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.