Chapter 123: Barbar Pirates

As they were walking through the desert a loud noise could be heard. They all looked behind and saw a large grey and brown ship heading towards them. The front of the ship had a large purple umbrella.

"Is that a ship in the desert?" Marianne asked.

"Yes it is," Mikita replied.

"Amazing," Honey commented.

"The world is mysterious," Kaya said. 

"It sure is," Usopp added. They were chatting about their adventures. Kaya told him about fighting fishman and winning a race. Usopp told her about his adventures fighting a man who could eat anything.

"Do you think they might be trouble?" Nojiko asked.

"We should always expect it," Zoro said as he grabbed his swords. 

Alvida held her iron mace. 

"They might be friends," Luffy said. 

"Naive," Mikita said.

"That makes Luffy, Luffy," Ben said. 

"My little brother is one of a kind," Ace said. 

The large ship got closer. They all got ready to fight. The ship stopped. 

"An umbrella as a figurehead," Honey said. 

"Very interesting," Nojiko said. 

A large man with a fuzzy beard and eyebrows jumped from the ship. He wore a cloak, black shirt and grey pants. He had an umbrella on his head. 

"What are you doing here?" said the man.

Then a tall, slim woman with fair skin and short black hair jumped off the ship. She wore a white blouse on top of a purple shirt, red scarf, and long, crimson pants. She also wore curved, brown boots.

"Barbarossa be careful," said the woman.

"Yes I will, Rasa," Barbarossa said. 

"Zaba get here as well," Barbarossa added.

Then a tall, tan, muscular man came towards the guard railing of the ship. He had a yellow umbrella on his head. He has short, dark brown hair and dark coloured eyes. He wore a light grey coloured cloak tied and a black shirt and pants. "Captain Barbarossa, we should approach with caution," Zaba said. 

"They don't look harmful," Barbarossa said and added, "So what are you doing here?"

"We are here to beat Wani," Luffy said.

"Wani?" Barbarossa questioned.

"Luffy don't give out information like that," Sanji said. 

"We are heading north," Ben said. 

"Okay are you planning to walk there?" Rasa asked.

"Yes we are," Honey said. 

"That seems foolish," Rasa replied. 

"Well, we have no other option," Nojiko added.

"We should get going," Alvida said. 

"Yes it was nice meeting you," Mikita said. 

"Wait, we can give you a lift,"Barbarossa offered.

"Why would you?" Ace asked.

"For friendship," Barbarossa said.

"Friendship," Luffy said 

"Let go," Luffy added.

"Wait Luffy," Nami tried to stop him, however Luffy and Barbarossa were already arm in arm dancing. 

Rasa looked at Vivi. Vivi looked back. 

"Lets board the ship and we will take you there," Barbarossa said. 

They all boarded the ship. The ship was big. They noticed all the crew members had umbrellas on their heads. 

"Umbrellas?" Honey asked.

"Yes it is our pirate way," Barbarossa replied. 

"It's cool," Usopp said.

"Yes it is," Chopper added.

"Let's set sail," Barbarossa ordered. The man cheered and started to work. Rasa headed to the ship helm.

"She is the best navigator here," Zaba said. 

"Nojiko, Nami, why don't you both assist her," Ben said.

"Okay," Nojiko replied.

"I will go but not because you said," Nami replied. They both went after Rasa. 

The Strawhat Pirate and Love Pirates formed smaller groups and mingled with each other.

"So Ben, what is your real goal?" Ace asked.

Ben looked at Ace. "To become the Pirate King," Ben replied.

"A dream like my brother but it will be pops who will be Pirate King," Ace said.

"Ace, be careful with the person you are going after. He is not an ordinary person," Ben said.

"So you know about that as well," Ace said. 

"I will not change my mind," Ace stated. 

Ben knew it was pointless to change Ace's mind. He is stubborn. All the brothers have this problem. 

"Okay, we saved a prisoner when we were coming here. She mentioned Blackbeard," Ben said. 

"So he is not here," Ace said. 

"I don't know," Ben replied. 

