章節 336: Oden
"You see, the Kozuki clan is most well known as world class artisans. Specifically, they are unparalleled in the art of… stone masonry. This talent runs in their blood; even now there are none who can match them." Cat Viper informed them.
"Stone masons… you mean…?" Franky asked.
"That's right. The Kozuki clan, eight hundred years ago, created the indestructible stone writings known as poneglyphs!" Cat Viper answered Franky's unspoken question in the affirmative.
The group was satisfyingly gobsmacked at the reveal of this piece of history, especially Robin who was always thrilled to learn something new.
Cherry scooped up Momonosuke underneath the arms, causing him to squirm from the sudden action. "What about you, pipsqueak? Are you just as talented as your ancestors?"
Momonosuke huffed when he realized his struggles were in vain and responded, "Of course I am! I just haven't had the time and opportunity to apply myself to the trade!"
"Is that so? I happen to have an interest in the art of stone working as well, ever since I encountered sea stone cuffs. How do they merge a stone substance with metal I wonder? Knowing could open up a whole new world of smithing applications for me." Cherry pondered, still not releasing the little heir to an entire country.
"How should I know? The Kozuki clan only concerns itself with stone, not hybrid materials!" Momonosuke denied.
"We can figure that out together! It's an adventure in craftsmanship!" Cherry insisted, eyes sparkling with excitement.
"Ohhh, adventure!" Luffy got fired up, despite being uninvolved.
"I-it matters not what you want. I have no one to teach me and the ancient records of my clan's techniques are written in the same language as the poneglyphs, which my father was not able to teach me." Momonosuke said, but looked dour and disappointed to admit it.
"Oden-sama was not able to teach Momonosuke-sama his clan techniques and how to read the poneglyphs…" Kin'emon spoke darkly.
Immediately the mood plunged into frigid waters. The expressions on the faces of the samurai and the two mink leaders made it abundantly clear that something very bad happened to Oden.
Which is exactly why Luffy failed to grasp it at all and put his foot in his mouth, metaphorically speaking. "Why didn't he?"
Kin'emon opened his mouth to answer, but instead had to choke back a sob. The other four were in a similar situation, unable to get the words out. Thankfully, Luffy finally managed to put two and two together and tried to backtrack.
"No! I will say it!" Kin'emon shouted, trying to build his determination. "Oden-sama was killed, executed… by none other than the unrightful Shogun Orochi and his ally, Kaido! He nobly gave his life to save his servants, who would have gladly died in his place!"
That certainly recontextualized their quest to defeat Kaido with Law. Suddenly they weren't doing it just on Luffy's whim to fight the four emperors; now, it was personal. Now, Kaido had taken part in the death of their new friend's father.
"Forgive me for being rude and you don't need to answer, but why did they execute him to begin with?" Zoro asked. "Does it relate to the reason you're on the run?"
"It's as you've surmised, Zoro-dono," Kin'emon answered, getting a hold of himself. "Oden-sama certainly did commit a grave crime in their eyes. Kaido is trying to pry information out of us, because Odrn-sama rode on the pirate king, Gol D. Roger's ship, and reached the final island of the Grand Line, Laugh Tale! It was there that he learned the secret of the world!"
'There sure have been a lot of dramatic reveals in the last twenty four hours…' Cherry thought. Then she asked, "Is that how Roger learned to read the poneglyphs?"
"That's right," Dogstorm confirmed.
"We do not know any of those secrets, however. Oden-sama knew it would be dangerous for us, but in the end we were targeted anyway," Kin'emon said.
"Not that we would reveal them even if we did know," Kanjuro added.
'Isn't that obvious? Why would he say that?' Cherry thought to herself.
Although she had warmed up a bit to Kanjuro's presence, she still had what she would call a 'healthy' amount of suspicion towards him (and what Robin would call slightly obsessive). Though, certainly there was nothing in his demeanor or cadence to suggest he was lying or otherwise conspiring against her, or anyone else for that matter.
'Maybe Robin is right. He must remind me of someone I only half remember from my 600 years of life in some inconsequential way, so I'm just making up reasons to suspect him.' Even Cherry thought that she was getting a bit ridiculous about it.
'I can take care of him for you~ Nobody even needs to know~' Drunk Cherry bubbled up from the darkest recesses of her mind. 'Just a few bottles~ That's all it'll take~'
'Okay, one, that's some freaky ass shit, what the fuck. Two, you do some pseudo alternate personality shit like that again, then I swear I'll go stone cold sober for the next ten thousand years. Three, getting wasted is a terrible idea when I'm trying to get away with something, so no thanks.' Cherry chastised… herself?
