Author's note: Hi! Sorry for the super long wait! I'll try to update more frequently, but just as a heads up, I may change my writing style for this story to make it read less like a manga and more like a novel. I hope you enjoy it!

Previously:

"And what I heard in my clouded consciousness was…" Alibaba said, furrowing his brow as he tightened his grip on the cup in his hands. "The sound of flames, voices of confused escapees… Cassim was going around and using the opportunity to steal the treasures of others. Though Cassim was the one who stole the treasure, the thing which allowed him to do so was my blabbing about the tunnels in the palace walls."

Chapter 42: Rest Assured

"So that is what happened…" Aladdin said sympathetically, feeling sad for Alibaba.

'And having the palace treasury robbed probably hastened the depletion of this country's financial resources…' Hope thought with a frown. It must have been hard on Alibaba, bearing the burden of all this…

"Yeah…" Alibaba said glumly. "Then, next morning… 'The king has passed away.' Those were the first words I heard when I woke up. The cause of death was his illness, but the previous night's incident had certainly hastened its progression. I felt like I'd caused the death of the king…" Hope lowered her head sadly. She knew how that felt. Even Faith's expression softened when he had to pause for a moment. "Because I was scared, I fled Balbadd on that very day. And with that, the story of my time in Balbadd ends."

"I see… so that's how it is…" Sinbad mused quietly to himself with his ear on the end of the fluted cup he had pressed to the wall to aid him in his successful attempt to listen in on the conversation taking place in the room on the other side. Having followed the twins when they went to check on Aladdin, he had managed to hear the whole conversation from beginning to end while Masrur kept guard. "I've heard that the previous king had an illegitimate child… so this is what happened."

"Hey, Sin. You know eavesdropping on another's conversation is a bad habit, right?" Ja'far scolded him in a low voice with a frown, even though he was kneeling down right beside the king with his own cup pressed to the wall.

"There's no other way." Sinbad said, keeping his voice to a whisper. "If I was to enter the room, 'Wonder Man Alibaba' would refuse to talk. And thanks to this, we were able to discover something extraordinary about those twins…" He never would have suspected they were from another world! It was inconceivable. He had seen and encountered many mysterious things in his time, but never anything like this… How could such a thing be possible? Even now he had trouble believing it. However, it did help explain a few things... He was also impressed that Hope had managed to escape capture by the Kou Empire alone without having to use her djinn. "Anyway, keep it down." He concluded, shushing his aide when Alibaba started to talk again.

"I headed south after I left Balbadd, and earned a small living at the city near the oasis." The runaway prince continued to explain. "I was happy passing my days without being bound. It was also around that time that I started to plan for 'dungeon diving', which I had wanted to do for a long time. I thought that maybe if I entered a dungeon and got hold of some treasure, I could make amends… Soon after that, I met you, Aladdin, and Faith."

"…" Aladdin was quiet, waiting patiently for him to continue. But not Faith.

"Yeah, and we all know how that turned out." She chimed in with a smirk.

"After that you captured the 7th dungeon…" Morgiana said. "But, I still don't understand… If Cassim had betrayed you, then why did you still join his 'Fog Troupe'?"

"Seriously! If it was me, I would've kicked his ass, not join his club." Faith said dubiously, crossing her arms. Alibaba looked down with a serious expression on his face.

"… Since I'd already captured a dungeon," he said, picking up where he left off, "I decided to return to Balbadd. I wanted to settle something before taking that first step into my new life, and carry out my promise with Aladdin… I wanted to return to the palace and reveal the truth about that incident. However… when I got here, I was appalled by the condition of Balbadd. You won't be able to tell from here, but the condition of Balbadd near the borders is too horrible to even look at. Entire streets filled with people suffering from hunger… What exactly had happened to this country? Then, I heard a rumor from someone. That there was a group of people who was actively opposing the country's military… and that they were actually… Cassim's 'Fog Troupe'!" To say that he was shocked would be an understatement. "I had kept myself from thinking about Cassim all this time. I didn't even want to think about the fact that someone who was as close as him had actually deceived me. But, after hearing that rumor, I decided that if I wanted to settle things, I'd have to find Cassim first! A rogue nearby immediately brought me to Cassim when I paid him…"
Aladdin and the girls braced themselves as Alibaba then recounted how he had been lead to a ragged tent, and he lifted to flap to enter and confront Cassim.

