Yo, Drifter here with a reverse entry. I'm alive, I just took a break from writing a bit. I'll be going back to my normal schedule, so don't worry, just needed a small break. Recently started working out, and I'm not ngl it's hard to stay dedicated, but I'll try to stick to it, after all, I want to put some muscle on my skinny ass.
Current poll: Should Ace in the Marineford Arc
No: 3
Yes: 0
Previous chapter
"Yosh! We're headin' to Yuba!" Luffy shouts once everyone is on land. The group of humans, reindeer, and birds then head off to Yuba while waving to the dugongs.
~~Chapter 4: Yuba~~
The trip to Yuba was very... trying for Enzo and company. It was windy and hot, and unfortunately, there wasn't enough water for everyone, so they had to deal with thirst while suffering in the desert heat, well except for Enzo and Ace. Ace as the consumer of the Mera Mera no Mi is impervious to heat unless it is hotter than his flames. Enzo on the other hand seemingly adapted to the heat, he at first was bothered by it but as they walked to Yuba he gradually got accustomed to it until it didn't3 affect him anymore.
On the way to Yuba, the group passed through Erumalu. Erumalu formally called 'Green City' is a town located southeast of Yuba, and is currently nothing more than half-buried crumbled buildings and dead trees, with some skulls laying around the sand. The city was once a popular and vibrant place with rich plant life until the country was introduced to 'Dance Powder.' Dance Powder is a green powder that is used to make artificial rain; When the powder is burned, it emits a mist-like vapor that rises up in the air, speeding up the creation of ice particles in sub-freezing temperature clouds, resulting in almost immediate heavy rainfall. However, the universe dictates that every positive comes with a negative, so when the powder is used, it causes drought in other areas.
The powder was used in Alubarna, the capital city of Alabasta, by a suspicious group of individuals who staged an event to make it appear as if the king ordered 'Dance Powder.' After the powder was used in Alubarna, the other towns began to experience severe drought and the residents of Alabasta started to doubt the king.
The next event the group experienced was their encounter with Matsuge, the Camel.
Flashback no Jutsu
After walking all day in the blistering desert heat the group, as in everyone except Ace and Enzo for certain reasons, Murasame and Suzuki because they hitched a ride on Enzo's shoulder, and Vivi because she was accustomed to the heat since she lived here, was thirsty and exhausted. They were tired and frustrated, Luffy and Usopp were even dragging their feet with sticks for support, that is until Luffy had a fantastic idea.
"Hey, guys! Let's hurry up to the next outcropping! Whoever wins at Janken carries all the baggage!" He shouts after running in front of the group and raising his hand and foot in the air. Everyone mentally questioned themselves about the winner being the one that's punished. Sanji decided's to ask everyone's unasked question only to be ignored by Luffy as he shouts, "Alright, here goes! Jan! Ken! Pon!"
A minute later everyone continued on their journey, still fatigued, however, they no longer had a burden on their shoulders. Lagging behind the group was Luffy struggling to drag everyone's luggage behind him. Sitting atop Luffy's head was Murasame mocking Luffy by laughing his feathers off. "CAW! You- caw said that- caw the winner would carry all the luggage caw, and you cheated n still choose to win- caw, just to carry all of this-CAW!" The crow continued to mock the pirate captain until his father gave him a 'warning.'
"Murasame, be quiet or no 'food' for the next month," Enzo warned, annoyed with the Crow's constant laughter. The shapeshifting sword instantly ceased its laughter, knowing that no 'food' means it can't kill anyone, and it can't, in good conscience let that happen. Chopper, being the cute little doctor that he is, was curious if Murasmae could actually survive without food for a whole month, especially in this heat, so he asked Enzo. Instead of Enzo, Chopper's inquiry was answered by Suzuki. "It's possible for him to survive a month without food due to his original form being a sword instead of an animal like us. As a matter of fact, Murasame doesn't require food at all. Also, they're not talking about literal food, they're talking about killing enemies," Suzuki said to Chopper, confusing the rest of the Strawhats because they couldn't understand what she said. Chopper had a glorious moment of enlightenment that was cut brief by Usopp.
