Adventures in the Desert


"We made it!" Luffy yelled in joy. "Yuba! Wait a minute. There's nothing here!"

And boy was Luffy right. The crew had managed to get to find their next stop. But when they docked, the place looked like a half buried ghost town.

"Man," Kevin said as he looked at town. "No wonder I had a sudden urge to have a vacuum cleaner."

"Let's look for the leader," Luffy said. "Where is he?"

"No, Luffy-san," Vivi said. "This isn't Yuba yet. We still have to walk north through the desert for half a day."

"Half a day?" Usopp whined.

"Quite complaining," Kevin said as he got off the ship. "That's nothing compared to what we've been through."

"Look at the map," Vivi said as she pulled it out for the others to see. "We crossed the Sandora River and we just landed here at Erumalu, the "Green Town"."

Kevin snorted as he looked at the town. "I think whoever named it must have been color-blind."

Vivi shook her head. "It didn't always used to look like this, Kevin-san."

Just then, a strange creater that looked like a cross between a seal and a turtle popped out of the water near the ship.

"Kuo!" the creature cried.

"What is that, a turtle?" Usopp freaked out. "A seal?"

Vivi paled. "A kung-fu dugong!"

"Kung-fu?" Ben asked confused. Then he noticed Usopp taking a fighting pose against the dugong. "Uh, Usopp? I don't think you should…"

But it was too late. As quick as a flash, the dugong had beaten Usopp. The long nosed sharp shooter was lying on the ground supporting large, swollen cheeks. Kevin, Ben, and Gwen were struck speechless.

"You lost?" Zoro asked Usopp in disappointment.

"They're strong," Vivi explained.

"We've got a winner over here," Nami told her, pointing to where Luffy had beaten another dugong.

"Don't beat them!" Vivi cried in a panic.

"Why?" Ben asked. "Won't that mean they'll leave us alone?"

Vivi shook her head. "It's Kung-Fu dugong law that the loser of a fight become's the winner's student."

"So they're martial artists," Zoro noted.

The dugong that Luffy had beaten picked itself up and bowed respectively to Luffy.

Kevin rolled his eyes. "I feel bad for anyone who becomes Luffy's student."

Suddenly Luffy was surrounded by a whole bunch of dugongs who struck fighting stances.

"No, no," Luffy said as he did a different one. "The stance goes like this."

"How did you get so many?!" Vivi cried.

Kevin cringed as he rubbed his ears. "You know? You keep shouting like that and I'm gonna go deaf soon."

The dugongs waved good-bye to the Straw-hat crew while holding bundles of food in their mouths and flippers.

"Now let's go to Yuba," Luffy said as the crew marched on towards the desert.

"You almost wasted all of our food," Sanji snapped at Luffy.

"If Chopper hadn't talked them out of it, we'd be in major trouble." Nami added.

"Yeah," Chopper said. "They kept saying "We'll go with you". I had to give them our food to keep them away."

"Well," Kevin said. "Now we know to avoid anymore kung-fu dugongs."

"Why don't we take them along?" Luffy asked.

Nami grit her teeth at Luffy. "We can't get into any towns with that many trailing along, you idiot."

"The dugongs in this country are pretty weird, Vivi-chan," Sanji said. "They live in the river?"

"No, the ocean," Vivi corrected. Sanji gave her a confused look so she went on. "Ever since ancient times, the Sandora River has sustained this country. But lately, the river lost the force it once had. And now it's being pushed back by the sea, down-stream."

Sanji's eye widened. "Then the water those dugongs live in is…"

Vivi nodded. "Salt water. Can't use it on fields or drink it."

"Is that why this village is dried up?" Zoro asked.

"No, they collected water on the rare occasions when it rained," Vivi replied. "And the town survived off of that most of the time. Up until recently, this town was a lively place, full of green plants."

"Now it's Gruesome Gulch," Kevin said as he kicked some sand.

"Kevin!" Gwen scolded him.

"Sadly, Kevin is right to call it that," Vivi said. "For the past three years, not a single drop of rain has fallen into the entire country."

Chopper looked at Vivi. "Is that port town going to be okay?"

"Nanohana gets its water supply from the oasis at Katorea, so they're safe." Vivi told him. "Even in Alabasta, no rainfall has ever been something to worry about for thousands of years. But there was always one place that got more than anywhere else. The capital Alubarna. The city built around the King's palace. People called it the "King's Miracle". At least, they did until that day when the people found a loads of Dance Powder was that claimed to be for the king."

