A few days later, the Going Merry sailed beneath the scorching sun, cutting through waves of blazing heat until it finally entered a stretch of sea surrounded by a long, golden coastline.
On the horizon ahead, an enormous desert port city appeared and disappeared through the rolling heat waves.
"Ah... It's so hot... I'm dying of heat..."
On the deck of the Going Merry, Luffy lay over the railing like a salted fish that had been forcibly dragged ashore, sticking out his tongue as he complained loudly.
"What is with this damn weather? I think even my saliva is about to dry up! If I don't get some juicy grilled meat soon, I'm going to turn into dried rubber meat! Can a lousy place like this really produce a Pirate King?"
"Shut up! Idiot! Put your straw hat on properly. This is the desert kingdom."
Zoro wiped the sweat from his forehead. Although he was complaining too, he still cautiously surveyed the surrounding waters.
This was a World Government-affiliated country, and one of the five strongest superpowers among all the member nations.
It was completely incomparable to some small place like the East Blue.
There were probably a lot of powerful people here.
"Hehehe! Welcome to my territory, you ignorant Straw Hat brat."
Crocodile, whose injuries had completely healed, now wore his trademark black coat and stood at the highest point of the bow, holding a cigar in one hand.
He took a deep breath of the dry, hot sea breeze carrying sand and dust, his eyes filled with the arrogance and confidence of returning to his home turf.
"This is Arabasta, the oldest desert kingdom in the Grand Line."
"The sand here swallows up all the weak. But since you've followed me here, as half a host, I can be generous and point you in the right direction, so you don't get roasted into dried corpses in this yellow sand where you can't even tell which way is which..."
Ever since recovering from his injuries, Crocodile's presence had grown stronger by the day.
However...
"Meat! I smell grilled meat up ahead! Full speed ahead!"
Luffy's nose suddenly twitched. His half-dead body instantly sprang up, completely ignoring Crocodile's long speech. He stretched both arms out and wrapped them around the mainmast, cheering excitedly.
"Hey! Don't just ignore everything I say, bastard!", Crocodile's forehead throbbed with anger.
Amid the noise, the Going Merry finally docked safely at the large port city known as Nanohana.
After getting off the ship, the Straw Hat crew froze the moment they stepped onto the city's streets.
This was completely different from the ancient desert kingdom they had imagined, a dry and even desolate place covered in endless yellow sand.
Although the buildings retained the distinctive desert domed style, the streets were broad and smooth, with huge cooling and ventilation towers lining both sides and keeping out most of the scorching heat outside.
The entire city was unbelievably prosperous.
Despite being located in a desert, highly developed commercial districts could be found everywhere.
Fine musical instruments from the West Blue, the latest mechanical equipment from the North Blue, specialty spices from the South Blue, and even rare goods that were extremely difficult to find in the East Blue could all be easily bought in the shops here.
All kinds of daily necessities were piled up like mountains, while the service industry was so thorough that it was hard to find fault with it.
"Wow! This country is ridiculously prosperous!"
Nami looked at the dazzling array of high-end goods, her eyes practically turning into the shape of Beli.
The group found the largest open-air barbecue stall by the roadside and sat down. Luffy immediately began a frantic sweep of the food.
While they waited for the owner to bring out more dishes, Usopp, who was good at socializing, immediately struck up a conversation with the friendly owner.
"Boss, this place is really great. It's so convenient to buy anything. I thought a desert would be short on supplies."
"Hahahaha! Kid, is this your first time in Arabasta?"
The barbecue stall owner was a cheerful, burly man with a large beard. While turning a huge desert lizard leg over the grill, he proudly laughed.
"We have our Queen Vivi to thank for that. Her Majesty's policies are extremely open and progressive. Not only does she not restrict trade from foreign merchant ships, she actually makes things much easier for them, turning Arabasta into the largest commercial kingdom in the first half of the Grand Line."
"And that's not all."
The owner pointed toward the end of the street with a finger wrapped in a towel, toward an extremely magnificent white cross-shaped building that covered a huge area.
"See that? That's the Third District Municipal Central Hospital of Arabasta."
