The midday sun hung high over Alabasta, baking the sandstone walls of the palace, but inside Ben's mind, the gears of industry were turning at a frantic pace. Lunch had been a lively affair—mostly Luffy stealing meat from Usopp's plate—but as the crew dispersed to nap or explore the capital, Ben slipped away.
He walked out to a secluded, high-walled courtyard on the eastern wing of the palace. It was empty, save for a few potted palms wilting in the heat. Ben reached into his pocket and pulled out the Going Merry and enlarged it.
"Merry," Ben says. "I need the fabrication workshop. Full power."
"Aye, aye, Ben!" mini merry chirped.
"What are we building today? Cannons? Jet skis?"
"Bigger," Ben grinned. "I need miniature models of ten heavy-duty Desalination Plants. Industrial scale. They need to be able to intake seawater, filter it at a molecular level, and output fresh, mineralized drinking water."
Merry titled her head. "That requires a lot of energy."
"I know," Ben said. "That's why we're using Arc Reactors."
"I can do that."
"Get to it," Ben ordered. "I need them ready by sunrise."
"Leave it to me!" Merry saluted. Machinery inside the ship began to whir, the sounds of futuristic 3D printing and metal fabrication echoing softly within the magical vessel.
---
Leaving Merry to her work, Ben headed straight for the Royal Study. He found King Cobra and Vivi pouring over old, crumbling parchment maps of the kingdom, tracing the dried-up riverbeds.
"Your Majesty, Vivi," Ben announced, striding in. "Put the paper away. It's outdated."
Cobra looked up, rubbing his tired eyes. "Ben-dono. We were trying to identify the regions most critically in need of the water you promised."
"I can do better than that," Ben said. He tapped the black vibranium beads on his wrist—the Kimoyo Beads.
"Real-Time Topography. Alabasta Region."
Hummmm.
A low vibration filled the room. From Ben's wrist, a burst of hard-light particles exploded outward. They coalesced in the center of the room, forming a stunning, three-dimensional, photorealistic map of the entire Alabasta Kingdom. It hovered in the air, spinning slowly. Every dune, every dried oasis, every city was rendered in perfect, glowing detail.
Cobra gasped, reaching out but stopping just short of touching the light. "Is this... is this our country?"
"It's accurate down to the meter," Ben explained. He manipulated the hologram with his fingers, zooming in on the coastline. "Now, here is the plan. I'm not just digging holes. I'm creating a circulatory system for the country."
He drew a line with his finger in the air. A blue glowing path appeared on the map.
"We will place the Desalination Plants here, here, and here—along the coast where the seawater is accessible. Then, I will carve artificial rivers—canals—that flow inward, connecting to the existing dry riverbeds of the Sandora River."
Cobra stepped closer, his eyes scanning the proposed routes with the sharp gaze of a ruler. "This route... it passes through the Yuba fault line. The ground is too hard there. It would take ten thousand men a year to dig a trench."
"It will take me about ten minutes," Ben corrected gently. "Focus on the logistics, King Cobra. Where do the people need the water most? Where should the tributaries flow?"
Cobra nodded, understanding that normal rules didn't apply to Ben. He pointed to a desolate region in the northwest. "The villages here have been abandoned for two years. If you bring water here, we can resettle fifty thousand people."
"Done," Ben swiped his hand, and the blue line adjusted instantly.
Vivi pointed to the south. "Nanohana needs a direct line to flush out the stagnant water in the port."
"Added," Ben said.
For the next hour, they worked in perfect sync. The King and Princess provided the knowledge of the land and its people, and Ben provided the engineering solutions. By the time they were finished, the map was crisscrossed with a glowing web of blue—a promise of life returning to the desert.
"It is a masterpiece," Cobra whispered, looking at the glowing hologram. "If this works... Alabasta will never fear drought again."
"It will work," Ben assured him.
---
Ben stood on the palace balcony. He summoned his Magic Carpet and stepped onto it.
"Let's ride," he muttered.
The carpet shot off into the sky, breaking the sound barrier with a sonic boom that was silenced by a Muffliato charm.
Ben flew to the northern coast first. He hovered a hundred feet above the rocky shoreline. He looked down at the hard, unforgiving earth.
He cracked his neck. It was time to work.
He extended both hands.
"Magic: Command T - Shape."
The earth groaned. It wasn't a violent earthquake; it was a fluid transformation. The solid bedrock seemed to turn into clay. Ben swept his hands apart, and the ground obeyed. A massive trench, fifty feet wide and thirty feet deep, parted in the earth. It was perfectly smooth, the walls compressed and reinforced by the magic to prevent collapse.
He flew forward, and the trench followed him, unzipping the desert floor mile after mile.
