"I'm not going with you," Reiju said, feeling a euphoric sense of freedom as the words left her tongue.
"What?" Judge honestly couldn't believe what he was hearing, as his control should be firmly rooted in the depths of her subconscious. It was simply illogical for her to disobey him.
"I said that I'm not going, you psychopathic cry-baby!" Reiju relished in her newfound ability to say exactly what she thought of the man to his face.
"Bahaha! She's got your number hasn't she, Father!" Niji barked a laugh, remembering the way his father blubbered when he realized he was going to be killed and have Germa stolen from him. Ichiji and Yonji chuckled along with him.
Reiju smirked at her brothers. Yet again, her father removing their emotions had come back to bite him, as they did not fear retribution for their mockery.
For once in his life, Judge couldn't think of anything to say. Perhaps in a different time and place, he might have exploded in rage or expressed his disgust for Reiju's emotional range for the umpteenth time, but he somehow couldn't get a word out when he had already been rejected outright by another of his children just a bit earlier. That had been Sanji whilst Cherry and Nami pretended to do a hostage negotiation.
Judge marched out of the Beg Castle without a word, his remaining three children following after with obnoxious smiles on their faces.
Bege's head start didn't last long, even with Germa doing their best to hold off Big Mom's crew. They were just four people against a veritable army.
"We're going to need more muscle out there if I'm going to get us out of here!" Bege said as his castle form stomped across the roof of the chateau. It would have been quicker without the multitude of walls, statues, and small buildings cluttering up the place; Bege was more liable to get tripped up if he tried to smash his way through.
Big Mom, in spite of her fairly serious burns, was at the head of the charge after Bege and Germa was having trouble keeping her at bay.
"I was really hoping to have my showdown a bit further from the town, but I guess I can start it early," Cherry said.
"Cherry-" Nami started.
"What else do you suggest, Nami?" Cherry cut her off. "That we let Luffy go out there? Because he already jumped out."
"Wait, what?" Nami turned her attention outside and saw Luffy slam an elephant gun against Big Mom's punch, saving Yonji from a tricky spot. "Damn it, Luffy! We're trying to run away, not fight them!"
Because she stopped paying any attention to Cherry, the latter slipped outside unnoticed by her.
It was a good thing too, because Katakuri had interposed himself in Bege's path. Katakuri only had a second to abort his attack and dodge as Cherry's spear ripped through the air, grazing his side lightly.
"You wouldn't mind doing me a huge favor by getting lost for a bit, would you? I've got another date today, so I really don't have the time to play with someone else," Cherry said.
Katakuri didn't respond, but instead counter attacked with a spiked mochi fist. Cherry sighed and met the fist with one of her own.
*BANG*
The resulting shockwave wasn't as large as the one produced by Luffy and Big Mom's clash a few moments before, but it was still as loud as a cannon shot. KAtakuri groaned in discomfort as he felt his knuckles pop from the strain.
He shook his hand, noting that the bones weren't broken as he thought they might be. That surprised him slightly, if he was being honest. Cherry was a lot stronger than him, and her armament haki surpassed his own. He shouldn't have gotten off scot free like that.
"Oh, yeah. This'll work out nicely, I think. Hehehehehe~!" Cherry chuckled darkly for reasons he couldn't fathom.
Those reasons became clear soon enough, though, as Cherry increased her speed and furocity ten fold. His predictions weren't coming as quickly as they did when he first met her, so they were minimally helpful as her fists and feets pummeled his body in spite of his efforts to defend himself.
The attacks that landed weren't at her full power due to their haste, but they were numerous enough to wear down on him.
That was until she got a particularly hard hit into his ribs, and this time he was certain that something broke. Katakuri stumbled back, clutching his broken…
"They aren't broken?" Katakuri asked aloud. "What is this?"
"Prepare yourself, Katakuri. This is gonna hurt like a bitch, but you'll feel like a billion beri afterwards, so don't worry!" Cherry cackled and launched herself at him relentlessly.
Her words were true. It did hurt like a bitch, and it didn't take him long to confirm that she really was breaking bones, but that they weren't staying broken.
'She's fusing them back together as he breaks them…' Katakuri concluded. That was honestly more terrifying than just breaking them, since devil fruit like hers usually required a great difference in haki potency to affect someone else's body. He wondered, 'Am I really so outclassed by her?'
He was outclassed, but not quite to that extent. Cherry was actually pumping vital energy into him to heal the wounds she gave him as she made them. He was still wasting his stamina, though, which was becoming ever clearer to him.
"Just back off. Truthfully, I'd like you to have a go at my captain; he needs the fighting experience, but he isn't quite ready to contend with an emperor. Retreat and regroup with your siblings for a second wave later, or I'll be forced to get more destructive," Cherry spoke lowly, so that others wouldn't hear.
"You want me to fight him?" Katakuri asked. He could see the logic in it, but "I'm not going to go easy on him, you know? I'll be fighting with the intent to kill."
"I'm counting on it~" Cherry grinned as she grabbed him by the vest and threw him hard in the direction of Big Mom.
Katakuri might have resisted the throw, but he also understood that he needed to do some damage control here. 'I have to keep that monster from hurting my family, play the game by her rules…'
He slammed into Big Mom with enough force to push her backwards a fair distance, but not hard enough to breach her defensive haki of course.
"Katakuri! What are you doing?!" Big Mom demanded.
"My apologies, Mama. Cheapshot is stronger than she looks," Katakuri said calmly, landing on his feet after the fall; it wouldn't do to land on his back, after all.
Big Mom wasn't really in a reasonable sort of mood, though. "Pathetic weakling! How are YOU the strongest of my children?! You aren't even half as strong as I was when I was half your age!"
"Luffy, get over here! We're leaving!" they heard Cherry shout and saw Luffy bounding over to her.
Cherry was facing away from the crowd, back turned to the enemy like a fool. She held her sword high in the air, closed her eyes to focus, then brought the sword downwards in a horizontal arc.
With a reverberating *SCHWING*, she cleaved a slice off the top of the Whole Cake Chateau, which started to slide down towards the forest below.
Grabbing Luffy, Cherry shouted at Bege to take his human shape, which he did hesitantly before she scooped him up as well. And then they were tipping over as gravity took its toll.