Enter Fire Fist Ace


Ah, Alabasta. A desert country but quite a view. To Ben, Kevin, and Gwen, it looked like something out of the Arabian Nights. But before they could enjoy the view...

"Restaurant!" Luffy yelled once the ship reached land. He leaped off and started running.

"Wait a minute!" the rest of the crew yelled at their captain.

Nami groaned. "That guy is impossible. Ben, could you please go after him and make sure that he doesn't get in trouble."

Ben snorted with a smirk. "Knowing Luffy, trouble would come for him anyway. But I'll go." With that, Ben jumped off the ship and started chasing after his straw-hat wearing pal.

Vivi was worried as she saw Ben and Luffy disappear into the city. "What should we do? Nanohana is a large town. Will Ben-san and Luffy-san be alright?"

"Of course they will, Vivi-chan," Sanji said. "He may look like an idiot but Luffy's pretty strong."

"I just hope Ben will be enough to keep him out of trouble," Usopp said. "If anyone here saw Ben turn into one of his monsters, there's going to be a panic."

Nami sighed. "I wish Luffy would pay more heed to the bounty on his head. Especially in a big country like this."

"Those two can take care of themselves," Zoro said. "Let's go eat. We can think things through after that."

Kevin chuckled as he rubbed his stomach. "I'm with Zoro on this one."

Gwen noticed something in the distance. It looked like some kind of ship. "Hey, Vivi? What's that?"

Vivi looked at the ship Gwen was pointing towards and her eyes widened. "That's Mr. 3's ship!"

"What?" the rest of the crew exclaimed.

"You mean he's not dead?" Usopp asked.

"That ship can only be moved through the power of Mr. 3's Wax Wax Fruit," Vivi said. "He must be in the kingdom."

Kevin snorted. "Well, if he is here, I can give him a whooping for trapping me in that wax."

"We've got a bigger problem than that, Kevin," Gwen said.

The others looked at her curiously. "What do you mean?" Chopper asked curiously.

"A while back, when we fought Mr. 3, Sanji pretended to be him and told Crocodile that we were all dead," Gwen replied. "Now that the real one's here..."

Vivi's eyes widened. "Crocodile will find out we're still alive."

Kevin looked at the ground. "Crrrrrrap," he muttered.

"Luffy!" Ben yelled as he struggled to chase after his friend, who was running almost as fast as XLR8. "Get back here!"

The rubber boy was sniffing the air for food. "What's that weird smell getting in the way?" he asked himself. Then he saw a restaurant up ahead. "There! That's a restaurant!"

Ben felt like his legs were going to burst. This would have been so much easier if he had turned into Jet Ray. But he wasn't in the mood for all the civilians to be freaking out if he transformed. So he just ran after Luffy the best he could. But he still wished he could use XLR8's speed. But as he got closer, he saw that Luffy had stretched his arms to the restaurant.

"Gum Gum…"

"Luffy! Don't!"

"Rocket!" Luffy blasted himself inside the restaurant. What he failed to notice was that he had crashed into somebody who was in his way. And that person happened to crash into another person. And both of them went crashing through the wall of the restaurant. But the only thing on Luffy's mind was food.

"Woohoo!" Luffy cried cheerfully when he saw that he was inside the restaurant. "A restaurant! I'm starving!" He went over to the counter, grabbed some silverware, and started pounding them on the counter. "Hey, guy! Food! Food! Food!"

"Luffy!" Luffy turned to see heavily panting Ben standing at the restaurant doorway.

"You. Are. Impossible!" Ben said between gasps of air.

"Hey, Ben!" Luffy said cheerfully as he started chomping down on some food left on the counter top, not bothered that some of it had already been eaten into. "Were you hungry too?"

"I was sent after you!" Ben yelled.

"Well come on and eat," Luffy said. "This is a great restaurant."

Ben grimaced. "Uh, Luffy? Did you bring any money with you?" Luffy was stuffing his face. Ben sighed. "He didn't listen to a word I said."

"Straw-hat!"

Ben and Luffy saw someone standing next to a giant hole in the wall that Luffy had made. He was a muscular white haired man, who was smoking two cigars at once and wearing a large thick white and blue jacket which he kept open with greenish fur lining neck, wrists and hem. Many cigars were strapped to the jacket. ,The man also wears brown leather gloves, blue jeans with a brown belt and large military issue brown leather boots. Luffy took one look at him, then resumed eating.

