One Piece: Dream of Immortality

Chapter 45: Jail Cell



The acting captain of the royal guard of Alabasta, Chaka, and the kingdoms strongest warrior, Pell, had been greatly confused by the King's choice to step down from the throne.

Even more confusing was the choice of the Shichibukai, Crocodile, to act as Regent. Regardless of the man's reputation amongst the people, he was still a pirate.

The King had insisted on being undisturbed in his chambers after the proclamation. They didn't realize he was no longer in the palace until they received word that Nanohana was set ablaze and that the King was apparently responsible.

Everything made more sense after Princess Vivi's pet super spot-billed duck, Karoo, arrived at the palace with a letter explaining that Crocodile was behind the kingdom's turmoil. They realized the King's strange behavior must also be related to his schemes.

However, there was now a rebel force enroute to Alubarna. More than twice the size and much better armed, according to reports.

They were only soldiers, they could not take charge of the kingdom. They could only remain here and defend the capital against the rebels.

Pell decided to go face Crocodile directly. His absence would not change the course of the war, so it was better that he thwart Crocodile.

...

*Badum... badum... badum...*

'There you are. Where were you hiding, my little heart? How I've missed you...' Cherry held back a smile.

While she had been trying to awaken her Observation Haki, she had been forced to sleep a few times, interrupting her. Apparently Miss Spa Day was quite cautious in making sure she wasn't conscious. Not cautious enough, though, as she always woke quickly.

Now that Cherry could feel her own heartbeat with her rudimentary Observation Haki, she expanded it and was able to feel her own vital energy once again.

From there she found the foreign vital energy from Miss Spa Day's devil fruit and began testing ways to remove it.

Ultimately she was able to dispel the hallucinogenic effects with a combination of her own devil fruit ability and vital energy through a brute force method. This was a game changing discovery for Cherry. Though it took a fair amount of time, she thought she'd be able to eventually refine the process and become effectively immune to direct influence by devil fruit

users.

Opening her eyes, she found herself in a jail cell of some kind, with only a bit of light from some candles. She could hear Miss Spa Day's muffled voice ordering around some other Baroque Works goons upstairs somewhere.

She sat up and looked around and expanded her Life Sense. She found someone else in a cell across from her.

"Psst, hey! So, what are you in for?" She whispered across the hall.

The figure stirred and approached the bars of their cell. He was a middle aged man with shoulder length black hair pulled back and a goatee on his chin.

Cherry recognized him from Mr.2 aka Bon Clay's devil fruit performance.

"I suppose I'm 'in for' failing to find out who the enemy of my people was." King Nefertari Cobra answered. He was a bit roughed up and likely hadn't been properly fed for a few days.

"Ah, so you're Vivi's father. Nice to meet you, I'm her girlfriend Cherry." She said, shocking Cobra to the core.

"Vivi?! Girlfriend?! What the hell do you mean?! No, ahem, has Vivi truly returned to Alabasta?" Cobra shout-whispered then regained his composure.

Cherry snickered and told him the truth.n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om

"I see, I never should have placed any trust in that pirate, Crocodile. He should have been my prime suspect, even." He lamented his foolishness. "And now that I know the truth, I am in position to help my people."

"Oh, well I can get us out whenever. Miss Spa Day has left the building so only some weak goons are left to guard us." Cherry said nonchalantly.

"How are you going to do that? We're locked in these cages-" Cobra stopped talking when Cherry simply pressed her hand against the lock of her cell and pushed the door open.

...

Koza tried his best to convince people to stand down, and he succeeded for some. However, most were pushed too far already, they did not believe his words that the King had been an imposter and that a third party had plotted against the kingdom.

Many thought he had turned into a coward or that he had gone soft on them.

Those that listened to him tried to spread the word as well, but the people who decided not to march on Alubarna were in the minority.

Now Koza was racing ahead of the rebels to Alubarna. He and a few others were being carried by Cabernet who was more than willing to go that direction, seeing as that was the same direction Cherry was in.

He hoped to stop the main rebel force by cutting them off and standing in their way.

They cut it quite close as they only just passed them by over their heads when the city of Alubarna was within sight.

You can imagine his surprise when he saw two figures standing before the south gate seemingly awaiting the rebel army as well. As they got closer, Koza and Cabernet recognized them as Princess Vivi and Karoo.

The sound of a cannon firing was heard from the wall. It landed in front of Vivi and obscured the sight of her.

"Vivi?!" Koza shouted, and Cabernet swooped down.

Cabernet entered the cloud of dust and sand kicked up by the cannon ball and found Karoo and Vivi, scooping them up and bringing them out of the cloud.

A shout issued from the walls. "Let them into the city! Surrender! Do not fight each other!"

The source of the shout was none other than King Cobra of Alabasta. His loud, commanding voice left no room for objection or doubt.

Vivi was overwhelmed, seeing the faces of her father and Koza at the same time. Cabernet set them all down and Koza prepared to face the rebels himself. Vivi tried to tell him everything.

"I already know, Vivi. I'm sorry for being such a fool. Let me do what I can to stop this." Koza said, cutting her off.

Koza ran towards the approaching rebels, who fortunately stopped for him as those in the front were his comrades. He entreated with them to stop, at least for a time. That there was more than meets the eye.

Several Cannon shots rang out and landed amongst the rebel forces, as well as gunfire.

"STOP! HOLD YOUR FIRE!" King Cobra and acting captain Chaka yelled.

But the soldiers did not listen. Rather, they couldn't hear them as they were currently hallucinating a fierce battle and fighting for their lives, as far as they knew. One of them hit Koza, knocking him to the ground.

The rebels charged once more and streamed into the city, they could not be stopped anymore. The King commanded his soldiers, or those that retained their full faculties at least, to retreat

into the city.

After the rebel force entered the city, Usopp came riding over on a horse. He told her to leave the man who was shot as they needed to hurry.

This was suspicious, so she told him to prove he was really Usopp. He showed her the bandage on his arm, but that was not the mark they decided on. It was the X underneath the bandage

that was the true mark.

Mr. 2 revealed himself since the jig was up.

Cabernet stepped forth to face him.

"You're going to fight me wooden girl? Don't you know that your friend Cherry has been captured by us? If you want to see her alive, you should give up!" He smiled goofily, or

perhaps he just looked goofy.

"I'll take care of the goose man, Vivi. You go do what you need to do." Cabernet spoke. She was worried about Cherry, but she feel through their blood bond that Cherry was moving quickly through the city.

Vivi nodded and helped Koza onto Karoo's back and rode into the city with the two other rebels following behind.

"I'm not a goose!" Shouted Mr. 2 with indignation, as he prepared to fight. He knew this wouldn't be an easy opponent.