The Devil Visits The Desert

It's been an hour since I've talked to Hancock and I've finally arrived at the desert kingdom of Alabasta.

I land on the outskirts of Nanohana, the port town where there are many shops along with the imports and exports. I take a stroll around the town visiting the vendors and stalls along the street.

Eventually I start to get hungry so I visit a certain cafe. I find a table at the side of the room and wait for someone to service me. I wait a few minutes for service but imagine my surprise when I recognise one of the waitresses in this cafe.

I signal for her to come to serve me. after a minute she finally arrives "hello sir, what can I get you today?". obviously she doesn't recognise me I can't blame her it's been 6 years since we last saw each other.

I pick up a menu pretending to read through it " I don't know there are so many choices. What would you recommend Helen?".

it takes me a lot of effort not to smile at her confusion " I'm sorry sir but do I know you?". I decide to mess with her some more.

I put my hand over my heart and exaggerate " how can you forget me. I thought we had a special connection". Helen starts to get more uncomfortable until recognises my eyes.

Her confusion quickly turns to joy " Samael is that you. you're all grown up hahaha". She signals to her boss that she's taking a break then sits down at my table.

We spend the next 30 minutes exchanging pleasantries and about what each other have been up to for the last 6 years. When we finish catching up I start to get serious " you know why I'm here don't you".

Helen is startled by my sudden change of mood but simply nods " yes, you've come to take down crocodile to initiate your plan". I smile at her personality, she's changed since the last time I saw her she's now more intuitive.

I order a cup of water from a nearby waiter then turn back to Helen " yes I sent you here so that you could gather the information that I would be helpful in taking him down". I lean closer to her " I hope you've got the information I wanted".

I can see Helens a little intimidated by my question but retains her composure. She leans in to whisper " yes I have but I'll tell you at my home. our conversation won't be listened by potential enemies.". I only nod but in reality I'm proud of how serious she's taking this.

She gives me a map showing where her house is in town and what time to arrive. We say our goodbyes and I leave the cafe to explore more of the city.

I walk around the city taking in the architecture and the people. From my brief observations, the people are in turmoil because the water supply's are practically dry. It would only take a spark and mass chaos would erupt potentially destroying Alabasta.

While I'm walking I continue looking at the buildings but then suddenly bump into something. When I look to see what I collided with I find a guy on the floor who's topless with black shorts and an orange hat.

Realising I must have collided into to him I offer my hand to help stand him up " sorry about that mate I guess I wasn't looking where I was going haha". The guy looks up to me and smiles " no worries forget about it hahaha".

Once he's off the ground I decided to compensate him " how about I buy you some food at a cafe as an apology". soon as I mention the word food his face lights up "hahaha how kind of you yeah sure I'll take you up on your offer".

While on our way to a cafe he decides to introduce his self " I forgot to introduce my self, Portgas D Ace at your services". His name sound familiar until I realise he's one of the Yonkos commanders, Whitebeard who is supposed to be the strongest man in the world and closet to being the pirate king.

Coming back to reality I just smile " well I never thought I would see one of Whitebeard's commander here in Alabasta". My comment seems to have surprised Ace " I didn't think no one besides the marines would recognise me from my name alone. who are you?".

Seeing him suddenly tense makes me smile a little bit " well my name is Silvers D Samael, I know who you are because I've made sure to remember all the names of people who are the most powerful in the world. That also includes their close subordinates like you the 2nd commander of Whitebeard".

When we reach the cafe we sit at a table and order some food. Once the waiter has left with our orders Ace looks at me " why do you need to know the names of powerful people".

I can see he's suspicious of me which I can't blame him. I simply grin at him " that's easy because in the future I will do something that I'll need allies for. I'll also need to know who my potential enemies are". I look at Ace who has returned back to his easy going attitude.

Shortly after our food arrives and we start to eat. nearing the end of our meals I ask " so what brings you to Alabasta". I can see Ace is deciding whether to tell me or not until " well since you bought me food I'll tell you. I'm here looking for my Brother".

With him being loosely related to me I'm interested to see if there's another person with 'D' in their name. I finish my food and tell Ace " what does he look like because if I see him I'll tell him you're here in Alabasta".

Ace seems to be surprised by my sudden kindness so he pulls out a wanted poster. when I get a good look at it I see a picture of him with a straw hat. His name is Monkey D Luffy.

When I read his name I'm surprised because I definitely recognise that last name from one of Rayleigh's stories. It was about when his pirate crew teamed up with the marines to fight a pirate called Rock D Xebec. After that fight a marine called Monkey D Garp became the navy's hero

I hand back the wanted poster to Ace but notice something off " what's with puppy dog face haha". Ace mood lifts a little bit after my joke " I can only stay here for ten days before I have to leave. So I might end up missing the chance to meet Luffy.".

He can see I'm interested in the reason why so he relents and tells me " a former subordinate of mine killed a crewmate and fled. So I'm hunting him so I can punish him". I'm surprised because it's not often that you hear a yonko crew member killing his own crewmate.

Even though it's sad to hear, there's an opportunity to get on good terms with Whitebeard. Before. we leave the restaurant " what does your target look like. You never know I might have seen him recently". I can see Ace is debating but he relents and tells me the guys name is Marshal D Teach.

According to Ace he was a long time member of whitebeards few and was even offered the 2nd commander position before Ace but refused. He also mentioned Teach killed his crewmate over a devil fruit.

When Ace is finished I don't recognise Teach's name from anywhere so I ask " what does he look like?". Ace goes on to describe his appearance which reminds me of the guy from Mock Town who offered me a place on his crew which he called Blackbeard's pirates.

Now that I know where Teach is I go to tell ace but I think of an interesting idea instead. when Ace goes to walk off I stop him " it's your lucky day because I know where Teach". Ace starts to ask me where he is but I stop him " I will tell you only if you beat me in a 1 on 1 fight".

Ace face turns from hope to anger after my proposition. he steps forward directly in front of me " how do I know if you're telling the truth. also why would you want to fight me".

To prove my point I get a piece of paper and pen from a nearby stall and roughly draw a sketch of Teach. When I hand it to Ace he believes my statement. To make things clear I answer his second question " I want to fight you because it's very rare to be able to fight a Yonko Commander. especially with you being whitebeards 2nd commander".

I wait in silence for a moment until Ace responds " sure I'll fight you but don't think it will be easy because I'll show what a Whitebeard Commander is capable of".