128 Monkey D. Dragon

Cherry awoke from her nap a few hours later. Robin was no longer in the room, but she did leave a note alongside a small gift.

"I'll be back soon, be good and wait for me if you wake up before I come back." Cherry read the note left by Robin.

Cherry studied the gift that Robin left for her. Four very nice bracelets that looked and felt suspiciously similar to handcuffs, currently attaching each of her limbs to the bed posts.

They weren't sea stone cuffs, though, so it would be a piece of cake to simply wrench her limbs free. Of course she had no intention of doing so and waited patiently.

It wasn't long until Robin returned to the room and quietly shut the door behind her, locking it in the process.

"You followed instructions properly, so your punishment won't be as bad." Robin said with a mischievous smile.

"I'm not sure if that's a good thing or not?" Cherry smirked.

"Oh, it is as you'll soon find out. You're not allowed to break the handcuffs, or we'll have to start all over again~" Robin said.

Suddenly several of Robin's hands sprouted from the bed around the waiting Cherry.

Then they started to tickle her. They experimented in various ways to see where Cherry was the most ticklish to slowly heighten the torture.

Robin pulled out an assortment of tools to test as well, such as feathers and paint brushes.

Unfortunately for Cherry, who had been quite confident when she realized what Robin was up to, failed to consider something important. She hadn't been ticklish in her last life, but she didn't actually know how sensitive she was in this life.

Turns out, the answer is VERY sensitive. While it was in some way a lot of fun, Cherry hated every second of it.

After an unknown amount of time, Robin decided that Cherry had paid for her crimes in full and released her from her bindings.

Cherry suddenly grabbed Robin by the collar and pulled her into a deep and passionate kiss.

By the time they went to sleep, it was almost dawn the next day.

Waking up in the middle of the afternoon, they got dressed and tidied up their hair then made their way to the cafeteria for such food.

There weren't too many people there at that time of day, so they mostly had the room to themselves.

They found Cabernet and Perona eating a late lunch there. Perona looked a bit grumpy and tired for some reason.

Upon noticing Cherry and Robin, Perona scowled in their direction, but at the same time had a faint blush on her cheeks.

"You know, we're in the room next to yours and the walls aren't soundproof. I'd appreciate it if you didn't make such a racket all night." Perona said.

Robin blushed a bit at her words, but didn't seem ashamed at all. Cherry on the other hand, was neither ashamed nor embarrassed.

"Since you couldn't sleep, you should have just amused yourself with Cabernet. You're sharing a room with her aren't you?" Cherry said.

"S-shut up!" Perona said.

Cabernet gave Perona some head pats to appease her, which worked like a charm.

"There you are. Dragon returned to base about an hour ago, so you can meet him now if you want?" Koala entered the cafeteria and informed them.

"Certainly." Robin replied. She was interested in meeting Luffy's father and the man who was fighting the World Government.

Cherry grabbed some sandwiches for them to eat along the way and they headed over to meet the infamous Monkey D. Dragon, Supreme Commander of the Revolutionary Army and World's Worst Criminal.

Cherry wondered why more people didn't see how more people didn't see the fact that a rebel leader being considered the World's Worst Criminal showed what the World Government's priorities were. The pirate emperors were certainly more monstrous in the general public's eye, and they'd be correct to see them that way if you were looking at Big Mom or Kaido as examples.

In comparison, Dragon and his revolutionaries haven't harmed civilians in any story that Cherry has heard about them. The World Government called him an evil conqueror, sure, but they've never outright fabricated any attacks on nonmilitary targets. Pirates attack the innocent all the time.

Soon they arrived in front of another office. Koala knocked on the door and a voice beckoned them to enter without asking who was there.

There he was, Monkey D. Dragon in the flesh. Cherry could understand how this man was able to create such a large movement against the World Government. Just standing there, he gave off a certain air of both strength and integrity. Which was impressive, since he looked even more like a gangster than Cabernet did.

"Nice tattoo. It really says something about your commitment to your cause, since there's no way you'll be able to get another job with that thing on your face." Cherry commented.

Dragon studied them with a stern look on his face. Koala didn't know whether she should be nervous or not, as she'd never seen anyone speak to him like that before. Well, maybe Ivankov has, but never in front of subordinates.

"You can go back to your duties, Koala." Dragon spoke. Koala felt some relief as there wasn't any irritation that she could hear in his voice.

Dragon smiled once she was gone. "I've wanted to meet the two of you for some time, Miss Nico Robin for longer of course."

"Just Robin is fine. It's nice to meet Luffy's father." Robin replied warmly.

"I'm just here to see if you're legit or just another tyrant." Cherry stated bluntly.

Robin brought a hand to cover her face, both in exasperation and to cover the fact that she almost laughed.

"And what do you think now that you've met me? You should have a first impression at least." Dragon asked, a small curious smile on his lips.

"You're cool, I guess." Cherry spoke truthfully. She was a decent judge of character, and the man before her gave off 'big softy' vibes, despite his appearance.

"I'm glad that I'm 'cool' then." Dragon replied. "I'll get straight to the point. I have always disagreed with the system of the World Government, believing it to be tyrannical. At first I sought to change it from the inside, just as many fine marines do. I find war to be distasteful, as it always harms the innocent. The turning point that drove me to begin this movement was the destruction of Ohara."

Robin looked contemplative at that. Her feelings were complicated at the idea that the deaths of the archaeologists would spark a war, as they too would recognise the harm that would come to innocent people as a result. At the same time, she felt that the World Government that destroyed her home would go on to hurt many more people, and have done so since then. Would war at that point be the lesser of two evils?

"I wouldn't presume to call this revenge for Ohara. I'm certain that the archaeologists shared my distaste for war and perhaps even exceeded it as they know from history how damaging war is." Dragon said. "I'm not going to ask you to join me, I think the path you're on will be more helpful to the world than my revolution could ever be."

"I can agree with that assessment. Whatever the true history of the world is, I will uncover it and reveal it for all to see." Robin said.

Dragon nodded. "Which brings us to the next matter. There is a poneglyph beneath this fortress, if you would like to read it."

Robin became excited now, it had been some time since she had the chance to read a poneglyph as they weren't exactly common. Cherry was also looking forward to it, as she had been learning to read them from Robin for a while now, this would be the first one she got to read.

Well, except for the one in Alabasta, as she remembered the writings on his perfectly. So after she learned to read the glyphs, she was able to understand what was written on it.

""Let's go right now!"" Robin and Cherry exclaimed simultaneously.