Grandline Koukai: A Desert Rose

A Desert Rose is a Grandline Koukai side story about the unlikely meeting of Rose and a young girl named Zhara.

Synopsis
Rose has been wandering alone for two years since Clive's death without purpose. While crossing the Sandora Desert he encounters a young girl named Zhara drawing water from a fount in an abandoned and destroyed town. After saving the girl from bandits trying to take over the water source, Zhara leads him to the underground bunker where she has been hiding alone for weeks waiting for her father's return. Having found a new source of hope, Rose is determined to help this girl find her father.

Story
Two years after the death of his Captain, Clive, Rustyrose found himself wandering through the Sandora Desert in the Kingdom of Alabasta. With no destination or supplies left, things would look grim for any normal person. But Rose was a Pacifista - a cyborg capable of matching the power of an entire army, built only to take lives and serve the World Government. The journey of Rose was a hard and lonely one but he was not searching for some meaningless treasure or enemy. He was searching for his own humanity.

After what must have seemed like an eternity of dragging along aimlessly, the outline of a village came into a hazy distant view. Given more time and footsteps, Rose found himself walking through what must have once been a grand entryway. Now reduced to fragments of burnt wood hanging to the hinges by minuscule fibers, it would have once opened into the small town. Small was perhaps giving the place too much credit. Despite an impressive granite wall, the inner establishment was all but destroyed. The main street was entirely empty, save for one small girl with pigtail braids hurrying to draw water from the central fount.

To Rose, everything around him could have been a lie. Whether it was a malfunction in his programming or the desert's overbearing heat, Rose has already seen countless mirages during his trek through the brutal desert. Not sure if this girl was truly there, Rose decided to approach and confirm her verity. The girl remained gracefully in place as Rose made his way over, blissfully collecting from the endless stream of water. He was all but convinced that the girl wasn't there. That situation would be too positive in this desert from hell.

The girl lifted her clay pot atop her head and, carefully balancing it, turned to carry off her bounty. Suddenly seeing the gigantic man towering over her, the girl's bright grin disappeared. She stumbled backward, her entire frame shaking, sweat beyond what had already been caused by the intense heat beginning to fall. Having lost its stable platform on the girl's head, her pot swayed, causing her to lose even more balance and knocking her into the shallow pool. The pot flipped upside-down and landed perfectly over her, encompassing her head and shoulders leaving the rest of her drenched.

Guilty, Rose lifted the pot off of the young girl's head and apologized to her. "I'm so sorry, it's just been so long since... since I've seen anyone. Please let me help you".

"Help?" The girl paused looking up at him with bright, but confused eyes. "You....don't want to hurt me?"

"No... why would I-" Rose is interrupted by the arrival of a few men dressed in ragged cloth with strands of tattered fabric wrapped around their heads.

One of them stepped forward and speaking loudly to the others "We finally find a fountain, and this little brat and her mate are hogging it all!" Angered, the men drew their weapons and motioned the two starving people before them to move out of the way.

"Raiders." The little girl murmured, bitting her lower lip and gently tugged at the hem of Rose's cloak. She motioned to her new friend to leave, giving him a pleading gaze.

Rose ignored her plea, instead moving himself in front of the defenseless girl. "Now I see why you were afraid. You don't have to fear me, or these men." The men did not hear what Rose says, but immediately react to his threatening motion.

"We said outta the way!" One yelled before opening fire. But Rose didn't shift. He stood clam and bold while the bullets bounced off his skin like they were nothing but marbles.

The small girl ducked behind the fountain for shelter, occasionally peeking above the edge through little worried fingers as if she wasn't sure whether or not she wanted to see. The sight was quite terrifying, yet the excitement was too enticing for the six-year-old to resist. She watched as the men staggered back slightly unnerved by her friend. They turned to the one that seems to be in charge with a worried look.

He motioned for more of them to keep fire, but it still clearly had no effect. They were starting to panic. The leader, backing away quickly, pointed his men forward. "So What! Bullets won't hurt him find something that will!" After a moment of hesitation, the men began to charge.

"Raaaaah!", a battle cry shouted by the men as they drew their blades. Believing their enemy had a disadvantage, the bandits charged in head first, slicing their blades wildly at Rose. Having dealt with similar situations in the past, Rose retained his composure. Before the swords could touch his skin, they spontaneously shattered. Confused, the Bandits began to retreat back, but it was too late; they have already awoken a beast. In the blink of an eye, Rose smashed one bandit's head into the ground and kicked the other through a stone wall. After witnessing Rose's incredible feats of strength, the leader ran off with his tail between his legs.

"Whoaaaaaa!" At that point, the little girl practically had stars in her eyes and a grin to match. Not only did her new friend save her - he was amazingly, fantastically, cool while doing so. With a giggle she ran back to his side, jumping over one of the bandits along the way. "How did you do that?"

Rose was not nearly as ecstatic as his new companion. He looked at her with sorrow in his eyes, just before kneeling down to refill her empty pot. "I'm a freak, and you should stay away from me," He replied before handing her the now full pot of water.

"Yeah, freaking amazing!" She lifted the pot once again to her head, this time far more stable. "What's you're name, Mister?"

Suddenly Rose's eyes lit up, remembering a young man he met when he was still around this girl's age. The pleasant memory brought a smile to Rose's face that quickly faded. "So blissful and full of life. How I envy the young. My name is Rose," He answered.

