"It's just like what you said before, Shanks. That organization where your old comrade is—they secretly overthrow governments, and their core goal is to bring about a more peaceful and better world."
"Isn't that exactly what you described as a revolutionary army?"
Zabuza casually explained.
"That old comrade of yours, his name is Hoshigaki Kisame, right?"
Shanks' face stiffened into an awkward smile.
Uh… yeah, he did say that before.
But how did these guys end up thinking the Akatsuki was a revolutionary army?
Do they even know what kind of people make up the Akatsuki?
And core goals? The Akatsuki's core goal is something like that?
Alright, fine.
Before Yahiko died, maybe it was.
At the start, the Akatsuki really did act like a revolutionary army.
They even started an uprising in the Land of Rain—only to be crushed by Hanzo the Salamander.
That battle cost Yahiko his life.
Thinking about it, at the start, the Akatsuki was basically doing the same kind of work as the Revolutionary Army next door.
"Hahaha, even though Kisame and I never really got along, that guy actually went and investigated the organization he was part of. And guess what? Turns out it really was the Revolutionary Army."
"Gato even bought some intel on them from Kakuzu. Apparently, they're also planning to capture the Tailed Beasts."
Zabuza's face was full of mixed emotions. He knew exactly what kind of people Kisame's group was.
If they weren't outright ruthless villains, they were pretty close.
And yet, somehow, they had all been tricked into working for the Revolutionary Army.
"Shanks, you know the last guy who tried to capture the Tailed Beasts, right?"
"Senju Hashirama, the First Hokage."
"Exactly. So now those guys are trying to do the same thing. And from what I've heard, there's even a guy in their group who worships some evil god and enjoys killing for fun."
"And they actually got tricked into thinking they were bringing peace to the ninja world."
If Zabuza could figure this out, then of course Shanks could as well.
The Akatsuki was basically just copying exactly what Hashirama had done before.
And the funniest part? It was Kakuzu who figured it out. Forget Konan and Nagato trying to explain themselves—Shanks himself wouldn't be able to come up with a good excuse either.
"..."
Seeing Shanks go silent, Zabuza lost interest. He had wanted to share more of this ridiculousness with him.
"You sure you're really Shanks?"
Zabuza smirked. This guy was acting way too dull. What the hell had happened to him? They had already won, hadn't they?
"I'm not."
Shanks answered bluntly. He had been wrong—completely wrong from the very beginning.
Right now, only one thought filled Shanks' mind: regret.
He deeply regretted everything.
He had assumed this was the world of One Piece, but it turned out to be Naruto. If it were just Naruto, that would've been fine—he could have used his knowledge of the future to live comfortably.
But this world… felt more like some strange mix of Naruto and One Piece.
"You really aren't Shanks?"
Zabuza pulled out Shanks' wanted poster and checked again. Aside from the black eye he had given him, everything else matched.
But Shanks' eyes were locked on the number below his massive photo.
"Wanted: 500 million…"
For a moment, Shanks froze. He had just set sail—wait, no. This wasn't even the pirate world.
He had already ended up in the Naruto world. He had barely stepped out when he ran into a bunch of strong fighters, and now, he was staring at his own wanted poster.
Five hundred million. Five hundred million!!
"ZABUZA!!!"
Boom!
Another crack appeared on the deck. Zabuza, still holding Shanks' 500-million bounty poster, let it drift into Haku's hands.
Seeing their captain get punched again, Haku wisely took a step back. The other pirates did the same, not wanting to get caught in the crossfire.
That 500-million bounty had nothing to do with them.
This was all because Zabuza had gone around claiming Shanks was backing him. That made people assume Shanks was protecting him, which led to the whole mess with robbing Kirigakure's treasury.
So honestly… he kind of deserved the beating.
"Captain, are you okay?"
"Yeah. I should be fine."
"..."
Shanks glanced at the ship full of pirates and couldn't be bothered to deal with them.
Instead, he pulled out the scroll Jiraiya had given him. He wanted to see exactly where the history of the Naruto world had started to change.
Logically speaking, history that's already set in stone shouldn't be easy to change. Even if something did shift, it wouldn't be this drastic.
Yet, during his fight against Jiraiya, the Raikage, and the others, Shanks felt something strange—almost like destiny itself was on his side.
And it wasn't just a feeling. It was a real, tangible force surrounding him, as if fate had chosen him.
For a moment, he truly believed he was invincible.
Of course, he knew it was just an illusion.
But one thing was clear—there was something seriously wrong with this world.
A lot of things hadn't happened yet, but to Shanks, who already knew the "story," they were as good as done.
And right now, too much had changed in the shinobi world.
Shanks was self-aware enough to know that while history was hard to shake, with his power, he was more than capable of altering the course of this world's events.
The key point?
In the past few months, he had never directly appeared in the shinobi world.
So if he wasn't the one messing with history… then who was?
Shanks could only think of one possibility—besides the three holy lands, no one else in the shinobi world should have the power to pull something like this off.
With that in mind, he unrolled the scroll from Jiraiya. Jiraiya had even taken the time to mark everything clearly for him.
"The Toad Sage used a secret technique… borrowed my power… and peeked into the future through my Observation Haki?"
Reading the first few lines, Shanks couldn't help but shudder.
The Toad Sage of Mount Myoboku was terrifying.
He had actually used Shanks' own Observation Haki to glimpse the future Shanks himself had seen?
"But my Observation Haki never showed me much of the future to begin with."
"Wait… that's not right. Technically, I don't even need Observation Haki to see the future."
Shanks nodded to himself.
After all, he didn't need any special abilities to know what was going to happen—he already knew the entire plot!
He kept reading.
He wanted to see exactly what kind of "future" the Toad Sage had witnessed.
"Five Elders..."
"Four Emperors..."
"Devil Fruits..."
Shanks read line after line, his expression shifting from curiosity to shock… then even more shock… and then disbelief.
"What the hell… How do you guys even believe this? You guys are insane! No wonder you're one of the three great holy lands—this is next-level!"
He was completely speechless.
The Toad Sage was insane.
No, wait.
He, Shanks, was the insane one.
But the Toad Sage was insane too!
The future he had seen… was literally the plot of *One Piece*!
Did the Toad Sage seriously not realize something was off?
And he still believed it?!
Of course, the Toad Sage would probably just shrug and say, "Well, is what I saw real or not?"
What could Shanks say?
It was real.
There were Four Emperors.
There were Five Elders.
And the Five Elders did show him respect.
But the problem was—this was the wrong world's plot!
Looking up at the ceiling where Gato was hanging, Shanks suddenly felt the urge to hang up there himself.
Maybe that would help him calm down.
"Sigh..."
Holding his head, Shanks let out a deep sigh, releasing all the frustration building up inside him.
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