The Explorer of the Universe
50

Tanaka, who had taken the first step, ran quickly towards Luffy, who was being chased by a large, purple desert reptile.

Right behind him were Sanji and Zoro who were running fast, trying to match the speed of Tanaka.

"Sandora's lizard!" Said Vivi who was still standing on the rocks.

"What is that?!" Ask the frightened Usopp.

"It was the largest reptile in the desert that drowned its entire body in the sand while waiting for its prey to pass right over it!" Answer Vivi.

"The lizard has sharp claws and fangs, but rarely uses them! Due to its large size, it immediately swallowed its prey!" Vivi.

"He's a real genius when it comes to trouble!" Said Ace who sighed.

When Luffy was close to the three running men, Zoro asked, "Luffy, are you having trouble dropping them?" Zoro.

"We'll help!" Sanji.

"Luffy, you brought food for us." Tanaka.

"Yes, I brought meat! Let's get started, lizard!" Luffy.

The four of them immediately pulled out their respective moves except for Tanaka who had no moves at all, just swinging Sengo vertically.

He uses Sengo rather than Honjo which is often used because the opponent is food so do not hesitate to take the life of the desert lizard.

The desert lizard quickly lost its life without giving any resistance at all.

Nami, Usopp, Chopper, Vivi and the camel brought by Luffy were surprised to see a desert lizard that had a large body can be defeated quickly.

"You've got that far to go." Usopp.

"When it comes to violence, I feel sorry for the monsters." Nami.

At that moment something appeared behind Nami, Usopp, Vivi and Chopper and it was another desert lizard.

"There's more?" Ask Nami who is surprised.

"I forgot to say it, but Sandora Lizards hunt in pairs!" Vivi.

"Say from earlier dong!" Nami, Usopp and Chopper at the same time.

The desert lizard was near Ace who then directly stuffed Luffy's foster brother into his mouth.

"Ace!" Shouted Nami and Vivi simultaneously.

Ace who was in the mouth of the desert lizard immediately burned it so that from the mouth of the lizard it came out of the fire and did not get there, the commander of Whitebeard's pirate 2nd division was anchoring the entire body of the desert lizard to the point of scorching.

"Ha~ is just a hassle." Said Ace casually.

Nami, Vivi, Usopp, and Chopper are shocked to see Ace's actions.

After the two desert lizards have been defeated, Sanji cuts the meat of the lizard he defeated with Tanaka, Zoro and Luffy into a form of dice and then cooks it on a hot rock due to the sun.

"Look at this, this stone could be a natural frying place!" Sanji said to Chopper who looked on in awe.

Others focused on the camels Luffy was carrying.

"Then, where did the camel come from?" Ask Zoro.

"Let's know, he was eaten by a mysterious plant while I was chasing the birds." Answer Luffy.

"Looks like he's not a wild camel, huh." Ask Nami.

"Yes, there's even a saddle." Vivi.

Chopper approached the camel because he felt familiar and as he looked closer, Chopper smiled happily.

"I suspected! So yes, thank goodness!" Said Chopper who was communicating with the camel.

"What's? You guys know each other?" Tanya Luffy who was eating lizard meat that had been cooked by Sanji.

Chopper told him that the camel had helped him when he got lost in the desert not far from the first city they came to.

"He can ride, huh? If you can, it's easy!" Said Usopp who got up from his sleep.

"Yes, that can help! Looks like it could bring two people!" Say Sanji while cooking lizard meat on a hot stone.

"The camel can definitely hold it in the desert!" Said Zoro who was smiling happily.

Luffy then tried to ride the camel, but his head was immediately bitten by the camel so he did not become confused.

"I am a peace-loving, strong, loving camel who likes to make people happy! Thank you for saving me from danger. I'm willing to transport people but men can't ride me!" Chopper said, translating the camel's speech, which sounded like people were gargling.

The camel is beaten by Luffy, Usopp and Sanji while Tanaka just laughs at it.

"He's so arrogant!" Luffy.

"Truely, Chopper can only ride!" Usopp.

"I am a real man!" Chopper said, translating the camel's speech again.

The camel was again beaten to the ground by the three men.

"I'm sorry for them! My friends are being rude to you! What a good man! What good to call it, huh?" Nami said as she stroked the camel which made the camel's eyes turn into lope-lope like Sanji.

"Stupid!" Luffy.

"Boge!" Sanji.

"Bracoon!" Usopp.

"Promise 2 !" Tanaka.

Sanji who heard the name for the camel by Tanaka was immediately angry.

"Why? Doesn't it fit, you two have the same character." Tanaka.

Nami ignored the name given by the four of them and then gave the name Matsuge to the camel who immediately accepted it with pleasure even his eyes lope-lope.

"Look, he's just as playboy as you are, Sanji." Tanaka.

