"Wha- wha- what's happening?!" Koby exclaimed. "Why are you bleeding?!"
"Because my throat got slashed," Cherry said, not seeming anywhere near as concerned as any sane person ought to be.
"Why has your throat been slashed?!" Koby tried to render first aid, only to get Cherry's hand in his face to stop him.
"Because somebody slashed it, of course," Cherry explained unhelpfully. She added, "They slashed my neck in the real world and the damage was reflected into this world, that is. I think it bodes well."
"How could this possibly bode well?" Helmeppo asked. He only looked to be half as concerned as Koby, but that wasn't saying much considering what a worrywart his comrade was.
"Because it means I just found my method of communication with the outside world," Cherry said with a cheerful air.
"I'm not sure that I understand?" Helmeppo scratched his head.
"Are you saying you're going to, what, start carving words into your own flesh?" Koby asked as he tried and failed to extract his head from Cherry's grip.
"That would work, yes, but I don't need to go that far," Cherry shook her head. "I can just do some superficial damage in certain patterns to pass a message to myself. Getting a tattoo the size of a coin would be more harmful. The key is finding a moment when I'm not distracted to send the message, which isn't that easy to do when I can't see what I'm doing at a given moment."
"I still don't really get how there's apparently two of you…" Helmeppo said.
"That's okay, you don't have to understand. Stupid people tend to live happier lives. Ignorance is bliss and all that," Cherry gave him a sage-like nod.
"I'd argue with you, but it's true that I was a lot happier when I was just daddy's boy living in my own little world. Although I'm a lot more fulfilled now than I was then," Helmeppo claimed. "Why am I telling you this?"
"We're in a spiritual world. You don't have a physical mind with all your inhibitions, so it's harder to keep your mouth in check," Cherry explained as if what she was saying made any sense. "It's worse because you're stupid, too."
Helmeppo grumbled.
There was a sizzling sound coming from the hand Cherry had pressed against Koby's forehead. Upon removing it to have a look, she revealed a nasty, boiling burn on the palm.
"I sure hope that isn't Borsalino's work. I don't think I trust myself to fight him drunk," Cherry mumbled.
"Drunk?" Koby questioned, before his eyes widened in shock. "Admiral Kizaru is here?! I didn't think…"
"Maybe, I don't know. I'm on this side, remember?" Cherry said. "In the meantime, we ought to have a poke around. See if there's anything we can do, before mister Unclear Justice decides to write us all off for the greater good or whatever. Maybe he already has."
"Surely he wouldn't…" Koby spoke hesitantly.
"Not being sure what he'll do is kind of his whole schtick, Koby," Helmeppo chimed in.
"Ugh…" Koby rubbed his forehead. He grimaced and wiped Cherry's blood off of himself with a handkerchief. "You're right, we can't just stand around here!"
"Where do we even start, though? Will there even be any clues to find in this fake world?" Helmeppo asked.
"It appears to be a one to one recreation, barring what Uta actively changes. I'll recruit some other folks into looking for clues on the island," Cherry said before vanishing on the spot.
"It's insane how good she is at that. Usually you can at least see a blur, but I don't even know what direction she went in," Helmeppo scratched his face. "Hey! She took my sunglasses with her!"
…
"Can I have this dance?" Drunk Cherry let out a gnarly burp to punctuate the invitation.
"I'd rather not," Uta's face squirreled up in disgust.
"Well," Drunk Cherry took her by the hand anyway and twirled her out of the way of a laser. "Unless you want to die, you'll just have to put up with me! Hehe~"
"I can handle myself, thank you very much!" Uta growled.
"I don't see how…" Drunk Cherry trailed off as she saw people waking up. "Is nap time over?"
The question had hardly left her mouth before several of the stronger people among the audience leapt into action and started to relentlessly hound Kizaru.
"There wasn't anything about this in the reports. How annoying," Kizaru zipped aside a stone crushing punch from Koby.
"What the heck- Whoops!" Drunk Cherry tossed Uta into the air as a bull-like man rushed her. "Hey, this guy's still asleep!"
A swift kick to the groin did the trick!
Or not, because the bull guy barely reacted and grabbed her by the leg before smashing her into the ground a few times. That didn't do much to Drunk Cherry besides piss her off, either.
"You wanna fight, punk?!" Drunk Cherry snaked up his offending arm and grabbed him around the neck in a tight choke hold. No amount of his feeble punches would release her!
…
"Hey, Blueno. What the heck are you doing here, huh?" Cherry sidled up to the man with the horned hairstyle.
"Work," Blueno said simply.
"Pssh, I already know what's going on here. No point in being all secretive with me," Cherry poked him on the arm a few times.
"Please, just leave me alone," Blueno said. "I'm not here for any of your lot, and I'd rather not get involved with any of you again. Rob Lucci is crazy for thinking he can just train a bit and take another crack at you."
"That's interesting," Cherry smirked.
"Why did I tell you that?" Blueno grimaced.
"Because you're stupid," Cherry answered. "Anyways, what do you say we work together to sort this mess out, eh? I'm pretty sure that I'm the only one not in any real danger here, so it really is in your best interest."
"What do you mean by tha-" Blueno vanished.
"Huh?" This was especially surprising to Cherry because she hadn't the slightest clue about where he went.
…
"Wake up or I'll unscrew your head from your torso, bitch!" Drunk Cherry growled.
Blueno stopped punching her and started grasping at her arms around his neck, showing the first signs of self preservation since he had attacked her.
"Why do my balls hurt?!" Blueno choked.
"Oh, you woke up! Neat!" Drunk Cherry released him with a laugh. "So the trick is depriving oxygen to the brain!"
Blueno coughed and sputtered for a moment as he tried to regain his bearings. "What happened? What did you do?"
"I choked you out like a bitch and you woke up!" Drunk Cherry explained, looking inordinately proud of herself.
"I don't think that's how that works…" Blueno stood up to his full height and took in the chaos happening around them.
Unfortunately, Uta took that moment to notice that something had changed and immediately started singing. Blueno slumped back down and promptly resumed his assault on Drunk Cherry.
"That's cheating!" Drunk Cherry complained.
…
Blueno gasped.
"What the heck, dude. Don't you know it's rude to leave in the middle of your own sentence?" Cherry gave him a disapproving look.
"I swear I'm going to resign after this…" Blueno sighed.