"Suiton: Daibakusui Shōha (Water Release: Great Exploding Water Colliding Wave)!"
With Naruto's shout, he thrust both hands forward, and from beneath his feet, a violent torrent of water burst forth as if conjured from thin air, sweeping forward like a raging tsunami.
The waves surged one after another, each crest towering five to six meters high.
From a distance, it looked like a white sea dragon roaring across the land, baring its maw to devour the giant man before it.
Little Robin gasped, covering her mouth in surprise.
"Naruto-kun, that's the Suiton (Water Release) you mentioned before… but aren't you a wind nature type!?"
Naruto shook his head. "I am wind-natured, but that doesn't mean I can't use other ninjutsu. It's just that they're less powerful."
As he spoke, Naruto couldn't help but glance up at the sky.
"Besides, something like chakra nature can be altered later on—like, say, switching out a heart… or eating something."
He mused: if he ate the Goro Goro no Mi (Rumble-Rumble Fruit), he would almost certainly awaken lightning affinity.
If he ate the Hie Hie no Mi (Ice-Ice Fruit), there was a strong chance he'd awaken water affinity.
And if he ate the Magu Magu no Mi (Magma-Magma Fruit), there was a high chance he'd gain earth affinity...
Shaking off his wandering thoughts, Naruto stood atop the flowing water of his Suiton technique and turned to look at the giant man being swept along by the tide.
The man drank mouthfuls of water as he was pushed back, flailing and yelping all the while.
"Hmph. As expected, the power is lacking…" Naruto muttered with a slight shake of his head.
This was the only offensive ninjutsu of sufficient power he could find while digging through everything he had.
Unfortunately, without an affinity for water and with unfamiliarity in using it, he could only bring out about twenty percent of its full potential.
"Gulp gulp gulp…"
The giant man gulped down the torrent of water with noisy gulps.
Only after a long moment did he breathe out in relief and collapse onto the beach, saying:
"That was close! I thought I was gonna die!"
Turning to look at the two child-sized figures, he gave them a grateful look.
"Thanks, you two. If it weren't for you, I really might've died here, kashishishishishi…"
The giant man couldn't help but burst into laughter.
"Oh, right…" He seemed to recall something and looked at the beach in confusion.
"This is a beach, right? Where did you two get all that water from?"
Naruto ignored the question. With a few nimble jumps, he brought Robin up onto a tree branch, leveling his gaze with the giant.
"My name is Naruto. Nice to meet you!"
The giant froze, then quickly responded:
"My name is Jaguar D. Saul…"
Before he could finish introducing himself, Naruto pointed at the dark-skinned girl beside him and said, "Her name is Nico Robin."
"Hah!!!"
Saul's eyes nearly popped out of his skull.
"Nico Robin?? That name's awful! Of all the surnames… why Nico?! That's terrible!"
Robin glared at Saul.
"My mother gave me that name. I like it. There's nothing wrong with it."
"I didn't mean it like that…" Saul waved his hand and paused before asking, "Sorry, that was my bad. What's your mother's name?"
"Nico—Nico Olvia."
"..."
The giant man's eyes bulged once again. He was dumbstruck.
"Wait… don't tell me… is this island… is this Ohara?"
"Yes," Naruto nodded calmly.
"How could this happen…" Saul collapsed with a thud, his massive frame crushing a whole swath of trees.
But he didn't care about that at all. Instead, he stared blankly up at the sky in despair.
"I finally managed to escape from the Navy… and I ended up on Ohara…"
Naruto knew exactly what he was despairing over.
Because if Saul was here, that meant the Navy's Buster Call had already been activated.
The so-called Buster Call was a devastating assault authorized by the World Government, where the Navy Headquarters would mobilize its forces to completely annihilate the designated area.
Under a Buster Call, towns and islands alike would be reduced to scorched earth.
And if he was on the island when it happened, there was a very real chance Saul would become just another corpse among the rubble.
After regaining his composure, Saul sat up again and introduced himself properly.
"I'm a friend of your mother, Olvia. And now that I've arrived on Ohara, there's something important I must tell you…"
"This island… is about to face its doom. When the time comes, everyone on it will die…"
"You two, go and warn the scholars of Ohara. Tell them to evacuate. I believe they must know what a Buster Call means…"
"..."
"I understand."
Naruto agreed without hesitation, then turned to Saul and said, "I'll inform the scholars as soon as possible. You come help too."
Saul looked at Naruto in astonishment. He hadn't expected this blond boy to be so composed.
"Naruto-kun…"
Robin looked at him with concern.
Naruto shook his head. "It's alright. Not a single scholar will die here."
"..."
Three days later.
"Boom!"
A thunderous splash echoed from the sea. From beneath the waves, the twenty-meter-tall giant Saul emerged, sending up an explosion of water.
He was holding an enormous sea creature that looked like a cross between a fish and a pig.
With a casual toss, he flung the creature onto the shore, then climbed out of the sea and looked at the golden-haired boy with confusion.
"Naruto, you've already got plenty of food. Why make me catch something like this!?"
As he spoke, he reached out with a massive hand, casually scooped up several hundred loaves of bread from the shore, and tossed them into his mouth like snacks.
All these loaves were purchased by Naruto, costing him five million ryō.
But the blond boy didn't mind at all. His eyes stayed fixed on the massive sea beast as he licked his lips.
"This is my personal food stash. Uncle Saul, please smoke it for me as soon as possible."
In the nearby forest, there were dozens of similar giant sea creatures.
Some were being smoked, some were already turned into preserved meats, and some had been fully processed—enough to last several months without spoiling.
"Alright, alright… but I gotta say, I didn't expect a little guy like you to be a Doa Doa no Mi (Door-Door Fruit) user. Kashishishishi…"
Saul laughed heartily.
With Naruto's Door-Door powers, he no longer feared for Ohara's fate.
Naruto had already told him that when the Buster Call arrived, he would use the fruit's ability to send Saul to a remote island for safety.
Soon, the fourth day arrived.
That day, Naruto met Robin's mother—a dark-skinned beauty with a mature charm.
"Hello, my name is Naruto."
(End of Chapter)
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