Chapter 21

Vivi, Rose, and the rest of the Straw Hats who are riding on the crab have settled down for the evening as the crab journeys through the desert to Alubarna. As soon as the crab left Rain Base, Rose decided to try to regain some of her strength by taking a nap. She uses her backpack as a pillow and lies down on her back on the center of the ride before she allows herself to drift off.

Nami looks down at the scrawny girl sleeping next to her and raises an eyebrow at her behavior. She thinks back on how hard Rose fought to get them out of the cage and decides to let her rest. *I can't believe how reckless she is. It's one thing to not flinch when facing those bananadiles, but she taunted a warlord and called him Scarface... Reminds me of a certain captain I know...*

She sighs in disbelief of that there's actually another living person that can be as reckless as Luffy. The redhead has a feeling that if Luffy manages to recruit the sleeping girl then they would either make a great team or a big headache, probably both. She decides not to worry about the possibility until the time comes, so she looks to see how Vivi's doing. The blue haired princess looks as worried as ever as she stares back at the path they took.

Nami sighs at the worried princess before she sits next to her. "You don't need to worry so much."

Vivi snaps out of her trance from Nami's voice then gives her an obviously fake smile. "I don't know what you mean. I'm not worried."

"That was the worst act I've ever seen." Nami says as she flicks her friend on the forehead.

Vivi rubs her forehead then sees Nami patting her on the shoulder. "You know how strong Luffy is. We'll see him before you know it."

The royal blinks at her friend's unwavering confidence in her captain before a small, genuine, smile forms on her pale face. "Alright, first we should-!"

She pauses when she remembers something important about their route to Alubarna. She quickly brings out her map from her bag and opens it up for Nami to see. "This is bad, I forgot that there's a large river up ahead!"

Nami looks at the river line on the map that they're about to encounter then looks at Vivi in confusion. "So what? Can't the crab just swim through?"

"Desert crabs can't swim!"

All the boys on the ride look at her in utter shock after they hear the new fact. "WHAT?!"

Rose isn't fazed by the crew's shouting as she continues to sleep like the dead.

Usopp quickly goes over the girls and looks at the map with his eyes bugging out. "What do you mean the crab can't swim?!"

"These desert crabs live underground. They can't stand the water!" Vivi says as she stares at the map.

Nami looks at her in confusion before looking at the crab. "But Scissors is a crab! Can't he step over the river?!"

Zoro sweat drops at the name Nami gave the crab as he mutters under his breath. "Where does she come up with these weird names?"

Usopp shakes his head. "Don't ask me, but Nami has a point. This crab's huge, can't he just step over the stream?"

Vivi sighs at the crew's reaction to her news as she shows them the map. "Sorry, but he can't. If it was a thin stream then it might work, but it's too wide. We'll be on our own from there."

Nami groans at this before she looks to see that Rose is still asleep. "Hey Rose, wake up!"

The freckled girl doesn't respond at all as she continues to soundly sleep.

Sanji looks down at the slumbering brunette with hearts in her eyes. "She's so cute even when she's sleeping!"

Zoro rolls his eyes at the chef's comment. "You're so annoying."

Sanji loses the hearts in his eyes as he glares at Zoro. "Oh shut up moss head!"

The swordsman glares back at the chef as they get ready to fight.

"Now's not the time for that!" Nami says as she grabs Rose by the shoulders and shakes her. "WAKE UP DAMMIT!"

Rose doesn't show any signs of waking up as she's shaken back and forth by the angry navigator.

Vivi looks around to see how far they are from the river, and then widens her eyes when she sees that it's coming into view. "Guys, the river's coming up!"

Nami stops shaking the freckled girl as she looks at the river in fright. "Crap, do something Scissors!"

Chopper, who has been steering the crab the whole time, widens his eyes when he thinks of a way to help them. "I got an idea; Scissors might try to swim for dancers! He loves them!"

Nami raises an eyebrow at the statement as she drops the sleeping girl on the crab, which doesn't wake her up, then starts taking her jacket off. "Like this?"

Nami completely takes her jacket off to reveal the dancer outfit that she's been hiding underneath. Sanji's eyes turn into hearts when he spots Nami's dancer outfit. "Mellorine! My dancer has returned!"

The crab's eyes turn to face the pirates when he heard the chef's celebratory cry and spots Nami. Once he sees the beautiful dancer outfit, the crab's eyes form into hearts as he runs five times faster than before.

"It worked!" Chopper says as he holds onto the reins to prevent himself from falling off.

"How will making him run faster help?!" Usopp asks as he tries to keep his balance on the ride.

Rose starts rolling towards the edge because of how fast the crab is running, but Vivi manages to grab her by the arms and drag her towards the center of the crab.

Zoro sweat drops at how even though Rose's being dragged like a rag doll she's still sleeping. "How the hell is she still sleeping?"

Sanji stares at the frequently napping swordsman blankly for the ironic comment. "You have no right to talk."

Zoro twitches an eyebrow at the comment as he goes to make a rebuttal, but he stops himself when he sees the crab approaching the water, but his legs aren't going in. "What the crap?"

Sanji looks over the edge and widens his eyes when he sees that the crab is running so fast that it's running on water. "Whoa, this crab's amazing!"

Usopp's eyes bug out when he sees the new development with his own eyes. "Holy shit, it's a miracle!"

Vivi lets go of the sleeping girl and goes to the edge. "He's actually doing it?!"

Nami looks at the crab's legs then tenses up when she sees that the legs are starting to sink. "That's your imagination! Abandon crab!"

The group looks to see that the crab's legs are quickly submerging in the water causing them to sink as well until they hit the water. Chopper grabs onto Zoro's head before they fell into the water. However, none of them were able to reach Rose in time for them to reach into the water.

Rose's purple eyes quickly open when her body met with the water. She tries to swim to the surface, but her limbs aren't listening to her as she continues to sink.

Sanji swims into the water after the wind girl and wraps his arms around Rose's shoulders. Rose's face heats up from being embarrassed of being hugged and rescued as Sanji brings her to the surface.

Once Rose's head is above the water she takes a needed breath then looks around in shock. "What the crap just happened?!" She stops when she sees the crab, that's crawling to the shore, then calms down. "Oh yea, desert crabs can't swim."

Nami twitches an eyebrow at the response as she glares at her. "If you knew that then why the hell did you go to sleep?!"

Rose widens her eyes at her slip of the tongue then awkwardly chuckles. "Hehe, my bad I forgot."

The navigator sighs at the girl's carefree attitude. "Can you at least fly us out of this?"

Rose loses her smile as she shakes her head. "Sorry, but I can't make things float out of the water."

Usopp widens his eyes at this before he turns to the princess. "How wide is this river?!"

"Fifty kilometers." Vivi says causing the sniper to look at her in shock.

"We can't swim that?!"

