This is the 37th chapter. I don't own the series of One Piece.
Ruins and Lost Ways!
In three years, not a drop of rain has fallen in the kingdom of Alabasta, the Land of Oasis. At the brink of war with nowhere else to turn, the people are turning on each other. After Ace decided to postpone the pursuit of Blackbeard, Luffy and the rest of the Straw Hat crew continue their journey through the vast desert. They're heading toward Yuba, in hopes of stopping the Rebel Army. Whether they will succeed is to or no, as the setting sun watches silently over them.
Somewhere in Alabasta
In the desert, both Zoro, Ventus, and Chopper were standing in the scorching heat of the desert, and the reindeer is carrying a knocked out Luffy around his shoulder. They're were looking for their crew after the others left without them, leaving them behind. Luffy groans which it got their attention.
"Looks Luffy is back with us." Chopper said.
"What-"
"Have you recovered what's left of your sanity?" Zoro interrupts with a question, glared at Luffy, earned his attention. "You are such a pain."
Luffy then look ground in the desert, notices his crew were not here.
"Where are the others?" Luffy asks.
"No idea." Zoro answered simply.
"Huh? How can you not know where they are?!" Luffy demands.
"Pretty easily actually." Ventus answered bluntly.
"Are you trying to be funny?" Luffy asks when Zoro laughs. "You're laughing at a time like this?"
"Yes I am." Zoro answered.
"Great! So, we're lost again?" Luffy asks again.
"YES WE'RE LOST!? AND GUESS WHO'S FAULT THAT IS?!" Zoro, Ventus, and Chopper yelled at Luffy with white eyes and shark-like teeth.
Luffy now realize that both Chopper, Ventus, and Zoro were looking at him, which they already knew who's fault for getting them lost and not with the other Straw Hat crew.
"Is it my fault?" Luffy asks which it's a dumb question.
A few moments ago, the Straw Hat pirates and Ace were continuing to head towards Yuba which they're low on mostly water and food because of a certain Captain. Luffy then yells with his fists raised up in the sky along with his tongue stick out and his eyes were swirled. Luffy then starts hallucinating as he rushes around the desert, thinking that he's chasing someone.
"What's he doing?" Vivi asks.
"He's freaking out again?" Nami asks in annoyance.
"More like he ate something he shouldn't have." Shanise states.
"How is he running on air?" Sanji questions.
"He must've eaten another cactus, he's gone crazy." Usopp states with exhaustion.
"Cactus?" Ace repeats.
"Mezcal Cacti, a cactus that can make anyone hallucinating. It happened when Luffy ate it and suck the moisture out of the cactus." Ventus explains.
"It happened once, and Chopper's able to sedate him." Sanji adds.
"And thanks to him, we're lost because of his stupidity." Anna said with annoyance, causing Ace to chuckle.
"Geez, why can't he stay out of trouble for more than five minutes?" Nami rhetorically questions with annoyance, knew that Luffy won't stay out of trouble. "Chopper!"
"Chopper is down for the count." Ventus told her when they saw Chopper still couldn't handle the desert heat. "He still not use to heat."
"Yeah, he's in pretty bad shape." Nami agrees. "Well, up to you."
"Why is it my job?" Zoro asks, complaining.
"Forget it, Zoro, she just wants some stupid money from you." Ventus told him with sigh. "Besides, there's no sense arguing with that greedy money grubber."
That got Nami shot a glare at the young Dragoon and a tick a mark on her head which he makes a valid point and it got Ivan, Shanise, and Anna snickered a bit. Then, Zoro, Ventus, and Chopper head to Luffy's direction at the sandy hill.
"Right, now let's get going." Nami suggests.
"But, don't you think we should wait for the others?" Vivi asks, not liking the idea of leaving them behind.
"They can catch up by following our foot prints." Sanji states.
"I have a better idea." Anna said as she placed a broken wooden stick on the ground, marking the arrow. "I can leave mark, that way they won't get lost."
"That can work, it's pretty thoughtful for let them know." Ace said with an impressed smirk as they continued to walk through the desert.
