move around. That was my devil fruit power if you're wondering, and so long as you promise to stay in bed I won't have to use it on you again."

Naruto's eyes widened the second he heard Nagato say devil fruit and as soon as the weight was lifted from him he squirmed until he was looking Nagato in the eyes. "That's awesome Nagato you can make people get fatter. It's amazing that you have a devil fruit too, though it's ability is a little weird if you ask me but hey to each their own and all that stuff I guess."

Nagato felt a small vein in his forehead bulge at Naruto's moronic assessment of his ability. "It doesn't make people any fatter or skinnier. Something that limited isn't even worthy of being a Devil fruit." He said with a pout as he crossed his arms and turned on his heel so his back was to Naruto.

Naruto tilted his head to the side in curiosity "Well then what does it do. I felt you make me heavier so it has to make people weigh more right?"

Nagato sighed and shook his head before he held his hand out again, only this time instead of Naruto feeling any different he saw a small piece of metal in a junk pile the other side of the room float up and then shoot into Nagato's awaiting hand. Nagato then let go of the chunk of metal, but instead of falling to the ground as Naruto expected, it floated in front of Nagato's hand for a second before it shot into the opposite wall like a bullet. "My powers give me control of the push and pull of the universe. I can pull towards me or push away anything in the world that isn't nailed down, except for kairoseki and water, and with practice I found out how to lift stuff up and move it. That's how we safely brought you here in the first place even though your back looked like shredded hamburger meat."

Ignoring the macabre adjectives used to describe his back Naruto's previously wide eyes grew rotating star pupils after he heard Nagato's explanation. "Sooo Coool! That's wayyy better than what I thought it was." Naruto said happily until an idea popped into his head "Eh Nagato, can you use your fruit to crush stuff?"

Nagato looked at him oddly and thought about it for a minute. "I… suppose if it's small enough to hold, and I push it from all sides that would crush it. Why do you ask?"

Naruto awkwardly held his right hand out from his position on his belly as a glowing yellow gaseous mass the size of a basketball swirled into existence above it. "If you can, could you try to make this super dense and then shoot it at something? I haven't been able to make it penetrate more than an inch yet myself but I bet your awesome gravity powers could work, careful though cause its suuuper hot and if you touch it… your hand might melt."

Nagato eyed the vaporous sphere warily, not doubting Naruto's warning as he could feel the heat radiating off it even from a few meters away. Nagato nodded to Naruto and then cautiously approached the sphere and finally got close enough to put his hands around it. He kept his hands two feet away from it on either side and once he felt sure it wasn't going to explode on him he started using his devil fruit to try and push the mass into itself. Nagato was surprised at how much give there was to the mass, even with little excretion on his part, and kept moving his hands in until the sphere looked like a whitish yellow grape gently levitating between his nearly touching hands.

"Awesome man, now go find something to shoot it at okay, but make it something expendable cause if that does what I hope it will then whatever you hit won't exist anymore." Nagato heeded Naruto's request and looked for somewhere to fire the sphere and, considering what the sphere might do, went to the door and nudged it open with his foot until he had a clear view of the area outside the tunnel mouth. Nagato took aim at the top an abandoned skyscraper about a hundred yards away and after deciding it was the least dangerous target decided to fire on it. He held his hands out and, while maintaining the pressure on the outside of the sphere, sent the biggest push he could to the back of it and fired it like a missile towards the tower, engulfing the entire top spire in a ball of fire.

Nagato felt the color drain from his face and his mouth fall agape at the sight of the flaming tower. Moments later the fire either dissipated or was put out by the rain and Nagato saw a jagged smoldering hole in the top of the skyscraper, as though it were made of wax and someone had taken a hot metal rod to it.

He quickly walked inside and for a moment simply stared at the boy in the bed before him with his mouth agape. "What in the hell was that stuff Naruto-san? It melted a hole in a skyscraper like a hot knife in wax."

Naruto's eyes lit up with joy at the description of the damage "It put a hole through a whole skyscraper. Awesome Nagato that's even better than I was hoping for."

