Sengoku sat down on the ground after finishing his brief temper tantrum and inwardly admonished himself for losing his cool.
He reflected over his failure during this mission and came to the conclusion that there wasn't too much of a reason to be upset. There were too many unexpected variables, rather pretty much none of the variables they had expected had been present at all.
'I knew I shouldn't have awakened, haaaah…' Sengoku sighed.
The trouble with his awakening is that it had a drastic effect on his mental state. Primarily he obtains great wisdom and an endless capacity for compassion.
'That was the first time I've deliberately caused as much pain as possible while awakened though.' Sengoku thought with a strange feeling.
He knew that it had something to do with some profound realization he had about Harpin D. Cherry. It was unfortunate that after reverting from the awakened state that the loss of wisdom also resulted in the loss of that knowledge. Still, he knew that Cherry had a secret, something related to her quick increase in power. He suspected that there was something odd there and now had a confirmation to that end.
'Perhaps I should pay a visit to her hometown? Perhaps I'd learn something there, maybe by speaking with her family?' Sengoku pondered.
Sengoku wouldn't have to resort to these methods if enlightened Sengoku had just captured Cherry from the beginning instead of messing around. Of course he suspected that enlightened Sengoku never intended on capturing her to begin with, but only intended to "test" her.
'No, forget this bullshit! I'm retired, damn it! No more meddling, just let Aokiji take care of all this annoying crap!' Sengoku caught himself and promised to leave everything to the youngsters from now on.
…
Cherry opened her eyes and saw a clear blue sky above her, the sun burning high in the sky beaming down on her face.
Her body ached. Proof of just how much damage had been done to her body from forcibly fusing another devil fruit into her body. They weren't kidding when they said someone who ate a second devil fruit would "explode".
'The data I got from doing it was very informative, though. I might be able to work out a way to do it safely in the future.' Cherry considered.
The cause seemed to lie in the fact that the devil fruit inscriptions started to violently clash against each other. She was lucky that the inscriptions themselves hadn't been damaged by this.
Strangely, she didn't think that this was a technical issue with compatibility or a deliberate in-built function like the sea curse. Rather, she could swear that they felt "alive" somehow, like rivals fighting each other over her body. She cast that idea aside as soon as it occurred to her, though. How absurd would it be if they had their own will?
Cherry shifted her body, realizing that she was on a mattress and covered by a blanket.
"You're awake?" Robin asked from just out of sight.
"I see you remembered the time I said it would be nice to wake up to the open sky after getting knocked out. It was only an offhand comment I made several months ago." Cherry said, sitting up to look at her.
"Yes, well, I wasn't going to let you miss such a rare opportunity, was I?" Robin answered, sipping a cup of coffee.
"Thank you." Cherry said appreciatively.
"So what happened?" Robin asked, her expression shifting towards curiosity and a bit of admonishment for being reckless.
"I just fused Sakura Tengoku with my body to imbue myself with its lightning logia abilities, that's all. Most of the damage was from that rather than from Sengoku." Cherry explained.
Robin frowned at her. She'd figured that Cherry did something stupid, but not THAT stupid.
"Was Sengoku really so bad that you had to resort to that?" Robin asked.
"I'm not really sure that WAS Sengoku, to be honest. He was like a completely different person. If he hadn't gone easy on me after awakening his devil fruit, I would have been dead meat for sure." Cherry said, though her light tone contrasted with the dire implications of her words.
Robin felt that there was more she hadn't said, though. Something that weighed heavily on Cherry's mind. She didn't need to wonder for long, however, as Cherry wouldn't keep any secrets from her.
"After he awakened, he seemed to get an inkling of an idea about me. Some shallow understanding of our shared secret." Cherry spoke seriously.
It took a moment for Robin to realize she was referring to cultivation.
"How did he manage that? Did he already know beforehand?" Robin asked.
Robin knew just how terrible it would be for the World Government to get their grubby hands on cultivation. It would ensure that the world would never escape their grasp.
"No, Sengoku only just then seemed to get an idea of it. Even then, I doubt it would be much more than the most basic concept and nothing about the actual mechanics of it. The worst that can happen is that it'll paint a target on my back and I've already got quite the large target from my actions at Marineford, so no big deal." Cherry said, ending with a sigh whilst running her fingers through her messy bed hair.
Belo Betty came out from Cabernet's cabin with a tray of food.
"Oh good, you're awake. It would have weighed heavily upon my heart if you had died in my rescue." Betty said with a friendly smile.
Betty was wearing an apron, but wasn't wearing any sort of top beneath it. It seemed that she wasn't comfortable without some sort of cleavage showing at all times, not that Cherry or Robin were complaining.
