After a brief rest, Vivi bid farewell to Toto. She and her companions boarded Pidgeot and rushed toward the rebel army's current stronghold, Katorea.
Several hours later, they reached their destination.
"Halt! Who goes there?!" At the gates of the rebel encampment, guards raised their rifles nervously at the approaching figures.
Standing at the very front, Vivi tore off her disguise to reveal her true face. she shouted at the top of her lungs, "I am Nefertari Vivi! I need to see Koza!"
"It's Princess Vivi! The Princess is outside!" A massive commotion instantly erupted within the camp.
A moment later, a young man with slicked-back hair and a scar over his left eye emerged from the camp, flanked by a crowd. This was Koza, the leader of the rebel army and Vivi's childhood friend. The two had not seen each other for many years.
Koza stared at Vivi with a stern expression. "Princess Vivi, what business do you have with me?"
"Can we speak in private?" Vivi replied.
Kohza remained silent for a moment before nodding. "Fine."
Once they entered a room, Vivi spoke bluntly. "Koza, the Dance Powder was planted by Crocodile to frame my father. It's all his conspiracy; he wants to seize this country."
"Do you have proof?" Koza asked, narrowing his eyes.
"The proof will be in my hands very soon. Until then, I ask that you do not act rashly or do anything irrational."
"How long is 'very soon'?"
"Within the next two days. If you don't believe me, I'm willing to stay here as a hostage."
"Fine, we can wait two days. But," Koza said in a cold voice, "if you're playing some other game, don't blame me for being ruthless."
"Koza, I met Toto-jichan in Yuba. He has always believed in my father, so why do you harbor such immense hostility toward us?"
"Why? Heh," Koza said, his anger boiling over. "Because my hometown has turned into a wasteland! Because we are all on the verge of starving to death! Can 'belief' fill our stomachs? Even if this is all Crocodile's conspiracy, your incompetent father bears half the responsibility!"
With that, he turned and stormed out of the room.
"I'm sorry... we didn't do enough..." Vivi bit her lip, whispering softly, "Aomori, you have to succeed."
"Mission accomplished. I've succeeded." Aomori's gentle voice suddenly rang in her ear, giving her a fright that made her scream.
Once she realized it was him, Vivi let out a sigh of relief. She gave him a sidelong glance and said, "Stop sneaking up behind people like that! Wait, what did you just say?"
Aomori didn't answer immediately; instead, he looked toward the doorway.
A second later, several people kicked open the door and burst in.
Koza, leading the group, leveled his gun at Aomori and shouted, "Don't move!"
"Koza, you've got it wrong! He's my friend." Vivi stepped forward, shielding Aomori. "Put the gun down!"
"Princess Vivi, blink if you're being held hostage."
"I'm not! I'm telling the truth!"
After much persuasion, Vivi finally convinced Koza that Aomori wasn't an enemy, and he lowered his weapon.
"His name is Aomori; he's my helper," Vivi said, introducing them. "And this is Koza, leader of the rebel army."
"So this is the person you were waiting for? Did you get the so-called proof?" Koza asked, glancing at Aomori.
"Well..." Vivi looked at Aomori with hopeful eyes.
"Of course I got it. Why else would I be here?" Aomori pulled out the Portable Camcorder and pulled up the footage for Koza.
Aomori's filming skills were top-tier. In the recording, Crocodile's arrogant face filled the frame as he spoke in a triumphant tone: "...I'm the one who had people secretly ship the Dance Powder to the palace. The fact that it hasn't rained in this kingdom for three years is also my masterpiece..."
Koza watched the entire recording with a dark face. Behind him, his subordinates were in an uproar. They couldn't believe their "Great Hero" was such a despicable villain, and they clamored to take Crocodile down.
"Silence!" Koza barked. His men instantly shut their mouths. He looked at Vivi. "Things have progressed beyond what we can handle. We can't fight Crocodile ourselves. Take this evidence to the Marines; they'll help."
"That won't be necessary. I've already defeated him, though he unfortunately managed to escape at the last second," Aomori said calmly, as if stating something mundane.
