章節 24: A Remedy for Weakness
As the massive hand crashed towards Cherry, she bent forward to anchor herself to the ground by her hands. She brought her legs into the air and kicked into the palm of Victor.
Vibrating energy penetrated into the hand and sent it off course just enough to miss Cherry and it carved through the ground like a hot knife through butter.
Cherry flipped to her feet and retreated backwards quickly.
"Oh my, not bad girly." Victor stated lazily, shaking the hand that was hit. "That actually hurt a little bit. You'll need to do better than that, though. Kukuku."
Victor launched himself towards Cherry once more. Cherry dodged using the evasive footwork technique she used in her previous life, though it's efficacy was greatly diminished without celestial energy.
Cherry would avoid Victor's attacks by a hair's width and counter attack where ever she could find an opening. She decided to wear him down a bit at a time.
After a short time of taking these smaller strikes, Victor began to feel a soreness building within his body. He stopped chasing the girl and spoke. "I tire of this game, it's no fun if you don't get hit."
"Well, that's not my fault and I won't let you quit just because you're losing, meathead." Cherry replied.
"I won't be quitting, I'll just change the game, kukuku!" Victor said as he charged once more.
Cherry didn't see how this was any different than before. Still she used her footwork to evade once more.
Except she didn't. Instead a wave of weakness overwhelmed her and she stumbled.
*BAM*
The enormous fist of Victor slammed into her falling, limp body and sent her flying. Cherry landed hard and tumbled across the ground quite a distance. She came to a stop when she hit the post one of the prisoners were tied to.
Cherry struggled to lift herself, but her body wasn't listening to her.
"...run..." The prisoner tied to the post whispered hoarsely, before coughing.
"...you can't beat him with strength, strength is his domain..." He muttered, on the verge of unconsciousness.
Cherry managed to stand with shaking legs, using the post as support. She thought she understood what happened, sweeping her Life Sense in her body..
"Have you figured it out? Kukukuku! My devil fruit doesn't just enhance muscles, it gives me the power to weaken them as well! That includes YOUR muscles, dummy! KUKUKUKUKU!!!" Victor laughed maniacally.
'As I thought. Not only does this ruin my plan to practice Hasshoken, even my life is in danger now.' Cherry lamented.
Cherry stumbled away from the post, she didn't want the prisoner to become collateral damage. Victor, meanwhile, took his time to walk over to Cherry, knowing she couldn't possibly run away.
Victor reached Cherry in short order and reached a huge hand towards his new toy. However, he grasped nothing but air, as Cherry had suddenly moved with a burst of strength. It didn't make any sense to him.
"How did you do that, little toy? You shouldn't have the strength left for that kind of move?" He asked, genuinely curious. Excitement began to burn in his eyes. 'Oh how I love the way they struggle...'
Cherry didn't tell him anything, of course. She had circulated her vital energy for a burst of strength, briefly regaining the use of her muscles. However, this was a temporary solution, and not a very good one. She would run out of steam very quickly.
'I need to think. This is a similar issue to the devil fruit curse with water. I planned to put it off until later realms, but now I have to solve it or die trying.' Cherry racked her brain. She cursed her previous life's self for not acquiring more body cultivator techniques, but she just didn't have any use for them at the time.
Victor began to play with his toy. He started by moving slowly, then began to increase the speed of his attacks. He wanted to know how much the girl was capable of before she failed, before she was broken by his might.
Cherry lurched herself around desperately. She was somewhat grateful for this sadistic foolishness as it gave her precious seconds to think of the solution.
She began to take glancing blows, then the occasional full brunt attack. Her mind raced and then, it clicked. It was so simple, she felt stupid for not seeing it before. It wasn't perfect, but it was more than enough.
Victor was beginning to lose interest again, so he decided to end it. He reared up and rushed forward with all his might. It left an opening, but he thought she could barely dodge, let alone counter attack.
His expectations were shattered, however, when Cherry simply slipped passed his attack and landed a powerful, penetrating blow to his chest. He felt his heart quake, but his heart was a muscle too. If not for his devil fruit, he knew he would have died then and there.
Cherry speedily backed away and gave him a mocking grin.
"How?" Victor demonic smile had vanished for the first time. "How did you move like that?! YOUR MUSCLES ARE UNDER MY CONTROL, YOU CAN'T JUST MOVE LIKE THAT!!!" He shouted, enraged.
Cherry had realized her thoughts had been wrong from the start. She was searching for a way to counter the weakened muscles by strengthening them with vital energy. This had terrible energy efficiency when one didn't have a proper technique.
