Zed's eyes widened in surprise when Cherry, who had been walking away only a moment before, shot like a cannonball through the air directly at the dyna stone container that he threw at the Moby Dick.
He knew something was wrong, but he wasn't fast enough to stop her. The advanced technique combining Soru and Geppo wasn't something he wasn't capable of, unlike Cherry. Since that was the case, he made to move as far away as he could before the detonation occurred as he originally planned.
The dyna stone began to radiate intense pink light as open air started to make contact with it through the broken glass and protective fluid.
Cherry slammed into the container, grasping it to herself in a bear hug. Counter to his common sense and expectations, Cherry made no moves to toss it away or throw it back at him. He got his hopes up that his initial instinct had been wrong and that Cherry was about to receive the full brunt of the dyna stone's detonation at point blank range.
A blinding flash of pink light came before the roaring explosion that annihilated the Whitebeard Pirates' ships.
At least, that's what was supposed to happen.
Instead the expanding ball of pink energy slowed to a stop after reaching about two meters in diameter, then began to shrink back down. Cherry's hands were resting just outside the sphere as it shrunk, in much the same fashion that Bartholomew Kuma did with his compressed air attack, Ursus Shock.
Unlike Ursus Shock, however, when Cherry finished compressing the dyna stone's energy and uncupped her hands, it didn't release it all back out in the direction of her choosing. Instead there lay a vibrant pink gemstone in her palm.
"Thanks for the meal~!" Cherry taunted, stuffing the gemstone into her clothes.
Zed was shocked to say the least. More than that, he was ashamed of himself for allowing the enemy to take such a powerful weapon for herself right out from under his nose. It didn't matter that he didn't know she could do it, that would just be an excuse in his mind.
Before he could attempt to retrieve the dyna gemstone from her, the sound of cannon fire drew his attention to his own ships. Great blue tentacles from the deep battered the Neo Marine fleet and were unaffected by the retaliation with their cannons.
His two most trusted subordinates, Ain and Binz were trying their best to fight off the beast, but it curiously slipped back beneath the waves whenever they came close to one of the hulking limbs.
Only the PX-Z pacifistas could both hit and damage the tentacles. Unfortunately, the damage they could cause to the beast, while not superficial, healed just as quickly as it was dealt. Zed cringed when one of them was caught by a tentacle and dragged underwater, followed by a boom and flash as it was presumably crushed.
If Akainu were awake, the beast would be easily dealt with, but he was still recovering from his previous fight.
"Are you going to leave them to die, Zephyr?" an infuriating voice asked him from below.
Whitebeard wore a smile on his face that didn't reach his eyes. He was genuinely curious to see if Zed would choose to abandon his comrades. If so, he wouldn't mind putting Zed out of his misery right here and now.
Zed didn't bother to respond to the provocation. He immediately raced back to his ships to save them from the vicious beast.
"Well, it was nice seeing you again, old man. If you want, there's likely to be a big party soon enough on the island to celebrate Doflamingo's fall. Otherwise, I guess I'll see you later, as I'm sure it is inevitable on these seas," Cherry said.
Cherry followed after Zed to cause more chaos with the Neo Marines. She didn't want them to come spoil the festivities after all, or to hurt her beloved Takako.
Zed wasn't ignorant of that fact, but as far as he was concerned that was a good thing. Without Whitebeard to back her up, he and his Neo Marines could take her down.
As the two of them got closer, the Kraken seemed to sense Zed's encroaching presence and slipped beneath the water in its entirety. It was horrifying how easily it could escape notice despite its colossal size and the relatively clear water.
*CRACKLE*
Thin prongs of lightning zipped past Zed, landing amongst the Neo Marines. A few shouts of pain cried out as some were struck by the stray attack. This was infuriating to Zed, because he knew that these attacks hadn't merely gone astray. They were too weak to have been meant for him, so must have been meant for the ones they hit from the start.
Zed spun around and swung his mighty arm, black as night at Cherry's head. Cherry flowed beneath it with another Rokushiki technique and shot past him towards the Neo Marine ships. Zed followed in pursuit with a growl of frustration in his throat.
What followed was a whacky chase to the tune of Yakety Sax in which Cherry beat the ever living daylights out of a bunch of edgy wanna-be marines whilst being chased by a former admiral who couldn't pin her down for the life of him.
One of the devil fruit users Cherry had taken notice of happened to be a beautiful young woman, so Cherry went over to greet her with a smile. "Hello, gorgeous. Do you come here often?"
Ain didn't miss a beat and swung her two daggers at her, which were disarmed without much effort with her monstrous strength and skill.
"Binz! I'll grab her, so hit her with your special move!" Ain shouted as she lunged at Cherry.
"Right!" Binz shouted back, starting to do a funny dance that made the potted plants on the deck start to wiggle along with him.
Now, Cherry considered that there were two paths to take here. Be embraced by a beautiful woman who likely wouldn't do so willingly under any other circumstances and take an attack that almost certainly wouldn't hurt her. Or do the boring thing and dodge.
Ain grabbed Cherry successfully, surprising even her that it was so easy.
Ain's devil fruit activated. There was pink light, then there was weakness that Cherry hadn't felt for years.
"Ah, shit." said a 13 year old Cherry.
"Ahhhh!" Ain screamed as a sword was plunged through her chest.
"Sorry darling, but I can't have this." Cherry spoke darkly with emotionless, murderous eyes.
Ain retreated quickly clutching the bleeding wound that barely missed her heart.
Cherry thankfully still had her vast Vital Energy reserves, but all the physical enhancements to her body that came with her cultivation were gone.
*ROOOAAOOAOAOOOR*
A great roar sounded out as the kraken made another appearance. Its previous rampage now seemed playful as it lifted whole ships out of the water and shook them violently before smashing them into the surface of the ocean or ripping them apart.
The Neo Marines gulped as they came to the realization that the beats and Cherry had both been toying with them.
"End her now, Ain!" Zed shouted as he now had to prevent the kraken from destroying the entire fleet.
Ain rushed forward and Binz launched his plants at Cherry. Other Neo Marines also charged forward to support them. Cherry no longer had the physical conditioning necessary for Rokushiki and could only rely on her raw weakened strength to fight.
"No more messing around." Cherry said softly without an ounce of amusement. "Prepare yourselves; don't blame me if you die."