Kapitel 305: Disappearing Act
*Gulp* *Gulp* *Gulp*
Cherry chugged down an entire bottle of the liquor that the proprietor had brought to her before respectfully bowing as he thanked her for her generosity.
"Are you really okay drinking that much, Cherry-san?" Brook asked her with some concern. He picked up one of the bottles and read the label, "100 proof…"
"Hoooo…" Cherry put down the first bottle and grabbed the second. This time she at least poured it into a glass, even though it was a mug meant for beer rather than hard liquor.
"If you're going to pull off a heist, then you should bring Law into it. There's no one better to have on a heist than a man for whom locked doors mean nothing," Cherry said.
Carina frowned and didn't seem too happy with the idea. Trafalgar Law was his own man, not a member of the Straw Hats, so he would expect his own cut; especially since he would be bringing an invaluable skill into the mix. Which meant less of the bounty for Carina herself.
Incidentally, Nami agreed with her. "We can do this ourselves. Law might be our ally, but that doesn't mean he'll work for free. He'll probably want half all by himself, and that's if we're lucky!"
Nobody disagreed with her and Cherry shrugged her shoulders. They were pirates after all; greed came with the title.
"Well, we can keep that man in mind if we need help later. Once you find out what we're after, you'll be glad to have a bigger cut!" Carina said cheerfully.
"And what is that?" Nami asked her, getting a little annoyed that she wasn't getting to the point faster. "It's not like you're going to-"
"Go after Tesoro's treasury?" Carina smiled wickedly.
"What?! Are you crazy?!" Nami asked incredulously.
"I've been planning this for longer than a year, Nami. The odds are in my favor even without your group. With all of you? It's all but guaranteed to be a success~!" Carina spoke confidently. "Think about it! That's 500 BILLION Beri, ripe for the taking!"
"Nobody has ever succeeded before…" Nami wasn't quite so confident.
"Perhaps I wouldn't be either… but I have this." Carina placed an odd object on the table. "This… is a spare key to the vault. I got it only after painstakingly gaining Tesoro's trust."
Nami frowned, then smiled. "Alright then, I'm in!"
"Atta girl! You can pay off your debt afterwards and get your friend back too!" Carina smirked.
"Oh, we could do that anyways," Robin revealed.
"Eh? Then why did you…?" Carina asked, confused.
"Why would we pay over a billion Beri for that Mosshead?" Sanji asked rhetorically.
"What he means is that we planned to get him back another way. Zoro also understands this and would rather we not pay up to those rotten cheaters," Usopp explained.
"But if we rob him blind and pay him back with his own money, that's even more SUPER~~~!!!"" Franky exclaimed.
"Shush!" Nami snapped at him. "Don't be so loud!"
"I wouldn't recommend using force. Tesoro has his gold inside of all of us and can solidify us into gold statues at the drop of a hat." Carina dissuaded.
"An easy issue to resolve, between myself and Law." Cherry said, with slightly slurred speech.
"Really?" Carina asked in interest, but then she shook her head. "That would only tip him off that something is wrong and ruin my plans."
"Okay, let's do it!" Luffy declared, only after finishing his meat.
"That's what I want to hear! E~shishishi!" Carina laughed.
Nami spoke up again, "Now about the split. I think an 80:20 split in our favor is more than fair-"
"Hold on! This is MY plan and MY key! How exactly is a 20% cut fair to me?!" Carina slammed her hand onto the table and objected.
"You're just one person and there's more than a dozen of us! 20% is already being generous!" Nami shot back.
"Without me, there's nothing you can do!"
Cherry finished off the last of her booze. "*BURP* That's good stuff, hehehe~"
*Crunch*
"Whoopsie~ Hehehe~" Cherry accidentally crushed the glass mug in her grip.
"Uh oh…" Robin muttered and inched away.
"Are you alright?" Carina asked, looking at Cherry's hand to see if there was any bleeding.
"Oh, I'm just fine and dandy~" Cherry spoke and showed off her pristine hands. "Now what was that about- *hic* about being helpless without you~?"
Carina felt that something was off about the way Cherry was smiling at her. It was like she was barely conscious, but at the same time like she was up to no good. Regardless, she answered the question. "Without my key, you can't get into the vault."
Cherry lurched forwards in her seat and slammed her head against the table next to the key, her piercing eyes studying the key almost ferociously. "Mhm, I see~"
Cherry shot on her seat and spun around to a painting behind her and ran her hand down the side of the frame. The gold came off of it as her hands passed by until the whole frame was stripped of every bit of gold. She then pressed the gold in between her hands like a ball of dough until a shape started to come about.
"..." Carina stared slack jawed as Cherry presented what appeared to be a perfect replica of her own key. She took the replica and her own key and compared them closely, using her keen trained eye for detail to suss out any differences. There were none, as far as she could tell.
