"It'll be easier to move unnoticed if I go into town alone and in disguise. I can alter my face easily enough with Seimei Kikan, but I need clothes that I don't normally wear," Cherry said, getting prepared to go find the mysterious individual that wanted to meet her.
"You can borrow some of my clothes if you want. Unlike you, the rest of us ladies wear more than one outfit," Robin teased.
Cherry rolled her eyes and went to the women's bedroom on the ship with her to assemble a passable outfit. Well, at least Cherry was fine with passable, but Robin wasn't going to let her tomboyish girlfriend go out on the town looking like a fashion nightmare.
Robin ended up putting together several outfits, some of which even included some bits and bobs of Nami's side of their shared closet. Cherry was forced to put on a little fashion show for her, which she begrudgingly accepted without complaint.
Robin thought they all looked great, which may or may not have anything to do with the fact that they showed more skin than her typical wardrobe, but Cherry didn't and she had the final veto.
Cherry ended up digging around in the closet in search of something she wouldn't hate wearing. At the very back, almost deliberately hidden away from prying eyes, she found something familiar.
When Cherry brought them out, Robin blushed a bit at the sight of them.
"You've had these all this time, huh?" Cherry said with a touch of nostalgia in her smile.
It was a sleeveless black leather jacket with a white t-shirt, tight black leather pants with a pair of sunglasses in one of the pockets, and a pair of spiky black boots. The very same outfit that Robin had worn in her disguise when she escaped Boulder island all those years ago.
"History is important to me. These are an important part of my history. Our history," Robin said, trying to hide her sentimentality beneath an air of false professionalism.
"I didn't say anything…" Cherry teased. "Do you want to try it on again and come with me? It might be a bit tight around the chest, though…"
Robin rolled her eyes. "If I didn't know better, I'd wonder if you liked me more as a man."
Cherry and Robin soon set out on their day's errands in full disguise.
Robin wore the sunglasses, old leather jacket and boots, but had to improvise for the under shirt and pants as those parts of the old disguise didn't fit anymore. She wore her hair up in a man bun and sported a long beard that she bloomed with her devil fruit.
Robin had no issues with binding her chest, either, having a lot of experience from over the years.
Cherry had her arms wrapped around Robin's arm like a clingy girlfriend. She was dressed in an over the top goth dress and had a multitude of piercings in her Seimei Kikan altered face with heavy goth makeup.
…
Sabaody Archipelago had become a much more lawless place than it was two years ago. That made sense given that the Marines' headquarters was moved into the New World to more easily combat the chaos there, as well as Whitebeard's victory against the marines serving as a great inspiration for new pirates.
Cherry didn't really like this new wave of piracy, though. Most of these new pirates were a cruel and cynical bunch, nothing like the generation of dreamers that Roger's final words kicked off.
Thankfully they didn't run into too many such pirates on the way to the specified hotel that the person who wanted to meet Cherry was staying in. That hotel was amongst the more orderly groves that the marines managed to keep a firm grip on.
"Let's see, room number 207…" Cherry muttered whilst walking down the hall of the hotel's second floor.
Finding the correct door, she knocks and politely waits for an answer.
The door opened and revealed a middle aged woman who looked at Cherry with some confusion, and Cherry looked at her in confusion in turn..
"Can I help you…?" She asked.
"Grandma?!" Cherry exclaimed, recognising her..
"Cherry?!" Grandma Angela exclaimed after hearing her voice.
Grandma Angela grappled Cherry into a powerful bear hug. Robin stood at the side feeling a bit awkward
"It's been so long, Cherry!" Grandma Angela spoke cheerfully.
"You've been diligent I see, you look so much younger than I've ever seen you," Cherry complimented.
"Don't try to flatter me, girl. What the hell did you do to your pretty face?! All these piercings, and did you get cosmetic surgery too?! If you're tired of living the life of a wanted woman, you should just come home with me instead of going to such drastic measures. Grandma will protect you no matter what," Grandma Angela said with concern.
Robin chuckled a bit at that.
"Hm? Oh, I didn't see you there. Where are my manners? I am Harpin Angela, Cherry's grandmother. And you are?" Grandma Angela asked.
Robin opened her mouth to answer, but was interrupted by Cherry. "This is my boyfriend, Robert. He's in a rock and roll band."
Grandma Angela studied Cherry's face, trying to gain some insight into the inner workings of her mind. Cherry controlled her facial muscles perfectly, so nothing was found there, but Grandma Angela didn't miss the glint of mischief in her eyes.
"Well, Robert. You should run far far away while you still can. I don't know what she wants from you, but whatever it is isn't hanging between your legs. That's for damn sure," Grandma Angela warned 'Robert', knowing quite well that Cherry had no interest in men whatsoever.
"Pfft!" Cherry couldn't hold back her laughter, toppling to the floor.
"She likes what I have between my legs just fine, thank you." Robin spoke in her very clearly feminine voice.
Cherry was laughing so hard now that she could barely breathe.
When Robin's fake beard burst into flower petals and she let her hair down, Grandma Angela felt a bit embarrassed at the misunderstanding she had had.
…
The three of them held a little tea party in Grandma Angela's hotel room to catch up on the last few years.
"I always suspected you were the reason for Cherry's little outburst back then, when the marines came looking for you on Boulder Island. To think you'd end up on the same pirate ship by chance, what a small world it is," Grandma Angela said.
"I was very surprised to meet her again under such circumstances. I was delighted more than anything, of course. Cherry made me feel more at home in that thorn filled forest than I had in years at that point in my life," Robin said with a pink tinge on her cheeks.
"And that Cabernet woman that looks like she could be your half sister is actually a ship that ate a devil fruit?" Grandma Angela asked with a bit of disbelief.
"Yes, she looks like she's related to me because she was blood bound to me beforehand. You should meet her too. Cabernet is like the younger sister I never had, so she's your granddaughter too," Cherry said, sipping some tea.
"Right, blood bound…" Grandma Angela had no idea what that meant, but she didn't feel like diving down that rabbit hole so she filed it away as 'cultivation nonsense'.
"What about Slenk and Borke? They left the island with you didn't they?" Cherry inquired.
"They went to play with the pretty mermaids," Grandma scoffed. "They were supposed to be back by now. No doubt they're living every man's dream down there right about now."
"Maybe Borke is, since he's a decent guy even if he's a bit dumb, but Slenk can't hold back his perversion long enough for a woman to like him. Not as bad as Sanji, though," Cherry said.
"Perhaps they were eaten by sea kings before they even reached Fishman Island?" Robin said.
"Those boys are strong and, more importantly, lucky. I'm sure they're fine," Grandma Angela assured them, but more so herself.
Truthfully she was worried about them and hoped they really were just fooling around.