Hachi made takoyaki for the crew as a thank you for saving Camie, Pappag, and himself.
Cherry was hesitant to try it, as it conjured images of tentacled horrors she had witnessed in her last life, none of which were even remotely appetizing. Once she relented, she found that it was actually quite nice, though.
Their meal was interrupted when the flying fish riders caught up to them. Cherry seriously considered teaching them a more permanent lesson before they revealed that their intentions were not bad, but rather that Duval wanted to thank Sanji for making him 'handsome', thus turning his life's prospects around for the better.
The newly named 'Rosy Life Riders' went on their merry way after promising to repay their debt in some way in the future.
While they were eating, the method by which one would go to Fishman Island was explained to them.
The Sabaody Archipelago apparently produced a unique kind of resin that formed large floating bubbles. This resin could be applied to a ship in a particular way to protect it from the pressure of the water in the ocean's depths, as well as keep in air for its crew to breathe.
"I presume we need to hire someone to do this resin coating method, then?" Cherry asked.
"Right. Not to worry though, I know of someone who is both very good at his craft and very trustworthy." Hachi said.
"Totally not setting us up for a watery grave, right?" Cherry asked.
"N-no! I wouldn't do that to anyone, certainly not people who have saved my life!" Hachi denied adamantly, much to Cherry's amusement.
Soon they arrived at the Sabaody Archipelago, which was in actuality a cluster of enormous mangrove trees. There was no actual land, rather the people here lived on top of the roots of the trees.
After inspecting the soapy bubbles that formed before their very eyes, they formed into groups.
Hachi, Cherry, Luffy, Nami, Chopper, Brook, Robin, Camie, and Pappag were in the group to go find the resin coating expert for the Thousand Sunny.
Zoro tried to go off on his own, saying he couldn't possibly lose his way when the trees were marked with numbers. Cherry still insisted that Cabernet go with him, as she could just directly drag Zoro to Cherry if they got lost.
The remaining people, namely Sanji, Usopp, Serene, Franky, and Merry, stayed on the ship to guard it and the treasure on board.
"Now I need to warn you guys about something important." Hachi explained. "If we see any World Nobles, also called Celestial Dragons, then you mustn't go against them! It's better if you try not to stand out in any way! No matter what!"
"Sure, sure, whatever." Luffy replied nonchalantly, only half paying attention.
Cherry patted Hachi on the shoulder. "You're going to have to be more specific. Those of us with functioning brains can infer the danger you're warning us about, but goofballs like Luffy need it spelled out for them. Otherwise, he might just do whatever he feels in the moment."
"Oh, right." Hachi couldn't say he knew Luffy super well, but he knew what Cherry was saying was absolutely the case just based on what little he knew about him.
"If you were to harm a World Noble in any way, an Admiral from marine headquarters would be sent directly here to deal with you!" Hachi explained.
"Ehhh?! Like Aokiji?!" This time the message got through to Luffy's pea brain properly.
They visited a vender that rented and sold a contraption that combined with the bubbles to form a vehicle of sorts. They rented a couple of personal sized ones and a larger one. Hachi later explained that buying one was a scam, as the bubbles could only exist in the unique atmosphere of the Sabaody Archipelago or Fishman Island.
Nami, Robin, and Cherry split of from the others to go to a shopping mall. Although Cherry had no interest whatsoever in shopping, she wouldn't miss a chance to spend time with Robin. She would soon regret that decision.
"Be careful and stay lowkey, guys. I can sense some really strong people around here, so don't cause any trouble!" Cherry warned.
Inside the shopping mall, Robin and Nami suddenly picked cherry up by the arms and quickly brought her to a n expensive looking boutique. A feeling a tremendous dread overcame her.
"I've changed my mind! I want to go have a look at the resin coating guy instead!" Cherry squirmed, but Robin only bloomed a multitude of arms to restrain her further. "Nooooo!"
Half an hour later, Cherry was exhausted. She had been toyed with like a dress up doll, and the worst part? She looked good in everything. Such is the curse of being a world shaking beauty.
Cherry was currently wearing a frilly black dress with pink highlights with a matching fancy hat.
"Thank you, it was very fun dressing you up." Robin embraced her.
"Well... as long as you're happy." Cherry grumbled.
...
Zoro was wandering randomly around the archipelago whilst Cabernet followed him around like a puppy.
Cabernet had found a way to convert her wings into sail fabric so that they looked like a giant scarf wrapped around her and she had turned off her flames. It wouldn't prevent anyone from recognizing her, but it would at least make a bit harder. Mainly it was to limit the possibility that a World Noble would see her unique traits and try to enslave her.
