Rebels

"When did this happen?" Cherry asked the information broker.

"Just yesterday, the whole country is confused. My sources tell me Sir Crocodile was completely blindsided as well and said he would go the the capital, Alubarna, to find out what was happening. On the other hand, King Nefertari hasn't been seen or heard from since." Said the greasy information broker.

Cherry asked the man some other questions, such as the locations and movements of the rebel forces and leader. She found out the rebels had moved their base of operations from the town called Yuba to the town of Katorea.

When she finished, Cherry went outside to meet with Cabernet, but the silly ship was nowhere to be seen. 'Where the hell did you go, Cabernet?!'

It wouldn't really be all that difficult to find her, as Cherry can simply use their blood bond to track her down. Unfortunately, Cherry could only send thoughts to her within a certain range and Cabernet could not send her own to Cherry. The blood bond was not designed with two-way communication in mind.

There was still time before she was meant to meet back up with the Straw Hats and Princess Vivi, fortunately. So she went in search of her mischievous ship girl.

Cherry walked in the direction of Cabernet until she reached the eastern border of the town they anchored near, Nanohana. There was no Cabernet in sight, only the desert and the occasional traveler coming and going.

"Damn it..." Cherry was in a foul mood. She had no way of knowing if Cabernet was in any danger. She couldn't just leave her be, Cabernet was something like a little sister to her.

Ultimately, Cherry decided to pursue her. Though she wanted to tell the others what she had learned from the broker, it would have to wait.

Cherry sprung forward and ran at her top speed. She was a bit faster than Cabernet on foot under normal circumstances, though the sand did slow her down a bit. Cabernet shouldn't be flying after Cherry made her cover her wings and hair, then promise not to reveal them.

It didn't take too long to catch up with Cabernet as she wasn't trying to create distance. It turned out she just got into a covered carriage out of curiosity and didn't think to get off when it started moving.

"Seriously, Cabernet?! Why didn't you get off when it started moving?!" Cherry interrogated, exasperatedly.

"There were interesting things inside of it and it was so cool and comfortable. I'm sorry..." Cabernet apologized sincerely.

Cherry couldn't stay angry at her. Sometimes she forgets that Cabernet is literally only a year old, two years if you count her time as an ordinary ship.

"It's okay. Let's just go back." Cherry said, giving Cabernet a consoling hug.

A little while later they made it back to Nanohana. Cherry went to the designated rendezvous point, but did not find anyone waiting there even though she wasn't that much later than the agreed upon time.

It wasn't hard to guess why, seeing a number of marines rushing about.

'I guess I'll go to where the Going Merry was anchored, stealthily of course.' Cherry thought.

"Excuse me." A voice asked from behind her.

Cherry turned around to find a woman with short black hair, wearing red glasses, gloves, and a very nice sword on her hip.

"Do you mind if I have a look at that sword? I'm Master Chief Petty Officer Tashigi, a marine, so I won't steal it." She asked politely.

"Well... I guess you can have a look, just for a second..." Cherry answered, ignoring the judging look from Cabernet. Cherry sent her a thought. 'You wasted a lot more time than I did! This'll just take a moment!'

Cherry handed her sword to Tashigi, who inspected it closely and with great enthusiasm.

"Amazing, I don't recognize this sword, so it's not one of the Meito, but it's of the same caliber as a Great Grade Meito. Do you know who made this sword, if you don't mind me asking?" She asked, repositioning her glasses.

"I'm afraid I do mind, unfortunately. The old man just wants to enjoy his retirement in peace after making his masterpiece." Cherry answered. "However, I know everything there is to know about the creation of this bad boy, if you want to know. I'm quite the skilled blacksmith myself, you see. I even created the alloy myself."

Cherry and Tashigi chattered away frivolously about swords for about 10 minutes before they were interrupted. "TASHIGI! We're going, so get over here!"

"Ah! Yes, Captain Smoker! Sorry, I have to go!" She said goodbye after handing the sword back and rushed away.

With that pretty distraction out of the way, Cherry snuck out of town and towards the place where the Going Merry had been anchored, only to find it was no longer there.

'Haaah, I figured as much. They wouldn't stick around with the marines looking for them. Oh well, I can just do things my way.' Cherry thought, ignoring the piercing gaze of Cabernet which seemed to blame her for missing them.

'Vivi shouldn't know the rebels are in Katorea, so I guess I'll head there. I doubt their leader would just believe my words without hard proof, but I figure there is no way Baroque Works wouldn't infiltrate both armies. All I have to do is find a few of them.' Cherry decided.

...

"Is it really okay that we just left Cherry and Cabernet?" Vivi worried.

"It's fine, you've seen how strong they are. Even if they run into Crocodile himself, they can use that Haki stuff and kick his ass!" Usopp insisted.

"Usopp's right, and also time is precious. We need to go warn the rebels at Yuba like you said, Vivi." Nami agreed.

Vivi knew that to be true, but she could help but to worry. The desert held many dangers that could kill even the strongest warriors if they didn't know to avoid them. However, many lives were on the line, she could not afford to be worried about just two, no matter how it pained her.

"Alright, I'll trust them and hope for their safety." She declared.

...

The next day, Cherry and Cabernet arrived in Katorea. It normally took 2 or 3 days to reach on foot, but Cherry and Cabernet were both fast, strong, and had no need to conserve energy, so they made excellent time.

Finding the rebels wasn't hard at all, you couldn't exactly hide hundreds of thousands of people. The tricky part would be figuring out who was in charge of them all. These weren't soldiers, they didn't exactly wear identifying marks.

Cherry had to be very careful. A stranger skulking about and asking questions would raise a lot of red flags. Obviously she couldn't fight a whole army, though she was confident in running away.

While Cherry was lost in thought she overheard Cabernet speak to a group of rebels. "Hey, can my sister and I join the revolution?"

'I swear this girl is a tribulation sent by the heavens!' Cherry screamed inwardly.

"Hm? You want to join the revolution? Why?" The man in the middle asked, peering through his orange sunglasses at them. He had dirty blond hair, a scar next to his left eye, a red coat on his shoulder over a white t-shirt, and a blue scarf.

Cherry did her best to save the situation. "When we heard of the Alabastan peoples' plight, our hearts broke. It is such a terrible thing that brothers must spill one another's blood."

"So my countrymen's blood should be spilled by strangers instead?" He probed.

"No. We are quite strong, so we could perhaps capture some key figures of the other side. Hopefully that would be enough to prevent some otherwise unnecessary bloodshed." Cherry elaborated. This man should be someone near the top of the rebel command structure, given his questioning.

The man pondered for a moment before speaking again. "Come with me."