Meddling

Robin looked up at Cherry, who had a stupid grin on her face.

"Why did you come here? If you're caught here it could ruin everything." She said.

"I won't get caught, I made sure the other guy you were having a secret rendezvous with wasn't around before coming to see you." Cherry replied.

"This is serious, Cherry. Cipher Pol 9 had the authority to use a Buster Call at their discretion. I need to get them away from Water 7 before I can move against them." Robin explained.

"Ah, Cipher Pol 9. So that's who they are. How are WE going to get them off the island then?" Cherry asked.

"WE aren't doing anything. I'm going to handle this myself because I'm the reason you all got mixed up into it." Robin stated firmly.

Cherry squinted her eyes and frowned. "YOU aren't doing anything alone! You've been alone for most of your life and what's that done for you? It's time to try something different; working as a team! And don't try to refuse, or I'll go take out the CP9 agents I know about right away."

Robin thought about trying to restrain Cherry in some way, but she knew it was impossible. Cherry wasn't weaker than her like she had been when they first met.

"Fine, just go help the others. Mayor Iceburg is going to tell everyone that I was the one who tried to kill him when he wakes up and the Straw Hats will be blamed. Once they get what they wanted from Mayor Iceburg, they'll leave the island with me and I can make my move against them. You just need to protect the others and come after us when they're finished here." Robin commanded sternly.

"Alright alright. By the way, what is it that they want from Iceburg?" Cherry was curious about what they would go to such extremes to acquire.

Robin averted her eyes and chose to remain silent.

"Hiding something from me, huh? I'll take it as a challenge then. One more thing before I go." Cherry said, then rushed forward and picked Robin up in a great big hug, and spun her around.

"See you later, Robin!" Cherry waved goodbye and jumped out the window, leaving behind a blushing Robin.

Cherry leapt from rooftop to rooftop towards the Galley La shipyard where the others had been heading.

When she arrived, she saw Franky doing some sort of routine to introduce himself. It seems he after the others for taking a bit of revenge on his boys.

She could already hear people starting to talk about the Straw Hats being responsible for Iceburg's attempted murder.

Fortunately it wasn't long before the Galley La company's senior shipwrights turned up to fight the Straw Hats too. Otherwise Franky was going to have his ass handed to him, and Cherry had actually started to like the guy.

Cherry leapt into the action from the top of a nearby building and landed right in front of Rob Lucci. Rob Lucci didn't lose his composure at all despite Cherry looking at him with a hungry smile.

'Hehehe, I wonder how well you can fight without revealing your true capabilities? Show me your martial arts so I can copy them, CP9!' Cherry thought.

"Who the hell are you?!" Shouted one of the shipwrights.

"She's one of the Straw Hats, leave her to me." Said Rob Lucci's pigeon. The other shipwrights nodded in acknowledgement and went to face the other Straw Hats.

Cherry wasted no time and launched a fist full of the vibrating energy of Hasshoken at him.

Rob Lucci dodged with minimal movement using Kami-e and launched a counter attack with a saw.

Cherry was observing him very closely with both her standard senses and Life Sense to understand his movements.

Cherry crushed the saw with a Haki coated fist, then kicked towards his family jewels.

Rob Lucci narrowed his eyes in annoyance, utilizing another technique, Tekkai, to absorb the blow.

"Oof!" He grunted in pain, as vibrational energy ravaged its way up through his torso.

Rob Lucci was realizing he would either need to risk exposure or get help now. There was only so much he could do without blatantly using the Rokushiki he had trained all his life. He looked around tot he other Shipwrights, but they had their hands full with the other Straw Hats.

He made eye contact with Kaku, who understood he needed assistance and threw a tool cherry's way to distract her. Rob Lucci launched a kick at the same time to cut off escape routes.

Cherry was mulling over the information she had obtained form the two Rokushiki defensive techniques, which were generously demonstrated by a master in the martial art.

She twisted in a seemingly unnatural fashion, dodging both the incoming tool and the kick.

Rob Lucci widened his eyes in shock. It was somewhat crude, yes, but it was undoubtedly Kami-e that Cherry had just used.

"Interesting moves, friend. I hope you don't mind if I borrow them?" Cherry taunted with a smug grin.

'I have to get away from this woman. I can't kill her unless I go all out, and if I keep fighting her like this she'll just absorb my techniques and slowly get stronger.' Rob Lucci decisively ran away, into the melee with the other Straw Hats.

"Ah! Where the hell are you going?! You've got more moves to teach me damn it!" Cherry chased after him.

Unfortunately, Rob Lucci was quite the slippery eel, weaving amongst the combatants like a fish in water to avoid her.

Cherry had to give up unless she wanted to hurt the other Shipwrights, but the poor saps were innocent and only guilty of being gullible. So she switched targets to Kaku.

She timed her attack with one of Sanji's kicks to force him to use Kami-e, which he barely managed to dodge with.

Cherry's harassment of the unlucky CP9 agents continued until the Straw Hats decided to flee, as they did not want to harm the shipwrights. So Cherry reluctantly followed after them.

"So it was you guys who tried to kill Iceburg. Didn't like his prices or something?" Cherry asked, once they reached a safe place to hide.

"Of course not! And I don't believe Robin did either, no matter what they say!" Luffy said adamantly.

"I was just joking. Robin did shoot Iceburg though. She told me herself." Cherry dropped a bomb shell.

""""What?!"""" They shouted predictably.

"You found Robin?! And she said that?!" Nami asked, not believing her ears.

"You remember the assassins I pointed out, yeah? The two shipwrights Kaku and Rob Lucci, and the secretary, Kalina are World Government agents in Cipher Pol 9. They want something from Iceburg and they're willing to annihilate the island with everyone on it to get it." Cherry said casually.

There were many dropped jaws amongst the others.

"I don't know why you're all surprised. Everywhere you people go there's something terrible happening." Serene grumbled. No one could deny her words.

"Why can't we just cut them down right away then?" Zoro asked.

"We don't know how they call in a Buster Call. Maybe if they lose contact with them, it'll be called in automatically. We can only let them take what they want and let them leave before going after them. We just need to minimize the collateral damage, without letting them know we know anything." Cherry answered.

"It sounds too complicated..." Luffy complained.

"It's the best way to avoid people getting hurt though. I think it's the best way to do it." Chopper said.

"Baaah!" Agreed Merry.

"Okay, then. We'll wait for them to make a move on Iceburg, then barge in to protect him! After doing him this favor, he'll build us a ship free of charge for sure!" Nami said enthusiastically.

...

"What's your report, Lucci?" A Gruff voice sounded from an old man in a black suit.

"This Harpin D. Cherry is more of a nuisance than anticipated. She was able to piece together Kami-e from only a brief exchange with me." Rob Lucci spoke succinctly.

"Hm, it doesn't matter. Carry out the plan as intended." The old man said.

"Yes, Master." Rob Lucci gave a martial arts bow, then went to prepare for the assault on Iceburg's mansion.

The old man closed his eyes in thought. 'Harpin D. Cherry, huh? I guess I might need to step in myself this time. I don't think these brats can handle a monster like her.'