#8

Chapter 8: Unexpected Encounter

"Yo" - Speaking

'Hmm' - Thoughts

[ ] - Scene/POV Change

{ } - Techniques

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[Sabaody Archipelago - Year 1497]

Jeremiah and the crew had just finished docking at their latest destination , Sabaody . They didn't really have any specific reason for coming here , just a mini vacation .

Sitting on a large chair on the deck of the ship was Jeremiah .

Jeremiah was wearing a red sleeveless haori that had a hood , with a semi long sleeved (stopped a few inches past his elbows) black shirt under it . He had on dark gray pants along with black and red shoes . Of course , he also had on his necklaces .

"You sure are excited Shiro ." He said to the young teenager , who was sitting on his lap .

"Of course! This'll be my first time going to an amusement park!" She said with a smile as she rocked back and forth .

Shiro was wearing a bodysuit as usual , this one red with gray designs and her toes and heels sticking out like always .

"I know , I just don't want you to run off and get into any trouble . Even though you can take care of yourself , I'd rather not have to wipe this island off the map because someone decided to mess with you ." Jeremiah said with a bit of his haki leaking out as he rubbed her head while closing his eyes as he did his best to ignore the pleasant feelings she was causing .

Though she was still small in height , her body had begun to fill out a bit over the last year and a half or so . It was looking like she would be more "gifted" in the bottom than up top . Personally Jeremiah didn't mind either way . By now he had given up on denying his attraction to her , even if she was skinny .

And he wasn't exaggerating with what he said . If anyone dared to mess with her , he really would wipe this island off the map . He doubted anyone could be stupid enough to try that though since it should be well known by now that she's a member of his crew , with her own fairly high bounty .

Shiro's face turned red at what he said and she began squirming a bit as that tingling feeling began to build up inside of her .

Jeremiah's eyes snapped open as he heard Shiro start to pant and he quickly stood up , after gently lifting her off his lap . After what happened with Ryoko a year ago , he wasn't sure if he wanted a repeat of that situation with Shiro . At least , not right now . His haki had only grown over the past year which naturally made its passive affects (like what happened to Ryoko) stronger .

Although he did have to admit , at least to himself , the thought of Shiro drowning in her lust for him , begging him to take her... It turned him on . A lot .

Shaking his head to clear his mind , he said "Well , let's go ." He said before he crouched down for her to climb on top of his shoulders . Even with her getting older , 16 years old now , she still loved when he carried her , and Jeremiah didn't mind one bit .

Shiro , still red faced and panting slightly , smiled and shakily climbed on . She was still affected and likely would be for a while longer , but not as much as she would have been .

As Jeremiah stood up and prepared to call the others , he had to keep his animal instincts in check . Why ?

He could feel a little wetness on his neck . Right where Shiro's crotch was . It seemed that again , Shiro was not wearing panties , not that he minded .

Deciding to ignore it for now , he called out "Hey , we're about to leave . We'll be at the amusement park for a while . Feel free to join us ." With that said , he walked off the ship to go have some fun with Shiro . He was pretty sure Diane and Ryoko would come looking for him eventually .

He did briefly pause in his steps though . He could feel an incredibly powerful person , no... actually two . He could feel two incredibly powerful people heading toward this island , along with a few dozen weaker ones . Powerful as in , the two stronger ones that he could sense were at least at his and Naruto's levels when they weren't suppressing their power .

He considered his options . Should he take Naruto and go confront them ? No . Although he was sure they would be able to win , he didn't want to have a major battle like that right now , and he knew it would definitely be a long one if they did fight . Not to mention that it would likely bring dozens if not hundreds of marines down on them , possibly including vice admirals and/or admirals .

He didn't doubt that his crew could handle admirals or the two people he was sensing , but all of them together ? He wouldn't let himself be arrogant enough to believe that that battle would be in their favor . He was sure they would be that strong eventually , but not now .

He decided he would wait . It was possible that they were reasonable people . As long as the two he was sensing weren't the battle hungry type or tried to raid the island or something , then he was sure everything would be fine . Plus they were still pretty far out at the moment , so he had time to plan for them in case they were.... Disagreeable people .

