"These guys from the Hidden Mist sure know how to pick their timing," Tsubasa said unhappily.
On the way to the mission site, he ran into a small skirmish.
Although he wiped out the ninjas from the Land of Water, the enemy damaged his boat, leaving him no choice but to run the rest of the way.
Luckily, as someone with both Uchiha and Senju blood, his chakra reserves were enormous, so running to the destination wasn't really a problem.
"Once I get through the mist, it shouldn't be far."
"Hm?"
Hearing a faint sound, Tsubasa stopped and turned his head.
The thick mist blocked his view, making it impossible to see anything, but he could hear some strange noises.
"Why does that sound like a train?"
"And those two lights…"
No way there's actually a train running on the ocean, right? How could that be possible?
In the world of shinobi, technology wasn't that advanced.
Still, to avoid running into something dangerous, Tsubasa decided to back off a bit and watch from a safe distance.
Soon, a gust of wind blew away the mist, revealing the scene.
With his Sharingan active, Tsubasa finally saw what it was.
"It really is a train running on the sea?!" Tsubasa said in disbelief. "Since when can trains run on water?"
Rumble!
A massive sea train charged toward him from the distance, sending up huge splashes at an incredible speed.
"No way, did I time travel again?!"
Wait.
Why "again"?
...
"Chimney, are you okay?" Nami asked worriedly.
The little girl had just been clinging to the sea train outside and almost got thrown off to her death.
If she hadn't fallen near the Franky Family, the outcome would've been terrible.
"I… I thought I was gonna die," Chimney said, sitting next to Luffy and sticking her tongue out.
"Yeah."
"You two…" Zoro didn't even know what to say.
Luffy was one thing—he liked doing dangerous stuff like this.
But what was with this little girl?
It was one thing to secretly follow them, but she actually climbed onto the roof of the train?
"Forget it, we're already here," Nami said, rubbing her forehead.
They were already on the sea train, so getting off now wasn't an option.
All they could do was keep an eye on the kid and try to keep her safe.
"Whatever, let's eat first."
Right after saying that, Luffy immediately started eating, leaving Paulie and the others speechless.
He almost died just now, yet he still had the appetite to eat? Talk about nerves of steel.
Guess that's the Straw Hat for you.
"Hm?"
"Wait…"
"Look outside. Is that… a person running on the sea?!" Paulie stood up and pointed out the window.
Zoro was about to make a remark when he froze for a moment after hearing Paulie's words. He instinctively stood up and looked in the direction Paulie was pointing. His pupils narrowed. "There really is someone!"
Without thinking, Zoro's hand moved to his sword hilt.
He had no idea why someone could run on the surface of the sea, or why that person would show up here.
But having a stranger appear at a time like this wasn't necessarily a good thing.
Who knew if this guy was an enemy?
"Where is he?"
"Where is he?"
Luffy, still holding a big meat leg, stood up and walked to Paulie's side to look out at the sea. He quickly spotted the figure running across the water.
His eyes lit up instantly.
"That's so cool, he can run on the sea!" Luffy said.
"Could it be those people?" Nami said seriously.
She remembered that the ones they met earlier could fly, so running on the sea wouldn't be that strange either.
The figure was already not far from them now. They needed to figure out who it was before it was too late.
Suddenly, that figure vanished in an instant, as if it had never been there.
The sight made Nami's face turn pale.
She wasn't afraid of someone being there, but what did it mean for them to suddenly disappear?
Could it be… a ghost?!
If she remembered right, there had still been a bit of mist outside just now.
"Everyone, be careful!"
Zoro's eyes turned sharp, and his muscles tensed.
Just then, a man opened a window and said, "Yo, how's it going~"
Everyone turned their heads in shock.
Zoro immediately shifted into a fighting stance, ready to attack at any moment.
"Who are you?" Zoro asked.
He looked over Tsubasa, noticing how strange his outfit was.
A green… vest?
On his head was a strange forehead protector with konoha symbol, and at his waist hung a long sword.
What kind of strange outfit was this?
A swordsman?
"Me?" Tsubasa asked, touching his chin as he jumped in through the window. "I'm just a ninja passing by."
"Mind if I catch a ride?"
As he spoke, Tsubasa glanced around at everyone in the room.
Luffy, Zoro, Nami, Chopper… the rest were unfamiliar faces, but that was enough for Tsubasa to realize exactly where he was.
This was the world of One Piece!!!
"So I really time traveled again?"
Tsubasa hadn't expected that. Who knew you could time travel twice with this thing?
