Chapter 61: Motivation

They walked for a while, where Nami and Sanji were a bit angry with Luffy.

"Nice work, Luffy! Our food supplies were drastically reduced," Sanji scolded him.

"We would've been in real trouble if Chopper hadn't convinced them!" Nami said, upset.

"Yeah. They kept saying, 'We'll go with you.' They would've come along if I hadn't given them the food," Chopper said.

"I don't see why you're complaining when I have more resources stored," Oliver told them.

"What?" Sanji asked him.

"Well, I've got more food and water in my magic space. Did you really think I didn't buy anything while you were fantasizing about Nami and Vivi?" Oliver asked.

"THEN WHY ARE WE THE ONES CARRYING EVERYTHING?!" Nami and Sanji yelled, angry about having to carry the weight.

"You can always train while crossing the desert," Oliver replied, irritating the others.

"Vivi-chan, those Dugongs are so strange. Do they live in the river?" Sanji asked, calming down as he spoke to her.

"No, they live in the ocean," Vivi replied.

Vivi explained that the Sandora River once supported the country with fresh water, but after years of drought, the river weakened, causing the sea to rise and turn everything into salt water.

"Is that why this city has dried up?" Zoro asked her.

"No. It didn't rain much in this area even back then, but the city was still able to store every last drop of rainwater that fell. Now it looks like a ghost town, but not long ago, it was a thriving city full of vegetation," Vivi said, remembering how it used to be.

"This city?" Zoro asked, looking at the dried-up palm trees.

'It looks way worse than in the manga,' Oliver thought as he examined the buildings. 'Crocodile... is this what a Logia-type Devil Fruit can do?'

"In the last three years, not a single drop of rain has fallen in the entire country," she told them, while Luffy and Chopper stayed behind, checking a few things.

"But the port city looked fine," Chopper said, referring to Nanohana as he ran to catch up.

"Nanohana gets its water from the nearby oasis, Katorea. In Alabasta's long history, it had never stopped raining completely. But there was one place where it rained more than usual: Alubarna, the capital. The city where the royal palace is. People started calling it 'the king's miracle'... until that happened," Vivi said, recalling the events.

She explained that two years ago, a strange shipment arrived at the port of Nanohana, supposedly headed directly to the palace in Alubarna. It was Dance Powder.

"Dance Powder?" Luffy asked, not knowing what it was, and turned to Nami. "Do you know what that is?"

"Yeah, it's called 'the powder that calls the rain,'" Nami said. "It was created in a country where it hadn't rained for years. The powder creates a smoke cloud that rises into the atmosphere and accelerates the formation of ice particles in clouds at very low temperatures, causing rain."

"You guys didn't understand any of that," Oliver said, noticing that Luffy and Zoro hadn't grasped a single thing.

"Wait. Something like that would be perfect for this country, wouldn't it?" Usopp asked, curious.

"As the name suggests, the country that developed Dance Powder was so happy they danced at first. But there was a terrible downside. It caused droughts in downwind countries. Get it? Dance Powder quickly and artificially matures clouds that would normally become rain clouds later, making it rain early," Nami explained.

"I see. So it steals the water from the clouds that would've fallen in neighboring countries," Usopp said, understanding the powder's effect.

"Exactly. And when those neighboring countries realized what was happening, a huge war broke out, and many lives were lost. Since then, the World Government has imposed a worldwide ban on the production and possession of Dance Powder," Nami concluded.

"A powder that can bring both happiness and misfortune when used..." Usopp muttered.

"When all that Dance Powder was brought into the port city, Alabasta was already experiencing a strange weather phenomenon where rain only fell on the city where the king lived," Vivi told them.

"It makes sense people would start distrusting the king. They probably thought he was using the powder to get all the rain," Zoro said.

"HEY, VIVI! THAT MEANS YOUR DAD'S THE BAD GUY!" Luffy shouted, pointing at her — which earned him a kick to the head from Sanji.

"IDIOT! IT WAS A TRAP! Vivi-chan's father would never do something like that! Never! Never! Never! Never! Never! Never!" Sanji yelled, kicking Luffy in the head repeatedly.

"Now I realize that Sir Crocodile's terrible plan had already begun. Of course, my father had nothing to do with it, but around that same time, a huge amount of Dance Powder was found inside the palace. It was all a trap set by Crocodile! And just as he planned, the drought devastated the land. The people's anger grew with their hunger. Eventually, the rebellion erupted!" Vivi said, holding the skull of a dead man with sorrow.

"The peace of this kingdom and the people's faith in the royal family were shattered! Many towns and citizens were lost as well. What did my father or the people of this country ever do to deserve this? They worked so hard, fought against nature to survive in the desert... and he ruined their lives. What gives him the right to do that?! Why?! Meanwhile, as one of the Shichibukai, he pretends to be the people's hero. No one realizes he's deceiving the entire country! I... I can't forgive that man!" Vivi said, feeling powerless and frustrated by all the damage Crocodile had done to her homeland — at which point Luffy, Sanji, and Usopp destroyed a ruined building.

"You brats..." Zoro muttered irritably as the three returned.

"Can you blame them? They're angry," Oliver said, as Vivi bit her lower lip.

"What were they doing?" Nami asked, confused by why they destroyed the building.

"Vivi! Let's get moving! I'm getting really fired up," Luffy said, marching ahead.

"You heard the captain, Vivi. Let's not waste any more time — we're going to stop that rebel army," Oliver said, placing a hand on her head before following Luffy. 'It's strange, but it feels like there's a path in the desert...'

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I want to share with you all that during the time I was away due to being sick (which I mentioned on Patreon), I thought a lot about whether or not to continue this story. While I was recovering, ideas kept coming to me one after another, but seeing how many people enjoy this story really motivated me to keep going.

Thank you for continuing to read this story despite all its flaws.