Cherry thought that the auction was turning out to be a terribly dull affair. She figured there would be useless things like rare artwork of dubious origins, but not that MOST of the things for sale would be like that.
She did buy an old stone tablet with ancient writing on it for a cool 11 Million Beri, thinking Robin might be interested in reading it, but that was the extent of her interest in these particular items.
""This is so boring! Bring out the good stuff already!"" Franky and Cherry shouted in unison.
Their commotion seemed to be a trigger for other complaints throughout the room. It would seem they weren't alone in thinking all this useless junk was worthless.
The auctioneer smiled politely at the interruption, as this was a common occurrence in underworld auctions. "Very well. Let us move on to today's primary lots."
He signaled the workers backstage to bring the next item in. "This next item is a Fine Grade Meito by the name of 'Whisper on Dead Lips', it was forged in the year-"
The auctioneer continued the auction, now bringing out items which caused the attendees to stir. Cherry and Franky sat on the edge of their seats in anticipation for their target items.
A large cart with a cloth draped over it was brought on stage. "We have a few special lots for you to consider purchasing today. The first of which is this!"
He pulled off the cloth dramatically, revealing stacks of wood. "Here we have the worlds strongest wood, from the famous Treasure Tree Adam! Bidding starts at-"
"200 MILLION BERI!!!" A shout rang out. Naturally this was Franky.
His voice was so loud and sudden that many of the other people here jumped in fight.
"Are you sure you want to just go all in right away?" Cherry asked, bemused.
"If you want something badly, you shouldn't hold back! This way others will be scared off too!" Franky said. There was certainly a kind of logic to it.
The auctioneer asked if there were any other bidders. When none rose to the challenge, he announced that the item was sold.
Franky was quite pleased with himself and Cherry admired his decisiveness.
The next item was unique, but of little interest to Cherry or the now destitute Franky.
"Finally, we have our last item for this auction. Naturally we have saved the best for last." The auctioneer announced, as a small cart was wheeled on stage.
With a flourish, he pulled the cloth off of the final lot of the day. "Behold! The infamous Devil Fruit!"
*gasps and murmurs throughout the audience*
The Devil Fruit appeared as a bunch of grapes of a golden color and its stem was like a pair of curling horns.
"Our research into this particular Devil Fruit has sadly not been very fruitful." He paused for laughter that didn't come.
"Ahem. What we have learned is that this fruit has appeared for at least 300 years. It should be some model of the Bleat Bleat Fruit, which is a Zoan type that turns the user into some manner of goat or sheep." He said.
Cherry glanced at Cabernet and found her boring a hole in her head with her pleading gaze.
"Damn it..." Cherry cursed her luck, but she couldn't deny Cabernet.
"We'll start the bidding at-" The auctioneer started.
"200 MILLION BERI!!!" A shout rang out for the second time this evening, although from a different location this time.
Cherry turned her focus onto the culprit, sizing him up with her Life Sense. The man was, for lack of a better term, a mess. There was some vague resemblance of a Zoan fruit inscription within him, but it was incredibly sloppy.
To compare it with a genuine Zoan fruit would be like comparing a masterpiece work of art with a child's imitation.
In other words, he was a loser and Cherry disregarded him.
"400 Million Beri." Cherry spoke softly, but it was heard clearly within the silence the previous bid had created.
"Geh?!" A pained groan from the other bidder. After a moment difficult decision making no doubt, he muttered a new bid. "420 Mill-"
"500 Million Beri." Cherry's voice cut him off.
Cherry could sense the man's agitation. His heart beating out of his chest. However, it seemed more out of primal fear than frustration with her, though that was certainly present as well.
No more voices spoke up within the auction house. The auctioneer began the countdown whilst Franky looked at Cherry with approval in his eyes.
"Sold! To the decisive lady in box number 4!" The auctioneer's smile was much more genuine than it had been at the start of the auction. He was quite happy with the profits he'd pulled in this time around.
"Since you said you were a blacksmith, I'd thought you were looking for materials like I was. I didn't expect you'd buy a Devil Fruit." Franky said, as they waited to retrieve their items.
"Well, you could say it was fate." Cherry said mysteriously.
...
"That bitch! She's ruined me!" Tremis shouted in the Alley.
"Sir, why don't we just steal the Devil Fruit from her?" One of his subordinates asked.
"We don't know how good she is. Kaido is going to kill me for this failure, it was my last chance..." Tremis despaired.
"If you're dead anyway you might as well take the risk! You've got nothing to lose and who knows, maybe she'll tremble and give up when you tell her we're in the Beast Pirates!" A particularly peppy goon tried to motivate him.
"Y- you're right! I'm a Gifter of the Beast Pirates! She wouldn't dare go against us!" Tremis said.
They prepared to ambush Cherry when she left the auction house.
...
Cherry received the Devil Fruit she purchased and Franky received his lumber, then they left the auction house and went to find a place to stay the night.
They were stopped a ways away from the auction house when some shady individuals came out of hiding in front of them, while others blacked the way back.
Cherry had already noticed them of course, but she was curious and confident in her ability to deal with whatever comes.
"Well well well, look what we have here. You should have just let me buy the Devil Fruit, now you'll be handing it over to me free of charge. Unless you want to get on the wrong side of the Beast Pirates?" A man stepped forward arrogantly.
He had two extra, fluffy ears above his human ears and a pair of fake horns above those. His back was severely hunched, but didn't seem uncomfortable or inconvenient to him.
"Beast Pirates?!" Franky shouted in alarm.
"Calm down, friend. They might be lying and even if they aren't, they can't go mouthing about us if they're dead." Cherry spoke ominously.
These words calmed Franky's panic somewhat, while at the same time made poor Tremis the Camel Gifter lose his previous confidence. 'Maybe I made a huge mistake?!'
"She's bluffing, Sir Tremis! There's no one in the world that isn't afraid of our Beast Pirates!" His subordinate said, causing his morale to boost up once again.
"Right! Hand over the Devil Fruit or die like a dog!" He shouted.
"The only one dying here is you! Emperor of the Sea or not, pirate scum are only pirate scum!" Franky literally launched his fist at the Camel man, a chain the only thing connecting it to his arm.
'What the hell? Why is his body like this? It'd be one thing if it was the work of a Devil Fruit, but that clearly isn't it.' Cherry was surprised by the sudden development.
*CLANG*
The sound of Franky's metal fist slamming against something hard was heard.
Franky reeled his fist back in, shocked to see he hadn't done any damage whatsoever.
'Armament Haki, pretty decent at it too.' Cherry observed silently. 'Maybe this'll be more interesting than I had thought.'