章 86: A Marked Encounter! Arabasta Finally

"Okay, remember from this point on the mark that is under here," he said as he held up his left arm, showing a white bandage wrapped around his wrist. "It is what separates us from our enemy," Luffy said, causing them to nod their heads. He then reached into his coat, pulled out a small sack of money, and tossed it to Sanji before he spoke again. "Use that to restock the kitchen with whatever you need," he said as he tossed him the bag.

"Sure thing, Captain," Sanji replied.

"And the rest of you keep your guard up," he said, causing them to nod their heads before they all hopped off the Going Merry and made their way into the town. They all made their way through a small desert area before they arrived at the town. Usopp and Nami gave Vivi and Karoo hooded coats to wear so they wouldn't be recognizable by the public until they could buy clothes to blend in with the locals. As they entered the town, they saw it was a busy market place, and Luffy and his entire crew stuck out like a sore thumb. The group quickly found a deserted part of the town where there weren't that many people around and hid there for a while.

"This is bad," Nami said as they hid behind the broken-down wall. "If we keep on walking around this, we will definitely be noticed by Crocodile's men," she said with a voice filled with distress.

"Yeah, you're right, but we can't just go walking around out in the open and buy disguises," Luffy said as he leaned against the wall. "I have a bounty on my head; Vivi is the princess, and Mr. and who knows who else knows what you all look like?" Luffy said with a sigh.

"They don't know what I look like," Sanji said, causing everyone to turn and look at him.

"Yeah, he is right!" Usopp said this before he turned and looked at Chopper. "And he isn't the only one, Chopper as well!" He added it with a grin. Luffy nodded his head, took out a much smaller bag filled with money, and handed it to Sanji.

"You two go buy disguises for everyone except for me," Luffy said, causing everyone to look at him with a confused look on their faces, wondering why he didn't need a disguise. "I'll draw all of our enemy's attention; that should give you guys the freedom to do what you need to do," Luffy said as he pushed off the wall.

"So you are going to be walking around out in the open while we try and blend in with the locals and operate from the shadows in a way?" Nojiko asked, causing Luffy to nod his head.

"Exactly," Luffy said as he adjusted his hat. "Zoro, you're in charge of everything except navigation," Luffy said to Zoro, causing him to nod his head before he looked at Luffy with a confused look on his face.

"Wait, why not navigation as well?" Zoro asked, causing everyone to look at him with a deadpan look on their faces.

"Cause you can get lost while walking on a straight road," Luffy replied with a sweat drop on his head while Zoro folded his arms and grumbled under his breath.

"Fine," Zoro replied in an annoyed tone, causing everyone to chuckle.

"Good, we will meet up later," Luffy said before he turned and began making their way out of their hiding place.

"Wait, how will we know when to meet up?" Nojiko asked as he watched Luffy walk away. Luffy turned his head and looked at them as he walked away before he spoke.

"Oh, you'll know when it's time to go," Luffy said with an all-knowing smirk on his face, causing everyone to sweat and drop at their captain. Luffy left his crew and began making his way back into the market place of the town. When he arrived there, he saw the market was quite busy; there were people all over buying and selling products of all kinds.

'This may be a great place to get some information,' Luffy thought to himself as he began walking through the market. As he was walking through the market, he noticed a small stall with a short old man behind it selling shish kebabs. Luffy walked over to the stall and picked up one of the shish kebabs before he reached into his pocket, pulled out a couple of berries, and handed it to the man. He then took a bite of his shish kebab and savored the taste.

"Wow, this is pretty good, old man," he said as he chewed on the meat.

"Thank you, young man," the old man said with a smile as he placed the money away. "It's been a while since I had a customer," he added with a grateful smile.

"Reall?" Luffy asked with a confused look on his face. "With good-tasting food like this, I would think people would be running you down for food," Luffy said as he took another bite of the shish kebab.

"It used to be that way," the man said in a sad voice before his face took on a grim tone. "But that was before those stupid idiots started this stupid civil war over some stupid dance powder," the man said with anger clearly present in his voice.

"Dance powder?" Luffy asked with a confused look on his face. He had never heard of anything called dance powder before, so he was intrigued by it, especially if it was the reason for this civil war. The man looked at Luffy with a bewildered look on his face before he spoke.

"You're not from around here, are you?" the old man asked as he looked at Luffy with a calculating gaze.

"No, I'm just passing through," Luffy replied as he finished his shish kebab and purposely turned around, flashing the jolly roger on the back of his captain's coat for the man to see.

"You're a pirate!" the man said in a whisper.

"Yeah, I am, but don't worry, I'm not here to cause trouble, just waiting for my log pose to reset," he said, causing the man to look at him for a while before he nodded his head. "Now, tell me about this dance powder," Luffy said as he picked up another shish kebab.

"Dance powder is a green powder that is used to make artificial rain," the man said, causing Luffy's eyes to widen slightly.

"Artificial rain?" Luffy asked in a surprised voice. He had never heard of something like that before in all the years he's been on the Grand Line.

"Yes, the dance power, when burned, emits a mist-like vapor that would rise up in the air. It speeds up the creation of ice particles in sub-freezing-temperature clouds and causes rainfall," the man explained, amazing Luffy. "However, the powder, unfortunately, caused long periods of drought in other countries," the man said, causing Luffy to understand what was going on.

"I see," he said, taking a bite of his second shish kebab. "And I take it, the rebels wanted the king to use the dance power to create rain, but the king refused due to the risk of starting a war with another country," Luffy said between bites.

"Exactly," the old man said as he nodded his head. "These young people today have no patience, what so ever," the man said, causing Luffy to chuckle.

"It's not all bad, though," Luffy said as he looked around. "This town seems to be doing pretty well," he noted as he watched people happily go about their day in the market.

"That may be true, but not everything is as it seems," the man said to Luffy. "People may look happy, but deep down they're all terrified of the war. The one thing that keeps them in high hopes is the fact that Crocodile comes to their rescue whenever there is trouble," he further elaborates, causing Luffy to raise an eyebrow.

"The warlord?" Luffy asked, acting as though he wasn't aware of Crocodile being here in Alabasta.

"Yes, him," the man said with a nod. "These people may trust him with their lives, but I don't," the man said.

"Oh, and why is that?" Luffy asked as he bit down on the final piece of meat on the shish kebab. "I mean, if he saves people when they're in danger, why don't you trust him?" he asked.

"He is a prince. No offense," the man said, causing Luffy to wave him off. "I've been around far too long to believe that he actually cares for these people," the man said, causing Luffy to smile.

"I take it that is also one of the reasons why your stall is so empty." Luffy asked with a chuckle.

"I've been told I'm a stubborn old man," the man said with a chuckle, causing Luffy to chuckle as well before he reached into his coat and pulled out a small bag of money and tossed it to the man.

"Thanks for the meat, old man," Luffy replied before he turned to leave. The man looked at the small bag and looked back at Luffy before he spoke.

"Hey, this is too much!" the man yelled at Luffy, trying to get him to take back some of the money. Luffy just raised his right hand in the air and waved goodbye to the man as he walked away. As he walked up the busy market street, he couldn't help but notice the stares of everyone locked onto him, causing him to smirk internally.

'Only a matter of time now,' Luffy thought as he placed an emotionless look on his face. 'News will soon reach you that I am here, Crocodile,' Luffy thought as he walked through the busy street. Luffy kept on walking for about another 10 minutes around the market before he came to a sudden stop in the middle of the street. He turned his head to the right and looked at what appeared to be a restaurant with a smirk on his face.

"So, I guess Shanks was right; you are here in Paradise after all." Luffy said to himself. "...Ace,"