'… Is that you, Alibaba?' Cassim had asked, shocked to see him again.

"And there was Cassim, who I hadn't met in a long time."

"Cassim!" Morgiana said angrily, furrowing her brow with a frown.

"I hope you greeted him with a rocket punch." Faith quipped.

"You're mistaken." Alibaba told them earnestly. "Although Cassim's actions sounded like those of a villain, and I sound like a victim who was fooled repeatedly, It's not all Cassim's or the 'Fog Troupe's' fault… From Cassim, I heard how the country itself had been treating the people in the slums. And so, I found out I hadn't known anything at all… that he'd actually had his difficulties, too." He said, squeezing his hands. "He revealed the truth to me. That, after I had left the slums, inhumane restrictions had been set on the slums' inhabitants. Among others, restrictions had been placed on usage of residential areas, access to goods and what activities were allowed by the residents. Simply put, people in the slums no longer had access to the daily necessities. Except for doing labor work provided by the government, there was no way out of the slums. In short, they became a prison." Faith and Hope frowned as they continued to listen to all the details that Alibaba had learned from Cassim.

According to Cassim, during the second year after Alibaba left, and there was an outbreak of infectious disease in the slums. Not only did the palace offer no help, they even locked down the slums to keep the disease from spreading to them. Without any doctors or medicine, the residents of the slums died one by one… including Cassim's younger sister, Mariam. Cassim had been forced to watch helplessly while she suffered a slow and painful death.

'… I couldn't… I couldn't do anything at all…!!' Cassim had cried, on the verge of breaking down just thinking about it.

'… How can that be!?' Alibaba asked, shocked and horrified by this revelation. 'Didn't you tell me before that… everyone had been moved to a different area and was doing fine?'

'It was the only answer I could give you!!' Cassim shouted miserably, grabbing him by the front of his shirt. 'You kept asking all that with that foolish grin on your face, not knowing anything!!'

'!!' Alibaba gasped when he saw the tears threatening to fall from his old friend's eyes.

'At that time, I'd already decided… no matter what would happen, I'd fight to save the slums!' Cassim swore grimly, trembling with anger and frustration as he grit his teeth, letting go of Alibaba so he could raise his fist in the air. 'And to accomplish my goal, I need 'power'!! That's why I created the Fog Troupe! Fortunately, I heard from you about your tunnels… that attack on the palace's treasury allowed our Fog Troupe to become stronger! We gathered more subordinates, bought new weapons, and finally have enough power to fight the armies of the hated Ahbmad Saluja!! But we're still missing something!!' he said, slamming his fist against the table. 'No matter what, we're just a group of people from the slums… Even if this continues, we'll eventually be eliminated as a group of thieves…'

'Cassim…'

'…' Cassim fell silent, then raised his head to look at Alibaba. '…! Haha…' A laugh escaped his lips when he was struck by an idea.

'?' Alibaba was confused.

'Haha… Right… That's right!!' Cassim said, surprising Alibaba as suddenly he grabbed him by the shoulders. 'Alibaba!! Join the Fog Troupe!!' he said desperately. 'No… why don't you use your identity as prince and be our leader instead!? This way… the Fog Troupe… will never be 'mere thieves' again!!'

"And so I joined the Fog Troupe." Alibaba concluded grimly. "After talking with Cassim, I finally understood. That regardless of what had happened, Cassim was still my friend and family. And now Cassim is facing a big problem!! I want to be able to help him!!" he said earnestly. "I immediately took action. And had us distribute the stolen goods to the residents. As long as we have the support of the residents, the Fog Troupe won't be mere thieves but rebels!! After I get the needed support, I'll reveal my identity and go negotiate with that bastard Ahbmad. Aladdin, I have already decided!!" he declared with a desperate righteous fury.

Faith stared at him in astonishment. Hope and Aladdin wore solemn expressions on their faces.