Nagato's look of shock and amazement didn't waver from his face and despite Naruto's nonchalant attitude about the aforementioned destruction Nagato was still trying to understand what he had just saw. "I asked what in the hell that gas stuff you made was. Is that some kind of devil fruit?"

Naruto nodded and held his arm out again so that it wasn't touching the bed. "Yep, I ate the Taiyo Taiyo no mi so I can make sun stuff from my body." Nagato's eyes widened as Naruto's entire arm dissolved into a red vaporous mass. "Pretty cool huh?"

"It's certainly powerful." Nagato said poking the mass with a pole and watching as the end started glowing with heat. He yelped slightly as the heat traveled down the pole to his hand and tossed it into a bucket of rain water where it quickly formed a sizeable cloud of steam. As he looked at the quickly dissipating cloud of vapor an idea suddenly came to mind "Hang on for a second Naruto-san, I have an idea I want to try real quick."

Naruto watched as Nagato started sifting around through a large pile of junk on the other side of the room until he uncovered an odd looking metal pot thingy that had two rods sticking out the top which were connected to a sphere with its own pair of rods sticking out. "Oi Nagato what's that weird looking thing for?"

Nagato smiled and held a hand over the contraption before levitating it up and setting it down in front of Naruto "This is an Aeolipile, when it works it should spin around and whistle. It's a really cool looking decoration that rich people in the city used put in their houses and stuff. I remember Konan-chan saying she liked them so when I found the metal I started making this one. Unfortunately I haven't been able to make it work the way it supposed to but seeing your power makes me think you may be able to help."

Naruto stared at the device with an inquisitive eye and lightly tapped pot part of it which echoed showing that, whatever it was, it was empty. "So how is this thing supposed to work? Electricity, fire, Magic? Its magic isn't it?" Naruto said before sighing and shaking his head. "While I appreciate you believing I'm wise enough for something as delicate as sorcery I'm afraid you have the wrong man. Gomen my friend I cannot make you magic toy work."

Nagato sweat dropped at Naruto's frighteningly rapid and in depth train of thought before he waved his hands and assuaged Naruto's doubts. "No no no Naruto-san you have it really… reeaally wrong. It isn't magic that will run this device but steam. Normally I'd have a little hose hooked up to it that could be run into the city steam grid but that stopped working properly after the first wave of government soldiers. That's not important right now though, what is, is that I think your power might be able to make steam which could get this thing working."

Naruto scratched his chin in thought for a moment, an action that looked foolish on given his belly down position, before he nodded definitively "Got it I understand now. So all that's left is to figure out what kind of magic they use to make steam. Would it help at all if I burn something, cause my gut is telling me to burn something."

Nagato regarded Naruto with a look of confusion blended with admiration "Actually Naruto-san that's almost exactly what I want you to do. I'm going to fill this with water and I want you to heat the pot without melting it. Is that something you can manage?"

Naruto nodded vigorously and gave a thumbs up "No prob nagato, I can almost guarantee that I won't end up melting this thing by accident so let's go."

Nagato nodded and ran outside before returning with a bucket full of rain water which he poured inside an opening on the top of the device. He then closed the opening and turned towards Naruto "okay it's all set, just heat the pot up as gently as you can and it should make some steam." Naruto gave him an affirmative and put his hand on top of the device before dissolving it into a dull red vapor cloud the proceeded to envelope the whole thing. For about two minutes nothing happened, but then the sphere on the top began slowly spinning. A moment later it started picking up speed until it began whistling as visible streams of steam shot out of the rods on its sides.

"That's soooo cool Nagato." Naruto said with stars in his eyes. "How long will it work like this?"

"I'm not too sure, but I guess it will work until the water cools off again." He said while he looked at the device happily just as it ran out of steam power. "like that, Thanks though Naruto-san, Konan-chan will be really happy to see this thing up and running. And now that you're here I may even be able to work on other stuff too."

"Speaking of, where is Konan anyway? And Robin-chan, I don't see em in here." Naruto said as he tried to look around the room

Nagato nodded as he put the Aeolipile in the corner of the room "They went into to the city to get medicine for your back. They should be back in in a bit so we just have to pass the time till then."

"Oh, well if she's with Konan-san then I'm sure she's okay." Naruto said with a smile. "what do you want to do while we wait."

