Both Cherry and Burgess looked upon the distant, unmoving stone Pika in surprise; though they had different emotions towards the result.
Cherry was appreciative of her spear's raw power and was practically giddy thinking about training with it some more.
Burgess was coming to terms his what he was only now realizing to be a very close brush with death. He didn't even care about his missing ear at this moment, just thankful it hadn't flown a little more to the left. Once the adrenaline started to calm down, a different emotion started to take hold. Greed.
Burgess shot off in the direction of the spear with all his might, moving even faster than he did before. So long as he could claim that spear for himself, it wouldn't matter that he missed his chance to eat the devil fruit. Hell, now he could eat a different devil fruit or get one from his captain; then he would have TWO devil fruits! He would be a truly undefeatable champion!
Cherry chuckled at his naivety as he raced towards the direction the spear flew. That spear was blood bound to her, part of her very being. As such it was already heading back towards her after she willed it to do so. She had it burrow beneath the ground to make sure it didn't cause any additional unintentional deaths.
"What's happening?" Sugar asked, as if she was somehow owed an answer.
She couldn't see anything from her current very inconvenient vantage point.
Cherry was feeling generous in her improved mood, however, so she answered the arrogant girl. "Nothing much. I just accidentally killed Pika, is all."
Her first instinct had been to deny it immediately. Maybe this evil woman was strong enough to defeat Pika, but definitely not by accident, damn it! Pika was one of their strongest combatants, and definitely the one with the highest durability on their crew. Not even Doflamingo himself matched Pika in pure defensive power.
But when Cherry turned around so she could gaze upon Pika's ruin with her own eyes, she despaired. She went silent then, unsure of what her future held.
There was nothing she could do to save herself. She had tried to use her devil fruit multiple times by now to no avail. It was like trying to move your arm after sleeping on it in a weird way. You instinctively knew how to do it, but the arm remained unresponsive.
Cherry paid no more mind to her and pulled the string apart to reenter the birdcage.
"What now? Should I go play with Akainu? He's been pretty quiet, probably wants to swoop in after the dust settles to kill the victor." Cherry thought out loud.
That woke Sugar up from her stupor instantly. "Noooo! I don't want to die! Don't bring me to that freak!"
Cherry chuckled. She was thoroughly enjoying her torment of Sugar. All well deserved, as far as she was concerned.
First she wanted to check out the palace, though. Akainu wasn't going anywhere, he could wait patiently for Cherry's visit.
Sugar didn't know what she planned, however, and started to scream in terror when she shot forward. Straight towards one of the most dangerous men in the world as far as she assumed.
…
Doflamingo's panic room.
Something was wrong, terribly wrong. Pika's heavy movement could no longer be felt, and that fact disturbed Doflamingo. If something had happened or the situation had changed, then Pika should have come to notify him.
He had heard an explosion not long ago, just before the palace had stopped stomping around via Pika's devil fruit ability. Any explosion capable of taking Pika out in one go would have leveled the palace, though; and looking at the security feed from his hidden broadcast den den mushi around the country, it was clearly still there in one piece.
At least he was safe here in his panic room. It was perhaps one of the most fortified structures in the entire world. It was also very secret, with only himself and his three elite officers knowing about it. After booting that one legged idiot out of his palace, he immediately went into hiding here.
Doflamingo was thankful to his found family for insisting on this hideaway despite his arrogant denial of its necessity.
"Mmm Mm M Mm Mmm Mm!!!" a tiny voice mumbled through a gag.
Princess Mansherry's devil fruit was endlessly useful, but she really didn't know when to shut up. If she hadn't been gagged, then even now she'd be begging him to let her go. If not he would have eventually snapped under the combined pressure of his enemies and her annoying voice, likely killing her just to shut her up.
*knock knock… KNOCK knock KNOCK*
Doflamingo stood and walked to the airlock of the panic room and opened it without hesitation. This was because the knock was a passcode of sorts that each of his elite officers knew.
Diamante stumbled inside looking extremely pale from blood loss and missing an arm. He slammed the door shut behind him somewhat feebly whilst taking heaving breaths.
Doflamingo frowned deeply at the sight. He was a cruel man, but he even could not help but to feel sympathy for one of the men who raised him and made him into the man he was today.
Doflamingo snatched Mansherry up, making her yelp into her gag. "Heal him."
