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Grand Line – Paradise
Alabasta – Heading to Erumalu
"You're coming with us, Ace?", Usopp asks as he steps out onto the deck and sees Ace sitting on the Merry's railing, looking at the horizon.
"Yes, Luffy said he would help me hunt a certain someone after Alabasta! So I'm going to stay with you guys for a while!", Ace replies, turning his gaze to Usopp.
"Ah... alright, don't worry, we'll help you! But just so I know, how strong is this guy?", nodding in understanding, Usopp expresses his support before asking, just to ease his mind.
"One level below a Yonkou, according to Luffy!", Ace says, informing him.
"Ehh... what level is Luffy's grandfather at?", fidgeting upon hearing that, Usopp asks, wanting to get an idea of how strong someone one level below a Yonkou is.
"Grandpa? Yonkou, easily!", raising an eyebrow, Ace replies with conviction.
"Gulp… isn't there a possibility of making peace?", swallowing his saliva, Usopp asks hopefully.
"He killed a crewmate, so no! There's no way to make peace!", Ace replies, frowning.
"Ehh... clap... clap... of course, we'll definitely help you! You can count on me; the Great Captain Usopp is going to bombard the enemy from outside the island, from the safety of the Merry. I'm the best shooter you'll find in the world! So no need to worry, this guy won't even see what hit him!", not knowing how to respond to that, Usopp claps a few times before saying, trying to appear unafraid.
"Relax, Usopp! The one who's going to fight this guy Ace is talking about is me, this idiot next to you, and Sabo!", sitting on the Merry's figurehead, Luffy turns to them and says with a smile.
"I'm relaxed, I was just suggesting the best way for us to take this guy down quickly! But since you guys want to go the hard way, the Great Captain Usopp will be magnanimous and let you follow that path!", raising his hands in surrender, Usopp says. If they wanted to go the less efficient way, he wouldn't be the one to stop them.
"Alright then, I guess!", not sure how to react to that, Ace says. Is Luffy's crewmate cowardly, or is it just his impression?
"I'm glad you're all happy! Now, continue the conversation without me, I need to go to the bathroom!", giving a thumbs up with both hands, Usopp says before pointing back with his thumb and giving an excuse to leave, leaving right after.
"Luffy, is it just me, or is your crewmate kind of cowardly?", after Usopp goes back inside the ship, Ace turns to Luffy and asks in doubt.
"Nah, Usopp is only cowardly until the action starts! When it comes, he never backs down!", Luffy says with conviction. He would trust his life to all of his crewmates, because he knows they wouldn't let anything happen to him.
"Alright then! By the way, I forgot to ask you before, but what was that trump card you used at the end of our fight?", smiling slightly at what he just heard, Ace gets down from the railing and asks, approaching Luffy at the bow.
"It's a technique I developed based on an ability from a fiction story from my other world memories, its name is Ultra Instinct! Your body basically enters a state of supernatural efficiency, with maximum gain and minimal waste!", Luffy explains, briefly looking at the horizon before turning his attention back to Ace.
"If I want to learn it, is it possible?", Ace asks as soon as he gets closer, sitting on the railing next to the Merry's figurehead.
"Yes, you just need to enter a strange state where your mind is and isn't completely empty and your body is both relaxed and tense, all at the same time!", turning his attention forward, Luffy answers lazily.
"Sounds complicated!", Ace comments upon hearing the requirements to use this technique.
"Yes, it took me six months meditating to enter this state for the first time! But I lose consciousness when I use this technique, so it's still incomplete, that's why I call it Phase 1!", responding with a yawn, Luffy lies on his back under the figurehead of the Merry, looking at the clouds in the sky.
"I don't know, meditating seems like something boring! But maybe I'll try it once in a while!", letting out a sigh, Ace comments, not really in the mood to sit around meditating.
=Scene Break=
Thirty minutes after that conversation, the Straw Hats arrive at Erumalu, docking at what remained of an old port. Upon disembarking, Usopp shrinks the Merry and stores it safely in his bag.
"Hey, Vivi! Which way is Upa?", turning to Vivi, Luffy asks in doubt.
"The name is Yuba, Luffy! And it's to the northwest of here! A day and a half's journey", Vivi corrects him before pointing in Yuba's direction.
"At our speed, we'll arrive today!", Nami comments, joining the conversation.
"What's the name of this place we're in again?", remembering Vivi had mentioned a name earlier, Luffy asks, too lazy to look it up in his memories.
"Erumalu, the green city", Vivi answers.