"So you're here, too," the man said with a smirk.

"Who are you?" Ben asked as he looked at the white haired man. Was he a member of Baroque Works?

The white haired man looked at Ben now. "Who are you?" he asked.

Ben frowned. "Didn't I just ask you that?"

Luffy froze when as he ate. He remembered that guy now. That was Smoker, a powerful Marine that he had encountered before he entered the Grand Line. This guy had eaten the Smoke Smoke Fruit, which granted him the power to turn into smoke and not be touched.

"Bo bah bobee by!" Luffy garbled with his full mouth, spraying Smoker with food. "Ba buh boo boo-beh beeah?" (Translation: You're that smoky guy! What the heck are you doing here?)

"What did you just say?" Ben asked Luffy in confusion.

Smoker glared at Luffy from the globs of food that he had just gotten on his face. "You disgusting little…"

"Beeeh bo ba boooh!" Luffy said to the bartender before stuffing the rest of his food into his mouth and running out. (Translation: Thank you for the food)

Ben slouched. "Not again." He chased after Luffy. "Wait for me!"

"Wait!" Smoker yelled after them.

"Luffy!" Ben asked as they ran. "Who was that guy?"

"Beh bas bober," Luffy said. "Be ban bun binbo bobe…"

"On second thought," Ben said. "Don't talk with your mouth full."

Meanwhile, Smoker was in hot pursuit. "Tashigi!" he yelled.

Up ahead, a woman wearing glasses and carrying a sword at her side paused in her shopping stopped and looked at the upcoming Smoker. "Yes, Captain Smoker?" She asked. "What is it? You want a towel? I know this place is so hot…"

"Stop him!" Smoker yelled as Luffy and Ben got closer. "It's Straw-hat and some kind of accomplice!"

"Straw-hat!" Tashigi yelled when she saw Luffy. She grabbed her sword. "Okay…I'll stop him!" She swung at him but Luffy used his acrobat like skills to dodge her. And flipping all the way up on top of one of the buildings.

"What the…?" the villagers all cried out in shock. Tashigi was so stunned that Ben was able to slip past her.

"Excuse me," he said as he went past her.

Smoker swore. Then his lower body turned into smoke. Ben turned around at that moment and saw it. His eyes widened. "Smoke?"

"Tashigi!" Smoker yelled as he flew after Luffy. "Assemble the men! Comb all of corners of the town and find his crew!"

"Yes, sir!" Tashigi said as Smoker flew towards Luffy.

"White Snake!" Smoker yelled as his arm turned into a long tendril of smoke that shot towards the running Luffy.

"Oh no, you don't!" Ben said as he activated the Omnitrix. He slammed the dial down.

Smoker became aware of a flash of green light coming from the streets below. Just as he was about to turn his head, a stream of flames hit his White Snake attack and negated it. Luffy and Smoker both looked down in the street to see Heatblast smirking at Smoker.

"Demon!" the citizens cried when they saw Heatblast and started running around screaming.

"What in the…?" Smoker stared.

"Ben!" Luffy cried happily at seeing his pal.

"You know what they say," Heatblast said to Smoker. "Where there's smoke, there's fire!"


Back with the others. Once they had docked, they knew it would be best to acquire some more suitable clothing. Baroque Works agents were here and they currently stuck out like sore thumbs. Sanji had returned from buying some regular clothing for the gang to disguise themselves with. Only…

"Give me one good reason why I shouldn't pound your face right now," Kevin said, grabbing Sanji by his collar and getting right up in his face. Kevin and the rest of the boys were dressed up in robes that gave them a bandit like appearance.

"Oh, come on, Kevin," Nami said. She, on the other hand, was wearing a dancer's outfit. "I really like it."

"But…" Vivi said. "These make us look more like dancers than normal citizens."

"That's okay!" Sanji said, looking at them lustfully. "Dancers are citizens too!"

"You jerk!" Kevin said, his urge to break Sanji's nose rising. "You even got one for Gwen. I am seriously gonna…"

"Kevin, it's okay."

