Chapter 34: Dodging Destiny
"Oh, Cherry! I was just trying this 'lunchbox' from Luffy here." Dorry greeted.
'Luffy' was looking at Cabernet with interest, but he was fortunately preoccupied with gorging himself with undercooked dinosaur meat.
The princess' already nervous demeanor became worse when she recognised Cherry. It wasn't hard to do since Cherry was dressed the same, minus the jack-o-lantern mask.
"And what should I call you by, miss?" Cherry asked, as she only knew her as 'princess' and 'Miss Wednesday'. Both of which could potentially cause the young woman problems given her sensitive circumstances.
The princess seemed to understand her meaning. "Vivi."
The group chatted for a while, though Cherry remained mostly silent. Cabernet was bursting with curiosity and questions she couldn't ask.
The central volcano erupted, signalling the start of Dorry and Brogy's century long duel.
Vivi started to fuss over the "pointless" fight the reason for which they no longer remembered, but Luffy covered her mouth to stop her.
""It's not about that anymore."" Cherry and Luffy spoke simultaneously.
"Yes, it's about pride now..." Dorry said as he faced the approaching Brogy.
Meanwhile Cherry was cursing at herself as she felt a thread of fate latch onto her and Cabernet was doing her best to stifle her laughter.
'Calm down, it's just one thread. No big deal. Worse case scenario, I can still forcefully sever it.' Cherry assured herself.
Vivi, Luffy, and even the oversized duck were awestruck by the two giants' battle.
'Hm?' Cherry spotted one of the new arrivals approach the giants and then retreat. 'What's this about?'
The duel finished, a tie naturally. Cherry overheard Brogy speaking about his own guests and that they shared their rum with him. After giving Dorry a few barrels, they parted ways and returned to their camps.
Dorry mentioned Brogy's guests and Luffy said they must be his crewmates.
Dorry picked up a barrel and Cherry spoke up. "Don't drink that one, Dorry."
"Oh, did you want some too, Cherry?" He asked.
"No. That barrel has been tampered with." Cherry said seriously. She felt the distinct energy of a devil fruit from the barrel.
Dorry's face twisted and his eyes shifted to the other two humans.
Vivi shook underneath the giant's gaze, but Luffy did not. "My friends wouldn't do that!" He defended with a shout.
Cherry felt the thread of fate between them snap and she inwardly celebrated.
"How many friends did you bring to this island then?" Cherry inquired.
Luffy looked confused, but started counting.
"Vivi, Karoo..." He pointed at Vivi and the duck, then started listing names on his fingers. "Sanji, Zoro, Usopp, and Nami. I brought six!"
"I see. Well by my count, there 10 new humans on Little Garden. That leaves 4 unaccounted for." Cherry stated.
Dorry tossed the barrel in his hand away. When it hit the ground, it exploded in a firey blast.
...
Mr. 5 clicked his tongue and slipped away under the cover of the jungle with Miss Valentine.
They arrived at a small, white house made of wax and went inside.
"Mr. 3, there was another woman with the Blue Ogre Dorry. She figured out the rum barrel was tampered with and warned him." Mr. 5 reported.
"Hm? What did she look like?" Mr. 3 asked.
Mr. 5 described Cherry's appearance while Mr. 3 listened. Mr. 3 brought out a sketch made by the unluckies.
"I think we've found our runaway Miss Halloween who caused all that trouble a year ago. This complicates things, but also presents a new opportunity. If I- ahem, WE catch her, Mr. 0 will be very pleased." Mr. 3 smiled as he sipped his tea.
Miss Golden Week munched on crackers while Mr. 3 laid out his new plan of action.
The distant rumbling of a volcanic eruption sounded out and the 4 agents of Baroque Works went to carry out their nefarious plot.
...
Cherry pondered about how to deal with this situation. The intruders were the scheming type, so they wouldn't give the giants an opportunity to face them directly. She didn't know if this Luffy and his crew were capable enough to handle these miscreants themselves.
