A/N:Partial credit goes to EvanderAdvent.
We were closing in on Vivi's home country. To be honest, I'm actually excited to be there. The reason? I can't help but feel like I've been to Arabasta before. Or is it just the desert? No matter what the reason is, I'm happy enough that we were able to bring Vivi home. Now all we have to do is do something about the upcoming war. If possible, I'll probably remember more about my past.
"So that's what an Arabasta city looks like," Usopp said, as we landed on the island.
"Food." He can not be that hungry.
"Listen everyone, I'm going to say this once," Nami spoke, walking up to us. "I expect you all to be on your best behavior at all times."
"Okay, Nami-san~." Of course Sanji would agree to it.
"The guy you have to worry about the most already took off," Zoro told her, looking away to see a certain pirate running off to who-knows-where.
"FOOOOOOOD!" we all haerd from his mouth.
"HEY HOLD IT!" Nami and I shouted.
"He's completely inhuman," Usopp stated.
"Can't he stop and think about the situation we're in for one minute?!" I growled.
"What'll we do?" Vivi asked.
"Don't worry. Just go to the noisiest place you can find," Sanji suggested. "That's where he'll be."
"He's right, you know," our long-nose sniper agreed.
"Geez. I wish he's remember he's got a bounty on his head. Especially in a country this big," Nami muttered.
"Just leave him be," Zoro said, as he and Chopper-kun were getting off the ship. "He'll be fine. Let's just go eat. We'll think about stuff later."
"Every single one of them!"
"Carue and I cannot accompany you," Vivi suddenly said.
"Why's that? Do you have an upset stomach?" Usopp asked.
"I think I know why," I said. "This is your home country, Vivi. Meaning that it's possible that there are people here who will recognize you. Not to mention the possibility that one of those people might be working for Crocodile."
"That's right, Xion. Too many people here will recognize me."
"They have a point there," Zoro agreed.
"Don't worry. I'll pick up some food for you, Vivi-chan!" Sanji said.
'Now that I think about it, I should bring some of my own money,' I thought, having a horrible feeling about letting one of us get some clothes that fits the climate of this country. Then again, my black coat is enough to protect me from the sun. Even though it's suppose to be hot in the desert, it's proven to be enough to cover me back on Drum Island.
"I need to get something, guys," I told them. "It won't be long."
"Okay. Make it quick," Nami replied.
I went to the women's room when I heard that answer. Closing the door, I quickly went to my safe, which I somehow managed to keep it hidden from Nami. I wasn't sure how much the clothes for traveling in the desert cost, so I brought two million belli. I know it's a lot, but we also need to do something about the food. Not to mention, I have to get some perfume for Nami that Chopper's nose can withstand, since he is an animal.
After closing and hiding the safe, I went back on deck to see everyone having a serious expression on their face. "What's wrong?" I asked.
"Mr. Three's here," Vivi told me.
"I thought Luffy took care of that guy! Great. Now what?"
"Don't worry. I have an idea," Usopp said. He then took out a brown tarp from his bag. How he is able to put things that big in there? I don't think I want to know. "We'll hide under here. Except Sanji and Chopper."
Thinking about his plan, I highly doubted that it would be much of a cover. But it did give me an idea. "I have a better plan."
We were all speed walking our way through the city. Thanks to my Vanish magic, no one can see us. Of course, I told them that we have to be quick on our feet to cover, since this spell wears me off faster than the other basic spells.
"This is better than your idea, Usopp," Nami stated. "Not only are we unnoticeable, we're not standing out at all."
"I agreed with her there, Usopp," Zoro agreed.
"Shut up," our sniper sulked.
"It's a good thing Xion is in your crew," Vivi said.
"Ahh. Come on, guys. You're making me blush," I told them, rubbing the back of my head. "Besides, it was originally Usopp's idea. This is just a better version of his idea, so to say."
"I guess that's true," our navigator agreed.
When we got to safety, my spell wore off. "Looks like the spell wore off," I said.
"Yeah. I can see you guys now," Chopper-kun said, confirming my thoughts.
"Looks like no one noticed us," Usopp said.
"Are you saying that you doubted my magic?" I asked our young sniper.
"No. Of course not."
"Vivi-chan. You'll be safe from prying eyes here for the time being," Sanji told the princess. He then noticed how quiet she is. "Vivi-chan?"
"Yes? Yes, yes. What is it?" Okay. It's obvious she was thinking about something.
"What's wrong?"
"... I'm sorry. I was just thinking, at least, while I was looking at the city, everything still seemed fine. And though I can't truly be at ease, I think it can be saved."
"Now that you mentioned it..." Nami and I looked back at the city we were in.
"You're right. It seems like a peaceful city."
