One Piece: Dream of Immortality

Chapter 490: Tiny Samurai Grandpa



Cherry hung around the village a little longer so that Toko could socialize with Tama and Momonosuke a little.

Since his identity had been exposed, Sukiyaki told some stories of Oden's younger days to Momonosuke. The boy was enamored by the tales of his father's youthful rebellions before he had traveled around the world.

Sukiyaki was good enough with the kids and he was hidden away well enough that Cherry briefly considered leaving Toko with him, but she discarded the idea pretty quickly. She accepted the responsibility to keep her safe, so she would.

It would be pretty cruel to just dump Toko somewhere like she was nothing more than an inconvenience, too. She also really didn't want to piss off Yasuie either. Can you imagine the anger of an enraged father who hadn't been capable of expressing that emotion for years?

She didn't want to see that. At least not directed at herself.

"You ready to go, Toko?" Cherry asked.

Toko hesitated for a moment before nodding to her with a smile.

-

The trip back to Oden Castle was uneventful. It was for Cherry, at least; Toko had a blast riding on her shoulders.

There she found Kin'emon having a nice lunch time tea break, one that was sorely needed by the look of the dark bags under his eyes.

"Hey, Kin'emon. I figured out who Hitetsu is," Cherry said.

"Oh?" Kin'emon expressed his interest.

Cherry waited for him to take a sip of his tea to say, "His real name is Kouzuki Sukiyaki." *Pbbbbt!*

Kin'emon predictably spat a mouthful of tea all over himself.

"Are you certain?!" Kin'emon shouted, not even stopping to wipe his dripping mouth in his haste to question her.

"Kiku seemed pretty convinced when he made the reveal," Cherry said, snickering to herself.

Kin'emon fell deep into thought, muttering and whispering to himself about the implications of the former shogun still being alive.

Cherry caught a little of what he was saying, so she interrupted him. "There is very little chance of him trying to seize power, if you're worried about that. At least I think so. He was vehemently against the idea of becoming shogun again when I hinted at it, and only reluctantly agreed to advise Momo when the boy asked for his help in stabilizing Wano after the war."

"I would not be so sure. Power can do strange things to a man's mind and conscience, especially when he has had that power ripped away from him before," Cobra chimed in as he walked over, enjoying the feeling of standing on his own two feet again without trembling like a duckling.

Kin'emon considered Cobra and sighed. "No. Sukiyaki-sama was ready to surrender his position to Oden, only he never got the chance. I should not doubt him."

"Do keep my words in mind and leave pretty things like trust to your young lord. Paranoia may not suit a king well, but it suits his right hand just fine," Cobra advised him.

That struck Kin'emon more than Cobra expected as a myriad of emotions flashed over his expression in response before settling on grim determination.

Cherry naturally saw that and had to wonder. "Do you suspect something?"

Kin'emon glanced at her then quickly away. "No... maybe... I don't know..."

"Hmmm," Cherry hummed as she shared a look with Cobra. "Well, good luck with that. I'm going to do a little tour of Wano with my little hanger on."

'He thinks there's a traitor in their midst,' Cherry thought as she sauntered away. 'It's totally that creep, Kanjuro, right? I'm supposed to be giving him the benefit of the doubt, though. If I outright told him that without any real proof, then he'd just dismiss it... and I suppose it is possible that he's just a psycho...'

Cherry decided that she would just kill the fucker if he exposed his true allegiances. It wasn't like there was any chance of Kaido actually winning this war, even with a spy feeding information to the enemy. She half expected Whitebeard to turn up and steal all the glory at the very end once all the hard work has been taken care of.

What, you think Whitebeard wouldn't do something so dishonorable? He's a pirate, dummy, of course he would. She already knew Ace was headed here (probably) and the old man wouldn't be far behind.

"Where do you think we should go next, Toko?" Cherry asked, setting aside her thoughts of murder for now.

"Um..." Toko didn't answer immediately, taking the time to think it over. "Can we go see Komurasaki-sama?"

Cherry knew she should have expected that. Unfortunately, Toko could potentially be recognised in the Flower Capital, especially after such a public kidnap- er, surprise

babysitting. Then an idea popped into her head!

"Let's go talk to Kin'emon, then. We'll make sure no more bad guys try to hold you hostage, yeah?" Cherry said, to which Toko nodded seriously. Seriously cute, that is.

...

"Hahahaha, this is so funny!" Toko laughed as they made their way towards the Flower Capital.

"Be careful where you speak, Toko. Once there are people around, they may guess that you're in disguise," Cherry warned.

She might say that, but honestly people were pretty stupid and probably wouldn't have more than a wisp of suspicion that they'll easily dismiss.

Toko walked beside her towards the Flower Capital's main gate, decked out in full samurai regalia, demon mask and all.

Cherry herself had altered her appearance to that of Nightmare, her disguise inside the colosseum in Dressrosa, but wearing a rather nice and traditional kimono. The tattoos made her "look like a yakuza" according to Kin'emon.

Kin'emon's devil fruit was really funny, but it also proved to be very useful at times.

"Hold up, there!" one of the beast pirates at the gate stopped them. "What do you think you are doing, then?"

Toko went stock still, though it wasn't obvious from all the fake armor.

"Me and my tiny samurai grandpa are moving to the city," Cherry said.

The beast pirate cast a glance at Toko, blinked at her, then looked back at Cherry with a raised

eyebrow.

"He lost his shins in battle," Cherry said.

"Alright," the beast pirate accepted. "There's a tax to enter the city."

"How much?" Cherry asked.

"Ten silver coins!" the beast pirate seemed far too pleased with himself at that.n/ô/vel/b//jn dot c//om

'Is that all?' Cherry wondered if this was actually a legitimate tax instead of extortion. It was actually just that her sense of money was skewed by the literal mountain of gold in her

pockets.

"Here you go," Cherry handed over the amount easily, even adding in an extra one without

noticing.

"Oh," the beast pirate received the coins. "Go on in?"

"Thanks, bro!" Cherry saluted him and brushed past him, stealing his coin purse as she did.

Cherry and Toko merrily went on their way.

"Why did you take that man's money?" Toko asked.

"He's a bad man, so it doesn't count as stealing," Cherry told her. She was silently quite

impressed that she spotted that, even if she wasn't trying to hide it from her specifically. "Oh, I see!" Toko absorbed that into her burgeoning moral code.