Chapter 45: Persecution

...

"I can't stand it anymore, I need to drink something now!!"

"Oi, don't do it! Some cactus are poisonous! Besides, we are already pretty near Nanohana!"

In the middle of the desert, two men screamed at each other in agony and desperation. Both of them had lost their way due to a sandstorm that suddenly appeared out of nowhere, and only discovered where they actually were after two days of continuous walking.

Both of them were on the verge of dying because of thirst, and it wasn't long before one of them completely succumbed to the hellish thirst that haunted him and did a reckless thing.

"I don't care anymore, even if I die, It's better than dying because of thirst!"

One of them dashed directly towards a nearby cactus that stood calmly in the middle of the desert, completely unaffected by the affairs of the outside world, And took out a saber from the scabbard at his waist ready to chop the cactus in half.

*Slash!!*

However, when he looked at the cactus once again, he noticed that it was completely intact.

"... Eh? Did I miss...?"

It took him a few seconds to process what had happened, however, he soon recovered his composure and attacked once again at the cactus.

"Oryaaaaaaa!!"

*Slash!!*

However, just like before, the cactus was completely unharmed.

In fact, this cactus was actually a bit different from the ones you could find in the desert normally. It had the shape of a human being, and had black hair on top of its head. Not only that, but it also had eyes, ears, a nose, and an incredibly pronounced frown on its face.

*Bam!*

Suddenly, the arm of the "Cactus" moved towards the face of the man attacking it, and punched him before sent him flying away.

*Thud!*

"Ah! The cactus moved?!" The man who was sent away, exclaimed extremely dumbfounded at the strange situation.

Soon, the whole body of the "Cactus" started moving, or better said, it started stretching its limbs.

As if because of magic, soon the image of what seemed to be a cactus in the minds of both men turned into that of a seemingly average and obviously not suspicious young man with a profound frowning expression on its face.

The reddish-brown eyes of the youth glimmered with a majestic glow as he watched at his palms with a surprised expression on his face.

"It seems the powers residing within my body have once again grown further..."

...

"Did I drank Cactus Juice before?! How the hell did I mistake a human with a cactus?!"

"No, I mistook him for a cactus too... Did I also drink Cactus juice without noticing? But I don't remember doing such a thing..."

As both men continued talking between themselves with an astonished expression on their faces, the youth finally stopped stretching his body.

Suddenly, the eyes of the youth stopped appreciating his palms, and turned to look at both men who stood several meters away with a wary look in their eyes.

"Hey, you both..."

After hearing him calling them out, both men flinched in worry. After all, it was them that attacked him thinking he was a cactus, it couldn't be a surprise to know that this youth was angry at them...

"Thank you for the help, it seems like I over fused with my surroundings. You look quite thirsty, here's some water"

However, unlike what both men thought, the youth tossed a canteen full of water towards them with a relaxed expression on his face.

"Water! We are saved!!! Thank you, young ma...n?"

Before they could even notice, the grumpy youth that stood in front of them a second ago was now nowhere to be found. It was as if he was a hallucination all along...

However, when they turned to look at the canteen in their hands once again, they knew that it wasn't, and they knew that the youth they met a second ago really existed.

It couldn't be long before the legend of the cactus-black-haired-man expanded through all the kingdom of Arabasta. A man that could hide himself as a cactus before the eyes of those that did bad, and show himself in order to help those in need within the immensity of the desert. 

However, that's a story for another time... (A/N: No, it is not. But it sounds cool to say anyways. Everyone does it)

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A few minutes later...

"Foooood~! I want fooooood~!"

In the middle of the street, a young man wearing a straw hat on top of his head grunted in a loud voice while using his nose to detect any kind of food nearby that he could eat.

It was then, suddenly his nose managed to pick up an extremely delicious and appealing smell a few streets away from where he was.

"FOOOOOOOD!!!"

After that, the black haired youth ran incredibly fast towards the smell source while his mouth salivated crazily.

...

In the other part of the town at a certain food stand, a certain black haired man with an enormous tattoo on its back was looking behind of him while he ate an enormous piece of meat.

"We finally meet, Portgas D Ace..."

Behind him was Captain smoker, a man with gray hair and with the strange tendency of smoking two cigarettes at the same time. He spoke calmly but with an intimidating tone on his voice at the black haired man as he readied himself to fight at any moment.

*Munch Munch...*

"..."

*Munch Munch...*

"..."

*Munch Munch...*

"..."

*Gulp*

"Sorry about that, It's just that the food from this guy is incredible... This is the best meat I've ever had in my life!"

As Ace patted his stomach, indicating that he was full, he placed two coins on top of the table and looked at the strange Cook in front of him with an excited expression on his face.

"Are you sure you don't want to join the Whitebeard's pirates? I'm sure they could love to have such an amazing cook like you with them..."

The cook, who was a man with an extremely average looking face and reddish-brown eyes, looked at Ace with a wry expression before he shook his head lightly.

"No sir, I have a beautiful family in this place to maintain, and I wish to remain in this country for the time being"

"That's unfortunate... Well, what were you saying, Smokey?"

Smoker, who heard that nickname, stopped trying to talk with Ace, and prepared himself to attack.

"You... Enough! I will capture you right here and right now, Fire Fist Ace!"

"Bring it on..."

Soon, the whole place was submerged into an incredibly hot and horrible atmosphere as these two titans readied themselves to fight. None of the pedestrians passing by the food stand could avoid looking at both of these men with extremely wide eyes as they noticed that they were not able to move anymore.

It was then...

"Foooood!!"

"..."

"..."

 

"Foooood!!"

"...?"

"...?"

 

"FOOOOOOOOOOD!!!"

*Bam!!!"

Suddenly, out of nowhere, the black haired youth from before appeared from behind and crashed heavily with both men. Throwing them away several meters, and destroying a few buildings accidentally. Except for the food stand that is... that somehow survived completely even after both men crashed against it.

"Who was it?! I will kick your ass motherfu- huh, Luffy?!"

"Ouch, ouch... That hurt..."

"Oi Luffy, It's me Ac-!"

*Bam!!*

"Straw-Hat!"

Suddenly, without even noticing, Smoker grabbed Ace's head and plummeted it right into the ground.

When Luffy finally recovered himself from the impact, he turned to look at Smoker with a nonchalant expression on his face without noticing the body of Ace lying on the ground.

"Ah, It's the Smokey guy!"

"Straw-hat... I've finally found you! This time I will capture you, prepare yourself!"

...

"Straw-hat?"

Before Smoker could even notice, Luffy was already in the distance running away while screaming and causing ruckus everywhere he went.

"That fucker...! You won't escape!!" 

Smoker activated his devil-fruit user abilities, and used the smoke he could produce to propel himself towards Luffy, and cut some distance right away.

At that moment, the expression from the cook who watched everything that was happening completely dumbfounded, turned into one of complete seriousness and composure.

"I think I did well enough. However, there's no time for rejoicing... I need to go back to the group or else I might end up losing the main act..."

"Urgh....."

"Oops, that's one Mob-fu technique you have there Ace. I almost forgot about you..."

*Snore*

"Well, he accidentally fell asleep in the middle of the road with his head stuck in the ground... Could you look at that...?"

...

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