【One Piece】Dawn in the Darkness

"Luffy, take it." Ace threw a folded paper to Luffy and grinned, "You have to hold it. You have to hold it all the time."

"What is this?" Luffy opened the paper in his hand. It was a blank piece of paper. "There's nothing in it."

"That's right, but this piece of paper will allow us to meet again next time." Ace said with a smile "Don't you want it?"

"No...I want it!" Luffy said, looking at the paper in his hand.

"Having an immature brother... makes him very worried. You probably can't do anything about this guy, but I'll leave him in your care..." Ace bowed to them, causing some of the Straw Hat guys to step back and bow as well.

"Luffy, the next time we meet, you will be at the peak of your pirate status." Ace looked at Luffy and said seriously.

"Okay, I won't lose to you, Ace!" Luffy nodded and said with a smile.

Ace smiled, then turned and left. "Come on, Luffy! You must come to the Pirate Summit. Lucci and I will be waiting for you there! ! "

After saying goodbye to Ace, everyone set out on a desert journey to find Yuba again. Finally, they saw Yuba before the sun set. Luffy and Chopper became energetic again because the temperature had dropped.

Everyone became excited at the thought of the end of the hot desert journey. Even Nami and Vivi, who were sitting on camels, jumped off their eyelashes and walked towards Yuba together.

"Luffy, what did your brother give you?" Nami asked curiously. She wanted to know if there was any important information written on that thing.

"I don't know either." Luffy said, looking at the paper in his hand, "It's just a piece of paper."

"Let me see." Sanji took the piece of paper from Luffy's hand. In order to see it more clearly, he pointed the paper towards the setting sun. "It seems to be just a small piece of paper. There is no information written on it."

"Why is he swinging?" Qi asked, looking back at the paper in Sanji's hand. He could see the four corners of the paper fluttering in one direction even without wind.

"I don't know either." Luffy responded, "But since Ace asked me to take it, I will keep it well!"

"Luffy, do you want me to sew it into the ribbon of your hat for you?" Nami suggested with a smile.

"Really? That's great, Nami!" Luffy smiled brightly and took off his hat and handed it to Nami expectantly.

"It will be done soon." Nami carefully sewed the piece of paper Ace gave to the ribbon of Luffy's hat. Soon, after sewing it, she returned it to Luffy who had been waiting on the side. "Here, it's done."

"Thank you, Nami! I feel relieved that you are hiding here." Luffy took the straw hat from Nami's hand with a smile and put it on his head happily. "Now I will never lose it!"

"Everyone, Yuba is just ahead!" Qi shouted loudly to the people behind him.

"Yuba! Yuba!" Luffy excitedly ran forward past Qi.

By the time they actually arrived in Juba, the sun had already set. The former oasis was being eroded by sandstorms. When they actually walked into the town, they found that it was basically the same as Elmar. Some buildings in the city were also buried by sand. Juba did not look like a habitable city at all, so was the rebel headquarters really here?

"Isn't this an oasis?" Sanji asked confusedly.

"There's too much sand, causing the ground to rise and the oasis to be swallowed up." Weiwei said in disbelief.

"Are you a traveler? Traveling in the desert must be tiring. I'm so sorry, but this city is completely deserted."

Everyone turned to look in the direction of the sound. It turned out that there was an old man not far away who was digging a big hole. The sound came from that hole. While digging, the old man did not forget to tell them that they could rest anywhere in the city.

Weiwei pulled her cloak down a little to cover her face, and carefully asked the old man in the cave, "Hello, we heard that there are rebels in this city..."

"What are you looking for the rebels for?" The old man angrily threw the thing in his hand at them. "Do you want to join the rebels?!"

"Wow, why are they thrown at me all of a sudden!" Everyone hurriedly dodged the various objects that were suddenly thrown at them. After calming down, the old man told them that the rebels were no longer in the city. The city had been constantly attacked by sandstorms since three years ago. The rebels could not fight a protracted war in the city, so they had moved their base to Cartleya.

"Vivi, is Cattleya close to here?" Qi asked, looking at Vivi's shocked expression.

"No, that's an oasis very close to the rape flowers." Weiwei said in a low voice.

"What! Then why are we here?" the others shouted in disbelief.

"Vivi? Did you call her Vivi just now?" The old man who was digging came out of the cave excitedly when he heard Vivi's name and walked towards Vivi.

They soon realized that this old man was an old acquaintance of Vivi and was also the father of the rebel leader Kosa. After the two reunited in tears, the old man took them to one of the inns. Everyone agreed to Nami's suggestion to stay here for one night. When everyone was resting at their seats, Luffy took advantage of no one's attention and ran to the hole dug by the old man.

"Hey, uncle, isn't there any water yet? My throat is so dry." Luffy asked as he sat cross-legged on the sand. "You are amazing that you can still live in a place like this."

"The water will come out... Juba is still alive. Juba will not be defeated by the sand." The old man said firmly while digging, "... I will dig him out again and again. This is the precious land given to me by the king!"

Luffy looked at the uncle's determined expression. He could feel the uncle's firm belief, as if he would keep digging no matter how long it took. Luffy smiled brightly and said, "Really? Okay! Then dig quickly!!"

Luffy then continued digging with his hands next to the uncle, and unknowingly buried the hole the old man had just dug, until the old man angrily stopped him.

Although Luffy wanted to help the old man, too many things happened throughout the day, and before he knew it, Luffy fell asleep in the hole he dug.

The old man looked at the boy sleeping so peacefully in the cave, and a helpless smile appeared on his face. When he was about to find a way to move the boy out of the cave, he felt someone grabbing his shoulder.

"Let me do it, uncle." Qi stopped the old man from trying to go down and move Luffy out, and said to the old man with a smile, "My captain has caused you trouble."