Disclaimer: All previous disclaimers still apply.
~~!~~

The Merry swayed underneath Hari's feet(or rather, his foot and his prosthetic). And for the first time in several days, his prosthetic combined with the ship's sway unbalanced him and led him to trip. But Hari didn't much mind—the factor that led to his fall was excitement, caused by something he was looking forwards to: the port town of Nanohana. For the first time in a while, Hari would step forth onto dry land. Hot, sandy dry land, but dry land regardless. And there would be fresh food. It had been some time since the crew replenished Merry's food stores, a fact made even worse by Luffy's eating habits. *At least we had fish.*

"Land ho!"

Hari, back on his feet, was quite happy to announce the presence of land. Soon, all the crew, barring Zoro, who was either training or sleeping, were on deck, working to guide the Going Merry to the docks.

Hari was quite happy to help with this sort of work. Though tying knots was an impossibility for him, there were many tasks that didn't require that sort of dexterity. And though his strength was nowhere near that of several of the crew, monstrous strength wasn't required for the tasks at hand. What strength was needed, however, was easily covered by what Hari had become capable of, courtesy of Zoro's training.

The Going Merry seemed to glide across the water, and before Hari knew it, the anchor had been dropped. And Luffy was gone, in a blink apparently. "He'll be fine, right?"

Hari's question was met with a set of nods, and an actual response from Sanji: "Our idiot captain was once atop an execution scaffold, and was about to be executed, when a lightning bolt struck the scaffold. He was fine afterwards, the pirate doing the executing wasn't. Even if he gets into trouble, it'll likely resolve itself by some ridiculous stroke of luck."

A few minutes later, wrapped in the only set of clothes he had suitable for a desert climate, Hari descended the gangplank, managed not to trip and fall, and stood on solid ground for the first time in a long while. If Hari was a more dramatic person, he might have dropped down and kissed it. Instead, he merely danced for joy. This action was soon echoed by Chopper, to the amusement to the onlooking other members of the crew. "Alright, come on. We've got supplies to…" Nami seemed to trip on her words for a moment… "purchase."

Hari was soon enthralled with the sights and sounds of the market. Exotic fruits, meats, fish… fine cloth, jewelry… spices… clothing… there was just so much to behold. It was a pity he didn't have any spending money of his own, but he knew he would get a share of any loot the crew acquired. Which meant that sooner or later he would get his shot at some market purchases.

Nami was aggressively negotiating the price for a multitude of water barrels she wished to purchase when Hari noticed Luffy running towards him… followed by a rather large number of Marines.
*Maybe they won't recognize us-*

"Oh! Hey guys!"

Nami sighed. "Dammit Luffy. Run!"

Hari soon found himself sprinting away from the Marines, somewhat silently cursing his injuries. The second time he almost tripped, Zoro slung him over his shoulder and kept running. Hari didn't much mind, considering how tired he was. And then there was fire. And smoke. When it cleared, there was a shirtless man standing in the middle of the road, in between the crew and the Marines. He promptly spoke: "Go on, Luffy. I'll handle Smoker." "Thanks, Ace!" The man, presumably Ace, burst into flame, and then was flame. He met a wave of smoke that Hari realized wasn't coming from his flames, but rather from another source.

Unwilling to look a gift pyromaniac in the mouth, the crew continued their somewhat mad run back to the Merry. Along the way, there was a simple question asked, and a similarly simple but powerful answer.

"Luffy, who was that? You acted like you knew him…"

Luffy's response to Vivi was, as earlier stated, simple and powerful. "Ace. He's my brother."

If the Marines were still in proximity of the Straw Hats, the resulting mass trip would have led to them getting caught. Thankfully, no further inquiries were put forth until the crew boarded the Merry. But once they did…

"So cool!" Chopper. "He was... awesome!" Hari.

"Why didn't you tell us you had a brother?" Basically everybody.

"Do you think he can deal with Smoker?" Zoro.

That particular question was immediately answered, but not by Luffy, but rather by the human fireball that somehow touched down on the Merry's deck without burning it at all. Not that Luffy wouldn't have answered said question, given the fact that his mouth was halfway open before any of the crew even noticed the fireball.

Luffy promptly took advantage of that fact. "Ace!"

"Long time no see, little brother. It's good to see a familiar face here. How are you faring?"

"Pretty good. Watcha here for?"

Ace's grin morphed into a scowl, prompting Usopp and Chopper to jump back in fear, and Hari to almost do likewise. "Sadly, I'm not here for the food, or just to see you. I'm hunting a pirate… a traitor… named Blackbeard. He… he killed one of Pops' family… my crewmates… my friends. Thatch." Ace's face went from a scowl to looking like it was about to shed tears. "I… anyway. I'm sorry to say I can't stay here for a bit—I've got a time-sensitive lead to follow." Then Ace's face changed yet again, brightening, just before he shoved a small, apparently blank piece of paper into Luffy's hands. "Keep this with you, okay? This piece of paper will bring us together again."