"Knowing them, they shouldn't have a hard time finding us again." Nami said. "And in the meantime, we can find someplace to relax."
"Sounds good to me." Usopp agrees.
Soon as they continue to head for Yuba while looking for a place to rest, Vivi turns to the four.
'I hope that they really be alright.' Vivi thought.
While at the sandy hill, Zoro, Ventus, and Chopper were able to catch with Luffy and saw him throwing punches wildly and screaming. The rubber Captain thinks that he's fighting against Crocodile which it's part of the hallucination.
"You moron! Would you snap out of it!" Zoro shouts with annoyance which it got Luffy's attention. "Great! Chopper, would you hurry up and stick the fool with the needle of something?!"
"Zoro, he's still out." Ventus points out, placing Chopper on the ground. "Guess we'll have to it the old-fashion way."
"Might as well." Zoro grumbles. "We'll just have to it ourselves."
"You...Crocodile..." Luffy growled, thinking the two were Crocodile. "I'll kill-"
Just before Luffy could even finished his sentence or even try to attack, Ventus grabs him with his dragon talon after flew after him, then slams him down to the ground to knock him out. Ventus let go of Luffy and meet up with Zoro and Chopper at the hill when the sand blows Luffy, buried him.
"I'm use to dealing with someone who's being crazy, but it never gets any less annoying." Zoro states.
"Join the club, because we've dealt some crazy things." Ventus said. "It always gets annoying."
"Yep." Zoro agrees. "And it brings me to that question, how did we end up following a Captain like him in the first place?"
"Well, we have our own reasons for joining a pirate crew and neither of us had the same goal as Luffy's. We just do our thing for our own reason." Ventus told him. "Though Luffy, he's just a child with a narrow mind and a foolish goal."
"That sounds accurate." Zoro agrees with a chuckle.
Until, Chopper quickly got up with a yelp in pain, coughing the sand out of his mouth.
"That's hot!" Chopper groans, but get their attention. "Wait, what happen to Luffy? Where is he?"
"He's over there." Ventus told him, thrust his thumb.
Chopper then look at Luffy, who's buried, except the head, in the sand it got him to scream in pain. Chopper is about to rush towards him, but stopped when Zoro grabbed him.
"Just leave him there." Zoro suggests. "Where are the others?"
"I don't know." Chopper answered. "When I woke up, they had disappeared."
"How considerate of them." Zoro grumbled. "Oh well, we'll have to follow their footprints in the sand then."
"What footprints?" Chopper asks in confusion which there weren't any footprints and it's completely covered in sand.
Luffy then got out of the sand after recovered from that hard slam.
"I know you! You're that mean jerk, Crocodile-"
"It time to wake up, moron!" Zoro yelled with white eyes and shark-like teeth, bonked Luffy's head.
"Wait, where are the others at?" Luffy asks, recovered.
"Welcome back." Zoro said with a grunt.
"Where did they all go?" Luffy asks, looking for his crew. "And why aren't we following-"
"We fell behind because we are trying to take care of you!" Zoro yelled again, bonked his head.
"Chopper, you and Ventus can track stuff with your nose, right?" Luffy inquires.
"That's what we're trying to do, but we can't smell anything at all." Chopper points out.
"You don't know which way to go?" Luffy asks.
"Can you and Ventus tell which way the wind is blowing from?" Zoro questions.
"The wind blows on the left, that's about all we can tell." Ventus told him.
"Okay, since Chopper and Ventus can't smell anything. We know they aren't in that direction." Zoro states, looking at his left.
"You don't know what you're saying." Luffy muttered aloud.
"Fine, then you can stay if you want to!" Zoro shouts with a scoff, walked away. "Let's go Chopper! Ventus!"
And with that, both Chopper and Ventus followed Zoro, leaving Luffy behind.
"Hey, guys! Wait for me! You can't just leave me here!" Luffy whines, try to catch up with them.
Few hours later, Zoro, Chopper, Ventus, and Luffy continued to wander through the desert, with the rubber Captain kept whining and his tongue sticking out.
"So...hot!" Luffy whines.
"Is Luffy going to be alright?" Chopper asks, looking at Luffy.
