One Piece: Dream of Immortality

Chapter 516: Crick in the Neck

Kanjuro redoubled his efforts in shaking his arm, whipping it up and down with such force that he could feel the bones in his arms creak with strain.

It was a hopeless endeavor from the beginning, however. Once Cherry's body had returned to its usual proportions, she wrapped herself around the arm and squeezed like a boa constrictor.

*PopPopPop*

"AAAHHH!!!" Kanjuro screamed as his arm was sundered and rendered useless.

Cherry released him and wrapped an arm of her own around Kanjuro's neck next.@@novelbin@@

"You really ought to stretch more; you're so stiff and inflexible," Cherry mocked. "Don't worry, I'm happy to help you with that."

Kanjuro tried to resist, but the vice grip on his throat might as well be made of sea stone steel for all the good he did in removing it.

If that's how it was, then so be it!

His mane of red hair began to drip black ink which formed into a dark cloud. If he was going to die here, then he would deal a blow to his hated enemy at the same time!

"Tch, you're no fun," Cherry said. They were the last words he heard before an unnerving crunch, and all he knew was nothing at all.

The black cloud dissipated at the same time that Cherry subdued the traitorous Kanjuro, much to the relief of those who were in the ships below it. They did not wish to die to sate their curiosity in regards to what the technique would do to them.

So too did the painted crane disappear, however, which left Cherry to fall out of the air.

"I'll catch you, Cherry-chwan~!" Sanji bounded through the air, arms outstretched.

"Thanks for the help, Sanji," Cherry said.

"You're welc- OOF!" Sanji didn't catch the dainty form of Cherry, but rather that of Kanjuro.

"I appreciate it, heh," Cherry bounded over to the Thousand Sunny, Sanji following in her wake.

Sanji still seemed pleased to be of help, even if not in the way he'd hoped. Cherry thought he should have known better than to offer that help to her, who both of them knew was better at navigating the air than Sanji himself was.

Cherry landed gracefully, Sanji with a bit of style, and Kanjuro with a thump.

"Is he dead?" Luffy lightly kicked Kanjuro in the ribs.

Chopper tottered over and checked on the man. "He's still alive, but his neck is broken."

"It's not broken. I fixed it," Cherry said. "I couldn't let a man with a broken neck be treated like a ragdoll, now could I?"

"Eh? But…" Chopper did a more thorough inspection of Kanjuro's vertebrae, this time not worrying about exasperating damage. "This is so mean, Cherry!"

"Turn off doctor mode for a second and remember what he did, Chopper," Cherry reminded him.

"Huh?" Chopper looked at Kanjuro again. "Oh… yeah, screw this guy. You should have dropped him in the sea!"

"What did you do?" Nami asked, though she looked like she didn't really want to know the answer to that question.

"I crunched his neck bones and fused them back together all wrong," Cherry said.

Reiju cringed, having a better idea of how fucked up that was. The others were left with their own imaginations.

"As for dropping him in the sea, don't bother. Let the samurai have him after the battle. I don't doubt they'll want their own vengeance," Cherry said.

Kanjuro was thus tied up and stuffed into a barrel of water for safe keeping. Cherry shaved his head for good measure as well.

"So where's the real Momo?" Brook asked.

"I left him in Yasuie's care. I did a babysitting job for him, so he'll do one for me in turn," Cherry informed. "The future shogun he may be, but right now he's just a boy. Better to keep him far away from the chaos."

A few of the men looked like they disagreed, but none spoke against her decision.

Even as they chatted casually amongst each other, the ship battle raged on. The Beast pirates were sorely outnumbered, and the quality of their crews could not compare either. It was over swiftly, with every one of the enemy ships being sunk beneath the waves.

Except for one, apparently.

"Hey, how are they shooting us from way over there?!" Usopp shouted as cannon fire ripped through one of the samurai's ships.

"Long ranged cannons, huh?" Franky discerned.

"How are we meant to get them from all the way over here?" Chopper cried.

"I can throw cannon balls that far, or just go over and wreck them," Cherry suggested.

"I don't think that's necessary," Robin said.

Her words proved true, as only moments after the enemy ship's initial volley, another ship appeared out of the storm. A half dozen shots from the newcomer tore through the wood of the distant vessel, but that was not the end.

A flash of flame raced across the much shorter gap between the enemy and the new ship and burned through the sails on the way down onto the deck. A much larger eruption of fire burst forth and sent the Beast pirates aboard scattering, many of whom jumped into the sea to put themselves out.

"Ace has it handled, looks like," Zoro pointed out the obvious.

"Shall we get going, then?" Jinbe offered.

"Yeah! Let's go kick Kaido's ass!" Luffy cheered.

"So what's the plan? I assume Luffy didn't pay attention to it," Cherry sauntered over to Robin and asked.

"KIn'emon said he'd tell us once we all grouped up," Robin smiled.

"And of course, Luffy is just going to want to charge straight in without listening," Cherry sighed, but smiled as well. "Well, I'm sure they can plan around us. A big, glaring distraction is useful in many ways."

"That's insane!" Pudding piped up.

"You think anyone at the top of the pirate pyramid has a shred of sanity left over?" Cherry raised an eyebrow at her.

Pudding raised a finger to object, only to realize that Cherry was right. She blushed and puffed out her cheeks, turning her face away to hide her shame. This just so happened to be in Sanji's direction, and the look of adoration on his face made her sputter and blush that much more.

"That girl has got it bad," Reiju commented.

"They'll be dancing around each other for a while, I reckon," Cherry said, receiving nods from both Reiju and Robin.

"So what's going on with you two, then?" Reiju asked, a mildly teasing smile on her face.

""We're married,"" Cherry and Robin answered in perfect unison. They caught each other's eye and cracked up.

"Oh, I didn't see any rings?" Reiju said. Both Cherry and Robin could tell that she was carefully managing her expressions now.

"Robin's an archaeologist, so she insisted we do an ancient ceremony where we fuck non-stop for three days and nights-" Cherry was interrupted by a light slap on her shoulder from Robin.

Robin turned to Reiju, who now sported a light blush of her own, and corrected. "It's not official, but we're as good as married."

"I'm gonna make Whitebeard officiate after we kick his ass in the Davy Back Fight," Cherry chuckled.