Chapter 15

Despite Rose and the boys' best efforts to catch up to Nami and Vivi, they've completely lost sight of them, so they're left alone to wander the desert in search for them.

Rose stays floating ten feet above the group, to be on the lookout for the girls and the camel, as the others continue travelling on foot. While Rose's searching for the girls in the air, she keeps blowing a small breeze to the boys below her to help them stay cool.

Even with the breeze helping to cool them down though, Chopper still can't handle the heat, so he's lying down on a small sled while Zoro drags it for him.

"Thanks for letting me stay on the sled Zoro." Chopper says.

The swordsman keeps his grip on the sled while he looks ahead. "Don't act polite. It's stifling."

"Nami-san! Where did you go?!" Sanji whines as he looks around desperately for the missing ladies but with no luck.

Usopp shakes his head at the cook's dramatics before he adjusts his goggles over his eyes to try to get a better view. "I got nothing. You still can't see them up there Rose?"

She frowns in disappointment, as she keeps her eyes on the barren horizon. "Sorry, no luck..." The wing girl keeps looking around, then looks down at Ace while she tries to figure out her next move. She remembers that Ace wanders off on his own sometime soon. As long as she keeps an eye on him, then maybe she can keep him from separating from Luffy, right?

She huffs, as she goes back to her search, but has no luck. "How the crap can a camel run that fast, anyway?"

"The hell if I know." Ace says when he looks back to see his little brother falling behind, because he's still dragging the sled full of his crew's luggage. "Hey Lu, you ok there?"

Luffy nods as he keeps dragging the sled. "Just tired..."

He looks up at Rose, and gives her a large, pleading, grin. "Hey Rose, can you take me and this stuff up there with you for a bit?"

Rose pauses at the idea, and sees this as a way to stop Ace from drifting away, so she gives him large smile. "Yea, no problem! Hey Ace, you mind coming up here too? I can use another set of eyes."

Ace freezes at the invitation before he starts smirking, because it's almost too easy to get close to her, to make Luffy jealous, at this point. "Yea, bring me up there."

Luffy lets go of the sled, when he knows that Rose has a hold of it and is more than happy to be flying again. "Thanks, hey, can you make your wind colder?"

She tenses up at the request, and quickly shoots it down. "Umm, maybe later. I'm not fully used to it yet. Hey, how cold was it when I made it anyway? Was it like Drum Island cold?"

"No, it wasn't that cold, but it still felt good."

"I see, maybe another time." Rose turns around with her back to the boys to get back to her search, and think about her powers. She knows that she can't create cold wind around them, or they'd be worried. Even if she tries to use a less upsetting memory, it could be given away that it's sadness. Maybe it's better to avoid mood breezes altogether...

Ace taps her on the shoulder to get her attention, so she turns around to see him smiling at her. "I'm sure you'll figure it out. We can go over it later if you want."

She shakes her head at the suggestion with a small smile. "Thanks, but I'd rather get the hang of this part of my wind on my own. What I really want to learn, is how you create a fire fist."

Ace blinks at the request before he chuckles. "Oh really?"

Her smile begins to grow, as she looks down at her arms. "Yea, the way you took down those Baroque Works agents was really bad ass! If I can do something like that with my wind, that would be really useful."

He chuckles at the explanation, and when he sees Luffy looking, he gives her a pat on the shoulder. "Now that's something I wanna see. Next time we take a break, we can give it a try. We're gonna have to be alone though, so that nobody gets hurt."

She raises an eyebrow at the small affection, but she doesn't think much of it, so she stays on topic. "Sounds good to me. For now, let's get back to searching for the girls."

The freckled man does as he's told, and turns away from her to be on the lookout. When he spots his brother frowning at their conversation from the corner of his eye he couldn't stop himself from smirking. It can't be too long before his brother finally says something about his feelings, just needs another nudge.

Luffy could only scowls as he looks around for a way to distract himself from the annoying feeling he's having in his chest. It feels like someone punched him in the chest, and it's really pissing him off. Especially when he doesn't know why it keeps coming back.

He stops looking around, when sees the group of small cacti, that are planted on the ground nearby, and decides to eat out his rage. "Hey Rose, can you put me down?"

