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When the straw hats arrived in Yuba they were very surprised to find it looked exactly like Erumalu; Yuba was supposed to be an oasis that linked all the towns and cities together. But it had been destroyed, the buildings were broken, the oasis was dry, the trees were dead and the town half buried in sand; Yuba had been abandoned. Vivi was horrified at the state off the town and to make matters worse there was no sign of the rebels.

"This can't be…the rebels…they should be here," Vivi stuttered.

"Wasn't this place supposed to be an oasis?" Zoro asked.

"Vivi-chan are we even in the right place?" Sanji asked.

"Of course we are, but…" Vivi answered.

"This place looks worse than Erumalu," Connor stated.

"Connor! Watch what you say," Nami warned and went to comfort Vivi.

Ace used his Haki and found only one other person nearby. "Hey there's someone still here," he announced.

Vivi looked at Ace hopefully and Ace lead them to the Oais, there was an old man digging in it, likely looking for water. The old man stopped digging for a moment to look at the crew but went back to digging.

The old man's body looked shrivelled up from thirst and starvation. He had an elderly face, and a thick fuzzy moustache. He wore a white wrap around his head, he wore black desert robes, that were torn in some places, and a green robe underneath, a turquoise sash, with blue dots.

"Are you travellers? You must be tired after your trip through the dessert. I'm sorry to tell you that the towns a little dried up at the moment,"

The straw hats stared at the old man, just how long had he been here digging.

"If you want to rest, there's plenty of inns to choose from. No charge of course,"

"Umm we were told that the Rebels were using this place as a base," Nami said, hoping for some information.

"WHAT? DON'T TELL ME YOU CAME HERE TO JOIN THEM," The old man asked and suddenly turned violent. He began throwing a number of buckets and barrels at the group, most of them hit Luffy.

"Those fools are gone, thanks to this drought sandstorms pass through here daily," he continued once he'd run out of things to throw.

"What? A sandstorm passes by every day," Ace repeated.

"Without fail," the old man confirmed "and they have slowly tuned Yuba into this state. Without the Oasis the rebels packed up and relocated to Katorea,"

Vivi gasped at this information and the Straw hats jaws dropped; they had come all this way for nothing.

"What there not here?" Usopp complained.

"Vivi where's Katorea, is it nearby?" Luffy asked urgently.

The man suddenly stared at Vivi intensely.

"It's the oasis next to Nanohana," Vivi claimed "we were already there a week ago,"

Suddenly Eyelash made a string of camel sounds.

"I can confirm that," Chopper translated "I actually work for the rebels,"

Luffy, Sanji and Usopp suddenly turned on the camel and began beating him up. "Why didn't you say something sooner you dumb animal," they yelled angrily.

"You never asked," Chopper translated again.

This made the three even angrier. The old man slowly approached Vivi and it made her a bit uncomfortable.

"Vivi, is it really you?" the old man asked, he was now directly in front of the princes.

"NO VIVI'S NOT A PRINCESS OR ANYTHING!" Luffy yelled.

Zoro hit him over the head "Idiot don't tell him that," he scolded.

"Vivi it is you, you've grown so much I didn't recognise you," the old man claimed.

"I'm sorry but I don't know you,"

The old man's smile faded at the response "Yes I suppose you wouldn't recognise me now, I've lost quite a bit of weight,"

"I don't…Grandpa Toto?" Vivi suddenly asked.

"GRANDPA?" The straw hats yelled.

"You do remember me, thank you. Vivi know that I have never doubted your father and I still believe in him,"

"Wait a second," Ace interrupted "this old man is your grandfather, what's a former king doing out here?"

"Former king?" Toto asked confused.

"Actually were not related in any way," Vivi confessed "when I was a little girl Toto's son was my best friend, I was always at his place and he instead that I call him Grandpa,"

"Vivi's the daughter I never had; I consider her part of my family. I was older then the king and Vivi had no living grandparents so I let her call me Grandpa," Toto explained.

"How did the king take it when he found out?" Zoro asked.

"Surprisingly well once he stopped crying. The king used to sneak out of the palace to come and visit me, his body guards were furious with him but we always ended up having tea together," Toto laughed at the memory.