Some sort of commotion was happening up ahead. Cabernet observed with curiousity, whilst Zoro didn't seem to even notice anything was happening.
*Bang*
A gunshot was heard followed by a woman's scream. Cabernet saw that an exceptionally ugly man wearing a glass fish bowl on his head had shot a man.
"You murderer, how could you! Someone please, help him!" The woman cried out, but when the ugly man turned to her, she clapped her hands over her mouth.
'Why is no one doing anything? Is this one of the World Nobles? Hm, he doesn't seem to be very noble though, nor does he look like a dragon...' Cabernet thought with her brow furrowed.
There were some pirates with 100 million plus bounties present as well.
"Is that 'Pirate Hunter' Zoro and 'Blood Wine' Cabernet? I heard she blew up a whole city in alabasta..." Asked a pirate behind a man with instruments integrated into his body.
"They're just casually walking down the street, do they not know anything?" Wondered a gangster looking man.
"Shit, look at her face! She's going to kill the Celestial Dragon!" A pink haired woman muttered with growing horror. Of course, that was just how Cabernet looked most of the time.
As Zoro kept walking towards the World Noble absent mindedly, Cabernet suddenly veered into the crowd of pirate and blended in with them. Racked with indecision, she decided to just let Zoro decide what to do, though she didn't realize how bad that idea was.
The pirates present let out a sigh of relief seeing the woman with a 275 million Beri bounty back out. They still had to do some about Zoro though.
When the World Noble noticed Zoro walking towards him, he panicked and fired his gun at Zoro, which was easily dodged. As Zoro went in for the attack, he was tackled by a pink haired little girl who put on an act that he'd been shot and killed.
The World Noble was as stupid as he was ugly, so he easily believed the act and lost interest. He wandered off with his new 'bride' and everyone finally relaxed.
"Why'd you stop me?!" Zoro complained.
"What do you mean?! You nearly got us all killed! Did you WANT an admiral to come down on top of our heads?!" The pinked haired woman reprimanded him. "And you, Blood Wine Cabernet, why in the world didn't you stop him yourself?!"
Cabernet looked down sheepishly at the rebuke. She spoke softly. "I'm sorry..."
The pirates present felt their hearts quake in their chests. 'How can she seem so cute?!'
Ultimately the worst case scenario was avoided, so the pirates went their separate ways.
Zoro and Cabernet went to find a doctor for the man who had been shot.
As Robin, Nami, and Cherry were chatting while heading back to the ship, they suddenly heard someone calling their names. They looked over and saw Franky riding with a few of the Rosy Life Riders with their flying fish.
"Robin, Scary Girl, Greedy Girl! Hurry and get on one of the flying fish, the mermaid has been kidnapped!" Franky shouted, whilst posing for some reason.
Instantly, Cherry scanned over the entire Sabaody Archipelago by pushing her Life Sense to the limit. Finding a human amongst other humans was hard, but a mermaid would stand out like a sore thumb. Her range was able to cover the entire archipelago as well, due to the fact that even the ground she stood on contained vital energy.
"What is on the grove at the edge of the archipelago in that direction?" Cherry asked one of the fish riders whilst pointing in the direction where she found Camie.
"Huh? Oh, well, that would probably be the largest slave auction house here, on Grove 1." As he spoke he realized for himself that that was the most likely place to find a mermaid being sold.
Cherry gave a quick hu to Robin before rushing towards Camie at her top speed. There wasn't a great risk in Camie being seriously harmed or killed as she was considered a valuable commodity in the slave trade.
However, if one of the World Nobles caught sight of her and decided they wanted her (and why wouldn't they), then that would complicate the rescue attempt by a great deal.
It didn't take long at all for Cherry to reach the location Camie was kept at. Rather than go through the trouble of forcing her way inside, she decided stealth was the more appropriate avenue of infiltration. She burrowed herself into the roots of the mangrove tree and snuck under the room where Camie was held prisoner.
A older man was relaxing in the holding cells for the slaves when he sensed a presence digging underneath the building with his Haki. He had shoulder length white hair and a short bear on his chin. He wore glasses and had a scar over he right eye.
He was pretty amused by the originality of it. He'd heard of a number of attempts to free a slave, but they'd never tried digging through the mangrove roots before. Of course the mangrove roots were not only quite hard, but also slick from the resin they produce, so it was natural no one would try it.