"It'll take a lot more than a desert heat and a cactus to kill him." Ventus told him.
"Zoro? Ventus?" Chopper called them.
"What is it?" Zoro inquires.
"Yeah?" Ventus inquires.
"Is being a pirate always like this?" Chopper asks.
"Like what?" Zoro inquires.
"You know, climbing mountains, crossing deserts." Chopper clarifies.
"I see what you mean." Zoro said, understands what Chopper is telling them. "Well, we aren't really a normal pirate crew, and then there's an insane Captain."
"Annoying, childish, reckless, and not too bright is more accurate." Ventus states. "We've been on a pirate crew ever since Luffy started on his own."
"I'm wondering if maybe I've got on board the wrong ship." Chopper said with a sigh, slump his shoulders.
"What do you know, Ventus and I are starting to think the same thing ourselves." Zoro told him, leaving Chopper surprised.
"Hey." Chopper called them, earned their attention. "You and Zoro were the first out of everyone here to join Luffy's crew, isn't that right?"
"Well, more like Luffy forced me to join. And after a while back at Cocoyashi village, I give him a backstory of my past. He even ask me to join his crew." Ventus explains.
"He's right, and I joined after Ventus, but the rest of them came pretty quickly after that." Zoro adds.
"What made you join in the first place?" Chopper questions.
"Why do you ask that?" Zoro asks.
"I mean, I understand Ventus' reason, and I know I just joined, but it seems like everyone on the crew sort of does their own thing instead of really working together, especially you and Ventus." Chopper clarifies, causing the two to chuckle.
"That's pretty accurate." Zoro said. "I have my own reasons for being here and for joining the crew in the first place. It's like that for the others too. None of us had the same goals in mind as Luffy does. We all basically do our own thing for our own reasons. May seem a little weird at times, but it works for us anyway. It can look crazy, like we have no idea what teamwork is. Especially when you look at our Captain, he's a real handful."
"Yeah, I'm with you on that one." Chopper agrees, looking at Luffy.
"But still, what is teamwork exactly when you get right down to it?" Zoro questions, leaving Chopper confused. "Is it just about protecting each other and helping each other out? I guess most people would say so, but they're just fooling themselves, I think real teamwork is about more than that in the end. It's about individuals taking individual risks, if you ask me. You work together by working separately, you stand up and risk your own life, you do what you can the best that you can, and then you turn to the others and expect the same from them. When you think about it that way, what so wrong with everyone on the crew having their own agenda, you know? Well, that's my opinion."
"I think I understand, so that's what Usopp meant when he said 'Just do whatever you can'." Chopper said, causing Zoro and Ventus to chuckle a bit.
"That sounds like a cop out, coming from him though." Zoro states when he, Chopper, and Ventus stops, turns to Luffy. "As for why we stayed on board with this crew, working beside him all this time has ended up given me another goal to work for it."
"For some reason, that's the same for me." Ventus said. "Even after I'm still going after my uncles and stayed on board with this crew, it has given me another goal."
"So what's your new goal?" Chopper inquires as he, Zoro, and Ventus continue to walk when Luffy catches up.
"That's something I have to figure it out." Ventus told him.
"Yeah, it'll be hard to explain." Zoro adds, agreeing to the young Dragoon.
Then, it got Luffy's attention when he saw a rock above the sand that has a shade which it got him determined.
"Someplace shady! Finally!" Luffy shouts, earned their attention when their faces paled as he stretches his arms. "Gum-Gum: Rocket"
Soon as Luffy grabs hold of the rock, he launches himself while holding Zoro, Ventus, and Chopper with his legs, knocking them out as they grunts and made a crash landing. Zoro silds down to the ground after made a bad landing on the rock, Ventus pulls his head out of the sand, and Luffy sits on a rock with a big grin on his face. However, is nowhere to be found.
"Nice and cool!" Luffy said with a sigh, laughing.
"I SHOULD CUT YOU IN HALF!?" Zoro yelled with white eyes and shark-like teeth, readied his swords.
"I SHOULD BURN YOU ALIVE!?" Ventus yelled with his dragonic tone, showing his white eyes and shark-like teeth as he readied his lance.
