The acting captain of the royal guard of Alabasta, Chaka, and the kingdoms strongest warrior, Pell, had been greatly confused by the King's choice to step down from the throne.
Even more confusing was the choice of the Shichibukai, Crocodile, to act as Regent. Regardless of the man's reputation amongst the people, he was still a pirate.
The King had insisted on being undisturbed in his chambers after the proclamation. They didn't realize he was no longer in the palace until they received word that Nanohana was set ablaze and that the King was apparently responsible.
Everything made more sense after Princess Vivi's pet super spot-billed duck, Karoo, arrived at the palace with a letter explaining that Crocodile was behind the kingdom's turmoil. They realized the King's strange behavior must also be related to his schemes.
However, there was now a rebel force enroute to Alubarna. More than twice the size and much better armed, according to reports.
They were only soldiers, they could not take charge of the kingdom. They could only remain here and defend the capital against the rebels.
Pell decided to go face Crocodile directly. His absence would not change the course of the war, so it was better that he thwart Crocodile.
...
*Badum... badum... badum...*
'There you are. Where were you hiding, my little heart? How I've missed you...' Cherry held back a smile.
While she had been trying to awaken her Observation Haki, she had been forced to sleep a few times, interrupting her. Apparently Miss Spa Day was quite cautious in making sure she wasn't conscious. Not cautious enough, though, as she always woke quickly.
Now that Cherry could feel her own heartbeat with her rudimentary Observation Haki, she expanded it and was able to feel her own vital energy once again.
From there she found the foreign vital energy from Miss Spa Day's devil fruit and began testing ways to remove it.
Ultimately she was able to dispel the hallucinogenic effects with a combination of her own devil fruit ability and vital energy through a brute force method. This was a game changing discovery for Cherry. Though it took a fair amount of time, she thought she'd be able to eventually refine the process and become effectively immune to direct influence by devil fruit users.
Opening her eyes, she found herself in a jail cell of some kind, with only a bit of light from some candles. She could hear Miss Spa Day's muffled voice ordering around some other Baroque Works goons upstairs somewhere.
She sat up and looked around and expanded her Life Sense. She found someone else in a cell across from her.
"Psst, hey! So, what are you in for?" She whispered across the hall.
The figure stirred and approached the bars of their cell. He was a middle aged man with shoulder length black hair pulled back and a goatee on his chin.
Cherry recognized him from Mr.2 aka Bon Clay's devil fruit performance.
"I suppose I'm 'in for' failing to find out who the enemy of my people was." King Nefertari Cobra answered. He was a bit roughed up and likely hadn't been properly fed for a few days.
"Ah, so you're Vivi's father. Nice to meet you, I'm her girlfriend Cherry." She said, shocking Cobra to the core.
"Vivi?! Girlfriend?! What the hell do you mean?! No, ahem, has Vivi truly returned to Alabasta?" Cobra shout-whispered then regained his composure.
Cherry snickered and told him the truth.
"I see, I never should have placed any trust in that pirate, Crocodile. He should have been my prime suspect, even." He lamented his foolishness. "And now that I know the truth, I am in position to help my people."
"Oh, well I can get us out whenever. Miss Spa Day has left the building so only some weak goons are left to guard us." Cherry said nonchalantly.
"How are you going to do that? We're locked in these cages-" Cobra stopped talking when Cherry simply pressed her hand against the lock of her cell and pushed the door open.
...
Koza tried his best to convince people to stand down, and he succeeded for some. However, most were pushed too far already, they did not believe his words that the King had been an imposter and that a third party had plotted against the kingdom.
Many thought he had turned into a coward or that he had gone soft on them.
Those that listened to him tried to spread the word as well, but the people who decided not to march on Alubarna were in the minority.
Now Koza was racing ahead of the rebels to Alubarna. He and a few others were being carried by Cabernet who was more than willing to go that direction, seeing as that was the same direction Cherry was in.
He hoped to stop the main rebel force by cutting them off and standing in their way.
They cut it quite close as they only just passed them by over their heads when the city of Alubarna was within sight.
You can imagine his surprise when he saw two figures standing before the south gate seemingly awaiting the rebel army as well. As they got closer, Koza and Cabernet recognized them as Princess Vivi and Karoo.
The sound of a cannon firing was heard from the wall. It landed in front of Vivi and obscured the sight of her.
"Vivi?!" Koza shouted, and Cabernet swooped down.
Cabernet entered the cloud of dust and sand kicked up by the cannon ball and found Karoo and Vivi, scooping them up and bringing them out of the cloud.
