Starting as the mastermind behind Naruto

Chapter 416 Shanks is just Shanks; he's the next person Baroque Works wants to kill.

Uehara Naraku's punch hurt!

The punch hurt so much that Luffy started to question his existence.

Because he is a user of the Gum-Gum Fruit, he doesn't worry about the pain from punches. Apart from Garp's punches, this is the first time he has felt pain from another person.

"Give me back Shanks' straw hat!"

Monkey D. Luffy's arm suddenly stretched out and grabbed Uehara Naraku's straw hat, trying his best to take it back!

Actually, Luffy has a few questions he wants to ask right now, and he's still in a lot of pain, but the straw hat is undoubtedly his most precious possession, and getting it back is the most important thing!

Uehara Naraku did not stop him, but simply let Luffy take back the straw hat before swinging his arm across Luffy and knocking him to the ground!

"I've got it."

Uehara Naraku opened his palm and slowly said, "From now on, don't say you want to become the Pirate King in front of Baroque Works. Only our boss can become the Pirate King, understand?"

"No way!"

Luffy suddenly raised his head, staring intently at Uehara Naraku, a stubborn look on his face: "I'm going to be the Pirate King...!"

"oh."

Uehara Naraku reached out and grabbed him by the collar, dragging him towards the windmill village: "Let's find a place to have a proper talk... Mr. Kisame, Ms. Robin, you two go ahead and attend to your business!"

"hehe…"

Kisame Hoshigaki grinned and chuckled, "Then you can deal with that brat properly! Let's raid this village!"

After Kisame finished speaking, he turned to Nico Robin and asked, "Vice President, may I kill everyone in this village?"

"Don't kill anyone."

Nicole Robin shook her head.

After watching the two of them leave, Uehara Naraku carried Luffy's body towards a tavern, casually remarking, "This village is really lucky! If it were our boss, we would have killed everyone in this village and burned it to the ground..."

"…asshole!"

Luffy clenched his fists, his face grim, and said, "You bunch of bastards who have tarnished the honor of pirates!"

"Feed..."

Uehara Naraku tapped Luffy on the head and chuckled, "What are you talking about? We're pirates! Go ask around the Grand Line and see how many people our Baroque Works has killed!"

"asshole!"

A flash of anger crossed Luffy's face, and he said in a deep voice, "When I get to the Grand Line, I'll definitely blow your entire organization to smithereens!"

"I'm really looking forward to it."

Uehara Naraku pinched Luffy's face, lifted his body, and continued forward.

Because Luffy is a user of the Gum-Gum Fruit, his face is long and his body is dragging on the ground, making him look both pathetic and comical.

Windmill Village.

Makino Tavern.

The door is obviously not open in the early morning.

However, the tavern's patrons today were quite rude. One of them kicked open the door and threw someone inside, yelling, "Hey, boss, a juice, please!"

"..."

A sleepy-eyed woman soon emerged from behind the tavern.

It was Makino, the owner of this tavern. She looked rather cute, as if she had just woken up and still had a sleepy look on her face.

Makino slowly rubbed her eyes, sighing as she apologized, "I'm sorry, sir, it's not business hours yet..."

But when Makino rubbed her eyes and looked up, she saw Luffy lying on the ground, and a look of panic flashed across her face!

"Luffy! What's going on?!"

"This kid says he wants to be the Pirate King..."

A young man with squinted eyes and a smile spread his palms and continued, "But in this world, only the boss of our Baroque Works can become the Pirate King, so I taught him a lesson..."

"..."

After a moment of silence, Makino slowly helped Luffy sit down in a chair, looked up, and put on a smiling face, saying, "I'm so sorry... the village children are so ignorant, they've made the guests who have come from afar laugh!"

Makino was especially rational at this moment.

Because Makino knew that now was not the time for theory.

Since Luffy, who has Devil Fruit powers, seems to have been defeated, we must hold back for now to avoid directly angering the pirates.

However, Luffy, whom Makino helped up, clearly didn't give her any face, immediately declaring, "I'm not kidding! I'm going to be the Pirate King!"

"Luffy! Don't speak."

A serious expression flashed across Makino's face. After Luffy reluctantly shut his mouth, she looked up at the pirate and continued with a smile, "So, would you like a glass of juice, sir? I'll have it ready right away..."

"Mmm..."

One of the young men walked in, sat down on a chair at the bar, and continued softly, "Then I'll trouble the boss to speed things up."

"For every minute that delays our Baroque Works, we charge one million Berries. This is a rule set by our boss."

"...One...one minute? One million Berries?"

Upon hearing the number, Makino's face flashed with surprise. After quickly comforting Luffy, she rushed towards the bar!

"Please wait a moment, it will be ready soon!"

"I'm not in a hurry."

Uehara Naraku rested his arm on the table, watching Makino hurriedly get to work: "Anyway, the longer you take, the more money I can get from you."

"..."