She had prepared a simple but tasty meal consisting of white rice, some sort of boiled crustacean sea king meat, and soup. The faint aroma of her cigarette smoke reminded Cherry of Sanji's cooking, which she would never admit that she had started to miss.
Perona came out following the smell of the food and they all enjoyed a nice meal together.
They recounted their experiences during the rescue mission. Cherry was quite proud of the ladies for being able to take down two vice admirals, even if they were only of average strength for the rank. The other women listened to Cherry's tale in turn with a feeling of dread over Sengoku's oppressive strength.
"So how'd you get caught anyway, Betty? I know you aren't the strongest in the revolutionary army, but you should be better than that." Perona spoke somewhat rudely, slurping down a strip of oversized crab meat.
"To be honest, it is a bit shameful. We went to liberate an island from a pirate threat. There were some suspicions with the information, but it was plausible enough that we had to at least make sure it was real. The marine ships came out from behind pillars of rock as we approached the island to make landfall and sank our ship before we could put up any real fight. I wound up falling into the water where I could only wait to be captured helplessly or drown. I suppose I'm thankful they chose the former, rather than the latter." Betty explained. She wore a sad expression as the members of her crew had either perished in the brief battle or were taken away instead of being held at the East Blue marine base like herself.
"Ever since Aokiji took over as fleet admiral, the marines have become much more cunning in their approach to dealing with us and pirates. While it might be better for the ordinary citizen that he became the fleet admiral instead of Akainu, it's arguably worse for us as Akainu would typically be more aggressive and direct. Marine operations against us have actually reduced in number since he took over, but unexpectedly they have also become more successful." Betty said.
They finished their meal in relative silence after that, each with their own thoughts.
'I wish I could have some of that crab too…' Cabernet thought, mentally drooling.
Outside of Shakky's Rip Off Bar on Sabaody Archipelago.
A group of three people stood in front of the door looking at the "Closed" sign. The middle-aged woman at the forefront of their group rubbed her chin in thought, before she pretended not to see the sign and valiantly strolled through the door.
"Master, they seem to be closed. Do you really think it's a good idea to just barge in uninvited?" A snake-like man with a mohawk said.
"Shush. Stay outside if you want to be a chicken about it!" The middle-aged woman stated.
The bell above the door on the inside announced their entrance into the bar, drawing the attention of the few individuals inside. One was Shakky with a cigarette in her mouth behind the bar, another was Serene at the bar drinking a martini the size of her head, and lastly a ram with a golden fleece also sitting at the bar and munching on a salad.
"We're closed for the day! Didn't you see the sign?" Shakky looked over with an annoyed look.
"It's been a long time, Shakuyaku." The middle-aged woman said.
It wasn't every day someone called Shakky by her full name, so she studied the woman before her intently. She was familiar to her, but she couldn't remember when she had met the woman.
"Oh come on now. It wasn't every day you banished someone when you were our empress." Said the woman.
Shakky widened her eyes as she realized who was in front of her. "Angelasi?"
"How nice to be remembered by her former highness." Grandma Angela stated without a hint of enthusiasm.
"You can't blame me too much, Angelasi. It's been over forty years since we met and you seemed to have aged even better than I have." Shakky said.
The reunion between the two gave rise to complex emotions for both of them. After all, when Shakky had still been Empress of the Kuja, she had banished Angelasi from their home for falling in love with a man. Shakky had also fallen in love with a man some years later, so she felt like a massive hypocrite at the moment.
Borke and Slenk stood awkwardly behind Grandma Angela, wondering what sort of past their master had lived.
"Hah… Let bygones be bygones. I don't regret leaving Amazon Lily and I'd have done it even if you hadn't banished me." Grandma Angela said.
Shakky's lips formed a relieved smile whilst Borke and Slenk were silently freaking out about this sudden revelation.
'Master Angela is from Amazon Lily?! The famous island of beautiful women?!' Slenk thought, wondering if the island of women was anything like his "romance" novels suggested.
'Master Angela is a criminal?!' Thought the simple mind of Borke.
"These are my apprentices. Borke is the big one, and the drooling pervert here is Slenk.
"I see, nice to meet you boys. So what brings you here, Angelasi?" Shakky asked.
"I entered the Grand Line to find my granddaughter, Cherry, who has been causing a lot of trouble recently. Though I don't think I'm capable of dragging her back home even if I find her anymore." Grandma Angela sighed, taking a seat at the bar.
"You don't mean Harpin D. Cherry, do you?" Serene suddenly chimed in, slurring her speech just a bit.
Grandma Angela measured the young woman with her eyes before deciding that Shakky probably trusts her if she's allowed in her bar after closing.
"The very same. I'm Harpin Angela, her Grandmother." Grandma Angela stated.
