One Piece: Dream of Immortality

Chapter 568 - Song of the Heart

"Days?!" Uta shouted, jabbing an accusing finger into Cherry's chest. "What do you mean you've only been learning for a few days?!"

"Is that strange?" Cherry asked. "Technically I've only had one lesson."

Uta turned to Brook. "Is she being for real?"

"I was just trying to keep her ego in check..." Brook raised his hands in surrender, and to defend himself just in case Uta tried to hit him.

Uta did indeed try to hit him. Whilst she was throwing ineffectual punches at him, she shouted. "Who cares about ego?! Confidence is way more important, you bone head!"

"I'm sorry!" Brook had the decency to pretend he was in pain.

Uta spun back to Cherry, who was watching patiently and with no small amount of amusement.

"You're a genius," Uta enunciated. "Not as much as me, but if you keep learning at the rate you apparently are, then you'll be good enough to make a living with it in no time."

"Oh?" Cherry was honestly surprised by that assessment. "I wasn't doing very well putting the sheet music to practice, though?"

"That's because Bone-Head over here gave you one of the trickiest pieces of percussion in history; to practice with!" Uta seethed.

"It was supposed to be a joke, just to lighten the mood a bit! It worked fine with all the other musicians I've taught, but then she started getting the hang of it and I couldn't admit the truth!" Brook squirmed in place.

"That is pretty funny," Cherry chuckled. "But you're saying I'm not a talentless hack, then?"

"Did he call you that?" Uta rounded on Brook. "You better not have called her that!"

Brook shook his head side to side so fast that he accidentally sent his skull spinning on his spine like a top. He stopped it with his hands, with it facing backwards. "Never!"

Cherry wondered if she really did have some talent and it wasn't just Uta being nice. She'd heard a few music based cultivators play in the past and they were so beyond what she was capable of that she couldn't imagine ever reaching their level.

"Ah," Cherry realized she was being stupid. How could she compare herself to a musical cultivator? They were capable of bringing armies to their knees with a few random notes, let alone an actual song. "I understand. Shall we get started properly?"

"Of course!" Uta's attitude did a complete turn around, clearly happy to immerse herself in the art she loved in whatever capacity the opportunity came in.

...

A few days of dedicated practice made a world of difference in Cherry's drumming skills. Even that prank set that Brook had her do was easy enough to play beginning to end now, albeit not perfectly. Of course, having insane manual dexterity and heightened perception helped loads with that.

"Okay! I think I'm ready for my first attempt," Cherry nodded at the end of the day's lessons.

"First attempt? You've been playing practically nonstop for three days," Uta said. "I don't know how you never get tired, by the way. I wish I had that kind of stamina."

"No, no; I've been learning the drums for a practical purpose, not just for fun," Cherry shook her head. "You can stay and watch if you like, but you might want to get to a safe distance first."

"A safe distance? What in the world are you on about?" Uta grimaced. "You aren't planning to... summon a demon or something, are you?"

"Nothing that extreme," Cherry denied. "Perhaps a bit destructive, though, which it why I brought us out to this open field today, instead of practicing inside."

"I thought you just wanted some fresh air," Uta said.

"It's best we just listen to her and see why afterwards," Brook insisted.

Uta grumbled and the two of them walked a little ways away.

"Further," Cherry shooed them.

"If we go any further we won't be able to hear it properly!" Uta complained.

Cherry just waved her hands as if to sweep them further back.

"Fine!" Uta gave up. "Don't blame me if I can't give any proper criticism!"

They repeated this four more times before Cherry was satisfied, giving them a thumbs up.

"Just get on with it!" Uta's voice barely carried back to her.

Cherry sent her attention inwards, seeking out the inscription metaphysically carved into her heart. She had been picking it apart these past few days to translate it into something similar to what she had learned about music.

A quick, steady beat began as she took conscious control over her heart and set it to pounding. She could feel it sort of resonate with a part of the Fusion Fruit's inscription, but it needed more.

She unlocked her awakening, like turning a key in a clockwork device to set it to performing its function.

"Hm," Cherry hummed. "Multiple concurrent beats, perhaps?"

That was tricky, and certainly a normal heart would find it impossible. Neither her nor Luffy's hearts were normal, though, were they? His was made malleable by design, and hers was made so in defiance of its natural state.

*BOBOBOBOM BOBOM BOM BOM*

Her heart THUNDERED like never before. Uta and Brook, almost a full kilometer away, immediately clasped they're hands to the sides of their heads and began to retreat further away.

"Uh oh," Cherry muttered, her voice completely lost amidst the cacophony.

She might be in a bit of trouble here. Now that she got it going, it seemed intent on continuing; even without further input from herself.

...

The air around Cherry and the earth beneath began to be pulled towards her, growing denser and denser until the mass began to overlap on itself. It formed a massive ball of whatever matter happened to be nearby that continued to shrink in on itself even as it grew.

And then it stopped. The big ball of stuff semi-exploded, releasing all that it was made up of into a big pile and a gaseous shockwave.

Once the dust had settled, Uta and Brook started rushing over.

"What was THAT?!" Uta asked, perhaps a bit too loudly to compensate for the thunderous sound that was no longer present.

"Something to do with Cherry's devil fruit, I would imagine," Brook rubbed his bare bones chin. "Luffy recently awakened his devil fruit, which makes his heart beat like a drum. I think Cherry was trying to do the same with hers, but it got a bit out of her control."

"What kind of devil fruit lets someone control their own heart?" Uta wondered aloud.

"Not Cherry's, as far as I'm aware. That's from some sort of strange martial art form she uses," Brook informed.

"Seriously?" Uta could hardly believe it, but then Shanks had told her a great many odd stories about even odder people.

A hand popped free from the big pile of dirt nearby. Brook went over and gave Cherry some help unburying herself.

Uta gasped, eyes wide and hand clasped over her mouth in horror.

"That sucked," Cherry said, some blood dribbling out of her mouth alongside the words.

"What-?!" Uta couldn't find the words.

"Hm?" Cherry looked at her in confusion, before her face lit up in comprehension. "Ah, sometimes I forget that people don't know I can do this sort of thing."

Cherry patted the gaping hole in chest over where her heart was. "I had to pluck it out since it wasn't listening."

Uta fainted.