"Okay! I won't ever lose it!" And Hari could believe that. For that matter, he could believe the part about the paper bringing the brothers together again… there was something off about the paper. Not something he could see, but something he could feel. Not like heat or cold, sandpaper on the skin or a good meal in his mouth, but… something deeper.

"Bye!" Ace leaped off the ship, thankfully landing on a… *What is that? Some kind of… jet powered surfboard?*… thing. With a rather loud noise, the thing shot off, Ace on its back.

The following silence was profound in its intensity and duration. And so was what followed it, much to Hari's dismay, given how loud the combined voices of the crew were. Surprisingly(or maybe unsurprisingly), only one sentence was needed to silence those voices, and at the same time provide a somewhat satisfactory answer. "That's Ace."

"Look!" It was soon afterwards that Vivi indicated seven incoming Baroque Works ships, which Ace seemed to be approaching. Then suddenly, Ace leaped off his board in a high-flying burst of flame, knocking it under the waves. The board surfaced after passing underneath the ships, and Ace promptly landed on it. "Fire Fist!"

And Hari beheld the single most potent exertion of power he had yet seen within the Grand Line, as Ace's fist of fire pierced through the first ship it hit… then the next… then the next five after. Hari was quick to comment. "Wow." Usopp and Chopper were simply speechless. Sanji lit a new cigarette for himself, Zoro grinned for no obvious reason, and Luffy whooped. Vivi was the next to actually speak. "I wish he could have stayed. Somebody like that… Baroque Works wouldn't stand a chance." Afterwards, Nami commented, "And I didn't even get a chance to pickpocket him." Perhaps or perhaps not luckily for her, it came out as a mumble which Luffy didn't notice.

From there, there was sailing to be done. The Merry had been loaded with what supplies the crew had managed to gather before the Marines interrupted, and as it happened, that was enough. The Going Merry's sails unfolded and caught the wind, and she took off towards the west side of the Sandora River.

"Alright then. If we're going to stop Crocodile's plot, we're going to need to get to the Yuba Oasis, where as far as I know, the rebel army is hiding. Once we're there, I can explain the truth to Kohza." Nods were shared across the crew. Sometimes, speech just didn't need to be used. Or perhaps the Straw Hats were simply tired in the desert heat.

But if the Straw Hats were tired, then that didn't apply to their emotions, which could influence their actions as well. All it took was a few drops of excitement and curiosity, perhaps caused by a fair number of small, odd creatures on the edge of the river, to get them moving.

"Be careful, Usopp! That's a Kung-Fu Dugong! It might take that as a—" In the space of a few second, Usopp was battered to the ground, hen's egg bumps forming on his head. "challenge. Why do I even bother?" Another few seconds later, and that same Dugong was lying on the ground with similar bumps on its own head, clearly inflicted by Luffy, based on how he was standing next to the Dugong with a raised fist.

"Luffy! If you defeat a Kung-Fu Dugong, it inevitably accepts you as its sensei!" And it seemed that all of them were doing so, bowing to their new master. "Oh… you beat their own sensei. Wonderful. Now they all consider you their sensei. Wonderful. Why, why do I even bother?"

Hari had a response to that. "To keep the craziness in check?"/span/p

"But it's definitely not working!"

"Try doing it before the craziness actually happens."

Vivi was silent a moment. Then she spoke. "I'll… keep that in mind."

Luckily, Chopper was able to negotiate them into staying behind, but he needed a "parting gift" of food in order to do so.

And so, once the next day came and the Straw Hats took advantage of the opportunity to enhance their physical training, the Straw Hats set out to Yuba, beginning their desert trek. It wasn't pleasant, perhaps because of the insufficient amount of available food.
~~!~~
Author's Notes:

Sorry for the delay, mates. I was delayed by a variety of factors. But mostly laziness and procrastination. Actually, just that.

Pro tip: Your writing is enhanced if you actually write, and even more so if you do it for somewhat long periods straight rather than in bursts. Sadly, I wrote in bursts. It took me a while to finish this chapter as a result.

On the plus side, I got some ideas before I finished this chapter. There might be a Worm self insert in the future of my writing.

And now: responses to selected reviews!
thunder18: Great chapter? Sure, thanks. Update soon... sorry.
tamashiyuki: Thanks, again. Behold continuation.

As stated previously, any useful feedback I can get via reviews is welcome.
Thanks for reading.