Cherry was being followed. It was an easy thing to discover when you had senses like hers, let alone Life Sense and observation haki.
Naturally, it hadn't taken her more than a second to figure out who it was doing the following. It was the blue haired man from the banquet hall, whom she had intended to keep track of but had gotten distracted during her reunion with Robin. If the guy hadn't started tailing her, she probably would have forgotten about him altogether.
Instead of going to find Franky and seeing what he had been up to since coming to Wano, she went towards the shadier parts of the Flower Capital. They weren't hard to find, since the criminal element was literally in charge of the country, so they didn't bother to hide anything they were doing.
That was apparently the correct choice, because Cherry could almost feel the blue haired man glaring daggers into her back. It was important to find out how much this man knew about the rebellion, if anything, and that interrogation would likely end in the man's untimely death. It just wasn't an option to risk him escaping custody and ratting them out, and Cherry wasn't about to spend her whole time here babysitting a prisoner of war.
Mind made up, she ducked into a particularly dark alley, perfect for her pursuer to ambush her and for her to counter ambush him in turn.
*shing*
Cherry stopped and spun around, putting on an act of wariness and fear. "W-who are you?!"
"I could ask the same question," Kyoshiro said. "But we'll get to that in a moment."
Kyoshiro angled his blade in just the right position to catch a single ray of sunlight that shone through a hole in the roof tiles above. It reflected into Cherry's eyes with remarkable accuracy, to which she responded by pretending it actually did something. She raised her hand to block the light, and at the same time hid Kyoshiro's movements towards herself.
The next moment was a blur of movement that Kyoshiro barely registered before he was on his back with his own sword pressed against his throat, a strong hand gripped tightly over his mouth to stop him from shouting in alarm.
"I'll ask again; who are you?" Cherry repeated, this time without the stutter and considerably more confidence.
Only a hint of fear entered Kyoshiro's eyes before it was replaced with pure malice. "M MmmM mMmM mm…"
"I can understand you just fine, so start mumbling," Cherry answered the question that Kyoshiro didn't expect her to catch with a vice grip over his mouth.
"Mm MmmMm, m mM," Kyoshiro mumbled, his eyes regarding Cherry and showing his disbelief.
Cherry pressed the sword down a little more. "Mind your manners or this'll get a lot more painful for you. Tell me why you were following me?"
Kyoshiro glanced down at the sword, then he seemed to be considering something as he remained silent for several moments before he spoke again. "M Mm mmM MmMMm, MmM M."
"Lying now, are we?" Cherry tutted. "That's not good for your health, friend. Let's try another question."
Cherry leaned in close, locking her red eyes with his. "What do you know of the rebellion?"
Kyoshiro's eyes widened in shock. 'How does he know?! I was so careful not to reveal myself!'
"There we go~ Your mouth may be a liar, but your eyes are quite honest. Tell me everything that you know!" Cherry felt like she was getting somewhere now!
Kyoshiro didn't answer. He only squirmed in her grip, but Cherry was like a mountain resting on his chest, immoveable.
"What have you told the shogun about the rebellion?" Cherry asked, rephrasing the question.
Kyoshiro paused, the desperation in his eyes giving way to confusion. "Mm?"
"What? What do you mean 'what'? It's a simple question; just tell me what you know and what you've revealed to the shogun!" Cherry pressed.
"Mm mmM M Mm mm MmMmm?" Kyoshiro asked.
"Because you were spying on me? Clearly you work for the shogun and you're rooting out hidden threats to his regime," Cherry answered, now becoming quite confused herself.
"M mmM Mm'm Mmm m MmmMmMmMmm…" Kyoshiro mumbled.
Cherry let go of her mouth. "There better be a misunderstanding, or I'm gonna chop you up and sell your meat to the cooks at Orochi's castle."