Rose turns around, and pauses at the angry frown on Luffy's face, before she slowly nods. "Umm yea sure, you gotta take the luggage back though."

He grabs the sled while he keeps his focus on the ground. "Sure, thanks for the lift."

"No problem..." She gently sets Luffy down along with his sled without saying another word.

As soon as the captain's safely back on the ground, Rose turns to Ace and speaks soft enough for only him to hear. "Hey, don't you think Luffy's been acting weird today?"

Ace pauses at the question, before he turns to her with fake curiosity on his face. "Weird how?"

"Like he's been spacing out, and just now he looked like he was ready to punch something. Do you have any idea on what could be bugging him?"

Ace couldn't believe that she doesn't get what's happening, so he turns away from her to hide his devilish grin from the situation. "I'm sure he's fine. He's never been good with hot weather like this. He just needs to cool down."

"Hey Luffy, what are you doing?"

Rose and Ace stop their conversation from Usopp's voice, and they quickly look down to see Luffy not walking anymore, and letting go of the sled.

The rubber man ignores his question and looks past the group with a frightened look on his face! "IT'S A TSUNAMI!"

Everyone widens their eyes on the accusation while Luffy starts running around like a crazy person, and shouting about a fake tsunami!

Rose looks around, then becomes slack jawed, when she sees the bitten pieces of cactus on the ground. "Oh crap, he didn't!"

She quickly lands herself and Ace with the guys, while Luffy keeps screaming about a tsunami.

"What's going on with Luffy?" Zoro asks they keep watching their captain run around.

Usopp looks over at the cactus, then sighs. "It really wasn't a good idea after all..."

Chopper looks up at him in confusion. "What wasn't a good idea?"

"After Rose placed him back on the ground, he chomped on some of the cacti growing over there." Usopp points to the bitten cacti, so the others to turn their attention to the plant.

Chopper widens his eyes at the half eaten plants, then jumps up. "Those are mescal cacti! They're used to make hallucination drugs!"

"WHAT?!" The others look at him in shock while Luffy grabs his sled, and glares at the group.

"THERE YOU ARE CROCODILE! I'M GONNA KICK YOUR ASS!" Everyone looks at him in horror, when he runs up to them with the sled, and starts swinging at them.

"Oh, shit!" Rose and the others jump back from Luffy, as he keeps swinging the sled towards them.

"CROCODILE'S NOT HERE LUFFY!" Usopp yells as he dodges the sled, but his words fell to deaf ears as Luffy continues his rampage.

Luffy slams the sled on the ground, and roars like a beast, while everyone dodges the falling luggage, and debris of the broken sled.

"Not good." Sanji says as he, Zoro, Rose and Ace get ready to fight the crazed captain.

Usopp jumps back in fear while Chopper digs into his bag for something that can help.

Luffy can only see the hallucination of Crocodile in front of him, as he pulls his fist back. "GUM GUM-!"

Before he could punch anyone, he immediately fell asleep after Chopper managed to sneak up from behind, and knock him out with a tranquilizer shot.

The small reindeer raises the needle up triumphantly after he knocked out his captain. "That'll take care of him!"

The others sigh in relief, while Sanji gives him a thumbs up. "Way to go Chopper!"

Ace walks up to his little brother, picks him up over his shoulder, and he chuckles at his antics. "Just like when we were kids. Sorry about this guys, I'll take care of carrying him."

Nobody has any objections to that, as they pick up their own bags, with Nami and Vivi's bags on Chopper's sled, and get back on their journey to find the girls.

Usopp sighs in frustration as they keep going. "What do we do now? We completely lost them."

Rose quietly sighs as she looks ahead. "No clue."

Everyone keeps looking straight ahead, as they continue walking for what feels like hours.

Rose remains quiet as she keeps walking in the front of the group, and not paying attention to her surroundings. She's distracted by how she doesn't remember Ace showing up during Luffy's rampage in the anime, so she probably succeeded in keeping them separated.

Still, there's another problem. She has no idea why Luffy has been such a sour mood. She gets that the heat could bother people, but there's no way that just the heat would mess him that much, right?

She scratches the back of her head, then sighs when she can't figure out what's going on with her friend. She looks back at the group to check on him, then stops when she finds a pair of brothers missing. "What the hell?! Where did Ace and Luffy go?!"

