32 Cut At The Root
|A few hours later in Yuba...|
...
Walking across the ruins of Yuba, Farid and the old man could be seen talking to each other calmly as they strolled across the town with relaxed expressions on their faces.
After Farid had given the old man some of his water, he thanked him deeply and offered to guide him around the town as gratitude for his generosity... Or at least what remained of it. He wanted to do more for Farid, but since he didn't have that much to give, all he could do was guide Farid around and act as a guide for the time being, his body wasn't in a good condition either, so even doing such a simple thing was tiring for him.
However, for someone who had given him water when he needed it most, it was the least thing that he could do.
Like that, the old man began guiding Farid around, as he explained a lot of things about the town and its history, while Farid just listened quietly with a slight smile on his face.
"So that many people used to live here? No wonder it was bigger than what I had thought in a beginning..." Looking around, Farid raised his eyebrows as he nodded with a surprised expression after the old man finished explaining the origins of Yuba. He was honestly confused in a beginning about how the supposed village that had been built only a few years ago had already become so big to become a whole town.
However, hearing just how much support Yuba had received, it was not a surprise that such a new village had actually managed to grow so much.
On the other hand, after the old man heard his words, he smiled a little bit, before he then sighed and looked down with a grim expression.
"Yet... It's a shame that Yuba ended like this even after all our efforts to make Yuba flourish into a beautiful city..."
Giving a glance around, the old man took a deep breath, before he then shook his head and looked at Farid with a resolute expression on his face.
"However, that's exactly why I can't give up... If I give up just as all the others did, then Yuba will definitely perish... If I leave, then all our efforts will absolutely to waste... That's the reason I can't leave, to maintain Yuba alive, and to keep all our years of effort alive!"
"..."
Hearing the determined words of the old man, Farid couldn't help but stay silent.
He was already prepared to tell him that it would be better for him to leave and that it would be safest for an elder like him... However, before he even had the chance to say anything, the old man had already shown him his determination to continue being there and refused to leave no matter what.
Still, Farid couldn't feel good if he left the old man to die here... So he still had to try.
After all, with just how powerful the sandstorms were proving to be, being able to destroy entire villages in one go and all that, the old man would inevitably die if he continued to stay in Yuba.
'Maybe he doesn't know about the rumors of the king being the one behind all this...?'
Thinking like that, Farid looked at the old man, before he then opened his mouth and spoke with a slightly somber tone.
"But... I've heard that the king is the one behind all the drought that has caused the sandstorms to increase recently... Why don't you stay at a safe place until the rebel army and the royal army finish their fight...? If the rumors are correct, then after the king is dethroned the rain will come back, and you will be able to reconstruct Yub...-"
"Nonsense!"
Just as Farid was about to finish talking, the old man interrupted him and raised his voice with an angry tone that surprised Farid.
Looking angrily at him for a few seconds, the old man's body trembled slightly, before he then massaged his eyebrows and let out a deep sigh.
"The king isn't such a person... I've met him previously... and I know that he isn't someone that would do such a horrible thing as stealing the rain from all the country... No, he can't be..."
Looking at his palms, which were covered in callouses and wrinkles due to his exhausting days digging, the old man closed his eyes for a brief moment, before he then looked at Farid with a tired expression.
"I'm sorry I yelled at you... But... I trust the king... He couldn't do something like that, and I'm sure he will fix the situation somehow... It's also because of him that I still harbor hope that Yuba will be revived if I maintain it alive for long enough..."
...
"I see..."
Hearing his words, Farid nodded briefly before he stayed silent...
Closing his eyes while taking a deep breath, Farid remembered the old days... Those days when he was still the famous midget-bounty hunter of Alubarna, and the days when he was a soon-to-be Royal Guard.
... Those days when he was still friends with Vivi...
At that time, he had only met the king a few times. However, he never really talked much to him, so he didn't really know what to think of the king.
Maybe it was because the king was busy at those times, or maybe it was simply because both of them didn't have much to talk about... Farid didn't really know.
However, he still remembered the first time that he met him.
He had offered him to stay for dinner, and Farid had refused because he had to go back to the orphanage.
At that time, he didn't seem like a bad person... Or someone who would steal the rain from his people... However, he still had grim memories of the royalty. So he couldn't be sure about that either.
Taking a deep breath, Farid looked at the sky, seemingly as if looking for answers, before he then sighed and looked at the old man next to him with a raised eyebrow.