"I'm /with the rebellion, you idiot!" Kyoshiro hissed. "Although I suppose that makes me an idiot as well…"
"Why would you follow me then?" Cherry asked. She lifted her leg and planted her foot next to his head and showed her ankle to him. "I've got the crescent tattoo, don't I? I'm pretty sure that I got it right…"
"I didn't recognise you, but I suppose it has been two decades- what do you mean 'pretty sure you got it right'?! You're a fake, after all!" Kyoshiro shouted whilst keeping his voice low enough to not be overheard by anyone nearby.
Cherry's face changed before his very eyes, causing them to widen in surprise yet again. "It's a disguise, dummy. I'm one of Kin'emon's allies from overseas."
"... Ah…" Kyoshiro blushed in embarrassment.
"Right," Cherry stood up and let him do the same before handing his sword back to him. "We speak of this to no one."
"Agreed," Kyoshiro said, sheathing his sword. "That's a good jutsu you have. Reminds me of the old days."
Cherry raised an eyebrow at him as her face shifted back into her male disguise. "So which one are you? There wasn't a Kyoshiro among the graves."
"Denjiro," Kyoshiro said, looking a bit nostalgic from just saying his own name for the first time in who knew how many years.
"Cool," Cherry said, scratching the back of her head. "I'm just gonna go now…?"
"Oh, yes, of course. I should be going as well," Denjiro said, bidding her farewell.
"I wonder if all of Oden's buddies were oddballs…" Cherry muttered after he left. She shrugged and went on her way. Certainly all the ones she had met had had a few screws loose or were a few apples short of a bushel.
Cherry retraced her steps back to the better part of town, making sure to avoid any beast pirates who might get some funny ideas about her coin purse that totally belonged to her, or about her second coin purse that totally didn't belong to Denjiro.
When she found Franky, she found him in his element. Working hard on a construction site, sweat on his brow. Cherry briefly wondered if the sweat was actually sweat or some other mechanical secretion meant to cool him off.
"Workin' hard or hardly workin'?" Cherry called out as Franky walked past her.
"Huh? Oh, it's you!" Franky instantly recognised her somehow, surprising Cherry. Even Robin hadn't been that quick. "I suppose I'm hardly workin', all this house building is way too easy."
"If it's so easy then get back to it! I don't pay you to chat up everybody on the street!" a short man shouted, though there wasn't much heat in his words.
"Whoops, gotta go! I'll talk to you later!" Franky scurried away and went back to work.
Since both Franky and Robin had taken up day jobs for reasons that Cherry couldn't quite fathom (seriously, you can make eyes and ears appear wherever you want, Robin, what the heck), She decided that she was going to spend the day messing with Usopp.
As she marched through the streets at a rather fierce walking pace, she caught the eyes of many people who would hide giggles and point at her as she passed.
Finally, her quarry appeared before her, though he had not yet noticed her. Cherry's feet were like thunder with each stomp as people parted in the crowd to give her a path towards the toad oil salesman.
"You!" Cherry roared, pointing at Usohachi with a finger trembling with rage.
"Me?" Usopp spun around when he heard the voice. When he saw the customer that he had given a free sample to earlier today, he barely contained his own laughter. "Pfft-!"
Cherry grabbed him by the front of his robes. Her mustache, which had grown a hundred times its size and changed color to hot pink, bounced as she shook him. "What did your damned oil do to me?!"
"I- I- I-" Usopp searched for an explanation, all the while trying not to laugh and make his situation even worse somehow. "I'm not sure what you're referring to, sir!"
Cherry released him, causing him to stumble backwards a bit, and gestured towards the only obvious feature that had changed on her person since the last time they met. "My mustache, you fool! You told me to use your oil on it, and now look at it!"
"Eh? Really???" Usopp was confused. Especially since it wasn't even genuine toad oil, just some used sesame oil he found discarded in a dumpster outside of a restaurant.
The crowd started to murmur and whisper amongst themselves, casting doubtful glances at Usopp. He began to grow worried that he'd get into trouble here, and that was the last thing he needed to happen right now.
"I mean… yes of course, sir! Aren't you satisfied?" Usopp hastily said.
"What? Why would I be satisfied?!" Cherry demanded answers.
