A Little Birdie Told Me

The sky, already darkened by heavy cloud cover, began to grow darker as the unseen sun started to set in the evening.

This made getting around the city a little easier for Cherry, with fewer people out and about to spot her jumping across the roofs. She wouldn't normally care if she was seen, but it was better not to have the extra attention where she was going right now.

Cherry landed on a balcony of a room at the top floor of the fanciest hotel in town. The room was the first room outside the elevator, the perfect place to be if you wanted to watch the comings and goings of the most influential members of the underworld who were attending the wedding tomorrow.

Cherry knocked on the balcony door, electing not to annoy the occupant of the room with any casual breaking and entering.

A big, bald bodyguard opened the door and glared at her.

"I have an appointment with Morgans," Cherry lied through her teeth.

This momentarily confused the bodyguard, but he was apparently not as half-witted as he looked because he quickly realized that anyone with legitimate business would have knocked from the hallway, and anyone with illegitimate business he would have been informed about ahead of time.

Just as he opened his mouth to tell Cherry to fuck off, Morgans shoved him out of the way.

"Miss Harpin! Come in, come in! Remind me, what is this 'appointment' that you supposedly have with me about?" Morgans invited her inside without any hesitation or fear.

Or perhaps he simply had the sense to know that if Cherry was here to harm him, then she wouldn't have knocked.

"I'm here to give you an anonymous tip, of course," Cherry said delightedly.

"... Okay, let's hear it then." Morgans decided not to point out that doing it face to face was hardly anonymous.

Cherry smirked, then glanced thoughtfully at the bodyguard still in the room.

"Shoo! Leave us alone!" Morgans took the hint and chased the bodyguard into the hallway, ignoring the large man's protests regarding his safety.

"I do hope that this will be worth the trouble," Morgans expressed both his interest and his cynicism. 

He sat down on a couch and helped himself to a cup of coffee, not bothering to offer any to Cherry.

"I've heard that weddings organized by Big Mom are quite the spectacle, and there's going to be QUITE the spectacle at tomorrow's ceremony," Cherry spoke cryptically, as she sat in a leather chair across from him.

Morgans leaned in with piqued interest. He was going to be at the ceremony himself, of course, but having foreknowledge of events was always useful. It helped him know what to look for, to extract every detail that he could to craft the best articles to draw in the attention of his audience.

All of that was secondary to his vice, though. To find and spread the truth far and wide. Nothing gave him his thrills quite like revealing someone else's secrets to the entire world.

"There is something that I want in exchange," Cherry said, dumping a bucket of water over his burning hot desire for truth.

His desire didn't stay doused for long, though. "Name your price. Money is no object."

"I don't want money, I want you to adjust your story, is all," Cherry offered.

"I won't betray my commitment to the truth," Morgans dismissed immediately, seeming disgusted with the very idea.

"I wouldn't ask you to," Cherry assured him. "You don't have to change anything or leave anything out. I just want you to feature the Straw Hats and whatever they happen to do, front and center. Maybe downplay the actions of others, if it makes us look better by comparison."

Morgans started to make internal calculations. The World Government asked for a lot more than that and offered little in return, so it all came down to whether he was willing to manipulate the truth for whatever she was offering.

He knew the Straw Hats would be involved, possibly crashing the wedding from what she said, but he didn't think that was everything. The request to 'downplay the actions of others' suggested there would be other actors involved and that Cherry knew who they were.

Morgans looked up at Cherry, who was watching him patiently. He met her eyes with his and saw a certain gleam in them, a gleam he recognised as belonging to someone who had some VERY juicy gossip and knew that he wouldn't be able to get it from anyone else.

"Fine, but I'll only make the Straw Hats' involvement more prominent, no matter whether it's good or bad!" Morgans counter offered.

Cherry smiled and held out her hand, "I'll hold you to it."

Morgans grasped her hand with his feathery mitt and shook it. She could try, he thought, but he'd been playing this game for a long time. He wasn't scared of crossing dangerous people.

Just as Morgans was beginning to feel that this handshake was getting to be awkwardly long, he felt something pulse through his body.

He yanked his featherless hand free in shock and leveled a dangerous glare at Cherry as feathers began to cover his body once more and his lower face stretched into a bird beak.

Cherry laughed loudly in a way that sent chills down his spine. She'd seen his face, his HUMAN face!

"You got me good there, but I'm not called an emperor of the underworld for nothing, you know…" Morgans not so subtly threatened.

"I just wanted some insurance. Your secret is safe if you uphold our deal, even if you send assassins after me later," Cherry said.

"A price that I wouldn't have paid no matter what you tell me about the wedding." Morgans spat out bitterly.

"Don't be that way. You got one of my secrets, too, didn't you?" Cherry smiled.

Morgans realized what she meant instantly, now that the shock was wearing off. "You can control someone else's devil fruit? If you touch them?"

"I am not confirming or denying anything," Cherry said, clearly amused.

Morgans took that as a no. Frankly, that was relieving, even if it didn't mean much to him personally. He guessed that it must be some way to briefly deactivate devil fruit instead. His sources told him that Black Beard was able to do the same thing, though in a different way obviously.

"I'm surprised though. To think I had already met you before that time in Kano..." Cherry rubbed her chin thoughtfully.

"Anonymity is very useful," Morgans sat back down grumpily. Then he remembered that Cherry had offered him an 'anonymous' tip and frowned. Was that part of this deal too? Better safe than sorry.

"Now then, back to business~" Cherry said. "Let's start with something fun! Big Mom is planning to slaughter the Vinsmokes during the ceremony tomorrow."

Morgans very nearly forgot all about the fact that Cherry had tricked him out of his secret identity over that juicy bit of information, and apparently there was more to come?

"Incidentally, some of Big Mom's own people are plotting an attempt on her life as well. Want to take a guess about who~?" Cherry asked teasingly.

"Gang Bege," Morgans said without thinking twice. It was a good bet given the man's reputation for taking the heads of enemy organizations, so he could see him being bold (or stupid) enough to try it on an emperor of the sea.

"Ding ding ding!" Cherry laughed and applauded. Morgans couldn't help but laugh as well.