The group continued on to Yuba, stopping periodically. Kia found it as no surprise that while everyone had been smart in conserving water, Luffy had eaten most of the food supplies. Sanji, naturally, had stashed food away in his own pack, and had protected it from Luffy's grasp. However splitting it between all of them, meant small meals which could never satisfy their captain.
Vivi spent most of the time telling stories of when she was younger, how she had met Koza, and the rest of her friends in the sand-sand clan. They all filed behind the camel, listening as well, when something popped out of the sand near Luffy.
"Hey, what is that?" Luffy asked, running over to it. "It looks like a tail!" He picked up a nearby stick and started poking it.
"That can't be good.. " Usopp murmured. Sure enough, moments later, the sand moved again to show Luffy standing on top of a huge scorpion. Usopp immediately began screaming and running in circles. Ace stepped in front of her, with a terse, "Stay back Kiana."
She shrugged, "I'm not going to fight it, the boys have it under control."
Ace looked over as Chopper transformed into heavy point, and he, Sanji and Zoro ran over to help Luffy defeat the scorpion. Ace stood there grinning as they watched them kill it.
"Sanji! Can we eat it?" Luffy asked, drooling. "I'm starving!"
"I think so," Sanji replied. "It's looks somewhat like a lobster…"
"Yeah!" Luffy cheered.
"Hey you guys," Kia called. "Stand back and let Ace cook it. It'll be faster!" Ace gave her a look and a shrug, and walked over to the dead scorpion. Without any sort of effort, he cooked the scorpion in its shell, then walked back.
"Thanks Ace!" Luffy called. "Zoro! Slice it up!"
"No Luffy," Sanji said. "You eat lobster by cracking open the shell."
"Awesome!" he replied and grabbing the scorpion, started pulling off its shell and eating the meat inside. The other guys quickly joined in, though not so messily. Ace grabbed a claw, and brought it back to Kia, cracking it open to offer her some.
She glanced down, uncertain, but wanted to be able to say she had at least tried it. Tearing free a small piece of meat, she put it in her mouth, and chewed.
"Ugh, that most definitely does not taste like chicken," she said, but finished what she had taken. She refused any more, and Ace shrugged and finished it quickly.
"Of course it's not chicken, Kia! It's desert lobster!" Luffy yelled out.
"Well you can have my share, Captain!" she called back.
"Woo-hoo! Thanks Kia!"
"Luffy, take it easy!" Sanji yelled. "We need to take some to Nami and Vivi!" He ripped the final claw out of Luffy's hand, and ran over to the other girls. Luffy fell forward, resting on the shell, now that the meal was finished.
"Nami! Vivi! I saved you the best part!" Sanji held out his offering, and both girls screamed.
"You guys are a bunch of inconsiderate jerks!" Nami yelled to the rest of the group. "Come on Eyelash!" and with a whip of the reigns, they took off.
"Nami is gorgeous even when she yells at me," Sanji said wistfully as he returned.
"Whoa," Luffy said, sitting up. "Why is she so angry?"
The other guys looked so confused that Kia started laughing, and laughed harder when Ace looked at her with the same expression.
"I dunno," the other boys answered Luffy, and he looked at Kia in question, prompting the others to look to her as well.
"Women are the great mystery of the universe," Kia said with a snicker. When their expressions didn't change, she thought of something simpler.
"Uh, Nami and Vivi… don't like desert lobster."
"Oh!" Luffy said and the others all nodded at her wisdom. Then they stood up and the group trailed after Nami and Vivi.
They continued throughout the evening before camping among a tall group of rocks. They slept in peace, and awoke in good spirits. Sanji made breakfast, showing Nami, Vivi and Kia a flat rock to sit on. Ace gathered his breakfast, and jumped up the top of a tall rock to sit alone. He took off his robe again, sitting shirtless in the shade. Nami elbowed Kia in the side, and gave her a wink as she gestured up to where he was sitting. Kia quickly shook her head, her cheeks going pink. Vivi giggled, and Kia shushed her as Sanji brought their breakfast over.
