"How could this be?" Nami and the others couldn't help but be taken aback. They had been planning to resupply in this village, but from the looks of it, that was going to be difficult.
"Vivi," Luffy said, a strange look on his face. The two of them had been acting oddly on the way here, especially now, hearing the words "Rebel Army."
Vivi nodded silently and was about to speak, but at that moment, the village gate opened, and three men with swords rushed out. The one in the lead, a man with blonde hair and a jacket, shouted, "I am the leader of the Rebel Army, the great Camus! You're just a bunch of sand bandits! Get out of here, or my eighty thousand subordinates will make you regret it!" His voice was menacing and majestic.
But as soon as he had spoken, one of the villagers on the wall kindly reminded him, "Master Camus, where do we have eighty thousand subordinates? Aren't we the only three rebels in our village?"
"Yes, Master Camus, now is the time to show your true strength!"
"Come on, Master Camus! Even with only three people, you're more than enough to deal with these sand bandits!"
Camus and his two men were speechless.
"Eighty thousand subordinates?" Nami sneered.
"I have a hundred thousand subordinates," Usopp added with his own sneer. These three were masters of deception.
Sanji just curled his lip and exhaled a long puff of smoke, and Zoro didn't even bother to look. Vivi was a little surprised that their scam had been exposed so quickly. But Luffy, hearing this, jumped up in shock, his eyes wide. "Ah! Eighty thousand subordinates!" He had actually believed it.
Seeing this, Camus was ecstatic. There really was a fool in this group. But before he could say anything, the villagers on the wall shot him down again. "No, no, no! Master Camus doesn't have eighty thousand subordinates! He only has three!"
"Yes! And even with only three people, they are the great Rebel Army! They are no match for a bunch of sand bandits!"
"Sand bandits, you must be terrified to hear the name of the great Camus's Rebel Army!" the villagers shouted.
Camus and his two men burst into tears. Brother, can you not tear me down like this? Can't you see we have a fool who actually believes us? Do you have to force us to use swords and guns for something that can be solved with a single sentence? Is it really that hard to get a free meal these days?
At that moment, Luffy suddenly understood. This was another Usopp. He glanced sideways at his crewmate. "What are you looking at me for? I haven't used that line in a long time," Usopp said, a hint of indignation in his voice.
"You're not the Rebel Army at all," Luffy said coldly. "You're just using their name to cheat people out of food and drink."
Seeing that their lie had been exposed, the three of them began to sweat and panic. The people in front of them... they were going to be difficult to deal with. Two of them had swords. And the look in the black-clothed man's eyes was terrifying. Just a single glance made them feel as if they were being pierced by a thousand swords. Feeling this pressure, Camus began to tremble and was about to confess.
But at that moment, the villagers on the wall shouted angrily at Luffy, "You're the liar! You're the one who's cheating! Lord Camus helped us and drove out the real sand bandits! You're not allowed to insult our hero!"
"Sand bandits, get out of here immediately, or our Lord Camus will definitely not spare you!"
"Master Camus, we are happy to be protected by you! Continue to fight for us! We trust you!" Even a few children were cheering for them.
"Everyone..." Camus's eyes grew moist, and he felt a new strength growing in his heart. When he looked at Luffy and the others again, he was no longer so scared.
"What?" Seeing this, Luffy was stunned. Though he was usually a bit dense, he was extremely sensitive at critical moments.
"Luffy, do me a favor," Vivi whispered in his ear. Luffy nodded heavily, geared up, and looked at the three men with a cold expression.
At that moment, encouraged by the villagers, the three of them were completely different. Even Camus dared to draw his sword and face Luffy.
"Really? Since you've drawn your sword, then let's fight to the death," Luffy said, pulling the brim of his hat down, his expression unprecedentedly grim.
"If you want to harm this village, you'll have to take my life first," Camus said, a new firmness in his eyes as he rushed at Luffy, his sword held high.
But the strength difference between them was too great, and the three of them were instantly knocked to the ground.
"Well," Luffy said with a sigh, "since you have such determination, then we won't harm this village." He waved his hand and looked at Vivi, who nodded with a smile on her face. Though these three were cheaters, they were willing to risk their lives for the villagers. What more could she say? All she wanted was the happiness of her people.
"Let's go," Luffy said, and he and the others turned to leave. They all left in silence, and even Usopp had no objections. Even if they had no water or food, so what? They were companions, sailing together. Since the captain had spoken, as a crewmate, he had to believe in him without reservation and follow him to the ends of the earth. Besides, the ending right now was a good one.
Not long after they had left Crystal Village, Ace suddenly appeared from somewhere, a large supply of water and food on his back.
"Ace!" Luffy exclaimed.
"Ace!" the others all laughed. Now, they were finally reunited.
"I was in that village just now," Ace said, a smile on his face as he looked at Luffy. "Luffy, you've matured a lot." He had seen the scene at the village entrance.
"Ace, you were there too?" Luffy grinned.
