Journey to Raftel Chapter 26

Hey friends and fans! Kairomaru is bringing you another chapter of Journey to Raftel! The Straw Hats need to sail the Gong Merry to the north tributary and disembark to begin their journey through the desert towards Yuba. Vivi is certain that if she can just talk to the leader of the rebels, then the war can be stopped. However. The remaining forces of Baroque Works are gathering to enact Crocodile’s big plan. What will be Alabasta’s fate as the two groups both race towards their individual goals?

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So, without further delay, please enjoy.

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Chapter 26 – Traveling through the Desert

-Spider’s Café-

A blue-haired woman wearing a bandana sat behind the bar of the café. She quietly read a book while a sonata was playing on a record player in the corner. Her glasses gave her a non-threatening look, which was reinforced by her colorful print tank top and her plain jeans.

“Ho ho ho! Merry Christmas, Merry Christmas! Oh I’m pooped!” An older woman exclaimed as the door to the café burst open. “What a journey! I’m exhausted! My back is killing me! It’s all your fault, Mr. 4! You’re too slow! Oh, my back! You idiot!”

“Er…sorry…about that…” The large man next to the woman spoke slowly.

They were a rather odd pair, a stout, middle-aged woman with red hair. She wore a white shirt and a necktie that resembled a Christmas tree, which went along with her codename. She also donned a large pair of purple-lensed sunglasses, a basket strapped to her back, and sandals. This was Miss Merry Christmas.

The man was rather tall and fat, had noticeably big lips, and wore a green shirt that covered most of his body with black pants and gray running shoes. He had brown hair, wore a yellow scarf around his neck, and had a large weapon strapped to his back. This was Mr. 4.

“Hello, Miss Merry Christmas, Mr. 4.” The woman behind the bar greeted the pair as she stood up and put her book aside.

“Yes, yes, yes.” Miss Merry Christmas spoke rapidly, in contrast to the slow speech of her partner. “How’s business Pola? The place seems kind of empty today! That’s ‘Empty’ with a capital ‘E’!”

“You have the place to yourselves for now,” Pola, the proprietor of the Spider’s Café informed the pair. “You’ll have orange pekoe and you prefer apple tea, right Mr. 4?”

“I don’t want it too hot!” Miss Merry Christmas started slapping the bar top. “I want to be able to drink it right away! Now hurry it up! Bring it out! Bring it!”

“You seem well,” Pola chuckled at the impatient older woman while she made their drinks. “How’s work going?”

“In our business, you fail, you die!” Miss Merry Christmas instantly downed her whole cup as soon as it was set in front of her. “I’m doing splendidly, you idiot!”

Pola grinned as she placed Mr. 4’s tea in front of him. “Of course, how silly of me.”

The two women turned to face the door when they heard noise coming from outside. Pola moved a few steps over to see out the window only to sigh. Mr. 2 was leading his subordinates through the desert towards the café while doing ballet routines of all things!

“Hello!” Mr. 2 greeted the café at large as he opened the door and took a ballet pose. “How deux you do?”

“Are you crazy?” Pola questioned the okama with a deadpan stare.

“I’m not crazy, Pola!” Mr. 2 patted the bar top with a laugh. “I’m just happy! I’ll have an octopar.”

Pola had never heard of such a thing. “An ‘Octopar’?” She questioned the okama with one delicate eyebrow raised.

“An octopus parfait! Isn’t it obvious?” Mr. 2 chuckled at the look Pola gave him. “All of you may return to the ship!” He waved his subordinates away.

“Aye aye!” The men saluted their leader and started heading back through the desert towards the ship that was docked not too far away.

“Oh? What are you doing here Fatty and Old Bat?” Mr. 2 questioned the pair of Officer Agents.

“Shut up! That annoying voice of yours makes my back ache!” Miss Merry Christmas yelled at the okama from where she was lying on top of a table and getting her back massaged by Mr. 4.

