Ch 23 Set up for a War

(It's weird how different the anime and manga are...)

After Ace left, Luffy asked Nami to sew a piece of paper into his hat to keep it safe, because Ace gave it to him.

Usopp - "What is it anyways?"

Luffy - "I don't know, but Ace said it was important, so I'm gonna keep it safe."

Luffy then put his hat on and gave it a pat to make sure it was in place. Fortunately, Leo knew what it was and informed him.

Leo - "It's a Vivre card. You can use it like a compose to find the person it belongs to and also as a way to know their current status. If it starts burning, it means that their life is probably in danger."

Luffy - "Cool! So now I can find Ace again!"

Luffy started celebrating at being able to find Ace whenever he wants.

Vivi then came over with robes and gave them to Luffy, who complained about how she and Nami didn't have to wear thick clothing, but was instantly told otherwise.

Luffy - "Then why doesn't Leo have to wear one?"

Luffy still complained though, because Leo didn't have to wear them. Leo responded with a peace sign.

Leo - "The temperature and sun doesn't affect me."

Usopp - "That's not fair."

With grumbling from everyone at the unfairness of it, they continued sailing up the river.

They were heading to the Yuba Oasis to meet the rebels. This is because Vivi wants to settle everything by reasoning with them and avoid fighting, which she gave an oh so passionate speech about.

Leo was just ignoring her and her idealism, wondering what he should do while everyone goes and plays(fights) with the enemy.

- The afternoon of the same day -

They arrived at an abandoned city, The Green City Erumalu, which was completely devoid of anything resembling the colour green.

Luffy originally thought that this was Yuba, but Vivi corrected him, telling him that they were still half a days walk away.

Leo decided to store the ship in his inventory. There was no point in leaving it there to be watched over by a bunch of seal turtles, which just made their entrance and beat Usopp up, only to get beat by Luffy and become his disciples.

Leo - 'I wonder if I should get some for my zoo... Nah, I can't be bothered.'

After almost 10 minutes, they got going. The reason it took so long, was that the stupid little twits were trying to follow Luffy, but Chopper and Leo managed to get them to stay.

While they were walking, Sanji asked if those animals lived in the river, to which Vivi told him that they live in the sea, but the in recent years the river had lost force and was over come by the sea. Meaning that the water isn't drinkable or usable for crops.

Leo was wondering why they didn't just boil sea water. Not that great of a solution, but it would work for a little while.

He was also wondering if he could make it rain. Ghost Riders can manipulate weather patterns and even use it to make lightning, so rain should also be possible.

While he was thinking about this, the others were talking about how the King had been set up with the use of Dance Powder and the people subsequently lost faith in the King, leading to a rebellion. Vivi ended up screaming in frustration and crying, resulting in the dumbass trio going and destroying a building.

The trio returned to the group and they continued walking. Except for Leo, who stopped walking and looked around at the destroyed city.

Leo - "Humans are such a pathetic and illogical race..."

Stood there and started talking, he didn't get the attention of the group and they continued walking, except for Nami. He didn't care about her and continued speaking.

Leo - "They never learn. They make the same mistakes over and over throughout history. They will look to others for guidance, expecting them to lead. The moment something goes wrong, they turn on the person in charge without a second thought. As if things will suddenly be alright and all their problems will disappear, but they only make things worse. It's a miracle they haven't gone extinct all over."

Nami - "Hey! Leo, come on!"

He was brought out of his monologue by Nami's call. He took one last look, sighed and caught up to the others.

They continued their journey and left the city area. It wasn't long before Chopper became exhausted from the heat and Luffy started to complain.

First, it was that he's thirsty and then when he got told by Vivi to drink only a little, so he decided to down mouth fulls, which were wasted thanks to Usopp hitting him. Then he complained that he was hungry. After that, Leo made some headphones and ignored everyone.

He could have made a car or something and drove everyone to their destination, but where's the fun in that.

After walking for an hour or so, they came in sight of a crag, much to Luffy's joy. He ran off towards the crag, but soon came back in a panic.