Carina looked up to see Nami smugly smiling at her. "We need your key, do we?"
"Ugh! FINE!" Carina relented. "Wait, couldn't she just go directly through the vault door…"
Carina looked to where Cherry had been sitting, and she was gone. She looked around and the others also noticed Cherry's absence and looked around too, to find nothing.
"Where did she go? She was right here…?" Carina was confused how she could miss her leaving after looking away for just a few seconds.
"Hm, why is there a hole in the floor?" Luffy commented casually.
Looking under the table, there was a hole right beneath the table where Cherry was last seen.
"I'm sure she's fine," Jinbe said.
"It's not her we should worry about," Robin said with some amusement and a little nervousness. "Well.. she won't ship the ship with us still on it, at least… probably…"
"""Probably?!"""
*smash*
They all turned their heads expecting to see Cherry making a mess, but it wasn't.
"You little gremlins did that on purpose, didn'tcha?! Huuuh?! Because we work for Tesoro-sama, riiight?!" the most stereotypical gangster in the world shouted at a pair of small children, who just so happened to be two of the children among those that were asking them to buy flowers.
"I-I'm sorry, please forgive us-" the boy tried to apologize.
The gangster stomped on a steak in the mess. "Look, you've ruined my new boots, you stupid brats! That'll add 50 thousand Beri to your debt!"
"W-what?! You can't just-!" the boy started to argue.
"Are you tryin' to tell me what I can and can't do now?!" the gangster reared back his fist to punch the boy. The proprietor was already moving to intercept when-
"Eh?!" a sword was leveled at the gangster's throat.
"What do you think you're doing to that child?" Kin'emon growled at him, with Momonosuke standing defiantly behind him.
Kapitel 306: Drunken Inspiration
Contrary to what you might expect from a gangster in his own turf, the goon put on a professional smile and rubbed his hands together. "Dear customer, what seems to be the problem? I must remind you that it is against the rules of the Gran Tesoro to threaten staff members."
The only indication that the goon wasn't as calm as he acted was the nervous sweat beginning to form on his brow. After all, how could he not be nervous? He might have the backing of the Gran Tesoro behind him, but backing didn't mean squat if you got your head chopped off before one of your bosses could save your neck!
This immediate shift in attitude caught Kin'emon off guard and gave him pause for a moment. These 'Yakuza' types, as he knew them, would usually either start to beg for their lives or draw their weapons when faced with the current circumstances the man in front of him found himself in.
"Ahem! I asked you why you were about to strike that child?" Kin'emon asked again after collecting himself.
"Hm? OH, I see! You are mistaken, dear customer!" the goon spoke quickly. "I was only giving the child some 'tough love'. I had no intention of harming him seriously. Perhaps you are unfamiliar with corporal punishment?"
The words spilled from his mouth quite smoothly and without pause; a clear indication that they were well rehearsed. However, Kin'emon wasn't very bright and missed this point.
"Are you the boy's father, then?" Kin'emon asked. After all, that was who ought to be doling out punishment to children; not a random stranger. He lowered his sword so that it was no longer at the man's neck, but did not sheathe it just yet.
"No, sir," the goon replied, relieved that he was no longer in imminent danger. "The boy's father was a wastrel who wracked up a huge debt here. He left these two here on the premise of coming back to pay his debt, but he never returned."
Seeing the outrage on Kin'emon's face, he pressed forward knowing he was close. "It would be cruel of us to just throw these abandoned children into the streets of some random island to fend for themselves, so we give them food, clothing, and shelter in exchange for work. However, as you might imagine, the children of such irresponsible parents are often spoiled rotten and frequently misbehave, like this little girl did just before you came in here."
"..." the older brother of said girl grit his teeth in frustration. If he spoke out now, he would only look like a lying brat trying to cause trouble where there was none. Moreover, these goons would find them later and give them a real beating for doing so.
"I see…" Kin'emon knew this whole scenario was suspicious as hell, but now that he's had a chance to cool down, he realized he might be causing more trouble for the children than he was helping. He would be leaving soon, and the children would not.
"Please accept my apologies." Kin'emon tilted his head perfunctorily and sheathed his sword.
"F-father, surely we won't just-!" Momonosuke tried to protest.
"""Thank you for your understanding, dear customer!""" the goons all chimed in unison, bowing their heads. The leader spoke up to the children after raising his head and sending a threatening glare at them, "I'll let you go this time. Behave yourselves."
The goons vacated the restaurant as hastily as they could manage without appearing as if they were fleeing with their tails between their legs.
"Thank you, sir," the large proprietor spoke up. "You should be more careful though. You might have been able to beat those men, but they have strong allies who will avenge them."
