章 271: Cleaning Up
"Grab as much sea stone as you can, little ones!" Cherry instructed.
"Yes, ma'am!" The tontatta chimed in reply.
The swarm of tiny, tailed people zipped around the ruined pile of rubble that was once the S.M.I.L.E. factory, grabbing up any broken pieces of sea stone from its outer wall that were small enough to carry.
Cherry also went to the larger chunks and shattered them with Hasshoken into more manageable sizes.
Most of the sea stone would be kept by the tontatta tribe as a secret weapon to fight off future enemies with devil fruit abilities. Cherry would only take a modest portion for herself.
This was in part because she had already profited quite a bit from the S.M.I.L.E. factory, but also because she could tell that sea stone would be annoying to work with. It could still be affected by devil fruit powers like her fusion fruit, but doing so while touching the stuff would force her to split her focus between puppeteering her body and the finer details of her work.
'I did get the method for mixing sea stone into steel from that no-good bastard. Maybe make some vicious, barbed arrows?' Cherry mused.
That technique wasn't given freely amongst the marines, but he had been recognised as a genius smith by the government. As such they gave the method to him to use for the sake of the marines.
"We've collected everything we can!" The tontatta reported cutely.
"Great, let's join back up with the others then. It looks like they've finally grown tired of parading Usopp around." Cherry said.
Soon enough they were back at the officers' tower.
"Hey, Leo was your name right?" Cherry addressed a blond tontatta wearing green. Upon seeing him nod, she said "Great, can you help me with something?"
"I suppose that I can- what are you doing?!" Leo exclaimed.
Cherry had just cut a deep gash into the unconscious Trebol and stuffed a piece of sea stone into the wound.
"Can you stitch him up for me? Thanks, I don't want to touch him." Cherry spoke casually.
Leo didn't know what to make of the impromptu surgery, but he obliged. He hadn't been as much help as he had hoped during the battle, so he wanted to do whatever he could to be useful. Cherry was also the one who rescued his fellow tontatta that were enslaved within the S.M.I.L.E. factory, so he was willing to overlook the somewhat gruesome act.
"Not that I disapprove, but is that entirely necessary?" Robin asked.
"This way the sea stone can't be removed without causing him more damage. I considered making him swallow it, but even then he might force himself to puke it up." Cherry said.
Monet nearby, who was pretending to still be unconscious, really didn't like what she was hearing. She also REALLY didn't want to have sea stone jammed into her body via a stab wound. More than that, she didn't want her sister to be subjected to such a fate.
Although her eyes were closed, her instincts told her that Cherry's gaze had landed on her. The feeling was cold and suffocating, sending shivers down her spine.
The sound of approaching footsteps almost caused her to tense, but she managed to remain still and limp. Cherry crouched down low enough for Monet to hear her soft, even breaths.
"This is strike two for you. Do you know what happens with strike three?" Cherry said, causing Monet to tense slightly to stop herself from trembling.
"Open up." Cherry tapped her chin.
Hesitantly, Monet complied. Cherry placed a tiny piece of sea stone into her mouth, then held her jaw shut. "Swallow."
Despite her weakness from the curse, Monet managed to do so.
"Good. If you spit that back up, I'll make you watch your sister die a terribly painful death. Donquixote Doflamingo is already doomed, his fate sealed. If not by our hands, then Akainu will take him out." Cherry said, pausing to let it sink in just how screwed Doflamingo was. "So do the best thing for you and your sister, yeah?"
Cherry lightly slapped her cheek twice patronizingly and gave her a sweet smile.
Cherry was just bluffing about the whole 'I'll kill your sister' bit, but Monet didn't need to know that. Don't get her wrong; she was still royally pissed off about her memory being tampered with. It's just more prudent to seal Sugar's devil fruit powers than to allow the devil fruit to re-enter circulation.
Cherry stood up and motioned to her small army of tiny critters. "Gag her, please."
The tontatta moved like a tide over Monet, who suddenly found herself quickly bound and gagged. Cherry really appreciated how efficient the little guys were. She half wanted to recruit a dozen or two, but she couldn't in good conscience subject them to the danger the Straw Hats so often found themselves in. They might be inordinately strong for their size, but that same small size made them especially vulnerable to being mortally wounded.
Next was Sugar's turn. She was still unconscious, for real this time unlike her sister. So Cherry put a piece of sea stone on her for good measure before getting to work at sealing her devil fruit. The process was much faster than it was the first time she did it, only taking a handful of minutes to complete it.
Cherry removed the sea stone as it was no longer necessary, then snapped her fingers. The tontatta took the queue and tied her up.
Usopp watched this with a small amount of envy. He looked at one of the tontatta and asked "Hey, can you get me something to drink?"
"Do Usoland's legs not work?" The tontatta asked back. The little guy said it so cutely that it had to be innocent, but it sounded so passive aggressive even then.
"It truly is remarkable, Usoland!" Leo said, bringing him a glass bottle.
"Oh, thank you. What's remarkable?" Usopp asked.
"That we have both a hero and a demon lord on our side!" Leo proclaimed happily.
Usopp did a spit take. Partly because of the unexpected comment from Leo, and partly because the bottle Leo handed him was filled with the worst rum he'd ever tasted.
Robin chuckled nearby, having overheard Leo's words. There was only one person that he could mean by 'demon lord'.
The three of them looked over to Cherry, who now had Sugar tied upside down and strapped to her back like a backpack. She was apparently very determined to make sure that Sugar didn't get away from her. It was kind of cute in a demented sort of way.
The reactions of many of the former toys was a tad different. Those who hadn't been toys for very long couldn't help feeling pity towards the 'little girl', as they didn't know that Sugar looked half her actual age. Others just thought her to be exceptionally strange and decided not to steer clear of her.
"What are you all still standing around here for?! The Donquixote pirates aren't going to kill themselves!" Cherry shouted at the former toys that were still lingering about.
'You're one to talk…' They criticized her, but lacked the courage to speak aloud.
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