"Dance Powder?" Kevin said, looking skeptical. "Do I even want to know what Dance Powder does?"

"Don't be fooled by its name, Kevin," Nami said. "I've heard of Dance Powder before. It's also known as "Powder that Calls Rain"."

"Wait, hold on," Gwen said. "Are you saying that there's a powder that can actually make rain?"

"Pretty much," Nami replied. "It was created by some country with no rain, long ago. The powder emits a mist like smoke that rises up into the air. It speeds up the creation of ice particles in sub-freezing temperature clouds and causes rainfall."

Kevin let out a whistle. "Man, do you have any idea how much that would be worth? A guy could make a fortune off that stuff."

Ben rolled his eyes. "Here we go again," he muttered.

"So it's a mystery powder," Luffy said.

"Hold on a second," Ben said. "Wouldn't that Dance Powder be perfect for a place like this?"

"I agree with Ben," Usopp said. "I mean, if it can make rain, that would fix everything, right?"

"Not exactly," Nami told them. "The people who created it called it Dance Powder because it made them dance with joy…but there was a large pitfall to all this."

Kevin sighed. "Typical."

"It caused droughts to downwind countries," Nami explained.

"How does it do that?" Gwen asked.

"The artificial rain that Dance Powder makes is the process of nurturing clouds that aren't ready to rain yet," Nami said. "It sucks the water out of the clouds…"

"I see," Usopp said. "It steals rain from clouds that would mature over neighboring countries."

"That's rough," Kevin remarked.

"Yes and it started a huge war," Nami continued. "The loss of life was profound. Since then, the World Government has outlawed the manufacturing and possession of Dance Powder worldwide. A powder that brings happiness and misery at the same time."

"Still think it can make a fortune now?" Ben asked Kevin.

"Hey," Kevin protested. "I didn't know it did that."

"That large shipment of Dance Powder appeared in Nanohana," Vivi said. "Soon afterward, an abnormal weather pattern started, and no rain fell anywhere except where the king was…"

"It's normal to distrust the king," Zoro said. "They must have thought he was using the powder to steal all the rain."

"Vivi!" Luffy cried, pointing a finger at Vivi. "Your dad is evil!"

Sanji responded to that by axe kicking Luffy in the head. "He was framed, you idiot! Vivi-chan's father would never do such a thing!"

"Now I realize that Crocodile's terrible plan was already in effect," Vivi said as she got on her knees, looking at a skull in the ground. "My father was suddenly surrounded by a scandal he had nothing to do with. Somehow a large volume of Dance Powder had been brought into the palace under his nose."

"It had to have been Baroque Works," Ben said dryly.

"Yes," Vivi said as she picked up the skull and placed it against her forehead. "It was all a trap set up by Crocodile! A rebellion arouse…just as he planned! Towns dried up, people starved , and an army of furious rebels started a bloody battle with an innocent country! The kingdom's peace…the trust in the royal family…the rain! The towns…and even people's lives…were all stolen. And it was done by one man…Crocodile! What gives him the right to do this?" She put down the skull and began to fight back tears that threatened to shed. "I will never…let him get away with this!"

Suddenly one of the buildings in the distance collapsed. From the smoke that arouse came Sanji, Luffy, and Usopp.

"Hey," Nami said. "What were you doing?"

"Let's move forward already," Luffy said. "I'm anxious now."

"You're not the only one," Ben said. "I met lots of guys. But none of them ever did something like what Crocodile's doing."

"Not even Vilgax, Aggregor, or even Diagon would go as far as pit a whole country against itself," Gwen said as she looked at the ground.

"Doesn't mean they wouldn't mind trying it," Kevin pointed out.

Ben nodded. "But we always stopped them before they went that far." He looked at Vivi. "Don't worry, Vivi. We're bringing Crocodile down."

And so, the Straw Hat crew left the ghost town and continued their journey through the desert. But the sun was beating down and the heat was incredible.

"Aaaah," Luffy whined as he walked through the desert. Somewhere along the way, Luffy had found a stick and was now using it like a walking stick. "Aaaah."

"Would you stop going "Aaaaah, aaaah" already?" Nami asked Luffy in annoyance. "You're just wasting energy."

"Aaaaaah," Luffy said again. "I'm burning up. Can't even sweat."

Meanwhile, Zoro was dragging Chopper on a makeshift sled. "I can't stand the heat…but I'm fine in the cold."

