Chapter Text
Death wasn't fun, predictably. Considering Cherry believed in Hestia and as such went to death with a drachma in their hands, they'd woken in presumably the Underworld. They got a message from Hestia for their resolute worship, and had honestly been prepared for a memory loss moment in the fields of Asphodel.
Surprise, surprise! Dying by pushing a kid out of the way counts as a heroic act.
Long story short, Cherry chose to reincarnate. Of course, they hadn't been expecting where exactly they would reincarnate. Or that a mistake would be made, and they would keep all their memories.
(Was it really a mistake?)
When Cherry wakes, it's to a very bright sun, and what is clearly the hands of a child on a beach.
"Am I supposed to remember?" they ask themself, sitting up and looking down at their body.
They look somewhat similar; with the same pink birthmark on the back of their right arm, the same warm brown skin as usual. However, Cherry can feel hair down to their knees and as they inspect it, realize that under the dirt and grime their hair is bright red.
They walk to the water of the ocean to get some semblance of a reflection. The water is startlingly clear, and they're able to make out bright golden eyes. They look the same just..with a much brighter color palette.
On their head is what's very clearly a cowboy hat, and strapped to their side is also what's clearly a gun. It looks achingly familiar to them, similar to something they'd seen before, but where?
"Hey, kid!" a voice calls out to them; a young lady, "What are you doing out here on the beach?"
The answer is that they had no clue. Reincarnation was meant to be a you-forget-everything type of deal, right? But here Cherry was.
And if their suspicions were correct, likely, they'd been isekai'd. And if so, where were they?
This was Cherry's life; they were known around town for being a bit of a streetrat, taken in by Ririka although they would never call her a mother. More like an older sister, if anything. The marines knew them by name- Cherry was a bit of a troublemaker, too, making graffiti all around the place. They were naturally anti-establishment, but they followed the rules..for the most part.
Oftentimes they helped out in the bar Ririka owned (as an inheritance of her family), but other times they were out on the street selling art pieces or taking commission. At the very least they had created a name for themself.
The marines even taught Cherry how to use their gun, so long as they promised not to point at one of them (though, they had their fingers crossed, so womp womp). This was after they'd created a sob story about how it was their dad's gun, calling him Cassidy.
Were they posing as Cassidy's child? Hell yeah. Did it pull at the marines' heartstrings? Hell yeah. They had always been good at making themself endearing.
Anyways, all of that was Cherry's life in One Piece, the manga they had never read and show they had barely watched. Sure, Cherry knew the plot vaguely, but they had never really delved deep into the lore. So they lived life like one was supposed to- without much future knowledge at all.
All the way 'till a certain somebody comes crashing into the bar.
Would you look at that?
Seems this is following the plot of the live-action show, which they had actually watched..the first episode of. Plus, the characters seemed to look exactly like their live-action actors so that was even handier.
Isn't there a clown at some point? Cherry ponders before shrugging and leaving it alone.
They watch as Rika, the sweet darling she is, goes to serve food. Cherry even stepped out of the kitchen for this- to watch Helmeppo make a fool out of himself. He wasn't really a bad guy, at least not after they had beaten his ass about a thousand times.
But he still had that inferiority complex that Zoro managed to set off merely by existing.
However, the second Helmeppo goes to hit Rika, they take Peacekeeper 2.0 out and swiftly shoot his blade. It ricochets off to a wall, but doesn't hit anybody else.
"Y'all know the rules in here," Cherry says, gaze cutting sharp, "Ain't no touchin' the staff. I don't give a darn if y'all fight in here, but you lay a hand on the staff and I'm shootin' that hand, ya hear?"
"Right, Cherry," Helmeppo agrees with a shaky voice, "Though we'll still fight this dude."
"Fine by me," they say, nodding to Zoro before resuming standing against the wall, reloading the one bullet in their gun. Ririka won't mind picking up any stray bullets, she's way too used to it.
Though not knowing what the timeline was, by the time Rika started looking pretty similar in age to when Zoro arrived, Cherry explained to Ririka that they wanted to explore the seas, and be the best cowboy 'round the world.
Not that hard, considering they were one of the few, but being the best meant everybody should know their name, shouldn't it?
OOH, and they should have a bounty like Cassidy. That'd be so darn cool.
Even now, they had bags ready upstairs; plenty of ammo, an almost insane amount of it; clothing, toiletries, anything necessary while on the ocean for a long amount of time.
