They docked the Going Merry on an out of the way cape outside of Water 7 on the advice of an old man who was rather nonchalant in asking whether they were here to steal or not.
Old man Wacko and Pepperjack said goodbye to the Straw Hats and went their own ways.
Nami, Usopp, and Luffy took some of their gold to exchange for Beri. Cherry and Cabernet came along to do the same for their own gold.
Zoro and Serene stayed on the Going Merry.
Chopper and Robin went to explore, Cherry figured she would meet up with them a bit later.
Sanji on his own went to purchase supplies.
Walking through the city, Cherry picked up on the latest gossip. She learned there was going to be a big masquerade in San Faldo soon, which could be reached by sea train.
'Hmm, I'd like to check that out. The anonymity is sure to draw some interesting characters and that makes it the perfect place to hold an underworld auction.' Cherry thought.
Cherry also took note of the fact that there were 3 other devil fruit users within Water 7. She made a point to keep an eye on these individuals.
Nami negotiated with the appraiser for the Beri she would receive for her treasure. She managed to squeeze 500 million Beri out of him remarkably.
She took her briefcases of cash from the man. "Do you need help with your exchange, Cherry?"
"No, I have it handled." Cherry said, then she piled up twice the amount of gold onto the appraiser's table.
The man's eyes shone with greed, then he looked up and met Cherry's eyes. In that instant he witnessed his entire life flash before his eyes.
Under Cherry's lifeless gaze, he went over each piece she had placed before him, sweating profusely all the while.
"I-" He gulped. "I-I'll give you 1.3 B-Billion Beri..."
He had only dared to leave a few percent of the value for his profit, lest he enrage the demon before him.
Cherry's maintained her cold eye contact with him for a few moments that felt like an eternity for the poor appraiser. Then she smiled sweetly at him. "Deal."
Cherry stuffed the money into Cabernet's chest cavity and left the building where the others were waiting.
"Tsk! Why did I have to be born so cute? If I had your eyes, I wouldn't even have to haggle..." Nami lamented.
"Oh, I forgot to tell you, we're being 'secretly' tailed by some amateurs. So don't leave your money unattended." Cherry warned. Luffy looked around in an obvious fashion, earning a fist from Nami and Usopp each.
""Don't let them know that we know!"" They loudly whispered.
Cherry decided to come along with them to the Galley La shipyard. Partly out of interest towards the supposed best shipyard in the world, but mostly because two of the devil fruit users were in that general area.
After a bit of hassle finding their way through the water ways, they finally managed to reach the Galley La shipyard.
Luffy, always the free spirit, tried to clamber over a fence clearly meant to keep non-employees out.
A man appeared out of nowhere in front of Luffy and stopped him with a tap on his head.
Cherry's pupils contracted. 'Those fingers are dangerous! And that movement technique, I'm pretty sure it's the same as that idiot who tried to sneak onto the Going Merry at Alabasta, only much, much better.'
Luffy wasn't at all nervous about or even aware that the man in front of him was a highly trained assassin.
"I'm afraid you're not allowed in here, young man. Employees only, let's talk outside." The man said, speaking a bit like an old man despite his youth.
"We're here to buy a new ship. Our old ship just can't take the punishment the Grand Line throws at her. Oh, and we have a recommendation from Kokoro to give to someone called Iceburg." Nami spoke her purpose plainly.
"Mrs. Kokoro, huh? Yep, this is her handwriting for sure. Oh, you can call me Kaku, by the way." Kaku said, handing back the paper.
He explained that Iceburg was the mayor and president of the Galley La company, so it may take some time to meet him as he's very busy.
"I'll go take a look at your ship. It'll be handy to know what you've got right now when addressing your needs in the new ship." Kaku said, then he was off, racing across the city.
"He's very convincing." Cherry spoke softly so only the others could hear him.
"What do you mean? Was he lying to us?" Usopp asked, concern visible on his face.
"Not really lying per se, more like pretending. That man is a world government assassin. And a damned good one at that. He could have poked a hole into Luffy's head just then if he'd wanted to." Cherry's words shocked them to the core. Luffy rubbed his forehead.
"What do we do?!" Usopp asked in fear.
"Well first of all, stop trembling like a newborn reindeer, it's suspicious. Second, he's not after us. He should be undercover for some mission of his." Cherry said, slapping Usopp on the back.
