Here is the next chapter of Rumble-Rumble edition. In this chapter the Straw-Hat Marines and vivi get to Yuba and Luffy and Smoker reveal a Secret to Zoro. The officer agents have their meeting with Crocodile. And a bit of Vivi's past is explored. Anyway i hope you all enjoy it.
"Damn"Regular Speech
"Crap" Regular Thoughts
"Oni Giri" Spoken Attacks
"Lightning bolt!"Thought attacks
"You've done well." Snail Phone speech
As always this will be a LuffyXHancock story, with Some ZoroXTashigi thrown in, and prolly some SmokerXHina.
Chapter 20: The Desert, The Camel, and the Old Man in Yuba!
Last Time
When we last left our Intrepid Marines and Princess Vivi, they had finally arrived at the Desert Kingdom of Alabasta, where they initially made port in the city of Nanohana. While Luffy went off to find some food, most of the crew and Vivi went off to buy provisions and water for a journey through the desert. The Straw-Hat Marine found a bar to eat at, and while waiting for his food noticed that the man sitting next to him was asleep in his plate and instantly recognized him, then just as he got his food Smoker entered the bar looking for him.
The man next to Luffy woke from his nap to continue eating and was confronted by the Smoke-Human, who revealed the man to be Commander of the 2nd Division of the Whitebeard Pirates , Portgas D. Ace. When confronted on his reason for being in Alabasta, Ace said he was looking for his little brother, before Luffy made his presence known and revealed that he was in fact Ace's little brother, which shocked Smoker as he had no idea that his C.O had such a dangerous sibling, but still wanted to capture the pirate, Luffy ordered Smoker to leave Ace be and then afterwards took the Pirate to meet his crew and Vivi.
Vivi sent her duck Carue north to the capitol of Alubarna where the King's Palace was, to give a letter to her father, King Nefertari Cobra, while she and the Marines sailed up the coast to the Sandora river in order to head towards the base of the Rebel Leader, the town of Yuba. While sailing towards the Sandora River, Ace thanked Luffy's crew for taking care of the Straw-Hat wearing Marine, and asked them to continue to look out for him, while throwing a piece of paper to Luffy himself, before he hopped off the Going Merry and landed on what looked to be a motorized Surfboard and prepared to leave.
Before leaving however he explained to Luffy that he was after a man who calls himself 'Blackbeard ', who used to be his subordinate in the 2nd division and committed the worst crime on a ship, Murder of a comrade, and then left using the powers of his Devil Fruit the Flame-Flame Fruit, to power the motor contraption, however he came upon a bit of a road block in the form of 5 Baroque Work's ships, but he destroyed every ship with only one attack, the one that gave him his Epitaph, "Fire Fist".
Meanwhile that night in the middle of the desert in a place called Spiders Cafe, the top Agents of Baroque Works gathered together, including the Mr.1 pair, as a fight broke out between Mr.1 himself and Mr.2 after the first man beat up the second's crew, however they were stopped by Mr.1's partner Miss Doublefinger and the 5 Officer Agents proceeded to head towards the base of operations of Crocodile 'Rainbase '.
Back with the S.H.M. They moored the Going-Merry on the west bank of the Sandora river, and entered the deserted town of Erumalu which used to be called the 'Green City ', however it was now nothing but sandy ruins, Vivi proceeded to tell the Marines how 2 years ago it stopped raining anywhere in the country except in Alubarna where her father the King resides, and that the people became suspicious of him when a large shipment of a substance called 'Dance Powder ', which Nami explained steals rain from neighboring countries was found in Nanohana and linked to King Cobra.
Vivi proceeded to make a speech about how she realizes that Crocodile's plot was already in motion back then, and cries and screams about how he could do the things hes done, which causes Luffy's anger to rise and cause a lightning storm, before destroying a building and ordering the group to move forward, and so they headed off into the desert in the direction of Yuba.
