Attack on the Mansion

Later that night, the Straw Hats waited in hiding around Iceburg's mansion.

The mansion was surrounded by several dozen shipwrights, while the senior shipwrights guarded Iceburg's bedroom.

The plan was to move on Cherry's signal, which was firing a 'special' flare from her revolver when the CP9 agents made their move.

Their only goal was to protect Iceburg and the other shipwrights while letting CP9 get away with the target of their mission, whatever that might be.

Unfortunately, they didn't know that Iceburg had no intention of giving them the blueprints for the ancient weapon Pluton, and would in fact rather die than do so.

Iceburg called Paulie into his room and told him to retrieve something from a hidden safe in his office. This triggered the beginning of CP9's operations and they moved to intercept Paulie after he obtained the 'blueprints'.

Robin and the other CP9 agent, Blueno, also arrived on the scene, infiltrating the building.

Cherry confirmed their movements and prepared to fire her flare, which would serve as both the signal and a distraction for the shipwrights guarding the outside.

*Bang*

A light shining so bright it burned the eyes of those who gazed upon it was fired directly into the ranks of the shipwrights. The other Straw Hats moved to barge into the building, while Cherry went directly to the windows of Iceburg's room.

*Smash*

Cherry burst through the window, surprising the three current occupants; Robin, Iceburg, and a disguised Blueno.

Cherry unloaded the 5 remaining shots in her revolver directly into Blueno's chest, and so quickly that they sounded like a single shot. He barely managed to harden his body with Tekkai in time by pure reflex. Instead of being ripped apart by the dense bullets, he was instead launched through the wall behind him as well as the wall behind that one.

"Robin?! Why are you here?!" Cherry feigned shock. Although it looked perfectly sincere, Ice and and Robin couldn't help but think it was a bit ridiculous.

Robin didn't miss a beat however. "We're done. I won't be traveling with you or the Straw Hats. You were just a means to an end for me."

"I don't believe that! What about all the good times we had?! You can't tell me they were just a fabrication!" Cherry was really hamming it up.

Before Robin could respond, however, a figure appeared out of nowhere behind Cherry.

"CHERRY!" Robin tried to warn her.

Cherry sensed the attack coming with her Observation Haki, but was rather flummoxed because she hadn't noticed the attacker with her Life Sense. She immediately dropped to the ground as 5 fingers pierced the air where her head had been only a split second before.

"Hmm, your observation Haki isn't bad." A cold voice came from the unassuming old man wearing a black suit. There was not a single hair on his head. He was gaunt, like thin skin stretched over the bones of his face, with sunken eyes that gave him the countenance of a skeleton.

Even looking directly at the man, there was not a drop of Vital Energy that Cherry could sense from him. It was like she was staring at a dead man. She even thought it more likely that he was merely a lifeless puppet, but she could not sense the puppet master if that was the case.

"Shall we take this outside, young lady? I don't want to disturb the youngsters in their work and our fight will likely bring the building down quite quickly." He said calmly, as if he wasn't talking about having a death match.

Cherry's face was dark, she knew this wouldn't be an easy fight. She simply nodded and followed after the old man when he disappeared through the window onto a nearby rooftop.

"Be careful, Cherry. I have no idea who that man is." Robin couldn't help but to worry.

Cherry only gave a quick reassuring smile, before leaping out the window after the old man.

Cherry followed him to the outskirts of Water 7 where no civilian structures could be found. She wondered what his reasoning for going out so far, as the Aqua Laguna could be blamed for any damage they do.

'To prevent me from going back to the mansion quickly? But he shouldn't have that little confidence in himself. A trap then?' Cherry pondered.

The old man stopped and turned to face her. "I only brought you out here to talk and to be sure there are no eavesdroppers."

"And what would you want to talk to me about?" Cherry asked, curious.

"A few matters. Firstly, are you willing to become a Shichibukai? Or join the World Government in any fashion? It would make things a lot cleaner for us if you did." He asked.

"No. I won't join a tyrannical government that would hurt my friends and chain me down." Cherry said.

He nodded lightly. "I expected as much. Second, your soul does not belong to this world. From whence do you hail from? You're soul is similar to the young prodigal blacksmith who makes weapons for the marines at the headquarters."

Now Cherry was utterly shocked. Not only did he see through her in such a way, but casually revealed the location of a certain someone. Though she could have guessed she'd find him there.

'Why does he now these things? Why can't I sense any Vital Energy from him?' Cherry thoughts raced.

Then something occurred to her, a possibility. "What's you devil fruit, old man?"

The old man kept silent with a cold gaze fixated onto her own eyes. Then he started to smile.

No, he wasn't smiling. The thin skin from his face was peeling back to reveal his bones. His fingers lengthened into gleaming scythes.

"I ate the Reap Reap fruit. I think it's been about 170 years since then? I was supposed to be retired, only training promising talents in Rokushiki, but those old coots made a fuss about ensuring this mission went well. Now that I've answered your question, answer mine. Don't worry about me telling anyone, I haven't told the government about the other youngster either." He said.

'So this is why. It seems devil fruit inscriptions don't only use Vital Energy. He's actually a dead man, but one that won't die.' Cherry thought.

"I'm from the same place as that bastard. I won't be telling you anything else, though." Cherry stated bluntly.

"Hmm, that's fine. You seem the type who would sooner die than reveal your secrets. Since that's over with, let's get started shall we? You only have to survive until the mission is a success, I didn't promise anything else to those geezers." He said apathetically, clearly not thrilled to be working during his retirement.

Cherry didn't dare to hold anything back. They stared at one another for a moment, like they were ensuring the other party was prepared. Then they vanished from their places, reappearing in between with clashing blades.

...

Meanwhile, back at the mansion.

CP9 had their hands full with angry Straw Hats, most of whom forgot they were supposed to let them get what they wanted.

They were able to subdue them mostly with the help of Kalina's devil fruit. Thought Luffy put up a hell of a fight against Rob Lucci with his Gear 2nd, forcing him to go all out to put him down.

The Straw Hats just weren't as good at fighting as a team as CP9, unfortunately.

Rob Lucci 'told a little story' to Iceburg who had refused to talk while Kaku read his pulse.

This revealed Franky, formerly known as Cutty Flam, to be the current holder of Pluton's blueprints.

The CP9 agents left them to die in the soon to be burned down mansion. Fortunately, Cabernet and Merry had been on standby just in case things went poorly and they jumped to action to free the Straw Hats from their restraints and escape the building.

Once outside, they got ready to go save Franky, but suddenly they heard something over the howling winds. It sounded like thunder. Occasionally flashes of lightning could be seen over the rooftops coming up from the edge of the city.

"What's going on over there?!" Usopp asked.

"Cherry isn't here." Zoro said.

They looked at the unceasing lightning with some fear. Just what sort of monster was Cherry fighting?