Zoro ignores the complaint as he starts swimming towards the other side with Chopper clinging to his head. "Just keep moving. There's no point in complaining."

The rest of the group reluctantly follows as they begin to swim when suddenly a giant catfish pops up out of the water and stares them down.

Vivi drops her jaw at the sight of the giant grey fish. "That's a Sandora Rarecat fish! It's one of the rarest fishes in Alabasta!"

Rose drops her jaw at the fish and slowly turns to Vivi. "Umm Vivi, why do I get the feeling that they eat people?"

Vivi looks at her in shock before she looks at giant fish that's opening its mouth for them. "BECAUSE THAT'S EXACTLY WHAT IT DOES!"

"YOU SHOULD'VE SAID THAT SOONER!" Usopp cries out as he starts swimming for his life with the rest of the group.

Rose groans at the fact that she has to be held in order to avoid sinking while the others swim for their life. *Dammit, stupid water! Wait, this happened in the manga too didn't it?*

She looks back to see the fish going after them and about to take a bite. However, before he can, he suddenly gets knocked out by a mysterious force and floats on the surface as if he's dead. She and the others look in shock to see a number of shadows swarming them just below the surface, but relief washes over them when they see that they're the kung fu dugongs that Luffy took as his pupil.

More dugongs jumped onto the catfish that they knocked out and waved their flippers for the crew to climb aboard. The group quickly gets the message and climbs onto the fish.

Sanji gently carries the pale girl in his arms out of the water and onto the fish before he sets her down. "Here you are Rose. I hope the ride wasn't too rough."

Rose gives the chef a small smile as she sits cross legged. "I can't complain, thanks for the save Sanji."

The chef blushes from the smile as he starts becoming happy drunk from the gratitude he's been given. "Of course Rose-chwaan! Anything for you!"

The wind girl sweat drops at the chef's overly happy attitude when she sees hearts flying around him. She decides it's better not to question the sight as she looks around to see the dugongs surrounding the fish.

The martial artists start pushing the fish from all angles, including pulling the catfish by the whiskers, in order to take them to the opposite side of the stream.

Chopper gets near the tip of the head to listen to the leading dugong that's speaking to the crew. "He says 'don't worry, we won't let our fellow students die. When you see master again, give him our regards.'"

Vivi raises an eyebrow at the translation. "Huh? But we're not Luffy's students."

Nami shrugs it off as she relaxes on her spot. "Doesn't matter. At least we made it."

Usopp grins as he steps to the top of the head and points ahead. "Yea, alright dugongs, let's go!"

The dugongs cheer in agreement as they bring the fish to the opposite side of the river. As soon as they make it to the Alubarnan coastline the crew's saviors bid their friends goodbye.

"Thank you!" Vivi says as she waves them off along with the others.

Zoro looks to see the capital city Alubarna in the distance, but it's miles away from where they're standing. "Think we can make it in time Vivi?"

The princess looks at the distant city then turns to Eyelashes. "I'm not sure. It might be possible with Eyelashes' help."

Rose looks at her backpack where her sheet's stored. "I could use the flying carpet trick too."

Nami looks over the camel with a hint of worry on her face. "Yea, but would we really be fast enough to-?!" She stops her question when she sees something running towards them. "What's that?"

Usopp follows Nami's gaze then starts trembling with fear as it turns out that it's a group that's coming towards them. "Is it Baroque Works?!"

Vivi widens her eyes at the group when she gets a closer look to recognize Carue along with six other ducks just like him coming towards them. "No it's not; it's Carue and the Super Spot Billed Duck Squad!"

The others look at her in shock before they see the ducks stop right in front of them and salute them.

The princess looks over the ducks in surprise before she grins at them. "This is perfect; they're some of the fastest animals in Alabasta! They can bring us there in no time!"

Nami beams with excitement as she looks at the ducks then to the crew. "Alright, I know just the plan that can get those agents distracted and Vivi protected, so listen up!"

The group looks at her in confusion, but listen intently as Nami tells them her plan to get through the battle.

At the front of Alubarna's West Gate, under the rising sun, five of Baroque Works' top agents wait for the country's princess and her pirate friends to reach them so they can finish them off.

A short middle aged woman with red hair, purple sunglasses hiding her eyes, and a necktie that resembles a Christmas tree taps her foot anxiously as she waits for her targets. "Those pirates and princess better be coming! At this rate the rebels will be here before them! I thought they wanted to stop the battle!"

A muscular, tan man with a shaved head, and wearing a sleeveless dark coat along with white pants, sighs at his comrade's impatience as he sits on the rock. "They probably won't make it in time Ms. Merry Christmas. They were stuck in Rain Base for a while after all."

A tall, pale, fat man with big lips wearing a large green shirt and black pants stands on a nearby rock and begins speaking so slow that the others don't hear him as they keep talking.

Mr. 2, who rejoined with the group as soon as he returned to Alabasta, looks at the tan man in confusion. "So if the fighting starts first then what do we do Mr. 1?"

Instead of the man being questioned answering, his partner Ms. Doublefinger takes the question for him as she pulls her cigarette out of her mouth. "We won't need to do anything then. Once the battle starts then not even the princess can do anything."

Mr. 1 nods at the answer as he lazily stares at the okama who's doing a pirouette. "Ms. Doublefinger's right. The only thing we'll need to do is kill our targets. Can't okama's even tell that?"

Mr. 2 twitches an eyebrow at the insult as he gets up in his comrade's face. "I can tell that you're asking for a taste of my okama kenpo!"

Ms. Merry Christmas ignores the argument when she suddenly feels a pain in her lower back. "Ow, my back! Mr. 4, massage it! Massage it right-!"

She stops herself when she sees that the fat man that's been trying to say something this whole is still speaking, so she listens closely to hear what his slow message is. "The'yyyrrree coommiinnngg!"

Ms. Merry Christmas drops her jaw at the announcement. "WHAT?! WHY DIDN'T YOU SAY SO SOONER?!"

Mr. 4 sweat drops at his partner's complaint as she rushes over to him. She swipes his binoculars and looks for herself to see that six people hidden in white cloaks are riding towards them on spotted bill ducks. "What the-?! Ducks?!"

Ms. Doublefinger looks at the redhead in confusion as she crosses her arms over her chest. "What are you talking about?"

"There are people riding ducks towards us! Most likely it's the princess and the pirates, but this can't be right! With Straw Hat taken care of by Crocodile there should be only five left!"

Ms. Doublefinger shakes her head at the assumption. "That's not true, didn't you listen to the boss? There's also this Mr. Prince guy that we have to deal with, so the numbers work out."

"I don't care about the numbers, but they're all wearing the same cloak! Which one's the princess?!" Mr. 2 asks as he tries to see which one's Vivi, but he can't spot their faces from under the cloaks.

