A/N: Those of you who followed my story and noticed that this chapter wasn't put up before, I apologize. There were some changes that needed to be made in this chapter. I am sorry for putting your hopes up like that. There was that and the not-so silly fact that my Fanfiction account wasn't allowing me to put up this chapter after doing the changes. Again, it is not silly.
That said, please enjoy this chapter. As usual, partial credit goes to EvanderAdvent.
Some time later, after doing a few rounds of kanpais, we all went back to do our usual things. I was in my Dive to the Heart, doing some massive training against Heartless that have a great advantage in a desert. Voice somehow changed the platform arena into a desert. How did he do it? I wish I knew. Why didn't he do it back on our way to Drum when Nami was sick? Again, I wish I knew.
Back to training, I was up against three Fat Bandits, five Red Nocturnes, five Scarlet Tangoes, five Bandits, ten Fire Plants, ten Flare Notes, five Pot Spiders and seven Barrel Spiders. Large number, I know. But it's worth it. I still need to work on my Command Styles, Shotlocks and Limit Breaks after all. There's also a little something that I wanted to try out.
As I defended myself against their attacks, I heard the Command Style's melody and randomly pulled out one of my Dream Eater cards. I took a quick look at the card I pulled out and summoned it.
"Summon: Meowjesty!" The black dog-cat Dream Eater appeared next to me. "Let's go, Hiluluk," I said, getting a nod of approval from it. "Link Style: Shining Hammer!" A bright aura surrounded me as Hiluluk fused with my Keyblade. I attacked the Heartless around me with a string of jumping and spinning attacks. For the finishing touch, I jumped high into the air and slammed into the ground with tremendous force, forcing most of the Heatless to back away from me.
"All in sight," I muttered to myself, as I noticed that all my opponents were right in front of me. I heard the Shotlock melody some time before the Command Style's melody. "Now to get this all in one shot." I aimed at the Heartless, locked onto them and charged up all of my and Hiluluk's power into Light Miraculous Blossom. "Time for the finisher. Lightbloom!" I was suddenly spinning gracefully as I fired blasts of lights in all directions.
When I finished, I was very dizzy. Despite this, I still see a few more Heartless left. Due to the fact that Shotlocks are now my finishing combo, the Link ended and Hiluluk was exhausted.
"Hiluluk. Get back inside. Leave the rest to me as you take a break," I told it. The Dream Eater nodded and willingly went back in its card. I turned back to the Heartless, the dizziness began to cease. "All right. Now to finish off the rest of you." I took out a different Dream Eater card and saw that it was Ace's card.
"Summon: Iceguin Ace!" The said penguin appeared right next to me. "Link Action: Belly Raid!" I rode on top of Ace as he slid towards the remaining Heartless. I hit them with my Keyblade as we passed them. After the link, the remaining opponents were destroyed and the arena changed back into the platform, signalling that training is over.
"Whew. Done." I stretched out my arms and legs, relieved that training is over, for now.
"Good job, Xion," I heard Voice say. "According to your nakama, we'll be arriving at the destination shortly."
"Then I should hurry on back," I said, going back into my body.
"We're finally here," was what I heard when I returned from my training. I slowly got up from my spot by the mast and stretched my arms.
"We're finally gonna walk on the desert!" I heard Chopper-kun said. "Must be pretty hot."
"I heard temperatures go over 50 degrees Celsius during the day," followed Nami's voice.
"What?! Are you serious?!"
"WHAT HAPPENED TO YOU, NAMI-SAN?! WHERE ARE YOUR DANCING GIRLS CLOTHES?!" Sanji questioned in shock and disappointment. "NOO! NOT VIVI-CHAN, TOO! WHY ARE YOU WEARING THAT?!" He has to be the world's number one idiot if he still hasn't figured out the reason. Oh, wait; he is the world's number one idiot.
"But we'll be burned by the intense desert sun if we leave our skin exposed," Vivi reasoned. It didn't fix the situation, seeing that Sanji is now sulking like a child he really is.
"And this is exactly why I bought cloaks, seeing that someone like you wouldn't understand the desert heat for us girls," I said to our ero chef.
"Speaking of which, are you going to be alright, Xion? I noticed you only bought two cloaks," Nami asked and pointed out.
"I'll be fine. I have this black coat after all," I answered.
"But won't you feel hot wearing that?" Vivi asked. "You wore it back in Drum Island."
"Believe it or not, this coat is just heat and cold resistant. In cold weather, I feel warm, whereas in hot weather, I feel cool."
"Hmm. That sure is some coat," Nami said. I noticed that she has this 'I-wonder-how-much-belli-I-will-make-in-selling-that' look on her face.
"You are not selling this," I told her, putting my hood up. "By the way, where's Carue?"
"I had him deliver a letter to my father on our way here," Vivi answered.