Kevin looked at Chopper in concern then looked at Ben. "Hey, Tennyson. Turn into Big Chill and cool him off, huh? He's got to be burning up."

"I think that's a great idea," Nami said. She gave a pouty look at Ben. "Ben, turn into Big Chill and cool us off, please?"

Sanji was having mixed emotions about this. Right now, seeing Nami's pout put him on Cloud Nine. But he was jealous of the fact that Nami was giving that look to Ben instead of him.

Ben rolled his eyes with good humor. But he knew that this heat was not good and he didn't want poor Chopper to get heatstroke.

"Coming up." He activated the Ultimatrix and turned the dial to Big Chill. In a flash of light, he transformed into the Necrofriggian. Taking a deep breath, he unleashed an icy mist upon his friends. He only put enough power to make sure that everyone was cooled down, but not frozen.

"Aaaah," Luffy said in relief as he felt the cold wind hit his body. "Muuuuch better."

"This is more like it," Chopper said as he relaxed. "Thank you, Kevin."

Kevin grinned at Chopper. "Hey, anything for my little bro."

Gwen smiled to herself. It was so wonderful to see Kevin acting like a big brother to Chopper. Most likely because of their bad experiences, the two had bonded rather well. And seeing Kevin like this really made her day.

Big Chill grumbled. He was the one cooling everyone off after all.

"This is real nice," Nami sighed. "Thank you, Ben."

Now that was more like it.

Sanji, while grateful for the coolness, was upset because Ben was breathing on the girls. If Big Chill's ice breath wasn't so appreciated, he'd have kicked the crappy moth-man all the way across the desert by now.

Big Chill stopped his ice breath for a moment. "You know I can't keep doing this. How much farther, Vivi?"

Vivi looked at Ben. She smiled apologetically. "I'm sorry, Ben-san. We're not even a quarter of the way to Yuba."

"Just great," Big Chill whined.

"Can't you turn into some kind of monster that could get us there faster?" Usopp asked as they all walked through the desert.

"I'm a super-hero," Big Chill complained as he floated alongside everyone. "Not a vehicle. I can't carry all of you at once."

"What about that dinosaur you turned into?" Luffy asked.

"You talking about Humungousaur?" Kevin asked.

"Well, there's that," Big Chill admitted.

"Come to think of it," Gwen said. "Humungousaur might not be a bad idea."

"Humungousaur?" Sanji asked.

"He's huge!" Luffy cried. "He's even bigger than those giants we met! And he can grow even bigger! Humungousaur's my favorite!"

"Bigger than Dorry and Broggy?" Usopp asked in wonder. "He's really that big?"

"It's true," Vivi said. "I saw it myself."

Zoro looked at the ground. "If he's as big as you say he is, then wouldn't we get there faster if he carried us?"

"Okay, when did I become a mode of transportation?" Big Chill asked.

"You're the one with the Omnitrix, Tennyson," Kevin reminded him.

"Come on, Ben," Nami said. "You want to stop this war as much as we do, right?"

"Well yeah but…" Big Chill started to argue.

"No buts," Nami interrupted. "We need to get to Yuba as fast as we can. And it looks like the fastest way for all of us is Humungousaur."

Big Chill sighed. "Fine." He touched the dial to the Omnitrix again. In a flash of green light, Ben became Humungousaur who quickly grew to his full size.

"He's gigantic!" Usopp cried.

"He really is huge," Sanji said, his cigarette falling out of his open mouth.

"C…colossal," Nami gasped.

Zoro grinned. He wondered what it would be like to fight against an opponent like that.

"Alright! Humungousaur!" Luffy punched the air with glee at seeing his favorite monster.

Bending down, Humungousaur put one of his giant hands on the ground, indicating that the others needed to get on.

"All board the Humungousaur Express," Kevin said as he jumped onto Humungousaur's hand.

Humungousaur made a face. "Hilarious."

"Don't worry, Ben-san," Vivi said as everyone else got onto Humungousaur's hand. "We'll get there faster now. And then you can rest."

Grumbling to himself, Humungousaur stood back up and started walking further into the desert. As much as he hated to admit it at the moment, perhaps it was the best idea for him to turn into Humungousaur. With his size, he could get there faster than they would have if they had traveled normally. Right now, he was carrying the others in one hand, while being forced to use his other one like a shade for them.

"I hope I don't get sunburned from all this," Humungousaur muttered dryly.

