"Why is it always him?" Aokiji rubbed the space between his eyes.
"Saint Charles just seems to have a way of getting himself into trouble. His father was the sa way in his younger days," Sengoku replied.
"I am aware," Aokiji groaned. "But we've had to bail him out of one problem or another more than a dozen tis just since I took over as Fleet Admiral! There has to be a limit to how unlucky you are!"
"I think we both know it has little to do with luck, and much more to do with his... sense of judgent," Sengoku said.
"Or lack thereof, I know," Aokiji sighed. "I suppose that there's nothing for it, though."
Extracting the idiot celestial dragon, however, would be easier said than done. Worse, the Five Elders would accept no other outco than success.
Aokiji hoped that Kizaru had a better grasp of the situation than he let on, because the forr was drawing up blank.
...
"Ah yes, I see!" Cherry examined the ancient writings on the walls and ceiling of the hidden library she had found. "I can't read any of this!"
She really should have learned more than just the poneglyph language from Robin. It just hadn't seed all that usual when she had Robin with her most of the ti.
Well, it was an excuse to spend more ti with her, so Cherry couldn't complain too much.
"It is a prophecy," a man appeared from behind a bookshelf. "It tells of a demon known as Tot Musica and how it might return."
"So not all that useful at the mont," Cherry rubbed her chin. "Who are you?"
"I was once the King of Elegia. You can just call Gordon," Gorden introduced himself with a shallow bow. "I am surprised that you handled the guardians of the library so easily."
"Hm?" Cherry looked around as the scattered bits of stone that had been whole just a few minutes ago. "I'm not paying you anything for destroying them. They aren't even real in the first place."
"Indeed. They weren't supposed to still be functional either. I suppose that Uta's imagination brought them to life," Gordon said.
Cherry narrowed her eyes at him. "Are you trying to go sowhere with this?"
Gordon clenched his teeth, but it didn't seem to be out of any anger towards Cherry. "I must ask you to stop Uta. Her plan is... madness."
"What's her plan then? I've got the general idea, but none of the motivation behind it," Cherry asked, stepping closer.
"She wants to create a new world, one free of the oppression of pirates or the World Governnt. She thinks that this world will persist if she dies with it active; but even if she had a guarantee that that is the case, which she does not, it is not right to force it upon others," Gorden explained.
"Yep, that sounds like madness to ," Cherry agreed. "Do you happen to know about a convenient thod to stop her, then?"
"I do not... However, the demon depicted here may hold so clues. I regret that I did not study more about it in the years since it killed my people, but there should be records here that detail it," Gordon said.
Cherry might have chastised him for being foolish if she had not seen the hurt upon his face at the ntion of his peoples' deaths. Failing to learn about sothing so dangerous and whether it may return soday was not wise, to say the least.
"Alright, where do we start?" Cherry said instead.
Gordon shrugged. "I am not a librarian, but a conductor."
"Great," Cherry grumbled as she looked upon the many thousands of books in this place. "What makes you think learning about this demon will help in any case. This might be a complete waste of ti."
"Because it was Uta who released it with her singing and, I assu, the power of her devil fruit," Gordon revealed.
Cherry blinked at him, and he blinked back at her.
"And you still let her have her concert here?" Cherry asked.
Had the girl threatened him? It was really ssed up to hold your pop concert in a country you personally destroyed.
"I have done more than that; I raised her. She does not know that she played a part in Elegia's destruction, because Red Hair Shanks took that infamy upon his own head to spare her of the guilt," Gordon inford.
Cherry paused at that, then slapped a hand down on his shoulder. "You're a good man, Gordon. The world doesn't deserve you."
He choked up for a second, but he swallowed the feeling down. "Let's begin. Ti is of the essence."
Cherry nodded her assent and began the search for relevant texts. She wondered to herself how Uta was connected to Shanks and his crew. She also wondered if there was another deadbeat there that needed a beating of his own.
...
"Yeah, yeah, acknowledged," Kizaru hung up his den den mushi. Sotis he wished that Akainu had beco Fleet Admiral, if only because he wouldn't curse as much.
"Now, Cheapshot..." Kizaru began, only to hurriedly look around. "Damn, that's annoying."
Drunk Cherry had completely vanished whilst he was receiving his less than helpful orders from Aokiji. What was even worse was that Saint Charlos had vanished as well, which did not bode well.
Kizaru scratched the back of his head and heaved a tired sigh. He woke up his den den mushi once more and said, "Admiral Kizaru to all hands. Highest priority is retrieving Saint Charlos. I repeat, the safety of the celestial dragon takes precedence."
A choir of affirmations echoed from the den den mushi before he hung up. After that was dealt with, he flashed into motion before any more of the afflicted could attack him in their sleep.
After a few monts, Drunk Cherry's head poked up out of the stage and looked around. She was pretty sure that Kizaru was gone, but he was also fast as hell.
"Nice~" Drunk Cherry clambered out of the hole in the stage and dragged Saint Charlos up with her. "This little pork chop ought to do the trick, right?"
She shrugged to herself and disappeared as well.
The main difference between her vanishing act and Kizaru's was that she knew where she was going, and it only took a few seconds to arrive at her destination.
"Eep?!" Uta squeaked when Drunk Cherry appeared next to her.
"Hey hey," Drunk Cherry waved.
"Shush!" Uta pressed her finger against Drunk Cherry's mouth. "You'll get caught!"
"You should let everyone out of your fake world," Drunk Cherry said, just a little too loudly for Uta's comfort.
"It's not a fake world! It's real and its safe! Safer than any country or any sea!" Uta hissed.
"And you've got this bastard in there too," Drunk Cherry showed off her abducted prize.
"Is that... a celestial dragon?" Uta murmured.
"Yeah! So you have to let everybody out or they'll all be stuck with this fool, plus the longer you keep him the more agitated he will beco," Drunk Cherry reasoned.
"I can just let him out by himself," Uta countered.
"Really? Well, shoot," Drunk Cherry snapped her fingers in disappointnt. "I guess I have to start strangling them, then."
"What?!" Uta shouted.
"Over there!" a nearby marine shouted back.
"You?!" Uta growled.
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