Now
We find the Marines and Vivi traveling through the desert, under the hot Sun. Chopper who is full of hot fur is being pulled along on a make-shift stretcher by Zoro, as the others walk on their own power but are unable to even sweat as it evaporates instantly due to the heat. However not everyone is affected by the harsh desert Sun, Vivi and Luffy are just fine, and when Sanji points this out the Princess says its because she grew up there, and Luffy says
"I'm made of Lightning. The temperature of Lightning is several tens of thousands of Kelvins. So a little desert heat is nothing to me, as my natural body temperature is greater then what your all feeling now." which causes most of their jaws to drop, with the exceptions on Nami and Smoker. As they continue on, Usopp begins to complain about all the hills in the desert stating that its like climbing mountains and Vivi says
"This is an Ancient Desert. The largest dunes are over 300 Meters tall." as the Long nosed Marine says
"300 Meters!? No wonder it seems like a mountain." Smoker looks at him and says
"Stop complaining. Your a Marine, so act like it! I swear, if climbing a 300 meter hill is hard to you then you'll never survive the harsh waters of the Grand Line." the others just shake their heads at the older man's gruff attitude, more then used to it by now, as Vivi states that they'll rest at the next big rock they come to and so they continue their journey, with the girls all talking about random things and the men just staying silent.
About 3 hours later they sight a rock formation and proceed to head towards it to rest, eat, and get in the shade, however when they get there they find a bunch of birds laying on the sand, looking to be injured, however the Straw-Hat wearing Marine senses something amiss, and his suspicions are confirmed when Vivi says
"Those are Evil Herons. They are also called the "Thieves of the desert." Luffy looks at her and says
"So they're playing pretend then?" as the princess nods her head to this statement and the teen says "Captain, Lieutenant, take care of these things will you?" the two men smirk at this and say together
"Happy to." as Zoro unsheaths one blade and attacks the Herons, cutting their heads off, while Smoker uses his powers to ensnare the ones that attempt to fly away, making them all the easier for the swordsman to kill. After the Herons are all taken care of, the crew sits in the shade and takes a rest, except for Sanji who gathers the dead birds up and proceeds to start de-feathering them having decided to take them around as extra meat to eat. While they rest Zoro asks
"So we'll reach Yuba sometime tonight right Vivi?" as the blue haired girl says
"Yes thats right." suddenly they hear a sound and turn towards the direction they intend to head only to see a giant lizard chasing a camel, as Vivi says "That's a Giant Sandora Lizard!" as Sanji says
"I suppose we should save that camel." and Zoro says
"What star was I born under that gives me all this damn trouble?" as he prepares to help the chef, however Luffy cracks his knuckles and says
"Stand down boys. Let me handle this one, I could use the exercise." as the two Marines nod their heads and relax their postures. The Straw-hat wearing Marine smirks before vanishing in a flash of Golden lightning and reappearing above the lizard before he launches his solid fist at it and says "Meteor Fist!" as he hits it on the top of the head causing it to crash into the ground hard, then flashes to the side of it and lands a solid kick to the ribs saying
"Meteor Kick!" sending it flying up in the air, before appearing high above it again and clapping his hands together before parting them to show a current of lightning passing between them and says "Raijin's Spear!" as the lightning forms into a spear which he throws straight through the Lizard's midsection, forcing it back towards the ground and killing it for sure, as he appears infront of his group in another flash of lighting. As the Lizard crashes behind him, he dusts off his hands and says
"Well that wasn't so hard. I expected a bit more out of a beast that large, shame, I didn't even break a sweat." as Vivi and Apis can only stare in awe at his display of raw strength and power, and the others smile as he just re-affirmed why they follow him, while Smoker claps and says
"Well damn, that was impressive. If I'm not mistaken that was Vice-Admiral Garp's Meteor Style wasn't it?" The black haired marine nods his head and says
"Yes. Grandpa taught it to me at HQ, said it was my birth right to know the style that made him feared as Garp 'The Fist'." as the older Marine nods at this and says
"I've only ever heard of that style, but to see it in action... Its something else. Tho I think you went a little overboard Commodore, its obvious that the first punch to the skull destroyed the creatures brain" Luffy smiles sheepishly and says
"Yes well... I May have had some residual anger that I used the Lizard to work out. In any case, Lieutenant Zoro cut that beast up, and Warrant Officer Sanji see that the good meat from it is preserved for later. First rule of surviving in the wilds, never let anything go to waste." so as Zoro and Sanji get to work on slicing up and preserving the Lizard meat, the girls question where the Camel came from, as it has a saddle, however Chopper gets rid of that mystery by translating what it's saying, and says that its just a passing camel and that it will let them ride it however he wont let any guys ride him.