Nagato tapped his chin for a moment until an idea came to mind. "Naruto, how would you like to help me make this city sing.

XxX

"So Konan-san how close are we to this pharmacy?" Robin asked as she swung hundreds of meters above the city streets on arm ropes sprouting from the pipes above her.

To Robin's left Konan was jumping great distances between footholds thanks to her lightweight paper body "We'll be there soon. We'll be at the tower base in a little bit and after that it's a quick climb to our floor. We're running at about the 60th floor right now and the pharmacy is in the 237th floor of a plaza complex up ahead."

"Is there anywhere in this city that isn't part of a skyscraper?" Robin asked as she looked around the forest of dark steel towers they were racing through.

Konan chuckled "Not many. Most of the city is like this actually, some towers have large plaza like platforms connecting them together and that's kinda like solid ground, but that's only in the richer parts of the city. Mostly its towers, small walkways and pipes connecting various floors in the towers together. Enough talk for now, it looks like we're here." She said as she stopped jumping and pointed up at a spot in dense layer of pipes and wiring roughly two hundred meters in front of them and about 400 meters up. "See that up there, that's the dividing layer between here and the part of the city we need to get to. Once we're through its only about a dozen floors to the pharmacy. Follow my lead getting up alright, it's a really long climb so we might stop and rest while we ascend. Once we're past that and inside the tower follow me and keep quiet, if all goes as planned we should be in and out real quick."

Robin gulped inwardly at the sight of the massive climb ahead but nodded nonetheless and followed Konan as they began scaling the walls of the sides of the building they were next to. As Robin ran up arm steps that she had sprouted from the building she noticed that very subtly the quality of the material she was running by looked to be improving. It was like the building was getting cleaner the closer she got to the top with the black iron getting closer and closer to polished steel. At a small alcove in the side of one of the towers the two of them decided to take a quick breather from the climb. After a short rest Konan stood back and went out to start the climb again when Robin spoke up "Konan, are you noticing what's happening to the building, it looks like it's getting cleaner."

Konan simply laughed and pulled Robin back up with her. "You'll see once we get past the pipes. Trust me it's worth the wait."

Robin was curious as to what in the world she was talking about but her question was answered when, after some mild acrobatic displays, she and Konan traversed the dense final layer of wiring and pipes to be met with a sight completely alien to what lay below. The cramped suffocating tightness of the lower tier evaporated in an instant and was replaced by a tremendous sense of openness, brought on by an absolute 180 in architecture and violently tumultuous winds. Whereas below the city was plagued by a feeling of industrial decay and urban sprawl, with dirty looking wires and pipes crowding every available space, this new level was built with a style reliant heavily on streamlining and cleanliness. The tower exteriors weren't built of the same dark metal as those below, rather they were made of panels upon panels of glass fitted to thin shining frames of polished steel. Although there were still many towers rising up into the storm clouds and the rain was still pouring down in sheets the lack of overhead pipes or wiring made everything about the place seem more grand, open…and empty. Below one could tell the civilian life had come to a halt and the city was nothing but a war zone, but past the layers of cable and piping everything vanished into a vast and desolate grey expanse with towers of shining silver and glass cutting through it like knives. "What… in the world…is this place?"

"Yea it was amazing to me and Nagato the first time we saw it too. I'm not sure what this area used to be for before it was rediscovered but it used to be where nobles apparently lived. But I've only heard people say that, since most of the rich people who used to live here left a long long time ago, way before the civil war even." Konan shouted as she stood on one of the top pipes and stared at the expanse with a wistful look in her eyes. "All it is now is a creepy echo of what used to be, picked clean of everything valuable. Luckily for us though the pharmacy was run by Hanzo's people so it was fully stocked and running right up to the start of the war. C'mon let's get this done fast all right."

Robin nodded numbly and decided to save the storm of questions she had about who constructed the place and what its history was for after she had gotten Naruto his medicine. She looked ahead and saw that like Konan had said there were many platforms built on top of the pipe layer is the same sleek silver style as the other building of this level. Fortunately for them one of the platforms connected the tower they were on to the one Konan had said contained the pharmacy so they both began running along it. As they were running robin noticed that the rain droplets were coming down with much more force than there were in the streets below, enough that she beginning to have trouble seeing even with her hood covering her face. "Konan! does it always rain so hard up here? It's getting tough to see."