Nodding his head resolutely , he continued on the path to the amusement park .

[ One Hour Later , With Ryoko and Diane ]

"Whoa..."

"That's...."

"No way! It's really them!"

The people of Sabaody , men in particular , were mesmerized as they watched the two beauties walking down the street . The men were lusting after them , even with their girlfriends/wives right beside them . Said girlfriends/wives were incredibly envious as they watched the two women with beauty that was nearly supernatural .

Diane who had possibly the best pair of breasts in the world , giant form or otherwise , as well as a nice big butt . Even in her human form , her breasts were at least J-cup , probably even bigger than that yet somehow with no sag at all . (Picture Cattleya's body from Queen's Blade , but more toned .)

Ryoko , who also had a very large pair of breasts , but was better known for her large ass that would jiggle nicely with every step she took . She , as well as Diane , also had very fit bodies that showed whenever they wore more revealing outfits . Both had nice and tight abs as well as well toned arms and legs . (Ryoko's body is similar to Shizuka's from HOTD , just with a bigger butt and much more fit .)

On top of their amazing bodies , they both were known for their beautiful faces and kindly personalities . All of this combined made these two considered as two of the most beautiful women in the world , if not the most beautiful .

Still though , despite many men lusting after them and many women envying them , no one would dare to do anything to get on their bad side . These women were famous for their beauty , true , but they were most famous for being on the crew of one of the most powerful men in the world .

"We sure do draw a lot of attention..." Diane muttered to Ryoko as they walked together to where Jeremiah and Shiro were at .

Diane was wearing a red skater dress , which was struggling to contain her breasts even with it being custom made , with a brown belt around the middle and had red low pumps for shoes .

"Its to be expected right ? Though I will admit it does get annoying after a while ." Ryoko replied as she looked around at the drooling men and upset women . It was a little ironic to her that the women would be so upset that their men were ogling her and Diane , considering that women did the same thing to Jeremiah literally everywhere they went , to an even higher degree .

Ryoko was wearing a pink long sleeved blouse that was showing a bit of cleavage , along with a black mid thigh length skirt that had slits on both sides . Under her skirt she had on black pantyhose covering her long creamy legs and she was wearing pink high heeled shoes .

"Disregarding that though , I'm a little worried about those people we've been sensing ." Ryoko said with a small frown .

"I know what you mean , but Naruto didn't seem too worried so Captain most likely isn't either . I'm sure he would have come back to the ship and told us to prepare if that was the case ." Diane said with a contemplative look .

Ryoko nodded . She had pretty much been thinking the exact same thing , but she couldn't help worrying .

Finally reaching the park , they both looked up at the sign before heading toward where they could sense Jeremiah and Shiro .

It didn't take long to spot them . They were coming off a large rollercoaster and holding hands with Shiro having a big happy smile on her face .

"Glad to see you two are having fun ." Ryoko said with a smile as she and Diane approached them .

"Might as well while we're here right? You two look great by the way ." Jeremiah replied as he gave them both an appreciative look over .

Both gave pretty smiles and blushed before replying "Thank you Captain/Jeremiah ." His was the only opinion they really cared for . They couldn't care less about all these other guys drooling over them .

Nodding he looked around a bit before asking "You two also felt them right ?"

They both just nodded .

"I figured . I'm sure the rest of the crew sensed them as well... Well , don't worry about it . If it comes down to it , our ship is more than fast enough to get us out of here if need be . I'd rather not have a huge fight with whoever that is plus marines . This is the only place we've been to with an amusement park after all ." Jeremiah said while idly rubbing his beard . He had decked the ship out with a bunch of different useful things for many situations .

And speaking of his beard , he had thought about cutting it a while ago just to change up his look a bit , but Diane , Ryoko , and Shiro all seemed to like it so he decided to keep it .

"That's true . I guess that's why Sabaody is one of the most popular islands in Paradise ." Diane said as she put a finger on her chin while looking up at him .