"Straight ahead, outcropping sighted!"
"Really!?" Luffy asked before he manifested a sudden outburst of energy as he ran to the outcropping. A few seconds after reaching the blissful shade, Luffy started to hear sounds as if someone was in deep pain. He walked towards the origin of the groans and found a flock of crane-like birds that appeared as if they just finished a pokemon battle. Luffy quickly ran back to the group to get Chopper not knowing that he should've protected their luggage. Once he reached the group he immediately inform Chopper know that there's a flock of potentially dead birds and they need help. It was at that moment that Vivi knew, they fucked up. They rushed to the outcrop, only to discover that both their luggage and the birds vanished.
Turns out the birds were swindlers who pretend to be hurt to trick you into helping them, only to steal your luggage and dip. While Sanji and Luffy began to argue, the Yatogami family were alerted by Suzuki of the Warusagi birds' location. Enzo then called out to everyone else. "Hey guys, I believe I found the birds," he points towards the birds. The middle Warusagi decided to mock them by drinking the stolen water while staring directly at them. Luffy immediately chased after them, most likely wanting to sit down and eat the meat that he packed. After Luffy ran off, Enzo immediately turned to Zoro, "Is he always like that," he asked. Zoro's regretful nod was rewarded with a sympathetic look, and a pat on the back from Enzo.
A few minutes after Luffy's departure, the group was still laying in the shade, trying to get as much rest as they can while simultaneously waiting for Luffy to come back. Suddenly they started to hear a rumbling noise, and when they looked where it was coming from. What they saw was Luffy riding a camel towards them in a hurry with 4 large sandstorms following him.
"So? What's that thing chasing him?" asked the blond chef.
"I can't make it out! But it looks like there's something underneath the sand!" said the former bounty hunter placing his hands on his swords ready to slice something.
Eventually whatever was swimming in the sand came out in the open, dispersing the four sandstorms and revealing themselves to be giant purple lizards. Everyone was dumbfounded at their size. They also wondered what the heck they were. Luckily they had Vivi.
"A Great Sandora Lizard!"
"What the fuck is that?" Enzo asks wondering how its name will tell him anything about the giant lizard.
"It's the largest variety of all the desert reptiles! It awaits its prey under the cover of the sand! It has razor-sharp claws and teeth but it barely has the chance to use them. The reason is that they are so big, they almost always swallow their prey whole!" Vivi said, giving a bit more detail than necessary.
"He's a genius when it comes to trouble, isn't he?" Ace comments with a bit of nostalgia in his voice.
As the rest of the monster trio, i.e Sanji and Zoro, run towards Luffy to help him, Enzo decides to get Akame to also help with a bit of motivation. "Akame, if you kill one, I'll cook as much as you can eat for you." Akame being the glutton that she is immediately grabs Murasame who was chilling on her shoulder, and dashes off towards one of the lizards, barely giving Murasame enough time to shift into his sword form.
"You can cook?" Nami inquiries.
"If you live with the right set of people, and conditions, you'll realize that's it's best if you know how to do certain things on your own," Enzo replies before he gives the lizards his full attention. Once the leg and sword duo reach Luffy, they immediately ganged up on one of the lizards.
"Gomu Gomu no Muchi""Tatsumaki""Epaule Shoot"
The lizard collapsed onto the sand as it was quickly overwhelmed by the attacks from the monster trio. One of the other Lizards was looming over the trio ready to dive and swallow them whole, however, it was stopped by Akame. Akame jumped up to the reptile's face and swung her blade at the lizard repeatedly as of she was making a sculpture. After landing on the ground, she sheaths Murasame while whispering, "Night style: Cross Tail." Once she finishes sheathing Murasame, you could hear a click before the lizard fell to the ground completely diced up like she was dicing onions.
