257 Fishy Heist

Cherry planned to let Luffy know what happened with Bellamy and Dellinger since it involved him. She would also make sure that he's aware that his identity has been outed, in case it hasn't sunk into his thick skull yet.

On the way, however, she was going to make a pit stop at the holding area for the fighting fish. They were keeping the devil fruit there in preparation for the finals, but Cherry had a funny feeling that things were going to escalate either before or during the last match. As such, she was going to swipe the devil fruit beforehand so she wouldn't have to leave it behind in an emergency.

It was a bit cruel to let the old man and ex-king Riku fight over a nonexistent prize, but he would just have to deal with it. What good was being a pirate if she didn't take advantage of the perks, such as shameless burglary, after all?

Burrowing through the stone walls of the colosseum was a simple matter that was second nature to her at this point, requiring little to no thought on her part. Once she got close to the target's location, she dropped into a pool of water beneath the waterline of the arena's moat. It was connected to the moat via multiple thick portcullises that even fighting fish couldn't bash their way through.

The fighting fish immediately trained on her and charged with the intent to eat this tasty morsel that fell into their territory. Sadly for them, they were instantly pinned down by multiple massive tentacles that sprouted from Cherry's relatively diminutive body.

'Courting death!' Takako exclaimed, or at least that was the impression the kraken gave off to Cherry.

Cherry had Takako draw the fighting fish she was looking for closer to her. After it was released, Cherry grappled it by the horns so it couldn't thrash about.

There was a small chest strapped to its back, just the right size to hold a devil fruit. Cherry carefully maneuvered herself, wrapping her legs halfway around the fighting fish's neck and squeezing threateningly, then letting go of its horns to reach for the chest. Luckily, the fighting fish wasn't suicidal, as it possessed just enough intelligence to know its life was in her hands.

Cherry didn't tamper with the lid, instead she directly unfused the top half of the chest from the bottom. The devil fruit was revealed… and it wasn't the same one shown in the video at the beginning of the tournament.

'Son of a bitch…' Cherry cursed inwardly.

She wouldn't just leave it here, of course. A devil fruit was still a devil fruit, after all. She still admonished herself for falling for the old switcheroo, as now that she had a close look at it she was sure that she had seen this fruit before.

'Whitebeard is having a tough time too, huh?' Cherry thought, feeling sorry for the old man.

Whitebeard thought of his crew as his family, and since this devil fruit once belonged to one of his division commanders, that meant that man was almost certainly dead. Cherry wondered who was foolish enough to provoke him, or if the man's death hadn't been a murder at all.

This devil fruit looked like a grapefruit, but with several pockets stitched into its skin. This made it perfectly clear that this was the pocket fruit that enabled the user to possess virtually unlimited storage space within their body. It wasn't a flashy power at all, but used well it would be abundantly useful.

'I bet Usopp would bite the bullet for this fruit, just for the convenience of having all his slingshots and ammo on his person at all times.' Cherry thought. 'On the other hand, free storage artifact with unlimited space! Should I make a blood-bound raiment?'

Cherry could make such decisions later. For now she'd get out of this moat water, as it wasn't very sanitary and the curse was technically in full effect even though she could puppet her body to move. She stuck the chest back together and released the fighting fish.

'Where in the world are they keeping the real Drill fruit, though?' Cherry wondered as she tunneled her way out of the chamber.

She turned her attention to the SMILE deep beneath her feet where there were numerous artificial devil fruits. There was too much interference from the artificial fruits that trying to find a real one amongst them was like searching for a needle in a haystack. Fortunately she had a magnet, so she just had to get closer and it'd be easy.

That did raise an issue, though. Did someone on Doflamingo's side know or guess that she could sense devil fruit? The only person who knew she could sense devil fruit specifically was Robin, no one else knew the details of her Life Sense.

…

Inside the arena.

"Kill her! Make it painful too!" Shouted a audience member, who was promptly struck in the face by a stone.

Several others made rude or down right malicious comments directed towards Rebecca, but each one met a similar fate as the first. Soon enough the audience began to catch on that they were under attack by the blond man in the black suit, who was kicking stones at anyone who shouted insults at Rebecca loud enough to be heard over the din.

If they weren't so afraid of getting hit by a flying rock or annoyed by the man's obvious protection of the girl they all hated with a passion, then they would be impressed by how he was able to simultaneously target specific audience members and fight off other combatants that were targeting Rebecca. All without even using his hands.

"It looks like the princess has found herself a knight. I wonder if his chivalry can stand against the odds." Señor Pink spoke boredly.

"Why are you doing this? I can fight for myself!" Rebecca insisted.

The audience was never kind to her, but somehow the seething silence was worse than the usual vitriol. The fact that she was "cheating" by having someone defend her in the arena gave some justification to their hate towards her, however small that justification was.

Nevermind the fact that King Elizabello II had half the combatants defending him during Block B, when it came to Rebecca then she was always at fault.

"I'm not fighting for you. I'm just standing in front of you and attacking anyone that comes close." Sanji, aka Mr. Prince, told a boldfaced lie.

"I cannot forgive you!" A rapier pierced towards Sanji. "I have seen through your disguise, fiend! I will not let you steal my spotlight from right under my beautiful nose!"

Sanji diverted Cavendish's stab with a well placed kick and followed it up with the other leg aiming for Cavendish's face.

Cavendish ducked the kck just in time, but he wasn't expecting the first leg to come around again without even touching the ground first. It slammed into his face and smashed him between Sanji's shoe and the arena floor.

"I don't even know who you are." Sanji stated bluntly.

Strangely enough, it was that statement that dealt the final blow to the poor pretty boy, as he fainted on the spot.

"Oh, good going handsome. I don't think I could have taken Cavendish out myself." Acilia, the only other woman in Block D, praised. "We have to make sure Rebecca makes it to the finals, yeah?"

Sanji was glad Acilia wasn't going to fight him. She might not be a supermodel, but that didn't mean he would allow himself to kick her. His chivalry transcended his sense of attraction.

Suddenly there was a blur of motion. Sanji barely repelled a deadly thrust of a rapier he couldn't even see before it pressed onwards into the crowd of gladiators, cutting down all in its path. Cavendish no longer lay where he had passed out.