【One Piece】Dawn in the Darkness

"Are you awake?" Qi said with a smile.

"Why are you hitting me too!" Zoro complained dissatisfiedly.

Qi just smiled and didn't answer Zoro's question. He could only say it was just a convenience. Then he and Luffy explained why Zoro chopped those guys.

"Ahaha, so that's how it is! I thought Zoro thought the food was not tasty, so he chopped them up." Luffy said with a laugh.

"Do you think everyone is like you?" Zoro shouted angrily.

"Not bad, you saved the princess." Nami ran over from behind them, then she looked at Princess Weiwei standing aside and asked with a smile, "Then you should have seen the strength of these guys, how about we make a deal?"

"Transaction?" Princess Weiwei asked with some confusion.

"That's right, we will send you back to Alabasta safely and then you will give us 10 billion Beli as a reward." Nami said with a smile.

"That's impossible. Alabasta is in the middle of a civil war right now. It's impossible for them to give out that much."

Princess Weiwei explained, "In recent years, someone in Alabasta has begun to plan a revolution, which has led to riots among the people and the country has become increasingly chaotic. One day, I learned about an organization called 'Baroque Studio'. After investigation, I found that this organization has been inciting the people, but we have not been able to find any relevant information about this organization, so I infiltrated this organization, thinking that this way I can get the identity and purpose of the mastermind behind the scenes."

"What a brave princess," Zoro commented.

"So what exactly does this Baroque Studio want to do?" Qi asked.

"Their real purpose is to seize the Kingdom of Alabasta!" Princess Weiwei said gritting her teeth, "So I must go back and tell everyone the truth and quell the citizens' riots! If I can't tell them..." Weiwei's voice was filled with sobs.

Nami nodded. She completely understood why the princess rejected the deal. After all, a country that was in such a serious civil war would not have any extra money.

"Who is the boss behind the scenes?" Luffy asked.

"What, you shouldn't ask this, otherwise your lives will be threatened..." Weiwei shouted in panic.

"Forget it. After all, a guy who wants to seize a country must be an extremely dangerous guy." Nami said nervously.

"That's right, no matter how powerful you are, you can never defeat Crocodile, one of the Seven Warlords of the Sea!" Weiwei realized that she had let the cat out of the bag and immediately covered her mouth.

"You just said it yourself." Qi said helplessly.

Nami turned her head stiffly and looked at the Minase and the vulture that suddenly appeared. They looked at them and flew away immediately. Nami stammered, "What are those birds and Minase?"

"Sorry, sorry!" he said apologetically.

"Are they going to report our news to your boss?" Nami grabbed Weiwei's collar and shouted anxiously.

"I'm so sorry for letting it slip!"

"Why are we being hunted down by the Seven Warlords of the Sea as soon as we enter the Grand Line?" Nami covered her face in pain.

"Are we about to fight the Shichibukai?" Luffy said excitedly, a guy as powerful as Hawkeye.

"Anyway, we are now on the wanted list of Baroque Studio." Zoro grinned. They would have the chance to have a more exciting battle.

"Nami, where are you going?" Qi asked as he looked at Nami who was walking out angrily.

"They don't know what we look like yet, so we have to set sail immediately and leave this island!" Nami said angrily, and then she saw Minase showing her a portrait of the four of them.

"You mean, now we can't even run away!!" Nami screamed.

"No, it doesn't matter, I have another plan!" Ikalem's voice suddenly came. He dressed himself up in a strange way. If I guessed correctly, he should have dressed himself up as Princess Weiwei.

Then Ikareem told them his plan. He planned to disguise himself as Princess Vivi and use the Eternal Hand to go to Alabasta first to divert the pursuit of Baroque Studio, while Princess Vivi and we would return to Alabasta along the normal route.

"I should leave now," he said as he walked towards the shore.

Zoro, Luffy, Nami and Weiwei were preparing to follow Ikareem to the boat on the shore. They planned to say goodbye to Ikareem.

Luffy noticed that Qi hadn't followed him and was still leaning against the wall, so he couldn't help but ask, "Qi, aren't you coming with us?"

"No, you guys go ahead, I'll go wake up Sanji and Usopp." Qi said with a smile, "We need to leave this island as soon as possible, the pursuers may be here soon."

"Okay, let's go!" Luffy said with a smile.

"We?" Qi asked doubtfully, "Luffy, aren't you going to the coast with Zoro and the others?"

"Zoro, Nami and Weiwei are over there, that's enough." Luffy said as he walked towards Qi. Sure enough, when he got close to Qi, he could feel that his breath was very tired. When he got closer, he could find that his body was even trembling a little. He put his arms around Qi's waist and ran with him towards the wooden house.

"Hey! Luffy, what are you doing?" Qi was frightened by Luffy's sudden action.

"You are tired. I will help you wake up Usopp and Sanji." Luffy said with a smile.

"Hey, hey, I'm not that tired!" Qi complained speechlessly.

Luffy's voice was serious, "If you want to sleep in my shadow, you can go in directly."

"What?" Qi was a little shocked. He couldn't believe that Luffy actually knew that he would enter his shadow every night. Qi smiled and changed the subject, "You are so smart, Luffy. You found out."

"I'm not stupid." Luffy muttered, "So if you're not feeling well, you can tell us."

"Don't worry." Qi broke free from Luffy's arms. They were almost at the wooden house where the party was held. He smiled and ruffled Luffy's hair. "It's just some side effects of using the fruit ability too much. That's why sometimes you need to enter your shadow to recover your strength."

What he said was actually not wrong. His existence was originally caused by the power of the Devil Fruit. In fact, he has been using the power of the Devil Fruit since he appeared in front of Luffy. It's just that he is now separated from the main body, so the physical strength consumed is naturally his own. He can only enter Luffy's shadow every night to recover.

But today was indeed an accident. After all, we suddenly encountered a storm while sailing during the day, and we didn’t have time to go back to the shadow to rest at night. Naturally, I would be a little tired. Yes, just a little.