One Piece: Dream of Immortality

Chapter 498: Snowball Fight



Cabernet cast a worried glance behind her. She might have trusted Cobra to do what needed doing, but she didn't trust Big Mom not to be a crazed murderer. With every second, the chances of her actually saving him if worse came to worst got lower, and that made her very nervous.

Luckily, Big Mom let out a booming laugh instead of squishing the aging king where he stood. The elderly emperor gave Cabernet a single and final look before turning to leave the area, with Cobra in tow.

"I guess it's gone well," Cabernet observed.

Yamato stopped squirming. "It did, he didn't get killed?"

"No, but he's going with them," Cabernet informed him.

"Hm," Yamato hummed in thought. "Perhaps they mean to ransom him off. A king is probably worth a lot of money."

"What a bunch of jerks," Cabernet muttered. "Why didn't you go get Cherry?"

"The others at the camp thought that a battle of that scale would draw my father's attention. Do you think Cherry could win that fight, two against one?" Yamato asked.

"Yes," Cabernet answered instantly.

"Wha...? You can't mean that! Beating one of those monsters is one thing, but two is absurd! Surely not even Roger could hope to beat them both at once!" Yamato argued.

"Cherry is better than Roger," Cabernet insisted. "If she gets serious, then no one can beat her... the problem is making her get serious."

She spoke that last part barely above a whisper, but Yamato's keen wolf ears picked it up despite the wind. He added, "Even if that is the case, they would have torn Wano apart if they had fought. The best place to fight them is on Kaido's home turf, Onigashima. There won't be any risk of collateral damage there, and I suspect Kin'emon has the same idea even if he wouldn't tell me any part of his plan."

Cabernet grimaced. She wondered if that was the reason Cherry was never serious? Surely she could tear the world asunder, if only there was nobody who lived in it to worry about.

...

'Cabernet sure is doing a lot of flying today. Is she getting restless? That's no good, she might get into trouble," Cherry noted idly as she and Toko traveled to Ringo by foot.

The reason she wasn't rushing around at the highest speed that Toko could handle this time was that Ringo was apparently a land of perpetual winter. Toko might handle a stiff breeze just fine, but a biting cold wind is another thing altogether.

"Snow!" Toko pranced around, tossing handfuls of frozen flakes into the air like confetti.

'Toko seems to prefer it this way as well,' Cherry thought.

Cherry had originally wanted to go see Robin and the others in the Flower Capital or surrounding villages, but ultimately decided that Toko's wants ought to come first. After having heard that Komurasaki had died she needed to see for herself that it wasn't true, not just be told so.

That said, Cherry was starting to fray a little at the edges. She thought it strange how quickly she found that she could no longer imagine her life without Robin in it. There were many times that she had gone without contact with any sapient creature for years without issue; but now that she had a lover, even with plenty of people to socialize with, it's become an ordeal to go a few weeks without Robin's presence.

Not to the point of developing a heart demon, thankfully. She wasn't obsessed, just... lonely.

"Why are you crying?" Toko asked suddenly.

"Huh?" Cherry wiped her face to find nothing-

*boof*

A snowball struck her square on the nose.

"Hahahaha!" Toko ran away whilst whooping in delight.

"You little punk!" Cherry laughed and gave chase. "You made a mistake challenging me!"

Cherry didn't need to bend over to gather snow. The snow she kicked up with her feet was gathered through the power of her devil fruit into perfect snowballs, ready for rapid fire delivery to her target.

"Ahhhhhh?!" Toko made a valiant effort to dodge, duck, dip, dive, and dodge, but it was no

use.

At least one in ten of Cherry's shots landed. Toko might have believed that was the limit of Cherry's skill, if not for the fact that every one of her return shots was nailed in mid air by one of Cherry's.

"You're cheating!" Toko accused.

"I'm a pirate!" Cherry didn't deny it.

The snowball fight ended with Cherry's merciless victory and Toko breathing heavily on the ground, half buried in snow.n/ô/vel/b//in dot c//om

"You're a good kid, Toko." Cherry patted her on the head.

"Do you feel better?" Toko asked, looking up at her with her big doe eyes.

'Observant, too,' Cherry added silently. "I'm fine."

Cherry got Toko cleaned off, dried, and warmed up before they continued their journey.

...

*clash* *clang* *shing*

"Is somebody having a fight?" Toko asked as the sounds of battle carried on the wind.

"Seems like it. Do you want to go check it out?" Cherry asked her. She knew one of the contenders in said fight, but she could always check it out later.

"Yeah!" Toko cheered.

Wandering over, they saw a bridge upon which a normal sized man and a much larger man engaged in a furious death match.

"Who do you think will win?" Toko asked excitedly, not taking her shining eyes off of the

men.

"The moss head will win," Cherry said.

"Don't call me that!" Moss head shouted at her, then got put on the defensive by his

opponent.

"Don't get distracted, moss head," Cherry called back with a snicker.

"Why do you think moss head is going to win? The other guy is much bigger!" Toko

explained.

"Moss head isn't fighting seriously. Although, if he doesn't stop glaring at me, he might pay

for it in blood," Cherry said.

"Leave this place or perish!" the larger man shouted without taking his eyes off of Zoro, though it was clear the message was for them since he was already working on the perish part

with Zoro.

"The big one isn't very nice! Beat him up, moss head!" Toko chose her side to root for.

"How did you even get your sword stolen in the first place, moss head?" Cherry asked.

"Some kind of fox thing took it while I was sleeping!" Zoro answered.

"Shusui does not belong to you!" the large man refuted.

"Hey, he took that sword off the corpse of the thief who stole it fair and square!" Cherry

defended.

"Irrelevant!" the large man growled. "Shusui belongs to Wano, not to an outsider!"

"Is this guy some kind of authority for historical preservation in Wano or something?" Cherry asked, looking at Toko. Toko shrugged.

"More like you want it for your own private collection!" Cherry jeered, giving the big man two

thumbs down.

"I am collecting weapons for Wano's future!" the large man defended himself verbally, but in

doing so left an opening physically.

And Zoro didn't take the opportunity, like an idiot.

"The hell are you doing, moss head?! You totally could have had him there!" Cherry jeered at

Zoro this time.

"I'm not going to slash a man that you distracted from our fight!" Zoro argued at her, only to

be forced to dodge as the large man took advantage of his own distraction. "What the hell are

you doing?!"

"Winning," the large man smirked.

"Son of a-!" Zoro clearly overestimated his opponent's sense of honor.