A bead of cold sweat appeared on Makino's forehead.

Having grown up in Windmill Village, the hometown of Marine hero Monkey D. Garp, few pirates dare to offend him.

In the past, there was a red-haired pirate crew that often stopped in Windmill Village, but those pirates never bullied the weak. Makino had never seen pirates bullying civilians like this before.

"Where did the guests come from?"

While chatting, Makino tried to gauge Uehara Naraku's attitude, all the while hurriedly making juice. She was just an ordinary little woman.

Alabasta.

Without hesitation, Uehara Naraku secretly leaked some information about Crocodile.

Makino's brow relaxed, and she smiled as she said, "I seem to recall Captain Shanks mentioning that it's a country that's mostly desert!"

"Red-haired Shanks?"

Uehara Naraku curled the corners of his lips into a smile, which grew wider as he mentioned the man: "Boss, do you know Shanks? Oh, right, that brat who was clamoring to become the Pirate King just mentioned him..."

"Captain Shanks is a regular visitor to our Windmill Village..."

"I doubt he'll come again."

Uehara Naraku interrupted Makino, calmly saying, "After our Baroque Works defeated the Shichibukai Jinbe and the Whitebeard Pirates, our next target will be the Red-Haired Pirates."

"Shanks will never be defeated by you!"

After hearing Uehara Naraku's words, Luffy shouted at him in dissatisfaction, "Shanks is very strong! I made a promise with him that I would return the straw hat to him the next time we meet!"

"Your juice, sir."

Makino hurriedly placed the juice in front of Uehara, looking anxiously at Luffy, hoping he wouldn't say anything more to provoke Uehara.

Uehara Naraku ignored Luffy, took the cup, sipped through the straw, and continued, "Thanks, but this juice took up a minute of my time. Just give me a million Berries when I leave."

Makino: "..."

That pirate was serious just now!

However, Makino was more worried about Shanks, and she couldn't help but ask, "Have you seen Captain Shanks, sir? How is he now?"

"No, I haven't seen it yet."

Uehara Naraku sipped his juice and continued slowly, "He seems to be doing alright now, but that may not be the case in the future... No one who is an enemy of Baroque Works ever comes out on good terms."

Uehara Naraku's gaze slowly shifted to Luffy, and he said in a deep voice, "Never make enemies of Baroque Works, because the Navy attacked Baroque Works in Loguetown, and in retaliation, Baroque Works has chosen to plunder the hometown of Navy hero Garp!"

"Robbery...?"

Makino covered her mouth in alarm.

"Yes, they've already gone. It's too late for you to notify them now."

Uehara Naraku glanced at Luffy again and continued in a deep voice, "Hey, your name is Monkey D. Luffy, right? You're a member of Monkey D. Garp's family, aren't you!"

"Luckily I punched you and brought you back, otherwise those two Baroque Works members would definitely have killed you!"

"..."

Luffy was silent for a second.

The next moment, he endured the pain, stood up, adjusted his straw hat, and said in a deep voice, "I understand, but I won't stand by and watch the village be looted!"

"idiot!"

Uehara Naraku suddenly appeared beside Luffy, knocking him to the ground again with a punch, and continued, "You can't even beat me! My bounty is only thirty million, while theirs are all over one hundred million!"

After saying that, Uehara Naraku continued, "The looting of Windmill Village as retaliation against the Navy was an order personally given by our Baroque Works boss, and no one can stop it!"

This statement is not wrong.

When Nico Robin reported to Crocodile, the Crocodile man actually disagreed, but Nico Robin said that Kisame was determined to do it, and she couldn't stop Kisame from making a big fuss.

Crocodile had no choice but to agree.

Crocodile was already starting to regret bringing Kisame Hoshigaki into Baroque Works. Since that guy joined, Baroque Works had certainly become famous, but it was likely that it would attract more and more enemies.

Unfortunately, it's too late now, Crocodile can only console himself that as long as the fact that he's the boss hasn't been leaked, nothing else matters.

Crocodile is unaware of this at the moment.

The straw-hatted boy from Windmill Village has already memorized the owner of the Baroque Workshop and plans to settle accounts with this unknown boss in the future.

"Alright, don't worry too much."

Uehara Naraku took a sip of juice and continued softly, "I've already quietly informed the Navy. The Navy forces near the East Blue are all heading here. Baroque Works doesn't have time to do anything too outrageous, so they should be leaving soon."

"Is that so..."

Makino still looked worried. After listening to Uehara Naraku's words, she couldn't help but show a hint of gratitude as she looked at him.

Makino suddenly realized that she had misunderstood Shangyuan.

"The guest... is actually a good person..."

"Ha, what kind of good person am I?"

Uehara Naraku gave a wry smile, shook his head, and continued, "Since joining Baroque Works, there's no going back... Now I can only do the little things I can manage."

Second update

Let's go eat!

and also…

(End of this chapter)