Thanks to Ace's intervention, everyone was able to escape, so under Vivi's instructions, they all ran toward the Going Merry.
"Getting on the ship?! Are we leaving the island?" Usopp asked while holding a sack of food.
"No, we're going upstream on the ship and then heading into the desert. We only came to Nanohana for supplies," Vivi explained to him.
They began shouting instructions to quickly board the ship.
Everyone started arriving at the Going Merry, but Luffy looked back to see if Ace was coming.
"Wow! I never thought Ace would be here!" Luffy said happily.
"Luffy, get on the ship already!" Usopp shouted, alarmed that the Marines might show up.
"Okay," Luffy replied as he climbed aboard.
"Wait! Karoo! I have a very important mission that only you can accomplish," Vivi said as she grabbed her pet and started filling the small barrel around his neck with water.
"Go north, toward Alubarna, and deliver this letter to my father. It talks about Crocodile and Baroque Works' conspiracy. Igaram and I gathered this information—everything is very clear," she said, placing the letter into a small pouch.
"And tell him that I'm alive in Alabasta with a group of very strong friends. Can you do that? You'll have to cross the desert alone," she asked, worried for his safety, but Karoo signaled that he was fine. "Go and tell my father that we can save this country!"
Karoo nodded and ran off while starting to drink from his barrel.
"Save your water!" Vivi shouted, worried he'd drink it all too quickly. "Be very careful..."
"He'll be fine. He grew up here, right?" Oliver asked her.
"Yes," Vivi said, watching Karoo disappear from view.
"Don't even think about drinking all the water!" Sanji yelled at Luffy.
"Idiots! That's our precious water!" Usopp shouted, since Sanji had kicked Luffy and spilled a lot of it.
"We better get on the ship before the Marines show up," Oliver said. 'I hope there's not another weird Marine.'
--
--
--
Now they were at sea, heading toward the river, when Luffy revealed who had helped them.
"YOUR BROTHER?!" Almost everyone shouted so loudly that the Going Merry shook.
"That pirate is really your brother?!" Nami asked, unable to believe it.
"Yeah," Luffy replied with a smile.
"Well, I'm not surprised you have a brother, but... What's he doing here in the Grand Line?" Zoro asked him.
"He's a pirate searching for the One Piece. Ace is three years older than me, so he left the island we lived on three years ago," Luffy explained.
"And what were the chances that both of you would eat a Devil Fruit?" Sanji wondered, noticing both brothers had powers.
"I know, I'm surprised too. HAHAHAHA!" Luffy laughed. "He hadn't eaten any fruit the last time we saw each other, and even then I was never able to beat him in a fight. Ace is really strong!"
"You couldn't beat him even once?! Not even when he was a normal person?!" Nami asked, surprised.
"The monster's brother is an even bigger monster," Usopp said.
"Yeah. He always kicked my butt. But I'm sure I can beat him now! HAHAHA!" Luffy laughed again.
"That's an unfounded claim," Zoro said.
"Who did you say you could beat?"
Ace landed on the ship, leaning on the railing, which broke and flipped him over.
"Ace!" Luffy shouted, happy to see his brother.
"Hey everyone, thanks for looking after my little brother," Ace said, bowing politely.
"You're welcome," they replied, returning the bow.
"Why are you here, Ace?" Luffy asked.
"What? Didn't my message reach you in Drum?" Ace asked, raising an eyebrow.
"In Drum?" Luffy repeated, confused.
"Well, it wasn't that important anyway. Still, I'm glad to see you. I'm here on business and thought maybe we'd run into each other," Ace explained. "Luffy, would you like to join Shirohige crew? Along with your friends, of course."
"No," Luffy replied firmly.
"Hahaha! I figured as much, but I wanted to ask anyway!" Ace said with a grin.
"S-Shirohige? S-so that mark on your back is real?" Usopp asked nervously.
"Yeah, I wear it with pride. Shirohige the greatest pirate I've ever known, and I want him to become the Pirate King—not you, Luffy," Ace said.
"Well then, we'll have to fight, because I'm going to be the Pirate King," Luffy replied.
"Here, I wanted to give you this," Ace said, tossing a piece of paper.
Luffy looked at it curiously.
"Always keep it with you," Ace told him.
"It's a piece of paper," Luffy said, turning it over in his hands.
"Yeah, that piece of paper will help us meet again," Ace said.
"Wow," Luffy said flatly.
"You don't want it?" Ace asked, reaching out to take it back.
"Of course I want it!" Luffy said, quickly pulling it away.
"It's normal for the older brother to worry about his clumsy younger brother. He might cause you a lot of trouble, but please take care of him," Ace said with a smile before jumping into his small boat tied to the Merry.
"What?! You're leaving already?!" Luffy asked, watching him prepare.
"Yeah," Ace replied as he got ready.
"You can stick around a little longer—we haven't seen each other in so long!" Luffy pleaded.
"I told you, I only came to give you that," Ace said as he finished preparing, his tone turning serious.
"I'm looking for a criminal who's been calling himself Kurohige. He used to be a member of the second division of Shiroge pirates—one of my men—but he committed the worst sin: he killed a nakama and abandoned the crew. Since I'm the division commander, I have to find him and take him down. If not for that, I wouldn't have come back to this part of the world," Ace said, his tone firm.
"The next time we meet, it'll be where the strongest are," Ace said with a smile.
Ace sailed away in his boat, leaving the crew behind somewhat stunned by how different he was from Luffy.
As he sailed off, he noticed the Billions heading straight for him.
"Come on, Billions! We outnumber him 50 to 1! Let's see if he can handle 50 ships!"
Seeing that, Ace charged forward and leapt over the ships, propelling himself with fire. He soared above every Baroque Works ship as they fired at him, unable to land a hit.
He landed perfectly in his boat, untouched, then prepared an attack.
"HIKEN!!"
He unleashed a powerful fire punch that destroyed every one of the Billions' ships effortlessly, leaving the entire crew stunned.
"Come, Luffy. Come to the summit," he said, adjusting his hat with a flame.