Dance with Death

The battle between Cherry and the creepy old man could hardly be called a battle.

He casually dodged the rain of lightning that ripped through the air, like a ballerina dancing to an unheard orchestra. His kicks carved great crevasses through the ground and his scythe claws gave one a sense of impending doom.

Cherry focused on blocking his scythe claws as they seemed the most dangerous, and as a result had to take a number of Rankyaku kicks.

Despite all this, Cherry was having the time of her life. Her almost demented smile reminded the old man of his youth, when battle still gave him that thrill.

She was using both Armament and Observation Haki to her fullest extent and was even making steady progress with them. In addition, there was something else that felt like it was hidden deep within her, tickling the edges of her perception, but she couldn't grasp whatever it was.

"You're much tougher than I expected. Most humans would have been cut to pieces by now." He praised honestly, looking at the deep cuts in Cherry's body.

"Can't say I'm happy about a perverted ancient geezer checking out my body. Why don't you ask about my sword instead? Aokiji seemed to like it well enough." Cherry joked light heartedly, as if she didn't look like someone on the brink of death.

"I don't really care about your toys. I've honed my body into a weapon for over two hundred years, because in the end you're only as good as your body is." He replied.

Even though they were speaking as if they were just having small talk about the weather, the intensity of their battle grew ever more vicious.

'This little girl is good. She isn't picking up the Rokushiki techniques as quickly as Rob Lucci had said she did. I wonder why?' He wondered, whilst plunging his right hand towards Cherry's heart only to be blocked by the lightning blade. Vibrations and electricity surged up his thin arm, but he had taken as much a few dozen times now, no big deal.

"I'm going to start using Armament Haki now, girl. Watch yourself." He warned.

"You sure you should be giving me a heads up as a government agent?" Cherry asked, taking yet another Rankyaku to the back.

"So what? They won't dare to punish me. They wouldn't risk their strongest assets over some minor insubordination." He said, swirling unnaturally around a particularly thick lightning strike.

After another minute of Cherry barely fending off the heavy attacks, the old man stopped dead in his tracks.

"Seems like the kids have finished up at the mansion, so I guess our little sparring match is over." He said, ignoring the fact that this 'sparring match' had resulted in Cherry no longer being recognizable in her injured state.

"You've held up remarkably well. That little boy Kaido might be tougher than you, but he couldn't take this much damage and still be standing you are. Since you've impressed me, I'll leave you with a parting gift." He said, his skeletal face seeming to form into an actual smile.

"Brace yourself. If you can survive Rokushiki's secret technique, I'll let you live." He took a strange stance.

The old man instantly appeared in front of Cherry, far faster than he'd moved previously, taking her off guard. He placed both fists against her chest and a violent energy ripped through her body.

Cherry felt something pull on her soul, trying to tear it from her physical form. And it would have done so, if not for her Spirit Roots literally anchoring her soul to her body.

She collapsed to the ground, but she was still breathing.

"Hmph, you'd best hope we don't meet again, brat. Since you've got my expectations up so high, I won't go easy on you to start with next time." The old man said, then vanished.

Cherry laid there for a little while with her eyes closed, going over the information she managed to get about Rokushiki. To complete her understanding, she'd need to observe somebody with Vital Energy, but she still gained a lot from the old man.

"Cherry!" "Cherry-chwaaan!" "Um- Cherry?"

Chopper, Sanji, and Serene came running over after a few minutes passed.

"AHHHHH! SHE'S DEAD?!" Chopper screamed.

"WHO WOULD DO SUCH A THING?! I SWEAR I'LL HAVE VENGEANCE?!" Sanji steamed.

Serene only had a complex look on her face, unsure whether she should be happy or sad.

*cough* "Ch- Chopper... come closer..." Cherry mutter hoarsely.

"AHH You're still alive?! I'll fix you up, don't worry, Cherry!" Chopper exclaimed.

"It's okay, Chopper. I just need you to do one little thing for me..." Cherry whispered.

"Of course I will, but first I need to treat you!" Chopper said with tears streaming from his eyes, his countenance growing darker as he looked over her hideous wounds.

"I- I want... you to hold still!" Cherry shouted the end of the sentence and snatched Chopper into a big, bloody hug.

"AHHH! Don't move you idiot, you'll die!" Chopper yelped, but didn't struggle out of fear he's hurt her. Chopper had never let Cherry cuddle him, because it hurt his pride as a man.

"Pshh, I won't die. You could cut my in half and I wouldn't die." Cherry said, rubbing her face against Chopper's face.

"Even if that's true you're still severely injured! Even Zoro wouldn't survive this! Now stop cuddling me and let me treat you!" Chopper had stopped crying and was just angry now, but was still quite cute.

"Okay okay! I've got my fill, hehehe." Cherry let him down and he immediately started fussing over her.

"So what do you think, Sanji? Scars or no scars?" Cherry asked, seemingly unfazed by her injuries.

You could almost see the little thought clouds over Sanji's head, likely filled with imaginary Cherrys in swimsuits. Half with scars and half without.

His nose started bleeding and he gave a thumbs up. "Either way is good."

Serene was just looking at the area around them. "How do you even have this much blood?"

"Ah! We'll need to do a transfusion too!" Chopper panicked.

"Blood is one thing I'm not in short supply of. Besides you should see the other guy!" Cherry said, sticking her nose into the air smugly for some reason.

"Oh? How much did you mess him up?" She asked, curious about the other combatant.

"His arms are gonna be real sore for a day or two from all the times I blocked his attacks." Cherry smiled and Serene could barely believe how shameless she was, taking credit for such a thing.

Chopper got cherry all wrapped up in bandages like a mummy, then they were ready to move out.

"Cherry, who was that you were fighting?" Sanji asked.

"Some old creep that looks like a skeleton. He didn't really care if I lived or died, only that they get what CP9 came for." Cherry gave a quick explanation.

"Ah, right. It seems they're after the blueprints of the ancient weapon Pluton. They think that Franky guy has them." Sanji said.

*Poof!*

The dirt beneath Cherry's feet was stirred up into the air and she vanished into the city faster than eye could see.

"Why can't she rush that quickly to MY side?" Sanji made himself feel depressed.

Cherry was rushing to save Franky's life. Yep, save his life, definitely not to get a look at the blueprints or anything like that.

Franky was a fortunately not too hard to locate as most people had evacuated the city. Normally his Vital Energy signature would be very locate amongst the crowds.

She found herself heading towards the sea train station.

"Wait for me Plu- Franky. I'll definitely save you!" She shouted into the sky.