What are you guys whispering about? I'm hope your not looking to start any trouble, my shipwrights are perfectly capable of defending themselves." A man said as he approached with a secretary following behind him.
Cherry saw that the secretary was one of the 3 devil fruit users on Water 7, excluding her own group of course. She had a funny feeling about her.
"Is the report finished, Kalifa?" He asked the secretary.
"Yes, Mr. Iceburg. Straw Hat Luffy, Pirate Hunter Zoro, Nico Robin, and Cabernet. All together worth 489 million Beri. Most of them started in East Blue, but Cabernet's origins are unknown." Kalifa stated matter of factly.
Iceburg introduced himself and his new pet mouse, Tyrannosaurus.
Kalifa told him about his busy schedule, to which he replied that he "Didn't wanna!" and she canceled all of it.
After Luffy bluntly stated that he wasn't very reliable. Kalifa seemed to be angered by the disrespect and launched kicks at everything around her, though most of it only landed on Iceburg.
'Ah! There it is, that funny feeling I had. She's also a world government assassin, she even uses the same martial arts as that Kaku guy! She hides it very well, to constantly maintain an altered footwork and all that. Shame you had to go and reveal everything to me, and not just your panties, hehehe.' Cherry was satisfied to have found her answer so soon, though she showed no outward reaction to this revelation.
When Cherry came out of her thoughts she noticed something. "Hey, guys. I just told you not to leave your money unattended..."
"""Huh?!""" Nami, Usopp, and Luffy swiveled around to see a bunch of funny lookin fellowed rooting through the briefcases that Luffy and Usopp had set down.
Cherry didn't move to help them, as she felt it would be a good lesson to learn.
"The Franky family, huh?" Iceburg muttered.
The Franky family goons ran off with the suitcases, but were intercepted by one of the shipwrights, Paulie. When he realized there was money in the briefcases, though, he tried to run away with them too.
"Leave it to me." A man with a pigeon on his shoulder stopped Luffy from chasing after and disappeared, only to reappear on the boat and apprehend Paulie.
'Wow, another assassin. He's the other devil fruit user as well. A Zoan from the looks of it. I wonder if they're working with/for Iceburg, or if he's the target? Target is the most likely option, as they would be more spread out otherwise, I'd think.' Cherry thought.
Cherry sensed something else happening on the other side of the city at this moment. The third devil fruit user passed by Robin, then she followed them leaving Chopper behind.
'Now what's going on over there? This day is turning out to be very busy. Well, I'll just keep and eye on her, she's a big girl now so she can handle herself.' Cherry sighed inwardly.
While the shipwright with the pigeon on his shoulder apprehended Paulie, the other shipwright who tried to make off with the briefcases of cash, Cherry approached Iceburg.
Cherry decided that this Iceburg guy seemed honest enough that she could take the risk to warn him about the world government assassins around him. She just had to be sneaky about it, as Kalifa was watching her like a hawk.
"May I pet Tyrannosaurus, Mayor Iceburg? He's very cute." Cherry asked.
"... I guess you can..." Iceburg looked extremely reluctant, but after glancing at the mischievous Paulie he perhaps felt a bit guilty about his employee's actions and so allowed it.
Seeing his openly childish nature, Cherry sincerely doubted he was secretly a nefarious villain. If he was, then she could only applaud his skill.
Cherry gave the little mouse with a big name some much deserves pats, then went back to the others.
Kalifa had watched with rapt attention, but saw nothing out of the ordinary and so turned her gaze elsewhere.
Paulie was pulled onto solid land by the ear. The pigeon on the other shipwright's shoulder seemed to speak and introduced himself and the other shipwright, Rob Lucci.
"Well, see you guys later. I'm going to have a look around. Maybe I will catch a train to that masquerade party in San Faldo the folks around here have been talking about and come back tomorrow." Cherry waved goodbye. She noticed that the Franky family hadn't given up yet apparently, but figured if they lost their money to them again they deserved it.
Cherry asked around to find out the train schedule and found out that the train to San Faldo would be departing in a short while, so she meandered about town until the time came. She would have paid a visit to Robin, but the other devil fruit user hadn't left her side.
...
After waiting a while, finally the time came and she bought a train ticket and boarded the train with Cabernet.
Since there was a masquerade, she had purchased masks and cloaks for both herself and Cabernet.
Cherry's mask was in the shape of a sun, while Cabernet's was in the shape of a crescent moon. Both wore cloaks with a starry night sky.
