Whitebeard in Naruto World - Chapter 93
The Seven Ninja Swordsmen! Gato Group’s Shipyard (Part 1)
—
“Stopped… It stopped…” The fisherman whose foot was pierced by fish hooks is filled with terror on his face.
But within that terror, he also feels a lingering sense of relief at having survived.
“Wh… who is that man?” The fisherman swallows hard, staring at Whitebeard’s back in astonishment.
Suddenly, he realizes the giant before him has turned around.
A body so massive it defies human evolution, combined with a burly frame that radiates sheer intimidation, plus an enormous naginata—these three elements merge in perfect harmony.
Even without unleashing Haoshoku Haki,
It still makes the fisherman, who is so close, tremble in fear!
At that moment, Whitebeard lowers his gaze slightly, focusing on the fisherman.
“Hey, little fishing brat!” Whitebeard narrows his eyes and asks, “This place—is it the Land of Water?!”
H-he spoke!!
A giant… talking!
“Y-yes…” Even the fisherman himself doesn’t know where he found the courage to answer.
“Gurararara!” Whitebeard’s grin deepens. “Seems like Moby Dick will be reborn here in the ninja world.”
“Kid, what’s the best shipyard in your country?” Whitebeard asks. “Do you know where it is?”
The fisherman never expected Whitebeard to ask something like that.
In his panic, he completely forgets the pain in his foot. He quivers as he replies, “A…a shipyard?”
“The best shipyard in the Land of Water is the Gato Shipyard.” He struggles to recall what a mere commoner like him would know.
“That’s a shipyard in the Land of Water set up by the famed billionaire ‘Mr. Gato,’ in partnership with Kirigakure Village. Even the fishing boat I use was purchased from there.”
“Gato?” Whitebeard almost hears it as “Kaido.”
Those two names sound eerily similar.
“Gato… I think he’s a pretty famous tycoon,” Kakashi’s voice suddenly pipes up from Whitebeard’s side.
He’s already disembarked from the damaged merchant ship.
Kakashi has one hand in his pocket, the other supporting Uchiha Shisui. His half-lidded eye looks as lifeless as ever—he seems utterly dejected.
Kakashi recalls, “He has businesses in various countries across the ninja world, maintaining connections with many daimyos and different nobles. But his reputation is not very good.”
“I’ve heard that apart from legitimate businesses, he deals in some rather shameful trades: human trafficking, drug sales, arms dealing… that sort of thing.”
“Dad, I heard about him in Kusagakure as well,” Uzumaki Fushi says as she disembarks with Karin’s hand in hers.
She adds, “He seemed to have some kind of business arrangement with Kusagakure.”
Of course, considering how devastated Kusagakure was…
Most likely…
Whatever the deal was, it was reduced to ashes along with the village.
“Hey, fishing brat, you still haven’t told me where it is!” Whitebeard glances at the trembling fisherman.
“S-south,” the fisherman replies weakly. “If you follow this coastline for roughly a hundred kilometers, you’ll find the Gato Shipyard.”
“South.” Whitebeard laughs boldly. “Gurararara! Foolish sons! Let’s set out for the brand-new Moby Dick!”
“Got it, Dad!” Naruto, thinking of how the Whitebeard Pirates will finally have a ship of their own, feels enthusiasm surging inside him.
Watching Whitebeard, Naruto, Fushi, and Karin leave, Kakashi sighs. “I just hope they don’t stir up trouble in the Land of Water… Unlike the Land of Grass, this nation is no small place.”
“Captain Kakashi, with Whitebeard-sama carrying a 100 million ryo bounty, he seems to be quite a prize in many people’s eyes,” Uchiha Shisui comments quietly, as if twisting the knife a bit.
“A bounty of 100 million ryo—wouldn’t even a ninja village be tempted by that amount of money?”
Hearing Shisui’s words, Kakashi can only remain speechless.
—
The Gato Shipyard stands on the south side of the Land of Water, at a relatively large harbor. Since the Land of Water has practically shut itself off from the world, even a port this big sees few merchant ships.
Most of the vessels there stick to the coastal routes within the Land of Water, rarely venturing beyond its territorial waters.
Among the buildings around the harbor, the largest complex by far is the shipyard Gato built in partnership with Kirigakure.