"You should have left well enough alone!" the boy shouted at Kin'emon accusingly.
"He saved you, you ungrateful-!" Momonosuke shouted back.
"Enough, Momonosuke. It's true that I may have only made things worse in my haste," Kin'emon sighed.
"Kin'emon, Momo!" Luffy called out to them.
…
Tanaka was doing his usual routine of watching the various security feeds around the ship like a cat hunting for mice.
In a little more than half an hour, he was supposed to locate Harpin D. Cherry for her "dinner date" with Gild Tesoro if she didn't show up on her own. He hoped that she wouldn't; he does so love his games of cat and mouse.
"Tanaka-sama!" one of his subordinates watching over less important security feeds spoke up.
"What is it?" Tanaka asked bluntly. If it wasn't important, then he'd have to find new help again and that was a dull affair.
"I've gotten a strange report from the foundry. The blacksmiths claim there's an intruder disrupting their work," the man dutifully relayed the report.
"Just have them thrown out! Why are you bothering me with this?!" Tanaka irritably shouted.
"E-er, well… I did send a security detail, but they… failed," the man gulped. He had heard rumors of what happened to those who displeased Tanaka and now it looked like he might find out the truth behind those rumors.
"Hm?" This confused Tanaka. The foundry was manned by a few giants, so it shouldn't have been an issue for them plus a security detail to handle one intruder. "I'll take a quick look."
As Tanaka slipped through the floor, the subordinate heaved a sigh of relief. Then he screamed as the floor swallowed him as well, presumably never to be seen again.
…
"What is she doing?" a giant blacksmith asked his foreman.
"I don't know, but I think it's best not to get too close. You saw what happened to Packarn." the giant foreman said, gesturing towards an unconscious giant half embedded in the wall of the foundry.
"How is such a little woman so strong?" the first giant wondered aloud.
"Why do you ask so many questions I don't have the answer to?" the giant foreman growled at him. "Why don't you go back to work? She's only taken up the first forge."
The curious giant grumbled and did as he was bade to do whilst the giant foreman watched in interest. The foreman had been blacksmithing for nearly a hundred and fifty years now, and he'd never seen anything like this before. Every move the tiny woman made inspired him in ways he didn't understand, but he was determined not to miss a single second if he didn't have to.
*TANG!!! TANG!!! TANG!!!*
The woman's hammer struck like thunder, harder than the foreman could swing his own hammer he was certain. Yet the metal she worked resisted those powerful strikes like a mountain resisted an earthquake.
The woman had used some kind of power to alloy their best steel together with gold, along with some small amounts of other metals. That was strange enough, given that gold and steel alloyed about as well as water mixed with oil, but what she did after that was even stranger.
She brought out a pink gemstone about the size of her palm and crushed it into dust in her hand. A violent light tried to escape, but she held it back; possibly with the same power as before. She scattered the dust onto the metal, then started to knead it into it like dough until the mass of metal looked like a vibrant pink rose gold.
The foreman thought she must be done with it by now; never before had he seen such a beautiful metal. But then she slashed her own wrists. He almost charged her then, to try and stop her untimely death so he could see the end result of her labors. He managed to stop himself after remembering Packarn's current state and he noticed that she was pouring her blood into the metal as well.
It wasn't long before he realized she was making armor. Full plate if he were to guess based on her body size and the amount of metal she prepared.
It was about halfway through this process that the head of security, Tanaka made his appearance. The foreman expected that, since the security team that tried to stop the woman were set on fire before they got within 20 meters of her and were forced to retreat.
"What's going on here, foreman?" Tanaka squinted his eyes at the forge that burned so bright he couldn't see who was working it clearly.
"Some drunken woman showed up and insisted on using a forge. Something about an 'inspiration' that she couldn't let go of. Packarn got knocked out when he tried to stop her and your security team was even more useless," the foreman explained. Although he wanted to keep watching, there was nothing he could do to stop Tanaka from interfering.
Tanaka frowned at the slight against the security team, but didn't say anything. Unlike all the other giants on Gran Tesoro, the foreman was hired officially and not pressured with debt. Tanaka didn't have the authority to punish him just for mouthing off.
"Who is she? She must be well known with that kind of strength," Tanaka asked.
The foreman shrugged. He kind of hoped Tanaka would rush in like a fool. He'd love to see the little sadist get his ass handed to him for once.
"Um…" a small voice spoke up. It was an older teenager with thick glasses and a blacksmith's leather apron and uniform on. The giant blacksmiths didn't work on the smaller objects, so they naturally had human smiths as well.
"What is it? Speak up!" Tanaka urged him.
"I believe that's, er… Harpin D. Cherry…" the boy spoke almost too softly to be heard over the sound of pounding metal.
"Huh?" Tanaka was completely caught off guard by that information.
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