Chapter 14: Catalogue

Chapter 14: Catalogue



Cherry was led to a private room by the auction house attendant. The attendant asked her politely to wait inside while he retrieved the catalogue.

Cherry used the time to poke around with her Life Sense. She found no people or den den mushi spying on her inside the room. She was very surprised by this fact and inwardly raised her opinion of this auction house.

Speaking of den den mushi, the first time Cherry had seen one, she very nearly squealed in delight. She thought they were, by far, the most adorable communication method she'd ever seen. Even more adorable than the mice couriers of the Mighty Spirit Beast Sect that she had seen in her last life.

When she had seen one doing an impression of Commander Frowe, she had collapsed into fits of laughter. She was very fond of them, to say the least.

The attendant returned pushing a cart into the room. He placed a massive book on the table before her, as well as a small selection of drinks and pastries.

'They really know how to treat their clientele. They must value their reputation quite a lot.' Cherry thought, before diving into the catalogue.

Although she had already scanned the refreshments and found nothing wrong, such as poison, she did not touch them at all.

She knew that everything was a test for these people, so she would keep her dealing with them strictly business. A surprising amount of information about a person can be obtained by watching what they do in these circumstances.

While the attendant watched, Cherry quickly turned through the pages of the catalogue. Long enough to get an idea of the items displayed, but not long enough to seem like it was what she was looking for. In fact, every turn of a page happened in almost exactly the same amount of time.

Finally she reached the devil fruit section and began memorizing the summaries of each one, in case she ran into them later.

Then she found it, the devil fruit that was strapped to her abdomen at this very moment.

[The Fuse Fuse Fruit

[ Type: Paramecia

[ Starting Bid: 100,000,000 Beri

[Appearance: A coconut shaped like a cauldron,

Making her way to the center of the island, hidden behind many boulders, she made her preparations.

Once her condition was ideal, she hardened her teeth and jaw then tore through the tough shell of the devil fruit, not wasting a single scrap. It was took a few seconds to swallow it all down.

She began to circulate her vital energy, closely observing the foreign vital energy as it started to move towards her heart.

*THUMP*

Her heart painfully pounded in her chest as the devil fruit inscribed itself into her very being. 'Marvelous, it's truly miraculous...'

A great deal of excess vital energy was released when the inscription was finished. No doubt it was typically wasted when others ate a devil fruit, but she wouldn't lose a single scrap. Cherry guided the surging energy with her body cultivation method. Finally she felt that her second realm was perfected, but a large amount of energy still remained. She pressed forward and broke through to the third realm instantly.

Unfortunately, she had to release the excess energy. It was too unstable and violent to be used for general cultivation and she had only just broken through. It was good news that they contained more than enough vital energy for use in future realms, however.

Cherry let out a long breath. She felt strong, powerful. Standing up, she went to a nearby boulder and punched it.

*POW*

The boulder shattered sending many smaller rocks flying quite a ways.

'One step closer to my goal. I should go bounty hunting soon, I'm going to need the money for metals if I'm going to forge a Blood Bound Weapon. Now let's see this devil fruit in action.'

Cherry thought to herself.

Cherry returned to her ship and found her stock of assorted herbs she'd picked up. They weren't good enough to make pills for cultivation, at least not of the quality necessary for her body cultivation method and realm.

Taking some herbs with numbing effects, she pressed them into a ball and activated her devil fruit ability. She could feel the change taking place, how they were being altered. When she opened her hands, she saw a tiny green pill.

Cherry popped it into her mouth and swallowed, waiting for it to take effect. The herbs hadn't been very strong individually, but when the pill took effect her sense of touch was dulled considerably, though not completely.

'Not bad, not bad at all. However, I don't think I'm getting the most out of this. I think it could be done better still. Well, practice makes perfect I suppose.' Cherry concluded. Cherry climbed into the hammock on her ship and let the gentle waves rock her to sleep.