Immediately afterward, Luffy wasted no time. With boundless energy, he jumped into action and began training the Kung Fu Manatees.
"OH!!"
"Wrong, wrong—the posture should be like this!!"
"Yes, that's it! Now, follow through like this!"
From the sidelines, Nami watched the scene unfold with a growing look of disbelief. She crossed her arms and let out a loud groan. "Are there more and more apprentices joining in?!"
But her protest fell on deaf ears. Luffy and the manatees were fully engrossed in their impromptu martial arts session, throwing wild punches and exaggerated stances with serious expressions, completely ignoring Nami's complaints.
Before long, Luffy stood with his hands on his hips, proudly surveying the manatees sweating from the intense training. "Alright! Training complete! Let's go to Yuba!"
"Wait just a minute!" Zoro called out sharply, eyebrows twitching. "You're seriously bringing them with us?"
"This won't work, Luffy!" Nami stepped in, looking more serious now, hands placed firmly on her hips. "Think for a second. You can't bring a whole troop of manatees across a desert!"
Vivi stepped forward, a helpless smile forming as her mouth twitched. "She's right. There's no way they could survive the journey through the desert."
The manatees, however, had other ideas. With big, watery eyes, they wrapped their flippers around Luffy in a desperate group hug. The scene was so emotional that Nami and Vivi both faltered, guilt creeping into their expressions.
"They're so… cute," Nami whispered reluctantly to Vivi.
"I know," Vivi replied. "But still…"
Thankfully, Chopper stepped in like a true hero. Pulling out some meat from his pack, he handed it out to the manatees, who accepted it with tears in their eyes and hearts full of reluctant farewell.
As the Straw Hat Pirates prepared to depart, the manatees stood in formation, waving goodbye while beating gongs and drums in their own unique send-off.
Leo, watching the whole exchange from a few steps back, chuckled softly. "This world is truly something else," he murmured to himself. "If I remember right, these guys end up forming their own pirate crew someday. One of them even learns Haki on his own, doesn't he? That's incredible…"
The world of the Pirate King was full of absurdity—and somehow, that made it all the more fascinating.
Still wearing her light white shawl to shield herself from the sun, Nami turned to Luffy with visible annoyance. "Seriously, Luffy, do you even understand our current situation?"
"They just wanted to come along," Luffy replied simply. "So why not?"
His logic was so straightforward it hurt. He didn't even pause to consider the consequences.
"There are too many of them!" Nami snapped. "They can't even fit into a city! You think we could sneak around with a manatee army?!"
"If Chopper hadn't distracted them with food, we'd have a parade of manatees behind us right now," Zoro added dryly.
Chopper shuffled up, trying to stay inconspicuous. "They really did want to follow me," he mumbled. "I thought giving them food would help…"
"Well, it did," Sanji sighed. "But now we've got a bigger problem."
As the ship's cook, Sanji had already calculated their food supplies and shook his head in frustration. "More than half the food is gone. At this rate, we won't even make it to Yuba—even with Leo helping out."
"It's fine," Leo said with a teasing grin. "Worst-case scenario, we can just roast Luffy and eat him. That should hold us for a week."
"EH?!" Luffy gasped, eyes bulging.
Leo laughed and pointed ahead. "Kidding. Look—do you see that? Isn't that a city?"
The group turned their attention forward. Far in the distance, a vague silhouette began to take shape through the waves of heat and swirling sand.
"It really is a city!" Usopp exclaimed.
Luffy's surprise was quickly forgotten as he bounded forward, excitement returning in full force. Meanwhile, his crewmates were far more cautious, focusing on the dark, swirling wind and the half-buried structures that appeared as they drew closer.
As they entered the outskirts, they were greeted by a haunting sight. The entire city was coated in layers of golden sand, and dark gusts of wind carried more in every direction. Crumbling ruins peeked through the dunes like broken bones. The atmosphere was eerie—empty, dry, and soaked in silence.
