"We made it!" Luffy exclaimed already standing on the soil...or sand of Yuba. "Wait a minute! There is nothing there!" He said again disappointed.
The crew just landed after what seemed like forever. However, once they got to Yuba, they were hit with a surprise. The wind blew up specks of sand, on the empty, deserted island. It was only noon, and everyone was very hungry and tired.
"Hurry Up! Let's go look for the leader!" Luffy screamed back to his crew members.
"Actually, this is not Yuba." Vivi explained. "We still have to walk Northwest across the desert for a half day."
"A Half Day!" Ussop explained, eyes and mouth wide open.
Vivi nodded with a sorry expression and continued, "Here. look at this map" pointing to the place where they were currently. "We just crossed the Sandora River and docked here at the green city, Elumalu."
The green city? But there isn't anything green about here..." Luffy made a confused face.
"Nowadays, yes..." Vivi said like she is remembering past memories.
"Hey guys! What are we gonna do about Amebell? Don't she need the secret code too?" Nami interrupted. "We need to make sure we recognize her too."
"No. I'm alright Nami." Amebell interrupted. "After, I might leave sooner or later."
"WHAT!?" Luffy yelled at her, "You have to stay! Come on! Join the Straw Hat Pirates!"
"Luffy, you know I don't like to stay at one place. It's just, there are things I have to do, and I can not tell you." Amebell replied, sounded like a beg. "But, you shouldn't even be trusting me with your crew right now."
It has been ages since Amebell met Luffy, and of course Ace, but nothing has stopped her from running away from something no one would accept. It's been the same, ever since she ran away, being 7 year old and all. Prodigy in the intelligence and fighting power, it sure made it seem easy to escape ever few days from island to island, and ship to ship. However, as intelligent as she is, the only solution she had was escaping but also trying to find her place in life. Finding Ace and Luffy was a blessing for Amebell, for she had started to understand the meaning of friendship, joking round, and just be and do what most kids are able to do. At the end, she was still scared, and fled from those happiness.
"But I do trust you! I trusted you then, and I still trust you!" Luffy yelled at Amebell while shaking her shoulders lightly. "Nothing is going to stop our friendship! YOU GOT THAT!"
"Luffy." Amebell said with a shaking voice as if she is about to cry. "P..please stop that. Please just understand me. I will always be by your side. Even if I'm not with you physically. Alright?"
"Fine." Luffy said firmly. "But you have to come back to us not matter where we are!. I know you can find us. Even from 200 miles from here.!"
"You got yourself a deal!" Amebell said smiling.
"Talk about mood swings..." Nami said quietly to herself. "Both of you. It's like you two have two different personalities."
Amebell chuckled and said "talk about yourself Nami."
"Hey!" Nami yelled with her shark teeth
"Alright. I'll take that identification mark"
"Hey guys!" Ussop shouted from land. "Check this out! Is it a turtle or a seal!?" He said again trying to capture on of them.
"Ussop! Get away from that!" The princess shout to him from the deck. "It's a Kung Fu DuGong!"
Only when Ussop fell to the ground after being hit, had Vivi told him they were very strong. "You lost." Zoro said sweat dropped.
Suddenly, Luffy flew over the the turtle-seal creature, and challenged the turtle seal to a duel. Well, not really because he just went on and defeat it.
"There's a winner." Nami pointed at the defeated animal.
"DON'T BEAT IT EITHER!" Vivi yelled. (with shark teeth)
By then, everyone had gotten off the ship, and is headed towards that land where they would be starting their adventure to walk through this deserted desert.
"It's Kung Fu DuGon's law that the winner become the loser's master." Vivi Explained as the turtle seal bowed to Luffy seeing him as the master.
"So they are martial artists..." Zoro added.
"NO! the stance goes like this!" Luffy yelled at all of the Kuos raising two fists into a fighting style.
"How did you get so many of them!?" Vivi screamed at Luffy who was still teaching Kuos how to fight.
"We have to leave now!" Vivi yelled again, at Luffy.