Ms. Merry Christmas begins to smirk at the challenge as she turns to her partner. "Only one way to find out! Get them Mr. 4!"

Mr. 4 sluggishly nods as he grabs his bazooka and shoots a cannonball that looks like a baseball towards the group.

The duck riders quickly notice the baseball ticking and begin to split up just in time to dodge the explosion caused by the baseball.

Ms. Merry Christmas looks to see that two of them are heading to the south gate. "Leave those two to us! Come on Mr. 4!"

Her partner complies as he runs with her to chase the two duck riders.

Mr. 2 sees that two more of the duck riders are heading to another gate and runs after them. "You won't get away!"

As the okama runs after those two, Mr. 1 and his partner go after the final pair that's going through the closest gate into the city.

When Mr. 1 and Ms. Doublefinger make it into the city the duck riders stop their chase and get off the animals. The pair remove their hoods to reveal Zoro and Nami smirking at them. "Sorry, try again."

The duo widen their eyes at the wrong guess before they get ready to fight them.

Meanwhile, towards the south gate Ms. Merry Christmas and Mr. 4 manage to corner their riders.

Ms. Merry Christmas smirks at the cloaked pair who are getting off their rides. "Glad you see you know when to give up Princess!"

The hidden figures smirk at their pursuers as they remove their hoods to reveal Sanji and Chopper, in his heavy point form, under it. "Sorry, try again."

"WHAT?!" Ms. Merry Christmas shouts in utter shock while Mr. 4 slowly follows her reaction.

Ms. Merry Christmas quickly recomposes herself as she starts activating her devil fruit powers by transforming into a mole person. "I hope you're ready for a fight because you're both dead!"

As the battle between the boys and the Baroque Works agents commence, Mr. 2 manages to corner his pair of riders. The okama catches his breath as he gives them a cheeky smile. "I finally caught up to you princess!"

The pair of cloaked figures look at each other for a second then they remove their hoods to reveal Usopp and Eyelashes' faces.

Usopp snickers at the okama's surprised expression as he gets his slingshot ready. "Sorry, but wrong guess!"

Mr. 2 furrows his eyebrows at the sniper's attitude. "I'M STUCK WITH YOU CLOWNS?!"

Usopp and Eyelashes lose their confidence as they hug each other in fear. "WE'RE SORRY!"

"SORRY WON'T CUT IT! TASTE MY OKAMA KENPO!" Mr. 2 jumps into the air and proceeds to kick their asses without hesitation.

At the outside of the West Gate, that's now clear of the Baroque Works agents, Vivi, Carue and Rose look from their hiding place behind a boulder to see that it's safe for them to come out.

Vivi sighs in relief from her seat on Carue's back as she and Carue stare at the city. "I can't believe that worked."

Rose nods in agreement as she starts floating next to her. "I'm not surprised about anything with that crew anymore. Let's go find the rebels."

"Right!" Vivi snaps the reins for Carue to begin riding towards the gate that the rebels will be riding to.

Rose flies directly behind her while she grins at how the plan's turning out. *Thank god Nami planned for me to be here. Saved me the trouble of talking her into it. Not only won't I be messing with the crew's battles, but I can help Vivi get to Kohza.*

She keeps her fists tight in excitement when they see the south gate up ahead. Vivi stops Carue just outside the gate and gets off. "From Nanohana, this is the closest gate to the city. I'm sure they'll be coming through here."

Rose turns away from the gate to see the empty desert ahead. She narrows her eyes while she puts her hand over her forehead to avoid the sun glare and sees thousands of men riding horses towards them. "I see them coming. Vivi, you know who the rebel leader is right?"

Vivi turns back to her with a raised eyebrow. "Of course I do. It would be hard to reason with him if I didn't."

Rose nods at the answer while she keeps an expecting gaze on her. "What does he look like?"

Vivi blinks at the question then looks back at the riding group heading towards them. "He has dark blond hair and a scar over his left eye. His name's Kohza."

Rose nods at the name when the troop of rebels gets close for them to tell people apart. Rose wastes no time in flying a few feet in the air before calling out to them. "HEY REBELS STOP!"

Some of the rebels hear the shout and look towards the girls when Vivi starts shouting. "LEADER, WHERE ARE YOU?!"

Kohza, who's riding in the center of his troop, widens his eyes when he hears his childhood friend's voice. When he looks ahead he sees a figure for a second before a cannon fires in their direction and hits the space in between them to create a smokescreen that blocks their view of each other.

Kohza turns to one of the rebels as he keeps riding. "Did you see some people ahead?"

"Yea, but I think I hallucinated because I saw a flying girl!"

"What?!" Kohza looks at him in confusion then looks around, but he can see nothing but smoke.

Another rebel shouts to them as he keeps riding. "Forget it, it's probably a mirage! We need to keep going!"

The leader of the rebels clicks his tongue when he feels ridiculous for believing in a flying girl then focuses on the ride ahead.

Vivi tries to see the rebels but the smoke is completely blocking their view. "On no!"

"Hang on, I'm on it! Just keep shouting!" Rose says as she flies into the smokescreen and starts creating wind out of her hands to start blowing it away. *Damn, it's those undercover Baroque Works guys! I gotta make Kohza see her!*

Vivi widens her eyes when she sees some of the rebels in view and starts shouting again. "LEADER, WHERE ARE YOU?! IT'S ME VIVI!"

She keeps shouting in hopes of being heard while Rose keeps blowing away the smoke. Kohza manages looks through the holes in the smokescreen and sees a blue haired girl up ahead. *Vivi?!*

He starts riding in the princess' direction when another cannon blows up right in front of him and knocks him backwards off his horse. He lands on his back while his horse rides away. He quickly stands up and jumps to the side to dodge one of the riders from trampling him.

"Boss!" One of Kohza's subordinates rides up towards him and grabs his arm without stopping to pull his leader on the horse.

Kohza takes the momentum and swings a leg over the horse so that he's sitting behind his subordinate. "Thanks, I owe you one!"

"Don't worry about it." The pale man that saves him says as he snaps the reins with a smirk on his face. Once he snapped the reins, the long sleeves of his shirt rides up to reveal a tattoo on his forearm of a skull, two swords crossing the skull, and the word 'Baroque' written above the skull.

The undercover Baroque Works agent keeps his head down as he rides towards the gate at an angle that will cause his fellow riders to block Kohza's view of the princess. "Those royal bastards are already shooting at us! We can't hesitate now!"

Kohza looks around to try to find the princess, but the new smoke, along with the way his savior is bringing him to the gate, is keeping him from seeing her. *I must've imagined it!*

The rebel leader clenches his teeth as he looks ahead. "You're right, let's ride ahead and take down Alabasta!"

The surrounding men yell in unison at the order and ride on to the gate.