“Hurry, hurry! Get those goods stashed at the bottom of the hold. Don’t let the ninjas see them, or we’ll have to bribe them all over again.”
“What? Some of the powder got damp?! Dammit! Get it out to dry right now! One bag of that stuff is worth five hundred thousand ryo—your lives aren’t worth even a single bag’s loss!”
“Hide the weapons, too! Be careful, man! If all these explosive tags go off, the whole ship will be obliterated! Who knows why these scraps of paper explode—ninjas are such freaks.”
“Is the new ship finished yet? Hurry and hide the cargo inside. Then move both the ship and the goods to Tide-Surge Town in the northern Land of Water!”
“Get those kids stuffed into the hold and ship them to the Land of Fields. The big client’s waiting—don’t keep them waiting!”
“…”
Within the shipyard, a merchant in a suit is pointing left and right, issuing orders. He’s Gato’s top manager here.
While the shipyard is large and appears legitimate, Gato’s people also use it to cover up darker deals—
Powder, weapons, people…
They have it all. Such is the strange patchwork of technology and practices in the ninja world.
“Tch! Look at these workers—lazy, all of them!” The merchant tugs at his necktie, which feels like it’s choking him, yelling at the sweaty laborers in the shipyard.
“Thanks to Mr. Gato, you paupers in the Land of Water at least get to eat! Don’t you dare show ingratitude to Mr. Gato by lazing around!”
“Get moving! If you don’t finish all your work today, none of you are going home! You’ll work until morning!”
The Land of Water’s poverty rivals that of the Land of Wind. Among the Five Great Shinobi Villages, they’re practically on the same struggling level.
The shipyard workers know full well…
This place conceals shady business.
Sometimes corpses are hidden in sacks and thrown into the sea by the shipyard managers.
But to keep food on their tables…
They can only turn a blind eye.
Moreover—
They’re not ninjas. If they oppose Gato’s group, they’d get themselves killed ten times over!
And…
They’ve heard Gato’s shipyard is in cahoots with Kirigakure ninjas, so the notion of resisting never even crosses their minds.
“Mr. Aomizu! Mr. Aomizu!”
Suddenly, one of the hired thugs from Gato’s shipyard comes running up, his face torn between fear and panic. He shouts, “Mr. Aomizu! Outside the shipyard…there’s a giant!”
“What? A giant? Where would a giant come from?” The manager Gato placed here is named Tomoto Aomizu.
He’s still baffled when—
Boom!!!
A loud crash resounds from not far away, and something large hurtles toward them. It lands behind Tomoto Aomizu.
That sudden commotion makes him jump.
He quickly turns around.
His eyes widened.
Because he sees half of a broken gate stabbed into the ground near him as if the gate were a blade slicing tofu. The severed edge is so smooth and neat it’s almost mirror-like.
The thug who ran over here is trembling all over.
“T-the giant…he’s coming!!”
Even his voice is trembling.
“Gurararara… What a huge shipyard! If the entire shipyard works together, maybe they can finish building the Moby Dick in three years!”
A strange voice, gradually drawing nearer.
This sudden ruckus attracts the attention of the shipyard workers in the area, who stop what they’re doing to look curiously in that direction.
One pair of eyes after another…
Slowly widen.
Tomoto Aomizu, the highest person in charge at the shipyard, follows the sound. His expression mirrors everyone else’s: baffled and shocked by the figure looming in the faint mist.
His line of sight starts at normal eye level but ends up tilting upward. From initial confusion, his feelings turn to sheer astonishment.
There…really is a giant!!
“Y-you…who are you?!” The news about Whitebeard’s massive 100 million ryo bounty is mostly known among ninjas; non-ninjas rarely pay attention to such criminals.
So Tomoto Aomizu doesn’t realize who this “giant” is.
He only knows the visitor didn’t come in peace.
“We’re pirates!” Before Whitebeard can speak, Naruto suddenly interjects, “We’re the Whitebeard Pirates!”
“Pirates? Whitebeard Pirates?!”
As the manager responsible for the shipyard business in the Land of Water, and for maritime transport of contraband, Tomoto Aomizu is quite familiar with pirates.
He deals with seaborne outlaws all the time.
