13 Devil Fruit

Cherry was mildly surprised that this man supposedly worth 11,000,000 Beri had died so anticlimactically. She'd only intended to knock him off balance.

'Do the marines just give any pirate captain a bounty regardless of if they're a real threat? I suppose he might have just committed some heinous crimes and gotten away by chance.'

At this time the drunken crew came to their senses and realized they were under attack. They scrambled for their weapons, but had no idea where the shot had come from.

As they spread out to search the surroundings for the culprit, Cherry began picking off anyone who strayed too far with deadly precision with her unnamed sword.

They were down to half their number when before they realized and regrouped.

"Show yourself, coward! Fight us like a man if you have the guts!" One shouted.

*BANG*

A bullet pierced the shouting man in the throat and he fell gurgling.

As terrified as the pirates were of their unseen assailant, they still had the mental wherewithal the charge the direction the shot came from. Cherry was too fast and too silent, however. The darkness and the cover of the foliage gave her an overwhelming advantage.

By the time they reached the position she had fired the pistol from, she'd already halved them again from behind, leaving only 3 remaining.

"Scatter!" Said one pirate with at least half a brain and the other two didn't need to be told twice. The three of them ran in different directions, two into the wilderness and one back towards their ship. Naturally, Cherry went after the ship bound pirate first, can't let him reach an open area and make things more difficult.

As for the other two pirates, well, they were just unlucky. Using her Life Sense, Cherry saw they were already being stalked by large nocturnal predators. She had no intentions of interrupting their meals.

Cherry returned to the campsite and picked up the devil fruit. Holding it in her hand she got a much better sense of it than with her Life Sense from a distance.

Most aspects of its 'inscription' were very different from Robin's, though some parts were the same. This was very useful information. She was quite worried about the 'curse' the devil fruit would instill upon the recipient of its powers and seeing the identical portions the two fruit shared was the first step in resolving that curse. Not that she had any idea of how to do that just yet.

She had no intentions of eating the devil fruit just yet. It wasn't the right time in her current realm to make the most of it, not to mention she wants to know what it does first.

That was the tricky part. The marines didn't freely give away information on devil fruit and she was absolutely not going to join the navy. That left either the royals of some country (of whom she'd have no idea which to start with) or buying information from the criminal world.

"Haaah, why did you have to destroy Ohara... I'm not buying that 'destroy the world' bull shit, either." Cherry scratched her head.

"Should I try my luck with small scale information brokers or go straight to the Kano Kingdom? The former is safer but unreliable, while the latter is risky but more likely to succeed." Cherry smiled.

She had wasted her talent by avoiding danger in her last life, this time would be different.

Cherry returned to her ship (after collecting Lorston's corpse) and made her plans for the near future.

After collecting on Lorston's bounty at a nearby settlement, she set out for the Kingdom of Kano!

...

It took more than a few months to reach Kano, mostly because Cherry insisted on visiting nearly every island that was between her and her ultimate destination. She hadn't had anymore luck in regards to devil fruit, which was disappointing, but understandable.

She did however reach the final stage of the second realm, all that was left was to perfect it then break through to the next. The third realm was where the real power began. The first two realms primarily dealt with tempering the body, while the third started the deal directly with one's vital energy.

Docking in a large port, she paid whatever rent they asked for. It was practically daylight robbery, but she had the money and couldn't be bothered to argue. That had the benefit of putting her in the dock warden's good books, so there's that.

Cherry didn't leave the devil fruit on her ship. No, that was way too risky. Instead she had prepared a clever disguise to hide the devil fruit on her person.

A fake pregnancy belly! Sure, people might find it odd that a young and very pregnant woman was traveling alone. However, between her frightening visage and her excellent 'grumpy pregnant lady with a sword and a gun' acting, only a fool would poke the hornets' nest.

Unfortunately, fools were quite common in this world. Fools like 'Butterball' Andrew.

Butterball Andrew is a greasy man of tall stature and even greater width. So much so that his moniker is more a description than a nickname.

What he lacked in hygiene and self control, he made up for with his eye for treasure. When he saw a 'helpless' pregnant woman walk into an alley with an expensive looking sword at her hip, he followed her. It didn't occur to him that the woman would know how to use it.

Cherry had a good feeling about this alley. She felt that she'd definitely find what she was looking for by walking into it.

"Oi, lady!" A voice shouted behind her.

Cherry turned to see a man that was larger than life, in that he shouldn't still be alive carrying around that much fat, let alone walk around with it. She happened to recognize him, 'Butterball' Andrew with a bounty of 23,000,000 Beri.

"Gimme that sword and I'll let ya go, since I'm in a good mood today!" Butterball said, with a sneer full of unwarranted confidence.

"Hoh? And what if I don't? You'll attack me? Pirates may be welcome in Kano, but that's only if they behave." Cherry stated with a bored look.

"They won't do nothing to me, girly. I've got a bounty of 23,000,000 Beri. It's too much of a hassle to come after me for some light robbery, so hand it over! Sooeyhehehe!" He snorted.

"Alright, I'll give it to you..." Cherry drew her sword and leapt.

She landed on his chest, placing the tip of the sword far enough to poke the back of his throat.

Butterball froze, he hadn't expected a pregnant lady to be so agile.

"Here's what going to happen. Since your such a 'big shot', you're going to guide me around today. I need information and it's my first time here you see. Snort like the piggy you are if you agree, otherwise I'll make sure you never enjoy the taste of your slops again." Cherry smiled maliciously, tapping her sword against his swollen tongue.

*Pig snorting sounds*

"Good."

Cherry went around to various brokers testing their capabilities and trying to gauge their trustworthiness. Eventually she found herself at an auction house owned by the Chinjao family. She hadn't wanted to get involved with them, but Butterball had insisted that if the other brokers wouldn't do, the only other option was this place.

She left Butterball outside as she had every time and approached a rather pretty receptionist.

"How may I assist you, miss?" She said, her professionalism not wavering in the slightest.

"I would like to see a catalogue of rare items with the expected price range they would sell for." This was Cherry's attempt to avoid saying too much. If she didn't find her devil fruit in that, she'd have to be more direct, or just give up and eat the devil fruit without knowing what it does.

"Very well, please follow the attendant to my left." The receptionist's smile widening almost imperceptibly.