"Blackbeard," Chopper said and added, "He destroyed my homeland." 

"I will avenge you," Ace said. Chopper smiled but he looked serious. 

They moved through the sand on the ship until they came across another town covered in sand. The town lies buried beneath a thick blanket of sand. The streets were obscured, replaced by undulating dunes that stretch as far as the eye can see. The outlines of houses, shops, and streets became discernible beneath the rippling sandscape. Doorways and windows, once entry points, stand as hollow openings leading to nothing but darkness. 

"Another town is the victim of Crocodile," Nojiko said. 

"We will stop him," Kaya added.

"This is where I found Rasa," Barbarossa said. 

Rasa, Nojiko and Nami came out of the building. 

Rasa approached Vivi. Vivi looked at Rasa.

"We have met before," Vivi said to Rasa.

"Yes we have," Rasa said. Rasa got angry and grabbed her knife and attacked Vivi. Ben and Zoro were about to move and intercept when Alvida got in the way and clashed with the knife. 

"You have to get through me," Alvida said. 

Rasa backed off. "Vivi look around, your father promised to save us but they did not," Rasa shouted. 

The Barbar pirates looked angry. Luffy looked serious. Zoro grabbed his swords. Mikita stared down.

"I am sorry, we could not help. I am sorry," Vivi said with tears in her eyes. 

"My King's word of helping still rings in my ears to this day but no one came," Rasa said with tears. 

"I am sorry. The King tried to make contact but there were situations," Vivi said. 

"I don't want to hear your excuses," Rasa replied. 

"I am sorry," Vivi said with tears in her eyes. Rasa remembered Vivi giving her flowers. Vivi walked up and hugged her. They both had tears. 

"I am sorry," Vivi muttered. 

They both cried. "The anger. I thought it was gone but when I saw you it came back. I found my place now," Rasa said. 

Ben smiled. "You are right Rasa, you have found your place. Don't let your past grudge blind you. Use it to make you strong. Vivi is right now suffering as well. She joined the enemy risking her life to save the country from an evil pirate," Ben said. 

Rasa looked at Vivi. "The country has been going down," Zaba said. 

"I won't let some pirate take over. I will," Barbarossa said and laughed. 

"Okay let's head to the Rainbase now," Rasa said, wiping her tears. As she said that a group of people surrounded the ship. 

"Hand over your money," one man shouted. 

"They are the desert bandits," Barbarossa said. 

"They have some beautiful girls, let's take them," said another man. 

Ben heard this. He transformed into his hybrid form and said, "Demon blast." A beam shot from his hand impacting one of the bandits. He went down. 

Alvida then jumped from the ship and landed next to the bandit. Avlida swung her iron mace and hit one bandit who hit another three bandits. They went flying into the air and landed with a big thud on the ground. 

Zoro jumped down with his two swords. He ran up to three bandits. The bandits raised their swords and attempted to strike Zoro. However, Zoro was too fast and sliced them. All three had blood leaking from their chest as they went down. 

Sanji jumped down and kicked two bandits in the stomach. They both stumbled on their feet, feeling the power of the kick. They both spat from their mouths and went down. 

A final group was standing looking frightened. They bit off more than they could chew. Luffy jumped in the air. "Gomu Gomu no Gatling ," he said as his hand stretched rapidly, impacting the group as they all went down. 

"That was easy," Mikita remarked. 

"These bandits harassed different groups and they went down this easily," Zaba commented.

"They are monsters," Usopp said. 

"Okay, let's head to the Rainbase now," Barbarossa said. They all boarded again and the ship started moving. 

The crew cheered. 

"Luffy, I need to go after him. I can see you are in capable hands and have strong friends," Ace said. 

Luffy smiled, "Okay bye." He gave Luffy a vivire.

"You take this as well," Ace said as gave Ben the vivire card as well. Ben now had two vivre cards, one for Bonney and now Ace. 

Ben nodded. "Okay bye all," Ace said as he jumped off the moving ship. 

"Crazy like his brother," Nami said.