Catching a Rat

The leader of the rebels in Alabasta, Koza, was escorting the two women he just met somewhere more private to talk. They seemed to be mercenaries of some sort.

If they had asked for money he would have turned them down immediately, but the shorter woman had said they wanted to join up to minimize the loss of life that would inevitably take place in this war.

He sensed something was off about this, but he couldn't put his finger on it. They could just be lying to him of course, but if they were then he could not discern where truth ended and the lies began in their words. So he decided to test them.

He had secretly signaled his men to hide in a designated location they had set up for meeting with any representatives of the royal faction. The other party would believe they were alone with him and his bodyguards, when in reality they were under heavily armed surveillance ready to pounce in a moment's notice.

They arrived at their destination and Koza motioned for them to sit across from him. It was a somewhat open space away from the hustle and bustle of the main streets with many places for his men to hide, waiting for his signal to act if needed.

"I am Koza, leader of the rebel forces. Now that it's just us, you can tell me what you really want." Koza said sternly.

Cherry's demeaner changed entirely, from a starry eyed young woman filled with empathy for the suffering of Alabasta's people into a confident and experienced negotiator. All to put on a show for the little boy playing General in front of her.

"My my my, aren't you impatient. It's no fun to skip the foreplay." Cherry drawled, leaning forward to rest her chin in her hands.

Koza was flabbergasted by the shift in the woman. He could almost feel a pressure weighing down on him, making him lose his cool head. He was thankful for the blistering sun that would surely disguise the nervous sweat upon his brow and back.

Regaining whatever composure he could manage in a few second, he asked. "Who are you?"

"It doesn't matter who I am. All that matters is that I'm here to help you and to help Alabasta." Cherry stated lazily. "Tell me, Koza. How much do you trust the men you have here?"

Koza had completely lost control of the conversation, so he decided to see where this was going. He looked at his two bodyguards, whom he had fought side by side with many times. "I trust Farafra and Erik with my life."

"I see. Is that also true to the other 17 men hiding around us?" Cherry asked, giving a toothy smile.

Koza froze in his seat and a silence hung in the air. the tension was almost palpable. But then something popped into Koza's head. "What do you mean 17?"

*BANG*

Cherry's hand flashed and fired a shot faster than the men could comprehend what happened.

"Ahhhhh!" A man in the direction the pistol pointed screamed in pain.

The men in hiding burst out, brandishing their weapons at Cherry and Cabernet. The relatively close distance between her and Koza's groups meant they needed to pause and aim carefully before firing.

"WAIT!" Koza shouted, looking in the direction of the screaming man while holding up his hand. Cherry had already set her pistol down onto the table between them.

"That isn't one of our hiding places..." Koza spoke quietly, but his voice seemed to echo like thunder in their ears.

A few men got their wits about them quickly and went to apprehend the intruder. They dragged him out in front of Koza.

"Do any of you know who he is?" He asked.

Farafra, a large man with two big protruding bottom teeth, answered him with a complicated look. "He's one of mine, his name is Geoffrey."

"Well, Geoffrey? Why were you eavesdropping?" Koza asked, leaving no room for lame excuses.

Between his pained groaning while grasping his punctured right thigh, he tried to dodge the question. "I wasn't eavesdropping General, promise! I just didn't realize you were here is all, promise!"

"That's a very nice tattoo on your ankle there, Geoffrey. You know, I was under the impression that Baroque Works was a SECRET criminal organization, but I suppose that can't be right if you went and got it permanently inked into your skin." Cherry revealed, like she was talking about the weather.

Koza's face darkened at those words, while the other men just looked confused.

Cherry addressed Koza this time. "What's wrong, General. Perhaps there are some strange occurrences that start making sense when you consider the idea of a hidden third party in this war of yours?"

"Um, Koza... I've seen this tattoo on some of our other men before..." The other bodyguard, Erik said.

Strangely, in that moment, a sweet scent filled the air. Cherry immediately stopped her breath and sent a thought to Cabernet. 'Transform into your figurehead form and flee with Koza and whomever else you can grab!'

Cabernet did not hesitate and grabbed Koza, Farafra, and Erik into her large wooden arms. She launched upwards with her surprisingly still functional wings and flew away as fast as she could.

Cherry had used a direct command that she couldn't refuse as a blood bound artifact. Though she didn't like to violate her autonomy, she couldn't risk it in this moment.

"Moh! What did you do that for?!" A voice like jangling bells rang out.

A woman standing about 1.5 meters tall, short blonde hair, pointed ears, jade green eyes, freckles, and elongated canine teeth walked into the small square.

Cherry could feel her mind going fuzzy while the other men around her were completely lost in a daze.

Cherry drew her sword and charged the woman.

"That's not very nice!" She said, nimbly dodging. Normally, Cherry could not be dodged so easily, but the world was starting to melt and her sense of balance was skewing.

This was the work of a devil fruit.

Cherry pressed the attack, determined to kill the woman before she was lost like the other men here. Cherry feinted with her sword and reached out her left hand to grasp around the woman's throat. However, she was too late, the world shifted and she found herself in a vast desert, devoid of life.

Her mind was still thinking clearly, at least as far as she could tell. Her hand was still outstretched in a death grip, but she felt her hand and arm involuntarily relax, falling to her side uselessly.

"It's nice to meet you, former Miss Halloween. You almost had me there, but you fell into my hallucinations. You must have a very strong mind to maintain your wits in here. That won't help you though. Good night." A sourceless voice said.

Cherry felt her left leg relax just as her left arm had and swung her right arm in that direction. Her senses told her that her hand was empty and her Life Sense showed no signs of vital energy, not even within herself. But she could feel the connection between her and the sword with her blood bond, so she acted upon that information.

"YOU BITCH!" The sourceless voice cursed at her. Cherry smiled with satisfaction.

None of Cherry's attempts to hit the woman again got her any reactions, no doubt she was being much more cautious now.

Slowly Cherry felt her body go limp and eventually her consciousness was fading to black as well. Cherry's last action was to pull her sword into her body before she blacked out.

...

In the city of Rainbase, Alabasta, waited a group of eccentric individuals in a large fancy room under a casino. These were the top numbered officers of Baroque Works.

The man who they only knew as Mr. 0 entered and revealed himself to be the Shichibukai Crocodile, a shocking revelation to be sure.

They received their final orders for the ultimate goal of Baroque Works, Operation Utopia.

Mr. 3 made an appearance, revealing that he'd failed in his mission and asked for forgiveness he wouldn't receive.

"I met those people! There are more of them though. Two men, two women, and a reindeer to be exact!" Mr. 2 explained. "Mr. 0, one of the women is very dangerous, the strongest amongst them to be sure. I saw her punch a pirate with a Logia fruit like yours! She said it was because of a technique called Haki, I think?"

Crocodile's face darkened. Naturally he'd heard of Haki before, but he wasn't expecting to run into a user of it here in the Paradise half of the Grand Line. He would need to be careful from now on.