No, the solution wasn't to strengthen the muscles, but to bypass them altogether. To use vital energy to directly move the body. This still used a fair amount of energy, but not nearly as much as strengthening her muscles.
The downside is that she didn't possess as much striking power this way and it took more concentration than moving the body in the normal fashion.
She decided on a placeholder name until she could create a proper technique. Body Puppeteering. Simple and to the point. She nodded.
"WHY ARE YOU NODDING?!" Victor screamed, his voice taking a much higher pitch.
"Well, it's time to end this for real, Vincent. It's been fun." Cherry asserted.
"MY NAME ISN'T VINCENT!!!!!" He shrieked at an even higher pitch than Cherry thought possible.
'Oh! Vocal chords are made of muscle too!' She thought, nodding again.
Victor charged her, so enraged and confused that he cared little for tactics.
Cherry danced circles around him as he flailed, raining blows upon his bloated, muscular form.
Several minutes later it was Victor who could barely stand. The damage he's sustained was too great. He heaved great, heavy breaths from his damaged lungs, they were not as tough as his heart was. The rest of his organs were not in very good shape, either.
Cherry approached him slowly. In his eyes he no longer saw the helpless toy from before, only a grim reaper that has come to take his life away. So he did what any real man would do in the face of death.
"Please don't kill me I'm truly very sorry miss I won't do it again I promise if you would just spare my life I-" He begged for his life shamelessly, before Cherry sent a blow to his skull. The vibrating force shook his brain and he fell unconscious.
Cherry felt the strength return to her body as Victor's body shrank to it's original size. Which was smaller than how it started, unexpectedly. He was practically just skin and bone, a real beanpole you could say.
She glanced towards the pirates she hadn't knocked out yet and they flinched in horror. She made quick work of them.
Afterward, Cherry went over to the prisoner tied to the post and cut him free. She gave him one of her nutrient pills made of fused herbs and some water. After making sure he was comfortable she went to the cage to free the other prisoners who were in a little better shape.
After giving the others some nutrient pills and water she helped them to patch up their wounds. A few of them had broken bones, which she set properly and put in splints where applicable.
Once they were all settled, the prisoner from the post called out to her.
"Thank you, miss. My crew and I would have died for certain if you hadn't come. My name is Alexander, a Captain of the marines. I'll be sure you get just rewards for saving us, as well as an updated bounty for 'Body Builder' Victor." He said with some difficulty.
Cherry hadn't thought of that. There was no way this guy was only worth 43,000,000 Beri. Good thing she saved these guys then, or she would have gotten stiffed for all her trouble.
"I'm happy to help, Captain Alexander, and even happier to receive a proper reward for my hard work, hehehe." Cherry smiled.
"Hahaha- owowow!" Captain Alexander laughed painfully.
"I'll head back to my ship to get some things and come back. At that time, once I've rested I can help to mend your broken bones." Cherry excused herself.
'Well, this was a much more profitable trip than expected.' Cherry thought as she circled around to loot the pirates' ship.
章節 25: Drink in Moderation
Cherry found and boarded the Strong Arm Pirates' ship. Their flag depicted a classic skull, but the crossbones were instead a pair of crossed muscular arms.
She searched the ship, making sure to keep an eye out for secret rooms or compartments. Finding the pirates' ill gotten gains was easy enough, but Cherry didn't touch this as the Navy would want to confiscate it anyways.
In the captain's quarters she did find a loose floorboard, under which she found some gold and gemstones. As well as a small selection of erotic 'romance' novels all involving dominatrix mother figures. Cherry only took the gold and gems.
After she finished scouring the ship for anything of value or interest, Cherry did a quick once over of the island to make sure there wasn't a devil fruit to be found, which there wasn't as expected.
Finally, she returned to her ship. She brought her sword out from her body and fastened it to her hip and grabbed her favorite pistol. She also grabbed an empty water barrel and filled it with sea water. She carried the water filled barrel back to the encampment.
Upon arriving the marines watched her with interest as she approached Body Builder Victor. She placed the barrel on the ground, popped off the top, and then picked up Victor and placed him inside the barrel with only his head poking out.
Cherry got to work modifying the barrel's lid to include a hole just large enough for Victors head to fit through. When she was done, she had a mobile anti- devil fruit user transport device.
The marines gave a few nods of understanding. While not as convenient as sea stone cuffs, it was certainly an effective substitute.
"Now then, if I may have everyone's attention!" Cherry announced loudly.
"For those of you with broken bones, I can mend them quickly using my devil fruit ability. However, you will have to endure more pain in the process. If you wish to receive treatment, please make yourself known to me." Cherry offered, with proper forewarning.