The others stop, and look around to find that they lost their captain along with his brother!

"When did we lose them now?" Zoro asks while Rose flies up.

She looks around for any signs of them but there's no luck. She has no idea how the crap could they have gotten lost when the group was walking together. At the very least though, she got her wish in having Ace and Luffy spend time together...

She chuckles at the irony of how everything played out, before she lands on the ground. "Looks like our list of people to search for doubled. Sorry about this."

"There's nothing for you to apologize for Rose-chan. It's Ace's fault for wandering off with Luffy." Sanji says when everyone starts to hear rumbling.

The others look at each other for a moment before as they hear the sound growing louder from up ahead, and run towards it to find out what's going on.

Small beads of sweat begin to form on Ace's face, as he walks with Luffy sleeping on his shoulder. When he's finally tired, he stops to take a break and turns around. "Hey guys, any-! Huh?"

He looks around in confusion, to find that he and Luffy are the only ones in the area! "Crap!"

Luffy slowly wakes up to his brother's voice, then looks around. "Hey, what happened to the others? Did they get lost?"

Ace turns in shock to see that Luffy's awake then puts him down. "Looks like it. I could've sworn they were just here a minute ago. Even if we turn back now they'll be gone, so we should go ahead and see where it leads."

Luffy nods at the plan with a toothy grin. "Sounds good to me. Let's go."

Ace leads the way for them to travel, when a large pink scorpion, that's larger than the Going Merry, digs itself out of the sand right in front of him!

Ace twitches an eyebrow at the pest, before he steps forward. "Hey Lu, mind if I take care of this one?"

"Sure."

Ace lights his arms on fire, and launches a fire fist, large enough to roast the scorpion to a crisp, before the giant bug could take a swing at the pirates.

Luffy laughs in excitement of the show. "Shishishi, that was awesome Ace."

Ace nods with a smirk as he returns his arm to normal but doesn't say anything as they continue onward.

Luffy stares at Ace for a while, and realizes that he isn't getting annoyed. Maybe, the annoying mystery feeling is finally gone!

Ace catches Luffy staring, then looks at him curiously. "What are you doing?"

He snaps back to reality before he looks ahead. "Nothing. Hey Ace, do we have any food we can use for lunch?"

The freckled man blinks at the question, but before he can say anything, they begin to hear a small rumbling. "What the-?!"

Both brothers freeze when a large, purple, gecko, that's taller than both of them, digs himself out of the sand. Once the reptile is out of the sand, he stands on his hind legs in front of them.

Ace groans at the giant gecko in their way. "What's with animals always getting in our way here?"

Luffy casually shrugs. "Beats me. He doesn't look like he wants to fight though. He's just standing there."

The two of them side step to the right, to get out of the way, but the gecko mirrors their movements to stay in their path. They try again, by side stepping to the left, but the reptile continues to follow their movements. When they side step in opposite directions he continues following Luffy.

"Why'd you choose me?!" Luffy asks as he keeps sidestepping in different directions, but the lizard keeps blocking him.

Ace laughs at his brother's distress, and watches the dance show in front of him. "Want some help?"

His brother shakes his head as he gets his fists ready. "No, I got it. Gum Gum Pistol!"

He punches the gecko on the head, to make him collapse, with a large lump growing on the top of his head. Because of that, Luffy finally manages to sidestep without him blocking, then looks the lizard over. "Hey Ace, do you think we can eat him?"

The reptile quickly tears up at the thought of being eaten, while Ace strokes his chin. "Actually, I think he'd make a better ride for us."

The gecko quickly nods at the second option, with Luffy grinning in excitement. "Really?! Awesome!"

He goes to get on the lizard's back first, but Ace beats him to the punch. "I'll drive."

Luffy begrudgingly gets on behind Ace, before the gecko starts running ahead, with his new passengers on his back.

Rose and the boys quickly run up a large, sandy hill, to find the source of the large rumbling sound. When they make it to the top, they to see a large pirate ship, with an open umbrella on the figurehead, sailing on the sand.

Chopper looks at the ship in shock, as it sails to the left of their direction. "Whoa, that ship's sailing on land!"

Rose slowly nods as she keeps her amethyst eyes on the vessel holding the Sand Pirates. Since Luffy's not around to break their mast, then maybe they can just befriend them. At least she can hope...

