266 Beating the snot out of Trebol

Leo didn't hesitate or waste the opportunity he was given. He raced up Robi-land's arm, then started to snitch up Monet's body with his devil fruit.

Monet was quickly losing the ability to maintain her flight as her feathers were stitched down. She transformed into snow to try to freeze the life out of the tontatta.

This proved to be very effective, as Leo's tiny body could not retain its heat as well as a full sized human body could. He fell from Monet's back, stiff like a frozen statue.

Robin tried to catch him with another bloomed arm, but Sugar was waiting for exactly that moment. Sugar whipped her hand and slapped Robin's arm.

To Robin's horror, Sugar's ability took hold even though she hadn't touched her real arm. In a poof, a stuffed doll was left in the place Robin had been standing.

…

Over by the ruined S.M.I.L.E. factory.

"You better not get your snot on me. I'll fuse your nose and mouth shut." Cherry spoke disdainfully.

"Behehehe! I'd like to see you try!" Trebol declared, flinging his mucus about with wild abandon.

Cherry drew Sakura Tengoku and slashed at him from a distance. She didn't even want to touch the disgusting man with her weapons.

Trebol was an experienced fighter, though, and thus moved out of the way of the slashes with high precision. In fact, he was very accustomed to fighting people he didn't want to physically touch him, so he had a lot of skill in medium distance battles.

Still, Trebol was no fool. He had his den den mushi listening in to everything and sending that audio to his young master. This would enable him to warn of the threat he was facing without letting the enemy know about it.

Sadly, he was unaware that his young master was beaten up and deprived of his personal den den mushi not long ago, which was then left lying in the street beside the colosseum.

…

Somebody WAS there to hear what came through, however. A young man with blond hair, curly eyebrows, and a cigarette in his mouth.

"How dare this pervert subject Cherry-swan~ to that vulgar laughter! You better pray that I don't get my feet on you or you're dead meat!" Sanji threatened seriously, but not loud enough for his voice to be heard through the den den mushi on the other end of the call.

…

Back in the underground, the officers' tower exploded with a skull shaped cloud of smoke.

"Nyeh?! Sugar!" Trebol exclaimed. He had become so distracted with Cherry, he hadn't even entertained the possibility that Sugar would be attacked on another front during his absence from her side.

He knew that he had to get back to her quickly to protect her, lest all of Doffy's work over the last ten years would be all for nought!

*ZAP*

"Gyeh?!" Trebol shouted in pain as electricity surged down his spine.

"Hehehe, I'll have to thank Usopp later for the assist." Cherry chuckled.

Cherry got as close as she was comfortable getting to him and sent a palm thrust his way. Trebol seemed to be hit by it without it touching his body and went flying back towards the crumbling officers' tower. Cherry followed after him by kicking off the air and pummeled him again and again with her haki palm strikes, pushing him faster and faster through the air.

Each slap would rain down big globs of mucus down below onto unsuspecting pirates and toys that were distracted by the officers' tower exploding.

…

On the docks near the officers' tower.

The tontatta warriors threw themselves at Monet as she ripped out of Leo's stitching and caught herself before hitting the ground. Sadly they were no match for Monet's and Sugar's combined powers, either being frozen or turned into toys.

Watching this happen, Usopp was having a small existential crisis. 'Why the hell did I come here alone?! Sure the tontatta are here, but they don't stand a chance against them! Why in the world did I think that I'd make up the difference?!'

Monet and Sugar started to lay waste to the tontatta's wave attacks and Usopp's confidence continued to sink lower and lower.

Usopp turned around, allowing his instinctive urge to flee to take over when he stopped cold as something landed in front of him.

*Crash!*

When the dust cloud cleared, he saw a severely beaten Trebol lying in a small crater. He was much thinner and in his underwear for some reason as well, but Usopp didn't have the time to consider this when he heard a shout behind him.

"Uso-land! We need your help! Only a true, legendary hero can defeat these villains!" Leo's voice was clearly heard over the din of the fight.

Usopp's heart trembled. His natural cowardice struggled against his dream, his greatest desire to be a great warrior of the sea!

Cherry landed between him and Trebol. Usopp looked into her eyes, and he could never have prepared himself for what he saw in them.

Mild disappointment.

That hurt his pride more than anything else ever could. Like he was an interestingly shaped stone she picked up off the side of the road, only to find it wasn't that interesting after all.

Then he got angry. The anger he felt teamed up with his dream and curb stomped his cowardice. Spinning around, Usopp launched a flurry of attacks at the duo of sisters with a speed and fury he had never accomplished before. His fingers started to burn from the strain of it, but he didn't slow in the slightest. He fully intended to launch his entire arsenal if he had to to win.

Unbeknownst to him, Cherry smiled. She thought that his back looked very manly right now, not at all like it did when he ran away with his tail between his legs.

She turned her attention to a stuffed doll that was looking at her instead of the fight like the rest of the toys around the area. Cherry squinted and rubbed her chin in thought.

"You're oddly sexy for a toy." Cherry said.

The doll planted its face in its palm in exasperation.

Cherry felt this was a strange reaction to have toward her heartfelt compliment. After half a moment, she pulled out her vivre card book and nearly stormed over to the sisters in rage from what she discovered.

"I don't care that she looks like a little girl! I'm gonna flay that bitch, heal her up, then flay her again for good measure!" Cherry seethed.

Cherry marched over to the doll with a purpose. The doll didn't shy away from the enraged demon woman, nor even take a single step back.

Cherry thrust her palm at the doll, and when it tapped the head of the doll something strange occurred. The doll felt a jolt, no, a surge of vital energy flood into her, then…

*Pop!*

Robin was standing in the place the doll had been, looking a little confused but relieved at the same time.

"You were able to do that the entire time?" Robin glared at Cherry accusingly.

"Yes." Cherry said, without an ounce of shame. "I couldn't let them know I could undo it, could I? Who knows what they'd do?"

Robin huffed, but couldn't argue with that reasoning. They might have started to dispose of the toys to prevent the secret from getting out. After all, Cherry needed physical contact to do whatever it was she just did.

"So, you wanna make out or…?" Cherry proposition, only for Robin to turn and walk away from her.