Cherry watched the fight with mild interest. Helmeppo was still an asshole even if they had not allowed him to terrorize Shells Town at all.
Of course, Zoro gets arrested, though this time only with his life on the line. Death versus a month crucified up with no food isn't much of a choice. Rika looks at Cherry with a pleading gaze, and they know she wants them to play the hero like always.
It wasn't like they would just let Zoro starve there anyways. That'd just be fucked up.
Fuck, Cherry thinks, how long can a person go without food? They give him water, right? Damn, why are marines such bitches sometimes?
Rika makes the rice onigiri and Cherry grabs the water bottles. Zoro must stay there for at least a bit until Luffy shows up.
Needless to say, they sneak in at night because they're not a fool. Sure, the marines have patrols, but again: do the marines really wanna piss off the artist of town who has threatened to draw them all pregnant? Cherry will. They have. They'll do it again.
Losers.
"Hey," Cherry calls out quietly to Zoro who blearily looks out in front of him. Even now he looks hungry, and damn if they don't feel bad for that already.
He stirs, looking warily before landing on their figure.
"I dunno you, but I 'preciate you stickin' up for Rika there. You make a darn good fella, and I ain't gonna let you starve just cause these guys are assholes."
His eyes caught the food in Cherry's hands, "The catch?"
"None," they shrug while answering, "You did me a favor, I'll do you one."
"You can't free me," he says, "I made a deal with the marines."
"Yeah, yeah," Cherry opens the onigiri and raises a hand to feed it to him. There's only three, but it's better than nothing. Zoro eats them all thankfully, and they can't help but note how handsome he is. Seriously.
"Water?" they offer, holding the bottle up carefully for him to drink. There's something almost intimate of the moment, but they bulldoze through the awkwardness and ignore any tension.
"Thanks," he rasps, licking the water off his lips.
"I'll try to be here every night, but no promises," they say. Cherry doesn't mention the marines' plan to execute him like cowards. That's Luffy's job.
For the next two weeks, Cherry goes almost every night to make sure Zoro doesn't go hungry. It's always something small- onigiri, or some tofu, or some kebabs; Rika tries her best to make onigiri, but sometimes they make some of the good chicken kebabs with peanut butter sauce. While no pro-chef, Cherry is still ahead of everyone else in terms of cultural food.
He's always appreciative, and along the way the two become somewhat of comrades. Any conversation is small.
The second night, he asks, "What's your name?"
They answer easily, "Cherry."
Always disappearing into the night after answering. Every time Cherry comes back he seems to have another question.
"Are you a girl or a guy?"
"Yes."
"Why you got that hat on?"
"I'm a cowboy."
"So, you're a boy?"
"Sometimes."
"How do you have such good aim?"
"I'm a cowboy, duh."
"..Right."
The questionnaires continue, but he does notice that Cherry doesn't ask anything back.
rika moment
"It's high noon," Cherry crooned, tipping their cowboy hat and looking down at the crowd below them. They didn't question the easy way they used all six bullets in the gun at an incredible speed, taking perfect aim and hitting exactly six enemies, none of them fatal blows but all disarming nonetheless.
From the crowd below, Cherry could hear Luffy's loud praise and see the incredulous look Zoro sent.
By all means, that shot shouldn't be possible, but Cherry's a rootin-tootin' cowboy. One that worked their ass off to learn how to copy all of Cassidy's moves from Overwatch.
Peacekeeper 2.0, my beloved, they thought, holding the gun carefully as they reloaded. Cherry wouldn't be able to use high noon again for a hot second, and timed, it'd probably be about thirty or so minutes outside of battle. In battle, it could be five or ten or less- all of it was dependent on how much they were shooting. Just like in Overwatch, and just like Cassidy.
Yeehaw, Cherry thought, as they shot another man's leg down.
They send a magnet-bomb thing down to the crowd, watchin' as the person gets stuck in place- easy for them to shoot through his sword.
Cherry even watches as Morgan, the old coot he is, grabs the pink-haired boy and holds him hostage. Really, they frown. I don't think he'll actually shoot now.
Years of being an endearing little bitch to the old man shows he may be a prideful dude but ultimately not as cruel as he could've been. Also known as, anytime he tried to be a mega-asshole, Cherry came in rootin', tootin', and shootin'.
Needless to say they had gained a reputation and old Morgan had become pretty darn fond of the brat who had the balls to shoot his axe-hand.
