One Piece: Dream of Immortality

Chapter 491: Lady Killer



"Hmmm..." Cherry looked around and listened in on conversations of the people in the capital as they walked through the streets.

"The pirates and the shogun's men are looking for people with an ankle tattoo," whispered

one.

"Is there a conspiracy to overthrow the shogun?" asked another.

"And all this is happening right after Komurasaki was killed..." sighed a third.

Cherry's ears perked at that last one.

That wasn't good, not at all. How would she even tell Toko?

"Stay right here for a second, Toko," Cherry bent down and asked her.

After she nodded, Cherry made her way over to the third man.n/ô/vel/b//in dot c//om

"You, what was that about Komurasaki? My grandfather was looking forward to seeing her, did something happen?" Cherry asked quietly.

The man glanced over her shoulder at Toko's armored diminutive form. "Ah, well... It seems like she insulted Shogun Orochi during the feast last night. Sir Kyoshiro cut her down on the spot."

Cherry actually flinched at that. Did Denjiro really cut down an innocent woman to, what, maintain his cover?!

"It's shocking, I know," the man nodded, misunderstanding what exactly had shocked her. "You should be careful. There's a lot of chaos happening in the capital today. I'm sure it'll calm down soon, though."

Cherry simply walked away from the man without another word or glance, not caring if it was rude at all. The guy sounded like a boot licker anyways.

"Come on, Toko, show me the way to your workplace," Cherry asked her.

"Yeah!" Toko cheered a little too loudly, grabbing Cherry's hand to pull her along.

As they went, Cherry started wondering if Denjiro was the traitor that Kin'emon suspected, instead of Kanjuro. Perhaps, perhaps not, but a man who could cut down an innocent to save his own skin was hardly a man at all, but a worm.

...

Cherry already knew where Denjiro was, of course. She simply needed a task to distract Toko with so she wouldn't accidentally find out about Komurasaki along the way, giving her time to think of a way to break the bad news to the girl more gently. When Toko finally led her to the Kyoshiro family's business, she sadly hadn't thought of one.

"Here we are!" Toko spun around, holding her hand over her head and waving them about. "I see. Let's go in, then," Cherry nodded, keeping her face straight.

"Oi, we're closed for the day. Get lost," A big brute of a man tried to turn them away as they approached.

When neither the tattooed woman or the little samurai stopped, he squared himself up to be as intimidating as possible. However, when he did so he suddenly felt a cold sweat drench his back.

Staring into the dark haired woman's eyes, he felt like a rabbit cornered by a pack of rabid wolves. Their cold darkness was like a frigid winter breeze on a moonless night, piercing into the depths of his body so thoroughly that he feared that he'd never be warm again.

Cherry and Toko walked right past the unmoving brute without a worry in the world. It would be some time before he regained his wits.

"Nice place," Cherry commented.

"The suckers paid for it!" Toko chirped. Cherry did a double take at her before realizing that she probably meant the fools who threw their money away here.

"Huh? What are you doing here?" a yakuza with only one arm and half his torso inside his kimono asked as he stood shakily from where he'd been drinking himself silly.

"Got a meeting with Kyoshiro. Where's he at?" Cherry spoke with confidence.

"The boss? Who are you to be so rude, not using honorifics? Hah?" the fool rested his unclothed arm on the hilt of his sword.

"His sister, bitch. Tell me where he's at before I spill your guts," Cherry gave him a tiny taste of the conquerer's haki that she gave the man outside.

He flinched and moved his hand away from his sword, bowing immediately. "I'm sorry! Kyoshiro-sama didn't tell us his sister was visiting!"

"Hah?" Cherry copied the man's cliche yakuza utterance. "That little shit didn't tell you I was coming? I'll have to teach him a lesson then."

"Ah, no...! I, uh, I was supposed to welcome you, but I got drunk and forgot! Yeah!" the

yakuza immediately took the blame for his boss's fake faux pas.

"If you aren't going to tell me where he is, then I'm gonna find him myself," Cherry started marching towards the stairs, Toko clanking along to keep up.

"I'll show you, I'll show you!" the drunken yakuza stumbled as he moved to do as he said he would.

Cherry didn't really need his help, but having a guide meant there'd be fewer questions asked of her. Also, it was a good way to bleed off some of her outrage so that she wouldn't start cutting up Denjiro the moment she saw him. He at least deserved a chance to admit his guilt and earn himself a painless death.

Whoops, getting a little ahead of herself, there.

The drunken yakuza knocked on a sliding door upstairs and announced, "Boss! Your sister is here for her visit!"

There was a beat of silence before the door slid open with a loud clack.

...

Denjiro barely had the time to register the stranger calling herself his sister before she hand chopped the neck of his subordinate, knocking him out instantly, and pushed her way inside his room. The powerful punch to his gut was frighteningly more than enough to put a temporary stop to any resistance or cry of alarm he might have mustered.

"Kyo-chan!" Toko chirped.

Whatever Denjiro was expecting to come of this, it wasn't to hear Toko's voice come out of the tiny samurai armor following on his attacker's heels.

"Where's Komurasaki-sama?" Toko asked, seemingly ignorant of his breathless plight.

"Yeah, Kyoshiro. Where's Komurasaki?" Cherry asked in a much less cheery tone than Toko had. "I heard some unsavory rumors on the street, you see. It'd be nice if you could clarify

them for me."

Denjiro was very confused. Why was this random woman here with Toko? Why did she seem to care so much that he had presumably killed Komurasaki? Why was she so damned strong?

One thing was certain. He couldn't reveal that he had helped Komurasaki fake her death. She was the daughter of his lord and he would die to protect her if he had to! "Komurasaki is dead. She insulted the shogun," Denjiro spat when he regained his breath somewhat.

Toko froze on the spot. It killed him inside to be so callous about Komurasaki's death in front of her, but he could only hope the girl would forgive him when she learned the truth. The woman sighed and ran a tattooed hand through her dark hair. "I see, so she isn't dead." "Really?!" Toko latched onto the woman's leg, which was unfortunate because Denjiro had drawn his sword with the intent of slashing her and now the girl was in the way.

"Yeah, this loser is a terrible liar," Cherry patted the helmeted head.

"But why would you lie?" Toko twisted to look at Denjiro through the holes in the demonic

mask.

"To protect her, I expect," the woman grabbed his stabbing blade with no effort. Her hand looked to me made of flesh, but it seemed to be as hard as steel.

"Who are you?!" Denjiro snarled. Whoever she was, she was dangerous! She had to die!

"What?" the woman looked at him like he was stupid, before a dawning realization crossed her face. "Oh, right. I'm in disguise. Silly me."

Her free hand rubbed and squished her face until it took on the shape of another woman he

met recently.

"You," Denjiro understood.

"Me~!" Cherry teased. "It's good that you suck at lying because I came here to kill you, you

know~!"