Warm Memories and Brotherly Bonds

Chapter 23: The Sand Trap and Re-Enter Fire-Fist Ace

Chopper seemed to be too happy to speak. They all were sitting on the ground and watched as he lay back in the soft dirt and smiling with his eyes closed. As if he was dreaming of pleasant things.

"You glad that you got to see home again Chopper?" Nami asked with a smile as bright as his.

"Yep," Chopper giggled to himself. "But I loved watching those memories even more! It brought everything back! Like the reason I wanted to go out to sea in the first place! It's great!"

"And look at how far you've come since then," she told him as he jumped back up and began jumping around happily. The rest of the crew laughed a little at how cheerful and carefree Chopper was acting here.

"Yow! What a SUPER thing to see first-hand!" Franky called, jumping back to his feet with a clunking noise. "I can't begin to describe it!"

"I know what you mean! Yohohoho!" Brook said, his voice filled with awe. "Such an amazing will it would've taken to get up that mountain! I was freezing to the bone just watching! Course that's easy for me as I am already all bone! Yohohoho!"

"What about you two?" Usopp suddenly asked Nami and Sanji, and they looked at him in confusion until he added, "About seeing him... go through all that? I mean... you ok with it?"

They both looked down at the ground, neither one said anything until Sanji sighed, leaning up with his back to the tree trunk, lighting up another cigarette. "I should've guessed that he would do something like that," he said, as he put away his lighter. "I mean, when I woke up and saw him all bandaged up, you'd think I'd realized what might've happened."

"I think we all knew," Robin offered, "After all, it wouldn't be the first time that he put himself on the line for a friends. And I think it's safe to say that it won't be the last. He can be very protective of us all. So is it really that surprising that he would risk his health in such a way?"

No one could think of anything to say to that as they all rested and thought it over. As amazing and touching as it was, everyone also felt disturbed and anxiety in the pits of their stomachs and spread to their souls. This had been very painful to witness... to see a friend struggling so hard for the sake of their lives... and even harder to think about the pain and damage that Luffy was willing to put himself through for all that.

It was cruel, and a bit of twisted irony that felt like it could rip the ground from their feet. It felt like a bad dream, in reality. It only made the fact that they've failed to find this creature after all this even more pathetic. Around them, the familiar memory shift came back and they were back on the deck of the Merry.

The small band of pirates within the memory were gathered around each other. But what really got their attention was the fact that another man—at least they thought it was a man—was there with them. Dripping wet and gasping for breath, he was a very tall, male ballerina with heavy makeup, and a pair of swan heads on the back of his pink coat.

"BON CLAY!" Chopper and Usopp both cried out happily.

"Who?" Brook asked in confusion as he and Franky both looked at him with expressions of disbelief on their faces.

"That would be Mr. 2: Bon Clay," Robin answered.

"Wait, so he's the enemy?" Franky said in revelation.

"He was!" Usopp said quickly, "But he was our friend!"

"We owe him big time," Sanji sighed. And he explained that after they were able to beat Crocodile and put a stop to the rebellion, ballerina boy hid their ship from the Marines when they were looking all over for them. And how he had even disguised himself and his men as themselves in order to draw away the Marines pursuing them.

"Wow," Brook whispered in astonishment.

"A true man!" Franky cried, blowing his nose loudly on a tissue. "Even though you were once enemies, he still sacrificed himself for you all!"

"Yeah," Usopp said sadly looking at him.

"You don't think that Bon-chan is really dead do you?" Chopper asked softly, almost afraid of the answer.

No one could think of an answer for him. In truth, they didn't know what they could say to him to that. But then, the Bon Clay they were watching was gasping out, "I thought I was going to die there for a minute." He looked up to the Straw Hats and said, gratitude in his voice, "HEY! You saved me thanks! I never imagined that my life would be saved by a group of complete strangers. Thanks again," he bowed his head several times, "I'll never forget your kindness, but could I trouble you for a cup of warm soup? Chicken noodle will do."

"Pushing his luck here," Sanji said in amusement. He remembered how Luffy, Usopp, Chopper, and Carue had eaten all the food that he had carefully laid out for them all to last until they reached Alabasta. He shook his head, not for the first time, truly grateful that they got a fridge with a lock.

"NO WAY!" the memory Straw Hats all screamed at Bon Clay.

"We can't even feed ourselves!" past Zoro yelled, all of them looking dangerous at the reminder that they were starving.

They watched as Bon Clay flirted with Vivi and began to show off his abilities to them. For Brook and Franky, who hadn't seen his powers, they were as stunned as the memory selves. They learned here that Bon Clay had the powers of the Clone Clone Fruit, which allowed him to become a flawless copy of someone he touch with his right hand, in both face and body.

His antics immediately amused them, and Luffy, Usopp, and Chopper fell head over heels for his ability. To Nami's dismay, he once transformed into her and allowed them all to view her breasts which caused Sanji, Franky, and Brook to all start drooling. And as memory Nami punched out Bon Clay, the present-day Nami clobbered all three men.

Bon Clay, however, recovered from that quickly as he began changing faces for Luffy, Usopp, and Chopper's amusement. Soon they were dancing and looking ready for another good party when Bon Clay's ship showed up and he had to leave. But as he did, his crew called him by his Baroque Works codename, surprising all of the Straw Hats - even Vivi did not know who he was, despite being told about what he looked like.

"Really?" Franky asked exasperatedly. "She was given the complete description of the guy but she still didn't know who he was? How many male ballerinas does she know?"

"Yeah, Vivi could be a bit dense at times," Nami agreed with a sigh. "I remember when we were travelling across Alabasta and she kept forgetting to warn us ahead of time of the dangers of the desert. Like giant scorpions and lizards..."

But what really upset Vivi was the fact that one of the faces that they saw turned out to be her father—the king of Alabasta.

"That's not good," past Zoro said with concern in his tone, "If he can mimic the face of a king that easily, Mr. 2 has the potential to cause a lot of trouble."

"Looks like we let a really bad guy get away today huh?" past Usopp asked and Chopper looked surprised as he asked if he really was a bad guy.

"Shame," Franky sighed. "He seems like a real riot to have around."

"Seems so," past Nami said anxiously, walking around, "And having him on the other side is not a good thing. If Mr. 2 realizes that we're the ones that Baroque Works is after, then he can use the memories from earlier to transform into any one of us. We won't even be able to trust our own friends!"

"That would be a problem," Robin stated, "But now that you have seen Mr. 2's power in person, you won't be taken by surprise later."

"It was a bit of a mixed blessing," present-day Nami agreed as her past self looked annoyed with Luffy, who didn't seem to understand.

But suddenly, memory Zoro stepped in. "No, hold on a sec," he clapped a hand on Luffy's shoulder as an wicked smirk appeared on his face. "Luffy's slow but he's also right not to be scared. Just hear me out on this one and I think you'll agree... it's actually a good thing that we ran into Mr. 2 when we did because now we can prepare and then beat him at his own game."

"What did you have in mind, Zoro-san?" Brook asked as the memory faded at that. "You had a plan?"

"Yeah, and it was probably the one good plan he ever had," Sanji said causally as Zoro swung his sword at him, which he easily dodged. "As dull and slow as always."

"Did you just call me dull and slow?!" Zoro yelled at him.

"ENOUGH YOU TWO!" Nami yelled, giving them both hard pounds on the head and knocking them to the dirt. "CAN'T YOU GO FIVE MINUTES WITHOUT FIGHTING?!"

"Nami... swaaaannnnn..." Sanji swooned with a face-full of dirt.

"As harsh as ever," Robin said lightly as Chopper hid behind Usopp again. The next memory was up again and they were glad to see that they were still on the Merry—but everyone was tying bandages around their arms.

"Did something happen?" Brook asked in worry. "Were you attacked on the way to Alabasta?"

"Well, we did have a run-in with a giant Sea Cat, and spotted a fleet of Baroque Works ships, but these aren't injuries," Nami explained, moving her long hair out of her face and calmed down.

"It really was a good idea," Usopp added quickly, hoping to stay on her good side so that she wouldn't have a reason to hit him. The answer came to Brook, Franky, and Robin when Zoro finished wrapping his own arm up. "Just make sure you tie it tight! I don't want anyone fooled by the enemy's disguises!"

"What a good plan," Vivi said, as she finished tying one on Nami's arm.

"We'll always know who are friends are," memory Nami said firmly. "Just look for the bandage on their arm."

"Oh, I get it now!" Brook said happily. "So you can tell who is who!"

"Not bad," Franky said in an enthralled voice. Robin didn't say anything, knowing that Baroque Work's information network had been top notch. So they eventually found out about the bandage tied around the left arms—but she just watched on—knowing that it was no longer important.

"This Clone Clone Fruit guy," past Sanji said the bandage in his mouth as he finished tying his own on, "Does he really look that similar when he turns into someone else?"

"You have no idea, it's the same not just similar!" memory Usopp said, "It was crazy! Really! You should've seen it Sanji! He changed into every one of us! Even Nami! And we got to dance with him!" But Sanji said that he wasn't the least bit interested in dancing with a male ballerina.

Present-day Sanji shivered at the very thought, feeling the urge to start choking up blood just thinking about it. Now he wouldn't mind in the slightest if it was a beautiful woman ballerina he would be dancing with, but he was forever scarred by the idea of drag queens. They weren't normal in his mind... he covered his mouth, feeling sick of his memories in hell.

"We know that someone with his powers is somewhere among the enemy," past Zoro said, holding up his arm, "So we need to be really careful to be on our guard at all times."

Memory Chopper came forward and asked Usopp. "So," he said in a determined voice, "What should I do to help against this guy?"

"Just do whatever it is you can do!" past Usopp said firmly, "You're not expected to do anything more, Chopper. And if you get overwhelmed, then just run!"

"You realize that sounds pathetic put like that," Sanji said to Usopp who gave him a nasty look.

"I was just speaking the truth!" Usopp answered firmly. "Just do what you can and hope that it's enough!"

"Sounds like the pep talk he always gives himself," past Sanji said and Usopp shot both past and present Sanji furious looks.

"Whatever it is I can do!" past Chopper said softly to himself before he looked up. "I got it!" he declared and they then heard Luffy from the front of the ship call that he could see the island.

Looking up, the present-day Straw Hats glanced up to see an island covered in sand and brick houses that could only be a town in the distance.

"Looks like you all finally made it," Brook said quietly.

"Yeah, all it took was a couple giants, near starvation, and an avalanche," Nami sighed as memory Zoro unwrapped the bandage so that they could see the black 'X' put underneath. So that if there was even the slightest suspicion that something was wrong, they were to take off the bandage and show them the mark. If they couldn't do that then that would prove that they were an imposter.

"Again, the only time that he came up with a good idea," Sanji said loudly as Zoro glared at him with his one eye.

"I dare you to say that again!" he yelled.

"Oh, believe me, I can say a lot more!" Sanji retorted as his past self stated that it wasn't like Zoro to come up with something like this and stated that he must be an imposter. But when past Zoro yelled that he was going to kill him it cleared up any suspicions that Luffy and Usopp had.

"I can't believe that you believed that idiot!" Zoro growled furiously at him.

"Well... no we didn't," Usopp stuttered quickly, clearly lying. He was grateful that Luffy stood up and making a speech for them all as he held out his arm to see the bandage. "Ok, no matter what happens on that island, remember, this thing on all our arms...!"

Just then, everyone moved in to hold out their arms as well—even Vivi and Carue—and they formed a circle as Luffy finished yelling out, "Is a sign of our friendship! Now! Let's land ok?!"

"That is so sweet!" Brook said happily as the memory faded. But he seemed to become a little melancholy as he looked at his own arm to see the bone. He never really thought about tattoos but he was now wishing that he could be part of that circle as well.

Robin seemed to understand as she clapped a hand on his shoulder. "Friendship is more than a symbol or an object," she reminded him and he looked up at that.

"Yohohoho, you're right, Robin-san," he said, and though it was hard to tell with his skeletal face, but he appeared to have been smiling. "I almost forgot that. Ah, Robin-san, would you be so kind enough to show me your...?"

"Don't push it Brook," she answered lightly and he sighed in disappointment as they waiting for the next memory to show up.

The memory restarted and the Straw Hats found themselves in a desert town. They could see the heat waves coming out of the ground and see the burning sun above them. On either side of them were booths filled with vendors, all trying to get people to come in close to buy something from them. But as they looked around for themselves, they spotted themselves running towards them.

Most of them were suddenly dressed in assortment of clothes that covered them up and were clearly made for crossing the desert. Only Luffy remained in his usual clothes, and the women were dressed in outfits consisted of a blue and purple halter top with a pink shroud and a long white skirt with the top part blue and showed a lot of skin.

"Ohhhh!" Brook said in wonder. "What a wonderful outfit, Nami-san!"

"Shut up," Nami snapped at him, shooting Sanji an annoyed glare since it was his fault that he went and bought those dancer clothes. Though she couldn't deny that she loved that outfit as well.

"What are you all running from?" Robin said in interest, recognizing those looks of anxiety on their faces. But that was answered almost at once. Smoker was there with a whole crowd of Marines right behind him.

"What's he doing there?!" Franky yelled as they ran ever closer to them, "I thought you left him back in Lougetown!"

"We did," Zoro said loudly as their past selves caught up with them and they all turned to run with them, "But he followed us all the way to Alabasta!"

"Wait, what? Why would he do that?!" Brook called out.

"Who knows?" Sanji cried out, looking around at once. If his memory was as good as he thought it was, then this was the place where they'd... then as Smoker threw out a fist of smoke towards them, a wall of fire appeared out of nowhere and blocked the attack.

"What is that?!" Brook called, thinking the worse as they all stopped and stared behind them at the protective wall.

"Don't worry!" called out Nami joyfully. "This time it was an ally helping us out here!"

And she was right. From within the smoke, a familiar figure appeared. Bright orange hat, a dark purple tattoo on his back, messy black hair falling over a face full of freckles and a wide grin...

"ACE!" Franky yelled happily.

"That's right," Robin smiled, "You did mention that you ran into him here in Alabasta!"

"Oh, it's so good to see him again!" Chopper called happily, jumping up and down in joy. He really missed seeing memories of him and Luffy as little kids.

"You again," Smoker sneered at Ace.

Ace just smirked right back. "Just give it up!" he called as the flames burned around his body, dispelling the smoke. "While you may have the power of smoke, mine is fire! A fight between the two of us would be pointless! It'd probably go on forever!"

"I forgot how cool he was," Usopp laughed happily. "You go Ace!"

"You know, it's nice to have a Logia Devil Fruit User on our side for once," Nami said, also smiling widely. Their past selves were all frozen where they stood, staring back at him

Even past Zoro looked deeply unnerved by this as he proclaimed, "Alright, it looks like the mystery man has Devil Fruit powers."

"You knew him?" Franky asked at once.

"I remember seeing him in town while we were getting new clothes," Zoro told him. "He was talking to some old lady if she had seen Luffy. I knew he was part of the Whitebeard Pirates thanks to that mark on his back, but I didn't know that he and Luffy were brothers until here."

As past Usopp cried out if any of them knew who he was and why he was helping them, Luffy stepped forward, a look of stunned disbelief on his face. "That you, Ace?"

Ace smirked even wider as he turned to look back at him. "You haven't changed a bit, Luffy."

"It is you! Really?" Luffy cried, his face still registering shock, "Wow, did you eat a Devil Fruit or something?"

"How else would he be doing all this?" Usopp asked as Ace answered back, the fire dying down a little bit.

"Yeah, the Flame Flame Fruit," he said but he kept his eyes on the Marines as they started to organize themselves. "Anyway, now's probably not the time for chatting. You guys get outta here. I'll catch up! Don't worry about these guys, I got 'em! Go on!"

Smiling, a look of understanding came over his face, Luffy nodded at once as he turned and called for them all to follow him.

"But... LUFFY?!" past Nami cried in surprise.

"Who is that guy back there?!" Sanji added. They ran on with each one of them asking who it was who just helped them, asking if they had knew him from somewhere. It was then that he finally came out and told them the truth. "Yeah! He's my big brother!"

"That was a real shock to hear that the man we ran into was his brother," Usopp said shaking his head as the past selves all had looks of stunned disbelief on their faces as well.

"BROTHER?!" they all shrieked when suddenly they saw it. A tower of smoke and flames spinning rapidly like a tornado in the distance was rising up from behind the buildings and that got everyone's attention.

"Oh, boy... he must be going to town back there!" Franky laughed with a long whistle and they all stopped running to look at it in wonder. The people around them were all staring at it as well, and muttered worriedly to what was going on.

"Truly a sight to see!" Brook said, "Ace-san is as strong as I thought he would be!"

They all talked about the power that Ace had before Nami turned back to Luffy and asked if he really was his older brother.

"Yep!" he said proudly, his eyes never once leaving the tower of flames. "His name's Ace!"

"Look, I'm not surprised to hear you have a brother Luffy," memory Zoro said impatiently, "But what's he doing here on the Grand Line?"

"I guess we should've known that he had a brother from the very start," current Zoro nodded to himself. Yep, it was clear that Luffy's competitive streak had to come from somewhere.

"Ace is a pirate just like I am, he left home three years before I did to search for the One Piece," he explained, smiling the whole time. They all stared at him, but the fireball was slowly growing bigger and Nami reminded them all that it was time that they just kept going. The fireball suddenly billowed out in almost like an explosion as went back to running.

"Wow, I'd never thought I'd run into my big brother in a place like this!" Luffy said happily. He was running backwards so that he could keep his eyes up on the action in the sky here.

Chopper had to nod his head to that as he changed to his Walk Point so that he could have an easier time keeping up with them all. As they ran, memory Nami cried for them to turn left... which Luffy did, but since he was backwards, he ended up going his left instead of their left and went down a different street.

"So that's what happened, that idiot!" Nami yelled as they went after him, still staring happily up at the smoke.

"Well, to be fair, he did go left," Robin laughed a little as Luffy eventually realized that he was lost and was looking around the alleyway that he was now in, clearly not understanding what happened here. He set down the barrel of water that he was carrying and sat up on it as he stared around.

"What the...? Oh that's weird," Luffy muttered, folding his legs and arms. "I could've sworn they were right here. Now they're all gone, where'd they go?"

"If you had been paying attention you wouldn't have gotten lost!" Nami snapped, shaking her head. Really, trying to keep Luffy outta trouble was like watching a toddler who had just learned to walk. You couldn't take your eyes off him for one minute before he got into trouble.

Suddenly a shadow appeared above them and that good-natured voice, with a hint of fondness in it suddenly spoke. "Well, guess giving you a chance to escape was pointless?"

They all looked up and there he was.

"HEY!" Ace called from the rooftop—looking a little but older and more muscular than he had been when he left Goa.

"Hiya, Ace!" Luffy exclaimed happily, grinning widely as he jumped down to his little brother.

"It's been awhile hasn't it?" he said brightly, looking at him up and down.

"I see that three years at sea really did him a lot of good," Usopp said, looking at his muscles. He then felt his own, remembering the two years of fighting for his life against man-eating plants and giant insects—yeah, he supposed that struggling to stay alive would do that to anyone.

"You could say that," Luffy said, his eyes lighting up brightly so that he looked even more child-like than usual as Ace laughed. Luffy jumped from the barrel and suddenly the two began to arm wrestle with each other.

"They've barely even said hello to each other and they're already competing," Nami sighed.

"Of course," Franky laughed, knowing that all too well. "You honestly don't understand brothers, Nami."

"How many years has it been?" Luffy asked as he began pushing hard on his brother's arm.

