The Explorer of the Universe
51

After running quite far from Ido city, Tanaka and the others started to walk casually.

"Nee, Vivi, can you tell me about the rebel forces?" Ask Nami.

Vivi nodded her head and began to tell her about the beginning of events that occurred 11 years ago, when she met and became a friend of the current rebel leader.

Tanaka who was near Matsuge would not listen to the story from Vivi while looking forward to where Luffy, Sanji and Usopp were chasing like a child.

"Hey, hand over the water!" Said Usopp chasing after Luffy to snatch the drink pouch in Luffy's hand.

"No way." Luffy said as he ran.

Suddenly, something like a claw came out of the sand, not far from where Luffy and Usopp were fighting over a small water bag.

"What's that?" Luffy said and approached the object. "This is what, huh?"

Just as Luffy touched the claw with a piece of wood at that moment out of the sand came a giant scorpion with Luffy on top.

"How big!!" Shouted Usopp who was shocked and panicked.

"Big!" Luffy said excitedly.

Luffy, Zoro, Sanji and Chopper hit the scorpion all out while Tanaka, Ace and Usopp just silently watched them fight.

"Nee, tell me the whole thing!" Nami ignored the fight.

"Alright, leader Kohza is a brave boy, not afraid of anything he faces." Vivi continues her story at Nami's request. "But that's what worries me so much."

"Actually, your friend Kohza is a good boy. But, what does that have to do with the rebel forces?" Ask Nami.

"Just think about it, our destination is Yuba, where the rebel forces are based. And their leader's name is Kohza." Answer Vivi. "He's the guy I told you about."

Tanaka, who had been silent, joined the conversation.

"Your friend, Kohza, his brave character is very good, but with that character he doesn't seem to use his brain properly." Said Tanaka with a flat face. "Typical young people who are passionate about his idealism to the point of not being able to see properly the truth that happens before his eyes."

"Don't say bad about her, Tanaka!" Nami said, warning.

"I'm not saying bad, Nami." Denying Tanaka. "Only, if she uses her brain properly, she should do like Vivi who's looking for the first thing.""

"Not immediately form a rebel army and prepare to attack the kingdom!" Tanaka Assert. "If Vivi's father was a bad person, then the man named Kohza when he was a child would have been killed at that time for hitting the royal princess!"

"Nami! Vivi!" Call Sanji while running up to the three of them. "Will you taste it?"

Sanji carries a scorpion claw, containing much of the meat that Ace has burned.

"This desert shrimp taste is so good!" Luffy said while eating scorpion meat.

"It's not a shrimp! It's scorpion!" Usopp hit Luffy on the head from behind.

"I can't eat anymore!" Said Luffy who was full and fell on the shell of a scorpion.

"All of you! Stop doing stupid things!" Nami garang said. "Matsuge, go!"

"Why is he angry?" Ask Luffy.

"Not knowing." Usopp, Zoro and Chopper.

After quite a long walk, they decided to rest in a place that had many large stones and eat again to fill our starving stomachs.

Walking in the desert does drain a lot of energy. Though previously they had eaten scorpion meat until full but quickly the hunger attacked them again.

"We want to eat again!" Usopp.

"Add up!" Luffy.

"I want to add more!" Usopp.

"Add up!" Luffy.

Both of their faces were kicked by Sanji.

"The two of you have eaten too much!" Sanji was angry.

Luffy took Zoro's food openly and ate it immediately.

"Oe, Luffy! Teme! Don't take my food!" Said the upset Zoro.

"Mistake yourself you're off guard." Luffy said casually.

"Why is every meal like this?" Ask Vivi.

"Don't mind them." Nami said while eating.

Tanaka was just busy eating his own food without any intention of joining the conversation. But suddenly Luffy tries to steal his food.

"It's not that easy as Ferguso." Said Tanaka who directly hit the back of Luffy's hand very hard.

"Look, Ace's done eating and cleaning his plates and fork." Vivi.

Zoro and Luffy then had a fight in which the swordsman pulled Luffy's mouth to the right and left so that his mouth was opened so wide.

"Why can his sister be that stupid?" Nami asked who sighed. "

But, with that kind of good attitude, you wouldn't have expected Ace to have such a high fugitive value." Nami.

"Ace has a fugitive value?" Vivi asked in surprise.

The two of them talked about Ace and also about Kurohige who was being sought by the fire man.

"Since Ace is looking for him so seriously, surely Kurohige is a dangerous person?" Ask Vivi.