"Your granddaughter is a big meany, you know that?!" Serene complained. "Always demanding foot rubs and massages from me, like I'm a servant or something!"
At Grandma Angela's confused look, Shakky explained. "She's on the same crew as Cherry."
Grandma Angela's eyes lit up. "So is Cherry here somewhere? I'd like to meet her as soon as possible."
"I'm afraid not. The whole crew is scattered around the world, so I have no idea where Cherry is." Shakky said. "But she's bound to return here sometime after a year from now. I wouldn't mind having company."
Grandma Angela thought about it and decided to just go with it. She wasn't young any more, though she seemed to have regained a bit of youth from Cherry's strange cultivation technique, so she wasn't keen on adventuring.
Selnk and Borke on the other hand were a bit disappointed. They had grown fond of the adventuring lifestyle since they came to the Grand Line with Grandma Angela, and now it seemed that it would come to an end at least for a while.
"You two are grown men, you know. You don't have to stick to my side like a couple of frightened children. Feel free to go do your own thing." Grandma Angela saw through them.
"Ohhhh, I want to go see Fishman Island!" Borke exclaimed enthusiastically.
"Be careful if you do so. The journey down into the depths is quite dangerous. Many ships are lost during the descent." Shakky warned.
Borke's enthusiasm wasn't reduced in the slightest by the warning though, which caused Slenk to shake his head at his antics. After all, he couldn't let his fellow disciple risk his life on his own, could he? It had nothing to do with his head full of mermaid fantasies.
"Alright, Borke. I'll go with you, make sure you don't kick the bucket." Slenk offered magnanimously.
Borke marched away excitedly whilst Slenk followed behind in exasperation, presumably to find passage to Fishman Island.
"Tell me embarrassing stories about Cherry!" Serene demanded.
Naturally, Grandma Angela was more than happy to oblige.
…
"FUCK!!!" Cherry shouted, sitting upright in bed and startling Robin whom she had been cuddling only a moment before.
"What's wrong?" Robin asked, hearing the panic in Cherry's voice.
"I never warned Grandma about tribulations! I mean I mentioned them in passing, but I didn't think they would happen to her so I didn't explain properly!" Cherry said, pulling her hair.
"Hm, she sounded like a tough old gal from what you've told me. Since she at least has an idea about them, she can probably handle it right?" Robin said, though she was only trying to get Cherry to calm down. She herself hoped that her Grandmother in law hadn't been struck dead.
"Well, probably, sure, but what if she isn't fine?!" Cherry was freaking out.
The old woman meant a great deal to her. Angela was the mother she never had in either of her lives.
"How likely is it that she has already experienced one?" Robin asked.
"... Pretty likely… She has good talent and the early realms pass quickly…" Cherry said, doing calculations in her mind.
"Let's just go visit your hometown and check on her, okay? Don't go and get worked up when you don't know if anything has gone horribly wrong." Robin said, pulling her into a calming embrace.
"Yeah…" Cherry answered.
Returning to West Blue didn't take too long, travel time wise. Cabernet had a much higher maximum speed after Cherry had broken through.
They avoided the town so as to not be seen, they were all wanted pirates after all.
After landing in the courtyard of the dojo, Cherry was visibly agitated. One of the senior disciples approached nervously.
"Where's my Grandmother?" Cherry interrogated.
Her agitated state was due to the fact that she could sense Grandma Angela anywhere.
"Master Angela left for the Grand Line to look for you after you got your first bounty, Cherry…-sama." The disciple explained, tacking a -sama to her name because of the pressure he felt.
"So she was okay at least up until that point? That's good." Cherry said, but now she was worried she wouldn't be able to find Grandma Angela in time before her first tribulation.
"Ah, well, mostly fine, yes. She was actually struck by lightning several times in a row a bit before that. It was a huge shock! Fortunately, she seemed to weather the storm just fine and was back to training after a few days of rest." The disciple explained.
Cherry inwardly heaved a sigh of relief. If Grandma Angela had already experienced a tribulation, there wasn't much more that she could tell her to warn her anyways. Likely she would hold off on the next breakthrough until they had a chance to speak again, so the danger has passed.
"Alright, thank you." Cherry thanked the disciple.
"Let's go visit old man Martin." Cherry said.
Cherry snuck through town towards old Martin's blacksmith and silently entered the building through an upstairs window.
After finding her way down and into the smithy, she saw the old man sharpening a sword.
"Hey, old man!" Cherry called out, getting his attention.
"Hm?" Martin's eyes widened. "It's good to see you again, girl! Haha!"
"I'm sure it is, but you'll be even happier to see this." Cherry said, drawing Sakura Tengoku from its sheathe.
Old man Martin was shocked beyond words. He couldn't believe this was the same sword he had forged all those years ago.