"Eh, I don't know," Ace answered honestly as he kept his arm steady. "But you haven't changed that much in that time. You're a little taller but you pretty much look the same."

"They both do," Chopper said thinking back to the memories of when they were together as kids. "Neither of them seemed to have changed much."

Luffy tried harder to push Ace's arm down. "So do you. Aside from those powers you got from eating a Devil Fruit you haven't changed a bit!" Just as he was starting to push the arm down he went on, "Remember when you used to sneak into the fields, eat a hundred watermelons, spit the seeds out like a Gatling gun and run away?"

"No, that wasn't me," Ace said as he straightened his arm. "That was you!"

"How could he get that wrong?" Usopp asked himself softly.

"The Farmers would chase you and you'd scream like a girl!" Luffy went on.

"That was you too!" Ace countered, they were now dead even in their arm wrestling match. "I watched and laughed!"

"Oh, doesn't that sound so cute?" Robin laughed.

"Loving siblings..." Brook said fondly. Both brothers faces were red in the face as they kept attempting to win—and they were all wondering who would give out first. In the end, it was the barrel. It broke apart underneath them and the water splashed out everywhere.

"They broke it?" Nami yelled out. "Water always costs a lot in a desert kingdom. Especially in the middle of a drought like Alabasta—that water wasn't cheap!"

"I guess we're still the same," Luffy concluded, both still holding onto each hands before they gave the other a high five. "Just like old times," Luffy finished grinning.

"You know... I was really put out with Luffy for getting himself lost like that," Usopp said suddenly. "After we got back to the Merry and realized that he was lost, again, I was getting ready to give him a beat down myself."

"But I think we can all understand," Robin laughed a little. "This was the first time that they had seen each other in all this time, so I guess it's only fair to let them catch up a little."

"Yeah, and I really did like meeting Ace!" Chopper said loudly. "I'm really glad that we could before..." he stopped and trailed off. No one had to ask him what was wrong however as they looked grimly back to the two.

"Wait," Ace said suddenly as he reached into his bag and pulled out a canteen of water, "Wasn't your crew looking for you a few minutes ago?"

"Yeah," Luffy said as he watched Ace drink before he asked him what he was doing here in Alabasta in the first place. Ace looked surprised at the question and said, "I take it you never receive the message I left for you back on Drum Island?"

Chopper blinked in surprise at that. "You mean that Ace was back at Drum?" he said startled.

"I... I guess," Nami said, thinking it over, but before she could come up with an answer, Luffy asked him what he was talking about.

Ace waved his hand dismissively. "Well, guess that's a no. Don't worry, it's no big deal. It was to let you know that I would be in Alabasta for a few days I'm in these waters on some business."

"Business, huh?" Luffy asked curiously as Ace wiped his mouth on the back of his hand and tossed the canteen at him as he explained that he was now with the Whitebeard Pirates.

"The Whitebeard Pirates?" Luffy repeated in surprise as he drank some of the water.

"Yeah, you don't really picture Ace working under someone else," Zoro stated. "Ace isn't one to trust that easily. So this Whitebeard must've truly been something else."

"I guess," Usopp nodded, remembering how cold that Ace had been before and how he used to fight with his brothers on how he would never work for anyone.

Meanwhile, Ace turned around to show Luffy the tattoo of the purple mark of the Whitebeard Pirates on his back. "See this tattoo, that's our mark... and it's my pride."

Luffy continued to drink before Ace asked a question that they didn't see coming. "So Luffy, why don't you and your friends come join us? Come on, it'll be fun, what do you say?"

"No thanks," Luffy answered bluntly, not even had to think about it.

"Why am I not surprised?" Sanji laughed.

But he wasn't the only one who didn't seem to be expecting any other answer, for Ace was also laughing. "I had a feeling you'd say that," he admitted, "That's too bad cause you see Whitebeard's the greatest pirate I've ever met. That's why I'm gonna help him become King of the Pirates. And not you Luffy, sorry."

Luffy didn't seem like he minded. He just smiled back and added as Ace just beamed at him, "That's fine, so I guess we'll just have to fight then. Because I'm gonna be King of the Pirates!"

"Would you have joined Whitebeard if you were given the choice?" Robin suddenly asked, but she knew that there was no point in asking for she already knew the answer.

"He must've been one heck of a captain," Usopp spoke up after a few seconds of thinking, "And it would've been cool to work with an Emperor... but at the end of the day I don't think I could."

"Me either," Nami agreed softly, "I mean, we don't even know the guy for starters. But the only reason that most of us even became pirates was because of Luffy."

Now that she thought about it, the whole crew was like that. Even for the ones who had liked the idea of becoming pirates like Usopp, Chopper, and even Brook all had reasons to stay where they were and not to leave. It was as if it was Luffy's choice all along that they would join the crew and become pirates with him—the only reason that she wanted to go with them was because they weren't like any other pirates she had to deal with in the past. It was more than just the fact that they saved her and her village from the kinds of pirates she despised do much... but it was because Luffy was so different.

Ace didn't seem at all disappointed that Luffy turned down the offer however. He probably knew the answer even before he asked the question. He picked up his bag and soon the two were talking with each other as they headed down the alleyway, fighting over the water.

"Wow, I never thought that I'd run into you here," Luffy said happily as Ace finally pulled his canteen away from him.

"Well, I did promise you after you got your first bounty that I'd drop in and say hi didn't I?" Ace asked as he put the flask away, but pulled out Luffy's wanted poster. "Just what kind of trouble did you get yourself in while I was gone?"

"Oh! That!" Luffy laughed as Ace put it away as well. "Well, it's kinda a funny story how it all happened."

"I'll just bet it is," Ace said in amusement. "I can see that you're still getting into trouble even when I'm not around. But how was Makino, Dadan, and the others doing?"

"Huh?" Luffy asked in surprise. "Oh! They were all doing just great when I left home. Course, it's been awhile since I've seen them, but I bet that they're still doing great! He then began telling him everything that had been going on since Ace had left home. Ace looked interested in it all as Luffy then went on to explain when he left home and the crazy things that he'd been getting into since he did.

Ace laughed a few times before he finally said that they should hurry up and find his friends before the Marines did. He asked if he had any idea to where they were, and Luffy answered that they were probably back at their ship.

"Well, that's a start where's it docked at?" Ace asked him as Luffy admitted he didn't know. All the Straw Hats looked at each other exasperatedly, though with a hint of amusement, and Ace sighed, as if he had expected Luffy to know better than this. "Oh jeez, you know Luffy, pirate ship captains usually remember where they leave their ships."

"You would think," Nami sighed, feeling sympathy for Ace, "but his memory is as bad as Zoro's sense of direction."

"Watch it!" Zoro snapped back as Luffy laughed and admitted that he was hungry and he forgot all about it.

"You haven't changed at all," Ace sighed, looking more disappointed than annoyed. But it soon passed as he went and asked, "So, tell me about your crew. What are they like? Who are they?"

"I was wondering when he'd ask," Franky said as Luffy beamed at that. He then began to count down on his fingers, counting them all off, "Well, first there's a tough guy who carries around three swords. Wants to be the greatest swordsman in the world."

Zoro smirked proudly at that. "Then there's a navigator who likes maps, and tangerines, and money," Luffy went on.

"Though rude, he's got a point," Nami stated.

"There's also a cook that makes really yummy food..."

"Is that all I am to you?" Sanji snapped, wishing that he could tell the rubberbrained idiot off for that.

"There's a liar too..."

"Hey!" Usopp muttered. "Why not just tell him that I'm the sniper?!"

"You're a liar first and a sniper next," Zoro said as they laughed at the look of indignation on Usopp's face.

"Oh, and we just got a doctor who happens to be... a reindeer!" Luffy concluded proudly.

"Sounds like a circus when he puts it all like that," Franky laughed. Their ranks have members so vastly different from one another that it almost seems random if you think about it. Maybe he should've thought it over before he joined... he smirked to himself, knowing that he didn't believe any of that.

Ace listened in without saying a word for a moment before he smirked. "Really... you don't say," he said in amusement, "Sounds like you got a pretty motley crew there."

"That's putting it mildly," Nami said as Luffy also added, "We also have a princess and her giant duck."

"Hmm?" Ace hummed.

"Everyone in my crew is so interesting!" Luffy added animatedly.

"Sure sounds like it," Ace said with a smile, "But I'd wager you're the most interesting one of all."

"That's something that I can't disagree with," Sanji agreed as they all nodded, the brothers good mood becoming contagious.

"But still, only a handful of people for a pirate crew, that's just like you," Ace commented, sounding like he was going to laugh.

Luffy just looked ahead with excitement, "I'm still looking for a musician though."

Brook laughed proudly. "True, true, no crew is complete without a musician!"

"Funny that the member he wanted most was the last one to join," Robin said and he sighed sadly.

"Maybe," Brook said before lighting up and said happily, "But I'm here now! And that is enough for me! Yohohoho!"

"Stop right there, Fire Fist!" someone yelled and they all stopped to see that a group of people were stepping out from all over. From alleyways, both in front of and behind, as well as several standing on the roofs, smirking down at them like how a cat would when it corner a particular juicy-looking mouse.

"You got no place to run, Ace!" the biggest man of the group, who had a long and reddish nose, declared directly in front of them. "Your head is mine! It's my ticket to a promotion. Prepare to die!"

"They're joking... right?" Franky said, he had secretly been wanting to hear more of these two catch up.

"All talk, no bite," Zoro sighed irritable as the two brothers looked at them blankly.

"I know," Robin explained casually. "These were some of the Baroque Works Billions."

"Billions?" Brook repeated as she explained further, "The Baroque Works system of code names is simple. All the main agents are given code names and the ranking order among the organization goes by numbers; the smaller the number, the higher the rank an agent has. Below the higher ranking agents, there are 2000 subordinate agents called Millions and Billions. The Millions are the subordinates of the frontier agents and are 1800 agents in total. The Billions are the other 200 agents who are subordinates to the officer agents, and are also next in line to become a number agent should a position be opened."

"And there are a lot of openings since you all got involved in this whole thing," Franky added, thinking of everything from Whiskey Peak and Little Garden.

"That's right," Robin agreed. "And these guys are the next in line to become numbered agents if they had really proved themselves ..."

"So should we be concerned here?" Franky asked, looking at them all.

"Nah," Sanji said, waving his hand at him. "Some of the number agents were no match for us. And these guys are weaker than they were. So I don't think that's anything these two need to worry about them."

"It's our lucky day boys," the red nosed man said smugly, as if promised a real treat, "this'll be easier than shooting fish in a barrel."

"With what? A water gun?" Zoro asked in annoyance. God, did these losers actually think they could take out these two that easily? Just then, someone recognized Luffy and pointed him out which got their attention, remarking about his bounty and they were practically drooling at that. But Luffy and Ace didn't seem be the slightest bit intimidated as they walked right passed them without batting an eye.

"Anyway, let's go find your ship," Ace said nonchalantly. "We'll start at the shore?"

"'Kay," Luffy said without any problems.

The Straw Hats all laughed at that, feeling just a little bit sorry for those bounty hunters. These two were just telling them that they weren't worth the trouble of fighting. That ticked them all off and soon they were charging at them. The fight didn't last long at all...

Though they were outnumbered, it was as if they were back in Edge Town in Goa and beating up the local thugs. They were clearly having so much fun fighting together and showing off what they had learned in their time apart that it was like watching a show. When they finished enjoying themselves, and scared the remaining millions, they continued on their way as if nothing happened and that was when the memory disappeared.

Franky burst out laughing as Chopper cheered happily. "That was great! I could watch those two kicking ass all day! Those punks didn't stand a chance!"

But several of the crew still had serious, almost grim, expressions. It was wonderful to watch these two loving life and everything, but it was also hard because of how they knew the story would end.

They did their best not to spoil the happy moment for the others as the next memory quickly popped up and they were all back on the deck of the Merry once again, each one of them having fun. Luffy, Usopp, and Chopper were toasting everything they could think off and laughing their heads off before Luffy turned to Ace and asked, "Ace! You sure you don't wanna join us? I'll be fun, I promise!"

"While I think that it would be fun, I don't think that Ace is any more interested in joining us than Luffy was of joining Whitebeard," Robin said calmly.

"Oh well," Usopp sighed as Ace smirked back at him.

"I can't right now, I'm chasing someone," he answered, though it was clear from his voice that he had no intention of joining anyway. He gulped down his drink. "He's a pirate named Blackbeard."

"Blackbeard?" past Usopp repeated, his eyes wide in realization.

"I've heard of him!" Vivi said suddenly, "He's the one who attacked Drum Kingdom!"

"That's right," Nami said smacking her head at her own forgetfulness. "I forgot about that! Ace was after Blackbeard! He must've heard about how he attacked Drum Island so he must've gone there hoping for a clue to where he went."

Zoro said coolly, "Makes sense."

Ace leaned comfortably on the barrel and informed them, "You see, Blackbeard used to be part of the second division of the Whitebeard Pirates. He was one of my own men, but he committed the most unforgiveable sin a pirate could. He killed one of his fellow crewmembers and then jumped ship. As commander of the second division, it's my responsibility to take care of him."

"He killed one of his own crewmates before he ran away?!" Brook cried out in outrage.

"That's so horrible!" Chopper yelled furiously.

"I also remember hearing that," Nami scowled. "He was actually one of Ace's subordinates before he killed another one of the commanders and left."

"Yeah, Jimbei mentioned that as well," Sanji said, thinking back to what the Fishman said during their big celebration feast. "And he was also the one responsible for killing Whitebeard during the war."

"No greater sin can be committed on these seas than betraying your comrades!" Brook said in repugnance. "Especially your captain! How dare he?!"

"What slime," Franky growled. How could you turn against your own crew like that? To kill someone you've known and probably fought alongside with... for what? What did this guy do to cause Blackbeard to want to kill him?

Nami said nothing as she folded her arms—though she didn't know the whole extent to Blackbeard betrayal, she knew that he did use, betray, and even killed those around him to get his way. She shook her head... it was scum like him that reminded her why she had hated pirates.

"So that's why you're after him," past Usopp said in hushed tones.

"I came here cause I heard that Blackbeard was seen in Alabasta," Ace went on, "In a place called Yuba, so that's where I'm heading."

"Hey," memory Nami said, looking to Vivi, "That's our destination too right?"

"What's Yuba?" Franky asked curiously.

"It was a town in the middle of the desert," Chopper said suddenly, "That dried up old man with the shovel...?"

"What?" Brook asked but Nami just pointed to Vivi, who was explaining it already. Vivi confirmed Yuba by pulling out a map and showing them. The town they had just left was called Nanohana, and they were now heading to a small city called Erumalu where they were going to dock the ship. After that they decided that they would travel up through the desert to a small oasis which was Yuba. She explained that was where the leader of the Rebel Army was and they were going to head there to try and talk to them about what was really going on and stop any more fighting.

"You don't say," Ace said interestedly. "Mind if I tag along?"

"Nami, Vivi I'll follow you anywhere, just tell me where to go!" past Sanji swooned.

"And I still hold true to that," current Sanji sighed happily.

"Hopefully it's right off a cliff," memory Zoro said.

"What did you say, Zoro?!" both Sanji's yelled and memory Nami snapped at them to shut up. She sighed before she turned back to Ace and added, "Well, it looks like you'll be with us a little while Ace."

Past Usopp laughed. "We're all real happy to have you aboard!"

Luffy confirmed that by the thrilled look on his face. Even if it was only briefly, he and his brother would be sailing together on the seas as pirates. As he laughed joyfully, holding his tankard out. "This'll be fun! To Ace!"

And suddenly they all toasted: "CHEERS!"

"Now that was sweet," Robin chuckled a little. "Already you were acting like Ace was part of the crew."

"Well, he's Luffy's brother," Usopp shrugged. "So of course we'd welcome him in like family."

"And he was a little more bearable than Luffy was," Nami laughed, "You'd never have guessed that he was so cold when he was little."

"I really wish I could've met him," Brook said softly and they all felt their spirits sink a little at that.

"I really miss him," Chopper said sadly. "He was so much fun to be around...?"

"Yeah," Zoro stated. "And we barely knew him. Imagine how much Luffy must miss him?"

"That's what makes it so miserable," Nami said sadly, sitting back down for a second. "The more memories I see, the less I want to know. I mean, these memories... and knowing what happens...?"

Robin put her hand on her shoulders again, offering her some comfort. "Why don't you guys hurry up and find that thing so that we can get off this freaky island?" Nami suddenly snapped at the boys.

"Hey, don't blame this on us," Zoro warned. "Do you think that we're enjoying this? But there's nothing that we can do! We don't sense anything at all on this island."

"If we can get some kind of hint to where the thing's hiding then we'd be able to find it," Sanji added bitterly.

"But even if we do find it, what then?" Robin asked, "Nothing we did before worked on it."

"There's got to be a weakness somewhere," Zoro said stubbornly. "But we won't ever find it if it doesn't come back out."

No one could think of anything to say to that as the next memory popped up. Here, the small group of people was now trooping across the desert. Luffy, Ace, Nami, and Vivi were all wearing robes to cover themselves up as they waked on, staring ahead of them at what looked like old ruins. The city they had come to looked to be crumbling away as they watch... as if it had been abandoned for the last few decades, everything was half buried in sand and the remaining plant life were nothing more than dried husks.

"Where are we this time?" Brook asked curiously.

But it was Vivi who answered them, her voice distance and sad as she spoke, "This is Erumalu. It was known far and wide as the city of green."

"Green?" Franky repeated, staring around. "Compared to what? There's nothing but sand and more sand!"

"This is what Crocodile was really doing," Nami sighed as Robin looked away, feeling a sense of shame wash through her. The past selves were silent for a moment before Luffy said, "It was green?"

Vivi looked back to them. "Take a good look around everyone," she said in despair, "This is what Baroque Works has been doing to my country!" Her eyes became miserable, "The people of Alabasta... this is what they had to go through!"

"Truly a sad thing to see," Brook whispered as they followed the group through the silent, withered city. It was indeed hard to believe that it had once been a flourishing city as they looked at the dried up trees and dead plants. This entire town looked like it had been left to die years ago.

"Wow, there's nothing here at all anymore," Luffy said quietly.

"No," Vivi agreed, "It's nothing but a ghost town now. But up until a few short years ago it was a thriving town full of gardens, and palm trees, and lush greenery."

"This place?" past Zoro asked skeptically, kicking at a dead tree so that it crumbled.

"You'd never believe that," Sanji said grimly. He remembered seeing all this before, but it wasn't any easier seeing it all a second time. "In fact, if Vivi-san didn't say anything, I don't think I ever would've guessed it."

"It's like just the skeleton remained," Usopp said before he realized what he said and added to Brook, "No offense, Brook."

"None taken, Usopp-san," Brook reassured him. "Here, I have to agree with you."

"Rain was always scarce here," Vivi went on, "But by saving every last drop of water and using it wisely, the city was able to make the foliage flourish. Unfortunately, that stopped when the rain dead. There hasn't been a single drop of water in this country for the last three years now."

"Whoa, three whole years?" Franky repeated as the others seemed startled by that. "That long? How's that possible? I know it doesn't rain much in the desert but..."

"The answer is simple," Robin answered sadly. "Crocodile was as clever as he was cruel."

"But wait," past Zoro said suddenly and they looked back to him, "Even without rain there's still the river as another water source."

"And it's close," memory Usopp added, jerking his thumb back to where the river must've been. "Why couldn't they have just piped the river in from over there?"