"Yeah. And I brought some water and food," Ace said, pointing to the supplies on his back.
The others were overjoyed. "Ace, you're so reliable!"
"Great! There's water and food!"
"Hey, are you two really brothers? Why is the gap so big?" they all said, sighing.
"Ah? Ace, where did you get it?" Luffy asked, a blank look on his face. "There were three very powerful people in that village. How did you get in?"
"Was it difficult?" Ace smiled. He wasn't like Luffy. As a great pirate, he had his ways.
"Wasn't it difficult?" Luffy asked, looking at the others with a bewildered expression. They all just shook their heads and sighed. Chopper, pretending to be very knowledgeable, quietly asked Moonlight, "Moonlight, I don't understand. How did Ace get the water and food? Weren't those villagers very fierce?"
Moonlight just smiled and didn't explain. Like Luffy, Chopper had completely believed Camus when he had said he had eighty thousand men.
Afterwards, the group continued on towards Yuba. Though they now had water and food, the vast desert was still extremely difficult to traverse. The sun was scorching, and the heat was unbearable. Soon, they were all resting under a rock wall, regaining their energy.
"To the northwest, behind a sand dune 300 meters away, there are two children," Moonlight suddenly said, his eyes opening. "On a rock 500 meters away, there is a middle-aged man and a bird. The man is armed and has a murderous intent. Ace, they're all coming for you." He had been practicing his Observation Haki the entire time, and he was aware of all the dangers around them.
"Two kids?" Nami asked, taken aback.
"Looking for you?" Zoro and Sanji said, looking at Ace.
"I'll send them flying!" Luffy shouted, already taking off in the direction Moonlight had pointed.
"They're here," Ace's expression grew more solemn than ever before. He had nothing to hide from his new companions and told them the purpose of his journey. He had come to Alabasta to pursue a man called Blackbeard, a former member of his crew who had killed a companion for a Devil Fruit. As the captain, he had to avenge him. He had heard that a man named Scorpion in Yuba had defeated Blackbeard and knew his whereabouts, so he had followed them all the way here.
"Blackbeard?"
"A Devil Fruit?"
"Killed his companion?"
"A man named Scorpion?" Everyone looked at Ace. They had all vaguely known that he was chasing someone, but they hadn't known the details.
"Blackbeard," Moonlight's eyes flashed. He looked at Ace's firm expression and sighed. How could it be so easy to change Fire Fist's will? He and Luffy were two of a kind. It was impossible to persuade them. But... he couldn't change Ace's will, but he could change his ending.
At that moment, Zoro returned with two children, one named Stomp and the other Dip, from a village called Baddi. Their goal was indeed Ace, but it was to offer him a million Berries to defeat a man named Scorpion. Everyone was surprised.
"He's here," Moonlight said again and, with a single sword slash, he cut through the sky ahead. A massive flame cannonball, which had been flying towards them without any warning, was sliced in two.
BOOM!
The sword energy and the cannonball slammed into the air, and a brilliant explosion of flames erupted in the sky, like a firework.
"That's so powerful," Usopp said, his own voice filled with a horrified awe. "If that had hit us, we would have been in real trouble."
"Let me handle this," Ace said, his body now wreathed in flames, his eyes fixed on the man with a hat, glasses, and a brown beard who was riding a strange bird and carrying a cannon on his shoulder. It was the man who had fired the shot just now. But what made him speechless was that Luffy was sitting on the bird with him, laughing and waving at everyone.
"Hey, Luffy, that's the enemy!" everyone shouted. Ace was also taken aback. What was going on?
"Why are you here?" the bearded man asked, his own complexion suddenly changing as he saw Stomp and Dip.
"Father!" the two children cried, lowering their heads.
"Father?" This time, including Luffy, everyone was confused. The bearded man wanted to kill Ace, but the two kids wanted to hire Ace to defeat their father?
"Uncle, why are you trying to kill Ace?" Luffy asked, puzzled. "You don't seem like a bad person."
"Hey, it's like this..." the bearded man sighed. His name was Scorpion, and he was a bounty hunter from the badlands ahead. Stomp and Dip were his two sons. They had been living a good life, but since the civil strife in Alabasta had begun, their life had become difficult. As the two children grew up, they began to feel that their father was useless and started to walk down the wrong path. To correct their thinking, Scorpion had decided to challenge the famous Fire Fist Ace to prove that even an ordinary man, with enough determination, could challenge the world's greatest heroes. He wanted them to understand what true ambition was. So he had deliberately spread the news that he had defeated Blackbeard to lure Ace here.
"Is it because of the civil war again?" Vivi's face darkened. She had experienced too many similar tragedies along the way. The others were also silent, and even Luffy's brows furrowed.
"You gave me a million Berries so that I could defeat what you thought was a weak and incompetent father?" Ace suddenly asked.
"What?" Stomp and Dip were stunned.
Ace then looked at Scorpion with a solemn expression. "Come on then. If you want to defeat me, try it."