Rose grits her teeth in frustration as she blows away half of the new smokescreen and sees no sign of the leader. *Dammit, this isn't working! Wait, Vivi and Carue!*

She widens her eyes when she remembers the trampling scene and sees Vivi still calling out to Kohza. "KOHZA, PLEASE LISTEN TO- AH!" She yells in surprise when a horse knocks her off her feet, but before she and Carue can react a gust of wind picks them up and pulls them towards her.

The men widen their eyes when they see someone being lifted, but they all play it off as a mirage and ride off to keep up with their leader.

Vivi pants from exhaustion as she's lifted right next to Rose along with Carue and sees the rebels beginning to engage in battle with the army. "This isn't good, the battle started."

"I know, come on!" Rose starts flying with her to go after the rebels.

"HEY GUYS!" Rose stops the flight, but keeps them floating as she looks to see Usopp riding towards them on a horse.

"Usopp?!" Vivi looks at him in shock as he catches up to the girls.

The sniper gets off the horse and approaches them with a big smile. "There you are! I've been looking all over for you!"

Rose frowns at the long nosed man below her as she narrows her purple eyes on him. "You're back pretty quick Usopp. Where's the camel you were riding with?"

Usopp quirks an eyebrow at the dark tone she used on his name before he sadly sighs. "Unfortunately, the camel didn't make it. I was only able to defeat my agent after he killed him off. Anyway, there's no time for that. Let me on your wind. We need to go before the battle gets worse!"

Vivi widens her eyes at what Usopp called Eyelashes because during the whole journey he normally called Eyelashes a 'pervy camel'. She narrows her blue eyes at the man below her as she gets ready to draw her weapons. "Usopp, prove yourself."

The sniper blinks at the command before he smiles at the girls. "You're doubting me?" He rolls his left sleeve up and only shows them the bandage. "See, I have my proof right here."

Vivi looks at him in shock for he failed the test that they set up to prove themselves.

Rose clenches her teeth at the impostor and turns her left arm into wind. "WRONG ANSWER OKAMA!" Rose sends the man impersonating Usopp flying backwards along with herself.

Rose quickly recovers and starts flying with Vivi and Carue towards the city.

The impostor is sent somersaulting back before he recovers, and touches his face with his left hand to change his face back into Mr. 2 while he's still wearing Usopp's jacket and goggles. "I don't know how you figured out that it was me, but you won't get away!"

He quickly strips off the jacket to reveal his ballerina outfit, but he keeps on the goggles that he stole from Usopp as he runs after the girls.

Rose looks back to see him running fast so she flies as fast as she can while she looks towards the stairs where the battle's taking place. She flies above the battle to see if she can find the leader. "Vivi, can you see Kohza anywhere?!"

Vivi looks towards the raging battle that's going on, but she can't tell who anyone is from the fight. "No I-!"

She screams in fright when a bullet shoots next to her head.

Rose widens her eyes at the shot then looks down to see a few rebels, with identical Baroque Works tattoos on their arms, hiding in alleyways and aiming their guns at them. "Shit!"

She quickly flies them towards the outskirts of the city right, next to the cliff, in order to avoid the shooting then lowers them down to just a few feet in the air.

"YOU WON'T GET AWAY!" Vivi freezes at Mr. 2's voice then looks over the cliff side in shock to see the okama managing to run up the cliff wall, next to the stairs to go after them.

"HOW'S THE HELL'S HE DOING THAT?!" Vivi asks, but Rose doesn't give her an answer as she flies them deeper into the city.

Mr. 2 makes it up on the cliff and sees his targets flying away. "OH NO YOU DON'T! I'VE HAD ENOUGH JOKING AROUND!"

Rose narrows her eyes at the assassin as she makes a safe distance from him, so she stops and sets Vivi and Carue down. "You two go on ahead! I'll hold off Mr. 2!"

Vivi widens her eyes at the declaration, but her face quickly changes to one of resolve as she gets on Carue's back. "Right, thank you!"

She snaps Carue's reins and quickly rides off, but instead of the direction of the battle, she's heading to the direction of the palace. *There's no way I can find Kohza! I need to go to the palace and see Chaka! I can't give up now!*

She looks ahead with no hesitation as she stares at the large palace. "LET'S GO CARUE!"

The large duck quacks with pride as he runs through the city as fast as his legs can take him.

Mr. 2 widens his eyes when he sees Vivi riding away and runs faster. "You're not getting a- WAH!"

He yelps in shock when a gust of wind lifts him up and sends him flying to his left to crash through a door. He staggers up and walks out of the building to see Rose cracking her knuckles as she lands a few feet in front of him.

The freckled girl smirks at the ballerina man as she gets in a stance. "If you want the princess then you gotta go through me."

Mr. 2 shudders at the look in her eyes, that shows that she's itching for a fight, but he quickly recomposes himself as he gets in his stance. "If that's all I gotta do then it will be no problem. Taste my okama-!"

His rant gets interrupted when he suddenly gets kicked to the side by Sanji and sent flying through a building.

Rose blinks at the interruption when Sanji glares at the hole in the wall that the okama went through. "I finally found you, you bastard!"

Rose quietly sighs in disappointment in that she can't fight him now. *Oh well, it wasn't my fight to begin with. Wait, maybe now I can find Kohza and bring him to the castle!*

Sanji turns to Rose with heart in his eyes. "There you are Rose! That okama didn't hurt you did he?"

She ignores his flirting attitude as she grins at him. "No, I was about to kick his ass when you came in. You can have him though."

"You're so kind! I'll be glad to-" Sanji stops his rant when he finds that she's alone then searches for the princess. "Where's Vivi?!"

She creates a gust of wind for herself then turns away and leaves. "She went on ahead. I'll go catch up to her."

"Alright, be careful!" Sanji waves her off with a goofy grin on his face.

Mr. 2 groans from his aching head as he gets up and walks out of the hole in the wall. "What the hell was that?!"

Sanji loses his smile as he remembers his enemy then charges at him. "You stole my friend's goggles! Give them back!"

The chef throws a roundhouse kick at the okama's head, but he quickly blocks with a roundhouse kick of his own.

Mr. 2 sees the new face that he never saw when he was on the Merry, and narrows his eyes at him. "And who the hell are you now? Wait, you must be the Mr. Prince that Crocodile told me about!"

Sanji smirks at the name as he lowers his leg and gets ready for another kick. "No, my name's Sanji. I'm a first rate pirate cook."

Mr. 2 narrow his eyes at the introduction before he gets back into a stance. "In that case, let's see if you can beat a first rate okama!"

Sanji and Mr. 2 share no more words as they battle it out without holding back.

Rose flies towards the center of the city where the sounds of steel clashing and gunshots fill the air. She grimaces at the smell of blood, gunpowder, and steel that's growing stronger as she gets closer to the battle, but she ignores it as she focuses on her task. Once she reaches the fight, she flies higher to get a better look of the battle from a bird's eye view. *Alright, where are you Koh-?*

She snaps out of it when a bullet phases through her stomach. She sees the source to be the undercover agents posing as rebels in an alleyway with guns in hand, and glowers at them. "You first!"

