Thunder Demon Luffy's

Chapter 85's

**Night**

They walked all day until nightfall, where they found a nice spot among the rocks to set up some tents and camp for the night.

Johnny and Yosaku with the girls help set up a tent while Zoro and Usopp light a fire while Sanji prepares food for them to cook. Luffy, Ace, and Chopper were lying on the ground with their backs leaning against the rock, looking up at the sky enjoying the cold desert atmosphere.

"Wow, look at all those stars," Chopper said with a smile as he stared at the countless stars in the night sky.

"Have you never seen the stars in Drum Kingdom?" Luffy asked as he looked at Chopper.

"No, the sky above Drum Kingdom is filled with snow clouds so I have never been able to see it before," he said in a happy voice.

"How can the three of you just sit there," Nojiko's voice caught their attention. "Are you not cold" he said, hugging himself.

"The devil's fruit" said Ace.

"The devil's fruit" said Luffy.

"The fur is soft" Chopper said. Nojiko looked at the three of them with a jealous expression on her face before she walked over and sat down next to the fire. Luffy then got up and spoke.

"I have to go, pee," she said before walking away looking for a place to urinate. He then found a place a bit away from the campground and went behind the rock and did his business. When he finished, Luffy reached into his pocket and took out a small Transponder snail with a button on its shell. He pressed that button which caused the snail to wake up and start calling someone.

* purupurupuru** purupurupuru** purupurupururu**Chachak *

"Hello?" the sound of a Gem from a transponder snail.

"Yo" replied Luffy.

"Captain, what can I do for you?" Gem asked

"I want you to check if you can get the Dance Powder that Crocodile has," Luffy said.

"Dance Powder's? I heard some of our new members talking about it today" Gem said through a snail.

"Find out where it is and steal it," Luffy ordered. "It was categorised as illegal by the World government, but it still has a hefty price on the black market" Luffy added causing Gem to laugh before replying.

"It looks like we've got the first product to sell on the black market" he said causing Luffy to laugh as well.

"Right, I'll call you back, call me when it's all over" he said.

"Aye, Captain, 'Gem answered before they both put down the phone. Luffy then kept the snail and started walking towards the camp. When he gets there, Sanji talks to him.

"Evening is ready, captain," Sanji said as he picked up a stick with dinosaur meat on it and handed it to Luffy.

"Thank you" Luffy replied before he walked over and sat down next to Ace and Chopper and ate his dinner. After finishing eating, Luffy yawned and stretched before lying on a rock and pulling his straw hat over his face and going to bed.

Ace and Chopper got up and went next to the campfire with the others, giving Luffy a little room to sleep. When Ace sat down to eat his dinosaur, Vivi was the first to speak to him.

"He looked very peaceful when he was sleeping," Vivi said causing everyone to look at the sleeping Luffy. "It's hard to imagine she can be so cold when she wakes up" he added, causing Ace to laugh.

"He's been like that ever since I knew him," Ace said causing everyone to stare at him. "As far as I know he's always been like this. It's always serious and cold, but once you get to know him well, he'll warm up to you" Ace said with a warm smile.

"Yes, we're only with him now, only about a month," Nami said as she bit her flesh. "So, it's understandable that he hasn't opened himself up for us yet" Nami said while everyone nodded in agreement.

"Yes, and even so, there might be some things that he might never share," Ace said causing them to look at him in bewilderment.

"From what I've heard from Red-Hair Shanks, Luffy used to be not always this serious and cold, he used to be much more cheerful and relaxed, he used to be, but it seems that something happened when he was a child that turned him into what he is today" Ace said before he took a cup of water and drank it.

"Shanks never said what caused it and Luffy never told me about it so I didn't try to find out and ask," he said as he looked at his sleeping brother.

"I don't really care how he behaves" Zoro said, drawing their attention. "He saved my life when we first met so I'm going to follow him all the way to the ends of the earth and back" he said with confidence, causing all the crew to agree with their vice-captain.

"It's nice to know that my brother is in good hands with good people," Ace said with a slight bow of his head causing them all to give a slight shaming hue, while Luffy, who was a little bit of a bashful, said, if you take a closer look you can see a smile forming in his mouth.

