Chapter 10: Chapter 9
The group of minks along with the Whirlpool Pirates ran from Nekomamushi's castle all the way into the sacred forest to confront the Sweet-Commodore that had come to seek the ponoglyth. While moving deeper and deeper into the forest, the group noticed that there were minks and Pirates lying injured and hurt all across their path which showed that they were getting close. Eventually, they laid their eyes upon the Sweet-Commodore that had come to act out Big Mom's will, it was Charlotte Cracker. The man had been chopping down minks left and right in search of the ponoglyth until Naruto's group had arrived. Upon seeing him, the man had appeared to be dressed in biscuit-like armour, standing much taller than his subordinates. He looked at Naruto's group that had come to stop him and ceased his fighting.
Charlotte Cracker grinned, "So the pathetic minks have summoned their crappy leader! How fun it will be to slaughter you as well Nekomamushi and watch as you lay bleeding with your people!"
"You will do now such thing! Big Mom has sent numerous underlings of hers to find our most treasured item, and as far as I see it you're just the one with the biggest target on your back!" Nekomamushi began as he looked at Pedro after his words
The lion mink continued, "Pedro, take any mink guardians you can find and take them to the ponoglyth to defend it!"
Pedro nodded as he ran off after the ponoglyth.
Naruto too looked back at his crew, "Reeve and Lucy! Go help Pedro and the minks defend the ponoglyth from the Big Mom Pirates. I can finish up here."
Lucy and Reeve nodded before running after Pedro.
"A two on one?! That doesn't seem to fair! For you!" Cracker spoke as he tried to taunt both Nekomamushi and Naruto
"Enough talk! Now fight!" The lion mink yelled as he charged at Cracker sword drawn
Nekomamushi swung his sword in a downward motion and it met with Cracker's shoulder. However, instead to the sword travelling straight through the Pirate's body it had been lodged in his biscuit armour. Cracker then twisted his body sharply, breaking Nekomamushi's sword in the process, and punched the mink straight in the gut which sent him back into a tree. Once Nekomamushi had landed against the tree, he coughed up blood and his consciousness began to slip. Naruto, seeing the leader in destress, quickly ran over to his side and looked over his wounds. No bruise or cut that Nekomamushi had received looked fatal but the mink still needed medical attention none the less.
Nekomamushi with the rest of his energy pulled Naruto closer, "You must defeat. . .B-Big Mom's forces. . .my h-home and people h-have suffered too much. . .I know of your feats and I. . .know y-you can d-defeat him. . .please help us."
The lion mink then fell unconscious against the tree, which caused Naruto to turn around and face his new opponent. Once he faced Cracker, Naruto saw that the man was now laughing very loudly, "HA HA That was one of the leaders of the minks!? He had been defeated by only one of my attacks! Well I guess it's to be expected of the leader of a second-class race!"
The Water-man pulled down his hat a little as he glared at Cracker, "I haven't even known you for more than 5 minutes and already you're one of the most annoying people I've ever met in my entire life. You want a fight, then fight me!"
"It's your funeral boy!" Cracker voice boomed as he created his biscuit armour and charged at Naruto
The Sweet-Commodore charged at Naruto with his shoulder and his sword in the opposite arm ready to strike, however, Naruto coated his hands in haki and braced himself for a little bit of impact. Once Cracker arrived, Naruto was hit with massive amounts of force which caused him to be pushed back a little before pushing Cracker to one side of his body, preventing Naruto from being run over.
Once Naruto barely evaded Cracker's rush, Cracker turned around to face the younger man, "Haki is the only thing saving your life! If it wasn't for it you would've died to the emense power of my fruit!"
Cracker began to charge again but instead of meeting him head on like he did before, Naruto elected that this time he would jump above him and use his haki to hit the Sweet-Commodore into the ground. It only took a few seconds for Cracker to be a few feet away from Naruto which prompted the Water-man to jump up. Before Cracker could react to what happened, Naruto buried a haki-coated fist onto the side of Cracker's head which sent him to the ground hard. The Water-man landed a few metres from the small crater Cracker was in and kept his guard up. It only took a few seconds but Cracker raised himself off of the ground and dusted himself off; the biscuit armour that covered the left side of his face, the part that Naruto hit, fell off onto the ground but was soon repaired as though nothing had happened to it.
Cracker laughed, "I must say, you are quite the special one! No one I've ever come into contact with has ever been able to make a scratch on my armour, but here you are breaking a part of it off. Too bad for you I can repair it effortlessly!"
The Sweet-Commodore then made something pop up on his shoulder that closely resembled a gun and began to shoot out biscuits at Naruto at extremely high speeds. This would've been no problem for the Water-man but the biscuits were infused with a little bit of haki which made his invulnerability to bullets obsolete. Without a second thought, Naruto quickly ran to the closest tree and hid behind it, trying to determine his next move.
