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Grand Line – Paradise
Alabasta – Sealed Chamber with Poneglyph
"You said there's an Akuma no Mi?", Luffy asks, arriving at the side of the Poneglyph, at the corner leading to its back face.
"See for yourself, there's something written there too!", Usopp says as soon as Luffy gets to his side, pointing to an Akuma no Mi resting on top of a worn pillar, while above the fruit, on the back face of the Poneglyph, there was a short phrase inscribed.
"Ehh… make your sniper's weapon eat this Akuma no Mi!", after hearing what that phrase said, Luffy repeats it aloud so everyone would know what was written.
"Hmm?... you weren't lying when you said you could understand the language of the Poneglyphs!", arriving at Luffy's side, Robin comments after reading what was written on the back face of the Poneglyph and seeing that it was basically the same as what Luffy had just said.
"I don't understand what's written, what happens is that the Poneglyph tells me what's written in a translated way!", Luffy corrects her, explaining in detail how he could understand what was written.
"I see!... what you said before, was it serious? The Rio Poneglyph is on the last island along with the One Piece?", nodding slightly, Robin stays silent for a few seconds before asking about what he had said earlier, her heart beating fast with the prospect of finally knowing where her dream lies.
"Yes, the One Piece is not exactly Roger's treasure. Of course, he may have left something behind when he passed through there, but the fact is that it was already in that place before he arrived! Besides, to reach the last island, you have to have read the four Road Poneglyphs; it's the only way to get there! That means the last island, and consequently the One Piece, are directly connected to the Ancient Kingdom and Joy Boy! There's no better place to hide the true history!", Luffy replies, revealing yet another shocking piece of information to Robin.
"Guys? How about focusing on the Akuma no Mi in front of us? Why is it here? And what do you mean by making my weapon eat it?", Usopp suddenly asks, making the two shift their minds back to the previous subject.
"Well, I think this whole chamber is Joy Boy's doing!", Luffy comments. This Akuma no Mi, along with the message, seemed to have been placed there with them in mind.
"He knew we would pass through here and left us an Akuma no Mi to help, right?", upon hearing Luffy's hypothesis, Robin elaborates on what he said.
"Yeah, and I don't like that one bit! It feels like everything I do was orchestrated!", frowning in displeasure, Luffy responds, his mood souring a little.
"Then… are we going to keep the fruit or not?", noticing Luffy's bad mood, Usopp asks uncertainly.
"…Sigh… yes, the old man wanted to help, after all!", letting out a sigh, Luffy responds, setting aside his discomfort.
"Alright… wait, how do you make a weapon eat an Akuma no Mi?", nodding, Usopp suddenly asks in confusion upon realizing there was a problem with all this. After all, how would a weapon eat a fruit?
"I have no idea!", Luffy answers, shrugging.
"Mr. 4 has a bazooka that ate the Inu Inu no Mi: Dachshund Model", Robin suddenly comments, remembering that Mr. 4 had a weapon that ate an Akuma no Mi.
"Do you know what he did to make the bazooka eat the fruit?", Usopp asks, interested.
"No idea!", Robin answers, never having been interested enough to even think of asking the Baroque Works agent about it.
"I guess we'll have to ask him personally then!", with his shoulders dropping after hearing that, Usopp comments with a sigh.
=Scene Break=
After putting away the Akuma no Mi, everyone continued exploring a little more, which actually didn't take much time; everything that could be explored already had been. It was basically a not very large sealed chamber, full of engravings, with a Poneglyph and an Akuma no Mi. There was nothing else interesting besides that.
"There's nothing else here, can we keep moving now?", seeing there was nothing more to see in that place, Zoro asks with a yawn.
"Sure!", Luffy says, it was time to move on.
"I'll make a staircase!", upon hearing they were leaving, Vivi promptly says before walking over to the hole Luffy made and then using her powers to make a spiral staircase sprout from the ground.
"It's a shame we have to leave this Poneglyph behind! With this hole in the ceiling, this place will be buried in sand in no time!", letting out a sad sigh, Robin comments. It was a shame that a place with such historical value would be buried in sand.
"I can cover the hole!", finishing making the staircase, Vivi turns and comments, giving a suggestion.
"Or I can shrink the stone cube and take it with us!", Usopp suggests, not even waiting for a reply before heading toward the Poneglyph.