**today**

As dawn broke, Luffy began to wake up. He got up and stretched himself before starting to wash the dust off his clothes.

He looked around and saw that he was the first one to wake up. Wanting to walk early, Luffy walked over to the two tents with an evil grin on his face, then he stretched out both of his hands with ten fingers pointing to the tent.

"Electro Murder!" Luffy exclaimed causing ten lightning strikes out from his fingers and electrocuting his entire crew. He made sure to lower his electrical voltage so that it would cause pain but not enough to kill them.

"AHHHHHHH!" they all screamed in surprise.

"Wake up and shine" Luffy said before he walked away.

"What is it for!" Shouted the smoky Nami.

"When I wake up, I want to start walking early before the sun gets too hot" Luffy said. Nami was about to yell at him but stopped when she realized that it made sense to do that.

"That makes sense" Nami said before going to the tent to get ready. Luffy had to wait for about thirty minutes before everything was ready. After everything was packed, they all set off again towards Yuba.

**Night**

Luffy and the crew have been trudging through the desert all day and are currently on their last trip to Yuba.

Nami and Vivi are currently riding the camel they saved when they were about to be eaten alive by some sort of desert plant, Chopper is still carried on Luffy's shoulder and everyone just walks along.

"Luffy, what paper did Ace give you?" Usopp asked while dragging himself with a stick.

"It's called the Vivre Card," Luffy said puzzlingly to them. "Vivre's card is made from the part of a person's nail which is then made into paper. This paper is completely waterproof and fireproof, but it can be torn off and given to the people closest to you if it is going to split up. The torn piece will point to and move towards the person giving the Vivre card no matter where they are in the world, allowing one to always be able to figure out which direction the person giving the Vivre card was in," he explained causing everyone's eyes to widen.

"Wow really?" Chopper asked from Luffy's shoulder.

"Yes, and the card was only made in the New World," Luffy said as he took out a bottle of whiskey and gulped straight from the bottle. "I have some sheets," he added.

"That's amazing, I never thought such a thing could be made out of nails," Vivi said in an astonished voice.

That was when, suddenly something caught the young princess' attention, causing her to smile before she spoke to the others. "Everything is," said Vivi cheerfully, attracting everyone's attention. "Yuba was across the rocks," he said, pointing in the distance in front of them.

"Just a little more and we'll get there" Vivi added with a smile, leaving everyone excited considering this trip is coming to an end.

The crew walked using the last of their journey, it took a while, but after 30 minutes of walking, they finally arrived at Yuba.

"Oh no!" Vivi shouted in a panicked voice. "the whole city is hit by a sandstorm!" he said as they stared at the sand-covered city.

"I don't know princess," Luffy said as he walked forward and looked around. "This place looks like it's been hit by some sandstorm" he said as he looked around at the dried-up trees, sand covering the house and piles of desert sand everywhere.

Even worse is the fact that there is no one in the city. It was as if everyone was leaving the city.

"This place is not much different from the Eremalu we passed before," Zoro said as he walked forward and inspected the city.

"Vivi, I think this place is some kind of Oasis city," Sanji said as he looked around.

"It looks like the oasis has disappeared. It's been swallowed by all the sand" Vivi replied in a sad voice. After he said that, everyone heard the voice of someone in front of them. As they all looked towards the sound, they saw an old man with a shovel digging into the ground.

"I guess you're all tourists" the old man said as he dug in. "you must be tired of traveling in such hot weather. I'm sorry, but the city is also drying up, so we don't have much help to offer, but still you're free to rest here for a while" he added, looking back, towards the crew.

As Vivi saw the old man's face, Vivi pulled the hood of her robe and hid her face from him, causing Luffy to raise his eyebrows. "We may not have much water, but there are many inns in this city. That's what we're proud of" he said as he continued digging.

"Thank you, but we actually came here looking for the Rebel Army," Vivi said as she jumped off the camel. The old man turned around and looked at the group with an angry expression on his face, then he replied in an angry tone while throwing stones at Luffy and his crew.