"Let's get on land already!" Luffy excitedly shouted, as Going Merry stopped at the rocks. Just when we were ready to get off, several hybrids of turtles and seals jumped out of the water.
"Turtles?" Zoro questioned.
"You mean seals, right?" Luffy corrected.
"Kung Fu Dugongs!" Vivi identified.
'You must fight and defeat me if you wish to disembark here! If you're too afraid, go dock on the other shore, you wimps,' said one of the Dugongs.
"'You must fight and defeat me if you wish to disembark here! If you're too afraid, go dock on the other shore, you wimps.' is what he says," Chopper-kun informed us.
"I can't stand down after being called a wimp," Usopp said, stepping up. "HERE I GO!"
"Wait, Usopp-san!" Vivi called.
A few seconds after he jumped off the ship, Usopp got beat up by one of the Dugongs, badly.
"Kung Fu Dugongs are very strong!" she told him. Although it's a bit too late for that warning.
"That was too quick," I muttered.
"I win!" we heard Luffy shout.
"Looks like we have a winner over here. Winning is worse!" the princess then said.
Before we knew it, the defeated Dugong looked up to Luffy as though he is his idol.
'Master!' was what I heard from him to confirm my assumption.
"The code of the Kung Fu Dugongs states that they must become disciples of anyone who defeats them," Vivi informed.
"Hard core martial arts," Zoro stated.
"You can say that again," I agreed.
As we were talking, before any of us knew it, all of the Dugongs became Luffy's- Wait! When did he beat all of them?!
"HE GOT EVEN MORE DISCIPLES AS WE WERE TALKING!" the princess yelled in disbelief.
The next thing we knew, Luffy was demonstrating punches to his 'students'. Like master, like student... I guess.
'Does Luffy want to become the next Pirate King or the Kung Fu Dugongs master?' I wondered, sweatdropping a bit.
Some time later, after Luffy finished his 'trainings' with the Kung Fu Dugongs, we all grabbed our stuff and got ready to leave. However, there were some slight changes that needed to be fixed here.
"Yosh! We're heading to Yuba!" Luffy excitedly said.
"Now wait just a minute," Zoro spoke. Behind Luffy, all of the Dugongs are behind him. In other words, they want to come with us. "YOU'RE GOING TO TAKE THEM ALONG?!"
"You can't, Luffy!" Nami scolded.
"These Dugongs couldn't possibly cross the desert," Vivi tried to reason.
"Besides, we don't have enough food for all of us if they come along," I added. As we said that, a few of the Dugongs were hugging Luffy's legs.
'Master. Let us come with you. We want to follow you. Until the very end.' was all I heard.
'Great. Now I feel guilty,' I mentally said.
"C-cute..." I heard Vivi and Nami muttered. The two then turned away from us.
"I feel as though I'm being really mean to them..." our navigator said.
"So do I. What should we do?" the princess asked.
"I know!" Chopper-kun shouted. He was then sniffing at our bags.
"What are you doing?" Sanji asked.
Chopper-kun took out some food from one of the bags. "Here. I'll give you this if you stay here and behave, okay?" Just when he offered that, all the Dugongs huddled around him and suddenly t- TOOK HIM AWAY FROM US!?
"AHH! HELP ME!"
"CHOPPER(-KUN)!" Usopp and I shouted.
A few minutes later, after getting Chopper-kun back and preventing Luffy from eating any more of our food supply, we continued our way to Yuba, as we waved good-bye to the Kung Fu Dugongs.
'Good-bye, Master! We won't forget you! Please come back again sometime! Promise us that you will!' was all I heard from them.
"SEE YA!" Luffy waved back. I should be grateful that he doesn't understand animals. Otherwise, he'll be keeping a promise that he can't make.
"Listen, Luffy! Do you understand the situation we're in?" Nami questioned the rubberboy.
"They said they were coming with me; why couldn't I bring them along?"
"We can't go into any city with that big of a crowd, dimwit!"
"Nami's not wrong," I agreed. "If Chopper-kun hadn't talked then out of it, we'd be in big trouble."
"Yeah. They kept saying 'We're following him!' If we hadn't give them food, they would've, too," the reindeer-human hybrid said.
"Jeez. Thanks to you, our food supply has gone way down," Sanji complained.
'WAIT!' I heard. I stopped and looked back, causing everyone else to do the same.
"What's wrong, Xion?" Usopp asked me.
"Look over there," I pointed. We all saw one of the Kung Fu Dugongs coming our way.
"I thought we made it clear that they can't come," Zoro said, as the small animal continued its way toward us.
"Hey, what's wrong?" Luffy asked, as the Dugong stopped in front of him, catching its breath.
"Oh that's right! I almost forgot, the Kung Fu Dugongs also give the winner one of their sacred treasure," Vivi said.
