The night passed, and it was time for the Straw Hats and Vivi to say goodbye to Toto. Although they were briefly dumbfounded by the oasis th
The night passed, and it was time for the Straw Hats and Vivi to say goodbye to Toto. Although they were briefly dumbfounded by the oasis that had appeared overnight, after a brief explanation from Toto about what exactly Yuna had done, everyone understood what had happened.
That being said, Toto happily gave the little group multiple containers filled with Yuba Oasis water, waving them goodbye.
However, after only traveling through the desert for a few minutes, Luffy simply sat down in the shadow of a half-dead tree and refused to continue.
As Vivi continued claiming that they had to reach the rebels and that they had no time to idle around, Luffy simply declared that he was no longer interested.
While he could have phrased that better, Yuna could make a good guess at what Luffy meant exactly. Stopping the rebels was only a temporary solution. The rot that had to be cut out was Crocodile himself, and despite Luffy mentioning beating him up multiple times, their current destination was still the main camp of the rebels, where Vivi wanted to stop the rebels personally.
Again, Luffy's approach of simply sitting down and refusing to budge wasn't exactly the best, but with a sigh, Yuna decided to speak.
"Vivi, despite Luffy's action being not entirely clear, I get what he means. I've said it multiple times myself: We are here to help you. Use our abilities! Is going for the rebels really the best solution to this conflict?"
Hearing Yuna's words, Vivi bit her own lip, trying not to say anything else, but in the end, she couldn't help but speak up.
"Y-Y-You could die! Why would you be willing to die for me?"
Before Yuna could say anything else, Luffy stood up, his face twisted in fury.
"VIVI!!! AREN'T WE YOUR FRIENDS!?"
Hearing Luffy roar, Vivi was taken aback, and seconds later, after having fully grasped what she had just heard, she collapsed on her knees, tears streaming from her face.
Yuna, on the other hand, looked at Luffy and nodded in approval. When she first joined the crew, she more or less did it on a whim, but now, listening to Luffy roaring in genuine anger at Vivi for dismissing their friendship, Yuna could only feel like she made a good choice.
'I have to admit that this goofy rubber boy had quite the personality. A pity he isn't a woman~'
[Considering the way he acts, I'm pretty sure that if you told him that you like him, he would only grin foolishly and say that that was only natural, since you are his friend.]
'Indeed, the "so-innocent-the-appear-foolish-type. Not an easy nut to crack. Of well. since he is not a woman, let that be someone else's problem.'
Anyway, a few seconds after Luffy's little declaration, Vivi managed to calm down and look Luffy straight in the eyes.
"Luffy, please help me save my kingdom. Help me defeat Crocodile."
Without a second of hesitation, a grin appeared on Luffy's face as he put on his Straw Hat.
"OF COURSE!!! I'LL KICK THAT CROCO BASTARDS ASS!!!"
In the end, that was all it boiled down to in Luffy's mind, and the rest of the crew didn't mind. The strategy was the same as always: Luffy deals with the big boss, while the rest did their best to do what they could. Of course, Yuna wouldn't mind substituting Luffy, but that depended on how interested she was in fighting the end boss. In this case, Crocodile, with his sand powers, at least got her a little curious, so whether she wanted to fight or not was still not entirely decided by her.
And so, it was decided that rather than going after the rebels, it would be better to hunt down Crocodile directly. That being said, the new goal was Rain Base, where Crocodile was usually stationed.
Luckily, the Straw Hats had gotten more than enough water from Toto and had their ice armors from Yuna, so the one day of traveling through the desert was somewhat endurable.
"YOSH!!! LET'S KICK CROCODI..."
BANG
Before Luffy could finish speaking, Nami's [Fist of Wrath] smashed into his head, burying half his body into the sand.
"Shut up! Crocodile is still considered a hero in this country, so we shouldn't draw too much attention by yelling his name! That being said, here is the plan I came up with to ultimately lure him out. First of all, we will carefully and stealthily..."
"GOMU-GOMU-NOOOOOOO-ROCKET!!!"
"LUFFY!? WHAT THE HELL!!!"
Flames appeared to come out of Nami's head as she watched Luffy sling-shotting himself into the city, while Nami herself decided that Luffy was in for a bearing as soon as she found him. She briefly pondered the situation, but ultimately decided to ignore Luffy and focus on the rest of the crew instead. However, before she could talk about the rest of her plan, Usopp awkwardly patted her shoulder to interrupt her.
"Err, Nami, I'm sorry to say this, but Yuna and Zoro are gone as well. Whatever plan you made, I'm pretty sure it is no longer feasible."
Nami almost fainted when she heard that. Luffy being reckless was normal, as was Zoro getting lost, but why in the world would Yuna decide to mess around as well? This whole situation was an absolute mess!
Meanwhile, Yuna was already at her destination: A pyramid with an enormous golden crocodile on it. Additionally, she somehow managed to change from the dancer outfit Sanji had previously gifted her to a formal blue suit and a white tie.
'Rally? A giant crocodile? Crocobuddy sure likes crocodiles, huh?'
[Apparently.]
Without any other delay, Yuna adjusted her tie and stepped into the building, immediately exchanging a bunch of Bely she had stolen... cough earned into chips.
She briefly scanned the inside of the building and what kind of gambling they offered, and seconds later approached a high-stakes poker table, while gesturing for a waiter to bring her a drink. Well, poker is all about being able to read and trick people, and as it's turned out, Yuna was pretty good at those things.
