One Piece: Dream of Immortality-Chapter 532: Interloping Interlopers

"Why do you want him?" Nami called out.

King couldn't pinpoint the source to attack it, as her voice came from all sides at once. Just another annoying trick to get on his nerves. If he didn't have to worry about burning down the entire castle, he'd have already dealt with these buffoons.

"The danger noodle picks the whole island up into the sky. I need Zeus to keep him from dropping it and killing us all," Cherry explained.

"Ehhh?!" Usopp squealed.

King hefted his blade to swing it in the direction of the voice, but his instincts flared and forced him to dodge to the side. A spear with a spinning head pierced the air where his heart would have been if he hadn't moved.

"Naughty boy~! Don't act up while the adults are talking," Cherry waggled her finger and tutted at him.

King only just realized that she hadn't attacked until he dodged. He didn't even predict it, it was purely reactionary observation haki on his part. He knew that she was faster than that, so the timing of it all meant she missed on purpose; she was toying with him.

'This is the woman who took on Big Mom and won,' King reminded himself.

He was doubtful at first, because it was hard to believe anyone could beat Big Mom besides another of the existing Emperors. He had dismissed it as her losing her edge to old age.

Now he had to adjust that assessment.

"I'm kind of using him at the moment," Nami's voice came from everywhere again.

"I can see that," Cherry rolled her eyes.

King felt the hair on the back of his neck stand up and his observation haki screamed at him. His eyes had Cherry in his sight, so it wasn't her.

That meant there was another dessert assault headed his way.

Hold on... isn't Zeus the name of Big Mom's thundercloud Homie?

King looked up.

Nothing but the ceiling.

He sighed with relief. It would have been truly shameful if a real attack got through to him after they lulled him into a false sense of security with cake and pie.

*ZAZAZAAAAAAP!!!*

King buckled as the lightning landed right on top of his head. His powerful will kept him conscious, but that was almost worse than getting knocked out given the painful spasms that wracked through his body.

"H-how...?" King couldn't help but ask as he barely managed to look at the ceiling again.

A deep black thundercloud with a goofy smile looked back at him.

"Hoowee~, that was a big one. I've seen worse, but damn..." Cherry whistled in admiration. "The really impressive part was hiding such a chonky cloud with light tricks, though."

If King could move his arms at this moment, he'd commit seppuku on the spot. He knew they were hiding themselves with some sort of mirage trick, yet he'd dismissed the possibility of lightning because he couldn't see the cloud! Stupid!

Fortunately, he was made of sterner stuff. Once the spasms died down he got to his feet.

"T-That's cheating!" Usopp gave an aggrieved shout.

"Hey, is it getting hotter?" Franky's voice sounded next.

"You don't need to worry about the island being dropped," King spoke quietly, though his voice carried easily. "Because I'm going to burn it all down with you inside."

*ROAR*

His flames erupted from him, lashing out in every direction. The things closest to himself turned to ash in an instant while those at a distance were set aflame. He heard the yelps of surprise and pain from the three weaklings, relishing in their anguish.

He did not hear the cries of Cabernet or Cherry, however. The latter was just standing in the same place as before like nothing had happened, but the former was a mystery. Was Cabernet not even here?

King lifted his hand-

*Boom!*

-and blocked a punch that would have shattered bones in a lesser man's arm.

Cabernet glared at him, white hot fury burning in her eyes.

"Did I touch a nerve?" King asked.

Cheapshot Cherry's continued presence was worrisome, but he cared not for the rest. They would die soon enough and he would get what he came for.

King shifted his hand and grabbed ahold of Cabernet's arm with a speed that surprised her. It was foolish of her to underestimate the speed of a swordsman's arm.

Now that he had a proper hold of his target, he spared a quick glance to Cherry, only to find she wasn't there anymore.

"Hey, stop it!"

King glanced upwards again and saw Zeus being wrangled by the missing woman.

"Just give up and come along! I don't know when that psycho is going to drop us!" Cherry pulled at his silver lining.

"Just catch the island when it falls! Leave me alone!" Zeus argued.

"Just catch the island?! Do you think I'm a giant or something?!" Cherry was winning the tug of war. "I'll give you a taste of my sword later!"

"Why didn't you say so!" Zeus seemed all too eager to go with her after that.

King looked away from the only real threat in the room, which was fortunately removing itself. "Looks like she's abandoning you to your fate."

"I can take care of myself!" Cabernet growled back as she gnawed on his offending limb with bared teeth.

"What are you, a dog?" King shook his arm without letting go. Cabernet was surprisingly steadfast, however.

"Better a dog than a scumbag like you!" Cabernet wrapped around his arm and started pulling and twisting.

King grunted in discomfort and slammed her into the ground with all his might. He knew she could take the hit, so he threw in a few more for good measure.

"Why must you make this so difficult?" King grumbled. "Your resistance is futile, so give up. Or must I kill more of your friends to get you to come quietly?"

Cabernet didn't answer. She freed one of her hands and dug it into the floor.

King was about to ask what she thought she was accomplishing when his haki warned him of another attack. He tried to jerk back and out of the way, but his arm was caught in a trap.

*Slash!*

King only just managed to avoid the full brunt of the sword that meant to slice his arm clean off.

The gash through his leather sleeve and the flesh beneath proved that it may very well have done so, in spite of his armament haki.

"Roronoa Zoro," King announced the newcomer.

""Get him, Zoro!"" Usopp and Nami cheered from somewhere, the cockroaches.

"Hey, this was supposed to be our fight!" Franky complained from elsewhere.

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"You didn't look like you were doing much fighting," Zoro observed.

"We were whittling him down!" Franky defended.

"This isn't the kind of guy you should be fighting a war of attrition with," Zoro said, placing a third sword in between his teeth. "Cabernet never gets tired."

Zoro knew that better than most of their crew. Cabernet often stayed up with him for the night watch when they were at sea, and she didn't even sleep during the day like he did afterwards.

King looked between the green haired swordsman and Cabernet. He was getting really tired of this.