Dodging Destiny
"Oh, Cherry! I was just trying this 'lunchbox' from Luffy here." Dorry greeted.
'Luffy' was looking at Cabernet with interest, but he was fortunately preoccupied with gorging himself with undercooked dinosaur meat.
The princess' already nervous demeanor became worse when she recognised Cherry. It wasn't hard to do since Cherry was dressed the same, minus the jack-o-lantern mask.
"And what should I call you by, miss?" Cherry asked, as she only knew her as 'princess' and 'Miss Wednesday'. Both of which could potentially cause the young woman problems given her sensitive circumstances.
The princess seemed to understand her meaning. "Vivi."
The group chatted for a while, though Cherry remained mostly silent. Cabernet was bursting with curiosity and questions she couldn't ask.
The central volcano erupted, signalling the start of Dorry and Brogy's century long duel.
Vivi started to fuss over the "pointless" fight the reason for which they no longer remembered, but Luffy covered her mouth to stop her.
""It's not about that anymore."" Cherry and Luffy spoke simultaneously.
"Yes, it's about pride now..." Dorry said as he faced the approaching Brogy.
Meanwhile Cherry was cursing at herself as she felt a thread of fate latch onto her and Cabernet was doing her best to stifle her laughter.
'Calm down, it's just one thread. No big deal. Worse case scenario, I can still forcefully sever it.' Cherry assured herself.
Vivi, Luffy, and even the oversized duck were awestruck by the two giants' battle.
'Hm?' Cherry spotted one of the new arrivals approach the giants and then retreat. 'What's this about?'
The duel finished, a tie naturally. Cherry overheard Brogy speaking about his own guests and that they shared their rum with him. After giving Dorry a few barrels, they parted ways and returned to their camps.
Dorry mentioned Brogy's guests and Luffy said they must be his crewmates.
Dorry picked up a barrel and Cherry spoke up. "Don't drink that one, Dorry."
"Oh, did you want some too, Cherry?" He asked.
"No. That barrel has been tampered with." Cherry said seriously. She felt the distinct energy of a devil fruit from the barrel.
Dorry's face twisted and his eyes shifted to the other two humans.
Vivi shook underneath the giant's gaze, but Luffy did not. "My friends wouldn't do that!" He defended with a shout.
Cherry felt the thread of fate between them snap and she inwardly celebrated.
"How many friends did you bring to this island then?" Cherry inquired.
Luffy looked confused, but started counting.
"Vivi, Karoo..." He pointed at Vivi and the duck, then started listing names on his fingers. "Sanji, Zoro, Usopp, and Nami. I brought six!"
"I see. Well by my count, there 10 new humans on Little Garden. That leaves 4 unaccounted for." Cherry stated.
Dorry tossed the barrel in his hand away. When it hit the ground, it exploded in a firey blast.
...
Mr. 5 clicked his tongue and slipped away under the cover of the jungle with Miss Valentine.
They arrived at a small, white house made of wax and went inside.
"Mr. 3, there was another woman with the Blue Ogre Dorry. She figured out the rum barrel was tampered with and warned him." Mr. 5 reported.
"Hm? What did she look like?" Mr. 3 asked.
Mr. 5 described Cherry's appearance while Mr. 3 listened. Mr. 3 brought out a sketch made by the unluckies.
"I think we've found our runaway Miss Halloween who caused all that trouble a year ago. This complicates things, but also presents a new opportunity. If I- ahem, WE catch her, Mr. 0 will be very pleased." Mr. 3 smiled as he sipped his tea.
Miss Golden Week munched on crackers while Mr. 3 laid out his new plan of action.
The distant rumbling of a volcanic eruption sounded out and the 4 agents of Baroque Works went to carry out their nefarious plot.
...
Cherry pondered about how to deal with this situation. The intruders were the scheming type, so they wouldn't give the giants an opportunity to face them directly. She didn't know if this Luffy and his crew were capable enough to handle these miscreants themselves.