"Hey, Vivi. You said you had forces to suppress the rebellion, right?" Zoro asked. "What's the next step? What do we have to do? If we have to save them, we have to take action soon."
"Yes, that's true. But you only promised to take me as far as Arabasta and-"
Nami lightly punched the princess on her forehead. "Enough! I can't believe you're still talking like that."
"Nami-san?"
"Vivi. It's true we promised Igaram that we would take you back to Arabasta. However, do you really think that Crocodile will still let us go after everything that has happened?" I asked.
"That's right. We sailed all the way over here. There's no way we're just going to abandon you now," our navigator said.
"They're right, Vivi. Don't get all distant on us now," Usopp said.
"And I'm pretty interested in this Shichibukai," our challenging swordsman told her.
"That's enough out of you! In any case, quit over-thinking this!" Nami scolded Zoro and Vivi.
"And of course, everyone except me is being hunted, too," Sanji pointed out.
"And knowing Xion and her bad habit, she probably won't rest until the war is postponed and Crocodile is defeated."
"Leave me out of my bad habit, Nami."
"And if this country is crushed, I won't get my fee for escorting you here. Understand?"
'Even after all this time, she's still thinking about the money,' I thought, feeling pity for Vivi.
"Y-yes!" the said princess reluctantly agreed.
"Good! You understand!" And back to the happy mood Nami goes.
"You're going to hell," Zoro muttered.
"Why thank you, Zoro," Nami playfully replied to his statement.
The two of them then began to bicker about his debt for Nami. Not wanting to take part in that conversation, I put on my hood and was about to walk out of our hiding spot to get some supplies, when Usopp stopped me.
"Where are you going, Xion?"
"Where else? Back into the city," I simply replied. "We need to get some supplies."
"OH NO YOU DON'T!" he and Nami shouted, dragging me back.
"I hope you didn't forget one small thing, Xion! That you also helped out those other three Baroque Works members escape the island by leaving them a boat!" Nami reminded me.
"What if they're here on this island?! What do we do then if Ms. Goldenweek sees you and possess you with those paints of hers?!" Usopp questioned.
"If that happens, then at least you guys know how to undo the spell," I pointed out.
A moment of silence came.
"That's true," Zoro agreed. "Even though I didn't see the whole thing, I did see the part when Luffy was laughing uncontrollably because of her. Then he stopped when you and Carue bumped into him, smearing some of the paint off."
"But Xion, at least stay so you will know what we will have to do," Nami requested.
Now that I think about it, Vivi didn't tell us our next step. With that in mind, I gave the princess my full attention.
"Northwest of this city lies the Yuba Oasis," she began to inform. "That is the Rebels' base. I want to go over there first and stop the rebellion. But to get to Yuba, we have to cross the desert. We have to arrange the necessary food and water here, but if Mr. Three is in this city..."
"Oh, if that's all, it'll be fine," Sanji interrupted. "He's never seen my face."
"That's right. Sanji-kun's never met the bunch," Nami pointed out.
"That's not all," I added. "It's possible, but there might be others that wears this black coat that I'm wearing. As long as I put my hood up, I'll be just fine."
"What do you mean, Xion?" Vivi asked.
"Oh yeah! I almost forgot! Back when we were on that island in East Blue before we came here. There was this guy who wore the same coat as her," Usopp pointed out.
"Vivi. Is there anyone in the Baroque Works who wore the same black coat?" Zoro asked.
"Now that you mentioned it, I thought he was just a visitor at that time or something, but I remember a guy in black wanting to speak with Mr. Zero," the princess replied.
"Then it's settled. I'm going to get some supplies with Sanji and Chopper-kun."
"Chopper?" Usopp repeated, obviously confused with why I included my little-brother-figure.
"Of course. Mr. Three and the others never met Chopper before," Nami pointed out.
"That's great," Sanji said. "There'll be a lot to carry. We're counting on you."
"Okay. I got it!" the little reindeer replied.
"Oi, you gonna be alright?" our sniper asked.
"I'll be alright. I want to do what I can." Chopper-kun turned into his full reindeer form. "If I'm in this form, I won't have any problems, right?"
"Yosh! You're truly a man... reindeer."
"Then please, if you would," Vivi said.
"You can count on us!" Don't tell me he went to lover mode already.
"Actually, Vivi, just count on me and Chopper-kun," I whispered to the princess. "Anyway, other than supplies, we also need some clothes for the desert."
"Xion's right," the princess agreed. "We need clothes that citizens wear, so we won't stand out."
"And some perfume!" Nami added, as I thought.
"Yes, Nami'san~!" Oh dear. Why me?
