Trials

Cherry landed before the crowd and took in the gruesome scene.

Robin was seriously hurt, which upset her, but it ultimately wasn't that big of a deal as healing flesh wounds was easy.

She saw the pile of meat that used to be Ricky, though he was somehow still alive.

Cabernet looked to be on the verge of tears whilst picking up a rather gnarly looking dagger. She scrunched up her face in clear disgust for the weapon, an opinion that Cherry couldn't help but agree with as she could feel the bloodthirsty remnants of will that wafted off of it.

Finally the crowd of villagers who were whispering amongst each other and looking towards Robin with admiration, gratitude, and a touch of hero worship.

It was easy to deduce what had happened from all of this.

So Cherry did the most important thing to do at this moment and went to Robin's side. She knelt down beside her and gave her some vital energy to hasten her healing via the medium of a kiss.

They both heard the villagers' whispers grow a bit more frenzied at this sight, with words like "Just like the stories…" and "The princess kissed the hero!". A few of the younger folk even seemed to awaken to something, one of them saying "Two girls? I didn't know that was allowed...".

"It seems you have a bit of a fan club." Cherry teased.

"Jealous now that I'm popular?" Robin replied, managing to smile as Cherry's vital energy washed over her wounds and eased the pain.

"Just a little bit. I'm the more fearsome one, though." Cherry bragged.

"You can have it, I've had more than my fair share of being feared." Robin said.

"I'll bet you're glad I didn't ever let you skip training and meditation. You're not going to try to seduce me into letting you take a break again, will you?" Cherry asked, running her fingers through Robin's hair.

"No, I won't." Robin said seriously.

It was only because of her steady progress in the bone refining realm that her arms were still attached this time.

Armament Haki wasn't a great match for Robin, either. She wasn't very talented in it, for one, but more importantly Armament Haki requires more training, energy, and concentration the greater the surface area it covers. When you factored in her devil fruit, that's a lot of surface area to cover.

Cultivation on the other hand was perfect for her devil fruit, as it automatically applies to her bloomed limbs without any additional energy or input.

"You can still seduce me though." Cherry said.

"Maybe I won't." Robin said with a cheeky smile.

Robin sat up as she felt much better than before.

"Hey hey hey! You shouldn't get up yet, you're seriously injured!" Doc Gidall protested with his hands covered in Ricky's blood as he tried to do whatever he could to save him.

"No need to worry, Doctor. My princess has magic kisses, so I feel much better." Robin waved away his protests, clearly demonstrating far more movement than she should have been capable of in her previous condition.

"What's that, some sort of devil fruit nonsense? Whatever, you're still paying for my services!" Doc Gidall insisted greedily.

"Are you really trying to save that guy, Doc?" Cherry asked. She might be abstaining from killing, but that didn't mean she cared if such a wretched creature happened to die under her watch.

"Of course he should save him! Constable, no, Ex-constable Ricky needs to stand trial if at all possible. I shall not complain about the state your winged associate put him in given the circumstances, but now that he is no longer an active threat I would ask that you leave him alive to face justice." Mayor Brack stated firmly as if he was some beacon of ethical integrity.

Perona came jogging out of the mushroom forest out of breath and she glared at Cherry. "Why didn't you pick me up before coming back here?!"

Cabernet took that as her cue to hand the black dagger over to Cherry so she could forget about the repulsive thing and hold Perona instead.

"That's the murder weapon, then? It feels spooky…" Doc Gidall commented, finishing up with his work of rearranging Ricky and stopping his bleeding.

"How could such a small thing be so frighteningly powerful? I'm sure that Ricky isn't strong enough on his own to accomplish that feat he pulled off…" Mayor Brack said.

"It's a cursed blade. More than that, it's a black blade on top of that. I imagine that this dagger has been used to murder thousands, maybe tens of thousands of people in the past. Something like that tends to make an impression of a weapon. Which is why it's so bloodthirsty in quite a literal sense." Cherry said.

She speculated that the dagger could absorb the vital energy from those it slew and convert it to be released later in a powerful attack. There should be a limit to that though, as she could see that the dagger was likely in the upper fine grade meito range even after becoming a black blade.

"Well, nevermind that. We have a trial to hold! DePonte and you should compile your evidence to present it, then we can vote on Ricky's guilt." Mayor Brack seemed eager to get all of this over with.

Cherry went over to Ricky and crouched down to look at him.

"We can't have you be unconscious during the trial and punishment, can we?" Cherry spoke maliciously.

She poked a patch of skin that wasn't bloody or mangled and poured in a stream of vital energy. She didn't simply let the energy get to work in healing him though. No, instead she focused mainly on healing his nervous system, even making the pain receptors larger and more sensitive. That way he could properly enjoy whatever punishment was in store for him.

Cherry was rather satisfied to learn from Cabernet that the punishment for murder here was being boiled alive in oil.

The trial's venue was put together rather hastily and looked to be finished before supper. The whole village was in attendance with the only people who were absent being Cabernet and Perona, but the villagers paid no mind to their absence.

Ricky was conscious and just barely able to communicate. He never thought there would come a day that he wished he'd died from a beating.

He denied the charges against him, but it was no use. The evidence was stacked against him, there was little doubt that he was the murderer. Especially after several dozen people witnessed his attempt to murder them.

The punishment was a solemn affair. It hadn't been used for at least a hundred years, so it was naturally seen as barbaric in nature, even though most of the villagers felt that he deserved it. No one cheered or relished in Ricky's last agonizing moments.

"That settles that then. Everyone can go back home and back to business!" Mayor Brack dismissed.

"Not so fast, Mayor!" Perona made a dramatic appearance with Cabernet right behind her.

"What do you mean-" Mayor Brack's voice caught in his throat as he saw what Cabernet was holding.

In Cabernet's arms was a fancy looking safe that seemed as if it had been ripped out of a wall.

His wife, Jilly's eyes lit up when she saw it.

"Thieves!" Mayor Brack accused angrily, losing his cool.

"Not thieves. I asked them to bring it here." Jilly spoke confidently. "I believe we have a second trial scheduled for today."

There were confused murmurs among the villagers.

"Nonsense! Pay no mind to my wife or these brigands, people." Mayor Brack racked his brain for a way out of this.

'It's okay, they can get into the safe anyways-' Mayor Brack thought.

The sound of metal being bent rang out as Cabernet used her strength as some skillfully applied heat to pry open the safe.

Mayor Brack didn't remember what the village ordinances said the punishment for tax theft and corruption were, but he hoped it wasn't being boiled in oil.