"You're at a loss! My abilities that come from my fruit along with my haki, makes an unbeatable combo! You can't win!" Cracker boasted proudly
'That gun on his shoulder will kill me if I get anywhere near him. I need to find a way to take it out. But how?' Naruto thought as he peered around the tree to see Cracker ready to take him on
Just then, Naruto came up with an idea that could free himself from the position that he was in. The Water-man laid both of his hands on the tree he was behind and used his fruit to freeze the tree solid, after that he proceeded to kick it with a haki-infused kick and send the shards and fragments of ice flying at the Sweet-Commodore. Cracker managed to deflect most of them away from him but some managed to lodge themselves into the biscuit armour. Once the attack was made, Cracker saw his enemy with no cover to hide behind and was about to shoot more biscuits at him but his shoulder gun ended up being destroyed in the last attack. Naruto then used his power over the ice to melt it into water, which Cracker's biscuit armour soaked up like a sponge. The amount of water being put into the biscuits caused them to grow soggy and lose their protective capabilities which allowed Naruto the opening to use a strong physical attack.
"Take this you oversized appetizer!" Naruto launched a stream of water out from his hands at the centre of Cracker's chest-plate and then immediately followed up with shooting both his haki-infused arms forward at the opening, using his fruit to extend them much longer then any normal human. The Whirlpool captain's attack hit its mark dead on and sent Cracker flying backwards. Naruto looked at Cracker after he hand landed and saw the man lying in a puddle of his own soggy biscuits, he was about to get up before Naruto placed his hand on the top of his head.
"W-why can't I move!? I-I can't use my fruit! W-what did you do!?" Cracker questioned the Water-man
Naruto smiled, "My fruit gives me the ability to make, become, and control the power of water. Every state, every form, and every aspect I can control and manipulate, which includes the water of the sea. When I lay my hand upon you I'm able to transmit through your body the same energy that comes from sea-stone or the ocean itself, which renders your Devil-Fruit useless."
Cracker was shocked, "But how is that p-possible?! All Devil-Fruit users are effected by the sea! You must be too!"
"Who's to say I'm not." Naruto responded
"H-how could you defeat me so e-easily?! I-I'm a Sweet-Commodore!" Cracker yelled with all the energy he had
Naruto grinned, "Let's just say our fruits don't match up well. Yours controls extremely dry bread while mine controls water, mine just seems to be the natural counter to yours. But even without my fruit or an edge over you, I still would've won our fight."
"N-no impossible!" Cracker spoke in disbelief
Naruto looked down at Cracker as he began to freeze him from the feet up, "Because I was fighting for the people of Zou. I wasn't acting out of self gain or greed like you, I was defending my new friends. Now freeze."
Naruto froze Cracker from his feet to the top of his head and he now remained motionless on the outside, but inside the thick ice, Cracker was still alive.
After taking care of the Sweet-Commodore, Naruto walked over to the unconscious Nekomamushi and put the giant mink on his back and proceeded to carry him all the way back to the mink village.
_________________________________________
Several hours later. . .
Both Lucy, Reeve, and the mink guardians, along with Naruto and Nekomamushi had all made it back to the mink village and were all currently watching over the unconscious lion mink. Nekomamushi had been diagnosed with 3 broken ribs and a dislocated shoulder from being punched by Cracker and hitting that tree as hard as he did.
"So how bad is it?" Asked Lucy
The doctor mink smiled, "He did sustain some broken ribs and hurt his shoulder from Cracker's attack but he'll be on track to make a full recovery."
"Thank you so much Tristan, it's thanks to your medial knowledge that Nekomamushi isn't in harms way anymore." Pedro spoke to Tristian with great gratitude for helping their leader
Tristan kept her smile up as she looked down to Nekomamushi, "Though I may be one of Inuarashi's subjects, I'll still never shy away from the chance to help someone."
"Speaking of Inuarashi, he's the other ruler of Zou right?" Reeve questioned Pedro and Tristan
The minks in the room nodded at Reeve which prompted him to continue, "Why does Zou need two people to be the ruler at separate times? Why can't they both just rule the village together all of the time?"
Pedro sighed, "Both Inuarashi and Nekomamushi have an intense hatred for the other which often leads into a fight when both are put into the same area as the other. So if both were to be ruling at the same time then there would be chaos at every turn in Zou, with both of those powerful minks trying to fight with one another."
Just as Pedro finished explaining how the government of Zou worked Naruto stood up from his seat in the corner of the room, he looked Pedro in the eye as he spoke, "We need to leave Pedro, and we need to leave now. I was able to capture and imprison one Sweet-Commodore and it'll only be so long for Big Mom to notice that her Commodore, along with his men will not be returning. So with all due respect we need to load up our ship with whatever supplies we can get our hands on and continue to Tottoland."
Pedro looked at Nekomamushi before speaking once again, "I see. As the leader of the Guardians the leadership role falls upon me if Nekomamushi is unfit to lead at the present time so I will supply you with what you desire. Though I only ask for one thing in return."
