Chapter 38: The Roar in the Sand

I'm not really satisfied with this chapter. I feel like it's shoddy work at best, but I'm already behind because I took the time to revise. Unfortunately, or fortunately, I couldn't completely rewrite this chapter since I hate doing that and there's already so much after this. On the bright side, the next chapter will be all fighting and is the longest chapter to date at over 4k words. Just wait for that.

Chapter 38:

The Roar in the Sand

Luffy gasped, taking sweet air into his lungs. His bloody form was tossed onto the sand outside the range of the quicksand. He pulled his eyes open, making out a blurry but familiar figure. His vision cleared after several seconds to reveal the shape as Ms. Allsunday.

"Th-thank you," Luffy panted, the hole in his stomach making it hard to both breath and speak. The woman said nothing for a long moment, only staring down at the injured pirate. Finally, she spoke.

"Why do you fight?" she asked. "What drives you, the people who bear the name of D.?" Luffy said nothing. He didn't know what was so special about his middle name. "I suppose you don't know then," the woman sighed.

"Nico Robin!" a voice yelled. Pell staggered out of the city, limping but forcing himself forward. The woman saw him, but her facial expression did not change.

"You're awake already?" she questioned. "I'm surprised, but you shouldn't overexert yourself. You're in no shape to fight me. Heal the kid instead. His friends'll need him soon." She turned and walked off, taking a carriage that sped off into the dessert.

"Meat," Luffy groaned, grabbing the hem of the man's robe. "Give. Me. Meat!"

"This is boring, dull, uninteresting!" Ms. Merrychristmas complained, stomping her foot into the sands that surrounded the capital city of Alubarna. "The shade of the wall is nice, but there has to be something we can do, do, do!"

"Please calm down, Ms. Merrychristmas," Ms. Doublefinger placated, breathing out a breath of smoke from the pipe in her hand. "Mr. 0 said that the pirates should be here soon."

"But that message came through over an hour ago!"

"Ha... ha... ha..." Mr. 4 laughed, his dog-gun, Lassoo, in his lap licking at his face.

"Shut up, Ms. Merrychristmas," Mr. 1 ordered. "You're being loud and annoying."

"You brute!" Mr. 2 chastised. "If I could, I'd... What is that?" The Okama squinted into the distance where a speck had appeared on the horizon. Mr. 1 snatched a pair of binoculars from Mr. 4 and brought them up to his face.

"They're here," he announced, dropping the binoculars into Ms. Merrychristmas' reaching hand. She quickly looked out over the desert.

"Damn them!" the woman shouted. "They're wearing cloaks! How unfair!"

"Ha... ha... ha..."

"You wanted something to do," Ms. Doublefinger commented, dumping the tobacco out of her pipe and onto the sand at her feet. The pirates were getting closer.

There were seven ducks and one camel in all, each one carrying a hooded figure. As the agents started to move to intercept the pirates, the group of ducks and camel broke off into three smaller groups, one of two and two of three, that went toward the southwest, south, and southeast gates. The Mr. 1 pair gave chase to the first trio which included the camel and Vivi's pet, Carue, and the camel. Mr. 2 pursued the duo heading to the southernmost entrance, while the Mr. 4 pair went after the final three toward the east. As the race began, Vivi, Coby, and Grace watched from behind a rock far enough out that the agents couldn't see them, praying for their friends' safeties.

Mr. 4 and Ms. Merrychristmas caught their prey just outside of the southeast entrance, one of Mr. 4's exploding baseballs knocking two of the figures off of their ducks. The birds were knocked unconscious, but the humans stood up as the agents revealed themselves.

"Well?" Ms. Merrychristmas demanded. "Which one of you is the princess? Which one, huh? Which one?"

"Sorry to disappoint you, Ms. Merrychristmas," a woman's voice laughed from under the hood of the human still on their duck, "but none of us are the princess. Kyahahaha!" The three threw their robes away, exposing Usopp, Chopper, and Amy to the dessert sun.

"We will-" Usopp began. "Ahh! It's a mole woman!"

"Oh God!" Chopper yelled. "You're right! I didn't think they existed!"

"Ha... Ha... Ha," Mr. 4 laughed as his partner streamed. She hadn't even transformed yet. The woman rushed forward, hoping to quickly kill these pesky pirates and the traitorous woman.

