Chapter 315: Another Cyborg
Pekoms found himself tossed back out into the hallway shortly after his conversation with Cherry after dinner. She claimed that she needed her "beauty sleep" and didn't want him to wake her up early crying for his breakfast.
The night passed quietly and peacefully. Cherry woke up in a large, silk covered bed and sat up with a stretch and a yawn.
She looked down at herself and around the room. "Well... at least I didn't wake up with a princess in my bed again, but..."
Wrapped snugly around her body was a rose gold suit of armor that most certainly wasn't pajamas. It was surprisingly comfortable, though, so she could see how she ended up like this. It was kind of annoying that she went ahead and made it when she hadn't decided whether to do so while sober yet; especially since Drunk Cherry decided to throw the pocket devil fruit in as well.
Cherry reached her hands towards the seams of the armored plates and pushed them inside of cleverly hidden pockets. After rummaging around a bit she pulled her hands out and nodded her head. "That's a lot of stolen gold alright."
It was kind of impressive to her that an extra dimensional space could be contained in the form of a pocket. Even the most precious spatial storage rings from the myriad realms didn't have open holes to normal space in them lest the pocket dimensions collapse in on themselves. She'd have to study it in detail later.
Cherry clambered out of the bed, then paused whilst looking at it. It was a very nice bed...
A few minutes later, the entire luxury suite was stripped bare of furniture and decoration. Not even the carpet and wallpaper were spared.
*knock knock* "Miss Harpin, I'm here reporting for duty." came the voice of Raise Max outside the door.
Cherry opened the door after quickly getting dressed in something that didn't make her look ready to go to war.
"..." Raise Max blinked at the empty V.I.P. suite and decided to ignore it. "Is there anything you require of me, my lady?"
"... Who are you, again?" Cherry asked, placing her hand on her chin in thought.
"..." Raise Max didn't know whether to laugh or cry. "You don't remember anything? I didn't think you were THAT intoxicated last night..."
"Well, I COULD remember, but what would be the fun in that?" Cherry said, having deliberately not searched her mental sea for memories of the previous night. She'd get around to it eventually, but she was a little scared to look.
"Er, I don't know what else you were up to, but you got me out of Tesoro's prison by faking my death then 'resurrecting' me in front of Tesoro to trick him for some reason. You asked him to hand me over to your custody, and you had me bring a lion guy named Pekoms to you. You talked about-" Raise Max started enlightening her about what he knew about her night. "Stop, stop, stop! I didn't ask you to recite it to me!" Cherry stopped him. "I'm 'working for' Tesoro now, though, huh? Weird."
"Forget it." Tesoro waved his hand dismissively. "Go back to your duties, Baccarat."
Baccarat picked herself up and walked across the room to the door as swiftly as she could
without actually running.
"YOU?!" the other occupant of the room shrieked, whilst pointing a robotic hand at her
accusingly.
"Me? Do we know each other?" Cherry asked nonchalantly.
"Don't pretend you've forgotten me, bitch! You cut off my hands and legs at Enies Lobby!" Spandam squealed in indignation.
"Doesn't ring any bells." Cherry spoke dismissively.
Of course she did actually remember him, the man who tormented her dearest, lovely Robin and didn't even have the strength to back up his wanton arrogance. However, she knew that pretending she didn't remember hurt him more than the dismemberment had.
"You're a dirty liar!" Spandam seethed.
"Now now, no more of that." Tesoro said calmly, though he was himself glad to see the little shit cut down a peg; apparently in the literal sense in this case. "I'll add another 10 million Beri to your... fee. So why not let bygones be bygones, at least for right now." Spandam opened his mouth to say something, but seemed to decide the money was worth more than mouthing off at two people who can kill him in a heartbeat. "I shall be magnanimous... THIS time!"
Cherry looked him up and down. "Franky is a cooler cyborg than you. Those hands and legs are
lame as hell."
Spandam tried to shout back at her and kept his mouth shut at the same time, making an oddly whistling sound reminiscent of the sea train, ironically. He turned tail and ran away... er, retreated like a man, slamming the door as he left.
"Enies Lobby, huh? The World Government tried to keep that quiet, but some of the details have gotten around in Underworld circles. I'm sure it was quite scary with all those warships and vice admirals running around, but you're no longer stuck with that lunatic who declared war on the world, so rest easy." Tesoro said, paying no more mind to Spandam's tantrum.
"You're telling me! I'm so glad to be rid of that fool, good riddance!" Cherry declared unflinchingly, much to Tesoro's liking.