"Well, the answer to that is just up ahead," Vivi answered darkly. As they walked on, Vivi explained that when the rain stopped, the capital—where the King's palace was—rained there for days and days without stopping and it was apparently due to the work of Dance Powder. It was then they heard about how Dance Powder was created long ago by a country that had no rain. When burnt, it would emit a mist-like vapor that would speed up the process of premature rain clouds and create rain on the spot. The original creators of this powder thus called it Dance Powder because it would make them dance with joy with all the rain that it created.

But there was one downside to this. Despite the rain it brought, the powder unfortunately caused long periods of drought in other countries. The controversy that this powder brought eventually started a war. The lives lost in this war was so great that the World Government prohibited the manufacturing and possession of Dance Powder worldwide.

It was then that they found out that Baroque Works staged an accident in Alubarna three years ago where some delivery men brought a large shipment of Dance Power. The cart that they were carrying broke apart and the Dance Powder was spilled out for everyone to see. The agents then lied that the king had ordered for the powder to be delivered to Alubarna, the city where it rained the most. A large scandal then arose around Cobra as suspicions that he had been stealing all of the country's rain. As a result, the people of Alabasta blamed the king for the drought. As towns dried up and people starved, a rebellion was stirred up.

This was only proven when Vivi soon led them to what they thought was a dried up road at first, but she explained that this had once been the canal. Somehow, it had been destroyed and the people had no choice but to abandon the city when they ran out of water.

The wind suddenly blew and they could hear a loud wailing sound, like ghosts crying out from beyond the grave. The past selves all froze in fear at the sound, as Robin answered, "That's just the wind."

"The wind?" Brook repeated hurriedly. "But it sounds like someone's crying!"

"A whole bunch of people crying more like," Sanji corrected, "But Robin-chan is correct. It was nothing more than the wind."

As the wind continued to blow, the past selves looking around expecting a fight, but Ace stated what Robin just said and it was nothing for them to be concerned about.

"But it sounds like a voice... right?" Luffy asked him.

"Oh man, it's coming around from all sides!" past Usopp cried out in panic, "This isn't good!"

"There's no danger," Ace said firmly, "It's just the wind blowing around town, echoing and bouncing off the empty buildings."

"That's creepy," Franky said as Chopper nodded nervously. But Vivi was now looking heartbroken.

"It's like... it's like the city of Erumalu is wailing over what's happened to it!" she gasped out, sounding close to tears as her hood was blown off her head and her long hair was blowing around her face. The crying continued just as a mini sand tornado came flying right at them from the middle of the town.

"You've only been here for one day, but already you got a good look at what's going on here," Brook called as the wind came rushing at them.

"Hey, wait!" Usopp yelled, pulling his goggles down as the sand hit them. "What's that?!"

"What's what?!" Nami cried, but her voice died as she realized what he was talking about. Luffy, who was the one standing out front, his eyes squinting through the sand could see it as well. The sand and wind had collected together for a fraction of a second to make out the ghostly form of a human hand...

"What's that?!" Chopper yelled in panic.

"That," Robin whispered softly. "Would be Crocodile."

"Crocodile?" Franky repeated startled, but then the wind came wiping past them all and Luffy spun around to see the shadowy form of what looked like a striped cape disappearing into the wind.

"That is Crocodile's ability," Robin said sadly looking down at her feet as the past selves were starting to get their bearings straight, asking what was going on. But suddenly Luffy was running ahead, looking at what appeared to be someone lying in the sand up ahead.

"Someone's collapsed!" past Nami cried out behind them.

"You mean there's still people living in this city?!" Vivi cried in astonishment as she went running after Luffy as well, but they needn't have bothered. For when they got there, laying there was nothing more than a dried up skeleton...

The memory faded at that, each of them a little shaken up by what they just witnessed.

"Robin?" Nami asked softly, knowing how stiff her friend was standing there.

"I feel... shame," she whispered. "And regret. I know that it's not ever going to make up for my part in the rebellion of Alabasta but...?"

"It's never too late to say you're sorry if you really mean it," Chopper said at once, coming over to her.

"We'll go back to Alabasta someday to see Vivi," Usopp said to her bracingly, "Once we do, you can see her and apologize. I'm sure that she won't hold a grudge if she heard the reasons why you did what you did."

"Maybe..." she said softly. "But...?" but Zoro cut her off.

"You did what you had to survive," he told her. "It doesn't matter anymore. It's all in the past."

They all agreed, smiling and nodding at her as she lowered her head and smiled as well, silently grateful for their words. In the next memory they were walking through the hot desert. Each one of them was moaning in groaning about the heat and the hot sun that was bearing down on them all.

"I'm not even there, and I'm burning up just looking at it!" Brook said loudly. "How miserable?"

"What would you complain about?" Usopp said, suddenly irritated, "You're made of bones. You wouldn't feel anything."

"That's true, Yohohoho," Brook laughed. "But ah... where is that giant duck that was with you?"

"Oh, Carue?" Nami asked, "Vivi sent him on ahead to take a letter to her father, warning him about Crocodile's plan."

"I'm burning up!" Luffy groaned, leaning on a large stick to help him walk, "I can't even sweat anymore."

"Will you please spare us the melodramatics Luffy?" memory Nami snapped back at him as she fanned her face, "You'll wear yourself out."

He only groaned in response and she rolled her eyes, not at all surprised that he wasn't listening. Zoro, meanwhile, was dragging Chopper behind him on a makeshift sled.

"Can't go on..." past Chopper said, his tongue rolling out of his mouth, "Can't take... hot weather. I'm fine in cold weather."

"You must've been in the worse shape out of everyone, Chopper," Robin stated sympathetically. "Carrying around all that fur?"

"I grew up around snow and ice," Chopper said as he patted his thick coat. "I love being in cold weather, but I had no idea how hot that hot could get. At night, I was just fine! It got really cold here at night."

"Yes," Robin nodded, "It's because of the lack of cloud cover. That is why the desert is over a hundred in the daytime, but it can drop below fifty at night."

"What a stupid place to live in," Zoro said in annoyance. "Who'd want to live in such a miserable place? Blazing hot in the day, and freezing at night."

"I guess the people here are used to it?" Franky offered.

Past Usopp, who was leaning on another walking stick, looked to memory Chopper and said with his own tongue out, "It's because of all that fur, why don't you take off that stupid reindeer costume?"

This ticked past Chopper off as he sat up at once and got big, "WHAT DID YOU JUST SAY TO ME BIG NOSE?!" he towered over Usopp, "DON'T MAKE FUN OF REINDEERS!"

"MONSTER!" past Usopp screamed back as Zoro kept trying to pull the sled.

"Man, you all look ready to tear each other apart here," Franky said in surprise.

"Hey, the sun was driving us all crazy," Sanji sighed as memory Zoro snapped at Chopper to shrink or he was going to quit pulling him. "By the end of the day I was ready to roast several members of this crew."

Past Chopper ignored Zoro as he and Usopp began fighting with each other so that he had to walk over and shoved Chopper's head down so hard that he shrunk. As they all argued, they noticed Ace walking by them all with a very strange look on his face. He was looking at them all with a slight frown on his face and a very critical eye...

"What's with him?" Nami asked, having never noticed what Ace was doing while they were walking.

"Don't know," Sanji sighed, "But I noticed that whole first day he was looking at us all like that."

They continued on, barely saying anything for a short time before Usopp asked what was with all these hills. He had expected the desert to be more flat, and Vivi confessed that this desert was very old... that some of these dunes could easily reach around 900 feet tall.

"That's like climbing a range of mountains!" Brook called, looking up at the endless hills of sand in front of them. "That'll take days to cross!"

"Well, I can tell you that it was a relief to say goodbye to all that sand," Usopp said, "I had sand in places that I don't even want to think about. Took me weeks to get all that grittiness off me."

As they all groaned out, Luffy was going straight for the barrel of water he was carrying for a drink, with past Nami telling him to only take one mouthful. Which he did, but his face stretched out and soon it was a fistfight with the other—the whole time Ace was watching them.

"What was the point of that memory?" Usopp asked at once when the images faded. "Just to make us relive how miserable we all were?"

"I hate deserts," Chopper sighed, he didn't need help remembering all the heat strokes, dehydration, and, in Luffy's case, hallucinations. No, he really didn't need to be reminded of that.

It was a nice change to see that the next memory they were standing around a fire with the sun having long-since gone and the clear sky was full of stars. The memory Straw Hats, Vivi, and Ace were gathered around the fire, under the cover of some large boulders.

"I'm so hungry," Luffy groaned out as he reached for some of the food that was roasting over the fire.

"Don't be such a greedy pig, it's still raw," past Sanji told him, but Luffy went straight for the meat which caused the cook to hit him furiously over the head yelling, "DON'T EAT THAT!" Once he was done with him, he then turned back to the two women and said lovingly that their food would be done soon.

"The desert is a truly a harsh environment," Nami sighed as they watched. It was funny to watch as they continued to argue like they would usually do on the ship. Whether it was over the food, the cold, or in Chopper's case it was admiring all the stars; they were talking and complaining about everything.

"Couldn't you see the stars on your home island?" past Usopp asked, shivering next to him as Chopper's eyes lit up in wonder as he stared up at the twinkling lights above him.

"They skies of the winter islands are almost always covered by heavy snow clouds so I've never been able to see this many before," he answered happily.

"Yeah, that was the first time that I'd really seen so many," current Chopper said happily with past Usopp muttering that he was way too cold to enjoy the stars at the moment. His past self reminded him that the cold didn't bothered him as Usopp was cuddling him like a teddy bear.

"That's because you wear such a nice fur coat," he said, hugging him tightly.

"Funny, you were telling him that he had a stupid reindeer costume just hours before," current Sanji reminded him.

"It was the heat doing all the talking!" Usopp said as memory Chopper told him to back off, and soon it turned into a fight that mirrored the one earlier.

"Chopper," memory Zoro snapped at him once he had grown and was towering over Usopp again, "Don't turn big, we gotta huddle for warmth."

"Instead of getting mad just kick sand in his face," present Zoro said in a bored voice.

"I'll be sure to remember that for next time," Chopper said, though he couldn't deny that he had liked being hugged like that by so many friends. Luffy suddenly came jumping over and soon Chopper was small again and they were all cuddling up, packing on top of each other like puppies in a litter.

"Awww..." Robin cooed. "So cute."

"Hey Chopper," current Usopp suddenly smirked, "Check this out." And suddenly he stuck his hand right through the fire and he grinned wildly as Chopper's eyes lit up and he went over to touch it as well. Zoro shook his head, hoping that they would stop playing around. But when he looked over at Ace, who was sitting right beside the flames, who watching the group suddenly start to fight and wrestle with each other, trying to get comfortable. But what really got him was that he was looking at them all with that same strange, unreadable expression on his face. As if he was a judge and trying to decide if someone was innocent or guilty of something.

"I suppose you're surprised aren't you?" said Vivi's voice and they all looked up in time to see her walk over to him. He glanced up at her politely as she went on, "I mean by Luffy that is. I have to admit I was a little surprised to at first."

"Why would he be surprised?" Zoro asked suddenly, "He grew up with Luffy. I'm sure that nothing he does surprises him here."

"I think that she's thinking that Ace is worried about his little brother," Nami said watching them.

"Yes, but I don't see why she thinks she has to explain anything about him to Ace-san," Brook stated thoughtfully.

"She's a worrywart," Nami shrugged. "It's in her nature to worry about every little detail."

Vivi looked up to the boys all still fighting before they all finally started to drift of. "After all, he doesn't seem like much of a pirate captain does he? I mean normal pirate captains are respected or feared by their crews. Just this afternoon a simple drink of water led to that big fight."

"Maybe," Franky laughed. "But none of us are exactly normal pirates right? I guess that's why we like him?"

"Yeah," Sanji muttered, "who wants to be on a ship with a captain ya hate? Where's the fun in that?"

"Well... I think... that's just the way Luffy does things," Vivi finally finished, "Took me a while to understand that."

"I think it took us all a while to understand that," Usopp said as Chopper nodded firmly. "And even now, we still don't understand half the things he does."

Ace only smiled, his eyes hidden by the rim of his hat as he confessed, "He's been like that as long as I can remember." Vivi looked down at him in surprise as he went on, not sounding the least bit taken back by anything she said. "He hasn't changed a bit since he was a kid," he went on, both of them watching Luffy. "He seems like a fool, but people have always gathered around him. He may be my little brother, but he has this mysterious charm about him."

The Straw Hats all blinked at those words. None of them had ever really thought about it, but just as Ace said it, they realized that he was right. Perhaps it was because of his childlike nature that really did it, but there was just something magnetic about his personality. Once you really got to know him, it was hard, if not impossible, to hate him.

"I guess I wasn't telling you anything you didn't already know," Vivi said, relief in her tone as Ace chuckled slightly to himself.

"He and I... do go way back you know," he said, but he smiled a little wider and looked up at her. "I appreciate it." He looked back to the sleeping pack of Straw Hats as he finished, "You thought I was worried about him, didn't you?"

"I'm sure he was," Robin smiled softly. "I'm also sure that he must've been worried about Luffy for those three years."

"Is that why he kept looking at us all like that?" Chopper asked, trying to understand.

"I guess he just wanted to make sure that he knew that his little brother was in good hands," Sanji admitted, frowning a little at his almost empty pack of cigarettes. At this rate he'd be out of it all before they would stop watching memories.

"Yes, but I guess my concern was a little misguided," Vivi stated as she bent down near the fire and added a few more sticks to it before Ace went on.

"He won't always behave like this," he said and they all looked to him as he leaned back comfortably. "Give him time and he'll... mature. Although... I highly doubt that he'll ever stop acting goofy like this."

"Really?" current Nami asked in amusement. "While he has matured a lot over our journey on the Grand Line, I have to agree that he won't ever stop being... Luffy."

"You really think that?" Vivi asked curiously as he laughed a little.

"Of course. He's my kid brother," he answered with a shrug, "This is who he is."

"True enough," Franky sighed. "He is still a big kid at heart."

"Well, I'm glad that there's nothing to worry about," Vivi said smiling at him.

"I wouldn't go that far," Ace corrected. "You always have to keep an eye on him. Ever since we were kids he's been making me worry about him. That child mind of his has always been getting him into trouble."

"Don't we know it," all the Straw Hats said as Robin and Brook laughed.

"He's not very bright but he's got a good heart," Ace went on, "He'll fall for every trap you lay out in front of him, but he's just so innocent that you just can't be angry with him for long. On top of all that he's looking for something a little more specific than most people..."

"He is?" Vivi asked in surprise. "You mean he wants to be the Pirate King...?"

"Nah," Ace stated as he reached into his coat to pull out his canteen of water and took a long sip from it. "That is his dream, but he's looking for something else."

"He is?" Chopper said in surprise. "What's that? I don't remember Luffy ever saying anything else like that?"

They all looked just as confused as he did.

"What's that...?" Vivi said interestedly. "This whole time he's talked about becoming the King of the Pirates. But he's never...?"

"Oh, I doubt that even he's aware of it," Ace said, wiping his mouth on the back of his hand. "But I know him well enough to know. He's looking for something greater than himself."

"What does that mean?" Usopp asked, looking completely lost.

"Yeah, what's he talking about?" Nami said slowly, not understanding what Ace was saying here.

"Greater than himself?" Vivi repeated in bafflement and the other Straw Hats looked just as lost as she did.

"That's right," Ace admitted, putting the canteen away. "He's looking for something you don't see every day... something grand, something spectacular, something that he can barely comprehend. I think, that's why he loves the idea of adventures so much. He wants to be the King of the Pirates, but what he wants more than that is to live life to the very fullest."

He smirked again as he leaned back against the rock as Vivi turned back to the fire with a very thoughtful expression on her face. The memory faded at that and they all looked at each other.

"Is that true?" Chopper asked softly.

"Well, I don't think I would've used that wording, but I have to say that it does sound like him," Zoro said thinking it all over.

"I suppose," Robin said, smiling in understanding. "Maybe we'd never really noticed it, but I have to agree with what he said."

"Well, if we ask Luffy this, I doubt that he'll understand," Nami said shaking her head with a smile. "Though I have to say that's pretty deep the way that Ace put it all."

"He really gets Luffy, I'll say that," Robin added.

"Well, I guess that he would," Sanji admitted as the next memory came up.

"It's happening again though," Usopp stated. "This had got to be parts of Ace's memory. How can we be seeing into it?"

"You got me," Zoro sighed. "Not much we can do about it though now is there?"

They were all still the same place by the time the memory reappeared. The little campfire had died down to almost nothing but ashes and the sky was still dark. However, over the distance horizon, they could just see the sky turning a lighter color. Dawn was slowly starting to come. Ace was also sitting there up on the stones, over-looking the entire group when Luffy's hands stretched up so that he was bouncing up next to him.

"Hey, Ace!" Luffy said happily and Ace smirked when he saw him jump up.

"You're up early for once," he said to him. "I would've thought that you'd sleep until the girls make us walk again."

"If we waited for all of you to get up before we started the day, it'd be night again," Nami said, annoyed at that. She shot Zoro an especially annoyed look.

"Yeah," Luffy said, "But I wanted to talk to you. Hey, how do you like my crew?! They're great huh?!"

Ace smirked a little wider. "Well, they're one of a kind," he answered, "I'll say that much. You seem to have a little bit of everything here. There's the anger guy, the smart one, the pacifist, the show off, the one that everyone makes fun of. You all balance each other perfectly."

Luffy grinned happily, and it was clear to them all that his brother's opinion meant a lot to him.

"Who's the one that everyone makes of?" Chopper asked curiously.

"Him," Zoro and Sanji said, pointing to each other. "HEY!" they yelled, glaring at the other.

"As well as a noble," Ace added, looking down to the tent to where the girls were sleeping.

Luffy's grin seemed to fade at that as he looked to the tent as well, guessing what Ace was thinking. "Ace," he said, "Vivi's a noble, but she's not like the ones back home."

"Yeah, what's wrong with her?" Sanji demanded a little bit of a warning in his voice.

"Well, most nobles are like the ones from Goa," Robin reasoned. "I'd say that the nobles like Vivi and her father are a little more like the oddballs out."

"Hey, I didn't mean I had any problems with her," Ace said, waving his hand around. "I don't mind her at all. I mean, she at least cares about her people enough to do something about protecting them. Now that I have to respect."

"Well, that's a relief to hear," Nami said in relief, "I was worried that he was going to hold the fact that she was a noble against her."

"Good," Luffy said, smiling again before asking, "And you won't join no matter what?"

"I think you know the answer to that," Ace reminded him firmly. "We've been over this a million times by now."

"Yeah," Luffy sighed, pouting as Ace laughed and playfully shoved his straw hat over his face a little more.

"Sad thing is, I don't think that they could ever really be on the same ship together for long," Sanji stated. "They're both a little too free-spirited to take orders from each other."

"But Ace did join up with Whitebeard though," Chopper reminded him as Luffy seemed to realize the same thing.

"You know, I was really surprised to hear that you went and joined Whitebeard," Luffy said, tilting his hat back up so that he could see him. "You always said that you'd never take orders from anyone."

"Things change little brother," Ace said, and as if the prove his point, he held his hand out and the fire began licking at his fingers. "Speaking of which, I didn't get a chance to mention this before I left home, but it's good to see that you're not afraid of fire anymore."

"Hey," Luffy said hotly, "I got over that a long time ago!"

"Yeah, I noticed it," Ace said smiling thoughtfully. "That's good to hear."

"It is good," Brook said, truly glad for that. "Not that I blame Luffy-san for being afraid of it at all. But it is good to know that we don't need to worry about that."