"What is your business with the rebel forces!" the man shouted while throwing stones. "Cursed you! If you come here to join the rebel forces you can go back to where you came from!" he yelled.

"Well, that's interesting" Luffy said as he stood there unscathed.

"If you're looking for those fools, you can look elsewhere, they're no longer in this city" the old man said as he continued digging.

"They're gone !?" Luffy's entire crew shouted while Luffy remained silent.

"I'm sure you're aware that the city has just been hit by a sandstorm" the old man said as he struggled to dig. "And the storm was definitely not the first. Without rain for three years, sandstorms became a regular occurrence until little by little the oasis we know was slowly swallowed up and the city became what you see now, a dying desert," he explained to the crew.

"With too little supplies, the rebel army was no longer able to support themselves here, so they moved on. The rebel base is now located in Katorea," he said, causing Vivi's eyes to widen.

"Katorea?" Vivi asked in a whisper.

"Where is that? Is that near Vivi?" Nojiko asked as she looked at the princess.

"It was near Nanohana, from where we came from," he said causing Luffy to sit on a rock and sigh tiredly.

"Great, coming so far is just a waste of time" Johnny said as he sat in the sand.

"Vivi," said the old man with wide eyes as he started walking towards Vivi. "Princess Vivi, is that really you? you're alive, I can't believe this" he said in a relieved voice. "It's me, don't you recognize me?" the man asked as he placed his hand on the woman's shoulder.

"Toto," Vivi replied with tears in her eyes

"That's right," the man replied with teary eyes. "For whatever reason, dear Vivi, I believe in you and the king. He's a good man, a good king who will never betray his country. I know that!" Toto said with tears streaming down his face. Everyone just stood there watching the interaction between the old man and the princess.

'Damn it, we did this whole journey without success, and now we have to go back again, ' Luffy thought to himself as he stared at the night sky. 'It looks like I have to cut off their punishment, because there's no way I'm going to walk through that desert again, ' he added with a sigh.

"I tried to stop them many times," the old man said attracting Luffy's attention. "But they won't listen to anything I say. The rebellion did not stop, and their strength, supplies, and people had reached a limit, however, their intention was to settle everything once and for last with the next attack. They were cornered with their backs against the wall and ready to die," he said, causing Vivi to be shocked.

"Please Vivi, you have to stop them before these fools destroy our country!" he begged the princess causing Luffy to sigh.

'Damn it, she was talking as if the princess didn't have enough to worry about, and she just added more weight to stress her out, ' Luffy thought to himself.

"Toto my old friend," Vivi said gently as she handed the napkin to the old man. "Let's rest we'll succeed" he said with a reassuring smile.

"Alright listen!" Luffy shouted in a commanding tone. "We'll rest here tonight while I try and figure out what we're going to do tomorrow," he said before lifting Chopper off his shoulder and putting it in the sand and starting to walk away from his crew.

"Where'd he go?" Usopp asked as he watched Luffy leave.

"It's possible to clear his mind" Zoro said, drawing all of their attention. "If you all haven't noticed it yet, Luffy hasn't done anything for no reason. In battle, not a single step was wasted. Everything he does has a reason, or has some purpose for the future. We just took a long trip through the desert for no reason whatsoever. So, he might be upset at himself for wasting all the energy that might be better spent doing something else" Zoro told the crew.

"But we didn't come here for no reason" Johnny told Zoro. "We came here thinking the rebel soldiers would be here," he added while the others nodded causing Zoro to sigh before replying.

"Yes, but if we spend enough time in Nanohana and gather some intel regarding the Rebel Forces we will probably know that they are in Katorea and not Yuba" Zoro said with a sigh.

"Sorry," Vivi apologized causing everyone to look at her. "It's all my fault" he said.

"No, it's not your fault" Zoro said before anyone else could say anything. "There's nothing wrong, we're all just not planning as well as we should" he told Vivi before she turned around and looked at the entire crew. "We all have to sleep, we have a long day ahead of us tomorrow" Zoro said before he went to find a place to sleep.