บท 424: Mandarins and Mutton
Cherry walked up a path and passed a sign that said "Bell-mère's".
"Seems to be the right place…" Cherry muttered to herself.
If she still had any doubt, then it was gone when she saw the blue haired woman tending to one of the trees. She recognized the woman from a photograph that Nami kept.
"I don't suppose any of those are ready to be harvested?" Cherry called out.
Nojiko spun her head around to look at her. Recognition crossed her face immediately and she climbed down her ladder.
"They still need a little more time, but they can be eaten now. Are you buying?" Nojiko asked, pulling her work gloves off one at a time.
"We have plenty on our ship, thanks," Cherry said. She tossed a mandarin to the woman and said, "Maybe you'd like to have a taste of that one, though? From halfway around the world, it is."
"One of Nami's?" Nojiko reckoned it probably tasted like an orange, but maybe the unusual climate of sailing around the world changed the flavor somewhat?
Nojiko peeled it and had a bite. "Oh!"
It did indeed taste like an orange, but there was something subtle to the fruit's flavor that she couldn't quite describe. "It tastes like… more?"
That was the best she could manage. It wasn't a stronger flavor, it wasn't sweeter or tangier; it just tasted 'more'.
"I thought so too," Cherry said, though she knew the reason.
Nami's mandarin trees had started to change due to their exposure to the celestial energy that Cherry accidentally brought into the world. They couldn't be used to make cultivation pills or anything, but they're properties were still enhanced by what little celestial energy they had.
"You can keep the seeds for that one. See what happens," Cherry said. "Oh, and this."
Cherry dropped a sack full of treasure on the ground, judging by the metallic sound it made when she did so.
"I can't take that!" Nojiko refused. "Nami already left that massive amount of treasure with us when she left, even though she earned it all on her own. This is too much!"
"Bah!" Cherry scoffed. "Just take it. Trust me when I say we've got more money than we can spend. If you feel bad, then just hang onto it in case we need it someday."
Nojiko looked like she wanted to refuse, but years living under Arlong's thumb had given her certain financial skills and tendencies. She couldn't deny the value of having a rainy day fund, and she could only imagine all the ways a pirate crew could lose their wealth whilst sailing the most dangerous sea in the world. "Fine, I'll bury it."
"Or you could blow it all in one day! Maybe monopolize the fruit industry?" Cherry suggested.
"Not in a million years. Competition keeps the quality up and the prices down, and I'm doing just fine on my own," Nojiko declined, failing to heft the heavy bag of gold off the ground. "Just how much gold is in here?!"
"About a hundred and twenty million, I'd guess," Cherry estimated.
"You don't even know how much it's worth? Does Nami even know about this?" Nojiko glanced at her oddly.
"Nope," Cherry answered simply. "I figure she would approve though. Not that I plan to tell her."
"Right," Nojiko sighed. "Are all of Nami's new friends as big of a pain as you?"
"Nobody is as big of a pain as me," Cherry planted her fists on her hips and straightened up her back.
"I'll take your word for it," Nojiko said, giving up on the bag for now. "Would you like some tea? I'd love to hear how Nami has been doing, though I'd rather hear about her adventures from her myself."
Cherry agreed and they had a rather pleasant chat. Just like with Zeff, Cherry let Nojiko in on the little details that you would never see in the newspapers; things that Nami probably wouldn't talk about out of embarrassment mostly.
"Say… You aren't 'with' my sister, are you?" Nojiko asked with a curious expression.
"What? No," Cherry dismissed the notion immediately. "She's cute, but she's much too young for me."
"Really? She can't be that much younger," Nojiko found it a bit unbelievable.
"I'm an old soul," Cherry barely contained a snicker at that. "No, it's Robin who's stolen my heart."
"Ah, I see," Nojiko assumed that Cherry meant that she just prefers older women, which wasn't wrong in a certain sense.
"Well, I'll be going. I have some Big Mom pirates to hunt," Cherry said as she got up.
"What?" Nojiko barely registered what she just said before Cherry vanished in a burst of blinding speed, but only leaving the slightest breeze in her wake.
…
Once again, there hadn't been any lurking goons waiting for orders to attack or kidnap Nami's loved ones. Cherry hoped that that remained the case for the last two destinations.
The next one was actually one that particularly interested Cherry. The den den mushi's dream-body had taken the shape of a sheep grazing in a field whilst wearing a butler's uniform.
Cherry soon appeared within a fancy mansion. She looked around and saw a painting of a wealthy couple and their daughter. It was clear to see that the head of the butler off to the side had been painted over with a half sheep mink's head instead of whomever the original had been.
"Oh, wow. Usopp wasn't lying about having a rich girlfriend back home…" Cherry rubbed her chin thoughtfully. She couldn't really be blamed for thinking so, given how Usopp was.
"Eep!" *crash* a young woman's voice cried out in alarm, followed by the sound of breaking glass.
"What's happened, Miss Kaya?!" another voice called out from elsewhere in the mansion.
The butler from the painting raced along and found his young employer, but also an intruder! He placed himself between Cherry and Kaya before raising his fists. "D-don't come any closer, or I-I'll…!"
"It's okay, Merry. She's one of Usopp's friends; from the newspaper, remember?" Kaya said, having composed herself. "Oh dear, I broke Mother's favorite vase…"
"I can fix that." Cherry approached under the wary gaze of the butler. She picked up the pieces of the broken vase with unearthly dexterity, and fused them back into place as she went. "Good as new."
Kaya and Merry were amazed at the sight, though the latter refused to show it and kept his guard up. Devil Fruit were a rare thing to see in the four Blues, with even people who lived in larger cities possibly going their entire lives without seeing one in action, let alone in a small village like this one.
"Thank you! Do you see, Merry? She's a friend," Kaya said, accepting the vase with a smile and putting it back onto its podium.
"Even Usopp didn't sneak into the house, Miss Kaya, and he knew you for years! It is especially inappropriate for someone we've never even met!" Merry stood his ground and crossed his arms.
"I see where Merry get's her stubbornness," Cherry chuckled.
"Hm? Oh, the ship I gave to Usopp and your captain? Are you still sailing her even now?" Merry asked, his mask of defiance slipping slightly.
"No," Cherry replied.
Merry and Kaya sagged slightly. Merry nodded and said, "She was an old ship. I didn't expect you could sail her for too long in such a treacherous sea. What was it that ended her journey, if I might ask?"
"Her keel was broken by a knock-up stream; an extremely powerful current that often launches ships into the sky," Cherry said, though she left out the part about Skypiea knowing that Usopp would want to tell that story. "She's still traveling with us, though, so her journey isn't over."
"How so?" Merry was confused. How could you bring a ship with you if it wasn't sea worthy?
Cherry dug out the stack of wanted posters in her pocket and flipped through them. "Like so."
Merry blinked at the bounty poster of a sheep, one that looked suspiciously like the figurehead of the Going Merry. "You took in this sheep as a… spiritual successor to the Going Merry?"
It was a very sweet idea, and showed that the crew truly cared for the ship, and didn't just casually discard it. It warmed both Merry's and Kaya's hearts.
"No, this is the Going Merry. I fed the sheep sheep fruit to her, and now she's a sheep," Cherry burst their bubbles.
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