"Trauma is never an easy thing to heal," Robin said knowingly, understanding Luffy's fear all too well. Though she was recovering from seeing what the Buster Call did to her home, it still took her over twenty years to get where she was now. "But I think I get it," she added, looking at the fire in Ace's hands slowly burn out. "I wonder if that's why he did it."

"Did what?" Chopper asked in confusion.

Robin just smiled as she watched the fire on Ace's body die out, quietly muttering that it wasn't important now. But she had a feeling that Ace ate the Flame Flame Fruit for a reason. The youngest brother was once so afraid of the very element that Ace had become... maybe she was reading a little too much into it, but maybe... the older brother had chosen to become fire so that the younger will never have to be afraid of it again.

She smiled again, having a feeling that she was right despite not having any proof. Because fire could never hurt Ace again so that Luffy never had to worry about his brother being taken by it again. But the smile soon turned into a slight frown, knowing that ability wasn't enough to save Ace in the end.

"Is something wrong?" Luffy's voice suddenly said and she snapped out of it to glance back to see that Luffy was looking sharply at Ace.

"Why do you ask?" he asked back.

"Why do you keep looking at me like that," Luffy pointed out, "That's not like you."

"It's nothing," Ace said, but they could tell that he was lying here. Ace was quiet for a moment before he said, "Do you remember what you once said to me? Just after that you got hurt by that bear and we were talking?"

The Straw Hats were all surprised that Ace had brought it up and even Luffy looked startled at the question.

"What about it?" he asked, "I don't really remember to much after the bear..."

Ace smiled as he looked away towards the direction that the sun would be rising.

"It's not surprising that Luffy doesn't remember," Chopper said. "After such injuries, it's sometimes common to forget periods of time between getting hurt and recovering."

"But why is Ace bringing that up now?" Franky asked before he felt a little teary-eyed at the promise that Ace made there. 'I'll keep you safe...'

"Well," Ace went on, "You told me that it was ok for me to smile and have fun sometimes and that you'd never think less of me for that."

"Really?" Luffy said in surprise, clapping his feet together.

"That's right, and I think that you're the one who really needs to hear it now," Ace said and Luffy looked over at him, taken aback.

"Why would he say something like that?" Sanji asked. "Isn't Luffy always happy and having fun? It's a nightmare to get him to even pretend to be serious!"

The others all leaned in, wondering just what Ace was going to say here now.

"You're worried about all that's happening here aren't you?" Ace said to him, "You're worried about what might happen to Vivi if you fail to stop the rebellion."

"Aren't we all?" Chopper said at once. "She's our friend to and this is her home! If we don't help her, she could get killed trying to do it all herself."

"Yeah, I'm worried," Luffy admitted. "Because we've only been here for one day already but she's already trying to do too much."

Ace sighed. "Yeah. That's just like you to want to go so far to help a friend. It doesn't surprise me at all. "And here, you and your crew are all coming together to help her. She's helping a lot more than she knows. But still..." he added, looking back at the horizon. "We both know that this plan of hers will never work."

"What's he going on about?" Brook asked, not getting it at all.

"Her plan that we can stop the rebellion without getting anyone else hurt," Zoro answered and Ace went on, "I mean trying to talk some sense into the rebels. You can't honestly think that it will work?"

Luffy blinked. "No," he admitted. Some of the Straw Hats all felt a little disappointed in themselves that they never really thought about that, but their dense Captain had before all of them.

"I suppose we really didn't think it all the way through," Sanji stated off-handedly. "But they have a very good point. Even if we did reach the rebels, there's no guarantee that they'd listen to us."

"Wait, you don't think so?" Chopper asked him hesitantly.

"There was a chance that they could've thought that she was making it all up just to protect her father," Robin answered, "And there's also the fact that she had been missing for two years. Just as the final battle was coming up, their missing princess suddenly returns and tells them to stop fighting. They all believe that what they're doing they're doing it to protect their country... and let's not forget that she was in the company of a group of wanted pirates. They may not take that well."

"But Vivi said that she knew the rebel leader," Nami said at once. "He was apparently an old childhood friend of hers!"

"There is a good chance that he could've listened to her if he had heard the whole story," Robin said, "But the rebels were no longer in Yuba by this point. They left not long before all of you arrived at Alabasta."

"Wait, they left?!" Franky said in shock. "So you're all travelling around in the desert for no reason?"

"Pretty much," Zoro sighed.

"I still don't get why we couldn't have sailed the Merry up the river," Usopp whispered darkly, "That way we wouldn't have had to spend all that time wandering around in the desert sun."

"Because the river was being watched by Baroque Works," Nami said sternly. "If we had taken the ship up to near Yuba, the Merry could've been destroyed long before we got back and then we'd be in some serious trouble!"

Usopp sighed, knowing that she was right, but having a hard time admitting it as Ace suddenly spoke up again.

"Setting your sights a little high here though aren't you?" he said, and for the first time, he looked generally concerned as he looked at Luffy. "After all, Crocodile is one of the Seven Warlords. It's not like some ordinary thug. He won't be nearly as easy to take out as the people you fought up till now."

"Do you know him?" Luffy asked in surprise.

"Not personally," Ace stated, "But... I've fought a Warlord once before and he almost killed me. Then again, I almost ended up killing him as well. It was by luck that I was still breathing by the end of that fight."

"He had?" Chopper said in wonder. "So he must've been really strong!"

"Which Warlord was he talking about?" Nami asked, thinking of Moria or Kuma. But then Luffy spoke up again, his voice ringing with determination. "But we gotta take out Crocodile! Vivi's not giving up yet, and I wanna help her! And if we take out him, then we win right?"

"I have a feeling that it might be a little more difficult than you think," Ace said softly. "You really haven't changed. Risking your life for your friends."

And they all thought back. When Luffy stood up for Ace and Sabo even while he was being tortured by Porchemy, fighting Arlong for Nami's sake, as well as climbing the Drum Rockies... yes, they could understand why Ace seemed so worried about Luffy's safety.

"Though I have to agree," Ace added slowly. "Crocodile is acting like the puppet master here. He's the one controlling everything, taking him out would be the quickest way to stop the fighting before it gets out of hand."

"That's true," Robin said, "Without the puppeteer, the puppets will fall where they stand."

"You sound upset," Luffy said innocently.

"Just a little," he confessed. "Listen to me, Luffy. I know that there's no point in telling you not to do something, but please promise me that you'll make it out of this mess alive."

The two looked at each other for a moment before Luffy smirked. "Don't worry," he chuckled, "I'm not going to die here! I'm going to beat up Crocodile and that's all there is to it!"

"When he makes a promises, he always comes through one way or the other," Usopp said knowingly. The first rays of light were approaching and the sounds of the rest of the crew below them was starting to wake up.

"Hey, you'll be staying with us for a little bit longer?" Luffy asked.

"Yeah, at least until I know for sure if Blackbeard is here or not," Ace answered as he stretched out.

They sat there in silence for a little longer before Ace laughed a little. "Having such a reckless little brother, I worry about you as a big brother."

But Luffy wasn't listening as he spotted something below them that was moving. "Ohhh... is that a desert shrimp?"

And without another word, he jumped down to see for himself as Ace shook his head fondly at him.

"There aren't any shrimp in the desert," Franky said as the memory faded.

"Actually, it was a scorpion," Usopp said, remembering how they looked at the ugly thing before Vivi told them how dangerous it was.

"Scorpion?!" Brook called in shock.

"Don't worry, it didn't sting him," Chopper reassured him.

"But Ace really did seem troubled here," Franky said lightly.

"Of course, he just learned that his little brother was in trouble up to his eyeballs by wanting to take on a Warlord," Sanji said. "I mean, Luffy gets into trouble on a daily basis even when there's no danger. But Ace was right here. Crocodile wasn't like any opponent we fought before. Besting him wasn't going to be easy. But he was respectful enough of Luffy's choice to let him do it, while making him promise that he would be alright."

The next memory appeared and the Straw Hats were still in the middle of the desert, but now the sky was lit almost on fire to the setting sun behind them. The air was as hot as ever, but a cool breeze was gently giving feathery touches to the sun-kissed skin of the pirates, light falling like liquid amber and soaking them all with its rich color.

The whole crowd was watching Ace as he finished packing his things into his back and got up. "Well then..."

"You're not really gonna leave us, Ace?" past Chopper asked sadly, "Are you?"

"So this is where Ace left," Usopp said sadly.

"Did he find his answer then?" Brook asked. "He said that he'd stick around until he knew about Blackbeard?"

"It was a lie about him being in Alabasta," Zoro answered him. "See a man named Scorpion lured him to Alabasta with rumors that he beat Blackbeard."

"Why would he do that?" Robin asked calmly.

"He's a bounty hunter," Nami answered, "Anyway we ran into his two sons and helped them to talk some sense into their dad to go home."

"Yep," Ace confirmed, looking back at them all. "Since it's been confirmed that Blackbeard isn't in Alabasta, I have no reason to stick around."

"You sure?" Luffy asked, looking a little sad that they had to say goodbye again after such a short time.

"Any idea where you'll be headed to next?" memory Sanji asked suddenly.

"I have a lead to Blackbeard's whereabouts. Scorpion heard about a man who saw him out west. Guess we'll see," Ace said as he reached into the coat and pulled out a carefully folded up piece of paper. "Luffy!" he called as he threw it at him and caught it. "Hey, do yourself a favor and hang onto that... always."

"That's a Vivre card," Robin said suddenly, looking at it. "Ace's?"

"Yeah," Nami said sadly. "He wanted to give Luffy a way to find him if he ever needed him I suppose."

"But why? It's just a scrap of paper," Luffy said as he unfolded it.

"That scrap of paper will reunite us someday," Ace said as Luffy opened the paper to show that there wasn't anything written on it. "You don't want it?" he teased when he saw Luffy's baffled face.

"No, I'll keep it," Luffy answered quickly.

"Why didn't he tell him about it?" Chopper asked in confusion.

"I think that he thought that he would've learned about it sooner or later," Sanji muttered, now puffing very slowly on the cigarette.

Ace smiled at them all. "It's perfectly natural for a guy to worry about his bundling kid brother, right?" he asked as he looked over the Straw Hats, as if he knew something that they didn't. He then bowed his head politely and said directly to all of them, "He might be a bit much for all of you to handle... but take good care of him for me."

"Wow, he must've truly trusted in you all," Brook said almost jealously. He wished that he could've met Ace-san at least once before his death. "He was so fiercely protective of Luffy-san when they were children and he's letting you all do his job now."

"Because Luffy doesn't need someone there to protect him all the time anymore," Zoro admitted, "But at the same time, he was right." He shut his eye, a smile playing on his lips as he finished, "He needs someone to get him out of trouble once he gets into it."

Ace slowly raised his head, looking at each one of them in turn, as if making sure they understood what he wanted—but a look of relief seem to come over his face as he looked back to his little brother. "Luffy, when next we meet, we'll both be top pirates."

"Right!" Luffy exclaimed happily.

"The top! You and me!" Ace encouraged, beaming wider than ever.

"The next time they meet..." Nami whispered, feeling oddly cold at the thought. No one could add anything to that as they heard the sounds of children screaming goodbye at them. They looked up in time to see a man that looked like a farmer, and his two children riding on the back of a large ostrich. It could only be Scorpion and his boys...

They all waved goodbye to them before they looked back to Ace and were startled to see that he had vanished.

"How did he do that?" Franky said impressed.

"I'm sure that he learned more than just a few tricks out on the Grand Line," Sanji reminded him as Luffy was now looking around for him.

"We had our backs turned for a minute and he's nowhere to be seen," Chopper said softly, deeply awestruck.

"He disappeared," past Zoro said with a small smile.

"Good old Fire-Fist Ace," memory Sanji added.

Luffy just smiled as he looked at the flaming sunset, that suddenly reminded them all of Ace's fire. "But we'll see him again," he said without any doubt.

"Yeah," past Nami agreed. "I'm sure we will."

With those words, the memory disappeared and they all looked at each other, feeling a little unwell at that. How could they have possibly known back then that they were to never see him again?

The next memory, it was a bit of a surprise. Instead of the hot desert, Luffy and Zoro were in a large dome-shaped room. It was filled with sand and there were a couple rays of light coming from holes in the ceiling.

"I remember this..." Zoro said looking around as Chopper nodded by his side.

"I sure don't," Nami said, staring around in amazement. "Where is this?"

"We got separated from you guys after Luffy drank that cactus juice," Zoro answered.

"Cactus juice?" Franky repeated as their eyes quickly adjusted to the sudden darkness.

"That I remember," Sanji said, "That idiot couldn't take the heat anymore and chomped down on a cactus for its water and then he started acting all loopy."

"And that's different from usual how?" Franky asked in confusion.

"No! It was a big deal!" Chopper said in frustration. "Some cacti contain hallucinogens, and causes those who consume it to temporarily fall into a deranged mental state. Luffy drank some and he was hallucinating all sorts of things."

"Now that sounds like some drink," Franky said, interested in trying some.

"Easy for you to say," Zoro snarled him. "He thought that he was drowning in some kind of tsunami. And he attacked me thinking I was Crocodile!" He shook his head as they all laughed at that. "Anyway," he said, going on, "After we sedated him we got separated from you guys for a while and we ended up falling down through the sand to this place."

"So we're underground?" Usopp said interested as Robin almost knocked him over as she moved forward.

"Yo! Robin, watch were you're..." but he stopped in mid-sentence as Robin stared ahead, her eyes wide in wonder, like how a child would when face to face with a present that they had been wanting for a long time. Following her gaze, there was an enormous stone half buried in the sand in front of them. Some kind of giant, blue block that was inscribed with strange symbols... past Zoro was touching it as he looked over it as well. "What is something like this...?"

"Doing underground?" Luffy finished for him, and Zoro jumped.

"What the hell are you doing down here?" he yelled at him.

"Lowered myself in," Luffy answered.

"Why'd you do that for?!" past Zoro yelled even louder and Luffy's answer was, "Why not?"

"That's always his answer," Nami said as Robin went over to the stone and touched it gently it, only for her hand to pass right through it. But she didn't care as she quickly pulled out her notebook and began to write it all down.

"Robin?" Nami asked curiously. "What is it?"

"Part of the mystery I've been searching for," Robin answered, not looking up. "I knew that there was one here in Alabasta, but I had no idea that there was another here!"

"Another what, Robin-san?" Brook asked.

"Wait," Franky said, coming forward to get a good look at it, moving his sunglasses up. "Is this one of those poneglyph things?"

"Poneglyphs?" Nami said blankly. "Oh, wait! This is one of those stones that talk about the history of the world? Your dream?"

Robin frowned a little that she could only read half of the stone since it was half buried in the sand, but she had a basic idea of what it said as she stood up. "That's right. The Poneglyphs are stones that have the true history of the world inscribed on them in this ancient language. The archeologists from my home island were able to deceiver them. And as far as I'm aware of, I'm the only person left who can make out what they say."

"I see," Sanji said as he looked up at it in new interest as past Zoro and Luffy continued to argue about how they wouldn't be able to find Chopper if they were down here, but no sooner did they talk about it did another hole in the ceiling open up and memory Chopper fell down to join them.

"That looked painful," Usopp winced.

"Don't worry," Chopper said, "I had a soft landing. It was nice to get out of the hot sun for a minute anyway." His past self was now getting up and asking the other two if they knew where they were.

"I have no idea what this place is," past Zoro said, looking around at the enormous space, big enough that it looked like it could've easily fit the Sunny inside it. "All I know is that we're definitely... underground."

"So what do these poneglyphs say?" Brook asked Robin as she smiled softly at the stone.

Robin didn't answer for a moment before she said, "There are two types of poneglyphs: those that carry information about how to reach the other poneglyphs and those that carry the records of the "True History". Only when the stones are read as one will they fill in the Void Century of the world. This is known as the Rio Poneglyph. I know that it's out here in the Grand Line somewhere... where it is I'm not sure."

"But what does this one say?" Nami asked curiously as she looked at the strange writing. It looked so misshaped and unsystematic that it was hard to believe that anyone could make heads or tails of it at all.

"It mentions that the next poneglyph can be found resting with the kings of old," she answered. "I can't make all of it out like this, "But I have a very good idea to what it means. After all, I did see the poneglyph I came to Alabasta for in the crypt of the kings."

"Crypt?" Chopper repeated with a shudder.

"It's where the royalty of Alabasta is buried," she answered back as memory Zoro and Chopper began to talk to each other with Luffy lying in the sand a little bit further away.

"These look like ancient ruins or something," memory Chopper answered and past Zoro came over as he went on, asking how he knew that. "Look at this thing," he answered, touching the blue block and went on, "It's almost entirely covered with rows of written characters." He looked back at him, "I've seen something like this in a book before. It's like an ancient alphabet."

"Very clever, Chopper," Robin praised and Chopper blushed.

"Don't think that praising me will make me happy or anything because it won't!" Chopper said, dancing around and clapping as Robin laughed a little.

Luffy muttered that he only cared about how cool and shady it was down here as memory Zoro went on to ask Chopper if he knew why this place was underground. Chopper couldn't answer that. "Well, I don't know why. Was it built underground? Or was it buried sometime after it was built? Either way I get the feeling they're trying to hide the building for some reason."

"What do you think, Robin?" Sanji asked.

"I would say a little of both," she answered. "This place was built to hide the poneglyph, but the ones who created this place also wanted it to one day be found. Even so, after hundreds of years, the sands must've covered it. So unless you knew what to look for, you'd never find it. I have to say, it was truly by chance that you stumbled here."

"Well, I'm not gonna count it up as a good experience," Zoro sighed as he remembered the painful way to how they got out of there. He made a mental note to kill Luffy for that later.

"Well, whoever made this place it must've taken them a long time," past Zoro said as he turned around and walked away. "And whatever it is it has nothing to do with us so what's the point in thinking about it?"

"Zoro," Robin said softly, looking at him. "History may always be repeating itself, but humans cannot go back into the past... that's what makes it so precious."

"I never said that it wasn't important," Zoro countered. "I merely meant that we had a task to do and there was no point in worrying over everything."

She gave him an expressionless look as the memory faded, soon coming up again with the group all together again. They were all getting tired of seeing the crew walking across the desert all the time, and they were all hoping for a change very soon. Well, there was one difference here... Nami and Vivi were suddenly riding on the back of a large camel. The sun was almost completely down, showing that it had to have been at least a whole day since Ace left. As they joined the group once again, memory Usopp was looking over at the setting sun.

Current Usopp remembered how he looked at the sunset and was reminded of when Ace left and that was when he remembered that Ace gave Luffy something. "Hey? Luffy?" he gasped out through a dry mouth. "What was that thing your brother gave you?"

"I don't really know," Luffy answered, reaching into his pocket to pull it out to look at it. "It just looks like a scrap of paper."

"It's just paper?" past Chopper asked in surprise.

"I still think that Ace should've told us what it was for," Nami stated.

"Well, it wasn't important at the time," Sanji yawned tiredly as his memory self took it to so that he could look at it, even holding it up to the fading light to see through it.

"Well, it looks like it really is just a piece of paper. There's nothing written on it or anything," he said as Usopp asked if that was really all.

"I'm not really sure why Ace gave it to me," Luffy said, "But it's important." Suddenly a gust of wind blew it right out of Sanji's hands, and Eyelash didn't hesitate to bite down and start to chew on it.

"I hated that camel," Usopp said, still sore that the stupid thing didn't give anyone rides but the girls.

"Where did it come from anyway?" Brook said, not able to think of any time they've seen it before.