Over towards Enzo and the others, the other two giant lizards suddenly resurfaced behind them, ready to eat them. One of them swallowed Ace whole, however, it was quickly burned inside out. The other lizard was about to try the same with Enzo, but he narrowed his eyes, and the lizards suddenly fainted. The Strawhats were completely surprised that the lizard was knocked out without Enzo doing anything, Ace was also shocked, though for a different reason. 'He has conquerer's haki? How? Who is he?' Ace thought as he narrows his eyes at Enzo.
A few minutes later, Enzo and Sanji were cooking the meat for the group, Luffy and Akame were devouring whatever was already cooked while Nami and Vivi were flabbergasted at the amount Akame was eating. "How does she even eat that much?" and "Where does it even go?" were some of the things that they mumbled in their shocked state, however, they were ignored.
"Well? What's with the camel?" the Santoryu master asked his captain.
"Dunno. When I was chasing the birds, I found it about to be eaten by some mystery plants," Luffy replied dumbly, after all, he didn't care, he had his food now. Nami and Vivi intellectually comment that it wasn't a camel due to the saddle on its back. Chopper, being the fluff of curiosity that he is, went over to the camel, and started to stare at it, to which the camel returned. A few seconds into their stare down they recognized each other.
"It is you!" Chopper exclaimed in excitement
"What? You know him?" Luffy asks with some more food in his hand.
"Yeah! This is the camel that gave me a ride and helped me escape from Katorea!"
"Great! We can ride it? If we ride it, things'll be easier!" Usopp comments as he perks up. Perhaps they can finally hurry to Yuba. Unfortunately for him, the camel, just like Sanji's legs, is not rated E. The camel absolutely refused to carry a male, why? For chivalry of course. Alas, the camel's chivalry was rewarded with a beating from the brotherhood. Though on the positive side, or manipulative one? Nami walked up to the camel and started to pet it.
"I'm sorry. My little bandits are so horrible to you. You're a good boy, aren't you? What should I call you?"
The brotherhood took the opportunity to offer names relating to idiots. Woefully all their suggestion were ignored by the orange-haired navigator. Instead, Nami named the camel Matsuge, or eyelashes, a very unorthodox name, but meh, who cares. The navigator directed Matsuge over to Vivi and told her to get on. Unexpectedly the princess rejected, saying that she can still walk, however she was quickly persuaded otherwise. Nami quickly apologized to Akame, saying that Matsuge can only carry two people, but Akame didn't care, as long as she was with her dad, she's good.
The group of humans and animals once again shot off for Yuba, though this time the journey went without a problem.
Present no Jutsu
At some point of the finish stretch of the journey to Yuba, Ace separates from the group, saying he's straight for Blackbeard. He also left a piece of paper to Luffy saying that I'll help them meet someday. Nami being the smart one in the crew of pirates decides to sew the paper into the ribbon on Luffy's hat.
Once they got close enough to see the outline of Yuba, Vivi realized that something was wrong, there was this weird rumbling sound. A few more seconds passed before Vivi realized what was happening. A sandstorm was passing through Yuba, shaking all the trees, houses, and anything in its way. It appeared as if this happened frequently because most of the city was covered in grainy minerals. For a supposed oasis the city Yuba didn't that much better than Erumalu, both were just ghost towns being swallowed by sand. Though, unlike Erumalu, Yuba had a resident in the form of an old man, Toto.
Toto is a long-time acquaintance of Vivi as they met approximately eleven years ago when his old village dried up. The king of Alabasta sent his people to an oasis that would eventually become Yuba, though that was not before his son got into a fight with Vivi. Toto was ready to die for his son, however, the king said that it was just a fight amongst children and let it go. After everything the king has done for him, Toto gave the king his undying loyalty to the king hence why even when Yuba was destroyed by sandstorms, he still believe in the king. His son, Koza, however, did not. Koza didn't believe in the king, instead, he thought the king betrayed his people which is why he started the rebellion with the goal of attacking the capital.
Toto informs the group that the rebels abandoned Yuba, and relocated to Katorea. Which was all the way back near Nanohana, their starting point. It was then revealed that Matsuge knew that the rebels were in Katorea which cause the brotherhood to jump him again. The group stays with the old man for tonight before heading out the next day, promising to stop the rebellion for him.