"Vivi my dear, Nami my love, Kia my heart," Sanji said to each of the girls as he handed out their food.
"Thank you Sanji," they said in unison.
"My pleasure!" he cooed. Turning to the fire, he made a portion for each of the boys, yelling at Luffy to sit down and eat. Usopp and Luffy ate quickly- Luffy because that was just how he eats, and Usopp, in order to avoid having his food stolen.
"Is that all?" Usopp complained.
"Yeah! Seconds! Seconds!" Luffy chanted, banging his spoon on his plate.
"Don't be greedy!" Sanji yelled back.
"C'mon Sanji! I'm still hungry," Usopp whined, while Luffy reached over to steal some from Zoro's plate.
"Hey! Luffy!" Zoro yelled, standing up to fight.
The three girls sighed as they watched the boys fighting. "Why do they act like this at every meal?" Vivi asked.
"Just don't make eye contact," Nami groused.
"It's like they enjoy fighting with each other…" Kia sighed.
"Look at Ace," Nami said, with another wink at her friend. "He is so calm and orderly, he cleans his fork and plate after every meal. He gives me hope for his gender after all."
"Yeah,"Kia answered on a sigh, then realizing they were smiling at her, she straightened up. "I mean, he really doesn't seem like the powerful pirate type, does he?"
"No," Nami answered. "But pirates the world over fear the name Fire-fist Ace, of the Whitebeard pirates."
"If Ace is imposing enough to scare his peers, then this Blackbeard he's chasing must be just as terrifying," Vivi said.
"He is," Kia said. "If Ace isn't careful, he'll not only get his fight with Blackbeard, he'll lose it. Blackbeard has his whole crew with him. They destroyed Drum kingdom after all, just the five of them."
"Oh, Kia, I'm so sorry to have brought it up, I completely forgot." Vivi looked stricken, and Kia waved it away.
"It's okay Vivi, I know you didn't mean anything by it." She looked back up at Ace, who was deep in thought. "Ace lost a friend to Blackbeard, there's nothing we could say or do to stop him from chasing Blackbeard down."
They continued eating quietly, and Kia's thoughts returned to Ace. He was exactly as she always pictured. Cute, funny, thoughtful… and yet he was so much more. She had been so sure he was going to kiss her under that gateway in the last town, and here she was, still dwelling on the disappointment. She shook her head, trying to clear it. This was definitely not the time to start pining after a guy, especially one she had no future with. Ace was focused on his own goals, and that didn't include a girl. Just forget it, she told herself.
After eating, Nami took matters into her own hands and stopped the boys' fight with her fists. She quickly organized them to complete the packing so they could head out. Ace jumped down, ready to go, just as Luffy started yelling about floating meat.
Kia followed after Luffy, and Nami and Usopp followed after Ace, as he went around to surprise their guests who had stolen their food with a fishing pole. Kia could hear them speaking and she put her finger to her lips in a gesture of quiet to Luffy. She climbed up the rock, and looked down, seeing two young boys finishing the meat they had taken from them. They looked dirty and hungry, and she immediately felt sorry for them.
"It smells good, are you enjoying it?"
She looked up at the boys did, seeing Ace with a serious expression on his face. Was he trying to intimidate the kids?
"Stay back!" The older boy said, as he protected the younger one. Ace continued to look down at them, and the older boy pulled out a gun that was practically bigger than he could hold. "You move a muscle and you're dead!"
"Um, Dip, do you know how to shoot a gun?" the younger boy whispered.
"No… but I have to," Dip whispered back.
Then Ace smirked and gave a laugh that sounded anything but genuine. "As a general rule, I'm not fond of people pointing guns in my face."
Dip trembled as he pulled back the trigger, falling over when the gun went off. Ace threw a small rock, hitting the bullet as it flew his direction, and Kia felt her mouth drop open, again.