She did not wish to do so. However gullible those from the tontatta tribe were, after this much she knew that Doflamingo was absolutely an enemy who had tricked her before. However, she feared what he'd do to her if she wasn't useful to him any more, so she followed his command this time.
Tears dripped from Mansherry's eyes onto Diamante's arm stub. Of course, the arm was lost and would not be restored, but at least the wound itself closed up. Some of the color returned to Diamante's face at the same time as the healing properties of Mansherry's tears even recuperated some of his lost blood.
"What happened?" Doflamingo asked.
"Roronoa Zoro happened. He's stronger than we gave him credit for. I underestimated him even after watching his fight in the tournament." Diamante explained. He didn't need to save face in front of his young master because he lived to fulfill his dream, so he told the whole truth without pathetic excuses.
"You weren't followed were you?" Doflamingo studied him.
"Absolutely not. I'd sooner die than lead these monsters to you, young master." Diamante spoke with deep conviction.
Doflamingo didn't doubt that, but he did doubt Diamante's perceptive abilities whilst he was half dead.
"Alright. While you were out there, did you notice what was going on with Pika?" Doflamingo asked, dreading the answer.
"I'm… not sure. There was a streak of light from the edge of the birdcage I think. I'm pretty sure it hit Pika's stone form, but I didn't have a clear view of it." Diamante said.
"Damn it." Doflamingo cursed.
He really, really, REALLY hoped that the streak of light wasn't Admiral Kizaru. His odds of getting out of this alive, let alone unscathed, were already slim. He definitely didn't need another admiral level threat added on top of the pile.
…
Somewhere else.
"Mm! This is really good ice cream!" Kizaru said, standing at a food stand.
"It's frozen yogurt." the food stand owner corrected.
"Frozen yogurt flavored ice cream, delicious." Kizaru said.
"He isn't here! We searched the entire palace!" Kyros growled in frustration.
Law also wasn't looking too pleased with the situation. He already knew how slippery the shichibukai could be, but he was banking on Doflamingo's arrogance winning over his sense of self preservation.
Unfortunately it seemed that all the extra muscle he brought with him, while improving his chances of victory in a direct confrontation, actually decreased the likelihood there would be a direct confrontation in the first place.
It was at this moment that Luffy, Cabernet, Sanji, and Viola arrived at the same time.
"Tra-guy! Where did 'Mingo go?! I need to kick his ass!" Luffy exclaimed. Cabernet nodded in agreement, she didn't like the smug smile Doflamingo always wore on his face and she would like to smash it once or thrice.
"I don't know. He must have slipped away before Pika picked up the palace." Law said bitterly. He knew the bastard was at least still in Dressrosa since the birdcage was still up.
Viola wasn't paying them any mind. She ran straight to what looked like a small door in the wall. She swung it open, but was apparently disappointed by what she found, or what she didn't find.
"Princess Viola." Kyros greeted, bowing respectfully with perfect balance despite his missing leg.
"Kyros… it's good to see you again. To remember you again." Viola said with a gentle smile. "I am searching for Princess Mansherry. I know that Doflamingo was keeping her captive in the palace, but I haven't had any luck. Have you seen anywhere she could be held in?"
"So they were keeping her here! We thought she was kept in the factory with the rest of the tontatta. I have not noticed anywhere she could have been kept, unfortunately." Kyros said, feeling somewhat guilty for inadvertently sending the little ones after a red herring.
*Crash!*
Cherry burst through the ceiling, causing most of them to flinch and go on their guards. Only Cabernet and Sanji weren't surprised by the sudden entrance. Cabernet was able to sense her of course, whilst Sanji was able to instinctually determine that the newcomer was a beautiful lady in a split second and kept his cool accordingly.
"Hey guys, whatcha up to?" Cherry asked casually.
Viola caught her eye, so she sent a flirty wink her way for good measure. Viola didn't respond as she was very much of the opinion that now wasn't the time for such things.
"Cherry! Where's 'Mingo?!" Luffy shouted.
"He's in some underground bunker or something over yonder." Cherry said, pointing in the rough direction of where the palace had once been before Pika moved it.
"UuuooOOOHHH!!!" Luffy psyched himself up and ran in the direction she pointed without question.
Cabernet was about to follow, but was stopped as Cherry motioned for her to come to her. With a small pout, she acquiesced and trudged over.
"Hey, you. Yes, you." Cherry called out to Kyros. When she had his attention she said "You're like this kingdom's hero or something?"