"Green City! There's nothing green here; everything's in ruins and buried in sand! It looks like the desert has taken over the place!", raising an eyebrow, Luffy says as he looks around. It seemed like the sand had swallowed the entire city.
"Yeah, there's no more!", Vivi says, a sad smile appearing on her face.
"Hey, Vivi! Why don't you transform the place with your fruit?", Usopp suddenly suggests, the idea just popping into his head.
"Is that even possible?", raising an eyebrow, Vivi asks skeptically.
"Turning desert areas into green ones? Yes, it's possible, but the work would be immense!", Robin suddenly joins the conversation, having read a study about it in the past.
"Wait, seriously? Is that possible? How do I do it?", turning quickly to Robin, Vivi asks hopefully.
"Well, you would have to fill the desert with plants resistant to the environment, preferably ones that create large amounts of roots, that would make the soil firm and prevent the sand from moving! After that, just use plenty of water and mix organic matter into the soil, and in a few decades, you can transform a desert into a green area with normal soil! And I'm not even talking about the manpower that would be necessary to achieve this feat!", adjusting her hat, Robin explains what would be necessary to transform a desert into a green area.
"So, what now?", Vivi then asks, making a plant sprout from her hand.
"You ate an Akuma no Mi?", raising an eyebrow, Robin asks, surprised.
"A Logia!", Vivi nods, making the plant disappear from her hand.
"Well, now it went from decades to a few days depending on how well you use that fruit!", Robin readjusts her calculations, this time taking Vivi's Akuma no Mi into account in the equation.
"We don't have days to spare. Can I do something in ten minutes?", still not satisfied with the time it would take, Vivi asks, not even considering that after everything is over, she would have all the time in the world to do it. It even seemed like she didn't intend to stay in Alabasta once everything is resolved.
"I don't know, you tell me!", it was Vivi who ate the Akuma no Mi; Robin had no way of knowing if she could pull something of this scale off in so little time.
"Vivi, you're going to pass out!", Luffy suddenly warns her, having heard the entire conversation. It's a very exhausting feat for someone who ate the fruit just a few days ago.
"It doesn't hurt to try!", turning to Luffy, Vivi says, determined to try.
"If you can create shade, it will help a lot in regulating the soil temperature in the future!", Robin adds, seeing that Vivi was completely determined to make it happen.
"Any more tips?", nodding, Vivi asks to be sure.
"I don't know, maybe use the roots to pull water from underground pockets?", Robin adds, with nothing else coming to mind.
"Alright, let's try!", nodding once again, Vivi says before crouching down and touching the ground with the palms of her hands.
Then, after a minute passes, the entire city begins to shake and grasses start sprouting from the ground. Meanwhile, the real show was happening underground.
The entire underground of the city was completely taken over by roots, which quickly reach a deep water table and begin to suck the water up.
On the surface, Vivi uses the roots to move the sand and thus create a gigantic hole, which then begins to be filled with the water the roots were drawing.
While doing this, Vivi has an idea and then extends part of the roots into the sea, modifying them to be able to desalinate the seawater and make it drinkable.
With a giant lake created, Vivi then makes trees modified for the environment sprout and grow in abundance, generating the shade that Robin had mentioned.
"Impressive! Now make these trees shed leaves, that will be the organic matter you'll mix into the soil. After that, just make sure everything always stays well-watered and then let time do its work!", impressed with the drastic change in the environment around her, Robin comments, telling her what to do next.
Vivi then does exactly as she was told, mixing tons of leaves that she made the trees shed into the sand with the help of the roots, which will also ensure that the soil always stays properly moist. The city now looked like a completely different world than before, still buried, but now under a dense forest, not a desert.
Even with such a feat, Vivi does not feel satisfied, so, with that in mind and breathing heavily, she extends her reach beyond the city, transforming a gigantic area of desert around Erumalu into a prototype of a dense forest before getting dizzy and falling to the ground, almost fainting.
Just before she hits the ground, Luffy catches her in his arms and hands her a water flask while saying, "That was amazing, Vivi! Here, drink some water and rest! When you're well, we'll head towards Uba!"
=Scene Break=
While Vivi was resting, a species of turtle-seal jumps out of the water and lands near the crew. More and more of them do the same, until a group of over a hundred of these little guys has formed.
"What are these little guys?", Usopp asks curiously.
"They are Kung Fu Dugongs, they live in salt water and are great martial artists!", while Robin was saying this, Luffy had already defeated all of them.
"Well…", realizing what had just happened, Robin comments, not knowing exactly what to say.