On the way to Katorea, Luffy decides to say 'fuck this,' going back to Katorea was a waste of time, and sat down, leaning against a dried-up try.
"If we stop all those rebels, will Crocodile stop? Even if we reach Katorea, there's nothing we can do. We're pirates. You're better off going there without us," Luffy says sounding strangely wise. Everyone was surprised at what he was saying, expecting him to be very naive. The older Strawhats however, were a bit accustomed to Luffy's strange moments of wisdom. Also unknown to anyone except Akame, Enzo was looking at Luffy with this strange look of pride in his eyes.
"That... That isn't..."
"All you want is for no one to die in this battle, not the people of your country, not any of us. You're taking on a Shichibukai Pirate in a battle over a million people are preparing to fight in and all you want is for no one to get hurt. Aren't you just fooling yourself?" Luffy comments looking Vivi dead in the eyes. Vivi clenched her fist and bit her lower teeth with her head tilted downward. She knew that people might die, she knew about all of this, but...
"What's wrong with not wanting anyone to die?"
"People die." Luffy bluntly replied. Vivi in her moment of anger swung her hand to bitch slap Luffy, but Enzo grabbed her hand before she could.
"I'm afraid I can't let you do that. You're being very naive at the moment. Sure, none of us want anyone to die, but there will be some deaths here and there. Why? Because it's part of life, sometimes you live, sometimes you die. And sure we can say this isn't the rebel's fault or the kings, and just blame this all on Crocodile, and say that he started it all, but what is that going to do about the issue at hand? What Luffy is saying is that instead of going through this lengthy process that might not work, let's just get rid of the problem, Crocodile. Sure we'll have to take this risk that people might die, but guess what? It's a part of life, we have to take risks to get what we desire. So let's not deal with this country's problem together, instead of fighting amongst ourselves." The Strawhats and princess were surprised at what he said, they didn't expect him to say something like this, he seemed like a quiet go-with-the-flow guy, kinda like Zoro. Although surprised they still got what he was saying, and agreed. Why fight each other instead of fighting our enemies?
"But before we can fight our enemies, I believe we need to know something?" Enzo says as he gestures back to Luffy.
Luffy stands up, puts his hat on his head, and says "Now tell me. Where is Crocodile
To Be Continued
Ok, ok I'm joking let's go back.
Vivi begins to tear up, understanding what they're saying although she doesn't exactly like it. "You're right. I've made up my mind. We must go to where Crocodile is."
"Yeah," Luffy says with a nod.
"That's certainly the shortest way."
"So we don't have to deal with any more of these pain-in-the-ass detours," Zoro says.
"Caw, I can finally get food."
"Well? Where is this shitty Crocodile guy?" the resident smoker inquires.
"Hm," was the only sound Akame made as she nodded.
As Vivi pulled out a map everyone gathered around her ready to know their next destination. "Let's see... This is the Capital, Alubarna, where my father governs from. Right now the rebel army is here on their way to assault Alubarna." Vivi says as she points to the places she mentions
"So we just have to beat Crocodile before they get there." Sanji comments.
"Crocodile is here. Rainbase."
"Rainbase?" Usopp mutters.
"If we travel directly north, we'll reach it in a day or so," Vivi concludes.
Suzuki flies up to Enzo's head from Akame's shoulder and taps his kasa a few times with her talons. Enzo reaches up and picks up Suzuki before bringing his arm in front of him before he uses his other arm to pet her. "Yes, I know. I'll get you some more food when we get there." Enzo then felt something pulling his right sleeve, and what he looks down he sees Akame looking up at him. "I'll get you some as well Akame."
"Caw"
"You'll get food eventually Murasame."
A day later, they finally reached Rainbase. Usopp and Luffy immediately ran off from the group to get some water. They ran into a restaurant and quickly ordered a barrel of water. Once they got their barrels they start to chug it until they felt like someone was watching them. They looked to their left, and found the perpetrator sitting beside them, it was Smoker, and this time he wasn't alone because beside him was his subordinate Tashigi, a beautiful young lady with black hair, brown eyes, and red-framed rectangle glasses. The captain and false captain spat out their water straight into the marine duo's face and dipped. Smoker commanded Tashigi to call for backup as he ran after the pirate duo. The rest of the group was in the middle of a plaza when they started to hear a commotion. Sanji being the nearest to it, noticed what was happening first.
