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24.6% One Piece: Dream of Immortality / Chapter 126: Koala

Chapter 126: Koala

Refreshments were brought for them by a soldier who couldn't help by glance at the ruined door on the way in. Hot coffee with optional sugar and cream, along with an assortment of sweets and cakes.

"Let's get the formalities out of the way, shall we? I assume that Bunny Joe has told you that our cause has wanted to meet with you for some time, but unfortunately we lacked personnel with the capability of finding you, Nico Robin." Sabo said, taking a sip of his coffee. He scrunched up his face, then put so much sugar and cream in his cup that it likely could no longer be called coffee at all.

"Yes, perhaps it would have nice if you had found me sooner. I'm quite pleased with how things have turned out, though." Robin said, placing a hand on Cherry's thigh.

"Haha, I can tell. No doubt you're also quite glad to have met my little brother, too! He has a way on growing on you doesn't he?" Sabo spoke. Robin answered with a nod.

"Dragon-san had wanted to try an recruit you to our cause, but I suspect that you won't be interested and further that Dragon-san won't try to poach you from his own son." Sabo said. "Would you like assistance in meeting back up with your crew?"

"No, the Straw Hats will be taking a period to train ourselves. Captain's orders." Robin explained, which caused Sabo's face to droop a bit in disappointment.

"Don't look so down, Sabo. If you want to see him that bad, I can tell you where he is. I can even give a piece of his vivre card." Cherry offered.

"No, that's okay. I shouldn't distract him from his training. I can always meet him later." Sabo stated, clearly not content with his own decision.

*Slap*

"Ow!" Sabo rubbed his face where Cherry had given a fierce slap.

"Don't be a dolt. For what reason do you think Luffy is training?! Cause he likes it? Sure. So he can achieve his dream? Of course! However those reasons fall far behind his biggest reason! For the sake of those he cares about!" Cherry ranted. "The truth is you're just shy after not having met him for a while right?!"

Sabo looked away with embarrassment. It's been a whole decade since he's met with Luffy or Ace. It may not have been his fault since he was an amnesiac, but it was still terribly awkward.

"*Sigh* You're right. I'm afraid of how they'll react to seeing me after so long. They probably thought I was dead for the last 10 years..." Sabo admitted.

"I've known those boys for less than a year combined, and even I know how they'll react. You're supposed to be their brother, you ought to know even better than me." Cherry said, waving away his concerns.

Her words resounded in his mind, slowly erasing his insecurities.

"You're right! I'm going right away! Ace should easy enough to find on my own. I would appreciate your assistance, Miss Harpin! I'll introduce you to someone who can take care of you in my absence until dragon get back!" Sabo stood up and beckoned them to follow him.

Along the way to whomever he was shoving his responsibilities on, Cherry cut away a portion of Luffy's vivre card from her booklet and gave it to him, as well as telling him the name of the island that Rayleigh told her he would be taking Luffy to train.

"Koala! I'm shirking my responsibilities and disappearing for a few weeks! Take care of our guests for me! Thanks!" Sabo shouted into a room, then took off sprinting down the hallway.

"Thanks again, Cherry!" Sabo waved goodbye without looking back.

"What the hell do you mean, Sabo?! Come back here, you fool!" A woman, presumably Koala, stepped out of the room in a hurry, but saw that Sabo was already out of sight.

She sighed in defeat and turned to look at Cherry and company with despondent eyes. Her expression brightened a bit when she saw who the 'guests' she was meant to take care of were, though.

"Nico Robin, Harpin D. Cherry, Cabernet, and... um... Perona from Gecko Moria's crew?" Koala recited their names, only needing a moment to recall Perona. "I'd be concerned about you if Moria had still been a Shichibukai. Please behave yourself and we'll give you the benefit of the doubt since you came with them."

Perona looked a bit depressed at the mention of Moria. He had supposedly been killed in action during the war, but Cherry knew that he had still been alive at the end of the battle.

"I guess it won't be too much of a bother to take care of you guys. Don't tell that to Sabo though, he's going to be punished when he comes back." Koala said with a smile.

"Hmm, I guess I'll show you around? Introduce you to some people." Koala led them around the fortress, showing them where certain facilities were such as the cafeteria and the bathrooms.