“So, I heard that Mr. 1 and his partner are coming.” Mr. 2 grinned at Pola. “I’ve never gotten the chance to meet him before. I’m super excited!”

Pola looked mildly amused at the okama. “But everyone’s afraid of him.”

“Oh, that doesn’t matter to me!” Mr. 2 exclaimed with a wide smile.

As the evening wore on, and the eight o’ clock meeting time drew nearer, the Agents that had shown up already found ways to spend their time. Mr. 2 eventually decided to see how long he could continuously twirl in place. This didn’t sit well with Miss Merry Christmas who demanded he stop because his twirling was making her dizzy. The two got into an argument and were about to come to blows over it, much to Pola’s exasperation.

Right as the clock struck eight, two men slammed through the door of the café, beaten and bloody. Mr. 2 and Miss Merry Christmas quickly reacted and faced the potential enemy. Even the slow Mr. 4 had his hand on the weapon across his back. As the dust cleared it was revealed that the men in question were Mr. 2’s subordinates.

“Hey! What’s the big idea?! Why’d you crash in here like that?” Mr. 2 demanded only for one of his men to point to the man that had thrown them through the door.

“Friends of yours, Mr. 2?” The relatively tall, tanned man with long, thin limbs and fingers questioned. The man was very muscular and his head was shaven. His most striking feature was probably the black unibrow, right over his round eyes. He had large lips, though not to the same degree as Mr. 4. There was a tattoo on his chest and torso of the kanji for the number ‘1’. His attire consisted of a sleeveless dark coat with golden edges and white motifs on the front, over very loose beige pants held up by a white sash around the waist. His pants were tucked inside some bandages wrapped around his calves and partially around his shoes. “I found them slinking around in the desert. They’re not dead.” He looked around at the other Agents in the café. “You all seem to be getting along.” He walked over the beaten and bleeding men as he stepped further into the building. “Don’t waste your strength in pointless fellowship.”

“Those are my subordinates!” Mr. 2 declared angrily, glaring at the man before launching towards him.

“Stop, Mr. 2!” Miss Merry Christmas cried out to the other Agent.

“Swan Arabesque!” Mr. 2 launched a flurry of kicks at the man, forcing him to jerk back to avoid the attacks.

The shaved man threw a punch at Mr. 2’s head. The okama bent at the waist, tilting backwards to avoid the heavy blow. His response was a double handed strike that the tanned man leapt over to avoid. This suited Mr. 2 perfectly as he knew where the man would land.

“GRAH!” Mr. 2 lashed out with a full power kick. The tattooed man blocked the blow with his crossed arms and went sailing through the wall and into the desert outside.

Miss Merry Christmas yelled at the two fighters. “You demolished the wall!”

“I guess you want to die…” The bare-chested man stated with a cold glare as he splayed his fingers out.

“Wait Mr. 1,” Pola stepped in front of the now named Mr. 1. “Let’s all calm down.”

“Don’t get in my way Miss Doublefinger; I’m going to kill him.” Mr. 1 declared as he glared at Mr. 2.

Mr. 2 was being pinned down my Mr. 4’s full weight to stop the okama from attacking Mr. 1. “Get off me, Fatty!”

“Mr. 2, calm down!” Pola barked at the thrashing Agent. “It’s eight o’ clock and all the Agents have gathered. Our orders have been delivered to the Spider’s Café.” She pulled off her glasses and her bandana, revealing that her hair was rather wild and bushy when she removed the tie that kept it in the previous ponytail. “Now we’ll go to Rainbase, the town of dreams. The one we call ‘Boss’ whose face we’ve never seen, is waiting for us there.”

-‘Green City’ Erumalu-

“We’re here, it’s Yuba!” Luffy declared while looking at the abandoned city that seemed almost half-buried in sand. “Whoa…it’s a real ghost town.”

