"This place is rather lively," Pudding commented.
"More so than the rest of the country, certainly; and for reasons that aren't very palatable, I suspect," Reiju conjectured.
"It does remind me a little /too much of home." Pudding's mind wandered back to Totto Land and its citizens. "At least they aren't paying taxes with their own life spans on top of their money."
"A pretty low bar, if you ask me," Reiju said. "Would you like to get a late lunch first or jump straight into it?"
"Ooh, I'd love to see what kinds of confectionaries they have here!" Pudding clapped her hands together. "I don't imagine they have any chocolate, though; that's a shame."
"No, I think not. Not the right climate to grow cocoa, and they don't exactly get much inter-island trade here," Reiju weighed in, Pudding nodded to concur.
Still, they managed to find themselves a rather nice looking restaurant, only to realize at that very moment that neither of them had any of the local currency.
"They won't accept Beri, will they?" Pudding frowned at her wallet, which she had once thought to be more than sufficient to buy any minor things that she needed.
"No, they won't. Not only that, it'll give us away as foreigners who are ignorant of local customs. Something that will immediately label us as suspicious characters," Reiju huffed.
"I can take care of that for you. Although I think I, myself, have eaten quite enough for today already," Cherry squeezed in between them and wrapped her arms around each of their shoulders.
Pudding flinched at the unexpected voice and touch whilst Reiju was surprisingly well composed, though she did raise an eyebrow at Cherry.
"You have some of the silver coins the people here use?" Reiju questioned.
"I'm a pirate," Cherry answered.
"Oh… right," Reiju nodded. She wasn't quite used to the idea of being surrounded by thieves just yet. Judge had always considered common criminals to be the lowest of scum and steered far away from stealing things like money. In his eyes, that was as good as admitting that he couldn't manage his own kingdom.
Reiju actually brightened at the realization. "Can you teach me how to pick pockets?"
"Well, maybe later. You might be better off learning from Nami, though. I'm good, but I rely a lot more on being too fast for most peoples' eyes to see than she does. Nami is skilled to the point of artistry when it comes to thievery," Cherry said. "I suppose I can give you some general advice for a newbie, though."
"For example," Cherry pointed at Pudding's face. "You'll want to choose a mark who isn't paying attention to their surroundings or possessions."
"Hey! I'm not that oblivious!" Pudding took offense.
Cherry held up Pudding's wallet with her other hand. "And if they /are paying attention, distract them."
Pudding gawked for a second before gritting her teeth and snatching her wallet back from Cherry, quickly sorting through the bills to make sure everything was in its proper place.
Reiju giggled, both at Cherry's antics and Pudding's reaction to them. She had been laughing a lot lately, more than she had for many years, even including fake laughter.
Soon they were sitting in a private room, courtesy of a particularly gaudy looking merchant that Cherry happened across before she met the two women.
"Have you met with the rest of your crew yet?" Reiju asked, somehow keeping perfect table manners despite the unfamiliar eating utensils.
"Most of them. I haven't met up with my blood sister yet. Apparently she up and disappeared soon after arriving," Cherry said before taking a long drink from a rather large bottle of expensive sake.
"Blood sister?" Pudding questioned.
"I made her with my blood after all," Cherry answered and created even more questions.
"Is she in trouble?" Reiju frowned with concern.
"She's fine. Or at least she is right now," Cherry flashed her booklet of vivre cards. She didn't need a vivre card to keep track of Cabernet, of course, but explaining that wasn't something she cared to do right now.
"She could have been captured, though. Do you want us to see if we can learn anything?" Reiju offered.
"Cabernet can handle herself," Cherry waved off the concern. "If she was in danger, then not even Kaido could stand in my way."
She meant that too. There were still a couple of cards up her sleeves that she hadn't pulled out in her tousle with Big Mom. It was just that those cards were liable to cause a lot of collateral damage. She also hadn't really tested them out yet, since even that was dangerous beyond the realm of reason.
If Cabernet was in real /actual danger, though? She wasn't sure if she'd care, consequences be damned. Not that it was easy to endanger her in the first place.
The other two women, knowing that Cherry had basically fought Big Mom for shits and giggles, didn't doubt her.
"I'll still look into it. Having information is better than not having it," Reiju sipped her own cup of sake.
"Just don't get yourself into trouble doing it. Sanji will be pissed at me," Cherry said.
"I can handle myself just fine, too, thank you very much," Reiju said.
"Puhaaah!" Pudding gasped and patted her stomach. "This was pretty interesting, but Sanji-san~'s cooking is much better."
"I'm sure he'll get a load of new recipes here that he can add to his own arsenal and put his own spin on." Cherry stood up. "You two enjoy yourselves. Don't make me come rescue you, alright?"
"If I do get into trouble, then I would want /you to rescue me anyways!" Pudding pouted.
"You want your knight in shining apron to save you instead, huh? Why don't you just get married already?" Cherry waved goodbye as she left, Pudding shouting expletives at her the whole way.
…
Yasuie waited quietly in a hiding spot near the Silver Petal Banquet Hall.
He couldn't go inside since the rags he was wearing would get him turned away even if he could present the money necessary to patronize the place. So the only thing he could do was hope to find the one called O-Robi once the banquet hall closed for the day and its employees left.
With any luck, the woman in question would stop to talk with someone and her name would be mentioned in conversation. If not, then he could only risk asking the employees himself. That was almost certain to get the guards called on him, though, so it was a last resort.
As the sun began to lower and threatened to vanish beneath the horizon, the banquet hall finally started to empty out. He kept his ears focused on the people who were talking.
"That O-Robi sure is something, brother! Do you think she would come to a tavern with me if I asked?" a drunken patron asked another.
"No way, not with your ugly mug! Ha!" the other barked a laugh.
"That's not nice, brother. That hurt my feelings…" the first said.
"Shut up, you big baby! Women wouldn't care that you're so ugly if you'd man up a little!" the second scolded him and pointed at a woman leaving the establishment. "You think a woman like /that is gonna give you the time of day?!"
'Excellent,' Yasuie thought, now that he had eyes on his target.