The Straw Hats make landfall at San Faldo around noon on the second day after Karmen went missing. The team split up to search the city more effectively. They wore gray cloaks and Robin secured masks for everyone. Usopp used his Sogeking mask. Sanji, Nami, and Zoro anchor Sunny around the island from the main harbor so the local law enforcement isn't alerted. When the ship is set, Sanji and Nami prepare to go down to release mini-Merry. Zoro strips off his shirt, jumps overboard, and begins swimming to shore.
Sanji sighs as he lights a cigarette. "Impatient bastard." He notices something in the pile Zoro had left and picks it up. Nami grabs his sleeve and drags him into the boat, nearly causing him to drop his cigarette. He slips the object into his pocket as they race towards the docks to aid the search.
Zoro runs down every street, stopping to look at every dark curly head and every flash of red. He tries his hardest to ignore the pain running throughout his entire body, but it's hard. He curses, despite himself. He had promised he'd get there. Being near death from some floating paw print wasn't going to stop him. What was the name she had used? Gavendav? Dowenwell? There had been a Willow in there somewhere. Why did nobles have to have multiple fancy names? Nami's was easy to remember. She only had one. And what was with this city anyways? Everyone's wearing a costume and a mask and there's all these floats and fancy decorations. If he wasn't so worried he'd stop for a drink in a place like this. He makes up his mind to talk to the first normal looking people he finds.
He turns the corner and sees a group of men in black suits and fedoras standing in a circle, talking amongst themselves. He slides to a stop and approaches them. "Excuse me," he says, catching his breath. "Could you fella's help me find someone? She's a girl about this high," he holds slightly below shoulder level. "She's got brown eyes, dark hair, goes by the name Valentine W. Karmen?" The men shake their heads. "What about Gallo… David... You know. The DavenGallow wine people."
"Gallowcomb and Davenwell?" One of the larger men asks, turning to face the swordsman.
"That's what it was." How had he gotten them so confused?
"The Gallowcomb girl's name is Karmen," one of the other men says, flanking his friend's right side.
"Said she's been on the run from assassins for two years," said another, flanking the larger man's left side.
"Maybe he's one of Baldwin's guys," another man says. By now the rest of the men had started moving and Zoro knew when he was being surrounded for an attack. His forehead vein was beginning to pop out over his closed eyes. He casually rests his hand on his swords.
"This guy doesn't look like one for wedding bells, if you ask me."
"There isn't going to be any wedding," Zoro snarls. "I'm getting her out of there."
"You aren't getting anywhere near Mr. Itluk's manor." The big man grins down at him. "If I'm not mistaken, you're Roronoa Zoro, the Pirate Hunter. You did a number on our guys down at Enies Lobby. What do you say we get or buddies a little revenge?" The men around him chuckle and draw their guns, swords, and whatever weapons they carry.
"I promised my friend that I wouldn't get too delayed. I don't have time to stand around playing with you." He draws his swords and takes a deep breath. This was going to hurt. He performs a Dragon Twister, sending the men flying in all directions. The motion leaves him staggering and takes the air out of him. He leans against the wall and takes gasping, ragged breaths until the pain subsides. "How can I be this weak when she's counting on me?" he berates himself, pounding his fist against the brick before sheathing his swords. Despite his state, the wall still cracks under his frustrated assault.
All he can think about is the day he rescued her from her mother's bounty hunter, seeing the terror-stricken look in her eye as she lay sewn to herself and how she had shaken like a soaked puppy in his arms as he carried her back. How that emotionless look on her face reminded him of trauma victims of people he'd seen while bounty hunting. It was the look of a person who had witnessed countless horrors in their lives and lived too afraid to tell anyone about it, or too dead inside because how could anyone ever fix it? He had told this to Luffy that night, and Luffy had nodded along, saying he'd noticed that something was off about how she'd been behaving and had decided to wait until she felt comfortable talking about it. He hadn't been sure she was, but when he found her in the workout room beating weights against the wall and sobbing, he realized she needed to talk about it. She would explode otherwise. She had whispered in her sleep as he carried her to her bed and clung to the bandana on his arm briefly before settling in for the night. How when she finally had told them the truth, her past trauma made her think they would abandon her at the drop of a hat because she was being hunted and how that made him want to tear down anything that stood in her way.