"Huh? But the Drum Medical Special Zone is in the nearby waters, isn't it? Why build such a huge hospital inside the city?", Nami asked in confusion.
"You don't understand! The Drum Special Zone is great, but how inconvenient would it be for ordinary people to cross the sea just to get medical treatment?"
The owner was full of gratitude as he continued.
"Our Queen Vivi couldn't bear to see her people suffer, so she paid for it herself. She didn't use a single coin from the national treasury. She spent a fortune hiring experts from all over the world and established large territorial hospitals in every city in Arabasta."
"And that's not all!"
The bearded owner lowered his voice, his tone filled with envy.
"Arabasta has strict levels of citizenship."
"The highest level belongs to people who have native Arabastan citizenship. The benefits they receive in this country would scare you to death if I told you."
"As long as you're a citizen, medical care is completely free! Education is completely free! Domestic transportation is completely free! The country has even eliminated all personal taxes."
"And the craziest part is that even if you're an Arabastan who loafs around on the streets every day without a job, the country will still deposit a full 10,000 Beli living allowance into your account every month, right on schedule."
Whenever he mentioned these things, the bearded owner's face was full of envy.
It was obvious that he wasn't a native Arabastan citizen.
"How much? 10,000 Beli? You get it for doing nothing?"
Zoro's hand holding a piece of meat trembled, while Nami sucked in a sharp breath. Images of the towns and villages of the East Blue instantly appeared in her mind.
One had to know that Beli had considerable purchasing power in this era.
Makino, the owner of the bar in Foosha Village, got up early and worked late every day, smiling as she served all kinds of customers. After working herself to the bone for an entire month, her net profit was only a mere 4,000 Beli.
But here, as long as you were an Arabastan, even if you stayed home sleeping all day, you could receive 10,000 Beli every month.
In inexpensive Arabasta, that amount was absolutely enough for an ordinary person to live comfortably, with meat and alcohol at every meal. If they saved some of it over the course of a year, they could even enjoy a comfortable short trip to another island.
"That's right. That's how much it is."
The owner gave a bitter laugh and wiped away his sweat.
"People like us in the lower tiers are migrant workers. We're not native Arabastans, so we don't get those top-level benefits. But even so, everyone still tries desperately to come here."
"Because the locals of Arabasta are all so rich. They're extremely generous with their spending."
"We do business and hard labor here, and every month we can earn more than ten times what we used to make back home."
"Once we've earned the money, we send the Beli directly back to our families back home through the World Bank, so they can live prosperous lives too."
In this migrant worker's heart, this place was practically a paradise where gold could be found everywhere.
After hearing this, the Straw Hat crew fell into a long silence.
After a while, Zoro downed a large mouthful of strong liquor, his brows tightly furrowed as he looked toward Crocodile sitting diagonally across from him.
"I really don't understand. The common people can live such wealthy lives that they could laugh in their dreams. This country is practically an ideal paradise. You and that rebel army led by some Koza guy, did you get sand in your heads? Why are you still rebelling?"
Nami nodded repeatedly, unable to understand either.
"Exactly! If someone implemented these kinds of policies in my village, I'd call her my own mother! What are you rebelling against? Having too much money to spend?"
"Hmph! Naive."
Crocodile bit down on his cigar and let out a cold, conspiratorial laugh, as if he had seen through everything.
"It's nothing but a cover-up! Precisely because things are abnormal, it proves even more that the person providing me with information behind the scenes was right."
"This Queen Vivi absolutely took the throne illegitimately. She isn't Cobra's biological daughter at all."
"Precisely because she's a fake who stole the throne and feels extremely guilty about it, she's using these absurd, almost money-throwing welfare policies to shut the mouths of the people and buy their loyalty."
However, Crocodile's words received absolutely no support.
"I'm asking you, do you have that thing called... persecutory delusions or something?"
Usopp rolled his eyes dramatically beside him and looked at Crocodile as though he were an idiot, complaining helplessly.
"Who cares whether she's a biological daughter or not, or whether she legitimately inherited the throne? What does that have to do with us? What does it have to do with ordinary people here?"