Usopp adjusts his goggles, to get a closer look on the ship, then hitches his breath when he sees Nami and Vivi tied up to the mast, with Eyelashes hogtied, and surrounded by pirates wearing umbrella hats. "Nami and Vivi have been caught! Oh, and the camel too."

Zoro and Sanji turn to him in shock while Rose flies ahead.

"Hey, don't be rash!" Usopp yells out to her, but she doesn't hear his calls.

"Dammit, let's go!" Zoro says as he runs down the hill with the others following.

Sanji runs ahead of the guys, and tries calling out to the wind girl ahead of him. "Come back Rose-chan!"

Rose blinks at the call, but couldn't hear him, so she turns around while flying backwards towards the ship. "What was that Sanji?! I couldn't-!"

She pauses when she feels her nose start to tickle from the salty air. She tries to hold back from sneezing, but the feeling keeps building up in her nose. "A-ah- ACHOO!"

She gets sent flying backwards, towards the sails on the ship, from the force of the sneeze!

The wind girl crashes through the cloth of their largest sail, and leaves a giant hole in it. She loses her focus on her flying from the sneeze, and starts falling. She quickly catches herself with another gust of wind, but lands in front of the girls and pirates.

Everyone looks up to see another gust of wind blow through the hole in the sail, only to make the hole grow until the sail splits in half!

Rose gulps at the damage, before she looks around to see the pirates have their swords ready for her. "Ok, I officially just pulled off the worst entrance ever..."

"Don't worry about that now Rose! Eyelashes is about to be eaten!" Vivi says as she struggles in the ropes.

Rose turns around and looks at the girls curiously. "Really? I'm surprised they don't want to sell him."

A large, chubby, man, with dark hair under an open pink umbrella hat, laughs at the suggestion as he walks up to the girls with a large smirk. "We, the Barbar Sand Pirates, have a saying: 'Aside from friends, anything in the desert can be eaten.'"

Rose blinks at the saying before she strokes her chin in thought. "You know, that's a good point. You gotta eat to survive right?"

The large man nods in agreement. "Exactly! If it's a choice between food and money, food always wins."

Rose hums in agreement, before she looks at the camel curiously. "Does a camel taste good though?"

"Of course he does when you cook him right! We can let you try if you want."

Rose tilts her head in thought of the offer, while Nami looks at her in shock. "Are you seriously considering it?! Who's side are you on?!"

Nami tries to kick her, but the wind girl quickly dodges. "You can't blame me for being curious! I never ate a camel before!"

Eyelashes can only tear up at the conversation, while the captain only laughs. "Hahaha, this pipsqueak's funny!"

Rose giggles at the compliment. "You're pretty funny too, my name's Rose. I'm sorry about your sail. I was just trying to get my friends back, but it backfired."

"Oh, so they're your friends. We can't eat the camel then." The captain looks over Nami and Vivi, then unties them along with the camel.

The rest of the Straw Hats make it up to the ship, only to see what's going on, and lower their guard.

"What the hell?" Zoro asks as he watches the pirates free his friends.

Once Nami's free, she groans as she walks up to her crew mates. "Don't ask me what happened. One minute, they wanted to eat Eyelashes, and now they're friendly."

The sand pirate captain chuckles as he takes a seat, and turns to the guests. "My name's Barbarossa, I'm the captain of the Barbar Sand Pirates. Sorry for the rough treatment of your friends, we're all just really hungry..."

One of his crew mates steps up, while he looks at the sail. "We shouldn't apologize captain! What about our main sail?! The hole's too big to patch up. We need a replacement, or we can't move!"

The other sand pirates look at each other with complete worry.

"Yea, what are we gonna do?!"

"We can't stay here! Should we leave?!"

The straw hats sweat drop at their dramatics when Barbarossa speaks up. "Quit your yammering! We sand pirates live in our ships, and we'll die in our ships! Abandoning our ship is unthinkable!"

The crew starts smiling and quickly agrees.

"Yea, that's right!"

"We're the pride of the Barbarossa Pirates after all!"

Vivi looks around in shock then turns to the captain. "Wait a minute, what are you saying?! You shouldn't give up."

