As usual, Garp only stayed for a week before duty called him away once more. During the short time he was there, he did not waste even a moment when it came to training the brats, especially poor Luffy, whose strength and fighting skills had clearly declined after eating his Devil Fruit. The week felt endlessly long and torturous for the children.
Well everyone except Naru, of course.
A few days after Garp's departure, the night air was crisp and cool, carrying the faint scent of damp soil and dying embers. Most of the bandits had already fallen asleep, their loud snores echoing through the wooden hideout. Outside, away from the noisy crowd, Naru and Dadan sat near the remains of a dying campfire. The logs crackled faintly, casting flickering shadows that danced across their faces.
Dadan was unusually quiet, puffing on her cigarette as she stared up at the dark treetops. Naru sat beside her, leaning back on her hands with half-lidded eyes as she gazed at the starry sky. The silence stretched comfortably between them until Naru finally broke it.
"I'm leaving soon."
Dadan let out a low grunt and flicked the ash from her cigarette. "Figured as much. The old man know?"
Naru smirked faintly. "Of course. He has known for a while now."
Dadan snorted. "And he didn't try to stop you?"
"Nope."
"Tch. Lucky you," Dadan muttered. "If it were those brats, he'd have their heads buried in the dirt for even thinking about it."
Naru laughed quietly. "I'm not them."
"No kidding." Dadan grumbled under her breath. She glanced at Naru from the corner of her eye. "So, how soon are we talking?"
Naru watched the embers pulse softly, glowing and fading like tired fireflies. "Soon. Just tying up a few loose ends first."
Dadan exhaled a long puff of smoke, her expression hard to read. "Hmph. I should've known this was coming. You never really planned to stick around forever, did you?"
Naru didn't reply right away. She stretched her legs out, feeling the cool breeze brush over her skin. "No," she said finally. "I never did."
Dadan clicked her tongue. "Tch. Annoying." She tossed the cigarette to the ground and ground it out beneath her heel. "And here I was thinking you'd at least stay long enough to make my life a little easier. Who's gonna knock some sense into those idiots now?"
Naru smirked. "You, obviously."
"Please," Dadan scoffed. "Those brats listen to you more than they ever listen to me." She rubbed her temple, as if she could already feel the future headaches forming.
Naru chuckled softly. "Sounds like a you problem."
Dadan shot her a glare from the side but didn't reply right away. After a long pause, she sighed and asked, "You sure about this?"
Naru turned to her, eyes steady and calm. "Yeah."
Another beat of silence passed before Dadan grunted and stood up, stretching her arms. "Fine. Do whatever you want. Just don't go dying out there. If you do, it's on you."
Naru raised an eyebrow. "That almost sounded like concern."
Dadan scowled. "Shut it."
Naru laughed quietly as she stood as well. The night wind rustled through the trees, carrying away the last threads of smoke from the fire. There were no grand farewells or sentimental words exchanged, but Naru understood. Dadan wouldn't admit it out loud, yet she would miss her. And strangely, realizing that made leaving just a little harder.
.
.
.
When Naru mentioned to Dadan that she had a few things to settle before leaving, she truly meant it from the bottom of her heart.
A few days later, Naru ventured into the very heart of the Goa Kingdom. Having explored every nook and hidden corner of Dawn Island, she knew the streets and alleyways better than most of the locals themselves. Like a chameleon, she melted seamlessly into the crowded bustle of the kingdom, becoming nothing more than another ordinary face among the pristine throng. Her sharp, calculating gaze swept over the citizens as she moved, silently cataloging their routines, their pretense, and the oblivious ignorance that colored their lives.
The contrast between the kingdom's glittering opulence and the squalor of Grey Terminal had always been striking. But tonight, there was something more. A subtle unease thickened the air, almost imperceptible but undeniably present.
Through her cleverly placed clones, Naru had already uncovered troubling whispers circulating among the nobles and high-ranking officials. They were plotting a 'cleansing' of the kingdom, making preparations for the anticipated arrival of a World Noble.
Goa Kingdom had long prided itself as the 'cleanest' kingdom in all of East Blue. The citizens were overly proud of their birthplace, considering themselves the elite among East Blue's inhabitants. Yet, much of that influence was more a reflection of Garp's legendary reputation as a Marine Hero than of their own accomplishments. Garp, however, had little interest in courtly politics. Titles, flattery, and manipulation meant nothing to him. If a noble dared to harass him, they would find themselves smashed into a wall before even completing a plea.
This harsh reality was a lesson the king and his high-ranking officials had learned the hard way, which explained why none of the influential people of Goa Kingdom had ever bothered to greet Garp upon his return from the Grand Line.
Garp's unbothered attitude, a complete disregard for the concerns of the nobles, had allowed their secret schemes to unfold unnoticed, a truth Naru had quietly discovered.
Despite their arrogance, Goa's claim to cleanliness was not entirely unearned. Naru remembered her first visit vividly. She had been genuinely impressed. The streets were immaculate, polished to a level that left no pebble or speck of dust behind. Workers moved continuously, sweeping and scrubbing every inch, ensuring the city gleamed with perfection.
And the people themselves? A parade of wealth. Flowing gowns, precisely pressed suits, polished boots, and elaborate hairstyles. Even casual wear was nothing short of regal.
Naru, seamlessly blending in as one of them, strolled casually while keeping her attention sharply on those around her.
Then, she heard it.
"They should have burned down that junkyard years ago," one nobleman sneered, adjusting his silk gloves as if speaking the name tainted his hands.