Mr. 2 stopped his duo outside the south gate, blocking it and taking a fighting stance with his arms raised before his face and his wrists limp. The two pulled to a stop and dismounted lightly.

"Is one of you the princess we're looking for?" he asked excitedly.

"Afraid not," the first of the two replied, pulling out a cigarette and lighting it. The duo tossed their cloaks to the wind, showing Sanji and Gin. "And let me tell you, you are one ugly-ass man."

"I'm an Okama, you jerk!" Mr. 2 retorted. "Beware, for I will take you both down with my Newkama Kenpo!"

"Oh no," Gin rolled his eyes. "I'm so scared, I'm shaking in my shoes."

"As you should be!" Bon Clay responed, not catching the sarcasm in the pirate's tone.

"Can we get this over with?" Sanji questioned impatiently. "I'm running low on cigarettes and the sooner this war is stopped, the sooner I can stop rationing."

"Fine then. Prepare yourselves! Memoir of a Winter Sky!"

Mr. 1 and Ms. Doublefinger had to sneak into the city before catching up to their opponents. The agents found them waiting in the middle of an average road. No words were spoken as the disguises were thrown away; a man, a woman, and a dummy on the camel.

"Sorry," Nami taunted. "Not the princess you're looking for. You'll never get her either. Now get 'em, Zoro!"

"Yeah, yeah," the green-haired man waved off.

"Well, Ms. Doublefinger, is seems we've been had."

"So it seems, Mr. 1."

"I'll take the man, Ms. Doublefinger."

"Then I'll take the girl, Mr. 1." Their plan established, the agents rushed forward to face their foes.

Flashback

After crossing the first half of the distance to Alubarna on Scissors the Moving Crab, the crew reached the Sandora River. There they ran into the Kung-Fu Dugongs who beat up a Sandora Catfish and drug them across on its back. Once they got to the other side, Carue and the other six ducks of the Super Sonic Duck Squadron showed up to carry them the rest of the way.

Of course, they knew that the remaining Baroque Works agents were going to be there waiting for them so they could kill Vivi, therefore everyone dressed themselves in matching robes at Amy's suggestion. In total, there were nine humans, seven ducks, Chopper, and Eyelash. They split off into groups with Coby, carrying Vivi and Grace in his Dino Mode, lagging behind. It had been agreed that Vivi was too important to risk, so the others were to act as a diversion while the princess and the youngest pirates did their best to stop the rebellion before it reached the capital. Everyone else was hidden and riding one of the ducks.

The numbers just didn't seem to work out, though. Without Vivi, Coby, or Grace in the mix, that left six humans. And with Eyelash able to either ride or carry, that meant that there were eight riders and seven ducks or seven riders and eight carriers. Despite this math, Amy remained insistent that Grace not be involved anywhere near direct confrontation with the agents and that she would be safer playing bodyguard to the princess, so Usopp, in all his brilliance, constructed a dummy for eyelash to carry.

Flashback end

The Rebel Army was approaching at well over two million strong. Their leader, Kohza, was in the front atop a horse as black as midnight. He was a man of average height with shaggy, dirty blond hair and a scar that ran down next to his left eye. The Rebels were coming in quickly, battle cries on their lips and swords in their hands. The trio of Vivi, Coby, and Grace had planted themselves in their way so the army would need to go past them to reach the city. The army, or at least Kohza or his commanders, would see the three, Kohza would recognize Vivi, and they would explain what was going on.

That plan nearly went down the drain. Just as the army was coming into eyesight, a cannonball from the city hit the ground, kicking up a dust cloud and obscuring vision on both sides.

"What are they thinking?" Vivi thought out loud, shielding her eyes with a hand.

"I can't see anything!" Grace complained, pulling her hat low to protect her eyes from the sand.

"Then they can't see us!" Coby pointed out, also protecting his eyes. "We're going to miss the Rebel Army at this rate! If they don't trample us!"

"How are we going to stop them?" Vivi panicked. The army's shouts were getting closer. A sense of dèja vu came over Coby and a memory of Nanohana stirred in his mind.

"Cover your ears," the male told them as he transformed, sucking in a breath. He let out a roar that reverberated through the air. His call was even heard in the palace where Chaka, the king's second advisor, was watching over the battlefield preparations. The sound washed over the angry men in the dessert and filled them with fear; they'd never heard a noise like that. Fear of the unknown in the sand pushed at Kohza's mind.

