Chapter 18
"We're here Bros!" Franky called.
Luffy woke up from the front of the ship and saw that they were closing in on the docks of the busy city. He looked for any unmarked ships, but couldn't find it in the traffic of other ships, great and small, and the numerous seagulls fighting for the fish.
"What a mess…" Sanji said as he and the others got up.
"Welcome to Trader's Island…" Franky said as he found a dock space for vistors and everyone helped him tie the ship down.
"Where should we go?" Luffy asked as he saw the chaos of the place. "There's no way Crocodile can move Zoro in this place."
"Unless he got himself a tank that no one can see into, or him out of." Smoker said. "That's just like him. Hiding anything that can get him big bucks quick. It's only safe for him and has less of a chance of being stolen."
"In other words, if anyone would know about Zoro they would also try to take him?" Ace said.
"Then we will be on a wild goose chase." Usopp said with a sigh. "But we don't know where to look first. And if this guy is as slick as Smoker-san says he is how are we going to find him?"
"Someone around here has to at least seen Crocodile. If we know where Crocodile is then we can find Zoro." Luffy said.
"It's not going to be that easy." Smoker said. "A lot of these folks lie."
"Not unless it's a woman." Robin said with a mischievious and mysterious smile.
"You just be careful, Babe."
"I know, Franky dear." She said as she flipped her straight, black-blue hair as she went up ahead, causing the closest men in the area to stare and do cat calls.
"I can't believe she's your girlfriend." Sanji said as he had to bite his lip to keep himself from blowing their cover.
"I can't believe it either, but I guess she saw something in me that she liked." Franky said with a proud smile.
Luffy waited as he watched Robin ask a group of men that came up to her. Her tactic was working, but he was worried about what Zoro is going through at this point. But he has to keep a positive mind.
That's when Robin moved her hair behind her left ear.
"Okay, time for me to make my move." Franky said.
"Huh?" Some chorused.
"We have our couple signals." He simply said as he got an angry face on and stomped towards the group of men and started to raise hell.
"Time to go." Luffy said as he started to move.
"Huh?" The group chorused again as Franky was done with the men surrounding Robin, who remained calm and mysterious.
"What did you find out love?" Franky asked quietly.
"Some of the men said that they have seen Crocodile just a few hours of the morning. We are five hours behind."
"Okay."
"Will we still get to Zoro in time?" Luffy asked.
"It's still pretty early." Franky said. "And they would usually do the bidding around afternoon. But since this is Zoro, they would have to wait until midnight to showcase in one of the arenas here."
"Arenas?" Ace asked.
"There's five in total, and all of them are where the rich as hell go."
"How do we know which one to go to?" Luffy asked.
"I got a lead from one of the men saying that Crocodile sent a van to the east from the dock." Robin said.
"Okay, so we have to figure out if there are any arenas at the east." Smoker said.
***
They walked to the east of the dock and Robin used her mysterious charm to get information, and as backup either Sanji, Franky, or Smoker will get the tougher guys to spill.
While they were doing that, Luffy did his own search, while not wandering away from the group with Usopp, Chopper, and Ace to make sure.
"Excuse me Miss?" He asked a woman in her mid twenties, chopping fish that she obviously just bought. "Did you happen to see a van about five hours ago?"
"That early in the morning?" She asked. "Why?"
"Someone stole something very important to me, and I have to get it back before it's taken away by someone else."
"Must be important if you're going through so much trouble. But I'm afraid I can't help you. I was out by that time."
"Well, have you seen a man then?"
"Be specific kid."
"He's really tall, about in his forties, has a scar across his face. And has a hook where his right hand should be."
"You're talking about Crocodile, right?"
"You know him?" Usopp asked.
"Everyone knows him. He's a damn good businessman here."
"He's also a theif." Luffy said bitterly.
"Everyone here is a thief of some form."
"Does that include kidnapping?"
"Depends what he kidnapped. Other than that, I can't help you."
"He's my best friend for ten years. He's strong and kind, but even he can't handle something like this if he's left without a choice."
"I'm sorry kid." She said in a whisper. "I can't talk about this anymore. But I'll let you know this, everyone gets kidnapped, even in this city. I'm sorry that your best friend is kidnapped by that guy, but as far as I know he pretty much runs this place."
"Do you at least know which arena he goes to most of the time?"
"If I knew that, I'm good as dead." She said as she looked to see some of the locals whispering to each other. "Just leave and forget about him kid. It's better off if you do."
"But-" Luffy said as Ace held him back.
"We're wasting time Luffy." He said as he guided his brother away from the fish stand. "We'll find him Luffy."
Luffy nodded, but now he was starting to doubt a little about it. 'Where are you Zoro?' He thought as his chest was starting to hurt a lot.