Doflamingo's Gambit

*BOOM*

"Where's the factory?! Let me at it, I'll tear that SUPER sucker to the ground!" Franky gave a great warcry after blowing up the entrance to one of the toy houses.

"""...""" He was met with the silence of a crowd of gladiators, soldiers, and pirates.

"The factory is already taken care of. Made of poor materials and even poorer workmanship, can you believe it?" Cherry informed.

"People don't have the patience to do the job right anymore, hmph." Franky said, with a bit of disappointment that he didn't get to smash it himself.

"Commander Ace!" a pirate shouted and several others rushed forward to meet the young man beside Franky.

"I'm glad you're all alright." Ace greeted them with a somewhat guilty smile. "What do you say we show Doflamingo who he's messing with?"

His crew cheered in response and many others in the crowd also joined in. The sentiment was a common one amongst the former toys.

They all stepped outside into the open air. Some of them with tears in their eyes as they hadn't seen the sky in years.

*Bzzzt*

A large screen nearby buzzed to life and speakers all over the country hummed to life. On the screen, Doflamingo appeared in fresh clothes that weren't stained with his own blood and looked as healthy as he'd ever been. Certainly not like he'd just received the nasty, well deserved beating he had experienced no so long ago, earlier in the day

Doflamingo wore his trademark smile, but there seemed to be less sadistic mirth within it than usual. "Citizens of Dressrosa. I'm afraid to say that the jig is up."

The many people around the kingdom watched and listened with various emotions swirling in their hearts, but mostly hatred towards this pink devil who was responsible for their ten years of horror. Nonetheless, they paid the utmost attention to what he had to say.

"Saboteurs have nearly completely destroyed all my hard work over the last decade to turn the kingdom of Dressrosa into a manufacturing powerhouse. Since the secret of my labor force has been revealed, there is only one path to salvation for all you worthless trash," Doflamingo said, pausing to make sure his insult was properly understood. "Bring me the heads of the fools who dared to trouble me. Only in this way will you save your own lives, so hurry up because I haven't got all day. Or rather, YOU don't have all day. Hehehehehe!"

The screen displayed the faces of the Straw Hats, Ace and the members of his crew that had bounties, Trafalgar Law, and the former one legged toy soldier Kyros, the former royal family, and a slew of other allies such as Bartolomeo. Each had a certain number of stars next to them, indicating the priority that they should be hunted down.

Capturing or killing a one star bounty would allow one person to survive. Two star bounties allowed up to ten to survive. The three or more starred bounties were reserved for those who must ALL be delivered, or else everyone dies with the exception of those who collected a one or two star bounty.

Among the three plus star bounties were Luffy, Ace, Law, and Ex-King Riku with three. Then there was Cabernet with a whopping five stars, showing how annoyed Doflamingo had been with her. Finally there was Cherry, with an enormous ten stars.

"In addition to survival, you'll also gain a generous monetary reward. 100,000,000 Beri for each star collected, aren't I generous? Hehehehe!" Doflamingo laughed until the screen shut off.

A strange sound began to come from the edges of the island. The string cage had started to shift towards the center slowly but surely, slicing through everything in its path.

This naturally instilled a sense of panic in the people of Dressrosa, especially when those with weapons tried and failed to cut through the strings. It became apparent that the strings would continue to converge until the entire country was shredded.

"Why does that bastard look like he's been all healed up? Do they have someone who can do that? Or maybe a body double?" Cherry complained aloud, seemingly unphased by the slowly encroaching, stringy doom or the bounty placed on her head.

"It must be Princess Mansherry! She has the powers of the Heal Heal Fruit!" Leo announced.

Some of the pirates in the crowd were looking at Cherry with conflicted gazes filled with both greed and fear.

Noticing this, Cherry said "Do you idiots really think Doflamingo will spare your lives, let alone pay you the bounties? The only reason he's doing that is because he's terrified of us. He knows he can't win, so he's trying to pit us against each other then he'll kill off the weakened winners."

That immediately dumped a bucket of cold water on the mood of those who were foolishly thinking of going after the bounties. They then recalled the moment Cherry had smashed the sea stone factory walls with one blow.

A collective gulp was heard as many received a reality check and steeled themselves for the battle to come.

Not everyone possessed the ability to think rationally though, especially not in this high stress situation. One such individual was more bold than others because he was a pirate who once had a bounty of 170 million Beri from the marines. Something he earned with brawn and very little brain.

"We outnumber her! Let's kill her together and collect the bounty!" He shouted, charging her with his sword drawn.

'This guy is familiar. Oh, I remember, I saw his wanted poster back when I was a bounty hunter. 'Line Ender' Gaston, wanted for the indiscriminate slaughter of multiple villages, leaving no survivors.' Cherry thought.

Gaston arrived at her seemingly undefended side and swung down with his sword, the ecstasy of victory alight in his eyes.

Cherry waved her hand at him as it to slap him.

*Splat*

Then he wasn't there anymore. His sword clattered to the ground alongside a few bits of fabric. A red smear of blood coated the ground several meters behind where he had just been standing.

"He thought he could face me without haki?" Cherry wondered aloud. "Whatever."

Although she acted like it was a casual attack, that was the full force of her Hasshoken and Internal Destruction Haki. Normally she wouldn't bother with that much against such a weakling, but in this case it would serve as a useful deterrent. Even then, she hadn't anticipated that the idiot wouldn't or couldn't use armament haki.

The man deserved worse for his crimes, so he should count himself lucky for such a quick and merciful end.

The demonstration was a resounding success, as even the most bull-headed fool among them abandoned any thoughts of going against Cherry.

Usopp's eyes were almost bulging out of his head at the sight, then shifted to look at Cherry.

"Don't look at me like that. There are probably a few dozen people in the world who can do the same, so work hard and awaken your armament haki." Cherry said. Usopp nodded quickly, afraid that any hesitance might make his future training worse.

"Did you have to liquify the guy, though?" Ace asked, scratching his head with a disgusted look at the puddle.

Cherry shrugged and Robin rolled her eyes at her from the side. Robin had noted that Cherry had slowly become more willing to kill on occasion during their separation from the rest of the crew. She hoped that now they were together again, that they would have a positive influence against her more murderous tendencies. She preferred the soft and cuddly Cherry over the cold and blood thirsty Cherry.