The fake rebels flinch under Rose's glare as they see her flying towards them.

She gets ready to send them flying when real soldiers from the royal army find them and attack them. The wind girl groans in frustration of not getting a decent fight for herself, as she stops the wind on her arm. "I don't have time for this crap!"

The warriors closest to her stop their fighting and look at the flying girl in shock as she keeps searching for the rebel leader. She ignores the stares, when she sees that he's nowhere in the area she flies further into the city in hopes of finding him. The men that were frozen from watching the girl fly around, from both the rebel and soldier side, look at each other in confusion.

"You saw that too right?"

"Yup…"

The men stare at the girl's path for another moment before they come back to their senses and return to the fight.

Meanwhile, she flies over the battle and heads towards the center of the town where the rebels are fighting to advance their troops further into the city. She sees the rebels, but none of them holds Vivi's description until she spots a slightly muscular man with dark blonde hair fighting the hardest to advance. The most noticeable part of the bronze skinned man is the scar just above his left eye that's partly hidden by his purple sunglasses.

She grins in satisfaction when she sees Kohza taking cover at the remains of a broken building to catch his breath while his subordinates cover for him.

One of the rebels blocks a soldier's sword strike with his own sword, and doesn't hesitate to knock him out with a kick to the head before he turns to his leader. "Leader, are you alright?"

Kohza nods as he regains his breath. "I'll be fine. Listen, I need to steal a horse. If we can get through the center of town we can make it to the North entrance of the palace."

The rebel widens his eyes at the plan. "What?! What are you going to do?!"

"I'm going to make Cobra surrender!"

"Don't be stupid! The army will be waiting at the North entrance! Look, we should stand our ground until the supporting towns show up. There's no need to run ahead without backup!"

Kohza clenches his teeth in frustration at the options he's given. "It'll be too late then!"

"My thoughts exactly." The boys stop their bickering at the feminine voice above them and lift their heads to see Rose grinning down at them.

The boys jump back in shock when they see that she's floating on air just a few feet above the ground.

The rebel next to Kohza grabs his pistol and points it at her. "W-what the hell are you?!"

Rose casually shrugs while not reacting in the slightest to the gun pointed at her. "Just a traveler, I'm also friends with Princess Vivi. We tried to meet with your leader in front of the gate, but those smokescreens blocked us."

Kohza widens his eyes at the explanation, when he remembers seeing the princess and thought he imagined her. However, that doesn't change his experience with the incidents that have lead up to the rebellion, so narrows his eyes at the flying girl and grabs the hilt of his sword. "And why go to the trouble of seeking me out?"

"It's easier if I show you." She creates a gust of wind to start lifting Kohza into the air.

Kohza's subordinate screams in terror before he grabs his leader's leg to pull him down, but Rose blasts wind out of her hand to pin him to the wall, so he'll let go of him.

"WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU DOING?!" Kohza throws a punch at the girl, but she ducks and starts lifting the two of them higher into the air while she releases her hold on his subordinate.

The surrounding rebels and soldiers stop their fighting as they drop their jaws at the sight of Rose flying away with Kohza.

"SHE KIDNAPPED THE LEADER!"

"IS SHE FROM THE ROYAL ARMY?!"

"WE'VE NEVER SEEN HER BEFORE!"

Rose looks back to see the men arguing amongst themselves before they get back to fighting. *At least they stopped fighting for a second.*

She shrugs off the thought before she has to duck in order to dodge another one of Kohza's punch, and continues to dodge his blows as she starts taking him to the palace. "Would you relax? You're friend's fine. You said you wanted to go to the palace right?"

"Not as a flying target for the royal army! Is this Cobra's plan because my men won't give up if I die!" Kohza says as he keeps trying to punch and kick her, but Rose easily dodges the blows.

After dodging the fifth blow, Rose twitches an eyebrow before she punches him on the head. "Knock it off! I'm working on my own to help stop the war, so shut up and let me take you to the palace!"

Kohza rubs his aching head and calms down from her outburst. "You're working on your own?"

Rose nods as she looks towards the palace. "Vivi and I had to split up when an assassin came after us. She's probably trying to resolve the conflict in her own way like blowing up the palace."

The rebel leader widens his eyes at the guess before he narrows his eyes at her. "If she wants to stop the fighting then why didn't she stop her father from-?!"

He cuts himself off when an arrow flies in front of his face then he looks down to see a group of royal soldiers aiming at them. Rose sees the soldiers, so she moves in between them and Kohza and creates a gust of wind to send the archers flying backwards.

She quickly cancels out the gust, that's sending the soldiers flying, then works to get Kohza and herself flying faster. "Like I said before, it's easier to show you what's going on instead of trying to explain."

Kohza stares back at the soldiers she sent flying, but he still keeps his guard up. "Very well, I'll go, but if I don't like what I see then I won't show mercy."

"Didn't think you would." She sees that the palace is just up ahead then descends so that they're below the balcony's level. As she takes them towards the palace, they both look down to see that the royal soldiers are rushing to the door.

"CROCODILE'S IN THE PALACE?!"

"BREAK DOWN THE GATE! WE HAVE TO SAVE THE PRINCESS!"

Kohza raises an eyebrow at the soldiers' urgency to break down their own gate. "Did they just say Crocodile? As in the country's hero?" He widens his eyes when he sees a group of hands growing from the gate doors to knock the soldiers at the top of the stairs off their feet, so that they fall down the steps and take their comrades with them. "What the hell?!"

Rose widens her eyes at the site then stops them just below the edge of the right side of the balcony and speaks softly. "The answers are on the balcony. Just stay quiet and watch for now."

Kohza freezes at the seriousness in her eyes then slowly nods as he and the wind girl slowly lift their heads to see the scene going on.

The rebel leader widens his eyes in pure shock, not because he sees Vivi, Crocodile, Robin and Chaka together, but because he sees the king of Alabasta wounded with pins stabbing his arms to the wall to keep him from collapsing. *What the hell?! Did Crocodile do this?!*

Kohza and Rose silently watch as Cobra lifts his head to see his daughter's face in distress for seeing her father like this. "Vivi, I'm sorry. You risked your life to give this country a chance, but I failed."

Vivi's eyes fill with sadness at her father's words, but she doesn't let them get to her. "It's not your fault Father! Crocodile's the one who caused the drought!"

Crocodile chuckles at the statement as he keeps an easy going smirk. "Even though I caused the droughts. It was too easy to start a war here. Shows how weak this country is."

The rebel leader's mind barely has time to process what he's hearing as he stares at the scene with horrified eyes. *What?! What about the rain powder?! Didn't Cobra himself confess to stealing the rain?!*

The leader continues to stay quiet while Chaka growls at the warlord as he sees him going towards the king. "Stay away from his highness Crocodile!"

