217 Call from Big Mom

The unusual trio found themselves in front of the candy factory owned by Big Mom, all the while the citizens wondering why one of their saviors was following a couple of Big Mom's subordinates around like a lost puppy.

Once inside, Cherry recognized the candies on display in the storefront. They were the same kind of candies that she had seen Luffy gorging on the night before.

She lamented the fact that Luffy hadn't eaten more, as it would have been an amusing situation if they had eaten all of Big Mom's candy.

As the factory employees brought out large sacks full of oversized candies, a sudden sound was heard that immediately made Pekoms and Tamago stiffen and start to sweat.

*Pururururu Pururururu*

Pekoms hesitated for a brief instant before answering the mini den den mushi. He really didn't want to do so in front of a certain hawk-eyed troublemaker, but missing a call from Big Mom would cost him a few years off his life.

*gacha* "Pekoms." The voice of the woman on the other side of the snail had a peculiar quality to it.

It had a commanding presence to it that demanded your attention, but more than that it sounded… hungry. An insatiable hunger that would swallow the world whole if it could only open its mouth wide enough to do so.

To Cherry, this wasn't the voice of a human or a beast or even a demon. It was more akin to a flame that would mindlessly consume everything in its path, even if it meant there would be nothing left to sustain itself.

As much as Cherry wanted to mess with her, she knew better than to play with fire. At least until she was in a position to stamp it out permanently.

"I'm here, Mama." Pekoms answered, somewhat relieved to see Cherry's smile falter slightly.

"Bavarois is dead and his fleet was sunk. I'm in a bad mood, so bring back twice the candies. Tell the factory to triple the order every month, too." Big Mom spoke, sounding more annoyed than angry.

The manager of the factory went a bit pale and quickly ordered the employees to check their stock, careful not to speak loudly enough for Big Mom to overhear. Tamago and Pekoms noticed of course, but wouldn't say anything until it was certain there was a problem.

"Of course, Mama. How did that happen though? Bavarois was quite strong." Pekoms asked, trying to buy time. It wouldn't be good to have to call Big Mom back and tell her there was a problem.

"It's those damned Neo Marine cowards again. I swear I'll suck them all dry when I get my hands on them." Big Mom vented.

At the mention of the Neo Marines, Cherry perked up in interest. 'Those guys are crazy enough to attack two Emperors at once?'

The factory employees quickly came out with more sacks of candy, clear relief on their faces revealing that they had just managed to scrounge up enough to satisfy Big Mom's increased order.

"We just received the candies, Mama. We'll return quickly, gao." Pekoms said.

"Good." *gacha* Big Mom hung up.

"Bon, I am surprised that you did not interrupt, soir." Tamago said.

"I didn't want her to know who stole her candy." Cherry smiled devilishly.

"If you do that, a lot of innocent people will die. Mama's hunger pangs are not to be underestimated, gao." Pekoms said calmly.

Cherry frowned. Thinking about her impression of the Emperor she got from just that short conversation, she realized that Pekoms' words were likely true.

"Whatever. Tell Katakuri I said hi and that I look forward to the next time we meet. I hope he can prepare another nice treat for me at that time." Cherry turned heel and walked out.

Pekoms and Tamago didn't understand what she meant by "another nice treat", as Katakuri had kept the loss of the world famous sweets from the auction a secret. They wondered if perhaps he had an affair with Cherry?

Many miles away Katakuri forcibly suppressed a sneeze, as doing so in public would make him look unacceptably weak. "Talking behind my back now, is she? Just you wait, Harpin D. Cherry, I will avenge my humiliation."

Cherry sneezed as she met back up with Robin.

"Someone must be talking about you." Robin said.

"What?" Cherry asked, confused. "People are always talking about me. Haven't you noticed how sexy and interesting I am?"

"No, I don't believe I have." Robin ruthlessly curb stomped her ego.

They returned to the palace where the rest of the crew had mostly woken up.

Cherry took notice of the three princes and Princess Shirahoshi lying in the courtyard, the occasional muscle spasms being the only movement they were presently capable of.

"Oh, I see you've gotten to the twitching stage all by yourselves. Usopp needs me to threaten him with great bodily harm to get that far." Cherry praised.

"Oi, I'm not that bad anymore." Usopp denied.

"That's great news, Usopp. I guess I can step up the intensity for you from now on." Cherry said, causing Usopp to weep and beg her not to.

"I'm not sure we can keep this up, though." Prince Fukaboshi sighed.

"I'll keep going," Shirahoshi spoke resolutely between deep breaths. "I will protect our family, and our people!"

The three princes shot to their feet, arm raised in the air, their eyes burning with determination. """We'll protect them together!"""

The three of them promptly collapsed back to the ground, moaning over their aching muscles.

Nami was seriously rethinking her decision to join Cherry's training sessions.

"Are you sure these exercises are safe, Cherry?" Chopper asked. As a doctor, he was quite aware of the harm excessive exercise can do.

"Don't compare them to regular humans, Chopper. Merpeople are very sturdy and the royal family even more so. Princess Shirahoshi especially has the potential to become one of the world's strongest people." Cherry waved away his concerns.

"Really?" Shirahoshi asked, both hopeful and dubious.

"Of course! I wouldn't lie about such a thing. If you want results, though, you're going to have to put yourself through hell. Make your brothers and father teach you how to fight and spar with you, don't let them go easy on you either." Cherry affirmed.

"Oh, bearded old guy! You promised to reward us with some treasure, didn't you?" Nami said with a big smile as King Neptune came out to meet them.

"Jamon, yes I was planning to do that. Unfortunately it would seem that the treasury was robbed clean." King Neptune looked very embarrassed.

Nami looked doubtful, she thought he was trying to weasel himself out of a promise to keep his gold to himself.

"Was it the swamp guy? I noticed that he doesn't seem to be in the palace anymore, so you either moved him or he escaped right?" Cherry said nonchalantly.

"Mm, that would seem to be the case. The prison was impacted by the super weapon and his cell in particular had a fairly large crack in it. With his logia powers, it would have been easy for him to slip out. Jamon." King Neptune said dejectedly. He felt very bad that he couldn't reward the Straw Hats properly.

Nami turned to the three resident meatheads in their crew, Luffy, Zoro, and Sanji. "Go get the treasure. We can keep all the treasure since we're the ones who'll recover it right, old guy? Thanks!"

"I supposed that's fine, Jamon." King Neptune said, somewhat relieved.

"Right away, Nami-swaaan~!" Sanji said, prancing out of the palace in search of his quarry.

"I guess I can go…" Zoro said, finishing off a bottle of hard liquor.

"Ooh, treasure hunting! Shishishi!" Luffy was eager to go as he wanted to get back into the pirate way of doing things.

Nami notably didn't ask Cherry to go, even though it would be the easiest thing in the world for her to locate Caribou. After seeing the state Cherry was in yesterday, she wanted Cherry to get some rest. Her friends were more important to her than gold, even if she didn't act like it sometimes.