"Since they mean to come after us even though we know nothing, there is only one choice for us! To fight!" Kanjuro said forcibly.
"Oden-sama left us with only one task before he died…" Kin'emon said.
"""Open the borders of Wano!!!""" Kin'emon, Kanjuro, Raizo, Cat vIper, and Dogstorm declared in perfect unison.
"Wano was a secluded country even before Kaido and Orochi took over, but now our people have no choice in the matter!" Raizo said.
"Our allies are sowing the seeds of rebellion back home, but we cannot gather the strength and numbers necessary to truly fight against our usurpers. Still, we must fight!" Kin'emon said. "And so we set out to sea in search of powerful allies to help us in our cause!"
"When Raizo arrived, we immediately started preparing for the inevitable battle. We minks have been with the Kozuki clan for ages past, and we intend to honor our pact," Cat Viper said.
"However, just a few ships worth of Kaido men did so much damage to us." Dogstorm spoke, clearly ashamed.
"Don't be that way! The enemy used a rotten tactic because they couldn't defeat you head on!" Franky defended.
"It matters not. War is war, and the winners are the winners," Dogstorm didn't make excuses. "But we did learn our lesson, and we still possess a trump card to use against Jack, should he ever be foolish enough to return. It won't be them who comes out on top next time."
"We may not even need to use that, Dog. Cherry over there made a sword for Pedro before she made our new limbs with Franky. The blade could pierce through wood as easily as flesh with Electro alone, no Haki." Cat Viper informed him.
"Truly?" Dogstorm asked, a bit surprised. "I never did get the chance to test out this new leg."
"I intend to make as many as I can before I need to leave for the tea party. It won't be enough to arm the entire country, but your guardians and musketeers? Easy enough." Cherry said. "Your blacksmith, Wayland, is making fast progress making his own variation, though."
The two minks and the samurai grew excited at this news. This meant the mink force that would go to Wano would be much stronger and their odds of winning not so slim!
章節 337: Arming an Army
"This is great news! Still, we would very much like your assistance in this endeavor! You as well, Law-dono! Facing Kaido and Orochi will be no easy task!" Kin'emon said.
"Ohh, that's right! Together with the samurai and the minks, we'll have a much easier time fighting one of the four emperors!" Usopp exclaimed.
"I refuse!" Luffy spoke, shocking the others.
"Luffy has a point…" Nami agreed. "We need to discuss remuneration!"
"""Don't you dare!""" Franky, Usopp, and Chopper reprimanded.
"Are you just a figurehead, Momo?! You're supposed to be the leader of these mighty warriors, so speak up for yourself!" Luffy chastised.
"Quit it, Luffy! He's only eight years old!" Nami rebuked.
"That's right, Luffy. He's the heir, not the Daimyo yet. It's only natural for him to follow the guidance of his retainers until he is old enough to lead himself." Brook agreed.
Tears were still fresh on Momonosuke's face from acknowledging the brutal truth of his father's death. He walked past those who tried to offer him comfort and faced Luffy head on.
"I wish to defeat Kaido!" Momonosuke choked out. "He killed my father, and my mother was put to death as well!"
"I want to possess the strength to defend the people I care about most on my own, but right now I am too small, too weak!" Momonosuke continued. "So I can only beg you for your help!"
The adult samurai and minks were crying now too.
"I get it." Luffy stopped him from bowing and put his hand forward. "Let's make an alliance, then!"
Murmurs of approval went around the room as they understood Luffy's intention.
"What about OUR alliance, Straw Hat-ya?" Law said, a bit annoyed he went over his head for this.
"You don't mind right?" Luffy asked.
"No, but-" Law said, then was interrupted by Luffy. "Then it's fine! Shishishi!"
"Then we're now the Ninja-Pirate-Mink-Samurai Alliance!" Luffy declared to the cheers of the others. "Now that we're in an alliance, that means we're friends! No more bowing your heads to me!"
"It doesn't mean that…" Law feebly retorted.
…
Cherry parted ways with them as they began to discuss the past and reminisce about old times. She only had a week and maybe a few more days more to outfit the guardians and musketeers before they needed to leave for Big Mom's territory if they were going to make it in time for the wedding / tea party. There was no point in rushing off to Wano immediately, anyways. The minks needed time to recover from their week-long battle against Jack and his men.