"Luffy ended up getting our food and water stolen by some weird birds," Nami sighed. "When he went after them, he ended up bringing back Eyelash the camel."

"As well as a couple giant lizards," Sanji added, remember how good those things were to cook.

"Anyway, that camel said that he only let women ride him, so Nami and Vivi got to ride the rest of the way while we had to walk," Usopp said, giving Nami a dark look.

"Is it my fault that Eyelash didn't want to carry you?" she asked with a cute bat of her eyelashes and Sanji was so struck that he fell over.

"AH, MY FAIREST ANGELS!" he gasped out, "You make my humble self proud to have such flawless creatures descend here to try my cooking..."

Nami smiled and Robin laughed as some of the othermen rolled their eyes at that. Meanwhile, Luffy had screamed and punched the camel furiously until it spit out the paper, glaring dangerously at him as he held the Virve Card protectively. Past Nami then stepped in and offered to sew the paper inside his hat ribbon if it was that important to him so that he didn't have to worry about losing it.

Present-day Zoro raised his eyebrows at that. Though he had seen it before, he half expected her to charge a fee for doing that. The memory faded when Nami gave his hat back to him and Vivi declaring that they were almost to Yuba.

"So Luffy-san really had been carrying it around with him all the time?" Brook asked.

"That's right," Nami shrugged. "He felt that if his brother thought that it was that important, then it must've been. This way, it was always close-by."

"So touching," Brook sighed happily as Franky and Chopper rubbed at their eyes. But their good moods faded almost at once when they were suddenly standing in the middle of a town in the dead of night. At least... what was left of it.

"This... this is Yuba," current Nami whispered as Vivi gasped at what she was seeing. The wind and sand blew around them, reminding them greatly of Erumalu. Memory Zoro noticed it as well and point it out to them, but Vivi seemed to be in shock as she stared around them.

"This is an oasis?" Franky said, staring around.

"Was an oasis," Usopp said grimly as past Sanji asked Vivi what happened here and her only answer was that it had all dried up.

"Ya think?" Zoro said tiredly. "I'm still amazed that old man was still living here."

"What old man?" Franky asked as hey suddenly heard the sounds of a shovel and when they went a little further, they spotted a very old, dried up man who was almost bone thin. He looked ready to drop from overwork at any second, but he kept on digging through the thick levels of sand without stopping.

Without looking at any of them the man said, "I'm assuming that you're travelers. You must be exhausted from all that time spent in that heat. Sorry, but this town is a bit dried up to. It doesn't have that much relief to offer." He looked at them to see his thin face, "but still, you're free to rest here awhile." Vivi covered her face so that he could see her as the old man went back to digging. He said that they didn't have too much water to spare, but there were plenty of inns that they were welcomed to stay in. But when Vivi told them that they came here in hopes to find the rebel army, the old man's eyes turned hateful, throwing whatever he could find at them, telling them to just leave and that they couldn't find the rebels here anyway. The constant sandstorms dried up the town and the rebels soon ran out of supplies and moved on to another city called Katorea.

"Katorea?!" Vivi gasped in horror.

"Where's that?" Luffy asked, "Is Katorea close to here Vivi?"

"It's near Nanohana, back the way we came from," she told him as the old man stopped digging at the sound of Vivi's name.

"So you all came this far just to find out that people you were looking for are back near where you started..." Franky sighed, his arms falling close to the ground as he fell forward. "All that travel for nothing?!"

"Not for nothing," Zoro commented as his past self looked deeply annoyed at hearing that they were all the way out here for no reason at all. "After all, we were practically at Crocodile's doorstep. Another day of wandering the desert and we were there."

"So it was a good thing?" Brook asked.

"Well, it's impossible to say for sure what would've happened if we had caught the rebels in Yuba, but there's no point in talking about it now," Sanji muttered. "It all ended well and that's the best that we can hope for.

Just then the old man croaked out Vivi's name. They all looked down at him slowly walking out of the ditch, his eyes never leaving Vivi. "Wait, your name's Vivi?!"

Luffy only made things worse by crying out, "Hold it! She's definitely not a princess!" which caused past Zoro to hit him over the head to shut up him.

"Princess Vivi... is that really you?" the old man gasped, coming towards her, his hands on her shoulders as he stared at her. "You're alive... I can't believe it, thank goodness."

"What's that about?" Brook asked, really hating the fact that he didn't understand anything that was going on here.

"It's me, Vivi," the old man pleaded, "Don't you recognize me? I look different, I lost some weight I suppose...?"

Vivi suddenly gasped. "Toto? Is it... really you?"

Tears appeared in Toto's eyes as he nodded. Nami then told the ones who were here that Toto was the father of a young man named Kohza, who was the rebel leader and Vivi's friend. Toto told her that no matter what, he still had faith in her and the king. That he truly believed that he was a good man and that he would never betray his own people before he fell to his knees and cried. He explained that believed that this whole rebellion was ridiculous; that the rebels were all just a bunch of faithless fools. He had tried to stop them many times, and that most of the country still has faith in the king as well, but the rebels won't listen to anything. Their strength, men, and supplies have reached their limit and they were now attempting to finish it all with one last attack—and were prepared to die if that's what it took.

"Well, you can say whatever you want about the rebels, but you can't deny that they truly do love their country," Sanji said, pulling his cigarette out of his mouth.

"Yes, that was how Crocodile was able to take advantage of them all that time," Robin admitted. "He used the love that the people had to drive them almost to the brink of self-destruction by tricking each other into believing that they were their own enemies."

"What a rotten soul," Franky hissed as Toto finally gasped out pleadingly, "Please Vivi. You have to stop these fools from tearing our country apart!"

After a few moments of silence, Vivi just held out a handkerchief and told him that it would be alright—that they would stop it no matter what. Tears fell once again from Toto's eyes, but tears of renewed hope this time.

"She's got a lot of heart, but that's something big to promise," Usopp stated as the memory faded around them and quickly came back to exactly where they had been seconds ago. Only now, it was just Luffy and Toto there, with Luffy watching him continue to dig.

"Where is everyone?" Brook asked.

"We were all so tired from the walk that we went to go sleep in one of the inns," Nami said, "But Luffy stayed out a lot longer. Said that he wanted water. He was still out by the time I fell asleep but he must've gotten back before the sun rose because it was almost impossible to get him out of bed the next day."

"Hey old guy, there's still no water," Luffy said grumpily, "My throat's drying up. How can you stand to live here? It's horrible."

"I have to agree with him here," Sanji sighed, looking around at the withered land.

"The water will come," Toto said without a shred of doubt. "The Yuba Oasis still has life in it yet. The dream of Yuba cannot be beaten by a bunch of lousy sand! The king left this land in my hands and I will keep it alive. I'll dig out the sand as many times it takes."

"You gotta admire that determination," Usopp said quietly as Luffy watched him.

Perhaps Luffy could feel that same level of willpower that they could because he declared that he would help, and so he turned and began digging in a random place like how a dog would when looking for a bone. And though he was able to dig at a much faster pace than Toto was, the sand that he was throwing out was landing in the hole that the old man was digging in.

"While I think his heart's in the right place, he should at least look before he digs next time," Robin laughed a little.

"Since when does he look before he jumps into anything?" Nami asked as Toto began yelling at him to stop filling his hole with sand. Luffy looked back at him with a blank look, not getting what the problem was.

"I'll never get done with you filling my holes!" Toto exclaimed in annoyance.

"But... I'm digging just like you old guy," Luffy said innocently.

"Yes, but that's not what the problem is," Chopper said as they all laughed.

"No! I'm digging holes and you're filling them up! The sand that you're digging is going into the hole I'm digging. In other words you aren't helping!" Toto yelled, waving his arms around as he tried to explain it to him.

Luffy blinked at that, before he said, "Ah. A mystery hole, huh?!" and then he went back to digging like before and Toto irritably gave up.

"A mystery hole? Really?" Usopp asked sarcastically. "Is it that hard to understand, Luffy?"

"Trying to talk to him is like talking to a five-year-old on math problems," Zoro shrugged.

"Thankfully, some members of this crew do all the thinking otherwise we'd be dead a long time ago," Nami said, putting her hand on Robin's shoulder. They watched as Luffy continued to dig down and down into the ground, the hole looking more like a well with every second. But Luffy kept going until the memory faded when he fell asleep in mid-dig.

"Wow, he was able to dig all that in less than an hour? And he must've been tired from the trip," Chopper stated.

"He was probably moved by Toto-san's resolve to keep Yuba alive," Brook said. "And so he wanted to at least help out a little bit."

The memory came and they were back in the desert in the bright daylight. Toto was there, sending them off. "I'm so sorry I didn't have more to offer you Princess Vivi," he told her regretfully.

"He's very hospitable, isn't he?" Brook said simply. "I would've liked to meet him."

"Oh, he was very good to us," Nami agreed with Vivi telling him that he didn't need to worry about it, and thanked him for what he had done. But as they turned to leave, Toto quickly remembered something and pulled out a tiny barrel of water that could be worn around the neck, and gave it to Luffy.

"OH WATER!" Luffy and Usopp cried happily. "You found some then?" Luffy asked happily.

"I guess that it does pay off to keep working at something even when others tell you that it's pointless," Franky stated, his heart feeling all warm at such fortitude.

"Yes, it was last night a bit after you fell asleep digging that huge hole of yours," he answered with a smile. "I finally reached a moist layer underneath all the dry stuff. That water there is the moisture I was able to extract from the damp sand."

"Woah, that sounds pretty complicated, but thank you," Luffy answered.

"That was all the water that we had too," Usopp sighed enviously.

"Well, one good turn deserves another," Robin answered. "He just wanted to thank him for working so hard."

"That right there is genuine Yuba water," Toto finished, "It's not much, but it was all I was able to get."

"Right," Luffy said firmly, "Then I'll drink it with care!"

"Yeah, I was surprised," Nami stated when they waved off to Toto and continued walking through the desert, heading back the way they came, "He was very careful with it."

After a few minutes of walking however, Luffy suddenly flopped down up against a dead tree and sat there, not moving a muscle. The others didn't notice at first until Usopp finally realizes it and yells at him to get up and move.

"What's with him?" Franky asked as Luffy just sat there with a pout on his face as they turned back and asked just what was going on. He looked them all in the eye and said, "I quit!"

"Huh?" they all asked.

"He quits?" Brook said alarmed. "That's not like him!"

"He quits doing all this Vivi's way is what he means," Zoro explained, "And I have to agree. I was sick of wandering around in the desert."

"What's that mean?" Vivi asked, "Quit what, Luffy?"

"Oh come on," memory Usopp said, "We don't have time to put up with every weird little mood you have right now, Luffy. Let's go."

"Yeah, shouldn't we get going?" memory Chopper added.

"Yes, we should and fast," past Sanji said. "If we don't get back to that Katorea place where we came and stop the rebellion that's about to begin than a million Alabasta citizens are gonna start fighting and things are gonna get real ugly real quick! We're doing this for Vivi!"

"And if they had done it her way then this whole country would've been dead long before they got to Katorea," Robin answered, a little fascinated that Luffy had noticed this as well.

Memory Sanji walked forward and grabbed him by his front and tried to get him to move, but surprisingly, Luffy grabbed him by the arm and threw him aside.

"WHAT IS WRONG WITH YOU?!" past Sanji roared out, looking dangerous as he got back to his feet.

"Yeah, he sure wasn't acting like himself," Usopp stated.

"He was doing what Vivi wanted up till now because he thought that it would be the best way to stop the rebellion, but since that didn't work out, he's doing it his way," Zoro shrugged.

Luffy glared at them all before he looked right to Vivi. "Vivi?"

"Yes?" she asked softly, clearly wondering what he was going to say.

"Right now all I wanna do is kick Crocodile's ass you understand?" he demanded, and for the first time he looked really angry and they were all taken aback by that.

"I don't think I've seen such a scary look on his face since Little Garden," Brook stated, remembering the fury on his captain's face when the giant's battle was interrupted.

"Well, someone had to stand up to Vivi and tell her the whole, hard truth I suppose," Robin said softly as Vivi looked alarmed at the look on his face.

"Maybe we can keep the people from starting a rebellion, that won't stop Crocodile," Luffy said firmly, in a serious voice that was nearly unheard of from him, "Besides, we won't be able to accomplish anything in Katorea." Everyone stared at him as he explained, "We're pirates. Everyone knows that things are better off without us around."

"You got to admit he has a way of getting straight to the point when he really wants to," past Sanji admitted grudgingly, folding his arms.

"Well... yeah..." memory Usopp admitted. "But not often."

"Yeah, only when it counts," Franky laughed as Vivi tried to counter this by telling him that it wasn't true.

"Who does she think she's kidding?" Usopp sighed. "We show up and all hell breaks loose no matter where we go."

"You wanted it to work out so that nobody dies in this fight," Luffy went on, "Isn't that right Vivi? None of the citizens... and none of us either. We're up against one of the 7 Warlords of the Sea and a million of your own people on top of that. And you still want everyone to end up all safe and sound." He looked up at her, "You'll never win that way."

"It's said but it's also true," said Robin grimly. "After all, even if you made it back to Katorea in record time, it would've been too late."

"You mean they left Katorea as well?" Brook asked at once.

"Not yet by this point. But Crocodile had it all planned out," Robin explained. "He would drive the rebels over the edge by launching an attack that would cause them to want to finish this rebellion once and for all."

Past Nami was telling Luffy off, asking if he could at least try showing Vivi some sympathy, but surprisingly, Sanji held out his arm and told her to stop.

"For what?" she demanded.

"Because I think that Vivi needed to face up to the truth too," Sanji admitted, "She was in denial the whole time."

"About what?" Chopper asked in confusion.

"There's nothing wrong with not wanting people to die," Zoro said, "However..."

But Vivi stepped forward, she was shaking from head to foot, her face contorted with rage as she pulled her hood down, finally shouting, "AND WHAT'S WRONG WITH THAT, HUH? WHAT'S SO WRONG WITH NOT WANTING TO SEE PEOPLE TO DIE OR GET HURT?!"

Luffy looked at her and said coldly, "Cause people die, that's why!"

"Luffy you didn't have to say it like that!" current Nami said angrily.

Vivi snapped. She went right up to him and slapped him so hard that he went flying from the tree and suddenly she was screaming to the heavens, "STOP TALKING LIKE THAT I WON'T LISTEN TO IT!" Taking deep breaths she yelled, "SAY THAT AGAIN AND I WILL REALLY HURT YOU! THAT'S THE WHOLE POINT OF WHAT WE'RE DOING HERE DON'T YOU UNDERSTAND?! NO ONE HERE IN ALABASTA, NOT THE REBEL ARMY, NOT THE ROYAL ARMY, NOT ANY OF THE CIITZENS IS TO BLAME FOR THIS! NONE OF THEM HAVE DONE ANYTHING WRONG! WHY SHOULD ANY OF THEM HAVE TO PAY FOR WHAT'S HAPPENED?! WHEN EVERY LAST BIT OF IT IS CROCODILE'S FAULT!"

Zoro's eye soften in sympathy—but only a little bit because she was the one who didn't understand. She had lived a very sheltered life up till now, not fully understanding what a war meant. There has never been a war where no one got hurt, and someone had to slap her awake. What she wanted was nothing but fantasy.

"And she just came to the only way to stop this fighting," Robin stated softly. "Crocodile. It was all his fault, and so long as he stayed in the game, then this fighting was never going to end. She was foolish to believe that she could solve this without sacrificing anything."

Nami looked over at them as Zoro finished, "It no longer matters if they were being tricked or not. The rebels had made up their minds of their own free will. They were the ones who convinced themselves that there was no other way out but to fight. We did nothing but waste our energy trying to stop the rebels if there was a chance that they wouldn't listen. Crocodile would've won no matter what if we didn't take him out. Ending this whole thing, there were bound to be some causalities. But that is something that she had to accept and battle on."

Nami didn't say anything as she looked down. She supposed that she should've guess this as well. After all, fighting on your own doesn't do much but backfire in the end... at least that's what she learned the hard way. It was harsh, but they all silently agreed that Vivi had to finally accept the hard reality of what was happening here.

Luffy got back to his feet and to everyone's astonishment, Luffy punched her so hard that he knocked her to the ground before he screamed out, "So you're saying it's only alright... FOR YOU TO DIE?!"

The past selves were all stunned that he had gone and hurt her. "No, Luffy! You've gone too far!" past Usopp screamed as Chopper gapped at him, with memory Sanji rolling up his sleeves looking ready to take him out for hitting a woman. But Vivi was far from over; with a wild scream she tackled him to the ground.

"Just being in this country one day and taking a look around, even I can tell!" Luffy yelled as Vivi began to punch and hit him as hard as she could muster. They knew that it couldn't have really hurt him, but Luffy just kept talking, letting her take out all of her anger on him.

"Tell what?!" Vivi screamed, and for a moment she no longer looked like herself. It was then they realized that she looked a great deal like how Nami looked when she had failed to stop her own village rushing off to fight Arlong after he betrayed her. How she lost it completely and started to stab her own arm until Luffy stopped her.

Here, Vivi was realizing that everything she did no longer mattered and she was like a lost child without any idea to what to do now. But Luffy could see that as he yelled out, "What this country needs more than anything! You think that just by putting your life on the line is enough to stop this from happening?!"

"Well then what is it that I should be putting on the line with it then, Luffy?!" Vivi yelled, looking completely mad here. "What Luffy?!" she demanded as Luffy finally put his hands up held back her fists as she gasped for breath. As he stopped her, she seemed to calm down as she gasped out in defeat, "I don't have anything else I can put on the line... just... just me..."

"Did she forget about us already?" Usopp asked quietly. This was hard to watch... it was almost as bad as seeing it the first time—he glanced back to see some of their horrified and shocked expressions as they watched the two fight. "We were still here, but she wasn't even noticing us."

"She supposed that as the princess of this land mean that she had to do it on her own," Sanji sighed, wishing that he had noticed how much pain and anger that she was carrying around all this time. Damn it, how could that idiot have seen it all before he did?

"This was good for her," Zoro said with a proud smirk on his face. "While we all did learn a lot about responsibly from her, she had a lot to learn from all of us about trust and asking for help."

Luffy finally threw her off him as he yelled out at the top of his lungs, "YOU CAN AT LEAST TRY PUTTING ALL OF OUR LIVES ON THE LINE TOGETHER?! AREN'T WE FRIENDS? HUH?"

"And that, was the one thing she needed to hear more than anything else," Chopper said, knowing how powerful those words were. He wants to help her for no other reason than the fact that they were friends. They could all feel it... Luffy didn't care what he had to do here... but when he defends a friend... he fights until the very end.

Vivi stared at him, completely speechless by what he said and tears began to form. "Well?" he demanded in a quieter tone, "Aren't we friends?"

But Vivi couldn't answer as she began to cry as he reached over to pick up his hat that fell off during the fight, "There... now you see. Now you understand. Hey, you can cry?"

She didn't answer as she broke down completely, sobbing opening into her hands as the tension seemed to disappear around them. Dusting off the sand from his hat, Luffy admitted, "I know how much you hate this, you wanna get Crocodile the most."

"She always did her best to hide how she was feeling," Nami said knowingly as her past self came over and hugged Vivi tightly as she sobbed. "I don't know how long it had been, but I'm guessing it's been a long time that she held in those feelings."

"I truly feel for her," Brook said softly, "To want to do something to save the ones you care for, but feeling so helpless."

Everyone stood around them, each one knew what was coming... waiting for orders. Luffy put his hat back on and stood up, "So now tell me... where can I find Crocodile?"

