Chapter 4: Arabasta

Dialogue "sample"

Thoughts 'sample'

Author notes -sample-

Disclaimer: One piece and all of its characters belong to Eiichiro Oda.

Chapter 4: Arabasta

"Wow, look at all of those ships." Exclaimed Usopp.

As soon as we got close to Arabasta we encounter dozen of ships surrounding the coast.

"They all have the Baroque flag." Vivi pointed out.

"it doesn't seem like they have the intention to stop us." Said Nami.

"Forget about those weaklings. Don't lose sight of our true objective. Here, there are only eight of us." Said Zoro while handing some white ribbons.

"Tie them on tight."

"I see. As long as we have these, we don't need to doubt one another." Said Nami.

After they were all done putting the ribbons on.

"Let's stop in that inlet to the west, we need to hide the ship." Said Sanji

"Yes, and then we go to a restaurant!." Said Luffy with enthusiasm.

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As soon as we landed, Luffy took off running while yelling 'Food!.'

"So…what do we do now. Should we go look for him? This place looks big." Asked Chopper.

"I wish He would pay more attention to the bounty on his head. This place is filled with bounty hunters." Said Nami.

"Don't worry about him. Luffy can take care of himself. Let's go get something to eat." Said Zoro.

"Wait. That one over there is Mr.3 ship. He must be in Arabasta too." Vivi pointed to a ship nearby.

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After grabbing something to eat, we stopped at a clothes shop so we could all get some local clothes that would stand out less.

"You two look gorgeous." Exclaimed Sanji while looking at Nami and Vivi who were wearing some very revealing dancer's outfits.

"Can we go now? We have all of the supplies we need already." Said Zoro, who seemed to be getting impatient.

"What are we going to do now Vivi?." Asked Chopper.

'Ugg, I wish they would stop asking me so many questions. My memories of Vivi are so fragmented that is hard to use them and latterly I have only dreamed about that stupid blue door. I need to keep making use of my previous life knowledge but even that is limited since it's been so long since I read this arc.'

"Well….we need to stop the rebellion. And the rebel's base was somewhere in the desert." Said Vivi.

"Do you know where exactly?. The desert is very big. It would be bad if we get lost." Asked Sanji.

"I have a map. I got it from a nearby shop. Let me have a look." Said Nami who noticed Vivi having trouble remembering.

"Look, there is a town in an oasis called Yuba close to here." Said Usopp while looking at the map.

"Right, that's it! Yuba. I remember now. That's where we need to go." Said Vivi, excited to have remembered the name.

"Alright, let g-"

"Hide!" Said Zoro while grabbing Vivi and dragging her behind a wall.

"Marines, what are they doing here?." Whispered Usopp.

They all then saw their Captain running like crazy while a group of marines was chasing him.

"...." Everyone.

"Of course, it had to be HIM!." Said Sanji.

Vivi looked at the group of marines and found a familiar face among them. Marine Captain Smoker was also chasing Luffy.

"Let's go help him!." Said Chopper.

"Wait. Look!" Said Vivi, stopping Chopper from running out.

"You are not getting away!." Yelled Smoker. He then turned his arm into smoke and shot it toward Luffy in an attempt to grab him but was intercepted by a wave of fire.

"Heat Haze!" A voice was heard saying.

"What are you doing here?" Said Smoker, recognizing the meddler.

"You may be smoke, but I'm fire. Your powers don't stand a chance against me!." He said.

"Ace?" Said Luffy, looking surprised.

"Ey, Luffy. Long time no see. You haven't changed one bit." Said Ace while looking at his brother.

"Come on, let's run back to the ship. " Yelled Nami.

"What, are we leaving the island already?" Said Usopp.

"No, we can go up the river into the desert. We only came here for supplies." Said Vivi.

Luffy appeared next to them as soon as they reached the Going Merry.

"Man, I never thought I met Ace here."

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"That was your brother?." They asked in surprise after Luffy explained to them.