"Do monsters get sunburn?" Luffy asked as he relaxed in the shade of Humungousaur's hand.

"I don't know," Gwen admitted. "Ben's never been sunburned as an alien before."

"Hold on a second," Luffy said as he sat up. "Are you saying…"

"Those things Ben can turn into…" Usopp started to say.

"Are aliens?" everyone cried.

Gwen smiled sheepishly, realizing that she had just given them away. "Yes."

"Aliens!" Chopper and Usopp cried out in a panic.

"But…but how?" Nami asked. "Aliens are said to be creatures from other planets. Are you saying that beings from other worlds exist?"

Kevin and Gwen looked at each other. Then they looked at the Straw Hat crew.

"Yes," Gwen said. "Aliens do exist. In fact, Ben's Omnitrix was made by an alien. Azmuth, part of an alien race called the Galvan."

"You've met aliens?" Luffy asked excitedly.

"Yep," Kevin said, seeing as they were found out anyway. "Loads of them.

"Who…who are you guys, really?" Nami asked.

"And how did Ben get the Omnitrix?" Zoro asked.

"That's kind of a long story," Gwen said.

"Well we might be here a while," Zoro said. "So tell us."

Gwen took a deep breath. "Well…"

"Uh, guys," Humungousaur interrupted. "I think I see something up ahead. I don't know what it is but it's coming straight at us."

The others looked ahead. Sure enough, there was some kind of dust cloud in the distance. And it was getting closer by the second.

"Usopp," Gwen said. "What is that thing?"

Usopp pulled down his goggles and looked through them. He suddenly wigged out. "G…giant lizard!"

"Giant lizard?" Vivi asked. "It must be a Sandora Lizard."

"How big is it?" Luffy asked.

"It's pretty big," Usopp said. "But not as big as Humungousaur. Go on and crush it!"

Humungousaur frowned. "What am I? Your butler?"

"Big lizard?" Luffy asked. Suddenly he leaped out of Humungousaur's hands. "Meat!"

"Luffy!" the crew yelled. "You idiot."

"Ben," Sanji said as he got up. "Take care of Nami-san, Vivi-chan, and Gwen-chan."

Zoro got up as well as he unsheathed his swords. "We'll go and help that idiot."

Before anyone could say anything, Zoro and Sanji leaped out of Humungousaur's hand and landed on the ground. They immediately joined Luffy as the lizard came at them.

"Gum Gum…" Luffy pulled back his fist.

"Tatsui…" Zoro raised his swords.

"Epaule…" Sanji crouched down.

"Whip!"

"Maki!"

"Shoot!"

Luffy stretched his leg, striking the side of the lizard's head. Zoro unleashed a tornado of wind by swinging his swords, striking underneath the lizard. Sanji had leaped into the air, unleashing a powerful kick to the lizard's face. The combined blow killed the lizard.

Humungousaur, Kevin, Gwen, Vivi, Chopper, and Usopp all watched in awe at the scene before them.

"They…they didn't have to go that far," Usopp whimpered.

"The three of them are stronger than a monster," Nami said.

Kevin, originally shocked at what he had just seen, snickered as he looked up at an equally stunned Humungousaur. "Looks like you might have some competition, Ben. I bet if those guys went up against Vilgax, they would take him down in no time flat."

Humungousaur, staring at the now lifeless body of the Sandora Lizard, was thinking that Kevin just might be onto something there.

"Nami-san! Gwen-chan! Vivi-chan!" Sanji called down. "I'm making lunch for you."

"But we already have food!" Gwen called back. "Besides, are you sure that's edible?"

"I'm sure it is, Gwen-chan!" Sanji called back. "Don't worry, I'd never give bad food to you, Nami-san, or Vivi-chan!"

"Don't worry, Gwen," Nami said. "Besides, we could use the extra meat since we had to give some of our food to those dugongs."

"Well, what are we waiting for?" Kevin said. "Hey, Tennyson. Bring us down before Luffy eats the whole thing."

"Good," Humungousaur said. "My arms were getting tired anyway."

The gang had decided to go ahead and cook the lizard and eat what they could. A little teamwork from Sanji and Heatblast turned the lizard from predator to a pretty decent meal.

"Wow," Gwen said as she took a bite. "It's actually pretty good."

"See, Gwen-chan," Sanji said, gushing at her. "I would never give you bad food."