"Ya! Without the piping to stop the heavy stuff this layer is a lot more unforgiving nature wise, could be part of the reason people left. Nobles don't want to have to deal with this kind of stuff. Just try to cover your eyes and run straight we're almost there." Konan shouted as the two of them raced towards the building. They soon made it to the side of the tower the pharmacy was in and jumped through a window that had been either shattered completely or removed from its frame.

Once inside Robin found the tower was extremely dark and just a few meters in from the windows her field of view faded into black. "Konan do we have a way to see in here?"

"Ya hang on, I got a slow burn flare in here." Konan said as she reached back and rummaged through her pack until she pulled out a small red cylinder and cracked the top off quickly flooding the room in a red glow. "There we go. This should last about twenty minutes which ought to be enough time to get this done. First off we need to figure out exactly what floor we're on so look around for any numbers that seem right."

Robin nodded and began searching through the room they were in for anything looking like a sign post. As she was searching she saw an open door on the far side of the room that went into what seemed like a staircase. "Konan bring the light over here, I think there might be some stairs here."

Konan stopped looking on her side and came over "That'll work for what we need, let me take a look." She went into the room Robin mentioned and walked down one flight of stairs before quickly coming back up "we're on the 201st floor, so we need to go up sixteen and we're there. C'mon we can't be wasting time while the lights burning."

Robin nodded and followed Konan as they ran up the stairs for several minutes until a thought popped into her head. "Hey Konan, why didn't we just take the stairs from the ground floor up to here? It seems like it would save us the trouble."

"The same reason I knew what floor we were on. After the nobles found this place hundreds of years ago they declared everything above the 200th floor to be their domain and blocked off the stair wells and lift shafts at the 199th floor of every tower. After that they might have planned on putting solid platforms over the entire pipe layer to completely block themselves from the people below but I guess they got bored and left for their current capital. To answer your question though, we couldn't have climbed because we would get stuck at the 199th floor." Konan said before stopping in front of a door. "All right that was 36, time to look alive okay. This whole floor is the pharmacy so once we get out there just look for anything that's intact and put it in your pack. Don't worry about Naruto's medicine, I know what it looks like so I'll make sure we don't forget but we can't waste this chance to stock up on our medicinal supplies while we're here, got it? As soon as I open the door we should split up to get more stuff so you ought to crack one of the flares in your pack."

Robin nodded and looked through her bag until she found the same type of flare as Konan and then lit it making the combined light in the small space almost unpleasant. "Okay I got mine set, open the door on three. One, two three!"

As soon as it was open the two girls ran through it and made beelines for the floor shelves on opposite sides of the pharmacy. Robin saw a few scattered boxes that had commercial medicines in them and quickly shoved everything she could into her bag. As Robin was almost finished filling up her bag she heard a scream coming from the direction that Konan had ran. Robin quickly closed and slung her pack over her shoulder before racing to where she heard the scream. Robin turned the corner around the stair well and saw four men clad in gas masks and odd black uniforms with large weird looking rifles surrounding Konan as one of them hoisted her up kicking and wheezing by the neck.

"Captain she looks like some civilian scavenger. What do you want to do with her?" the man holding her asked.

One of them turned towards him "Our orders are clear. Scout for the rebel's HQ, report Hanzo's location to the commander, and remove any trace for the rebels to find out that we were ever here. She's a liability that may be traced back to us. Make it quick and clean."

The man holding Konan nodded in affirmative and then pulled out an all-black flintlock before unceremoniously pressing it to Konan's temple and pulling the trigger.

Robin felt her entire body lock up and lost the ability to breath at the sight. Despite every part of her rational mind screaming at her to move her legs and runs Robin was rooted to the floor in terror at the sight before her. Just as she was about to mourn the loss of one of her only friends, Robin noticed the distinct lack of blood that should accompany a wound like that.

"I'm afraid I won't be that easy to kill gentlemen." Konan choked out defiantly as flecks of paper reassembled themselves over her bullet holes before mending them completely.