But in One Piece, he'd only watched up to the part where they were going to get the Going Merry repaired, so he didn't know how the story went after that.
Thinking about it now, Tsubasa felt a bit annoyed.
If he had known, he would've watched One Piece first.
"You're a ninja?!" Luffy shouted excitedly.
Even Chopper, who had been lying on the floor, sprang right up.
A ninja!
"Yes, a ninja," Tsubasa nodded.
Seeing how excited Luffy and Chopper were, Tsubasa was a bit puzzled. Was it really worth getting that worked up over?
"Was the reason you could run on the ocean earlier also because you're a ninja?" Paulie asked.
"Yeah, it's a special ability of ninjas."
"Ninjas…" Granny Kokoro walked out from the driver's cabin, looking Tsubasa up and down. "I've heard some stories about ninjas."
She just didn't know if the oddly dressed young man in front of her was the same kind of ninja she had in mind.
"Granny Kokoro knows about them?"
"Yeah, I've heard that in the Land of Wano in the New World, there are ninjas," Granny Kokoro said. She hesitated for a moment, then added, "Are you… from Wano?"
She had lived in Water 7 for many years and knew quite a few big names, even people like Roger, so it wasn't strange for her to know a thing or two about the New World.
"I don't know the place you're talking about, but sorry to say, I'm not from there," Tsubasa said with a shrug.
He hadn't expected ninjas to exist in this world too. It really was… something to be curious about.
Were they Devil Fruit users?
Or maybe this world also had other special powers?
Since Devil Fruits already existed—something that made no sense scientifically—it wouldn't be impossible for other strange things to exist too.
"Then… then can you do the clone technique?!" Luffy asked.
"And, and, can you breathe fire?" Chopper asked, waving his arms in excitement.
"And, and…"
"Hold on, stop right there," Tsubasa raised his hand. "I can do all the things you mentioned, but the problem is, in this place, except for clones, I can't show you the rest."
"There's not enough space."
If he actually used Fire Release inside this train car, the others would definitely be in trouble. Fire Release could really burn people to death.
Back during the Second Great Ninja War, there were plenty of people he had taken out with Fire Release.
"Then do the clones!" Luffy said eagerly.
As he spoke, he didn't forget to take another bite of meat, which made Tsubasa's eye twitch. Should he say, "As expected of Luffy"?
"Clone!"
"Clone!"
"Wait!" Zoro suddenly said.
"What is it?"
Tsubasa, who had been about to show Luffy the Shadow Clone, stopped and looked at Zoro in confusion.
Zoro didn't answer Tsubasa. Instead, he looked at Luffy. "Hey, Luffy, at a time like this, with someone suddenly showing up, don't you think it's suspicious?"
"We don't even know his name."
More than seeing his ninjutsu, Zoro wanted to know exactly who this person was. Just saying "ninja" wasn't enough to convince him.
Luffy blinked, then looked at Tsubasa. "What's your name?"
"My name's Tsubasa."
"Are you going to hurt us?"
"No."
Luffy nodded, then turned to Zoro with a big grin, as if to say, "See? I told you it's fine."
Zoro: …
Wasn't that a bit too casual?
"Come on, let's start!" Luffy said.
"Alright."
"Shadow Clone Jutsu!"
Bang!
A puff of white smoke flashed, and an identical clone appeared right beside Tsubasa.
"It's actually real…"
Nami stared at Tsubasa in shock. He really could use this kind of ninja skill?
"So, those stories in the books are real?"
"Well, you can see it for yourself."
"Looks like it's true then."
"It's really a clone!" Chopper walked up and squeezed Tsubasa's thigh, finding both of them were solid. That made him so excited.
He didn't realize his actions made Zoro tense up.
"Relax, I'm not going to hurt you," Tsubasa said to Zoro. "If I really wanted to, you wouldn't even see me before you were dead."
Zoro didn't believe that for a second. Who did this guy think he was looking down on?
Tsubasa didn't care. If he got the chance, he could always show Zoro what his jutsu could really do.
"Too cool!"
Luffy gulped down the meat in his hand, then started patting and poking Tsubasa all over, scaring Tsubasa's shadow clone into quickly making a hand sign and canceling itself.
Bang!
The shadow clone vanished, and Tsubasa's face changed.
"What are you doing?" Tsubasa took a step back.
"How did it disappear?" Luffy scratched his head. "Never mind."
"Tsubasa, join my crew!"
A ninja was just way too cool!
"Huh?!"
"Hey, there's no way someone would just agree so easily—"
"Sure."
"You really agreed?!!"