"Absolutely disgusting," a woman added, fanning herself with dramatic flair. "Filthy rats scuttling around that dump. This kingdom would be far more elegant without their presence polluting the air."
Another man laughed softly. "It will not be a problem much longer. The fire should take care of everything."
Naru's eyes narrowed, and her fingers twitched subtly. She had heard more than enough.
Without hesitation, she lifted her hand, summoning the wind with a delicate but deadly precision. Moments later, a small yet ferocious tornado sprang to life in the middle of the street. It was not large enough to demolish buildings, but it was more than sufficient to send the arrogant nobles hurtling through the air. Their shrieks cut through the night as they tumbled into stalls, overturned carriages, and landed gracelessly on the dirt, their fine clothing smeared with mud and debris.
Onlookers scattered in fear while the nobles flailed helplessly. One man attempted to rise, only to be shoved back down by a gust strong enough to knock him off his feet again.
Naru stared at them without emotion, letting the tornado roar for a few more moments before snapping her fingers. Instantly, the wind vanished, leaving the street in chaos and a handful of nobles who looked as though a violent storm had passed over them.
She turned on her heel and walked away, leaving them groaning, coughing, and dust-covered.
A bit of investigation had been enough. Naru soon understood the full scope of the nobles' intentions.
Their vision of a 'clean' Goa Kingdom was not merely about appearances. It was about total annihilation.
For years, the nobles had dumped their refuse, rejected possessions, and even unwanted people into Grey Terminal. The area had not always been a junkyard, but it had slowly decayed into a festering landfill, a place where material and human waste piled sky-high.
And now, with the arrival of a World Noble imminent, the king refused to allow such an 'eyesore' to tarnish their kingdom's pristine image. The solution was clear to them: burn it down.
Not just the trash.
But people as well.
Naru's trip to Goa had a simple purpose. She needed to gauge the reactions of the citizens, whether they knew of the plan or remained oblivious.
It turned out they were aware, yet showed not even the slightest shred of humanity toward the residents of Grey Terminal. To the nobility, anyone born outside their elite circles was simply unworthy of living, stripped of even the barest freedoms.
Perhaps this was why Sabo had chosen to abandon this wretched place entirely.
"It appears that mankind's desire to destroy never changes," Kurama commented with quiet disdain.
Naru could not find herself disagreeing with his assessment.
Eventually, she departed from Goa Kingdom, her steps silent yet filled with purpose as she traced the subtle lingering signs of a particular presence she had detected earlier. The trail led her to the remote outskirts, far removed from the glittering streets and grand halls she had just observed.
There, she found them.
A pirate crew.
They were exactly what she had anticipated.
A bunch greedy, violent, and thoroughly despicable scums. Nothing more than disposable pawns for self-important nobles unwilling to soil their own hands. Naru had no doubt that these pirates had been hired to reduce Grey Terminal to ashes
The moment the pirates spotted her, one of the lackeys swaggered forward, flashing a crooked grin. "Well, well, look what we have here. A pretty little thing wandering somewhere she shouldn't be—"
He never got the chance to finish his sentence.
Naru moved faster than their minds could even process.
In the blink of an eye, she unleashed a gust of wind with a mere flick of her wrist, the force slamming into the nearest cluster of pirates and sending them crashing violently into a pile of wooden crates. Before the others could even think of reaching for their weapons, she was already among them, a blur of precise and brutal movement. Her fists flew, her legs struck with the ferocity of a raging storm given form, each blow sharp and unrelenting.
The entire skirmish was over in less than a minute.
Bluejam, the so-called captain of the crew, now lay sprawled across the dirt, blood dripping from his broken nose and pooling beneath him. He glared up at her with a mixture of rage and pure terror, his pride crumbling.
"You! Do you have any idea who you're messing with?!" he spat, his voice thick with both fury and desperation.
Naru crouched down beside him, her blue eyes as cold and unforgiving as a winter storm. "Yeah," she said, voice flat and sharp. "A worthless scumbag who thinks he matters because he's playing errand boy for a bunch of gutless nobles."
His scowl deepened, but before he could respond, Naru seized a handful of his filthy hair and slammed his face into the dirt with brutal force, rattling his bones and silencing him completely.
Silence fell across the clearing.
Bluejam lay motionless, his fight and bravado extinguished entirely.
Rising to her feet without a second glance, Naru turned her attention to the scattered supplies littering the ground. She strode toward a stack of boxes and, without hesitation, plucked out a tightly bundled collection of tools. They were the instruments of arson they had prepared so carefully. Torches soaked in oil, barrels ready to be rolled into Grey Terminal's heart, everything needed to turn a home into a funeral pyre.
She inspected the bundle with cool detachment for a moment, then shifted her gaze toward one of the nearby pirates who was still conscious, if only barely, groaning weakly in the dirt.
"I'll be taking these," she declared casually, as if informing them she was stealing candy from a store rather than dismantling their entire plan.
"You think you can just walk away—" the man coughed, dragging himself upright, rage sparking in his eyes.
Before he could say anything more, Naru's boot collided with his gut, driving the air from his lungs in a pitiful wheeze. He collapsed back into the dirt, gasping like a fish out of water.
"I don't think," Naru said, her voice dropping into a deadly, ice-cold tone. "I know."
Without sparing another glance at the broken crew sprawled across the ground, Naru turned her back on them. The tools of destruction were now firmly in her possession, the pirates' vile plan shattered into nothingness.
She walked away without hesitation, a lone figure disappearing into the horizon, while behind her, only the wreckage of failure remained.