290 Begone

Cherry released an unwilling Cabernet and once again turned her attention to the Neo Marines.

She looked so terribly disinterested that they worried she would snap her fingers and kill them all just like that.

"This all happened due to my own folly, so I suppose I'll let you all go." Cherry said.

She waved her hand and a tidal wave of the same energy that healed Ain washed over them. Cuts closed, bruises vanished, broken bones snapped together then fused, and a number of severed limbs flew back to their owners and reattached themselves good as new.

Akainu sneered inwardly. He wasn't stupid, he knew he couldn't face Cherry under normal circumstances even the way she was before Ain returned her. So instead, he would scour the world and kill everyone she loves.

As the regular Neo Marines started to wake up they heard a profound voice speak. "So my mercy counts for nothing to you, Akainu? Very well. You shall have my pity, but no more mercy from me any longer."

Cherry had a thought, then spoke again. "Unfortunately for you, I have borne witness to two devil fruits that can bring back the dead in their own ways; perhaps three if that girl's devil fruit works that way. So death alone is not enough for you in order for me to sleep soundly. We'll do this instead…"

The crack in space from which Cherry's new (old) form came from had mostly finished resealing itself like a healing wound. It was suddenly wrenched back open; then with a flick of Cherry's finger, Akainu unceremoniously flew into the crack and vanished into the endless black.

Akainu let out a shout as he flew, but the instant he was through the crack everything instantly went quiet.

Now that they got a good look and weren't as distracted by Cherry's grand entrance, they stared into the lightless abyss on the other side. To their horror, they were dead certain that… something… was looking back at them. From the inside of their own minds.

As such, it was a great relief to them when Cherry swiped down with a finger and the crack sealed shut like a zipper.

"As for the rest of you, I'm willing to assume that it was Akainu's influence to sacrifice innocent people to deal with pirates. If I find out that this was an incorrect assumption, then you will all share Akainu's fate… Begone." Cherry said.

The Neo Marines gulped in fear. It could be said that they were all willing to die for their cause, but were they willing to find out what horrors dwell in that inky void? For the vast majority, the answer was a resounding NO!

With a wave of her hand, the Neo Marine fleet was swept hundreds of miles away by an irresistible current. Afterwards, Cherry sighed and gauged her remaining energy levels by habit. She still had a fair amount left even after wrenching open the void and creating that vast ocean current.

Cherry didn't see the point of letting all this celestial energy go to waste by excising Ain devil fruit effect immediately, so this time she conjured a meritable tsunami of the vibrant green healing energy and sent it barreling over the entirety of Dressrosa.

Like a miracle from the heavens, all the sick and wounded (except Doflamingo and his people) quickly found themselves in perfect health. Better than perfect even.

Few would know the truth of the matter, so many Dressrosans would attribute the event to the "fairies". Many had witnessed Princess Mansherry healing people after all, so it was a very believable explanation.

Now having mostly used up her celestial energy, Cherry unraveled Ain's devil fruit effect and her body swiftly returned to its prior state.

The tethers to her blood bound artifacts and to Takako also found their anchor once more and reattached automatically. Cabernet was over the moon with how happy and relieved she was, and she scooped Cherry up into a princess carry and twirled around in the air, giggling the whole time.

Cherry didn't mind her antics at all. If such a simple thing could cheer her up and make her happy, then Cherry would be more than happy to oblige.

Takako also came slinking back from deeper waters. She had run away after the connection was severed, thinking that Cherry had perished and not wanting to find out what could kill her. So she was rather embarrassed when the connection was reestablished.

Krakens were solitary and very long lived creatures (Takako herself was older than both of Cherry's lives combined), so they were quite slow to form deep bonds. As affectionate as their master/pet relationship was, it wasn't nearly deep enough for Takako to risk her life to take revenge for Cherry.

The thought to blame Takako for this didn't even occur to Cherry, though. Her precious, adorable Takako could only be spoiled, never punished. Naturally, this helped their relationship to get a little bit closer, as Takako was able to confirm that Cherry's affections were not conditional according to how useful Takako was to her.

After collecting Takako (a sight that disturbed the nearby Whitebeard Pirates), Cabernet carried Cherry back to Dressrosa to meet up with the others. She was unknowingly headed straight for her doom.

…

A short time later.

'Uh oh…' Cherry thought, visibly paling.

She had never been in such a dangerous situation before in either of her lives, and she'd once been ambushed by a demonic sect inside a secret realm she had gotten sealed inside with seemingly no escape.

Even if she still had her old cultivation she would not stand a chance against such an opponent.

The moment she made eye contact with Robin, she knew she was dead meat.

"No sex for a month." Robin's words shattered Cherry's indomitable will and reduced her to a shadow of her former self.

Truly a fate worse than death.

Frankly she deserved worse. She had only JUST made a promise to not run off on her own and fight admiral level threats alone. Worse, she technically would have lost if she wasn't a huge weirdo by the standards of this world's common sense; and this world got pretty freaking weird sometimes.

'I suppose it could have been worse. Thank the heavens I'm such a cutie.' Cherry tried to look on the bright side.

"...sorry…" Cherry mumbled, looking genuinely apologetic and remorseful.

Seeing that Cherry was acting in the proper fashion when she'd done something wrong, Robin opened her tightly crossed arms with just enough room for Cherry to slip between them for a hug. Robin pouted, but returned the hug regardless.

"PARTY!!!" came a shout from Luffy that completely destroyed the remains of the tense atmosphere.

The people of Dressrosa were in a very generous mood, bringing out all the good booze and cooking up a storm with local specialties. There was hardly going to be a better special occasion for it. Since they were all healed up and reenergized, they were prepared to party till dawn the next day and keep going if they could.

There was a mild interruption to the festivities. Whitebeard and his crew marched through the crowds until they found the guests of honor of this particular party. Seeing one of the Four Emperors walk around like they owned the place just after escaping out from under the thumb of a different pirate was a bit of a buzzkill.

"There you are!" Whitebeard spoke loudly with a friendly smile when he found the Straw Hats.

Seeing that he was seemingly in a good mood, especially since he had brought liquor with him, the people of Dressrosa allowed themselves to relax slightly as it didn't look to be a hostile takeover.

"Cherry! Become my daughter!" Whitebeard declared out of nowhere.

"""... Eh?!""" was the response of most.

"No way! Quit trying to poach my crew, you old coot!" Luffy challenged, squaring up to the strongest man in the world like it was no big deal.

"""... EH?!?!?!""" was yet again the response of most.