It was true. Not a single soul still resided in Erumalu. The buildings were destroyed, damaged, or left in disrepair. Everything was dried out and withered. What might have once been a plentiful oasis was now nothing more than a land of sand and death. Vivi’s mood noticeably dropped seeing the state of the once green and lush Erumalu.

“Now…where is this rebel leader?” Luffy turned to look at Vivi and the rest of the crew as they disembarked from the Going Merry.

“We haven’t reached Yuba yet, Luffy.” Vivi shook her head, wiping away some sweat from her forehead. “It’s still just over half a day through the desert to reach it on foot.”

“Half a day on foot?!” Carina goggled at the distance and the heat they’d be travelling in.

“We just sailed up the Sandora River to the northern tributary,” Vivi showed them on the small map she’d drawn up for the group. “We’re in the ‘Green City’ Erumalu right now.”

Luffy looked over the remains of the city. “It doesn’t look very green…”

“It used to be.” Vivi lamented as she thought back to her memories of the once beautiful city.

There was a splash heard and everyone turned to look at the odd animal that had just emerged from the river.

“Is that a turtle…or a seal?” Carina questioned as she looked at the animal that had leapt out of the water and onto the shore. Approaching it, she nearly giggled at the creature’s somewhat dopey face.

“That’s a Kung Fu Dugong!” Vivi exclaimed at seeing the creature.

“Kung Fu?” Carina blinked only to stumble back in a hasty dodge as the Dugong took a swing at her.

“They’re dangerous!” Vivi warned slightly too late as Carina shuffled backwards and created a chain from her palm, ready to lash the violent animal with it. “It’s the code of the Kung Fu Dugong to become the apprentice of anyone that defeats it.”

Zoro looked slightly amused at the animal. “A disciple of the Martial Arts, eh?”

The cross between a seal and a turtle let out a bark and dozens more of its kin hopped out of the river. There had to be thirty or more of the creatures facing the Straw Hats now. Among all of the barking done by the Kung Fu Dugongs, Luffy and Chopper listened in two different ways, Luffy with his developing Observation and Chopper with his actual ears.

“They want to challenge one of us.” Luffy and Chopper stated at the same time before they both blinked and looked at each other in surprise.

“Chopper, you can understand animals?!” Nami blinked at the newfound knowledge.

“I was originally an animal, so I can understand other animals with only slight difficulty based on their species.” Chopper confirmed for the group.

“I have an idea!” Luffy grinned at seeing the large pack of Dugongs. With a laugh and a short whistle, all of Luffy’s copies still on the Going Merry leapt off and surrounded the Kung Fu Dugongs. “I’ll beat you all at once!”

“Luffy, wait!” Vivi raised her hand to try and stop Luffy, but with a swift attack from Luffy and each of his copies, all of the Kung Fu Dugongs were laid out on the ground, beaten. “They’ll want to follow us now…” She trailed off and let out a sigh, once more wiping the sweat off her forehead.

Just as Vivi had said, the Kung Fu Dugongs quickly crowded around Luffy and his copies as soon as they got up. All of the odd sea mammals practically had sparkles in their dark eyes as they looked up at Luffy or one of his copies.

“What’re you going to do now, Luffy?” Reiju questioned her lover with a curious look, both amused and just slightly concerned about how to resolve this situation.

“One sec,” Luffy grinned at her before stepping up before the largest Dugong, clearly the leader of the group, and patted its head. “My copies will teach you some things, so help watch over our ship until we leave this island.”

Sanji blinked as the Dugongs all bowed to Luffy and started barking in what was clearly joy. “Luffy…what the hell are you doing?”

Zoro chuckled at understanding what Luffy had just done before Sanji. “He’s gotten more guards for our ship and taken care of the Dugongs desire to follow after us at the same time. All without making the Dugongs break their code as martial artists. You should pay attention more, dumb cook.”

“What was that, you muscle-brained Marimo?!” Sanji got right in Zoro’s face with a glare.