The man he was addressed as captain turned towards Konan "Ah I wasn't aware the rebels had high value devil fruits aside from Hanzo's doku doku. I'm impressed your reflexes were good enough to transform your head before my subordinate shot it, many adult logia users aren't even that fast but I'll chock that up to luck. Now then I assume that your fruit is paper given what I just saw which makes your execution just as simple as a gunshot. Greezho give her a light." Konan looked at him oddly before the man holding her held up his left hand which quickly turned into fire petrifying her with fear as she figured out what he was about to do.

"Gomenasai little one, but I have my orders. Find peace on the other side." The fire man said as he reached his flaming fist towards a terrified Konan.

Robin immediately whipped around the corner determined not to watch Konan die twice and swung her hands at the attacker. Faster than he could react five arms sprouted from either shoulder of the fire man about to attack Konan and proceeded to quickly grab the chin of his gas mask and his temple. The second the man felt the hands on his head and mere milliseconds before he was able to dissolve his head into flames, he felt pressure as the arms pulled in opposite directions and saw the room tilt violently to the side. Before his mind could comprehend what was happening he heard a sickening snap and fell to the floor dead.

As soon as the man died he released Konan who fell to the ground roughly and coughed as she tried to soothe what would no doubt become a bruise on her throat. Finding her mind still sluggish after what had just happened, Konan hardly noticed as Robin ran up next to her and grabbed her arm before pulling her back up to her feet.

"C'mon Konan we have to run. I can't hold those two there forever." Robin said causing Konan to look back and see three of the men wrapped in two cocoons of arms holding them in place and the other lying limp on the ground.

As soon as Konan regained her bearings and figured out what had happened she looked at the three bound men and held out her right arm as it dissolved into paper butterflies. "Robin-san uncover their necks, we need to make sure no one follows us." Konan said darkly

Robin looked between konan and the restrained men as the exertion from keeping them contained started to wear on her. "Don't be stupid Konan, if we run then we'll be okay but please we have to go fast cause I…"

"Can't hold them much longer." Konan finished. "Which means the second you let go we'll have three kami knows who bastards after us. Even if we run since you killed their friend they'll follow us like bloodhounds all the way back to Nagato and Naruto probably with marines to back them up. This is how it has to be; besides they're the ones who are responsible for the war that's devastating this country and the war that killed Yahiko. Not to mention they were about to kill me if you hadn't intervened."

Robin looked at the body on the floor and felt tears threaten to spill from her eyes as she realized what she had done. But she kept her composure and thought about everything Konan had said as logically as she could at the moment. Those three would no doubt follow them if they lived and given the way they addressed the rebels they were most likely some kind of government group. That meant the marines would be at their back should they move on anything, or anyone. And all that meant that if those three lived then she Konan Nagato and Naruto-kun would most likely be targeted by the marines which was something they probably wouldn't survive.

"Fine" Robin said as the snake like coils of arms moved away from the men's necks giving Konan a clear target "just make it quick."

Konan nodded and the butterflies that had been circling her wrapped themselves into three razor sharp sheets that flew forward and severed the jugulars of the three men.

Robin immediately dissolved the arms into a cloud of petals as she felt the warm wetness of their blood start flowing onto them causing the men to fall to their knees, and soon after, flat on their faces.

Konan and Robin both surveyed the grisly display and felt bile rise up in their throats at the thought that they had just ended the lives of four people. The knowledge that a moment ago those four had been living breathing human beings and now thanks to their actions all four of them were now corpses stung the two deeply.

Konan was the first to break the silence with a rather morbid analysis of their situation "Well, that happened. There isn't any way around the fact that we just killed some people. And we can't afford to dwell on it right now. All we can do is make the best of a terrible situation and make sure they at least get some honor?"

Robin nodded and whipped the pre-tears from her eyes "Right. How do you want to handle it?"

Konan looked down at them and began undoing the gas mask from the fire man's face only to have her arm grabbed by Robin "What the hell do you think you're doing Konan. We can't just dishonor the dead like that."

