A Meal and a Chat

"Go make yourself comfortable, I'll make us some food. This fancy suite has a complete kitchen, surprisingly." Cherry waved him off. "Any dietary restrictions? Lactose intolerance? Deadly food allergies?"

Pekoms did feel a bit peckish, though he wasn't exactly sure if he should trust anything that this woman cooked for him.

Apparently Cherry could see what he was thinking because she added, "If I was going to poison you, I've had about 4 chances to do so since you walked in without you even knowing."

"... I don't eat meat from mammals…" Pekoms said hesitantly.

Cherry clucked her tongue and shot finger guns at him to show she understood, before slipping into another room of the V.I.P. suite.

Pekoms made himself comfortable on a couch, or as comfortable as he could make himself so close to someone who was much more dangerous than he previously realized. He hadn't truly caught her presence with any of his senses until she revealed herself whilst taking that embarrassing picture of him.

He belatedly realized that he hadn't even caught her scent, which was insane considering she was apparently in this room for some time at least. He might have believed that she was scentless, but she wasn't; he could smell her just fine after the photo.

Pekoms shivered. This woman was too frightening!

A real racket started in the kitchen. First a series of buzzing noises that upon perking up his ears, he recognised it as a knife chopping so quickly that the chopping sounds blended together. He decided not to take a sneak peak at the dangerous, unpredictable woman currently wielding a knife faster than a gatling gun.

After about half an hour of clattering pans, roaring flames, and the occasional mad chuckle, Cherry emerged from the kitchen balancing several trays of food that was far too much for two people to eat.

"You know, I had the brilliant idea to directly fuse the seasoning into the food. I wonder how it'll taste?" Cherry seemed quite proud of herself.

She set down the trays on the fancy coffee table and sat across from Pekoms in a leather armchair.

"Um… Did you have to deep fry everything?" Pekoms asked, gazing at the sea of fried batter on the coffee table.

"You tryin' to say I'm fat?" Cherry narrowed her eyes dangerously at him.

"NO! I mean, no… I'm the one who might get fat…" Pekoms dodged expertly.

"Life is too short to worry so much about such things. There's nothing wrong with having a bit of extra meat on your bones." Cherry reassured him.

"You sound like my grandmother…" Pekoms spoke carelessly, then froze when he realized how those words could be interpreted.

Cherry didn't seem to notice or care that he had accidentally insinuated that she was 'old', instead electing to sink her teeth into an entire deep fried turkey like some sort of savage beast.

Pekoms looked over the assortment and took what he assumed were fried fish sticks. He wished there was some tartar sauce, or anything to dip them in really, but alas he would have to make do with just this.

After taking a small, experimental bite, as if expecting he might become immediately sick upon tasting it, he stuffed the entire piece in his mouth, then proceeded to devour the rest of the plate.

'The dipping sauces were INSIDE the fish sticks! Incredible!' Pekoms thought. They were clearly made from top quality ingredients as well, though perhaps that was only natural given where he was right now.

"Um…" a tentative voice half whispered from nearby. Pekoms looked over and saw the butler (Raise Max) peeking from a closet. "May I have some as well…?"

"Look who is ready to come out of the closet. Don't worry Max, Mama and Papa will love and support you no matter what~!" Cherry said, motioning for Raise Max to come over and sit with them.

Raise Max didn't mind the teasing at all (he's gotten way worse from Ivankov) and rushed over to get some food for himself. He hadn't had a proper meal in ages!

"Is that turkey's meat red?" Raise Max asked curiously.

"That's the cranberry sauce infusion." Cherry nodded.

…

The three of them slumped against the backs of their seats, holding their stomachs in satisfaction. It was a VERY heavy meal, but somehow they finished it. Admittedly, it was mostly because of Cherry's horrendous appetite that it was possible.

Raise Max was unnerved by the sight of such a small woman eating so much so quickly, but Pekoms was entirely unfazed. That only made sense, though, given he works for a woman who regularly eats ten times her body weight in a single sitting; and considering how big Big Mom is, that's A LOT of food.

"So what do you want from me?" Cherry cut straight to the point whilst looking at Pekoms seriously.

Pekoms sat up straight with some effort and tried to look imposing, while on the inside he was preparing himself for the worst.

"You've been invited to Big Mom's next Tea Party in a few weeks time." Pekoms spoke trepidatiously.

"Okay. Is that all?" Cherry asked, producing a toothpick to dig between her teeth.

Pekoms nearly toppled over from the casual remark. "Why are you so calm?! Gao?!"

Raise Max looked appropriately horrified, so Pekoms was satisfied at least that HE wasn't the strange one here.

"It's just a tea party. Even if it's a trap, I'll just leave. No big deal." Cherry explained her thoughts on the matter. "I bet the food will be amazing. Can't wait to tease Luffy about it, hehehe~"

"Er, Miss Harpin… an invitation to one of Big Mom's tea parties is no small matter. It's effectively a summons, one which can't be ignored without dire consequences…" Raise Max elaborated for her.

Cherry squinted her eyes. "What can she possibly do to me? We Straw Hats didn't come to the New World to goof around… not JUST to goof around anyways, hehe. We came to carve out a piece of the pie! We aren't afraid of confronting a self proclaimed emperor."

"It's not yourself you have to worry about." Pekoms spoke darkly. "One of Mama's acquaintances in the underworld sent a letter in advance to explain he was attending his mother's funeral and would have to miss the last tea party. Mama sent his father's head to him in a box in response!"

"Hoooh?" Cherry's amused tone combined with her piercing eyes reminded Pekoms who he was speaking to. "I'll just have to make sure I'm there on time then, won't I?"

Pekoms gulped audibly. Somehow the fact that she was acquiescing so easily unnerved him more than anything else she had done to him up until now. It felt strangely unnatural the way she was submitting under a threat so easily, almost like he was watching Big Mom turn her nose up at wedding cake.

'Oh no…' Pekoms remembered the reason for the tea party in the first place. The arranged marriage between the Vinsmoke family and the Charlotte Family.

'I just won't mention it to her, gao… I'll find another opportunity to inform Vinsmoke Sanji of his marriage…' Pekoms decided silently.