One Piece: Dream of Immortality

Chapter 488: Sparring with Kids



Cherry finally managed to stop laughing at the pitiful children and said, "Hey, Tama, that's not how you use this thing. Look."

Cherry adjusted the way Tama's hands held her garotte so that they were pulling a loop closed instead of just tugging on her neck ineffectually. Tama's eyes lit up as she began to puzzle out how this way worked better inside of her little kunoichi head.

Tama let go of the garotte and spun around to the front of Cherry. "Can you show me more?! Shinobi-sensei hardly has any time to teach me and she insists that I practice only the basics until I can do them in my sleep!"

"I don't know what you're expecting from me, since I'm not a kunoichi, but I guess I could show you a few ways to kill a man..." Cherry rubbed her chin in thought.

"Really?!" Tama squealed in delight. "I was just thinking you could show me how to sneak around and stuff, but that's even better!"

"Um..." Momonosuke twiddled his thumbs. "I would like... I would allow you to teach me the sword..."n/ô/vel/b//jn dot c//om

"Pfft, don't go all "I'm in charge." on me, little boy. Pirates don't follow the orders of kings, or shoguns for that matter," Cherry said, chuckling a bit. "Come on, you two will be perfect training partners."

Cherry let the kids outside to a nice little space between some trees. With a little work, she had some barrels and such placed around as well. While there was enough room to maneuver there were also obstacles to be mindful of.

"What's all this for?" Momonosuke asked.

"Here," Cherry didn't answer, instead tossing a random sword she had in her pocket at him. Momonosuke nearly fumbled the catch, then his eyes narrowed. "A real sword? I don't want to run through exercises, I need real experience!"

Cherry ignored him as she carved some bits of wood into facsimiles of weapons a ninja might use; a tanto, kunai, shuriken, etc. "Here, Tama, take these."

Tama was hesitant in taking them, casting her gaze at Momonosuke a few times.

"He's not going to be using that sword on you, Tama," Cherry reassured her. "You are going to be using these on him, though."

"'"Eh?!"'"' Tama and Momonosuke exclaimed.

Once Cherry made sure that Toko was being watched over by Kiku, she turned to the other two children to get started with her little exercise.

"Alright. Momo, you're going to attack me. Aim to kill. Tama, your job is to disrupt him with your wooden weapons, preferably without being noticed by him," Cherry said. "Momo isn't allowed to fight back against you, only defend."

"That isn't fair!" Momonosuke complained immediately.

"Ninja aren't supposed to fight fair, and the most important thing you can learn as a swordsman, or a samurai, is that nobody is obligated to fight honorably against you." Cherry shot down the complaint just as quickly.

Momonosuke looked like he was going to argue further, but he was interrupted by Sukiyaki. "She isn't wrong, Momonosuke. Both your father and I were brought low by treachery and deception," Sukiyaki spoke solemnly.

Momonosuke was quiet for a moment before his expression settled with determination. "Good," Cherry slapped him across the face, just hard enough to send him stumbling back from surprise, but not to actually hurt him.

Kiku nearly leapt to her feet in his defense before remembering what they were doing and settling in, though she was clearly displeased judging from the glare she leveled at Cherry.

"First lesson, there's no starting signal in a real fight. If you're facing the enemy, be prepared to defend or attack in an instant," Cherry said, crushing the guilt that arose in her heart as she saw him start to tear up.

"Bam, you're dead!" Tama ruthlessly poked him in the back with her tanto.

"Hehe, you've got the spirit, Tama! Keep in mind that no one should realize your target is dead until you're long gone, though; not even your victim," Cherry encouraged.

Momonosuke only then seemed to realize what he'd gotten himself into. Cherry wasn't playing pretend with him, humoring him like the child he was. She fully intended to run him through the ringer.

He ripped the sword free from its scabbard and charged Cherry. He didn't worry about hurting her with it; he knew very well how durable she was, assuming he even managed to hit her.

"Sunacchi-! Oof!" Momonosuke lost his breath as Cherry lifted her foot and let his own momentum drive his gut into it.

*thunk*

"Ow!" Momonosuke reached a hand up to rub the back of his head where Tama had nailed him with a shuriken.

"Pay attention! I'm the overconfident adult who thinks you're just a brat and won't take you seriously! The real threat to your life is the ninja who can't take her lunch break until you're dead!" Cherry shouted.

Momonosuke was a lot more wary of Tama after that. She still managed to get him quite a few times, of course; she had had a few years of actual training unlike Momonosuke, even if it was only the basics. That said, he was steadily getting better, even managing to block a few projectiles.

At least, until Cherry started increasing the difficulty. He would turn his back on her to face Tama's assault, only for her to come up behind him and push him over.

"She isn't teaching him the sword..." Kiku mumbled in realization, after having thought this was a very strange way to do it.

"No, she's teaching them to survive," Sukiyaki observed. "Momonosuke is too brash and straightforward. She wants him to see that getting into the fight to start with was his greatest mistake. As for Tama, she's getting plenty of practice hiding from her enemies, learning what movements draw attention to herself so that she doesn't repeat them."

Kiku hummed. A light blush rose to her cheeks at her earlier suspicion that Cherry was simply bullying her young master, that Cherry was just using training as an excuse.

"Pfft!" Cherry cracked up at that moment, making Kiku think that perhaps she wasn't actually wrong about that.

Cherry kept the two youngsters going until they were too tired to continue. A small influx of vital energy made the aches and pains of the vigorous exercise abate, and also healed the microtears in their musculature so they wouldn't be sore for days afterwards.

Kiku stood up, setting Toko off to the side. "I would like a spar as well." "Oh?" Cherry quirked an eyebrow at her. "You think you can handle it? I won't go easy on

you."

Kiku gave her a firm nod. She would take revenge for Momonosuke-sama's humiliation! "Hehehe, alright~ First shot's free, so give it your all," Cherry teased, opening her arms wide to accentuate her lack of defense.

Kiku frowned. "You wish me to attack you before you've even drawn a sword?"

"I wasn't going to draw my sword against you, anyways-" Cherry's smile twisted into a

cheshire grin.

"I will not. It isn't honorable," Kiku refused.

"Oh? Well in that case, I'll give you a countdown until I come after you. I'll just be over here messing with Momo until then-" Cherry said, stepping towards the form of Momonosuke breathing hard on the ground. "One thousand... Nine hundred ninety nine..."

*shing*

Kiku leapt at her and swung. True to Cherry's word, she didn't guard herself in the slightest. Kiku's blade swept from Cherry's right shoulder to her left hip along her back.

Cherry turned her head to look at the stunned Kiku in amusement. Despite Cherry not using any armament haki, not a single scratch could be seen through the cut in her clothes. "You

used haki? You really don't like me, do you? Anyways..."

Cherry turned to face Kiku properly. "My turn~!"