One Piece: Dream of Immortality

Chapter 468: Kidnapping an Old Man



It was in the early hours of the next morning when Cherry found Yasuie.

He was predictably still wide awake, unable to rest knowing that Cherry would eventually arrive to meet with him. Any irritability he felt as a result of not having a specific time of arrival easily fell by the wayside when compared to his determination to alleviate the suffering of his people.

"I was beginning to think that I wouldn't see you until morning after all," Yasuie said. His words could be construed as a reprimand, but his tone indicated that he was merely relieved.

"So was I. Fortunately for you, O-Robi is a lot nicer than I am and insisted that I get started sooner rather than later," Cherry said.

"I see," Yasuie chose not to comment. "I don't believe that we have exchanged names yet. I am Yasuie."

"My alias is Sakuranbo," Cherry said, drawing one of Yasuie's eyebrows further up his large forehead due to the bluntness of the statement. "You said you have a daughter. Shall we start with her then?"

"... No. Sadly, she is much more visible to Orochi than Ebisu Town is, and we cannot afford to draw his attention to this treatment of yours. As much as it pains me, this is the best we can do for both her and the others. She is a good child, so I am certain she would agree despite her youth," Yasuie said, his face twisting up in shame.

"I could just kidnap her if you want," Cherry offered, throwing Yasuie for a loop. "I'll promise to feed and water her and whatever else a child needs to grow up big and strong. She'll be a two meter tall mountain of muscle by the time I return her to you."

"I... never thought I would find myself seriously considering a conspiracy to kidnap my own child before now..." Yasuie said, a dumbfounded look on his face. "As unorthodox as your suggestion is, it is oddly sound in its reasoning... provided you are capable of evading the authorities."

"I'm capable of evading anyone, with or without any dead weight!" Cherry bragged. She added, "Figuratively dead, not literally."

"You really know how to inspire confidence in a father..." Yasuie said, though he was still considering it. "I will decide after you have done your magic with the Ebisu Town residents. She is safe where she is right now."

"Okay, then. Lead the way; no need to waste any more time," Cherry hurried him along. Yasuie was about to do just that, eager as he was to get this over and done with, but then he paused. He looked at Cherry with a peculiar shine in his eyes. "I've just had an idea."

"What's that?" Cherry asked, half bored.

Yasuie didn't answer. Instead he turned to face forward once again, then he broke into a run. "HELP, I'M BEING KIDNAPPED!!!" Yasuie shouted at the top of his lungs.

"Ah, so that's how it's going to be," Cherry said. "Have it your way, old man."

With that, Cherry flashed forward, grabbing Yasuie around the waist and twirling him into an alley just before a few stragglers on the street could turn to see what the shouting was about. "Too rough. You think you can treat my daughter like a sack of potatoes?" Yasuie criticized. Cherry loosened her grip, which Yasuie immediately took advantage of by lifting both feet off the ground and wrenching himself free by kicking them against her face. He was off again, already taking another deep breath to shout some more.

Cherry grumbled, heightening her focus on her movements as she approached Yasuie in pursuit.

'He wants gentle?' Cherry thought. 'I'll show him gentle!'

A light tap on his bottom jaw shut his mouth before words could be unleashed and a series of small pushes and pulls altered the direction of his travel away from the more public streets.

Yasuie screeched to a halt to change his path to something more suitable to his current purpose. Instead, he suddenly found himself in a princess carry; a most embarrassing position for a once well respected daimyo to find himself in.

He tried to squirm out of it, but Cherry spun him around in the air in a fashion that he could almost say was fun, if he weren't a grown ass man.

This stretched on for another ten minutes or so. Yasuie trying his damndest to be a nuisance, like one might expect from a small child who refuses to cooperate, only much more difficult because of his greater size and wit. Despite his best efforts, however, Cherry was able to corral and silence him at every step; even making it look effortless as she did so.

Once they were outside the city, they both knew that the game of cat and mouse was over. The mouse had lost definitively and the cat's cheshire grin was as unnerving as her victory was overwhelming.

Ignoring the obnoxiously smug look on Cherry's face, Yasuie turned and began to walk. "We ought to make it to Ebisu Town before dawn at a modest pace. There's no need to wake everyone, so that should work out just fine."

"It gives you plenty of time to brag about your little girl, too!" Cherry said with a cheerful smile.

...

"And then Cherry kicked him right in the balls!" Cabernet regaled.

"Dahaha! Does she do that to everyone she meets?!" Yamato laughed.n/ô/vel/b//in dot c//om

"You know, I think she might flip a coin to decide..." Cabernet rubbed her chin in thought.

"Dahahahaha!" Yamato laughed even harder.

"What time do you reckon it is, Yamato?" Cabernet asked once he calmed down.

"It's been a few hours since they brought our dinner, so probably early morning?" Yamato

mused.

"A good time to bust out of here, then?" Cabernet asked.

"Are you still drunk?" Yamato asked out of concern.

"I'm very sober. Cherry isn't far away and while I'm sure she'll come rescue us, I don't care to sit and wait in this dark place until that happens." Cabernet stood up and eyed her chains.

Yamato wanted to argue, but seeing that Cabernet was dead set on this foolish course of action, he decided that it might be more prudent to back away. Cabernet had tried and had been stopped from breaking her shackles a few times by Yamato already, but there was a certain look in her eyes this time that made intervention seem unlikely.

Cabernet grasped the shackles around each wrist in the opposite hand and pulled.

*Wrench* *BOOM*

A deafening explosion went off making Yamato's ears ring, but that did not concern him. It was the fate of his new friend that was more important right now.

As it turned out, Cabernet hadn't been bluffing about her toughness. Aside from her hair being a mess, Cabernet was seemingly perfectly unharmed.

"Those bastards. If yours were real, there's a good chance mine are too. I never tried to get them off on the off chance that was the case, but I didn't really think Kaido would really strap bombs onto my arms..." Yamato wasn't totally sure how to feel about that. He hated Kaido, sure, but Kaido was still his father.

"Forget that, let's go before they catch me again and use something harder to get out of!" Cabernet scooped up Yamato and took flight straight towards the nearest wall.