Hello! Sorry for being away for so long! I was sick for two weeks then had to catch up on homework. I was dying to finish up and post chapter 3.

Well at least it's done and here it is!

~Enjoy!~

Chapter 3: Perils in the Desert

Previously

Chopper brought up the idea of leaving food behind so that the Dugongs could stay there. It was a good plan much to Sanji's annoyance about lowering the food supply. Now with that out of the way they could finally venture out into the desert.

Some time later

Oh how she wished she hadn't entered this stupid desert in the first place.

Now

Ria had never been more hot in her life. There were times when she was younger on Rhonda that there were hot summers but this desert was worse. Even hell itself couldn't be as hot as this.

She glanced around to see everyone else suffering and probably thinking the same thing she was. She felt especially sorry for poor Chopper who had fur to keep the warmth in. The only person who did not seem affected was Ace. Since his devil fruit powers were fire, anything hot did not affect him.

This would usually make Ria jealous since he would be super warm on snowy islands or days when it was cold but now, she was livid. She wasn't sure if it was the heat or lack of entertainment but she was starting to imagine killing Ace and several ways to do it too since he wasn't suffering enough with the rest of them. Stupid Ace and his devil fruit powers.

Before Ria could act on her homicidal thoughts, she was stopped by the scene in front of her. All she could see was the ruins of what must have been a town. Luffy voiced all of their thoughts when he asked Vivi if this was Yuba.

"No…this used to be Erumalu. It's a ghost town now."

Everyone could sense the hurt in her voice when she talked about the once great "City of Green." Apparently, this place used to be an oasis full of green vegetation and life but after Baroque Works came to the country, Oasis' like Erumalu became no more. Ria didn't know the whole story behind this organization but she knew that she wanted to help this once thriving country any way she could. It was sad to see Alabasta in such ruins when she had heard many stories from the people who had traveled to Alabasta on vacation from her island. Just the thought of the fucker who messed it all up had Ria clenching her fist.

Ace took notice of this and held her clenched fist in his hand. He didn't have to say anything for her to know that he felt the same way.

Ria was snapped out of her thoughts when she heard a strange sound. It was like….someone was crying.

"Do you guys hear that…? Is someone crying?" Ria asked, confused.

"Yeah I hear that too!" Nami agreed.

"M-maybe the rebel a-a-army found us!" Usopp cried.

"Or Baroque works….." Ria teased. Usopp got even paler which she wasn't sure how that was humanly possible.

"I'm sure there's no danger. Plus we're pirates. We are the danger!" Ace laughed.

"It must be someone's voice!" Luffy shouted and looked ready to run off and help before Zoro grabbed him and chimed in with a 'It's probably just the wind'.

"It's like…Erumalu is crying…"

Ria went over to Vivi and put her hand on her shoulder for comfort. She couldn't say that she understood her pain but she could empathize with her. Whoever this Crocodile was….he would pay. She was going to make sure of that.

All of a sudden the wind picks up and sand starts to fly at them.

"A SANDSTORM?!" Usopp yells.

Luffy suddenly runs over towards the storm seeing something buried in the sand. Just when Ria assumes Nami is going to yell at him for running off she yells, "I think someone collapsed!"

"Maybe there's a survivor!" Vivi yells while running over to where Luffy was but stops when she sees that what they saw was clothes fluttering in the sand with bones.

Vivi fell to the ground with tears in her eyes. "This used to be such a beautiful city…but as soon as Crocodile showed up, famine started and anger grew with the people until a rebellion started. Soon, people started to lose their faith in my father and one by one….TOWNS AND CITIES WERE LOST! I….WILL NEVER FORGIVE THAT MAN!"

Anger like never before swelled up in Ria's heart. She could feel her devil fruit powers starting to swell up and even boil over. Next to her, she felt Ace getting a little too warm as well. All she knew was that Crocodile was going to die and she wanted to make sure that it was because of her. She was glad to know Luffy felt the same way too when he punched and destroyed a building in anger.

"I can't wait to kick Crocodile's ass."

Ria was shocked with how serious Luffy looked. She simply thought that he was just another goofy pirate who was a good fighter but the look in his eyes felt…different. It reminded her of how pops would get when someone hurt his crew. Maybe there's more to Luffy than meets the eye.

Luffy started to swing his arm around in a circle that was almost like he was stretching.

"Let's go. I'm itching to kick his ass."

With a surprised look on Vivi's face and smirks all around, they made their way to Yuba.

Some MORE time later

Ria didn't think it was possible that the desert could get any hotter but it did. Looking around she realized that she wasn't alone in her misery. Poor Chopper had to be dragged by Zoro since he was made of fur. Luffy was leaning on a stick and panting like a dog. Ria wasn't sure where he even got the stick but maybe she blacked out for a split second and didn't see him get it. The only one unaffected by the heat was Ace who was smiling and….skipping?!

"Why do you look so happy?" Ria grumbled to Ace.

He laughed and said, "I'm just happy that I get to hang out with my brother, his crew, and my best friend." He put his arm over Ria.

"Get off of me you walking ball of sun!"

Ria tried to shove him off but he held on. "You could always use your devil fruit powers to cool yourself down."

"Unfortunately that won't work since everything will just melt if I try."

"Oh…you're right…" Ace sheepishly replied. They were interrupted by Chopper yelling at Usopp and Zoro yelling at the both of them. "If you grow big, I won't carry you!" Zoro yelled at Chopper.

"You seem to be doing well in this heat Vivi." Sanji noted. Oh, that's right! Other than Ace, it seems that Vivi had no issue with this heat too. Maybe she has a devil fruit?

"That's because this is my home. I'm used to the heat."

"I can deal with the heat but why are the dunes so high?!" Usopp complained.