Ben waved his wand. The bottom of the trench shimmered. He turned the porous sandstone into a lining of reinforced, non-porous silica. This would ensure the water didn't just seep back into the ground before reaching the cities. It was a massive aqueduct, built to last a thousand years.
He moved fast. The carpet blurred across the landscape. Ben was a conductor, and the desert was his orchestra. He carved through mountains. He bridged canyons using Momo's Creation Quirk to generate massive steel pipes where open canals weren't feasible.
As he passed over small, starving villages, Ben slowed down.
He saw the emaciated cattle. He saw the empty granaries.
He reached into his pocket dimension and pulled out a single apple.
"Magic: Command T - Enlarge."
ZWOOM.
The apple grew until it was the size of a carriage. He gently lowered it into the village square. He did the same with sacks of grain, enlarging them until a single sack could feed a family for a month.
He didn't stop to take credit. He didn't wait for thanks. He just dropped the supplies and flew on, a streak of light in the night sky.
Hour after hour, he worked. He felt the exhilaration of pure creation. He was rewriting the geography of an island.
By the time the first rays of dawn touched the horizon, Ben was hovering back over the coastline. The network was complete. Hundreds of miles of canals, lined and ready, waiting for the blood of the earth.
He checked his comms. "Merry. Status?"
"Finished, Ben!" Merry's voice was chipper. "Ten units, fully charged arc reactors, ready for deployment."
"Good girl," Ben praised.
He teleported back to the palace courtyard, picked up the ten miniature units Merry had fabricated, and vanished again.
He reappeared at the "Headwaters"—the massive intake facility he had carved out of the cliffs near the sea.
He placed the ten small, metallic boxes in a row.
"Magic: Command T - Enlarge."
BOOM. BOOM. BOOM.
The small boxes exploded in size. They grew until they were the size of small fortresses. Gleaming white metal, humming with the soft blue glow of the arc reactors. They looked like something out of a sci-fi movie, starkly contrasting with the ancient desert.
Ben quickly connected the intake pipes to the sea and the output pipes to his new canal system.
Finally, he raised his wand.
He wove a complex web of wards around the facility. No one could enter without his permission. To an outsider, this place would just look like a shimmering heat haze.
"Done," Ben exhaled, dusting off his hands.
The sun was fully up.
---
Ben teleported directly into the palace dining hall.
The scene was chaotic. Luffy was stretching his arm across the table to steal a sausage from Zoro. Sanji was swooning over Nami while serving her pancakes. Usopp was telling Chopper a lie about how he once drank ten barrels of wine. King Cobra was laughing, looking ten years younger.
Ben materialized in his chair, picking up a piece of toast as if he had been there the whole time.
"Morning," Ben said, taking a bite.
"Gah!" Usopp jumped, choking on his milk. "Ben! Don't do that! You nearly gave me a heart attack!"
"Where have you been?" Nami asked, eyeing him suspiciously. "You disappeared right after lunch yesterday. I bet you were looking for more treasure."
"Did you find meat?" Luffy asked, his mouth full.
Ben smiled, pouring himself some coffee. "No treasure, Nami. No meat, Luffy. I was just... doing some landscaping. Fixing a few leaks."
"Landscaping?" Zoro raised an eyebrow. "You were gone all night gardening?"
"Something like that," Ben winked. "Eat up. We have a field trip after breakfast."
"A field trip?" Chopper's eyes lit up. "Is it an adventure?"
"You could say that," Ben nodded.
---
Once everyone was fed and gathered in the courtyard, Ben rounded them up.
"Hold on tight," Ben warned.
He gathered everyone—The Straw Hats, Cobra, Vivi, Sabo, Koala, Robin, Dorry, Brogy, and even Caroo.
"Apparate."
CRACK.
The sensation of being squeezed through a straw hit them.
They reappeared instantly on a high cliff overlooking the sea. The wind whipped at their clothes.
"Urrgh..." King Cobra doubled over, his face turning green. "I... I will never get used to that."
"Breathe through the nose, Your Majesty," Ben advised patting his back.
The rest of the crew looked around. They saw the ocean. They saw the desert. It looked... normal.
"What are we doing here, Ben?" Luffy asked, picking his nose. "There's nothing here but sand and water."
"Yeah," Usopp adjusted his goggles. "You said you did landscaping? It looks the same."
Ben walked to the edge of the cliff. He raised his hand.
"I put a privacy filter on it so the locals wouldn't freak out before we were ready. Let me drop the curtain."
He snapped his fingers.
The air shimmered like a mirage dissolving.
Suddenly, the empty stretch of coast was gone.
In its place stood ten colossal, gleaming white structures. They hummed with a low, powerful vibration that could be felt in the bones. Massive pipes, large enough for a giant to walk through, ran from the ocean into the machines, and even larger pipes ran out the back, feeding into a colossal, man-made riverbed that stretched endlessly into the horizon.
