章 240: Corrida Colosseum
Several of Doflamingo's men were tied into a ball and left dangling from a tree. Cherry clapped the dust off her hands from a job well done. Couldn't have spies giving their presence away after all.
There were also a few unusually strong vital energy signatures for the relative small stature of the creatures that she sensed. They would quickly put a distance between them when she approached and ultimately she shrugged it off as some manner of beast.
If they were carnivorous, then Doflamingo's men would only have themselves to blame if they got eaten.
Cherry met back up with the others after running that little errand. She got one look at the disguises they were wearing and was stunned speechless by how ineffective they would be against anyone with half a brain. Black jackets, bowler hats, and white beards? Really?
Then again, in Cherry's experience most goon types would actually fall for it. Anyhow, it's not like there was much they could do to hide Franky's enormous robotic frame, or the fact that Zoro was the only well known three sword style fighter in the world. Luffy would probably just end up giving himself away in an act of carelessness no matter how good his disguise was.
"I'll just go my own way so they don't associate my disguise with us." Cherry said reasonably.
"That's probably for the best." Law concurred. He then rolled out a map of Dressrosa and began to explain their roles in his plan one last time.
"Okay, but why aren't we bringing Robin along to find the factory? She's the best secret agent type we've got." Cherry asked.
"Because she's a decent fighter, but also not liable to give us away while we drop off Caesar. Straw Hat-ya and his group are too conspicuous, but have plenty of firepower to destroy the factory when they find-- Where did they go?!" Law scowled when he realized that Luffy and his group were already gone.
"You didn't really expect them to sit still and listen to you with an adventure out there waiting for them in a strange new land did you?" Cherry asked with an expression of genuine concern on her face. "It was already a miracle that we got them to put on their disguises first."
"Fine, I guess I'll just have to trust that you'll fix whatever they screw up if it comes down to it." Law said whilst rubbing the headache from his brow. He looked up to find that Cherry was no longer there either, then he sighed.
…
Cherry already had an idea of where to go from here. Before she had knocked out the peeping toms that were spying on their ship, she had asked where she might find the higher level executives. They didn't want to talk at first, but that was nothing that some very imaginative threats couldn't solve.
As a result, she knew there would be a gathering of individuals with the information she wanted at the Corrida Colosseum. Probably there for some event, she'd find out soon enough.
When she arrived at the city of Acacia where the Corrida Colosseum was located, she was gobsmacked by the sights before her eyes. Thousands of automatons that seemed to independently operate under the power of a single devil fruit.
Cherry grabbed one of the "toys" that was a tiny tin horse dressed in a marching band outfit, only for it to let out a little squeal of fright, then say "M-miss, you surprised me! I have something to do right now, so would you mind putting me back on the ground?"
"You can speak as well? Are you intelligent, or do you merely produce predetermined phrases?" Cherry asked curiously, not putting the band-horse back down as it asked her to.
"Yes, of course I am intelligent! We are the living toys of Dressrosa!" The band-horse said cheerfully, but Cherry could detect some annoyance and fear underneath the surface.
Seeing that people were looking at her rather scornfully, Cherry put the band-horse back down on the ground and left the area.
'These toys are awfully functional, it's almost unbelievable that a single devil fruit could create such things. Maybe 2 in conjunction, but that clearly isn't the case from what I can see. It doesn't feel like what's in them is enough to create such a complex effect either, but I'll have to see the actual devil fruit user to get any solid data.' Cherry pondered to herself.
Cherry scanned the city with life sense and found two groups of devil fruit users, one of which was Luffy's group with another fruit user near them and the other were in the direction of the Colosseum in the distance.
"They're going to be okay, right? I'm sure whoever that is can't beat them all even if they seem strong." Cherry reasoned, before deciding to head straight to the colosseum.
*Acchoo* "Excuse me." Admiral Issho sneezed, oblivious to the group of world infamous pirates sitting only a couple of tables over from him.
More importantly was that Cherry recognised some of the individuals at the colosseum. Namely her friends from the Happo Navy, Chinjao, Sai, and Boo. Oh, and Bartolomeo too, she supposed. Their presence here, she hoped, was merely coincidence.
"Are you here for the tournament, miss? Shall I show you where to sign up?" A voice asked Cherry as she briefly stopped to admire the architecture.
Looking to the source of the voice, she found a one-legged toy soldier made of tin standing about half her height, most of that height being made up by his hat. "Do I need to pay you?"
"Heavens no, miss! I'm only happy to help in whatever way I can!" He responded in a delightful tone.
"Lead the way then." Cherry said. "How did you lose your leg? Or were you made that way?"
"Oh… The Doflamingo family made me this way…" The tin soldier said in an even tone. Cherry felt there was a hidden meaning to his words, but this wasn't the place to ask questions about such things.
"Tell me more about this tournament. Is there something special about it?" Cherry asked.
"Oh yes! The king has offered an incredible prize to the winner, a devil fruit! And not just any devil fruit if the rumors are to be believed!" The tin soldier said.
"What rumors would those be?" Cherry asked.
"That this devil fruit has been lost for centuries, and its previous user was none other than the founder of the Happo Navy over 300 years ago!" The tin soldier explained.
'Ah, Doflamingo is good. There's no way Chinjao would leave that alone, and there's no way I'd leave Chinjao alone. A bold strategy, let's see if it pays off for him.' Cherry thought.
"I guess there must be a lot of big names here, then?" Cherry asked.
"Naturally! Not as many as there would have been had it not been such short notice, though." The tin soldier answered. "Here you are! You can register right over there. It ends in about an hour, so you'd better hurry!"
"Hey you! Stop right there!" A man who appeared to be a local constable of some sort shouted and pointed at the tin soldier.
"I've got to go now! Perhaps we'll meet again!" The tin soldier saluted and raced away faster than one leg had any right to.
Cherry watched him leap up into one of the windows of the colosseum and jeer at the guard that the colosseum was out of his jurisdiction or something. She turned away and to the scantily dressed gladiator woman. "I'd like to register for the tournament."
"Sign your name here." She directed Cherry to a stack of waivers that basically said they took no responsibility for any physical harm, death, or fate worse than death that may befall you inside.
Cherry signed the waiver as "Nightmare" and the gladiator woman wrote the same name on a large sticker with the number 0530 at the top of it.
"You're in the first group. Go inside and don't cause any trouble." The woman said, before proceeding to ignore her.
Cherry chuckled at the casual dismissal, undoubtedly because her current guise had no reputation whatsoever. She walked inside the colosseum and made her way to the waiting room, but before she made it there she saw a familiar green hairdo reminiscent of a rooster.
Incidentally, Bartolomeo took notice of her as well, and after only a moment he began to stammer like a fool. "Ch-ch-ch-ch-!"
Cherry rushed him, putting an iron grip over his fanged mouth and pushing him into one of the side rooms. "Shut it you fool! Can you not tell I'm incognito?"
Though she was annoyed that he almost blurted her real name, she was secretly impressed that his fanboy instincts were so strong that he recognised her almost instantly despite her heavy modifications.
Bartolomeo nodded his head with a goofy smile on his face. "I'm never going to wash my face again…"
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