If she got further involved she would leave a bigger impression on Luffy, which increased the chances of getting mixed up in his destiny.
In Cherry's opinion, the best impression you can make on a child of destiny is no impression at all.
After the second eruption of the day, Dorry and Brogy went to meet for their next duel and the 4 strangers huddling together also started to move.
Two of the devil fruit users were heading towards the volcanoes, while the remaining devil fruit user and other human went towards Brogy's camp.
The latter pair ran into one of the wandering members of Luffy's crew and managed to apprehend them, then continued onward to ambush the two crew members at Brogy's camp.
'How are they so unaware of their surroundings?!' Cherry pulled her hair in frustration. 'The island is crawling with ancient predators! Pay attention, damn it!'
Dorry and Brogy just finished up their fight when the central volcano erupted once again.
'That's odd. No, wait...' Cherry realized something. 'So that's their plan. Blow up the volcano whenever Brogy and Dorry finish fighting to wear them down, then swoop in.'
Cherry decided to give a hint to Luffy and Vivi. "That's very strange. The volcano has never erupted so close together, at least for the year I've been here."
She could almost see the cogs turning in in Vivi's head. Luffy didn't get the hint at all.
A look of horror dawned on Vivi's face. "Luffy! It must be Mr. 5! That's why the rum barrel exploded! He must be causing the volcano to erupt to weaken Dorry and Brogy!"
Luffy was outraged and wanted to rush off to the volcano, but Vivi stopped him. "Don't be so rash, we should warn Brogy and Dorry first, then bring your crew together."
The volcano erupted again triggering the 4th fight of the day, the giants were visibly tired from their evenly matched battles.
Luffy and Vivi rushed towards the battling giants to stop them, while Cherry followed a bit behind them with cabernet in tow.
"Will I get to fight?!" Cabernet asked with stars in her eyes.
"I sure hope not." Cherry said, earning a pout from Cabernet.
...
Luffy and Vivi arrived at their destination just in time to see Brogy and Dorry both slip on a white substance and cleave each other across the chest with their weapons.
When they fell to the ground, the same white substance rose up and trapped their limbs in huge cuffs.
"Giant Candle Service Set!" A voice shouted.
From behind the giants' bodies, a strange and enormous candle took shape. A red haired woman, a green haired man, and a long nosed man were standing on the bottom platform with their feet trapped. The oversized top of the candle started to spin and rain down flakes of wax on the trapped people.
"Nami, Zoro, Usopp! Dorry, Brogy!" Luffy shouted angrily.
The candle man who had started monologuing about his sick artistic ideals turned towards his interloper.
"Oh my, if it isn't Straw Hat and Princess Vivi. You're just in time, all according to my plans." He said with a smug look.
"Mr. 3?! Be careful Luffy, he's on a different level than Mr. 5!" Vivi said, bringing out her spinning blades and mounting Karoo.
"Watch out, Luffy! He'll try to trap your limbs!" Shouted the long nose man.
Luffy charged forward and Mr. 3 launched his wax at his legs. Luffy narrowly dodged and stretched his arms far behind him shouting "Gum Gum Bazooka!" He thrust his arms forward with a decent amount of force, only to be blocked by a wall of wax.
"My wax is as hard as iron, you won't break it that easily!" Said Mr. 3.
While Luffy and Mr. 3 traded blows, Vivi went after Miss Golden Week, a younger girl with red pigtails. She was stopped with a sudden explosion, however, as Mr. 5 and Miss Valentine revealed themselves.
"""Vivi!""" The group shouted.
'These people really do like to shout each others names huh?' Cherry thought on the sidelines.
Things weren't looking good, at this rate she might make a bad impression instead. That's even worse than a good impression.
"Cabernet, go save those idiots on the candle, then free Dorry and Brogy. Use your flames to melt the wax. I'll hold off the explosive freak and the umbrella bitch so Vivi doesn't die." Cherry sighed.