"If a con artist stole the throne, and the price was that I wouldn't have to work, would get 10,000 Beli every month, and have food, housing, and medical care covered... forget whether she's fake or not. Even if she were an orangutan sitting there as queen, I'd be the first to raise both hands and vote for her, okay."
Although he actually knew that there was indeed something wrong with Vivi's identity.
Vivi's ability was also real.
At least in his eyes, Vivi was far more capable than Sanji.
"You! You spineless, lowly commoner!"
Crocodile's face flushed red. Usopp's shamelessly straightforward logic had left him thoroughly speechless.
And in this heated debate over royal authority and welfare.
Luffy, sitting right in the middle, wasn't participating at all.
"Gulp! Chomp! Chomp..."
Luffy's eyes were shining as both his hands turned into blurs, frantically sweeping the grilled lizard meat skewers off the table at an astonishing speed.
His mouth was stuffed full, his cheeks bulging as oil dripped steadily down his chin.
"Mmm? What're you guys talking about? Something about whether she's legit or not? This meat is really good."
Luffy hadn't understood a word. Or rather, he simply had no concepts of economics or everyday life like these.
In his simple way of thinking, 10,000 Beli and medical welfare policies were nothing compared to the piece of meat in his hand.
As long as everyone had enough to eat and was happy, that was all that mattered.
As for who became king, what did that have to do with the future Pirate King?
Just as the group sat around the barbecue stall marveling at Arabasta's bizarre welfare policies, a commotion suddenly came from the end of the street.
"Investigate the royal bloodline! Give Arabasta the truth!"
"We want the pure Nefertari family! Reject the usurper of unknown origin!"
"..."
The previously steady ground began to carry the sound of synchronized footsteps. Accompanied by the shrill slogans from a loudspeaker Transponder Snail, a protest march of several hundred people raised banners and surged toward them along the broad main road.
The Straw Hat crew held their barbecue and curiously poked their heads out.
To be honest, the sight was extremely strange.
Because every one of these protesters was well-fed, physically robust, and red-faced, while all of them wore high-quality clothes. Some even had flashy gold rings on their fingers.
Compared to the oppressed commoners of the East Blue, these people looked more like wealthy nobles out on an island-hopping vacation.
Yet every one of them was furious, waving their fists and holding huge banners bearing slogans such as "Impure Bloodline" and "Fake Queen," shouting at the top of their lungs.
"If she isn't a descendant of the Nefertari family, she isn't worthy of sitting on that throne!"
"Take back your false gifts! Reveal the truth about the country!"
"..."
"Tch!"
Sanji, sitting beneath the parasol, slightly furrowed his brows and exhaled a thick ring of white smoke.
He coldly watched the group of fanatical protesters. Usually a gentleman, he now had a look of speechlessness in his eyes.
They were enjoying Vivi's benefits while shouting for her to step down. These people really were something.
"What a bunch of idiots with too much food and time on their hands."
Sanji stubbed out his cigarette and, for once, muttered an insult under his breath.
If his old man were sitting on that throne, these people wouldn't even have the qualifications to kneel and look up at him. They would've been reduced to ashes long ago.
In his view, Vivi was simply too kind.
In this world, there might be people opposed to Rosse, but there would absolutely never be an anti-Rosse protest.
The moment one appeared, it would probably be wiped out by Rosse's supporters.
"Ah! Blondie, you couldn't have said it better!"
The bearded owner, who had already hidden beneath the stall, poked half his head out. While anxiously protecting his barbecue rack, he nodded repeatedly, his tone full of contempt and frustration at people who refused to appreciate what they had.
"Most of these people are unemployed loafers who receive the highest level of benefits from the country and don't want to work."
"They eat too much, sleep too much, have more spare money than they know what to do with, and spend every day acting like they've been possessed, thinking about all this nonsense."
"People like us, who are so busy with business every day that our feet barely touch the ground, don't have the time to care which family the king belongs to."
Just as the protestors completely blocked the street and their slogans rose one wave after another...
"SILENCE!"
A uniform clanging of iron armor came from the other end of the street.
A squad of elite, fully armed guards, carrying muskets and spears, quickly charged into the street.