She had gotten so jumpy lately, barely able to stand still for thirty seconds. It made him want to cut something. Anything, so long as she would give a smile that wasn't covering years of pain. He thought about this Pierce person. From what he had been told he had been one of the only people she could ever truly rely on and he knew it terrified her to no end to even think about the possibility of losing him for good. Karmen is not the vulnerable type by far. She has a Luffy like quality about her that makes her want to face danger head on and wits to match Nami's. But underneath all this is that fractured part of her that steals her fighting spirit in the presence of these people. He thinks of her, as fragile as a glass flower when it comes to her family, but with a resilient strength that he can only hope to match someday. He won't let them shatter that part of her. Not when he had spent so many weeks watching her put herself back together. Itluk manor, they had said. Now all he has to do is find someone to ask for directions.
Luffy decides he can't find anything by running around the streets, so he uses a flagpole to launch himself onto the peak of a parade float shaped like a sea king. He grins and laughs. "This place is great! What kind of food do nobles eat, anyway?" He sniffs the air and looks between a large building on a cliff and the market place. "This one first!" He jumps towards the closer market, sitting on top of a gazebo and pinching food when the store owners aren't looking.
Usopp and Chopper sigh together as they decide it's a lost cause to continue looking for the captain. The reindeer crinkles his nose at all the glue in the parade floats and masks and exotic spices. Everyone has their faces covered and there's even people on stilts. She could walk right past them and they wouldn't even know. "Where could she be? This place is huge."
"I'm not sure," Usopp admits. "We should move carefully, though. Everything Karmen said about her family and their men makes me think we'd better avoid them."
Luffy comes running down the street, meat in hand and a grin on his face. "Hey! There you are!" Bullets bounce into him and get flung back in the direction they'd come. The crowd parts as he runs through, bringing with him fifteen government agents. "I found a guy who said he knew where Karmen was but he got knocked out."
"I guess he had friends," Chopper says.
"Let's run away," Usopp responds. They begin running as Luffy intercepts them. "Why didn't you lose them first?"
He chuckles. "If I kick their butts they won't be able to tell us where Karmen is."
Usopp grits his teeth. "I feel like I'm going to regret saying this, but we should get them to tell us. Help me, Sogeking!" He pulls down his festival mask and they all slide to a halt. He remembers speaking to Karmen when she had woken up after Enies Lobby. Sogeking had always been a part of him. He'd help rescue her and show her the man she knew he was. That will get him a step closer to being a brave warrior of the sea and help him return triumphantly to Kaya. He remembers how hard she worked back on Gekko Island. She would collapse into bed every night, sometimes too exhausted to even change clothes before passing out. She had screamed so frightfully in her sleep that first month. He feels that if he doesn't get to her soon, fresh nightmares will keep her awake at night.
"We don't have time to run," Chopper agrees. Zoro had said that they would try to force her into a wedding and she would bite through her tongue and drown on her own blood. He remembers when they first met and she had insisted on being his friend even though he had still been wary of humans and how much she valued his opinion when she made her poisons. How in Alabasta she had suffered through the pain of sunblade and deadbolt because she didn't want anyone to find the ring she had clutched so tightly in her paralyzed fist. There was immense trauma there. He wouldn't stand by anyone creating any more. They relied on each other and she was relying on them now. If they want to find her alive they have to be on the offensive. It was his job as a doctor to reduce suffering, and if he had to beat up a few thugs to do that, so be it.
When it came right down to the meat of it, no one left the crew without the captain's permission, under duress or otherwise. That alone was reason enough to go after Karmen. Luffy holds his hat to his head as he slides to a halt and cracks his knuckles. He is getting tired of people trying to take his crew. "Let's find our friend."