It took several minutes for Vivi to cry herself dry before she was able to choke back her sobs and rubbed her red yes. "Luffy... Luffy was right," she stuttered as she brought herself back to the matter at hand.

"That's a sentence you don't hear very often," Usopp joked as Vivi grew a face full of determination.

"I've made up my mind now. Change of plans," she said, "We're gonna go and find Crocodile."

"Yeah," Luffy agreed.

"I was with Luffy, I don't think there's any other choice for us," Zoro stated. "We have to intercept Crocodile."

"That does seem like the quickest way to stop the fighting from happening," memory Nami agreed with them after everything seemed to calm down and relax.

"And we can quit wandering around in the desert too," past Zoro added, "It was beginning to get old."

"It was just our luck," current Zoro sighed. "No matter what we chose to do, it was just more sand up my nose."

"So where is he anyway?" memory Sanji asked, "This damn Crocodile guy?"

"Let's see," Vivi said, pulling out a map and they all gathered around her, and she began pointing out where the capital Alubarna was and the city of Katorea. And even with Eyelash, there was no way they could hope to reach it before something happened. But she pointed to another city to the north called Rainbase, which was where Crocodile would be. She told them all that if they started walking now, they could make it there before the sun went down.

Soon they were walking again, but it didn't take long for everyone to start complaining and groaning. Especially from Luffy and Usopp. They followed the memories through the walk through the desert, none of them really talking, and just enjoying the time of watching them argue. Past Nami was getting annoyed and snapped at them to stop moaning all the time.

"I don't see why you were complaining all the time," Nami said casually.

"Hey! You and Vivi got to ride the stupid camel the whole time!" Usopp snapped back as the past Usopp and Luffy began arguing with Nami. "But we had to walk!" he reminded her. Meanwhile, past Chopper asked Vivi if Rainbase had any water there, and Vivi nodded, admitting that there was no shortage there. And it was a gambling town that pretty much avoided all the fighting in the war.

"I guess people need places to relax, even here in Alabasta," past Sanji said just as Luffy and Usopp began a game of keep away with the water that Toto gave him; and he was stretching his arms out to keep it out of Usopp's grasp.

"Come on Luffy just give me one sip of it!" memory Usopp whined, "Isn't that why he gave it to you?"

"The old guy from the sandstorm place gave it to me!" Luffy said stubbornly, "He had to dig all night just to get this much of it! We can't go drinking it like its regular water or something so no way!"

"Maybe we should start using that as an excuse more often to keep him from wasting anything," Nami said thoughtfully. "He was very protective of it, and took only tiny sips the whole way. I was very impressed."

"Wow," past Nami called, "you can restrain yourself sometimes."

He retorted that of course he could before he turned to Vivi and asked how long it would be before they reached Rainbase. She smiled as she jumped down from Eyelash and said, "Hey Luffy?" she said, "Thanks a lot. I'd never would've been able to make this decision on my own."

"It's good to see that she now has a better idea to what you all need to do," Brook said. "I'm sure that it must've been a hard choice for her."

"Yes, but now she knows that living in a fantasy isn't going to help," Zoro said. "It was a gamble, but it sure paid off in the end."

Luffy's tongue rolled out of his head and said, "Ok then give me food."

"Huh?" she asked as he slammed his fists together. "After I beat up Crocodile then give me food! I'll eat until I explode!"

She smiled wider. "I promise I will."

"Seems like a reasonable price," Franky said, thinking it over. "Save her country for food."

"It was so good," Chopper sighed, patting his belly at the memory of it.

"Hey, Sanji you got some recipes from there right?" Usopp asked, "Think you can make some of them when we get back?"

"No problem," Sanji said, cracking his knuckles together. "Might be a little difficult since we don't have some of the spices from there, but it shouldn't be too hard."

"It would be delightful to try some of the Alabasta food," Brook said, "My stomach is aching just thinking about it. Not that I have a stomach to begin with! Yohohoho!"

The next memory they were standing on the dune where they could make out the city in the distance. Unlike Yuba or Erumalu, this city seemed to be green and thriving with life. Even from this far away, they could see that there were hundreds of people bustling around and doing their shopping.

"YEAH!" Luffy screamed, double punching the air. "TIME TO KICK CROCODILE'S ASS!"

"Not bad," Franky whistled out when he saw it. "By the way. Did Baroque Works know that you were about to show off and make their lives miserable?"

Past Zoro must've been thinking along the same lines because he suddenly asked, "So after all that's happened. Are we operating under the assumption that Baroque Works knows that we're here on the island with them?"

"That seems likely," memory Nami said, "We did run into Mr. 2 so I think it's safe to say that they have at least some idea that we were heading to Alabasta."

"Who cares about that?" Luffy asked in annoyance as Usopp explained that if they knew what they looked like then they had to stay low or else Crocodile would find some way to get rid of them. But naturally, Luffy didn't listen as he charged off, looking for water and they watched him go running off before the images around them faded and they were standing near the edge of the forest and could spot several hills through the remaining trees.

"All the chaos those two get us in," Nami sighed, "We could chain them to a tree and they'd still find some way to get into trouble now wouldn't they?"

"But they do make life exciting!" Brook laughed happily and suddenly they were back in the middle of a crowded street with shouting and screams going on.

"What's happening now?" Franky asked as Sanji jerked his thumb down the street to see that their familiar group were running towards them. Luffy and Usopp were both carrying large barrels of water with Smoker and the marines right on their heels.

"Where'd he come from?" Brook yelled out in shock. "I thought that Ace-san already dealt with him!"

"He helped us escape, but apparently both of them made it out of that fight without any injuries," Sanji said as Luffy screamed out, "Hey you guys! I think the Marines are here!"

"Yeah, and they just had to lure them right back to us," Nami sighed. "And it was after this that we all decided that Luffy had to be chaperoned everywhere we go so that we don't run into something like this again."

"You mean it only took you until now to realize that?" Robin asked in enjoyment.

"Shows how much we know doesn't it?" Zoro asked as his past self yelled back sarcastically at them, "Hey thank you we hadn't noticed that, Luffy!

"Hurry up! We can't lose them this time men!" one of the marines yelled.

"This is bad!" memory Usopp yelled as the crowds moved back to prevent themselves from getting run over, "Baroque Works will see us if we run through the city!"

"I'm afraid that there was no point," Robin informed them all with amusement.

"So you did know that we were here?" Chopper asked her.

"Knew? All we had to do was open a window and we could hear you all yelling," she informed them. And she was right because as they ran, they could see people from all sides, watching from behind curtains in the buildings, down alleyways, even in plain sight as they ran past were all watching them with pictures.

Past Zoro was the first of the memory selves to notice, "I think it's a little too late for that Usopp."

"Then it's decided!" Luffy yelled and Vivi turned to stare back at him, "To where Crocodile is! How about it? Ready?"

"Oh yeah! This is gonna be sweet to see!" Franky yelled eagerly.

"Crocodile doesn't stand a chance!" Chopper called just as eagerly as Vivi pointed ahead of them.

"Do you see that building up ahead with the alligator on its roof?!" she screamed. It was hard not to notice, it was clearly the largest building in this whole town, and with the large alligator on the roof, it was only too clear of where Crocodile would be. "That's the casino that Crocodile runs! It's called Rain Dinners!"

"I see it!" Luffy said in understanding, "So that's where Crocodile is!"

"What I don't get is why it's an alligator when his name is Crocodile!" Usopp gasped, truly sick of all the running they had done since they got here.

"What's the difference?" Zoro called as memory Sanji yelled that it would be best if they split up for now. And he had a point, with Smoker and the rest of the Marines, as well as the Baroque Works members likely covering the city... it was their only choice.

"Right! See ya later!" Luffy laughed as they all split when they reached a building. Viv and Zoro went on way, as Sanji, Usopp, and Nami went another. Luffy went running up, jumping up on an awning and into the air. "Don't die!" he added, before he looked back to Smoker and stuck his tongue out at him like how he did with those Lapahns once before. The last thing they heard was Smoker's voice screaming out, "You've got some real nerve there, Straw Hat! But don't think you can run forever!"

"You all barely made it here and it's just one thing after another," Robin stated calmly.

"We spent like half an hour running around trying to lose these guys," Nami sighed. "Me and Usopp found our way to the casino and not long after that, Zoro and Luffy showed up."

"And you took out Crocodile?" Brook asked excitedly.

"I wish," Usopp mumbled, "We fell right into his trap with Smoker and almost ended up drowning and eaten."

"What?" Chopper asked in surprise.

"In other words they would've died for sure if I didn't come in and save them all," Sanji bragged.

"Shut up!" Zoro snapped, "You took so damn long to get down there. It was by luck that we weren't dead by then."

"What'd you say?" Sanji yelled back.

"Enough you two," Nami snapped as the memory reappeared. They were just in front of the casino—it was in the shame of a pyramid with lots of typical plants and even surrounded by a lake—the front door on the other side of a bridge with Nami, Usopp, and Zoro all there.

Luffy was still running from Smoker and when he saw them there he yelled, "HEY YOU GUYS! LET'S GO! WE HAVE TO GET INSIDE NOW!"

"Right behind you!" past Usopp yelled without any problems at all as Luffy ran past them all and they were on the bridge. As soon as Luffy realized where they were heading, he began to scream out at the top of his lungs that he was going to kick Crocodile's ass..

"You know, that's not really a good idea," Brook said worriedly as they ran, more members of Baroque Works had appeared and were shooting at them. As memory Zoro went to deal with them, he finished, "Because if he's considered a hero here...?"

"Yeah," Nami answered, her heart beating hard against her chest, "But desperate times call for desperate measures!"

They went bursting through the front doors, though no one gave them any notice, even as Luffy kept screaming for Crocodile to come out so that he could kick his ass. Thankfully both past Nami and Usopp both hit him from behind. "That's not gonna make him come out here you loud-mouth dope!"

"Don't forget!" memory Usopp added as past Zoro caught up with them, "We're dealing with this country's hero! You wanna turn all these customers against us?"

"Alright fine!" Luffy snapped at them, "So what do we do?"

"Go looking through the crowds until you find him?" Franky suggested as past Usopp suddenly realized that they didn't even know what Crocodile looked like without Vivi and they realized that she wasn't anywhere in sight.

"VIVI! CROCODILE! COME OUT!" all three were now screaming out with Zoro shaking his head.

"What were you thinking?" Robin laughed.

"We weren't," Usopp admitted, also laughing at how they were acting. "There wasn't anything else we could do like this?"

"You idiot," Sanji yelled at Zoro, "Weren't you in charge of protecting her?!"

"Hey! I told her to go on ahead while I dealt with the jerks chasing us!" he shouted back. "I don't know what happened!"

"I got you this time Straw Hat!" yelled a voice.

"Smoker!" past Nami screamed as they all looked behind them to see Captain Smoker running across the bridge towards them. It was largely crowded, filled with people playing cards, rolling dice, or playing the slots. The noise and bright lights were a bit disorientating after their time in the desert.

"You think you can just stroll in anywhere you like and I won't find you?!" he demanded and they all turned and ran.

"Oh great!" memory Usopp yelled. "What's that refugee from an ashtray doing in a casino in Rainbase?"

"If you ask me I'd say he's developed a special affection for Luffy here!" Zoro joked. Again, the people hardly paid attention to them as they ran through the room, practically trampling everything in their path.

"Maybe so," Robin answered, not looking forward to seeing what happened next. "He must obviously see Luffy as a big threat since he escaped from Lougetown. He must've come here just for the sake of capturing him."

"You kidding?" Chopper gasped, "So he's going to keep chasing us?"

"Don't know, we haven't seen the guy since we left Rainbase, so maybe he gave up?" Sanji offered. On they ran, even running right over some of the guards like they were just bumps in the road. Something else happened as they ran through the crowd. A group of people were waiting for them, leading them to the V.I.P room.

"Did he just say the V.I.P lounge?" past Usopp yelled in shock.

"Hold on!" past Nami screamed out, "Do you think that it's a trap maybe?!"

"Yes, it was," Robin nodded, still can't believing how easy it was to catch them.

"Hey, don't these lounge things have free drinks for their guests?" Zoro in the memory asked.

"Why would you be worried about that?!" present-day Usopp yelled at him.

"I could really go for a drink," current Zoro said, his throat feeling dried up. He was so sick of travelling around through these memories without having a hard drink with him.

"It's not like we have a choice! Run for it!" Luffy yelled as they barged through the doors and down a long hallway. At the end of the hall, it split into two paths... there were a pair of signs there with one saying 'V.I.P's', and the other said 'PIRATES'. Naturally, they turned down the path that said 'PIRATES' and led them to a dead in where the floor beneath them opened up and they fell into the darkness and then faded.

"Didn't see that coming," Franky said with a dead-panned expression

"Can't believe we fell for that," Nami hissed, rubbing her forehead in annoyance. "I said that it was a trap but we all walked right into it."

In the next memory they were in a large room, with the windows like the aquarium... and so they supposed that they had to be under the lake. But what got their attention was that the five of them were inside a large stone and iron cage. Nami was already yelling at them all about this and Luffy just ignored her, looking pretty sick as he held onto the bars.

"Luffy!" past Zoro yelled as Smoker stood up and when Luffy turned, he struck him with his jutte, holding him down by the tip of his weapon.

"You know, I don't think that now is such a good idea to be picking a fight," Chopper said fearfully, remembering how strong this guy was.

"What's wrong?" Luffy asked, his tongue rolling out once again and his eyes becoming glazed over. "I feel so helpless. It's like when I fall into the sea."

The others were gathered around, each of them demanding to know what Smoker did to him. That was when he confessed all about the Sea-Prism Stone. How it somehow gives off a wavelength that is the same as the sea itself. Upon contact the material drains the victim's body of energy, and negates their Devil Fruit powers - having the same effect as throwing them into the sea. The tip of his jutte was made of it as well and he explained that this cage is also built of it, which is why he hasn't broken out yet.

Zoro slowly began to pull his sword out, looking ready to fight to fight him. Nami and Usopp tried to tell them to stop, that there was no point in fighting here.

"What did you want me to do?" Zoro asked in annoyance. "Wait until he let Luffy go?"

"Maybe, but there was no point in fighting each other in that little cage when we didn't know what was going on!" Nami snapped at him.

That was when an unfamiliar voice, one that was deep and relaxed with a hint of mockery, suddenly spoke up. "She's right... give it up." They all looked up to see a large chair it's back to them. "You're all gonna die together," the same voice said mockingly, "So why not make an effort to get along first?" the voice said.

"Huh, it's Crocodile," Smoker said and the figure in the chair turned to face them. It was here that they got their first glimpse of the villain that they crossed a desert and an ocean to reach. A tall man with a wide chest, broad shoulders, and a thick neck was sitting there in the chair. He also had nape-length, deep black-purple hair which is kept neatly slicked back with a long stitched scar above his nose that stretches across his face. But what they all noticed was that he was missing his left hand—and instead it was replaced with a large golden hook.

He smirked evilly at them all from where he sat, as if he had this whole thing planned out from the very start. As soon as Smoker confirmed that it was Crocodile, Luffy was growling as everyone stared.

"So..." Franky said quietly, "That's Crocodile."

"Yeah, and I can't say that I miss this guy," Zoro stated grouchily.

Smoker finally pulled his weapon off Luffy as he glared at him. "Huh, you're every bit the lowlife sea scum I imagined," he stated.

"My, my," Crocodile said silkily, getting up from his chair. "You're every bit the wild dog I've heard you were Smoker. Unlike your superiors you've never really believed I was on your side have you? And of course, you were right."

"That's what makes Smoker different from most of the Marines who foolishly believe that the Warlords are loyal to the Government," Robin said softly, glad that her past self wasn't seen just yet. "The World Government should know better than to believe that they can control them. As far as I'm aware of, none of the Warlords except for Kuma is truly loyal to them. And Kuma is now a human weapon... a puppet."

"You know Smoker, I have a feeling you'll die bravely in the line of duty," Crocodile went on, "I'll be more than happy to inform the government that you put up a valiant fight against the vicious Straw Hat Pirate here." He stepped out from behind the desk and walked calmly over to them. "I haven't the vaguest idea what really brought you to this country, but I'm guessing you're on your own. We both know that the government would never order you to come to this land. They have every confident in me, a Warlord of the Sea."

"Listen to that smug voice of his," Usopp hissed, his hand now itching towards his slingshot, "This guy thinks that he can control people however he wants!"

"He could," Robin said sadly. This was the reason that she went to him, those years she worked for him didn't make her happy or proud of what she was doing, and she always had to stay on guard for any betrayal. And in the end, he did betray her as well...

"You big old bag of wind," Luffy yelled, rolling over to glared at him, "you're Crocodile?" He got up and grabbed hold of the bars, "Come and fight me like a man you big dumb..." but his voice became slurred as Usopp yelled at him to let go of the bars.

"Straw Hat Luffy," Crocodile said smoothly, "I congratulate you on getting this far, and I promise to dispose of you neatly and efficiently. Once our special guest of honor has made her appearance."

"A guest?" past Nami repeated anxiously.

"While even as we speak, my partner is on the way to fetch her," he said. And so he calmly sat down at the table to enjoy his meal, which only made everyone angry that he was so calm with them trapped like this. But with nothing else they could do, the only thing was to wait.

"His partner?" Brook said softly, looking to Robin, who was looking away, looking embarrassed. "He meant you didn't he?"

"He told me to go and get the princess," she answered simply.

"You didn't hurt her did you?" Sanji asked. He didn't sound angry or anything... just curious.

"A little," Robin answered, "But nothing serious." No... it was the man who was known as Pell the Falcon that she really did a number on.

No one criticized or scolded her for that as they went back to watching the whole scene. It was ironic... even having finally met the one who orchestrated the whole mess in Alabasta, Luffy and the others with him were unable to do anything to get at Crocodile because of the cage they were in.

It seemed to take forever as they waited. Crocodile merely sat at the table, enjoying his meal while Luffy and Usopp passed the time copying people with Zoro catching a quick nap. But over time, Nami seemed to grow more and more angry and finally ended up smacking the two to get them to stop clowning around.

"Get serious! How can you two screw around when we're in this desperate situation?!" she yelled.

"Well we can't get out so what else is there for us to do?!" Luffy demanded.

"The fact that we can't get out is the reason it's so desperate!" memory Nami screamed out, "If we don't do something soon we're gonna wind up dead! And why are you sleeping?!" she turned to Zoro and knocked him awake.

"What was I doing?" Zoro demanded her.

"Well, you weren't doing us any good asleep!" she barked at him.

"Didn't you coming up with any ideas to how we were supposed to get out of that dump!" he growled back.

Crocodile seemed to be growing tired of their talk and looked to her as he said, "You're certainly a high-spirited young lady."

Memory Nami smirked back, telling him that he better enjoy it while he could because as soon as they got out of this cage the boys were going to kick his ass which Luffy yelled out confidently. Crocodile didn't seem the least bit concerned.

"Your crewmembers seem to put a lot of trust in your talents Straw Hat Luffy," he said in amusement, "How foolish. I think trust is completely unnecessary."

"Yes, and he has never trusted anyone..." Robin whispered back.

"Well, look at where that got him!" Usopp said bitterly.

"Who does he think he is sneering at us?!" memory Nami demanded as Usopp tried to tell her not to say anything she'd regret before she made him angry.

"Yeah, at the moment I couldn't have cared less," current Nami said intensely. "Just that everything about this guy made me angry.

"Crocodile!" yelled a voice above them and up on the stairs were two women. Vivi and Robin.

"Vivi!" the ones in the cage called.