Kevin turned around. And his eyes widened when he saw Gwen step out wearing an outfit just like Vivi and Nami. He gulped as he felt his face redden. Sure, he had seen Gwen in a bikini plenty of times but… He tried opening his mouth but no sound would come out.

"See," Sanji said to Kevin. "Don't you think this was a good idea now?"

Kevin snarled. Sure…he would admit…Gwen did look extremely hot right now…but that didn't give Sanji the right to ogle his girl. Then he noticed Chopper lying on the ground and his anger momentarily left him. "What's wrong, Chopper?"

Chopper covered his nose with his hoofs. "My nose is going to fall off."

Kevin raised an eyebrow at him. "Say what?"

"Your nose must be sensitive, Chopper," Vivi noted. "Nanohana is famous for its perfume."

"Perfume?" Chopper asked weakly as he sat up.

"There are extremely powerful ingredients in it," Vivi explained.

"Like this?" Nami asked as she pulled small perfume bottle and sprayed her neck.

"Aaaah!" Chopper cried in agony as he clutched his nose harder. "Stop it! Stop it!"

"Hey!" Kevin snapped, stomping over and snatching the perfume bottle. "What's the big idea? Chopper already said it was bothering him!"

"Oi!" Sanji yelled. "Don't yell at Nami-san!"

"She's the one who sprayed the perfume!" Kevin pointed out.

"He's got a point," Zoro said as he took a drink from a bottle of alcohol.

"You stay out of this!" Sanji yelled at him, annoyed that Zoro and Kevin were ganging up on him.

Gwen sighed. "Guys, please stop fighting, okay?"

"Yes, Gwen-chan!" Sanji said, doing some kind of ridiculous noodle dance.

"And Kevin," Gwen said as Kevin looked like he was about to lose it. "Please calm down."

"But Gwen…" Kevin tried to protest.

Gwen shrugged. "You know what they say. When in Rome, do as the Romans."

Kevin shook his head. How in the world was Gwen taking this so calmly. And was he mad because Sanji had gotten Gwen that outfit or because Sanji was gazing at her while she was in that outfit? Shaking his head, Kevin tried to think of anything to clear his mind.

Nami grinned at her friend. "That's the spirit, Gwen." She looked at Vivi. "Well, I've collected up the materials to make a journey through the Alabstan desert. Where are we going, Vivi?"

"Well," Vivi said. "First and foremost, I want to stop the rebellion! We don't know when they might rise up and cause needless bloodshed. And the base of the rebellion, where the leader lives…is an oasis town called Yuba. To go to Yuba we…"

"Hide!" Zoro said suddenly as he grabbed everyone and hid them behind some ruined structures.

"What's wrong?" Gwen asked Zoro.

Zoro peaked around the corner and saw marines swarming the place. "Marines? Why are they here?"

"Don't let him get away!" one of the marine officers yelled.

"Sheesh," Zoro muttered. "What a ruckus. Did they find a pirate or something?"

At that moment, Luffy ran past them with a whole bunch of marines on his tail.

"Figures," Kevin muttered at the scene.

But it was at this moment that Luffy noticed Zoro watching him. "Zoro!"

Zoro cringed.

"There's the Straw Hat crew!" one marine yelled.

Luffy started running towards his crew.

"Come back once you've lost them, you idiot!" Zoro yelled in annoyance at his captain.

"Luffy!" Gwen called, since there was no point in hiding. "Where's Ben?"

"He's fighting that smokey guy!" Luffy replied.

"Huh?" Gwen asked.

As if to answer her question, Heatblast was seen soaring through the air before crashing into the ground nearby.

"Ben!" Nami cried, running to her friend. "Are you alright?"

"Easy peasy, lemon squeezy," Heatblast muttered in a daze as he rubbed his head.

"Oh no!" Chopper screamed. "He's delusional! Someone call a doctor!"

"You are a doctor!" Sanji, Zoro, and Usopp shouted at him in annoyance.

"Heads up!" Kevin called to the others as the marines started closing in on them. He grabbed the stone wall and his entire body was encased in rock.

"That guy just turned to stone!" one marine yelled.

"He must have eaten a devil fruit!" another cried.

"Nope," Kevin said as he turned his hands into weapons. "Although I will admit that I am a rather handsome devil."

Gwen rolled her eyes. She was about to help him out when...