"Do you really believe in the King that much...?"
"...?"
Hearing Farid's words, the old man raised an eyebrow as well, before he then nodded with a resolute expression and smiled slightly.
"I do"
...
"I see... tsk"
Nodding at the old man's answer, Farid clicked his tongue, before he then started to walk faster, leaving the old man behind.
"...?"
Seeing this, the old man tried walking faster as well. However, because of his frail and tired body, he wasn't able to keep up with Farid, who just continued walking forward without looking back at a surprising speed.
Seeing that Farid didn't seem to plan to stop, the old man raised his voice, hoping that Farid would slow down.
"H-hey, young man, slow down, I can't keep up with... you...?"
However, before he was even able to finish his sentence, he noticed that Farid was walking back to the trench, and immediately stopped trying to follow him.
...
'What is he doing...?'
Furrowing his eyebrows confusedly, the old man observed Farid make his way into the trench while picking up the shovel that he had left lying on the ground previously, before he then widened his eyes and ran towards him with a surprised tone on his voice.
"Y-young man, there's no need for you to help me, you have done more than enough...-!"
However, before he was even able to reach Farid, a loud noise echoed all around the town and made him fall on his buttocks while covering his ears in the process due to how loud the sound was.
Just like the sound of metal clashing...
-Clink...!!!-
The sound was so high, in fact, that the old man's ears soon started ringing due to how sudden it had been, making him feel very disoriented for a short moment.
'What... What did he do...?!'
However, before he was even able to stand up to look for Farid, a cold feeling ran over him, as suddenly several parts of his body started being hit gently by something...
... Something... wet and cold.
"... What is...-?"
Confused, the old man started to stand up, before then suddenly other sounds besides the ringing in his ears appeared.
-Sssshaaaaaa...-
The sound of droplets falling to the ground.
The sound of rain.
The sound of water.
'Water...?'
Widening his eyebrows, the old man raised his head, before he then widened his eyes enormously at what he saw.
There, in front of him, an enormous jet of water flowed from the trench that he had dug, wetting all the ground around him in the process.
'...How could such a thing...-?'
Looking at the water that he had been looking for so much during the past few months in awe, the old man muttered inside his mind in confusion, before he then widened his eyes and looked back at the trench, looking for Farid.
However, as if he was a ghost all along, Farid had long disappeared, and now only the shovel that was embedded into the ground remained.
A shovel that worked as a reminder that whom he had just met was not a hallucination, but a real person.
...
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|Farid's POV:|
...
"... Somehow, everything gets more and more annoying every minute..."
Looking back to the town of Yuba, now far away since I had already walked quite a good distance, I looked at my wet clothes that got wet with the water that shot upwards right after I embedded the shovel in the ground, and let out a short laugh.
"Heh, but who's fault it is, I wonder?"
With my superhuman strength, and Armament Haki coating the shovel, it wasn't a problem for me to simply penetrate the ground with it and easily allow the water trapped underground to flow outside once again.
Hopefully, with the water now flowing outside, that old man would take better care of himself for the time being... At least, until I finished doing what I had to do.
"Something only I can do..."
After I heard that the old man would still believe in the king no matter what, I understood exactly what I had to do if I wanted to make sure that everything would end well for him, for the kingdom, and for my vacations...
I had to cut at the root the source of all the problems that were arising in Arabasta... Even... if the problem was actually the king.
Only then, would the old man not need to wait for the rain anymore, and I would also stop the war from happening in the process.
As for what would happen if the problem was not actually the king as the rumors said...?
...
...Then, this matter would become a lot more troublesome than I thought in a beginning.
Honestly, I don't know which option was better, but I guess it didn't really matter anyways.
Taking a deep breath, I looked at my hands, which were slightly wet just like my clothes, and looked ahead with a deep gaze, seeing the enormous and vast desert of Arabasta, which didn't seem to have an end.
For some reason, today that desert seemed much bigger than usual... I don't know why, honestly. However, for some reason, it wasn't a bad feeling.
"... Let's just hope this goes well"
Taking a deep breath, I looked at the desert ahead, before then I kicked the ground beneath me and shot forward at a superhuman speed.
My destination?
Alubarna, the capital of Arabasta.
My hometown, and the place that I thought I would never go back to.
...
-To be continued...-
(A/N: Farid detective has arrived 🧐, and Crocodile does not know what it's coming.)
