"Hm? Nami, what are you doing here?"
The village sheriff's expression changed dramatically. He rushed forward and tried to block the orange-haired girl.
"Hurry back! These guys are ruthless killers! And they're here for you! Go back to Arlong!"
As evil as the Arlong Pirates were, they still needed Nami to draw maps for them.
As long as she stayed with them, her safety would be guaranteed.
But the orange-haired girl shook her head. Despite her fear, she clenched her fists, bit her lip, and said seriously to Naruto:
"I have money. I'll return everything I stole. Please… don't hurt this village."
Naruto couldn't help but smile—Nami had been stealing since such a young age...
He asked with a trace of amusement, "So how much money do you have?"
Nami looked down and whispered in a pained voice, "I have 120,000 Berries. You can have it all…"
Naruto burst out laughing.
His laughter triggered waves of laughter from the pirates behind him.
"Just 120,000? Do you know how much our captain's bounty is?"
"That's not even enough for a few nights of drinking for me…"
"Captain, let's just rob the village already…"
Nami turned pale as snow.
That money had taken her countless nights of theft and danger to gather.
But Naruto ignored the pirates behind him. He walked forward with a smile, gently patting Nami's head under the sheriff's terrified gaze.
"Alright. I'll take your 120,000. In return… how about I wipe out Arlong and his crew for you?"
Nami stared at him, dumbfounded.
It took her a while to process it. Then she widened her eyes in disbelief.
"You're… you're going to take down Arlong?"
But Nami still couldn't believe it. In a daze, she asked:
"But… you're pirates. I can't afford to hire pirates…"
Her adoptive mother, Bellemere, had always told her that pirates were nothing but scum—monsters that should be riddled with bullets by the Marines.
And that's what Nami had believed too—especially with the Arlong Pirates living next door.
But the blond boy in front of her…
"Captain, are we really going to fight the Arlong Pirates? They're fishmen, and pretty strong too…"
One of the Krieg Pirates spoke up.
The others quickly chimed in.
To them, robbing villagers was easy money. Why bother fighting other pirates?
"Are you disobeying my orders?"
Naruto turned to them with a cold look in his blue eyes.
The Krieg Pirates were instantly terrified.
They remembered this blond captain had just blown apart two pirate ships without batting an eye.
They immediately flipped sides and pounded their chests, loudly declaring that they'd destroy the Arlong Pirates and spread the name of the Uzumaki Pirates.
And so, Naruto took Nami's small hand and led the entire crew in a grand march toward the Arlong base.
The villagers were left stunned.
They couldn't believe it—this group of pirates… was really going to fight Arlong over a mere 120,000 Berries?
Even the Marines nearby avoided clashing with the Arlong Pirates.
But Naruto didn't care.
This entire village had hundreds of people.
Yet they never stood up for themselves and instead placed the entire burden of their survival on a five- or six-year-old girl.
That alone made it clear—they weren't exactly noble people either.
Nami, whose hand was being held by Naruto, still felt dazed and couldn't believe this was real.
"Um… why are you helping us?"
She finally asked, gazing up at the blond boy.
Naruto smiled. "Because you're a strong girl, Nami. And I like that about you."
He thought of the Nami from the original story—risking her life every day to steal from pirates and save Cocoyashi Village.
Day after day, until she nearly gathered a full 100 million Berries.
A girl like that was incredibly strong.
But young Nami's cheeks flushed red. She tried to hold back her embarrassment and said:
"I like… I like heroes like you too! If you really take down Arlong, I'll definitely…"
Nami winced and clutched her forehead, her eyes welling with tears as Naruto flicked her.
Naruto gave her an exasperated look.
"You're barely five or six. What kind of weird stuff are you thinking? And my name's Uzumaki Naruto."
Nami's cheeks turned even redder, and her heart grew more confused.
What did this boy like about her, exactly?
Soon, Naruto and his group arrived at the Arlong Pirates' base—an enormous gate and towering walls stood before them.
Two blue-skinned fishmen poked their heads over the wall and shouted:
"Krieg Pirates! What are you doing here? We Arlong Pirates don't want any conflict with you!"
"Well then…" Naruto casually tossed a kunai.
"You all—charge in and kill them!"
The explosive tag on the kunai detonated, blasting the two fishmen off the wall.
Seeing this, the Krieg Pirates were instantly pumped up, charging in with weapons raised and wild battle cries.
Nami looked at Naruto in surprise.
"Naruto-dono, you're not going in with them?"
Naruto leaned against a tree, lazily replying:
"Why should I? I'm not part of the Krieg Pirates. Let the dogs fight each other—suits me fine."
Nami's eyes widened in shock.
She clearly remembered all those pirates calling Naruto "Captain."
But Naruto didn't bother explaining.
To him, the Arlong Pirates and the Krieg Pirates were both scum.
The best outcome would be if they took each other out.
Soon, blood-curdling screams echoed from within the Arlong base.
Human and fishman alike.
But most of the cries came from the Krieg Pirates—their screams pierced the sky.
Naruto even heard a few shouts for help—but he didn't move.
Only after the noise began to die down did Naruto finally step forward and walk into the Arlong stronghold.
Blood was everywhere. Severed limbs, broken bodies.
The remaining fishmen—covered in gore, razor-sharp teeth and claws bared—stood like demons atop the corpses.
As Naruto stepped into view, they all turned and bared their fangs with murderous intent. ᴛʜɪs ᴄʜᴀᴘᴛᴇʀ ɪs ᴜᴘᴅᴀᴛᴇ ʙʏ ɴo(v)elFɪre.ɴet
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