Robin, Brook, and Franky make slow progression up the streets, watching and listening for any information that will lead them to the missing secretary. He'd begun to consider Karmen as part of his extended family, which meant Pierce was pseudo extended family. He took a threat to either of them personally, so no little sister of his was getting married without his approval. When it came to Baldwin, he super didn't approve. "I can't wait to punch lover boy's lights out," Franky says, rubbing his hands together at the thought of getting rid of Karmen's supposed fiancé.
"Yohohoho! That is if I don't run him through first," Brook comments. "Either way I'll be sure to compose a triumphant ballad afterwards." He's only known Karmen for a few days but her whole home life situation infuriates him. He won't let anyone stand between her and her promise. All that aside, she had a way of simply appearing in the area when he began playing his violin. He couldn't let someone who appreciated good music as much as she did vanish like the dead.
Robin's face remains serious. "I'm sure she'd appreciate your enthusiasm, but we should probably not talk about this in public." They walk by a pub and Robin gets an idea. "Wait here." She walks in and lifts her mask to her forehead, sliding into the bar next to a drunk man and orders a drink. He grins at her red-faced and looks her over, seeming to like what he sees, especially when she slides her order over to him. "Is there anything interesting happening around town?" she asks in a sultry voice.
"Some rich lady is getting hitched tomorrow," he says with a shrug before downing the drink in a single shot. "The whole Itluk Manor is in a hubbub getting ready for it. All these fancy people showed up yesterday and they've been having a big party."
Robin smiles and orders the man another drink. "That sounds like fun. I bet a place like that has to have a lot of security."
"Do they ever," the man says, grinning as the bartender finishes the pour. "The guy's some big wig politician, so he's got a lot of security on a normal day, but they brought in all these government guys for the wedding. Something about making sure it's official and all that." His words start to slur. "And the bride's family. They brought their own security team. A lot of snipers and bounty hunters I was told."
She puts a hand on top of the glass before he can down this one. Karmen had come for her when she could have ran and they do think so alike. Robin wasn't going to let her run off on her own now without an explanation no matter who was behind it. Girls like them had to help each other evade capture, after all. "Where would I go if I wanted to join in on the fun?"
Nami and Sanji walk casually down the street. It didn't take them long to find a good vantage point and spot the biggest building for miles that had banquet decorations on the lawn. Being a cat burglar, Nami can't help but think of all the marks that have gathered there and all the money and jewelry she could steal. Despite this her mind keeps wandering back to Karmen. Last night had been sleepless without her original roommate. She wondered what Karmen did on all the nights she had lay awake and kept looking at her unused bed. "Do you think she's ok?" she asks, seemingly worried. Her balled fist shakes slightly. "She's been there for two days now."
"Karmen's a smart woman," Sanji says, pulling his hands from his pockets and pushing his mask up slightly to smoke. Karmen had proven a bit of a challenge to get to know, but once she had begun to open up he had understood why. Especially being from the North Blue, some things were best approached with caution. "She knew what she was doing when she left us that message, so she has to have some sort of a plan." He gets his pervy face as he imagines his arrival to the manor. "I wonder if her plan is to be swept off her feet by me and carried to safety. I'll protect you, Karmen!" He skips slightly, imagining carrying her off into the sunset.
"Yeah right." Nami closes her eyes in annoyance but decides not to hit him. "She's probably poisoned everyone in the building and will meet us before we get halfway there." Neither of them believe she's going to come waltzing down the street. Karmen had related her family to Arlong, and anyone with that kind of hold over a person doesn't let them go willingly. "She's all alone up there with terrible people. I can't imagine what she's going through." She grits her teeth and places a hand on her folded clima tact. It's obvious now that Nami is more angry than worried or scared. "I'll electrocute everyone who lays a single hand on her!"
"I agree except for the fact that she's not alone," Sanji says, putting his hands in his pockets. "We're right here."
By mid-afternoon, the entire crew is headed towards Itluk Manor, except Zoro who's taken a wrong turn and is heading towards the opposite side of town.