Konan jerked he hand free and went back to what she was doing "And we can't very well allow all their gear to be left here and scavenged by someone else either. Like it or not this stuff could wind up saving us at some point so it would be stupid to waste it. Besides after they've been stripped we can gather up some of the shelved and give them a funeral pyre, that's probably the most honorable way to go out. Now help me out with this and them we can wash out hands of this whole damn mess."

Robin looked at the bodies with a repulsed expression on her face before she conceded to the wisdom in Konan's statement and summoned arms which started stripping the men of their valuables. "Fine, but only their masks vests guns and the stuff in their pockets okay. I don't want to touch them when they're naked."

Konan nodded and unhooked the gas mask from the man's head before undoing the clips keeping his vest on. The vest was far different from the normal attire of the marines and had two lightweight plates on the front and back of it along with a multitude of pockets including a slot for a combat knife with said knife still in it. "Hey Robin, what do you think these guys are?"

"Dead" Robin stared blankly as she put the last of their so called "loot" into a pile and went over to a shelf to ready the fire.

"No I mean what group they served. They sounded government but this gear and the fact that they had a logia user with them seems odd. Not to mention everything is black instead of navy white and blue. Doesn't that seem weird to you?" Konan said as she put her loot into the pile started loading all of it except the rifles into her and Robin's packs along two others that she had found in the store.

Robin shrugged as she caused several empty shelves to sprout legs and walk themselves onto the funeral pyre. "I suppose it's not normal, but I don't really want to think about it too much right now. Let's just worry about getting this done, all right. Besides the odd coloration works out well for us, it doesn't stand out and we won't look like marines if we wear it"

As soon as Robin finished the shelves, she sprouted feet from the bodies and walked them up onto the impromptu pyre before she tossed her flare on the pile with them catching the wooden displays on fire rather quickly. As soon as the fire was set something in the back of robin's mind finally clicked and she realized the single fatal error with their plan. "Konan."

"Ya Robin?" Konan said as she tossed Robin the other pack and two of the four rifles.

"We just set a fire inside a building didn't we?" Robin said as she put the other pack on her chest and slung the rifles over her shoulder with their straps while Konan did the same.

"Ah yes it would seem we did." Konan casually stated as the flames leapt up from the bodies and spread to the ceiling. "You know this isn't the kind of thing I normally get myself into."

Robin calmly looked at the floor as the fire from their pyre spread towards them unchecked quickly blocking all avenues of escape. "I agree. Normally Naruto-kun has the monopoly on stupid."

"Well in that case, how do you feel about taking the "Naruto" way out of the building." Konan said as she looked back to see the flames engulfing the stairwell.

Robin looked at Konan and sighed before shaking her head and smiling "Never mention to anyone how stupid what we're about to do is and you've got a deal."

Konan smiled and leveled her rifles at the nearest window panel "On Three. One…"

Robin saw her plan and did the same her rifles "Two…"

XxX

"Captain Dobernam there's no sign of the Burakkuopusu scout unit that was leading us. We lost contact with them in this area however so there's still a chance of finding them." A marine said as he tried to salute despite the powerful winds.

A large dark haired man in a captain's jacket "Damn it, they should have radioed the location of the rebels by now. Bringing our troops up is a complete waste of time if all we can do it get rained on and sit here."

One of the many marines in his platoon suddenly pointed up at a nearby skyscraper "Captain look at that, there's smoke coming from up there. I think that may be the scouts signaling to us for help."

Doberman turned and rallied his troops to him "They must have been ambushed by the rebels all men into the tower to kill the rebels" He shouted before charging at the skyscraper along with all of his soldiers, leaving the platform area completely empty.

XxX

"THREE!" Konan and Robin screamed as they pulled the trigger and were surprised to see the massive explosion blow the window and a bit of the floor out before running straight towards it and jumping into the air outside.

"KONAN HOW THE HELL DOES THIS PLAN END?" Robin screamed as soon as she was in the air.

"SIMPLE WE GENTLY FALL TO THE GROUND THANK TO OUR PAPER…OH SHIT ROBIN YOU'RE NOT MADE OF PAPER." Konan shrieked as Robin began descending while she stayed aloft.

"CATCH ME AND MAKE US SOME WINGS DAMN IT. I DON'T WANT TO DIE." Robin yelled as she stated falling faster towards the awaiting pipe layer.