He was about to reply until he felt Shiro softly pulling his hand and he looked down at her with a raised eyebrow "What's up Shiro ?" He asked her .

"Aren't we gonna ride more rollercoasters ?" She asked while pouting with wide innocent eyes .

"You really don't need to try the puppy dog eyes with me Shiro . Though I must say , you could probably get most people with that . I think I'm proud . Then again , I'm sure you're already cute enough that you wouldn't need to ." He said while chuckling a bit as he lifted her up and put her on his back .

"Well , let's have some fun you three ." He said with a smile as he gently grabbed Ryoko and Diane's hands and pulled them along .

All three young ladies smiled and nodded while blushing faintly . Ryoko and Diane both decided to be a little bold and pulled their bodies closer to his , making his arms rest between both of their breasts .

Jeremiah gave a small smile as they all walked around , stopping at anything that seemed interesting . He completely ignored the civilians ogling and swooning over him . He didn't feel like dealing with that today . Thankfully he was keeping a tight lid on his haki right now , so the reactions to his presence weren't as extreme as they would usually be .

His smile did grow a bit when he felt Ryoko , Diane , and Shiro all increase their grips on him .

'Such possessive women they are... But it's not like I don't like it . I'm the same after all .' He thought idly . He couldn't imagine them being with anyone but him . The very thought of it almost made his conqueror side rise to the surface . They were his . ONLY his . And unless they all suddenly started hating him for some reason , which was not plausible at all , then he would never let them go . He would destroy anyone that tried to take them from him or hurt them in any way .

Over the past year or two , he had been wondering if they would confess their feelings to him , or if he should just do it , but if so then when and to who ? He certainly knew them all more than well enough at this point . The problem was he wasn't sure who to choose , and he couldn't just assume that they would be okay with sharing him .

'*Sigh* That's too stressful to think about right now . I'll just enjoy this time with them and think about the complicated stuff later .' He thought to himself .

And that's just what he did . He pushed those thoughts to the back of his mind and just enjoyed the park . It really was a fun place .

[ Next Morning ]

Waking up from a peaceful sleep , Jeremiah looked to his side and smiled a bit as he saw Shiro sleeping while snoring quietly . He rubbed her hair gently before giving her a soft kiss on her forehead as he got up to shower and brush his teeth . Yesterday was a very relaxing day and he was glad to be able to let Shiro experience an amusement park for the first time . Something else that was great was that there weren't any Nobles to bother them , which was good .

Because Jeremiah probably would have killed them if they tried anything . He would not take their bs .

Thirty minutes later and now Jeremiah was out of the shower and standing outside on the deck as he brushed his teeth . It was really early in the morning so he was probably the first one up . Him , Naruto , Diane , and Ryoko were usually the early risers which Jeremiah guessed was due to them all being in tune with nature in their own ways , but from what he could sense they were still asleep .

Still a little groggy from his sleep , he lazily looked around at the sea while brushing his teeth , just taking in the view . As his gaze reached to his right , he was slightly surprised that he hadn't realized there was a ship next to his . 'Must be more tired than I thought .' He thought to himself while yawning .

Looking up at the sails he had to rub his eyes before squinting them to make sure he was seeing correctly . He stared for a full minute . What were the chances ?

'This'll be an eventful day .' He thought as he scratched his head lightly .

[ A Few Hours Later ]

Jeremiah and his crew were currently standing outside of a bar as they observed the place . The two people he had sensed yesterday were in here and he figured he may as well get the meeting out of the way , especially since he was now pretty sure he knew who they were .

Originally he was gonna just take half of his crew in with him , but he changed his mind . He was going to have the rest take up hiding positions to get ready in case there was an ambush , but he was sure it wouldn't come to that . Plus the two inside would likely be able to sense them anyway .

"Am I the only one excited right now ?" Naruto asked with a smile as he looked around at the others from his spot next to Jeremiah .

Naruto had on an orange jacket with three black stripes around the bottom and wrists and a black t-shirt under it . He also had on black pants and a pair of black and orange combat boots . (Hokage Naruto outfit except he has boots instead of sandals and no cloak .)

