Chapter 404: Peaceful Stroll Through The Woods
The vast majority of the Big Mom pirates were incapable of giving chase over the now missing wedge of the chateau's roof, as only a freak like Kaidou could withstand a fall from so high without serious injury (or without injury at all, in Kaidou's case).
The few that could knew better than to confront the enemy with so few in number. Even Katakuri dared not face two of the worst generation crews by himself, even if Cherry hadn't been there as well.
The sole exception would be Big Mom herself, as she could both fly through the air and did not fear being outnumbered by the rookie pirates. However...
"She sliced my Whole Cake Chateau..." Big Mom muttered to herself.
"What was that, Mama?" Smoothie asked, not quite catching her words.
"A slice of cake... I could really go for a slice of cake... of wedding cake..." Big Mom said, loud enough for everyone to hear this time.
Her hungry eyes turned to the ruins of what was one a magnificent wedding cake. A wedding cake that was said to be the finest that Streusen had ever made, with only the rarest and most delicious ingredients.
"Wedding.. cake...?" Big Mom repeated, her voice oozing with confusion.
"Oh, shit," Mont-d'Or whispered, realizing at the same time as his siblings what was about to happen.
There was no stopping it, now that it was starting. They had tried before and failed each time, but they tried again anyway. They made promises that they had no way of knowing if they could keep it, promising Big Mom that another cake would be prepared shortly and begging her to be patient. It did no more good this time than it did any other time.
"WEDDING CAKE?!?!?!" Big Mom roared so loudly that the town below could hear her from as far away as the port.
None dared to suggest that she sate her hunger pangs with the parts of the wedding cake that hadn't been touched, even though those parts were logically perfectly fine to eat. Even in her most monstrous state of mind, Big Mom saw herself as a lady with standards.
She would not debase herself by eating a cake that has been trodden on by filthy pirates and animals. She was more likely to eat whoever suggested such a thing instead, whilst remaining blissfully ignorant of the hypocrisy of the act.
It was then that Perospero had an idea that was as devious as it was dangerous.
-
"You wouldn't go ahead and slice up the rest of the chateau, would you?" Bege asked inside the seducing woods. "It would make me feel better."
"I'm afraid not," Cherry answered.
"Tsk," Bege clicked his tongue. "Well, from here it's every man for himself. Good luck." Although he said that, he punctuated his words by hammering a sign into the ground that pointed in the direction that they needed to go to reach their ship. He promptly turned his legs into tank treads and raced away as fast as they would take him whilst holding up two middle fingers.
"It isn't that hard to steal it, in fairness. You just need to see it once and have the arm strength
of a giant," Cherry defended. "Also, she's a pirate."
"Oh, right, so she is! Shishishishi!" Luffy laughed good naturedly.
They could see Big Mom properly now. She wasn't running after them, but rather floating along on a huge cloud with a goofy face and stupid hat.
"SEDUCING WOODS! HOLD THEM STILL FOR ME!!!" Big Mom screamed, rearing up for another copyright law violation.
The forest came alive with activity. The trees, the flowers, the bushes, the ground, everything was a homie here and it all started to grapple with the fleeing Straw Hats and friends.
Brook was instrumental here, pulling out his violin and ripping the pseudo-souls right out of their artificial bodies.
Nami started to send out electro balls in a desperate bid to change anything about the dire situation. Big Mom's cloud homie, Zeus, immediately homed in on the electro balls, sucking them up like a dog with an unattended plate of food.
Zues followed after the electro balls' trajectory, causing Big Mom to be pointed upwards instead of forwards and her second Ikoku Sovereignty to miss entirely. The change in angle caused her to fall off of Zeus and smash into the ground below.
Nami's brain went into overdrive as she saw this.
"Cherry, I need you to distract Big Mom!" Nami announced, a complete turnaround from her
opinion before.
"Sorry, I'm not supposed to fight any admirals or emperors~" Cherry chimed with a snicker.
"Do you have to do this right now?!" Nami complained.
"I'm just a hen-pecked gal who wants to go home to a happy girlfriend, what do you want
from me?" Cherry chuckled.
"I promise that I won't tattle on you so will you please just - She's getting up, hurry!" Nami
rattled off quickly.
"Shit, that's all you had to say, girl," Cherry said with a victorious smile.