Seeing what Luffy did, Vivi, still recovering, says, "No, Luffy! The nature of the Kung Fu Dugongs dictates that they must become disciples of whoever defeats them!"
And while Vivi was saying this, Luffy was already teaching a crowd of over a hundred Kung Fu Dugongs how to train, how to fight, and last but not least, how to use Haki and Rokushiki.
"I guess it's too late to say that now!", Nami comments playfully.
"Shishishishi! You all learned the basics really fast! You know what, from now on, you're part of the Straw Hat crew! You'll use this city as your base, train hard what I taught you and protect Alabasta and its citizens from any threat that arises in the future!", in front of the crowd of Kung Fu Dugongs, Luffy says with a smile, receiving a military salute from the little guys in front of him, who were determined to make their master proud.
"Well, if these little guys follow exactly what this idiot said, Alabasta will have monsters protecting it in the future!", Zoro comments with an amused snort, watching the Kung Fu Dugongs already putting into practice what they had just learned from Luffy.
=Scene Break=
After the princess recovers, they say goodbye to the Kung Fu Dugongs and leave Alabasta's newest 'oasis' using Soru, with Vivi, Robin, and Chopper sitting on Chouchou's back in his hybrid Zoan form.
Then, suddenly, while they were moving, Luffy stops in the middle of the desert, near an area full of giant rocks, this sudden action making everyone stop as well, confused.
"What's going on? Why did you stop?", Ace asks, confused. There was no way he was already tired; it hadn't even been ten minutes since they started moving.
"I heard a voice, it's coming from those rocks! Looks like a Poneglyph!", Luffy says before running towards the rocks.
"Poneglyph?... Chouchou, take me there, please!", raising her eyebrows upon hearing Luffy say that, Robin asks Chouchou to take her to where their Captain was.
"Woof!" "On my way!", Chouchou barks before running to where Luffy went.
Seeing no other option, everyone follows them to the rocks, where they see Luffy punching the ground as soon as they arrive.
"Is it down there?", Robin asks as she climbs down from Chouchou.
"Yeah!", Luffy answers with a smile.
"Do you want me to use my Akuma no Mi to make a hole?", seeing that the ground remained intact and that Luffy didn't seem to want to punch again, Vivi asks as she climbs down from Chouchou's back, offering her help.
"No, it's fine!", as soon as Luffy says that, the ground beneath his feet gives way, and he falls through the hole that forms.
A few seconds later, everyone hears Luffy shouting from below, "I'm fine, come down here!"
Then, without wasting any time, everyone jumps into the hole, with Chouchou helping Vivi, Robin, and Chopper climb down.
Landing in a sealed chamber, with engravings adorning all the walls, everyone's gaze is immediately drawn to the giant dark blue stone cube resting in the middle of the chamber, its face turned toward them, completely inscribed in a strange language.
"Is that a Poneglyph?", Vivi asks, never having seen one in person.
"Yeah!", Luffy answers, approaching the Poneglyph.
"What does it say?", Vivi asks curiously.
Before Luffy could say anything, Robin was already in front of the Poneglyph, reading aloud for everyone's convenience.
[A prosperous kingdom with an expiration date, a garden, a tree, a taboo. Two brothers, two princes, one adopted who became heir, and one heir who had no right to the throne. One longed for freedom, but felt tied to a throne he didn't want, the other felt wronged, loved his brother, but wanted what he thought was his; both ate from the forbidden fruit, one when he was born, the other when he found himself without choices.
The adopted fled from his responsibilities, the sea called him, and he answered that call. The heir without a throne, on the other hand, thought that with his brother out of the game, he would have what was rightfully his, very naïve, foolish, weak.
And evil took advantage of this; he wanted power with good intentions in mind, but all he got was the power that corrupts.
Anger ignites, and with it, plans are woven; amid the tension between kingdoms, key council figures fall, families lose loved ones, and the flames of a coup quickly die out.
Amid angry families, a father protects his son from the spears pointed at him, a trial, a decision, an exile; he would regret this decision later. The kingdom becomes unstable. Was this just another plan?
A Warrior of Liberation and an Ink Devil, and thus the setting of the second world is formed, but this story is much older, three worlds, three times, and so the story concludes.
They part ways at the beginning of time to meet at the end; all await the beats of the drums of liberation in the great banquet hall, Warrior of the Third World! They just don't know it yet.]
"Shit!", this is the only word that comes out of Luffy's mouth, the only one there who minimally understood what this whole confusing tale meant.
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