However, Sanji did not accept Tanaka's words so he quarreled with the man.

Nami got on the camel and then took Vivi to ride it too.

"No, I can still walk!" Reject Vivi.

However, Nami insisted that Vivi boarded the camel and sat behind Nami.

"Bad camel! Bawdy camel! Bawdy camel!" Said Luffy and Usopp mocking Matsuge like a child.

"This way, we're going a little faster! We must go to Yuba as soon as possible to talk to the rebel forces! Let's go, Matsuge!" Nami's orders.

Matsuge took them both quickly and left us.

"Wait!" Say them all except for Tanaka and Ace.

"Come, you hurry, if you get separated, you won't be able to get out of the desert!" Shouted Nami while looking back.

"Don't joke!" Upset Usopp said.

"I like that Nami!" Say Sanji by spreading the lope-lope in the air.

They all ran after Nami while Tanaka was still on the spot shaking his head.

"It looks like my brother's getting a crew that's pulling all in." Ace who stood beside Tanaka smilingly looked at Luffy who was running along with his crew.

Tanaka just nodded his head and he ran after them, as well as Ace who ran a little behind Tanaka.

A few moments later ...

"It seems we are separate from the others." Said Tanaka who no longer saw Luffy and the others.

He also let out a long sigh because of his carelessness. The weather was so hot and no water made him lose concentration so he walked in different directions.

"We need to find traces of Nami and Vivi." Advice Ace.

The two of them walked back without direction while looking for the footprints left by Matsuge. But as the plains are sand and the relentless hot wind makes Matsuge's footprints disappear, it's very difficult to find them.

At the time of searching for it, Tanaka heard a screaming sound from a distance which most likely was Luffy's voice.

"Should I hear something?" Ask Ace.

"I heard it too." Answer Tanaka.

As they were trying to focus on listening to Luffy's scream, a giant scorpion emerged from the sand.

"Bother." Said Tanaka who sighed and then took Sengi out of the sheath.

He actually wanted to use Honjo but thought back because the opponent he was fighting had a poison that was lethal enough to seek to safely use Sengo to kill him rather than make the scorpion faint.

"Let me, you'll see me enough." Ace said and looked at the scorpion with a grin.

Tanaka nodded his head because he also did not want to kill any living thing as much as possible.

He reinserted Sengo into his scabbard who immediately got a protest from the sword for not fighting. Tanaka simply ignored the protest while looking at Ace who was ready to fight with the giant scorpion.

"You better get out of here!" Threaten Ace on that giant scorpion.

The scorpion remained out of place, so Ace took the first step to attack the giant scorpion was unable to avoid Ace's attack so easily Ace roasted the scorpion's body.

"Because that's why I warned you." Ace said, and we walked back. "I'm cool, right?"

"Yes, you're cool." Said Tanaka with a flat face.

"Stop flat-faced, I want to impress you with me so that you join my crew, the 2nd division Whitebeard pirates." Said Ace.

Tanaka laughed small with a flat tone. "Good business but it won't work for me."

The two of them walked back, but a rather large lizard stood in front of Ace.

As Ace stepped to the right, the lizard also followed him, as Ace stepped to the left, the lizard also followed him.

"Oi, are you two doing a sand-view dance?" Tanaka asked who was laughing.

The lizard continued to follow Ace wherever he stepped so that it made the owner of the fire demon fruit very upset.

"You also want to get in my way, right?" Ask Ace with an expression

The lizard looks at the scorpion that Ace burned so that it becomes red like a boiled shrimp. He cried with fear when he saw the fate of the scorpion.

The lizard quickly changed position, lowering its body in order to be climbed by the two people.

"She seems to want us to ride it." Tanaka.

They both ride on the back of the lizard with Ace in front and Tanaka behind.

"OK, let's go, Toka." Said Ace who gave the name of the lizard.

They both begin to search for traces of Nami and Vivi, but it is very difficult to find them in the middle of the desert whose tracks quickly disappear due to the sand that is blown by the wind.

"Luffy, where are you?!" Said Ace who shouted.

"You better save your strength, there's no need to yell like that." Tanaka Advice.

"Maybe they heard it." Ace.

"That would be difficult because the desert was so vast." Tanaka. "We don't have a compass, a map and a stock of food and drink."

"Food problem, we have this lizard." Said Ace.

Hearing that made the lizard that the two of them rode in shock and cry.

"Don't fear him." Tanaka. "We should thank him for being a vehicle."

They continued to move without direction and ended with the day getting dark so Tanaka and Ace decided to camp on a large rock.

They ate the meat of a desert snake that Ace caught as dinner.

"You're totally reliable, Ace." Said Tanaka while eating the snake meat that had been well burned by the bonfire made by Ace.

