One Piece (Love Story) [Part One]

Chapter Twenty Three [Rewritten]

-Chapter Twenty-Three-

"When it happened, the country had been experiencing some strange weather" Vivi explained. "There had been no rain—not a single drop had fallen anywhere except one place and that was the capital" she confessed.

"Vivi, that would mean that your dad is the bad guy here!" Luffy cried out in realization, already pointing an accusing finger at the princess.

"No, you idiot! He was framed!" Sanji snapped while assaulting the raven-haired man's head with a series of kicks. "Her sweet, dear old dad would never do something like that—you got it?!" he sneered, not realizing that he was also jumping to conclusions in assuming that the man was nothing but a saint despite having never met him.

"Though that was a harsh way of getting that fact into his head, Sanji's right" I agreed. "I doubt Vivi would go through all this trouble if her father really had done something like that" I said.

"Of course, my father didn't have anything to do with it—he was innocent!" Vivi firmly stated before her shoulders slumped downwards. "Unfortunately, a large amount of Dance Powder was discovered inside the palace shortly thereafter..." she sadly muttered.

"Huh? They even had people working inside the palace" Zoro remarked.

"So, what is this? A road?" Sanji questioned as we came to a stop—before us was nothing more than a barren wasteland with only the slightest of indentations in the group to prove that something had once been there.

"Why would we stop if it was just a road?" I asked.

"No, it's not a road" Vivi shook her head. "It used to be a large canal that piped in freshwater from the Pandora River until someone destroyed it—now do you see what happened?" she asked. "With its canal gone, The City of Green lost its only remaining water source of freshwater—the people waited and prayed, but sadly the rain never came" she frowned as my gaze wandered...it was hard to imagine that this was once a lush and vibrant city. But the knowledge that it once was only made the barren scenery before us heartbreaking as the realization that all that hard work that was put into building up and making a name for this city no longer existed...

It was as if all that effort really meant nothing in the end.

"Wow, something like that and the Dance Powder incident really would make people distrust their king" Nami breathed out.

"No kidding, the worst thing that could ever happen to a country is when the people begin to distrust their king" I sighed.

"With no water, fighting began to break out in Erumalu," Vivi started, "and to escape the violence here, there was only one thing the exhausted citizens could do...they abandoned the city and left for the other oasis in hopes for water and then..." she trailed off almost as if she had become lost in thought. "The City of Green withered away" she eventually finished...

It grew silent after that.

No one knew exactly what to say to help lift the somber air that had now settled between us as we quietly shuffled around.

"What is it?" Nami jolted as a strange howling suddenly filled the air.

"Sounds like the howling of a wolf" I noted as the wind now started to pick up.

"Is it the Rebel Army?" Chopper whimpered.

"Or more of those creeps from Baroque Works?" Usopp shivered, his now head whirling around in every direction as if trying to spot the source of the sound.

"No, it's just the wind" Ace said, unfazed by what was happening.

"Sounds like a voice, right?" Luffy asked.