Part 8: Head to Rainbase - Sandy Ruins / Great Sandy Dunes
Sandy Oasis
After an extended trip through unfriendly territory, the Straw Hats have stopped for a brief rest at Sandy Oasis. They're much closer to Rainbase than before, but there are still some hurdles to cross. Before you do, however, you should have a quick look around Sandy Oasis.
- Assuming you didn't accept Bounty Hunts back in Nanohana - or just need more information on where to look - there's a Bounty Board in the middle of Sandy Oasis. One of the bounties is nearby, so you should make a point to accept all of them now if you haven't already.
- Check along the west side of Sandy Oasis with Sanji to find four Scorpion Legs. They're beside a pile of wood and crates. Grabbing this will also help you spot a nearby chest containing an HP +149 Ring, hidden behind a large fern.
- In the northwest, near the chest, is a pint-sized, pink-haired girl named Zoner. She's a Quiz Researcher, and will give you the Side Story Grand Line Quiz Kid Levels 1, 2, and 3. Quiz time!
- Behind Zoner is a row of tents. Look back here with Nami in the lead and you'll find 27,000 Berries.
Not bad for such a small area. Once you're done looking around you can head north, where the danger will again ramp up.
Desert Cave
Monsters
- Black Brothers - Weak to Speed
- Deluck Brothers - Weak to Speed
- Kung Fu Dugong - Weak to Technique
- Mountain Bandits Vulture Gang - Weakness varies
- Rock Panda - Weak to Technique, Fire
- Silver Bat - Weak to Power
- Unripe Banana Gator - Weak to Technique
- Wandering Kung Fu Dugong - Weak to Technique
- Water Thief Mountain Gang - Weakness Varies
The path to Rainbase forces you to enter Desert Cave, outside Sandy Oasis. Before you go straight into the cave, though, check the outskirts of the oasis on the north side. Along the banks of the water to the southeast of the bridge you'll find a chest containing two Bo Bo Bird Eggs, and to the west you'll find a chest containing four Trace Sugars. The latter is hidden among ferns and rocks.
Head into the cave. There's a save point nearby, as well as a Yoisa Sign that you should activate in case you want to fast travel back here. Before you head any deeper into the cave, though, check the cliff edge by the travelers who are dawdling near the Yoisa Sign. You can climb down one level to find a chest containing four Desert Tomatoes. You'll also find "Sniper Genius" Sniper Killer down here, if you've accepted his Bounty Hunt.
Cross the land bridge from the Yoisa Sign and go east, past travelers and Mountain Gang members alike. Follow the path until you reach an intersection. If you go east from the intersection you'll find a small roundabout with an Usopp's Cube Fragment. Look up and you'll see a few grapple points that will take you to a chest containing 12,000 Berries.
Head back to the intersection and go west. You'll find a winding path down to Desert Cave's lower level. Take the first right once the map changes and you'll find a short dead-end path leading to two chests, one in plain sight and the other behind some destructible boulders on your right. They contain Sazae Koncho Pescatore and an Energy Apple.
Continue east through the cavern. The next right on the map is a narrow passage for Chopper. It will take you to a chest containing Bedrock Salt Pasta. Continue northeast along the main path and you'll come to a small, torchlit area with... sigh... Collapsed Joseph. He wants three Energy Apples, and will hand over five Mighty Excite Apples.
Across from Collapsed Joe is a pit with a grapple point on the other side. Zip across and you'll find an open area filled with churning sand. You can grapple a bit further in here to reach a campsite, which we'll ignore for a moment, as well as a chest containing Golden Jelly. There's also a ramp leading upward, where you'll find a chest containing an Herb Grilled Bo-Bo Bird. You can drop back down to Collapsed Joseph from here.
Whether you grapple over or walk, you can now head to the campsite. Check in the sand pit to the south of the campsite for a Luffy's Cube Fragment that only Luffy can grab, then bed down, resupply your characters, and save.
Further west you'll head down a slope. Check the left side of it to find a chest containing two Gator Melons. At the end of the path you'll run into Unripe Banana Gator territory, and you'll need to fight one. It's pretty easy... though it's also not the primary threat in Desert Cave.
Bushy Banana Gator
Weakness: Speed
Now that's a boss. The Bushy Banana Gator has a lot more health than its Unripe buddy, and can hit a lot harder to boot. It will attack either single targets or everyone in its area, with its latter attack, Banana Stamp, capable of Confusing anyone who gets hit. Chopper's Care Skill will dispel Confusion. Partway through the fight you'll receive a Dramatic Scene to finish off the Bushy Banana Gator with Luffy, a dangerous prospect given his weakness to Technique types.
Still, this fight is pretty textbook. Ideally you want to use Skills that will keep everyone on the fringes of the Bushy Banana Gator, leaving it to attack one of your tougher characters. Usopp and Nami will do the most damage here, and Usopp has the added bonus of having his Bond Art with Zoro and Chopper. Robin and Zoro can fill in the last two spaces in your party, as damage-dealers or healers. Bring in Luffy to deliver the coup de grace once the Gator's health is largely gone.
You'll receive Bushy Banana Gator's Record Cube, Bushy Banana Gator's Power, and a Gator Banana for defeating the Bushy Banana Gator.
Luffy, the genius he is, will overdo his finishing blow and cause a cave-in, forcing you to look for an alternate exit. You'll find it by grappling up to the vines in the southwest and climbing up a level, which will put you back near the beginning of Desert Cave. There's a grapple point that will take you back to the first pathway through the cave. Before you use it, though, check to the west for chests containing a Golden Jelly and two Gator Bananas. You can also find an Usopp's Cube Fragment by peaking around the rock wall on the west side of the water, near the chest containing the Gator Bananas.
Leave Desert Cave and return to Sandy Oasis. On the way you'll run into a Lil' Mover, the same one the crew rescued from a Sandora Dragon earlier in the game. It will offer to get you across the quicksand in the east of Great Sandy Dunes. Head out that way and you'll find a Crab Mover Sign. Check it and Chopper will pull up on a Sandy Mover, an enormous crab that is only too happy to ferry you around.
Choose 'Go to different region' and 'Rain Dinners' to be on your way. This will take you to Rain Dinners, Crocodile's casino and headquarters, and finally bring Head to Rainbase to an end. Check your Objectives to earn Grand Log: Alabasta, Part 4, then head into the casino.