A shout issued from the walls. "Let them into the city! Surrender! Do not fight each other!"
The source of the shout was none other than King Cobra of Alabasta. His loud, commanding voice left no room for objection or doubt.
Vivi was overwhelmed, seeing the faces of her father and Koza at the same time. Cabernet set them all down and Koza prepared to face the rebels himself. Vivi tried to tell him everything.
"I already know, Vivi. I'm sorry for being such a fool. Let me do what I can to stop this." Koza said, cutting her off.
Koza ran towards the approaching rebels, who fortunately stopped for him as those in the front were his comrades. He entreated with them to stop, at least for a time. That there was more than meets the eye.
Several Cannon shots rang out and landed amongst the rebel forces, as well as gunfire.
"STOP! HOLD YOUR FIRE!" King Cobra and acting captain Chaka yelled.
But the soldiers did not listen. Rather, they couldn't hear them as they were currently hallucinating a fierce battle and fighting for their lives, as far as they knew. One of them hit Koza, knocking him to the ground.
The rebels charged once more and streamed into the city, they could not be stopped anymore.
The King commanded his soldiers, or those that retained their full faculties at least, to retreat into the city.
After the rebel force entered the city, Usopp came riding over on a horse. He told her to leave the man who was shot as they needed to hurry.
This was suspicious, so she told him to prove he was really Usopp. He showed her the bandage on his arm, but that was not the mark they decided on. It was the X underneath the bandage that was the true mark.
Mr. 2 revealed himself since the jig was up.
Cabernet stepped forth to face him.
"You're going to fight me wooden girl? Don't you know that your friend Cherry has been captured by us? If you want to see her alive, you should give up!" He smiled goofily, or perhaps he just looked goofy.
"I'll take care of the goose man, Vivi. You go do what you need to do." Cabernet spoke. She was worried about Cherry, but she feel through their blood bond that Cherry was moving quickly through the city.
Vivi nodded and helped Koza onto Karoo's back and rode into the city with the two other rebels following behind.
"I'm not a goose!" Shouted Mr. 2 with indignation, as he prepared to fight. He knew this wouldn't be an easy opponent.
"Hmph! You think you can stop me, girl? You're strong, I'll admit, but you lack experience!" Bon Clay analyzed, taking a stance.
Cabernet did not respond to his taunts. Cherry had taught her better than to lose focus in a fight.
They charged one another and clashed. Cabernet's physical ability was greater, but just as he said, Bon Clay's experience allowed him to keep up.
Finally Bon Clay landed a kick to her side and they parted. "You see? I'll slowly whittle you down until you fall!" He shouted.
Cabernet felt her ribs with her hand. She could see fighting him like they just had again would have the same result. However, a different strategy came to her mind.
Once more they struck out at each other. This time Bon Clay landed a kick immediately and his face split with an ecstatic smile.
The smile did not remain for long. Cabernet did not falter from the blow, but instead followed through with her own attack, slamming into Bon Clay's face.
"GAH!" He yelped in pain, stumbling backwards. But he had no time to recover himself as Cabernet persisted with her offensive.
They began to exchange blows. Bon Clay managed to block some of them, but he soon started to see a problem. 'She's not taking that much damage?'
Cabernet's body was by no means ordinary. She had the durability of a blood bound artifact, combined with the natural toughness of the Lunarian people while her flames burned on her back.
Needless to say this made her extremely resistant to harm, compared to ordinary humans.
Bon Clay saw that he needed to step up his game if he's to win this. He removed the heads of the decorative swans on his back and attached them at the base of the neck to the tips of his shoes.
This would have made for quite the odd visual for most, but Cabernet didn't really understand fashion having lived the vast majority of her sapient life on an ancient island away from civilization. She put up her guard, taking the swan shoes seriously.
As it turned out, she was right to be wary. The swan shoes increased the penetrative power of his kicks by leaps and bounds. Now she was back to square one, only the consequences of taking a hit were far greater.
Now she would need to use Armament Haki to block any blows that pass through her defenses. The problem was that, while she could use Haki just fine, her capacity for using it was quite low. Cherry had hypothesized that it may be because of her very young age or perhaps her identity as a ship with a zoan fruit.
"What happened Bon Clay? Didn't you say we were friends? Or do your words only amount to just words, things to be thrown about and not to be taken seriously?" Cabernet tried to persuade him.
Bon Clay did look conflicted in that moment, but he recovered. "I've already made a commitment to Baroque Works! I've been with them for years, while I've only just met you lot!" He made an excuse.
