Outside of Shakky's Rip Off Bar on Sabaody Archipelago.
A group of three people stood in front of the door looking at the "Closed" sign. The middle-aged woman at the forefront of their group rubbed her chin in thought, before she pretended not to see the sign and valiantly strolled through the door.
"Master, they seem to be closed. Do you really think it's a good idea to just barge in uninvited?" A snake-like man with a mohawk said.
"Shush. Stay outside if you want to be a chicken about it!" The middle-aged woman stated.
The bell above the door on the inside announced their entrance into the bar, drawing the attention of the few individuals inside. One was Shakky with a cigarette in her mouth behind the bar, another was Serene at the bar drinking a martini the size of her head, and lastly a ram with a golden fleece also sitting at the bar and munching on a salad.
"We're closed for the day! Didn't you see the sign?" Shakky looked over with an annoyed look.
"It's been a long time, Shakuyaku." The middle-aged woman said.
It wasn't every day someone called Shakky by her full name, so she studied the woman before her intently. She was familiar to her, but she couldn't remember when she had met the woman.
"Oh come on now. It wasn't every day you banished someone when you were our empress." Said the woman.
Shakky widened her eyes as she realized who was in front of her. "Angelasi?"
"How nice to be remembered by her former highness." Grandma Angela stated without a hint of enthusiasm.
"You can't blame me too much, Angelasi. It's been over forty years since we met and you seemed to have aged even better than I have." Shakky said.
The reunion between the two gave rise to complex emotions for both of them. After all, when Shakky had still been Empress of the Kuja, she had banished Angelasi from their home for falling in love with a man. Shakky had also fallen in love with a man some years later, so she felt like a massive hypocrite at the moment.
Borke and Slenk stood awkwardly behind Grandma Angela, wondering what sort of past their master had lived.
"Hah… Let bygones be bygones. I don't regret leaving Amazon Lily and I'd have done it even if you hadn't banished me." Grandma Angela said.
Shakky's lips formed a relieved smile whilst Borke and Slenk were silently freaking out about this sudden revelation.
'Master Angela is from Amazon Lily?! The famous island of beautiful women?!' Slenk thought, wondering if the island of women was anything like his "romance" novels suggested.
'Master Angela is a criminal?!' Thought the simple mind of Borke.
"These are my apprentices. Borke is the big one, and the drooling pervert here is Slenk.
"I see, nice to meet you boys. So what brings you here, Angelasi?" Shakky asked.
"I entered the Grand Line to find my granddaughter, Cherry, who has been causing a lot of trouble recently. Though I don't think I'm capable of dragging her back home even if I find her anymore." Grandma Angela sighed, taking a seat at the bar.
"You don't mean Harpin D. Cherry, do you?" Serene suddenly chimed in, slurring her speech just a bit.
Grandma Angela measured the young woman with her eyes before deciding that Shakky probably trusts her if she's allowed in her bar after closing.
"The very same. I'm Harpin Angela, her Grandmother." Grandma Angela stated.
"Your granddaughter is a big meany, you know that?!" Serene complained. "Always demanding foot rubs and massages from me, like I'm a servant or something!"
At Grandma Angela's confused look, Shakky explained. "She's on the same crew as Cherry."
Grandma Angela's eyes lit up. "So is Cherry here somewhere? I'd like to meet her as soon as possible."
"I'm afraid not. The whole crew is scattered around the world, so I have no idea where Cherry is." Shakky said. "But she's bound to return here sometime after a year from now. I wouldn't mind having company."
Grandma Angela thought about it and decided to just go with it. She wasn't young any more, though she seemed to have regained a bit of youth from Cherry's strange cultivation technique, so she wasn't keen on adventuring.
Selnk and Borke on the other hand were a bit disappointed. They had grown fond of the adventuring lifestyle since they came to the Grand Line with Grandma Angela, and now it seemed that it would come to an end at least for a while.