"You say you defeated Crocodile?" Koza was incredulous.
"Mhm."
"You're amazing! Thank you, Aomori!" Vivi believed him without a second thought. She turned to Koza. "The culprit has been defeated; the rebel army no longer has a reason to exist. Koza, disband the army here. I promise no one will be prosecuted!"
"The rebel army... no longer needs to exist?" Koza muttered to himself. "But if we disband, where do we go? Back to Yuba to slowly wait for death?"
"No!" He suddenly raised his voice. "We don't want to just wait for death. If you can't find a way for the hundreds of thousands of people here to survive, I'd rather die on the battlefield!"
"Yes! We'd rather die on the battlefield!" his men shouted in unison.
"Why is it like this? We know who the culprit is, so why continue the fight? What do I do?" Vivi, who thought everything was over, was crushed by the scene. Her legs trembled as she felt the urge to flee.
Just then, a warm hand pressed against her back.
Aomori leaned down and whispered in her ear, "Leave the rest to me."
Vivi's eyes lit up as if she had found a lifeline. She nodded heavily. "Mhm!"
Taking Vivi's soft hand, Aomori stepped forward and shouted, "If you want a way to live, I'll give you one!"
He pulled Vivi along, striding forward and passing the stunned Koza. Under the pressure radiating from Aomori, the men instinctively parted to make a path, allowing them to walk out of the room.
"Go! Follow them and see how he intends to give us a way to live!" Koza said, snapping back to his senses.
The crowd followed the pair out to the central plaza. It was still afternoon, and the sun continued to beat down relentlessly on the earth.
To the shock of everyone watching, Aomori led Vivi and began walking upward, step by step, into the sky.
"Aomori, what are we doing?" Vivi asked, confused as they rose higher.
"Asking the heavens for some rain."
"Asking for rain?" Vivi's heart skipped a beat. She whispered, "Can you really do something like that?"
"How will we know unless we try?" Aomori said with a smile. "This should be high enough."
They stood still nearly a hundred meters above the ground. Below, more and more people looked up at them, including Igaram and Karoo. Pidgeot was nowhere to be seen.
"Leader, what are they doing? Are they trying to escape through the sky?"
"I don't think so. Princess Vivi isn't that foolish." Koza kept his eyes fixed on Aomori. He knew the key wasn't the Princess, but this mysterious man.
Under the gaze of the multitude, Aomori raised his free arm toward the sky. His voice rang out clearly, reaching even the people on the ground: "Winds, heed my command! Descend upon this land!"
"Can it really work?" Vivi held her breath, afraid she might scare the wind away.
As soon as he spoke, a great gust of wind swept through the plaza, kicking up dust and forcing people to cover their faces. The sky began to turn dark.
"Lightning, come forth!"
BOOM!
The once-clear sky was suddenly blanketed by heavy black clouds. Bolts of lightning darted through the clouds like golden snakes, forming what looked like a massive, branching golden tree.
"No way... could it be...?" People throughout the city dropped what they were doing and ran outside, looking at the sky with disbelief and hope.
"Rain, cascade from the skies above!"
With Aomori's loud cry, a single droplet fell from the sky, splashing onto Vivi's face. It was followed by countless others.
"It's really... it's really raining?" Vivi closed her eyes and tilted her head back toward the sky, a wide smile spreading across her face. "Hahaha... sob..."
Salt-sweet tears mingled with the rain, washing away the anxiety and guilt she had carried for so long.
"It's raining! It's raining!"
The crowd below had gone completely wild, laughing and dancing in the torrential downpour, celebrating the return of the rain after three long years. Many knelt on the ground, bowing toward the two figures in the sky and shouting thanks for "the heavens' mercy."
"Is this the 'way to live' you found for us?" Koza carefully caught some rain in his hands and drank it down. He let out a long sigh, his expression one of pure relief. "Whatever your motive, we must thank you for bringing life back to this land."
…
The heavy rain lasted for a long, long time. Standing high in the air, Vivi eventually grew tired of the view, and her wet clothes felt uncomfortably sticky. She wanted a hot bath.
