25 Drink in Moderation

Cherry found and boarded the Strong Arm Pirates' ship. Their flag depicted a classic skull, but the crossbones were instead a pair of crossed muscular arms.

She searched the ship, making sure to keep an eye out for secret rooms or compartments. Finding the pirates' ill gotten gains was easy enough, but Cherry didn't touch this as the Navy would want to confiscate it anyways.

In the captain's quarters she did find a loose floorboard, under which she found some gold and gemstones. As well as a small selection of erotic 'romance' novels all involving dominatrix mother figures. Cherry only took the gold and gems.

After she finished scouring the ship for anything of value or interest, Cherry did a quick once over of the island to make sure there wasn't a devil fruit to be found, which there wasn't as expected.

Finally, she returned to her ship. She brought her sword out from her body and fastened it to her hip and grabbed her favorite pistol. She also grabbed an empty water barrel and filled it with sea water. She carried the water filled barrel back to the encampment.

Upon arriving the marines watched her with interest as she approached Body Builder Victor. She placed the barrel on the ground, popped off the top, and then picked up Victor and placed him inside the barrel with only his head poking out.

Cherry got to work modifying the barrel's lid to include a hole just large enough for Victors head to fit through. When she was done, she had a mobile anti- devil fruit user transport device.

The marines gave a few nods of understanding. While not as convenient as sea stone cuffs, it was certainly an effective substitute.

"Now then, if I may have everyone's attention!" Cherry announced loudly.

"For those of you with broken bones, I can mend them quickly using my devil fruit ability. However, you will have to endure more pain in the process. If you wish to receive treatment, please make yourself known to me." Cherry offered, with proper forewarning.

Surprisingly, despite the torturous ordeal they had just gone through, all the marines volunteered to have their bones mended. Their sense of duty and mental fortitude was not lost on Cherry. She lamented that these men worked under the oppressive thumb of the tyranny of the world government.

Perhaps one day she would do something about that, but not today. She would wait until her power could not be challenged at the very least.

...

The marines, having had their wounds treated and energy restored, quickly got to work rounding up the pirates and taking stock of the pirates' ship.

They flew the flag of the Navy and clearly marked the ship as a captured vessel. Then they set out for their base of operations, with Cherry's little ship following along behind them.

It was an easy journey for the most part, with only a bit of rain at the beginning which almost seemed to mourn the loss of the marines' comrades.

After a few weeks of favorable winds, they safely arrived at the Navy Branch Headquarters of the West Blue.

Their arrival caused a bit of a fuss as they had lost contact with Captain Alexander some time ago and having him show up unannounced with only half his crew was unexpected in a number of ways.

After Captain Alexander handed over the pirates, he went to give his report directly to Rear Admiral Zitche, who is in charge of general operations in all of West Blue.

Cherry waited patiently until she herself was called for an audience with the rear admiral.

When she entered the office she saw that it was sparsely decorated, only having the essentials for it to serve its function. Captain Alexander sat in a simple chair before a large plain desk stacked with paperwork.

Sitting behind the desk was a robust middle aged man with a grey military hair cut, clean shaven, a bulbous nose, square jaw, and droopy grey eyes. He stood as Cherry entered and walked around the desk to greet her with an outstretched hand.

Thinking it was fortunate that the man was of fairly ordinary proportions, Cherry clasped his hand in a hard vice-like grip.

The man smiled and spoke. "I am Rear Admiral Zitche. Captain Alexander told me how you handled Body Builder Victor and I am very impressed. Most bounty hunters wouldn't have bothered to take as much care as you did, for that I am grateful."

"Perhaps not, but most bounty hunters are hardly better than pirates themselves. I'm Harpin D. Cherry." Cherry replied.

"Bwahaha! I supposed that's true. You won't consider joining the marines will you? You would go far, of that I'm certain." He said.

"No, thank you. I have my own goals to achieve and desires to quench. Speaking of which, Captain Alexander mentioned an extra reward." Cherry said shamelessly.

Zitche shot a glare at Alexander, to which the Captain averted his eyes and whistled innocently.

"Although it isn't within Captain Alexander's authority to promise, there is certainly a need for extra remuneration. Particularly in the case of Body Builder Victor's poorly evaluated bounty. From what the Captain's report suggests, he's worth at least 70,000,000 Beri." Zitche pondered aloud.

"I'll give you a lump sum of 90,000,000 Beri. You brought Victor in alive and saved the marines he'd captured, so at least that much is only fair. I would ask that you don't go around telling everyone about this, too. We can't have the pirates thinking our marines are weak or they'll start acting rampantly." He stated.

Cherry answered with a nod. This was good enough and combined with the extra treasures she 'confiscated' it came up to around 100,000,000 Beri for the venture. Not a bad haul at all.

She began to ponder how to go about creating a spatial storage item without celestial energy. It wouldn't be easy, but it would be worth the trouble given how much money she was hoarding now.

...

After receiving her reward money, Cherry set sail once more.

The West Blue was massive and she had not seen much of it, but she was beginning to see the limits of what she could accomplish here.

Cherry is generally cautious by nature, so throwing herself into the Grand Line at this point was an uncomfortable idea.

However, Cherry would soon be turning 21 years of age and she was only around mid to late stage in the 3rd realm of body cultivation. This was not bad at all, but it wasn't amazing either considering the huge head start she got in the first two realms. The slow, but constant passage of time had started to make her anxious.

There was only one thing for it. She would go to the nearby Ballywood Kingdom and binge on excessive amounts of alcohol. Perhaps her drunken self would make the decision for her or maybe the Heavens would give her a sign.

...

Cherry woke up with a headache mean enough to make demons cry.

Looking around to get her bearings, she saw she was in a rather fancy bedroom filled with pastel colors.

Lying next to her was a young woman with average looks, long black hair and bushy eyebrows, a pink colored nose, and a plump body.

Judging by the fact that both the young woman and Cherry were naked, it was easy to realize what had happened the night before. Though she couldn't remember anything at all.

'I knew I shouldn't have trusted Drunk Cherry. Hopefully I can salvage the situation.' Cherry thought.

There was a light knock at the door. "Princess Sandwich, are you awake?" A elderly woman's voice asked.

'I swear I'll get my revenge, Drunk Cherry. Even if it's the last thing I do.' Cherry cursed.