"I can't believe I talked to those two nerds about blacksmithing for six hours…" Cherry muttered to herself on the way up to the dojo. "Hmm, did I say too much? No, I'm sure it's fine."
At that moment, Martin and Rosalie were preparing for what would turn out to be a sleepless weeklong forging session; the end result of which would be a blade that could only be called a hopeless failure in even the most generous terms.
However, that failure would not discourage them, but rather only add fuel to the fires of their passion. If it had been a mediocre but otherwise perfectly serviceable sword, only then would they despair for they would have learned little from the experience.
Years and countless failures later, a new Supreme Grade Meito would be born from their hands and forge. Many years later still, its name would be carved into the annals of history alongside the likes of "Yoru".
Cherry pushed open the gate of the dojo, not bothering to shut it behind her. It was a bad habit from her youth; one she didn't care to kick.
The dojo had a smattering of children doing basic sword swings in the yard. The evening class that was held after school let out was presided over by Slenk, who was doing his best not to look bored out of his mind. His best wasn't very good, but the children didn't seem to notice.
Slenk's eyes widened when he saw her. Naturally because he hadn't expected to see her today. "Master Angela is in the house."
Cherry understood that he was busy and despite how bored he looked, he did take his teaching seriously, but Cherry wasn't going to let him off for not greeting her properly.
Cherry walked past a child in the front center, the one right in front of Slenk, and she tapped the child's wooden sword as he swung it down.
*Schwing!*
"Eep?!" Slenk dodged desperately, letting out a high pitched squeal.
The children stopped what they were doing to stare in wonder, especially the child whose sword swing was adjusted by Cherry. None of them had ever witnessed a flying sword slash before, and this random lady actually made one of THEM produce one?!
"""Me next! Me next!""" """That was so cool!""" """It went like 'SCHWING'!""" The previously disciplined disciples were now children once more.
Slenk felt nervous sweat drip from his brow. He didn't want any more slashes to dodge, so he quickly said "It's good to see you, Cherry."
"Oh! So it IS you, Slenk! I thought you had been replaced by a ruder look-a-like." Cherry smirked. "It's good to see you too."
"Shouldn't you be halfway around the world right about now?" Slenk asked, carefully managing his tone to avoid sounding like that's where he wanted her to be.
"I'm just popping in to say hello. So, hello!" Cherry waved and walked towards the house where she spent her childhood in this world living.
Slenk heaved a sigh as he watched her go. He turned his attention back to the students, only to find them watching them with sparkling eyes and a newfound enthusiasm for swordsmanship that the monotonous training had dulled over time.
"Can you teach us how to do that, Senior Slenk?!" One of the children gathered the courage to ask.
Slenk panicked for a short moment, but he had always been quick with clever responses to tricky questions. "You won't be sending any of your slashes flying without a rock solid foundation in the basics. Back to it!"
Slenk metaphorically patted himself on the back for that one. He was only just learning to use haki, there was no way he could make a flying sword slash.
Thinking that brought his eyes to the boy whose sword Cherry had adjusted. He wondered how Cherry had done that with someone else's sword, a wooden one no less, with only a single tap of her finger.
The boy in question was the only one of his peers who wasn't bursting with excitement. Rather, he was looking at the wooden blade in his hand thoughtfully and with what was almost reverence. Only he and Cherry knew that the only thing she had done was adjust his swing and nothing more. He did not know the significance of that fact, that he had used an advanced form of swordsmanship bordering on the development of armament haki. He couldn't know of things he had never been told about.
He focused on the memory of the feeling of the sword moving in exactly the way he had meant it to, with only the slightest of changes from someone who couldn't have possibly known how he had wanted it to move. It had been so sudden and fleeting that it was hard to grasp it now, but he was now more certain than ever that this was the path that he wanted to tread.
Many years in the future, he would shake the world with a blade forged on this very island and go on to challenge a certain moss-headed swordsman. Only the future can reveal whether he is destined for greatness or just to be another notch on a better swordsman's belt.
Cherry walked into her childhood home like she had never left, kicking her boots off at the threshold and finding her grandmother having tea with Commander Frowe of all people.
Grandma Angela's face lit up with a smile while Commander Frowe's darkened with a frown.
