"Hey. How long do you plan on sleeping kid? Wake up. Wake up!"
Naruto heard a voice shouting into his ears accompanied by a carefree laughter. His eyelids reluctantly opened due to the insistent calling as he let out a low groan.
His head hurt like hell, he probably had an hangover from too much drinking. He moved a hand to rub his head to ease the pain or at least he tried to do until he realized that he couldn't move his arms.
His eyes immediately snapped open. All traces of sleep vanished from it instantly as he looked down only to see himself tied to a ship's mast.
"Welcome back kid" A familiar voice said beside him prompting Naruto to turn to his left to see Roger tied up beside him and on the other side was Rayleigh who had his eyes closed.
"What happened?!" Naruto panicked. His memory was still a little hazy. The last thing he remembered was drinking a jug of rum before everything went black. Was he still dreaming?
"We got captured by bounty hunters" Roger replied before gesturing with his head to the ship main sail.
Naruto looked up at the sail where he saw a graffiti painted on it. The drawing was that of a vulture standing on a skull with it head held high and wings spread out.
He deadpanned when he saw the jolly roger and said plainly. "Yeah, the dark humor in that isn't lost on me"
"Oh. You guys are awake" A voice said behind them prompting the three of them to turn around to see Spencer walking out from the lower deck with the rest of the bounty hunters.
Rayleigh's gaze hardened when he saw Spencer coming close to them with that same annoying smile on his face.
"You weren't a bar man after all! Naruto shouted when he saw taro walking beside Spencer surprising the others that it was first thing he was concerned about.
"No, I work part time as a bar man" Toga said with a sheepish laugh. He wasn't expecting Naruto to accuse him about his occupation considering the situation they were in.
"You have more things to worry about than that" Spencer said after getting over Naruto's outburst. It seems that the three of them still haven't realized what situation they were in.
"What are you talking about?" Rayleigh glared at Spencer. There was something about his tone that gave him a bad feeling.
"Don't look at me like that. I was generous enough to let you keep your sword. The least you can do is ask nicely" Spencer said while pointing at the sword on Rayleigh's waist causing the others behind him to laugh. Whether he had the sword or not doesn't matter since he wouldn't be able to use it either way.
"Answer me before I gut you" Rayleigh threatened not in the mood of jokes. Spencer shrugged helplessly at Rayleigh's attitude and said.
"It's nothing serious. "It's just that right now we are currently heading to a marine base near by to cash in the bounty on your heads"
"Wait marines?!" Naruto's expression changed as soon as he heard those words. Spencer smiled when he saw Naruto's reaction and said.
"Let me tell you about the relationship between bounty hunters and marines. The marines place a bounty on a pirates they deemed trouble. We bounty hunters are the ones that take on that job. We capture the pirates with a bounty and hand them over to the marines in exchange for the bounty on their heads."
"Well unfortunately for you we don't plan on letting that happen" Roger laughed in a carefree manner. Spencer looked at roger like he had just seen a great fool. Does this guy not know the situation they were in?
"I'd like to see you try"
As soon as he said those words a member of his group shouted from the crows nest in a panic.
"Captain we've got trouble!"
"Trouble? What the fuck is it?!"
"Captain, it's them! It's the Gorge pirates!"
The whole ship fell into chaos as soon as he said those words.
"The gorge pirates!"
"Oh shit. We are done for!"
"I can't believe this is happening. We just finished celebrating our successful bounty hunt and now we are going to die!"
"Oh no no no no no!"
'The gorge pirates? That should be impossible. We took a different route so as not to encounter pirates or other bounty hunters. Or are they perhaps after them' Spencer sweated as he turned to Naruto's group of three. When he saw the nonchalant look on their faces he cursed them all to hell in his heart.
'No matter. What was done was done. In fact this would be a huge opportunity for them. If they can capture at least one member of the gorge pirates with a huge bounty they'd be set for life.' With his thoughts in order, Spencer raised his voice and shouted.