"I'm about to give you something bad," Kevin threatened. But at the moment it felt like an empty threat. After seeing Sanji's impressive strength against that lizard, Kevin started to see that he would have trouble if he actually got into a fight with the cook. Especially out here in the desert. After regaining his human form in the Null Void, he had been taught how to absorb solid matter. He had never tried absorbing something like sand before. And personally, he was afraid that if he did absorb sand, he wouldn't be able to put himself back together. Then again, Ben had once been burst into atoms while as Goop but he put himself back together. (In the episode called Deep.)

While cooking the food, the alien trio were still question about the Omnitrix. Knowing very well that they couldn't tell the crew everything, they decided that telling a set of half truths might be their best bet. They told the story about how Ben found the prototype Omnitrix when he was ten years old, but they didn't mention the fact that they were from another universe entirely. So, the Straw-hat crew thought this all happened on their Earth. The Alien Force would tell about some of their adventures, talking about alien spaceships and the different foes they went up against. They talked about Vilgax, the Negative 10, the Highbreed, Aggregor, and Diagon but still left out important facts that would have hinted that they were from a different Earth. The Straw-hats were on the edge of their seats.

"Wow," Nami said once the story was done. "That's…that's incredible."

"You guys battle aliens?" Usopp asked. "How come we've never heard about this?"

"Well," Gwen said as she scratched the back of her head. "We've done such a good job of keeping it a secret."

"How come?" Luffy asked.

"Because," Kevin said. "Humans would freak if they learned aliens really excited."

"Do aliens eat meat?" Luffy asked.

"What kind of a stupid question is that?" Nami asked him, punching his head.

Kevin chuckled. "Some do. Those are the ones that you gotta watch out for. Some of them consider humans to be a rare delicacy."

"So," Zoro said. "If all those monsters Ben can turn into are aliens, just how many aliens can he turn into?"

"A lot," Gwen said vaguely. She didn't know what would happen if the crew knew just how many aliens Ben could turn into.

"Nami-san! Vivi-chan! Gwen-chan!" Sanji said. "Food's ready!"

After the food was done cooking, Heatblast turned back to normal. Ben was looking at a rather unexpected surprised during the trio's battle with the lizard. A camel. Turned out from Chopper, that the lizard had been chasing the camel. The camel had been trying to get away, causing the lizard to chase it in the direction of the Straw-hat crew.

"It's got a saddle, so it has to belong to somebody," Ben figured.

Kevin on the other hand had noticed the camel had very long eyelashes. "Think its rider got eaten?" He asked as he took a big chunk out of his lizard meat.

Usopp gulped at the thought.

"Well, anyway," Ben said. "Now you guys have something else to ride on instead of me."

"Yeah, for two people maybe," Zoro said. "What about the rest of us?"

Ben sighed. "I've been reduced to being a chauffeur."

Luffy started climbing up the camel. "I'll go on fir…" But at that moment, the camel chomped onto Luffy's head. "Oww!" He pulled his head out of the camel's mouth. "What?"

"Vwooo," the camel said. "Vwoo."

Kevin looked at Chopper. "What'd he say, Chopper?"

"I am just a passing camel," Chopper translated. "Thanks for rescuing me. I'll let you ride me but…"

"Vwoo," the camel said again.

"I'm afraid I don't accept male passengers," Chopper said. "That's what he says."

Kevin snorted. "What a rip-off."

Luffy, Sanji, and Usopp began pounding the camel. "You stupid punk! Who do you think saved your worthless life?"

Gwen created tendrils of mana and yanked the three boys away from the camel. Nami went over and gently stroked the camel's chin.

"I'm sorry," she said. "My bandits are so mean to you."

The camel had hearts in his eyes.

"What a good boy," Nami cooed. "What should I call you?"

Luffy raised his hand. "Idiot."

Sanji raised his hand. "Moron."

Usopp raised his hand. "Stupid."

Ben raised his hand. "Sexist."

Kevin looked at Ben. "Never thought I'd hear a guy say that."

Nami hopped onto the camel. "Okay, how about Eyelash?" The camel nodded happily.

Zoro sweat dropped. "That's worse than the other names."

"I don't know," Kevin said with a shrug. "Seems to suit him."

Nami made the camel get on his knees. "Hop on, Gwen, Vivi. There's plenty of room for all three of us."

"Pervert camel," The boys muttered.

Vivi, not wanting to be a burden to Ben, hopped onto Eyelash. Gwen followed.