The first time it had happened Toto nearly had a heart attack when he saw the army at his door led by Alubastas finest warriors. The King of course had talked the Army down and when his body guards had insisted the king come back to the palace the king had complained about Vivi having friends and he didn't.

This naturally set the guards off and ordered the army to find the princess; if showing up with an army was frightening to an adult Toto could only imagine how his son had reacted. In the end Toto, his son Vivi, the king and his body guards all sat down and came to an agreement. The king would visit Toto every three days with one of his bodyguards for afternoon tea and Vivi was allowed to keep her friendship with Toto's son.

Toto told them all he knew about the rebels and that Vivi's Childhood friend and his son was Koza was the leader. Toto had tried to sop Koza but in the end Koza had ignored his father's pleas to trust the king and when he heard that Vivi had disappeared it was the last straw. Vivi felt terrible for putting Koza through that and she was now more determined than ever to stop the rebellion.

Unfortunately Toto didn't know when and where the rebels would strike next, but he did know that the next attack was going to be the last. The rebels were going to fight to the last man, they were going to die.

Vivi wanted to leave right away however it was clear that everyone would need all there strength for the return journey. So they decided to rest for the day and set off early tomorrow morning. While the straw hats rested Vivi spent time with Toto, Zoro approached Ace.

"Hey Ace, thanks for looking after Connor for the last couple of days," Zoro said.

"No problem, he wasn't as much trouble as Luffy was at his age," Ace responded.

"Yeah I've been meaning to ask, what was Luffy like as a child?"

"Hmm that's a tough one…you know I think he might have matured a bit,"

"Seriously?" Zoro looked over at his captain to find him pulling funny faces at Chopper, Connor and Usopp.

"Hard to believe I know but he was way way way worse as a kid then he is now," Ace confirmed.

Oddly enough Zoro could believe what Ace was telling him.

"Hey about Connor, have you noticed anything out of the ordinary about him?"

Zoro stared at Ace and wounded why he would be asking this.

"Well he's defiantly too quiet for his age but there's a good reason for that," Zoro confirmed.

"That brand right. What about abilities anything strange or weird,"

"He heals fairly quickly and he seems to learn things at an alarming rate, but again that's because of the brand,"

"No devil fruit powers?"

"None, he can swim our crew has seen it on multiple occasions,"

Ace nodded and went to go stop Luffy from doing something stupid. Zoro watched him go; he had purposely left out Connors second sight. Zoro liked Ace; he knew about the brand and understood why the straw hats wanted the fruit that put it there. However he was not going to tell Ace about Connors eyes, when Zoro had first told Luffy it was out of concern that Connor could be dangerous to the crew.

And now that he knew the boy better his concern was unwarranted, it was also clear that Connor did not like talking about it. Hell he was sure if Luffy had never tried to catch that giant bird Connor would have kept it from them.

That night while the Straw hats were sleeping in one of the many abandoned inns Connor got up and snuck out. If any of the Straw hats had woken up they would not have worried about it as Conner got up every night due to nightmares. Ace however did not know this and followed Connor.

Because the inns were abandoned some of the straw hats had decided to sleep separate rooms from the rest of the group. Nami and Vivi shared a room, Usopp Chopper and Connor shared a room with Ace. Zoro and Sanji both took separate rooms on their own and Luffy was helping Toto dig water.

Connor left the inn and wandered outside, he walked quickly to another inn not too far away. Ace curiously followed from a distance and peered through a broken window watching the boy. Connor was talking on a White baby Den-Den Mushi. Ace wondered what he was doing with a baby Den-Den Mushi in the first place; he listened in as Connor told whoever was on the other end that he was in Yuba and everything Toto had told the Straw hats.

"We're leaving tomorrow back to Kotarea. I just thought you'd like an update," Connor said into the speaker.

"I see and no one suspects you," the voice asked.

"No one, they have no reason too,"

"Good make sure it stays that way, we'll get in touch with our agents pass on this information. Keep up the good work," and the call ended.

Ace paled at what he had heard was Connor working for the Baroque works? Was he a spy? It was certainly plausible, Ace needed to warn Luffy and Vivi about this. He took a step back but crushed some glass beneath his boot.

Conner heard something out side and immediately hurried around; he scanned the windows and found nothing out of the ordinary. He dashed out side and found nothing, Connor activated his second sight but it reviled nothing.