When everything is all said and done and the group is under way again, Nami, Vivi, and Apis are riding the Camel, who the orange haired girl named Eyelash, as all the men continue to walk towards Yuba. That night the temperature drops drastically and a slightly shivering Apis notes that its exactly opposite from the daytime as Vivi says
"The desert goes below freezing at night." as they crest a dune the princess, who is now walking, points and says "There! Can you see the light?" as Sanji asks if they reached Yuba, suddenly the ground rumbles and Vivi realizes there's something wrong with the town, and as they get closer they see that its under attack from a Sandstorm, which causes Luffy to scowl as he knows that sandstorms don't just hit centralized places, natural sandstorms hit the entire desert of an area.
After the Sandstorm subsides the group enters Yuba to find that it's just as bad as Erumalu, as its covered in sand and there doesn't appear to be any water anywhere, let alone any people, as Vivi says "The sand has raised the ground level... The Oasis is being swallowed up!..." however they soon find that there's at least one person in the town as a man who is shoveling in the sand says
"Travelers eh? You must be tired from your trip through the desert. But I'm afraid that the town is a little dried up at the moment." he stops digging a moment and turns to then and says "But you can still rest...We have plenty of inns... Thats what we're known for..." as Vivi proceeds to cover up her face and says
"Excuse me... We heard that the rebellion was based here..." the old man glares and says
"What do you want with the rebellion?..." as he proceeds to throw things at her and says "Don't tell me you want to join those filthy rebels!" as Luffy gets in front of Vivi and bats away each object. After a few moments the old man goes back to digging in the sand and says "Those fools... Are not here anymore!" which shocks the entire group as he explains that the storm they just saw wasn't the first to attack the town and that the drought has been drying them up for the past 3 years and that the sand has been steadily eating away at the oasis and its as they see now.
As he continues to dig he says "Without circulation of goods, the rebellion cannot continue their war of endurance... They have moved their base of operations to "Katorea"..." as Usopp turns to the princess and asks
"Where is that Vivi?" to which the girl sweats a little at him saying her name out loud and says
"It's the Oasis next to Nanohana." as someone asks what they came there for, however the old man has a slightly inquisitive expression on his face as he says
"Vivi?... Did you just say Vivi!?..." as he turns to the girl and says "Are you Vivi-Chan?...Are you really?!" as he rushes her and grabs her by the arms and says "I'm so glad you're alive!... It's me! Don't you remember?!" I guess not. I've lost some weight." as she takes a close look at his face and says
"Mr. Toto...?!" as the old man begins to cry and says
"Thats right..." as Vivi covers her mouth and says
"No..." and Luffy wonders who the old man is to the princess, as Toto says
"Listen to me... Vivi-Chan! I believe... In the King...! He would never betray our country...! Isn't that right?!" as he says the rebellion is foolish and begs her to stop it as she's the only one who can do it.
She remembers back to 11 years ago when she first met Toto, how his son Kohza came into the throne room angry at her father about not saving their village from drying up to which Cobra told him that it was because of the weather and he has no control over the weather, and how shortly after Toto who at the time was a rather plump man came in and apologized for his son's rudeness and offered to take whatever punishment the man deemed fit.
She remembers how she and Kohza first met, after the boy ran out of the throne room crying and she insulted him calling him a crybaby and he called her a Midget and they got into a fight, which she lost, however they fought again later on and because of that second fight, she and Kohza became friends and the leaders of a group of children calling them selves the Suna-Suna clan. She remembers how one day when she went to meet Kohza in the usual place she was stopped by two grown men, however they were attacked the her friends and Kohza told her to run as they were after her to kidnap her and hold her for ransom, the fight went to some ruins where Kohza continued to try and keep her safe from the kidnappers which had gone up to 3, and ended up getting cut in the left eye by one of them.
After beating the first Kidnapper the other 2 showed up and just as they were about to attack the 2 children, King Cobra and Igaram showed up and took them out with ease, shortly after this event Kohza came to her and told her that he and his parents and a few others were going off to one of the Oasis in the desert to found the town of Yuba and so the two friends parted ways.