But since there is Ace who from childhood lives in the forest with the mountain bandits led by a woman named Dandan so he has the ability of survival.

Although Tanaka has never missed any scout activities but he has yet to get to the stage of theory and practice of survival in the wild.

"Tanaka, do you really not want to join the Whitebeard Pirates?" Ask Ace who is still trying to recruit Tanaka.

The man let out a long sigh as Ace still had not given up on recruiting himself.

"Good God, how many times do I have to reject it for you to give up? Ask Tanaka. "Partially how can you take your brother's pirate, Luffy?"

Ace laughed at Tanaka's question.

"Of course it could be because we're both pirates." Answer Ace. "Didn't the pirates take each other's possessions?"

"You're right, I forgot about it because Luffy doesn't behave that way even though he's a pirate." Answer Tanaka. "Even if it's taken, it's always food."

Ace laughed hearing that because that was what Luffy was like, in his mind there was nothing but food and the pirate king.

The two of them continued to talk until finally Tanaka took the first part of the sleep and Ace stood guard who would later alternate with Tanaka every hour and a half.

When the sun had begun to show its light in the eastern horizon even though it had not yet revealed itself, Tanaka and Ace again continued the journey to find Luffy and others by riding Tako.

"Tanaka, I see there's a town ahead." Said Ace. "Maybe it's the city of Yuba that's our destination."

"It's not Yuba's city." Think Tanaka.

As he recalled, the city of Yuba had already been drowned by sand like the city of Erumalu.

However, Tanaka and Ace head to the town. When they reached the town of Ido, they received information about the presence of rebel forces.

Tanaka and Ace took the initiative to meet the rebel forces at the residence of the troops.

When they arrived at the residence of the rebel forces, they both saw the building where the rebel forces lived was very quiet.

There was no sight of a group of people who could be called an army.

"Why does it look lonely?" Ask Ace.

"Let's go in, maybe they're gathering inside." Answer Tanaka.

The two of them immediately entered with Tako and heard a conversation that was only a few people, not much like an army.

Based on the conversation they both listened to, there were no rebel forces but only a few people who claimed to be rebel forces. They want to escape from Ido.

"Cowards like you dare also claim to be rebel forces, huh? In the opinion of an older brother like me, what you're doing is embarrassing." Said Ace who managed to sneak into the building and eat the food on the table.

Tanaka who followed Ace just sat down and had no intention of eating the scammers' leftovers.

"That's right, you guys are really trash." Tanaka.

"Who are y'all? It's none of your business! Since when are you guys here?"

"Bas on food thieves!"

"Do you not know that we are ... "

Not the last person to speak, Tanaka had already beaten all of them with Honjo.

"Add." Pinta Ace with his leisure.

"Good! Alrighty! Sorry, yeah!" Said Camu who was the leader of a group of four fraudsters including himself.

"Boy, too, is the food here." Ace said and offered food to Tanaka "Do you not want to?"

"I'm not hungry, you eat." Tanaka.

"Do you really not want to?" Ask Ace. "You haven't eaten anything since this morning." Say Ace while still thrusting food at the man.

Tanaka sighed and began to eat the food Ace offered as a form of respect for Ace's hospitality.

Camu then prostrated herself to Ace.

"I'm sorry, I know you're no ordinary person! As you can see, we can't fight against desert pirates! Please help us!" Camu Pinta.

"A desert pirate?" Thought Tanaka who felt strange with the name of a pirate but not in the sea but in the sand.

It should not have been pirates but desert pirates or rather desert bandits.

"Well, I don't mind, but on one condition." Ace said while eating quietly, not feeling strange about what Camu said.

"Yes, whatever we do!" Firm Camu.

Ace asked for a lot of food and drinks as his payment. Camu agreed.

Ace and Tanaka soon exit the building to confront the desert bandits.

The two of them returned to ride Tako with food and drinks.

When he was outside the city and saw a group of people and a camel moving towards the city, Ace saw that the desert bandits being talked about by Camu were Luffy and the others.

"Hey! Hey!" Call Ace.

"Aces! Tanaka!" Shouted Luffy.

"So they're there, huh?" Ask Nami.

"It turns out the sand pirates are you?" Ask Ace when it's near and get off Tako.

Tanaka also came down from the lizard.

"Whatchu mean? We just parted ways with the desert pirates." Answer Luffy.

"Oh, yeah. Yes already. Oh yeah, Luffy, you must be happy! We got a lot of food and drinks, you know!" Say Ace that shows the food stock that is on top of a simple cart.

"Oh, that really helped! If we get this much, we don't have to worry about food!" Saying the happy Sanji.

They all praised Tanaka and Ace for their food and drink.

"My throat is so dry." Chopper.

"Drink, Chopper." Tanaka.

