"Don't get cocky just because you blocked one punch, punk!" Franky shouted.
Franky placed his arms together with a metal tube in between, then his arms started to inflate.
"Hey Franky, I don't know what you're doing, but don't go destroying the neighborhood. The people who live here aren't involved in this." Cherry said, feeling that Franky's next attack would be less discriminate in its scope.
"Ah! You're right, I almost blew the whole neighborhood away..." Franky said, deflating his arms.
'This guy is a real piece of work. Since he's a shipwright I was wondering about maybe roping him into the Straw Hats, but now he seems like more of a liability.' Cherry thought.
"Enough talk! You attacked me first, so don't blame me for being rude!" Tremis shouted.
"I didn't attack you though, he did?" Cherry said, pointing at Franky.
"Oh, in that case hand over the Devil Fruit." Tremis was confused, but went with the flow.
"No, I don't think I will." Cherry shut him down.
"Then why did you stop me?!" Tremis yelled in frustration.
He was done talking for real this time and charged towards them. "I'll show you not to make a fool of me!"
Cherry drew her pistol in a flash and fired three shots; one towards Tremis, and the other two into the unfortunate goons behind him.
Tremis sensed great danger through his Observation Haki and put up his arm at an angle, coating it with Haki, to deflect the incoming bullet.
He felt the impact slam into his arm like a cannon ball. He glanced back at his subordinates just in time to see them stumble to the ground screaming in pain, each missing a leg at the knee. A chill went up his spine.
Now he knew not to underestimate the woman in front of him. He could see she had a custom revolver with six shots, three already fired. He wouldn't have to deal with the gun for too long.
He was only briefly stalled by the force of the bullet and continued forward. He was confused that no more shots were coming his way, but did not miss the opportunity.
Cherry was just probing with her revolver, so naturally she had stopped using it when it didn't do much against the camel man.
She drew her sword and met Tremis head on. Tremis punching with a Haki coated fist. Cherry swinging a Haki coated sword, with some Hashoken for good measure.
The fist and sword clashed together. The sword dug in a bit into Tremis' hand and surges of violent energy shot up his arm, while Cherry was pushed a few steps back.
They separated quickly. Tremis wasn't feeling so confident anymore and his cheery subordinates that normally hyped him up were currently bleeding out behind him or cowering on the other side behind the woman.
However, no matter how frightening she was, she was not more frightening than Kaido, who would likely kill him for losing a Zoan Devil Fruit.
So he did the only thing he could. Tap into the belligerent nature of the camel and attack.
"Wuoooh!" He let out a battle groan and charged once more.
Tremis attacked wildly, the force of his blows empowered by beastly strength and Haki.
Cherry was pressured somewhat, but maintained a calm disposition while fending him off. Each time she struck him he received minor cuts and her Vital Energy sent harmful vibrations into his arms.
The others watched from the sidelines. Although Franky wasn't exactly sure what was happening, he could feel the vibrations coming off Cherry's blade and got some ideas for new weapons.
The fight was brutal and short. Tremis had cuts all over his arms and the bones within were starting to fracture despite the Haki reinforcement. Cherry meanwhile had taken a fair few hits herself, but seemed completely undaunted by them.
Tremis realized how big his mistake was now. Kaido was scary, but which is scarier? The scary guy halfway around the world, or the scary lady right in front of him?
So he ran. He couldn't return to the Beast Pirates and would be hunted, but it was better to die tomorrow than today!
Tremis' world went white and he fell face first into the street, his hair singed and frizzy from remnant electricity.
The unharmed subordinates had run away during the fight. The injured individuals had managed to stop their own bleeding, but still passed out from blood loss. Quite tough despite being mere goons.
None of the goons had seen too much, so she let them go.
Tremis though, he had to die. He could identify her by her fighting style and tell the Beast Pirates about her. She didn't want that attention.
But then a thought occurred to her. He had to die, but did he have to DIE?
Cherry recalled the little lightning snake she fished out of Gan Fall's head. She wasn't proficient enough with the Rumble Rumble Fruit to do that as well, but scrambling his memory like an egg should be easy enough, right?
Cherry had Cabernet scoop up the camel man to bring him to a motel, where she rented two rooms, as did Franky.
Tremis was sat down in a chair and Cherry placed the pommel of her sword on top of his head, and her hand on his forehead.
Tiny streams of electricity flowed out of the sword into Tremis' brain, while Cherry guided them while watching his mindscape. The bounced around in the poor guy's head for several minutes, shattering every memory they came across until Cherry found none left.
When Tremis opened his eyes, hours later. He gripped his pounding head. "What happened?"
When he tried to remember, remember anything, nothing came to mind. Nothing at all.
...
During the same night, in a mansion near Galley La's shipyard.
Iceburg heaved a sigh after the World Government official, Corgi, left his office. It wasn't the first time the man came knocking on his door, asking about the blueprints to Pluton. He feigned ignorance this time, same as every time before, but they were persistent if nothing else.
Tyrannosaurus squeaked, also seeming happy to see the obnoxious man leave.
Tyrannosaurus dropped down into his pocket, then came back up holding a bit of cloth in his mouth.
"Ah, did you chew out my pocket lining?" Iceburg asked cutely, taking the fabric from him.
However, he noticed the edges of the cloth were far too straight and clean to have been chewed off. Then he saw that something seemed to be written on the cloth, almost like it was burned into it.
He opened it up so he could read it.
[ Kaku, Kalina, and Rob Lucci's martial art is very unique. I'd love to know what school they learned from. Love, Cherry. ]
He thought it was a strange message and an even stranger way to deliver it.
Having nothing better to do he pondered on it and the longer he thought the more questions it raised.
When he thought about it, those three did seem to fight in similar ways. If it's a unique martial art, as Cherry said, then why did it seem they only just met after arriving at Water 7?
The clues piled up in his mind and a picture started to come together. Little details and inconsistencies he had never spared a thought for seemed to scream out at him now.
He heard the window behind him open.
He turned and saw someone enter that he didn't expect to see. Nico Robin.