"Treasure?!" Oh, boy. And here's Nami's greedy mode.
'Before you leave, Master, I want you to have this. It's given to us from another one of your kind decades ago. If you ever see him, tell him we're doing well,' the Dugong said, taking out a piece of paper.
"'Before you leave, Master, I want you to have this. It's given to us from another one of your kind decades ago. If you ever see him, tell him we're doing well,' is what he said," Chopper-kun told us, as Luffy accepted the paper.
"Thanks. I'll take good care of it," our captain grinned. The animal nodded in approval and went back to its friends.
"So what did he give you?" Sanji asked.
"Just this paper." Luffy showed us the folded paper.
"How is that a sacred treasure?" Nami asked.
"Let me see that," I said, taking my hand out.
"Sure." The rubberboy gave me the folded paper. I unfolded it.
"This is a Dream Eater Recipe!" I exclaimed.
"What?!" the rest of my nakama gasped.
"Whoa! Lucky!" Luffy shouted.
"This time it's in an animal's possession," Sanji muttered.
"What's next? The recipe will fall from the sky?" Zoro wondered.
"Well, whatever the case is with the creator, I'm sure that he has his reasons," I said, pocketing the recipe in my pocket.
"Aren't you going to do that revival thing?" Luffy questioned me.
"I was planning on doing it when we stop to take a break. After all, we can't get side-tracked here."
The others agreed with me and so, we continued our way to Yuba. As we walked, I noticed that Vivi, Zoro and Usopp were just standing there in front of us. Curiosity got the best of me and I ran over there to see what they were looking at. Turns out, it was a ruined city.
"What's this?" Sanji began to ask.
"Is this Yuba?" Luffy guessed.
"No. This is Erumalu. It was once known as the Green City," Vivi answered.
"Is this Crocodile's doing?" I asked.
"Yes. Looking at this city, you can understand just how much the Baroque Works organization has done to this country. And just how much Arabasta's people are suffering."
After several seconds, we all continued to walk through the deserted city. Pun not intended.
"Wow. There really is nothing here," Luffy stated.
"Yes. But even though the city is now in ruins, up until its collapse, it was a lively town full of lush green plants," Vivi told us.
"In the middle of a desert?" I gasped in disbelief.
"Yes."
"This place, huh?" Zoro said.
"This region never got that much rain, but by collecting water on the rare occasions it did rain, the town was prospering on its own. However, in the past three years, not a single drop of rain has fallen throughout the entire kingdom."
"Three years?!" Sanji repeated in shock.
"That long?!" Chopper-kun followed, also in shock.
"But even without rain, you still have that river we sailed upstream on," Zoro pointed out.
"Yeah. Couldn't you guys just draw water from that big river?" Usopp questioned.
"The answer lies yet ahead," Vivi said. Somehow, I have a very bad feeling when she said that. "Complete lack of rainfall is a catastrophe that hasn't occurred in Arabasta for thousands of years. But there was one place where there was always rain. And that was the capital city, Alubarna, where the Royal Palace is located. People called it the King's Miracle. Until the day a certain incident occurred. A ship came to deliver something to my father. The item being delivered were big sacks of Dance Powder."
"Dance Powder?" Nami and I repeated.
"You two know it?" Luffy asked us.
"Yeah. It's also known as 'Rain-Calling Powder'," Nami told us.
"Rain-Calling?" Chopper-kun repeated.
"It was called that because it was said to make rain once burned, right?" I said.
"Yeah. I heard about it before, but it was invented by a researcher in a kingdom where rain never fell," Nami added. "The powder emits a mist-like smoke that rises up into the air and artificially creates rainfall. That's Dance Powder."
"Ah! I got it! You mean the Mystery Powder!" Luffy spoke. "I just ate some before. It tastes really bad!"
"Dance Powder's not for eating," I told him, as we all just walked pass the idiot pirate.
"So it makes rain, huh," Zoro spoke. I heard Luffy yelling at us in the background but decided to just ignore him.
"Wait, hold on. If that sort of thing exists, that's perfect for this country, right?" Usopp asked.
"It would've been, if people doesn't know the side effect of the Dance Powder," I said.
"Side effects?"
"Before they found out, many people danced with joy when it was invented, just as the powder's name implies. However, they saw the downside to this. And that is the drought it caused to countries downwind." He gave me a confused look. "Care to explain it in simpler terms, Nami?"
"Sure. You see, Dance Powder basically takes rudimentary clouds, which would've otherwise kept travelling along the winds maturing into rain clouds, and forces them to instantly mature so they can deliver rain. Therefore-"
"Oh, I get it! So it basically steals rain that would've fallen in another country," Usopp said, now understanding why Dance Powder was bad.
"As a result, a huge war erupted between the two countries," Nami continued. "The loss of life was profound. The World Government has since placed a global ban on the manufacture and possession of Dance Powder."