"Right, sorry about that." Luffy apologizes, waving his hand nervously. "Hey, where's Chopper?"
Though, it didn't long when Luffy saw Chopper outside of the shade and unconscious after that hard crash.
"Oh, there he is! What's Chopper doing out there? He's a pretty weird guy!" Luffy states when Zoro placed his sword next to him while Ventus points his lance at the back of his head, caused his face to pale. "Yeah, this is my fault. I'm sorry."
"There's really no point in talking to you sometimes, you know that?" Zoro said with annoyance as he sits on rock, but fell off and land down into the underground with a shout.
"Hey, what's up with this big hole here?" Luffy asks, noticed a hole in the ground.
"HOW SHOULD I KNOW THAT, YOU IDIOT?!" Zoro retorts with a shout.
"You okay down there?" Luffy shouts with a question.
"Dammit! Not did it really feel good!" Zoro cursed with a grumble, pulls himself up while rubbing his sore head. "So, where the hell am I?"
"WHOOOOOOAAAAA!? UGH!"
Zoro then turned to the source, noticed that Ventus came out of the sand with a groan and rubbing his head.
"You too, huh?" Zoro rhetorically asks, earned a nod from the young Dragoon.
They then look at a huge cube with glyphs on it, which they're in some kind of an underground ruin.
"What the?!" Zoro and Ventus muttered in unison as they walk towards the cube.
"Interesting." Zoro states as they look closely. "What is something this-"
"-doing underground?" Luffy interrupts with a question, earned their attention.
"What the hell are you doing down here?" Zoro questions.
"Lowered myself in." Luffy answered simply.
"And when did you do that for?!" Zoro shouts.
"He probably got sunk here in the underground, like us." Ventus guessed. "And with him down here, we'll probably get separated from Chopper. And without his nose, we won't be able to catch up with the others."
"Nah, that shouldn't be a problem." Luffy shrugs.
"Why is that?" Zoro demands.
"Chopper is falling down here too." Luffy answered simply.
And with that, they heard a shout coming from Chopper when he fell down to the underground. Chopper pulled himself up, rubbing the back of his neck with a grunt.
"Where am I?" Chopper asked himself, looking around the area and turned his head when he saw Zoro, Ventus, and Luffy walking towards him. "Hey, guys! Where are we?"
"I have no idea what this place is, all I know is that we're definitely underground." Zoro told him, which Chopper understands what he's telling him.
Meanwhile, Ace and the Straw Hat pirates were able to find a place to rest for the long journey which they're resting in the ruins that has been abandoned for a long time.
"I'm exhausted, why don't we take a break?" Nami suggests.
'You're staying that because you're riding on a camel.' Anna and Ivan thought with annoyance.
"Of course, Nami~!" Sanji accepts happily.
"Kiss ass." Shanise quietly muttered when Usopp groans in exhaustion.
"Oh, come on, Usopp. You really are pathetic." Nami states.
"Easy for you to say, you got to ride eyelash." Usopp complains. "I've been walking the whole time."
"Usopp, we've been walking the whole time, except Vivi and Nami because they're on a camel." Shanise points out.
"Thanks for the ride, eyelash." Nami thanked the camel when they noticed Vivi is worried. "Hey."
"You okay, Vivi?" Ace asks.
"The other four, how will they find us here?" Vivi asks.
"We are on the top of the hill, we should be visible. Even from a pretty long distance away." Nami points out.
"I wouldn't be too sure, they could easily get lost in the desert, mostly because of Luffy." Ace told her. "And I highly doubt that they'll find a broken stick in the desert."
Anna, Shanise, and Ivan knew Ace makes a valid point, mostly Luffy since he's the only one that got them lost in the first place a while ago. Sanji then taps a the wall, causing it to crumble.
"So, how long do we have before we get there?" Nami inquires, fanning herself.
"Since we made it to these ruins, we should be able to get to Yuba by night if we keep on walking." Vivi told her, turns to her.
"Finally, we're getting close." Nami said with relief.
"So these ruins are of old buildings and stuff?" Sanji asks curiously.
