One Piece: Dream of Immortality

Chapter 218: Bath



The final preparations for their departure were completed quickly. Fishman Island was an interesting place, but the wonders and dangers of the New World were a temptation that Luffy couldn't resist. As such, they were planning to set off by noon the next day.

The Minister of the Left carefully explained the use of a three needled log pose to Nami, which was vital for navigation in the New World whose magnetic fields were as erratic as the weather in the first half of the Grand Line.

Much to the horror of their resident cowards, being Nami, Chopper, and Usopp, Luffy had overheard the part about the shakier needles typically pointing to more dangerous islands. "Don't fret too much over it, guys. Luffy would have insisted on the shakier needles regardless of if he knew they were more dangerous. Besides, the "safer" islands are more likely to be territories claimed by an Emperor than the unstable ones." Cherry said.

Nami supposed that was true. There was also the fact that Luffy had a keen instinct for getting into trouble, so it was pointless to get worked up over it. She could only sigh and accept her fate. She decided to distract herself by doing inventory of the treasure the three dumb-dumbs brought back.

They had a bittersweet goodbye as they set sail, especially Sanji and Shirahoshi. Albeit for very different reasons.

"What are those things, Franky?" Cabernet asked about a series of wooden blocks tied into a line with rope.

"I'm SUPER glad you asked! These are made of Kuuigosu wood. It's an exceptionally buoyant kind of wood that we're going to use to ascend to the surface." Franky explained patiently. "Neat." Cabernet said.

"IT'S SUPER NEAT!" Franky shouted with gusto.

"Do either of you two want to take a shower? I can make one with my weather tempo pretty easily now." Nami asked Cherry and Robin.

Robin cast a sideways look at Cherry with a little bit of disdain. "I'm fine for now, but you should take this hooligan with you. She hasn't had one for a while even though I've been nagging her about it."

"Hm? How long could it have been? She doesn't smell bad..." Nami said.

"About three months?" Cherry answered nonchalantly, scratching her head. "I can keep myself clean just fine without bathing."

Between her devil fruit and her cultivation, it was easy to remove any dirt or other filth from her skin.

Nami first looked aghast, then intrigued, then resolute. "You're taking a bath!"

"Whatever, now that we're back on the Sunny I can actually enjoy it. It's my fault for not having a proper bathroom installed on Cabernet when she was built." Cherry said.

It was only bad luck that they had found any proper bathing facilities on the latter part of her travels before meeting back up with the Straw Hats.

Cherry was dragged to the bathroom like a child might be by their mother after returning home covered in mud. Only Cherry noticed the gleam in Brook's eye socket as he acted casually like he wasn't interested.

Chopper followed along after them, as he wanted to have a proper chat with Cherry about his newest discoveries and medical techniques, as well as how they'll go about breaking down the "energy steroids" they had received.

"I really don't get how this thing of yours works, Nami." Cherry said, standing underneath a dark grey, miniature cloud that was raining down on her whilst she washed herself.

"It's weather science, and this isn't even the complicated stuff. I could explain the basic idea to you, but understanding the intricacies of it would take years of proper education." Nami said, lounging in the bath after her own shower.

"I'll pass. Rather, I can already do lightning better than you and I reckon I could make it rain if I thought about it for a bit." Cherry said.

"Devil Fruits are cheating! It's not nearly as impressive to do it without supernatural powers!" Nami defended.

"It looks like cotton candy!" Chopper cheered excitedly.

"As expected of our Doctor. Truly a savant." Cherry stated.

Chopper did his little happy dance, completely oblivious to the fact that Cherry had

insinuated that he was only smart when it came to medicine.

Nami got out of the bath and dried off with a towel, allowing Cherry to soak if she wanted. She adopted a confused expression, then said "Why hasn't anyone tried to peep on us yet? Did

something go wrong out there?"

Cherry chuckled to herself. "No, it seems that Sanji really is trying his best to be better."

"That doesn't have anything to do with Brook though, does it?" Nami said.

She wasn't complaining about not being spied on by lecherous men, of course. It just felt a bit strange that she didn't need to zap anyone.

"You'll understand when you get out there." Cherry said cryptically.

Nami raised an eyebrow, but Cherry didn't explain further, so she got dressed and went outside. Sure enough, she found her answer.

Sanji was sitting on the back of Brook, who was currently bound and gagged with rope. Brook squirmed in outrage whilst Sanji ignored his muffled curses whilst having a smoke.

"Ah! Nami-swaaan~ Did you enjoy your bath~?" Sanji danced over and asked in his usual sing-song voice.

Brook unhinged his jaw, managing to ungag himself. "You traitor! We're supposed to be peeping comrades!"

"Shut up, you!" Sanji kicked him on the backside. He turned around and said coolly, "That childish nonsense is all behind me now. A gentleman doesn't do such things."

"Well, that's all well and good, but that's only the bare minimum to be a decent human being, you know?" Nami said, looking mostly unimpressed.

Her words pierced into Brook like spears, though.

Luffy drew their attention as he punched some sort of giant blobby fish and told Usopp to hook and reel it in.

That fish was eaten by a bigger fish, and that one by a bigger fish still. Soon they were being dragged down by the weight of their triple catch and a rare phenomenon appeared directly in their path. It was a White Strom, a legendary white colored whirlpool that stretched for hundreds of miles and was well known for the creation of ghost ships.n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om

"Go get Cherry! We need Takako to drag us away from that current or we're doomed!" Nami ordered, and Robin rushed into the ship to do so.

Sadly, they were quick enough and got dragged into the White Strom by the fish they hooked.

Cherry was rather amused when the ship suddenly started to roll, even as Chopper panicked

and screamed.

Cherry casually walked out of the bathroom as if the ship wasn't spinning out of control by fusing and un-fusing her feet to the floor as she went. Robin was just outside the bathroom holding herself steady in the corridor with her many hands. Cherry gave her a smooch and continued on her way, even as Robin gawked at her in confusion.

Outside she found the crew hanging on for dear life, the ship spiraling along the inside of a horizontal white whirlpool.

She was about to put her hand outside the coating bubble to release Takako in order to get the situation under control, but the current spat them back out right as she did so.

Takako grabbed hold of the ship and swam it a safe distance from the White Strom as the crew picked themselves back up from the unexpected roller coaster ride.

Sanji was the first to notice Cherry. He went red in the face and gave her a thumbs up. "Cherry! Why are you only wearing a towel?!" Nami asked in disbelief. "That's not even a full

sized one!"

"Well, in hindsight it may not have been that much of an emergency, but at the time this was the only thing in reach as I was in a hurry." Cherry said.

The towel only covered her lower half, leaving her topless for the world to see. She really didn't think it was a big deal, though. These sorts of things happened from time to time when you lived on a cramped ship with other people for months on end.

'Besides, Sanji deserves a small reward for his good behavior.' Cherry thought. Incidentally, Brook's eye sockets were mysteriously plugged with shampoo bottles. He was rather frantically trying to remove them, but unfortunately for him they only came unwedged

after Cherry had covered up.

"Ah! I should have just detached my soul from my body!" Brook realized too late and fell into

a deep depression.

He only snapped out of it when they heard the whale song from a pod of Island Whales.