One Piece: Dream of Immortality-Chapter 563: Ransom

"Sir," Vice Admiral Mozambia spoke up. "Why are we letting this go? They just finished fighting that monster that Uta unleashed and whilst our own forces took a blow from Red Hair, it was only the weakest of us. Now is as good a time as any to strike!"

"That wouldn't be a wise course of action, Mozey." "Please don't call me that, sir." "In fact, I intended to withdraw from the moment the victims were released. It's just not worth it to corner an Emperor with the forces we have on hand after the situation has already been resolved." Kizaru said.

"But..." Mozambia stammered.

"You need to catch up on your reports, Mozey." "Please, sir." "Red Hair might be a bit tired, but he can still fight. However, the main problem is Cheapshot. Our intelligence suggests that she may be able to fight without tiring indefinitely. I only needed to put on a bit of a show so we don't look too weak for backing off. Though I do wish I didn't get bitten for it."

Mozambia looked like he still didn't quite accept it; but he was a marine, so he would follow orders.

"If there's nothing else, start making preparations to leave," Kizaru ordered. "... Mozey."

...

"Things could have gone better, but thank you for the help," Shanks said as Cherry approached.

"What do you mean 'could have gone better'? I'm pretty sure that nobody died, so what more could you hope for?" Cherry rocked on her heels.

The Red Hair pirates all looked pretty dour after she said that.

"Oh, OH!" Cherry giggled. "This is just too cute. I would have thought you were keeping up with Luffy a bit better than this."

Shanks and his crewmates looked confused. "I've been avoiding everything about him but the papers, actually. I'd like to hear it all from his own mouth." freeweɓnovel.cøm

"Ah, that explains it," Cherry nodded in understanding. "Still, you should have surmised at least a little bit about me after Marineford."

Cherry stepped closer and reached out to Uta. She tapped her nose with a "Boop!" before stepping back and waiting.

Before anyone could come to a rational explanation for why she did that, Ut'as eyes shot open,s he screamed, then accidently socked Shanks on the jaw with a nasty uppercut. Whether the man had been caught by surprise or simply didn't use haki for fear of harming Uta, it looked like it hurt quite a bit.

"""UTA?!?!?!""" Everyone except Cherry shouted in alarm.

"Am- Am I dead?! Did everyone die?!" Uta tried to scramble to her feet but instead flopped about uselessly.

"Don't try to move just yet. The life force I infused you with hasn't had time to circulate, so your legs are probably still asleep," Cherry warned.

"You can do that with the fuse fuse fruit?" Yasopp asked in wonder. Cherry didn't correct him.

"What did you have to give up to do that?" Benn Beckman question.

Over a half dozen heads swiveled to look at her.

"My own life force, of course. I haven't figured out a way to take it from other people, but I'd rather not even try it," Cherry scratched her chin like it was no big deal.

And really, it wasn't a big deal. She could just do a bit of cultivating to recover it, but they didn't know that.

"You shouldn't have done that! I'm not worth- How much did you give up?!" Uta started to hyperventilate a little bit.

"Huh? Oh, hmm..." Cherry thought about it. How much would it be in terms of a mortal life span? "I guess, three or four years worth? Fixing Whitebeard up took-"

Cherry realized what the misunderstanding was and lowered her estimate to something far more reasonable. "-a little less than twenty years, I'd wager."

It was actually more like two hundred years. That old man had really been teetering on the edge of death through sheer willpower.

Not that those numbers actually meant anything. They mattered to mortals because they couldn't restore their life force, but cultivators could casually use up and restore vital energy as they pleased. So long as they didn't overdraw, they'd be back to normal faster than you could properly slap the face of a young master.

The answer she gave did nothing to assuage their fears, however. In fact, being honest probably would have been better in hindsight. They'd have thought she was joking.

"I don't understand you young people," Shanks sighed. "You'd think after my captain died as young as he did at the height of his fame, that they'd be less eager to throw their lives away. More youngsters should live like Whitebeard, growing ancient and not even dying of old age when they ought to."

Uta was silently crying with the knowledge that she'd shortened the life of a dear friend of her dear friend. She knew what Luffy was like and didn't doubt that he was close with all his crewmates.

"Oh, cheer up! This is a victory! A few years for a lifetime, not a bad deal, is it?!" Cherry exclaimed.

"She's right. What's done is done, no use in crying over spilled booze," Shanks said, recovering from the dire revelation faster than the others.

"But she-!" Uta grit her teeth and tried to argue.

"Just don't waste it, Uta," Shanks patted her head.

Uta could only reluctantly nod. She wouldn't, never again.

"Well, since you're feeling all guilty and what not, you could do me a favor," Cherry offered.

"Anything!" Uta leapt to her feet, far more steady on them than she had been in her previous attempt to stand.

"I've started lessons with our resident musician, but to be honest it isn't going that well. Maybe if he had some help, though, things would get along faster?" Cherry suggested.

"I can do that! That's something I can do! I'm great at music!" Uta accepted with an almost unnerving desperation.

"Fantastic! And you'll get to see Luffy again; isn't that nice?" Cherry smiled.

For some reason, that point hadn't quite clicked in her head.

"Eh?" Uta failed to find the right words. It wasn't that she didn't want to see Luffy, but she had just kinda sorta tried to kill one of his new friends. Could she face him after this?

"That's not the reaction I expected, but you already agreed! No take backs!" Cherry scooped the girl up under one of her arms. "Now then, it was nice seeing you lot again, but as you can see, I'm quite busy kidnapping your daughter. No time for catching up for either of us. If you want her back... bring a bunch of treasure to Wano or something and maybe I'll trade. Toodles!"

Cherry leapt away, bounding through the air whilst Uta screamed the whole way.

"Er, should we stop her captain?" Lucky Roux asked.

"Why? She just told us what to do if we want her back," Shanks said, standing and patting some dust off his pants.

"Well, sure..." Yasopp said. "But that was pretty much the textbook example of a ransom demand, wasn't it?"

"Since when have you ever read a textbook?" Beckman asked.

The rest roared with laughter at the marksman's expense.