“No fighting!” Reiju and Nami yelled at the same time. Nami punched Zoro in the back of the head while Reiju slapped Sanji upside the head so hard her little brother staggered to the side and nearly fell over.

“Now, on to Yuba!” Luffy declared with his fists in the air as the group started walking away from the large group of Dugongs and the Going Merry. True to their word, the Kung Fu Dugongs were already pairing up with Luffy’s copies for training while surrounding the ship, which was a rather odd sight…to say the least.

“If it was anybody but you, Luffy, that definitely wouldn’t have worked. Ushishi!” Carina laughed at Luffy’s brute force problem solving working out perfectly.

“Those Dugongs are weird. Do they live in the river, Vivi?” Sanji questioned as the group walked through the decimated city of Erumalu.

“No, the sea.” Vivi replied as she sadly looked over the once green city. “Many years ago, the Sandora River nourished these lands all the way until it joined with the sea. But in the last few years, the river has lost quite a bit of its force. The lack of rain up north has weakened the river. It is slowly being overcome by the sea.”

Sanji looked back at the shrinking form of the Going Merry. “Then the water back there is…”

“That was sea water,” Vivi confirmed with a short nod. “You can’t drink it or water crops with it.”

“Is that what made this city dry up?” Chopper questioned as he looked around the dusty, sand-strewn ruins.

“No,” Vivi shook her head. “There used to be enough rainfall to sustain the city. Until recently Erumalu was green and full of life.”

“But this place doesn’t look like it’s had water in years.” Nami mentioned as they all continued to walk through the desolate city remains. “What changed?”

Vivi wiped the sweat from her face with part of her clothing as the group as they trudged onwards. “In the last three years, not a drop of rain has fallen in this region.”

“But that port city we were in seemed fine.” Zoro looked up at Vivi confused. They’d gotten supplies, water, food, and everything else they needed from Nanohana without trouble.

“Nanohana gets its water from the neighboring oasis of Katorea.” Vivi explained to the swordsman with a small smile. “Until recently, Alabasta never suffered through prolonged droughts. There were short ones, usually around a month in the height of summer, but never more than that. Even if wells in villages ran dry, they could survive by trading for water or purchasing it from whichever oasis was closest.”

Reiju gave Vivi a commiserating look. “I sense a ‘but’ coming.”

“One place got plenty of rain,” Vivi breathed deeply and exhaled slowly. “Alubarna, the capital where the King’s palace resides. The people called it the King’s miracle, until the day of the incident…” She clenched her fist so tightly her knuckles audibly popped. “The day my father was framed for using Dance Powder.”

“Dance Powder?” Luffy tilted his head at the unfamiliar term. “What’s that?”

“It’s called the powder that summons rain.” Nami answered her lover, having read about the substance in the past. “It was developed by a scientist in a land where it never rained. When burned it rises up into the sky and triggers ice to form in the clouds and then fall as rain.”

Luffy chose the simplest explanation based on what Nami had told him. “A mysterious powder that summons rain, huh?”

“Artificial rain.” Nami corrected with her eyes closed, a small grimace on her face.

“A powder that makes rain sounds like exactly what Alabasta needs right now.” Zoro mentioned as he motioned to the dried up city around them.

“At first people rejoiced in the land where Dance Powder was invented,” Nami turned to look at Zoro. “Until they discovered the terrible side effect of making artificial rain.” Everyone looked at Nami, curious of what this side effect was. “All of the areas surrounding that land started suffering from droughts.”

Carina caught on to the problem of Dance Powder quickly. “Wait…you mean it stole all of the rain from the surrounding lands?!”

“Yes,” Nami gave a sharp nod. “When the people of the surrounding lands found out that their rain had been stolen, they went to war and many lives were lost. The World Government banned the production and use of Dance Powder from then on.”

“When the incident occurred, rain hadn’t fallen anywhere in the country in months, except in the capital.” Vivi informed the crew with downcast eyes.