"Stand back, men!" Smoker ordered as he flew towards Luffy and his crew.

"That the smokey guy you mentioned?" Kevin asked Luffy.

"That's him," Luffy said. "He almost got me but Ben saved me."

"Yeah," Kevin said. "And it looks like Ben's the one who got knocked for a loop."

Heatblast shook his head and leaped to his feet. "I'm just getting started," he said as he started running at Smoker.

Smoker narrowed his eyes at Heatblast. "I don't know what you are, but it seems you're part of the Straw-hat crew. And none of you are getting away. "White Blow!" He fired his fist while turning his arm into smoke. Heatblast was about to shoot a blast of fire at him when…

"Heat Haze!"

A wave of fire collided with Smoker's smoke.

"Nice one, Ben!" Usopp cheered on Heatblast.

Heatblast was confused. "Uh…that wasn't me."

"Hey there," a voice said. "Need a hand?"

Heatblast turned to see some guy standing next to him. He looked a little like Luffy, but more muscular and had a more serious look on his face despite the guy's grin. Freckles lined the guy's face. He wore black boots, black knee-length shorts with an eyelet-studded orange belt, and a blue pouch belted around his left leg. He also wore a short second belt with a large red "A" on the silver buckle over his right hip, but left it unfastened and threaded the free end along the back of his shorts. A dagger in a green hilt hung at his left hip. On the guy's left arm, he wore a Log Pose and a red and white striped bracelet around his wrist, an orange elbow guard, and an "ASCE" tattoo with the S being crossed out. He wore a red beaded necklace and an orange hat with two blue smileys one frowning and one smiling, and a string of red beads sitting above the rim. Two long orange side straps hung down sides of his hat and met at a large medallion of a bull's skull with orange tassels. Flames were coming from his body.

"Who are you?" Heatblast asked, wondering why this guy had decided to help him.

Luffy on the other hand was staring at this new guy. His eyes widened. "Ace!" he called.

The man called Ace turned his head to grin at Luffy. "You haven't changed a bit…Luffy."

"You two know each other?" Heatblast asked, looking back and forth at the two.

"He's my big brother!" Luffy replied.

"What?" The Straw-hat crew except for Kevin and Gwen yelled.

Ace grinned at them before looking at Heatblast. "Well now you know who I am. Who are you?"

"He's Ben!" Luffy said to his brother. "He's really cool, Ace! He's got this device that lets him turn into a bunch of monsters!"

"You idiot!" Nami yelled, punching Luffy. "You just yelled that in front of the marines!"

Smoker's eyes narrowed as he looked at Heatblast. A device that let him turn into a bunch of monsters? How was that possible? He looked at the green dial on Heatblast's chest. Did that have something to do with it?

"I hope you'll excuse me for interrupting your fight," Ace said to Heatblast with a bow. "But I couldn't just stand by and let someone mess with my brother and his friends."

Heatblast grinned. "No problem. In fact, if you want to help out…"

"You sure it's alright?" Ace asked with his own grin.

"The more the merrier," Heatblast said. But he was rather confused. This guy was supposedly Luffy's brother but he didn't act anything like Luffy. He turned at the others. "Get out of here, guys. Ace and I can handle this."

"Let's go!" Luffy yelled as they all started running.

"After them!" Smoker yelled to his men.

The Marines were about to chase after the Straw-hat crew when Heatblast shot a wave of fire at their feet.

"I don't think so," Heatblast said, folding his arms and smirking.

Smoker snarled in annoyance. "Who are you?" he asked.

Heatblast's smirk grew. "Who am I?" he created a fireball in his hand. "You can call me…Heatblast!" He threw the fireball.

While the regular marines scattered, Smoker simply fired a cloud of smoke at the fireball. The two forces collided and negated each other. Something wasn't right here. But Smoker would have to deal with Ace and this "Heatblast" or whatever he was. He prepared to attack when a wall of fire erupted from the ground. A flaming net.

Heatblast looked over at the one who created the wall of fire. It was none other than Ace. He looked at Heatblast with a grin.

"That oughta hold them," he said. "Let's get out of here." With that, Ace ran off in the direction the others went.

"Uh, right," Heatblast agreed as he followed Ace. As they ran, Heatblast decided to strike up conversation. "So uh…I take it you ate a devil fruit?"

