บท 315: Another Cyborg
Pekoms found himself tossed back out into the hallway shortly after his conversation with Cherry after dinner. She claimed that she needed her "beauty sleep" and didn't want him to wake her up early crying for his breakfast.
The night passed quietly and peacefully. Cherry woke up in a large, silk covered bed and sat up with a stretch and a yawn.
She looked down at herself and around the room. "Well… at least I didn't wake up with a princess in my bed again, but…"
Wrapped snugly around her body was a rose gold suit of armor that most certainly wasn't pajamas. It was surprisingly comfortable, though, so she could see how she ended up like this. It was kind of annoying that she went ahead and made it when she hadn't decided whether to do so while sober yet; especially since Drunk Cherry decided to throw the pocket devil fruit in as well.
Cherry reached her hands towards the seams of the armored plates and pushed them inside of cleverly hidden pockets. After rummaging around a bit she pulled her hands out and nodded her head. "That's a lot of stolen gold alright."
It was kind of impressive to her that an extra dimensional space could be contained in the form of a pocket. Even the most precious spatial storage rings from the myriad realms didn't have open holes to normal space in them lest the pocket dimensions collapse in on themselves. She'd have to study it in detail later.
Cherry clambered out of the bed, then paused whilst looking at it. It was a very nice bed…
A few minutes later, the entire luxury suite was stripped bare of furniture and decoration. Not even the carpet and wallpaper were spared.
*knock knock* "Miss Harpin, I'm here reporting for duty." came the voice of Raise Max outside the door.
Cherry opened the door after quickly getting dressed in something that didn't make her look ready to go to war.
"..." Raise Max blinked at the empty V.I.P. suite and decided to ignore it. "Is there anything you require of me, my lady?"
"... Who are you, again?" Cherry asked, placing her hand on her chin in thought.
"..." Raise Max didn't know whether to laugh or cry. "You don't remember anything? I didn't think you were THAT intoxicated last night…"
"Well, I COULD remember, but what would be the fun in that?" Cherry said, having deliberately not searched her mental sea for memories of the previous night. She'd get around to it eventually, but she was a little scared to look.
"Er, I don't know what else you were up to, but you got me out of Tesoro's prison by faking my death then 'resurrecting' me in front of Tesoro to trick him for some reason. You asked him to hand me over to your custody, and you had me bring a lion guy named Pekoms to you. You talked about-" Raise Max started enlightening her about what he knew about her night.
"Stop, stop, stop! I didn't ask you to recite it to me!" Cherry stopped him. "I'm 'working for' Tesoro now, though, huh? Weird."
Cherry pushed past Raise Max and made her way to the elevator, with Raise Max following behind like a lost puppy. He needed to play the part of a man who has given up resistance until it was time for him to escape, lest he find himself locked up again.
*ding*
Cherry stepped out of the elevator and came face to face with Baccarat.
"Did you have a good night's sleep, Miss Harpin?" Baccarat asked with a gentle, professional smile.
"Nope. The bed was terribly uncomfortable; I feel like I slept in a suit of armor." Cherry said bluntly.
"I see. Tesoro-sama would like to see you." Baccarat said, just blatantly ignoring the complaint.
"Okay?" Cherry said, before starting to walk away.
Baccarat put a hand on Cherry's shoulder, her devil fruit priming itself to steal her luck. "Your position here is not quite set in stone. I recommend that you behave, especially since you abandoned those friends of yours for money."
'I guess if he gets too annoying I can throw him off the roof of that ridiculously tall tower he likes so much. I'm kind of curious what the others are going to do though…' Cherry thought before saying, "Fine."
Baccarat gave her an arrogant smile, completely ignorant of just how little control she actually has in this situation.
She tried to pull her hand free of Cherry's shoulder, but strangely found it stuck to her shirt. Before she had time to properly question what was happening, she was swept off her feet and slung over Cherry's shoulder like a sack of potatoes.
"I don't have all day to follow you around in those heels, so I'm going to speed this up a bit. You don't mind, right?" Cherry said.
"What are you doing- AHHHHHH!" Baccarat screamed as Cherry catapulted into the air at breakneck speeds.
She didn't have much time to contemplate how high in the air she was before they both crashed through a large window that then miraculously pieced itself back together before the broken glass could hit the floor.
"You sure know how to make an entrance. Though I would ask that you don't enter my office unannounced." Gild Tesoro said in a voice that undoubtedly annoyed.
"I didn't come unannounced. See?" Cherry dropped Baccarat unceremoniously to the floor. "Announce me, please."
Baccarat was only just getting her bearing before realizing where she was and what was going on. "I'm sorry, Tesoro-sama!"
"Forget it." Tesoro waved his hand dismissively. "Go back to your duties, Baccarat."
Baccarat picked herself up and walked across the room to the door as swiftly as she could without actually running.
"YOU?!" the other occupant of the room shrieked, whilst pointing a robotic hand at her accusingly.
"Me? Do we know each other?" Cherry asked nonchalantly.
"Don't pretend you've forgotten me, bitch! You cut off my hands and legs at Enies Lobby!" Spandam squealed in indignation.
"Doesn't ring any bells." Cherry spoke dismissively.
Of course she did actually remember him, the man who tormented her dearest, lovely Robin and didn't even have the strength to back up his wanton arrogance. However, she knew that pretending she didn't remember hurt him more than the dismemberment had.
"You're a dirty liar!" Spandam seethed.
"Now now, no more of that." Tesoro said calmly, though he was himself glad to see the little shit cut down a peg; apparently in the literal sense in this case. "I'll add another 10 million Beri to your… fee. So why not let bygones be bygones, at least for right now."
Spandam opened his mouth to say something, but seemed to decide the money was worth more than mouthing off at two people who can kill him in a heartbeat. "I shall be magnanimous… THIS time!"
Cherry looked him up and down. "Franky is a cooler cyborg than you. Those hands and legs are lame as hell."
Spandam tried to shout back at her and kept his mouth shut at the same time, making an oddly whistling sound reminiscent of the sea train, ironically. He turned tail and ran away… er, retreated like a man, slamming the door as he left.
"Enies Lobby, huh? The World Government tried to keep that quiet, but some of the details have gotten around in Underworld circles. I'm sure it was quite scary with all those warships and vice admirals running around, but you're no longer stuck with that lunatic who declared war on the world, so rest easy." Tesoro said, paying no more mind to Spandam's tantrum.
"You're telling me! I'm so glad to be rid of that fool, good riddance!" Cherry declared unflinchingly, much to Tesoro's liking.
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