Chapter 35: Anticlimactic
Cabernet launched herself towards the giant candle, laughing maniacally like a villain.
At this point Luffy figured out he could use Mr. 3's candle lock technique against him, breaking through his defenses.
However, he got caught off guard when Miss Golden Week laid a trap for him with her strange hypnotic paints, causing him to lose interest in saving his friends.
"Color Trap: Betrayal Black." She stated lazily.
Cabernet landed on the candle platform from above next to the long nosed man, Usopp.
Usopp screamed in terror. "It's a demon, save meeeeee!"
Cabernet grabbed him by his shoulder straps and lifted him out of the wax she melted with her feet.
"What's a demon? Is it cool?" She asked with a sparkle in her eyes. Though it would seem more like sarcasm with a murderous glint in her eyes to an observer that wasn't used to her.
Usopp fainted from fear while Cabernet tilted her head in confusion. She put him down gently and moved onto the green haired swordsman, Zoro.
"Why do you have three swords? Do you hold one with your mouth?" She asked him, pulling him out of the melting wax by his shoulders.
Cherry overhead this as she reached Vivi's side and muttered. "There's no way that's true. They probably have unique properties and he switches between them based on the circumstances."
"Yeah. I use the three sword style." Zoro said as he drew the swords, placing the white sword in his teeth.
"What have I gotten myself into..." Cherry groaned.
Mr. 3 noticed Cabernet's interference after Usopp screamed, but when he was about to intervene, he paused. He was sure this woman was familiar somehow, but he couldn't remember from where. If she had a bounty he would have remembered her from her unique appearance easily.
He pushed that thought aside for now and called out to Mr. 5 and Miss Valentine to assist him, knowing that Cabernet's fire ability was a very bad match up for him.
Not receiving a response, he turned to see Cherry standing over the unconscious forms of Mr. 5 and Miss Valentine. She was scratching her head with some embarrassment.
"I thought they'd be a little tougher than this with their ranking in Baroque Works..." Cherry sighed.
At this point, Mr. 3 knew his plan was in shambles. So he did what any real man would do when the going gets tough. Run away!
"Miss Golden Week, we're leaving!" He said, but noticed belatedly that she was already gone.
Clicking his tongue, he ran off into the jungle as well.
Zoro attempted to chase after him. Luffy, who was still standing on the "Betrayal Black" mark, stretched his arms out to grab Zoro, allowing Mr. 3 to disappear into the trees.
"What the hell are you doing, Luffy! He's getting away, let me go!" Zoro shouted.
"No." Luffy said bluntly.
While the two bickered with each other like idiots, Cabernet finished melting the wax trapping the red head woman and the giants, then destroyed the spinning candle.
"Go catch the paint girl and the candle man, Cabernet." Cherry knew that she was itching to fight and wouldn't stop her.
"Yippee!" The flames on Cabernet's back vanished and she dashed into the jungle at breakneck speed.
It was only a few minutes later that she returned, dragging Mr. 3 and Miss Golden Week behind her, their heads covered in painful looking lumps.
Dorry and Brogy woke up from their wounds, which fortunately weren't too deep due to their weakened state when they slashed each other. Nami messed up the Color Trap Luffy was standing on, allowing him to come to his senses.
At this point, the last remaining member of Luffy's crew emerged from the jungle. "Nami-swan! Vivi-chwan!"
He stopped when he saw Cherry and Cabernet and seemed to be inflicted with some kind of inner turmoil.
"Ladies, my name is Sanji. May I ask for your names?" He inquired. Cherry introduce them to him.
"I see! Such beautiful names for such beautiful ladies! Please step on me- OOF!" He was interrupted when Nami bashed the top of his head with her fist. "Stop it!"
Usopp recovered from his fear induced fainting spell, took one look at Cabernet, and started screaming for help again.
