"Do you have any idea who controls this country from the shadows?" Hawkins asked in an almost bored tone.
"Don't know," Zoro answered.
"It's me, obviously," Cherry said.
"It's Kaido! I'm here to kick his ass!" Luffy shouted.
"We're not supposed to know that, Luffy. Kin'emon told us to lay low," Zoro corrected.
"I'm just kidding, I don't know!" Luffy shouted.
"The cards say that your probability of being alive one month from now is…" Hawkins blinked a few times. "Eighty seven percent???"
Hawkins was baffled by that. These fools were standing against Kaido! How were their odds of survival so high?
"Ah, I see." Hawkins had an epiphany. "It seems that you're all talk, Straw Hat. As soon as the going gets tough, you'll bow your head before an emperor even faster than anyone."
That was the only sensible conclusion that one could come to when it involved an emperor of the sea. Unfortunately for Hawkins, he only read the newspaper for the horoscopes.
*Donk!*
Hawkins got hit on the forehead by a flying scabbard, thrown by Luffy. "Don't underestimate me! I'll be king of the pirates!"
"Don't throw the scabbard!" Zoro yelled at his captain.
The Beast pirates didn't take kindly to someone attacking their boss and promptly charged.
Tama let out a little yelp of fear and hid behind her lion-dog-thing where she found the woman that Zoro saved already hiding. "It's a nice day today, isn't it Tama?"
Luffy proceeded to start punching low level pirates with his sword hand, much to Zoro's consternation. Cherry just thought it was funny, but also interesting that no matter how wildly Luffy swung the sword about, he never accidentally slashed anyone.
"So much for a cursed sword," Cherry snorted. "Maybe it's cursed to never cut anyone?"
"Um, are you going to help?" Tama asked tentatively.
"Against those losers? The boys can handle them easily," Cherry dismissed the notion. "That's why I'm standing next to the potential hostages, so they can fight in peace."
"Tactically sound, if a bit cowardly…" the woman muttered.
"I don't see you out there, lady," Cherry said with a raised eyebrow. "Besides, it isn't cowardly. It's cheap!"
"Cheap…?" the woman didn't get it.
After one of Zoro's flying slashes should have killed Hawkins and one of Hawkins' men fell over with the same wound he should have received instead, Cherry started to pay more attention to the battle.
These sorts of weird and wacky paramecia fruit were Cherry's favorite to observe. They gave her far more interesting data points than most Zoans and Logias did, which helped her to map out the inscription language and patterns.
A little straw doll popped out of Hawkins arms as he remarked that the attack was impressive. It wasn't actually all that impressive when using Zoro as the standard, so Cherry reckoned that Hawkins was way too used to being 'invincible'. Just like many Logia users who meet their first haki user, Hawkins was in for a rude awakening.
Though he should have already received one, courtesy of Kaido or his men, so Cherry reckoned he must either be pretty stupid or he folded immediately without a fight.
A beast pirate chose that moment to attack Cherry from behind after 'successfully' sneaking around. Cherry grabbed him, slammed him into the ground. The man screamed as he slowly started to sink beneath the earth, before being muffled and finally silenced.
The woman and Tama watched the process of the live burial in both fascination and horror. The fact that the ground was not disturbed at all made them doubt that they even witnessed it at all.
"What?" Cherry asked. "Does he deserve a warrior's death after trying to stab me in the back?"
"I… suppose not…" The woman admitted.
*Puff!*
An arm burst from the ground and waggled about desperately, clawing at the ground in an attempt to dig himself out. Cherry didn't bother to stop him. If he managed to get out and still attacked her, then she'd give him the death that he was begging for.
Tama and the woman stepped away from the arm warily.
A large straw figure was produced from Hawkins' straw sword. An ominous aura radiated around the figure and had the appearance of something evil and unnamable.
"Let us play a game of cards," Hawkins announced.
Cherry saw the fighting slow to a halt and wondered why in the world Luffy and Zoro were stopping too. Letting a strange opponent use his strange techniques was always a bad idea, however entertaining it may turn out to be.
Hawkins drew a card from a Tarot deck. "Strength."
Suddenly all the Beast pirates swelled up, muscles bulging beneath their skin. They surged forth with their newfound power. They were still no match for the likes of Luffy and Zoro, but they weren't going down as easily as before now.
"What the heck?! Why are the weaklings not so weak anymore?!" Luffy grumbled. "It's that weird guy's doing! I'll kick your ass!"
Cherry's brow furrowed. The fates shifted ever so slightly just then, at the very instant that Hawkins drew the card.
Hawkins drew a second card. "The Moon."
There it was again, Cherry noted. She wondered what the effect would be this time-
*Stab*
Cherry turned her head to see the man she had buried, now very much unburied, sticking his sword into her back with a shit eating grin plastered over his face. He opened his mouth to speak, probably to say something wildly arrogant, but Cherry grabbed his jaw and clenched on it painfully before he could.
"If you explain how you snuck up on me, then I promise not to cut out your tongue and pull out your teeth one by one," Cherry said.
She shattered the sword to drive home the point that he didn't have any other choices to make.
When Cherry slackened her grip slightly, he quickly began to spill his boss' secrets.
"It's the cards! He must'a drawn the moon card, I think! It lets some of us pull off impossible sneak attacks!" the beast explained as best as he could.
Cherry nodded, then stuck him back in the ground. Deeper this time.
"This is very strange," Cherry remarked out loud. "It's a good thing Hawkins is so pathetic, otherwise he'd be a very dangerous man."
Cherry's Life Sense had never stopped since the battle started, nor did she even lose sight of the beast pirate that she buried. It was as if she simply stopped paying attention to him until the instant that he was stabbing her. Fortunately, it seemed like she was the only one affected this time, as neither Zoro or Luffy had received such sneak attacks.
'Okay, just one more, then I'll step into the mix since neither Luffy or Zoro has decided to get serious yet.' Cherry decided quietly.
Hawkins didn't disappoint, drawing another card. "Wheel of Fortune, reversed."
Cherry blinked. She was standing behind the Beast pirates with the Lion-dog-thing, and Hawkins on his mount was now standing next to the mystery woman and Tama.
Both were snatched up off the ground before they even realized what just happened and now rested in the hands and at the mercy of the straw man.