One Piece: Dream of Immortality

*Krakoom!*

Pain exploded in Fujitora's body. His heart hammered in his chest rhythmically, as if to reassure him that it hadn't been touched by the destructive electricity.

It was after this first strike that he questioned why Harpin D. Cherry would try to help him. Any other marine would assume that the woman with the lightning sword was the cause of the unusually localized storm.

He cast the doubt aside. Even if he was wrong and she really was making a fool of him, he had already committed too far to turn back now.

*Krakoom!*

That proved to be the correct choice as he felt like he very nearly avoided death with that strike.

Could the lightning know when his heart was wavering? Was it lying in wait for the best moment to strike him down?

How much more of this would he need to withstand?

As much as it takes-

*Krakoom!*

He felt like a matador taunting a bull. An utterly foolish sport, in his opinion. He would not be a fool.

Hmm, he can't feel his toes- FOCUS!

*Krakoom!*

Fujitora felt his heart skip a beat as the surge of power tickled it at the edges. For some reason, it reminded him of a time when he was young. Of his girlfriend at the time tracing her fingers down his chest as they basked in the afterglow.

He opened his eyes. They still could not perceive what others did, but he could sense where Cherry was huddled some distance away in a hole she dug in the sand. She poked her head up as if to see if it was over.

"I do believe the heavens are done trying to kill me," Fujitora said.

Cherry nodded, accepting his words as truth. He found relief in that, as he was somewhat worried that there was one more waiting for him to let his guard down. If the apparent expert in these things agreed with his assessment, though, he would defer to her wisdom.

…

"Four strikes on your first tribulation," Cherry whistled. "You're a tough old bastard, you know that?"

"Is that unusual?" Fujitora asked.

"It's always fair. I didn't even get one on my first go," Cherry said. She didn't bother explaining that the mechanism hadn't existed in this world before she accidentally created it.

"It doesn't feel fair," Fujitora griped, a bit of smoke wafted off of bits of his burnt skin. "Would you help an old man to his feet? I think some of the sand I'm sitting on has turned into glass roots."

Cherry laughed and helped him up. Then she laughed even harder as she saw that he was right; there were branching spikes of glass fused to his backside.

After helping him clean up and giving him a little vital energy booster shot, Fujitora was right as rain.

"How do you feel?" Cherry asked.

Fujitora took that moment to take it all in. "My senses are sharper… especially with the energy that I see with my blinded eyes. It's so much clearer now, like there's more of it than I remember."

Cherry nodded. That tracked with her understanding of the celestial energy system. Since celestial energy was an external source of energy, improving one's ability to sense it was the most important thing to do early on. It was interesting that Fujitora blindly found his way along roughly the same path as refined cultivation methods.

"That's good," Cherry said, hesitating.

Fujitora was a good man, as far as she could tell. Could she trust him with a proper method to cultivate with? Not doing so would be the same as leaving a blind man to swim across a torrential river when she had a boat to lend him. The trouble is that he could give that boat to someone else.

Was she prepared to risk upheaving the world to help one old man, however decent he may be?

"I feel as if you are indecisive about something," Fujitora said.

"I'm debating on the merits of helping with this whole deal further than I already have," Cherry laid out plainly.

"Ah," Fujitora understood. "Best not to."

"Eh, really?" Cherry was a little surprised.

"Mm, yes. If the energy has anything to do with your unusual strengths and abilities, I think it would be wise to take that information to your grave," Fujitora nodded. "The world doesn't need more of you… no offense."

"You're right. The world can't handle so much badassery-" "That's not what I said." "-so it'll just have to make do with the one of me that it's got," Cherry agreed.

Well, that was a load off of her chest! That said, if Fujitora could fumble his way into cultivation, then it was only a matter of time before others did as well. Cherry would just have to reach the pinnacle before it became a problem.

…

"The cloud is clearing up. I didn't sense Fujitora die, so I guess he's okay. No paperwork for me then, heh," Ryokugyu said. "As for you lot, though, this'll be your end. By the way, you really should have paid more attention to your nutrition. I'm not getting near enough vitamins from you."

The dry husks that were once Beast Pirates groaned in agony, tree roots impaling their thin forms and sucking the life out of them.

"You!" Ryokugyu brought the single pirate he had spared his wrath (temporarily) towards him. "Where's the capital of this country located?"

The pathetic excuse for a member of Kaido's crew jibbered and jabbered before pointing in a direction when his words failed him.

"Ah, thank you." Ryokugyu stabbed him and drained him dry. "I'm sure this good deed will serve you well in hell."

Ryokugyu marched off in the direction of the Flower Capital.

…

"Tsk! Look at all these fools, throwing a big party like they didn't just trade one pirate tyrant for another." Ryokugyu spat on the ground.

"Hey, are you bad mouthing our saviors?" A drunken man stumbled into his path. Several others heard him and placed themselves around the admiral. "You look like a foreigner. You don't have any right to comment, since Kaido was one of yours!"

"Yeah!" "Keep your stupid mouth shut!" "Momonosuke-sama is in charge now, not our saviors anyways!"

"Rights? You wanna talk about rights?" Ryokugyu began to grow and sprout leaves from his head and shoulders. His skin turned bark-like and his limbs became both thicker and longer. "Wano isn't a member state of the World Government, so this is a lawless country outside of every jurisdiction that matters. That means… you. have. no. rights!"

The drunken civilians were backing up now, but it was too late. Ryokugyu arms dug into the street and dozens of gnarled roots ripped up from the ground and entangled them.

He proceeded to toss them through doors, windows, walls, and anything that made a big crashing sound when a man was forcibly thrown through it.

Panic spread through the street. Most people scattered in every direction, whilst a handful of courageous souls took up whatever might be used as a weapon, if they did not possess one themselves. These few defiant individuals were just as easily brought to heel as the drunks were.

"Hahaha! This is a great idea! Bring Straw Hat to me, or I'll keep wrecking your quaint little town!" Ryokugyu relished the chance to cut loose.

Aokiji was going to hang him upside down by his walnuts for this, but that was a problem for future Ryokugyu!