Luffy - "Chopper, come quick, there are some birds that are dying! You need to save them!"

Vivi - "Luffy, those birds are faking. They pretend to be dying so they can trick travellers and steal their supplies."

Luffy - "WHAAAAT! Those fakers, I'll show them!"

He then turned back and stomped over to them while rolling up his sleeves.

Fortunately, Leo had taken care of luggage transport, so they didn't lose their stuff due to Luffy's stupidity.

The rest of the group followed after Luffy and found him running around, chasing the birds.

They all sat in the shade and watched. Vivi did try to stop him, but he didn't listen.

The birds ended up flying away from the crag and Luffy followed them, only to come running back with a big lizard on him tail.

Leo looked at Zoro and Sanji

Leo - "Who wants to take this one?"

Zoro stood up with his hand on his sword.

Zoro - "I will. I doubt this dumb cook could kill it anyways."

Sanji - "Hah? What did you say moss head!? I could kill that thing twice as fast as you could!"

They threw a few more insults at each other before charging off towards the lizard, just in time to attack the lizard alongside Luffy.

After killing the lizard, Sanji ended up cooking it at the behest of Luffy.

They finished eating and then addressed the matter of the appearance of a camel.

After talking about it and with it, it became a mount for the girls.

The moment the girls got on the camel, the little shit ran off.

With a tick mark on his head, Leo bolted off and past the camel, then stopped infront of it.

He released his recently improved killing intent, courtesy of the Baroque Works, bringing the camel to a halt.

The camel stopped with a skid, staring at Leo in terror.

Leo spoke with Hellfire seeping into his voice.(creating the Ghost Riders voice)

Leo - "You will wait."

The camel nodded rapidly and Leo stopped releasing his intent.

The reason he released his intent, was that he couldn't be bother with the stupid animal running off and risking Nami's life. There are dangerous creatures that she could easily be harmed by and he won't accept that.

They waited for the others to catch up. When the others caught up, they looked at Leo in confusion, wondering why they stopped.

He then created a Jeep suitable to desert terrain and then looked at them with a hand directing them to the door.

The others looked at him in blank realisation and then shout in unison. Minus Zoro, who was aloof and Chopper, who was confused.

Everyone - "WHY DIDN'T YOU DO THAT BEFORE!!?"

Leo - "Why didn't any of you remember?"

He then turned and walked to the drivers seat, chuckling.

Everyone - "Asshole."

His chuckling turned into laughter.

Leo - "Hahaha!"

After that, everyone ended up in the Jeep, including the girls after they found out about the AC. So now the camel was utterly useless, but it didn't dare to complain after what just happened.

There obviously wasn't enough space inside, so a few of them did end up sitting in the cargo, but Leo made some cover for them, so they should be fine.

Leo then started driving towards Yuba, though with the help of Vivi, because he couldn't tell one sand dune from the next.

He didn't drive too quickly, being on sand and all, so they got to Yuba just as it got dark. But then, there was a sandstorm, so they ended up having to wait until it was over. Hellfire constructs to the rescue.

Anyways, when the storm passed, they went into the city and found it buried in sand.

They were called out to by an old man, who told them that the place had dried up awhile back and then joked that the tourism was still good.

He was asked where the rebels were, but got angry thinking they wanted to join them. After it was explained to him that they had another reason, he told them that they had left for the Oasis in Katorea, which was right next to where they came from...

This is where Luffy messed up and revealed Vivi's identity, but it was a good thing that the old man and Vivi were acquainted.

The old man, now recognized as Toh-Toh, started weeping and proclaiming that Vivi was the only one who could stop this whole rebellion, then begged her to stop the war.

After that, they all went into a house that was still standing and went to sleep.

- The next day -

They all got up in the morning, Sanji made breakfast and then they went outside, where they were greeted by Toh-Toh.

With a jovial smile, he gave them a small barrel of water that gave from the Oasis that Luffy had helped did last night.

They were supposed to head out, but Leo had other plans. He made a clone with a quarter of his strength.