Barbarossa chuckles at her concern. "Who said we're giving up? We can still get it fixed. There's plenty of cloth at the Meriyasu Oasis."

Rose looks out at the desert then steps up. "Which way is it? I'll go get it."

Barbarossa looks out at the desert while contemplating the offer. "I appreciate it, but the sand has changed a lot lately. It's too dangerous for outsiders to journey there alone."

"No way, I broke it so I gotta fix it!" She freezes when she realizes how forward she is, and nervously looks to her friends. "If that's fine with you guys. I know we're pressed for time."

Vivi shakes her head with a smile. "It's ok, they spared us, so it's the least we can do."

The others nod in agreement while Barbarossa gives the freckled girl a large smile. "Alright then, if that's how you feel, I won't stop you. Boys, get two sand sleds ready!"

The others nod as they bring out two of their sand sleds, and lower them down while Rose, Barbarossa, and the Straw Hats get off the ship.

"Those looks more like small sail boats than sleds." Nami says as she takes a closer look at the tiny sail boats.

"They may look different than your usual sled, but they can get you sailing through the sand faster than this ship can. You should be able to carry the cloth in them." Barbarossa says while a young man gets off the ship.

"Zaba and Rasa will be guiding you to the oasis." Barbarossa says while he point to the young man named Zaba who waves at them, but Rasa isn't anywhere to be found.

"Where's Rasa?" Nami asks.

Zaba shrugs as he gets on his sled. "She'll be on her way. It's better if she comes along. She's the best sand sled rider we have."

Barbarossa hums in agreement before he turns to the wind girl. "These sleds hold two people so you can take someone else with you."

Rose doesn't act on the offer, and she gets on the boat. "I'll be fine on my own."

Nami frowns at her stubbornness as she goes next to her. "You shouldn't go in alone. Besides, you don't need the sled, you can fly."

Chopper nods in agreement as he steps up. "Yea, you never rode on a sand sled right? Maybe flying would be better for you."

She shakes her head with a small smile. "I never did ride one of these before, but that's what makes it more exciting. Beside, you guys saw me crash into the sail. I'm still too new to my flying to rely on it."

"You still shouldn't go by yourself. Maybe I should come along." Sanji says, but Rose politely declines the offer, when she looks at Vivi to see her approaching the sled.

The princess touches the sled and looks inside when a knife is thrown her way!

She quickly ducks to dodge the knife before it hits the ship, then she and the others, look to see a young woman, with her small pink umbrella, pinned in her dark blue hair jumping off the ship.

Barbarossa laughs at his crew mate's antics. "That was a good throw Rasa, but no throwing them at friends"

Rasa ignores the command as she lands on her feet, and frowns at Vivi. "The others seem to be outsiders, but you're from here aren't you?"

Vivi nods at the accusation. "Yes I am."

"Then you should have some experience with a sand sled. How about you go with your friend"

Sanji narrows his eyes at he suggestionr. "What are you saying?! Vivi can't do anything that dangerous!"

"Yea, that's crazy!" Nami says but Vivi raises a hand up to stop them.

"Wait guys, she's right. I'll come with you on your journey Rasa."

The sand pirate smirks at the declaration, as she joins Zaba on his sled.

Rose doesn't like how this played out, but she lets Vivi climb aboard. "Sorry about this Vivi."

"Oh don't worry about it; you helped us get out of the situation after all. Let's work together here. Would it be alright if I drive?"

Rose nods as she pulls the mast up, then hands the rope to Vivi. She takes a step back while Vivi gets herself acquainted with the sled's rigging. "Now let's see. I believe it goes like this and..."

She manages to get the sail to catch a tailwind, and gets the sled sailing at top speed!

Rasa widens her eyes at the head start, before she steers the sled, and sails after them to leave Barbarossa and the Straw Hats alone!

Nami watches them sail off before she looks around, and realizes that a pair of brothers are missing. "Hey, what happened to Luffy and Ace?"

"Ace and Luffy wandered off somewhere." Usopp says casually.

Nami widens her eyes at this, before she runs a hand through her hair. "Are you serious? Looks like those two are brothers after all..."

Barbarosssa raises an eyebrow at the conversation. "You guys lost some friends?"

"Yea, our captain and his brother. We're not sure where they went." Chopper answers sadly.

