"Sorry, sorry-"
Naruto clasped his hands together, bowing slightly as he apologized to Aokiji with a sheepish grin.
"Actually, I came here this time to check out that old man Garp's grandson."
"Vice Admiral "Garp's grandson... Oh, right, Luffy, isn't it?"
As Garp's former direct subordinate and having received training at the same time as Dragon, Aokiji is naturally no stranger to Luffy.
"So, is there anything special about him?"
"Shanks gave the Captain's hat to that kid."
"Hat? What hat… Oh!"
Aokiji blinked in confusion at first but quickly caught on. After all, the only person Naruto would refer to as 'Captain' was the one who started the Great Pirate Era… Gol D. Roger, the Pirate King.
"That's... quite something."
Taking a sip of sake, Aokiji exhaled softly, as if seeing a new star slowly rising on the horizon.
At the same time, Luffy's name left a deeper impression in his mind.
"They just left this island, you know. Not planning to chase after them?"
At this moment, Naruto suddenly grinned like a troublemaking uncle, wanting to cause some trouble for the straw hat boy.
Unexpectedly, after hearing this, Aokiji just looked at him with contempt and completely ignored the bait.
'Yeah, right. As if Garp-san would just sit back and do nothing.'
Aokiji knew that if he arrested Luffy now, Garp's [Fist of Love] would be the next thing greeting his face.
'Besides, that kid didn't even have a bounty yet… hell, it was debatable whether he even counted as a pirate. Why bother wasting the effort?'
Seeing that Aokiji wasn't taking the bait, Naruto didn't mind.
The two continued drinking for another ten minutes or so, swapping stories and sharing some adult-only jokes to go with the alcohol.
Only when the flask was completely empty did Aokiji finally return it to Naruto.
"Alright, break's over. Time to wrap things up."
Naruto stood up as well, brushing off the sand clinging to his clothes before stowing the flasks away.
"By the way, what are you planning to do next?"
Aokiji suddenly asked.
"Someone as dangerous as you can't just be left wandering around the first half of the Grand Line, you know."
In other words: "Hurry up and get back to the New World so you don't add to my workload."
'Come to think of it, that guy Sakazuki was currently stationed in the New World, wasn't he? Heh.'
Feeling the blatant dismissal in Aokiji's tone, Naruto shot back just as sarcastically.
"Yeah, yeah, I got it. I'm just going to look around a bit… I won't cause any trouble for you Marines."
As he spoke, he even threw in a sloppy, half-hearted salute.
When it comes to the ability of sarcasm, Naruto is not inferior to Aokiji.
A vein visibly throbbed on Aokiji's forehead, and he decided to skip the banter entirely.
"Ice Block: Pheasant Beak."
A massive ice phoenix erupted from his arm, shooting straight toward Naruto.
Naruto also vanished from the spot in an instant, reappearing above the sea's surface, where the ice had already melted away.
Flipping Aokiji off with a grin, he casually created a few massive flying slashes, shattering the ice phoenix and sending a tidal wave of sand and dirt flying back at the Admiral.
Watching the usually composed Admiral now covered in dust, Naruto burst into silent laughter mid-air before waving and darting off in another direction.
"Tch, that damn bastard..."
By the time Momonga and the others had finished evacuating the area and noticed the battle's aftermath had settled, they cautiously approached the scene.
What they found was Aokiji sprawled on the beach, staring blankly at the sky.
For a moment, they almost thought the Admiral had been killed by Uzumaki Naruto… until they got closer and realized he was just spacing out.
"Admiral Aokiji, where's Uzumaki Naruto?"
"Ah, you guys are here... Uzumaki Naruto? He ran away."
As he spoke, Aokiji waved his hand somewhat listlessly.
"Let's go, time to head back."
"Yes, sir!"
The other Vice Admirals responded in unison, but Momonga suddenly spoke up again.
"Admiral Aokiji, based on information we gathered from the villagers in Cocoyasi Village nearby, Captain Nezumi of the nearby 16th Marine Branch has been colluding with a group of Fishmen, deceiving Marine Headquarters and oppressing the residents of the surrounding islands."
After saying this, Momonga's expression finally relaxed, as if he had gotten something off his chest.