"See, Ben?" Nami said. "Now you just have the guys to worry about."

"Nami-san," Sanji whined. "Viv-chan, Gwen-chan. Don't leave me here with these guys."

"Well, at lease you can't bother Gwen," Kevin said, seeing that as the only positive thing about meeting that camel.

"Let's go, Eyelash!" Nami said. With that, Eyelash dashed off, leaving all the guys in the dust.

"You better turn into Humungousaur, Ben!" Nami called back as they ran. "Or you guys are never gonna make it out of this desert!"

Kevin looked at Zoro. "She does this often?"

"Pretty much," Zoro said.

"I still love you, Nami-san!" Sanji shouted to the girls.

Kevin whispered to Zoro. "I say we bury him."

"It's a tsunami!" Luffy cried suddenly. He started flapping his arms wildly. His eyes looked like swirls.

"Huh?" Kevin asked in confusion.

"Tsunami? What are you talking about?" Ben asked.

"What now?" Zoro demanded in annoyance.

Luffy was still flapping his arms.

"He looks like he's swimming," Ben said, looking at Luffy.

"More like drowning," Kevin corrected. "What's wrong with him?"

"Do you think it could have been that thing?" Usopp wondered aloud.

"What thing?" Sanji asked.

"When we stopped for the lizard meat," Usopp explained. "He also ate a cactus over there."

"I'm drowning!" Luffy cried.

"A cactus?" Chopper asked. "Like this one?" He pointed to a small, round cactus nearby.

"Yeah," Usopp said. "One of those round ones."

"Oh no!" Chopper cried. "That's a Mescal Cactus! It causes hallucinations!"

"What?"

"Get ready, everyone!" Luffy cried. "I'm gonna kick your butts! Gum Gum…"

Chopper pulled a syringe out of his backpack. "Tranquilizer!" he cried as he injected the syringe into Luffy's body. Luffy collapsed and began snoring.

"Right!" Sanji said as he gave him a thumb's up. "Good job, Chopper!"

"I'll say," Kevin said, patting Chopper on his hat.

"Look how far that stupid camel is!" Usopp said, pointing in the distance where Eyelash was now just a mere dot.

"Hurry up," Zoro said. "We gotta follow it!"

And so the gang continued onward. Ben had tried turning back into Humungousaur but wound up becoming Four Arms instead. While not good for carrying the others, he did use his strength to carry the gang's supplies, allowing them to move a little faster through the desert.

While this was a little better, it was still a rough trip through the desert. The sun was beating down on the boys and they ran into more interesting creatures of the desert like a giant frog. Later, when Luffy woke up, the boys gave him the pounding of his life for making them lag behind due to him eating the cactus. Luckily, they managed to catch up with Eyelash and the girls just as the sun was setting. Usopp had even collapsed and had been forced to be carried by Zoro. As night time came upon the desert sand….

"It's night time…." Nami said.

"The temperature's the exact opposite from the daytime." Sanji noted.

"The desert goes below freezing at night," Vivi explained.

"Achooo! Freezing?" Kevin grumbled, hoping that he wasn't catching a cold.

"Don't worry," Nami reassured him. "We've got Ben. He could turn into NRG or Heatblast to keep us warm."

Ben rolled his eyes. He felt like he was becoming the crew's servant now.

"Nami-san! I'll keep you ladies warm at night!" Sanji said. He had enough of Ben getting to be so close to the girls when it should be him.

"Touch Gwen and your dead," Kevin threatened him.

"Got that right," Ben agreed.

"There!" Vivi said as she pointed in the distance. "Can you see the light?"

"Did we make it to Yuba?" Sanji asked.

"I can't tell," Luffy said. "There's too much sand blowing around!"

Sure enough, there was a town in the distance. But something was wrong.

"Why is the earth rumbling?" Gwen asked.

"Something's wrong with the town!" Vivi cried. What appeared to be a tornado of sand had engulfed the buildings. "A sandstorm! Yuba's being attacked by a sand storm!"

"Ben!" Usopp cried. "Stop that thing!"

"How do I stop a sandstorm?" Ben asked.

"Ben!" Nami said. "Use Terraspin's wind powers! Create another sandstorm blowing in the opposite direction! The two should cancel each other out!"

Ben nodded. "Got it!" But just as he was about to activate the Omnitrix, the sandstorm stopped. Once the sand settled, everyone got a good look at the town.

"Impossible," Vivi whispered as she took in the scene before her.