"Never draw a gun unless you can hit your mark, kid."
"Holy crap, he hit the bullet back with a rock!" Dip cried.
"Please don't hurt us!" the younger boy shouted, holding tightly to Dip.
"Luffy, we should help them," Kia said quietly. When she didn't get a response, she looked around to find that Luffy was gone. She shook her head and jumped down in front of the boys.
"Don't worry, he won't hurt you," she said softly to them. Then turned around and gave Ace a dirty look. "Why are you acting like a jerk?!" she demanded.
"What? Me? They pointed a gun at me!" He retorted.
"Because you snuck up on them!"
"I didn't sneak, they just didn't hear me!"
"Yeah, right! They're kids, Ace, not big bad pirates! You scared them!"
"Uh, what's going on?" Usopp asked as he and Nami came up behind Ace.
"Ace was going to apologize to Dip and… " she trailed off looking behind her in question.
"I'm Chip," the younger boy said shyly. "Thank you for helping us."
"No problem!" she said with a grin, then turned back to Ace giving him a pointed look. He crossed his arms in defiance, obviously not going to apologize. Kia turned back to the boys, crouching down to look at them face to face. "I'm sorry about my friend, he's not a bad guy," she dropped her voice to whisper, "but he has to look tough to keep his scary reputation."
Dip looked shocked, and leaned to the side to look at Ace from around her, while Chip giggled.
"Hey! What did you just say to them?" Ace demanded.
"Nooothing!" she sang back, giving the boys a wink. Chip smiled back, and Dip darted around her to run up to Ace.
"Please sir, I need you to find this man!" he said desperately, holding out a photo. "I'll pay you anything… I'll pay you… a million berries!"
"A million berries?" Nami asked, unconvinced.
"I can't pay you now, but I will when I grow up," Dip looked back up at Ace. "I promise!"
"Who is he?" Kia asked Chip quietly.
"Our father…" Chip replied hesitantly. "He left to find his dream, but I just want him back."
"I'm sure we'll find him, or he'll find us," she said, ruffling his hair. "Don't worry."
Kia had hardly finished speaking, when two men on an ostrich came riding in, yelling for Ace. The first man was the boys' father, going by the name Scorpion, and trying to capture Ace to fulfill his dream of being a bounty hunter. The second, was Luffy. Kia had no idea how he found himself with Scorpion, but he seemed to enjoy the idea of the older man fighting with Ace.
Ace on the other hand, surprised her. He didn't question Scorpion's intent, or mock his obvious disadvantages. In fact, he seemed to respect him for trying his best, even when he couldn't win. Ace didn't hold back, but he didn't aim to hurt the man either. He just did what he needed to in order to win, while letting the Scorpion keep his dignity.
After their story came out, and the boys discovered that their dad just wanted to teach them to never give up on their own dreams, they left for home and the crew said goodbye to Scorpion, Dip and Chip. After leaving, Ace then told Luffy he wouldn't find information about Blackbeard there in Alabasta, and he would be leaving also.
Ace gathered his things, and came forward with a piece of paper in his hands. He held it out to Luffy with a "here, Luffy".
Luffy looked at each side, "it's just a piece of paper?" he said, as if expecting something better.
"That paper will reunite us one day," Ace replied.
Kia gave a small smile, wondering if anything would have been different if Luffy had been given a better explanation than that. Then Ace reached forward, and snatched the paper from Luffy's hand. "You don't want it?" he asked, teasingly.
"No, I do," Luffy responded, reaching for it.
Ace grabbed it with both hands, and tore it down the middle. He handed one half to Luffy, and walking over, stood in front of Kia, offering the other half. She looked down at it in shock, unsure of what was happening.