There was also another matter she needed to take care of before then, so she would be working without sleep for the foreseeable future.
Cherry's unbelievable speed that still did not sacrifice quality greatly inspired Wayland and his smiths, making them improve on their prototypes in record time.
It was after eight days that Cherry finally emerged from the blacksmith, arms covered in soot up to her shoulders, but miraculously the dress that Carrot gave her was untarnished. Wayland's smiths weren't so lucky, having gone the week and day without bathing, spending almost every waking moment honing their skills. It certainly paid off for them, as a few of them were able to get Cherry's approval by the end, let alone Wayland who managed to do so in only three days.
Wayland actually collaborated with Cherry in making Duke Dogstorm's new rapier, his blacksmith's pride not allowing an outsider, however skilled she may be, to make their king's weapon. She mostly stood back to ensure the level of quality was a cut above the rest, stepping in here and there where necessary, but Wayland did the lion's share of the work on it.
Wayland sucked in a breath as he gazed upon the finished product with gleaming eyes, brimming with tears. This… this was his greatest work! Even without the strange golden inlays that would improve its function greatly with the addition of Electro, it was still qualified to be a Meito!
Perhaps, it even matched Durandal, the finest work of his ancestor…
"Not bad." Cherry said, entirely unphased.
"Not bad? NOT BAD?!" Wayland blew a gasket.
His smiths held him back, trying to calm him down. "That's the best thing she's said about anything we've made, Master Wayland!" "That's right, just accept it as a compliment!" "She's impossible to impress, just leave it be!"
"It's good enough to give it a name, at least." Cherry added, though Wayland felt she was just trying to assuage him.
"Damn straight it is!" Wayland held it pointing upwards, tracing its length with his eyes in thought.
"I'll name it… Joyeuse." Wayland spoke.
There was a strange feeling in the air, and the smiths present somehow just knew that the sword had accepted the name. Undoubtedly, there was something special about it and now nobody who'd witnessed its naming could deny it.
"Well, I'm done. I need a nap and a bath, not necessarily in that order. Heck, probably at the same time." Cherry said, waving at them as she sauntered out of the smithy.
Wayland and the other smiths barely even noticed her departure, grunting in acknowledgement with the vast majority of their focus on Joyeuse.
Cherry wasn't really tired and cleaning up would be as easy as forcing all the dirt and grime off of her with various techniques in her possession, or even parting the filth from her skin via un-fusion.
What she really needed was to center herself for the coming challenge. That is, breaking through to the 7th realm and taking her first step into becoming a real powerhouse by cultivator standards. For it is in the 7th realm that cultivators are called Transcendents.
She didn't need to leave Zou for the tribulation, thankfully. The 7th tribulation for body cultivators was a bit special and wouldn't do any physical damage to her body or, by extension, her surroundings.
The 7th realm in body cultivation was called the Soul Fusion realm, and the tribulation mirrored what the name suggested. That is, it would attempt to rip the soul from the body, and the body cultivator must resist.
It was the most perilous tribulation for body cultivators even though the next two were technically more difficult by a large margin. The risk of failure wasn't just death, but possibly even the annihilation of the soul.
Cherry thought that was a bit silly though, since even if your soul survived you weren't going to remember your past life on your next go around.
"Or maybe they do? I did, I suppose…" Cherry spoke her thoughts aloud.
"Who did what?" Robin asked her, appearing from nowhere.
"Nothing!" Cherry latched onto her, wrapping her filthy arms around her waist.
"Why?!" Robin tried to pry her off to no avail. "You're filthy!"
"Take a bath with me!" Cherry insisted.
Robin sighed. She needed one now anyways, but rewarding Cherry's obvious scheming didn't sit right with her. An idea popped into her head and she smiled deviously, though Cherry couldn't see it. "Alright, fine. Follow me."
Cherry followed after Robin, the latter knowing the layout of the city better than Cherry did given that she'd been cooped up in a smithy for most of it.
"..." Cherry pouted.
"What's wrong? You wanted a bath right?" Robin asked, clearly amused.
"It's a public bath…" Cherry murmured.
"Yes, it is. Is that a problem? You just wanted to get clean, right?" Robin soaked in Cherry's disappointment.
'I can't get frisky with a crowd watching…' Cherry thought, but didn't say. Robin understood the sentiment regardless, mirth in her expression.
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