Barbarossa nods at this before he looks at his ship. "Well, since you guys are being nice enough to help us out, we can give you a ride towards a nearby village. Your captain might be over there."

Sanji gives him a small smile, before he puffs a smoke from his cigarette. "That'll be great, thank you."

Barbarossa smiles back before he looks at the camel. "Think nothing of it. So, what do you guys want to do while we wait? We can always eat the camel."

Eyelashes tenses up at the offer while the sand pirates start cheering.

Usopp, Sanji and Zoro raise their hands up in agreement. "We're ok with that."

Barbarossa laughs at the agreement. "Sorry, but I was just kidding."

Everyone, but Nami and Eyelashes, groan in disappointment before they relax.

"That didn't sound like a joke to me..." Nami says as she goes back to the deck to make sure no one tries to eat the camel, and silently wishes her friends luck.

Rose can only laugh in excitement, as she looks around the desert landscape, while the sled is sailing fast. "Hahaha, this is amazing!"

She looks at Vivi, and watches what she's doing with the ropes in both of her hands closely. "So, how does it work with the ropes?"

"I'll show you. To go right, you would pull the right rope like so." Vivi pulls the rope in her right hand to get the sled to shift to the right, then gives it some slack to get them back in the same direction. "Then with the left rope, you would need to adjust the mast just right to that you can shift left."

Rose keep observing the princess' movements with interest, as she keeps piloting the sled with ease. "Still, you seem to have a pretty good handle on it."

"I've practiced with a sand sled when I was little. It's not something easily mastered though."

Rose grins at the comment as she scans the desert that they're sailing through. "It's still amazing to experience something like this. It's almost like sailing in the water."

Vivi giggles at the comment as she takes in her surroundings. "Yea, it really is. So, what do you think of Alabasta so far?"

"It's beautiful, I think I made the right choice on making this place my new home."

"What will you do after everything's peaceful?"

Rose tenses up at the question, before she gives her a small smile to keep her from worrying. "I didn't think that far ahead yet, but I'll figure something out. I'll probably go wherever the wind takes me."

Vivi widens her eyes at the last sentence, before she frowns at her. "Was that supposed to be a pun?"

"Maybe..." Rose giggles at her own joke, with the princess smiling at her, when Rasa's sled catches up to them.

Rasa's sled goes next to theirs, and splashes sand onto the girls, before Rasa bumps their sled into the ditch on their left!

Vivi yells from the hit, as she loses control of the sled, while it begins to fall into the sand!

Rose coughs up some sand, and gets up as the sand, from the edge of the ditch, keeps pulling them into the hole. "What the hell?!"

Zaba bites his lip in guilt as he watches them fall, then turns to Rasa. "What was that for Rasa?! That was too far!"

Rasa scoffs at the complaint as she keeps driving. "If luck's on Vivi's side, then she'll live."

Zaba widens his eyes at the comment. "Wait, you know one of the girls?"

Rasa's grip on the ropes tightens from the question as she keeps going. "As if I'd ever forget..."

She keeps sailing the sled away from the hole and leaving the girls in the dust.

Vivi keeps trying to take back control of the sled, but nothing is happening. "It's not working!"

Rose looks up at the sail and takes a step back. "Vivi, whatever you do, don't let go of that rope! When I use my wind, I need you to steer the sled up the hill!"

Vivi nods as she holds onto the rope as tight as she can, while Rose uses creates a wind blast to give the sled a strong tailwind, and get them gliding on the sand!

The princess widens her eyes at the sudden pull at the ropes, from the sudden gust, before she wraps the rope around her hands, and takes back control of the sled!

"It's working Rose! Keep it up!" Vivi says as she steers the sled up the edge of the ditch.

Rose keeps her focus on the strength of her wind, to make it strong enough to get the sled uphill as fast as it can without shredding a hole in the cloth. She grits her teeth at how tired she's getting, but she refuses to stop.

The sled keeps going until it reaches the edge of the ditch, and shoots up into the air!

Rose laughs in excitement as she changes her wind to make it no longer pushing the sail, but now keeping the vessel floating in the air!

Rasa and Kaba look back in shock to see the sled flying after them.

"What the hell?! They made it?!" Rasa asks when her sled starts to stumble to the right from the lack of control, so she forces herself to get back to work on controlling the tiny ship.

