"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.
'Okay, this isn't so bad.' Cherry thought.
The moment she and Robin entered the bathhouse, they got swarmed by mink ladies and were currently being waited on hand and foot like some sort of luxury spa.
"These are very nice soaps you have." Robin complimented.
"They have to be. Our fur is our pride; we can only use the best in our care of it." Wanda said, running her fingers through Cherry's hair with shampoo.
"The scents are remarkably subtle and complex, too." Cherry added.
"Of course, our noses are quite strong after all. I'm surprised you can tell though. I've heard that humans don't have very good senses of smell." Wanda replied.
"I'm just built different." Cherry remarked.
Robin rolled her eyes as a bucket was dumped over her head.
Soon they were relaxing in a steaming bath. Cherry was snuggling against Robin's shoulder, asleep.
"... She's a lot cuter when she's unconscious…" Wanda commented.
"Isn't she?" Robin smiled. "I like her wild side very much as well, though."
"She was certainly passionate in her work with the blacksmiths." Wanda chuckled.
"Wait until you see her in battle." Robin spoke.
"It may be some time until that happens. I'll admit I'm a tad disappointed that Jack's fleet was sunk by the marines. He would have made an excellent test for our new armory." Wanda sighed.
"It's good that Zou is peaceful now, though, is it not?" Robin asked.
"Of course. It's just frustrating that we could not even the score with that brute." Wanda scratched her head.
Cherry stood bolt upright and looked around in mild confusion with a frown forming on her face.
"Cherry, what's wrong-?" Robin asked, then the land beneath their feet quaked.
All the minks were immediately rushing to get dressed and go find out what was happening. Thankfully their style of clothing wasn't that complicated to put on, so the process was quite quick.
Robin and Cherry were similarly fast in getting decent before rushing to find the others.
…
"Who is that?! Who's speaking so loudly?!" Luffy shouted, clutching his ears.
Momonosuke was similarly in great pain from a voice that no one else could hear.
Robin and Cherry showed up not long after the initial quake to find the samurai fruitlessly trying to help Momonsuke somehow in this strange predicament.
"The elephant is being attacked." Cherry said.
"Zunesha is being attacked?!" Dogstorm exclaimed. "Head for the ships! Find the attackers, wherever or whoever they are!"
Dogstorm didn't waste time asking pointless questions like how Cherry was so certain about that. As one of this land's kings, he had to be decisive.
"It's Jack with a powerful fleet! To the left side, the 9 o'clock position!" Momonosuke cried out.
Cat Viper commanded, "You heard him! You know where to seek them out!"
Cherry placed her hands on either side of Momonosuke's head and immediately he calmed down greatly, though he still looked quite uncomfortable. "What do you hear, Momo?"
"A voice… It says that the elephant committed a grave crime a long time ago, and must follow its last command. To walk, and walk, and walk! It's… it's asking for a new command…" Momonosuke said.
"Then give it one." Cherry said.
"How?" Momonosuke asked. Perhaps if he were still under duress from the deafening sound he would have just shouted by now.
"Just do it. Muster up all the kingliness in your bones and blood and take command." Cherry advised.
Momo took a deep breath and shouted, "Drive them away!!! Don't let them make you fall!!!"
There was another shift in the movements of Zunesha, only this time it felt different. In the distance, they saw Zunesha's head tilt in one direction, then forcibly sway to the other. They heard the crashing of the water even from all the way up here on its back. There were no more quakes after that and Zunesha seemed to return to its normal stride.
Luffy calmed down, as did Momonosuke. Cherry tentatively released the boy, and seeing he was alright she let him have his space. Momonosuke slipped into a slumber, seeming to have overexerted himself somehow.
"To think that Zunesha had a will of its own. For our entire record history, it has always marched onwards to some unknown destination." Dogstorm commented.
"Are you stupid?" Cherry said, quirking an eyebrow.
"Cherry!" Nami reprimanded.
"This big guy or girl had a brain the size of a small mountain and you thought it was just a big dumb animal?" Cherry pressed on.
Dogstorm scratched his floppy right ear awkwardly. Cat Viper laughed at him like he wasn't in the same boat as his rival.
"I suppose that makes sense… Stop laughing, Cat! It isn't that funny!" Dogstorm said.
"Wouldn't that mean sea kings are smart too?" Franky asked.
"Of course they are. My precious Takako, though she isn't technically a sea king, is like a thousand times smarter than Luffy." Cherry said.
"I'm smarter than a fish!" Luffy argued.
"Takako's got more arms than you, so she can count higher." Cherry shot back.
"Oh, I see. I can't argue with that…" Luffy rubbed his chin thoughtfully.
"See? He doesn't even know that octopi don't have fingers to count on." Cherry presented to the others.
"What?!" Luffy fell right into her trap, but then his eyes shone. "Aha, but they do have suction cups!"
Luffy nodded like he'd achieved some great victory, and the others silently agreed that Takako was smarter than he was.
"I didn't mention this before, since I didn't know the elephant is like a person or whatever, but what are the trees growing from?" Franky asked. "There's a bit of dirt, but it's only a thin layer on top of skin."
That was a disturbing image that was planted in their heads. Were the trees killing Zunesha? Did the roots burying into its back hurt?
"They're parasitic," Cherry said with some certainty.
The minks cringed. They wondered if it would be a mercy to destroy the forest, but that was no easy thing to decide as they relied on the forest for many reasons.
"Not to worry!" Chopper chimed in. "For an animal of this size, these trees are barely a bother! Their roots also secrete a natural anesthetic substance, so they shouldn't cause pain either!"
The minks breathed a sigh of relief. They could trust a doctor on that, couldn't they?
Chopper's eyes twinkled innocently.
Couldn't they?
Cat Viper shook off his daze first. "This doesn't bode well, though. Jack finding his way here the first time COULD have been a fluke, an accident. Twice… that's almost assuredly not a coincidence. He meant to come here and had a way to make it happen…"
"Well, we're headed out in a few hours and I've got urgent business to take care of. If you see any lightning, stay clear of it will ya?" Cherry said, waving goodbye to them.
Dogstorm and Cat Viper waved back, but looked confused about the lightning part. "Lightning? She can't use Electro, right? She's human."