“So the people naturally assumed the worst and thought the King had stolen all of the rain for himself.” Zoro commented on the successful plot to frame the King.

Sanji nearly growled at what had befallen Vivi and her family. “Shitty Baroque Works bastards.”

“We didn’t know it at the time,” Vivi looked sadly upon some dried up human bones off to the side of the main path. “But a large amount of Dance Powder had been snuck into the palace too. It was all a part of Crocodile’s scheme! Just as he wanted, drought ravaged the kingdom. The anger of the people grew as their thirst, hunger, and desperation did. Ultimately a rebellion broke out and Alabasta entered a civil war.”

“Vivi…” Reiju placed her hand on the princess’ shoulder gently.

“The people lost faith in the Royal Family, and the peace of the land was shattered!” Vivi exclaimed with grief and rage in her voice. “We lost many towns…and so many people…” She fell to her knees and grasped at the hot sand beneath her, in her anger she didn’t even care that it felt like it was literally burning her skin. “The one behind all of this misery was Crocodile! I’ll NEVER forgive that man!” Vivi pounded the sand with both fists, a cold chill briefly surrounding her body as her Devil Fruit power was briefly unleashed in her outburst.

“Then let’s track him down and end this.” Luffy spoke as he stood before Vivi with his hand held out to her. “We’ll help you save your kingdom, Vivi.”

“Luffy…” Vivi looked up at the straw-hatted Captain. His eyes were shadowed by the brim of his hat. But the look in his eyes was one of unwavering determination, and it filled Vivi with more hope than any mere words could hope to bring. She took his hand in hers and let him help her to her feet. “Thank you.” She wrapped her arms around his shoulders and pulled him into a hug.

“You’re my nakama, Vivi,” Luffy returned the hug with his arms around her back. “I’ll help you out, you just need to ask.”

“Oh~” Carina and Nami shared a look between them at the hug that Luffy and Vivi were sharing. Reiju covered her mouth with her hand to stifle a knowing giggle.

“Luffy! You bastard! Unhand Vivi this instant!” Sanji still hadn’t forgiven Luffy for somehow getting Reiju to join in the relationship the Captain had with Nami. Not to mention Carina clearly becoming part of it too after they’d left Drum Kingdom. He wasn’t about to let the slightly younger man somehow ensnare Vivi too!

“Be quiet, Sanji.” Reiju shut her little brother up with ‘big sister authority’ as she watched Vivi pull away from Luffy, the princess’s cheeks very pink.

-Later-

“It’s…so…hot…” Carina panted as she used a walking stick to hold herself up.

“I think I’m gonna die…” Chopper was almost unconscious as Zoro practically dragged him along. “I’m adapted to the cold…”

“We get it, but we have to keep moving.” Nami called out from beside the sled that was carrying their supplies and being pulled by Luffy.

Reiju nodded as she stood next to Nami. “If we don’t make good time we’ll run out of water before we get to Yuba.”

“It’s much hotter than I remember…” Vivi said, her breathing noticeably heavy and her face flushed from the heat and covered in sweat. “But this…shouldn’t be enough to affect a native of Alabasta…”

“Would you like me to carry you, Vivi-swan?” Sanji looked over at the princess with heart-shaped eyes.

Carina panted as they made their way up another dune. “I wouldn’t complain if it weren’t for these dunes, they’re like mountains!”

“This is an ancient desert,” Vivi remarked from her place between Nami and Reiju. Getting a drink from the canteen that Nami had offered the clearly overheating princess. “The tallest dunes are over three hundred meters tall.”

“Three hundred meters?!” Carina gaped at the height. “Isn’t that literally the size of a mountain?!”

“We can rest in the shade for a bit in the next crags that come up,” Vivi offered everyone a respite from walking through the desert. Even though it clearly looked like she and Chopper needed it the most. “We should be about a quarter of the way to Yuba. I remember some fairly large crags around this area, as long as they haven’t been completely swallowed up by the dunes over time.” She didn’t know why she was suffering so much from her homeland’s natural climate after having only been away for a couple of years.