"Problem solved, now can we go?", Zoro asks as he points toward the exit with his thumb.
"Just a little more…", asking them to wait a bit longer, Robin takes out her pocket notebook and starts scribbling in it.
"What are you doing?", Nami asks curiously, approaching to see what she was scribbling.
"Trying to draw the engravings of the walls, but it's not looking good!", Robin replies, pointing to the engravings of the walls with her pencil while showing her scribbles to Nami.
"Let Usopp do it, he's good at drawing!", Nami suggests. Of course, she herself could draw maps better than anyone, and even managed quite well at drawing other things, but, aside from cartography, Usopp was the better artist overall.
So, after shrinking the Poneglyph and safely storing it in his pouch next to the Akuma no Mi they had just taken, Usopp draws the engravings of the walls in Robin's notebook and hands it to her.
With everything done, everyone leaves the chamber using the spiral staircase Vivi made with her plants, and after everyone climbs up, she closes the hole Luffy made with roots.
And then, they continue on their way to Yuba, this time with a much greater load of knowledge about the world and its mysteries, but let's be honest, in the short term, it wouldn't be of any use.
=Scene Break=
Going back in time, to the same moment when the Straw Hats docked in Erumalu, but let's shift our focus to another place, more specifically, to a 'port' of an abandoned village.
In this 'port', a tall figure falls from the sky and lands effortlessly before beginning to walk as if he owned the place. As he approaches the deserted village, the figure notices two idiots waiting for him.
"You're Crocodile's pawns?", the figure asks sarcastically, disdain overflowing in his voice.
"Ehh… we're subordinates of the boss!... he sent us to come get you!", the woman of the duo, Miss Mother's Day, says, reacting meekly and fearfully to the clear disrespect of the man in front of her; she knew who this man was, and precisely because of that, she was scared.
"Sure, whatever! Show the way, I hope what that idiot said over the call is true, because I didn't travel for four days just to arrive at this hot place and have nothing!", the figure, who we now know is a man, says disdainfully, annoyed by the heat and the sand around him.
"I... I don't know what the boss promised you, but... but I'm sure he wouldn't call you for nothing!", stuttering in fear, Mr. 6 says, trying to ease the tense atmosphere as they walk toward the transport.
"What the fuck is this? Are you an imbecile? Why did you answer? It was a rhetorical line, I wasn't expecting an answer, much less wanted one!", the man comments in a tone of scorn.
"I... I... I'll keep quiet!", Mr. 6 says, stuttering heavily.
"That's it, be a good little doggy and stay silent!", the man says, in a mocking tone, finishing humiliating the Baroque Works agent.
The three then enter a carriage pulled by Banchi, the smoking transport turtle, and then head toward Rainbase.
=Scene Break=
Back to the normal flow of time, a few hours after the Straw Hats left the place where they found that Poneglyph, they arrive at the outskirts of Yuba, only to find the city in the middle of a sandstorm.
"Hey, Zoro! Cut this storm!", seeing the giant sand tornado ravaging the city, Luffy says seriously, remembering that this was Crocodile's doing. His good mood from a few minutes ago had completely disappeared.
Without questioning or hesitating, Zoro draws one of his swords and fires several air blades at the sandstorm at the speed of light, slicing it apart and destabilizing it, which causes it to shrink until it finally stops.
When everything calms down and the Straw Hats approach the city, the clear view that greets them is, at the very least, a stark contrast to the past. What was once an oasis full of people, an economic hub that connected to all the cities of Alabasta, is now a dry and empty city, taken over by sand.
"That…", clenching her fists, Vivi murmurs in shock as she sees that everything has been overtaken by sand.
"Relax, Vivi! We're going to deal with Crocodile, and besides, you now have the power to do something about it," approaching Vivi and touching her shoulder, Nami comforts her, reminding her that she could now do something, that there was a solution, Erumalu had proven that.
"Travelers, huh...? You must be tired from walking so much", suddenly, everyone hears an aged voice coming from further ahead.
And, turning their eyes in that direction, they all see an elderly man, clearly malnourished, digging a hole in the sand with a shovel.
"Actually, we're not! We're pretty tough, old man!", Luffy says with a serious look on his face.