Strangely, despite being soaked in the storm for so long, she didn't feel cold at all; she felt quite warm.
Maybe it's just because Alabasta is usually so hot, Vivi thought. She turned to Aomori with a squinted-eye smile. "Let's go back."
"Alright." Aomori smiled back and led her on a gentle descent. Under the adoring gazes of the crowd, they returned to the room.
Once the door was shut, Aomori suddenly stumbled. Vivi was quick enough to catch him, preventing a fall.
"Aomori, what's wrong?" Vivi asked, worried.
"It's nothing. I'm just a bit tired. I just need some rest," Aomori said. His face was pale, but his smile remained unchanged.
"Tired? Was it because of the rain just now? Of course... changing the weather on such a scale must be incredibly difficult," Vivi said guiltily. "It's my fault. I was so happy I didn't notice you weren't well."
"Wait." She remembered the warm feeling she had while it rained, the same feeling she had when Aomori used his power to keep her warm in the snow. "Were you keeping me warm the whole time? Why didn't you stop me from being so selfish? Are you an idiot?"
Aomori rushed here right after defeating Crocodile, then used a massive amount of energy to call the rain, and on top of that, he was looking after me. No wonder he's exhausted. The thought filled Vivi with immense guilt and heartache.
"As long as you're happy. I'll be fine; I'll be back to normal after a little rest," Aomori said, patting Vivi's wet hair. "You should change into dry clothes and dry your hair. It wouldn't be good if you caught a cold."
"You're always so busy taking care of others. You should look after yourself for once," Vivi pouted. "I'll go get you some dry clothes. Change and then get some sleep."
"Alright."
Aomori watched her leave. Once the door clicked shut, his smile vanished, and his complexion instantly returned to normal.
"Hmph. Is this how you always deceive people? Truly worthy of a Hero," Mewtwo's form suddenly materialized in the corner of the room, mocking Aomori.
"As long as the intent and the result are good, the process doesn't really matter. Besides, if I play the part well enough to fool everyone, then it becomes the truth."
"I don't understand you humans. You have the power to do things directly, yet you insist on making them so complicated."
"Heh, stay in human society a bit longer and you'll understand." Aomori waved a hand. "Also, thanks for the help. Without you, it would have been hard to pull off such a grand display."
"It was nothing, a fair trade." With that, Mewtwo glanced at the door and vanished back into the shadows.
The door clicked open, and Vivi returned, handing Aomori a set of clean clothes and urging him to change. She had already changed into simple plain clothes, her hair hanging loose like a cute girl-next-door.
"?"
"Why are you looking at me? Hurry up and change."
"Are you going to watch me change? I don't mind, but I'm worried about the Princess's reputation."
"Oh! I forgot!" Vivi blushed, stuck out her tongue, and scurried out of the room.
A moment later, Aomori, now in clean clothes, opened the door and invited Vivi back in.
"Koza said he's starting preparations for peace talks with the Royal Army. If all goes well, Alabasta will see true peace, and it's all thanks to you. Tomorrow, we'll head to the palace with Koza to see my father and explain everything. I'll tell him exactly what you did, and he'll surely give you many, many rewards."
Aomori smiled. "Can I collect one of those rewards in advance?"
"Now? But I don't have anything valuable to give you right now."
"I don't need anything valuable. I just need you to sit on the rug with your legs out."
"Huh? Like... like this?" Vivi smoothed her clothes and sat down as instructed.
"Yes. Now stay still."
"Okay."
Aomori sat beside her and slowly leaned over, resting his head on her lap. He closed his eyes comfortably.
"Is... is this enough?" Vivi's eyes darted around, not daring to look down at him.
"Mhm. Just let me sleep for a while. To me, this is the greatest reward."
"Alright..."
Only when Aomori's breathing became slow and even did Vivi dare to look down. Seeing his perfect sleeping face and thinking back on everything that had happened, she felt incredibly lucky to have met him.
She reached out and gently stroked his face. "Goodnight, my hero."