Chương 394: Obligatory Bath Time
The group arrived in front of a castle built into a cliffside around the back of the Whole Cake Chateau.
Luffy ultimately decided to team up with Bege, which was all according to Cherry's plan.
"Hey! You're thinking this is all according to your plan, aren't you?!" Nami accused baselessly. "You are NOT fighting Big Mom!"
"I don't know what you're talking about," Cherry denied innocently.
As they approached the entrance, a long tongued man walked out to greet them.
"Well, well, well. Lelolook who came craaawwwling back!" Vito drawled, crossing his arms smugly as he glared at Cherry.
"Get over it, Vito. You only got a bit wet," Cherry waved him off.
"I still have grape soda in my nose! I can still smell it! I've had three nasal irrigations done! Three!" Vito jabbed an accusing finger in Cherry's direction.
"That's because I upped the sugar content and made it extra sticky~" Cherry snickered.
"Why you…!" Vito went to reach for his pistol, but was unable to find it. He awkwardly patted his clothes until he stopped and looked at Cherry, twirling his gun around her finger with a knowing smile. "When did you even…?"
"Pshhh, I took it when I left your ship. I'm honestly shocked you didn't notice it was gone until now," Cherry smirked.
Vito scowled and his cheeks pinked in embarrassment.
"I'm here to talk to Bege!" Luffy cut in.
Vito was grateful for the change in subject. "Yeah, yeah. Let's get you guys cleaned up, the godfather isn't going to meet with some unwashed hobos."
They all followed Vito into the Fire Tanks' fortress.
"Hey, I was curious, do you just use shampoo for your whole body or what?" Nami asked Carrot.
"What's shampoo?" Carrot asked back.
"You're about to experience a whole new world of grooming, girl," Nami said.
"Where are you going, Cherry? Don't you need a bath, too?" Carrot asked as Cherry started to split off from the group.
"I can take care of impurities just fine without a bath. Since the chateau's blueprints didn't include this tasteless addition, I was going to scope it out." Cherry said.
"Oh no, you don't!" Nami spoke in a motherly tone. "I promised Robin that I wouldn't let you skimp out on baths, and more importantly I'm not letting you out of my sight until Big Mom is FAR behind us!"
"Blueprints?" Vito asked.
"Oh yeah, found them stowed away in a secret crawl space between the walls. They've got all the little secret passageways in the chateau and everything," Cherry latched onto his curiosity for dear life.
"The godfather would like to see those," Vito said, putting aside his personal issues with the woman in favor of business.
"I'm sure that he would, but for now Cherry is coming with us!" Nami snagged Cherry by the ear and dragged her away kicking and screaming. Mostly figuratively speaking.
"Wait, where are you taking me?!" Brulee demanded.
"If I'm going down, I'm not going down alone," Cherry said.
"What? It's just a bath, why are you making such a big deal about it?" Brulee asked in confusion.
"If you could use your internal energies to clean yourself, you'd never want to take another bath again either!" Cherry defended herself. "Besides… I don't like how water makes me feel all weak and stuff."
"THAT'S the reason you don't like baths???" Nami asked, dumbfounded. "You're like the only devil fruit user in the world who can swim!"
"Nuh-uh. I taught Robin how to do it, too," Cherry excused. "And that isn't the point. That's more like puppeting your own body like a marionette and it's annoying on top of making me anxious!"
"Can you teach me how to do that?" Brulee asked.
"Yeah, sure," Cherry agreed easily.
"Cherry, she's the enemy! Don't teach her your secret techniques and stuff to her!" Chopper complained.
"She's my buddy," Cherry shrugged.
"No I'm not," Brulee denied.
"We might as well be. I'm going to be engaged with Katakuri anyways, so we'll be sisters-in-law soon enough," Cherry said.
"I don't believe you. You're just saying that to mess with me," Brulee said reasonably.
"Oh, I did hear about that, but we figured that you would have ratted us out if you were really doing it," Vito chipped in.
"If Big Mom dies, then I'm the uncontested strongest and the whole crew belongs to me. That's the thing about ruling through fear; it becomes easy for someone else to take over where you left off." Cherry nodded sagely.
"What?!?!?!" Brulee exclaimed in shock.
"Look on the bright side. There's basically no chance that I eat any of you," Cherry said.
Brulee opened her mouth, then shut it again. She couldn't really deny the appeal of that, but she felt like she was falling into Cherry's trap somehow.
"Ah, yes, the bath. Get lost, Vito, before I give you a reason to take a bath, too," Cherry mimed shooting him. He got the picture and skedaddled.
When Vito was gone around a corner, Jinbe spoke up. "Is there a reason you're so antagonistic with that man, Cherry?"
"Listen, Jinbe. Sometimes a girl just needs a punching bag, and Vito has such a punchable face. If he didn't want to be bullied, then he should earn my respect or whatever," Cherry explained.
"Oh… really?" Jinbe looked to Nami, Carrot, and even Brulee for confirmation and didn't get anything from them.
'Women are frightening…' Jinbe thought as he went into the male side of the bath.
Cherry saw a familiar face as she dragged her feet into the bathroom. "Oh hey, Chiffon. How's the kid?"
"Spending some quality time with his father. Did you come here with your captain?" Chiffon asked, drying her hair.
"Yeah, I guess Luffy wants to maybe team up or something," Cherry confirmed.
"That's good. It should be easier to kill Mama if we have some back up," Chiffon said casually, like she wasn't talking about a plot to murder her own mother.
Naturally, Brulee took offense to this. "Chiffon, how could you be a part of this?! Have you no loyalty?! No sense of filial piety?!"
"I stopped considering that monster my mother the day she decided that Lola should die over a broken engagement, let alone when she tried to sell ME off in my sister's place. It's YOU who should be reconsidering your loyalties, not me," Chiffon spoke coldly.
"Lola?" Nami caught the name.
Whilst Nami started chatting about the time they met Chiffon's sister, Cherry took the chance to hurry up and finish bathing so she could snoop around Bege's hideout, maybe steal something or plant something.
"Why are you rushing, food friend?" Carrot asked her. "Isn't this a pretty nice place? Back on Zou we have to use rainwater in wooden tubs!"
Seeing the sparkling look in the girl's eyes, Cherry knew that struggling was useless. Carrot had entered a sort of sworn friendship with her with that clothes swapping thing and now it was like having another baby sister that she couldn't say no to, but with rabbit ears instead of wings.
"I suppose that it's a pretty nice bath. Best that I've seen in a little while, in fact. Only the royal bath in Alabasta beats it really," Cherry said. "I guess it wouldn't hurt to stay a bit longer…"
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