"You two are grown men, you know. You don't have to stick to my side like a couple of frightened children. Feel free to go do your own thing." Grandma Angela saw through them.
"Ohhhh, I want to go see Fishman Island!" Borke exclaimed enthusiastically.
"Be careful if you do so. The journey down into the depths is quite dangerous. Many ships are lost during the descent." Shakky warned.
Borke's enthusiasm wasn't reduced in the slightest by the warning though, which caused Slenk to shake his head at his antics. After all, he couldn't let his fellow disciple risk his life on his own, could he? It had nothing to do with his head full of mermaid fantasies.
"Alright, Borke. I'll go with you, make sure you don't kick the bucket." Slenk offered magnanimously.
Borke marched away excitedly whilst Slenk followed behind in exasperation, presumably to find passage to Fishman Island.
"Tell me embarrassing stories about Cherry!" Serene demanded.
Naturally, Grandma Angela was more than happy to oblige.
…
"FUCK!!!" Cherry shouted, sitting upright in bed and startling Robin whom she had been cuddling only a moment before.
"What's wrong?" Robin asked, hearing the panic in Cherry's voice.
"I never warned Grandma about tribulations! I mean I mentioned them in passing, but I didn't think they would happen to her so I didn't explain properly!" Cherry said, pulling her hair.
"Hm, she sounded like a tough old gal from what you've told me. Since she at least has an idea about them, she can probably handle it right?" Robin said, though she was only trying to get Cherry to calm down. She herself hoped that her Grandmother in law hadn't been struck dead.
"Well, probably, sure, but what if she isn't fine?!" Cherry was freaking out.
The old woman meant a great deal to her. Angela was the mother she never had in either of her lives.
"How likely is it that she has already experienced one?" Robin asked.
"... Pretty likely… She has good talent and the early realms pass quickly…" Cherry said, doing calculations in her mind.
"Let's just go visit your hometown and check on her, okay? Don't go and get worked up when you don't know if anything has gone horribly wrong." Robin said, pulling her into a calming embrace.
"Yeah…" Cherry answered.
Returning to West Blue didn't take too long, travel time wise. Cabernet had a much higher maximum speed after Cherry had broken through.
They avoided the town so as to not be seen, they were all wanted pirates after all.
After landing in the courtyard of the dojo, Cherry was visibly agitated. One of the senior disciples approached nervously.
"Where's my Grandmother?" Cherry interrogated.
Her agitated state was due to the fact that she could sense Grandma Angela anywhere.
"Master Angela left for the Grand Line to look for you after you got your first bounty, Cherry…-sama." The disciple explained, tacking a -sama to her name because of the pressure he felt.
"So she was okay at least up until that point? That's good." Cherry said, but now she was worried she wouldn't be able to find Grandma Angela in time before her first tribulation.
"Ah, well, mostly fine, yes. She was actually struck by lightning several times in a row a bit before that. It was a huge shock! Fortunately, she seemed to weather the storm just fine and was back to training after a few days of rest." The disciple explained.
Cherry inwardly heaved a sigh of relief. If Grandma Angela had already experienced a tribulation, there wasn't much more that she could tell her to warn her anyways. Likely she would hold off on the next breakthrough until they had a chance to speak again, so the danger has passed.
"Alright, thank you." Cherry thanked the disciple.
"Let's go visit old man Martin." Cherry said.
Cherry snuck through town towards old Martin's blacksmith and silently entered the building through an upstairs window.
After finding her way down and into the smithy, she saw the old man sharpening a sword.
"Hey, old man!" Cherry called out, getting his attention.
"Hm?" Martin's eyes widened. "It's good to see you again, girl! Haha!"
"I'm sure it is, but you'll be even happier to see this." Cherry said, drawing Sakura Tengoku from its sheathe.
Old man Martin was shocked beyond words. He couldn't believe this was the same sword he had forged all those years ago.