"I see. So I guess friendship IS actually dependent upon the time you've spent together, in your eyes." Cabernet stated, causing Bon Clay's face to darken with doubts.
"It's pointless to discuss this. You're all going to die regardless. I'll stay true to Baroque Works." He resolved.
"So be it." Cabernet said, taking a defensive stance.
Bon Clay launched forwards, sending a swan kick piercing towards Cabernet's abdomen. To his surprise, she dropped her defenses and took the hit directly.
The swan dug deep into her flesh, spilling blood onto the sand. Then Cabernet grabbed his leg in a firm grip, which burst into flames. At the same time her other hand balled into a fist and also burst into flames. She sent it barreling towards Bon Clay's head, but he nearly dodged by bending backwards. His face twisted in pain from his leg.
Cabernet's form shifted and doubled in height, taking on a wooden appearance. She pulled the swan out of her no longer bleeding stomach and lifted Bon Clay up into the air by his leg.
Immediately, Bon Clay found himself getting slammed into the ground like a ragdoll, then lifted again to have it happen once again.
After doing this a few times, Cabernet reared back one of her large wooden fists. Bon Clay sensed the danger and instinctively changed his appearance into Chopper's face, having seen how Cabernet had doted on him during their brief meeting.
It seemed to cause Cabernet to hesitate, much to Bon Clay's relief. The relief soon faded from his mind when he saw her face twist like an enraged demon and heard the creaking of wood from her clenched fist.
"You've gone too far..." A cold light appeared in her eyes.
She grasped Bon Clay by the legs and arms, holding him aloft. There was little he could do to struggle, she was much too strong for him.
He watched in horror at a hatch of some sort opened in her chest and the barrel of a cannon could be seen rolling forward.
"I'm sorry, Cabernet-chan! I didn't mean it! I've learned the error of my ways!" Bon Clay was fine going out in battle, but a cannon was really too much for him.
A small flame ignited the fuse of the cannon and Bon Clay watched his life burn away along with the fuse.
The sparks disappeared into the cannon and he clenched his eyes shut, waiting for his inevitable death.
But death did not come for him, no matter how long he waiting. Bon Clay peeked open his eyes and saw a smug smile on the wooden woman's face.
"You want to use petty tricks? Two can play at that game." Cabernet said.
Bon Clay was too tired to be dumbfounded. "You've beaten me, I can't fight anymore."
"I think so too, but Cherry will be angry if I don't make absolutely sure. Sorry, and goodnight." Cabernet stated, before ruthlessly slamming him against the ground one more time, knocking him out cold.
After taking Usopp's goggles off his head, she left him lying in the sand and went to find one of the others to assist.
...
Cherry moved through the streets quickly after locating her quarry. Naturally her target was Miss Spa Day.
Miss Spa Day was the greatest obstacle in regards to stopping the fighting, as she could manipulate the senses of the soldiers on either side.
Cherry found her hiding in an alley not too far from the royal faction's soldiers she had juts influenced.
"Well hello again, Miss Spa Day. What a coincidence, it's so very nice to meet you again. Since I've found you, I'm going to have to ask you to release those men from your hallucinations." Cherry demanded after sneaking up behind her, causing Miss Spa Day to jump in surprise.
Miss Spa Day immediately released her hallucination perfume and relaxed seeing Cherry breathing normally. "Stupid bitch! You aren't even holding you breath this time!"
Miss Spa Day approached Cherry, intending to put her to sleep again, but was greeted with a hard kick to the ribs.
"I'm afraid that won't work anymore, Miss Spa Day. I've already developed a counter to your devil fruit. Now go ahead and do as I tell you, or we'll both soon find out how good I am at torture." Cherry said menacingly, while Miss Spa Day broke into a cold sweat.
Miss Spa Day turned to run away, but Cherry quickly caught her and slammed her through a wall.
She tried to fight back with her massage arts, but it didn't seem to do anything.
"That feels quite nice, but I'm afraid that won't work either." Cherry said as Miss Spa Day's heart filled with mounting terror.
Cherry's muscles did relax as they did before, but Cherry was able to use Body Puppeteering to continue moving now that she could use her Vital Energy. The Vital Energy also served to reinvigorate the muscles, greatly reducing the time she was affected by the forced relaxation.
Cherry wrapped her hands around the woman's throat and began to slowly squeeze. "Whenever you're ready to cooperate, you can release me from the hallucination to let me know."
Miss Spa Day did not last very long before caving into Cherry demands, to say the least.
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