Naruto had also grown his hair out in recent years and it now reached to his waist and covered his right eye . (Madara's hairstyle .) He currently had it in a ponytail .

He had already been someone many women were attracted to , but once he grew his hair he developed some die hard fangirls . There were many times he was chased around an island by rabid women , who somehow always found him no matter where he hid . He swore they had all somehow mastered observation haki . They were the cause of many nightmares .

Personally , Jeremiah couldn't help but find it funny . The rest of the crew as well , even Bisca who Naruto was dating .

"Nope . After seeing the jolly roger on that ship , I think we're all pretty interested . Those guys are pretty famous ." Kail said as she smiled with her hands on her hips . She wasn't worried . She was confident that if it came down to it , their crew could win . Especially if Jeremiah and Naruto went all out , which they rarely did .

Kail was wearing an ice blue long sleeved shirt with the shoulders cut out that stopped just below her breasts , along with a pair of tight black pants with a navy blue sash around her waist. She had on her red beaded skull necklace and a pair of brown boots .

Naturally , her choice of attire drew a lot of attention from both men and women alike . Not that she cared . She took pride in her body and while she may not mind dressing provocatively , its not like she would let any of these people get close enough to even think about touching her .

"That's true . I don't think they're as famous as us though . We tend to do some pretty crazy things." Said Asta with a small laugh as he stood near Nana .

Asta was wearing a black kimono (like Zoro's) with gray pants under it and no shirt , with a red sash around his waist and he had on black shoes . He also had grown his hair out in recent years , though not nearly as long as Naruto's . Also , much to his happiness , he had slowly been growing taller . He now stood at 5'6" as opposed to his former height of 5'1" . (His hair is like Natsu's after the one year time skip .)

"Well , we are larger targets since we've actually declared war against the world . Anyway , let's head inside ." Jeremiah replied before opening the door and letting the women of his crew walk in first , followed by the guys and last was him .

Jeremiah went for a different look today compared to his usual . He had on a red long sleeved button up shirt that was buttoned all the way up and had a black tie . He also had on a pair of black slacks and black leather round toed formal shoes . He of course was also wearing his necklaces .

When Diane and Ryoko , and even Shiro , first saw his attire for the day , they practically had hearts in their eyes . That was without his haki affecting them . With that in mind , you can imagine how the civilians reacted .

The moment he walked in , the first thing he noticed was how silent the place had gotten . When they were outside he could hear laughter , conversations , etc, so he knew the silence was due to him and his crew's presence .

"Hey , that's...."

"No way...."

"I heard they were here , but I thought it was a joke..."

Jeremiah ignored all the whispers and let Shiro off his back as he and Naruto approached the bar , while the rest of his crew slid into two booths .

"Green tea please ." Jeremiah said to the woman behind the bar after looking over the menu .

"Miso ramen for me ." Naruto said after taking a seat next to Jeremiah .

The woman running the place stared at both of them for a bit before saying "Hmm... That'll be 100,000 beli ."

The other customers in the bar looked at the woman like she was crazy . Was she seriously brave/dumb enough to try to rip these guys off ? Of all people ?

Jeremiah stared at her right in her eyes for about half a minute and the other customers thought for sure he was gonna attack her , before he shocked them when he just chuckled and replied "I see . I guess they don't call you Rip-Off Shakky for nothing ."

"I'm surprised a big shot like you would know about me . I guess I could give you a small discount . Maybe... 75,000 ." The now revealed Shakky said with a bit of surprise in her voice .

"But Mr. Uzumaki still has to pay 100,000 ." She said with a small playful smirk while Naruto's head snapped towards her .

"Eh? How is that fair ?" He asked her with narrowed eyes while folding his arms .

"Does it really matter ? It's not like you can't afford it right ?" Jeremiah asked him with a raised eyebrow . They were all very rich from all their treasure hunting , especially the one from a year ago .

Jeremiah had briefly thought about selling some self defense items that he created so that civilians could better protect themselves , but he quickly squashed those thoughts . There was no way he would let the World Government get their hands on any of his technology .