"They're being chased by the marines again..." Sanji informs them
"You have to be kidding! So, why are they running this way!?" Nami exclaims. They immediately ran off, not wanting to be caught.
"Akame, go with them, I'll wait for Chopper," Enzo commands his daughter. Akame was hesitant to leave, but knowing that he'll be with Chopper means that they'll most likely reunite soon. As Akame runs off the marines pass Enzo, not knowing that he's with them since they've never seen him before. About 2 minutes later, Enzo finally saw Chopper coming back to him. "Yo, Chopper," Enzo beaconed Chopper to him.
"Where'd everyone go?"
"They're running away from marines. Suzuki can you fly up and see exactly where they are." One trip into the air later, and Suzuki informs them that Nami, Luffy, Usopp, and Zoro are in the casino while the others are still MIA.
With ViVi
After being separated from Zoro, ViVi is now struggling to fight off all the Baroque Works members that surround her. She beat quite a few, however, there were a lot of them, they were persistent, and she was getting exhausted. Finally one of them managed to knock her down. They were about to kill her, but she was rescued by Pell, one of the commanders of the royal guards and the consumer of the Tori Tori no Mi, Model: Falcon.
"Pell! You came for me!" she exclaimed after he pick her up and fly to a nearby roof. Pell shifted from his weird, falcon-human hybrid form before replying to the princess.
"It has been a very long time, Vivi-sama."
"What of father?"
"He is well. The king and I both read your letter, Vivi-sama."
The two continue their conversation a bit before Pell changes back into his hybrid form, and decimates the remaining Baroque Works agents on the ground. Vivi was about to rush off to catch up with the Strawhats, however, she was stopped by a beautiful young lady with straight back hair, blue eyes, and was wearing a white cowboy hat on her head.
"What a splendid display," the dark-haired beauty comments.
"Miss Allsunday!" Vivi exclaims in shock as she realizes who is behind her. The two exchange a few words which led to Vivi attacking the Baroque Works vice-captain. She retaliates by hitting Vivi in the stomach, giving the illusion that she impaled Vivi and because of that Pell tries to attack her. As Pell flies up to attack her, two arms suddenly wrap around his wings causing him to crash land on the roof.
"Did it look like I impaled her?"
"What the hell did you do!?" Pell exclaims angrily.
"No need to get so worked up. I'm just having a little fun." Miss Allsunday comments offhandedly.
"So you have an ability of the Devil's fruit." Pell states
"Yes. I've eaten the Hana Hana no Mi, I can make any part of my body bloom like a flower. That is my ability, and since I can grow my body on any surface I please, You cannot escape from me." She confirmed. Not the slightest bit discouraged, Pell tries to attack again, but three pairs of arms appear around him. One pair was on the ground holding him in the air, another was on his upper back pulling his head towards his back, and the last pair was on his lower back pulling his arms behind him. She walked up to him and was about to do something, only to jump back right in time to avoid being sliced in half. She expected to see whoever almost killed her right in front of her, but there was no one there, and then she felt cold steel being placed at her neck.
"Move, and die," a voice stated in a monotone. Vivi looks behind Miss Allsunday to see who saved Pell and saw Akame with Murasame out ready to slice Miss Allsunday's head off at a moment's notice.
~~Next Chapter: Rescue Mission~~
AN: Some of you are probably upset that I cut out that emotional scene with Vivi and the Strawhats, but I'm not gonna lie, she was being a bit too naive for me, also I needed to change some stuff. There can't always be big changes, there have to be some small ones as well.
I already have a pairing for Enzo but should I set him up with another girl as well. I already know who I'd use, but I need some feedback from you guys
Anyways drifter signing out. I'll trade doors with you next time.