'So, that's why…' they thought. 'For his important friends and citizens… Alibaba had to go through a lot of anger and aguish before finding the determination to resort to weapons…'

'But… what is this feeling?' Aladdin wondered with a small frown. 'I feel like I have seen something similar before…' His eyes widened and he gasped as he remembered the Kouga clan, the expressions on their faces as they called for war were the same as the one on Alibaba's face now! 'I've got it.' He thought grimly as Hope spoke.

"Then, if the king is unwilling to accept your advice… what will you do?" she asked gravely, coming to the same conclusion. "Will you start a war?"

"!" Alibaba gasped, looking startled. He paled and a bead of nervous sweat rolled down the side of his face as he remembered the conversation he had had just had with Cassim before Morgiana brought him here. "That is…" he said nervously, recalling how Cassim had been building their forces by recruiting so many unsavory characters lately. He had asked that same question.

"Could it be you're going to start a war?"

"I understand clearly… about Alibaba's feelings of wanting to help a close friend." Aladdin said earnestly. "But, if war is declared due to a moment of anger, I believe that many tragic things will occur…" Like Baba's death.

"…" Aladdin and the girls stared at Alibaba, waiting to hear his reply.

"But… I… I know that!" Alibaba said anxiously. "But… But is there even another way!?" he yelled, standing up. "This country's situation is beyond dire right now! There must be something we can do about it, and as soon as possible! I can't ignore those residents who are suffering! That is why I decided to confront the country as it is now… but… I also know what you're saying is right! What we did is causing even more refugees! Even if we only fought the military and the nobles, it's true that regular people got hurt, too!!" he shouted frantically, becoming so worked up in his desperation, that it made Morgiana nervous enough to start sweating. "I… I don't even understand what I'm doing anymore… I'm just too useless… That's why I didn't want to meet you at this kind of time, Aladdin… Please… Please leave! Just leave this country!!!" he screamed.

WHACK.

Alibaba was startled when Aladdin and Faith abruptly delievered sharp blows to the top of his skull with his staff and her hand. "That hurts! What are you doing!?" He shouted incredulously, cradling his aching head.

"As if we could leave after seeing such a sorry-ass expression on your face!" Faith huffed while she and Hope crossed their arms, and Aladdin regarded him with a puffy-cheeked frown.

"!?" Alibaba exclaimed indignantly with a vein throbbing on his forehead. That little…!

"Calm down, Alibaba." Said Aladdin.

"Yes, I think you're making things more complicated than they have to be, so you get too worked up to think about them properly. Take a breath." Hope advised him.

"Yes, it is true that the problems this country is facing are difficult for us to solve…" Aladdin agreed as he stood up and crossed over to stand in front of his friend. "But, rest assured." He placed a hand on Alibaba's shoulder. "I will help you come up with a solution!" Alibaba's eyes widened. "Let me think with you… to come up with a way to help your important friend, too!! And there's also Faith, Hope, Ugo-kun, and Morg! We can definitely of a way if we all work together!" Aladdin said brightly with a smile.

"Yeah, my sister's a genius, remember?" Faith added with a grin, while Hope smiled kindly.

"We really like this world, so if there's a way for us to help, especially for a friend of Aladdin's… we'll do what we can." Hope said.

'Aladdin…' Alibaba thought, staring up at his friend and the others with wonder. Even Faith and her sister, who had never met him before, wanted to help. He suddenly remembered their time together in Amon's dungeon, when Aladdin's cool-headed thinking and Faith's ability to adapt to the situation had saved them. And now they were saving him again. "… For raising my voice… sorry." He said quietly, lowering his head.

"It's okay." Aladdin said with a smile, offering him his hand. "It doesn't matter…"

Just as Alibaba moved to accept it, the shutters on the window behind him burst open with a great crash, and Alibaba, Aladdin, and the twins were sent rolling across the room from the explosive force as rubble rained down around them. Morgiana was the only one still standing.

"!?" They gasped in alarm and looked up as the dark silhouettes of those responsible crept up un the moonlight.

"Hey… I've been looking for you…" A chilly wind swept through the night as they stared up at the wild young man who bore a strange sword on his arm and was surrounded by a myriad of thugs. "I've come to save you, partner." He told Alibaba with a smirk.

"Cassim!" Alibaba gasped.