"WHAT IS THAT?!" Nami screamed, her eyes bugging out.
"It looks like... a spaceship?" Usopp trembled.
Cobra and Vivi were frozen. They had seen the hologram, but the reality was overwhelming. The sheer scale of the machines dwarfed anything built by human hands in this era.
"Ben-dono..." Cobra whispered. "You built this... in one night?"
"Merry built the machines," Ben said modestly. "I just dug the ditch."
Sabo and Koala were staring at the glowing blue cores of the reactors.
"What is the power source for something this big?" Sabo asks.
"Arc Reactors," Ben explained to the stunned group. "Clean, limitless energy. These ten plants suck in seawater, flash-boil it, filter it, mineralize it, and pump it out. Each unit can produce enough fresh water for a hundred thousand people a day."
"A hundred... thousand?" Vivi's knees gave way. She fell to the ground, staring at the white giants. "You saved us. You truly saved us."
Luffy looked at the machines, then at Ben. He tilted his head.
"So... it makes water?"
"Yes, Luffy," Ben sighed. "It makes water."
"Oh. Cool," Luffy laughed. "Can I climb it?"
"No," Ben said firmly.
---
Ben led them down a set of stairs he had carved into the cliff face, bringing them to the control platform of the central unit. The hum of the reactor was louder here, a comforting sound of power.
He pointed to a console that looked far too advanced for this world, though he had simplified the interface. There was a single, large green button.
"This is the start sequence," Ben said. He looked at Vivi. "Princess. Do the honors."
Vivi stood up. Her hands were shaking. She looked at her father, who nodded with pride. She looked at the Straw Hats, who were giving her thumbs up (except Zoro, who was napping against a railing, and Luffy, who was trying to poke the energy shield).
She walked to the console.
She took a deep breath.
"For Alabasta," she whispered.
She pressed the button.
THRUMMMMM.
The sound pitch of the machines rose. The blue light of the reactors flared brighter.
Pumps the size of houses kicked into gear.
WHOOSH.
They ran to the railing overlooking the output canal.
At first, there was nothing.
Then, a roar.
A wall of crystal-clear, sparkling blue water burst from the output pipes. It crashed into the canal, foaming and swirling. It surged forward, rushing down the artificial riverbed Ben had carved, racing toward the interior of the country.
"It's working!" Nami cheered. "Look at the volume! That's millions of gallons!"
"It's rushing toward Katorea!" Cobra cried out, tears streaming down his face. "The river lives!"
"Come on," Ben said. "Let's go down."
They went down to the banks of the canal. The mist from the rushing water was cool and refreshing against the desert heat.
Ben dipped a cup into the flow and handed it to Cobra.
The King took the cup. His hands trembled. He raised it to his lips and drank.
He paused.
"Sweet," Cobra wept. "It is the sweetest water I have ever tasted."
Vivi drank next. Then the crew. Even Zoro took a sip and admitted, "Not bad."
"You did it, Ben," Sabo said, clapping him on the shoulder. "The Revolutionaries fight for freedom, but this... this is freedom from nature itself."
"Everyone!" Ben shouted over the roar of the water. "Group photo! To remember the day the drought ended!"
He pulled out his camera.
He used the ruler's authority to make the camera float in the air, hovering at the perfect angle to catch the group, the massive white plants, and the rushing river in the background.
"Everyone get in!" Ben yelled.
They scrambled into position.
Cobra and Vivi stood in the center, regal yet approachable.
Luffy draped himself over Sabo's shoulders, stretching his rubber arms to pull Koala and Chopper in.
Zoro and Sanji stood back to back, scowling at each other but clearly part of the unit.
Nami posed with a peace sign.
Usopp struck a hero pose.
Robin stood gracefully at the edge, a small smile on her lips.
The Giants, Dorry and Brogy, behind them, their massive grinning faces framing the shot like mountains.
Caroo quacked and posed next to Chopper.
And Merry was sitting on Ben's shoulders.
"Say 'Water'!" Ben called out, jumping into the frame next to Vivi.
"MEAT!" Luffy screamed.
"WATER!" Vivi yelled.
"MONEY!" Nami shouted.
CLICK.
The camera flashed.
The image froze a moment in time: a Pirate King, a Revolutionary Chief, a Wise King, a Brave Princess, and a Magician who had turned a desert into an oasis, all smiling under the Alabasta sun.
Ben caught the camera as it floated down. He looked at the digital display.
It was perfect.
"Alright," Ben grinned, pocketing the memory. "Who's hungry? I think Sanji mentioned something about desert scorpions."
"Let's go!" Luffy cheered, already sprinting back toward the teleportation spot.
As they walked away, the hum of the machines continued—a new heartbeat for an ancient land.