Returning With Bad News

Cherry and the others left the Sabaody Archipelago to return to Baltigo and inform the revolutionaries of her discoveries about Bartholomew Kuma.

When they arrived, they walked past Belo Betty who understood that something must have gone wrong seeing that Kuma was not with them.

Cherry directly entered Dragon's office where she found both him and Sabo overlooking a map of North Blue.

"Hm? You're back! Did everything go well, did you bring back Kuma?" Sabo asked quickly, setting aside whatever discussion he had been having with Dragon in favor of news about his friend.

Dragon was wearing his usual poker face, not seeming anxious or excited in the least.

"There were some complications. Kuma's situation is more complex than I previously expected it to be." Cherry said, instantly pouring a bucket of cold reality onto Sabo's mood.

Dragon on the other hand did not seem disappointed or surprised to hear it at all. Sabo would have attributed this to Dragon's cool exterior, but Cherry thought perhaps there was more to it than met the eye.

"I had anticipated Kuma to have a damaged or modified brain that I would possess some means to repair. However, instead I found that his memories were directly extracted by some means unknown to me." Cherry said, looking directly into Dragon's eyes as she spoke, looking for any tells or reaction to her words. "Furthermore, I have suspicions that this may not have been done against Kuma's will."

It was incredibly small, but Cherry managed to catch the slightest tremble in Dragon's eyes before quickly steadying themselves.

"Why would he want such a thing?!" Sabo became angry at the insinuation.

"Calm yourself, Sabo." Dragon said in a gentle tone. "There could be any number of reasons he might have done so, such as to protect us and the people he cares about to name just one."

Sabo calmed down, it did sound like the kind and gentle Kuma he knew to sacrifice himself for others. He wondered what situation could be desperate enough to drive him into such a corner though. He squeezed his fists tightly, feeling powerless to help his friend.

"I wish to speak to you about my training regimen. Suddenly it doesn't seem like I'm doing enough." Cherry said.

"We've already finished up here. Sabo, go get some rest." Despite being spoken in a soft and comforting voice, Dragon's words left no room for refusal.

Sabo nodded and walked out of the office, downcast. Once he was sufficiently far away, Cherry shut the door and turned to Dragon with an interrogative look.

"Spill the beans, what do you know?" Cherry demanded.

For a split second Dragon felt like he was facing the wrath of Luffy's mother from long ago, but quickly shook it off.

"I don't know what you mean?" Dragon tried to play dumb.

"Yes, you do. You know something about Kuma and you're keeping it a secret. Normally I wouldn't poke my head into your business, but you let me go and waste my time out there despite knowing it was pointless." Cherry said, jabbing a pointed finger into his chest.

Dragon was a bit taken aback by her behavior as he wasn't accustomed to having accusations thrown into his face like this. Not to say he was offended by it, since the accusation was in fact true.

Rather than try to refute her claims with a bald faced lie, he elected to just remain silent until she gave up. She was too perceptive from what he's seen of her to be misled easily and she wasn't his subordinate so he couldn't just order her to go away.

""...""

After several minutes of silent staring even Dragon was starting to feel the uncomfortable pressure building in the air. His plan was backfiring on him spectacularly as it seemed Cherry possessed the nerve to sit through the awkward silence as long as it took to get her way.

He heaved an inward sigh of relief when she finally broke the silence after twenty minutes.

"Fine. If you won't talk, then I'll kidnap Vegapunk and make him fix Kuma by force." Cherry said, causing Dragon to almost have a heart attack at the bold declaration.

Cherry was already marching out of the office when he regained his senses and stopped her.

"Wait!" Dragon whisper shouted at her, causing her to turn around with a look that said "No more nonsense or we're done here."

"Kuma is on a secret mission, by his own choice of course. I even tried to dissuade him. I don't know all the details as I trusted his judgment and contacting me would only put himself and his mission at risk." Dragon explained.

"What mission would that be and how does it relate to his current state?" Cherry asked curiously, satisfied that she won their little showdown, even if she cheated a little bit.

"To infiltrate Mary Geoise, home of the Celestial Dragons and the Five Elders. The seat of power of the World Government. As for how his current state relates to that, only Kuma would know the details, but I'm sure that it's a last ditch effort on his part to complete his mission. I must say it's certainly ingenious, no one would expect a mindless automaton to be a spy." Dragon spoke and let out a long sigh.

"What exactly are you hoping to learn? It can't be evidence since he wouldn't know to take anything, so you must hope that he'll witness something with his own eyes?" Cherry asked.

Dragon studied her silently for a moment, wondering whether to say anything more. In the end he didn't see any harm in it, Cherry was trustworthy and strong enough to handle herself.

"I don't know what he'll learn inside there, to be honest. There was just always something that seemed off. Something I could never explain or pinpoint about the World Government that didn't make sense to me. I hoped that Kuma would be able to find out what that something was, and that knowing would enable my cause to stand a chance at overcoming the odds. I am almost certain that without knowing what that 'something' is, this revolution is doomed to fail." Dragon admitted.

It was an odd sight to see the always confident leader of the revolutionary army show such doubts about his cause. Cherry didn't think it was a bad thing though. There were no perfect people in the world, they all had faults of one kind or another. If you could find any flaws in a person, then that only meant they were good at hiding them and that was often a cause for concern.

"I'm not going to date you just because you're being vulnerable with me, you know?" Cherry said.

Dragon gave her an angry look, but it soon turned into a smile.

"You're right, this mood does not befit a man in my position." Dragon said, putting his expression of endless confidence back on. "Now, about your training. I do believe I've been going far too easy on you."

Cherry was only mildly concerned about the sinister smile on his face, figuring that he probably wouldn't try to kill her or anything. Though she started to have doubts about that as he dragged her away to the training grounds.

Cherry was relieved that she wouldn't have to deal with Kuma, at least not right away. Kuma got himself into this mess himself so he could bear the consequences of his own choices, whatever they may be.

She wasn't going to put herself in harm's way for that lovable teddy bear of a man, no sir.

"..."

'Okay, maybe I'll help him after he's done his mission, but no sooner!' Cherry thought to herself, feeling that she has become far too sentimental over people she barely knows. 'Must be this stupid planet's fault, it's doing something to my head, I'm sure of it…'