Zoro looked at the town, which was almost completely buried in sand. "This place isn't any different than Erumalu."

"Where's the water?" Luffy said.

"Your fault for drinking most of it," Kevin retorted.

"The sand has raised the ground level," Vivi said. "The oasis is being swallowed up."

"Travelers, eh? You must be tired from your trip through the desert. I'm afraid this town's a little dried up."

The gang turned to see an elderly man digging in the sand. He stopped digging and smiled at them. "But you can still rest here. We have plenty of inns. That's what we're known for."

Vivi fidgeted nervously and did the best she could so that her face couldn't be easily seen. "Excuse me," she said. "We heard the Rebellion was based here."

Suddenly the man's face turned vicious. "What do you want with the Rebellion?" He questioned. Then he began throwing stuff at the crew. "Don't tell me you want to join those filthy rebels!"

"Whoa! Hey!" Kevin said as he dodged barrels and rocks. "You looking for trouble, gramps?"

The man snorted before digging again. "Those fools are not here anymore."

"Whaaaat?" the crew cried. "No way!"

The man still kept on digging. "That storm you just saw wasn't the first to attack the town. The drought has been drying us up for the past 3 years. The sandstorms have come more and more frequently. The sand has been steadily eating away at the oasis. And now, it is as you see it today. Without circulation of goods, the Rebellion cannot continue their war of endurance. They have moved their base of operations to Katorea."

Vivi's eyes widened in recognition.

"Where's that, Vivi?" Luffy asked. "Is it close?"

"It's the oasis next to Nanohana," Vivi replied.

"Nanohana?" the others cried.

"We missed it," Ben said, looking at the great.

Kevin groaned. "So we came out here for nothing. Just great."

The man froze in his digging and looked back at the crew. "Vivi? Did you just say…Vivi?"

"Hey, mister!" Luffy said. "Vivi's not a princess, okay!"

Kevin punched him in the back of the head. "Don't open your mouth unless it's to eat from now on, okay?"

The man slowly walked towards Vivi. "Vivi-chan?" he asked. "Are you really?" Suddenly he ran over and hugged her. "I'm so glad you're alive! It's me! Don't you remember? I guess not. I've lost some weight."

Vivi's eyes widened. "Mr. Toto?"

The man's eyes started to water as he smiled at her. "That's right…"

Vivi brought a hand to her mouth.

"Mr. Toto?" Luffy asked.

Kevin snorted. "I think we're not in Kansas anymore." He whispered to Ben and Gwen. Ben chuckled but Gwen frowned at him.

"Listen to me, Vivi," Toto said as he put his hands on her shoulders. "I believe in the king! He would never betray our country! Isn't that right?" He got down on his knees. "This Rebellion is absurd! I beg of you! Stop those fools! You're the only one who can do it!"

Vivi began trembling.

"It's only been 3 years," Toto continued. "Who cares if it hasn't rained? I believe the king! The majority of the people still do. We've stopped them over…and over…and over again! But you can't tell them anything…the Rebellion will not be stopped! Their power will soon overtake ours. They plan to end this with the next attack! They've caught up to us! They're prepared to die!"

Vivi's face turned stark white.

"Please, Vivi," Toto begged. "Stop those fools before it's too late!"

Vivi pulled out a handkerchief and handed it to Toto. "Mr. Toto," she said.

He looked up at her. "Vivi…"

Vivi smiled at him. "We'll stop the rebellion."

Toto smiled weakly. "Yes…thank you."

Later that night, Toto had allowed the group to stay at one of the many inns in the town. Usopp had finally come to.

"Good work today, boys!" he said cheerfully. "Let's take a rest to replenish our strength for tomorrow. Goodnight!" he hopped onto one of the beds and started snoozing.

Annoyed, Zoro threw a pillow at Usopp. "You were sleeping the entire time!"

"Of course I was, you jerk! I was exhausted!" Usopp threw a pillow at Zoro."I'm not a monster or an alien like you guys!"

"That's it!" Zoro said as he grabbed another one. But this time, Usopp threw a pillow at Chopper.

"And you're the king of the exhausted, blue nose!" He yelled.

Wham! A pillow collided with Usopp's face.

"Throw something at him again and see what happens," Kevin threatened as he had another pillow in his hands.

"Sanji," Vivi said, noticing that Sanji was sleeping on one of the beds. "That's mine…"

"Yeah," Sanji said. "I figured you didn't want to sleep alone tonight…"

"What do you think you're doing?" Kevin and Usopp both threw pillows at Sanji.

