Little by little, the Going Merry was getting closer to Alabasta, where Vivi and Karoo stood at the bow, looking straight toward their island, a bit worried. Nami approached to see how they were doing.
"Finally. I'd tell you not to be nervous, but I think that'd be impossible. Do you have a plan to stop the rebellion?" Nami asked.
"Yes, but there's no guarantee it'll actually stop it," Vivi replied, her gaze fixed on Alabasta.
"I'm so hungry," said Luffy, chewing on his sandal.
"So hot..." muttered the poor reindeer, sweating in the shade.
'Please, don't make a hasty decision,' Vivi wished internally.
The crew continued sailing until they were far from Nanohana, where they docked.
"Alright, before we go ashore, we need to make sure to act cautiously and avoid causing any commotion. We don't want to draw the attention of—"
Before Nami could finish speaking, Luffy had already jumped off and was running away.
"A RESTAURANT!!!" Luffy cried with tears in his eyes as he headed toward Alabasta.
"WAIT!!" Nami shouted angrily, but he was already out of sight.
"Did you really think you could stop him with that?" Oliver asked.
"That Luffy..." Nami muttered, angry at his behavior.
"What should we do? Nanohana is a very large city. It'll be really hard to find Luffy-san here," Vivi said, worried something might happen to him.
"Don't worry about that, Vivi-chan. We just have to look for the noisiest place in the city, and he'll be there," Sanji told her.
"Haha, you're right about that," Usopp laughed.
"Damn it! Luffy needs to remember he has a bounty on his head. There could be bounty hunters out there!" Nami said, irritated.
"Don't worry about him. Let's eat first and then figure out what to do," Zoro said.
"Still, it's Luffy. I doubt anyone in this city could beat him," Oliver added, until he remembered Smoker. 'Ace will be there. I don't think there'll be a problem.'
"You're all the same..." Nami said, annoyed, turning around with her hands on her hips.
"Karoo and I can't go with you," Vivi told Nami and Usopp, who looked at her.
"What's wrong? Does your stomach hurt?" Usopp asked.
"She's the Princess of Alabasta. Just one look and they'll know who she is," Oliver said.
"That's right, I can't enter any city—not until the rebellion is stopped," Vivi added.
"That's true," Zoro said.
"Don't worry. I'll go shopping for you too, Vivi-chan," Sanji said with a smile.
"I'll go with him," Oliver said. 'This way I can get supplies and see if I find anything interesting in the city.'
"Wait! Mr. 3's ship!" Vivi said in surprise.
"Are you saying that idiot's still alive?!" Usopp asked.
"That's his ship, no doubt about it. It's a ship that can only work with the powers of the Doru Doru no Mi," Vivi explained.
"So, he must be in the kingdom," Sanji said.
"He's pretty tough to have survived a punch from a giant," Oliver said.
"You two better go buy the stuff. We'll stay here and wait for you," Nami told Oliver and Sanji.
"Of course, Nami-swan!" Sanji shouted, spinning around her.
"Let's go, you perverted cook," Oliver said, grabbing him by the shirt and dragging him.
Both headed toward Nanohana, where the first thing they looked for was a clothing shop.
"That outfit would look amazing on Nami-san!" Sanji said, checking every piece of clothing.
"Hey, don't overdo it. Remember, we don't have much time," Oliver said, but Sanji was in his own world.
"This one would look even better on Vivi-chan...!"
Oliver grabbed him by the arm to pull him closer.
"Shut up. Remember we need to watch what we say," Oliver warned while looking around. "We don't know if there are bounty hunters hiding among the regular people."
"I know," Sanji said, a bit more serious—until he saw some dancer outfits and ran off. "I'll take two!"
"Why do I even bother..." Oliver said, watching him without a hint of concern.
Sanji bought clothes for Nami and Vivi, while Oliver made sure to get clothes for the rest—something that made him question how he'd ended up being the one to get everyone's clothes without anyone asking.
They went on to buy what they needed to cross the desert, and Oliver also bought extra supplies just in case they ran out—so the rest wouldn't die from the heat.
"Finally, we've got everything. We better hurry," Oliver said.
"I can't wait to see Nami-san and Vivi-chan in these outfits," Sanji said excitedly.
'If we fought an extremely powerful female enemy, would he die over something as stupid as refusing to hit a woman, even if it meant letting a nakama die?' Oliver wondered, staring at him until he caught a strong scent. 'Perfume has never bothered me this much before.'
They started walking back to the rest of the crew until they felt like they were being followed.
They looked at each other and quickly slipped into an alley, where a group of men entered—only to be taken down by Oliver and Sanji.
"Who the hell are these guys?" Sanji said, picking up the stuff they had bought again.
"They might've been thieves, or they heard Vivi's name and came after us," Oliver said, emphasizing Vivi's name.
"You're right," Vivi said.
Both of them hurried to rejoin the rest of the crew as soon as possible.