"Uff… It's good to be young! You don't need to be afraid of the place, the city is just going through a little drought, but you are welcome in our many inns", letting out an amused puff, the elderly gentleman comments without looking at the crew, continuing to dig.
"Thanks for the kindness, but we won't be able to stay, old man! We're in a bit of a hurry! By the way, could you give us some information?", politely refusing the offer of lodging, Luffy asks the old man, since he was the only resident of the city.
"Sure, what do you need?", stopping his digging, the elderly gentleman leans on his shovel and turns his attention to the Straw Hats, Vivi catching his attention as soon as he does.
"Ehh... excuse me, we were informed that the rebel army was using Yuba as their base...", stepping forward, Vivi begins to speak, only to be interrupted by the elderly man.
"Don't tell me you want to join those filthy bandits?", shouting angrily, the old man hurls his shovel toward the crew.
"Uoou, calm down, gramps! We don't want to join any rebel army. What Vivi here wants to know is where they are. Since the city looks deserted!", catching the shovel in midair, Luffy clarifies, which seems to calm the elderly man down.
"What did you say?", the appearance of this girl had caught his attention at first glance, but what she said next made him explode in anger and forget what he was thinking; only now, upon hearing this name, did he come back to himself.
"I asked where the rebel army is?", Luffy repeats his question.
"No, you said Vivi!", the elderly man says, frowning as he stares at Vivi.
"I did, so what?", Luffy asks, not understanding where he was going with this.
"You... you're Princess Vivi, right? I'm so glad you're safe!", stammering, the old man approaches Vivi with a relieved smile, his eyes beginning to water.
"I...", not knowing how to respond, Vivi opens her mouth to speak, but nothing comes out.
"It's me, Vivi! Do you remember me?... I guess not, it's just that I've lost a few pounds!", upon reaching her, the elderly gentleman holds her by the shoulders and asks, tears streaming down his dust-covered face.
"M... Mister Toto?", despite the skinny face and the dirt, Vivi murmurs, recognizing him.
"That's right!", Mister Toto says with a genuine smile, his vision blurred by tears.
"No...", starting to tear up, Vivi murmurs in disbelief, the current Mister Toto had become a shell of the Mister Toto from the past, who had been chubby and healthy.
"Listen, Vivi! I believe in the king! He would never betray the people, right?", squeezing Vivi's shoulders lightly, Mister Toto asks somewhat desperately; he needed an answer to be able to sleep in peace.
"…It was all set up!", clenching her fists tightly, Vivi murmurs through tears; Mister Toto is like this because of Crocodile, that damn bastard.
"... I... this rebellion is absurd, I tried to stop them, but... please, stop those fools before they hurt themselves", closing his eyes to process this information, Mister Toto searches for words from the depths of his being before begging Vivi.
"Old man!", Luffy's voice suddenly echoes through the place.
"Huh?...", feeling a firm touch on his shoulder, Mr. Toto opens his eyes and turns his attention to Luffy, who was staring at him with a serious expression.
"All this will be over by tomorrow morning, I promise! But we need to know where the rebels are?", with a serious and resolute expression on his face, Luffy first assures Mister Toto that everything will return to normal by the next morning, before then asking to make sure, after all, this wasn't the canon, things could have changed, the rebels might have gone to another city that wasn't Katorea.
"... They're no longer here, sandstorms like the one you saw earlier destroyed Yuba, and without the flow of goods, they had no way to finance the resistance, so they moved their operations to Katorea", sensing that this boy was serious, Mister Toto says, choosing to trust Luffy.
"Where is that, Vivi?", upon hearing this, Nami asks, wanting to know where Katorea is.
"It's the Oasis near Nanohana!", Vivi responds frustratedly; they had spent hours getting here when the objective was right next to them in Nanohana.
"Which way is Crocodile?", Luffy suddenly asks. He knew where Crocodile was, but knowing where he was didn't mean he knew the exact direction of said place.
"He usually stays in Rainbase! It's that way!", Vivi answers, still a bit shaken, pointing in the direction of Rainbase.
"Alright! All of you go to Katorea to stop the rebel army, while I go after Crocodile!", having a direction, Luffy gives his orders before using Soru. He had made a promise to the old man and was going to keep it, as fast as possible.
"You don't intend to… and he's gone!", before Vivi could refuse Luffy's idea, he had already disappeared from where he was, already on his way to Rainbase to put an end to all of this.
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