"Halt!" he ordered, his left hand in the air making a fist. "Everybody halt!" His generals copied the sign and slowed to a nervous stop, the rest of the army following in their example. Their ungulates (hooved animals) shifted, scared of this new creature and where it might lie on the food chain. Kohza squinted into the settling sand. Three shadows faded into view as the grains settled to the ground. It was silent.

"Leader!" Vivi cried, rushing forward. The man was so surprised at Vivi's sudden appearance that his did not notice the two young pirates, Coby having reverted back into his human form. "Leader, stop this!"

"V-Vivi?" Kohza stuttered as she dragged him off his horse and into a hug. "Vivi, is it really you?"

"It's me, Leader," the princess affirmed, crying into his shoulder.

"Vivi," Kohza muttered, hugging her back. "I thought you were dead. We hadn't gotten word in so long."

"I was away for over two years, but now I'm back. You have to stop this attack, Kohza. Thousands of innocent people could die. The war was a set up."

"A set up?" Kohza growled, suddenly angry at the mention of the war. "Your father and his Dance Powder sent this country into a drought and then he wouldn't use it to make it rain like it used to!"

"It wasn't my father!" Vivi argued. "He was framed! That's where I've been these past two years! I infiltrated a criminal syndicate called Baroque Works and learned that their boss is Crocodile the Warlord and that he framed my father to start a civil war to tear this country apart!"

"Do you expect me to believe that Crocodile is the reason for this war?! He's a hero!"

"It's a front," a new voice interrupted, a hand tugging on the hem of Kohza's sleeve. The two older teens looked down to see Grace on Vivi's left side and Coby on the other. "I'm Grace, but I was called Ms. Goldenweek before I left Baroque Works. Nice to meet you."

"You were a member of this 'Baroque Works'?" It was obvious that the rebel did not believe her. "You're, what, 11?"

"I'm 13," Grace responded, mildly annoyed. "I was the youngest member, but also one of the strongest."

"Really?" Kohza was still skeptical, but he brushed it off. "Speaking of strong, what was that noise?"

"That was me," Coby spoke up. "I'm Coby, a member of the Straw Hat Pirates. I ate the Ancient Zoan Devil Fruit: Model Triceratops."

"You're a pirate?" Kohza growled at Coby, pulling his sword out from the sheath at his hip. "What are you doing near Vivi, you sea scum?" The boy growled back, a deep rumble that should not come from someone of Coby's size rolling out of the back of the boy's throat.

"Vivi is under the protection of the Straw Hat Pirates until this war is over," Coby rumbled, growing with each word until he was in his Hybrid Mode. "You got a problem with that?" Kohza stepped back, stunned at the display.

"Coby, stop it," Vivi ordered, throwing her right hand out in front of the rosette. "Zoro's rubbed off on you too much if you're trying to pick a fight now."

"Sorry, Vivi," Coby apologized sheepishly, shrinking back. "I guess that 'sea scum' remark hit harder than I thought it had."

"No, it's fine. But, Leader, before I go on, I need to tell you. I think that Baroque Works has infiltrated both the Royal Army and the Rebel Army."

"Why would you think that?" Kohza asked.

"That way, if it seemed they were trying to find peace diplomatically, one side or the other would fire, sparking war again."

"But what proof do you have?"

"That cannonball that came down right before we started talking. Chaka and my father aren't stupid; they wouldn't fire so early. I think that was one of the agents trying to make us miss each other."

"Let's just wait here," Coby suggested. "The rest of our crew are fighting the remaining agents as we speak. If you squint, you can see our sniper, doctor, and Grace's sister fighting two of them by the southeastern gate."

"Someone," Kohza ordered. "Give me a pair of binoculars." A pair were placed into his open hand. He brought them to his face and scanned the area he mentioned. There were five people, none of whom Kohza had ever seen before, in what seemed to be a battle. While he watched that fight, Vivi knelt to Coby's level to talk to him.

"Coby. Take Grace and walk around the Rebel Army. Try to find any Baroque Works agents you can. If we can get them to talk, Kohza will know we aren't lying.

"Sure thing. Come on, Grace."

"Fine," Grace yawned. "Carry me?"

"Now of all times?" Grace didn't respond, only lifting her arms forward. Coby facepalmed, but transformed.

"Nami was right," Vivi mused as the two set off. "How did I miss that?"

End of Chapter 38

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-SwordOfTheGods