Chapter 46: Cabernet VS Bon Clay
Chapter 46: Cabernet VS Bon Clay
"Hmph! You think you can stop me, girl? You're strong, I'll admit, but you lack experience!" Bon Clay analyzed, taking a stance.
Cabernet did not respond to his taunts. Cherry had taught her better than to lose focus in a fight.
They charged one another and clashed. Cabernet's physical ability was greater, but just as he said, Bon Clay's experience allowed him to keep up.
Finally Bon Clay landed a kick to her side and they parted. "You see? I'll slowly whittle you down until you fall!" He shouted.
Cabernet felt her ribs with her hand. She could see fighting him like they just had again would have the same result. However, a different strategy came to her mind.
Once more they struck out at each other. This time Bon Clay landed a kick immediately and his face split with an ecstatic smile.
The smile did not remain for long. Cabernet did not falter from the blow, but instead followed through with her own attack, slamming into Bon Clay's face.
"GAH!" He yelped in pain, stumbling backwards. But he had no time to recover himself as Cabernet persisted with her offensive.
They began to exchange blows. Bon Clay managed to block some of them, but he soon started to see a problem. 'She's not taking that much damage?'
Cabernet's body was by no means ordinary. She had the durability of a blood bound artifact, combined with the natural toughness of the Lunarian people while her flames burned on her back.
Needless to say this made her extremely resistant to harm, compared to ordinary humans.
Bon Clay saw that he needed to step up his game if he's to win this. He removed the heads of the decorative swans on his back and attached them at the base of the neck to the tips of his shoes.
This would have made for quite the odd visual for most, but Cabernet didn't really understand fashion having lived the vast majority of her sapient life on an ancient island away from civilization. She put up her guard, taking the swan shoes seriously.
As it turned out, she was right to be wary. The swan shoes increased the penetrative power of his kicks by leaps and bounds. Now she was back to square one, only the consequences of taking a hit were far greater.
Now she would need to use Armament Haki to block any blows that pass through her defenses. The problem was that, while she could use Haki just fine, her capacity for using it was quite low. Cherry had hypothesized that it may be because of her very young age or perhaps her identity as a ship with a zoan fruit.
"What happened Bon Clay? Didn't you say we were friends? Or do your words only amount to just words, things to be thrown about and not to be taken seriously?" Cabernet tried to persuade him.
Bon Clay did look conflicted in that moment, but he recovered. "I've already made a commitment to Baroque Works! I've been with them for years, while I've only just met you lot!" He made an excuse.
"I see. So I guess friendship IS actually dependent upon the time you've spent together, in your eyes." Cabernet stated, causing Bon Clay's face to darken with doubts.
"It's pointless to discuss this. You're all going to die regardless. I'll stay true to Baroque Works." He resolved.
"So be it." Cabernet said, taking a defensive stance.
Bon Clay launched forwards, sending a swan kick piercing towards Cabernet's abdomen. To his surprise, she dropped her defenses and took the hit directly.
The swan dug deep into her flesh, spilling blood onto the sand. Then Cabernet grabbed his leg in a firm grip, which burst into flames. At the same time her other hand balled into a fist and also burst into flames. She sent it barreling towards Bon Clay's head, but he nearly dodged by bending backwards. His face twisted in pain from his leg.n/ô/vel/b//in dot c//om
Cabernet's form shifted and doubled in height, taking on a wooden appearance. She pulled the swan out of her no longer bleeding stomach and lifted Bon Clay up into the air by his leg.
Immediately, Bon Clay found himself getting slammed into the ground like a ragdoll, then lifted again to have it happen once again.
After doing this a few times, Cabernet reared back one of her large wooden fists. Bon Clay sensed the danger and instinctively changed his appearance into Chopper's face, having seen how Cabernet had doted on him during their brief meeting.
It seemed to cause Cabernet to hesitate, much to Bon Clay's relief. The relief soon faded from his mind when he saw her face twist like an enraged demon and heard the creaking of wood from her clenched fist.
"You've gone too far..." A cold light appeared in her eyes.
She grasped Bon Clay by the legs and arms, holding him aloft. There was little he could do to struggle, she was much too strong for him.
He watched in horror at a hatch of some sort opened in her chest and the barrel of a cannon could be seen rolling forward.
"I'm sorry, Cabernet-chan! I didn't mean it! I've learned the error of my ways!" Bon Clay was fine going out in battle, but a cannon was really too much for him.
A small flame ignited the fuse of the cannon and Bon Clay watched his life burn away along with the fuse.
The sparks disappeared into the cannon and he clenched his eyes shut, waiting for his inevitable death.
But death did not come for him, no matter how long he waiting. Bon Clay peeked open his eyes and saw a smug smile on the wooden woman's face.
"You want to use petty tricks? Two can play at that game." Cabernet said.
Bon Clay was too tired to be dumbfounded. "You've beaten me, I can't fight anymore."
"I think so too, but Cherry will be angry if I don't make absolutely sure. Sorry, and goodnight." Cabernet stated, before ruthlessly slamming him against the ground one more time, knocking him out cold.
After taking Usopp's goggles off his head, she left him lying in the sand and went to find one of the others to assist.
...
Cherry moved through the streets quickly after locating her quarry. Naturally her target was
Miss Spa Day.
Miss Spa Day was the greatest obstacle in regards to stopping the fighting, as she could manipulate the senses of the soldiers on either side.
Cherry found her hiding in an alley not too far from the royal faction's soldiers she had juts
influenced.
"Well hello again, Miss Spa Day. What a coincidence, it's so very nice to meet you again. Since I've found you, I'm going to have to ask you to release those men from your hallucinations." Cherry demanded after sneaking up behind her, causing Miss Spa Day to jump in surprise. Miss Spa Day immediately released her hallucination perfume and relaxed seeing Cherry breathing normally. "Stupid bitch! You aren't even holding you breath this time!"
Miss Spa Day approached Cherry, intending to put her to sleep again, but was greeted with a hard kick to the ribs.
"I'm afraid that won't work anymore, Miss Spa Day. I've already developed a counter to your devil fruit. Now go ahead and do as I tell you, or we'll both soon find out how good I am at torture." Cherry said menacingly, while Miss Spa Day broke into a cold sweat.
Miss Spa Day turned to run away, but Cherry quickly caught her and slammed her through a
wall.
She tried to fight back with her massage arts, but it didn't seem to do anything.
"That feels quite nice, but I'm afraid that won't work either." Cherry said as Miss Spa Day's heart filled with mounting terror.
Cherry's muscles did relax as they did before, but Cherry was able to use Body Puppeteering to continue moving now that she could use her Vital Energy. The Vital Energy also served to reinvigorate the muscles, greatly reducing the time she was affected by the forced relaxation. Cherry wrapped her hands around the woman's throat and began to slowly squeeze. "Whenever you're ready to cooperate, you can release me from the hallucination to let me
know."
Miss Spa Day did not last very long before caving into Cherry demands, to say the least.