"And what's that?" Naruto asked the mink with a raised brow
Pedro dropped to one knee before he looked up at Naruto's form, "I wish to come with you to defeat Big Mom! She has tormented me from when I was a pirate with my own crew and continues to do so ever since I returned to my home. She has caused numerous deaths of minks and brought a feel of terror and dread among my people. To not ask for the opportunity to travel with you and defeat the lady who has caused so much trouble to everything I hold dear would be nothing short of a crime. So please! Take me with you!"
Naruto grinned, "The more the merrier!"
_________________________________________
On the Great Wave a few more hours later. . .
Lucy, Pedro, Reeve and Naruto had all made their way back down the giant elephant and back onto the Great Wave with food and supplies brought down by the mink tribe, which each item was sealed into crates and were easily stored in the hull of the ship. Naruto had then introduced Pedro to the rest of the crew and told them about hs father being the Pirate King and what happened in the last couple of days on Zou.
"So you really fought a Sweet-Commodore!" Gem asked, astonished at Naruto's revelation
The Water-man smiled triumphantly, "Damn right I did! And I kicked his ass too!"
"But where is he now? God forbid if you left him free to himself back on Zou." Rose spoke with a little bit of distress on what the pirate might do if he was freed with the leader of the guardians gone and Nekomamushi out of commission.
Naruto laughed in response to Rose's worry and responded, "Ah don't worry yourself Rose! He's just chilling out just outside of the village!"
Right after Naruto spoke Lucy took of her boot and beat him over the head with it, infusing a little haki into it so she was able to hit her captain. She then looked down at him with sharp teeth and yelled at him, "I see what you were doing there and it was a bad joke! And there's nothing worse than bad jokes you idiot!"
"Oi what're you doin' you crazy woman! That there is our captain you overstuffed Turkey! Treat em with a little respect!" Russ argued out to Lucy only to be met with the receiving end of her boot of terror.
Both crew members were now down for the count on the deck with a massive mountain of goosebumps that sat upon their heads. Pedro himself was shocked, along with the three newest members of the crew, but Kiji and Reeve seemed to be unfazed by the outburst of Lucy.
Curiosity then got the best of Kiji as he then stepped forward to looked at Lucy, "Lucy, what did the captain do to the Sweet-Commodore?"
She sighed, "The red-head over there managed to freeze him solid and leave him under the surveillance of the musketeer's, another mink organization."
"Ha ha, so you really could say he is chilling out right now-" Gem laughed before looking at Lucy, ready to strike him with her boot.
Gem then frantically waved his hands in front of his face and started to back peddle away from Lucy. "I didn't mean it Lucy! I s-swear! I-it was only a slip up!" Gem protested as she got closer and closer.
"What's been said has been said Gem!" Lucy yelled as she swung her boot downwards at his head, and in a matter of seconds he too was KO'd next to Russ and Naruto.
Kiji sighed and walked forward, "That's enough fooling around you four. We need to figure out what we are going to do right now so that this plan of ours can go off smoothly."
As on queue, Naruto pushed himself off the ground, shook his head, and walked over to a table in front of everyone and pulled out a scrap piece of paper. The paper was a simple doodle of 5 small circles named after different foods and a big circle in the top left corner called 'Whole Cake Island'.
"What is this?" Questioned Pedro looking at the parchment
Naruto smiled in response to his new friend, "This is the rough map that I had gotten off of Cracker before I had froze him. It looks to be some kind of quick, alternative route to reaching Whole Cake Island rather than guessing which dial to follow on the loge-pose."
Upon further inspection of the map, there was a line drawn going from island to island showing the route that should be followed, along with a number either 1, 2 or 3, showing which dial on the log-pose they should follow.
"This will make navigating the archipelago much easier!" Lucy stated with much excitement
Naruto laughed, "I know Lucy! Now we can actually navigate properly!"
The group aboard the Great Wave tilted their heads. Rose spoke out, "What do you mean by navigate properly? We're in the middle of the New World, how have you been navigating up until this point?"
Naruto laughed again, "I just went off of my memory of what my teacher told me to get to Dressrosa and was only able to find Zou with Rebecca's help!"
Right on queue Lucy's boot came out once again and stuck Naruto above the head numerous times. Lucy yelled at her captain once again, "WHAT DO YOU MEAN YOU'VE BEEN GOING OFF OF YOUR MEMORY! THIS IS THE MOST DANGEROUS SEA IN THE WHOLE WORLD AND YOU THINK YOU CAN JUST GO OFF OF MEMORY TO NAVIGATE IT?! WHAT'S THE POINT OF THAT LOG-POSE ON YOUR WRIST THEN?!"
The Water-man looked at his crew member from the floor and smiled, "I. . .thought it would look cool."
Lucy then bashed the Water-man numerous times more with her boot of terror, which left Naruto heavily bruised and battered. After the woman's furious strikes had ceased, Lucy swiped the log pose off of Naruto's wrist and declared that from that day forward she would be the navigator of the Whirlpool Pirates. Everyone, fearing the boot of terror, decided that it would probably be best if someone capable be navigating.
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