Back in the present Toto continues to speak, saying
"It's only been 3 years. Who cares if it hasn't rained...? I believe the King! The majority of the people still do...!" as he says that the Rebellion plans to end it with the next attack and are prepared to die, and proceeds to continue to beg Vivi to stop the fools before its to late. Luffy steps up and places his hand on the old man's shoulder and says
"Thats what we're here for Mr. Toto. We're Marines who have come with Princess Vivi to stop the rebellion and keep Civil war from happening in Alabasta, and to arrest the real criminals behind this countries problems." Toto stares at the teen with slight hesitation and says
"Whats your name son?" as the Straw-hat wearing Marine replies
"My Name is Monkey D. Luffy. Commodore of the Marines and Commanding Officer of this unit." as the old man looks upon said unit and says
"Is this all you have? 9 including yourself? 2 of which are a little girl and a Raccoon. With the exception of the cigar smoking man all of you are mere teenagers how can you stop a whole rebellion of hundreds of thousands?" most of the Marines take offense to this, with Chopper stating hes a Reindeer not a raccoon, however Luffy just smiles and says
"I assure you that the group you see here is more then capable of stopping the rebellion." as Vivi hands the old man a hanker-chef, smiles and says
"We can stop the rebellion!" as the old man takes the object and thanks her. Later that night as everyone is getting ready for bed, a bit of an argument breaks out between Zoro, Usopp, Sanji, and Chopper, over the fact that Chopper and Usopp both slept all day, and Sanji attempting to sleep in Vivi's bed with her, which just causes the princess to laugh at them, however Luffy enters the room and says
"Everyone settle down! Warrant Officer Sanji in your own bed. Ensign Chopper and Seaman First Class Usopp stop the childish antics and get to bed. Lieutenant Zoro you come with me." the others do as told, with Sanji sulking about stupid Commodores ruining his Vivi time, and Zoro just wondering what the dark haired teen wants with him and follows him out. After a few moments Luffy makes a motion to keep up and vanishes via 'Shave ', so Zoro uses it to follow, and when they reappear its out in the desert about a mile from Yuba, and already standing there is Smoker who says
"Its about time you two showed up. I was getting tired of sitting here and waiting." the green haired swordsman tired of being left in the dark asks
"What the hell is this about Luffy? Why drag me out here away from town?" as the Straw-hat wearing Marine takes on a serious look and says
"You were brought out here to keep away from prying ears. Captain Smoker and I have top secret information to pass along to you. We believe that you should be made aware of this information because of your current status as 3rd highest ranking Officer in this crew." this causes Zoro to straighten up a bit as he says
"Whats this top secret info Sirs?" and Smoker takes a hit of his cigars before removing them from his mouth and blowing the smoke out and says
"The information has to deal with our Current Objective...Baroque Works."
as Luffy picks up the conversation and says
"The Marine's and the World Government have known about Baroque Works for quite sometime, however the higher ups had chosen to leave the organization alone for the time being so that more Intel could be gathered."
the swordsman asks
"And how exactly was this Intel supposed to be gathered?"
its the older Marine who answers
"An operative who specializes in deep cover espionage and Assassination, infiltrated B.W, and has been feeding the Marine's little bits of information for about 4 years now. However the one piece of information they never gave us was the true identity of the leader of the Organization, only his code name of Mr. 0."
the swordsman puts his hand to his chin and says
"Who is this operative and how can we be certain they haven't been compromised or turned?"
Luffy shakes his head and says
"We know because she is beyond reproach. She was trained by one of the best Assassins and Infiltration experts in the Marines, and is the Daughter of one of the 3 Admirals, making her one of the "Princesses" Of the Marines."
shocking Zoro who says
"Whats her name and who trained her? And how high up is she in B.W?"
Smoker laughs and says
"Remember that woman who appeared on our ship just as we were leaving Whiskey Peak? That was our operative."
as Luffy proceeds to answer the swordsman's last questions and says
"Who she was trained by is confidential, but her real name is Nico Robin."
the green haired swordsman's jaw drops at this as he says
"You mean our Operative is the Vice President of Baroque Works, and Crocodile's partner!?" the two nod their heads as he continues saying "Wait wait. That means when you both attacked her you missed her on purpose. I knew something seemed off with that. Wait if she's an Admiral's daughter what the hell is she doing infiltrating a group like Baroque Works? Wouldn't her father be overly protective and want to keep her safe?"
Luffy shakes his head and Smoker laughs at this and says
"You kidding kid? Her father is the one who ordered her training in Espionage, Infiltration, and Assassination, and has given her every mission she's ever had since she began in the Marines."