Koala knocked on an open door into an office. "Hey, Betty. Do you have time to meet some guests?"

"Sure, I guess." Betty said. Koala led them inside.

Robin entered before Cherry, and instantly Cherry felt a pair of hands grow out of her shoulders and firmly clamp over her eyes.

"What's this about?" Cherry asked curiously.

Robin remained silent. She couldn't tell Cherry that Betty was scantily clad beauty. She was even tall and cool like herself, which was Cherry's type obviously. What if Cherry was tempted by her?!

"I think she doesn't want you to see the sexy lady?" Cabernet blurted her hypothesis, which was right on the money.

"Hmmm?" Cherry smiled, which caused Robin to turn pink in the cheeks. "I'll play along for now. Let's see how long you can keep it it up."

Betty quirked an eyebrow at their antics, but she didn't put a stop to it. She held a fair amount of respect for both Cherry and Robin for their capabilities.

"Nice to meet you." Betty stated shortly.

"Betty is the only commander present at the moment. The others are working elsewhere." Koala explained.

After a quick chat, Koala moved on to introduce them to Hack, who was the resident fishman karate teacher. Koala served as his assistant.

Since they were there already, they decided to go ahead and take some lessons from them. It was apparent to Cherry that they fell quite far behind Jinbe in this particular martial art, though. Still, Hack had a few of his own unique insights.

Robin seemed interesting in learning fishman karate, even if she wouldn't be able to use its underwater capabilities.

Koala led them to sleeping quarters they could call their own while they were here and parted ways to take care of other business.

Robin flopped onto the bed, a bit tired from their workout with Koala and Hack.

Cherry admired her for a few moments and smiled. "You want to get stronger?"

Robin studied her, looking for ways those words might be twisted around. "Yes, I don't want to fall behind."

"I can help you with that in more ways than one." Cherry stated, turning a bit serious. "Martial arts and muscle training are all well and good, but there is another way that'll be faster and more efficient."

"And what's that?" Robin asked. Cherry was a bit mysterious in many ways and she never tried to pry, but now she felt like she would be able see more of who she really was.

"Cultivation." Cherry stated. "The secret to my power, a power that will one day make me immortal."

Robin didn't expect that, but seeing that Cherry was serious she remained silent.

"If you like, I can share this secret with you. Then maybe the many years that lie ahead of me will not be so lonely." Cherry offered.

Robin gazed into her eyes and for the first time she recognized something that, in hindsight, had always been there. A kind of profound loneliness that she often saw in her own reflection staring back at her over the years she was on the run.

But would she really want to live forever?

After a few minutes of silence, Robin opened her mouth to speak. "I..."


Chapter 127: Decisions Decisions

"I... I don't know. Forever isn't something I can really comprehend. It's hard to even imagine living as long as the giants do." Robin said, feeling a bit guilty at being unable to give a more conclusive answer.

There was no disappointment to be seen from Cherry, though. Rather, a radiant smile spread across her face.

"That's a very good answer, Robin." Cherry walked over and gave her a quick hug.

"I don't think I follow what you mean?" Robin asked perplexed, but glad she hadn't hurt her lover's feelings.

"If you had simply accepted without question, I may have refused to teach you at all. Immortality isn't something to be taken lightly. You can't truly understand the concept of forever until you've lived so long that time loses meaning to you. Even then, nobody will ever truly live forever. Eventually, something always comes along that'll give you a swift kick towards the grave." Cherry explained, quite proud of Robin passing her little test.

Cherry felt different to Robin now. She had a more mature air about her, like Cherry was the older and more experienced of the two of them. That's when a thought occurred to her.

"How old are you?" It was such an odd question to ask, considering she had met her as a young girl all those years ago.

"In this life, I am twenty three." Cherry answered simply, but the insinuation in her words was anything but simple.

"And... in total?" Robin asked, not sure if she wanted to know the answer.

"Six hundred and seventeen." Cherry smirked at the look of shock on Robin's face. "For an Immortal, I was quite young when I died. Young enough that I was still counting the years."

"Can you tell me about the history of the world over that time?!" Robin asked excitedly after recovering from her shock. Always the archeologist, she was.

"Not the history of this world, darling." Cherry chuckled as Robin digested yet another bombshell.

Robin laid down and stared at the ceiling quietly. Cherry laid down next to her and joined in observing the rather boring stonework.