"Kurohige is a murderer of his own friends and also a traitor. No matter where he was, he would definitely look for him!" Nami Strictly.

Tanaka who heard the conversation of the two girls subconsciously made the fork in his right hand broken.

"Master!" Call Honjo.

"Hoooh~ I feel anger with killing intent on you." Said Sengo who was happy. "Are you going to kill that guy named Kurohige?"

Tanaka just kept quiet and tried to calm himself with the 4-second breathing method. Pull and then hold for 4 seconds and slowly remove for 4 seconds. Do this over and over again until the feeling has returned to normal.

After eating and getting enough rest, Nami turns off the campfire they used to cook.

"All right, let's go. You guys..." Nami who stopped when she saw the fight Luffy and Zoro.

"I told you to give it back!" Zoro.

"No, it's mine!" Luffy.

"Can you two stop?!" Nami said while hitting Zoro and Luffy on the head which made them stop fighting. "You guys pack up fast! We'll be leaving for Yuba soon!"

At that moment Tanaka saw a meat that was floating because it was lured up by someone.

"Ke-Keel! Cool loh!" Said Luffy who was amazed to see that.

"Oh, no! We're busted!"

"Hurry, nii-chan!"

"The meat can talk!" Luffy.

"What's? Luffy, what's wrong?" Ask the confused Nami.

"Meats! The meat is gone! Wait for me, meat!" Said Luffy who ran after the meat earlier.

"Luffy!" Call Nami but only be ignored by Luffy who is eagerly chasing the flesh.

Not long after, they heard gunshots. All of them, except Tanaka immediately went to where the voice was.

Tanaka felt the trip would be delayed by a few hours so he took advantage to rest even more with sleep.

When it was late afternoon Tanaka opened his eyes and then got up to look for Luffy and the others.

"They haven't forgotten me, have they?" Tanaka thought as he jumped over a round stone half of which came out of the sand.

Tanaka saw that Luffy and the others had been outside the area of the stones, so he immediately went to their place by jumping over one by one the round stones that were half submerged in the sand.

"Tanaka, where have you been?" Ask Nami.

"Sorry, I fell asleep where we rested earlier." Reply Tanaka with ease. "So what happened?"

"Oh, it turns out there was an incident like that while I was sleeping." Said Tanaka who was back yawning.

"You're really going, Ace?" Ask Chopper.

"Eh? You're going to Ace?" Tanaka asked in surprise.

"Yes. Kurohige is not in Alabasta. So I don't have a reason here anymore." Answer Ace.

"Oh, yeah." Luffy.

"Where do you want to go?" Ask Sanji.

"Scorpion said a westerner saw it. So I'm going there. Luffy." Ace said while throwing a white paper at Luffy. "Bring it always."

"Why? It's just paper." Ask Luffy.

"Paper is what will bring us back together. You don't want to?" Ask Ace.

"No, I want to." Answer Luffy.

"Having a stupid sister like you makes a big brother worry. Maybe he's troubling you guys. I'm gonna drop him." Ace said as he bowed to the straw hat pirate crew and Vivi.

"Luffy, our next meeting is as a pirate." Firm Ace.

"Yes!" Luffy.

"Keep being strong." Pinta Ace's.

"Tanaka, I still haven't given up on our conversation back then." Said Ace.

Tanaka smiled, "Whatever! The result will remain the same." Answer Tanaka.

At that moment there was a screaming sound so that all but Ace were staring at the place where there were three people with two of them small children riding an ostrich and an adult man on foot.

At that moment Ace had disappeared from that place.

"He's gone, huh?" Ask Zoro.

"Yes, we'll meet again, for sure!" Luffy said with a smile.

Tanaka just kept quiet hearing that because the next meeting would be the last meeting for Luffy for good.

"I won't let the next meeting be the last meeting for these two brothers." Think Tanaka.

The next day, Luffy and the others resumed their journey to the city of Yuba.

But on the way to the city, Luffy started acting strange again.

He had hallucinations due to exhaustion due to the fairly hot weather in the desert.

"Wait on! A crocodile!" Shouted Luffy who then ran without direction.

"What?" Vivi asked who was shocked when she heard the name Crocodile.

He thought that Crocodile had appeared in that place, but it was just a hallucination of Luffy.

"What is he shouting?" Ask Nami.

"He must have eaten the same cactus again." Said Usopp who was exhausted.

"Can't he just once not act weird?" Ask Nami. "Choppers!"

