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.