"We sure that's you?" Franky asked Robin, seeing the cold and expressionless look on her face—and not really believing that was the same woman who was standing next to him.

"I wonder that myself," she answered back softly, looking at the person she had once been.

"My humble greetings Vivi, royal princess of Alabasta, I mean Miss Wednesday," Crocodile said mockingly, leaning back in his chair, "I complement you on evading all our assassins in order to get this far."

Vivi was shaking in rage as she glared down at him. "You have no idea what I'd do, or how far I'd go to see you dead Mr. 0," she whispered, her voice trembling before she snapped, much like how she did at the desert when she smacked Luffy.

"I WISH YOU HAD DIED IN YOUR CRADLE YOU MONSTER!" she screamed as she charged at them. The ones in the cage screamed at her to let them out instead, that she couldn't take him on her own, but she ignored them as she pulled out her weapon. She threw it, striking his head as he had causally stuck a cigar into his mouth. At first it looked like she had done it, for his head was gone.

Brook, Franky, and Chopper let out cries of shock at seeing his missing head. But there was no reason for them to yell.

"Not gonna work," Smoker said and the rest of Crocodile's body had turned to sand, spinning around like a small tornado and his body, still missing his head, appeared behind Vivi and grabbed hold of her. "Feel better?" he asked discourteously, "As a native of this country, you should surely know that I have the power of the Sand Sand Fruit."

"Sand Sand...?" Brook repeated carefully.

"It's a Logia power," Robin answered. "Crocodile has the power of sand. This fruit is quite powerful, even among Logia. Not only can he control and become sand, he can also create quicksand, set off sandstorms and absorb liquids."

Crocodile's head suddenly reappeared and he asked something that made them all feel cold. "Want to become a mummy?"

"So Vivi-san knew?" Brook whispered quietly. "That he had this kinda power?"

"If she didn't, I'd be very surprised," Robin answered as Luffy began screaming at him to leave her alone, warning that if he hurt her he'd have to deal with him.

"Then why didn't she tell any of you about it?" Franky demanded loudly. "You could've spent that time walking trying to figure out a way to beat him!"

They all shrugged, not sure how to answer that as Crocodile forced Vivi to sit in the chair opposite of him. "I trust you'll be comfortable there," he told her. "I must say that your timing is perfect. The party is about to begin isn't that right Miss All-Sunday?"

"Party?" memory Nami asked as memory Robin pulled out a watch. "It's exactly noon right now," she said softly, "Time for Operation Utopia."

"What are you all talking about?" Franky asked, now lost to this whole thing.

"This was Crocodile's true plan from the very start," Robin answered as Luffy asked what this was about. But Crocodile just laughed insanely at that, looking back to Vivi.

"It will mean the demise of the Kingdom of Alabasta, Miss Wednesday," he said, "I'm going to wipe it off the face of the map as if it never was. All people, great and small, will be sucked into eternal darkness as they rive in agony. Let Operation Utopia... begin!"

"Ok, is it just me or is this guy completely insane?" Sanji asked.

"It's not just you," Nami muttered as Crocodile laughed darkly at his sick and twisted plans. Vivi struggled against the ropes that now bound her to the chair, demanding to know what he was planning on doing to Alabasta. She let him know that if he planned on killing her father, he'd be dead before he could even get close to him. But he didn't seem bothered by that. Instead, he let her know that he didn't think that her father was even worth killing and instead he was going to let him face something crueler than death. Vivi demanded to know what she was going on, screaming that he tell her what he was planning. Crocodile smirked and confessed his whole plan to her. How he planned to finish this country once and for all.

He had his agents kidnap her father and when Mr. 2 disguised himself as him, he was going to have him attack the citizens, believing that the king had betrayed them. Here, the rebels would have the motivation they wanted. They would soon storm the capital and that would be the end of it all...

He laughed again as they all glared at him.

"How horrible," Brook whispered, stunned at hearing all this.

"This guy doesn't deserve to live, he's got no soul," Sanji hissed, wishing that he could've kicked this guy's sandy ass for what he put Vivi through.

"Listen to that power-dripping laugh, he's enjoying all this!" Franky roared out, smacking his fists together. "He's dead if I ever met him!"

"Well... do you like it?" Crocodile asked her, as if asking for her option on this whole plan. "The operation you once participated in is now reached fruition. If you listen closely, I'd wager you can hear the howls of the kingdom. And they all scream the same thing... protect Alabasta... protect Alabasta... protect Alabasta..."

"SSSSSTTTTOOOOPPPPP IIIIITTTTT!" Vivi screamed out, sounding close to crying again. "HOW ARE YOU SO CRUEL?!"

"He's sick," Zoro said, his hand on his swords.

"Taunting her like this," Brook said furiously, "It's like he's rubbing it all in her face!"

Crocodile only chuckled. "It's heartbreaking isn't it? Their love for their kingdom will be what destroys it."

That was too much for Luffy. He charged at the cage again and was now attempting to break it apart with his bear hands.

"He won't be able to get through those bars," Robin said rubbing her wrists. "After all, Sea-Prism Stone is as hard as diamond. Breaking it is almost impossible."

"Is he stupid?" Smoker suddenly asked Zoro in the background. "Didn't he hear what I said before?"

"I'm sure he did, he just doesn't care," Usopp said knowingly.

"He's definitely stupid," memory Zoro admitted, a smile on his face. "But... that's also the reason he's our captain."

"Why else would we keep him around?" Nami said scolding, though they all knew that she didn't mean a word of that.

"Crocodile..." Luffy snarled, "I am so gonna... kick your... ass."

"You know what?" Crocodile said, as if bored. "I've had to make so many moves to be able to get to this point. The sabotage to enflame the citizens... manipulating the royal army..." he looked back to Vivi, "Do you have any idea to why I'd go to such lengths? To destroy this country?"

"As if I'd understand anything inside your foul mind," Vivi snarled.

"Why did he?" Chopper asked, suddenly wondering that very same thing.

"He was looking for something," Robin answered. "For apparently there was a weapon that was hidden somewhere here. One so powerful that it was given the name of a god. The Pluton..."

"The-the Pluton?!" Franky yelled, his eyes wide and feeling as if he had been struck in the chest.

"Pluton?" Usopp repeated lost.

"You've heard of it, Franky-san?" Brook asked, also wondering what they were talking about.

Franky took several deep breaths. "Yeah. My mentor... the man who taught me everything I know about shipbuilding, Tom, was taken away by the government because of that. See, according to legend, the Pluton was an ancient weapon that was so powerful that it could destroy an entire island with no problems. The ancient shipwrights of Water 7 had created the designs for a counter-weapon should the Pluton ever be awoken. It was passed from master to apprentice for years. But two years ago, when the government tried to take them, I had no choice but to destroy them."

"You had them?" Chopper asked in surprise.

"That's why they wanted me as well as Robin," Franky said, sharing a look with her and she nodded before Franky went on, "I don't know what this weapon can do, or where it is, but I do know that it's got some serious power."

"And that's what Crocodile was searching for?" Zoro asked, "It was in Alabasta?"

"Rather the poneglyph that talked about the Pluton was there," Robin answered. Vivi suddenly knocked her own chair over. Usopp and Nami called worriedly to her as Crocodile looked down at her. "Well, well... what are you trying to do Miss Wednesday?"

"Stop you!" she said fiercely, "I'm gonna stop you! There's still time! If I can just get to Alubarna east of here..." she dragged her body across the floor. "If I can get there before the rebel army I may be able to stop them! I'll never give up while there's a chance!"

Crocodile only chuckled.

"That bastard!" Sanji growled, "Laughing at a woman's helplessness! He's a dead man! Hell with it, death's too good for him!"

"Somehow I'm going to stop you!" Vivi declared, glaring fiercely at him, "Just watch! You won't get away with this!"

Amused by this pathetic attempt, Crocodile told her that he and Miss All Sunday were about to meet her father in Alubarna themselves. But before he left, he held up a small key.

"The key to this cell?!" Luffy yelled. "Hey! Give it!"

"Like he's going to give it to us because we asked," Usopp whispered sarcastically to himself. Crocodile merely smiled as he let the key drop as Vivi struggled with the ropes. She was able to rip them apart just as she made a wild snatch, but it was too late, Crocodile opened up a trap door and the key fell down a long shaft.

"It won't be too long until the rebels and the royal forced begin their battle to the death," Crocodile said. "Even if you hurry to Alubarna from here, who knows if you'd make it in time?" he turned back to her, "To stop the rebellion you'd need to leave at once Miss Wednesday. Will you do that? Or will you try to save your friends instead? It's your choice, but if you chose the latter, it doesn't help that I accidently dropped the key into the Banana Gator's den."

"Banana what?" Chopper said, never hearing of such a thing.

"Think of them as Terminator Gators," Usopp whispered, shivering at how enormous those things were.

Vivi gasped as she looked down the hole... "Banana Gators!"

"What are those things?" Luffy called, before he shouted, pointing to the window, "Look out the window! There's an alligator growing outta that banana!"

And as they looked, Brook shrieked at the giant gators with banana-shaped growths on their heads. Gators so big that they could've easily swallowed even someone as big as Franky in one gulp.

"In case you haven't noticed that's not the only one!" memory Nami screamed in panic.

"It looks like we're in an aquarium," Usopp yelled, sounding scared out of his mind, "I hope we're not the fish food!"

"What weird bananas," Luffy said to himself.

"How can he think that?!" Chopper screamed in fear as Usopp yelled the same thing at him. But Vivi gasped in horror as she continued staring down the hole.

"What now?" Luffy called worriedly. "Vivi what happened?"

"Really, what else could've happened here?!" Franky demanded.

"A big Banana Gator swallowed the key to your cell!" she cried.

"Things just went from bad to worse," Nami sighed, glaring at Crocodile. "We were lucky that we made it out of that mess alive. "What a nightmare that was."

"Well then go down there and make it spit it out!" Luffy yelled as if it was the most obvious thing in the world.

"You gotta be kidding, she's a breath mint to that thing!" Brook said fearfully, staring at the great size of the gators. Vivi looked up and yelled back that she didn't stand a chance; explaining that Banana Gators were so strong and dangerous that they even preyed on Sea Kings.

"They weren't that tough," Zoro said in a bored way.

"Quite comparing everyone to you superhuman freaks!" Usopp yelled at him.

"Sorry," Crocodile said, not sounding sorry in the slightest, "You might've had the key if I hadn't accidently... dropped it. And now there's no telling which one of my pets swallowed it."

"You jerk!" present-day Usopp yelled.

"Yeah! You dropped it on purpose!" Chopper added as they watched Crocodile start to leave through a hallway behind them, one made of glass and they could get a full look at least a dozen gators. Explaining further that Crocodile decided to flood the room they were in, so he presented Vivi in front of Luffy and the rest, the choice between getting to Alubarna in time or saving Luffy and those with him before the room completely filled with water in one hour. As Crocodile was explaining this challenge to Vivi, he ended up laughing at the rebels and about Toto still digging away his life in Yuba. It was then that he confessed that he was the one causing the sandstorms as well as the drought to drive the people here insane.

Vivi's face was livid. "I will kill you!" she shouted.

He just turned and headed through the door as the water began pouring into the room. Usopp freaked out at the sight of it, screaming for Vivi to help them and that he wanted to live a lot longer than one hour. Zoro than snapped at him to calm down, but Usopp was past hearing, screaming that they were going to drown like rats if they didn't get out.

Vivi however seemed to have lost the will to fight. She was crying, unsure of what to do. She knew that even if she left for Alubarna they'd kill her before she got there. She even came out and said that she knew the only way to end it was to kill him, but admitted that she was too weak to do so. But Luffy was still there, telling her that he knew that she could get them out.

"How Luffy?" she cried desperately out as Crocodile looked back at him.

"So you're finally starting to beg for your life, Straw Hat Luffy?" he said barely interested, "There's no shame in that. It's only natural, everyone's afraid of dying."

"I wouldn't say that," Sanji said, thinking back to that brief moment in Lougetown where he smiled when he thought for sure he was going to die. "Not everyone's like you Crocodile."

"I'm not begging!" Luffy snapped. "It's just that if I die, who else is gonna be able to kick your ass!"

"Don't worry," current Zoro said. "I would've done it if there was a problem."

"Sure you could," Sanji said sarcastically. "You were barely alive after dealing with that Mr. 1 guy."

"Better than you fighting a perverted ballerina," he retorted and the two were going at it with swords and kicks with Nami grinding her teeth together, wanting noting more than to kill them both.

Crocodile looked over them all as they glared at him. "Don't flatter yourselves," he said, "You small fry."

"You're a small fry who thinks he's a big shot!" Luffy retorted. Crocodile didn't seem concerned as he snapped his fingers together again and another trap door opened so that one of the Banana Gators reared its ugly head.

He turned back to Vivi and said, "You're right Miss Wednesday, I would've had you killed had you left for the capital, and of course I plan on doing the same thing here."

Vivi stared up at it in fear, clutching her weapon as it growled at her hungrily

"She's out of her league!" Sanji said, furious that it took him so long to get here and how he couldn't protect her.

"Again, you're never around when we need you," Zoro said, rolling his eye.

"Vivi!" Luffy yelled just as Zoro said that so Sanji didn't hear that remark. "You show that gator!"

"Is he nuts? It's too much for her to handle! She has to get out of there!" Brook cried out anxiously.

Past Usopp and Nami stared at him. "Are you crazy? It's too big!" Usopp yelled, "Vivi! Don't listen to this idiot! Get outta there! But ah... get us out to!"

"How can she do that without fighting?" Franky screamed out exasperatedly.

"Crocodile wasn't going to let her just leave either," Robin added sadly.

"She only has to beat one of them!" Luffy countered to them.

"NO! Look out the windows!" memory Nami cried and past Usopp screamed to see the gators were all lined up, one after the other.

"THEY'RE ALL WAITING IN LINE TO EAT US!" he screamed.

"At least we won't drown like rats," Zoro in the memory offered.

"Yeah, but getting eaten by a ginormous alligator isn't the way that I wanna go either!" he snapped back.

"You know, if we weren't all about to die here, it'd be pretty funny," Zoro said nonchalantly.

"How can you be enjoying this?!" Usopp demanded, pointing at themselves in the cage. "This was a nightmare! From beginning to end!"

"Yeah, how did you all get out of that?" Chopper asked, feeling a little bad that he wasn't able to help. But then again, if he had been there, he'd probably have been shoved into the cage with them.

Vivi glared up at the gator, it opened its mouth wide as it growled. She tried to fight, but she had to dodge as it rammed its head right into the stairs, taking the steps out with a single bite like it was cardboard. They were all screaming for her to run, as she started bleeding. But at that moment, something else happened. They received a call from the Transponder Snail that Robin had and a familiar voice sounded from it.

"That's your voice, huh Mr. Prince?" Robin asked as Sanji sighed happily at his nickname.

"Prince?" Franky said in confusion. "Who?"

"ME YOU IDIOT!" Sanji yelled, breaking off the fight with Zoro. Luffy was about to call out to Sanji, but Usopp covered his mouth. "Shut up, they don't know about him so let's keep it that way! Sanji was inside the cabin when Mr. 2 showed up so they never met! He's our Ace in the hole so zip it!"

"They say that someday your prince will come to your rescue, and it's true!" Sanji declared lovingly to Nami, who rolled her eyes.

That was when the past selves realized that Sanji and Chopper were both still outside. Sanji, nicknamed as Mr. Prince, began talking to Crocodile. It sounded like he was mocking him and showing off, but soon there were the sounds of gunfire and yells. Another's voice was saying that they dealt with him as they stared in horror as the Millions member told Crocodile to meet them in front of the casino.

"You just had to get yourself caught," Zoro said angrily. "How pathetic was that?"

"Just when I thought that you were all saved," Brook sighed.

"Hey," Sanji said to them all, "That was the point! You honestly think that I'd be that weak to be taken out by those Millions guys? It was a trap! I made it seem like I'd been captured to lure that damn gatorman outside. Chopper was acting as the decoy and while he was kept busy, I destroyed the bridge outside before I found Vivi so that I could bail Nami and the idiots out!"

"So that's what happened," Nami said as Usopp and Zoro growled at the insult.

"It was clever," Robin admitted. "We went to go out and check. Now only were the remaining employees taken out, but the destroyed bridge cost us a lot of time so that by the time that we finally made it back, you all were gone and the Banana Gators were all beaten up."

"Oh man, I really need to see how this ends," Franky said eagerly, pulling out another bottle of cola and drinking it excitedly as if expecting a great big show.

"If he's not dead he's gonna wish he was!" memory Zoro yelled with Luffy and Usopp freaking out behind him. "Cause I'm gonna kill him when I next see him!"

"Like you could kill me," Sanji said to him.

"Please, in a fight to the death, I'd clearly win!" Zoro reminded him coolly. Crocodile smirked, telling them that he'd be there.

"Is this wise?" Robin asked, reminding him that most of Baroque Works doesn't know who he is. But Crocodile dismissed it, reminding her that he owned the casino. They wouldn't wonder why he would be going to check out the trouble in front. Meanwhile Vivi was trying to climb up the destroyed stairs. The gator realized that his dinner was getting away, turned back to her. Luffy yelled at her, wanting to know what she was doing and she declared that she was going to help 'Mr. Prince'.

"Got it!" memory Usopp yelled. "There's no way he kicked the bucket! Not that guy! If you can get him free then I'm sure that he can get us free!"

"And Chopper's out there to!" memory Nami added, "So we might actually have a chance of getting out of here!"

"Don't worry my love!" Sanji declared. "You're knight in shining armor is almost there for you!"

"You couldn't have hurried up could ya?" Zoro asked him. "Though I guess that's too much for you to handle."

"You are about this far away from the beatdown of a lifetime!" Sanji roared at him.

"Bring it on! I'll cut you up into little pieces!" Zoro yelled back.

"SHUT UP!" Nami screamed at them, "GOD YOU TWO ARE GIVING ME A HEADACHE! WHAT DO WE HAVE TO DO? KEEP YOU TWO IN SEPARATE CORNERS OR SOMETHING?!"

As Vivi got up the stairs, Crocodile used his powers and his hook to pull her back down so she was smacked against the floor, knocking her out. Water was spreading as Crocodile and Robin made it to the upper stairs and were looking down, with Crocodile claiming that if she cared so much about her friends, she could die here with them before he added that he would be back with Mr. Prince after he killed him.

"Come on girl!" Franky cheered Vivi on as she slowly started to get back up once Crocodile and Robin left.

Struggling hard for breath, she pushed her face up so that they could see the blood dripping down. "They've been there for me all this time," she whispered to herself as the ones in the cage still cheered her on. "They've never let me down, so I can't let them down. And I won't let them die like this."

The gator went for her, but she used her weapon to slash its nose and it drew back in pain.

"There ya go!" Franky yelled as Chopper and Usopp cheered excitedly on. She then used the gator like stairs as she jumped back to the steps above them, the others encouraging her all the way. But when the gator went back for her, the force that it had when it hit the wall cracked the windows and even more water spilled in; gallons of water were pouring through the cracks.

"At this rate, the walls won't last much longer!" Franky called hurriedly. "It's gonna break apart!"

"At the rate it's flowing we don't even have an hour left!" memory Usopp yelled, "We'd be lucky to have twenty minutes!"

"Vivi?!" Luffy called, his attention still on the stairs as Vivi pulled herself out of harm's way. "Are you ok?"

"I'm fine!" she screamed back, "I'm going to get help so just hold on! I will get you out of there! I'm not going to abandon any of you! I promise I'll be right back with help ok?!"

