Cherry led the procession of revolutionaries carrying the idiot drum brothers and Kinderella back to the fortress.
Once inside, Cherry remembered that she should probably unfuse Perona's negative hollow from Wapol.
'Man, I almost feel bad for leaving him like this for weeks. Almost." Cherry thought to herself.
She placed a hand on Wapol's back and activated her devil fruit to release the negative hollow from his body.
The ghost-like form slipped out and had a melancholic look on its face, a stark difference from the usual goofy smile they wore. Only now did Cherry feel some guilt for what she did to Wapol, though the pity was directed towards the negative hollow that had the misfortune to be stuck inside Wapol for so long.
Wapol took a deep breath in and looked around a face filled with wonder and awe.
"This place, it's so… BEAUTIFUL!" Wapol exclaimed with a big smile.
The room they were in was a prison cell and even as far as prison cells go it was pretty dismal.
"I feel so ALIVE! So WONDERFUL! LIFE IS SO AMAZING!" Wapol was shouting at the top of his lungs in pure unadulterated joy.
'Wow. I was worried he would have gone insane after living in the deepest depression for so long, but it seems it only increased his outlook on life after he escaped it. I wonder how long it'll last?' Cherry pondered.
Wapol spun around to take in the rest of his surroundings.
"YOU?!" Wapol pointed at Cherry. "Did you… save me? Even after our previous encounters?"
"Sure, let's go with that." Cherry said, deciding to see where this was going.
"You have my utmost gratitude! I thought I would be trapped in that dreary state of mind forever, but you had it in your heart to rescue me in spite of our rocky past!" Wapol was crying genuine tears of gratitude.
"Mm, well it was the right thing to do. After your brother usurped your throne, your citizens were so upset I just had to do something." Cherry lied.
"WHAT?! That ungrateful wretch! This is the thanks I get from rescuing him from his exile?!" Wapol was enraged.
"Don't you worry though. All your subordinates may have sided with him, but we'll get you back on your throne eventually! We might need your help with the war effort, if you're willing to use your devil fruit to help us?" Cherry asked with a sparkle in her eye.
"Really?! Naturally I'll assist in any way I can, it's the least I can do with you helping me get my throne back!" Wapol agreed enthusiastically.
"Great, you stay here. I'll see you again soon." Cherry said.
"Hm, yes. I will stay here. This is a splendid room, if I do say so myself. And I've got quite the eye for luxury, mind you!" Wapol said, seemingly oblivious to the dinginess of the prison cell, with only an old mattress as furniture.
'It seems that his perception has been altered significantly. Perhaps everything seems to be much better in his eyes after coming out of a month long, deep depression? I wonder if it's permanent?' Cherry pondered as she left the cell, the guards shutting the door behind her and locking it.
Cherry decided to go get something to eat at the cafeteria.
When she was almost there, Robin came running up behind her with crossed arms. Arms bloomed from Cherry shoulders and firmly planted over her eyes. After a quick Life Sense, Cherry realized that Belo Betty was in the cafeteria at the moment.
Cherry had taught Robin how to use Life Sense and she had been practicing with it by preventing Cherry from catching a glimpse of the apparently very sexy Betty.
They had set the rule that Cherry wasn't allowed to use Life Sense inside the fortress so she wouldn't be able to find Betty in that manner.
"That was a close one, darling." Cherry said, wrapping an arm around Robin's waist. "You'll have to feed me since I can't see."
Robin agreed with the stipulation. Truthfully, she wasn't that jealous and she trusted Cherry not to cheat. She was mostly doing this because they both found it amusing, like an inside joke.
Entering the cafeteria, Betty glanced over at them.
"Why do you always have those hands over your eyes when I'm around? Do you have a problem with the way I dress?" Betty asked sternly. She knew they didn't do this for anyone else in the fortress, not even Morley.
"You've gone and done it now, Robin. She's angry at us." Cherry said, whilst Robin blushed with some embarrassment.
"Sorry, Betty." Robin apologized, releasing the hands from Cherry's eyes.
Cherry looked upon Betty for the first time since she arrived here.
"Are you sure you were jealous and not that you wanted to keep this glorious sight to yourself?" Cherry asked, raising an eyebrow at Robin who then punched her in the shoulder.
They got some food and sat down across from Betty to have a chat with her and make a proper introduction.
"I see. So it just turned into some sort of game from then on." Betty said. "I would have preferred if you included me in any games that involve me."
"Hear that, Robin? Maybe we should think of a new game?" Cherry suggested jokingly.
"I can certainly think of a game we can play. It's not very original, but it never gets old." Betty spoke, giving them a playful look over her sunglasses.
Robin blushed lightly and glanced at Cherry. Cherry was looking right back at her with a smirk, but gave no opinion on the matter.
"Maybe we can all meet up after you're finished with your work tonight." Robin said softly after a moment of hesitation.
"That's alright with me. Should we meet at your quarters, or mine?" Betty asked, with a wide smile.
After ironing out the details, Betty returned to her duties with a saunter.
"Wow. I'm very surprised, to say the least." Cherry said, poking Robin in the side.
"Shut up." Robin muttered.
Cherry and Robin went to go train for the rest of the day, then later met Betty at her living quarters where they got to know each other a lot better.
Turns out Betty's devil fruit was useful for more than just improving the morale of an army.
After leaving Betty's quarters late the next morning, they were intercepted by Sabo, who had returned from his impromptu vacation.
"There you are! I just want to say thanks again, it was the right choice to go now rather than later. By the way, Dragon-san wants to speak with you, Cherry." Sabo said, seeming to have a hue weight off his shoulders since the last time they met.
"Alright. Was he mad that you took almost two months off?" Cherry asked.
"... Maybe…" Sabo said, looking a bit sheepish.
Cherry made her way to Dragon's office, where she found him grumbling to himself about Sabo's absence.
"Hey chief. You wanted to see me?" Cherry announced herself.
"Mm, I did. How did you disable the devil fruit abilities of Wapol? Even after taking off the sea stone cuffs he couldn't use his powers." Dragon asked.
"Trade secret." Cherry said, which wasn't the response that Dragon wanted, but he accepted it regardless.
"Very well, keep your secrets. Can you undo whatever you did to him, though? I'd like to make use of his powers in developing new alloys and weapon manufacturing. Thanks to your deception, he's being rather cooperative right now." Dragon asked.
"Sure thing." Cherry agreed.
Cherry went down to the prison cells and unlocked the seal on Wapol's devil fruit. Although, this seal was different from what she used on Serene, as the seal was still in place and could be activated again with a touch.
After another long day of training, Robin and Cherry were lying next to each other on their bed in their quarters.
"So, you like them big huh?" Cherry asked out of the blue.
Robin hit her with a pillow. "No I don't!"
"Are you sure, I've got this martial art I picked up from CP9 though. I could make mine bigger temporarily, if you like?" Cherry asked with a smirk.
"... Maybe…" Robin said, before promptly turning towards the wall and going to sleep.