"You don't have to decide right this instant you know? Immortality doesn't come easily, it'll take years to reach that point." Cherry broke the silence.

"Oh, that makes sense..." Robin sunk further into the mattress as the tension left her. Clearly she wasn't ready to make such a huge decision about her life, which was only natural.

"What's it like, living so long? Does it ever get boring?" Robin asked.

"There were lots of things to occupy myself back then. Treasure hunting, craftsmanship, pursuing the arts, killing people..." Cherry explained before being interrupted by a pinch to her side. Robin didn't like that last one being considered merely a pastime.

"What? You think you've met evil doers, you should see what multi-thousand year old psychopaths do for fun. Slaying those types was a necessity. Even Luffy wouldn't be able to find any good left in someone so steeped in malice." Cherry went on to list some of the nefarious deeds she had heard of or even witnessed personally.

Robin didn't think such people deserved any mercy after Cherry listed their crimes.

"And don't even get me started with demonic cultivators. They can't even be called human any more and, in fact, they don't call THEMSELVES human either. Let's just say that destroying whole worlds in their pursuit of power isn't even the worst thing they've done." Cherry finished.

"Wait, how many worlds are there?" Robin asked.

"Hm? There were too many to count. We just called them the Myriad Realms collectively." Cherry answered.

Robin was dumbfounded by that. Too many to count? That was simply mind boggling.

"Nevermind that." Robin decided to change the subject. "Tell me about 'Cultivation'."

"Well, there's a few different branches, but you only need to worry about Body Cultivation..." And so Cherry described the general theory involved and how to get started.

"You've got a few options for methods that I can give you. There's the method I use, which is a divine level method, called the Ethereal Star method. This required a ton of rare resources and is very slow if you're not a freak like me, which you aren't.

Then there is an immortal level method, called the Mythic Beauty method. Also not easy, but much less difficult than the first one, also not nearly as resource intensive. A good well rounded method with a focus on improving one's beauty.

Finally there is a transcendent level method, called the Heaven Splitting method. Remarkably easy to cultivate this one considering its level, very suitable for wielders of edged weapons. I gave this one to my Grandma.

There are a few more, but they aren't really worth considering as they don't compare to these three." Cherry spoke.

"What do the levels mean?" Robin asked.

"They're an indication of how high one can consistently reach using them if one meets the demands of the method. For example, a divine level method can bring you to the divine realms of cultivation, provided you have the resources, talent, and work ethic. However this doesn't mean you can't reach a higher realm, just that the difficulty will exponentially increase." Cherry explained. "Divine is the highest followed by Immortal, then Transcendent, etcetera."

"I suppose I know which one you'd want me to choose..." Robin glanced at her coyly.

"I wasn't a body cultivator before this life, so I didn't collect the methods. You can already say you're lucky to have such high level choices." Cherry pouted. Of course, she did still want Robin to choose the Mythic Beauty method, just for more reasons than making her even more sexy than she already is.

"Alright, show me what I need to do." Robin said, sitting up.

Cherry walked her through sensing her own vital energy, how to move it around, then finally instructed her in how to begin cultivating the first realm via the Mythic Beauty method.

One Robin had it handled by herself, Cherry decided to take a nap.

...

A cemetery on an unknown island somewhere in the Grand Line.

Admiral Sakazuki stood before a fresh grave that read "Sakazuki Hiroki".

It's been a few days since of the war with Whitebeard. Normally his rage would have subsided by now, but it still boiled over threatening for manifest his lava and melt everything around him.

His son, Hiroki had been a drooling fool for most of his life. Until one day he was suddenly aware of himself. He had apparently absorbed information of the world around him as he was able to quickly grasp language and knew how many things were already.

Soon after he developed an interest in blacksmithing and showed prodigal talent in the field.

But now that was all over. He was murdered by some rogue during the war.

Thin streaks of lava poured down Admiral Sakazuki's face. Something broke inside him when he found out what happened. This would be the last time he would ever shed tears, his enemies would have to shed them in his stead.

Admiral Sakazuki walked away from the cemetery, never to return. There was too much work to do, too many pirates to kill.

He didn't need to know who was responsible and it wouldn't make a difference if he did. They were all complicit, they would all burn for what they did to his boy.


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