"Ok! You can do it Vivi!" Usopp and Luffy screamed as she turned and ran off.

"This explains a great deal," Robin said, a part of her always wonder just what happened here that day. Pirates were a lot of things, but the one thing you could always count on them being, it was that they were resourceful when they wanted to be.

It was only a few minutes later until Luffy and Usopp were screaming their heads off.

"ALL OF US ARE GONNA DIE!" Luffy screamed as Usopp shrieked about the gators. "THE WATER'S GONNA BE UP TO OUR NECKS ANY MOMENT!"

"HEY! HEEEEYYYYY!" memory Nami screamed, sticking her arm through the bars. "HEY YOU STUPID GATOR! IF YOU'RE HUNGRY COME AND GET ME!"

"NAMI!" Sanji and Chopper cried out in terror.

"ARE YOU NUTS NAMI? WHAT DO YOU THINK YOU'RE DOING?!" memory Usopp screamed as the gator went for her arm. For one horrible moment, they thought it did, but she pulled her hand out of her sleeve as she declared, "I'm trying to lure that gator in close enough that he'll bite this cage apart!"

Once they all realized what she was doing, they were all yelling at it, Usopp snapping at Luffy that it's a gator, not a banana because he kept taunting 'the weird bananas'. But soon, their taunts got to it as it opened his wide mouth and headed straight for them.

"Here it comes!" Brook yelled, expecting to see the cage destroyed...

"WATCH OUT!" memory Nami screamed as the teeth came down on the cage, all of them cowering and covering their heads, but it was too strong for the gator for all of his teeth cracked and broke apart.

"That had to hurt!" Chopper yelled, almost feeling that pain as he thought about his own teeth being destroyed like that.

"THE CAGE IS TOO TOUGH!" Usopp screamed, looking ready to start bursting out in tears.

"THE BANANA DIDN'T EVEN DENT IT!" Luffy screamed dejectedly, just as Smoker spoke up, in a surprisingly disinterested voice—as if he couldn't care less to what was happening to him.

"We're all about to die!" memory Usopp snapped at him loudly, "How can you just sit there like that?"

"You should be trying to get us outta here too!" Luffy added just as angrily.

But rather than answer that he asked a question. "Tell me something. How much do you guys know? What exactly is Crocodile after?"

They all looked surprised at the question and then Smoker went on to talk about Robin, about how the government had been after her for about twenty years and about her bounty. He also admitted that if those two are planning something, and if they aren't stopped here, there was a chance the whole world could get dragged into this. Luffy ignored him, claiming that he didn't need any other reason. He was still going to kick Crocodile's ass no matter what.

"Not in there you're not," Sanji muttered as the water suddenly reached up their legs. At this rate, they'd be lucky to survive another ten minutes at this rate.

"I see," Smoker said in a skeptic voice to Luffy's declaration, "So... how do you intend to get out of here?"

But no one was listening as they were all beginning to freak out again at the ever-rising water.

Just then, that same voice from over the Transponder Snail spoke up. "It's really impolite to make a lot of noise at mealtime like you were doing. I'll teach you to behave." And then the gator was suddenly flying, the impact of the kick was so great that the water seemed to part around them... "BAD-MANNERS KICK COURSE!"

"They have the manners of a reptile," Sanji said smugly as his past self looked to the large dent in the gator's stomach and was out before it hit the floor.

"Maybe that's because they are reptiles!" Usopp said to him angrily.

"Hey guys," memory Sanji said, looking to them. "Been waiting long?"

"YEA! IT'S MR. PRINCE WE'RE FINALLY GONNA GET OUT OF HERE NOW!" Usopp and Luffy cheered together, doing a kinda jig, tears of relief in their eyes.

"Thank you," memory Nami gasped in relief as Zoro snapped at him to hurry and find the key. But Sanji was once again swooning at Nami, asking if she loved him yet.

"Umm, sure," she said, though it was clear from her tone that she didn't mean a word of it, "And I'll love you even more if you hurry up and open this cage!"

"Really?" the current Sanji gasped out at her.

"Shut up," she told him firmly as Luffy was giving Vivi a thumbs up from her place on the top of the stairs. She only smiled back as she returned the gesture and Sanji turned back to the gators that were crawling up into the room in droves. Each on was baring their teeth at him as he turned back to them all calmly, "More dinners with bad manners huh?"

"They look hungry," Chopper said nervously.

"Relax, Mr. Prince is here to deal with them all," Sanji said proudly.

"Please, you only took out two of them," Zoro reminded him, "Me and Luffy took them all out."

"Why I'm gonna..." Sanji threated as his past self, raised his foot, looking ready to fight them all. He was claiming to take his time for going after Nami. Usopp was screaming that they didn't have time for chivalry and to hurry up and take them out.

"Ok, who wants to be a purse?" Franky asked, grinning evilly, "And who wants to be a wallet?"

"They would make one heck of a handbag," Brook stated, nodding.

"Too bad that we didn't think about it at the time," Nami sighed. "Gator... especially Banana Gator skin is really valuable. We could've made a lot of money off just one of them!"

"I don't care about that!" Usopp yelled, "I just wanted Sanji to stop talking and just give them the boot already!"

Minor surprise came when Smoker helped them out by telling them that the third gator that just came in was the one with the key.

"Hey," Luffy said, looking back at him, "How do you know that, Smokey?"

"Guess your ears aren't as big as your mouth," he snapped back, "Isn't that one's growl the same one who swallowed the key?"

Luffy and Usopp stared back at the gators, hearing their growls and Luffy admitted that he couldn't really tell.

"I see," Brook said eagerly, "That one growl was deeper than the others!"

"Dang you got some sharp hearing for someone without ears," Franky said in amazement. Past Sanji took his advice and went straight for that gator, and when he did, something large, round, and white came spitting out of its mouth.

"What's that? An egg?" Chopper asked at once as a large, perfect round ball came bursting out and hit the floor, splashing water everywhere.

"It can't be," Robin said in disbelief. But they found out what it was very quickly Everyone got a shock when the 'egg' suddenly cracked open and Mr. 3 was there, looking as dried up as a mummy and he dove his face into the water.

"Yes! Water at last! It's a miracle!" Mr. 3 gasped out.

"What the hell was Mr. 3 doing inside the belly of a Banana Gator?" Franky yelled out.

"Crocodile," Robin answered. And she quickly explained that when Crocodile assembled a meeting with all of his Officer Agents at Rain Dinners, marking the first time they know the true identity of their boss. Crocodile informed his agents of the goal of the Baroque Works and gave them their final mission and their respective parts in overthrowing Alabasta. Mr. 3, who snuck in after the other members came to ask for another chance to defeat the Straw Hats. Crocodile was certainly surprised by this revelation since, after the call from Little Garden, he assumed that all of the Straw Hat Pirates and Vivi were dead. Disappointed with Mr. 3, Crocodile dried him up and fed him to his Banana Gators.

"Well, I guess that's one way of knowing when you're fired," Zoro stated as they stared at Mr. 3, who was drinking all the water around him to rehydrate himself. He didn't even notice them as he recovered and began talking to himself that after Crocodile fed him to the gator, he used his powers to create the wax ball and survive. That was when he noticed something attached to the wax ball and picked up the key.

The three in the cage were yelling trying to reach through the bars to grab it and he freaked out as soon as he saw them. Obviously still having traumatic flashbacks to what happened at Little Garden. They could see the stunned look on his face change slowly as he put two and two together.

"Now I see what's happening here," he said an evil smirk uncurling on his face.

"He isn't...?" Brook asked carefully.

"Oh, he did," Zoro sighed.

"Mr. 3 I presume?" memory Sanji said, stepping up to him and Mr. 3 jumped in shock at that, demanding to know how Sanji knew who he was.

"Really?" Franky asked, looking around as if expecting someone to explain to him why this guy asked such a stupid question, "Doesn't he realize what he did to his hair?"

"And you would know all about strange hair," Usopp said as Franky pressed his nose down for three seconds and created a large, blue afro.

"He's got brains, but no common sense," Nami sighed.

"Well, your hairstyle kinda gave it away," memory Sanji answered back, holding his hand out to take the key, "I'll take the key, toss it here."

"Sure thing!" Mr. 3 yelled with a toothy, malevolent grin, "Here it goes!" And then he tossed the key as far away as he could. They all watched in horror as it went flying and landing in the water, right in the middle of all those gators.

"Damn him!" Franky yelled furiously.

"I don't know who you are," Mr. 3 said, turning back to Sanji, still cackling insanely, "But if you want the Straw Hats free you're no friend of mine! Good luck! You'll need it with all those alligators around, trust me I know!"

"Jerk," memory Sanji snarled, looking ready to give him a beating.

"Better find it soon," Mr. 3 taunted them, "That water's rising!"

And he wasn't kidding, the others were all yelling out, looking desperate now.

"It doesn't matter," Robin informed them, "that key was a fake anyway. Crocodile showed me that he had the real key as we were heading back to the room."

"Wait! You mean that he never gave us a chance to escape at all!" Nami yelled as her past self screamed out that they were almost out of time.

"I was surprised as well," Robin explained. "But it seems that you didn't need it after all."

"How did you get out then?" Brook asked hurriedly.

"Lousy, good-for-nothing wax guy," past Sanji hissed. But Usopp suddenly cried out, "Wait a minute Sanji! He might be good for something! Like using those wax powers to make a key!"

"So that's what happened," Robin laughed a little. "I see..."

"Crocodile was the one who fed him to that thing," Zoro said, "And Mr. 3 had the brains to protect himself when he was kicked out of the gator's gut."

"It's like fate had planned this all along," Brook whispered in awe.

"Well, we got him out of that thing, so it was the least he could do to repay us," Sanji said as his memory self grabbed hold of Mr. 3. It wasn't hard for him to 'convince' him to help them out. Sanji beat him to within an inch of his life before he let up enough for Mr. 3 to turn his finger into a wax key and opened the door. "Nice work, candleman," he said, "Now there are just two more things to do."

He planted a note to Mr. 3's chest, 'Mr. Prince was here' and then kicked him hard enough that he went flying against the wall and knocked out. Everyone was piled out of the cell and Sanji said that they had to hurry because he didn't know how much more time they had before Crocodile came back. Memory Nami agreed saying that they had to hurry and stop the rebels before they reached Alubarna and that they should be able to get out through the hall that Crocodile was about to take before. But Vivi cried out that the hall was filled with Banana Gators...

Not that they had to worry. Luffy and Zoro had just taken care of them all. "THAT'S IT!" Luffy yelled out, practically roaring with energy, "I CAN TAKE ON HUNDREDS OF THOSE WERID BANANAS!"

"Amazing as always!" Brook called out as Chopper's eyes lit up.

"You guys are so cool!" he gasped out.

"Well," memory Nami said, as they stared at them, "That's problem solve."

Vivi turned away, suddenly crying in shame after seeing how easy they took care of them all. "And I had so much trouble with just one of them." Usopp was trying to comfort her, saying that she shouldn't compare herself to their insane strength... but that's when things got worse as it always did.

The walls all cracked and broke apart and as the water came rushing towards them, the memory faded as they were bombarded with water. Luffy was yelling something at Zoro but they couldn't hear him over the roar of the waves.

"That... was something," Franky whispered as they appeared in the outside world once again, now stepping outside the cover of the trees so that he could breathe in the fresh air without feeling stuffed up.

"It was just our luck. After we finally got out of there, we almost drowned," Usopp sighed, sounding close to tears, coming to stand beside Franky. "That's how it always is."

He looked up from his half-depressed state and noticed something in the distance. Frowning a little, he moved his goggles down to get try and see it better, realizing that they looked like a couple statues in the distance. But before he could point them out to the others, the memory came back and they were all outside the casino. They were all a little taken aback by how low the sun was... they were in that cage for longer than they thought. And now they were at the very edge of the lake. Vivi and Nami had dragged Usopp up—who apparently got hit pretty hard by some of the debris, with Vivi on land trying to pull him up by his nose by the time that Sanji brought Luffy back up as well.

"Why?" Usopp demanded. "Why do you always grab me by my nose?!"

Nami only shrugged helplessly at him when past Sanji got up as the girls yelled at Usopp to wake up and help them to pull himself out of the water. "Jeez," he said as he stood up and Luffy gasped for breath. "Why would a pirate want Devil Fruit Powers if it means he can't swim?"

"I still wonder that," Sanji muttered, though he did understand the temptation. After all, there had been one power that he wanted more than anything. He sighed, but he supposed that it no longer matter at this point as Zoro finally came up... but to everyone's shock, he had Smoker with him.

"You saved him?!" Franky yelled with jolt. "After everything that he put you through?!"

Chopper beamed proudly up at him but Zoro shook his head as past Sanji spotted them and began to tell his past self off for doing something like that. That he was their enemy and he should've just left him down there. That was when Zoro snarled back that he didn't want to do it so he should just shut up.

"Whatever!" Sanji said, "We gotta get moving guys! We've lost too much time already. Vivi can we still make it?"

"I don't know," Vivi admitted as she rung out her robes. Sanji then turned to Nami and asked if she still had the perfume and asked to put it on.

"What was the point of that?" Brook asked, not getting it.

"So that Chopper could find us," he answered as if it was obvious.

"Yeah," Chopper agreed, covering his blue nose at the memory of that smell, "It was so strong that I could pick it up even from far away. I was getting us a ride to Alubarna."

"RORONOA!" screamed a voice and Smoker had turned his jutte to Zoro, who blocked it with one of his sword. "Why did you save my life?!" he demanded loudly, looking ready to fight him then and there.

"Wasn't my idea. Really, it was all Luffy, not me," current Zoro said, still in a bad mood at that.

"Wait, Luffy?" Robin asked in surprise.

"If it was my choice I probably would've left him down there," Zoro grunted as his past self glared at Smoker and told him the whole truth. That seconds before the room was destroyed, Luffy had told him to go back and get him despite his protests. Smoker pulled his jutte back as he registered what he said.

"All I did was follow my captain's orders," memory Zoro said coldly, "that's it. So wouldn't read too much into it if I were you. It was one of his crazy whims, pay him no mind."

"Even so," Robin smiled. "That doesn't surprise me in the slightest."

"Luffy-san... you are a true man! A true man with a big heart!" Brook sobbed out.

"Which is why we let him stay as captain," Nami added, smiling proudly. "No matter what the problems he causes us, it's why we went with him in the first place."

Franky sobbed out until Smoker put his Jutte back onto his back and asked, "And you wouldn't have any gripes with me carrying my duties and arresting you, right?"

"Jerk!" current Usopp hissed. "We didn't have to save him and he wanted to arrest us."

"But he didn't," Nami reminded him.

"See?" past Sanji demanded, "I knew it was a bad idea. This is what you get for saving a marine."

Robin looked on sadly. Most of the Marines these days did go by 'absolute justice'. While she knew that they wish to maintain law and order by apprehending criminals, the techniques that they use can often be no better, or in some cases even worse, than the pirates they seek to wipe out, trampling the rights or needs of civilians in order to pursue its own ends.

The only question she had here was what kind of justice did Smoker follow?

Memory Usopp and Luffy were getting back to their feet, yelling out about getting to Alubarna. That was when Luffy noticed Smoker and turned to face him, looking ready to fight. "You want some? Bring it on!" Luffy yelled as Usopp begged that they just forget him and run for it.

There was a very tense silence as Smoker looked to them all. For a moment they thought for sure that he going to just ignore what they did for him and try to capture them... but whether it was because they had saved him, or because he knew that they had a bigger issue with Crocodile to deal with, he finally answered.

"I should... but you just saved my life," he said quietly just as the sounds of his men could be heard. Smoker just looked at them long and hard before he slowly closed his eyes. "Go," he said and they looked at him, as if wondering if they heard him right. "This is the only time I'm letting you Straw Hats off, got it?" Smoker added, as if to make sure that they didn't read too much into this show of mercy. "When we next meet... it's gonna be as enemies."

"I can live with that," current Usopp said at once.

"Really, that was the best we could hope for," Nami agreed firmly.

"And he stopped the Marines from coming after us for the rest of the rebellion," Zoro added, remembering how those Marines kept telling him which way to go to get back to the town square. "So all in all, I'd say that it was a good trade-off."

"That is good to see," Robin smiled. If only more Marines were like Smoker... someone who follows what he thinks is right and doesn't care what others, even his superiors, say about it.

Everyone stared at him, some of them even broke out into smiles as Sanji declared that was their cue to get out of here. The others all ran off, but Luffy stood where he was for a few seconds longer, Zoro calling after him to hurry up. Luffy looked back at Smoker for another long moment before he smirked. "Hey, you're not such a bad guy, Smokey!"

Startled at what he said, Smoker's face grew red from either embarrassment or anger, they didn't know. "WOULD YOU GET THE HELL OUTTA HERE, STRAW HAT?!" he roared, attacking him which caused them all to start running once again. Past Zoro smirking behind him as they ran to catch up with the others.

"Does he always have to push his luck like that?" Nami sighed as they began running again.

"That's what he does best," Sanji breathed, "We just have to live with it."

"Hurry!" past Usopp cried out, "Those Marines are hot on our heels!"

"ALRIGHT GUYS!" Luffy cried out, taking the lead. "WE'VE GOT LOTS TO DO SO WE'RE NOT GONNA STOP UNTIL WE GET TO ALUBARNA! ARE YOU WITH ME?!"

And the memory faded with their voices all cheering out in full agreement.

"Now that was unexpected," Brook said as they stopped running to realize what they had just witnessed. "I was truly beginning to think that you wouldn't have been able to get out of that horrible experience!"

"We almost didn't," Nami moaned. "And I'm glad to see that we made it out of that mess alive.

But Usopp was still looking around, trying to find those statues that he saw. As the crew talked about the cage and everything that happened, he went off, up a slight hill to get a better look around them.

"Whatcha doing, Usopp?!" Chopper yelled behind him.

"You see something?" Sanji called.

"I'm not sure!" he yelled back as he reached the top, "But I thought I saw something a second ago before that last memory and... and..." but his voice trailed off as he stood there, staring in front of him with his back to them all without saying a word.

"Usopp?" Nami called after him in concern. "What's wrong?"

But Usopp didn't answer. He just stood there, still as a statue himself, unable to believe what he was seeing. The others all looked at each other in concern before a soft wind came blowing at them, carrying a single flower petal on its breeze.

It fluttered over and landed on Chopper's own nose as he looked at it in surprise. The crew's eyes followed it with their glances before they looked into the direction where it came from, the same direction that Usopp refused to look away from.

"Hey, Usopp!" Zoro called as they began to walk up the hill as well, Usopp still frozen where he was to them as they went up to join him. "What are you looking at?"

But still Usopp didn't as they all joined him to get a good look at what had caught his attention so much.

"Long-nose if you don't tell us what the hell the problem is then I'm..." but Franky's voice got caught in his throat as they looked in front of them. There was silence from each of them—so thick that it was almost deafening—and no one able to believe what they were seeing, convinced now that this was just a dream.

Two stone monuments were standing there, side by side...

"It can't be...?" Nami whispered, her body cold and numb, her eyes as wide as dinner plates as she tried to accept what it was in front of her, her hands up and covering her mouth.

"But it is," Robin whispered, her voice sad.

The petal that Chopper had had come from a bouquet of flowers as the wind made a soft ringing noise from all the rusted swords surrounding the area... but their eyes were drawn to the smaller of the two... a familiar name engraved there.

PORTGAS D. ACE

"It's Ace's grave...?" Zoro whispered, all of them in stunned shock as the next breeze swept over them all. Though the air was warm... they were all cold inside.