"Your mustache was quite nice before, but now you've been afforded a chance for an even more glorious style!" Usopp declared, holding his nose up in pride. "The color may not be ideal, but it's nothing a little dye won't fix!"
That seemed to change the energy of the crowd, still whispering amongst themselves but this time sending intrigued looks Usopp's way. Several balding men were touching their heads in wonder with hope in their eyes.
"As you can see, I have quite the fine beard myself. It hasn't gone white with age, however; rather I have removed the pink with a whitening agent!" Usopp doubled down as he stroked his fake beard. "This is just one of the many miraculous uses for my toad oil!"
The crowd was nodding in interest now, several of them moving forward to make purchases.
Cherry made a show of being unsure before storming away in a huff, leaving Usopp feeling victorious in his ability to squirm his way out of trouble.
'Usopp is trickier than I would have given him credit for… I'll have to up the ante if I want him to feel the heat.' Cherry stroked her absurd mustache in thought.
Cherry spotted something out of the corner of her eye, then an idea popped into her head and a smile crossed her face. "That'll do nicely~"
Cherry followed after the beast pirate who had caught her eye; a woman of a similar height as herself, which was perfect for impersonating. The beast pirate was completely unaware of the danger she was in as she decided to take a shortcut through an alley with no one around to see or hear Cherry attack her.
A few minutes later, the beast pirate was unceremoniously tossed into a dumpster and Cherry walked away looking exactly like her and wearing her clothes. "You have an awful sense of style, but this'll do nicely~"
When Cherry found Usopp again, the crowd around him had grown immensely. He was very animated in his sales pitch and it seemed like he may even run out of product soon. This actually wasn't a good thing since he wasn't here to make money, so Cherry decided to "help" him out a little bit.
"Oi Oi Oi! What do we have here?" Cherry sauntered over with a lazy gait. She spat on the ground at Usopp's feet after shouldering her way past the crowd.
"Er, is there a problem…?" Usopp spoke hesitantly.
"You got any paperwork?" Cherry asked with a sneer.
Usopp did, in fact, have paperwork. He pulled it out of his robes with haste and presented it. "Yes, of course!"
Cherry snatched it and made a point of only giving it a cursory glance before crumpling it up and tossing it back at him. "I don't know, it doesn't look very legit to me. I'll tell you what, though, maybe I'll overlook your little stand here if you make it worth my while?"
Usopp's eyebrow twitched even as he put an amiable smile on his face. "Of course, of course, nothing would make me happier than to contribute to the ongoing safety and prosperity of the city!"
Usopp started to count out some silver from a bag as the crowd inched away cautiously, looking nervous.
When Usopp seemed satisfied with his bribe, Cherry snatched the bag out of his hands. "I guess this'll do, though it is a bit light."
A large arm wrapped around Cherry's shoulders out of nowhere. "Ika! I thought you had something to do at the castle? What are you still doing down here? Hahahahaha!"
Cherry glanced up at the man, another beast pirate but this one had an unnerving smile adorning his face.
"Just getting myself some drinking money," Cherry answered, putting on a shy act and faking a blush on her cheeks as she twirled her finger around a lock of hair.
That seemed to be the correct choice, because the man's eyes lit up in genuine delight, rather than what his failed S.M.I.L.E. fruit forced onto him. "Hahahahaha! Stop messing around with the shopkeepers; you know we aren't allowed to take too much!"
The smiling beast pirate grabbed the bag out of Cherry's hands and tossed it at Usopp's feet. "Stay out of trouble, old man! Hahahahaha! Come on, Ika! After you're done working, I can take you out for drinks!"
"Wow! I-I mean, okay then…" Cherry said, though inwardly she was already plotting her revenge against the fool who had spoiled her fun.
'Hm, maybe I can work with this. They're expecting this chick in the castle, so maybe an impromptu infiltration is in order?' Cherry thought.
The idea had merit, although she had no clue what it was she was meant to do, and this smiling idiot probably didn't know either if she could trust his words in that regard. Maybe she should slip away, go read this Ika's mind and figure out where she was meant to go and what she was meant to do when she got there.
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