41 Arrival in Alabasta

Luffy rushed in close to the blood soaked pirate, Captain Butch, his arms trailing behind him.

"Gum Gum Bazooka!"

Luffy's arms raced forwards and slammed directly into the unmoving Butch who wore a sneer on his face. Then his arm penetrated through his torso and splashed blood all of the wall behind Butch.

"EHHHH?! I killed him?!" Luffy exclaimed in surprise, not expecting this particular outcome.

"Hoink hoink hoink..." A strange, throaty laugh came from Butch.

Sensing something was wrong, Luffy tried to extract his arms, but found they were stuck within Butch's torso.

"First time facing a Logia, meat?" Butch mocked with an evil smile. He wasted no time raising his hefty cleaver into the air and bringing it down upon the trapped Luffy.

Thus came the end of Luffy's quest to become king of the pirates, like so many others before him.

Or it would have, if Zoro hadn't run in to block the strike. It was rather close as Zoro was nearly overpowered despite blocking with all three of his swords.

"Oh, this'll be good practice for you guys. Do your best! I won't step in unless you're going to die." Cherry said nonchalantly, while the rest of the crew was panicking.

"You say that like you have a way of dealing with him?!" Nami asked incredulously.

"Of course I can deal with him. What kind of idiot would come to the Grand Line without a way to fight Logia users." Cherry said shamelessly, as if she hadn't done the same thing.

Sanji and the swan man joined into the fray, kicking into Butch's abdomen on either side of him and bisecting him. The resulting opening allowed Luffy to free his arms and create some distance.

Butch's halves quickly stitched themselves back together. "It's been a while since I've had the chance to chop up some upstarts who don't know how wide the world is. I hope you can help me work up an appetite!" Butch said, both his voice and his stomach growling.

"Cherry, I didn't know you could eat people?" Cabernet asked innocently. Though by the look on her face it didn't seem so innocent.

"Eating people is almost always a bad thing and never a good thing, Cabernet. Don't follow their example." Cherry explained plainly.

After a few rounds of futile attacks and close calls, the three men and the swan guy who kept counting his kicks in some language Cherry had never heard before seemed ready to abandon the wasted effort.

"Our attacks just pass right through him, how are we supposed to kick his ass?!" Luffy shouted in frustration.

"Think outside the box, Luffy. Not every problem can be solved with your fists alone. He's made a blood, so what can hurt blood?" Cherry prompted him.

It was Sanji who had an idea first. "There are plenty of dishes involving blood. We can use fire to burn him!"

He leapt over to the still burning bonfire and began kicking the flaming logs up and towards Butch.

Butch showed annoyance for the first time, swatting the logs as they flew at him, but some still got through. He only sustained some minor burns. "That's not enough to deal with me, meat. I'm the one who'll be cooking you in the end!"

Then it was Luffy's turn to have an idea and he excitedly jumped over to the Going Merry, disappearing inside.

"Looks like the chewy meat ran away, hoink hoink hoink!" Butch observed.

Luffy reappeared shortly after carrying two barrels. He jumped up into the air and launched the two barrels at Butch.

"Useless..." Butch swung his cleaver smashing the barrels apart and inadvertently splashing himself with the contents. They were filled with rum.

"AH! Not the rum, damn it!" Zoro exclaimed.

"Uh... oh..." Butch staggered off balance. "Thish ishn't good..."

Cherry applauded. "Nice one Luffy. Not only is the rum flammable, you even remembered that alcohol in the blood is what causes drunkenness and anticipated that Butch might absorb it directly."

"Hm? I did?" Luffy asked, pointing at himself.

Sanji didn't waste any time and launched a burning log at Butch causing him to be set aflame.

"RAAAAGH!" He roared in pain.

Unfortunately, his instincts kicked in and he desperately tried to get rid of the flames by shedding blood everywhere, spreading the flames all over the place.

"Well, it was a decent idea and got you in the right headspace." Cherry said, approaching the still somewhat burning Butch.

When she reached his side, she reared back a fist and thrust out. Her fist flashed with black light and buried into the flesh of his gut, not allowing him to turn intangible.

Butch's ribcage shattered and he went flying overboard into the ocean, causing many of his crew to shout in alarm.

"Of course, the best way is to push them into the ocean, as always." She smiled with satisfaction.

"How did you do that?!" Luffy asked.

"How did I push him into the ocean? I just showed you how, weren't you paying attention?" Cherry answered jokingly.

"Mmm, that's not what I meant!" Luffy exclaimed.

Getting the reaction she wanted from him, she stopped teasing him. "It's called Haki, specifically Armament Haki. You can use it to strengthen your attacks and more importantly to force a Logia fruit user to remain tangible. I'll tell you more later. For now we should get going."

...

The Going Merry moved away from the blood soaked ship having accomplished their goal of saving the swan man from being cooked and eaten by cannibals.

The swan man introduced himself as Bon Clay, a self proclaimed Okama. He thanked them from the bottom of his heart, then shamelessly asked for a hot meal.

To show his appreciation, he put on a little "show" for the crew with his devil fruit. He was able to copy the appearances of those he touched the faces of with his right hand. Cherry naturally declined for both herself and Cabernet.

'Oh, Nami's chest is very nice, as expected. Ah, she hit him.' Cherry thought. 'His ability is very unique and interesting, though. I've gotten some good data from this.'

It wasn't long before Bon Clay's ship appeared on the horizon. He left with some words about friendship not being determined by the time spent together. Cherry would have dismissed such fanciful thoughts before, but she's seen first hand how quickly Luffy worms his way into peoples' hearts.

After he boarded his ship he told them to set off immediately and his crew answered, revealing him to be none other than Mr. 2 of Baroque Works, much to the surprise of the crew.

Strangely enough, it was Zoro who suggested that it was a good thing to meet him, so they could think of a countermeasure to his ability.

They thought up their countermeasure for the remainder of the journey, encountered a sea cat, slipped passed a fleet of Baroque Works' ships, and finally arrived in Alabasta.

When they dropped anchor in a decent hiding place, Luffy immediately rushed into the city in search of a restaurant.

The others expressed their exasperation at his antics and followed after him once they were situated. They went shopping for supplies while Cherry took Cabernet to gather information about the current affairs in Alabasta.

Cherry wasn't expecting to learn such shocking information, however.

King Nefertari Cobra has stepped down from the throne due to insanity. The Shichibukai and hero, Crocodile, has been appointed temporarily as the Regent of Alabasta.