"Is this Yuba?" Luffy asked, eyes wide with curiosity.
Everyone fell silent.
"No," Vivi said quietly, her voice barely above the wind. "This is Elmar. It used to be called the Green City…"
"Green City?" Sanji echoed.
Vivi took a deep breath, holding back her emotion. "When you see what this place has become, you'll understand what Baroque Works has done to this country. You'll understand why the people of Alabasta are suffering so much…"
Tears shimmered in her eyes as she turned and began walking forward, guiding the crew into the heart of the abandoned city.
The deeper they went, the more ruins they saw. The sand covered nearly everything—homes, wells, even once-lush gardens. Now, only broken walls and dry skeletons remained, half-buried and forgotten.
"This place..." Zoro muttered, "...it's like the end of the world."
Vivi nodded solemnly. "There hasn't been any rain in this country for almost three years."
Nami and Leo, who had been walking near the back, exchanged a glance. Leo nodded subtly to Vivi in encouragement. Nami, instinctively, rested her hand on the wooden staff tied to her belt—the one that might just help change all of this.
"No rain… for three years?!" Usopp shouted in disbelief.
"That's horrible!" Chopper said, horrified. "How does anyone survive something like that?"
Luffy's jaw dropped. Even he couldn't ignore the weight of that information.
"It's true," Vivi said. "Not a single drop has fallen in all that time. It's an event that hasn't happened once in the entire thousand-year history of Alabasta."
"But there is one place where it rains," she added bitterly. "And that's Alubarna—the capital."
"That's where the king lives," Sanji murmured. "People must think it's some kind of miracle…"
Vivi clenched her fists. "That's what they used to believe—until someone discovered something horrible. In the port city where we arrived, a huge cache of dancing powder was uncovered."
"What's dancing powder?" Chopper asked.
"It's a special chemical that forces the clouds to gather and rain," Nami explained. "But it doesn't create water. It steals it—from surrounding areas. That's why it's banned by the World Government."
Vivi nodded. "When the powder was discovered, people thought the king had hoarded it for his own city. They believed he'd sacrificed the rest of the country for his own comfort."
"And so the war began."
Nami's brow furrowed. She looked at the sand swirling around them and wondered—had the powerful wind she'd created earlier stirred clouds in a similar way?
Everyone seemed lost in thought, trying to process the implications.
Everyone except Luffy, of course.
"So your dad used that stuff?" he asked bluntly.
"Luffy!" Nami snapped.
Sanji's eyes flared with fury. "Stupid! It was a frame-up! Vivi's father would never do such a thing! Never!"
With each shout, he delivered a firm kick to Luffy's head, pounding some sense into him.
"OW—stop it, Sanji!! I was just asking!"
Vivi took a breath and continued. "My father knew nothing about the dancing powder. But when it was found inside the palace, it gave the enemy exactly what they needed. The people turned on the royal family. Crocodile's plan... it must've started back then."
She moved to one of the dried skeletons half-buried in the sand. With trembling hands, she began to dig a shallow grave.
As a princess, she had once walked through this city filled with life. Now she could barely recognize it. The weight of guilt and helplessness crushed her until she collapsed to her knees, tears streaming down her face.
Leo silently stepped in, helping her bury the remains. Together, they paid quiet respect to the forgotten souls of Elmar.
But Vivi couldn't hold it in anymore. Her voice broke into a desperate scream.
"All of this… everything… it's because of him! That monster Crocodile!"
"The city is dead! The people are gone! The rebels are fighting the king—and it's all based on lies!"
"The peace of our country... our trust in the king....the rain... it's all been taken from us…"
"Why?" she cried, voice trembling. "What right does he have to do this?!"
The wind howled through the ruins, carrying her sorrow across the empty city. And for a moment, no one could say a word.
They simply stood there—in the heart of a lost oasis—feeling the weight of a nation's grief.
Ãdvåñçé çhàptêr àvàilàble óñ pàtreøn (Gk31)