The vast majority of the Big Mom pirates were incapable of giving chase over the now missing wedge of the chateau's roof, as only a freak like Kaidou could withstand a fall from so high without serious injury (or without injury at all, in Kaidou's case).
The few that could knew better than to confront the enemy with so few in number. Even Katakuri dared not face two of the worst generation crews by himself, even if Cherry hadn't been there as well.
The sole exception would be Big Mom herself, as she could both fly through the air and did not fear being outnumbered by the rookie pirates. However…
"She sliced my Whole Cake Chateau…" Big Mom muttered to herself.
"What was that, Mama?" Smoothie asked, not quite catching her words.
"A slice of cake… I could really go for a slice of cake… of wedding cake…" Big Mom said, loud enough for everyone to hear this time.
Her hungry eyes turned to the ruins of what was one a magnificent wedding cake. A wedding cake that was said to be the finest that Streusen had ever made, with only the rarest and most delicious ingredients.
"Wedding.. cake…?" Big Mom repeated, her voice oozing with confusion.
"Oh, shit," Mont-d'Or whispered, realizing at the same time as his siblings what was about to happen.
There was no stopping it, now that it was starting. They had tried before and failed each time, but they tried again anyway. They made promises that they had no way of knowing if they could keep it, promising Big Mom that another cake would be prepared shortly and begging her to be patient. It did no more good this time than it did any other time.
"WEDDING CAKE?!?!?!" Big Mom roared so loudly that the town below could hear her from as far away as the port.
None dared to suggest that she sate her hunger pangs with the parts of the wedding cake that hadn't been touched, even though those parts were logically perfectly fine to eat. Even in her most monstrous state of mind, Big Mom saw herself as a lady with standards.
She would not debase herself by eating a cake that has been trodden on by filthy pirates and animals. She was more likely to eat whoever suggested such a thing instead, whilst remaining blissfully ignorant of the hypocrisy of the act.
It was then that Perospero had an idea that was as devious as it was dangerous.
…
"You wouldn't go ahead and slice up the rest of the chateau, would you?" Bege asked inside the seducing woods. "It would make me feel better."
"I'm afraid not," Cherry answered.
"Tsk," Bege clicked his tongue. "Well, from here it's every man for himself. Good luck."
Although he said that, he punctuated his words by hammering a sign into the ground that pointed in the direction that they needed to go to reach their ship. He promptly turned his legs into tank treads and raced away as fast as they would take him whilst holding up two middle fingers.
"He's just delightful," Nami said sarcastically.
"Isn't he? I haven't met many people who are that much of a jerk whilst being so shameless about it," Cherry smirked.
"We should move quickly. It won't take them long to catch up to us," Jinbe hurried them all along.
As if to accentuate his point, they were struck by a small shockwave along with the words "WEDDING CAKE?!?!?!"
"We better get going. She doesn't sound happy that Luffy smashed up the cake…" Cherry said, turning to see all of them booking it already.
It was a good thing that they got the head start, too, because Big Mom literally threw herself off of the chateau's roof and smashed down on the place they had been standing not half a minute later.
Big Mom's nose scrunched and un-scrunched, much in the same way that a beast might when sniffing out their prey. "I can smell it, my wedding cake! You better not have eaten it, Straw Hat, because I'll eat you in turn!"
"She's crazy! Yohohoho!" Brook laughed nervously as he ran.
"She wouldn't really eat Luffy would she?!" Chopper asked, tearing up a bit.
"In that state? I believe it isn't out of the question for her to eat us all…" Jinbe gave an answer that Chopper didn't like at all.
"She won't eat me! I'll eat her first!" Luffy shouted.
"You can't eat people, idiot!" Nami whacked him.
"Is it normal that I'm regretting following you guys a little bit?" Reiju said, seeming remarkably calm given the circumstances.
"That's the best part of making your own decisions! All the consequences are yours and yours alone!" Cherry insisted.
"Huh," Reiju said, mulling over the idea. She smiled, "This is nice, actually."
"What is nice about being chased by a giant cannibal?!" Nami screamed.
"Take a sharp left," Cherry announced in a tone of voice that brokered no argument.
Fortunately, they all did as she bade them to without hesitation, because not a moment later a shout of "TASTE THE SPEAR OF ELBAF!!! IKOKU SOVEREIGNTY!!!" rang out behind them followed closely by a hurricane wind with a razor sharp edge. The attack tore through the seducing woods, ripping apart the tree homies in a path that extended to the ocean and beyond.
"That's Brogy and Dorry's attack! She stole it!" Luffy accused.
"It isn't that hard to steal it, in fairness. You just need to see it once and have the arm strength of a giant," Cherry defended. "Also, she's a pirate."
"Oh, right, so she is! Shishishishi!" Luffy laughed good naturedly.
They could see Big Mom properly now. She wasn't running after them, but rather floating along on a huge cloud with a goofy face and stupid hat.
"SEDUCING WOODS! HOLD THEM STILL FOR ME!!!" Big Mom screamed, rearing up for another copyright law violation.
The forest came alive with activity. The trees, the flowers, the bushes, the ground, everything was a homie here and it all started to grapple with the fleeing Straw Hats and friends.
Brook was instrumental here, pulling out his violin and ripping the pseudo-souls right out of their artificial bodies.
Nami started to send out electro balls in a desperate bid to change anything about the dire situation. Big Mom's cloud homie, Zeus, immediately homed in on the electro balls, sucking them up like a dog with an unattended plate of food.
Zues followed after the electro balls' trajectory, causing Big Mom to be pointed upwards instead of forwards and her second Ikoku Sovereignty to miss entirely. The change in angle caused her to fall off of Zeus and smash into the ground below.
Nami's brain went into overdrive as she saw this.
"Cherry, I need you to distract Big Mom!" Nami announced, a complete turnaround from her opinion before.
"Sorry, I'm not supposed to fight any admirals or emperors~" Cherry chimed with a snicker.
"Do you have to do this right now?!" Nami complained.
"I'm just a hen-pecked gal who wants to go home to a happy girlfriend, what do you want from me?" Cherry chuckled.
"I promise that I won't tattle on you so will you please just- She's getting up, hurry!" Nami rattled off quickly.
"Shit, that's all you had to say, girl," Cherry said with a victorious smile.