Katakuri reached the second set of stairs going up to the third floor. It was still a while until they reached the kitchens on the eighth floor, but he was already starting to think it would have been better to suffer through Cherry's constant teasing than to have started this impromptu game of tag.
His eyes flashed, observation haki warning him of another grab, but this time it was different. Cherry's form blurred in his foresight, two overlapping images of her barely more than a centimeter out of place from one another.
Katakuri dodged, easily leaping over her grasping hands and once more leaving her in his dust as she collected herself momentarily from her failed attempt.
"Hehehehehehe~!" Cherry cackled behind him, and he knew why.
Up until that moment, Katakuri had used only the barest minimum of effort to evade her. This time he didn't, because he couldn't. The two futures he had predicted were nearly identical, but that was enough to force him to leave some wiggle room for himself, and that mad woman understood it immediately.
'What a monster…' Katakuri thought. If it came down to it, he'd have to put her down himself to make sure she didn't grow into a real threat, no matter his conflicted gratitude towards her. The family came first, no exceptions.
*flash* *SHWING* *CLANG*
Katakuri ducked out of the way of two trajectories of a decorative axe that Cherry pulled off the wall and launched at him. A shiver went down his spine because they were a bit farther apart this time.
'It's been barely 30 seconds?!' Katakuri's common sense was being swiftly torn apart. 'At this rate, won't she be a match for me before we reach the 7th floor, let alone the eighth?!'
Katakuri turned on a dime into a room, slamming the large double doors behind him and quickly making for the windows.
*Slam!*
Cherry burst through the doors into what looked to be an outdoor courtyard at a glance. However, it was apparent upon closer observation that the lawn wasn't real grass and the blue, cloudy sky was painted on the walls and ceiling, albeit quite realistically. The quality was high enough that she might have believed it were it not for the windows showing the darkened outside world.
"Ah! No shortcuts!" Cherry realized that Katakuri planned to skip the almost maze-like interior of the Whole Cake Chateau through the outside windows. That would mean less time to learn from him! Unacceptable!
*BOOM*
The sound barrier shattered and Katakuri lunged to the side as a person sized projectile shot past him several times faster than a cannonball.
Cherry hit the window he was headed for at full force, but strangely it only spiderwebbed in cracks before reforming into its prior pristine state.
'She was holding out on me, though I suppose it doesn't matter how fast she moves if I can see it coming.' Katakuri concluded, already darting for another window. He was surprised when he reached it without interruption before realizing it was far too quiet.
Cherry swung down from above the outside of the window as he opened it, hanging by her feet and reaching her hands towards Katakuri's scarfed face.
Katakuri threw a mochi fist at her from a floating donut that manifested out of nowhere, socking her square in the chest and sending her flying away from the chateau wall. He promptly turned around and made for the hallways once more, understanding that perhaps the open air wasn't a good place to face off against Cherry.
The sounds of Cherry kicking the air and landing inside the room before he even got back out of it further confirmed the wisdom of that.
What he didn't understand, and didn't really have the time to think over, was how Cherry had gotten outside in the first place. The window she landed on didn't break nor was it open.
Katakuri started to get serious, pushing himself to run faster and preparing his devil fruit powers to make sharper turns than he could properly control at this new speed otherwise.
"Not used to running away, are ya?" Cherry called out from behind him.
Katakuri tilted his head to avoid a Rankyaku flying slash. "How did you learn Rokushiki? Did you train with the world government?"
"Aren't they pretty straight forward? CP9 used them a whole bunch right in front of me, of course I'd pick them up." Cherry answered, rounding a corner without losing any momentum.
"Right, of course. Easy." Katakuri rolled his eyes. "It's not like they're top secret martial art forms by a clandestine organization of spies feared by most of the world or anything."
"Totally, like this one!" Cherry launched several Rankyaku slashes in quick succession, all of them dodged. "All you gotta do is shape your thigh and calf muscles into a razor edge and do a flying sword slash like you do with a sword! Simple!"
"I'm not a swordsman." Katakuri said, launching several donut punches backwards at her as he reached the straight away for the stairs to the fourth floor.
"That sounds like a YOU problem. Swords are cool, you should learn how to use 'em. So you can be cool." Cherry said, hardening her two fists with haki and plowing straight through the mochi attacks. "Oh, they're softer than I expected. I guess you're an observation haki specialist?"
Katakuri almost stumbled at those words. Certainly his observation haki was stronger than his armament, but calling him a specialist when he outmatched most of the world's haki users in armament alone was insane.
However, judging by the way Cherry looked as she said it, she might actually mean it. Just how strong was her armament haki that she thought that his own was subpar?
'Better steer clear of the treasure vault, just in case.' Katakuri concluded. He couldn't risk the chance that she could break inside via brute force.
Katakuri took a left as soon as he left the stairs. Cherry shot straight past the intersection instead of following him, which was the direction of the vault.
Katakuri stopped instantly and spun around to give chase. His eyes widened in shock at Cherry's wide smile as she was hurtling towards his head, rather than charging down the other hallway as his observation haki told him she was going to do.
He jerked himself backwards limbo style, letting Cherry sail over him before she bounded off the air in pursuit.
A brief, but very intense scuffle occurred, but Katakuri ultimately managed to keep away from her and continue on his way.
'Did she really fool my observation haki just then?' Katakuri was both shocked and awed. 'No, I let my own thoughts get in the way. I didn't want her to go that way, so her trick was unusually effective against my predictions.'
He wasn't just making excuses. It was important to keep an open mind with observation haki, even more so the more adept you were at it. If an opponent's trick lined up with what was already on your mind, even a much weaker haki user could potentially fool you.
Still, it didn't bode well for Katakuri. At the same time, he found himself enjoying this more than he meant to. So often he was faced with pitiful fools or cowards who didn't stand a chance against him, it just felt like work. He might as well be an office worker most of the time with how boring it all was.
Now though? He could relish the challenge, even if it wasn't a traditional head to head fight.