"Me too!" Luffy.

Chopper and Luffy drank as much water as they could in a wooden barrel.

"Auto, Ace? You shouldn't have that much money to buy it. Don't you steal from the village?" Vivi asked who came down from Matsuge and felt anxious.

"Absolutely not! The rebel army gave it to me!" Answer Ace.

"Rebel forces?!" Vivi was surprised.

"Rather precisely the false rebel army. They are a bunch of delinquents who claim to be rebel forces. Well, even though the villagers look happy even though they were cheated." Tanaka.

"It seems that if they call the rebel forces, any bandit will escape immediately. It's a trivial thing. Make a field of money then wealth will come by itself." Obviously Ace.

"The rebel forces are not delinquents and do not boast of their names." Denying Vivi.

Sanji asks what should they do to the thugs disguised as rebel troops?

"Well, I think deceiving the villagers is no different from bandits. At least, the villagers lived peacefully with them. Do we want to ruin that peace?" Ask Ace.

Sanji disagrees with Ace's remarks because he thinks the thugs need to be beaten because they have deceived the citizens in order to gain an advantage by claiming to be rebel forces.

"He can think of anything. I'm just giving you an opinion." Bela Ace's.

"Broad people like them don't need to be justified." Assertively. Sanji.

Vivi also felt that she understood the thugs who claimed to be rebel forces so that the city where they were was safe from bandit attacks or things that could make the city destroyed.

The Kingdom of Alabasta, which is currently unable to supervise and provide protection to the cities in its territory.

"So there's no harm in a city asking for protection from anyone." Vivi. "But I want to test them first."

"Testing?" Ask Nami.

"Yes. If those swindlers really wanted to protect the townspeople, I don't think it would matter if they claimed to be rebel forces." Vivi.

"So you want to test their resolve, huh?" Ask Tanaka.

"Yes. That's why, sorry to bother you again, I want to ask you all for help." Vivi Pinta.

They all agreed to Vivi and Luffy's request, who thought it was interesting to be excited.

"Luffy! It's not a game, you understand?" Ask Nami.

"I already know! What's clear is that it's our job to beat up the fake rebel forces, right?" Ask Luffy.

"It doesn't seem to understand at all! Whoever, do something with his brain!" Sanji Pinta.

Tanaka just laughed a little at the comedy.

Luffy, Zoro, Usopp, Sanji and Chopper who were transformed into human forms also did their job to test the false rebels while Tanaka, Nami and Vivi only noticed them from our hiding place.

Tanaka did not take part in the five-man role because he was already known to the fraudsters.

Ace himself returned to the city of Ido and hid among the inhabitants.

"Who are y'all? Rebel army?!" Ask Luffy who started the play.

"It's not like that! We just happened to pass through this village!" Answer Camu.

"Feel, pirate! The rebel army will beat you all out!" Said the village chief.

"That's enough, just shut up!" Shouted Camu.

"Oh, again I'm speaking disrespectfully! All right, Mr Camu!" Said the village chief.

"She seems like a loser. It's totally unreliable." Nami.

"Don't be quick to conclude, look to the end." Tanaka Advice.

The two women nodded their heads and while still looking at Luffy with the others were performing in front of Camu and the three members.

Luffy suddenly beat Camu to a pulp which made the crew who performed with him surprised.

"Stupid! Why did he beat her up like that?" Nami asked annoyed.

Tanaka only let out a long sigh because Luffy's actions were out of plan.

Camu got up and directly aimed a powerful punch at Luffy's face which was immediately slumped into the sand

Camu says loudly that she will continue to fight to protect the city of Ido even though her life is at stake.

Luffy positioned himself sitting on the sand and smiling, then he suddenly got up and laughed which made Camu and the three members feel confused.

Nami gave Usopp a sign to end the play by using the reflected light from the mirror.

"Bad! The rebel army is great!" Said Sanji who ran away from Ido city while pulling Luffy.

"Just this time I met someone as strong as them!" Said Usopp who also ran like Sanji.

"I don't want to pretend like this!" Said Zoro who also ran away with his face met red because it held the shame.

"Tu-wait for me!" Chopper.

Tanaka, Nami and Vivi who were riding Matsuge also ran towards the same direction as Luffy and the others, away from the city.

"Yes, Luffy!" Said Ace who suddenly appeared while running beside Luffy.

"Oh, Ace!" Luffy.

"When do we keep running?! The act is done, right?" Ask Ace.

"When they risk their lives it's scary!" Zoro.

"Oh, yeah." Ace.

"The reddened face of Zoro is also very scary" Tanaka said with a mocking smile.

"Shut up! I want to kill you!" Said the upset Zoro.

Tanaka let out a small laugh and they continued to run towards their destination, the city of Yuba, where the rebels are based.