"Yes, and they've been sitting here for a long time. I guess." Vivi answered. "Civilization began here on Alabasta thousands of years ago, many kingdoms have risen and fallen since that time and for many reasons. Resettlement, in search for water, the occasional war, ruins of civilization like this one exists throughout the country. Many of them we know almost nothing about."
"And centuries past, one-by-one, leading to the current Alabasta kingdom, an epic that always repeats, kingdoms rise and fall here one day gone the next." Sanji states with a smirk as he sat on a ground and next to the wall with his hands on the back of his head and his legs crossed, leaving Vivi sad. "It's romantic."
"Sanji!" Nami and Anna scolds him, leaving Sanji flinched.
"Um...my apologies. Really, sorry Vivi." Sanji apologizes with a nervous smile. "I was just babbling on. Pay no attention to me."
"It's alright. Actually, I found myself thinking the same thing lately." Vivi said sadly, leaving them shocked. "What makes a country? Not it's ruler, even if the ruler dies, the countries people will keep on living. Culture, faith, those can remain the same, even when the countries rule changes. So, is it really necessary to try and preserve everything just as it is now? What needs protecting and what do we let go of? I've thinking about this ever since the Sand pirates and the town with the fake rebel soldiers, it's all just so complicated now. Oh, sorry, I'm just babbling about this. I'm sure these are questions without answers, but at least there's one thing I do know, what we need to do now, stop Baroque Works, an organization is about to cause a pointless war with their malicious scheming. They're trying to destroy this country and we have to stop them, no matter what the cost may be. I don't care how difficult it is or what the dangers are, they absolutely have to be stopped! Crocodile will never get what he wants! Now while I'm alive!"
They can tell Vivi is extremely angry and determine to save her homeland and stop the Baroque Works for causing a pointless conflict.
"Well I guess we should get going now, huh?" Usopp suggests, pulls himself up.
"Usopp, are you sure you alright?" Vivi asks with worry.
"Oh please, are you kidding me?" Usopp remarked. "I'm feeling so strong right now, it almost hurt!"
"Liar." Sanji and Ivan muttered with annoyance, noticed Usopp's legs trembling.
"My legs are shaking, because I've got so much energy!" Usopp spouts a lie, straighten himself up. "You haven't seen strong until you've seen Captain Usopp in action! I won't waver a fall for one second!"
And to prove their point, both Ivan and Sanji taps Usopp's legs, causing him to tremble. Usopp, Ivan, and Sanji argues.
"Alright, we should get going." Nami suggests.
"What? Shouldn't we wait for Luffy and the others?" Vivi asks surprisingly.
"You're such a worrier." Nami remarked, pulled her cloak on. "Luffy is absolutely determined to beat Crocodile. Once he has his mind set on something, you can just let him do his own thing. You know that?"
"That's Luffy for you, always does his own thing and getting into trouble along the way." Ace states with a chuckle.
Meanwhile in the underground ruins, Ventus, Zoro, and Chopper are looking at the glyphic cube which while Luffy is just lying on the ground. Zoro and Ventus then looks up at the ceiling, realizing where they're at.
"There, my eyes are adjusting." Zoro said. "From what I can tell, we're in some kind of giant dome."
"Or better yet, we're in some ruins that's been buried in the sand long time ago." Ventus states.
"Yeah, and they think people used to live here too." Chopper agrees.
"What?" Zoro asks surprisingly.
"What do you mean?" Ventus adds with a question.
"There are look like ancient ruins or something." Chopper told them.
"How can you tell that?" Zoro asks.
"Look at this thing, it's almost entirely covered with rosea-written characters." Chopper answered, looking at the glyphs as Ventus and Zoro looked at it. "I've seen something just like in the book before, it's like an ancient alphabet."
Though, Zoro and Ventus were confused about it, but what could those glyphs mean is beyond them. Luffy, however...
"Who cares about stupid stuff like that anyway?" Luffy said without care, earned their attention. "The only thing I care about is that cool and shady in here. So nice!"
"Okay, let's say you're right, but then what's this place doing underground?" Zoro inquires.
