Bickering Fools

The smithy was subjected to a flurry of activity in the next few hours as the junior blacksmiths and Wayland took to the new techniques that Cherry showed them like fish take to water.

Cherry and Franky themselves were super (SUPER) absorbed into their own project. As they shared ideas they soon understood that while they both had limitations in their expertises, they could cover up these weaknesses with each others' strengths.

For instance, Franky had a lot of knowledge in how to connect a mechanical device to a biological nervous system that Cherry had never witnessed before. At the same time, Cherry could easily overcome the material constraints that have plagued Franky for years, as well as being able to resolve a number of other problems with sneaky applications of energy inscriptions.

Much of the time they spent working on Cat Viper's new and improved arm was constant revisions to the design. Just as much time was spent bickering about the points they disagreed on.

"What's even the point if it doesn't fire lasers?!" Franky argued.

"That will add to the bulk! It should at least be of similar dimensions to his original arm! Do you want to make the leader of a country into a lopsided goofball?!" Cherry shot back.

"We can replace the other arm while we're at it!" Franky said, as if that was obvious.

"Not everyone wants to become a big hunk of junk like you!" Cherry devolved into insults.

"It's not junk! It's state of the art technology!" Franky shouted.

"State of the art, my ass! You just took Vegapunk's scraps from his early days and made them weirder, didn't you?!" Cherry countered.

"Don't try to butter me up to get your own way!" Franky pointed accusingly at her.

'He took it as a compliment???' Wayland thought as he casually eavesdropped.

"Tsk," Cherry clicked her tongue in annoyance.

'She MEANT it as a compliment???' Wayland was dumbfounded

"We'll just ask Cat Viper what he wants. The satisfaction of the client is what matters most," Cherry spoke with a professional air.

"Mm, you're right. We got a bit carried away without even taking his needs into account," Franky admitted.

In spite of their sudden shift to a seemingly more amicable mood, they both dashed for the door of the smithy, pushing and wrestling with each other as if whoever got to Cat Viper first was sure to be the victor.

Cat Viper was resting on a provided cushion outside and having some much needed sustenance. He took notice of the quarreling duo of craftsmen with a mixture of confusion and amusement.

""Cat Viper!"" the two of them called out to him simultaneously. ""What kind of arm do you want?!""

"A sleek design that balances form and function, and is as elegant as it is deadly?" Franky spoke in a mockingly pretentious accent, indicating his own distaste in the idea.

"Or an over-bloated perversion of technology and nature," Cherry gestured towards Franky, "Like this thing?"

Cat Viper considered them both. As the seconds ticked by, both of them started to lean forward in anticipation, and incredulous that Cat Viper hadn't already picked the obvious "correct" choice.

"Hm, my feline instincts tell me the former is the best option…" Cat Viper finally spoke, rubbing his chin thoughtfully.

"HA!" Cherry barked a victorious laugh, leveling a smug gaze on the slumping, defeated form of Franky.

"... but my manly heart tells me the latter is best." Cat Viper added.

This time is was Franky's turn to gloat, striking his classic "SUPEEER!!!" pose.

"How about both? Both is good," Cat Viper decided with a firm nod, having no regard for whether it was a reasonable choice at all.

This time they were both stopped in their tracks, not knowing whether to laugh or cry. They shared a glance, then huddled together.

"We've got a greedy client on our hands…" Franky whispered.

"And now we've got a tricky job to do, and not much time to do it. We should have just gone with the fourth iteration," Cherry murmured back.

"The fourth iteration was a mess. Worse, it was a mess with no sense of style at all!" Franky denied.

"I suppose you're right. Our artistic spirits wouldn't have accepted it." Cherry concurred. "There's only one thing for it then…"

Cherry and Franky's gleaming eyes met. "A transforming model!"

They nodded and clasped hands in agreement. They left a bewildered Cat Viper behind who muttered, "I was just joking…"

…

Duke Dogstorm jerked awake. He hastily took in his surroundings, ready for a fight to the death at a moment's notice.

However, his surroundings were calm. His ears did not hear the sounds of battle nor did his nose pick up the scent of poison and blood.

Instead he heard distant laughter. Not the cruel cackling laughter of his enemies, but the joyous laughter of children. The scents of the feast outside reached him as well, testifying to the positive atmosphere.

"I see. So we all died, did we…?" Duke Dogstorm concluded.

"Of course you aren't dead, don't be silly." A voice caught his attention. "Precious few of us died in fact."

It was Miyagi, the goat mink doctor. He pulled the blanket off of Duke Dogstorm revealing his bandaged body and missing leg. The latter sight hammered home the fact that he was indeed still alive, if not completely whole.

"What happened?" Duke Dogstorm asked.

Miyagi filled him in about the recent goings on in the country as he listened with rapt attention. The goat mink carefully brushed past any matter relating to Master Cat Viper, knowing it was a sensitive topic between the two rulers of Zou.

"I understand. We owe a great debt to the Straw Hat Pirates. I wish to thank them myself, especially the doctors." Duke Dogstorm said, getting to his feet, er, foot.

Miyagi quickly tried to dissuade him. "You can always thank them later, Duke Dogstorm! There's no need to go right this instant!"

Miyagi's thoughts weren't just regarding Duke Dogstorm's health, but also keeping him away from Master Cat Viper. Now that their common enemy had left, they were liable to start fighting if they ran into each other. Especially with Cat Viper being awake when he is normally nocturnal.

"Nonsense! I cannot be ungrateful towards our saviors. Even a moment's delay longer than necessary is shameful." Duke Dogstorm insisted, hopping towards the door on his one leg. "Hm, do you have a crutch I can use? This missing leg is rather inconvenient."

Miyagi felt like he was caught between a rock and a hard place. He couldn't just blatantly ignore his ruler's request, but he REALLY couldn't let him meet Cat Viper either! In the end, though, he relented.

Duke Dogstorm, with his new crutch, ventured out of the room into the streets to seek out his saviors.

Fortunately, the other minks were of the same mind as Miyagi and steered him away from the smithy where Cat Viper was. Eventually, Duke Dogstorm was likely to want to meet Cherry as well, but hopefully Cat Viper was already finished there at that time.

'Why do our rulers have to be so stubborn…' was the common consensus of the minks.