Chapter 387: Peeping

Chapter 387: Peeping



Cherry scanned the city with Life Sense, something she was finally making a proper habit of, and quickly located who she was looking for. Both people, in fact.

The first was Sanji, of course. She wasn't going to let her favorite blond, curly browed, tobacco addicted chef be blind sided by an assassination attempt.

Cherry bounded across the rooftops, a blur of motion to anyone who happened to look up as she passed them by. She was quickly scaling up the side of the Whole Cake Chateau when she heard a gunshot.Nôv(el)B\\jnn

Redoubling her pace, she leapt over the railing of one of the many balconies of the chateau where she now saw Sanji peeking into a girl's bedroom. If not for her concern for the occupants of the bedroom, as she was certain the gunshot came from there, then she would have teased him mercilessly.

"You're right, I'm going to marry that perverted fool, though that wasn't always the plan," Pudding said, glaring at Reiju with three cold eyes.

"What do you mean?" Reiju asked, her breathing somewhat strained and blood flowing from a gunshot wound in her thigh.

"The plan was to kill the whole lot of you! That's the way it should have been, until that bitch went and changed things!" Pudding growled. "And now I have to marry that, that... thing!"

Reiju's expression darkened, as did Sanji's outside.

"It's rather rude to call your mother a bitch, is it not?" Reiju snarked.

"Hmph, I was referring to that 'cheap' whore, Harpin D. Cherry. Mama decided to rope her in and that killing your idiot brother wasn't worth alienating her. The rest of you are still dead meat, though. You can only blame yourselves for having such a poor relationship with the two of them." Pudding ranted.

"Is there a need to kill us at all if you're going through with the marriage?" Reiju asked.

"Of course there is! Mama wants your army and your technology for ourselves, not some self important jackass to control it in her stead!" Pudding enunciated carefully, like she was speaking to a small child.

"That's what these are for," Pudding held the pistol in her hand aloft. "Candy jacket armor piercing rounds. Worked like a charm, didn't it?"

Pudding's personal homies cackled gleefully, like she had made some hilarious joke.

"I already ate the equivalent of, like, half a horse a little bit ago. I know someone who would eat it, though." Cherry said.

"I suppose so, though he might be disappointed by the portions." Sanji said. "Before that, I need to check on Reiju..."

"What a dutiful brother!" Cherry wrapped her arm around his shoulders. "Let's go then. If you're with me, nobody will give you any trouble, or if they try then they won't get very far." Cherry led Sanji back into the chateau and didn't bother with any sort of stealth or sneakiness. "What's this I've heard that you're getting married, too?" Sanji asked casually, though something in his voice gave the impression that it was anything but casual.

Cherry quirked an eyebrow at him. "A fake engagement gives me more than enough freedom of movement around this place, you know?"

"What?" A flower vase asked.

Cherry raked her hand through the vase without damaging it in the slightest. Its face vanished

and it didn't speak again.

"This stuff is weird," Cherry mused, holding a ball of pure vital energy that contained a

pseudo-ego. "Gross too."

Cherry crushed it in her palm, dispersing the energy into the air before wiping her hand on her clothes like it had been dirtied.

"So it isn't a real engagement then, just one of your... pranks?" Sanji said, his mood seeming notably lighter. "I was worried that I'd have to choose between you and Robin-chan."

"What?" Cherry was confused.

"If I snitched to Robin about you cheating, I would have betrayed you; but if I didn't, then I would have betrayed Robin-chan!" Sanji explained seriously.

Cherry laughed cheerfully. "You always side with Robin over me, Sanji. Every single time, no exceptions, you get me? I like you guys well enough, but Robin adores all of you, so you can always know that she has your best interests at heart."

Sanji nodded seriously, making Cherry laugh again. It meant a great deal to him to have clear instructions in case a similar situation cropped up in the future, though.