"Well, I don't know why." Chopper answered, turns to the two. "Was it built underground? Or was buried sometime after it was built? Either way, I get the feeling that they're trying to hide the building for some reason."
"Well, whoever made this place, it must've taken them a long time." Zoro states, turns to Luffy as he walked towards him. "And whatever it is, it has nothing to do with us. So, what's the point in thinking about it? Besides, at the moment, we need to be thinking about how to get outta here, right Captain?"
"But why?" Luffy asks, looking at Zoro. "It's nice in here."
"Just shut up and get up already, will ya!" Ventus remarked with annoyance.
"No, I don't wanna!" Luffy whines, roll around the ground with a pouty face and wrapped his knees around. "Let's just stay in here a little while longer, okay?! It's really hot outside!"
And with that, both Zoro and Ventus bonked Luffy in the head with annoyance of his childish antics.
"Alright, let's get going. We gotta hurry and catch up with the others." Luffy reluctantly said, pulls himself up with a bump on his head as he looks at the hole from the ceiling. "That hole is where Zoro fell on his ass, right?"
"Shut up!" Zoro remarked.
Luffy then grinned and winds up with his fist.
"Gum-Gum: Pistol" Luffy then launches his fist up at the hole, but hits the ceiling instead, causing the rubble fall onto the rubber Captain along with the sand.
"What are you trying to do?" Zoro asks.
"Dammit! I just missed!" Luffy grunts, looking at the ceiling. "It's really hard to hit a target that small!"
Luffy then launches his arm, try to get to the hole which he manage to grab it.
"There, I got it." Luffy said with a grin.
But he spoke too son when the ceiling broke out, causing the rubble and the sand fall onto to him, making him grunt in pain.
"Again, what are you trying to do?" Ventus asks with annoyance. "Why don't you just let me use my wings to get you guys up to the ground?"
Luffy merged his head out of the sand with a cough, then he shakes off the sand.
"This is really starting to bug me!" Luffy shouts with annoyance which Zoro, Ventus, and Chopper are wondering what is he doing. "Gum-Gum: Gatling"
Luffy then launches his fist, bringing out a rapid barrage of punches to break the ceiling and the boulder which it got them panicked as they dodged the boulder and the rubble. Luffy's arm stretches back in its place with steam coming out of his nose.
"Right! Now that's better!" Luffy said, looking at the bigger hole of the ceiling.
"WHAT ARE YOU DOING, YOU CRAZY IDIOT?!" Zoro yelled with white eyes and shark-like teeth, pointing at the ceiling. "WHAT ARE YOU GOING TO GRAB ON TOO NOT THAT YOU BROKE THE BOULDER UP THERE?!"
"Oh calm down, it's alright, I have an idea." Luffy shrugs, motioned his hand which it got Ventus and Zoro paled. "Chopper, you probably get little."
Chopper is confused, wondering why when he raised his eyebrow.
"Gum-Gum"
Luffy the stretched his arm, wrapping it around a column multiple times which Zoro and Ventus realize what he's doing.
"Oh, I think I see what he's doing." Zoro muttered when Chopper turns into his original form.
"Coming?!" Luffy asks, turns to them
"Accept it, we have to do this." Ventus reluctantly told them when Zoro and Chopper nods.
Though, they'd rather have Ventus grab them and fly up at the ground, but Luffy would rather do something reckless as they grab hold of the rubber Captain.
"Here we go!" Luffy said as they launched, spinning around the column with speed. "Spring"
Luffy and the others then launched out of the ceiling and they're flying very far and high, causing Zoro, Ventus, and Chopper to scream and Luffy laughing.
"Luffy, how are we going to land?!" Chopper yelled in panic.
"Don't know!" Luffy exclaims.
"Oh no!" Chopper shouts with a scream.
"Didn't I tell you just to accept it?!" Ventus shouts with a question.
"Yeah, but you didn't mention this point!?" Chopper retorts.
And with that, they crashed right into the sandy ground which Luffy crashed multiple times, causing the sand dust to appear and the rubber Captain laughed with a smile on his face.
"Well, we're free now!" Luffy shouts, but noticed his crew isn't with him. "Hey, where'd they go?"