The boys and I were walking around the city, looking for the supplies that we needed to buy. Along the way, as expected, Tweedledee began to go 'sightseeing' when we were ONLY suppose to buy food, clothes and other needed supplies. If I knew any better, I would've somehow convinced this guy to stay with the others so Chopper-kun and I wouldn't need to worry about him!
"Xion-nee..." I heard the reindeer weakly call me. "I'm too hot."
"Hang on just a little longer, Chopper-kun," I encouraged. "It just so happens that I was planning on getting some water first."
"Really?"
"Yes. So please bear with me just a little longer. Okay?"
"Okay..."
As promised, I went to a store where they're selling barrels of water. I ordered fifteen bottles, since knowing a certain someone would just drink all of it before we're even halfway to Yuba, and two small barrels with a straw sticking out, similar to Carue's, for Chopper-kun. I paid for the water and had the bottles in bags.
"Xion-nee. This water's not cold enough," he complained, taking a small sip of the water.
"Let me see that for a minute." I opened the barrel and used my Blizzard spell on the water inside of it to turn it into ice. "It'll be harder to drink right now, so wait for a minute to let the ice melt," I told my reindeer companion.
"Okay." With that, we continued our short journey and went to get more supplies.
When we got back to the hiding place, Sanji was already there. Not only that, as I thought, he got Nami and Vivi dancer clothes.
"Ah! This is gorgeous!" Nami said. "I love stuff like this."
'Of course you do,' I thought, as Chopper-kun and I made our way closer to them.
"About the errands we asked you to do, Sanji-san, isn't this... a dancer girls-?"
"Isn't it lovely~? It looks great on you~!" Sanji interrupted Vivi.
"But I asked you clothes like the citizens wear..." she tried to reason.
"Dancing girls are citizens, too~!"
"But for walking on the desert..."
"Don't worry! If you get tired, I'll carry you~!"
"Don't bother trying to reason with the idiot," I told Vivi. "I thought something like this would happen, so I brought these instead."
"You brought something even sexier than dancing girls, Xion-swan?!"
"IDIOT! I NEVER SAID ANY OF THAT!" I yelled, burying his head in the sand. "Anyway, I got these cloaks for you and Nami, perfect for protecting your skin while walking on the desert." I took out the said cloaks and gave them to both Nami and Vivi.
"Ah! Thank you, Xion. You're a life saver," the princess said.
"And by the looks of how Chopper is reacting right now..." I looked at the reindeer in question, who went back to his hybrid form and holding his nose. "I thought Sanji would also buy a perfume that his nose wouldn't agree with, so I got this one." I went through another bag and got out the said bottle of perfume.
Nami sprayed a little on herself and took a sniff. "Hey, this smells better than what Sanji got," she then said. "Guess you do have some girl in you, Xion."
"What does that suppose to mean?" I asked, slightly annoyed with that statement.
"Ah~. That smells nice~," came Chopper-kun's voice.
"Oh? It seems I picked the right perfume after all."
"Anyway, that means we got all the stuff we need to get on with our original goal, right?" Usopp said.
"Yes," Vivi nodded.
"You said Yuba was where we're headed next, right?" our navigator asked the princess.
"Yes, that's right. But to get there, we have to cross the desert. It may prove a more formidable journey than any of you could imagine. You can never be sure of what will happen. One wrong step and nothing can guarantee your life out on that land of scorching heat."
"I think I can imagine," I whispered to myself.
"I still have worries about taking everyone through such a place, but I want to restore peace to this land. So... So I would like to make another request. Everyone! Please lend me all of your strength! Please...!"
"You finally said it," Nami said. "We've been waiting for that."
"Not knowing what's gonna happen next is just like sailing the sea, Vivi-chan," Sanji pointed out. And when did he get his head out of the sand?
"Yeah. Nothing we haven't dealt with before," Zoro agreed.
"I bought more than enough food supplies and water for all of us anyway. It'd be waste if we didn't go with you to Yuba, Vivi," I added.
"I'm looking forward to seeing the desert," Chopper-kun said.
'Good luck with the heat,' Carue told him.
"Alright, guys! Raise your spirit! We're heading for Yuba!" Usopp spoke, as though he's our captain.
"AYE!" we all agreed.
Hang on... Aren't we missing someone?
"Aren't we missing someone?" Usopp voiced out my question.
Oh wait... That's right... The idiot who got off the ship before us...
"LUFFY!" we all answered to our sniper's question.
"That numbskull!" Nami growled.
"Now that I think about it, he wasn't in Nanohana at all... And Chopper-kun and I were searching all over for him, too," I muttered, loud enough for everyone to hear.
"What?!" they, except for the young reindeer, gasped.
"You stupid rubber idiot... WHERE DID YOU GOOOOOOOOOOOOOO?!"