Vivi sighed and told him that the desert was old and some of the dunes could get to over one thousand feet high.

"One thousand feet?! That's not a dune, that's a mountain!"

Ria couldn't agree more. She was hoping that they wouldn't have to climb any dunes taller than the ones they have been climbing already. She wouldn't have the energy for it. Maybe water would help.

"Water…." Luffy whined.

"Only drink enough water to wet your lips." Nami sighed.

Luffy didn't listen and filled his cheeks which stretched even more due to his devil fruit powers. Ria didn't know how she had energy but she somehow moved her hand to hit Luffy in the head with armament haki. He fell face first to the ground and spilled out all of the water in his mouth on the way down.

"DON'T. BE. A. GLUTTON."

With her red eyes and dark look, the others felt the killing intent rolling off of Ria in waves. Even Zoro felt a shiver go down his spine. "YOU'RE EVEN HOTTER WHEN YOU'RE MAD!" Sanji swooned.

"OWWWWWWWW! That hurt!" Luffy yelled with his arms touching the now forming bump on his head.

Vivi put her hand on Ria's shoulder. "Don't waste your energy fighting."

Ria sighed and left Luffy alone. He was definitely as irritating as his older brother. Ace just smiled over at Ria in a way that said Isn't my little brother funny?

She scoffed in irritation at his look and walked up ahead next to Vivi.

"Hey Sanji! Let's eat the lunch boxes!"

"Not unless Vivi says we can."

"Please Vivi! We need the energy to keep on walking!" Usopp groaned.

"But we're not even halfway to Yuba!"

"Don't you know the saying 'when you get hungry, you should eat'?" Luffy made up.

"That's not even a saying you liar." Ace scolded Luffy.

Vivi laughed at his antics. "When we get to the next crags we can stop to eat. Just hold on till then, ok?"

"Fineeeeee."

After an hour of walking and Luffy losing at Rock paper scissors, which involved Luffy pulling the bags and Ria laying on the bags he was pulling, Usopp spotted a crags.

"Crags dead ahead!"

"REALLY?! TIME TO EAT!"

Luffy regained his energy and ran as fast as he could while tugging along the bag which caused Ria to hold on with the little strength she had left. "S-slow down!"

"Nope! I'm hungry."

Luffy went over a dune which nearly threw Ria off. She just decided to shut up and put her head down. Fortunately, after about 2 minutes, he got to the crag.

"PHEW! Finally! This shade feels so nice."

Ria would agree but she felt so dizzy and nauseous from the ride that she just rolled off and groaned.

Luffy heard another groan and Ria heard him run off screaming for the others. If Ria was feeling 100% , she would have noticed the birds were faking that they were dying on the floor. She also would have noticed the same birds quickly getting up and taking all of their supplies before flying away. Unfortunately, she was concerned with trying to keep what little food she had left in her system.

Ria was helped up by Nami who gave her some water.

"I-I thought you…didn't like me…"

"Who told you that? I'm just weary of you. I'm not so heartless to leave you to suffer."

"Oho~?" Ria smirked at Nami.

"Just shut up and drink the water!" Nami blushed and shoved the water tube down Ria's throat.

"Those evil birds. They trick travelers into thinking they're dying and once you put your guard down, they take your stuff and run." Vivi said in annoyance.

Ria sat up and glared at Luffy. "You got our stuff stolen?!"

"You were here! You could've stopped them!" He yelled back.

"W-well I was…not myself. Thanks to a CERTAIN someone."

Ria got off of the floor and got in Luffy's face. "You stupid Stretchy boy!"

She was going to say some less…appropriate insults but her eye was caught by a bird laughing at them while drinking THEIR water.

Luffy ran after them yelling "You stupid birds! Give us back our stuff!"

Oh hell no. "Don't go off on your own you idiot!" Ria yelled and ran off after him. She could hear the rest of the group yelling at them to come back but they were too far to go back. Ria felt the ground shake and looked up to meet the eyes of a big ass lizard thing.

"What the…?"

"AGHHHHHH!" Luffy screamed and ran back towards the group. Ria didn't need to see him running back to run back herself. She could see the others who seemed just as surprised as they were and it looked like Zoro and Sanji were ready to fight. Luffy suddenly turned around and threw a punch at the lizard along with a slash from Zoro and a kick from Sanji. The poor thing was definitely their new dinner.

"Couldn't they have scared it off?" Usopp questioned with what looked like sympathy.

"Against those three at once? The monster never stood a chance." Nami sighed.

Well at least they had their dinner which was grilling on some rocks since it was so damn hot. They also got a camel? It was running along with them but Ria didn't notice it since she was running for her life.

Now that she thought about it, she could've been saved if Ace used his fire fist but where is he?

"Where's Ace?" Ria asked.

"He went on ahead because he came upon a 'new lead' is what he said." Vivi answered. "He also told me to tell you that he'll see you soon and not to worry."

"I'm not gonna worry over an idiot like that."

"Here you are my beautiful goddess of death~" Sanji sang as he handed Ria some of the lizard meat. She chose to ignore that comment and ate her food in silence.

Ria wondered what lead Ace found and how crazy her day has been since meeting his little brother. She let out a small chuckle. At least she knew she wouldn't get bored.

The boys started to beat up the camel and Vivi stopped them and comforted the perverted camel.

Yep, she would never be bored.

Life can't get any crazier than this.

That's the end of chapter 3! Yes I'm showing haki a bit early on but Ria was with Whitebeard most of her life. Of course she would learn it early on! Also, I'm following the manga a bit since it's been a while since I watched this arc. Also, I teased a bit of Ria's devil fruit power. I wonder if you can guess what it is...?

Stay tuned for Chapter 4!