Luffy shakes his head and says
"All that aside. Everything we've told you here is top secret, and we expect you to keep it that way Lieutenant. If we encounter her again before putting down Crocodile and Baroque Works top agents for good, your to treat her as an enemy combatant and try your best to make it look like your really trying to capture her. Is that understood?" the swordsman nods his head and the three proceed to head back to Yuba.
Later that night Luffy speaks with Toto about there being no water with the old man telling him that the oasis lives on and that Yuba cannot be defeated by mere sand which inspires the Marine to get down in the hole and help the man dig, eventually passing out after digging a pretty deep whole, leaving Toto to take him and place him in the room with his crew to rest, but leaves with a smile on his face.
Meanwhile the Baroque Works top executives have arrived at Rainbase and are sitting together at a long dining table, with the women on one side and the men on the other, awaiting the appearance of their boss, all except Mr.2 who is spinning around and says
"How long is he going to make us wait?! At least bring out some Octopus! I'm spinning! Spinning like a beautiful swan!" as Mr.4 laughs at the situation Ms Doublefinger says
"Please be quiet, Mr. 2." and Ms. Merry Christmas says
"Seriously, you 'Duh'! Your shouting kills my hip!" as the other woman says
"You to, Miss Merry Christmas." just then Ms. All Sunday enters the room, now wearing a white cowboy hat, and white jacket buttoned up with fur along the neck and wrists, and says
"Hahaha...Looks like you all can't get along... Not that it really matters..." as Mr2 says
"Oh, Sunday-Chan, how are youuu?!" as Ms. Merry Christmas tells him to shut up again, and the Vice president says
"Thank you for enduring the long journey to come here. Having all of us together will ensure our victory." as Mr. 1 asks
"Where is this? Miss All Sunday." the woman looks at them and says
"Oh, that's right... Banchi took you in the back door. Your probably familiar with the town... Where people dream of getting rich quick by Gambling. The "Dream Town" Rainbase. And the building you are in right now... Towers above the oasis in the middle of Rainbase. The greatest Casino in town. "Rain Dinners"." as she looks them all over and says "Now if there are no more questions, we'll continue." and when there are none she continues speaking saying "But before that, I must introduce... The boss you haven't seen yet!" making them all look at her in suspense as she says "Until now, I have acted as his "Private Face" in giving you orders. But there is no more need to do so...Understand?" as suddenly a new voice comes from the chair at the head of the table which is turned in the opposite direction facing the wall, that says
"Its about time..." before the chair turns around to reveal a tall man with a wide chest, broad shoulders, muscular arms and legs, and a thick neck. He has pale skin and nape-length, black hair which is kept neatly slicked back. He has various battle wounds, most notably a long stitched scar above his nose that stretches across his face, as well as a missing left hand, which has been replaced with a large hook made from a tough gold alloy.
He has deep set drooping eyes, framed by many wrinkles, and thin eyebrows that appear to be in a perpetual 'sad' position. He wears a bright orange, black-striped button up vest over a long-sleeve peach shirt, a blue scarf, dark brown suit pants and polished black shoes with gold buckles. He also wears a long, thick, dark green pelted fur coat draped over his shoulders like a cape. As he speaks in a deep voice and says
"Plan "Utopia". That is the final plan of the Baroque Works." as every agent there recognizes the man and say
"Crocodile?!" as Ms. All Sunday smirks and says
"I thought you would recognize... His "Public Face"." As Ms. Merry Christmas says
"Well damn, this is unbelievable." and Ms. Doublefinger says
"I would have never guessed... Why one of the Shichibukai?!" as Mr. 2 angrily says
"You mean we've been working for a pirate?!" as Mr. 1 raises an eyebrow and asks
"You are our boss?" Crocodile gets a scary look on his face and says
"Any complaints?" which causes them all to settle down and just cross their arms and Ms. Doublefinger says
"No complaints, just a question. Why would a pirate sponsored by the World Government do this...?" the man sits back and and answers "What I want is not money or land. Its Military Force." which confuses them, as Mr. 2 asks
"Military Force?" Crocodile takes out a cigar and lights it while saying
"Lets talk about this in order, first my objective, then the details of Baroque Works final plan." a few moments later as the Shichibukai ashes puts out his latest cigar, Mr. 2 says
"You mean we can do that here?! We'll take over the entire country?! I'm getting excited!" as Mr. 1 says
"So our last duties... Are to carry out the different facets of this final plan?" they then pick up the pieces of paper infront of them that has their final missions as Crocodile says
"That is correct. All the jobs you have done since the founding of Baroque Works have been for this plan. And those are the last orders I will entrust you with. The time to get rid of the Kingdom of Alabasta has come..." as he smiles after saying this, they each read their final orders before using the candles lining the center of the table to burn the papers as he continues saying "When you all have completed those orders... The Kingdom of Alabasta will be destroyed...! The cornered rebels and civilians will tragically fall right into the Baroque Works hands...! In just one night...! This country will become our "Utopia"!"