The pirate ignores the order as he approaches his royal prisoner. "Now king, before you lose the throne tell me. Where's Pluton?"

Most of the group, with the exception of Rose and the Baroque Work agents, look at him in confusion, but Cobra stares at the man in front of him in horror. "H-how do you know that name?!"

The warlord chuckles at the shock he's receiving. "Does it matter how? I heard that using it just once can obliterate an entire island. I also heard that it sleeps somewhere in this country."

Vivi widens her eyes at the explanation. "Something like that exists here? And you knew father?"

"It must be a secret that's passed down in the royal family…" Chaka says with hesitation.

"Quite right you are." Crocodile says before he turns to Vivi with a smirk on his face. "You asked me why I'm trying to take the country once. Well, I'll tell you. It's so that I can obtain the weapon and build a military country right here."

Vivi's looks at him in complete terror as she tries to process his reason. "You did all this to build a military country?"

"That's right, once I have that weapon, I can build a perfect utopia here."

Cobra gives the sand man the best look of defiance that he could in his position. "I don't know how you'll obtain it, because I don't know where it is. I don't even know if it still exists here or not."

Crocodile chuckles at the small resistance while he takes a cigar from his pocket and lights it up. "What you say probably isn't a complete lie. I did consider that possibility as well, but I believe that it still exists."

He pauses when he hears the soldiers screaming on the outside of the wall to try to get in, but the doors still won't budge. "What a noisy bunch. If my timing's right the rebel army should reach here in approximately twenty minutes. Then in about half an hour from now at 4:00. The battle will finally end with the cannon I plan to fire into the square."

Every none Baroque Works agent looks at the warlord in horror in what he just said as he keeps going. "Not just a regular one either. This will destroy anything in a five kilometer radius. Neither the rebels nor the royal army will survive. You should be happy Ms. Wednesday, this fighting will finally stop thanks to this."

"Who would be happy about that?!" The group pauses at Kohza's voice to see the rebel leader grabbing onto the edge of the balcony and climbing up.

"Kohza?!" Vivi looks at him in shock then sees Rose flying over the edge after him.

Robin giggles at the intruders as she makes no move to stop them. "Looks like we have some unwanted guests."

"No matter." Crocodile says as he chuckles at the rebel. "Things are getting interesting."

"Shut up!" Kohza says as he tries to hold back his rage.

Vivi looks at him softly. "How much did you hear?"

"I heard the whole thing! Is it true?! Did Crocodile really do this?!"

Vivi slowly nods before she furiously stares at Crocodile. "Yes it is, Crocodile's the one who started it all."

"And I intend to finish it with the bomb." Crocodile says before he turns to the king. "However, I might change my mind if you answer another question for me. Where's the poneglyph?"

Cobra widens his eyes at the question, but shows no fear as he answers. "If you spare my people. I'll tell you where it is. I'll even show you."

The warlord's smirk grow at the answer. "Just what I'd expect from a king."

Chaka's patience grows too thin as he grabs the handle of his sword. "I've had enough…"

"That makes two of us!" Kohza says as he unsheathes his sword.

"No Kohza, don't fight him!" Cobra says causing the boy to turn his attention to him. "Please, I need you to save as many lives as you can before the cannon goes off!"

"He's right, warn as many people as you can! I'll buy you as much time as possible!" Chaka says before he activates his devil fruit abilities and transforms into a human jackal. He rushes to fight the sand man to give him as much time to escape as possible.

Kohza stares at the fight with hesitance for a moment before he runs to go warn the citizens, but Vivi blocks him off. "Wait!"

"I don't have time!" Kohza says as he tries to run past her, but the princess grabs his arm. "What are you doing?!"

Vivi keeps holding him back with as much force as possible. "You have to listen! If we tell the people about the cannon it'll only cause a panic! And even if we stop the cannon, it won't stop the fighting!"

Kohza stops his struggles at the girl's words while she holds him back with trembling arms. "What we need to do is what should've been done from the beginning and stop the rebellion! You're the only one that can do it!"

Kohza stares at her for a brief moment before he gently takes her arm to get her to let go of him. "Alright."

Vivi grins at the plan while Crocodile transforms into sand to get past Chaka, re-materializes right behind them, and raises his hook to strike. "If you think I'd just let you do as you please then you're sadly mistaken."

Rose flies over to stop them, but before she can do anything Chaka blocks the blow with his sword. "I won't let you lay a hand on them! You two go now!"

Before either of them can say anything Rose picks them up with her wind and flies them out of there.

Crocodile sighs in frustration as he turns into sand. "You're all idiots."

Before he can fly after them, Chaka slashes through the sand. "I won't let you pass."

"Fine, then you're first!" Crocodile says as he returns to his battle with the elite royal guard.

Meanwhile, Rose manages to fly them over the wall. "So we just need to stop the rebels and find the cannon?"

Vivi nods to the plan as they start descending. "That's right. Put me down at the top of the wall."

"Alright." Rose complies to the demand as she sets her down on the wall.

Vivi looks down at the soldiers at the square then calls down to them "MEN, PREPARE THE WHITE FLAGS! WE NEED TO SURRENDER!"

The soldiers down below look at her in complete shock, but not nearly as shocked as when Rose lands Kohza on the staircase. She quickly descends into an alleyway in order to hide. *Once I make sure the cease fire's ok, I'll get rid of the bomb.*

She makes sure that she stays hidden while Kohza calls out to them. "EVERYONE LISTEN, MY MEN DON'T WANT VICTORY ANYMORE! I'M GOING TO TELL MY MEN TO STOP! PLEASE, I NEED YOU TO RAISE THE WHITE FLAG!"

The soldiers stare at him for a short moment, but the look in his eyes shows that he's completely serious. They waste no time in getting the white flags ready while Kohza joins the crowd.

He grabs a white flag of his own and stands on a statue, that looks similar to a closed off vase, in the middle of the square with the soldiers standing behind him.

As soon as the soldiers are set with their flags raised up high, the rebel soldiers run into the square. Once they see the white flags flying in the air, they look towards their leader in shock.

"Kohza, what's going on?!" One of the rebels asks.

Kohza answers by waving the white flag and calling out to them. "LISTEN, ALL OF YOU! THE WAR IS OVER! LAY DOWN YOUR WEAPONS, WE DON'T NEED TO FIGHT ANYMORE!"

Rose looks from her spot in the alleyway that gives her a view of both sides of the war with Kohza in the middle. She starts to grin when she sees the revolutionaries settling down, but widens her eyes when she sees a member of the royal army, with a Baroque Works tattoo on his arm, take out his gun. *Crap!*

She quickly throws a punch in Kohza's direction to blast wind out of it, and throws him off the statue just before the gun was fired. Kohza looks back at the missed shot, that almost hit him, as he falls onto the ground.