"What…? No, no I'm not a hero." Kyros denied adamantly, shaking his hands in front of himself almost defensively.
"How humble, that's exactly what a hero would say." Cherry nodded to herself, having sussed him out.
She was at least certain that he was refusing for the same reasons Luffy insisted that he wasn't a hero. This guy definitely shares his food with others.
"No! I have too much blood on my hands to be such a noble person!" Kyros looked like he was almost on the verge of panicking.
"I suppose you must have a fair bit being the most prolific contender of the colosseum's history…" Cherry gave him that.
"Er, no… I never actually killed anyone whilst fighting in the colosseum. Fights to the death only started during Doflamingo's reign." Kyros corrected her.
Cherry raised an eyebrow at him. "Then what? Were you a serial killer or something?"
"Absolutely not! I took a life to avenge my murdered friend!" Kyros said hastily.
"So you're a hardcore 'due process' kind of guy, huh? How heroic." Cherry said, rolling her eyes.
"Why do you have Sugar strapped to your back?" Law asked out of nowhere.
"For safekeeping, of course! Don't tell me that some of Luffy's stupid rubbed off on you?" Cherry said, as if it was obvious.
"Get with the program, nerd." Sugar added.
'Why are they teaming up against me???' Law thought, confused and dumbfounded.
"Anyways, take this." Cherry tossed something from inside her clothes at Kyros.
Catching the object, Kyros gazed upon the strange, dark blue apple in his hands. A devil fruit.
"That bad boy will regrow your leg on top of giving you the standard physical boost that Zoans are famous for. Simple enough to give you a non-negligible increase in strength without needing to spend any time training its use." Cherry said.
Kyros wasn't normally the kind of man who'd choose to rely on such a power, but even he couldn't deny this. Just getting his leg back would be a game changer for him.
Cherry didn't really feel any loss from this. Sure she could sell it or something, but in a few years she'd be beyond caring about money anyways. Nami will probably be peeved about it though.
'I'll make it up to her sometime. There's no shortage of treasure in the Grand Line.' Cherry thought.
Kyros didn't waste time and decisively stuffed the whole apple into his mouth, stem and all. He didn't know if it mattered how much of it he ate, but he wouldn't take any chances with the fate of his family and country on the line.
Whilst he was "savoring" the devil fruit's "delicious" flavor, Cherry walked over and infused some of her vital energy into him to kick start the regeneration from the devil fruit. Although it could restore limbs on its own, it would likely take time without the extra help. Time that they didn't have.
After a few moments, the devil fruit settled in Kyros' complaining stomach and he said "What now? How do I do it?"
"Just do it." Cherry said unhelpfully.
"..." Kyros tried focusing on transforming, but to no avail.
"Like this." Cherry prodded him.
A sudden jolt went through Kyros' entire body and then he felt his body trying to stretch and mold itself into a new shape. He captured the feeling and egged it onwards until he was finally in the shape of a large, slimy, lizard-like amphibian. His stump felt all tingly and upon looking at it, he saw his leg was visibly regrowing itself.
"Now let's get going before Luffy has a chance to finish Doflamingo off. Although, I'm doubtful that he'll be able to find him by himself unless he just starts smashing the ground at random." Cherry said. She looked towards Viola and asked "Are you coming too?"
"I need to find Mansherry. I'm sure you all can handle Doffy- I mean, Doflamingo." Viola said.
"Oh, Doflamingo took her with him. I can sense them both in the same place. I guess you're coming along after all." Cherry said.
Sanji was more than happy to come along and Law naturally also did so.
Along the way, Kyros worked out the hybrid form of his devil fruit. His tanned skin took on a pinkish hue and his hair was made of slimy tentacle-like protrusions. "Why would you, a pirate, give me such a valuable thing?"
"It wasn't for free, dufus." Cherry said. "You're gonna take all the credit. I'll be damned if I let the marines take all the official credit for taking down their own shichibukai after turning a blind eye to his atrocities in Dressrosa for ten years. They'll never admit that pirates saved Dressrosa, but you? You can take the credit just fine, so long as you've played a significant role."
Kyros opened his mouth to protest, but shut it quickly when Cherry glared at him. "You've already accepted the payment. You either become Dressrosa's hero, or you're coming with me until you pay off your debt."
Kyros gulped. This woman was even more frightening than his late wife.