Sand Sand Band's Secret Base:
-x-
At the Royal Mausoleum west of the Alubarna square, Luffy was racing barefoot down the long flight of stairs to face Crocodile again.
"CROOOCOOOODIIIIILLEEEE!" Luffy bellowed."WHERE ARE YOU?"
"What's with this weird place anyway?" Luffy wondered as he looked ahead of him at the dark room at the bottom on the stairs that was now very close. "Y/N's probably figured out what all this weird stuff is. So I don't have to know what it is. I just have to kick Crocodile's ass!"
Luffy reached the bottom of the stairs and reached the wide-opened room at the bottom that led to the Poneglyph chamber that Y/N, Cobra, Nico Robin, and Crocodile were all inside. Without really knowing where he was going, Luffy raced straight through the huge room towards the large double doors at the other end.
-x-
The red smoke that had been shot up into the air by Usopp still lingered over the city and signified to the Straw Hats, former agents, and Pell that he and Vivi had figured out where Crocodile's bomb was hidden.
The time on the clock tower was four twenty-six leaving just four minutes until the two armies fighting in the sand cloud below, as well as everyone else within three miles, were blown up.
"I'm certain of it," Vivi insisted as she and Usopp stood in the middle of a street off of the square. The tall column of red smoke floated over their heads as the waited for the others to reach them. "The cannon has to be in there! I can't think of any other options beside that place!"
"What makes you so sure it's in there anyway, Vivi?" Usopp asked.
"We have assume that the sand cloud is part of Crocodile's plan," Vivi explained, "The cannon must be in a place where the cannoneer can still see well enough to hit the target. Also, it has to be in an open place where a cannon that size can fit but can't be seen from the sky."
Vivi turned and her gaze fell on the large building that towered over the square and gave the hidden cannoneer a perfect view of their target... THE CLOCK TOWER! Ironically, the giant clock that everyone had been checking to see how much time they had left was actually hiding the very cannonn they were searching for the whole time.
-Vivi's Clock Tower Flashback-
"This looks like a good place, doesn't it?" the ten-year-old Koza addressed Vivi and the rest of the Sand Sand Band as they stood together in the large opened room behind the round clock face. The room was wide opened and the only things that took up the room were the occasional gears. It was the perfect place for their band of kids to hang out. "Let's make this our secret base!"
"YEAH!" Vivi and the rest of the Sand Sand Band cheered in agreement.
-End Flashback-
"So that has to be it," Vivi concluded, "It makes perfect sense to me."
"Okay, hold on," Usopp said as he bent down and started scratching a message on the ground. Skreessh... skreeesshhh... "We'll leave the others a message since they're heading here."
"Thanks Usopp, I'm going ahead to the tower," Vvi informed him as she raced off.
"HEEEY!" Usopp shouted after her, "Wait Vivi!"
"HURRY!" Vivi called back as he ran after her.
But they both came to a stop when a group of shadowy figures blocked their path.
"Well look at that," a man commented from inside the cloud of sand in front of them. "It's the Princess! Hahaha! The smoke signal led us straight to her!"