The seas near the Land of Water are crawling with pirates—
Some of them are ex-ninja who turned pirate.
But…
He’s sure he’s never heard of a group like these pirates, and has no recollection of any “Whitebeard Pirates.”
This “Whitebeard Pirates”…
What a strange bunch!
He now notices Naruto, Karin, Uzumaki Fushi, Kakashi, and Uchiha Shisui standing next to Whitebeard.
In his eyes, that’s two brats, a rather skinny woman, one man in a mask who looks severely lacking in vitality, and one bandage-wrapped, extremely feeble fellow.
Oh, and the giant!
But why does that blond brat look so bulky, like he’s stuffed with a lot of things under his clothes?
“Don’t worry, we’re not here to rob or plunder your shipyard,” Naruto says with a big grin. “We’ve come to build a ship—a very, very, very big pirate ship!”
—
The Seven Ninja Swordsmen! Gato Group’s Shipyard (Part 2)
—
“Build a ship?” Tomoto Aomizu forces down the shock in his heart, a gleam unique to businessmen flashing in his eyes.
“Yes, a ship like this!”
Naruto rummages through his belongings and finds a set of blueprints depicting the basic design of the Moby Dick.
It shows the layout of each different cabin and function within the ship.
It’s written out in detail.
These plans were drawn by Kakashi and Uzumaki Fushi together, based on Whitebeard’s descriptions of the Moby Dick.
Naruto spreads out the blueprint.
Letting Tomoto Aomizu see.
“This ship is huge!” Just one glance leaves Tomoto Aomizu gaping. “Tens of meters tall, hundreds of meters long, able to accommodate 1,600 people living aboard?”
“That’s right!” Naruto asks eagerly, “We’ve prepared more than four hundred million ryo for this. Is that enough?”
“Over four hundred million ryo?” Tomoto Aomizu’s eyes almost pop out of his head. That’s an astronomical sum.
Even with this shipyard going all out—plus all the profits from smuggling contraband—
They couldn’t earn that much in a year.
Might take two or three years?
“You guys really have that much money?” He’s dumbfounded. With that kind of wealth, why be pirates at all? Wouldn’t it be better to just bribe a small country’s daimyo, buy a noble title, and live a privileged life?
“Yep!” Naruto undoes the weights strapped to him—he’s been wearing them ever since they arrived in the Land of Water, never taking them off.
With a series of clinks,
Bricks of gold fall to the ground.
They shine brilliantly.
“This is just part of it,” Naruto continues. “So, can you build the Moby Dick here or not?”
“We can! Absolutely!” At that moment, Tomoto Aomizu can’t tear his eyes away, staring at the pile of glittering gold bricks.
Desire flickers in his gaze.
As Gato’s man in charge here…
He’s certainly no saint.
In just that split second, countless thoughts flash through his mind—the gold bricks on the ground alone might be worth tens of millions. If these so-called Whitebeard Pirates truly have over four hundred million in cash and treasure…
Hiss! He can’t let that slip away!
But trying to get it by honestly building an absurdly huge pirate ship?
It’s not impossible.
The problem is, that’s a terrible deal!
Building a ship that big would cost at least four hundred million in labor and materials, leaving him to profit maybe only a few tens of millions. If that’s the case, why not just take the entire four hundred million?
The thought of double-crossing them surfaces in Tomoto Aomizu’s mind. After all, this group is an unknown band of pirates.
Sure, that giant looks intimidating.
And the masked fellow wearing a ninja forehead protector doesn’t seem easy to handle.
He recognizes the Konoha forehead protector Kakashi wears.
But this isn’t Konoha!
This isn’t even the Land of Fire!
This is the Land of Water!
“Ahem,” Tomoto Aomizu suppresses the greed in his gaze and puts on a pair of glasses. He takes the blueprint from Naruto and carefully examines it.
“Yes, we can build it, but it’ll take quite a long time. We’ll need to consult with our shipwrights about the plan. We’ll also need a team of designers to make the blueprints more detailed.”
“After all, with such a rough sketch, you can’t actually build a ship. How about we have you esteemed guests rest here at the shipyard for now?”
Tomoto Aomizu puts on a welcoming smile—
As if none of those sinister thoughts had ever crossed his mind.
