31 Investigation

...

"Gosh, am I stupid or what?"

-Bam!!!!-

Smashing his fist against an enormous scorpion that had appeared from under the sand, Farid muttered in a low voice as he looked at the seemingly surprised expression of the scorpion with a deep frown.

The blow had been so powerful that the whole body of the scorpion got twisted by the sheer impact of his punch before then it was then sent flying away at an enormous speed.

Furthermore, several pieces of its shell fell apart as it traveled through the air, as it probably wasn't enough to resist the power behind Farid's punch.

-Booom!!!-

Soon, like a meteorite, the scorpion's body crashed against an immense boulder and embedded into it, raising an enormous dust cloud in the process.

After that Farid let out a short snort and started walking forward again without minding the scorpion any longer.

His face was completely impassive as if what had happened just now was an everyday occurrence.

"How many kilometers has it been by now? Let's just hope I'm not lost..."

Looking at a map in his hands with a tired look in his eyes, Farid shook his head resignedly, before he then glanced at the enormous desert ahead, full of dunes and rocky mountains that emerged from under the sand and that didn't seem to have an end, and then continued walking forward.

A few hours had passed since he had heard the rumors in the tavern about the man who supposedly had been digging all alone in the sand for months just to find water and rebuild his town, and since then, Farid had been traveling through the desert with a map that he borrowed from the old man John to go and find the said man.

He had the itching feeling that if he didn't go to help him at that moment, then it would turn into an annoying thing later that would constantly haunt his mind during the month of vacations that he had, just like the matter with the king was.

And again, Farid had nothing to do, so it wasn't like it would be a loss of time, even if the rumor was false.

Besides, he had heard of Yuba before...

A little village that was founded several years ago after the village head of the said village, Toto, migrated with many other people and settled down right next to an oasis that they had found, creating a very happy and prosperous village thanks to that, and the support of the very king of Arabasta.

So, considering that Yuba existed, it wouldn't be strange if the rumor actually turned out to be true.

"Though, why can't they build a goddamn bridge over Sandora river? I had to cross that fucking thing while swimming because a boat is simply too slow"

Cursing under his breath after recalling how troublesome crossing the entire river was, mostly because several monsters and beasts were trying to eat him during the whole process (Failing miserably as you might guess), Farid shook his head and dispelled his annoyance to continue advancing.

It was a wonder how the man in Yuba has been able to survive all this time, after all, traveling through the desert was incredibly difficult and dangerous for normal people just like the Sandora river was, as there were several beasts roaming around waiting for delicious prey to appear before them.

The scorpion from before was an example of that, as it had stalked Farid for quite a few minutes until it finally decided to attack when Farid was slightly distracted admiring the landscape.

Any normal person or animal would have been done by that attack that came from below the sand.

Though, this time it would be said that the scorpion chose its food very poorly.

Farid wasn't exactly what you would call easy prey, after all.

-Schk-

As Farid continued walking through the desert with no apparent ending, ignoring the annoying feeling of sand entering his shoes and dust in the air drying up his lips and nostrils, soon a small shadow appeared on the horizon, and immediately caught Farid's attention.

It was slightly blurry and it was barely visible as it was several kilometers into the distance, even with Farid's improved vision it was hard to discern properly what it was. However, even with all that, Farid was able to know exactly what it was.

"That sure took a while..."

There, on the horizon, Yuba was finally in sight.

...

Though, it would surely take an hour to arrive by seeing how far it actually was.

|A few minutes later...|

...

"This place is worse than I imagined..."

Entering into the town, Farid frowned in utter shock at its deplorable condition.

It was hard to believe that once it had been a prosperous town stationed right next to an oasis. After all, most of the houses around had completely crumbled down or were completely covered in several layers of sand.

In a certain way, if one didn't know that this was actually a town that had been completely alive until a few years ago, it wouldn't be strange to think that these were the ruins of an old civilization.

Yes, it was more accurate to call Yuba the ruins of a town instead of an actual town.

With how destroyed everything was, it simply couldn't be considered a town anymore.

"This is horrible..."

Gulping in surprise at the sight in front of him, Farid looked all around him, before he let out a short and wry laugh of disbelief.

"It's impossible for someone to live here... There's nothing to survive... No water, no food... Nothing. For a man to be living alone here, and digging every day in the sand to find water again at that... I don't think that's possible..."

-Tchack!-

"It's what I would say... But that sound... It's the sound of someone digging..."

Looking in direction of the center of the town, Farid let out another wry laugh of disbelief, before he then started walking towards the direction of the sound with an incredulous expression on his face.

Suddenly, other sounds started entering his enhanced hearing as he continued approaching the center of the town, which was where the sounds were coming from, making him flinch slightly.

The sound of rough, dry, and tired breaths of a man.

The grumbling sound of a hungry stomach, as if asking for some food.

The sound of bones creaking, as if asking for mercy, not wanting to be put under more pressure

It all entered his ears, making him grumble in a low voice in discomfort.

"It seems like the rumors were true... Except for the part where they don't mention that he seems to be on the verge of dying..."

