Leaving Weatheria

Cherry found that Haredas and the other weather wizards were quite adorable in their own quirky way, though she supposed the same could be said of many of the varied peoples of this world.

During her short stay on Weatheria, the weather wizards hounded her with questions after learning she had been at the center of the anomalous storm. While their instruments collected a great deal of data for them to analyze, having a first hand account from ground zero would add a new perspective that would perhaps be enlightening in their postulations.

They were starting to get on Cherry's nerves after about an hour of questioning, so Cherry threw them a bone to chew on by suggesting that the storm, while certainly natural as they speculated, was in fact the product of a will as well. Specifically the will of the world itself.

At first they completely dismissed the outlandish presumption, but in the midst of explaining why it could not possibly be the case they started to connect some dots that seemed to prove the idea instead of disprove it and immediately started to debate each other in a frenzy.

Cherry opened the door, releasing the furious shouts of angry old men out into the world, then shut the door behind her as she stepped out. She found Nami waiting outside, trying to peek inside before the door shut completely.

"What exactly did you say to them that got them so riled up? They weren't even this excited when I tried to rob them blind." Nami asked.

"Some say that warriors are savages, but if you ask me it is the scholars who are the most savage of men. Give them something to argue about and they'll be at each other's throats before you can blink." Cherry stated, somewhat dodging the question.

Nami narrowed her eyes at Cherry, not as easily fooled as the fools they traveled with.

"Can you tell me what you were doing at the center of that storm?" Nami asked.

"Pure bad luck, a coincidence." Cherry stated firmly.

"Oh, and I suppose it was a coincidence the last time you got caught up in a storm on Long Ring Long Land?" Nami asked.

"Yes." Cherry spoke shamelessly.

"Since it was a coincidence, then it's not very likely to happen again, is it?" Nami crossed her arms.

"It's almost a certainty that it will happen again. That's just the kind of luck I was born with. In fact, the first time I was struck by lightning was at the young age of five years old you know. I'm practically a lightning magnet. That is probably how I wound up with the Rumble Rumble Fruit, too." Cherry explained.

Nami was dead certain that Cherry was responsible for the two storms at this point. She didn't have any concrete evidence to prove it, but her gut told her that was the truth of the matter.

Still, without evidence she couldn't exactly make accusations willy nilly and Cherry was a much better liar than the other troublemakers on their crew.

Sure, she could just assume Cherry's guilt in the matter and lecture her about the dangers of throwing yourself into massive lightning storms, but what if she was wrong? Cherry COULD just be messing with her, after all, and be completely innocent.

"Just… be safe, Cherry. Please?" Nami said, with a worried look.

'Geh!' Cherry felt metaphorical pain in her heart. Those sad puppy dog eyes were more effective on her than a thousand lectures.

"I'll try…" Cherry said.

She had no intentions to stop her cultivation of course, but perhaps she could be better prepared for the next one. In hindsight, she had taken on the tribulation this time with a bit too casual an attitude.

Her answer was enough to satisfy Nami for the time being, so she left Cherry to her devices. She entered into the room where curses and obscenities were now being thrown between the old men over minor facts and details.

Sad as it may be, it was time for the three women to part ways with Nami. She had naturally decided to stay on Weatheria to learn everything she can from the weather wizards about meteorology. Something they would desperately need when they entered the New World half of the Grand Line.

Cherry noted that Cabernet was a bit depressed to part ways once again. Not just over Nami, but also from missing their other friends scattered around the world.

"Don't worry Cabernet. We'll see them all again soon enough when the two years are over." Cherry tried to assuage her.

"That's easy for you to say, you're an old lady! Two years is already more than half my life!" Cabernet complained with a pout.

It had slipped her mind that Cabernet was not nearly as old as she looked or acted. While still naive, Cabernet was certainly not a child and from her looks most people would guess she was older than Cherry.

Cherry wrapped her arms around the sad ship girl, followed by Robin who also felt pangs in her heart in sympathy.

Cabernet immediately started tearing up and squeezed Cherry and Robin back painfully hard. Cherry and Robin simply endured the overly tight hug to put her gentle soul at ease.

…

Back at Baltigo.

"CABBYYYY!" Perona shouted, running as fast as she could towards Cabernet.

She leaped at Cabernet, who then caught her and swung her around once before bringing into a snuggly hug.

"Ah, you're back! That's perfect, just in time. We've just retrieved a copy of a poneglyph, Dragon wants you to have a look." Sabo said, receiving them. "Uh, Cherry? Something seems… 'different' about you?"

"I decided to grow out my hair." Cherry responded, showing off a braided ponytail the length of her back. "It's nice of you to notice, but your flirting won't get you anywhere with me young man."

"I didn't mean your hair… Wait, how IS your hair so long? You've only been gone for a few days!" Sabo said, distracted by Cherry's expert deflection skills.

"I already told you, silly. I grew it out!" Cherry stated, like it was the most natural thing in the world, that her hair grew a few feet in length over a few days.

"Well, I guess you did…" Sabo scratched his head, confused.

On the way as Sabo led them to Dragon's office, they ran into Koala.

"Wow, Cherry! Your skin looks amazing! I mean, your skin was always really nice, but somehow it's even better now. It's actually kind of weird that it's noticeably better despite how clear it was before. What's your secret?! Tell me!" Koala interrogated, shaking Cherry's shoulders.

"Hehehe! Naturally the secret is going on a mini vacation with a beautiful woman who loves you!" Cherry said, rubbing her chin like a sage.

"Hmph, keep your secrets then. I suppose that excuse isn't entirely baseless though. Stress is pretty bad for your beauty and as a revolutionary stress is the only thing we aren't in short supply of. We can't all be as carefree as you, after all. Betty seems to manage just fine, but when I asked her how she does it she just told me that she 'drinks, smokes, and fucks' to deal with stress." Koala rambled. "Anyways, see you guys later. I've got some new recruits to train. Ugh."

They watched Koala walk away looking dejected.

"That girl needs a man." Cherry concluded when she was out of sight. "You should ask her out, Sabo."

"Huh?" Sabo said, looking surprised and a bit embarrassed.

"You have to shoot your shot, man. Koala is a real catch and sooner or later someone is going to reel her in." Cherry said.

"What? No, we're not like that. We're just friends…" Sabo denied.

"Really?" Robin asked with a mirthful smile. "You won't mind if I encourage Bunny Joe to ask her then? He's quite enamored with her from what I've seen."

Sabo suddenly felt a great deal of pressure bearing down on him.

"You two go on ahead, I'll be right back!" Sabo raced away down the hall. Notably, he went in the same direction that Koala left in.