Grumbling since he couldn't argue that point , Naruto pulled out his wallet and retrieved the money which he sat on the bar in front of him .

"There . This had better be some good ramen ." Naruto said as he put his wallet back in his pocket .

Shakky just laughed as she walked away to prepare their orders .

As soon as she walked away , the air became thick with tension .

The reason ?

Sitting a few seats away from Jeremiah and Naruto were the two people they'd been sensing since yesterday .

"I'm a little surprised . We thought for sure you and your crew would steer clear of us ." Said the one with the strongest presence as he drank from a bottle of booze .

Jeremiah glanced at the man from the corner of his eye . Tall , red pirate coat , blue shirt , dark blue pants , yellow sash , white cravat , and black boots .

Most notable was the large mustache and the pirate hat with his jolly roger on it .

The mark of the Roger Pirates .

"Is there a reason we should steer clear ?" Jeremiah asked evenly .

"Just curious is all . Most people would . You've got balls ." He said with a boisterous laugh as he turned his head to look at Jeremiah and Naruto .

"I could say the same to you . It was a bold move you pulled , docking your ship right next to mine . You had to know it was mine right ? I'd imagine it's pretty famous by now ." Jeremiah said as he also turned his head to look at Roger . It was definitely cool to see Roger in person , but he wasn't gonna go fanboying over him or anything like that .

He had already gotten used to seeing characters from various anime/manga in this world and he already knew Roger was still alive at this point in time , so its not like it was very shocking to see him . He definitely didn't expect to run into him here of all places though .

"HAHAHA Rayleigh here said the same thing ." Roger said with a wide grin as he patted Rayleigh , who was sitting beside him , on his back which made him cough up some of the sake he was drinking .

Rayleigh looked exactly like you'd expect from his younger self . Blonde hair , black segmented goatee , a scar over his right eye , and his round glasses .

Jeremiah hummed as he glanced at Rayleigh , who was currently giving his captain a small glare for making him spill his drink , and sized him up before replying to Roger "Hmm... Well anyway , what's a notorious bunch of pirates like you guys doing here of all places ? This is pretty close to marine headquarters after all ."

"I doubt we're anymore notorious than you and your crew . Most people wouldn't even think about declaring war on the entire World Government ." Rayleigh said as he finally spoke up .

"You disagree with what we do ?" Jeremiah asked as he turned his gaze to him .

"No . Seeing as I'm not a marine or a member of your crew , it's not my place to disagree . More curious than anything ." Rayleigh said while pouring himself another small cup of sake , while also pouring some for Jeremiah , Naruto , and Roger .

Jeremiah looked at for a bit before shrugging and they all raised their cups before gulping it down . Jeremiah rarely drank , but he didn't want to be rude . Plus it was a nice way to start a potential friendship .

"Oh wow . This is pretty good ." Naruto said . He had had better before when they traveled to the West Blue , but this wasn't bad either .

"So what are you all exactly ? Pirates ? Revolutionaries ? Just people with a grudge against the world ?" Roger asked Jeremiah with a curious look on his face . He had been curious about this crew for a while now .

The government used the news to make them , especially Jeremiah , sound like complete monsters , whereas civilians seemed to have a totally different view of him . It seemed that the people he and his crew had saved over the years spread the word around , leading to a growing divide between the government and the people they were supposed to protect .

"We aren't any of those things . We're just adventurers who happen to be unsatisfied with the world as it is . And we definitely aren't revolutionaries . We did declare war , but it's not like I plan on wiping out every single marine and then have us take their place or something . I do have something in mind , but it's not something overly complicated like that ." Jeremiah said while idly drumming his fingers on the bar and Naruto nodded next to him .

"Here you go you two . Enjoy ." Shakky said as she gave them their orders with a wink before walking off .

As Jeremiah began stirring his tea and Naruto dug into his ramen , Jeremiah glanced over at Roger and Rayleigh and he smiled a bit when he saw Rayleigh staring at Shakky's retreating form .