If she got further involved she would leave a bigger impression on Luffy, which increased the chances of getting mixed up in his destiny.
In Cherry's opinion, the best impression you can make on a child of destiny is no impression at all.
After the second eruption of the day, Dorry and Brogy went to meet for their next duel and the 4 strangers huddling together also started to move.
Two of the devil fruit users were heading towards the volcanoes, while the remaining devil fruit user and other human went towards Brogy's camp.
The latter pair ran into one of the wandering members of Luffy's crew and managed to apprehend them, then continued onward to ambush the two crew members at Brogy's camp.
'How are they so unaware of their surroundings?!' Cherry pulled her hair in frustration. 'The island is crawling with ancient predators! Pay attention, damn it!'
Dorry and Brogy just finished up their fight when the central volcano erupted once again.
'That's odd. No, wait...' Cherry realized something. 'So that's their plan. Blow up the volcano whenever Brogy and Dorry finish fighting to wear them down, then swoop in.'
Cherry decided to give a hint to Luffy and Vivi. "That's very strange. The volcano has never erupted so close together, at least for the year I've been here."
She could almost see the cogs turning in in Vivi's head. Luffy didn't get the hint at all.
A look of horror dawned on Vivi's face. "Luffy! It must be Mr. 5! That's why the rum barrel exploded! He must be causing the volcano to erupt to weaken Dorry and Brogy!"
Luffy was outraged and wanted to rush off to the volcano, but Vivi stopped him. "Don't be so rash, we should warn Brogy and Dorry first, then bring your crew together."
The volcano erupted again triggering the 4th fight of the day, the giants were visibly tired from their evenly matched battles.
Luffy and Vivi rushed towards the battling giants to stop them, while Cherry followed a bit behind them with cabernet in tow.
"Will I get to fight?!" Cabernet asked with stars in her eyes.
"I sure hope not." Cherry said, earning a pout from Cabernet.
...
Luffy and Vivi arrived at their destination just in time to see Brogy and Dorry both slip on a white substance and cleave each other across the chest with their weapons.
When they fell to the ground, the same white substance rose up and trapped their limbs in huge cuffs.
"Giant Candle Service Set!" A voice shouted.
From behind the giants' bodies, a strange and enormous candle took shape. A red haired woman, a green haired man, and a long nosed man were standing on the bottom platform with their feet trapped. The oversized top of the candle started to spin and rain down flakes of wax on the trapped people.
"Nami, Zoro, Usopp! Dorry, Brogy!" Luffy shouted angrily.
The candle man who had started monologuing about his sick artistic ideals turned towards his interloper.
"Oh my, if it isn't Straw Hat and Princess Vivi. You're just in time, all according to my plans." He said with a smug look.
"Mr. 3?! Be careful Luffy, he's on a different level than Mr. 5!" Vivi said, bringing out her spinning blades and mounting Karoo.
"Watch out, Luffy! He'll try to trap your limbs!" Shouted the long nose man.
Luffy charged forward and Mr. 3 launched his wax at his legs. Luffy narrowly dodged and stretched his arms far behind him shouting "Gum Gum Bazooka!" He thrust his arms forward with a decent amount of force, only to be blocked by a wall of wax.
"My wax is as hard as iron, you won't break it that easily!" Said Mr. 3.
While Luffy and Mr. 3 traded blows, Vivi went after Miss Golden Week, a younger girl with red pigtails. She was stopped with a sudden explosion, however, as Mr. 5 and Miss Valentine revealed themselves.
"""Vivi!""" The group shouted.
'These people really do like to shout each others names huh?' Cherry thought on the sidelines.
Things weren't looking good, at this rate she might make a bad impression instead. That's even worse than a good impression.
"Cabernet, go save those idiots on the candle, then free Dorry and Brogy. Use your flames to melt the wax. I'll hold off the explosive freak and the umbrella bitch so Vivi doesn't die." Cherry sighed.