The Silver Haired Pirate

Chapter 7

"Bye! See ya!" Luffy yelled as he waved to them saying goodbye. Akimitsu frowned slightly as he also waved goodbye to them.

"Hey said they wanted to go with us so why couldn't we let them!" Luffy argued.

"We don't have the resources to take care of a group that big moron!" the red head snapped, "I don't know what we would have done if Chopper hadn't persuaded them to stay!" she continued,

"Yeah!" the reindeer cried, "they kept saying 'where you go, I'll follow master!' and they really would have to if I hadn't given them that food. They also really wanted to stay with Akimitsu since he was petting all of them." Akimitsu giggled and said,

"I couldn't help it, they're so cute and I love cute animals!" He said. The group continued to walk in silence until they came across a city that was half under the sand. They were standing on a big sand dune looking down at it. With every step they took the sand sank a little as the sun bore down on them.

"Are we in Yuba already?" Luffy asked,

"No, this is Erumalu, it was known far and wide as the city of green." Vivi said as she looked at ruins,

"It was green?" Luffy asked, again. Vivi turned to the pirates.

"Take a good look around, everyone. This is what baroque works has been doing to my country, this is what the people of Alabasta had to go through!" Nobody said anything. They continued to walk through the ghost town.

"Wow! There's nothing here at all anymore!" Luffy said in awe.

"It's nothing but a ghost town now but up until a few years ago it was a thriving city with gardens and palm trees and greenery!"

"This place?" Zoro asked as he kicked a tree. The tree was so dry that the bark peeled away almost instantly. He walked back over to the group. He watched as Ace and Akimitsu walked next to each other and made small talk, enjoying each others company. Akimitsu eventually got stuck in the sand because of the wooden geta sandals. Akimitsu took off his geta and put them in his bag. It took awhile for him to be able to walk normally because of the hot sand but he eventually got used to it. Ace laughed whenever he would step on a rock and say 'ow' quietly but loud enough for Ace to hear, but it would result in a punch on the shoulder. Vivi began to explain how Erumalu used to conserve water and use it wisely and how it had been 3 years since it had last rained. Akimitsu frowned at this. It was sad but true. He knew all the history Alabasta had to offer.

"Three years!" Sanji exclaimed

"Wow! That's long!" Chopper said surprised. Ace patted Akimitsus head, reassuring him since he was looking down. Akimitsu lifted his head at the sensation and put on a small smile when he saw Ace smiling.

"Wait but, even without there was still the river as another water source" Zoro said,

"And it's close so why couldn't they pipe the water in from over there?" continued Usopp

"The answer to that is just up ahead." Said Vivi as she began to walk again, the rest of the group in tow. Vivi began talking about how the rain never completely stopped, and that the capital got the most rain and the delivery of dance powder to the king,

"Dance powder?" asked Nami

"You know what it is, Nami?" Luffy asked the navigator

"It's commonly known as its nickname, 'the powder that summons the rain'."

"A powder that summons rain?"

Nami began to explain how dance powder worked, and Luffy suddenly slammed his fist into an open palm in realization while Akimitsu sighed and scratched the back of his head.