Helping hand

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'So, this girl plans to go to Yuba to find the rebels huh? Should I tag along? I've been having a bad feeling for a while now…' Yuki contemplated to himself as he followed after the crew into the forest and he couldn't help but recall his Quest…

'I can get additional rewards if I lower the number of casualties… ' Yuki's eyes shined with a greedy light that soon turned into worry as he considered the fact something unknown might happen and he wasn't sure what it could be…

"Yuba should be half a day from here…" Spoke Vivi and Luffy quickly responded "Yosh, let's go and stop those rebels!"

However, not even an hour later after walking in the heat of the sun, all of the crew started feeling like they were about to die from over exhaustion, and Luffy almost emptying their supplies of water didn't help in the slightest …

Surprisingly, only Zoro and Yuki appeared relatively normal for some reason and this didn't escape Zoro's observation but he simply took it as a challenge and felt like he couldn't show any weakness! although it was simply a challenge between him and his retarded mind...

That journey was full of crazy events that made Yuki wonder how in the hell this crew could survive in this world… Their food supplies got stolen by birds playing dead, Zoro will attempt from time to time to lead them into completely different directions which held all kinds of dangerous animals such as a pit of poisonous scorpions or a patch of quicksand... Meanwhile, Usopp wouldn't stop lying while Nami didn't stop complaining…

'This dynamic is crazy' muttered Yuki as he stared at Zoro dragging the half-dead Chopper that couldn't deal with the heat over some rocks causing him to start yelling, Meanwhile, he himself completely forgot what kind of life he led with his neighbors...

But then he suddenly realized 'This might be a good place for those guys to train their bodies… it's their greatest weakness after all… I wonder how much they are willing to pay for it though…'

The tiring journey in the desert eventually ended as they reached Yuba, the base of the rebels, or at least this is what Vivi thought, however in the end, they found a dead city with most of its buildings covered in sand… Clearly, no one lived in this city for a long time, but an old man suddenly approached them and it took Vivi some time before she recognized him as a trusted worker of her father, and he told them that the rebels relocated their base to Katorea which was a huge blow to their morale.

They spent the night there, although Yuki wasn't in the mood to sleep so he simply sat outside and noticed that the man was digging in the sand on this lonely night so he couldn't help but approach him and asked "Yo old man, why haven't you slept yet?"

"Eh, I should be the one asking you this question young man, you must be tired and you didn't have any water to drink…" replied old man Toto and Yuki simply shrugged and sat on the whole which Luffy started digging yesterday until he completely exhausted himself and fell asleep in it to help the old man...

"I still have a bit of energy so I thought I rather go on a walk… It's not every day you go to a desert after all… Anyways, why do you keep digging this hole even though you know that another sandstorm might hit at any time and ruin your hard work?"

Old man Toto didn't notice that a certain girl was also awake and was attracted by their conversation as he replied "I will keep digging no matter what… If I stop trying, I feel like this place will lose its last ray of hope…"

Yuki's eyes flickered slightly and he suddenly received a notification

[Quest: Helping hand]

[Quest Description: For the past three years, old man Toto has been trying very hard to restore the oasis of Yuba to how it used to be, yet every time he's about to achieve his goal, Crocodile arrives and uses his devil fruit to cause a sand storm to crush his hopes!]

[Quest Task: Help the old man restore the oasis by digging water and achieve his simple dream]

[Quest reward: 1 Item upgrade point]

[Quest punishment: None]

[Quest note: Use your strength to do something good for once in your life…]

Yuki remained silent for a while which worried the old man but he suddenly jumped up and said "Fine, I will finish what Luffy started and help you restore this place"

"Young man, I appreciate your effort but you will only overexert yourself… You still have to journey with your friends in the morning if you want to stop the revels" Spoke old man Toto feeling touched but Yuki simply smiled and responded "Don't worry, this is nothing to me" Before he started digging while Vivi slowly returned to her room with tears in her eyes, something only Zoronoticed as he slept with one eye open…

…

The next day, the Strawhats woke up and left the house they slept in but they were greeted with a shocking scene, not far from the house where old mana Toto had been digging for years stood a giant hole that was 5 meters in diameter but there appeared no end to its depth!

Yet this wasn't all as they saw Yuki had brought all kinds of construction materials from somewhere and appeared to be building something around the hole…

"Yuki-san, What are you doing?" Asked Vivi with a confused look on her face as she stared at Yuki who removed his shirt as it became drenched in his own sweat and was currently bare-chested and building without a care in the world

"Oh this… Wait until that old man Toto wakes up and I will tell you all, it's going to be a nice surprise for him as well" Said Yuki with a wide grin but Luffy didn't have the world wait in his vocabulary and directly stretched his hand into the sleeping old man's house and dragged him to their destination

Yuki stared at this with a dark look on his face as he hammered Luffy in the head 'This bastard, is he trying to turn my hard work into a grave for this old man and make me fail my quest?'