he steeples his hands and finishes by saying "This is the Baroque Works great, final "Plan Utopia". Failure will not be tolerated. The operation will begin tomorrow morning at 7 O'clock! Meeting adjourned. Pray for victory." however a moment later Mr. 3 shows up at the top of the stairs and says
"I would appreciate it if you waited a bit on this "Plan: Utopia"." as everyone looks at the man is surprise and Ms. All Sunday says
"Mr. 3! How did you get into the "Secret Underground Base"?!" as Mr. 2 says
"Mr. 3! Where did you sneak up from?! I got rid of you just like I was ordered to..." as Crocodile says
"Wait Mr. 2!" and the Wax-man says
"Sneak? How rude... I simply followed you all the way from Spiders Cafe...I hitched a ride on your Banchi... Boss... Please listen!... I came here because I wanted another chance. Ofcourse Mr. 2 came to kill me... Because I failed to complete the orders I was assigned... So I changed course slightly and went to the "Agent meeting spot", Spiders Cafe." the Shichibukai tilts his head and says
"You failed... To complete your orders...? What are you talking about...?" as the other man says
"I am referring to the fact that I allowed Vivi and the Marines to escape..." which angers Crocodile who says
"YOU LET THEM ESCAPE?! YOU MEAN THEY ARE STILL ALIVE?!" Mr. 3 is surprised that they don't already know this as the other man continues saying "What did you tell me on the Snail Phone, then...? Didn't you say you had disposed of the Marines and Vivi?!" as the agent says
"Snail Phone? What do you mean? I never used my Snail Phone on Little Garden." As the Shichibukai says "
What?!..." as he remembers receiving a call on the Snail Phone, before he lights another Cigar and says "Damn... Now I know why the Unluckies never came back." before he looks over at the man and says "You killed at least one or two of them, right...?" as Mr. 3 says
"W... Well, not exactly..." as the other man glares at him and says
"What?" and the other man starts to wave his hands in a disarming manner and says
"But there was a mistake in the information!... There were actually... 5 Marine escorts...!" this pisses off not only Crocodile but Mr. 2 as well who says
"Zero-Chan?! Explain to me whats going on around here! I don't understand!" as he explains the situation to his Executives and shows the pictures of the 2 marines that the Unluckies drew and the Okama says "I Met them! While I was on my way here...I met all of them!" as he cycles through the faces of Luffy, Zoro, Nami, Usopp, and Chopper, who were the only ones he actually touched and realizes that the blue haired girl was Princess Vivi and therefore Miss Wednesday and his enemies, as the Shichibukai says that they know his identity and that if they let them go they will interfere with the plan.
He then tells Mr. 2 to use his memory to take pictures of the Marines, however Mr. 3 says that if he can have another chance he'll destroy Vivi and her crew, however the other man grabs him by the throat and tells him to shut up and says that the reason he gave him the position he did is because in battle he is weaker then Mr. 4 and that he hopped his sneaky ways would eventually fulfill his orders but he disappointed him as Mr. 3 begins to dry up the longer Crocodile holds his throat with his right hand.
Eventually he releases him as the man begs for water, however Crocodile presses a button and a trapdoor opens beneath Mr. 3 and drops him into the lair of the Bananadiles to be eaten. He then tells the others there to burn the images of the Straw-Hat marines into their minds as their objective is to stop the rebellion and the can't allow that to happen.