"Hey, which one of you crap-jerks just threw those at me!" Sanji yelled.

"I did, Curly!" Kevin replied.

"Yeah, it was all Kevin's fault!" Usopp said.

"No it wasn't!" Chopper argued. "You threw one too!"

"I'm getting both of you!"

"Bring it on, Smokey!"

Vivi, who had been accidentally plopped in the face with a pillow, just smiled at all the commotion her friends were having.

Back outside, Luffy and Ben were hanging out with Toto. Ben had wanted to be inside sleeping, but Nami pointed out that due to Ben's aliens, he had the best chance of keeping an eye on the rubber boy.

"Hey, mister!" Luffy said to Toto. "There's no water! My throat's dried out. It must be hard to live here."

Toto chuckled as he continued digging. "The water will come," he said confidently. "The Yuba Oasis still lives on. Yuba cannot be defeated by mere sand. I'll just dig it away again. This is the land I was given by the king."

Luffy and Ben looked at Toto, then at each other. The two nodded and got into the sand.

"Okay," Luffy said. "Let's dig!" he started digging in the ground. But the sand he was kicking up was getting into Toto's hole.

"Hey, wait!" Toto said. "Don't throw sand in my hole!"

Luffy looked up at him in confusion. "Huh?"

"You said you wanted to dig a hole," Toto pointed out.

"Uhhhh, yeah, I am," Luffy said.

"Luffy," Ben said. "You're getting sand in the hole Mr. Toto already made. Try digging somewhere else."

"Oh," Luffy said as he looked at the hole he had started on. "Okay." He went over to a different spot and started digging some more.

"Here," Ben said. "I know somebody who can speed this up." He activated the Omnitrix, turned the dial, and slammed it down. In a flash of green light, Ben turned into Armodrillo.

"What in the…?" Toto cried out in shock and falling over on his backside.

Armodrillo put his hands on the ground. "Okay," he said. "Time to do some digging." Focusing his jackhammer arms, Armodrillo disappeared into the ground. Toto stared dumbfounded at what he saw.

"Who…or what…is that boy?"

"That's Ben!" Luffy said. "He can turn into aliens!"

"Aliens?" Toto repeated.

Suddenly Armodrillo burst out of the ground. "Hey guys!" he called.

Toto and Luffy ran over and saw that there was a puddle of water in the hole Armodrillo made.

"Water!" Luffy cried.

"Sorry," Armodrillo said. "It's all I could find."

Toto stared at the puddle of water in awe, then he smiled.

"Kid," Toto said. "You managed to find water. I have a feeling there's plenty more out there."

And so, with newfound hope, the alien, the pirate, and the villager, begging digging for more water. And sure enough, with Armodrillo's digging ability, they were able to find puddles scatterd around the oasis. Toto's face lit up with joy.

"Didn't I tell you?" He cried happily. "Yuba cannot be defeated by mere sand!"

The next day, everyone was heading out. Vivi had been so thrilled to see even the slightest bit of water in Yuba and happily hugged Luffy and Ben for their assistance. Sanji was fuming nearby.

"I am sorry for acting so disgracefully, Vivi," Toto said as the crew prepared to head out.

"No, don't worry," Vivi reassured him.

"We're going now, Mr. Toto," Luffy said.

Toto nodded. "Yes…Luffy-kun, Ben-kun. Please take these." He held out small containers of water and gave it to them. "If it wasn't for you two, I wouldn't have found so much water so soon. I owe you both."

"Water!" Luffy said as he held his container like it was a treasure.

"Are you sure you'll be okay?" Ben asked Toto. "I mean, this is your water after all."

Toto grinned. "Yuba will not be conquered by sand, Ben. If I had any doubts, you two got rid of them. Take it."

Smiling, Ben took the water container from Toto. "Thank you, sir."


With that, the gang left Yuba and headed back towards Nanohana to find the rebellion. They seemed even more confident than before to stop this war. But then, something odd happened.

"Luffy," Kevin called over to Luffy, who was sitting next to dead tree with his arms behind his head. "What in the world are you doing?"

Luffy seemed to be thinking. A frown was on his face.

"What's wrong, Luffy-san?" Vivi asked curiously.

Zoro watched his captain with narrowed eyes.

Luffy looked up at the others. "I quit."

"WHAT?!"


AN: That's it for now!