Chapter 399: Spicing up the Ceremony
Cherry helped herself to as much of the delicacies from around the world as she pleased without holding back. Some of the other guests grumbled about her uncouth and rather rude behavior, but since they didn't have the guts to confront her she ignored them.
As far as she was concerned, all of this was acquired by force or at the very least through coercion and as such, she was just reclaiming these ill gotten goods on behalf of Big Mom's victims in return for claiming some vengeance for them.
A bunch of guests offered chests of treasure and rare objects to Big Mom before the ceremony got started, making it perfectly clear that today was about her and not the bride and groom.
'A monster in more ways than one, I see.' Cherry quietly commented.
Soon, Sanji and Pudding were brought out atop a tea cup carried by a cloud homie which came to rest by the pavilion at the top of the wedding cake, allowing them to step off.
Cherry sighed as she saw the goofy expression on his face, but figured that it would at least help him keep his cool. He was the center of attention here, after all. If he acted suspiciously, then Big Mom's people would catch on that something was wrong pretty quickly.
"I wouldn't recommend objecting during this particular wedding," Stussy said, having heard Cherry's sigh and misinterpreted it in one way or another.
Cherry had been pointedly ignoring the woman ever since they had taken their assigned seats here. This was mostly because Stussy kept flirting with her and fluttering her eyelashes at her seductively. Cherry wasn't sure what the woman was up to, but she was already quite occupied and didn't have the time to spare humoring Stussy today.
Well… maybe later, depending how things go.
"I'm not going to object. I just wish he'd stop making a fool of himself at his own wedding," Cherry managed to keep her amusement out of her voice and appear somewhat stern.
"Hmmm?" Stussy hummed, as if she didn't quite believe her.
"Dearly beloved…" the minister presiding over the ceremony began, and silenced everyone who was talking in hushed tones.
Cherry wondered if Sanji could even hear the minister with how smitten he looked with Pudding. She even wondered if he remembered that she was plotting to kill him up until yesterday because he honestly looked head over heels for the girl.
'Has he been brainwashed?' Cherry considered.
She reckoned that it wasn't out of the question, what with Pudding's memory devil fruit. She might have simply implanted memories of someone who adored her into Sanji's head.
If she had, then Cherry was going to teach that girl a valuable lesson.
A few tables over, Katakuri tensed up and smoothie began whispering to him.
'Oh? Did he see the future?' Cherry wondered lazily. She knew that even if he had, the fact that he hadn't made a move yet meant that it wasn't very clear, whatever it was.
The time came for the vows, so Sanji reached for Pudding's veil to reveal her face. He pulled it up and Pudding opened her eyes; all three of them. She smiled maliciously at him, triumphant in his shock.
"Such beautiful eyes…" Sanji murmured.
"Eh…?" Pudding was caught completely off guard and unwittingly burst into tears.
It took everything in Cherry's power not to burst out laughing, but the way she clamped her hand over her mouth and buckled over made it obvious to anyone who happened to be looking at her, like Stussy.
"I-I'm sorry! I was so entranced, I feel like I could stare into your eyes forever! I couldn't help it…!" Sanji tried to comfort her as she collapsed to her knees, not understand how and why he made her cry.
Unfortunately for him, this only seemed to make her more inconsolable than before, muttering curses at him to shut up and die.
Most of the guests weren't able to pick up on all of that, though, so Cherry was one of the few who got to witness the full extent of the drama. Everyone else was beginning to whisper among themselves, speculating on what the hold up was.
Cherry pulled out a perfectly ordinary pistol, causing Stussy to widen her eyes and duck beneath the table.
"Time to get the real party started!" Cherry amped herself up and fired directly at Katakuri's head with a toothy grin.
Katakuri naturally saw it coming, ducked out of the way of the bullet before it was even fired, allowing it to hit his brother Opera instead.
"Huh?" Opera was unphased by the shot, the heavy cream around his body easily blocking bullets that lacked any armament haki
Katakuri spun around to find the shooter, wondering how they could be so stupid as to fire a shot without haki at HIM of all people. Just as he met Cherry's eyes over the smoking barrel of her pistol, the wedding cake exploded and all hell broke loose.
…
Cherry wasn't supposed to take the shot, it was supposed to be one of his men from a safe enough distance that he could flee whilst Straw Hat stole the attention away with his asinine distraction. That was the first thought that went through Bege's head when he heard the shot from far too close a distance, and aimed at Katakuri instead of the minister as was planned.
The wedding cake exploded, dozens of Straw Hat Luffy's leaping out of it to cause discord and mayhem, but even then there was plenty of attention leveled on the cackling form of Cheapshot Cherry.
'No you idiot! You're the escape plan! Why are you doing this?! Don't draw attention to yourself!' Bege screamed in his head while keeping his exterior appropriately 'surprised'.
"Damn it! I knew we should have taken care of him before the wedding!" Mont-d'Or could be heard shouting.
Morgans was snapping pictures with seemingly no regard for his own safety. The other emperors of the underworld were slinking away as quickly and quietly as they could.
Big Mom was SEETHING. There was nothing in this world that she loved more than food, and her precious wedding cake was just destroyed right in front of her; by someone she had deigned to spare the life of, no less!
The head chef, Streusen, was desperately trying to calm Big Mom down, assuring her that another cake could be prepared within the day. He was one of a very few who immediately recognised the imminent danger they were all in.
*Conk!*
Streusen toppled over unconscious after a stray pistol slammed into the back of his head, butt first.
"""Head chef?!?!?!""" the lesser chefs exclaimed in shock.
The fact that Cherry no longer had a pistol in her hand was a complete coincidence… but Katakuri didn't think so.
'What is she… No… is she trying to destroy the entire island?!' Katakuri thought, quickly putting together a reason why Cherry might have aimed for the head chef just after the wedding cake was ruined.
Big Mom, in her rage, used her Soul Pocus to rip the life out of the subordinate chefs who were trying to drag Streusen out of the chaos. The likelihood of Big Mom's hunger pangs driving into her greatest rampage ever increased even further, and Katakuri wasn't sure what to do about it.
Weekly Power Status
-- Power
Ranking 
-- Power
stone