--
--
--
The crew had gathered in a place on the outskirts of Nanohana to take shelter. Vivi, Usopp, Chopper, Zoro, and Nami were waiting for the two who had gone out shopping. In the distance, they saw Oliver and Sanji returning with all the supplies. Nami and Vivi were trying on the clothes Sanji had bought, which were a bit... exotic, as they were dancer outfits.
"This is wonderful! I like this kind of clothing," said Nami cheerfully.
"I did ask you to buy us some clothes, but... isn't this what dancers wear?" asked Vivi, embarrassed, with a sweat drop as Usopp and Zoro ate.
"It's fantastic! You look gorgeous in those outfits!" said Sanji with hearts in his eyes and a blush on his face.
"I asked for commoner clothes..." said Vivi, sweating slightly.
"Dancers are commoners too, and it's fine as long as no one finds out you're a princess and a pirate, right?" said Sanji with a smile.
"But we're in the deser—" Vivi began, but was interrupted by Sanji.
"Don't worry! If you get tired, I'll carry you!" said Sanji, laughing, and Vivi just accepted that it was pointless.
"He's not going to listen to me," said Vivi, exhausted.
"Don't worry, I bought normal clothes too. I wasn't going to let the idiot pick everything," said Oliver, grabbing a bottle of water.
"Thank you," said Vivi, relieved.
"Compared to them, you guys don't even look like pirates anymore—you look like bandits," said Sanji as the others kept eating.
"And what's the difference with you? And why are you only wearing a hat?" Zoro asked Oliver.
"I tolerate the heat better than any of you, so I don't need to protect myself as much," Oliver replied. 'With this Talent, I don't even worry about it.'
"Chopper, what are you doing?" asked Usopp, curious, seeing Chopper lying down and holding his nose.
"The smell is killing me..." said Chopper, tired and annoyed.
"Is he not feeling well?" asked Nami.
"It must be all the perfume in the air. I have to admit, it's really annoying," said Oliver, scratching his nose.
"The perfume?" asked Nami, confused.
"Of course. Tony-kun has a very sensitive nose," said Vivi, remembering that Chopper was a reindeer.
"This?" said Nami, smelling her perfume.
"Some perfumes are really strong. Nanohana is very famous for its perfumes. There are very potent ingredients in them," Vivi explained while Chopper cried from the smell.
"This one?" said Nami with a smile, spraying on more perfume.
"STOP THAT!" screamed Chopper in pain, eyes wide open.
"Love of mellorine in the abyss!" said Sanji, collapsing with hearts in his eyes.
"Can you be any dumber?" asked Zoro while drinking.
"WHAT?!" shouted Sanji angrily, nearly starting a fight.
"Alright, we have all the supplies we need to cross the desert," said Vivi, stopping the near confrontation.
"Vivi, where did you say we're heading?" Nami asked her.
"Well, the first thing I want is to stop the rebellion—we don't know when it could break out and cause a bloodbath! So, we're heading to their base, where their leader lives. It's an oasis city called Yuba. To get to Yuba we have to..." Vivi began, until Zoro pulled her arm.
"Hide!" said Zoro, alarmed.
"What?" said Vivi, surprised by the sudden pull.
"The Marines. What are they doing here?!" said Zoro, spotting the Marines.
"Looks like there's a lot of commotion," said Usopp.
"Maybe it's a pirate," said Zoro.
The Marines were chasing an unknown pirate until they saw it was Luffy they had been following.
"IS THAT YOU?!" they all shouted upon seeing him run.
Luffy looked to the side and saw all his nakamas.
"Hey, Zoro! Is everyone there?" said Luffy with a smile, making the Marines notice them.
"Idiot, deal with them first!" shouted Zoro.
"There's the Straw Hat crew! Over there!"
"What do we do now?" asked Usopp, scared.
"Run. We can't fight right now," said Oliver.
"Let's get to the ship!" shouted Vivi.
Everyone started running while Luffy didn't understand what was going on.
"What are you doing?! Let's go back!" shouted Luffy, running ahead.
"WE WERE ABOUT TO SAY THAT!" they all shouted angrily.
"Don't let them escape!" shouted a Marine.
"Fall back!" said Smoker as he easily pushed forward.
"Captain Smoker!"
"I'm not letting you get away! White Blow!" shouted Smoker, launching his smoke punch toward Luffy, but someone intervened.
"Kagerou!"
The sudden fire attack immediately stopped Smoker's smoke.
"What do you want?" Smoker asked a young man who stood in his way.
"Let him go. You may be smoke, but I'm fire. A fight between our powers would be endless," said the mysterious young man.
"Another Devil Fruit user?!" asked Zoro.
"Who is he and why is he helping us?" asked Usopp.
"ACE?!" said Luffy, shocked to see him.
"You haven't changed at all in these years, Luffy," said Ace with a smile.