"What is He doing in Grand Line?" Asked Zoro.

"Well, He is a pirate too. He must be looking for the One Piece. He is three years older than me, so He left much earlier." Answered Luffy.

"His devil fruit ability looked very powerful." Sanji pointed out.

"Yes!, I didn't know about that either. He must have gotten it after becoming a pirate. He was already very strong before having any ability, I could never beat him." Said Luffy.

"Not even once?" Said Nami surprised. Knowing how much of a monster Luffy can be.

"Man, your brother must be crazy strong." Said Usopp.

"Yeah, but I bet I can beat him now shishishi." Claimed Luffy while chuckling.

"Just who can you beat?!" Ace's voice sounded from the side of the ship before He jumped on board.

"Whoaa!" The crew exclaimed.

"Ace!" yelled Luffy.

Ace bowed down to the crew.

"Thank you for taking care of my little brother. I know He can be a handful."

"No kidding…" Said Usopp.

"Ey, I'm not a kid anymore. What are you doing here anyways?." Complained Luffy.

"Didn't you get my message? Well never mind. I'm here looking for someone. But before that. Luffy, wanna join the Whitebeard pirates with me? Your friends are invited too of course." Offered Ace.

"No way!" Was Luffy's immediate answer.

Ace started laughing. "Yeah, I thought you would say that."

"Wait…Whitebeard you say…then the symbol on your back…." Usopp had sweat dropping across his face.

"Yes. My pride and Joy. Whitebeard is the greatest pirate I have known. I want Him to be Pirate King." Said Ace while looking at Luffy, knowing what that statement meant.

"That's okay Ace. I'll just have to fight Him." Answered Luffy nonchalantly.

"Well, you are welcome to come inside. I'll make some tea." Offered Sanji.

"By the way. Where are the marines? Is strange that they are not chasing us." Nami pointed out.

"Don't worry about them. I defeated them with my mera-mera power." Commented Ace.

"Here, I wanted to give you this." Ace threw a piece of paper to Luffy.

"What is this? paper?" Asked Luffy.

"Is an important paper. Keep it safe and we will meet again. " Said Ace.

Luffy didn't understand but still believe his brother's words so He stored the paper inside his hat.

Ace turned to the crew.

"Please, continue to take care of my problematic brother. I can't help but worry about him." He then jumped off the ship into a small-looking boat.

"You are leaving already?." Said Luffy.

'Shit, I need to do something. But…will He believe me?.' Wondered Vivi.

"Sorry, but I'm busy, Luffy. I'm chasing a man named Blackbeard. He committed the worst possible crime on a pirate crew…He killed a crewmate. As his Commander is my duty to carry out the punishment." Said Ace with a serious expression.

'This is my chance!'

"Wait!" Said Vivi, turning everyone's attention to her.

"Did you say, Blackbeard?"

Ace nodded to her. "Do you know something about him?"

Vivi had to improvise something to give Ace a better chance.

"While I was working as a spy in Baroque Works, I got some information on my hands about someone with that name. The reports claimed that He was seen chasing pirates with high bounties and using some sort of shadow powers."

"Shadow powers? That must be the devil fruit that He stole after killing his crewmate…." Ace said softly.

"A devil fruit with shadow powers? I read about something like that, is one of the rarest ones. The Yami Yami no mi…" Said Sanji.

"Do you know what it does?" Asked Usopp.

"There isn't much information about that one. But said that is capable of stoping all other devil fruit powers from working." Answered Sanji.

"It can stop any other devil fruit from working? that's insanely strong." Exclaimed Nami.

"Ace. Unless you are confident in defeating him without using your powers, it may be better to ask for some backup before confronting him." Said Vivi, hoping that this would be enough to change the events that would follow.

Ace smiled. "I appreciate the concern, I'll keep it in mind."

He then said his goodbyes and went on his way while Vivi stared at his fading figure with worry in her eyes.