Vivi looks around with amazement of the new view of the desert below them. "That was great Rose!"

"Thanks." Despite being ready to collapse, she keeps the sled floating, until they're at a safe distance from the ditch, then sets it down. Once they're sailing on the sand again, Rose takes a seat, and catches her breath.

Vivi turns around in shock, to see the wind girl completely exhausted and breathing raggedly. "Are you alright?!"

Rose slowly nods with a smile, and gives her a thumbs up. "I'm good, just used my wind a lot today. I made up my mind on something though. After everything's peaceful, I'm gonna save up to get myself one of these sleds because that was awesome!"

Vivi blinks at her friend's attitude before she giggles, turns her attention back to the sled, and follows the two sand pirates for the rest of their trip to the oasis.

When the two sleds reach the end of their journey, they find themselves at a small town that's half buried in the sand.

As soon as Vivi and Rasa stop their sleds, Rose furiously gets out and is ready to pulverize the female sand pirate. "What the hell was that about?!"

Rasa scoffs at the confrontation, while she drops the ropes, and walks off the sled. "Just a little test."

Rose clenches her fists in rage, and starts walking to her with hot air starting to blow out of her. "A test?! You could've gotten Vivi hurt with that stunt!"

Vivi quickly runs in front of her, to stop her from doing anything rash. "Take it easy, we both made it out alright. We shouldn't be fighting."

The wind girl takes a look at the worried princess, then takes a deep breath to calm herself down while her mood breeze stops. "Fine..."

Kaba gets off the sled, and runs into the town, without giving the girls a single glance. "I'll get the cloth! You guys just stay here!"

The girls just sweat drop at the man's quick retreat.

Rose feels bad for the scared dude, but there's nothing she can do about it, so she looks at the barren town with the princess.

"It's just like Erumalu..." Vivi says as she stares at the remains of the city sadly. "This city used to flourish as well, but it didn't have a chance either..."

Rose quietly sighs at the statement. "Yea... Did you ever come here Vivi?"

"Once when I was little. The people here gave me a small sand sled as a memento. That was a very long time ago though. It was when I was travelling with my father..."

"And I've been waiting all this time..." Rose and Vivi freeze at Rasa's voice, and turn to see the sand pirate looking out at the desert with a sad look in her eyes.

Rasa doesn't take her eyes off the desert as she continues speaking. "Back then, the king told us 'if anything should happen to this oasis I will come rushing to help.'"

Vivi widens her eyes at the speech when she remembers her visit to the oasis as a child. She quickly recalls a young girl with dark blue hair, like Rasa's, who gave her flowers upon her arrival to her town. "You were that girl back then..."

The pirate hums in acknowledgement, but doesn't look at them. "Eventually, this oasis was buried in the sand, and was abandoned. Everybody in this town left, but I stayed behind and waited for you... I believed in you... But, the king never came, and neither did you..."

Guilt begins to well up in the princess, so she tries to explain herself. "But, similar incidents have been happening all over the country. The king was busy everyday trying to fight it."

"I don't want to hear your excuses!" Rasa furiously turns to her, and looks her princess in the eye. "For years, I waited all alone in the middle of this desert!"

Her anger begins to fade away, and leaves only loneliness as she remembers the years she spent waiting for help. "Finally, I couldn't even tell the difference between dawn and dusk. By the time Barbarossa took me in, I couldn't feel anything. Not the scorching heat or the freezing cold. I was amazed that I was still alive. But, the king's words continued to play in my head. Honestly, what was I waiting for? Why did I stay here?"

Tears begin to well up in Vivi's dark eyes, as she slowly approaches Rasa. "I'm sorry... I'm so sorry I made you wait..."

Rose looks at the sand pirate sadly then she looks down at her necklace, without a word. She starts to remember her own feeling of helplessness when she was waiting for the comet in New York, and sees that no world is completely different from one another after all...

Vivi and Rasa snap out of their sadness after they feel a light, cold, breeze blowing past them. Rasa looks at the wind girl curiously, but only sees her staring at her necklace while her mood breeze blows at them.

In a few seconds, the mood breeze stops, so she shrugs it off, and turns to Vivi. "Anyway, that's all I had to say. I'm done waiting now."

