One Piece: Dream of Immortality

Chapter 463: Messing with Usohachi



Since both Franky and Robin had taken up day jobs for reasons that Cherry couldn't quite fathom (seriously, you can make eyes and ears appear wherever you want, Robin, what the heck), She decided that she was going to spend the day messing with Usopp.

As she marched through the streets at a rather fierce walking pace, she caught the eyes of many people who would hide giggles and point at her as she passed.

Finally, her quarry appeared before her, though he had not yet noticed her. Cherry's feet were like thunder with each stomp as people parted in the crowd to give her a path towards the toad oil salesman.

"You!" Cherry roared, pointing at Usohachi with a finger trembling with rage.

"Me?" Usopp spun around when he heard the voice. When he saw the customer that he had given a free sample to earlier today, he barely contained his own laughter. "Pfft-!"

Cherry grabbed him by the front of his robes. Her mustache, which had grown a hundred times its size and changed color to hot pink, bounced as she shook him. "What did your damned oil do to me?!"

"I-I-I-" Usopp searched for an explanation, all the while trying not to laugh and make his situation even worse somehow. "I'm not sure what you're referring to, sir!"

Cherry released him, causing him to stumble backwards a bit, and gestured towards the only obvious feature that had changed on her person since the last time they met. "My mustache, you fool! You told me to use your oil on it, and now look at it!"

"Eh? Really???" Usopp was confused. Especially since it wasn't even genuine toad oil, just some used sesame oil he found discarded in a dumpster outside of a restaurant.

The crowd started to murmur and whisper amongst themselves, casting doubtful glances at Usopp. He began to grow worried that he'd get into trouble here, and that was the last thing The needed to happen right now.

"I mean... yes of course, sir! Aren't you satisfied?" Usopp hastily said.

"What? Why would I be satisfied?!" Cherry demanded answers.

"Your mustache was quite nice before, but now you've been afforded a chance for an even more glorious style!" Usopp declared, holding his nose up in pride. "The color may not be ideal, but it's nothing a little dye won't fix!"

That seemed to change the energy of the crowd, still whispering amongst themselves but this time sending intrigued looks Usopp's way. Several balding men were touching their heads in wonder with hope in their eyes.

"As you can see, I have quite the fine beard myself. It hasn't gone white with age, however; rather I have removed the pink with a whitening agent!" Usopp doubled down as he stroked his fake beard. "This is just one of the many miraculous uses for my toad oil!"

The crowd was nodding in interest now, several of them moving forward to make purchases.

Cherry made a show of being unsure before storming away in a huff, leaving Usopp feeling victorious in his ability to squirm his way out of trouble.

'Usopp is trickier than I would have given him credit for... I'll have to up the ante if I want him to feel the heat.' Cherry stroked her absurd mustache in thought.

Cherry spotted something out of the corner of her eye, then an idea popped into her head and a smile crossed her face. "That'll do nicely~"

Cherry followed after the beast pirate who had caught her eye; a woman of a similar height as herself, which was perfect for impersonating. The beast pirate was completely unaware of the danger she was in as she decided to take a shortcut through an alley with no one around to see or hear Cherry attack her.

A few minutes later, the beast pirate was unceremoniously tossed into a dumpster and Cherry walked away looking exactly like her and wearing her clothes. "You have an awful sense of style, but this'll do nicely~"

When Cherry found Usopp again, the crowd around him had grown immensely. He was very animated in his sales pitch and it seemed like he may even run out of product soon. This actually wasn't a good thing since he wasn't here to make money, so Cherry decided to "help" him out a little bit.

"Oi Oi Oi! What do we have here?" Cherry sauntered over with a lazy gait. She spat on the ground at Usopp's feet after shouldering her way past the crowd.

"Er, is there a problem...?" Usopp spoke hesitantly.

"You got any paperwork?" Cherry asked with a sneer.

Usopp did, in fact, have paperwork. He pulled it out of his robes with haste and presented it. "Yes, of course!"

Cherry snatched it and made a point of only giving it a cursory glance before crumpling it up and tossing it back at him. "I don't know, it doesn't look very legit to me. I'll tell you what, though, maybe I'll overlook your little stand here if you make it worth my while?"

Usopp's eyebrow twitched even as he put an amiable smile on his face. "Of course, of course, nothing would make me happier than to contribute to the ongoing safety and prosperity of the city!"

Usopp started to count out some silver from a bag as the crowd inched away cautiously, looking nervous.

When Usopp seemed satisfied with his bribe, Cherry snatched the bag out of his hands. "I guess this'll do, though it is a bit light."

A large arm wrapped around Cherry's shoulders out of nowhere. "Ika! I thought you had something to do at the castle? What are you still doing down here? Hahahahaha!"

Cherry glanced up at the man, another beast pirate but this one had an unnerving smile adorning his face.

"Just getting myself some drinking money," Cherry answered, putting on a shy act and faking a blush on her cheeks as she twirled her finger around a lock of hair.

That seemed to be the correct choice, because the man's eyes lit up in genuine delight, rather than what his failed S.M.I.L.E. fruit forced onto him. "Hahahahaha! Stop messing around with the shopkeepers; you know we aren't allowed to take too much!"

The smiling beast pirate grabbed the bag out of Cherry's hands and tossed it at Usopp's feet. "Stay out of trouble, old man! Hahahahaha! Come on, Ika! After you're done working, I can take you out for drinks!"

"Wow! I-I mean, okay then..." Cherry said, though inwardly she was already plotting her revenge against the fool who had spoiled her fun.

'Hm, maybe I can work with this. They're expecting this chick in the castle, so maybe an impromptu infiltration is in order?' Cherry thought.n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om

The idea had merit, although she had no clue what it was she was meant to do, and this

smiling idiot probably didn't know either if she could trust his words in that regard. Maybe she should slip away, go read this Ika's mind and figure out where she was meant to go and what she was meant to do when she got there.