263 Reaper

"Why the hell are you here?!" Cherry interrogated, not hesitating to draw her sword and spear. Sakura Tengoku lifted into the air, crackling with electricity as she took a defensive stance with the spear.

"Why so hostile? I even brought a nice gift for you, though you were supposed to fight for it. They aren't going to be happy with me when they learn I brought the drill fruit out of its hiding place. It's not nearly as bad as the other one, but they still don't want it back in circulation." Wilson spoke casually with his arms at his sides, as if he didn't fear that she could harm him at all.

"That doesn't answer my question." Cherry said, though she felt he was hinting at some big secret. "You can't be here to 'reap' me, as I haven't done much more that could be called a 'sin' to fatten up my soul."

Wilson chuckled darkly. "That's right, I'm not here for you. I primarily came to check on another harvest."

"The Donquixote family?" Cherry asked rhetorically. It really couldn't be anyone else.

"That's right. A shame though, I don't think that young dragon is quite ripe yet. He can still become more delicious. His subordinates on the other hand… I think they'll do just fine to tide me over as an appetizer." Wilson licked his thin lips disgustingly.

Cherry caught the casual way he called Doflamingo a 'dragon' and the implication was plain to see, or hear. "So that's how he could manipulate the news? He's a celestial dragon playing pirate?"

"Something like that. He has some leverage against Marijoa, but I don't have the right to know what that would be." Wilson said.

Cherry didn't quite trust his words, after all he only said he didn't have the right to know, not that he didn't know.

"As for you, you'll have to fight for that fruit if you want it. I've got time to play with you." Wilson smirked. "But if you don't want to, maybe I'll go play with the little ones?"

*CRACK*

Wilson tilted his head to the side, preempting a bolt of lightning that would have struck him between the eyes. He then kicked away a spear thrusting for his heart at the same time.

However, it had been more difficult to do so than he had anticipated. The strength of the stab had been much greater than what Cherry had previously exerted against him. He expected the stronger armament haki and Hasshoken and was prepared for it, but hadn't imagined that Cherry's physical might could have grown so much in two years, and with no visible change in her physique at that.

"Interesting. What secrets do you hold, I wonder?" Wilson said, dodging yet another bolt of lightning."You have that strange life force detection ability, but what else sets you apart from the rest of the cattle?"

Cherry narrowed her eyes, but said nothing.

"Kekeke, wondering how I knew about that?" Wilson's face took its skull-like visage, then he opened his jaw wide.

Inside his dried up gullet, a ghostly wisp trembled at the back of his throat as if desperately trying to resist an invisible force to no avail. Cherry grit her teeth in rage.

Wilson closed his mouth and chuckled again. "Sakazuki's boy has a strong will. He's only told me a few useful things for brief reprieves from his torment, but I can tell there is so much more that he refuses to divulge. Still, I would very much like to know more about some of the few techniques he did tell me about. Perhaps you'll enlighten me in exchange for sparing you and your friends?"

Cherry didn't respond to his provocation. Rather than uselessly speak more, it was better to attack more.

Sensing that he would get no more conversation from Cherry, Wilson also ramped up his attacks.

The two bounded around the warehouse at increasingly blinding speeds. Everywhere they went, crates and barrels were sliced to ribbons or crushed to pieces. At first neither went all out, merely probing each other with various attacks and techniques.

Suddenly, Cherry's eyes shone with deadly intent. Both her sword and spear converged upon Wilson's flanks simultaneously in a pincer move. Naturally, the skeletal old man chose to escape by force via the direction the sword was coming from. This was a terrible mistake, however, as both attacks were feints.

Cherry's hand clawed at his side unexpectedly and gouged four deep wounds from his torso. Wilson groaned in apparent pain, but did not hesitate to create distance.

In the following lull in the action, Cherry noted that there was no blood whatsoever coming from the wounds or on her hand. Even the 'flesh' she had ripped out of him was desiccated. If she hadn't already become acquainted with Brook, such an occurrence would be hard to accept from a non cultivator.

"That stings. You know it's been a very long time since I've been properly wounded, I'm not even sure if this will heal…" Wilson complained like an old man.

Cherry hurled her spear at him, which he bent out of the way of with a sneer. He said "That was a sloppy move, were you hoping your claw attack would finish me?"

Cherry answered him by lunging at him unarmed. Of course, he knew to be wary of the lightning sword that could come at him from anywhere, but Cherry herself would be less of a threat without the spear.

Just as Cherry set upon him, and the sword bolted at him at the same time, again he was struck! The spear had flown at him from behind and caught him on the shoulder. He thought the sword could fly because of its lightning fruit abilities, but it seemed that wasn't the case. Fortunately for him, the wound was only a glancing blow and not nearly as deep as the claw strike had been.

Wilson vanished and reappeared behind Cherry with the full extent of his Soru and raked at her back with his scythe fingers.

'Shallow…' He thought, having barely breached the skin with his attack.

Cherry whipped around with a powerful kick aimed at his skull. The momentum of it was frightening and could easily turn a lesser man's head to mush on impact. Undoubtedly it was also chock full of Hasshoken as well.

Wilson made to step away when he felt something radiate from Cherry's body at the same moment. Suddenly, he found that his feet wouldn't budge, as his boots had been fused to the concrete floor!

There was no time to dodge or to put his arms up in defense. He strengthened his haki and used his mastery Tekkai to harden his flesh to a level just below diamond.

*WHAM*

Wilson felt his spine creak as he was forcibly bent at an awkward angle because his feet were stuck in place. He could feel that his skull was severely fractured, but luckily in his current transformation he didn't have to worry about brain damage. Still it left him dazed and his vision swam.

Cherry was ruthless and pursued the last kick with another three pronged attack. Wilson forced his feet to rip out of his boots and sent out kicks of his own to defend himself.

At this moment, Wilson no longer cared about his games. Cherry was more dangerous than he had bargained for, but she was still not someone he couldn't handle. Next time they met he wouldn't bother with a frontal attack, but would employ the full use of his skills as an assassin to end her.

Cherry's three attacks were barely fended off by the old man even though he was off balance. Cherry punched forwards, aiming for the man's teeth as if she wanted to break them.

Wilson smiled and opened his jaw wide, wider than a human's jaw had any right to. A strange force dragged in Cherry's soul and an ominous energy shimmered on his teeth.

'If you're giving it to me freely, then I'll take your hand!' Wilson thought viciously.

Wilson was not the only one who could traumatize children and the faint of heart, though. Cherry's face twisted into the visage of a demon.

Just as her fist would have plunged into Wilson's trap, it opened up and flicked something into his mouth instead. In a display of inhuman flexibility, Cherry's leg whipped upwards and slammed his jaw shut. The same hand as before caressed his skinny neck in a strange motion that made him swallow the thing she'd fed him.

"What…?" Wilson was confused at first, but the aftertaste of something he hadn't tasted in many, many years made itself known. Something that was foul and disgusting.

"Did you forget my nickname, old man?" Cherry cackled like a possessed witch.

"... Cheapsho-"

*BOOM*

Wilson Alexander exploded from the inside out, as his devil fruit conflicted with the S.M.I.L.E. Cherry just fed him.