“You alright, Luffy?” Nami asked and Luffy turned to smile at his her.

“I’m good, just sipping my water when I get thirsty.” Luffy patted the small personal barrel at his side. He was barely sweating from the heat at all. The durability and robust body that he’d built up from growing up under his grandpa’s tutelage, paired with his Devil Fruit, made the heat of the desert only a mild annoyance as long as he had water to drink.

The crags Vivi mentioned appeared from the heat haze of the desert after they crossed over the large sand dune. The Straw Hats headed for the shaded area at a slightly faster pace to get out of the heat. Luffy led the way as if he wasn’t dragging the most weight behind him. Once they were in the shade, everyone let out sighs of relief. Nami and Reiju checked the luggage containing their rations and supplies while Carina and Chopper happily collapsed in the shade. Zoro sat on a flat rock with a sigh and Sanji checked on the ladies with a heart-shaped eye, offering them water, which everyone gratefully accepted.

“Graak…” Everyone turned at the sound to spot eight crane-like birds lying in the sand.

“Are they sick?” Carina questioned as the group looked at the birds.

Chopper pulled off his backpack with his medical supplies in it. “I can try and help them.”

“Don’t go near them!” Vivi cried out, her face still flushed from the heat and her reaction having taken clear effort. Everyone turned to look at the princess, wondering why she was warning them away from the seemingly injured or sick birds. “Those are Evil Herons! They steal supplies from unsuspecting travelers!”

“Graak!” The birds, seemingly sensing that their scheme was up, tried to take flight.

Luffy had an evil glint in his eyes and his stomach audibly growled. “I’m hungry…” Before anyone could react Luffy leapt upwards and brought out his staff, the weapon was nothing but a blur as he struck the eight birds before they could get away. The Evil Herons crashed to the sand with several of their feathers fluttering down around them from the force they’d been hit with. “Sanji, can you cook these?!” Luffy asked the chef with a wide grin as he easily landed on the ground and shrunk his staff back down.

“I think so…” Sanji looked over the herons with a chef’s eye. “You better not have ruptured their organs, Luffy! I won’t have tainted poultry grace the palettes of the ladies!”

As Sanji set about removing the feathers and cleaning the dead herons, Luffy watched on eagerly. The chef showed off his impressive skills as he made perfect cuts of the birds with only the tools he had on hand. The sun scorched rocks just outside the shade of the crags made for excellent natural grills and soon the smell of fragrantly spiced meat was filling the air.

“That smells so good…” Luffy drooled along with Carina and Chopper, the reindeer having gotten his energy back after cooling down in the shade for a bit.

Vivi smiled at the familiar smell. “Is that Dukkah?”

“Yeah, that’s what the merchant called it.” Sanji beamed at the smile on Vivi’s face. She was clearly starting to feel better now that she was in the shade. “I wanted to try using the spices and recipes of Alabasta while we’re here.”

“I haven’t had it since I left Alabasta.” Vivi was taken back to happier times by the nostalgic smell. “Thank you, Sanji.”

“Of course, Vivi-swan~” Sanji’s heart-eye was practically popping out of his head at the attention he was getting from the princess.

In short order the birds were cooked up and Sanji doled out the first helpings to the ladies, of course, while kicking Luffy away from the rest of the meat. Only after everyone else’s plates were full did Luffy get a whole bird dropped on his plate by Sanji.

Luffy smiled widely at the roasted heron. “Thanks, Sanji! It smells great!”

“Yeah, yeah,” Sanji smiled at the praise to his skills. “Just don’t steal food from anyone else you glutton! We can easily share this much meat; you don’t have to eat it all!”

“Mmm! So good~!” Luffy cheered after taking a huge bite out of the roasted heron.