Connor headed back to the inn where the rest of the straw hats were sleeping and snuck back into the boy's room. Activating his second sight again he saw that everyone one was still in their beds, though one of them was glowing a bright red; it was Ace. Connor narrowed his eyes at Ace he'd hadn't seen Ace through his sight before and if he never felt the need; Ace was Luffy's brother and Connor trusted Luffy so he assumed that Ace would appeared blue as well.

Connor knew he could not do anything about it so he went back to bed. Ace however snapped his eyes open and looked at Connor with a frightened expression; he'd seen his glowing eyes. There was only one group in the entire world that had eyes like that and they were exceptionally dangerous.

The next morning Ace confronted Luffy about Connor and what he'd seen.

"You're lying, Connor would never hurt me or anyone else," Luffy claimed.

"Lu I want to believe that but I saw him, I heard him talk to someone on a snail phone," Ace argued back

"Well you were wrong,"

Zoro and Sanji came in at that moment.

"Luffy were ready to…is something wrong?" Sanji asked.

"Ace thinks Connor is a Baroque Works spy," Luffy claimed.

Zoro and Sanji blinked and then burst out laughing. This frustrated Ace here he was trying to protect his brother and no one believed him.

"I'm telling you he's a spy for Baroque works. The voice on the phone said they'd pass the information he gave them onto their agents,"

"Ace Connor can't be a spy," Zoro instead.

"How do you know he wasn't planted amongst your crew?"

"Because he's been with us since the East Blue," Luffy claimed.

"What? He's been with you that long,"

"Let's say for augments sake that your right and he is a spy" Sanji said "why would he have joined us in the East Blue before we met Vivi?"

"Obviously to gain your trust," Ace answered.

"Okay then. Why did Mr 0 put him on a hit list with Vivi if he was an agent?"

"Maybe to throw you off so you wouldn't suspect him,"

"Fine, then how did Connor dial the number on the Snail phone?"

"Come on it's a snail phone anyone can work one,"

"Ace Connor can't read, how could he have died a number if he can't read them?"

"He can't read?"

Luffy Zoro and Sanji shook their heads.

"Okay then what about getting up in the middle of the night, that's not normal," Ace urged.

"For him it is, Connor suffers from terrible nightmares. They wake him up every night; he normally goes outside for a few hours before coming back to bed,"

"What about the glowing yellow eyes. How do you explain that?"

"His second sight, that proves nothing,"

"Hold on you all knew about that?"

"Of course we do,"

"Ace just drop it Connor isn't a spy for anyone," Zoro said "I was the first to find out about his second sight and I thought he was dangerous too. But I was just being paranoid and I soon realised it,"

Before Ace could answer Nami came in and demanded that they get going. Ace decided that he would drop the subject for now and keep a very close eye on the boy. After all his little brother was now in great danger; if he caught the boy trying anything then he would stop him by any means necessary.

They said goodbye to Toto and the old man gave Luffy some water that he had dug up as a parting gift. The group then headed out into the dessert again. Ace's focus was solely on Connor he was watching the boy carefully, Sanji and was walking next to him and every so often would send a glare towards Ace.

"Connor," Luffy called to the boy, he'd had enough of the glaring competition between Ace and Sanji.

Connor shifted his attention to Luffy "Yes," he said.

"Your brand makes you do anything I say right?"

Connor froze and stared at Luffy "Yes it does and anyone else under your command,"

"So what happens if you don't obey?"

"It…It causes me great pain until I submit to your will," Connor said fearfully.

"Luffy what are you doing? Connor already told us this," Nami warned, but Luffy ignored her.

"Connor I order you to tell me the truth, are you a spy for the Baroque works?"

"No," Connor answered.

Everyone's jaw dropped, Ace should have expected this and he was surprised when Luffy just blurted it out. Zoro and Sanji covered their eyes in annoyance, Usopp Chopper and Vivi stared at Luffy in horror for ever suggesting such a thing and Nami lost it.

"IDIOT!" She yelled "HOW COULD YOU EVER THINK THAT ABOUT HIM!"

"I don't but Ace dose," Luffy gestured to his brother "I just wanted to prove that he was wrong,"

Nami walked over to Ace and Ace smiled sheepishly; Nami punched him several times on the head. When she was done Ace had several large bumps on his head,

"You know I can see how you tow are related now. You're both idiots," Nami snapped.