Konan immediately went into a dive bomb motion and swooped down to wrap her arms under Robin's shoulders before she dissolved her legs into paper and formed some wings to slow their decent. Unfortunately Konan's wings weren't very strong and though they were slowing the decent it wasn't fast enough and they were still falling at an unpleasant speed. "ITS NO GOOD ROBIN I CAN'T SLOW US DOWN FAST ENOUGH. WE'RE STILL GOING TO CRASH."

"NO WE'RE NOT." Robin said as she sprouted two arms from her shoulders and grabbed Konan's two rifles from her. "KEEP ME FLYING STRAIGHT I'M GONG TO GIVE US A HOLE PAST THE PIPES."

Konan looked at Robin like she was crazy until she started unloading all four of the rifles onto a single spot on the ground they were heading towards. Kami must have been on their side because the rifles seemed to be semi-automatic and were making short work of the ground below them kicking up a large cloud of dust. Unfortunately just a few seconds after the barrage started and they were nearly at the ground the rifles ran out of ammo and both Konan and Robin felt a deep pit form in their stomachs as they prayed the hole was fully cleared.

'Let's hope some of Naruto-kun's luck has rubbed off on me.' Robin thought fearfully as they slowly closed in on the dust shrouded hole.

Just before they would have hit the hole or not hole a gust of wind blew past and cleared the site of the dust revealing clean hole for them to go through

"STRAIGHT THROUGH IT KONAN." Robin said as she pointed onward with a massive relief fueled smile on her face.

"AYE AYE ROBIN." Konan said joyously as they sailed through the hole and back down to the lower levels of the city where Konan had enough space to bring them to a safe decent velocity. "Well aside from the moment of life threatening peril that worked out all right don't you think?"

