"Hahaha! Boss, this haul is really good!"
On the deck of a certain pirate ship, a burly pirate captain was directing his crew to carry the plundered treasures and food into the ship's hold.
Hearing his underling's excitement, the captain's face broke into an arrogant grin.
"Hahahaha! The islands on the Grand Line are so rich, we should've left the West Blue ages ago!"
They were pirates who had crossed the Reverse Mountain from the West Blue into the Grand Line.
Before even setting sail, these guys had already been a gang of thugs terrorizing the local villages.
The power structure in the West Blue was relatively complex.
Aside from the World Government and the Marine, most forces could be categorized as pirates.
The strongest among them was one of the Four Emperors Red-Haired Shanks, and his affiliated forces.
Yes, Shanks's territory wasn't in the New World.
Because of that, his conflicts with the other three Emperors weren't as frequent.
Below him were armed forces like the Happo Navy and Nihao Navy, who also held pirate status, with some of their members active in the New World.
Beyond these overt powers, the West Blue's underground was controlled by countless large and small mafia organizations. They operated gray businesses like casinos or clubs in their 'claimed' territories, occasionally dabbling in arms dealing and contraband.
Of course, there were also the traditionalists who stubbornly stuck to the old ways of pillaging and plundering.
As the former grew stronger, the latter's survival space naturally shrank.
So, these guys simply rebranded themselves, hoisted pirate flags, and sailed into the Grand Line to continue their lives of robbery.
They were ruthless and unrestrained, often striking once before moving to another location.
Therefore, although their strength was mediocre, their bounties were surprisingly high.
"Men! Set sail for the next island!"
"Oh!"
The pirate captain raised his cutlass and swung it forward, his crew roaring in response.
Just then, the lookout in the crow's nest suddenly shouted down.
"Captain, there's a small boat ahead, and on it, there is only one person."
'A castaway?'
He'd seen this kind of situation before… someone alone in the middle of the ocean usually didn't last long.
Not to mention treasure, there might not even be any food.
"What do you think, boss?"
The pirate captain's lackey grinned cruelly beside him.
"Obviously… we'll run over it! Hahahaha!"
The rest of the pirates burst into merciless laughter at their captain's command.
Compared to their massive ship, that tiny boat might as well have been a toy.
'After all, this ship had been stolen from one of the legendary Five Great Families.'
'Those guys were seriously loaded.'
The pirate captain grumbled inwardly.
'Once I recruit enough men on the Grand Line, I'll go back to the West Blue to settle the score with those bastards who drove us out!'
Crunch...
The sound of the small boat being crushed was music to his ears, but the pirate captain didn't hear the desperate screams he was expecting.
"Huh?"
Just as he was growing puzzled, a tall figure descended from the sky and landed steadily on the deck.
'Enemy!'
"Attack!"
True to their former 'bandit' nature, the crew didn't waste a second on dialogue… they opened fire the moment Naruto boarded.
Gunshots rang out in rapid succession, dozens of bullets clinking harmlessly against Naruto's body.
However, thanks to his Haki, not a single bullet even scratched his new clothes.
Meanwhile, Naruto was taking out a stack of bounty posters from his pockets, and then began to calmly flip through them one by one, occasionally glancing up to compare them with the faces in front of him.
That kind of look, which is utterly dismissive, was enough to enrage any thug.
The lackeys hadn't even processed why their bullets didn't faze the guy in front of them. Some hadn't even bothered to check if they'd hit their target.
As far as they were concerned, this sudden intruder was already dead.
When the gun smoke cleared, Naruto stood completely unharmed.
"Huh?"
"What the-?"
"I got it! He must be a Devil Fruit user!"
Some self-proclaimed genius shouted this, and the rest of the small-time pirates nodded in agreement.
'But so what if he was a Devil Fruit user? Our captain was one too!'
Under the expectant gazes of his crew, the captain didn't disappoint and his body rapidly began to transform.
His skin grew tougher and rougher, his body swelled in size, and his spine hunched slightly.
The most striking change was his mouth… under the power of his fruit, it widened into a flat, toothy maw filled with razor-sharp teeth.
"It's here! The boss's Crocodile Man form!"
Thanks to this Zoan-type Devil Fruit, their captain had once withstood a hail of bullets from a mafia ambush. This guy in front of them was as good as dead.
Naruto's eyes lit up when he saw the man transform into a humanoid crocodile. He quickly flipped through his bounty posters and found his target.
"Blackscale Pirates, Captain Aliged, Zoan-type: Alligator Form. Bounty: 55,000,000 Berries."
"Not bad. Should be enough to build a small boat, at least."
Aliged, the West Blue's pirate captain, didn't understand Naruto's muttering. He just bared his fangs and snarled.
"Bastard, I'll bite your head clean off."
Buzz.
Conqueror's Haki instantly cleared the deck.
Naruto tied up the pirates who weren't worth much and unceremoniously tossed them into the sea.
As for the captain and his top fighters, they all had bounties for killing Marines… altogether, they are worth nearly 100,000,000 Berries.
While bounties like that wouldn't even impress a stray dog in the New World, it is just right for Naruto who is currently broke.
That's right, Naruto has no money.
After paying for this new outfit, all he had left was enough for a tiny boat.
As a lone wolf, he rarely carried much cash… usually just enough to get by.
But since returning to Paradise, he'd been spending lavishly.
At Zeff's place, he'd used Krieg's bounty to cover the bill. But Naruto hadn't held back at everywhere else.
He'd been tossing around stacks of Berries like they were nothing.
Which meant he now had no funds left to build himself a proper custom-powered ship.
Fortunately, before leaving Sycorker Island, he remembered his old trade.
He'd grabbed a stack of bounty posters from the restaurant owner and decided to earn some quick cash the old-fashioned way.
Being a Pirate Hunter… his original profession.
As for how to collect the bounty?
Well, let's just say the once-rising star of 'beautiful female pirate hunters' had left a lasting impression.
When it comes to cross-dressing, it's either zero times or countless times.