Lara's POV;

“Oy, Did we miss something? Was kinda hard to find you two between all the people.” Law, Lia, the Marine kid and I turned around to look at the person who greeted us and saw the rest of my crew.

“We thought you two would wait in the front of the building but decided to look inside when you weren't there at its start,” explained Jo their lateness.

“No problem, it has just started. They only finished with the fourth 'product',” I replied and made air quotes at the end.

“It's disgusting to see that the World Government allows something like this,” growled Nojiko. She was angrily glaring at the many guards that were stationed all around the hall.

“I know right, good thing that they might not stay slaves for long.” They all looked at me and my cheeky grin.

“What have you done now? Please tell me that they can't backtrack it to us. I have seen two World Nobles sitting further inside if they get harmed and know we were responsible...,” Jo didn't finish the sentence, but the rest nodded.

“Nah, nobody will know. That is if nobody tells,” I said and looked at Law.

He raised his hands in defence and shook his head in no with a closed grin. “I'm silent, Hippocratic oath and all that.”

“Not sure it works that way. Or rather, I'm definitely sure it does not work that way,” muttered Jo, yet none of us called Law out on it.

“And? What have you done?”

“Well, they all have the explosive ring around their neck. I made it brittle and they will rip with one strong tuck. The explosive device is also no longer able to explode. There is a piston inside that ignites the explosive, well, said piston is broken and won't be able to move any longer.” Fiara, who was standing on Nojiko's shoulder began to laugh.

“So that is why you wanted to have one of them. And here I thought we would catch us one of the bad guys for experiments.” Nojiko turned her head to look at Fiara with a strange expression, as did most of the present people.

“Your Tontatta is a strange one,” commented Law.

“We blame Lia for that. She managed to convince Fiara that everyone we fight is bad and should be burned to ashes or killed in the most brutal way. Lia explained that it is a deterrent against other bad guys,” groused Nojiko while rubbing her face. Fiara was trying to comfort her while sending evil glares at the Marine kid.

It got silent for a moment and we just watched the auction proceed. The start of the auction was relatively boring. They showed groups of human that could be used for work or lone humans that were skilled at one or another job. Like one that was once an accountant or a secretary. They all were sold for relatively little money. Starting bid was at least 500.000 and went up from there.

“And here is one of our special treats today. Number 14, a rare catch right from the New World. Her kind is rare even there and we got one for you today!” The people awed and clapped while two guards pulled a woman onto the stage.

“She is a 21-year-old Mink of the fox tribe. Her fur is smooth and black in colour, her body is slim and at the height of 173 centimetres. You can see the wildness in those brown eyes. She may not be trained, but we all know that training them is the most fun. We're starting a little bit higher than normal. A beauty such as her is worth the money.

Let's start with 800.000, do I see 825?”

“Boss,” growled Bepo. His fur was bristling and he radiated a rather dangerous aura for a fluffy bear.

“I know what you want, but we haven't signed in to buy anything. I don't have a plate,” replied Law apologetically.

“He hasn't, but we do,” I said and raised my plate. “3 million!” It was three hundred thousand higher than the last bid. Again it had the effect of stopping the rush of bidders. But this time there were quite a few more who wanted to have the same as I do.

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“3 million and one hundred thousand!” Shouted one of those. Someone else quickly overbid him and that one was too.

“Lia,” I said and raised my hand again. “3,5 Million.” I could see how the former bidders were struggling with something and opening their mouth to shout, but none of them was able. Lia was putting pressure on their hands and body so that they couldn't raise their plate and I was stopping the sound from travelling away from their bodies.

The auctioneer couldn't see that from his position on the stage and call for any more raises, when none came I was announced as the buyer.

A man came rather quickly to get the money and a moment later the Mink woman was delivered. Her fur was lustre and looked really silky. It was also raised and bristled in anger.

She spotted Bepo and her eyes were pleading him to do something. Bepo looked back with a heartbroken expression, showing her that he wasn't able to do anything.

“My name is Lara, yours was Inari wasn't it?” I asked calmly, the crew was waiting for me to do my thing. None of them expected me to keep her as a slave, and I didn't.

