Chapter 448: Wasteland

Chapter 448: Wasteland



Hitetsu made Luffy get dressed in some local clothes; a yukata with a rather ugly patch job, though the needle work was well done, so the issue was more with a lack of materials than a lack of skill on the maker's part.

As for Cherry, she was pretty much already wearing something that fit in with the locals. She might draw some attention due to the quality, but she would fit right in at the Flower Capital according to Hitetsu.

"I'm going to borrow this sword, old man. I'll look like a proper samurai!" Luffy declared, stepping out of the house.

"Oh, that's a good one," Cherry commented.

"No, you can't take that one! It is a great grade Meito created by my ancestor; Nidai Kitetsu!" Hitetsu shouted. "Even touching it without reverence will bring its curse down upon you!" Naturally. Hitetsu was more concerned about Tama than about Luffy. He did not want any of the misfortune that Luffy brought upon himself to affect her by proximity.

Cherry scoffed. Certainly the Meito could be temperamental at times, but none that she had encountered thus far were truly cursed. Not by her definition of the term, anyways. The worst she had seen was that knife that the sheriff on that mushroom island had. Even that only brought out the man's innate bloodthirst, not something that came from the blade itself. Cherry drew the sword from the sheath that Luffy was holding, causing Hitetsu to gasp in shock. She ran her fingers along the deadly edge as she eyed the blade up close.

"Are you insane?!" Hitetsu charged over and tugged Cherry's hand away from the sword edge forcefully and carefully.

He sucked in a cold breath at what he saw; not even a scratch on the woman's deceptively delicate fingers.

"Relax, old man. Nothing less than a black blade could harm me without the wielder's haki flowing through it," Cherry pulled her hand free from his grasp.

She wasn't angry at him for being rude, since she had deliberately done that to spook him. She actually felt a little bad seeing how concerned he was, even if she believed it was more out of a sense of responsibility for the sword than care for someone he just met.

"Is it even sharp- OW?!" Luffy asked as he touched the tip of the sword with a finger and drew blood instantly.

"Of course it's sharp; it's a sword," Cherry stated whilst giving him a dry look.

Cherry jabbed Nidai Kitetsu at the sheath that Luffy was holding. Hitetsu nearly had a heart attack as he witnessed the most egregious disregard for proper sheathing form he had ever seen. He could only call it a miracle that the cursed blade perfectly slid into place instead of skewering Luffy.

Cherry snickered at the gobsmacked look on Hitetsu's masked face before saying, "Let's get going. This is no time to waste time."

"Onwards!" Luffy recklessly drew Nidai Kitetsu and pointed it inland.

"I can't trust a fool like you with that sword!" Hitetsu shouted, but Luffy was already surging forth, too fast for the old man to keep up with. "Come back here!"

Tama jumped onto the lion-dog-thing's back and raced after Luffy, whilst Cherry kept pace with her captain with light steps.

As Hitetsu's complaints faded into the background far behind them, Luffy would slash at the occasional bamboo stalk that wasn't really in his way at all.

"Huh?" Zoro turned as he sheathed his swords amidst the fallen Beast Pirates. The way that his eye lit up and he smiled when he called back "Luffy!" was very cute in Cherry's humble

opinion.

Luffy jumped and slammed into Zoro, who managed to keep himself upright.

"It feels like forever since we split up!" Luffy said.

"It's nothing like those two years, though," Zoro acutely pointed out.

"Where's everyone else?" Luffy asked.

"We got separated, but I'm sure they're fine," Zoro answered.

"Do you mean 'we' as in everyone, or 'we' as in just you?" Cherry asked as she caught up with

Tama in tow.

"Shut up! Cabernet was the first one to vanish!" Zoro spoke as if that was some grand

accomplishment for him.

"Really?" Cherry knew that her little wine barrel was too curious for her own good, but she thought after Alabasta that she had had her fill of wandering off on her own.

"Meat!" Luffy sniffed around a bag at Zoro's waist.

"You can have it. There's plenty of animals running around here to eat," Zoro said.

"You can't eat them! They're poisoned!" Tama shouted.

"Oh, yes, Tama here is quite correct," spoke the woman who had been there the whole time.

Before anyone could ascertain the woman's identity, however, someone else made an

appearance.

"The wanted Ronin, Zorojuro, and... Straw Hat? I see, you must be responsible for my missing men?" Basil Hawkins, one of the worst generation, strode up whilst flanked by two dozen

Beast pirates.