The rebels freeze at the attempted shooting before fury begins to overwhelm them again.

"KOHZA!"

"BASTARD, WHY DID YOU SHOOT HIM?!"

Kohza widens his eyes at his men's anger as he stands up. "WAIT, IT'S NOT WHAT YOU THINK! DON'T-!"

He stops to cover his eyes when sand begins to fly around the area and cloud the area so that both sides are shrouded in sand.

"Shit!" Rose creates a strong gust of wind from her hands to clear out the sandstorm. However, no matter how many times she tries to blow the sand away, more sand returns to cloud the area.

Gun shots can be heard from both sides of the war which only raises the tension between the two enemies.

"SO THE WHITE FLAG WAS A RUSE?!" A rebel asks when he sees his comrade get shot in the shoulder while the other side starts receiving bullets from the Baroque Works agents in the rebel side.

The royal soldiers widen their eyes when they see a few of their comrades collapsing from getting shot. They begin to draw their weapons and charge them with rebels wasting no time in following their example as they resume the battle at full force.

Kohza widens his eyes at the how things are progressing as he gets up. "WAIT, STOP!"

He runs to try to stop them when he's confronted by another royal soldier, with a Baroque Works tattoo on his arm, that's pointing a spear at him. "Sorry, but you're not going anywhere!"

"What?!" Kohza quickly unsheathes his sword to block the spear and defends himself while the battle rages on.

Rose flies up to escape the sandstorm and wipes the sand from her eyes. She looks down to see that the battle is covered in the sand cloud, then looks at the top of the wall to see Crocodile holding Vivi by the collar of her jacket, and dropping her over the wall. She goes to fly after her when she sees Crocodile's arm turn into sand and flies towards her. She quickly blows the sand away to protect herself as she sees Vivi falling.

When the princes is halfway towards the ground she looks up in shock to see a large brown falcon, wearing a white robe with star motifs, flying towards her with Luffy on his back. "VIVI!"

Crocodile widens his eyes when he sees the man he fought in Rain Base is still alive, so he stops the sand he's using to attack Rose. "WHAT?!"

Rose grins in relief when she sees the pirate captain stretch his arm towards the falling princess and pulls her onto the falcon. *Good, Pell and Luffy came in. Now's a good time to get rid of the bomb.*

Rose sees the tall clock tower near the square, flies towards the top of the building that has a clock on each side of the tower, and floats up so that she's eye level to the clock. *If I remember right, one of these clocks opens like a door.*

She goes to the first clock that's facing the palace and pulls at the edge as if it's a door, but it won't budge. She goes to the second clock that's facing the town and starts to pull on it as hard as she can. She starts smiling when she sees that the clock is moving, but it disappears when she sees a frog shaped gun at the opening and is pointing at her head.

"That's far enough ribbitribbitribbit!"

Rose quickly descends before the shot was fired and dodges the bullet.

Mistaking the shot to be a hit, the sniper woman wearing a froggy hat along with a froggy shirt and skirt, that hits her knees, laughs in victory. "Ribbitribbitribbit, that was the easiest shot ever! This final assignment is really exciting, don't you agree Mr. 7?"

The short pale man next to her, with puffy white hair, and the number seven decorating not only his clothes, but is also the shape of his eyebrows laughs in agreement. "Ohahahaha, quite right Ms. Father's Day. We have less than fifteen minutes until we can set off the cannon. How shall we celebrate?"

"How about by getting your asses kicked?" The two Baroque Works agents stiffen up at the voice by the open clock and turn to see the flying girl giving them the most frightening glare they've ever seen.

The agents step back in fear as Rose cracks her knuckles and steps into the tower. "Now that you took your shot, I hope you don't mind me returning the favor."

Mr. 7 regains his nerves as he points his gun at her. "DON'T MESS WITH US!"

Rose flies up to dodge his shots and unsheathes the sword, that she stole from Crocodile's casino, while the frog loving woman aims her gun at her. "DIE!"

She fires the gun at her three times, but Rose flies right above them to dodge the shots and turns the sword around so she's fighting with the flat side. "Sorry, but I'm not dying."

She quickly descends right in front of them, whacks Mr. 7 in the nose with the blunt side of the sword, and knocks him out before he can react.

Ms. Father's Day widens her eyes at the assault as she aims her gun at her. However, before she can shoot Rose swings her leg up to kick the gun out of her hand then throws a back kick with the other leg to shoot wind out of her foot. The wind sends her flying backwards until she hits the wall and collapses.

The female agent sees that her gun landed next to her and reaches for it, but before she can touch it Rose uses her sword to stab through the weapon. The assassin shakes in fear as she looks up at the brunette standing above her with a frightening look in her eyes. She goes to her last result and begs for her life. "P-please don't kill me! I don't want to die!"

Rose quietly sighs at the plea as she takes her sword out of the impaled weapon, then turns around to face at the cannon. "Take your partner and get out."

The agent quickly nods with a large smile. "Oh thank you!"

Rose doesn't give the woman another glance as she walks to the back of the cannon to cut off the ignition rope as a precaution. "Don't thank me, just go."

The agent only nods as she crawls over to her partner, but instead of picking him up, she grabs his gun. "Of course, we'll leave right now. After you die freak!"

The wind girl freezes at the sound of a gunshot and looks down to see the wind hole in her chest from when the bullet phased through her, and hit the wall in front of her.

The agent looks at Rose in utter shock as she watches her chest return to normal, and drops the gun. "Y-you're a logia user just like-?!"

She cuts herself off when she suddenly feels a gust of hot air hit her, and slowly trembles to see that Rose is the source as she pierces her with her glare.

Rose leaves the cannon alone as she sheathes her sword and starts walking toward the woman while she cracks her knuckles, all the while with a light gust of hot air blowing out of her. "You got a lot of nerve bitch…"

Ms. Father's Day can barely move under her purple eyed gaze as her opponent approaches her. "W-why did you sheathe your sword?"

Rose grabs her by the collar of her shirt so that she's looking her straight in the eye. "So I can take you down with my own hands!"

The agent quickly closes her eyes as Rose lands a left hook to the face, knees her in the gut and then uses her wind to lift her up and slam her back to the wall behind her. After the hit, the Baroque Works agent slumps to the floor and falls unconscious.

After seeing that she's not going to attack her anymore, Rose calms down and loses her mood breeze. She looks around in confusion as she wipes the sweat off her forehead. *Why does it feel hotter than normal in here?*

She shrugs it off then looks down to see the gun that Ms. Father's Day used on her. She unsheathes her sword and stabs the weapon so that it can't hurt anyone else again.