"Cherry, I wasn't expecting you. I'll go get you a cup." Grandma Angela stood to leave the room to do just that.
Cherry was a bit shocked at the sight of her. Grandma Angela had already reversed her aging process by a fair bit the last time she saw her at Sabaody. Now she could easily pass for someone in her thirties. The reason was clear; she had entered the fourth realm.
Cultivation Realms were exponential when it came to extending one's lifespan. The third realm of body cultivation roughly doubled the lifespan of a person, but the fourth realm would have a normal human living as long or even a bit longer than giants do in this world. This trend continued until the point that the body simply ceased to age; that was the immortal realm.
It was a pleasant surprise, both because it meant that Grandma Angela would live much longer and because Cherry came to warn her of danger. Danger that would be even easier to fend off with the power granted by the fourth realm.
"So what brings you here, Commander?" Cherry asked conversationally as she sat down.
"We were discussing the appearance of one of Big Mom's ships lurking in the waters around the island. I don't think anyone notable is aboard the vessel given how long it's been here since the first sighting, but even then it's a serious threat." Frowe didn't see the need to hide anything. He was only ordered not to tell the 'general public' to avoid causing a panic. Nobody told him not to say anything to pirates.
"No there isn't," Cherry said, as Grandma Angela came in with another cup and sat down.
"There isn't what, dear?" Grandma Angela asked, pouring some tea for Cherry.
"There isn't a ship belonging to Big Mom lurking around the island." Cherry said, accepting the tea.
"Of course there is. I have several sighting reports from marine patrol ships." Commander Frowe furrowed his brow.
"I see. So there aren't any Big Mom ships after all. That's good news." Grandma Angela apparently didn't hear him.
"I'm telling you…" Commander Frowe paused when he saw Angela's eyes flick knowingly at Cherry and back to him.
He looked at Cherry and saw one of her old smiles on her face, the kind she had as a child before working out a more pleasant one to use.
"Oh, I see. No Big Mom ships, huh…?" Commander Frowe swallowed dryly. "If you'll excuse me, I need to send an update to West Blue HQ."
Commander Frowe stood and stiffly marched out of the house, forgetting to even put his boots back on. He had to tell HQ that an emperor's ship was sunk off the coast of HIS marine base. That was even worse than spotting one nearby to begin with.
"The Big Mom pirates were here because holding hostages is apparently how she ensures that her invitations to her tea parties are answered. Not that those weaklings could have hurt you, but they might have hurt someone else in the process of trying." Cherry told Grandma Agnela after Commander Frowe had left.
"So that's what they were doing here. I thought that they might be here for something else, what with those Cipher Pol agents poking around the island as well." Grandma Angela spoke calmly, sipping her tea.
"Cipher Pol? Do you know which one they're with?" Cherry was vaguely familiar with each of the agencies and what they typically worked around, except in unique cases like with Robin's kidnapping to Enies Lobby where they just needed a bunch of agents. The perks of hanging around the Revolutionary Army for a while.
Grandma Angela shrugged. "It's not like they've announced themselves. Their disguises are well done and, as far as I'm aware, Commander Frowe doesn't know they're here."
"Hmmm, CP2 maybe? Information gathering?" Cherry rubbed her chin thoughtfully.
That would explain why she didn't pick up on them. CP2 were non-combatants who specialized in espionage, so they would be indistinguishable from ordinary civilians via Life Sense. Of course, all Cipher Pol agents were trained in information gathering, but nobody could beat CP2 at flying under the radar. That's why they were the only agency not required to train in Rokushiki; in fact they were specifically banned from doing so as having an overly trained body could be the difference between getting caught or not.
"How did you recognize them if they were disguised?" Cherry asked her.
"I can tell when people are watching me, Cherry. It's a very useful application of observation haki, to tell the difference between friendly eyes and the opposite. It's very rare to have someone paying close attention to you whilst also being wary of you." Grandma Angela explained. "Having more than one doing it within the span of a few days pretty much guarantees that it's not a coincidence."
"How could you be sure they were world government agents, then?" Cherry was curious about that point.
"They aren't as good at catching others watching them as they are at watching others." Grandma Angela smiled.
Cherry had never known her grandmother to be particularly sneaky, but she supposed that the woman had lived an entire life before she found herself in this world.