Leo - "Hey. I'm gonna go do something. I shouldn't be more than an hour or so, but I'll leave a clone with you. You can leave now or wait. I suggest waiting."

Not bothering with answering questions, he open a portal to Nanohana and walked through.

Heading to the east, he left the city and made a desert dirt bike and rode off.

40 minutes later and the Katarea Oasis was insight. So, he got off the bike and put on his Ghost Rider attire. (Assassins Creed clothes)

Ready for work, he disappeared from where he was standing and appeared outside of the rebels camp. Hood up, hands in pockets and a confident stride.

The guards for the camp panicked when they saw him appear out of thin air, but quickly pointed guns at him.

Too bad for them.

He knocked them out and they didn't even get to speak.

Without pause, Leo continued walking into the camp, causing all kinds of fuss.

All the rebels started attacking him. Swords and guns, both completely ineffective. The swords broke on his clothes and the bullets didn't even make him flinch.

He knocked out the majority of the fools who attacked him, but he blew the heads off of some. These were the ones who either had too many sins or were spies for Baroque Works.

Seeing peoples heads being blown off was a major deterrent for the majority of people, but stupid is stupid and that won't change, so people still got knocked out.

He was basically pimp slapping every single one of them right now. Casually strolling into their camp and taking them down alone.

After walking for a couple minutes, he found the centre of the camp and was greeted by the rebellion leader, Koza, along with a few dozen soldiers pointing guns at him.

Koza - "Who are you? Who sent you? And why are you here?"

Leo - "Shut up you fool."

Schmuck - "WHO DO YOU TH-ACK"

Yeah... He didn't get to talk anymore. Because his head was gone... Too many sins.

He blasted them with killing intent.

Leo - "You morons don't have the strength or right to talk to me, let alone shout."

They all now had cold sweat running down their backs and foreheads, trembling in fear.

Leo - "Now for the rats."

Creating dozens of chains, he sent them shooting through the camp, snaking through the decent folk and tearing through the less so. Baroque Works agents included in the latter section.

<Low Mortal - 23.46%> (2346 tons)

Leo - "The next time you try starting a rebellion, why don't you try making sure that there's no third party involved, trying to reap the rewards of your stupid, pointless efforts."

This made Koza grit his teeth for two reasons. One, he realized what Leo implications were. Two...

Koza - "What do you mean!? How is any of this pointless!!? WHAT WOULD YOU KNOW ABOUT ANYTHING!!? AHG!!"

When Koza finished shouting, Leo appeared infront of him and lifted him off the ground by the throat.

The rest of the rebels saw this and pointed their guns at him, making him sigh at their stupidity.

Leo - "Last time I'll say this. Do. Not. Shout. But, to answer your question, it is pointless because you are being used by another person. A person who want to take over this little Kingdom, all without getting his hands dirty. A person, your dear childhood friend, Vivi, worked so hard to discover the identity..."

Letting his word linger in Koza's mind, Leo threw him to the ground.

Leo - "Now, listen closely you dumbass. I'm gonna be gone for a moment and when I come back, your merry band of dipshits better have their weapons away or I'm gonna remove their arms! Understood?"

Seeing them nod nervously, Leo opened a portal and stepped through.

Coming out on the othe side of the portal, he found the crew sitting around and talking.

Leo - "Sup?"

Getting their attention, they all looked at him.

Nami - "Where did you go? Your clone isn't very talkative..."

She pouted looking at his clone.

Leo didn't answer her directly and looked at Vivi instead.

Leo - "Vivi, follow me would you. Anyone else who wants to come, just come through the portal."

Turning around he went back through the portal he came from. Vivi, Nami and a curious Luffy followed him through the portal.

Exiting the portal, they were met by the nervous gazes of the rebels. The guns were gone.

Leo - "At least you're not total idiots."

Koza wasn't paying attention to him, his entire focus was on Vivi and hers was on him. They ran and hugged each other.

Luffy was bouncing around, looking at the change of location. Leo and Nami just stood off to the side while the princess and the rebel had their heart warming reunion.

