Chapter 20

The clock tower chimed three in the afternoon.

"Just nine more hours…" Smoker said.

"You think they're doing the auction now?" Ace asked.

"Only the lesser ones." Smoker explained. "Only the rich can auction at six, even then it ranges from different forms of rarity. No doubt he will be kept for the last showing, which can range from eight to midnight, depending how much items they get sold."

Luffy was tired of walking, felt hungry, and was tired of seeing anyone that wasn't Zoro. But he had to keep trying, have to find him before he lost him for good.

"Do any of the arenas have some kind of tank for specific showings?"

"I've told you this an hour ago, Usopp." Smoker said. "There are only three such arenas, but that still doesn't narrow down which one."

"What about the 'buyers'?" Robin said. "You said yourself that Crocodile is a businessman. Don't you think that he would only want the very rich come?"

"That's still difficult to find. Anyone's luck can change within an hour or two."

Luffy got up suddenly. "I have to go to the bathroom!"

"Then go! You don't need to announce it!" Sanji said as Luffy ran off. "Jeeze… you think he can hold it in a bit."

"Maybe he has." Ace said. "He hasn't even complained about food."

"Oi, Bros…" Franky said as he pointed to a sign. "The bathroom is just over there."

Everyone looked to see that there was indeed a sign mentioning the location of the bathroom, and within sight range of where the young man once sat.

"Damn brat pulled a fast one." Smoker said.

"You don't think he's going to sneak into those three arenas to find out which one, do you?" Robin said calmly, as if knowing what was going to happen.

'Aw! Crap!' Every guy thought as they looked at Chopper, who had been sleeping since they stopped at the bistro.

***

With Luffy, he ran to the first arena, looked for a way in, and found out that his only way is be close to the shadows and go up to the roof. He climbed up the wall, got onto the roof, found the door that led inside, and started to look around.

He found a covered tank, and he saw some guys throwing food into it. He waited until they left, saw that he needed the key to get in, but can also hear that his friend was not in there when he heard the sounds of splashing and visualized the meat being shredded more. But he went down to have a cautious peek, and confirmed that those were just normal sharks in the tank and moved on.

---

He found the next one, did the same as the first, making his fingers bleed a bit, but he checked the tank, and there was something glowing in it, but definitely not what he was looking for.

'That leads to that last one!' He thought with an accomplished smile.

As he ran there, he passed the group, who were just baffled at how he got in as Chopper was barking for their attention.

***

The crowd was getting heavier and a lot more colorful as the rich were coming out from hiding, and they were heading to the arenas.

When Luffy went to the last arena with a water tank, he saw that it was not only heavily guarded, but guarded by the men and women he saw back on the island.

'Damn it!' He thought as he looked around for any possible way to get in.

He saw that each individual was being searched thoroughly. He had to look rich to get in, but he doesn't have the money to make him look that fancy.

"Would you mind!?"

He looked to see a woman with a lot of ruffles that make her look like a pin cushion as she was whacking away at men who were helping her off the carriage.

"I will not be helped by men! I can get off of this myself!"

That's when an idea popped up. He made sure no one was looking, especially the woman, before taking a chance and dived under the ruffles and covered himself. Now the tricky part was to follow the woman's strides so that he wouldn't be exposed or noticed. He was surprised how thin and small the woman's frame was for such a tall individual, but all this ruffles make her look much fuller. But he wasn't going to complain about it as he was sure they were close to the check point, which the woman was causing a scene about being checked, even threatened to leave, which was a no-no in his opinion.

"And what is the matter here?"

He recognized Crocodile's voice.

"This pervert wanted to check me down, and I would not have a woman do that either!"

"Forgive their rudeness, you may come in."

"Now that's what I like to hear!" The woman said as she went through, making him hurry up with scuffling with her strides.

'Please don't notice… please don't notice.' He thought as he was sure they were away from the checkpoint and he carefully got out of the woman's ruffled skirt, and found himself in the mess of other skirts and dress pants.

Thankfully the rich were taught to keep their heads up, otherwise he would be in trouble as he managed to get away from the mass and got up against a wall, which was close to a closet.

He went in and hid in among the coats, which he found one for himself and walked out, which no one noticed the difference.

He walked around until he saw one of the men that seemed to work in this building go through a door, and he quickly headed there to stop the door from closing all the way and slipped in.

***

With that, he stayed along the shadows and watched as the workers were working with the lights and fiddled with some machines. He saw some stairs that led up to a catwalk and went that way.

When he got to the top, he saw the covered tank and had a feeling that this was the right tank. He went up to it, saw that the lid needed a key.

'Where the hell can I find a key?' He thought as he saw a guy coming his way and had to hide in the shadows.

He waited as the man opened the lid, looked in, and chuckled. "Still knocked out. This guy will be easy to sell, after the bloodshed is over with those morons."

He didn't like this guy, nor was he going to wait long as he snuck up and delivered a good punch as he knocked the guy out cold. "I'll take this." He whispered as he looked through the open lid. The salt smell was awful to him, as he strained his eyes to see the figure there. "Zoro!" He whispered loudly as he tried to open the glass lid, only to feel a hand on his shoudler.

"I wouldn't do that if I were you..." Crocodile said.

'Crap!'

Before anyone gets on my case. I know it's another cliffhanger! I'm sorry for those who hate it with a passion, but that's how I'm going to end this chapter and hope for having more chapters by the holidays soon! But right now I got to study for an exam coming up and a project to complete. So you just have to deal with this ending until I can get more up by the holidays.

Now that I made that as clear as possible, I hope everyone enjoyed this and hope to see you soon. Jaa ne!

Chopper: See ya!