Chương 82: Monkey D. Garp
There was about a week to kill whilst Franky was busy building his "Dream Ship", as he called it.
Cherry made sure to ask him to save all of the scrap wood left over as she could always fuse it back together to create bigger pieces. She planned to use that wood for various projects of her own during the week.
The first of which was to attempt to make her own vivre Cards, in order to track the Straw Hats. They seemed to get into the most trouble when they were separated from one another after all.
She had Luffy show her Ace's Vivre Card as an example to base her own off of, and after a few attempts she managed to make her own version of them. It took about 2 days to complete the experimental processes necessary to do so.
She made a little booklet of Vivre Cards, each page being for each member of the Straw Hats. This way she could find each of them whenever she needed to.
The group was hanging out in the hotel room discussing future plans.
"Hm? Somebody is coming this way, guys. Seems pretty strong." Cherry spoke up.
*BLAM!*
The wall of the hotel room exploded. Or at least it seemed to as an old man in a vice admiral's uniform walked in.
"Grandpa?!" Luffy shouted nervously.
"Don't you owe me an apology, Luffy? Not only did you become a pirate, you even dragged Miss Harpin down to your level!" Garp growled, slamming a fist into the top of Luffy's head.
"And you, Miss Harpin. What are you doing becoming a pirate? Your Grandfather was an old drinking buddy of mine, his dojo trained many fine marines." Garp interrogated.
Cherry took in the presence of the old man. He wasn't like the indecisive Aokiji or the depraved Wilson Alexander. This was a man who was firm in his convictions and sense of justice.
"The government decided those fine marines weren't enough and put that bastard of a world's greatest swordsman on their payroll instead. Don't blame me for the choice they made." She said unflinchingly.
"Your tongue is as sharp as your Grandmother's. Bwahahaha!" Garp laughed, though Cherry thought she could sense some feelings of guilt beneath it.
"Anyways, I trained you to be a marine, not a damned pirate Luffy!" Garp shouted at him.
"I've always said I wanted to be a pirate!" Luffy countered.
"It's that damned Red Hair that's corrupted you!" Garp shouted back stubbornly.
"Shut up! Shanks saved my life!" Luffy yelled.
Garp continued to scold (and punch) Luffy for a while, until they eventually both got sick of it and gave up.
They had a little reunion with some old acquaintances, Colby and Helmeppo. Cherry was a bit surprised to see Colby use Soru from Rokushiki. She supposed they didn't just teach it to Cipher Pol agents.
They chatted some more whilst Garp and the marines fixed the hole he made in the wall, during which Garp accidentally told everyone that Dragon was his son and Luffy's father.
When Luffy went to go catch up with Colby and Helmeppo, Cherry followed Nami to the pool where she listened in on their conversion with a hidden Den Den Mushi.
"A shame we can't feed questions to Luffy. Those guys have really loose lips." Cherry commented.
A bit later a man with a camera approached them. "U-um, excuse m-me! I'm with the local newspaper, can I get some photos?"
"Oh, sure! You have to get a good one though, one that makes me look the cutest!" Nami was happy to get the attention.
"M-may I have one of you as well, m-miss?" He asked Cherry nervously.
"For the bounty posters, right?" Cherry gave a menacing grin.
"What?!" Nami exclaimed.
He swiftly took a photo of Cherry and ran away.
"Wow, he's pretty quick on his feet. No wonder they have him taking the bounty photos." Cherry praised.
"Why didn't you tell me that he was lying?" Nami was distraught, shaking Cherry by the shoulders.
"Hehehe, you're supposed to be the most wary one of our little ragtag group, Nami. Except for Robin, of course." Cherry teased.
Later on they had a big barbeque banquet for everyone involved in their little misadventure this time. Again Nami seemed to fail to realize it was their own money that Luffy spent to make this possible, but Cherry wouldn't ruin her mood.
Cherry didn't miss Aokiji trying to crash the party. She noticed him strike up a conversation with Robin through the wall of the courtyard.
Cherry slowly approached whilst drawing her sword, trying to reduce the presence of her will to the minimum.
Naturally Robin saw this, but Cherry placed a finger to her lips with a mischievous look.
Cherry pointed the sword at the wall right next to Robin's head and waited until they finished speaking with her eyes closed.
"Then live your life to the fullest-" He spoke.
*Shink*
Aokiji widened his eyes as the blade passed dangerously close to his throat. Of course he recognized the sword as Cherry's.
He heard Robin giggle on the other side. "I'll do that with or without your blessing."
Aokiji scurried away. Not out of fear, no, of course not. He just didn't want to start any trouble, that's all.
"Thank you, Cherry." Robin gave her a big smile. She was tired of Aokiji making her feel so helpless, so that felt quite cathartic.
The next five days Chery spent working on her other goals for the time.
First was a spear, to add to her Blood Bound arsenal. The Adam wood made for a very good spear shaft and she obtained the metals she needed for a super alloy from the neighboring cities connected to Water 7 via sea train.
The result was very good (for this world at least) and became even better once she Blood Bound it.
The last project was a slingshot for Usopp. It wasn't something he'd be able to use with his current strength, but rather something to aspire to use if he trained hard enough. He was not only the weakest of her pupils, but also showed the least improvement, so she wanted to spur him on with a tangible reward.
His current slingshot was basically scrap metal in Cherry's eyes. Worse even, it was a crutch. He used dials to increase its power instead of his own body's strength. Call her old fashioned if you want, but she believed weapons should only augment a warrior's power, not replace it.
The result was as expected of a peerless weapon smith.
Cherry had Usopp demonstrate the power of his Kabuto for her. She praised it where praise was due, and criticized it where it should be criticized. Usopp had long recognized Cherry's craftsmanship and took it well.
"Now, I've got a gift for you Usopp." Cherry said, giving him a box.
"Oh? What is it?" He asked, shaking it obnoxiously.
"Just open it!" Cherry swatted the back of his head.
"Oh, it's very stylish. Thank you, Cherry." He admired it, but when he tried to pull it, it didn't budge.
"Um, Cherry? It's supposed to be elastic you know?" Usopp said awkwardly.
Cherry gave him an annoyed look and put out her hand. Usopp gave the slingshot to her, and she proceeded to place a iron ball into it and pull it back.
Usopp watched in amazement, then his jaw dropped when she released it and the iron ball easily pierced a steel plate at a distance of 50 meters.
"See? It works just fine. It's you who isn't up to standard. However, if you work hard you can use it too. Then your gadgets will increase your strength instead of being your only strength." Cherry encouraged.
Usopp took back the slingshot and looked at it in his hands. His eyes started to sparkle with a new found desire to grow stronger.
"Hey, guys! The new ship has been completed!" A Franky Family member called out to them.
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