"Monkey D. Luffy!?"
"The Straw Hat Pirates with a bounty of 100 million Berries!?"
"I've heard of them—seems like they've just arrived at Sabaody Archipelago..."
The street thugs spoke all at once.
Naruto raised an eyebrow. He felt lucky that only a few years had passed in the One Piece world.
When he'd left, Nami was barely six or seven years old. By the time Luffy reached Sabaody Archipelago, he would be around eighteen.
That meant... nearly ten years had passed.
"I heard that the Black Spade Pirates' captain, Ace, is Luffy's older brother. He said he's waiting for Luffy in the New World..."
That single comment caught Naruto's attention.
"Black Spade Pirates? That crew hasn't disbanded yet?"
"No way..." The thugs shook their heads quickly. "That's the pirate crew founded by the Pirate King's son! No way they'd collapse so easily."
"Yeah! Even the Dark King Rayleigh returned to the seas just to become his vice-captain!"
"They're big shots in the New World now. I heard they're closely tied to the Whitebeard and Red-Haired crews."
"Tsk..." Naruto couldn't help but click his tongue. He hadn't expected his own butterfly effect to shift the entire world's balance.
"Rayleigh's gone back to sea, huh? The old man still has fire in him..."
With a sigh, Naruto continued asking:
"So, who are the members of the Straw Hat crew? Are there girls named Nami or Robin among them...?"
Before he could even finish, Naruto's brow twitched, and his eyes turned toward the lawless zone of Sabaody Archipelago.
"You don't need to answer."
Naruto declared coldly.
His Kenbunshoku Haki (Observation Haki) had already located the Straw Hat crew—they were currently in an auction house, bidding on a mermaid.
"Nami, Robin... so they did end up joining the Straw Hats. But something feels off..."
He muttered.
Inside that underground auction house, Naruto saw the Straw Hat Pirates—but also faces that shouldn't have been there.
Like Princess Vivi of Alabasta.
Like Kaya, Usopp's childhood friend.
And oddly enough, Nami and Robin weren't sitting with the Straw Hat crew—they were seated far away.
"How interesting. What could've changed the timeline like this?"
A grin appeared on Naruto's lips, and his figure erupted into flames—like a red streak of light, he vanished from in front of the stunned thugs.
As they watched the fiery trail heading straight toward the lawless zone, the thugs finally let out the breath they'd been holding, drenched in cold sweat.
One of them gasped, "That was terrifying... To think we actually ran into the Demon Child with a bounty of 10 billion Berries. I thought we were dead for sure..."
The others nodded in agreement.
Living in Sabaody Archipelago, they'd encountered pirates before, but those were usually worth a few million or maybe tens of millions.
Suddenly bumping into a 10-billion-Berry bounty? It nearly scared them to death.
Then one of them had a bright idea:
"Quick! Report it to the Marines! The World Government promised a reward for any intel on the Demon Child—at least ten million Berries!"
Their eyes lit up instantly.
"Moshi moshi..."
At the Marine HQ's intelligence office, the officer in charge of monitoring Sabaody's Den Den Mushi picked up the receiver lazily.
He thought it'd be just another routine report—Sabaody always had new pirates coming and going.
But after just a few seconds, the marine's eyes bulged.
He jumped to his feet and shouted into the Den Den Mushi:
"What!? Are you sure you saw correctly!? The Demon Child Uzumaki Naruto!?"
The entire office froze.
Marines nearby gasped.
The Demon Child—Uzumaki Naruto!
How many years had it been since that name was last heard?
Everyone had thought he'd disappeared from the sea forever.
But even after vanishing, rumors about him continued to circulate—how he was the most arrogant pirate in the world, the strongest man alive, the demon most feared by the Celestial Dragons, and the World Government's greatest enemy...
Even if Naruto wasn't sailing the seas, his name still sent ripples across the world.
All eyes turned toward the marine on the phone.
Minutes later, pale-faced and trembling, the officer put down the receiver and muttered to his comrades:
"It's confirmed. The Demon Child Uzumaki Naruto... he's reappeared at Sabaody Archipelago."
Gasps filled the office.
Several marines bolted for the Fleet Admiral's office, yelling before they even arrived:
"Fleet Admiral Sengoku! It's bad—Uzumaki Naruto has reappeared! He's at Sabaody, and he might be planning to invade Mariejois again...!"
The news hit like a thunderclap.
The entire World Government building went into chaos.
Marines felt chills crawl up their backs.
"That demon is back again!?"
Within moments, the report reached Sengoku's office.
Sengoku's face turned purple with stress. "He's been gone for over ten years... Why now?"
In Naruto's early years of disappearance, the World Government had been frantic trying to track him down.
But no matter what they did, he was nowhere to be found.
Eventually, they gave up, thinking he'd gone into hiding out of fear.
Now, all that effort was for nothing.
"Sengoku-san, isn't this kind of overreacting?"
Borsalino (Kizaru) lounged lazily on the sofa. "That guy's always been elusive like this."
Aokiji nodded. "Yeah, he pops up every few years like some natural disaster."
Akainu snorted. "Natural disaster? He's just a coward who's been hiding."
Sengoku ignored them, twitching at the corner of his mouth. He grabbed the Den Den Mushi in urgency:
"Moshi moshi! This is Sengoku! Notify the Five Elders! Uzumaki Naruto has reappeared! Have them prepare all defensive measures!"
On the other end of the line—Mariejois, the Holy Land.
Upon hearing the news that Uzumaki Naruto had returned, the Celestial Dragons completely lost their minds.
These usually arrogant, untouchable elites were now screaming, scrambling, and fleeing like scared dogs.
They didn't even wait for their slaves' slow transportation—they ran for their lives on foot.
Terrified out of their minds, they were afraid of ending up like the Celestial Dragons Naruto killed over a decade ago.
As chaos echoed from the other end of the Den Den Mushi, Sengoku rubbed his temple in frustration.
"Just the mention of one name... and all the Celestial Dragons are scared to death. Uzumaki Naruto... you're truly terrifying."
(End of Chapter)
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