"Don't fear, men. This is a great opportunity for us. All The gorge pirates are already weak without their captain." Once he had their attention, Spencer pointed at Roger and the others before continuing. "If they can be defeated by a group we successfully captured then we can also do the same."
"Yeah!"
"Captain is right!"
"We can do this. This should be a piece of cake!"
The crew immediately cheered when they heard their Captain's words.
"Seems like you guys are in trouble" Rayleigh jeered at Spencer with a mocking smile. He wants to see how they get out of this situation.
"It's none of your business" Spencer said though gritted teeth before walking away. He had more pressing matters to prepare for so he didn't have the time to entertain Rayleigh. Rayleigh laughed at his retreating back taking pleasure in their misery.
"The gorge pirates? Isn't that the group from before?" Naruto turned to Rayleigh with a quizzical expression. He couldn't see why the bounty hunters were so worked up over a group of weaklings.
"Those guys must be back for revenge" Roger shook his head in pity. It wasn't like it was going to make a difference. They are just begging to be beaten up again.
"Hope they brought someone strong this time" Roger laughed. Things might get exciting soon.
"The bastard that took my bounty picture must be on that crew. I want a refund" Naruto said in annoyance. He doesn't care what happens afterwards as long as he could change his bounty picture.
They didn't have to wait long as the pirate ship soon arrived beside them. A plank was immediately used to connect the two ships and the gorge pirates flooded onto their ship followed by a burly man with a huge frame holding a huge hammer almost as tall as him.
Immediately the bounty hunters saw the man walking behind the group they shrunk back in fear and horror. Their previous confidence nowhere to be found.
"It can't be"
"That's the vice Captain of the Gorge pirates. The heavy hammer, jaguar!"
"What the hell is he doing here?!"
Vice Captain of the Gorge pirates, heavy hammer jaguar. He got that nickname because he was known always carrying around a huge hammer that he uses to crack people's skull in.
The marines in this part of the water are afraid of him and would always make sure to steer clear of him. The Gorge pirates became infamous because of him. He was even more feared than his captain.
Since making his debut four years ago he had amassed a bounty of a seventy thousand berries.
But unfortunately for them their pirate ship had encountered a marine warship one day and their captain had been captured by the marines during that battle.
If not for that unfortunate incident they would have already left this part of the sea by now.
While the bounty hunters were looking at him in fear, jaguar didn't seems to be interested in their group. Instead jaguar turned to his subordinate who looked he had been ran over by and angry mob and asked.
"Where are the pirates that beat you guys up?"
The pirate he asked happened to be one of the pirates that had been beaten by Naruto and the others. And as if that wasn't enough, his beaten up and unconscious form had been added to the wanted poster of the blonde haired kid. Because of that he had become a laughing stock among both pirates and marines.
The pirate looked around before noticing the familiar faces tied to the ship's mast looking unbothered. Then pointed at the back of the frightened bounty hunters and said.
"There they are vice Captain! Those are the pirates that beat us up"
Jaguar looked in the direction the pirate had pointed only for his expression to turn sour when he saw the three figures tied to ship's mast.
He turned back to the pirate and asked with a chilling tone. "Are you sure they are the one? They don't look like much"
There was no way that a group of pirates that managed to beat down half of his crew would be captured by some no name bounty hunters. If it wasn't for the newspapers and wanted posters saying otherwise he would have never believed it.
"Yes, I am very sure. They are the ones" The pirate said through gritted teeth. There was no way he could forget their faces after the humiliation he experienced that day. Some of his crew members that were beaten up are still receiving treatments.
Jaguar frowned when he heard the bitterness in his voice.
"Very well then." Jaguar said as he fixed his gaze on Roger's group before walking towards them. The bounty hunters immediately cleared a path for him, afraid of earning his ire.
"I think he's coming over here" Naruto whispered to crewmates when he saw jaguar approaching them.
"Another trouble"
"He is huge!" Roger exclaimed when he saw jaguar's towering form.
However as he was about to reach them a figure suddenly stepped between them. Everyone immediately shift their focus to the figure. The bounty hunters heart nearly exploded as they recognized the figure blocking jaguar's path.
"Captain?!"