Robin breathed a sigh of relief as Konan came to a smooth stop and set her down before reforming her legs. "So long as we got what we came for I'll count it as a win. Now c'mon we should probably get this medicine to Naruto-kun before his back gets any worse." Robin said as the two of them raced off towards their hideout.

~~~~~CHAPTER 5 FIN~~~~~

Phew sooooooo sorry about this extremely belated update but I bit off a lot more than I could chew with my classes this year and severely underestimate what 4 AP classes do to your schedule. That and I had oddly brutal writers block with the Naruto and Nagato scene in this chapter so I apologize if it's up to everyone's standards of excellence. Thanks immensely for the 129 reviews, 19,020 views 378 favs and 386 followers not to mention the 11 coms that have adopted this story. Honestly and truly I cannot express how grateful I am for your continued appreciation and patronage. Now then lets get into the standard cycle I have for ANs.

Review responses:

NIX'S WARDEN

While I really appreciate your thoughts and may perhaps implement them later, I'm kind of in the side right now if not having to many Naruto characters actually be in the story aside from the ones mentioned in the crew lineup. That viewpoint may change in the future depending on how things go but at the present time expect to only see nagato konan zabuza and maybe anko for extended periods of time. Others will either be quickish kills or reference only like hiruzen and naruto's grandpa

luffyxrobin-luffyxnami

No this is not.

Three roads

I agree with the similar age thing and in this case I've simply change nagato and konan's ages to match or be very close to Naruto and robin's. I apologize if that is rather bland and unoriginal but it's the direction I have gone in.

clonetrooper29

I'm liking the suggestions and nothing is in stone yet but I'm almost 90% sure it will _at least_ have Naruto Robin Konan Nagato and Zabuza. Anko is a maybe and would be worked in much later in the story but so far that's the lineup I have so anything that doesn't have at least them probably won't work.

Lednacek

It will be taken into consideration. Unless it was sarcasm, sadly computers don't translate sarcasm well unless you use a different font.

lightning king

With regards to the crew strength it actually brings up a point that I'm going to stress all throughout the story. The world government shouldn't be something that can be walked on. It is by definition all the military economic and political power of an entire world. Not only that, but an entire world that has the technological prowess to make laser shooting death cyborgs and the engineering prowess to build monolithic unbreakable gates that sit in the middle of the ocean… At three separate places! But when we see luffy declare war on them the viewer never felt a true daunting sense of terror and fear. Aside from admiral see marines, the main military force of this aforementioned world power, get moped around by everybody and their mother. All of that rant said I intend to make the marines a much more terrifying force than they were in the series such that marineford would have been able to hold their own against the whitebeard pirates without the shichibukai's help. Most of this terror will come from tech and weapons though so don't worry about every marine suddenly taking steroids or god forbid some miracle serum that lets them aim straight. Actually maybe a little bit of the last part but that's all.

Blackicethunder

Same as lednacek but since I'm 100% certain you're not being sarcastic I'll answer with all I got. To be honest I haven't branched out a whole lot but I did entertain the thought of having law be an associate of them kinda like a dedicated physician they contact when shit hits the fan medically speaking, along with bonney being a friend of theirs after they save her from slavery which would also play into her hatred for the government. I haven't ironed out the details so if you have other crew member ideas then please feel free to pm me or leave a review (or both) and we can have a dialogue about it.

Sleepyasian

That may be precisely why people like writing her so much. She was a character that some people enjoyed but unfortunately she got little screen time. As for me plain and simple its cause she would work with Zabuza's attitude, can be shoehorned gently in as a fourth boa sister, and I kinda felt like it. If you would like to have a discussion about your opinions please keep doing so in reviews or pm me and we can discuss it further.

The Anime Sage

Not too sure yet. I might give them Vivi but I'm open to other ideas. Although I would like to maybe but some of the ocs I have in the launch tube there I don't want to clog the story with too many of them so their use will be spares unless people want more ocs.

Mazzax

My bad on the mermaid thing it was actually half merman like I plan to make Zabuza but at the moment I don't know about adding her any anytime soon. And I take the boa sister idea into consideration.

beast of the 7 suns megidoh

With the devil fruits in this I plan to even the playing field by giving haki a much better resistance to the effects of a devil fruit as well and allowing kairoseki to emit a field that nullifys the heat produced by naruto's devil fruit Which would give him the same two weaknesses of a normal logia user.

Okay now it's time for my questions to you and then I'll be done.

Technical stuff first

Do you guys and gals want me to leave the Authors notes at the end of the chapters or keep deleting them after I update? Entirely up to you guys since its really quick either way?

Real concrete feelings on the time location line break idea, namely more than a single voice telling me a or b. it only really important because I can't rewrite anything until I know how you guys feel so you know thoughts on that and stuff.

Anything grammatical that you notice please copy it into the review or pm so I can tell what exactly I did wrong. Someone just said grammar in a review and I spent an hour trying to figure it out but the problem is since I wrote it, it looks right to my eyes. So you know grammar correction helps because I genuinely want to improve my grammar and help deliver to you all a better crafted story.

Okay onto plot

Do you guys want me to get the hell out of AME or spend a bit of time here? I'll be honest I fell in love the with my AME concept halfway through this chapter and have at least two more solid chapters ready to launch all in AME and about the journey out of it but if people are going "boo rain speed It up" then I will comply.

Potential large scale rewrite of chapter one to include the life and death of the pirate crew that taught Naruto the mindset he has now. It would include a new take on familiar faces and should be fun. If people like the idea them it would happen at the same time as another chapter update not as a standalone type thing.

Thoughts on Naruto's crew being more into subterfuge than the standard kill it with fire mindset of one piece pirate crews. Both work just looking for feed back

And last but not least, a very vague question I'm going to try since I don't want people to know who I'm talking about just yet, but I do want their thoughts.

Don't show up yet or die right after they're seen? I repeat don't show up yet or die right after they're seen?

If you do figure out who I'm talking about don't spoil it with names or name guesses on reviews. Don't worry about the value of the answer either, even if you don't know who I'm talking about the attitude people have about character death alone is more than enough for me to work with.

Well that's all she wrote so I'm going to stop wasting you kind folk's time and be on my way. Thank you for reading and please under no circumstances should you hesitate even for a second to review. It helps me write faster (usually) but more importantly it improves what I write and lets me give you all a better product at the end of the day. Now then have a great night, day, or morning and get ready for the sendoff tag line…

Thank you for reading everyone please review and pm me if you would like to discuss anything.


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