"That bastard." Katya spat as she was led into the cells behind the auction house. Garkin would pay for this. The cells were not crowded, but that was because most of the space was taken up by a giant. There were a few other people sat in the shadows.

"Hey, give me the neck ring! I'll put this on her." Disco, the owner of the auction house, was nearby, holding up a collar above a young mermaid with green hair. "Make sure to hold her down!"

"A mermaid..." Katya breathed out. She'd only seen a few in her lifetime. She'd been to the New World once for a show, and had gone very briefly through Fishman Island. She'd gotten food poisoning on the way, so the journey had been mostly spent for her retching over a toilet.

"No!" The mermaid cried and Disco laughed. All of a sudden, a wave of energy shook through the cells.

"Such power..." Katya gasped. It was a struggle for her to stay conscious, and she began to feel rather nauseated, but she managed to stay upright.

"Disco-san!" The slavers cried and rushed over to the now collapsed man. "Someone get a doctor!"

Katya, already in cuffs, shook off her guards and rushed forward to the mermaid. "Shhhh, it's okay. What's your name?"

"C-Caimie."

"I'm Katya. Don't worry; we're going to be alright." The lie slipped through her teeth. "I'll stay with you as long as I can."

"Get in your cells!"

The two were put next to each other beside the giant. Katya thought there was someone else on the other side, but she couldn't see them behind the giant's bulk. She held the young mermaid's hands and occasionally wiped her tears as the auction began. She held onto her necklace. She had to rely on herself. As soon as she could, she'd get away. Hopefully, she could take this poor young mermaid with her.

"I'm still not sure about this, Captain." Shachi said nervously as the four Heart Pirates made their way into the Grove 1 Auction Hall the next morning.

"We're here for intel, Shachi-ya." Law replied. The man was grouchy. The incident with the concert had left him in a foul mood, but watching X Drake fighting with the other Supernovas had cheered him up considerably. Watching his rivals fight each other was top quality entertainment. The human auction, however, was less entertaining. Law had insisted the others make sure that the ship was ready for departure, so only Shachi, Penguin and Bepo had accompanied him.

"Aaaaand next up, we have a lovely family of four. Hard workers, in fit shape for any manual labour needs. Do I hear 3 million Beri?" Disco's voice echoed through the Grove 1 Auction House.

Law crossed his arms. This auction was taking a long time, and still no information about Joker.

A loud cry came from backstage, making Law's ears perk up. Clearly a slave that wasn't happy about being sold. The cries were cut off by what sounded like a loud thwack and a groan.

"Apologies for that, everyone." Disco said cheerfully. "One of our lovely items decided that she didn't like being a special item!"

"Special item..." Penguin murmured. The crowd also began murmuring about what kind of person it was.

"Bring her out now!" A whiny voice demanded.

"Yeah, we want to see the special item!" Another voice cried out.

"Well, we were planning to auction her off later in the show before our highlight piece of a mermaid, but I'm such a people pleaser," Disco winked at the audience. "I just can't say no to you all!"

A woman was dragged onto the stage and Shachi and Penguin gasped.

"KATYA-CHAN!" Bepo cried out.

The singer looked incredibly worse for wear, a large swelling around her jaw which had clearly been made by someone with a rather strong right hook, Law deduced. His blood began to boil. He may have a complicated history with the woman, but no-one deserved the fate of becoming a slave.

"Item number 18 today is this stunning woman, excellent singing voice-"

"Suck my dick, Disco." Katya snapped at him angrily. Two attendants ran forward and forced a hand over her mouth. Law had to smile slightly at her sheer nerve of talking back.

"She's feisty and will provide great entertainment. Furthermore, the reason she is a more special item! She has a Devil Fruit that will..." Disco paused and held a hand up to his ear. "Hm?"

Bepo sniffed. "A Devil Fruit?"

Shachi and Penguin nodded. "She said she'd not had it long."

"What was it?"

"She didn't actually say, come to think of it." Shachi said.

"Ah, apologies, everyone," Disco said after a moment. "It seems that our wonderful patron Joker himself has decided to take this lovely item."

Law's eyes narrowed. What could Joker possibly want with her? Shachi and Penguin gasped loudly.

"I'm not for sale! You can tell Joker that he can't have me and he can honestly suck-" Katya had bitten the man's hand and spoken briefly. The rest was cut off by someone slapping a gag in between the woman's teeth. The guards dragged her off the stage but despite the fact Katya was cuffed in kairoseki shackles and a shock collar, she was doing a pretty impressive job of kicking and slapping them as she went.

"We now move on to our next item.."

"What is Kat-chan doing here?" A voice from behind Law muttered. He spun around and looked in the direction of the voice.

"No idea," Eustass 'Captain' Kid was hissing to his first mate, Killer. "But no-one runs out on me and avoids payback."

Killer tutted. "You need to give that up, Kid."

Law gritted his teeth as the next few items were brought out. Bepo was clearly in distress at Katya being taken away, but they knew there was nothing that could be done for the moment, lest they bring an Admiral down on their heads.

"Thank you for your patience! Just have a look at this!" Disco called out, pulling down the sheet covered a large fish tank. "Straight from Fishman Island, Caimie the mermaid!"

"Mmm! Mm!" Katya struggled as the guards backstage tried to hold her down.

"Shut up, bitch!" A guard hit her in the gut.

"Oi!" Another guard pulled the other back. "Do you even know how valuable she is now? If Joker wants her himself, then she has to be in the best conditi-"

CRASH!

A huge boom echoed around the room and bits of rubble fell down all over the place. The two guards holding Katya were knocked to the ground.

What the? She thought. Was there an earthquake? She got up and stumbled towards the side of the stage. Her head was fuzzy, but she heard a gunshot. She lifted her head and saw the mermaid, Caimie, banging her fists against a large fish bowl.

"Are you looking at me?" A whiny voice said. "Youuu're annoying!"

Then Katya watched as Straw Hat Luffy punched a Celestial Dragon square in the face.