Nami - "Hey, Leo, why are these people glancing at you like they're gonna pee themselves."

He gave her a smirk from underneath his hood.

Leo - "I gave them a greeting to remember, that's all."

Nami looked at him blankly.

Nami - "How many did you kill?"

Leo - "Only the ones who deserved it."

Nami - "How many?"

Leo - "A few thousand. Most of them were Baroque Works agents. Why do you care though?"

He was genuinely curious. She had never asked about it before.

Nami - "You just seem to be getting better, I don't want you going back to how you were. You get cold when you kill people, I don't really like that..."

Seeing the sad expression on Nami's face, he started patting her head.

Leo - "I don't really like seeing you with a sad expression, so if you help keep me from losing my mind, I'll try to keep you from being sad. Deal?"

He gave her a small smile, leaving her blushing with a smile of her own.

Nami - "Deal. Don't even think of backing out or I'll make you suffer, Mr. Immortal harem seeker."

A wry smile appeared on his face.

Leo - "Not gonna let that go, are you?"

She answered with a grin.

Nami - "Nope. Besides, who knows, I may be your first member..."

Nami's face was bright red when she was done speaking. Leo was utterly gobsmacked. He knew 100% that she wasn't just joking with him.

It took him a few seconds to collect himself.

Leo - "I guess I'll have to try extra hard to make you happy then."

He gave her another smile, but it was strained and wavering. He knew it was and he couldn't do anything about it, because he is still unsure about starting anything. Still, you've got to try or you will miss what is right infront of you.

(A/N: Piss off, I know it's ridiculous and cringe. I'm speeding things up a bit.)

During their talk and a little afterwards, Koza and Vivi had been talking, and it seems that they had come to an understanding on something.

Seeing that they seemed to have finish their reunion, Leo walked over while giving a whistle and calling Luffy over.

Leo - "Hey, princess, dumbass(Koza), listen up."

Vivi - "Hey! Why are you being so rude to him!?"

Leo - "Because he's a dumbass that played perfectly into Crocodile's hands and didn't even know he had a bunch of spies in his little army. Hense, he's a dumbass. Considering he was your childhood friend and knows what the King, your father is like, better than any other citizen, this rebellion of his is pretty fucking stupid."

That shut her up and made Koza look like a child who just got told off. Leo then continued.

Leo - "Anyways, there is something I want everyone to do."

Vivi - "Huh?"

Leo - "It's simple, we're gonna pretend everything is still going to Crocodile's plan. Dumbass is going to continue letting it appear as though the rebellion is still going and we are going to leave, as though we were never here. They'll eventually figure out that something is up when they don't receive any communications, but it should be fine. And Luffy, well, you get to go pick a fight Crocodile."

Luffy - "YEAH! LET'S GO!!"

Luffy was sold.

Vivi - "I don't understand, why do we need to pretend that the rebellion is still on?"

Vivi wasn't yet sold.

Leo - "The more that Crocodile thinks he's in control, the easier to predict he is. And if there were spies in the rebels, then there will be spies in the Royal army. So, if there is even one such spy, in a high enough position, then your father is a dead man."

She was sold.

Leo - "Everything clear? Good."

He was about to turn and leave, but remembered a certain event that should take place, so he turned back and looked at Koza.

Leo - "Before I forget, if by any chance you hear about the King wandering around or if he shows up infront of you, break this."

He made a Hellfire beacon in the shape of a bracelet.

Koza took the bracelet with confusion.

Koza - "Why would the King be walking about at a time like this?"

Leo - "That's kind of the point. There is a Baroque Works agent that ate a Devil Fruit that let's him copy peoples faces. He has apparently already copied the Kings. So, if such an event like the King suddenly making a public appearance happens and you're there, break the bracelet."

Vivi - "That still doesn't answer why that would be done."

Leo - "If you had a subordinate that can take others appearances and you wanted to make a King lose the faith of his people, what would you do?"

Vivi got the picture.

Leo - "Well then, let's go. You can play with your friends once this is all over."

They then walked back through the portal to Yuba and arrived infront of the rest of the crew.