Still, the tension in Luffy's back and the fear in the pink-haired kid's eyes sparks that old protective instinct of theirs, the possessive little bit that screamed do NOT HURT THEM-
"Old man!" Cherry called out, "You don't let that Pinky go, I'm shooting your good arm! You wanna see whose draw is faster?!"
Morgan chuckled, a full-belly type of laughter, "Cherry, you little brat, you defending these criminals?"
"I'm a cowboy! I do whatever the darn hells I want," they yell back from their vantage point on the roof. The other marines are already down on the floor, but Cherry can see the ones still conscious snickering.
"Well, I can't let these guys go," he says, not letting go of that gun to Pinky's hair.
"Gosh darn, you old fool," they sigh.
While we were talking, Luffy has already done his thing, and Morgan's down.
Cherry's glad they didn't have to shoot him. While they may have said that they would only aim for his hand, had Pinky actually been injured, Cherry would have shot down that son of a gun in a second.
They jump down from the roof, breaking into a roll the second they get down there.
"Howdy," they greet, smiling and tipping their lovely cowboy hat.
"You were so cool!" Luffy claims, reaching forward and grabbing their hands now that Peacekeeper 2.0 is tucked away into its sling, "What's your name? Are you a girl or a guy? How's that gun work? Why do you have that hat on? Do you wanna join my pirate crew?! I'm going to be King of the Pirates, what about you?!"
Cherry just laughs good-naturedly, fondness creepin' up to their heart already. Man, he's just like their little brother, or like that one kid they had practically adopted as one when he was a freshman in highschool.
"Name's Cherry, both, Peacekeeper 2.0's a lovely lil' thing of mine, I'm a cowboy, hell yeah lil' man, and I'm going to be the best cowboy the world's heard of," they answer, chuckling.
"Awesome!" Luffy exclaims, "Will you join my pirate crew?!"
Cherry's grin widens, "Well, why the hell not!"
--
The first Zoro sees of Cherry is when they're standing against the wall of the bar, watching with golden eyes. They strike a strong figure: tall, even taller with those boots on, with a red serape around their neck and a hat on top of red hair long enough to trail down to the floor. Everything about them is fiery, from the warm golden skin to the bright hair, and the almost molten gold eyes.
The gun hooked into their belt is of note, especially when Zoro barely blinks and they've got a shot at that blond hooligan marine.
He's not really expecting to see them at all in the next month he's bound to be locked up, but the very night he is, the redhead jumps into the ground in front of him with a hand holding out a clumsily made onigiri.
Their voice is kind of deep, with a certain accent to it, and he's unable to discern if they're a guy or gal. He still doesn't know, all the way until Luffy asks.
For now, he spends every night in their company, and Cherry's lone figure becomes a familiar and almost comforting sight. Despite the stern way they handled that gun of theirs, they were absurdly gentle when feeding him; all the while, they began to be touchy, though with a hint of distance in their movements nonetheless.
They gently directed his chin and face with little more than a clear gaze. If Zoro hadn't seen the little color in their brown cheeks or the embarrassed flicker of their eyes, he may even believe them to be completely unaffected by whatever this was. It wasn't quite romantic, but there was still something very intimate in the way Cherry fed him; something caring.
It's not as though Zoro would normally be trapped here; usually, he would have pulled out his swords and gone out swinging. But that blond hooligan had leaned in and whispered, "You don't comply, we'll kill everyone here- starting with those staff over here."
It might've been a bluff.
Even then it wouldn't have been worth that little girl's life.
He'd resigned himself to sit here and wait out the punishment, already frowning at the mere thought of hunger and near-starvation he would have to face. Then, well, then Cherry appeared.
Zoro was grateful for the food if anything, though Cherry did seem to see it as nothing more than repaying a debt. Or, that's what it should have been, all the way until Zoro spotted their figure on the roof of the Marine's base.
Their red hair flew in a wild ponytail across the wind which matched their red serape, and their hat cast a large shadow over their face- it should have concealed their face, but for some reason Zoro could see a gleam in Cherry's eyes. There was no mistaking that grin, or the gun they held in their right hand.
In an impossibility, Zoro could hear over the field their deep voice, "It's high noon."
He had no clue what it meant, with Cherry standing there for what couldn't have been more than a few seconds. Then, all at once, the sound of six bullets shot. With it, six marines fell around him.
It was instantaneous, impossible for even Zoro to catch with his eyes. How was that possible? By all means, a bullet can't reach that far in a mere millisecond- but somehow, it did.
At the very least, before he left this island, he may as well learn how the fuck they did that.