“Don’t ignore me!” Sanji had sharp teeth in his mouth at Luffy ignoring all else to stuff his face.

“It’s wonderful, Sanji!” Vivi praised the chef with a delighted smile. “You used the Dukkah so well on your first try!”

Sanji pirouetted around their resting spot in the shade. “Oh, your praise is too much, Vivi-swan~!”

“It’s good,” Reiju smiled at her food. “Has a hint of nutty flavor too.” She may not be a full-on chef like Sanji, but she knew her way around the kitchen from her years of living on the Baratie.

Nami smiled happily as she ate. “A little bit of salt really brought out the flavor.”

“Seconds!” Luffy declared while holding out his empty plate.

“Already?!” Carina and Chopper cried out at the speed that Luffy had eaten a whole heron.

“It’s pretty good,” Zoro noted while enjoying his food. “I’ll probably want seconds too.”

“Make sure you all drink enough water while we rest,” Vivi reminded the group, looking much better after being in the shade and resting for a while. “We’ll probably not make it to Yuba before nightfall and the desert gets very cold after the sun sets.”

“Should we rest here for a bit longer?” Nami questioned Vivi as the meal continued. “Would it be easier or harder to travel at night?”

“The heat is sapping us of both moisture and strength, but freezing cold like Drum Island will make travelling in these clothes a challenge.” Reiju noted as she gestured to their cloaked forms to keep the sun’s harsh rays off of their skin.

“Chopper would be able to travel better in the cold, but everyone else would be freezing.” Vivi sipped her water as she thought about the course going forward.

Carina hummed thoughtfully. “So, burning or freezing are our only options…” She clearly wasn’t thrilled by that as she took another bite of the seasoned heron meat.

“Whichever time we travel, we’re going to run into problems, so let’s make our decision quickly.” Zoro said as he took a drink from his canteen.

Luffy, having finished off his SECOND entire heron, looked at everyone thinking and debating about when to travel through the desert. Listening for about a minute, the fact that they were crossing on foot seemed to be the biggest issue, so Luffy offered the simplest solution. “Why don’t we just fly there?”

Everyone turned to look at Luffy for a long moment of silence.

“Luffy, not everyone can fly like you.” Carina mentioned, her smile clearly fake at the offered ‘solution’.

“I know.” Luffy said as he created the golden cloud beneath his feet. “But I can carry everyone with some help.” He plucked a couple of hairs and in clouds of smoke three more Luffy’s stood next to the original. “I can only make the somersault cloud so big, but I can at least carry three people at once.”

Everyone’s eyes widened and their jaws dropped in shock as they watched the copies all make their own somersault clouds and then all of the clouds expanded to nearly four times their original size.

“Luffy…” Nami walked over with her eyes closed and a smile on her lips. She grabbed him by the front of his red vest and started shaking him back and forth, her eyes burning with the inner fire of her Devil Fruit and her teeth looking like fangs. “WHY DIDN’T YOU TELL US THAT EARLIER?!”

“Y-You di-didn’t as-ask!” Luffy got out as Nami shook him wildly.

Reiju gently placed her hand on Nami’s shoulder to stop her from shaking Luffy any more. “Luffy, we didn’t know you could do that. We thought your cloud was only large enough to hold two people. We have eight people, plus all of our provisions.”

Luffy shook his head once before grinning. “I never told you guys?”

“Obviously not, dumbass.” Sanji sighed, exhaling a cloud of cigarette smoke at the same time.

“You mean we DIDN’T need to walk through all of that heat?!” Chopper exclaimed, pointing at Luffy accusingly.

Zoro looked like he REALLY wanted to take a long pull from a bottle of booze, but as they didn’t have any right now, he took a long swing from his canteen instead. “Idiot…”

“You’re lucky that I love you…” Carina pouted at Luffy for making her walk through the desert when she could’ve been cuddling up with him atop his golden cloud and flying through the desert this whole time.