He continues, “You’re our big customers at Gato’s Shipyard. We absolutely must treat you well. Whatever you’d like—good wine, fine food, even beautiful women—we can arrange it.”
“You there, take these esteemed guests to the reception hall. I’ll take these pirate ship plans and find the best shipbuilding designers here at Gato’s Shipyard.”
Tomoto Aomizu gives a meaningful look to the thug by his side.
The thug shivers, quickly replies, “Y-yes!”
“Gurararara!”
Whitebeard glances at Tomoto Aomizu with a half-smile,
But says nothing more.
“Foolish son, pick up your weights!” he calls to Naruto. “Don’t you try to slack off when I’m not looking!”
“Roger, Dad!”
—
Watching Whitebeard and company walk away,
Tomoto Aomizu narrows his eyes.
“Over four hundred million ryo!” He drops his veneer of courtesy. Unrestrained greed gleams in his eyes as he paces in excitement. “Some outsiders, calling themselves pirates, actually have more than four hundred million? And they even have a Konoha ninja among them?”
“Still, they don’t look like they’re lying. That kid alone was lugging around gold bricks worth tens of millions—he even used them as so-called ‘weights.’”
“But I can’t take them down by myself. A giant plus a Konoha ninja is no easy fight.”
“I need to find ninjas!!”
This Gato Shipyard in the Land of Water was established in cooperation with Kirigakure, with both sides investing resources.
In fact, a few Kirigakure ninjas are stationed right here at the shipyard.
One of them is even one of the Seven Ninja Swordsmen.
Usually, they treat these Kirigakure ninjas like gods, letting them do whatever they please—because if something happens, these Mist ninja will be the ones stepping in.
“They eat and drink their fill in the shipyard every day…”
“It’s time for them to actually earn that keep.”
Tomoto Aomizu decides to work with Kirigakure!
Working with ninja means he likely can’t take all the money, but at least they can split it, maybe 50-50, netting himself over two hundred million ryo.
And he won’t even have to lift a finger—
It’d be free money!
With this in mind,
He rushes off with his body—already half wasted by wine and women—toward a small three-story building in the shipyard.
He runs nearly a kilometer, panting so hard he almost faints.
Bang!
Bang!
Bang!
He knocks on the door.
“Lord Kurosuki! Lord Kurosuki!” Tomoto Aomizu shouts carefully while knocking. “It’s me, Tomoto Aomizu! Lord Kurosuki, I have a big deal to discuss with you!”
Thud!
The door doesn’t open inward, but outward—
It smacks him right in the face.
His glasses shatter, blood trickling from his nose, and he clutches it, howling in pain.
Furious, he looks up—
Only for his anger to freeze.
He sees several ninjas wearing Kirigakure forehead protectors inside, all staring at him with unfriendly eyes. The murderous aura of these Mist ninjas—who knows how many people they’ve slain—suffocates him.
“Hey! Don’t disturb Lord Kurosuki’s nap!”
A Kirigakure Chunin glares at him, dripping with killing intent. “Or I’ll hang your head on the door like a lantern!”
“S-sorry…”
Tomoto Aomizu instantly deflates.
His rage gone without a trace.
He hurriedly says, “But I really do have a big deal—worth more than four hundred million! A huge opportunity!”
“Oh?”
A lazy voice drifts out from inside, someone who’s just woken up.
“More than four hundred million?”
One of the Seven Ninja Swordsmen, Raiga Kurosuki—who has yet to defect—opens his eyes with interest and sits up from the couch.
He glances at Tomoto Aomizu standing at the doorway,
Eyes so chilling that Tomoto Aomizu feels like he’s fallen into an icy abyss.
How many people must he have killed to have such a terrifying gaze?
Tomoto Aomizu gulps.
He quickly forces a smile. “Lord Kurosuki, if you’re willing to take action, we can split the four hundred million ryo seventy-thirty! I take thirty, you take seventy! The enemy is just a group of foreign pirates—once they’re finished, a huge sum awaits.”
He had initially planned on a fifty-fifty split with Kirigakure,
But now he realizes that might’ve been too greedy.
Tomoto Aomizu knows that any cut he gets depends on these ninja’s whim.
“Tsk, pirates?” Raiga Kurosuki remarks. “Let’s hear the details?”
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