Chương 369: Miracle Massage
"Concerns?" Cherry twirled her finger in her hair innocently, like she had no clue what Big Mom could mean by that.
Big Mom nodded in confirmation. "Yes, concerns."
"You are neither a member of my family by blood or my marriage, and as such you have no reason to honor this bet of yours. So you understand that I cannot trust you to see my private collection," Big Mom continued.
The huge woman sat there in silence for a moment, her eyes half closed as if to display her casual disregard for any threat that Cherry might pose to her. It seemed as if she was simply going to leave it at that, before Smoothie spoke up.
"About that, Mama. It seems that she has taken a liking to Katakuri-onii-san. In fact, she hasn't shut up about him since I met her," Smoothie said with a conspiratorial smirk.
"Is that so?" Big mom asked rhetorically, her gaze never leaving Cherry. "That's awfully arrogant of you. My sweet Katakuri's hand in marriage isn't easily given, certainly not for such an unsure thing."
'Wow, she's a lot more conniving than I expected. I'd almost believe that she's a well adjusted person if I couldn't see that bottomless gluttony hidden behind her eyes,' Cherry thought.
What Big Mom was really saying was "Tell me what else you can give me and I'll consider it." Essentially, she was trying to squeeze everything that she could out of Cherry before letting Cherry go anywhere near the poneglyphs, whilst at the same time making it out like an arranged marriage was a great boon to Cherry.
Perhaps it really would be a good deal if Cherry wasn't Cherry. Katakuri was no Whitebeard, but he was a hell of a man and if Cherry was into that sort of thing then she would probably consider actually going along with it.
As it stood now, though, she would just give whatever false promises she had to to get what she wanted.
"You remember the Marineford war? How Whitebeard suddenly got a spring in his step? Well that was nothing, a parlor trick really. With more… extended treatment, I could easily give you another hundred years of life. Maybe you'll even push past your 200th year, judging by your current good health," Cherry offered with a lazy smile.
Big Mom's eyes widened and her pupils constricted. Plenty of people wanted to live a long life, and that was especially true of those who indulge themselves in life's pleasures the way that Big Mom did.
"Prove it," Big Mom leaned forward, a drop of drool dripping onto the carpet.
"Your head chef looked like he was pushing a hundred. I could demonstrate with him," Cherry said.
"Bring Streusen here!" Big Mom didn't hesitate.
Streusen was in good health for a man of 92 years, but that was only relative to the average person. He didn't possess the robust constitution that Big Mom did, so he had fallen quite far from his prime. This saddened Big Mom, because she did so love his cooking.
So when this opportunity to extend her favorite chef's life presented itself, she naturally seized it. If Cherry was lying, then the worst that would happen is she loses her head chef a few years earlier than expected. Not that Big Mom believed that Cherry would dare to harm him when there was nothing to gain by doing so.
It didn't occur to her that if Cherry killed Streusen that the wedding cake may be delayed, causing another hunger pang attack that would not be so easily sated. If Cherry were a saboteur, this would be an excellent chance to strike her where it really hurt; her stomach.
This was primarily the reason that Streusen was very confused when he was suddenly called away from his duties. He couldn't imagine any reasons that Big Mom would deliberately distract him. She didn't even ask him to bring a snack!
So when he entered the room and found Big Mom and Smoothie making small talk with the young woman that he met the other night when Katakuri came to the kitchens, he was even more perplexed but was able to assume it had something to do with Cherry.
"Oh, good! He's here~" Cherry cracked her knuckles whilst smiling at him.
Streusen almost flinched, and would have if he wasn't used to Big Mom scaring the daylight out of him with the faces she made sometimes.
'Did… did I offend her last night when I had the food made spicy to Katakuri's standard last night?' Streusen quickly pondered. He quickly shook off that doubt, 'No, wait, I shouldn't be worried about if I offended her, she should worry about offending me!'
Streusen held his head high, which wasn't very high at all with his 140 centimeters of height.
"Lie down!" Cherry patted a massage table that had been brought into the room.
"???" Streusen was completely lost.
"Go ahead, Streusen. I think you'll enjoy this," Big Mom said, but a strange light in her eyes gave him pause.
In the end, he had thoroughly tied his fate to Big Mom over the last sixty years, so he could only acquiesce. He very much doubted that this would be a bad thing for him anyways, no matter if Cherry was looking at him like she was scheming against him.
Streusen lied down on the massage table, placing his face in the little donut shape and staring awkwardly at the floor. "What is this about- OoOOooohhHHHhhh~"
Cherry dug her hands into his back, using techniques that she learned from both Serene and Chopper to amplify both the relaxing and medical qualities. That wasn't all, however. Rather, this was only a way to disguise what she was really doing.
Inside Streusen's elderly body, his vital organs, muscles, nerves, vascular system, and bones were slowly being repaired through the fine application and adjustment of vital energy. This was far more in depth than the casual boost she gave to Whitebeard back in Marineford.
While his cells would still be the same age as before, she could rearrange his tissues to a more optimal state and revitalize them somewhat. She was honest when she said she could extend someone's life by a century or more; she could certainly do so with regular treatments like these. The key lies in the fact that she doesn't plan to stick around that long.
After only five minutes of massaging or so, Cherry backed away from Streusen who had fallen asleep about thirty seconds into it.
They watched him in silence for a beat before Big Mom called out, "Streusen."
Streusen shot to his feet, immediately at attention atop the massage table. A habit he developed when Big Mom had been young and he feared she might eat him if he wasn't quick to wake when she called for him.
"How do you feel, Streusen?" Big Mom asked, eyes piercing into his soul as she salivated.
"How do I feel?" Streusen repeated back, not quite understanding the question at first.
Then he noticed something odd. He felt good, TOO good.
"I feel… half a century younger…" Streusen spoke in amazement, turning his gaze to Cherry with a look of astonishment. "That was quite the massage. How long until this starts to wear off?"
"A decade, give or take a few years." Cherry answered.
"..." Streusen was gobsmacked at the answer. He expected her to say a week, tops.
"Mama Mama!" Big Mom laughed joyously. "It seems there'll be another wedding to plan soon!"
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