"He was sleeping there." Answer Zoro.

"Then I have, Zoro, Tanaka, take care of him!" Nami's orders.

"No, it's enough Zoro to take care of the captain." Said Tanaka who would drain a lot of energy when taking care of Luffy in such a state.

"Why should I?!" Ask Zoro.

"You're the vice-captain!" Reply Tanaka with ease.

"Do you want me to pay your debt right now?" Threaten Nami.

"I will not obey your orders if my debt is paid off! And why am I vice-captain?" Zoro said annoyed while pulling Chopper.

"Give him to you, yeah!" Nami.

After Zoro and Chopper are out of sight, Nami decides to continue the journey and everyone agrees except Vivi.

"Is it okay to leave them?" Ask Vivi.

"It's okay, don't worry." Nami answered with comfort.

"They can follow the trail we left behind, Vivi." Sanji Sahut.

Despite that, Vivi felt worried but she could not do anything because the others had agreed to continue on the journey, leaving the three of them behind.

"Just calm down, even if they get lost, we'll get together again." Tanaka. "Chopper has a keen smell like a dog, he will follow the scent of Nami's perfume."

Vivi just nodded her head, but that still did not make her take away the worry of Zoro, Luffy and Chopper.

When the sun had reached its peak, Tanaka and the others rested in a ruin that was on top of a desert hill.

Nami stroked Matsuge who made her feel happy, Usopp was lying on sandy soil, Sanji leaned his back against the wall of ruins while smoking, Tanaka also did the same as Sanji but not with his cigarette.

While Vivi was still looking towards the direction where they had been through before. He really felt worried about the state of the three people who had not returned as well.

"Vivi, take it easy they'll definitely catch up to us." Said Nami who tried to calm Vivi down. "We are on a hill, so it can be seen clearly even from far away."

Although Nami said like that still did not make Vivi dispel her worries.

Tanaka let out a long sigh and asked how far is it to get to Yuba city?

"Since we are already in ruins, then we can reach Yuba city at night." Answer Vivi.

"Ohh~ this is a ruin?" Ask Sanji.

Vivi nodded her head and then she told him the history before the kingdom of Alabasta existed briefly.

"Collapses like this will be found and sometimes there are some that are still a mystery." Vivi.

"Ohh~ so over time the kingdom of Alabasta also appeared to be the kingdom that unites everything." Said Sanji with ease. "A pretty awesome story, a prosperous kingdom is destined to perish ... It can be said to be quite romantic!"

Nami immediately commemorated Sanji for his words that made the playboy immediately shut his mouth and apologized to Vivi for his words.

"It's okay." Said Vivi who then told her about the turmoil she felt at this time.

Nami, Usopp and Nami listened to Vivi's curses while Tanaka just let out a long sigh once again.

"Vivi, you don't need to think about such difficult things." Tanaka. "All you need to do right now is do what you want to do right now, and then think about it again."

"Now I ask, what is your purpose now?" Ask Tanaka

"What is my goal right now?" Asked Vivi who was silent for a moment to think. "Beating the Crocodile that brought destruction to this place."

Tanaka smiled, "That's it." Tanaka. "Vivi, no need to rush, solve one by one the problems that are going on in this place, if you can't hesitate to ask for help from people you trust because no living thing can solve the problem alone."

Vivi nodded her head and suddenly Usopp got up from lying down.

"Let's go! I can no longer hold back any longer my burning strength." Usopp said confidently.

But, "Liar!" Said Sanji who saw Usopp's feet trembling because his energy had not yet been reassembled.

"Be quiet! They'll stop in a moment." Said Usopp angrily. "I'll show you how brave the dashing Usopp is!"

"I won't fall so easily!" Usopp.

Sanji crouched behind Usopp and hit the long nose leg joints which made him immediately fall limp.

Tanaka laughed at the ongoing comedy.

Nami has decided to continue the journey approved by everyone except Vivi.

"What about Luffy and the others?" Vivi asked who was back to worry about the three of them.

"No need to worry." Nami. "Hasn't Luffy determined to beat up Crocodile? When he's determined like that no one can stop him, don't you already know that."

Vivi nodded her head and they all went back on their way to the city of Yuba.

In the afternoon, where the sun is almost sinking in the western horizon, Luffy, Zoro and Chopper can re-assemble again with them.

That's because Chopper managed to get the scent of Nami's perfume with a kiss that is not inferior to the smell of dogs.