As for why she decided to go gambling? Well, first of all, more money is always better. Since she was confident in her chances of winning, why not make some extra money? As for the other reason, It was pretty obvious that Crodoile was the owner of this place, so she might as well try luring him out by winning too much. Even if that didn't work, at the end of the day, she would have at least made some money...
"COME OUT, CROCOGUY!!! I'M GONNA KICK YOUR ASS!!!"
...Or that was at least the plan, until Luffy burst into the building, ready to throw hands with Crocodile. Hastily following him inside were Nami and Usopp, who immediately smacked the back of Luffy's head.
"YOU IDIOT! STAY SILENT!!!"
However, before the trio could discuss their next step, Captain Smoker, who was here for some reason Yuna didn't know about, burst into the building as well.
"STRAW HAT!!! THIS TIME I'LL GET YOU!!!"
Hearing his outburst, Yuna's eyebrows rose, half doubting what she had just heard.
'Did this guy seriously travel all the way to the Grand Line, just to chase after Luffy. He sure is persistent.'
Meanwhile, due to Luffy making a ruckus, a few guards decided to kick him out; unfortunately for them, Luffy blasted them away without even noticing their presence. Conveniently, one of them was flung into a slot machine close to Yuna, resulting in it spilling its contents. Seeing the mountain of money littering the floor and that everyone else was paying attention to the commotion Luffy and Smoker were causing, Yuna shrugged her shoulders.
'Don't mind me if I do~'
So, with a bag full of money flung over her shoulder, Yuna made her way deeper into the building, where she found Luffy, Nami, Usopp, and Smoker trapped inside a cage, while water was slowly flooding the room.
"YUNA!!!"
As soon as Luffy saw Yuna, his eyes lit up in excitement, but before he could say anything else, Nami pushed him away and started speaking as well.
"Yuna, one of those giant crocodiles has eaten the key for this cage!"
Looking around, Yuna could indeed see around a dozen giant crocodiles swimming around behind glass walls. In fact, she could also see a hole in the ground where a few of them were already entering the room.
Not really caring about the crocodiles, Yuna approached the cage trapping those four people, while removing a hairpin from her hair.
"Well, beating up all those crocodiles is a hassle, so I'll just open the cage with this."
Seeing Yuna holding a hairpin while approaching the cage, Smoker snorted in disdain.
"Do you really think you can open this cage so easily? This is something Crocodile brought through his connections as a Warlord of the Seas from the Navi, and it certainly isn't s..."
"Yup, got it open~"
"WHAT!?"
While Smoker was dumbfounded, Yuna wasn't paying much attention to him as she opened the cage's door, allowing Luffy, Nami, and Usopp to walk out of it. She was just about to close it again, with only Smoker remaining inside, but Luffy decided to stop her.
"Let him out as well."
"Mhh? Why? He's our enemy, right?"
"Shishishi, because he is a good guy!"
Hearing Luffy's nonsensical argument, Yuna briefly paused before shrugging her shoulders in indifference. Frankly, if Smoker were someone dangerous, Yuna would probably try to convince Luffy to get rid of him, but right now, Smoker wasn't even close to being a danger to her. In fact, without his Devil Fruit, Sanji and Zoro could probably easily deal with him. So, as someone who could more or less ignore his Devil Fruit's abilities, Yuna didn't think much about Smoker's strength.
Nami, on the other hand, while being thankful of Yuna for rescuing her, had completely different priorities. She was smelling something. Something that smelled suspiciously similar to money.
"Yuna, what is in that bag you are carrying?"
"Hehe~"
Yuna chuckled in amusement at Nami instantly sniffing out the money and put the bag on the ground to show Nami its contents. The moment Nami saw all the money in the bag, her eyes turned into Beli's as she barely managed to suppress her desire to snatch the bag away from Yuna.
"W-Where did you get that much money?"
"Isn't that obvious? I stole it from Crocodile, HAHAHA~!"
Hearing that, Namibecame even more excited. The only thing she loved more than money was money stolen from pirates! Additionally, this was not only money stolen from a pirate, but also money stolen from a pirate under the World Government, which was even better! After Yuna had pointed out just how corrupt the World Goverment was, Nami started disdaining it even more than pirates. Of course, the actual depth of the World Goverment's corruption was not something Yuna could point out just yet. After all, currently, she hasn't even heard about the Celestial Dragons.
"Yay, I love you!"
Seeing the bag filled with stolen pirate money, Nami couldn't help but hug Yuna happily. Naturally, Yuna hugged her back and even totally ignored the moment when Nami pressed Yuna's hand between her breasts, which Nami used to steal some money from the still open bag.
'Well, she is my woman, after all. Frankly, she could ask for the bag, and I would give it to her, but if she wants to do it this way, I won't complain~'
[Am I the only one who feels like this is some weird, indirect way of prostitution?]
'Can't rally deny that, but for the sake of my women, whose services I'm definitely not buying by allowing her to steal my money, I'll say "no" anyway.'
[Good to see your shamelessness is still fully intact.]
'Of course! After all, I'm the Goddess of Shamelessness!'
[Weren't cultivators supposed to get some kind of heart demon when they stray from their path? Your ice seemed to get sidelined rather frequently.]
'Oh yeah, I get those all the time. However, the moment they realize what's going on in my mind, those small fry flee in terror.'
[That is... actually pretty understandable.]