They picked out seats across from one another, and naturally they were riding in first class. Why skip out on luxury when you can afford it?
Most of the other passengers were fairly well to do people. Fortunately Cherry and Cabernet were wearing costumes or they might have looked down upon them for their clothing.
The door to the first class carriage opened and a large costumed man entered with two women with square hair styles. Although it could be clearly seen the man was only wearing a speedo beneath his cloak.
Immediately, the wealthy passengers scurried out of the way, even deigning to share seats with each other rather than be close to the new arrival.
"Look, Kiwi, Mozu, these kind people recognized my SUPEEEER self and gave us all this space!" The costumed pervert said.
Despite all the space they had, they elected to sit right behind Cherry and Cabernet.
'Those idiots...' Cherry thought, exasperated. The man was carrying the very same briefcases the others had with them at Galley La, though only two of them.
"I see you're going to San Faldo as well?" The pervert asked, who Cherry figured was probably the infamous Franky of the Franky family.
"That's right, friend. Those briefcases are the same sort they give at the gold exchange, yes? Are you planning to make a big purchase at the auction?" Cherry kept her voice just low enough that they could only be heard in the deserted back half of the carriage.
"Oh, are you going to the auction as well? Yes, I plan to buy something I've been hoping to get my hands on for a long time now. I'm terrible with money, but some stupid pirates were kind enough to donate everything I needed all at once. SUPEEEEEEER!!!" Franky spoke quietly, except when he shouted 'super' at the end.
'Good, so there IS an auction! And now I've got a fool to lead me straight to it! Hehe!' Cherry thought, quite smug about her manipulative ways.
"Oh, I see! You must be the famous Franky then! I've heard the good people of Water 7 singing your praises ever since I arrived!" Cherry feigned excitement.
Franky ate up the praise and the two women, Mozu and Kiwi looked pretty smug about it as well.
"Perhaps we can sit together during the auction. I would hate to bid against you by accident and that'll make it easier to coordinate, don't you think?" Cherry suggested.
"Sure, sure! We'll get a box together! It's good to make new friends, we should stick together!" Franky nodded enthusiastically.
Cherry had no intention of taking back the money. The others still had half their gold left over after all. She was just interested in seeing what he would purchase with it. If it was something good, maybe she'd steal it off him after the auction.
The train ride was only a few hours long, as the train picked up quite a lot of speed. It was far faster than any ordinary ship.
San Faldo, also called Carnival Town due to having a different festival every single day, was an interesting sight to behold.
Many of the streets had multiple levels of walkways. Most of the people were participating in the costume aspect of this particular day. Dancers, musicians, and all manner of performers were out and about on the streets.
Franky led the way through the streets, clearly having been here before and unfazed by all it's splendor.
Tucked away down some forgotten alleyways they found a nondescript building and entered. The inside betrayed the building's true nature as it was quite fanciful and had well dressed auction employees ready to wait upon them.
Franky and Cherry handed over their cash, which the auction house would keep safely tucked away and anything left over would be returned upon leaving. Not a terrible way to do things when you're running a black market auction. Don't want people making bids they can't afford or running off without paying.
The group was guided to a private box that overlooked the stage below.
"So, Franky. What is it you're planning to buy? No point in being all secretive at this point is there?" Cherry asked.
"I guess there isn't. I'm planning to buy wood from the Treasure Tree Adam, if it makes an appearance this time." Franky stated.
"Oh? What kind of wood is that? And what are you planning to do with it?" Cherry asked, interest piqued at the words 'treasure tree'.
"It's the strongest and highest quality wood in the world. I'm going to build a ship with it, the best ship in the world! The last ship to be built with treasure tree wood was the Oro Jackson, Gol D. Roger's ship!" Franky was quite excited at the prospect.
Naturally Cherry was also interested in this wood. With it, she ought to be able to make a decent spear to add to her collection of blood bound artifacts.
"What are you planning to buy, uh, I don't think I've asked your name?" Franky seemed a bit embarrassed at the realization.
"Just call me Cherry. I'm just here to have a look. I'm a blacksmith by trade, so perhaps there'll be something of interest to me in that regard." Cherry said.
"Ladies and Gentlemen! May I have your attention?! The auction is now beginning!" A man on the stage below spoke into a microphone.
Cherry smiled. There was something she wanted to obtain here, she had picked it up with her Life Sense on the way in. They had a devil fruit here and she was going to get it no matter what.