Ace chuckled. "Yeah. I ate the Flame Flame Fruit. But what about you? Luffy said you can turn into a bunch of monsters."

Heatblast chuckled nervously. "Yeah about that…"

"That thing on your chest, huh?" Ace said. "That's Luffy for you. He gets excited too easily. I'm sorry about him. He probably gives your crew lots of trouble. And if you really can turn into a bunch of monsters, he must give you the most trouble. Take care of him for me will you?"

Heatblast was absolutely and utterly dumbfounded. This guy…this guy was nothing like Luffy. Were they really brothers?

Heatblast was then aware that he had followed Ace back to the ocean. Once he was sure that there were no marines in sight, Ben touched the dial and turned back to normal.

"Looks like we lost them," Ben said. "Now I just need to find the others."

"No problem," Ace said with a grin. "I'll give you a hand."

Back on the Merry Go, the gang were making preparations. Vivi had entrusted Carue with a letter containing vital information about Baroque Works and sent him off to deliver it to her father. So Carue had gone off to warn the king while the others simply waited for Ben to return. Luffy was reassuring them that Ben would be okay if he was with Ace.

"So, Luffy," Kevin said. "That Ace guy's your brother, huh?"

Luffy nodded while sitting on the ship's railing. "Yep. He's a pirate looking for the One Piece."

"What's he like?" Gwen asked, curiously.

Kevin snorted. If this Ace guy was anything like Luffy, they were in for twice the headache.

"Ace is really strong," Luffy said. "He hadn't eaten a devil fruit before. Even then, I could never beat him in a fight."

Kevin's attention was caught. "Wait, hold up. Are you saying that you, even with your gum gum powers, couldn't beat this guy who didn't have a devil fruit power?"

"That's right," Luffy said with a wide grin.

"The monster's brother is an even bigger monster," Usopp said in awe.

"Yeah, I always got my butt kicked," Luffy said while laughing. "But I could beat him now."

Zoro deadpanned. "That's a groundless statement."

"Just who can you beat?" a voice behind Luffy asked, startling him and making him fall off the railing. Luffy looked up to see his brother smirking at him.

"Ace!" Luffy said happily.

"Yo," Ace said coolly.

"Hey, guys," Ben said as he hung on the railing of the ship.

"Ben!" Gwen let out a sigh of relief.

Ace looked at the crew. "Hey, everyone. I already told Ben this but I want to thank you for taking care of my brother." He bowed. The others politely bowed back. Kevin just stood there until Gwen nudged him in the side. Rolling his eyes, Kevin bowed too. Ace chuckled as he watched.

"So why are you here, Ace?" Luffy asked his brother.

"Huh?" Ace asked. "Didn't you get my message in Drum?"

"You left a message for Luffy in Drum Kingdom?" Gwen asked.

Ace shrugged. "Never mind. No biggie." He looked at Luffy. "Anyways, I'm glad I saw you. I'm here for a silly little task. I figured I'd try to meet up with you. Luffy…will you join the "Whitebeard Pirates"? With your friends too of course."

"Who's Whitebeard?" Ben asked as he climbed onto the ship.

Ace's jaw dropped comically as he gaped at Ben. "You're kidding, right?" He asked. "You…you've never heard of Whitebeard?"

Ben chuckled nervously.

"We're not from around here," Gwen said. "We haven't heard of a lot of pirates before."

Ace chuckled. "Well that was a shock. I never thought I'd meet people who didn't know Whitebeard. Whitebeard is my captain and the greatest pirate I've ever known. I plan on making him the king of the pirates. And I was wondering if you guys wanted to join us."

"No way," Luffy said instantly. Instead of looking angry or disappointed, Ace just laughed.

"Just thought I'd ask," Ace said as if he had expected Luffy to turn his offer down.

"So, Ben," Nami said. "Were you followed?"

"No need to worry about that," Ace said. "I used my Flame Flame power to throw them off. Sorry if I ruined your fun, Ben."

"No problem, Ace," Ben, afraid that he might have been rude. "I mean, I never thought about doing that fire trick as Heatblast before."

Ace nodded. Then he looked at the Omnitrix peeking out from Ben's sleeve. "That the thing that turns you into monsters?"