"Alright!" Luffy said leaving his attention from the Kuos.
"Now! Let's go to Yuba!" Luffy said after giving all of the Kuos meat they have on their ship.
"You wasted most of the FOOD!" Sanji yelled at Luffy knowing they needed a lot of food for this long journey.
"If it wasn't for Chopper talking to them, we would have been in major trouble." Nami said to the crew also walking with the group.
"Yeah... They kept saying 'We'll go with you"... We had to give them food to keep them away." Chopper said disappointed.
"Why couldn't we take them along?" Luffy asked confused and also disappointed.
"We can't get to any village with that many trailing along!?" Vivi yelled with a irritated voice. "You Idiot!"
"The DuGongs in this country are pretty weird, Vivi-chan. They live in the river?" Sanji asked the princess.
"...No. The ocean." Vivi answered him.
"?" Everyone wondered. Or at least the people who were listening.
As Vivi see all the confused faces, she explained "Ever since the ancient times, the Sandora River has sustained this country. But lately, the river has lost its force it once had. And now, it has been pushed down by the sea, downstream."
"Then the water those DuGons are in is..."
"Salt water. Yes." Vivi interrupted. "Can't be used on fields or to drink."
"Is that why this village is dried up?" Zoro asked.
"No. They collected the water on rare occasions on rainy days." Vivi answered Zoro's question. "And the town survived off of that, most of the time. Up until recently, this town was a lively place, full of green plants."
"This place?" Amebell said for the first time on this walking journey.
Vivi nodded as an answer. "However, in these past three years, not a single drop of rain has fallen in the entire country.
"Is that port town going to be okay?" Chopper asked Vivi right next to him.
"Nanohana gets its water supply from the oasis at Katorea, so they are safe. Even in Alabasta, no rainfall has never been something to worry about, for thousand of years, but there was always one place that got more rain 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 up until that but... it was made from Dance Powder."
"Dance Powder?"
"Yes."
"Hey, you know what that is?" Luffy asked. Surprisingly, he was listening.
"It's also know as 'Powder that calls rain'."
"Powder that calls rain!?"
"It was created by some country with no rain, long ago."
"Right, right." Luffy said impatiently.
"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. Basically, it's a powder that makes artificial rain."
"Ahaa! So it's a 'mystery powder'."
"It makes it rain." Zoro joined in.
"Huh? So that would make it perfect for this place, right?" Ussop asked.
"Originally, yes. 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... It caused droughts to countries downwind!." Vivi explained more, looking at everyone. "Do you understand?
"'Artificial rain' is the process of nurturing clouds that aren't ready to rain yet. It sucks the water our of the clouds..."
"I see...! It steals rain from clouds that mature over neighboring countries!" Ussop repeated.
"Yes...and it started a huge war. The loss of life was profound. Since then, the world governments have outlawed the manufacturing and possession of dance powder worldwide. A powder that brings happiness and misery at the same time. That large shipment of dance powder appeared in Nanohana. Soon afterward, an abnormal weather pattern started, and no rain fell anywhere except for where the king was!
"It's normal to distrust the king. They must have thought he was using the powder to steal all the rain." Zoro said.
"Dang! Vivi, your dad is evil!" Luffy accused her.
"He was framed, you idiot!" Sanji yelled at Luffy kicking him. "Vivi-chan's father would never do such a thing!"
"Now I realize that crocodile's terrible plan was already in effect. 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." Vivi said kneeling down to grab a sand buried skull. "It was all a trap set up by crocodile! A rebellion arose, 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 town, and even people's lives, were all stolen, and it was done by one man, CROCODILE!
What right does he have to do those things?!
"I WILL NEVER! EVER...LET HIM GET AWAY WITH THIS!" Vivi yelled at the ground, crying, angry at everything,
"ALRIGHT!" Luffy yelled in front of him, the way they are headed. "Let's move forward already! I'M ANXIOUS NOW!"
Everyone was powdered up after that speech from Vivi. All of them were angry, and could beat up Crocodile a thousand times over.
To be Continued