Chapter 5: Martin's Masterpiece

After a morning workout followed by breakfast, Cherry and Grandma Angela set out towards Pebbleton to meet with old man Martin about the new sword.

Cherry was full of anticipation to see what the mortal craftsmen of this world were capable of, but even she wasn't as excited as Grandma Angela. She had made Cherry wake up 2 hours earlier than usual so they could be at the blacksmith the moment it opened.

The streets weren't as crowded as usual, mostly farmers and fisherman setting up their stalls and some of their early bird customers.

When they arrived before the smithy, Grandma Angela walked inside without hesitation and Cherry followed behind.

"Come out, you old coot! You've got my adorable Cherry's new sword by now don't you?! Let's get a look at it before you die of old age!" Grandma Angela shouted rather rudely.

Old man Martin came out from the back room, sword in hand.

"Who are you calling old coot?! I'll out live you by a dozen years!" Martin shouted back. He then turned his eyes to Cherry, filled with pride and confidence. "I'm certain you'll be quite happy with the result, girl. Have a look." He handed the sword to Cherry.

Cherry took the sword with both hands and drew the blade from its scabbard (with some difficulty, due to her short, little girl arms). She held it vertically to examine the sword from point to pommel. It was a a single edged blade with a slight curve, like moth swords in the shop. The blade was 0.8 meters long and was a pale steel color. The guard was also a pale steel decorated with cherries. The hilt was made of a light colored wood and wrapped with bright red cotton in a diamond pattern.

After giving the sword a few test swings, Cherry smiled. When Martin and Grandma Angela saw this smile they were shocked. This wasn't the almost sinister smile that Cherry usually wore, but rather a more child-like smile that better suited her age. Grandma Angela almost died from sweetness overload and was barely containing herself. Even old man Martin felt his cold, steel heart melt.

Cherry was very impressed with this sword. It didn't compare to the swords of her last life, of course, but those were more akin to weapons of mass destruction. This sword was perfectly mundane and only made of steel, not to mention made with mortal hands. Taking all that into account, this sword was truly a marvel.

Martin cleared his throat. "This is the best sword I ever made, girl. I'm confident that it can even become a Meito, a famous named blade. And of the skilled grade, I have no doubt! There's only 50 skilled grade Meito in the world, but if you take this sword out into the world with you one day, I'm certain there'll be a 51st."

"Meito? Are there weapons even better than skilled grade?" Cherry asked, inwardly surprised to find her own eyes were now sparkling.

"Of course. There's an unknown number of Grade blades, the 50 Skilled Grade blades, the 21 Great Grade blades, and the 12 Supreme Grade blades." Martin answered, seeing the Cherry's interest rising. 'Maybe she'll reconsider becoming my apprentice with this, hm?'

"I'm very satisfied with your work, old man Martin. As agreed I'll come by every now and then. Now, how much do we owe you?" Cherry inquired.

Grandma Angela froze and began to sweat. She hadn't expected the sword to turn out this well. Although it wasn't a Meito yet, she didn't doubt Martin's words and he was quite the scrooge.

"Cherry, dear, I'm afraid this might be a bit too pricey. The dojo could afford it, but it would be irresponsible to use the money meant for the dojo's upkeep on a personal item..." Grandma Angela did her best to convince her granddaughter, as much as it pained her.

Cherry looked at Grandma Angela, her smile fading. Grandma Angela felt her heart shatter into a million pieces knowing she was the reason. "W-well, maybe I have enough in my savings..."

"I'd say the sword is worth 500,000 beri as it stands. Though, I reckon that could go up to 3,000,000 beri once it has its earned a name." Martin dumped cold water on Angela, sending her to the depths of despair.

"Bahohoho! I'll stop teasing ya, Angela. I won't charge a single beri, on the condition that it belongs to Cherry alone." At Martin's words, Grandma Angela felt her heart beat in her chest once more in relief.

"Quick, before the old coot changes his mind!" Grandma Angela grabbed Cherry by the hands a charged out the door with her in tow. They heard the distant shouts of indignation from a certain cantankerous old man as they ran back towards the dojo.

...

The days, weeks, and months passed quickly, mostly filled with monotonous training. Cherry discovered a new strange phenomenon. It seemed that when a certain level of effort was put into training, her vitality would start to move instinctually and slowly reinforce her muscles in a similar, but different process to body cultivation.

'This must be the reason Grandma and Borke are so freakishly strong. The vital energy in this world operates on a different set of rules. Hopefully, this doesn't ruin my future plans. If I'm lucky, however, this instinctual body improvement may even make the first 3 realms of body cultivation go much smoother. I may not even need a miracle medicine or a devil fruit (which I don't even know for sure will work yet) to perfect the first realm, maybe even the second.'

Before she knew it, she was already 8 years old.

It was in the autumn of that year that she snuck away to the isolated beach. She had been sneaking out for some time now and Grandma Angela had already given up on scolding her. She was no match for Cherry's puppy dog eyes (though to most people they were more like a vicious wolf's eyes).

As she approached the beach she noticed something that hadn't been there before. It was a ship. And high above that ship flew a pirate flag.

Cherry slowed her approach and lowered her stance to stay hidden. She fortunately had brought her sword with her. After 2 years of sparring with Broke, Slenk, and Grandma Angela, she was confident in dealing with ordinary pirates, especially with her yet unnamed, future Meito.

She cautiously and silently snuck towards the ship until she heard voices.

"Captain, why'd we come here to resupply? There's a marine base on this island!"

"Dahahaha! My bad, my bad! The last time I was here, there wasn't one, promise! It's fine though, we can just walk to town and carry our supplies back. If the marines recognize us, we'll run away Dahaha!"

The others laugh riotously as well.

Cherry peeked through the bushes at the pirates. She saw the first man who spoke was tall, with slicked back black hair, and carried a rifle in his waist sash. The man he had spoken to, the captain, had tussled red hair, three scars over his left eye, and was wearing a straw hat.

Cherry suddenly felt herself being lifted by the back of her collar, turning to see a rather round pirate in a green bandana and tiny goggles, hoisting her up out of the bushes.

Cherry didn't hesitate and drew her sword. Her eyes sharpened and she swung at the fat man's arm, meaning to cleave it off in one move!