One Piece: Dream of Immortality

Orochi was furious.

Not terrified, furious.

And so long as he kept an angry grimace on his face, no one would know any different. That made it as good as the truth.

"Why haven't you found her yet?!" Orochi screeched, his voice pitched higher than ever before in his life.

'He's terrified,' every one of Orochi's men in earshot thought in unison.

"We've searched the entire capital and haven't found a single trace of her, Orochi-sama. Even the prisoners disappeared without a trace," Daikoku, one of Orochi's ninja's, reported. "Whoever this is, she's like a ghost."

"Ghosts don't chop off heads!" Orochi screamed in his face, spittle flying from his mouth. "They certainly couldn't have chopped off my head!"

Daikoku chose not to mention that he had seen a ghost a few nights ago.

Orochi's hand went to the bandage on his neck. The loss of one of his auxiliary heads hadn't been pleasant and had left a nasty cut on the neck of his human form. He might have even bled out and died had he not gotten help immediately.

The cut wasn't as bad as the damage to his psyche, though. He had gotten a taste of death last night. The demon woman had been toying with him, he knew it. She could have taken his real head if she wanted to.

"I'll come back for another tomorrow night. Hehehehehe~!"

Orochi shivered at the memory. He swore that he would be ready for her tonight.

"What are you still here for?!" Orochi shouted at his useless ninja.

Daikoku vanished in typical ninja fashion.

At least today wasn't all bad news. He would be able to rid himself of an old enemy and that damned thief in one fell swoop.

"I'll enjoy executing you, Yasuie," Orochi muttered to himself, heading towards the armory for a suitable gun to do the job.

It was just the thing he needed to relieve some stress.

…

"Thank the heavens for melodramatic villains," Cherry said as she laid her eyes on Yasuie.

In the myriad realms, it was common sense to kill somebody right away if you wanted them dead. If you stopped to gloat, there was a non zero chance that some grand elder who happens to be your target's ancestor shows up and curb stomps you for daring to touch their bloodline that you didn't even know about.

If you had more than two brain cells to rub together, you'd off your enemies and get the hell out of dodge as soon as possible. Anything else was tempting fate; a big no-no for cultivators.

Orochi had eight heads, or seven now she supposed, but even so he didn't understand this simple point. Hell, he just had that head lopped off and a bunch of prisoners busted out of the very same jail that Yasuie was set up in front of, and the idiot was still holding off for a public execution.

He wasn't just tempting fate, he was courting death as well! A veritable cosmic two-timer!

It was kind of impressive, in a monumentally stupid kind of way.

Regardless, it was very good for her and for Yasuie.

"Well, it looks like it'll be really easy to save your father, Toko. A simple snatch and grab will do, I think," Cherry said.

"Really?" Toko's voice sounded so small that it hurt.

"Of course," Cherry patted her head. "The question is whether or not to make a show of it!"

"A show?" Toko asked.

"Indeed! Orochi and all the other bad guys who hurt your father and Wano will get what's coming to them soon enough, but that doesn't mean we shouldn't punish them right now, does it?" Cherry asked.

"So… we get double revenge?" Toko perked up.

"There's no such thing as too much revenge," Cherry nodded. "Just as long as it's the target paying for it and not your mental health. Remember that, Toko; don't go after revenge if you have to sacrifice yourself for it, only your enemies are allowed to be punished!"

Toko nodded seriously, absorbing the lesson like a little sponge.

"I'll jump in immediately if it looks like they're going to execute him sooner, but I reckon Orochi himself will show up for this. It's one way he can tamp down on any thoughts of rebellion after his weak showing last night. So, how do you think we can make them pay the price for hurting your father?" Cherry asked her in the way one might ask a child what they want for lunch.

"...I-" Toko told her the first thing that popped into her head, and Cherry laughed.

…

"It sure is hot up here…" Yasuie said.

"Shut up!" Minion #17 shouted at him.

It wasn't actually too hot for him. The weather was kind of nice actually. Pissing rain might have been more thematically appropriate, but Yasuie preferred it this way. His lord, Oden, also died on a bright sunny day.

He was somewhat grateful that he wasn't boiling in oil, though.

'Orochi must be going soft,' Yasuie thought and chuckled to himself.

*flash* *flash* *flash*

Yasuie squinted his eyes as a glaring light flickered over them. He did his best to glare back whilst maintaining his fraudulent smile, but was surprised at what he saw.

Tucked away on a nearby rooftop a few buildings away, a little girl with pink hair used a small mirror to reflect sunlight at him.

When his precious girl realized that he had noticed her, she put the mirror away and pulled out a sign with words written upon it. His eyes have always been good, so he could read it easily even at this distance.

'Make Orochi angry, I'll take care of the rest. Love, Cherry…' Yasuie read silently. 'Did she kiss the sign after signing her name?'

Cherry's antics aside, it looked like he had a chance to live after all. It must have been Cherry who caused all that ruckus last night, he figured.

'I was planning to rile Orochi up anyways, so there's no reason not to do it now,' Yasuie decided.

Quite a crowd had formed by now, so it wouldn't be long now.

*bzzt*

As he thought, some sort of broadcast had begun that featured none other than himself. "Seems like Orochi wants all of Wano to see little ol' me die, eh?"

"Yasuie-sama!" "Yasuie-sama!" Many people cried out his name.

"Good people of Wano! This is not your fault! I am but an old fool, and I was not long for this world anyways," Yasuie spoke to his audience, and they listened with rapt attention.

He noticed a flicker of movement on a different rooftop than the one he had seen Toko. A ninja who had been standing there was not there any longer.

"All of Wano's ills and tragedies are on Orochi's hands! He turned our once beautiful home into a wasteland, and all we got in return was death and oppression!" Yasuie felt more alive than he had in years. "Orochi is a parasyte! Scum of the lowest order! A disease riddled rat who has grown old and fat and weak!"

People tried to shout at him to stop, but what good would that do even if he wasn't waiting on a rescue? None at all.

"I was the one who created that image," Yasuie spoke softly, but his voice carried just fine in the silence it brought to the crowd. "I did not wish to die a peaceful death, so I made up this silly act of rebellion. One final act of defiance against that buck toothed buffoon."

That claim likely wouldn't work, given that the prisoners with the tattoos were busted out, but it didn't hurt to muddy the waters a bit.

Then Yasuie saw him; Orochi charging in atop a gaudy palanquin. His smile turned a little more genuine. He hoped there would at least be a good show.