While Cabernet and Luffy were laughing at the antics of the others, Cherry wondered if they were really pirates at all. She felt they were more like a traveling performance group.
'Maybe it wouldn't be so bad to stick around these guys a little longer... wait.' Cherry caught herself and immediately turned her attention inwards to her soul.
There she found a massive thread of fate had wrapped around her. Compared to the previous thread, this was like a rope one would attach to a ship's anchor.
"Hey, do you wanna come with us?" Luffy asked, smiling widely at Cherry and Cabernet.
Cherry fell to her hands and knees, hanging her head in despair.
"Eh? Is something wrong? Eh?" Luffy asked, confused.
Mr. 3 started to slink away during the commotion, he had only pretended to be unconscious.
Cherry raised her face towards him. "Where are you going?"
She was furious. She couldn't take out her frustration on Luffy as it wasn't really his fault, so she decided to relieve her stress on this idiot. She stood up, her sword appeared in her hand, and she slowly walked towards Mr. 3.
Her bloodlust was almost palpable in the air. Mr. 3 froze in horror, like he was a little rabbit cornered by a tiger.
"Wait wait wait wait wait! Don't kill me, I surrender! I'll tell you anything you want, I'm really good with information you see!" He begged.
Luffy stepped into her path. "You don't have to kill him, he's given up." He said.
Cherry was about to chastise his naivete, but she saw something else in his eyes. It wasn't that he believed in some nonsensical philosophy about the good in people. No, he knew the risks and he chose not to kill anyways.
Cherry rolled her eyes, but couldn't stop a grin from forming. "Fine."
She turned a cold gaze onto Mr. 3. "But if he acts up again, I'll kill him before he has the chance to give up."
Shishishi, okay." Luffy smiled and Mr. 3 trembled.
"Alright, then. Tell me everything I want to know. You probably won't say anything about Baroque Works since you're a coward who fears death, so I'll ask you different things." Cherry left no room to refuse.
"You've been sneaking peeks at Cabernet for a while now. Do you know something? Her race seems like it's rare, perhaps you know that?" Cherry interrogated.
When Cherry said the word 'race', something clicked into place in Mr. 3's mind.
"Seems you thought of something, spit it out." Cherry commanded. The others listened with some interest as well.
"Ah, well, I recall there being a 100,000,000 Beri reward for information regarding a race known as Lunarians..." He described what he remembered about the information bounty from the world government, including the racial characteristics of Lunarians.
Hearing this, Luffy and Usopp (who had gotten over his fear once everything was explained to him) started to gush over Cabernet and asking her to demonstrate her flying and flames, which she happily obliged.
Cherry was in a much more somber mood. Although Cabernet was only a Lunarian by way of a devil fruit, she didn't think the world government would care about the difference. Unless Cherry kept Cabernet stored within her body all the time, she would be no different than a wanted criminal.
She just didn't have the heart to keep such a sweet girl cooped up like that.
Sanji spoke up at this point. "Oh, right! I forgot to tell you..." He relayed how he had come across Mr. 3's makeshift base and spoken to Mr. 0 on the den den mushi, tricking him into believing they were dead.
Usopp lamented that even though they threw off Baroque Works' pursuers, they were still stuck on Little Garden for a whole year. Then, Sanji revealed the eternal log pose to Alabasta he found, earning cheers from the others.
Vivi turned to Cherry. "Um, you didn't answer Luffy before, do you want to come with us? I know I asked you for help before, but the situation in my country is much more dire than I thought."
Cherry looked into Vivi's puppy dog eyes. "Ugh, fine." She relented.
""""Hooray!"""" They shouted, including Cabernet.
'Damn it. The thread of fate has become too thick, I can't just sever it now. Even if I could, there would be terrible consequences for doing so. I'll have to try and resolve this fate naturally...' Cherry sighed.
Weekly Power Status
200+ Power
Ranking 
318 Power
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