Hearing Whitebeard, Marco, and Joz speak, Naruto looked slightly absentminded and couldn't help but say:
"You guys… don't think this feels wrong at all?"
At his words, the three paused for a moment. Marco asked curiously:
"What's wrong about it? Don't tell me you weren't planning to have a bunch of kids and form a pirate crew?"
Diamond Joz nodded in agreement:
"It does feel a bit off… Normally speaking, the stronger the woman, the stronger the children she bears, so in the matter of having kids, women actually hold a big advantage."
Naruto's eyelid twitched, and he turned to look at Whitebeard.
Whitebeard stroked his mustache and said:
"I don't really care much about that sort of thing. Whether they're my own blood or not, they're all my sons. Gurararara…"
In the end, Whitebeard burst into hearty laughter.
Looking at the reactions of the Whitebeard Pirates trio, Naruto took a deep breath and finally understood the difference in their way of thinking.
In the world of shinobi, except for nobles and daimyō, most ordinary shinobi followed a one-man-one-wife tradition.
But in the pirate world, it was pure survival of the fittest — as long as you were strong, you could have hundreds or thousands of women without issue.
Take the Celestial Dragons, for example — in the original story, Charlos had thirteen wives and would kidnap two more every now and then.
Or Big Mom — this woman had over a hundred husbands, killing each one after pregnancy.
From a pirate's perspective, bringing Tsunade here was probably nothing out of the ordinary.
The corners of Naruto's mouth curled into a small smile:
"As for the matter of children, we'll talk later. The main reason I brought her here is something else."
Marco tilted his head:
"What reason?"
Naruto smiled faintly and glanced at Whitebeard's body, riddled with IV tubes:
"That busty cow is a doctor — the best doctor in my homeland."
Whitebeard froze for a moment and unconsciously set down his barrel of sake.
"Uzumaki Naruto, are you saying…" Marco's eyes lit up in surprise.
"That woman can treat Pops!?"
Diamond Joz also perked up instantly.
Even for a strong man, age didn't necessarily mean weakness — but there was still a limit. Whitebeard had reached that limit.
He wasn't just old and physically declining — years of battle had left him with countless hidden injuries.
That was why he was constantly hooked up to IV tubes; his body simply couldn't endure the strain of battle anymore.
"Pretty much," Naruto nodded, then turned to Whitebeard:
"With her skills, she can treat at least some of your injuries, enough to restore some of your fighting strength."
"Gurararara!" Whitebeard roared with laughter.
"If that's the case, brat, the Marines at Headquarters wouldn't even be enough for me to take on with one hand!"
Naruto just smiled without refuting.
The only reason Marine Headquarters dared to target Whitebeard was because of his age.
If Whitebeard were ten years younger, with the strength of the man known as "the strongest in the world," the Marines wouldn't have dared provoke him.
"Then… can she treat him right now?" Marco asked with barely contained excitement.
"That won't work just yet," Naruto shook his head.
"We need to wait a bit — at least until she's in a better mood."
Sending Tsunade in her current state to treat Whitebeard would probably result in her landing two heavy punches on him instead.
"In that case, I'm heading out for a bit," Naruto said, standing and walking toward the door.
"What for?" Marco called after him.
"There are only two days left until the execution at Marineford!"
Without looking back, Naruto waved his hand:
"I'm just going to confirm something. I'll be back in at most two hours."
In the next instant, his figure blurred into golden light and vanished from Fishman Island, leaving the people in Ryugu Palace staring after him.
Marco exhaled in amazement:
"Never thought we'd have an ally in this operation against Marine Headquarters."
Diamond Joz nodded:
"Exactly. We're talking about Marine Headquarters — a terrifying enemy most people wouldn't even dream of challenging."
Marco grinned:
"That's why this is even better. With Uzumaki Naruto's help, our chances of rescuing Ace have gone way up."
Whitebeard laughed heartily and took a deep swig from his barrel:
"That brat's not bad at all. If he were willing to be my son, it'd be perfect — too bad he doesn't have that in mind."
Naruto felt his chakra draining rapidly.
When the space traversal ended, he took in the surroundings and inhaled sharply:
"Damn… that took seventy percent of my chakra in an instant."
Before him lay a pond, with frogs resting atop the water's surface. The air was fresh and serene.
"Crossing into an isolated dimension in another world sure burns through chakra like crazy," he muttered.
At his feet lay a massive dark-red toad, badly wounded — spiral-shaped impact marks, areas blackened from flames, deep slashes from wind blades.
It was already unconscious, only kept alive thanks to other toads tending to its injuries.
"Tough bastard," Naruto commented, giving it a light tap with his foot.
"I figured it'd be dead for sure. Guess these summoning beasts really do have insane vitality."
"Who are you!?"
The other toads, surrounding the wounded one, glared up at him.
"Gamakenshin is injured! Get off him now!"
"Did Jiraiya bring you here?"
"Move it! Don't interrupt our treatment, or we'll pound you flat!"
Several toads puffed out their bellies, spitting out weak water bullets toward Naruto.
Naruto ignored the weak attacks and asked flatly:
"Where's Jiraiya?"
Flames erupted in his palm, instantly evaporating the water bullets into steam.
The toads shuddered, finally realizing who — or what — they were dealing with.
"An enemy!!!" one of the larger toads shouted.
"Fukasaku-sama! Shima-sama! We're under attack! Someone's invaded Mount Myōboku!"
The area erupted in chaos. Toads croaked frantically, hopping away in all directions, some diving into the pond.
At that moment, beside a hot spring surrounded by stone toad statues, Jiraiya's eyes snapped open at the sound of the alarm.
"What!?"
He leapt out of the spring, hastily wrapping a towel around his waist and sprinting toward the commotion.
"He actually tracked me all the way to Mount Myōboku!?"
(End of Chapter)
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