"Uh, can't hurt to have an extra, right?" Ace muttered, reaching forward for her hand, and placing the vivre card in her palm, closing her fingers around it. She could hear the others looking at Luffy's half, and Nami offering to sew it onto the ribbon of his hat for safe keeping, but she just continued to look at Ace, trying to understand his motivations for doing this. He's probably worried about Luffy losing it, she thought.
She didn't have the courage to ask, but she could feel her face heating as she thought of the possibility that he might want to reunite with her as well, then she shook her head denying the thought. Looking down at her hand, she turned the paper each direction, examining each side. She held it flat in her palm, watching as it moved on its own to the side of her hand. "Thank you," she finally said, lifting her head back up, and finding nothing. She looked down again at the moving paper, just in time for someone to ask, "Where's Ace?"
Luffy called out as he started walking, "Don't worry, I'm sure we'll see him again! Now come on, we've got to get to Yuba!"
They started walking again, and Kia looked at the vivre card, wondering where she could stash it for safe keeping. Tucking it in her bra seemed the safest, but somewhat creepy. For now, she tucked it into her pocket.
"Hmm, so that paper will reunite you one day?" Nami said slyly, as she and Vivi, riding on Eyelash fell back beside Kia. She looked up, realizing the boys were in the lead, and the girls were bringing up the rear. Nami was keeping Eyelash from moving too fast, so that they could have some measure of privacy.
"Nah, he must have figured Luffy could lose the other one," Kia answered.
"It's hard to believe something so simple could actually reunite people," Vivi said.
"It's special paper," she replied.
"You know what it is?" Nami asked in surprise, and Vivi's eyebrows rose as well.
"I think so," Kia answered. "Though I have never seen one before." She walked a little faster, not wanting to get into it now. "Ask me later, okay?" she said, then called out for Chopper to wait for her. She needed to not think about all of this right now, as the other girls were far too good at seeing through her.
A few more hours of walking, and the crew made it to Yuba. They were quiet as Vivi cried out, frustrated and desperately trying to hold it all together, looking around at the wasteland that couldn't possibly be housing the rebel army. They kept silent as she and Toto were reunited, looking around and trying to imagine the city as Toto described it… as it used to be.
They had their pick of places to sleep, and ended up staying in an inn that had a large room with several single beds as well as a few bunk-beds.
Usopp was quick to say goodnight, citing his exhaustion, immediately snoring loud and fake, which had Zoro's irritation spiking since he had been forced to carry Usopp on the last part of the walk to Yuba. He yelled to Usopp about being more rested than everyone since he didn't walk as much, which had Usopp jumping up in defense. Unable to refute Zoro's words, he quickly pulled Chopper into the argument, since he compared better to Chopper than to Zoro.
Chopper, indignant at Usopp's words, changed to his heavy point form, immediately scaring Usopp, and his words lost in Usopp's scream. Zoro, tired of the noise, started throwing pillows. Kia started giggling, and the laughter grew as she turned to Vivi, seeing her blushing, and trying to explain to Sanji that he had gotten in her bed by mistake.
"Pervert Cook!" someone yelled out.
Sanji turned upon hearing that, and got a pillow right to his face. "Someone's going to die for that," he muttered, grabbing a pillow and jumping into the fray. Soon, no one was safe, even Kia- though she just continued to gasp with laughter even when she was hit. After all the stress of the past few days, it was just the outlet they all needed.
Once things calmed down, and they were all in bed, Vivi and Kia looked ruefully at each other. They could hear the snores around them, as each of their friends quickly dropped into sleep.
"They never do anything halfway, do they?" Kia said with a grin.
"No, it would seem not. Though… I wonder where Luffy is? Even he needs to rest."
"He wanted to stay out with Toto," she answered as she got herself comfortable. Silently, she said goodnight to her sisters, wherever they were. She tacked another one to the end, though this time, she said it aloud. "Goodnight, Vivi."
"Goodnight, Kia." Kia could hear the smile in her voice, and was glad that at least for a moment, she had some relief from the grief and pain she was constantly dealing with.