Vivi tried to ease any tension as she smiled at Luffy, looking up at him as he stood on his somersault cloud. “But this does solve the issue with traveling. We’ll move much faster with Luffy’s clouds than walking. Reaching Yuba by nightfall should be easy, even with our supplies.”

Luffy laughed brightly while pointing in a random direction. “Then let’s go!”

“Luffy, that’s the direction we came from.” Nami said with a shake of her head and a sigh.

“Shishishishi!” Luffy laughed as he pointed in the opposite direction.

Everyone quickly hopped onto one of the larger than normal somersault clouds a moment later. One of Luffy’s copies easily placed the sled of supplies on the golden cloud it was maintaining. Chopper and Zoro sat on one cloud together. Vivi and Sanji took the next cloud with the third copy of Luffy. Luffy’s cloud was occupied by Nami, Carina, and Reiju, all three women having decided to forgive Luffy for not mentioning that he could fly all of them as Nami settled in his lap, Reiju wrapped her arms around Luffy’s right arm, while Carina wrapped her arms around Luffy’s left arm.

Only a second later and all four clouds were flying over the desert sands at speed, forcing the riders to have to cover their mouths and noses with their clothing to prevent inhaling the sand in the air.

“Ack!” Chopper hacked out some sand before burying his blue nose in the cloth around his neck. “It’s faster, but now we’re being hit by a lot of sand!”

“Slow down a little, Luffy.” Reiju said as she had to squint and cover her eyes with her hand to prevent them from being buffeted by sand.

The four clouds slowed down significantly, but were still flying along at a faster pace than traveling by camel.

“That’s better.” Nami mentioned, brushing some loose sand off her clothes.

Vivi blinked as she suddenly found Luffy’s straw hat on her head. “Huh?” She looked up at the Luffy copy controlling the somersault cloud that she was riding with Sanji. “Luffy?”

The hatless copy smiled at Vivi. “You looked like you were getting hot, Vivi.” The copy said simply; concern for Vivi clear in its eyes and in the kind gesture of giving her his hat.

“Thank you, Luffy.” Vivi smiled as she made sure to use the string of the straw hat to secure it to her head. Even if it was just a copy, it was a copy of Luffy, and his straw hat meant a great deal to him, it was his greatest treasure…outside his nakama. For him to give it to her made Vivi smile at the care he so genuinely showed her. “I don’t know why I’m not able to handle the desert heat. But the shade helps a bit.” The mystery of why she was sweating just as much as her friends, all non-natives to Alabasta, still confused her as they flew across the desert towards Yuba.

Behind Vivi, Sanji was nearly pouting at his stupid Captain managing to be so smooth without even trying! He poked at the golden cloud beneath him for a bit before his mind briefly recalled Miss Obon and how she’d briefly mentioned that all of Baroque Works had been called to Alabasta.

‘I wonder if I’ll see her again?’ Sanji thought in the privacy of his mind, still able to vividly recall her three beautiful eyes.

As the Straw Hats raced towards Yuba with the sun slowly heading for the horizon, the gathered Agents of Baroque Works were also traveling to meet their leader, the man they’d never even seen before, Mr. Zero.

Alabasta’s fate would be decided soon, without any of the regular citizens of the country even noticing.

-End Chapter-

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Luffy, you dope! You could’ve flown everyone from the beginning!

While this Luffy has a different Devil Fruit, one can’t say that he’s vastly more intelligent than Canon.

Then again, none of the Straw Hats actually asked Luffy if he could fly them with his somersault cloud.

Let’s call it fifty-fifty on who’s to blame! Kek!

As the Straw Hats race across the desert, the Agents head for their meeting with Crocodile. Things are about to go down in Alabasta and the entire country’s fate rests in the hands of a very small number of people.

But with all of the changes to this story as compared to canon, will things still play out the same?

Keep reading to find out!

Until next time, later!