One Piece: Dream of Immortality

Chapter 462: Misunderstanding

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Cherry was being followed. It was an easy thing to discover when you had senses like hers, let alone Life Sense and observation haki.

Naturally, it hadn't taken her more than a second to figure out who it was doing the following. It was the blue haired man from the banquet hall, whom she had intended to keep track of but had gotten distracted during her reunion with Robin. If the guy hadn't started tailing her, she probably would have forgotten about him altogether.

Instead of going to find Franky and seeing what he had been up to since coming to Wano, she went towards the shadier parts of the Flower Capital. They weren't hard to find, since the criminal element was literally in charge of the country, so they didn't bother to hide anything they were doing.

That was apparently the correct choice, because Cherry could almost feel the blue haired man glaring daggers into her back. It was important to find out how much this man knew about the rebellion, if anything, and that interrogation would likely end in the man's untimely death. It just wasn't an option to risk him escaping custody and ratting them out, and Cherry wasn't about to spend her whole time here babysitting a prisoner of war.

Mind made up, she ducked into a particularly dark alley, perfect for her pursuer to ambush her and for her to counter ambush him in turn.

*shing*

Cherry stopped and spun around, putting on an act of wariness and fear. "W-who are you?!" "I could ask the same question," Kyoshiro said. "But we'll get to that in a moment." Kyoshiro angled his blade in just the right position to catch a single ray of sunlight that shone through a hole in the roof tiles above. It reflected into Cherry's eyes with remarkable accuracy, to which she responded by pretending it actually did something. She raised her hand to block the light, and at the same time hid Kyoshiro's movements towards herself.

The next moment was a blur of movement that Kyoshiro barely registered before he was on his back with his own sword pressed against his throat, a strong hand gripped tightly over his mouth to stop him from shouting in alarm.

"I'll ask again; who are you?" Cherry repeated, this time without the stutter and considerably more confidence.

Only a hint of fear entered Kyoshiro's eyes before it was replaced with pure malice. "M MmmM mMmM mm..."

"I can understand you just fine, so start mumbling," Cherry answered the question that Kyoshiro didn't expect her to catch with a vice grip over his mouth.

"Mm MmmMm, m mM," Kyoshiro mumbled, his eyes regarding Cherry and showing his disbelief.

Cherry pressed the sword down a little more. "Mind your manners or this'll get a lot more painful for you. Tell me why you were following me?"

Kyoshiro glanced down at the sword, then he seemed to be considering something as he remained silent for several moments before he spoke again. "M Mm mmM MmMMm, MmM M."

"Lying now, are we?" Cherry tutted. "That's not good for your health, friend. Let's try another question."

Cherry leaned in close, locking her red eyes with his. "What do you know of the rebellion?" Kyoshiro's eyes widened in shock. 'How does he know?! I was so careful not to reveal myself!' "There we go~ Your mouth may be a liar, but your eyes are quite honest. Tell me everything that you know!" Cherry felt like she was getting somewhere now!

Kyoshiro didn't answer. He only squirmed in her grip, but Cherry was like a mountain resting on his chest, immoveable.

"What have you told the shogun about the rebellion?" Cherry asked, rephrasing the question. Kyoshiro paused, the desperation in his eyes giving way to confusion. "Mm?"

"What? What do you mean 'what'? It's a simple question; just tell me what you know and what you've revealed to the shogun!" Cherry pressed.

"Mm mmM M Mm mm MmMmm?" Kyoshiro asked.

"Because you were spying on me? Clearly you work for the shogun and you're rooting out hidden threats to his regime," Cherry answered, now becoming quite confused herself.

"M mmM Mm'm Mmm m MmmMmMmMmm..." Kyoshiro mumbled.

Cherry let go of her mouth. "There better be a misunderstanding, or I'm gonna chop you up and sell your meat to the cooks at Orochi's castle."

"I'm /with the rebellion, you idiot!" Kyoshiro hissed. "Although I suppose that makes me an idiot as well..."

"Why would you follow me then?" Cherry asked. She lifted her leg and planted her foot next to his head and showed her ankle to him. "I've got the crescent tattoo, don't I? I'm pretty sure that I got it right..."

"I didn't recognise you, but I suppose it has been two decades- what do you mean 'pretty sure you got it right'?! You're a fake, after all!" Kyoshiro shouted whilst keeping his voice low enough to not be overheard by anyone nearby.

Cherry's face changed before his very eyes, causing them to widen in surprise yet again. "It's a disguise, dummy. I'm one of Kin'emon's allies from overseas."

"... Ah..." Kyoshiro blushed in embarrassment.

"Right," Cherry stood up and let him do the same before handing his sword back to him. "We speak of this to no one."

"Agreed," Kyoshiro said, sheathing his sword. "That's a good jutsu you have. Reminds me of the old days."

Cherry raised an eyebrow at him as her face shifted back into her male disguise. "So which one are you? There wasn't a Kyoshiro among the graves."

"Denjiro," Kyoshiro said, looking a bit nostalgic from just saying his own name for the first time in who knew how many years.

"Cool," Cherry said, scratching the back of her head. "I'm just gonna go now...?"

"Oh, yes, of course. I should be going as well," Denjiro said, bidding her farewell.

"I wonder if all of Oden's buddies were oddballs..." Cherry muttered after he left. She shrugged and went on her way. Certainly all the ones she had met had had a few screws loose or were a few apples short of a bushel.

Cherry retraced her steps back to the better part of town, making sure to avoid any beast pirates who might get some funny ideas about her coin purse that totally belonged to her, or about her second coin purse that totally didn't belong to Denjiro.

When she found Franky, she found him in his element. Working hard on a construction site, sweat on his brow. Cherry briefly wondered if the sweat was actually sweat or some other mechanical secretion meant to cool him off.

"Workin' hard or hardly workin'?" Cherry called out as Franky walked past her.

"Huh? Oh, it's you!" Franky instantly recognised her somehow, surprising Cherry. Even Robin hadn't been that quick. "I suppose I'm hardly workin', all this house building is way too

easy."

"If it's so easy then get back to it! I don't pay you to chat up everybody on the street!" a short man shouted, though there wasn't much heat in his words.

"Whoops, gotta go! I'll talk to you later!" Franky scurried away and went back to work.