Ace rubbed his sore head; he was surprised that Nami had hit him and even more that it had hurt. He was a Logia type user; he wasn't supposed to be affected by attacks like that. He then watched Luffy talk to Connor.

"Sorry I know that was uncomfortable and you don't like talking about that mark of yours, but I needed Ace to understand that you couldn't be a spy,"

"Why dose Ace think I'm a spy?" Connor asked.

"He says he saw you get up and taking into a snail phone last night,"

"But I always get up at night and don't know how those things work. I can't read how would I work a snail phone?"

"I know; Zoro Sanji and I tried to tell him that but he didn't believe us,"

"Luffy make him tell me where he got his second sight from" Ace requested, that earned him another punch from Nami.

"I don't want to make him do stuff he's not comfortable with," Luffy complained.

"THEN WHAT WAS THAT BEFORE?" Usopp yelled.

"Ace needed to know what would happen if Connor lied," Luffy claimed.

"Luffy please I need to know where he got his sight from,"

"If I make him tell you will you stop suspecting him?"

"Yes," Ace claimed.

"Fine, sorry about this Connor. I want you to tell Ace everything you know about your second sight,"

Connor sighed and went over to Ace and did as Luffy commanded, he didn't like it but he really had no choice. After Connor was finished he went back to Sanji; Ace suddenly felt extremely guilty and stupid…but mostly guilty. He had made his brother make one of his friends reveal something very personal to a complete stranger, he knew from personal experience just how uncomfortable that could be.

They continued on through the dessert until Luffy suddenly sat down. The straw hats kept walking and it was Usopp who noticed Luffy was no longer among them.

"Luffy what are you doing, we have to get going," Usopp urged.

The rest of the straw hats stopped and looked at Luffy.

"I quit," Luffy declared.

"What?" Nami asked.

"I quit, I'm done trying to stop this rebellion,"

"Luffy we don't have time for this. We need to get back to Kotareia, It's for Vivi-chan," Sanji said.

"That won't stop anything so why bother?"

"Because over a million people are about to fight to the death," Vivi reminded him.

"So people die all the time. Vivi your fooling yourself if you think you can stop this war without anyone getting hurt or dying,"

"But if we get to the rebels I can stop them," Vivi argued back.

"But that won't stop Crocodile will it? If the rebellion doesn't happen then he'll just try something else. The only way for anyone to win this war is to beat up Crocodile,"

The straw hats stared at Luffy; it was rare that he made sense.

"No it's too dangerous if we stop the rebellion then…"

"You want to stop them then you're on your own, I came to beat up Crocodile and that's what I'm going to do. Go play diplomat if you want but don't expect any more help from us," Luffy claimed.

Vivi and the straw hats stared at Luffy, he'd just told Vivi she was on her own from now on.

"Hold on Luffy Connors still on Crocodiles hit list," Usopp reminded him.

"Luffy try to understand this from Vivis point of view," Nami urged.

"I'm well aware that Connor is still in danger and that's why I want to beat Crocodile up. As for Vivi I never understand the point of view from a coward,"

Vivi snapped and slapped Luffy across the face, the force sent Luffy flying. Luffy however got back up and punched Vivi back, knocking her down. Nami tried to intervene and stop the fight but Sanji stopped her.

"What's wrong with not wanting people to die? No one should get hurt due to Crocodiles evil," Vivi cried out getting back up. She then talked Luffy to the ground and hit him over and over in the face.

"Then why are you risking your life to stop him?" Luffy asked, grabbing Vivis arms preventing her from hitting him again.

"BECAUSE I HAVE NOTHING ELSE TO RISK! There's no one but me who could stop this war," Vivi finally admitted.

"TRY RISKING OUR LIVES AS WELL," Luffy yelled at her "WE'RE NAKAMA AFTER ALL,"

Vivi stared at Luffy in shock, she got off him and Luffy sat up. "Vivi you're the one suffering the most let us help you. If you really don't want anyone to die then Stop crocodile before he has a chance to start the fighting,"

"W…Would you all do that for me? Why would you throw your lives away for me," Vivi asked in shock.

"Simple really we're friends," Luffy said with his trademark grin.