"Is that all you came here for, then?" Grandma Angela asked.
"I was just in the area, mostly. Traveling by snail is surprisingly quick, you know?" Cherry said.
Naturally Grandma Angela hadn't a clue what Cherry could mean by that. It would take more than a few leaps of logic to even begin to see the truth of the matter.
"Well, I hope that means you can visit often," Grandma Angela took it in stride, and naturally insisted on being able to see her granddaughter more often as a result.
"Of course," Cherry was glad to agree. "Oh, I came into some money. You should take some to improve some things around here, better equipment and the like."
Grandma Angela was about to refuse, partly out of stubborn pride and partly because what made for a fair amount of money for an individual wouldn't amount to much for the entire dojo.
The sound of gold spilling into a pile on the floor gave her pause, however. Her time with the Kuja pirates allowed her to gauge the rough value of the pile to treasure to be somewhere in the range of two or three hundred million Beri. The perfect example of a small fortune.
Various expenses flashed through her mind in addition to the need for a new barracks to house the increase of the more serious disciples who were in it for the long haul. Between a number of Cherry's fans from Pebbleton wanting to learn where she had and prospective marines determined to fight against the renewed vigor of the pirate era, there was quite an increase in the number of students in the dojo.
"I suppose I can humble myself just this once and call it a repayment on the resources used to raise you… with interest," Grandma Angela spoke.
"Don't be that way. There are no debts amongst family," Cherry waved her words away. "The time I spent with you is worth more than money could ever repay, so please don't ask me to cough it up."
"I will take it without hesitation then," Grandma Angela chuckled. "Any more where that came from?"
"Shall I fill the entire house with gold?" Cherry raised an eyebrow in question.
Grandma Angela laughed. "A bit of an exaggeration, isn't that?"
Cherry smiled widely, and Grandma Angela realized that she had pulled the pile of gold on her floor out from seemingly nowhere. She had been so surprised by the gold itself that she hadn't questioned where it had come from.
"Just how much gold do you have?" Grandma Angela asked tentatively.
"Do you know the Gran Tesoro?" Cherry answered the question with another.
"Yes?" Grandma Angela had of course heard of it. It was quite famous among all the seas.
"I have most of what was in Gran Tesoro's vault on me right now. Although I suppose it doesn't all belong to me, but rather I'm keeping it safe from thieves and the like." Cherry spoke casually.
Grandma Angela couldn't even fathom the amount of wealth the world's largest and most famous casino had contained. The Gran Tesoro was widely regarded as an unofficial country in its own right, and just how much wealth did the average kingdom have?
Less than the Gran Tesoro, that much was certain.
"I'm sorry that I have to cut this visit short, but I have a wedding to attend tomorrow and it isn't going to wreck itself. I already blew half the daylight at old man Martin's place. I promise I'll come visit soon." Cherry stood up and gave her Grandmother a big hug. "Oh, yes, do keep this den den mushi here somewhere. It'll be easier to find my way with a familiar way point. Just don't answer any calls."
When Cherry set the den den mushi down on the table, Grandma Angela understood this probably had something to do with what she said about 'traveling by snail', but she couldn't imagine how.
Luckily, she didn't have to imagine it, as in the next moment Cherry turned to ghostly flames and disappeared into the den den mushi without a trace.
"Huh." was all Grandma Angela could muster to say about it.
"Master Angela," Slenk called from outside the front door.
Grandma Angela went to answer it and saw both Commander Frowe's and Cherry's shoes still in the entryway. Sighing softly, she slid open the door.
"Can Cherry spare some time for the children? They keep asking me to do that trick with the flying slash and I don't have the guts to tell them I can't." Slenk spoke honestly.
"She already left, I'm afraid. If it's just a flying slash, I suppose I could show them a few…" Grandma Angela felt generous in her good mood.
"Oh no, she made one of the children make one. No offense, but… Master Angela can't do that can she?" Slenk asked, trying and somewhat failing to say so diplomatically.
"Really?" Grandma Angela was genuinely surprised by that. She wondered at what level of swordsmanship that Cherry has reached, and if she might have the chance to observe a fight of hers someday. "Maybe she's given up on that 'Cheapshot' nonsense and is properly focusing on the sword now?"
Slenk didn't look confident in that conclusion.
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