Vivi slowly nods with a small frown. "I truly am sorry. You might not believe me, but I know what's causing this country's problems. I'm going to do everything in my power to fix everything."

Rasa can only scoff at her promise, and start walking back to her sled. "Actions speak louder than words. I won't believe it until I see it."

"Don't worry; I'll make sure you see it." Vivi says, which makes Rasa pause for a moment before she gets back to her sled.

Rose quietly sighs at the exchange, before she pats Vivi on the shoulder. "As long as you keep your promise, it'll be fine. Like she said, actions speak louder..."

Vivi slowly nods and looks back at the abandoned town. "Right..."

Before anything else can be said, Zaba comes back with a large folded cloth strapped to his back. "I have the new sail ready. Let's head back."

The girls quickly agree as they get back on the sleds, and sail back to Barbarossa's ship to fix the sail, just before the sun begins to set.

As Luffy and Ace ride on the gecko under the evening sky, Luffy groans from the boredom. "Haven't we found the others yet?"

Ace quietly sighs, in annoyance of the constant question, then looks up at the sky. "No Lu. Hey, wanna set up camp for the night? I'm sure they've set up camp too."

"Yea, sounds good." He and Ace get off the gecko before Ace turns to the lizard.

"Don't run away tonight, and we'll give you some dinner too."

The gecko yips in agreement as Luffy gets some sticks ready for a campfire. Ace wastes no time in lighting up the sticks, then grabs some meat from his bag, and cooks it before the three of them dig in.

Luffy and the gecko happily enjoy their dinner, with only the sounds of loud chewing coming out of them.

Ace quietly eats while he sneaks a glance at his brother, who's oblivious to what he's planning. Now's the best time to get him to admit his jealousy for Rose, so he opens his mouth and suddenly falls asleep from his narcolepsy!

Luffy laughs at the sudden snooze, then sees that Ace didn't finish his dinner yet, so he tries to grab it, but a hand quickly snatches his own.

"Nice try Lu." Ace finishes his meal before Luffy can touch it.

Luffy can only pout at his brother's unwillingness to share, as he grabs another piece of meat. "Stingy..."

Ace snickers at his childishness, as he watches him eat, then gets his next part of his plan, to make him jealous, into action. "Hey Lu, what do you think of the girls you hang out with?"

Luffy quickly finishes his meat then grows confused. "What do I think of them?"

"Yea, I mean they're all really interesting."

Luffy hums in thought, before he shrugs it off, and starts talking about them. "Well, Nami's really helpful and smart, but she can be scary when she's mad. Vivi's nice, and her duck's really cool."

Ace chuckles at his description of his friends. "And Rose?"

Luffy freezes at the question, before he happily smiles from the thought of the brunette. "She's like a mystery girl!"

Ace quirks an eyebrow at the statement. "A mystery girl?"

Luffy quickly nods as he explains himself. "Yea, she's full of surprises! Even though she can be really weird sometimes, we get along great, her power's cool, and she's really fun too!"

He pauses when he feels like he said something like this before. All of a sudden, he has a headache when a scene plays in his head of him telling Rose what he likes about her when he recruited her!

Ace raises an eyebrow, when he sees his brother rubbing his head like he has a migraine. "Hey, are you ok?"

Luffy nods with a smile as he takes his hand off his head, when the pain lightens up. "Yea, just a headache."

The pyro is relieved by the answer, then chuckles at Luffy's thoughts about the wind girl. "You seem pretty close to Rose."

"Of course, we're friends after all."

"But not crew mates."

Luffy widens his eyes at the comment, and loses his smile. "What?"

Ace keeps a smirk on his face as he rests his head on the palm of his hand. "I heard that you didn't recruit her, so I was thinking of asking her to come with me. After all, her wind and information could be what I need to take down Blackbeard. Then who knows, maybe I can get Pops to make an exception, and take her in as a pirate instead of a nurse-!"

"HELL NO!"

Ace froze at Luffy's shouting to see that he managed to completely piss him off.

He can only remain silent while Luffy glares at him. "You can't take Rose with you!"

Ace blinks at his brother's rage before putting he gives him a smug grin. "Oh really? And why not?"

"Because she already joined my crew!"

TO BE CONTINUED