Slowly, as he approached the place, Farid's frown began growing deeper and deeper, as hearing the rumors and actually seeing the man in person were completely different things... And not in a good way.

Why in the world would he be doing such a thing as digging under the scorching sun of the desert, when his body was like that?

That was the question that was filling Farid's mind at that moment.

-Tschk-

Giving a few final steps across the sandy ground, Farid finally arrived at the center of the town where an enormous and deep trench could be seen.

Noticing a few details here and there while glancing at everything, Farid could easily guess that the whole trench had been hand-made by the man of the rumors, which made him narrow his eyes while imagining just how much time it must have taken the man to actually make a trench that deep with just a shovel, and while working under the scorching sun of Arabasta at that.

A normal person wouldn't be able to endure so much.

-Tchack!-

Soon, however, Farid's thoughts were cut short, as the sound of a shovel entering again and again into sand reached his ears, and made him look at the center of the trench with a curious gaze.

There, he saw the man from the rumors, digging constantly without flinching in the slightest, and only taking a few seconds to breathe every once in a while, only to go back digging immediately after that.

"An old man?"

However, unlike the rumors, the man was in reality a wrinkly and skinny old man with gray hair and a thick and fuzzy mustache, who was covered in several robes and was wearing a white wrap on top of his head that probably protected him to an extent from the sun rays.

However, what disturbed Farid more, was the fact that this old man's skinniness wasn't natural, but instead, a result of starvation and thirst just like that of the kids or the village head that he had met a few days ago.

Another victim of the drought.

To Farid, who had been living in a somewhat isolated way from Arabasta while he worked as a bounty hunter, it became more and more of a shock every day to see just how much bigger the scale of the problem was than what he thought it was in a beginning.

It seemed as if every second that passed, the matter just became worse and worse.

Furthermore, although he hadn't personally seen it, he had also heard a lot about several people in Nanohana and other cities that had lost their villages to the sandstorms, and that had become beggars just to survive now that they don't have where to go back.

The skinny old man in front of him, although not a beggar, was just another of many who had everything taken away from them because of the sandstorms, and because of the drought that was plaguing the entire Arabasta...

A drought... That was supposedly caused by the very own king of this country...

'Fuck, how can this kingdom be in such a terrible situation...?' Cursing inside his mind, Farid gazed at the almost skeletal figure of the old man in front of him, who despite his condition continued digging without stop as if it was his life's entire purpose, before he then, without noticing, started clenching his fists tightly.

However, suddenly, as the boiling rage that Farid was starting to feel began to rise, a sudden noise caught his attention and snapped him out of his trance.

"Ahem...!"

It was at that moment, when the sound of the old man coughing in a very false way reached his ears, that he noticed that the old man had actually stopped digging and was now looking at him with a raised eyebrow.

'I was too engrossed in my thoughts... goddamnit...' Thought Farid, as he felt his face twitch slightly in shame for not even saying hello.

Soon, however, the voice of the old man reached his ears and made him put his worries aside.

"Are you perhaps a traveler?" The old man asked, looking at Farid from head to toe as if examining him.

His gaze appeared a little bit cautious even.

After all, with Farid's current shabby appearance, it wouldn't be strange to think of him as a bandit or something along the line.

On the other hand, after Farid heard his question, he stayed silent for a few seconds, looking at his clothes for a brief second, before he looked to the side and answered with a slightly ambiguous tone.

"Well, I'm... in a kind of travel you would say..."

"..."

Hearing Farid's answer, the old man looked at Farid for a few seconds in silence, before he then nodded and smiled slightly, probably deeming that Farid didn't have any bad intentions.

Placing his shovel down, the old man took a long breath while straightening his back, making small cracking noises as he did so before he then pointed towards the town/ruins that surrounded them and spoke to Farid with a wry smile on his face.

"You probably are looking to replenish your water here, right? Sorry, as you probably saw by now, our town is a bit dry right now... But still, I hope you can at least rest here for a bit. If you want somewhere to stay, there's plenty of space to choose from..."

"No, I'm good" Raising his hand to gesture to the old man to stop, Farid took a bottle of water from under his coat and tossed it to the old man, before he then sighed and sat on the ground right next to the border of the trench.

-Tack-

Grabbing the water bottle mid-air by instinct, the old man raised an eyebrow in confusion, before then his eyes widened enormously when he realized that what he had just caught was actually a bottle of water, and almost had his eyes pop out of their sockets because of the surprise.

"This is...?!"

After that, with an expression that seemed to demand answers, the old man turned to look at Farid, who was calmly looking at him while seated.

"It's water" Not knowing whether the question was serious or not, Farid just answered calmly.

Saying so, Farid took another water bottle from under his robes and began drinking it with a calm expression on his face, making the old man gulp slightly and look back at the water bottle in his hands with a greedy look in his eyes.

"I-I know that, but why are you giving this so suddenly to me? In a desert like this, water isn't something you share with others that easily, young man"

-Gulp-

"Haaah..."

Giving a satisfied sigh, Farid finished drinking from the bottle, before he then let out a short snort and grinned slightly while looking at the old man with confident eyes.

"Don't worry, in the first place, the desert isn't that much of a problem to me, so I don't really care that much about water like others. Drink all you want"

"O-oh..."