While she's breaking the gun, she fails to notice the large falcon that brought Luffy to the city is peeking inside through the crack in the clock. *Is she one of the princess' friends? In any case, I better go find her and tell her where the cannon is!*

Pell flies off to go find the princess while Rose looks back to the opening in the clock. When she sees no one there, she shrugs it off and goes to the back of the cannon. She unsheathes the sword and wastes no time to cut off the ignition rope. Once that's done, she sheathes her weapon and goes to the front of the cannon where the bomb is stored. *Alright, all I gotta do is take the bomb and bring it to the sky.*

She takes a closer look to see that she has about four minutes before the bomb goes off. "Perfect! More than enough time!"

She leans her upper body into the cannon to reach for the bomb and pull it out, but it's too heavy. She lets go of the bomb and gets out of the cannon. She gets ready to use her wind when the clock behind her slams open. She turns around to see Vivi riding on the bird man's back along with Zoro and Nami.

As the group lands in the room, Nami widens her eyes at the sight of Rose in front of the cannon and the two Baroque Works agents knocked out at the corner of the room. "What the hell happened?!"

Rose sighs as she points to cannon. "Long story short: I found the cannon, beat up the agents, and found out that the cannonball is a time bomb, so I'm gonna bring it to the sky so that no one gets killed."

Vivi widens her eyes at the explanation before she goes to the front of the cannon and sees that she's right. She looks at the bomb with small bits of despair when she sees that there's only a few minutes left.

She snaps out of it when Rose pats her on the shoulder with an easygoing smile then leads her away from the cannon's entrance. "Relax, there's more than enough time to get rid of it."

Pell steps up and motions for her to step aside. "If anyone should take it, it should be me. I can fly it away from town."

Rose quickly shakes her head as she uses her wind to pull the bomb out of the cannon and make it float a few feet in the air. Pell drops his jaw at the sight while Rose creates a gust of wind for herself to float on. "Sorry, but I can too. I can throw it away when I'm high enough so I'll be fine. You guys just focus on ending this fight."

She flies out of the clock tower with the bomb before any more words can be said. Vivi, Pell and the pirates, both on the clock tower and on the street, look at her in shock as she keeps ascending into the air.

"She's crazy..." Nami says as she watches Rose starting to fly above the clouds.

Zoro follows the wind girl's path for a second before he looks down at the battle below. "True, but that was the best option. So what now?"

Vivi looks down at the rebels and soldiers who are still fighting in the square. "We need to stop the fighting!"

Pell nods as he motions for Vivi to get on his back. "Let's go then."

Vivi nods as she, Zoro, and Nami get on Pell's back and return to the ground to do what they can to stop the war.

Meanwhile, Rose continues to fly higher into the sky with the bomb by her side. She looks down at the town below that keeps growing smaller as she continues to fly. She hums at the distance that she made from the ground that could kill a person if they fall from here. *Man that's steep. Makes me wonder how Pell managed to survive the explosion in the first place.*

She shrugs it off and looks at the time bomb to see that she has only one minute left until it explodes. She lifts the bomb up further without flying with it, then lifts her right arm up and starts turning it into wind. She releases the wind holding both the bomb and herself, and falls with the bomb ten feet above her when she makes the wind in her arm as strong as possible. She manages to make it so strong that it stops the bomb from falling and starts lifting it up again, but it forces her to fall faster. She grins at the increasing distance that she's making for herself and the bomb when she sees that the bomb has less than thirty seconds left. *Crap, how long is five kilometers?! I gotta fall faster!*

She lifts her left arm up and blasts wind from her left arm to help her increase the distance faster as she watches the clock ticking to three seconds. *three, two, one!*

She closes her eyes and braces for impact when she hears the deafening sound of the bomb exploding in the sky. She escapes the explosion, but the pressure of the blast rings throughout the air and hits her like having a two ton weight thrown at her. The force is too strong for her to fight against it and sends her flying towards the town. She braces for impact, when Pell flies behind her in his falcon form, without any passengers, to help break her fall by letting her crash into his stomach and get sent flying with her through a glass window on the fifth floor of a building. Rose opens her eyes as the soft crash when she finds herself somersaulting with the bird man into the room until they crash into a large bookshelf, which forces both the shelf and all the books to fall onto them.

Once the last book falls on the mountain of literature burying them, topped by the shelf, Rose breaks the pile by sitting up. She slowly pushes the shelf off the pile so it hits the floor, then rubs her aching head. "Ack, damn, that was nuts! What did I crash into any-?!"

She stops talking when the book mountain moves again to reveal Pell in his human form as he groans and slowly sits up next to her while he rubs his head. She widens her eyes at the bird man when she figures out what happened. "Oh shit, are you ok?!"

Pell raises an eyebrow at the concerned girl. "I should be asking you that. You took the force of the explosion."

"Yea, but I crashed into you! Wait, where are Vivi and the others?!"

"They're working to stop the rebellion right now."

Rose widens her eyes at this before she tries to stand up, but she's having a hard time because of her exhaustion.

Pell looks at the slightly panting girl in shock as he watches her stumble until she leans on the wall for support. "What are you doing?!"

She keeps her upper body against the wall as she stands herself up. "I gotta get back to the fight."

Pell sweat drops at the answer as he watches her slowly walk away with the wall as support. "You can't fight in your condition!"

"I know that, but I can at least see it end!" Rose says as she forces herself to walk with trembling legs and fights the urge to collapse.

Pell can only watch the stubborn girl walk off for a moment before he forces himself to stand up. He goes next to her and wraps his left arm around her shoulders to keep her from falling. "Let me take you there."

Rose widens her eyes at the aid, but she doesn't have any room to argue in her condition. She nods with small smile as she wraps her right arm around his back, so she can walk with him, and lets him lead her out. "Thanks, I appreciate it."

"I should be thanking you for helping our country." Pell says as he brings her to the first floor. Once they make it out the door, both warriors widen their eyes to see the sandstorm that was clouding the square is long gone, and replaced by a downpour.

Rose looks up at the rain clouds with a smile as she lets the raindrops hit her. *Luffy won his fight!*

She looks to see that both the rebels and the royal army have dropped their weapons, at the sight of the storm, with large smiles and tears in their eyes from the relief of the pain they had to endure from Crocodile. *The arc's really over now...*

Rose's eyelids begin to grow heavy while Pell looks up at the rain with a small grin and tears in his own eyes. "The drought's finally over. Come, we should find the others."

He starts walking, but stops when the weight under his arm increases and the arm holding onto him falls limp. He looks to see that the wind girl finally gave in to her exhaustion and fell unconscious, with a small smile, so he wraps an arm around her torso to keep her body from hitting the ground. He bends down and shifts her body onto his back before he grabs her legs and lets her head rest on his shoulder. "The rebellion's truly over now."

He stands up with the girl on his back and brings her to the palace for treatment, while the rest of the citizens begin to work on restoring their country with new hope for the future.

TO BE CONTINUED