Ben chuckled now as he looked at the Omnitrix. "Yeah."

Ace nodded then looked back at his brother. "Looks like you got a pretty interesting crew, Luffy." He reached into his pocket, then threw a piece of paper at Luffy. "Here. I wanted to give this to you. Always keep it with you."

"Huh?" Luffy asked as he caught it. "It's a piece of paper."

"Yep, that paper will let us meet again." Ace explained.

"Wow," Luffy said, looking at the paper curiously.

"Don't want it?" Ace asked.

"No, I do!" Luffy said quickly.

Ace smiled as he tilted his hat. "Having a dumb brother little brother…makes an older brother worry." He looked at the crew. "He probably gives you all a lot a trouble. I already asked Ben this but…take care of him for me." He leaped off the railing.

Luffy immediately ran over and saw a yellow raft tied to his ship. It was shaped like a half-crescent, with an engine in the back, and two paddle-wheels on the side, all linked to the main seat in the middle of the craft. There was also a single small sail at the back.

"What?" Luffy asked his brother in a whinny voice. "You're leaving already?"

"Yeah," Ace said as he untied the rope.

"You can chill out here a little longer," Luffy offered. "I haven't seen you in so long."

"I told you," Ace said. "I only came to do that. I'm chasing a major criminal right now. He's been calling himself Blackbeard lately. But he used to be a member of Whitebeard's Second Division. My subordinate."

Kevin's eyes narrowed. Blackbeard? That was the name Dalton said belonged to the pirates that had attacked Drum Island.

"He committed the worst possible crime on a pirate ship," Ace explained. "He killed a crewmate. I'm the commander, so I have to finish him off. If it wasn't for that, I wouldn't be back here in this part of the sea." He looked up at his brother and smiled. "The next time we meet…will be at the Pirate Summit."

Luffy smiled back at his brother.

"No…no way," Nami said in amazement. "How could someone sensible be Luffy's brother?"

"That's what I was thinking," Ben said.

"If they hadn't told me, I never would have believed it," Kevin said. "How come we don't have him for a captain?"

"Kevin," Gwen snapped at him.

"I was sure he'd be as irresponsible as Luffy," Usopp remarked.

"Ace is just like Kevin," Chopper said. "Big brothers sure are wonderful."

Kevin smiled sheepishly but was very touched at Chopper's remark.

"What a great guy," said a shockingly moved Zoro. "Cares about his brother…"

"I don't get it," Sanji said, amazed at the big difference between the two brothers. "The sea's a mysterious place."

"Please, everyone…" Vivi said in a vain attempt to stop everyone from being so blunt.

Meanwhile, Ace activated his flames powers as his legs turned into flames and started powering up his boat. In no time at all, Ace's boat was zooming away from the Merry Go.

"See you later!" Luffy called after his brother.

But Ace didn't get far as he saw something that was going to be an obstacle for both him and his brother's crew. Ships were closing in fast on him. They weren't marine ships so what were they? Well, unknown to Ace, these guys were agents of Baroque Works. When they learned that Ace was in town, they saw this as their chance to move up in the ranks.

"Let's go!" someone yelled from one of the ships. "We got him outnumbered fifty to one! Five ships! Get past us if you can, hammer boy!"

Ace smirked. This was child's play for him. Turning his lower body into pure flames, Ace leaped into the air. His ship on the other hand, dove underwater.

"Waaah! He jumped! Shoot him!"

"We'll win if he falls into the water!"

But all the agents could do was watch in stupefied amazement as Ace managed to soar over all five ships. His ship come up from the water directly beneath him. And Ace landed back on perfectly. He turned around so that he was facing the ships again. All the crews were shock at the display they had just seen. Ace pulled his fist back.

"Fire Fist!"

What Ace unleashed with that punch was a roaring inferno. It struck the first ship, then blasted into the second, third, fourth, and fifth. All five ships exploded with that one attack faster than even Heatblast was capable of. As the fiery remains of the five ships all sunk to the ocean, Ace's hand turned back to normal except for his index finger, which he used to tilt his hat and grin in the direction Luffy and his pals were heading.

"Come on, Luffy," Ace said with a grin. "Come on to the top."

Back on Luffy's ship, the others continued on in the direction Vivi told them to go. But they were still going over their encounter with Ace.

