One Piece: Dream of Immortality

Chapter 542 - Music to my ears

"Pops told me that Kaido is a tough son of a bitch, but... damn..." Ace marveled, his freckled face a bit paler than it was a few minutes ago.

"Damn" was an apt description of Kaido's tenacity. Even the odd drunken fighting style he started using couldn't compare to the strangeness of his seemingly indestructible body.

In offense, Kaido was Big Mom's inferior, Cherry decided. Sure, he could blow the tops off of mountains, but so could Big Mom and she didn't need to have magic fire breath handed to her by her devil fruit to do it.

In defense, though? Kaido beat Big Mom hand over foot. Cherry honestly didn't know how long it would take for her to beat him unconscious. Killing him would actually be easier.

That's a dragon for you, though.

"Looks like we're nearing the end," Cherry said. "Win or lose, soon the victor will be decided."

Ace heard the disappointment in her voice and frowned. It looked like his kid brother wasn't coming out on top today. As Luffy's older brother, he'd have to step up.

However, Cherry wasn't so disappointed that Luffy was going to lose. She was disappointed that he wasn't quite ready to awaken. A lesser man than him would have died a few times over with his injuries, yet it still wasn't enough pressure to make that breakthrough?

"Cherry! Where is he?! He's after Luffy now!" Robin suddenly appeared at her side.

Cherry didn't ask questions; she didn't need to. Without any hesitation, she blurred out of sight.

Kaido and Luffy were throwing themselves into a final all-out attack.

Guernika appeared behind Luffy and reached for his reared fist.

An instant later Guernika's throat was torn out, his heart was pierced, and every vertebrae in his spine was shattered. He didn't even have a chance to touch

But for all his power, Luffy was young and inexperienced; and Kaido was not.

The Dragon Emperor took full advantage of Luffy's split second distraction, savagely crushing Luffy into the roof with every ounce of his strength and haki poured into it.

A split second in a battle of this level was all it took to change the result.

Cherry held Guernika by the back of the neck. Her face was eerily placid and her grip was far too steady.

Guernika knew that he was already a dead man. As an assassin, he was well aware of what kind of damage was fatal or not. What he didn't understand was why he was still conscious.

"I'm keeping your brain alive. Since you want to die so badly, I'll let you get the full experience," Cherry's voice was as cold as death itself.

Guernika tried to speak, but that was impossible with his throat in tatters and his lungs drowning in blood. He wanted to ask why she wasn't doing this for her captain, but instead to make him suffer.

The sun began to rise, but it was much too early in the morning for that. Then the heat came, and despite Guernika's cooling body it brought him no comfort.

A hateful missile wreathed in hellfire crashed into Kaido and sent him sprawling back away from Luffy's fallen form.

Ace was the very picture of wrath, his face twisted into the visage of a snarling demon.

"You ugly worm! Have you fallen so far, to have government dogs fight your battles for you?!" Ace raged.

That accusation was a bit of a stretch; Kaido himself had been surprised by the appearance of Geurnika. Ace was not in the state of mind to care.

'This boy is so angry for his brother's sake and he doesn't even know that his heart stopped with that attack,' Cherry thought with clinical detachment.

It was just bad luck, really. One of the wide spikes on Kaido's kanabo punched Luffy in just the right spot to completely stop the rhythm of his heart. The organ itself probably wasn't too badly damaged even.

Robin arrived at her side, not even sparing a glance at the sputtering Guernika. She gasped when she saw the state that Luffy was in and made a move towards him.

"Don't touch him," Cherry said, giving Robin pause.

"Surely this is enough!" Robin hissed and glared at her. "He needs help!"

"I would agree," Cherry said, confusing her even more. "But he's not done yet. I don't want to ruin this for him by accident..."

Robin looked terribly conflicted. It was clear that Luffy was in far worse shape than he's ever been, but Cherry was saying he wasn't done yet?

Cherry was too focused on Luffy now to pay any more mind to her lover, which was really saying something.

A power was stirring within the young man. At first, she thought he was awakening his devil fruit, and he certainly was, but there was something more to it than that.

This was different from any of the awakenings she had encountered before. Perhaps that wasn't saying much since she hadn't actually seen too many of them, but she was sure that this was special.

In the background of her perception, Ace continued to hound Kaido.

"Boy, do you really think fire will do any good against me?" Kaido said as he regained his footing. "I'm a DRAGON!!!"

*CRASH*

Ace took a nasty counterattack head on and suffered for it. He was shaky on his legs once he got back up. "Luffy managed to take dozens

"He was made of sterner stuff than you," Kaido smirked.

The "was" set Ace off.

"As if you could kill him!" Ace charged once again, a hotheaded man to the end.

*BADUMP*

Ace almost didn't hear it, and Kaido didn't at all. Ace ignored whatever it was for now, having bigger concerns than odd noises.

*BADUMP BADUMP*

That time it was much louder and drew both Ace and Kaido's attention away from their scuffle. Their eyes fell onto Cherry and Robin, next to the prone forms of Luffy and the now deceased Guernika.

"Ohhh, I heard about this from Linlin! You've decided to fight me now?! Wororororo!" Kaido roared with excited laughter.

"That wasn't me..." Cherry's blank expression broke into a small smile, her eyes never leaving Luffy.

*BADUMP BADUMP BADUMP*

Ace and Kaido watched with morbid fascination as Luffy's body jerked with each beat.

*DUM DUT DA DA DUM DUT DA DA*

"What's going on...?" Luffy's voice carried over the oddly drum-like sound of his pounding heart. "I thought I was done for... I lost, but..."

Steam rose from Luffy's body and his hair turned cloudy white. "I feel like I'm having the time of my life! Hahahahahaha!"

The beat of his heart became ever more complex, even sounding like many different drums were being played at one. The song stirred up a mysterious feeling in the hearts of all those who heard it!

Cherry's smile was wide with mirth. This was it! This was what she was missing, the elusive factor that stopped her from truly understanding devil fruit!

Well, there was also something that felt way too close to divinity to be anything else, but that was something to explore later! One step at a time!

"The secret was music!" Cherry hugged Robin, who just looked relieved that Luffy was alright. "I never bothered with music, so I didn't see it before! The inscriptions are like sheet music!"