Upon hearing these words, Aokiji raised his eyelids slightly.
"Oh? What about those Fishmen?"
"They've... already been killed on the spot by the great criminal Uzumaki Naruto."
Perhaps because Naruto had shown some connection with Hatchan, or maybe because the few remaining Fishmen hadn't bullied the villagers much to begin with, when the Marines arrived to evacuate the villagers, no one exposed them.
"...Is that so? Then let's go. We'll make a stop at the 16th Branch first."
With that, he lightly leaped onto the Marine warship. The other Marines quickly followed suit, boarding and adjusting their course.
…
Leaving aside the premature exposure of a certain corrupt Marine Captain's misdeeds, let's shift our focus back to Naruto.
At the moment, he had landed back on the sea… or more accurately, he was sitting cross-legged on the head of a sea creature that looked like a cross between a cow and a whale.
At this time, the sea creature was swimming forward with tears in its eyes.
Meanwhile, Naruto lounged back comfortably.
Truth be told, he had been lucky. Just as he was thinking he'd have to walk a stretch without a ride, he spotted this sea creature not far from the battlefield.
Unlike the sea kings in the Calm Belt, this sea creature is much smaller in size… of course, it is still larger than an ordinary ship.
As a result, its swimming speed wasn't too slow.
For Mohmoo the Sea Cow, however, this was nothing but sheer misfortune.
It had been resting peacefully in the waters near Arlong Park when it sensed tremors and surfaced, only to witness its boss (and feeder) being sliced in half.
Before the terrified Mohmoo could flee far, it was suddenly frozen by a wave of ice.
Soon after, the ice melted, and after enduring this brutal cycle of freezing and thawing, Mohmoo didn't even have time to nurse its wounds before desperately swimming away.
Just as it thought it had reached safety and surfaced for a breath, it was promptly 'recruited' by Naruto, who happened to be passing by.
The moment it saw Naruto's face, the same one responsible for its boss's death, it tried to escape. When that failed, it considered fighting to the death.
The result was that Naruto hit it on the forehead, leaving a massive bump, and now, it was forced to carry him toward unfamiliar waters.
"Relax, relax. Once we get to Shimotsuki Village, you can leave. I won't kill you."
Perhaps feeling a little guilty for hitting it too hard, or maybe just annoyed by Mohmoo's constant whimpering, Naruto sighed and offered some reassurance.
In response, Mohmoo gave him a resentful look but didn't dare react further.
Originally, Naruto had planned to find a place to drink and test whether getting drunk could really 'transport' him back to the Ninja World.
But after seeing his sword, he thought, 'Well, since I'm already here, might as well visit some old friends before leaving.'
The logic of 'since I'm already here' could justify just about anything.
Leaving aside the dynamic between these two, inside Naruto's consciousness space, Kurama was utterly baffled.
Ever since he forcibly pulled Naruto's consciousness in and then kicking him out last time, Kurama had fallen into a long slumber.
This time, after waking up, he actively extended his senses outward through Naruto's perception.
Surprisingly, this was much easier than dragging Naruto's consciousness inside.
But then, he witnessed things he couldn't comprehend.
First, he saw Naruto and a strange man engaging in hand-to-hand combat, their every move brimming with lethal force.
Then, the two exchanged what seemed like Ninjutsu.
He was familiar with the Ninjutsu used by Naruto, but he wondered what kind of 'Ice Release' the other guy used.
Not only were there no hand seals, there wasn't even a trace of Chakra.
If that wasn't strange enough, Kurama was completely shocked when he saw Momoo the Sea Cow with his own eyes.
While there are such huge beasts in the Ninja World, they all come from well-known places like Mount Myoboku or Ryuchi Cave.
What puzzled him even more was that this beast seemed to have no Chakra at all.
As a Tailed Beast, Kurama was extremely sensitive to Chakra. And yet, ever since he reopened his senses, aside from Naruto, none of the beings he encountered seemed to possess any.
Combined with his decades of being confined within Naruto's body, a bold speculation began forming in his mind.
'This place... might not be the Ninja World I knew. At the very least, it wasn't within the borders of the Five Great Nations.'
'Perhaps during the time I couldn't perceive the outside world, Naruto had come here… a world of endless oceans, devoid of Chakra.'