"That's bullshit!" Kid lost his patience. "You're asking for way too much!"
"That's the deal, take it or leave it," Cherry shrugged. She caught them in a tight spot and had a monopoly of the way to help them out of it. She wasn't so nice to offer her assistance to a pirate for free. Certainly not one that she had no actual connection to.
"Fufufu! How do we know you'll honor the deal?" KIller asked her.
"You say that like I couldn't just take what I want from you anyways. The only thing stopping me is our temporary alliance," Cherry dismissed with a lazy wave of her hand. "Isn't it better to get your money's worth after I've robbed you blind?"
Cherry could tell Kid was on the verge of exploding, alliance or no alliance. Frankyl, she didn't care if he did. A pirate captain ought to know when to pick a fight and when not to, and she was happy to teach him that lesson; a second time, judging by his missing arm.
Kid's face burned a brighter red by the second, his teeth clamped so tight his gums started to bleed. Cherry watched with muted interest, wondering if he'd pass out from the strain, and his own crew watched him with pale faces, clearly understanding that they had no business messing with her.
"Fine," Kid spat out, finally. Cherry found it almost remarkable how quietly he said the word given that she half expected steam to start spewing from his ears at any moment.
Cherry smirked. "A displeasure doing business with you less than gentlemen."
Kid seemed to take offense to that accusation, or perhaps he merely wanted to prove her wrong out of spite, because he offered his right hand to shake.
Cherry accepted it, because she could at least offer him that much courtesy if he's decided to act like an adult.
She skipped back over to her people, who were marveling at the arch Kin'emon made that automatically outfitted anyone who passed through it with a Beast pirate disguise.
"What were you talking to them about?" Nami asked.
She didn't quite hide the disdain in her tone, which was understandable since the Kid pirates were much more standard fare than the borderline heroic Straw Hats. Their bounties were at least in part from attacks on civilian ships and settlements; if you put any stock in the world government's claims about them, at least.
"I was just extorting them," Cherry relayed the truth of the matter.
"Oh, good," Nami nodded, satisfied with the answer.
"What happened there?" Cherry asked, looking at the sinking ships in the harbor.
Nami rolled her eyes. "Men."
Cherry nodded in understanding. "Silly creatures."
Their turn with Kin'emon's disguise arch came swiftly, with the samurai army moving with purpose and efficiency as they were.
Cherry thought it was a very interesting effect. It'd be nice if she could replicate it someday. Think of the pranks she could pull off with both a changing face and outfit!
Cherry walked through, felt the outfit arrange itself on her person, then felt a chilly breeze on her stomach. She frowned and glared at Kin'emon.
"D-Don't look at me! I only gave it parameters to follow! Blame the Beast pirate women for dressing so scantily!" KIn'emon raised his hands in surrender.
Cherry heaved an annoyed sigh and wondered whether she wanted to bother with the disguise at all. Bikinis were not her cup of tea.
She caught Robin's eyes on her. Robin licked her lips.
"Alright, whatever," Cherry acquiesced for no reason in particular. "I'm probably gonna have to blind more than a few fools tonight, though."
Sanji wisely averted his gaze towards someone who appreciated his attention more.
"Can you cut diamonds with those abs?" Reiju blurted out.
"Yes," Cherry agreed.
"Okay, men! Remember that the costumes will disappear as soon as you remove them or damage them too much! Be mindful not to do so before the time is right!" Kin'emon shouted orders.
Soon, the samurai and minks split into two forces and started to circle around to the back of the castle, whilst most of the Red Scabbards went with Law to sneak directly into the back entrance in his submarine.
Most of the Straw Hats were fine with following that same plan, but after both the Kid pirates and Ace's group went straight through the front door, Luffy couldn't resist doing the same. Zoro followed his captain like a lost puppy, and Cherry just did what she wanted to.
Well… She wanted to ogle her future wife in her bikini, but chaos called out to her and ultimately won her heart over. Kin'emon had had her sitting on her hands for too long; she needed to get into trouble before she went stir crazy.
Cherry needed to have her eyes and ears on the inside right away, regardless. Cabernet was counting on her to give the signal for her part of the plan. It was a different plan than Kin'emon's, but he didn't need to know about everything.
…
"FUUUUUNK!!!" Queen belted out.
"That's just horrendous. Are they all too afraid to criticize him, or do they all just have shit taste in music?" Ace wondered aloud.
"Well, he is Kaido's left hand man. Nobody'll want to mess with him," Deuce said.
"Let's find a good spot to set up. Close to the stage would be perfect, but…" Ace grimaced under the bandana he wore to conceal his face.
"But you don't want to listen to that crap the whole time we're waiting," Banshee finished for him.
What a tricky choice to make. To be in the prime position to take out one of Kaido's top executives right away, but at the cost of getting the worst song in the world, sung by the worst singer in the world, stuck in your head forever.
*CRASH*
They all turned their heads just in time to see a cylindrical structure slide along a cut through its entirety and smash apart on the ground.
Ace palmed his face with both hands. He already knew that had to be related to Luffy somehow, or at least one of his buddies.
"Let's move away from here before we get made too," Ace decided, leading his crew away from the commotion.
"""Chug! Chug! Chug!""" They approached another crowd of partiers surrounding someone putting back an entire barrel of rum by the looks of it.
"Ahhh~" *BuUuRrP* A familiar face was revealed when she finished it off with a resounding belch.
"Of for the love of…!" Ace knew his kid brother and his crew were the trouble making sort, but this was ridiculous! What part of infiltration did they not understand?!
Cherry wiped her mouth and let out a satisfied sigh. It was just rum, but this stuff was pretty good quality, especially since they had it in barrels instead of bottles.
She wasn't letting Drunk Cherry out to play, though. It was a simple matter to burn through the alcohol with her vital energy, filtering out the intoxicating substance. She just figured she might as well deprive these idiots of their undoubtedly stolen booze, rather than let them keep having a good time with it.