Broken Curse

Yasuie's mind raced like a Alabastan super spot-billed duck. He was in a really bad predicament and his escape routes kept turning into dead ends. Too many people relied upon him for him to get caught here.

'How am I going to get away from this mad woman?! Am I going to have to drop the act and kill her?' Yasuie thought darkly.

That eventuality became more and more likely the more he spoke with her.

"Come on now, it won't take too long. You'll be back to begging for scraps from these greedy assholes in no time at all," Cherry said.

"The good people of the Flower Capital are very generous, actually! Hahaha! Without them, I'd be dead in a ditch years ago!" Yasuie babbled, stalling for time as he scanned his peripheral vision for anything that could help him in this moment.

Cherry seemed to have lost her patience with his nonsense, however, as she vanished and appeared next to him in an instant, wrapping a single arm around his shoulders and gripping one hard enough to let him know she meant business.

'Lord Oden, just how strong is she?!' Yasuie panicked. All thought of violent resistance flew out the window alongside the idea that Cherry was as weak as her frame would suggest. 'Her hand is like a steel vice…'

Shimotsuki Yasuie, while not exactly a slouch in combat, was far from being a great warrior. His talents lay primarily in administration and politics. As soon as he felt that powerful grip on his shoulder, he knew he was completely outclassed.

"Wow, haha! You have such strong hands, I don't think my brittle bones can handle them!" Yasuie could only keep playing the fool and hope that he wasn't doomed from the start.

"Oh, nonsense! I've worked with plenty of old folks, and if they were here now they'd give you glowing reviews of my work!" Cherry declared as she started to lead him away.

'Are they not around because they're dead…?' Yasuie questioned in his mind, but lacked the nerve or stupidity to ask out loud.

Yasuie was thus kidnapped in broad daylight without any hope of escape or salvation.

…

"Heavens above, hmhmhmhmhm…" Yasuie made a strange sound like a cross between a hum and a giggle.

He was lying on a mat in just his loin cloth and a towel over top as Cherry's hand dug into muscles he never knew that he had. An actual massage was the last thing that he expected to happen to him, especially not one done with such expertise. He felt like he could melt at any moment.

Whilst Yasuie was ascending to the heavens in blissful relaxation, Cherry was having a look at the S.M.I.L.E. fruit that he was cursed with.

There were a few possibilities that came to mind as she studied the chaotic mess of inscriptions, some similarities with the beast pirate's S.M.I.L.E. fruit that she looked at earlier. Too many to make any determinations yet, unfortunately, but she was definitely making progress.

"So how did you come by a S.M.I.L.E. fruit, old man?" Chery asked in a conversational tone.

"Hmhmhm… We were desperate for food, for anything to eat…" Yasuie flinched at his own words. Why was he answering her questions?! He had no idea what this woman's true motives were!

"So there are more people who ate them, then? Where could I find those people?" Cherry asked as she ran a knuckle down his spine, causing a series of pops that felt way better than they sounded.

"Goodness woman, what kind of magic are your hands made of? Hmhm…" Yasuie mumbled. "I don't know anyone else who has eaten a S.M.I.L.E. fruit…"

Ebisu town was no secret to the shogun, after all it was Orochi who dumped the half eaten cursed fruits there in the first place in an act of unprovoked malice. This suggested that Cherry wasn't working with the shogun, at least, but he wasn't letting his guard down just yet. Ebisu's residents had suffered enough; they didn't need him bringing another calamity down upon them out of carelessness.

"You just said you do, though?" Cherry said.

"I misspoke, hmhmhmhm…" Yasuie insisted

"You did, did you?" Cherry's eyes sparkled with mischief, though Yasuie couldn't see them.

Cherry clamped down on the devil fruit seal she had weaved around the S.M.I.L.E. fruit's inscription and locked it shut. At the same time, she distracted Yasuie with a complex little movement that almost sent him straight to sleep.

"Alright then, keep your secrets. If you want another massage sometime, you can contact me through O-Robi at the Silver Petal Banquet Hall," Cherry said, standing up abruptly. "I wish you a pleasant evening."

With that, she simply walked out of the room. It was rented for the full night, so even if Yasuie actually passed out it wouldn't be a big deal. However, with how on guard he had been, she doubted he would let himself drift off like that.

Yasuie stirred from his near black out with a groan. He listened closely to the room and the sounds outside it, noting that the footsteps of the woman were moving away at a brisk pace.

'Did she finally leave me alone?' Yasuie hoped that was the case, but caution never killed anyone.

He quickly stood and dressed himself, aiming to get out of here as expediently as possible. He noted that he felt better than he had in decades and that his hands were steadier too, but those things were secondary to escaping.

Yasuie turned to flee the room, but suddenly found his own feet skidding to a halt. He gawked at the image before his eyes, an image he hadn't seen for quite some time. An image he never imagined he would see again, even in his wildest dreams.

He approached the mirror, placing his hand upon it, as if to check if it was truly real and not some illusion. He then moved his hands to his own face, daring to hope that the mirror wasn't a cruel joke, a lie to raise him up before plunging him back down into hell.

A frown. /His frown.

"How is this possible?" Yasuie's eyes shook, moisture threatening to form tears at their corners. "No, I must have dozed off. It can't be true, the world is too uncaring for it to be true…"

He tried pinching, slapping, even jumping around, but nothing would wake him up.

Yasuie took one last look at his reflection, his /real reflection, before bursting out of the room at a full sprint. He desperately searched for the mystery woman who left not long ago. Surely she hadn't gotten too far? And yet he found no trace of her.

"She must be the cause… that massage, that has to be it! A miracle massage…" Yasuie muttered to himself. "How do I find her, though?"

He recalled then, that just as he was on the verge of sleep that she had spoken something to him. "The Silver Petal Banquet Hall? That's what she said, right? Was it… O-Robi?"

Yasuie had no time to waste being idle. Salvation awaited.