One Piece: Dream of Immortality-Chapter 554: Meddlesome Monkey

"Huh? Ah, well..." Koby's eyes wandered around as if in search of an excuse. "I- I'm a big fan of Uta-chan! Huge fan! I took vacation days to be here! That's right!"

Cherry took a mental note that the young man was an awful liar. Not the worst thing to be as a marine, she supposed.

"I guess you're his chaperone, then?" Cherry asked Helmeppo.

"Yes!" Helmeppo snapped and winked.

"N-No! I'm his chaperone!" Koby insisted.

"Sure, kid," Cherry mussed up his hair.

Koby sagged in defeat after realizing that his obvious cover story was set in stone.

"So, why are you really here?" Cherry asked.

"Wha- I just said-!" Koby desperately tried to deflect.

"Nobody with ears would buy that excuse. You don't look even remotely annoyed that I'm chatting with you in the middle of one of Uta's songs," Cherry said.

"She's got us there," Helmeppo said.

"Ugh..." Koby grunted, then spoke with a lowered voice. "We think that Uta is planning to trap all these people in her Uta World. Normally, she can only keep it active for so long because of the stamina consumption, but we tracked a black market deal for wake-shrooms back to her."

"Those are some kind of stimulant, then?" Cherry asked.

"Of a kind. What's more important is the side effect; when she stops eating them, she'll die," Koby gave a grave answer. "We don't know exactly what will happen to the people trapped in her Uta World when she succumbs, but historical records about her devil fruit show that those still inside when the user dies never return."

"That's not good," Cherry's tone turned serious. "There are children here."

"We know," Koby matched her gravity. "There's no easy way to make her release them, either. The wake-shrooms make sure of that. We were hoping to intervene before all of this happened, but Uta started the show early. She must have known we were after her."

"I might be able to do something about the wake-shrooms... or I would, if I were on the outside," Cherry rubbed her chin. "That's still a possibility, but I'm not sure if I can communicate with... my body."

"That's one more option than I thought we had, so I'm grateful!" Koby spoke earnestly. "I just hope it'll work out."

*spray*

"Eh?" Koby's face was covered in blood.

"That's odd," Cherry said, reaching up to block her sliced carotid artery.

...

"What the heck was that for?" Drunk Cherry took a few unsteady steps away from the knife wielding Uta.

"I took some time to think about your little problem and I found a solution!" Uta smiled sweetly. "Just like a ship, if I cut your soul free from its anchor, it'll be free to set sail! Now hold still! If you can still talk, I didn't cut your throat nearly deep enough!"

Uta lunged towards her, swinging and stabbing with her knife, smiling all the while.

"I'm not just going to let you slash me up," Drunk Cherry said.

Uta caught up, but at that moment Drunk Cherry seemed to flow like a leaf on the wind. No matter how ferociously she attacked, she failed utterly and completely to touch her quarry.

"Why are you running away, damn it! I'm trying to save you!" Uta growled.

"It doesn't look like you are. I'm pretty sure a court of law would agree with me, too," Drunk Cherry shot back as she reached between Uta's flailing arms and grabbed her by the nose.

"Let go!" Uta spoke in a nasally voice, trying to prod the offending hand with her blade, only to have it snap off against Drunk Cherry's bare skin. "Haki is cheating!"

"I'm a pirate, cheating is in my blood," Drunk Cherry revealed.

Uta paused in her assault. "You're a pirate...?"

"You didn't know? I made the papers a while back, you know. Did a real number on Big Mom!" Drunk Cherry bragged without shame. "No? I'm not the captain, though, I suppose. Surely you've heard of Straw Hat Luffy, at least?"

"Luffy?" Uta's breath hitched. "Monkey D. Luffy?"

"That's him!" Drunk Cherry nodded.

"You're lying..." Uta bit her thumb.

"Ouch!" Drunk Cherry released Uta's nose. "You shouldn't bite pirates. I could have all kinds of nasty foreign diseases!"

"Shut up!" Uta's face twisted into a snarl. "Tell me you're lying! Luffy isn't a pirate, tell me!"

"Of course he's a pirate," Drunk Cherry didn't budge. "He's always wanted to be one hasn't he? You seem to know him, so surely he told you. He tells everyone!"

Uta dropped the knife. "We were just kids! There can only be one King of the Pirates! Surely he knows how stupid it is to chase that foolish dream! He's just going to be crushed, and then he'll have nowhere to go since he'll have a bounty!"

"Hey now, I'll have you know that there's nobody who stands a better chance than he does! He just beat Kaido yesterday!" Drunk Cherry defended.

"It doesn't matter!" Uta screamed at her. "Kaido couldn't become King of the Pirates after more than twenty years, so beating him doesn't mean anything! Luffy threw his life away for nothing, and I can't even help him because I...!"

Drunk Cherry pursed her lips and leaned towards her in interest. "Because you...?"

"It doesn't matter, it's just too late. If he isn't watching my concert, then I can't help him. Not anymore," Uta seemed so small as she said those words, almost curling in on herself.

"Luffy has lots of good friends, you know. He's even saved a few countries from other pirates," Drunk Cherry assured. "In the worst case that he fails to accomplish his dream, there are people who would welcome him with open arms and smiles on their faces."

Uta glanced at her with her one visible eye. "That can't be true. Pirates are hated by normal people."

"Luffy has a way of changing hearts and minds. Having a bloody civil war averted or a cruel despot dethroned by him certainly doesn't hurt in that endeavor," Drunk Cherry said.

Uta didn't say anything for a long while. She didn't even move until she pulled another of those strange mushrooms out to eat again.

"Oya, oya." There was a flash of light and suddenly Admiral Kizaru was standing on the stage as well. "I thought you'd run and hide, but here you are, right out in the open."

Uta's lost expression hardened. "A marine, huh? Well, you're welcome to join the party."

Uta started to sing, but Kizaru wasn't having any of it. He flashed forwards to stop her, but shockingly he was intercepted by a bolt of lightning. Lightning may not be as fast as light, but it was close enough to be a threat. Moreover, Kizaru's own speed fell quite a bit short of the speed of light since complete elemental transformation was impossible.

"Oops~" Kizaru twisted out of the way and was forced to abandon his first attack. "What are you doing awake? And what are you doing here in the first place? Shouldn't you be in Wano?"

"Wouldn't you like to know, monkey-man?" Drunk Cherry smirked. "I was just getting bored, so why don't you entertain me?"

"What was that?" Kizaru put his hand up to his ear, revealing that he was wearing ear plugs.

He pointed a finger at Uta and fired a laser at her. Kizaru's lasers were true light, which meant they didn't have the same speed limitations as his body did.

Another crackle of thunder was heard as his laser exploded halfway to its intended target. freёweɓnovel.com

"Tch," Kizaru clicked his tongue. "You're going to make this difficult, I see."

"I sure hope so!" Drunk Cherry cackled.