"AAAA, That hurts Yuki, stop! How can you hurt me?" Yelled Luffy but Yuki simply ignored him and approached the confused old man before finally heaving a sigh of relief after seeing that he was okay

"What's going on?" asked old man Toto to Vivi wishing she can enlighten him about their situation but she simply pointed at Yuki and his eyes couldn't help but widen in shock as he stared at the deep hole in the ground and his ears suddenly caught the sound of something moving in it… It was water flowing!

Tears streamed out of the old man's eyes as he stared at Yuki's body that was covered in sweat before he stuttered and said "This… This… Is this real? am I really not dreaming?"

"Old man, want me to pinch you?" Suggested Luffy with a grin but Namo instantly held him back and dragged him away from old man Toto

"Oy, collect your emotions old man, of course it's real… I dug a 100-meter deep hole and I eventually reached a flowing underground river hehehe but that wasn't all!"

Vivi froze suddenly while the Strawhats beamed in happiness "Really! You found water? This is great!" Yelled Luffy and he almost jumped into the river completely forgetting his weakness to water, but this is what feeling thirsty in the heat of the desert causes! and being brainless is also another reason...

Yuki helplessly caught him by the collar and dragged him back before he turned to the thing he was building and said "This here took me a long time to build, it's a sand proof cover that goes all the way down with the hole so that no one can manipulate the sand destroy it, it's actually what took me so long to build as the digging was quite easy… but with his, you can easily cover this hole and you won't need to worry about the sandstorms or anything for that matter anymore"

Seeing the grin on Yuki's face, the old man truly felt like he was dreaming as he dragged his hand over the giant cover that Yuki was working on and he could tell that it required some high-level craftsmanship, but it wasn't that hard to design with Yuki's drawing talent... Not to mention he also asked for help from Raphael through his dimensional link…

"Y-You… These materials, you can't find them here, this wood you used… It can only be found in Nanohana, and those rocks can only be found in the Sandora river…"

Yuki simply smiled at the old man's inquiries as some sweat trickled down the side of his face and watched him and the rest of the Strawhats stare at the countless drag marks all over the sand and their eyes couldn't help but widen in shock…

"Is this guy even human…?" Wondered Sanji out loud as his cigarette dropped from his mouth and this was the same thing everyone was wondering about except for Luffy and Zoro who said "Yuki, you are amazing"

"I want to try it" Said Zoro with a grin

"Aren't I? HAHAHAHA" Laughed Yuki smugly before he fell on his back tired and thirsty… "Get me some water to drink please" Spoke Yuki with a tired voice completely different than his previous Ego inflated laugh…

Meanwhile, Vivi and Toto directly fell to their knees and burst into tears as they stared at the giant well that can give people hope once more…

"Thank you… Thank you…" Spoke Toto and Vivi from the bottom of their hearts making Yuki feel sweet in his heart, but it wasn't as sweet as the notification that said

[Quest: Helping hand Completed]

[Host has greatly overperformed and will receive double the rewards]

[You received 2 item upgrade points]

'Ah, my hard work didn't go to waste' Thought Yuki with a wide smile as Vivi helped him drink some water from the well he dug, and it felt like the best water he ever drank, and the other Strawhats also drank it with wide smiles on their faces while staring at him in admiration… except for Sanji who was jealous of his current position with his head on Vivi's lap…

"Let's wait for Yuki to regain some of his energy before we set out again" Spoke Luffy calmly and Vivi Suddenly said "I want to go stop the rebels, there's hope now!"

Yuki simply stared at the determined eyes of the girl that was letting him rest his head on her lap but he noticed the air around Luffy change suddenly as he said "No, I don't want to"

"What are you saying Luffy!!?" Yelled Nami all of a sudden confused by her captain's decision…

"You think you can stop the rebels without any of us or your people getting killed? We are up against a warlord of the sea, and millions of people are itching to fight yet you expect everybody to live… This is naive"

Yuki was truly surprised by Luffy's wisdom at this moment and the maturity he was showing… In fact, there was not a single trace of his usual goofy personality 'Is this his true personality?' Yuki couldn't help but wonder…

These words however triggered a vicious fight between him and Vivi until he made her realize something "Stop saying you don't care if you have to sacrifice your life if it means you can stop the rebels! We are your friends, let us help you!"

Vivi suddenly froze and burst out crying as Nami went to hug her and Luffy eventually said "You want to beat him more than anyone right? Fine… Where can we find Crocodile?

Seeing Luffy and the rest entering fight mode, Yuki understood that it was time to change the course of events as he said

"Luffy, I won't accompany you on this one…"

It was time to change the fate of this kingdom!