As Back in Yuba that same morning the Straw-Hat Marines and Vivi prepare to head out however Toto says
"I'm sorry for acting so disgracefully, Vivi-Chan..." as the girl says
"No, don't worry...We're going now, Mr. Toto." as the man says
"Yes... Luffy-kun, please take this..." as he hands him a small barrel of water as the old man says "Right after you fell asleep digging lastnight. We made it to the water level. I managed to squeeze out that water and distill it." as Luffy says
"Wow. It sounds like you went through a lot of trouble. Thank you, I'll make sure to drink it sparingly." as Toto says
"Genuine Yuba water...I'm sorry thats all I can give you..." however the teen waves off his concerns and assures him its enough, a few moments later they exit Yuba while waving goodbye to the old man. A bit later while traveling through the desert again, the Straw-hat wearing Marine suddenly stops walking, and sits against a singular dead tree and frowns, so Smoker asks
"What are you doing kid?" and Vivi seeing the look on his face says
"Whats wrong Luffy-San?" as the teen says
"I'm done." as Vivi says
"What do you mean, Luffy-San?!" as the teen says
"We're going backwards." as Sanji says
"Yeah, we're using the road we took yesterday, to go to Katorea and stop the rebellion. If 1 million citizens of this country clash, its all over! This is for Vivi-Chan! Come on Commodore lets go!" as the teen says
"No. Vivi." the girl says
"What?" as he says
"I want to kick Crocodile's Ass and arrest him." they look at him weirdly as he says "If we stop the rebellion, we will not be stopping Crocodile himself. We can't do anything even if we go to Katorea, as we are only a small group of Marines." as Vivi says
"Well..." however the teen continues saying
"You just don't anyone to die in this war! The people of your country, or us, or anyone! Your talking about a fight against one of the Shichibukai, in which over a million people will be in battle, and all you want is for no one to die!" he looks her right in her eyes and says "Thats Naive." as Nami says
"Stop Luffy! Can't you think of Vivi's feelings?!" however Smoker puts his hand up and says
"Shut up Seaman First Class. Let him speak." Vivi says
"What's wrong with that?! What's wrong with not wanting people to die?!" Luffy looks at her and says
"People Die." she glares at him and says
"Stop talking like that! Don't you dare say that again! That's what we're trying to stop! You cant blame the Rebels or the Army for this! Why should people die?! This is all Crocodile's fault!" the teen stands up and walks over and slaps her across the face while saying
"Then why are you risking your life?!" the girl holds her cheek, which Usopp and Sanji get pissed about his actions as he continues saying "You need to open up your eyes and realize that the world doesn't work like that! The world is a dangerous and scary place and sometimes you can't save everyone! Sometimes you can't even save yourself! Even I can tell what this country needs the most just by looking at the situation!" as the girl says
"What?" he says
"You think risking your life alone is enough?!" as she says
"Then what am I supposed to risk?! Theres nothing else I have to..." as he says
"The let us risk our lives too! I thought that I told you that we are Marines, but more then that we are your friends!" as the princess covers her mouth and begins to cry he says "Look at you...You're crying. Your the one who wants to destroy him the most! Tell me. Tell me where that rabid dog Crocodile is!" after Vivi gets her crying under control and manages to dry her eyes she takes out a map of Alabasta, with all its major cities and points to a town North of Yuba and says
"This is the Oasis known as "Rainbase", which is where Crocodile is. Straight to the North of Yuba. It will take a whole day to walk through the desert." however Luffy smirks and says
"If we walk it would. However if we use 'Shave ' we can cut down the travel time by at least half a day." As Chopper in his reindeer form asks if there's water and she says yes and that its safe as it's a Gambling town separate from all the fighting, which causes Nami to become excited and Zoro to question what shes thinking as the Straw-Hat wearing Marine straightens his hat and his white jacket and says
"Alright crew! Our destination is Rainbase. Zoro grab Vivi, Sanji take Apis, Smoker you take the camel and Chopper. Lets get underway everyone! Onward to Arrest Crocodile!" and with that our intrepid crew proceeds to make their way to Rainbase and a confrontation with one of the 7 Warlords of the Seas, Sir Crocodile.
Annnd Cut! well there you have it Chapter 20. Now as you can see I've revealed the way that Robin is going to join the crew at the end of this arc, shes an Admiral's daughter, and an undercover operative. I want to give a shout out to Kamikashi for giving me that idea. Anyway as always please read and review. Until Next time.