Once Miss Valentine was sure no one was paying her any more attention, she quietly floated away.
"I won this round, Moss Head!"
Zoro sheathed his swords and said irritably, "Next time, you deal with the one in the sky."
Sanji shot back, "I don't kick women!"
While the two bickered, Rubick hauled Luffy and Usopp out and used his powers to draw up a stream of river water, jolting them awake.
"Huh? What happened? Did the party start again?"
Still groggy, Luffy rubbed his eyes and looked around in confusion.
When he spotted Vivi and Igaram, he greeted them cheerfully. "Oh, it's you, Village Chief! And that weird woman."
"What do you mean, 'weird woman'?" Vivi protested. "My name is Vivi."
Usopp was much more awake than Luffy. He looked at the damaged houses and the villagers lying motionless in the distance, then asked, "Uh, what happened here?"
Nami gave them a quick rundown. Then Rubick said, "Captain, here's the situation: Princess Vivi has no money. What do we do?"
The moment Vivi realized that this simple-minded guy was the captain, she came up with a plan. She appealed to his sympathy.
"Please help me," she said through her tears. "My country is suffering terribly. It hasn't rained in three years, the desert is swallowing our oases, and people are rising up everywhere. I don't know what to do!"
Nami and the others exchanged glances. Sanji declared outright that he would help Vivi get home.
Rubick explained, "Vivi's country is Alabasta, a desert kingdom. I remember it being nowhere near this chaotic a few years ago."
Hearing that, Vivi realized Rubick was the only outsider among them who knew anything about Alabasta. She turned to him. "It used to be one of the few truly civilized nations. But because