"What's going on?!"
"I—I don't know! The soldiers… they've all turned into old men and children!"
"What the hell?!"
"Ah~ My back… it hurts so much…"
Snap!
On the rooftop, a pink-haired woman took a bite of barbecued meat.
"Hehehe~"
"What a masterpiece."
"It's her!" A marine shouted, looking up in alarm. "Bounty: 140 million Berries—Jewelry Bonney!"
Bonney looked down at them, still chewing, and gave a smirk.
"Which would you rather become?"
"Ahhhhhh—!"
Screams echoed across the street.
"Something's off with this world," Mei Terumī murmured, standing beside Naruto with narrowed eyes.
Naruto chuckled. "Maybe they think we're the strange ones."
Then he stepped forward.
"Who are you?" someone called out.
"You look weird," said Bonney, hopping down from the roof, still holding her meat. "But I guess I do too."
She was one of the notorious Supernovas—an infamous glutton with a terrifying Devil Fruit ability.
Mei Terumī raised her hands, fingers twitching as if ready to weave hand seals at a moment's notice.
Bonney tilted her head. "Hey now, what are you planning?"
Naruto raised a hand to stop Mei Terumī and turned to Bonney.
"Your fruit's pretty interesting."
He smiled. "Want to come with us?"
Paramecia-Type: Toshi Toshi no Mi.
A Devil Fruit that grants control over aging.
Among its techniques is Distorted Future: Free Age, capable of transforming her into a future version of herself—similar to that idiot with the straw hat when he enters Gear Fifth.
"No way!" someone shouted.
"There's no way Bonney would go with you!"
The fishermen from the Sorbet Kingdom stood in defiance.
Bonney took another bite, then looked at Naruto.
"I'm not going with you—but maybe you can come with me." Her eyes gleamed. "You're weird. And strong."
Naruto sighed. "In this pirate world, it seems words won't get us far."
He raised a hand again, silencing Bonney before she could speak.
"I'm interested in your powers. Think of this as a field trip. The reward is simple—the Celestial Dragons don't need to exist. I plan to return with my army and wipe them out."
"Pfft—!"
Bonney burst out laughing, tears in her eyes.
"Celestial Dragons? Hahaha! Who the hell do you think you are?"
But her laughter turned to silence when Naruto said:
"Also… Bonney. Happy tenth birthday."
Boom.
Bonney froze.
Mei Terumī blinked, stunned. "Ten?"
She looked at Bonney—clearly a woman in her twenties, eating like a wild animal.
And yet… if she really was ten, that would explain a lot.
"Who are you?!" Bonney demanded, her voice trembling.
Naruto closed his eyes.
Bonney's hand let go of the meat. Her tears returned as she grabbed his clothes.
The nearby fishermen were all frozen in confusion.
"How do you know that?" she whispered.
Naruto gently patted her head and smiled. "Don't you want to save Kuma?"
Bonney's trembling shoulders went still.
Her teary eyes locked with Naruto's strange gaze.
"…Are you serious?"
"If you're lying, I'll age you into a shriveled old man!"
"Captain! Don't trust him!" one fisherman yelled.
"They're suspicious—probably pirates themselves!"
But Bonney turned to them and said with conviction, "I'm going with him."
"Wait—what?!"
Did she just get kidnapped after a few sentences?
"Damn it!"
The fishermen lunged forward.
"Water Style: Water Formation Pillar!"
Boom!
Mei Terumī spat out a massive water sphere like a meteor, blasting them back.
Bonney's eyes widened.
"That's not a Devil Fruit ability!"
"You… who are you people?"
"…No, never mind that. Just tell me—can you really turn Kuma back to how he was?"
Mei Terumī smiled warmly.
"For Naruto, that's nothing."
"…Naruto." Bonney narrowed her eyes. "So that's your name."
Why did that name… feel so strange?
Naruto simply nodded.
Then he looked toward the horizon.
"Let's go."
Without hesitation, Mei Terumī followed.
Bonney hesitated for a moment, then turned around and shouted, "I'm going with him! You all head back first!"
Without waiting for a reply, she followed after Naruto.
But almost immediately, she spun back, picked up the food she had dropped on the ground earlier, patted it clean, and was about to dig in again.
Naruto reached out and lightly tapped her on the shoulder.
A soft pulse of chakra surged through his palm—a nutrient injection.
"Eat too much and you'll revert to your actual age," he said casually.
Bonney blinked in surprise as warmth spread through her belly. Somehow, the hunger faded.
She nodded and reluctantly put the food down.
…Only to start salivating again moments later.
Poof— In a flash, she transformed into a much younger version of herself—a small, lively girl. And with that, she scooped the meat back up and began eating with childlike enthusiasm.
Meanwhile…
On the opposite side of the battlefield, a group of Navy soldiers stood with rifles raised.
"You're Capone 'Gang' Bege! Bounty: 138 million berries!"
"We're not letting you get away this time!"
"Where's your crew? Did you split up?!"
"Unlucky bastard! Just surrender already!"
Capone Bege took a slow drag of his cigar and exhaled a cloud of smoke, sneering.
"You're done. The gap in firepower is just too big."
Boom—boom—!
Explosions rocked the area.
As the smoke cleared, Bege narrowed his eyes—but then paused.
A figure emerged from the smoke without so much as a speck of dust on him.
"…Who the hell are you?"
His instincts screamed danger.
