"Haha! Boss, this haul is really good!"
On the deck of a certain pirate ship, a burly pirate captain was directing his subordinates to move the treasure and food they had just plundered into the ship's hold.
Hearing his underling's exclamation, the captain's face also showed an extremely arrogant smile.
"Hahahaha, the islands on the Grand Line are actually this wealthy! We should have left West Blue long ago!"
They were pirates who had crossed Reverse Mountain from West Blue to reach the Grand Line.
Before they even set sail, this group had already been gangsters terrorizing the local area.
The power structure of West Blue was relatively complex.
Aside from the World Government and Navy, it could basically all be classified as pirates.
The strongest among them was "Red-Haired Shanks," one of the Four Emperors, and his affiliated forces.
Yes, Shanks' territory wasn't in the New World.
Therefore, his conflicts with the other three sea emperors weren't that frequent.
Below them were national armed forces like the Happo Navy and Nippo Navy, who also held pirate identities, with some members active in the New World.
And aside from these overt military forces, West Blue's underground was controlled by countless large and small gang organizations. They would run gray industries like casinos or clubs in territories they "occupied," occasionally dealing in weapons and contraband.
Of course, there was also a traditional faction that still insisted on the old ways of pillaging and robbing.
As the former grew larger, the latter's living space was naturally squeezed.
So this group simply transformed themselves, hoisting pirate flags and running to the Grand Line to continue surviving through plunder.
They were ruthless and unscrupulous, often hitting and running.
Therefore, although their strength was average, their bounties were quite high.
"Boys! Advance to the next island!"
"Oh!"
The pirate leader raised his curved sword and waved it forward as the other pirates responded in unison.
Just then, the lookout responsible for watching ahead suddenly shouted down:
"Captain, there's a small boat ahead with only one person on it."
A shipwreck survivor?
He had seen this kind of situation before, with someone appearing alone in the middle of the ocean. Usually they couldn't survive long.
Never mind, treasure. They might not even have food.
"What do you think, boss?"
The pirate captain's lackey showed a cruel smile.
"Of course we run it over! Hahahaha!"
After hearing the captain's order, the other pirates also let out merciless laughter.
Compared to that plank-like small boat, the ship they were sailing could practically be called a behemoth.
After all, this was something they had stolen from those legendary five great families.
Those guys were really wealthy.
The pirate leader was still muttering to himself.
Once we recruit enough people on the Grand Line, we'll definitely go back to West Blue to settle the score for being driven out!
Crack...
The sound of the small boat being crushed was quite pleasant, but this pirate captain didn't hear the cries for help he was expecting.
"Hm?"
Just as he was feeling somewhat strange, a tall figure descended from above, landing steadily on the deck.
An enemy!
"Attack!"
This group was worthy of being former "bandits." After seeing Naruto jump onto the ship, without any communication whatsoever, they decisively opened fire.
Dense gunfire rang out as dozens of bullets clinked and clanked against Naruto's body.
However, with Haki blocking them, these bullets couldn't even tear his newly acquired clothes.
And Naruto?
He was calmly taking out a stack of wanted posters from his pocket and then began flipping through them one by one, occasionally looking up to compare with the guys in front of him.
That dismissive attitude could infuriate any villain.
Those minions didn't understand why the guy in front of them wasn't afraid of bullets. Some people didn't even notice whether they had hit their target after shooting.
In their view anyway, this sudden intruder was definitely dead.
After the gunsmoke cleared, Naruto's figure was completely unharmed.
"What's this?"
"What's going on?"
"I know! He must be a Devil Fruit user!"
Some genius shouted this, and all the other small-time pirates nodded in conviction.
But so what if he was a fruit user? Their captain was one too!
Under his subordinates' expectant gazes, that captain lived up to expectations and rapidly began transforming.
His skin became harder and rougher, his body swelled significantly, and even his back became somewhat hunched.
Most eye-catching was that large mouth, which under the fruit's power became flat and wide, filled with many sharp teeth.
"There it is! It's the boss's crocodile-man form!"
Relying on this Zoan fruit ability, the captain had withstood gang gunfire sieges. This guy in front of them was definitely dead.
After seeing him transform into a crocodile-man, Naruto's eyes lit up. He quickly flipped forward several pages in the wanted posters to find his target.
"Black Crocodile Pirates, Captain Alligade, Zoan Alligator form, bounty: 55 million berries."
"Not bad. At least it should be enough to build a small ship."
This captain, called Alligade, after hearing Naruto's seemingly random words, directly opened his fierce mouth.
"Bastard, let me bite your head off!"
Buzz.
Conqueror's Haki instantly cleared the field.
Naruto tied up those pirates who couldn't "sell" for much and casually threw them into the sea.
As for the captain and his several fighters, they all carried different levels of bounties for killing Marines, adding up to nearly 100 million.
Although this kind of bounty couldn't compare to roadside dogs in the New World, for the currently penniless Naruto, it was just right.
Yes, he was out of money.
After paying for this outfit, Naruto only had enough funds to buy a small boat.
As a lone wolf who could eat his fill without worrying about his family, he rarely carried that much cash.
Since returning to Paradise this time, he had been spending money freely.
At Boss Zeff's place, he had used Creek and his crew's bounties to pay for meals, but elsewhere Naruto hadn't been stingy at all.
He would often throw out stacks of berries.
This led to him now being unable to afford having an exclusive powered ship built.
Fortunately, before leaving Whiskey Peak, Naruto remembered this issue and decided to return to his old trade.
He had gotten copies of all the wanted posters from the restaurant owner, and Naruto planned to earn some side money following this stack of posters.
Bounty hunting. His old profession.
As for how to collect the bounties?
This brought up those various "beautiful female bounty hunters" who had once burst onto the scene like supernovas.
Cross-dressing was something that happened either zero times or countless times.