"A powder that both brings happiness and calls the Devil, huh?"
"The mass quantities of Dance Powder were brought into our port while there was no rain falling anywhere else in Arabasta except the capital," Vivi continued.
"WHAT THE HELL, VIVI?! YOUR DAD IS EVIL!"
'ARE YOU NOT LISTENING TO EVERYTHING THAT HAPPENED SO FAR OR JUST PLAIN STUPID?!' I mentally snapped.
"BAKA! He was set up!" Sanji corrected, as he continuously kicked our captain in the head. "How could Vivi-chan's father do such a thing, ever?! Ever?! Ever?! Ever?! Ever?! Ever?! Ever?!"
"Just once is enough, isn't it?" I mumbled.
"Of course, my father had no idea what had happened," Vivi continued to speak. "And around the same time, mass quantities of Dance Powder were discovered within the palace."
"So there were conspirators even in the palace," Zoro assumed.
"It's obvious enough that Crocodile is planning on something, if he's going this far to have the people go against you father, Vivi," I said to the princess.
As we were talking, we all stopped at a weird road. "What's this road, Vivi-chan?" Sanji asked.
"This is where the canal used by the city to draw out water from the Sandora River once flowed," she replied. "Yet even this canal was mysteriously destroyed. Without the canal, the Green City was no longer able to sustain its water supply. The citizens continued to wait, desperate with hope, but the rain still refused to fall. Ever since the incident with the Dance Powder, suspicion towards the king has steadily increased everyday. Inevitably, fighting broke out. Exhausted, people migrated to other oases to avoid conflict and obtain water. The cities were abandoned."
'And all because of Crocodile,' I thought. After hearing this, I began to hate everything about this guy. Since he's a Shichibukai, he should be on the side of good; the Marine's way of justice. But this, this just proves that he's only using that as a disguise for this. Whatever he's planning to do, I will crush his plans. If needed, I will kill anyone who tries to get in my way; starting with the organization I once worked with.
"And then..." Vivi spoke, bringing me out of my thought. "The Green City came to ruin."
A moment of silence came. Along with it are... voices?
"What's that?" Nami asked.
"Are those people?" Vivi asked as well.
"Is it the Rebel Army?" Chopper-kun guessed.
"Could it be assassins from Baroque Works?!" Usopp guessed as well.
"Nah. It's just the wind," Ace calmly said. He was so quiet this whole time, I completely forgot about him.
"They sound like voices though," Luffy told him.
"I can hear them all around us!" our sniper panicked. "What should we do? Hey, bro?!"
"It's nothing dangerous," Ace answered. "The winds are passing through the town and reverberating among the building ruins."
"The city... It's as thought the city of Erumalu is crying," Vivi spoke out her thoughts. Truthfully, I agree with her. It does sound like moans of pain and sadness.
Just then, I thought I saw something, like a shadow of something. It suddenly disappeared and created a small sandstorm.
"It's coming!" Vivi warned us. We braced ourselves for the strong wind. I held onto Chopper, since he's the smallest and lightest out of all of us at the moment, so he wouldn't get blown away.
As the wind subsided, we all relaxed a bit.
"Man, what kind of wind was that?" Usopp asked.
I looked ahead of us and saw a figure lying down. My body acted on its own and ran towards the figure. Luffy ran towards it as well.
"Hey! You! Are you... al..." I stopped in my tracks when I saw that the figure was not a human being. Everyone else caught up to me and our captain, only to see that what we saw and assumed to be human, was just a skeleton.
Vivi was most affected by this and went on her knees. "Father... What have my father and the people of this kingdom ever done?" I heard her ask. "Destroying the lives of the people who have struggled against Nature to live in this desert. Why? What right does he have to do this?! Why?!"
I couldn't take holding my anger in any more and went off to look for something to let it all out at. Apparently, Luffy, Sanji and Usopp had the same idea and we went into a worn out building.
After letting out our anger, which led to the building to get destroyed, we returned to the rest of our nakama.
"Vivi! We have to keep going forward," Luffy said. "We've been sitting here for too long."
"Stand, Vivi," I said, lending her a hand.
"Let's go, to Yuba," Nami told her.
"That's where the Rebel Army is, right?" Zoro recalled.
"Yes." Vivi took my hand and I helped her up. "I'll persuade the leader to stop the uprising."
"Persuade?"
"All the catastrophes in Arabasta have been engineered by Crocodile! I'm going to tell them the truth, and put an end to this useless bloodshed!"
"Okay."
"Then, let's go," I said, as we all continued on to Yuba.
'I- No. Luffy will definitely beat Crocodile. If the organization that I once worked with have anything to do with this, I will definitely defeat them. But not with just any Keyblade. I will have that organization to fall... with Starlight,' I mentally vowed. 'I hope you bastards are ready.'