The floor inside the cell opened up, much to the surprise of the would-be slaves, except the old man of course.
A young woman in a fancy dress and hat climbed out of the hole. She wave her hands and all the dirt and resin stuck to her simply flung off of her, making a circle on the floor around her.
Many of those present recognized her quickly. She was the highest bounty on the most infamous rookie pirate crew in recent history after all.
When Camie saw her, she almost shouted her name in joy and relief, but the old man clasped a hand over her mouth to stop her.
"Don't shout. You'll draw attention to us." He whispered softly.
"Ah, sorry..." Camie realized her mistake and tried to convey her message of gratitude and hope to Cherry through her eyes.
"You shouldn't waste any time, young lady. The guards will be back very soon to get the first slave for the auction." The old man explained.
Cherry looked him over and felt he was familiar somehow. She knew she never met him before, she would have remembered meeting a monster like him.
Cherry went over to Camie first and place her hand on her collar.
"You need to get the keys for these collars, they're explosive! If you let all of us escape too, you'll have a better chance to get away yourself!" A bearded pirate with a big skull tattooed on his chest said. He seemed to have a decent head on his shoulders even though he was pitifully weak.
Cherry briefly analyzed the collar and its explosive mechanism. "Hm, I think I see how it works. Can't test it on my cute little mermaid first though can I?"
Cherry looked at the bearded pirate who spoke up before. He started to sweat nervously when she smiled at him. His relief was profound when she turned away and went to the old man instead.
The guard who was supposed to be keeping an eye on the slaves came back from the bathroom and noticed there was an extra person in the holding cell. Before he could say anything, he fell over unconscious from an invisible power.
"Maybe I don't want to be your test subject?" The old man said with a smirk.
Cherry squinted her eyes at him. She had witnessed that power before, when Chinjao had used it on her. She could tell it was a kind of Haki now that she was more experienced, but it didn't seem to fit into the two kinds she was familiar with.
Cherry didn't pay any mind to the old man and simply reached out and yanked his collar off in one swift motion. She had cut apart the collar as well as destroyed the detonator for the explosives with her devil fruit. Luckily it wasn't a sea stone collar.
"Tsk, youngsters these days..." He complained, but his smile didn't leave his face.
Tossing the pieces aside she went back to Camie and did the same for her. She considered whether to bother with the rest, but decided what the bearded man said was true enough. they wouldn't serve as a good distraction.
Cherry broke the cage apart at around the same time that the auction was getting started, and thus the guards came to get the first slaves to sell. Immediately a fight broke out between the guards and the prisoners. Although they weren't armed, they did have a giant on their side, so the odds were pretty good for them. Only Cherry, Camie, and the old man stayed behind.
"What was that Haki, old man? I've seen it before from Don Chinjao. I'm Cherry by the way." Cherry asked as she helped Camie climb onto her back.
"That's Conqueror's Haki. Only one amongst millions is able to awaken it, so don't get your hopes up. Call me Rayleigh." Rayleigh explained briefly. Despite saying that, he felt it was more likely she'd be able to obtain it than not at some point.
Cherry went to the wall adjacent to the outside and simple pushed on it, causing a small section to fall outwards.
"You coming, old man?" Cherry asked.
"No, I think I'll take the chance to steal a bit of gambling money." Rayleigh replied.
Cherry swiftly disappeared through the hole in the wall.
"I've become quite shy in my old age, haven't I?" Rayleigh spoke under his breath and chuckled.
The giant collapsed backwards, it seemed that the auctioneers had some firepower stowed away just in case they lost control of a giant. Once the giant fell, the others went down swiftly and everyone was promptly recollared.
"Damn it! Where's the mermaid, when did this hole get here?!" The auctioneer was furious at having lost his big prize. Celestial Dragons often overpaid for rare slaves like giants and mermaids.
Cherry stopped rushing once there was a fair distance between herself and the auction house. Going so fast was tough on Camie who was only as strong as a normal person.
"Phew, that was annoying. I can't believe Luffy and the others took their eyes off of you. They know that slavery is a big thing here, of course there would be people looking to kidnap you." Cherry said, annoyed.
"It's not their fault! I was the one who wandered off..." Camie defended, feeling bad for the whole thing.
"Don't worry, I'm not angry. Things turned out okay in the end." Cherry said.
"OH! It's a mermaid, a mermaid! I'm going to get a mermaid! I won't even have to pay for her!" An ugly man with a fish bowl on his head almost sang as he did a stupid dance.