Nico Robin was an annoying woman, Kaido decided.
Yamato and King's miniature kinswoman, as ineffective as they were at giving him a proper fight, were at least facing him directly. Their blows did not hurt even if they pushed him around a bit, but they added so challenge to his duel with Straw Hat Luffy.
Nico Robin was different. She was similarly unable to truly harm him, and she knew this fact. So instead she acted to make him unable to harm the others.
She would conjure her hands to restrain his legs or trip him up.
She would use the unusual strength in those dainty limbs to throw off his aim with his Kanabo, turning a finishing blow into a glancing one.
Worst of all, when he was in a pri position to crush Straw Hat's head like a waterlon, which even her little tricks could not hope to stop, she threw that giant demonic body of hers directly in his path and took the blow in Straw Hat's place!
It didn't even destroy her arms as it should have! At best they were broken in a few places!
After that mont, Kaido had focused most of his attention on killing her. It was a sha to lose soone who could read poneglyphs, but that was life sotis.
The sounds of so ravenous beast slurping on a bone drew his attention back to where it should have been the entire ti.
"Firefist. What is Whitebeard's favorite little boy doing here? Is he trying to start a war with ?" Kaido asked.
"Firefist? You've got the wrong guy, mister! Can't you see this fake mustache? Firefist Ace hasn't got one of those!" Ace replied, twirling said mustache between two fingers.
"Ahhhhh, that hit the spot!" Luffy stood up, casting aside the pure white bone from his aty mid-battle al. "I'm ready for round two!"
Ace scampered away and Yamato, Cabernet, and Robin retreated as well. It was clear that they didn't intend to intervene beyond this point.
Kaido let them. The outco would be decided between himself and Straw Hat.
"Refreshnts! Get your refreshnts over here!"
Kaido spared a sidelong glance at the voice's owner. Harpin D. Cherry was actually standing right out in the open behind a hastily assembled food stand. On the counter was a pitcher of a bright yellow drink with ice and several cups already filled with it.
Kaido may have forgotten about her for a minute.
...
"Thank you, dear," Robin said, taking one of the cups of lemonade from Cherry's stand.
"Ooh, I'll have so as well!" Ace grabbed a cup, only for Cherry's hand to latch onto his wrist.
"That's 100,000 Beri," Cherry spoke firmly.
"What?! That's an obscene rip off!" Ace cried foul.
"You see anyone else selling lemonade on Kaido's roof? Didn't think so. Supply and demand," Cherry smirked.
Ace grumbled, then pulled out his wallet and paid her extortionate prices out of pure spite.
Pudding snatched one up as well. When she didn't pay nor did Cherry stop her Ace pointed and shouted, "Hey?!"
"Crew discount," Cherry said simply.
"Nami would be so proud," Robin teased.
Yamato just watched them drink, looking envious. He didn't have a single Beri to his na, let alone 100,000.
Cabernet saw this, opened her chest compartnt, then plopped down a bag of gold on the counter. Afterwards she handed one of the cups to Yamato with just about the sweetest smile you ever did see. Yamato's eyes sparkled with unshed tears as he gratefully took the cup.
"I've never had a drink like this!" Yamato praised. "It is both sour and sweet... and cold! Amazing!"
Whilst the forr combatants took a much needed break from the action and chatted amongst one another, Cherry tuned her senses back into Luffy and Kaido's fight.
"You're infusing Conqueror's haki into your attacks, aren't you?" Luffy asked, though he seed sure of the answer already.
"Wororo! That's right!" Kaido shifted to the side to avoid a stamp of Luffy's foot. "Those with Conqueror's haki are one in a million, but there are only a handful in the world at a given ti who can use its advanced forms!"
Cherry had an inkling that was possible. It explained why Kaido and Big Mom hit so hard; certainly Cherry didn't believe they had stronger willpower than herself.
Unfortunately, while there was a bit of interplay between haki and vital energy, that wasn't all there was to it. The subtleties of haki were sothing she had to explore the hard way.
Just knowing for sure that sothing was possible was the key to actually achieving it, though. Plus, she had a good example right here to observe, now that she knew to look for it.
*Bzzt*
A buzzing in Cherry's ear distracted her from the shockwave inducing life and death struggle.
"What the heck is that?" Cherry rubbed her ears to no avail.
"What is what?" Pudding asked.
"I don't hear anything, Cherry," Robin said, surmising what Cherry ant.
That was very odd. Robin's hearing wasn't as good as her own, given the difference in Realms, but it was quite good.
"... when can y-..."
Soone was talking to her?
"... ETA one we-..."
That voice wasn't the sa as the first one...
"Am I picking up a den den mushi call?" Cherry wondered aloud.
"You what? That's ridiculous," Ace dismissed with a chuckle. Cherry knocked the lemonade out of his hand. "Hey!"
Cherry pulled out her mini den den mushi. It was sound asleep, so it wasn't that.
Cherry put the sleeping snail away and shifted into her ethereal state.
"The Five Elders have decided to annex Wano. Make sure that when the marines' forces arrive that there will be no great resistance from pirates."
"I'll do my best, but honestly it's not looking as even as we originally thought. Big Mom is already dead and they didn't even lose any major pieces doing it."
"I didn't ask for your excuses, Guernika. Just get the job done. The fiasco at Mary Geoise ans we can't afford another big loss, and I'm certain Morgans has a cockroach or two snooping around there, so there'll be no way to hide it."
"Alright, alright. I've faced worse conditions before, I suppose."
"No you haven't. One more thing, and this take precedent over all other orders..."
*dramatic pause*
"Capture Nico Robin."
*clack*
Cherry shifted back to her solid state once it was clear the call had ended. "Huh. I guess I can intercept den den mushi frequencies now? That's what I get for spending so much ti in their heads I guess."
"You serious? Man, I've seen a lot of weirdos, but you take the cake," Ace sipped at the second lemonade he poured himself whilst Cherry was distracted. He hadn't paid for it, so Cherry slapped that one out of his hand too. "Hey!"
"What was it about?" Reiju asked, visibly curious.
"Rob Lucci was talking to so guy called Guernika about the World Governnt annexing Wano," Cherry said.
*pssshhh* *pssshhh* *pssshhh* *pssshhh* *pssshhh*
Five simultaneous spit takes soaked Ace from head to toe.
"Oh, and he wants Guernika to capture Robin, because that loser can't leave well enough alone even after getting his leopard as s whipped," Cherry said as an afterthought.
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