"What was that paper Ace gave you?" Ben asked Luffy.

"I don't know," Luffy replied. "It's just a scrap piece of paper."

Kevin took it out of Luffy's hands and examined it. "Yep, a regular piece of paper."

"That's weird," Gwen said. "I wonder why he gave it to you then, Luffy."

"I dunno," Luffy said as he took the paper from Kevin and gave it and his hat to Nami. "But Ace told me to hold onto it. So I'm gonna hold onto it. So sew it in there tight."

"Behind the ribbon…gotcha," Nami said as she sewed the paper to Luffy's hat. "Here you go."

"Thanks, Nami," Luffy said as he shoved his hat back onto his head. Now I don't have to worry about it. I'll never lose it."

"How do you know that?" Usopp asked him.

Vivi came out with a bunch of cloaks and robes. She handed some to Ben and Luffy. "Wear these Luffy-san, Ben-san."

"Why?" Luffy asked. "It's hot."

"You wear it because it's hot," Vivi said. "The desert temperature can get very high. You'll get sun burnt if your skin is exposed."

Luffy looked at her, Nami, and Gwen. "Why are your clothes so skimpy then?"

Ben's face darkened. "That's what I'd like to know." He glared at Sanji. "Why do I have a feeling you have something to do with it?" He clutched the Omnitrix. "I am really tempted to go Rath right now."

"Go ahead," Kevin said with a sadistric grin. "But I get first hit."

"Would you guys knock it off," Gwen said. "It's not that big a deal. It's just like wearing a bikini. Besides, we're gonna be wearing coats too."

"What?" Sanji cried, his visible eye bugging out of its socket. "You're going to wear those?"

Kevin smirked at him. "Too bad, so sad."

"Yeah," Ben said before glaring at Sanji. "But if you start doing stuff like that to my cousin again I'm gonna…"

"Will you just chill, Ben?" Gwen said. "I can take of myself if Sanji tries to pull anything on me."

"Gwen-chan…" Sanji whined in a heartbroken like manner.

Kevin felt his face flame at the way Gwen was looking at him. And he was strongly fighting the urge to see if Gwen might keep that dancer outfit when they went back home. He couldn't help but think about how hot she looked in it.

Ben was still fuming and didn't stop until Gwen put her coat on. And only then did he lighten up by about a fraction. He was really trying so hard not to pound Sanji right now. Then he and Luffy began to put on their coats.

"Hey!" Chopper cried as he looked over the railing. "We just rounded the side of the island!"

"No," Vivi said. "This isn't the side of the island. This is the bank of the river Sandora. You can see the other side in the distance, right?"

"Oh, you're right," Chopper noticed.

Vivi pulled out a map of Arabasta. "Look," she said, pointing to a location on the map. "This is a rough map of the area. And this is our destination. It's called Yuba. We'll cross the Sandora and head out for it."

"And Yuba is where the leader of the Rebellion is?" Zoro asked.

"So I just have to kick his butt, right?" Luffy asked as he punched the air.

"Would you stop that?" Vivi asked panicking. Seemed to her that Luffy was only interested in kicking people's butts. "I want to persuade the rebellion army not to shed any more blood."

"Can you?" Kevin asked. "No offense but I don't know if they'll listen to the princess if they're rebelling."

"I have to try, Kevin," Vivi said as she looked at the ground. "We'll discover everything along the way to Yuba…exactly what Baroque Works has done to this country, exactly what this country's people have gone through. We can stop this senseless violence! I won't let Baroque Works do what they want to my country!"

"Vivi," Nami said softly.

"Don't worry, Vivi," Gwen told her. "We're here to help."

"Got that right," Kevin said with a grin.

"Looks like it's hero time," Ben said.

"I'll make a special desert crossing lunch for you, Vivi-chan," Sanji offered.

"Whoa, this sounds exciting," Chopper said.

Zoro grinned. "Sounds like fun to me."

"Okay, Vivi," Luffy said. "I understand. Let's go! Upa!"

"She said Yuba, you idiot," Kevin corrected.

"Yuba!" Luffy yelled.

Kevin groaned. "Remind me again why this guy's the captain? I miss Ace already. Is it too late for me to join the Whitebeard Pirates?"

"Kevin!"


AN: That's all for now!