“Yes Mistress, what can I do for you?” Her tone was soft, even with the hate-filled growl underlining every word.

“You have two or three options. First, we can free you and you can go your way. Then we could free you and bring you back to your home, which will take some time as we wouldn't sail there directly. And thirdly, the one I hope you really consider is that we free you and you become part of my crew.” Bepo was bowing low to me in thanks for what I was offering to one of his people.

Her fur matted down somewhat and her tail started to wag a little. “You'd free me from this cursed ring?” She asked and pointed at the explosive device. I nodded.

For a moment she was silent and thought about the offer, then she got on one knee and bowed to me. “I would like to join your crew and help you throughout your journey. My name is Inari of the Fox tribe. I was trained by Master Nekomamushi in the art of silent assassination and left Zou on my 18th birthday. Please accept me under you, Mistress Lara.”

“No need to be this formal,” I said and quickly disarmed and unlocked her collar. I may not have the key right now, but I did have the [Lock Picking] skill on LV 10, that made more than up for the lack of any key.

“I have to Mistress Lara, my code of honour forbids me from being anything else than respectful to the one that saved my life.” I sighed, patted her head and introduced the rest of the crew. Her fur was soft.

“Hey aren't those the Kage Pirates?” Asked suddenly someone from the entrance. We turned and saw Nami, Sanji, Franky, Chopper, Hatchan and a sea star that speaks.

Nojiko was the first to react, she smiled at her sister and jumped at her for a hug, only to notice the bad aura around the Straw Hat crew. “This might become interesting,” muttered Law from next to me.

“What is wrong Na-chan?” Questioned Nojiko concerned.

“A friend of ours got kidnapped and will be sold,” Nojiko's head snapped back to me faster than what I thought to be possible.

“How many do you have left from your shopping trip?” I went over the money we should have left after buying the three fruits and answered. “122 Million.”

“What did you buy that costs more than 500 million?” Screeched Nojiko, Nami looked at me with bug eyes. Not believing that I spent so much money.

“Three Devil Fruits, two of them have the concept of being stronger than Lia's or mine,” I answered swiftly. Jo sucked in a deep breath in shock, next to Lia and me he has the most understanding of the potential danger of our fruits.

“But still, over 600 Million spent on three fruits, Argh!” She punched the wall and made a large hole. Good that I have muted the sound around us or else we would have been in trouble for the damage.

“Nojiko, we couldn't have known that we need the money. And it's not as if we are poor as well. We too have money worth over 200 Million,” reassured Nami with a thankful smile.

“Guys, they bring Kamy out,” shouted Franky suddenly. I dropped the sound barrier, loud excited chattering reached us again and it was obvious that the whole hall was hyped for Kamy.

“A young mermaid, Kamy is her name, a rare beauty,” started the auctioneer. He was just about to call the starting bid when suddenly someone shouted loudly his own starting price.

“500 Million!” The whole hall was silent and turned to get a look at the person with so much money. It was a World Noble. The two we have seen before were next to him, so I gave him the same treatment.

“Lara, bid more, we have the money on our ship,” urged Nojiko. The Straw Hats were looking at us wide-eyed.

“I can't,” I stated. It was the truth, bidding against him would be bad. I'm still not a true Warlord, I have to first go to Marine HQ for that.

“But we can't allow them to take a friend of Nami,” argued Nojiko.

“Nojiko, Lara is right. Bidding against the World Nobles is bad. They can make your life hell, order your death even. Lara can't risk you or her crew for someone she does not know,” explained Sanji with an emotionless voice. He looked angry and his hands were shaking.

“But we do have to do something, I will go down there myself and save her!” Declared Hatchan before being held back by Chopper and the sea star. They counter-argued that Kamy still had the explosive collar and that she would die if we save her without the key.

“Isn't there something we can do?” Asked Noa, he didn't like the situation as well.

“There is, just not now. We have to wait for the auction to end, then we can try to save her. Inside this building, it would be too open, too obvious that we did it. Once they are on their way back we can try to get her back,” I assured them. Nojiko breathed out in relieve and the Straw Hats looked less tense as well.

It might have worked if there wouldn't have been a stupid rubber man falling through the ceiling.