Rebellion of Black Drum

Giles was a middle aged man with a horse shoe of straight brown hair and a little separate tuft of hair just above his forehead. His eyes were dark brown, almost black and he sported a wispy mustache that frankly made him look like a bit of a creep. His nose was crooked, clearly having been broken more than once in the past and he was quite thin, with the exception of a prominent gut.

Giles had been a spy for the revolutionary army for some years now. He was good at his job, even though he wasn't the best, and was loyal and passionate enough to get some important assignments from time to time.

His current assignment was the Black Drum Kingdom, recently given to the former king of the Drum Kingdom, Wapol, by the world nobles.

A few weeks ago he was notified that an elite team would be coming to the Black Drum Kingdom to depose King Wapol, though it wasn't mentioned who exactly was coming.

This was rather exciting for Giles. He was a big fan of the upper echelons of the revolutionary army, especially of his own commander of the Southern Army, Lindbergh. He had seen him in person only a few times, but he was quite enthralled with the chaotic cat mink.

Naturally, he had high hopes of being able to meet Lindbergh in person, perhaps even getting to shake his hand. How amazing would that be?

Sadly, it didn't seem that Lindbergh would be coming.

Rather, he wasn't entirely sure if anyone at all was coming. The expected time of arrival came and went, but no one had come to meet with him.

He started to worry that perhaps something had gone terribly wrong or that something urgent had come up forcing them to change their plans.

Now he knew better.

He had made a note at the time when Musshuru took over as regent, but thought it was an ordinary coup. Then when the rumors started to circulate and a heavy unease came over the populace, again he thought it was pretty normal fair for a tyrannical country.

He realized that something was up when the rumors turned to hushed whispers of rebellion. It had only been a couple of days and already there was talk of resistance?!

A few days after that, Giles knew that the team had already arrived and had simply decided not to speak or meet with him. The people had risen up in a violent upheaval and there HAD to be someone that instigated it.

The upheaval quickly turned into a siege. The people of the city had somehow armed themselves to the teeth and even had cannons that they used to rain down cannonballs upon the castle ceaselessly.

Giles didn't know whether to be excited or terrified by this turn of events.

Was it the commander of the east army, Belo Betty? Her devil fruit could certainly give people the push they needed to fight for themselves, but she would have been on the front lines keeping up morale in that case.

"Are you enjoying the show?" A sudden question broke Giles out of his thoughts.

He turned to see piercing red eyes that seemed to see into his soul. Those eyes belonged to a woman he was familiar with, in fact almost no one in the world wouldn't recognise her at this point.

"Harpin D. Cherry? What are you doing here?" Giles asked confusedly.

"I came to tell you that I'll be handing over Wapol and Musshuru to you for transport soon. I could do it faster, but I don't want them on my ship." Cherry said nonchalantly.

It was then that Giles put all the pieces together.

"You're my contact?" Giles asked to confirm.

"Yep. Now get going now, you need to prepare a ship. I'll make it clear if it wasn't already too, the Revolutionary Army had nothing to do with this. The people simply rose up against a usurper on their own initiative, get it?" Cherry said.

"Right." Giles understood.

Being associated with the revolution at the current point in time was a double edged sword. On one hand they'd be free of tyrannical royalty, but on the other they would be a target for the World Government.

By doing things in secret like this, the World Government wouldn't consider them to be rebels against the world order. Though they would be suspicious, they wouldn't make any moves against them.

Giles went to make his preparations and Cherry went back to the castle to get her prizes.

The castle was starting to look like a sponge now with all the holes in it. Cherry had sabotaged all the cannons and guns in the castle to prevent the guards and soldiers from fighting back.

*BOOM BOOM BOOM*

In the distance, many explosions rang out. Wapol's company headquarters and factories were being destroyed one by one. Just collateral damage for overzealous people, of course. Not premeditated sabotage by a third party, not at all.

Cherry found Musshuru cowering in some corner of the castle far from the besieged side.

"Y-you! This is YOUR fault! If you hadn't- Geh!" Musshuru sputtered, before receiving a swift kick to the groin, then a follow up roundhouse kick to the head.

The people that Musshuru had brought into the castle were alive, if not a bit worse for wear, in the dungeons of the castle. Musshuru enjoyed tormenting them, but fortunately he did not intend to kill or maim them. Otherwise Cherry would have had to step in and complicate her plans. The rebels would find them there easy enough.

Cherry picked up Musshuru after sealing his devil fruit and made her way to Wapol, who was still a depressed husk of his former self.

"I'm so worthless that I couldn't even beat Straw Hat with one percent of my true power. If only I had used two percent, I'd still be king of the Drum Kingdom…" Wapol muttered to himself, not paying any mind to Cherry who dragged him away by the collar.

Lastly Cherry went to find Kinderella. She didn't really want to bring her as well as she was pretty useless, but knowing that there was a good chance that the rebels would kill her in cold blood, she supposed that she would do this one small kindness for her.

"EEEEK! Don't kill me!" Kinderella groveled on the ground.

Seeing that Cherry had both the unconscious body of Musshuru and the mumbling Wapol in tow she became even more terrified, thinking the figure before her was going to bring her to her execution grounds.

"Your majesty!" Cherry called out with a certain passionate zeal. "I've come to help you flee from the wretched rebels!"

"Y-you're lying! Why is Musshuru unconscious if you're here to help?!" Kinderella snapped.

"He was struck by a cannonball, my queen! LEt us go with haste, the rebels have already breached the gates, and they are no doubt seeking blood!" Cherry exclaimed with false sincerity.

Kinderella thought for only a moment before deciding to take the chance. She didn't have much of a choice in any case, she was no good in a fight if this person meant her harm.

Cherry led her to a secret passageway that she had installed there herself beforehand and led her through a long tunnel underneath the city towards the docks.

They exited the tunnel into an alley and no one was around to witness their exit.

"Hail, fellow loyalists! I bring the king, queen, and regent for safe passage away from the kingdom! Dare not to bring them back until after the marines have dealt with these ungrateful worms!" Cherry announced to Giles and his men.

The men were slightly caught off guard, but did not show it as they quickly took the situation in stride.

"But of course, friend! Those scum shant lay a finger on a single hair of the rightful royal family of Black drum!" Giles announced with a certain sleaziness apparent in his voice. Surprisingly this was what put Kinderella at ease, it would seem she found a kindred spirit from his distasteful words

"Set off immediately! My lady, it was a great honor to have escorted your eminence to safety in these trying times!" Cherry said, waving goodbye to the unknowing prisoners.