Looks like love may be on the horizon . That or he was just enjoying the view of her swaying hips .

Jeremiah chose to believe the former . He was a bit of a romantic after all .

[ New World - Year 1500 ]

It had happened . So many people thought it could and would never possibly happen , at least not in their lifetimes , and yet it had . Someone had done it .

The Roger pirates had reached the final island of the Grand Line .

Raftel .

When the news reached the rest of the world , nobody was sure how they should react . Disbelief was obviously the first thing that people felt . For so long everybody thought the mysterious and mythical island was just that , a myth . The fact that someone actually reached it had many people now wondering . If Raftel , which they thought was a myth , was actually real all this time then surely some of the other so called myths of the world must be real as well right ?

One group of people in particular were currently gathered around on their ship reading the news .

"I can't believe it . Those bastards actually did it . Damn... Rayleigh is gonna hold this over my head for sure ." Naruto grumbled as he looked at the newspaper .

New Dawn and the Roger Pirates had met again many times over the three years since they first met and had all become good friends . It helped that Jeremiah and his crew weren't pirates , so there was no need for them to fight each other . Although they did spar a few times , they never went all out . Still , even with all of this Naruto and Rayleigh had built up a friendly rivalry over the years . Jeremiah guessed it had to do with both of them being probably the two most famous vice captains in the world .

"Looks like they're calling him the Pirate King now ." Souma said as he read the paper .

"Yeah... Along with a bunch of fabricated nonsense trying to make him sound like some supervillain ." Jeremiah said . Roger was a pretty goofy guy sometimes and the things this newspaper was saying about him were just not true at all . He was a pirate , but he definitely wasn't a bad guy .

'Will people really even trust some of this though ?' He thought to himself as it was known throughout the world that while New Dawn were not pirates , they were friends with the Roger Pirates .

The reason he wondered if people would believe this nonsense was because a lot of people seemed to look at his crew as heroes and they all , especially him , were very well respected by many after all the people they've saved spreading the word to others . He wouldn't be friends with someone who was truly evil , in fact he'd be more likely to put an end to whatever they were doing , and he was sure most people would realize that . He wondered how that could affect the timeline . Maybe Ace wouldn't grow up hating his father ? He would have to wait and see . It's not like he cared to keep the timeline intact anyway .

"I'm sure the people , some at least , will realize the government is lying again seeing as they've tried to do the same thing to us before ." Nana said with a shake of her head . Truly the government's reputation just seemed to get worse and worse as the years went by . They tried too hard to control everything .

"At least they don't know about his illness . If they did and they published that info as well , then it's likely that many pirates would instantly set their sights on him like rabid beasts . He's still strong , but his stamina these days can't hold up like it used to ." Ryoko said and they all grew a bit solemn at that .

They had found out about Roger's illness about a year and a half ago and both Jeremiah had wasted no time in asking Ryoko to heal him , but Roger said he didn't want to be healed . When asked why , he simply said "Everybody's adventure has to end at some point . If this is how mine ends then I'll face it with a smile and go out with a bang!" They remembered him saying before laughing his boisterous laugh .

It was the first time Jeremiah had been sad since coming to this world .

"Let's try not to worry about that right now . I'm sure he and his crew will be fine , and if they did get overwhelmed then they know they can call us for help ." Jeremiah said and his crew smiled at that .

"Damn straight!" Asta , Bisca , and Kail exclaimed with a smile .

Jeremiah gave a small smile before he walked to one of the side railings and said "Looks like Roger and his crew are trying to outdo us . No way we're gonna stand for that right ?"

They all got competitive looks on their faces . They all took immense pride in being part of this crew and refused to be outdone by any others . Their was only one possible answer to that question .

"No way in hell!" They all said in unison , making Jeremiah smile a little wider .

"Well then..." Jeremiah started as his eyes took on a sharp edge while glowing bright gold and his smile grew a little more wild .

"...Let's really turn this world on its head ." He said as he raised a fist into the air and his crew all cheered .

The world had better be ready . The era was coming to an end and a New Dawn was on the horizon .

And it was bringing a storm with it .