Luffy is searching, but noticed the three got buried in the sand after crashing down.
"Ah, there they are!" Luffy states.
"Yeah, that settles it, I definitely chose the wrong ship to join." Chopper groans.
"Yep, I know what you mean, Chopper." Zoro agrees with a groan. "Cuz' that's just Ventus and I were thinking."
Ventus however, is not too happy as he merged himself out of the sand with a very angry look on his face as he look at Luffy, whose face paled.
"LUFFY!? I'M GONNA KILL YOU!?" Ventus yelled as he charges after Luffy, beating him into bloody pulp.
Zoro and Chopper are watching the scene, considering that they're not feeling sorry for Luffy because he brought it on himself for being reckless and never taking Ventus' warning.
"And I guess Luffy just won't learn." Zoro states.
"Nope, he just got onto Ventus' bad side, he just got beaten for it." Chopper agrees.
Later that evening, the rest of the Straw Hat pirates continued to head for Yuba after leaving the ruins, but Usopp is still lagging behind and still holding the stick to keep his balance.
"Usopp, you're falling behind again." Anna told him.
"What happen to all that strength and energy you had, Captain Usopp?" Sanji mocks with a question.
"Don't tell me you just lost your energy and feeling withered?" Ivan questions with a mock.
"Oh, that. I meant it more than a metaphorical sense, not literally." Usopp states with an exhaustion.
"More like a lie." Shanise muttered with annoyance.
"Well, hang in there. Just a little bit longer." Nami suggests, but noticed Vivi is looking at the desert with worry. "Still worried, huh?"
"Oh. No." Vivi said after snapped out of her thoughts.
"It's written all over your face." Nami told her.
"Yeah, I guess it is." Vivi admits. "I'm sure they're okay, really."
"I doubt that." Ace said, earned their attention. "Knowing Luffy, he's doing something reckless and maybe getting on Ven's bad side, again."
"Yeah, and when it that happens, Ventus would just beat him up before we ever get to either Yuba or Crocodile." Anna agrees with a sigh. "Luffy just won't learn."
Vivi and Nami couldn't but cringe at that part, knew she's right about Ventus since they saw how angry he can easily get.
"And I seriously doubt you'll stop being a worrier." Nami states with a smile, looking at the sky. "But that isn't always necessarily a bad thing."
Vivi knew that Nami makes a good point since she's worried about her homeland and the pirate crew.
"You know, you guys are amazing." Vivi said with a smile, leaving Nami confused along with the others. "I've been thinking about it ever since Little Garden, you all seem to have so much faith in one another. How do you do that?"
"How? I guess it's not really something I'm conscious of, I never really thought about it before." Nami said.
"That's what so amazing." Vivi states. "That kind on unconditional faith in others is really difficult to come by."
"I can't say for sure, but maybe we trust each other because we all do whatever we can the best that we can." Nami told her. "While back, Ventus was able to free my home island and I begin to realize why he did it."
She even remembered the time back in Cocoyashi village, remembered when Ventus fought against Arlong and his crew all on his own at Arlong Park which he done it out of pure rage and killing the entire fishman, except Hachi, and destroyed the Arlong Park with only one strike.
"I wouldn't forget that fight, he made me realize that I'm not alone. And I'm beginning to realize that these pirates are different, this is how they are." Nami states. "If you're alone, your strength is limited. There's only so much that one person can do after all. One isn't enough, you need friends, but at the same time, it amounts to nothing if those friends aren't trying every bit as hard as you do what they can do. Well, I don't know if that was an answer."
"It's great." Vivi said, shook her head.
"It's really hard to keep your thoughts straight in this heat." Nami states with a laugh.
'Actually, that answered a lot. Really.' Vivi mentally thought with a smile on her face. 'I wonder if that kind of faith is part of this country as well?'
And just they continued to head for Yuba, Ventus and the others were able to catch up with them when he and Chopper have caught their scent along with the sunset direction. Just then, they noticed Luffy got some bruises and bumps all over his face which it didn't take long to figure it out who beat him.
And for that, they continue on their journey to Yuba.
That's it for the 37th chapter.