The red-haired man chuckled, clearly unconcerned, and added with a grin, "This drink's on me. Just remember—once you're done, head straight home."
"Captain Shanks, if you keep nagging like that, kids are going to hate you," Lucky Roux said cheerfully while tearing into a chunk of meat. As he laughed, the fat on his body rippled like waves, making the scene look downright comical.
Shanks shot back with a laugh, "You should worry about yourself first, Lucky. You're the one who never shuts up."
At that moment, Makino returned to the counter with a glass of rum and slid it over to Chu Yang.
Chu Yang took the glass, raised it slightly toward Shanks in a toast, and Shanks lifted his own in return. Chu Yang downed the rum in one go, then said calmly, "You got one thing wrong. Even if I finish the drink, I can't go home."
The smile on Shanks's face faded, and his brows knit together.
"I'm a slave," Chu Yang explained evenly. "I only managed to escape not long ago. The word 'home' is a luxury to me."
As he spoke, Chu Yang tugged his clothes down slightly, revealing a faint scar on his chest. Though it had faded, Shanks could tell from its shape that it had once been a grievous, potentially fatal wound.
The tavern gradually fell silent. The Red-Haired Pirates' gazes all turned toward Chu Yang. Hearing such words spoken so calmly from a child was a powerful shock.
Chu Yang's story immediately reminded Shanks of the arson incident at Mary Geoise several months earlier, when many Celestial Dragon slaves had escaped.
In an instant, Shanks understood Chu Yang's identity, and sympathy naturally surfaced in his eyes.
If slaves in this world could be ranked by suffering, then the slaves of the Celestial Dragons were undoubtedly the most miserable of all.
The capricious Celestial Dragons were experts at tormenting slaves, employing punishments beyond what ordinary people could even imagine.
Chu Yang's words—and the scars on his body—made Makino's eyes redden, though she didn't know what to say to comfort him.
Only little Luffy remained blissfully oblivious, still fooling around.
Thanks to him, the brief chill in the tavern quickly gave way once more to laughter and noise.
Amid the renewed merriment, Shanks handed Chu Yang another drink—this time without saying anything about "going home."
After everything he'd been through, no matter one's age, sometimes a drink was simply needed.
The two clinked glasses and smiled at each other.
"Luffy! What did you just eat?!"
A panicked shout instantly drew both Chu Yang's and Shanks's attention.
When Shanks saw that the treasure chest beside him had been opened, his expression changed drastically.
He grabbed Luffy by the leg, flipped him upside down, and shook him vigorously, trying to make him spit out whatever he had swallowed.
Instead, in his panic, Luffy not only failed to cough it up—he swallowed it completely.
Gulp!
Luffy's body stretched like rubber and stuck to the floor, his legs still clutched in Shanks's hand.
The sight horrified everyone. The tavern erupted into chaos, with only Chu Yang remaining calm as he continued to drink.
That night, Makino closed the tavern. One by one, the pirates returned to the harbor to sleep aboard their ship. Chu Yang followed the crowd back to his small boat.
As Shanks was about to board his ship, he happened to notice Chu Yang's little vessel, drifting alone on the sea like a piece of floating duckweed.
Benn Beckman, standing beside him, had noticed Shanks's hesitation and smiled. "If you can't bear it, just bring the kid aboard. Letting him drift alone out there—can you really rest easy?"
"What a pain," Shanks grumbled. Yet his body betrayed him as he walked over and stopped beside Chu Yang's boat.
Chu Yang was sitting upright, meditating.
"Hey, kid. Come with me. That little boat of yours doesn't even have a place to shelter from the wind and rain."
The next day, Chu Yang officially became the youngest trainee crew member of the Red-Haired Pirates, embarking on the next stage of his journey—deepening his mastery of Haki.
Naruto World
Compared to how smoothly Chu Yang joined a Yonko's crew in the pirate world, his teaching career here was anything but pleasant.
The timid, shy image of a young Third Hokage was a complete lie. Once Hiruzen Sarutobi grew familiar with his surroundings, his mischief knew no bounds—far surpassing even a young Naruto.
It didn't take long for the academy to descend into utter chaos.
Using the Transformation Technique to prank teachers had become his daily routine.
And together with the seemingly honest but secretly devious Danzo Shimura, the two wreaked havoc among the academy instructors.
One worked openly, the other from the shadows, their coordination flawless—already hinting at the shape of Konoha's future leadership.
The teachers found it hard to deal with them. The biggest concern, of course, was the Sarutobi clan standing behind Hiruzen.
Aside from Hiruzen, the children of other major clans behaved much the same. When they broke rules, teachers usually chose to smooth things over.
Konoha had only just been founded, and the power struggles among the clans were fierce. The Ninja Academy was a special place—mishandling anything could easily lead to misunderstandings.
If the son of one clan fought the heir of another, whichever side the school supported could be seen as sending a political signal.
For that reason, even when students committed serious violations, the academy head—Tobirama Senju—rarely punished them personally.
But Chu Yang felt this couldn't continue.
If the extreme behavior of Hiruzen and other clan heirs was constantly tolerated, with little real punishment, they would inevitably push further and further, crossing lines with ease.
In the worst case, these clan-born students might band together to oppress those from civilian backgrounds.
Once class hierarchy took root in a school, it would be devastating to students' growth—especially when nearly half the academy's students were civilians.
After sharing memories with the Magic World Chu Yang, this version understood all too well the dangers of allowing bloodline supremacy to fester.
He didn't want the Ninja Academy to become another Slytherin.
So that very night, Chu Yang sought out Tobirama Senju and laid out his concerns.
As someone born into a clan himself, Tobirama had been somewhat blind to this issue—it was natural he hadn't considered it from this angle. Without Chu Yang's reminder, he might not have realized how serious the problem was until much later.
Fresh from handling official affairs, Tobirama fell into deep thought after hearing Chu Yang's report. He couldn't help but sigh. "In this regard, you're just like my elder brother—exceptionally sensitive. If the school's stance isn't firm and explicit, it will only encourage this unhealthy trend."
"But who should handle it is another problem. Ordinary teachers would be wary of the pressure from those clans."
Chu Yang smiled. "I'm the best candidate. Publicly, I'm a teacher. Privately, I'm your student and the Hokage's student—a member of the Senju clan. I can withstand that pressure."
(End of Chapter)