Naruto stepped forward and casually lifted a hand.
Buzz—
A gravitational pull surged toward Bege.
His eyes widened as Naruto's hand clamped around his neck.
Naruto's brow furrowed slightly. "Can't absorb him?"
"…The laws of this world must be interfering," he muttered.
"In that case—"
Whoosh—whoosh—whoosh!
A ripple in space swirled open in front of him—Kamui.
Capone Bege was instantly dragged into the pocket dimension.
But when Naruto tried to transfer him to the Shinobi World, he encountered resistance.
"…Competing with me?"
A spark of divine and ghostly chakra flared from Naruto—an immense force that crushed the interference.
The space trembled—and then obeyed.
Of course, Naruto wasn't planning to absorb Bege's Devil Fruit powers.
Turning into a walking fortress didn't suit him at all.
Little Bonney, who had been munching behind him, was stunned.
Mei Terumi's eyes sparkled with admiration.
"As expected of the Hokage… His power defies imagination."
"…He's already defeated two," she murmured.
"Using ten Supernovas against one general… I'm starting to feel bad."
Hawkins stood stoically nearby, expression unreadable. A few small straw dolls floated from his body.
Elsewhere—
The strange monk Urouge came crashing down between Hawkins and Admiral Kizaru.
"Guh… I failed," he wheezed. "He's insanely strong…"
Hawkins answered calmly, "There are stronger ones still."
"Huh?" Urouge blinked, then turned—and his face twisted in disbelief.
"K-Kizaru?!"
"Talk about bad luck..."
"An Admiral up front and a Warlord behind... Is this the end?"
Hawkins just gave him a sidelong glance. "No. You're not dead yet."
"Really...? You're Hawkins, from the North Blue, right?"
Whoosh—
Another figure approached.
"Undercover Navy Agent Drake," someone muttered.
"You call that your full strength, strange monk?"
Right on cue, Kizaru's sleazy voice echoed nearby.
"Oh~ Major General Drake."
Boom—boom—!
By now, Urouge was already clashing with the War Weapon "Bear"—a Pacifista modeled after Bartholomew Kuma.
Drake broke into a cold sweat.
"That… That's Kizaru's laser?!"
"They replicated Kuma's body and Kizaru's abilities… Vegapunk, you've gone too far."
He stole a glance at the real Kizaru from the corner of his eye.
"We're on the same side, right? You won't shoot me, yeah?"
"Major General Drake~" Kizaru drawled. "Now that you've seen the truth... doesn't it feel hopeless?"
Just as he finished speaking—
Voooom—
A vortex of spatial chakra spiraled around the Bear unit.
Before anyone could react, the Pacifista vanished.
Inside the Divine Kamui Dimension, it now stood opposite Capone Bege.
Of course, this wasn't the real Bartholomew Kuma.
Just a puppet.
Urouge, having just reverted from his dinosaur transformation, chuckled.
"He ran off, huh?"
"Still… I got to see something rare."
Although Kizaru wasn't quite sure what had happened just now, he didn't really care.
For him, this was just another round of amusement.
Every punch was like a horror show.
Every kick? A supernova down.
And by the time he handed in his report, there would be nothing left to clean up.
"I believe I said—I'm still here."
"Huh?"
Urouge turned, just in time to see Kizaru casually pinching his chin with one hand. The other? His leg, already glowing with golden light—slammed into Urouge's waist.
Boom!
A single strike sent Urouge flying, crashing through building after building like a cannonball.
Hawkins reacted swiftly, his body morphing into a scarecrow, appearing silently behind Kizaru.
"You pirates with bounties over 100 million…" Kizaru drawled lazily, "All of you look like monsters. So scary~!"
Hawkins' gaze sharpened.
"The face of a demon-slayer..."
The next instant, Kizaru's body lit up—blinding gold radiance bursting forth.
Hawkins was momentarily blinded.
Raising one hand, beams of golden laser gathered at his fingertips.
Whoosh, whoosh, whoosh—
Several golden lasers pierced clean through Hawkins' form.
"Don't know what your ability is..."
"But you've got a body."
"So... not a Logia."
Seconds later, only a scarecrow remained where Hawkins had stood.
"Let's deal with this one first."
But just then, a sneak attack came from behind.
Drums thundered—DOOM DOOM—and Kizaru's body was sliced clean in half.
For a moment, it seemed like he'd been split apart.
But in a flash of light, he reformed—whole again.
"Yata no Kagami."
(Eight-Foot Mirror.)
Whoosh!
Another golden kick—and another Supernova was knocked out cold.
X Drake, who was still foolishly convincing himself that Kizaru wouldn't go all-out on "his own people," was next.
He got kicked halfway through a building before he could even react.
Kizaru turned back to Hawkins.
"Will you die this time?"
He raised his glowing hands, gathering another burst of light—
But suddenly stopped.
"Hm?"
His eyes shifted.
"Bounty: 140 million berries… Jewelry Bonney?"
Bonney was peeking out from behind Naruto, trembling slightly.
She called out, "This is my big brother! If you lay a finger on me—he'll make sure you regret it!"
"Oh~?" Kizaru raised an eyebrow, feigning surprise.
Then his gaze shifted to the man beside her—the blond, whiskered stranger.
"Strange eyes…"
"You're not a Supernova."
Naruto just smiled.
But in his mind, a thought emerged.
Black holes can even swallow light...
...
TN:
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