Surprisingly, despite the torturous ordeal they had just gone through, all the marines volunteered to have their bones mended. Their sense of duty and mental fortitude was not lost on Cherry. She lamented that these men worked under the oppressive thumb of the tyranny of the world government.
Perhaps one day she would do something about that, but not today. She would wait until her power could not be challenged at the very least.
...
The marines, having had their wounds treated and energy restored, quickly got to work rounding up the pirates and taking stock of the pirates' ship.
They flew the flag of the Navy and clearly marked the ship as a captured vessel. Then they set out for their base of operations, with Cherry's little ship following along behind them.
It was an easy journey for the most part, with only a bit of rain at the beginning which almost seemed to mourn the loss of the marines' comrades.
After a few weeks of favorable winds, they safely arrived at the Navy Branch Headquarters of the West Blue.
Their arrival caused a bit of a fuss as they had lost contact with Captain Alexander some time ago and having him show up unannounced with only half his crew was unexpected in a number of ways.
After Captain Alexander handed over the pirates, he went to give his report directly to Rear Admiral Zitche, who is in charge of general operations in all of West Blue.
Cherry waited patiently until she herself was called for an audience with the rear admiral.
When she entered the office she saw that it was sparsely decorated, only having the essentials for it to serve its function. Captain Alexander sat in a simple chair before a large plain desk stacked with paperwork.
Sitting behind the desk was a robust middle aged man with a grey military hair cut, clean shaven, a bulbous nose, square jaw, and droopy grey eyes. He stood as Cherry entered and walked around the desk to greet her with an outstretched hand.
Thinking it was fortunate that the man was of fairly ordinary proportions, Cherry clasped his hand in a hard vice-like grip.
The man smiled and spoke. "I am Rear Admiral Zitche. Captain Alexander told me how you handled Body Builder Victor and I am very impressed. Most bounty hunters wouldn't have bothered to take as much care as you did, for that I am grateful."
"Perhaps not, but most bounty hunters are hardly better than pirates themselves. I'm Harpin D. Cherry." Cherry replied.
"Bwahaha! I supposed that's true. You won't consider joining the marines will you? You would go far, of that I'm certain." He said.
"No, thank you. I have my own goals to achieve and desires to quench. Speaking of which, Captain Alexander mentioned an extra reward." Cherry said shamelessly.
Zitche shot a glare at Alexander, to which the Captain averted his eyes and whistled innocently.
"Although it isn't within Captain Alexander's authority to promise, there is certainly a need for extra remuneration. Particularly in the case of Body Builder Victor's poorly evaluated bounty. From what the Captain's report suggests, he's worth at least 70,000,000 Beri." Zitche pondered aloud.
"I'll give you a lump sum of 90,000,000 Beri. You brought Victor in alive and saved the marines he'd captured, so at least that much is only fair. I would ask that you don't go around telling everyone about this, too. We can't have the pirates thinking our marines are weak or they'll start acting rampantly." He stated.
Cherry answered with a nod. This was good enough and combined with the extra treasures she 'confiscated' it came up to around 100,000,000 Beri for the venture. Not a bad haul at all.
She began to ponder how to go about creating a spatial storage item without celestial energy. It wouldn't be easy, but it would be worth the trouble given how much money she was hoarding now.
...
After receiving her reward money, Cherry set sail once more.
The West Blue was massive and she had not seen much of it, but she was beginning to see the limits of what she could accomplish here.
Cherry is generally cautious by nature, so throwing herself into the Grand Line at this point was an uncomfortable idea.
However, Cherry would soon be turning 21 years of age and she was only around mid to late stage in the 3rd realm of body cultivation. This was not bad at all, but it wasn't amazing either considering the huge head start she got in the first two realms. The slow, but constant passage of time had started to make her anxious.
There was only one thing for it. She would go to the nearby Ballywood Kingdom and binge on excessive amounts of alcohol. Perhaps her drunken self would make the decision for her or maybe the Heavens would give her a sign.
...
Cherry woke up with a headache mean enough to make demons cry.
Looking around to get her bearings, she saw she was in a rather fancy bedroom filled with pastel colors.
Lying next to her was a young woman with average looks, long black hair and bushy eyebrows, a pink colored nose, and a plump body.
Judging by the fact that both the young woman and Cherry were naked, it was easy to realize what had happened the night before. Though she couldn't remember anything at all.
'I knew I shouldn't have trusted Drunk Cherry. Hopefully I can salvage the situation.' Cherry thought.
There was a light knock at the door. "Princess Sandwich, are you awake?" A elderly woman's voice asked.
'I swear I'll get my revenge, Drunk Cherry. Even if it's the last thing I do.' Cherry cursed.
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