章 132: Black Drum Kingdom
'It was good that I didn't give up and came here.' Cherry thought as she finished looking through the contents of the safe.
Overall this trip had been fruitful even though none of the martial arts had been particularly profound. What they did give her was a solid grasp on how the residents of this world utilized their vital energy through their martial art forms.
With so many samples to parse through, she had greatly shortened the time it would take to accomplish one of her goals. That is, creating a new martial art that suited her. Combined with the few forms she knew from her previous life, she would be able to make something mightier than the sum of its parts.
Well, she needed something to occupy her time. She couldn't just spend every second of her life cultivating could she? Otherwise, what would be the point of living forever?
Cherry tossed the documents to the floor without a care, then poked the assassin trainer on the forehead, causing him to pass out.
'Hm, I promised not to cripple all his men, but it can't be helped if they attack me, can it?' Cherry thought shamelessly, already breaking her word.
Cherry unfused the door and slammed it open, garnering the attention of everyone within earshot. Assassins came to find out what happened, only to discover an intruder. Naturally, they attacked said intruder and were swiftly made to regret their hasty actions.
'Really, they ought to know better. They're all coming at me from the front even after I made it clear I'm not afraid of them. Not just that, they can clearly see from their previously crippled comrades on the ground that they're no match. How foolish.' Cherry chastised them in her mind.
Once outside, Cherry vanished into the night. The following morning there was quite the commotion, as every single martial art school found they had been burgled. Moreover, the thief left notes at each crime scene daring the strongest martial artists from each school to face him at a particular location at noon.
Martial artists weren't the most cunning or cautious of people, so while many of them suspected some sort of trap or trick they still showed up. Along with the marines, of course.
A large crowd of martial artists and many marines were waiting at the agreed upon spot by the time noon came.
"Where the hell is that coward! I'll rearrange his face with my fists!" The master of the boxing dojo announced, to many shouts of agreement.
"I'm here." A voice sounded out, startling them all. The voice came from a somewhat short young "man" who was dressed like a ninja. To add insult to injury, he was standing right in the middle of the crowd!
The master of the strongest dojo on the island, the karate school, was standing right next to the supposed thief. He wasted no time in attacking the young man with the intent to subdue him and handing him over to the marines.
*Bam bam bam!*
The karate master was hit by several sharp, vicious blows that certainly wouldn't be taught by any upstanding martial art school. This was proof enough for the other masters to attack immediately. Unfortunately the karate master was already quite injured, and though still willing to fight he was not able to push through the other masters in his current state.
What occurred afterwards would become a local legend of Karate Island. The day that a thief faced every so-called martial arts master on the island head on and won the fight without a scratch to show for it, and all at once at that.
The marines naturally didn't stand any chance at defeating Cherry either, as they were all standard marines stationed in South Blue, not the Grand Line. Moreover, their presence on the island was mostly a formality as the martial arts schools handled things well enough on their own usually.
Having seen the various martial arts up close and personal, Cherry pretty much understood all their martial arts perfectly.
So now it was time to leave.
There was no one left standing to pursue her, so she wasn't in any rush. The other three were already waiting for her to leave for their next destination when she arrived at their meeting point.
Cabernet lifted off, leaving Karate Island far behind them soon after.
Cherry spent the journey assembling her new martial art. She still needed to steal- borrow more styles in regards to weapon martial arts, but she had enough for a solid base in unarmed combat and the application of vital energy.
Soon, they saw the Black Drum Kingdom in the distance. The doom and gloom of the place could be felt even miles away.
"Even though it fits my aesthetic, even I can't like this place…" Perona commented.
"That's because the incompetence of its ruler ruins the flavor." Cherry said.
"Ah, you're right. That's what it is." Perona agreed.
"We'll gather information first and foremost." Robin suggested, garnering nods from the others.
"What do I do?" Cabernet asked, not wanting to be left out of the "fun".
"Just help people and talk to them. Just don't start any trouble." Cherry said. Cabernet nodded with some eagerness.
Robin went to find an information broker, Perona sent out her ghosts to poke around risk free, Cabernet went to find people in need of assistance, and Cherry made her way to Wapol's castle.
The guards of the castle were just as lazy and incompetent as their king, so it was child's play to infiltrate it, at least by Cherry's standards.
"Ptooey ptooey ptooey! You call this slop food worthy of my majesty?! CONSIDER YOURSELF FIRED!" The familiar voice of Wapol was heard shouting from inside what appeared to be an overly extravagant dining room.
His guards dragged away a kicking and screaming chef. From his reaction it seems that being "fired" by Wapol was a bit more severe than just losing one's job.
Cherry followed the guards that dragged the man away and sure enough, she found them stuffing the poor man into a cannon aimed away from the castle into a lake. The average person of this world might be sturdy, but not "fired out of a cannon and survive" sturdy.
Cherry swooped down and jostled the brains of the guards with a couple of "light" palm strikes, rendering them unconscious. She then pulled the chef out of the cannon, then removed his bindings and his gag.
"Thank you thank you thank you!" He thanked desperately whilst crying his eyes out.
"Don't worry about it." Cherry replied.
Cherry started to take off one of the guard's uniforms and told the chef to quickly undress as well. Fortunately, the man seemed to guess what she was up to and quickly complied, then he put on the guard's uniform whilst Cherry put his chef's outfit onto the guard and stuffed him into the cannon.
"Why don't you answer a few questions for me." Cherry said, lighting the fuse on the cannon so that no one would know anything was wrong, at least not right away. She wasn't exactly worried about the guard's wellbeing, as he had been about to fire an innocent man out of the very same cannon, but she figured he'd most likely survive.
"Whatever you want, ask me anything at all!" The chef nodded furiously.
"Tell me everything you know about Wapol's government, and if possible his company as well." Cherry said.
The chef started a long rant, only pausing to flinch when the cannon fired. It seemed like he had a lot to get off his chest, which was good for Cherry. Though she did have to get him back on track a few times.
"Hmm, I see. You seem to know quite a lot, this will be helpful to me. Let's get you out of here then, as far as anyone knows you were fired out of the cannon." Cherry said, picking the man up and holding him under one arm as she leapt out the window and dashed through the air, hugging closely to the wall to avoid being spotted.
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