The flying ship wasn't particularly fast, but it was certainly more convenient than Naruto running all the way himself.
After exchanging greetings, Naruto unilaterally ended the Den Den Mushi call.
The technicians under Shiki's command beside him wanted to stop him but were powerless to do so.
There was no helping it… every other pirate on the ship had already been knocked unconscious by Naruto's Conqueror's Haki.
Naruto had his reasons for doing this.
There was still a village on this island.
And Shiki's obvious hostility meant a battle was inevitable.
If he and Shiki were to fight, keeping the main battlefield at Shiki's stronghold would at least prevent innocent villagers from getting caught in the crossfire.
At the very least, it would give them enough time to react.
'Now, it was time to face this long-renowned 'senpai'.'
…
When Naruto stepped off the flying ship, what greeted him was the 'palace' Shiki had built on this island with massive manpower.
It is a literal palace.
It seemed the man genuinely wanted to become a 'King'.
Perhaps, just as Roger was called the Pirate King, the stubborn Shiki was determined to claim the title of 'king' for himself as well.
Naruto, the uninvited guest, was greeted by the Shiki's densely packed subordinates.
At this point, Shiki hadn't yet completed his research on the SIQ drug, so the grand gathering of pirate captains from the original work hadn't taken place.
But even with just his own crew, the numbers were nothing to scoff at.
These men seemed to have undergone some kind of modification, as each one of them are muscular. They glared fiercely at Naruto as he walked from the gates toward the palace.
But Naruto couldn't care less about the stares of these small fries.
To be honest, to Naruto, the palace's interior design was far more interesting than these lackeys.
At the palace's main entrance, a man in a white lab coat, with his face painted like a mime's, was wildly gesturing in all directions.
Next to him, a gorilla wearing a pink suit was covering its mouth, snickering in a human-like manner.
"Tch…"
The moment Naruto laid eyes on Shiki's uniquely eccentric companions, his opinion of the man underwent a subtle shift.
Say what you will, but as a pirate captain, Shiki was at least open-minded.
At the very least, the Roger Pirates didn't have members who looked quite this distinctive.
Clang. Clang. Clang.
The sound of metal striking the floor echoed through the hall.
Naruto raised his gaze toward the source of the noise, then, he saw a man draped in a yellow coat, his wild mane of hair resembling a lion's.
Who else could it be but Golden Lion Shiki?
Shiki stood at the entrance, with a cigar dangling from his lips, looking down at Naruto with an air of superiority.
Naruto met his gaze without backing down an inch.
His eyes lingered for a moment on the two legendary swords, Oto and Kogarashi, that replaced Shiki's legs below the knee.
'What a ruthless person.'
Naruto had naturally heard the stories of how Shiki had cut off his own legs to escape Impel Down. But seeing it in person was still astonishing.
"Admiral, Uzumaki Naruto has arrived."
Suddenly, Dr. Indigo, who had been making all those strange gestures, opened his mouth and spoke up.
"Huh?! You can talk?!"
Before Naruto could even react in surprise, it was Shiki's own crew who gasped in shock, as if they were only just learning this fact.
"Pfft… Pffahahaha…!"
The gorilla, Scarlet, burst into even louder laughter, even clapping its hands.
When Shiki glanced over, a look of confusion instantly appeared on his face.
"M-Mom?!"
"That's clearly a gorilla!!"
This time, it was Dr. Indigo who delivered the deadpan retort, casually slapping Shiki upside the head like it was the most natural thing in the world.
Clearly, this wasn't the first time he'd done this.
Witnessing this absurdly comedic exchange, the rest of Shiki's crew struggled to hold back their laughter.
But Naruto had no such reservations.
"Hahahahaha! You guys are hilarious."
His laughter seemed to snap Shiki out of his daze. His expression quickly reverted to its usual arrogant ferocity.
Once again, he was the [Flying Pirate].
"Shihahaha! Uzumaki Naruto… So you're one of Roger's little brats, huh?"
Pulling the cigar from his mouth, Shiki exhaled a long stream of smoke.
"Come in if you got the guts."
With that, he turned and strode into the palace without another glance, Dr. Indigo following behind with his bizarre gait.
Just like that… the atmosphere was completely ruined.
Naruto glanced at the surrounding lackeys, who very much looked the part of villains, and chuckled before following without hesitation.
…
To Naruto's own surprise, Shiki's 'proper welcome' turned out to be just that… a literal welcome.
The two sat as host and guest, while a young woman poured wine into large bowls between them.
'Hmm?'
'This is… that special sake from the Happo Navy?'
Although it's unclear how Shiki managed to learn the brewing recipe from over there, the aroma of this sake was all too familiar to Naruto.
Before Shiki could even speak, Naruto grabbed the large bowl and chugged it down in one go.
Watching the now-empty bowl in Naruto's hands and then glancing at his own untouched drink, Shiki simply tilted his head back and downed a large bowl as well.
"Ha!"
After finishing the bowl, Naruto turned his gaze toward Shiki, as if waiting for what he had to say next.
"Uzumaki Naruto… right?"
Shiki's eyes burned with an overwhelming sense of dominance.
"Join my crew."
No questions, no probing-
just pure confidence in his own power and an unshakable authority that brooked no dissent.
Naruto wasn't angered by these words. This was the essence of what a pirate should be, and he knew it all too well.
Setting the bowl down, Naruto looked at him with amusement.
"Join your pirate crew?"
There was some disbelief in Naruto's tone, but it wasn't because he was flattered, but because he found it strange that Shiki would even suggest such a thing.
'Had he not been reading the world news?'
"Though I'm not a pirate anymore, back in the day, I was part of Captain Roger's crew, you know."
"Tch, just a rookie back then…"
"Still a rookie under the 'Pirate King'."
Naruto deliberately emphasized the words 'Pirate King'.
Those who walked different paths could never work together.
After learning about Shiki's actions on this island, Naruto had already ruled out any possibility of peaceful coexistence.
A throbbing vein bulged on Shiki's bald head.
"Brat... are you trying to provoke me?"
Shiki rose to his feet, his body slowly levitating into the air.
In his eyes, his true rival should have been someone like Roger, a true powerhouse.
In his opinion, Naruto's status as a mere junior made him inherently lesser.
The slight appreciation he'd felt earlier, after seeing Naruto brawl with wild beasts, vanished in an instant.
After all, Naruto wasn't like Nami from the original work… a supremely talented navigator who could play a crucial role in his conquest.
For someone like Naruto, which is a mere fighter, Shiki had no shortage of replacements.
Thus, without even bothering to explain his grand ambitions, Shiki had already lost patience in dealing with Naruto.
'Since you wouldn't join, then you could die!'