Chapter 24

Luffy walked out of the plane and laid on the ground. "Land!" He shouted in relief. "Oh how I miss you!"

"Oi, I flied the piece of junk the best I could!" Franky said as Luffy finally emptied his stomach. "Oi!" Unfortunately his sandaled foot was in the firing line of the vomit.

"Zorrii…" Luffy managed to say as he wiped the extra off.

"Ah! No problem. Probably given me hell if you did that on the plane…" He said as he looked around the small airport. "Robin said that there's a man here that will take you to the island from here."

"Oh, you two must be what the woman was talking about."

The two looked to see a man that looked ancient.

"Which one of you is Luffy?"

"I am." He said as he got up.

"Hello, just call me Capt. I'll take you to Ol' Bess and we'll be heading to the island by nightfall. The woman said you have family on that island."

"Huh? Oh, yeah, I do…" Luffy said, feeling awkward about lying.

"Well, come along then." The man said, but his movements rivaled that of a snail's.

'What the hell Robin?' Franky thought as he watched the old man manage to take two, impossibly slow steps before looking exhausted. 'This old fart looks as though he's ready to keel over in five seconds…'

"Uh, Capt- ossan, you need help?" Luffy asked, wondering if this was some joke or the man really is this slow that it was going to take until nightfall to get to the boat instead of the island.

"Yes, usually I have my wheel chair, but it's being fixed at the moment. A screw went loose as soon as I got here."

"That stinks." Luffy said as he looked around and saw a man walking away a rolling platform that was clear of any luggage. He quickly got that one, helped the old man on and pushed the roller to the gate, where the wheel chair is located.

When they got to the docks, which was only a couple blocks from the airport, they saw that the ship was in need of repairs and was just as ancient as the old man.

"This is the boat we're taking?" Luffy asked, honestly curious.

"That's her! Oh, who are you?"

"I'm Luffy."

"Oh yes, the lovely voice told me you needed to get to the next island."

Franky on the other hand was horrified of the ship's condition. 'Robin! What the hell were you thinking when you hired him to take Luffy! That ship will sink halfway!'

"Are you taking this trip one way?" The old man asked.

"Yeah, I figured I'll take the plane back when it's clear from any problems." Luffy said, mostly telling the truth.

"Oh good, because I think this old girl can only do one more trip before she goes."

"Oh, okay, no problem." Luffy said, no idea what the old man was talking about.

Franky however, knew what the old man meant and found himself praying for Luffy's safe landing.

Sometime later, Luffy was at the front of the ship, eyes set on the island that was only a couple hours ahead, but seem so close.

"So, Luffy was it?"

"Hm?"

"What brings you to go to that island that you have to be secretive?"

"Eh? You knew?"

"You're a terrible liar, and I thought it was strange that someone would call up to set up this when the plane should just land over there with no problems."

"You're really smart old man."

The man chuckled. "They say the mind's the first thing to go when we get older, but I still got mine in place for being slow in moving."

Luffy laughed. "Yeah, a snail could beat you!"

The man laughed, finding it funny. "Well, I rather take my gal out than walk about. It could be because I have sea legs that I have trouble going about on land."

"Makes sense." Luffy said, finding that he enjoyed the old man's company.

"So, what's so special about that island then?"

Luffy looked at the slowly growing island with a determined look. "Someone very important to me is on that island, forced to join in a group he never wanted to be a part of to save me."

"I see… Do you have a plan on how to go by saving your friend?"

"I lived in the jungle long enough to know my way around." He said with a smile. "I'm using that to my advantage to sneak pass from the outside at least. Inside's a different though, 'cause I know what it looks like, but at the same time have no idea who's there if not him."

"Hmm…" The old man said as he sighed. "Well, I wish you luck on finding and saving your special someone."

Luffy nodded as he watched the old man move quickly back to the wheel. 'Maybe he doesn't do well on land after all.' He thought as he stared at the island, painlessly waiting for any sign of the docks he expected to see every five minutes.

Hours passed and the late afternoon sun sank to create the twilight, then the orange gold light was overcome by violet, then to dark blue before Luffy could see the small lights of the dock up ahead.

"We're just about there!" Called out the old man, earning a cheerful response from the teen.

Meanwhile, Bon Clay was killing time with his group by doing some dance routines before he saw the time. "Well my duckies! Crocodile says that he will have your heads if you're not in this port with me, but since I am your group leader, I'm giving you permission to take two hours to go to town and get something to eat!"

The men cheered as they wasted no second.

"They're so sweet when they're hungry." He said as he was doing some solo practice under one of the lights when he heard a familiar cheer.

"Bon-chan!"

He bent backwards and saw something moving towards the dock, and didn't move until he made out the teen's figure and was shocked. "Luffy-chan!" He said as he straightened and turned to face the teen, who jumped off from the ship to the dock's platform.

"Man I'm glad to see you!" Luffy said, oblivious to the dead panned look the ballerina man as he turned to face the old man, but didn't see him or the boat. "That's rude, he didn't say good bye or anything."

"L-Luffy… You were floating…"

"Eh? No I wasn't I was on the Ol' Bess with Capt-ossan, whose not here suddenly."

Bon Clay gathered himself up and looked serious at the teen. "I suppose you're here to get Zoro then."

"Yep, you know where I can find him?"

"Up in his house, or I should say the hideout."

"Not anymore once I take down Crocodile and get Zoro back."

"Are you crazy! Crocodile could kill you!"

"Zoro knew the same thing when he tried to get me back. This time Crocodile won't see it coming."

"Luffy, I'm part of his group, what makes you think I won't report?"

"The same reason why Zoro let you take me out when he saved me."

"You remembered that?"

"Yeah…"

There was a moment of silence before Bon Clay turned away from Luffy and started to warm up.

"Ah! What a beautiful night! It's perfect to practice all alone! No one is here to bother me! Yep! Perfectly all alone on a beautiful early evening sky!"

Luffy smiled as he made his way towards the mansion, using the jungle as his cover.