Looking at Farid with a surprised expression, the old man gulped slightly, before he then turned to look at the water with bloodshot eyes, and immediately began drinking from it desperately.

-Gulp-

As if it was a very precious and delicious elixir, the man didn't take any second to breathe and just continued constantly drinking without stopping.

Looking at the way he was drinking, Farid could easily guess that it probably had been a long time since he had drank any water, just like the kids or the village head that he met a few days ago.

It was probably the same for food as well, considering how skinny the old man looked.

'For a man to live in such a deplorable condition... What was the king even doing?'

Thinking about it made Farid's eyebrows twitch slightly for a split second, however, because the old man was too engrossed in drinking the bottle of water that he had in his hands, he didn't notice.

Finally, a minute later, the old man finished all the water, and let out a satisfied sigh while looking at the empty bottle in his hands with a relieved expression on his face.

At that moment, a blissful expression appeared on his skinny face as he closed his eyes, seemingly enjoying the refreshing feeling of having drank water after a long time, before he then turned to look at Farid with a wide and amiable smile on his face.

"Aren't you quite the good lad?"

...

|Rainbase, Crocodile's casino...|

...

"How is the situation with the rebel army, Miss All-Sunday?"

Sitting calmly at a chair right next to what seemed to be a window with a view of an aquarium, an enormous man could be seen looking calmly at a variety of papers in his hands with an impassive expression on his face while he spoke to seemingly no one in particular.

With a long, thick, dark pelted fur coat hanging over his shoulders, and a set of clothes similar to that of a mafia boss below that, coupled with the long stitched scar at the bridge of his nose that stretched across his face, and his emotionless gaze, the entire appearance of the man exuded an aura of intimidation, might, and in a certain way, danger.

He was none other than the famous pirate, Crocodile. One of the seven Shichibukai, and a man considered a hero in Arabasta due to the several heroic acts that he had performed during his years staying in Arabasta.

However, in reality, all those acts had been to forge his reputation, and disguise himself as an ally and a hero for the people of Arabasta, all while, his real intentions, on the other hand, were to lead the kingdom to a revolution and like that conquer the entire Arabasta when both sides, the rebels, and the royal army, are weakened enough for him to take both of them down in one go, and then use the Poneglyph hiding inside the royal castle to discover where the ancient weapon Pluton is hidden.

This whole plan of his had been going on for several years by now, and at the current moment, it was just on the verge of being completed... All that remained, was to wait for the rebel army to finish gathering resources, and then provoke them to finally launch their attack on the royal army so that he can finally take action!

He only needed to wait, and everything would develop as he planned!

-Tack-

Suddenly, appearing from within the shadows, a mysterious woman stepped out and glanced at Crocodile with an emotionless gaze in her eyes, before she then started talking with a monotone tone of voice.

"Yes... Every day they are gathering more and more resources in order to go on a full-out war against the king... It couldn't be a surprise if the royal army actually lost with just how many preparations the rebels are making..."

Hearing her answer, Crocodile smiled sinisterly, before he then placed the papers that were in his hands down on a nearby table, and let out a short snort while his smile widened in a sinister manner.

"Perfect, that will just make it easier for me to get rid of all of them when the moment arrives... Should we hold out a meeting with the rest of the executives? It is about time we let them know my identity now that we are so close to the end of this plan..."

"Maybe we should wait a little bit more, at least until we are completely sure that it is wise to make our move" Laying her eyes downcast, the woman replied in a monotone tone, before then the sinister laugh of the Crocodile echoed around the whole room, making the air chillier on the process...

"Don't worry, I'll make sure that you are able to read that Poneglyph... After all, it is also of my interest what is written there... Nico Robin..."

"Yes" Nodding her head, the woman didn't say anything else, before she then started walking away, and left Crocodile alone in the room, creating a deadly silence for a few seconds, before it was then interrumped by Crocodile who let out a short snort and muttered in a chilly voice.

"I don't trust that woman one bit... I should probably kill her when all this ends..."

Glancing at the table full of seats at the center of the room, where the officers of Baroque Works were supposed to sit when the moment arrives, Crocodile frowned for a few seconds, before he then placed a cigar in his mouth and lighted it up.

"Though... If HE hadn't declined and then disappeared, then our plan would have probably gone a lot smoothly through the years... Maybe, it would have also been completed by now..."

Looking at an old pack of papers on a nearby desk, Crocodile's frown deepened, as he glanced at one of the names that appeared written in them.

"That midget-bounty hunter... was really a promising member... A real shame that he disappeared out of the blue..."

...

-To be continued...-

°°°

(A/N: My sleeping schedule is getting completely messed up... How is it possible that it's already 7:00 AM and I haven't slept one bit?

Also, sorry for the delay guys, I just kept remaking the chapter over and over again because I don't like how it's looking. If it consoles you, I will start writing the next chapter immediately tomorrow... When I wake up at 3:00 PM...

-Sigh...-

Let's just hope I can fix this sleeping schedule before university starts again...

Well, goodnight folks... Or should I say good morning...? Well, there are different time zones for each country, so I guess it doesn't matter)

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