"You're named after a flower?!" The girl was clearly trying her hardest not to laugh, but her efforts were doomed to fail and she nearly dropped the pot again as she started roaring in laughter. Raising her arms to steady the pot, she took a deep breath trying to calm down, though still snickering.

"I'm so old that some believe the flower was named after me." he replied before taking the pot from the girl. "I'll carry this. Show me where you live. You're too small to carry this much water, and this desert is too dangerous."

"I can too carry it!" Placing her hands on her hips, she glared upward indignantly. "I'm a big girl! I can take care of myself until Daddy gets back! At least....now that you took care of those guys...." She sheepishly rubbed the back of her head and sighed.

"If I wasn't here then you wouldn't have this water at all. You did me a great service, you helped me remember something important. So please allow me to return the favor, my lady." Rose retorted.

"Yeah, I guess so. Okay, C'mon, this way." She shrugged and walked along the lane kicking a rock back and forth between her feet as she went. The girl seemed completely oblivious to just how devastated and bleak her surroundings were. The buildings, or rather what was left of them, were covered in scorch marks with large cracks and scars in what sides were still standing. The girl soon became tired of her rock and kicked it through an already shattered window, smugly smirking when it flew perfectly through her target. At the end of the road, the girl made a left turn and crawled through the crevice between two buildings. Realizing her friend might not fit, she poked her head back out. "Umm....I think there might be a way in if you move those rocks over on that side."

As the young lady commanded, Rose moved the rocks, but not by hand. Instead Rose waves his hand, and instantly the rocks were cut into small pieces, clearing the way for him to follow. "Excuse my manors, I forgot to ask what is your name?" He inquired afterward.

It took a moment for her to overcome her awe and respond. The girl shook her head, realizing she was staring and that it wasn't polite. "Oh, I'm Zhara." She made her way out and around to the new opening and led him inside pointing, moving a dusty rug and opening a cellar door to reveal a descending staircase. Zhara jumped from step to step, seeing how many she could leap without tripping - and only falling once before embarrassingly hopping back up and pretending it didn't happen. As they went, it became more difficult to see. Far below the surface they came into a small room. Zhara lifted a rag, revealing a strange source of light in a glass vase that illuminated the room. Along the near wall was a pile of straw and some raggedy blankets and a poorly crafted doll. Tightly woven straw bushels with lids lined the far wall, presumably full of food. Aside from that the room was essentially empty.

Rose took a moment to survey the room before asking, "You prefer to live under these conditions? Living on the edge of the desert... your King abandons you."

"What do you mean?" She looked up utterly lost with his talk about the king. "Daddy made this place for me to stay until he comes back again."

"I take it you don't know much about this Kingdom's politics. The wealthiest men in your nation are the highest power in their individual states, but they all serve under your king. Unfortunately, this has put some undesirable people in power, and they've started bringing Alabasta to ruin. You're the living proof of that. But enough of my ramblings, why would your father leave you here?"

The girl solemnly nodded as he spoke, not quite understanding his words, but recognizing the serious weight they must carry. Her face lit up immediately upon his inquiring about her father. "Because Daddy loves me!" she beamed. "Daddy goes away to fight the bad men and save people - like you did for me! He comes back with stories and more food and lots of hugs! Last time he even brought me Xia as a special present! See?!" She held up her doll excitedly before cuddling it to her chest her face dropping slightly. "I miss him."

"Bad people..like the bandits? How long has it been since you've last seen your father?" Rose felt tension rising as he realized that he had gotten involved in a very complicated, and sad situation.

She thought for a moment before getting up and walking to the far wall, moving one of the bushels, revealing a series of dots scratched into the wall. He could hear her muttering trying to calculate how many there were, and giving up after a while. Zhara turned to him frustratedly pouting. "A long time. I know up to fifteen. I forget what comes next. But there are almost five fifteens." She grabbed two pieces of some sort of flat bread from the bushel and walked back, holding one out to him and biting into her own.

"She's survived here alone for more then seventy days!" Rose thought to himself. With a look of great concern, he turned to the little survivor and asked more about her father. "Do you have a picture of your dad, perhaps you drew him?"

"No, I think all that stuff burned with the house if we had it." Zhara shook her head, shrugging and dropping crumbs everywhere. "But he looks a lot like me. Says I have his eyes and hair and um..I forgot what he calls them....um....face spots!" She pointed to her freckles with a grin. "Not my smile though, Daddy says I got that from Mama." The little girl yawned after finishing her meal.

The desert cooled as the sun went down and night set in. Rose watched over Zhara while she prepared for bed, thinking about nothing more then her life in its current form. With all the power he possessed, it would be a crime not to help this innocent girl. Before she fell asleep, Rose asked "Zhara, would you like to go find your father?"

"Really?" Struggling to keep her eyes open, she smiled with all the excitement her exhausted body could muster. "I....I wanna...go be with....Daddy..." A soft snore escaped as her words and mind drifted off.

"You don't have to wait another day..." Rose watched the girl fall fast asleep within moments. After traveling years without a reason to continue on, this was the first step in a long road towards finding his own humanity. Rose had found a beacon of hope for himself: a beautiful rose hidden in the hellish desert.