章節 91: A Friendly Match
The celebration party turned into a welcome party for Brook after he told his story about a certain whale named Laboon and found out that the Straw Hats had met Laboon still waiting for him after they crossed Reverse Mountain.
Serene in particular took to heavy drinking, both to drown her complicated feelings about her father and to dull the embarrassment from the other's teasing her for her 'noble sacrifice'.
She quickly turned into the life of the party as she had many party tricks she could do with her massage arts, such as puppeteering people to do awkward poses and silly faces. Although it was an impressive display of precise control over another person's musculature, it took too much set up to be effective in battle.
Cherry drank several people under the table, even though she was drinking mugs of hard liquor instead of beer like they were. When Robin noticed how much Cherry was drinking it was already too late.
The second coming of Drunk Cherry was upon them.
Drunk Cherry stumbled over to the unconscious Zoro, who she had witness absorbing the 'pain and fatigue' from Luffy, courtesy of Kuma in exchange for sparing them.
"Cherry?" Chopper asked, unsure what she was doing.
"I've always wanted to try something, and now's the perfect time, I think..." Drunk Cherry slurred.
Chopper didn't know why, but he felt like whatever she was up to wasn't anything good. Yet he hesitated as Cherry had never done anything to place them in harm's way.
*Bam*
"OOF!" Zoro woke up with a yelp of pain as Cherry punched him in the chest.
"AHH, WHAT ARE YOU DOING TO AN INJURED PERSON!" At this point Chopper belatedly realized that Cherry must be a bad drunk.
"What the hell..." Zoro said, clutching his chest. His heart was pounding so hard he could almost believe it could break his own ribs.
"How do you feel?" Drunk Cherry smirked.
"What kind of question is that?! I feel... I feel... strong, full of energy..." Zoro was confused, it had hurt only a moment ago, but now all the pain was gone and it was even replaced with an almost euphoric sensation of power.
What Drunk Cherry had done was an injection of her Vital Energy, then fusing it with Zoro's Vital Energy so it wouldn't be rejected. She didn't have to punch him though, that's was just her being mean.
Doing this had the effects of increased strength and healing potential. This was only temporary though, as she had only given him a tiny amount. Too much would have a destructive effect if the individual wasn't a cultivator. In fact an ordinary person wouldn't survive it at all, mortals had to be tough like Zoro.
Zoro started taking off his bandages in spite of Chopper's protests. Chopper stopped fussing when he saw that the wounds underneath had healed extensively, so much so that it would have taken several days normally.
"How did you do this, Cherry?! Please tell me!" Chopper exclaimed.
"Devil Fruit." Drunk Cherry dampened his mood instantly. "MORE IMPORTANTLY! Look at what I've got Zoro! Hehehehe!"
Zoro looked at the sword that Drunk Cherry was holding in front of his face and almost started drooling, but then he noticed the evil look in Drunk Cherry's eyes.
"Are you just showing off? I won't beg you for it." Zoro said.
"You don't need to beg, hehe. You just need to last a minute..." Drunk Cherry said, lipping her lips.
The men in the room started hooting and hollering, telling Zoro to 'go get her'. Robin crushed the teacup in her grip.
Zoro didn't misunderstand her though. He knew what she was actually saying.
He grabbed his swords and stood up, walking outside. Drunk Cherry staggered behind him, drawing Shusui from its sheathe.
"Hey, did we get it wrong? It looks like she's gonna kill him?" One of the men asked the guy next to him.
Many of the people present decided to go watch. Chopper wanted to stop them, but he was stopped by Luffy who only smiled. "Zoro would have his pride hurt if you tried to stop him now."
Robin felt a bit silly for her overreaction to what, in hindsight, was likely just Cherry using weird phrasing on purpose.
Outside, a fair ways away from the party, Zoro place a sword in his mouth and drew his two other swords.
"You lose if you surrender or can't fight any longer before the minute's up. And don't you worry, little boy. No matter what happens to your body, Chopper and I can't put you back together good as new, so don't hold back. Time starts with the first clash of swords." Cherry spoke without the slur she had before, her focus being sharpened by bloodlust.
Zoro nodded and wasted not time. He charged forward.
Cherry brushed his blades aside with her free hand and stabbed the sword towards his abdomen. He twisted and barely dodged it.
They continued to dance around in the fashion for about 10 seconds before Zoro realized something. 'Shit! She said the time starts with the first clash of swords, but she hasn't let me touch her sword at all!'
He shifted his focus to hitting the sword in her hand at all costs, causing her to chuckle.
Another 20 seconds passed when he finally manage to connect his blade with hers.
"Hehe, now that the time has started, let's get serious, shall we?" Cherry said mirthfully.
Armament Haki coated Shusui and Cherry launched a flurry of flying slashes, leaving no room for Zoro to dodge. He sent his own flying slashes to meet them, but they only slowed them down before they bore down on him.
Zoro breathed heavily, enduring the pain of the deep gashes in his body.
"55 seconds left." Cherry didn't let up. No, she became even more vicious.
"50 seconds."
"45 seconds."
"40 seconds."
All the people who were previously cheering for the exciting match were now pale as ghosts. They truely thought that Zoro wouldn't survive to the end of this fight. No, it wasn't a fight, it was just a cold blooded predator toying with her prey.
Zoro was a mess at this point. He was covered head to toe with his own blood. He knew he wouldn't have survived this long if not for whatever Cherry had done to him, but he could feel that power fading as well. He needed something more if he was going to win this.
"30 seconds."
"20 seconds."
Zoro's left arm was cut off at the shoulder.
Cherry was no longer smiling, only a stoic expression adorned her face. Her eyes pierced into Zoro like swords.
His focus was leaving him and he fought to keep his eyes open. He saw Luffy and the others watching from the sidelines. His mind wandered back to the moment he promised Luffy that he'd never lose again after he was beaten. Was he going to lose again?
His eyes shot open. 'NO!'
"RAAAAAGH!" Zoro screamed through gritted teeth. He used his remained swords to strike at Cherry with everything he had left.
'Who cares about the remaining time! I'll just defeat you right now!' Was what his determined eyes were shouting at Cherry, at the world.
Black light ran the length of his blades and clashed against Shusui, pushing Cherry back.
A small smile graced Cherry's lips. "I surrender."
Zoro collapsed only a moment later and Chopper came rushing over.
"Get his arm for me will you, Luffy?" Cherry said as she sheathed Shusui, walking over the Zoro.
As Cherry said before the fight. It turned out to be very easy to piece Zoro back together with Chopper and her combined efforts.
"Phew! Now that I've sobered up, I need another drink!" Cherry said loudly.
Robin grabbed her into a chokehold and started dragging her back to the ship. "I don't think so."
"Oh come on! It wasn't that bad! Zoro awakened his Armament Haki and everything! Okay, okay, I'm sorry!" Cherry protested, but didn't resist. Her smile said she didn't want to either.
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