At the shore of the island, where the Going Merry has been trapped in by the Foxy Pirates' ship.
The Foxy Pirates explained to Nami, Zoro, Sanji, Robin, and Serene that their captain was currently issuing his challenge for a Davy Back Fight to Luffy.
A Davy Back Fight was a contest between pirate crews in which the captains wagered their crew members in the hopes of growing their own crew.
Nami was presently trying to comes to terms with the almost certain possibility that Luffy would accept the challenge out of some foolish sense of pride.
A chill went up her back and she swiveled to look behind her. Her eyes opened wide and her skin went pale with shock.
Nami had quite the keen sense for predicting weather phenomena. She could even predict the weather here on the Grand Line that was famous for its unpredictability, even if it was only briefly before it occurred.
However the towering black cloud she now gazed upon had appeared so suddenly she had no chance to foresee it.
The cloud was not very wide, the island was much wider, but its height was so great the top could not be seen. Its darkness was so deep that the only light that broke its surface was that of thin streaks of golden lightning.
Nami got the sense that those streaks of lightning were deceptive in their appearance, that in reality they were perhaps many times stronger than the average lightning strike. There were hundreds of them, poking in and out of the clouds like a needle and thread.
The other people here also gawked at the clouds that appeared from nowhere. Many did not dare to even speak, subconsciously fearing they might draw its attention perhaps.
"That's the direction Cherry and Cabernet went..." Serene stated, causing the others to realize this point as well.
Robin looked worried. "Maybe they've already been roasted?"
"Don't say something so dark!" Nami shouted.
...
Luffy had been about to fire the gun he borrowed from the old man he, Usopp, and Chopper met to accept Foxy's Davy Back Fight challenge, but his attention was drawn to the forming black clouds in the distance.
"Wow! Even the storm clouds are long!" Chopper exclaimed.
"What are those ominous clouds, old man Tonjit?" Usopp asked.
"No idea, never seen a cloud like that before. Looks dangerous." Tonjit said, looking gratefullly towards the people who knocked him off his baaaaamboo stilts. He would have been enveloped within that very cloud had he still been up there.
Luffy looked like he was racked with indecision as to accept the Davy Back Fight challenge or to charge towards the storm to check it out. Ultimately his pride as a pirate could not stomach Foxy, so he fired the shot to accept.
"Eh? Oh, right, the Davy Back Fight! You've accepted, there's no backing out now! Fefefefe!" Foxy laughed, though he kept glancing at the storm brewing over yonder nervously, hoping it wouldn't get closer.
...
Cherry had commanded Cabernet to move a safe distance away before thr tribulation started in earnest.
Cherry took a deep breath. In, out.
All of the hair on Cherry's head began to stand up straight on end. The first and only warning of the inevitable.
The golden streaks of lightning converged upon a point at the bottom of the cloud.
*FLASH*
The golden bolt of tribulation lightning struck down upon Cherry's head.
The golden electricity burned glowing veins through her skin as it passed through her.
Cherry managed to redirect the lightning away from her vitals, but it wreaked havoc upon her skin and muscle.
The first strike was endured, but this was only the beginning. Those that came after would always be stronger than the previous strike.
The golden streaks converged once again and struck down with a thicker bolt.
Cherry endured this strike, as well as the third and fourth strikes, each thicker than the last.
The lightning converged overhead, but this time it had changed into a bloody red color. Cherry grumbled at her misfortune.
*FLASH FLASH FLASH FLASH*
The next four strikes ravaged her body. Most of her skin was seared black, except for the glowing veins of energy within. Her muscles were too damage for her to move properly and her bones were splintered.
Still she had manage to remain conscious and protect her heart, the source of her power and also its weakness.
The last bolt of tribulation lightning converged within the cloud. Once again it had changed color, this time into a royal purple.
Seeing this, Cherry withdrew all her vital energy into her heart, abandoning the rest of her body to the whims of the lightning.
When it had completely concentrated, the lightning vanished. In the next instant it appeared directly within her heart.
Cherry wildly consumed her energy to protect her heart from the tribulation lightning, that almost seemed to possess intelligence as it refused to leave.
This last battle against the tribulation took more than twice as long as the rest combined.
Right when Cherry was burning the last shreds of vital energy, the lightning went from a raging river to a gentle stream.
It was over. She had just barely survived it, but it was over.
There are a few main reasons her tribulation was so frightening, all of which revolve around the idea that "The Heavens are fair".
One, body cultivators have always had to bear stronger tribulations than celestial cultivators. This was because their bodies could take a lot more punishment.
Two, her previous cultivation method was not only one of celestial energy, but was of a lower quality than the body cultivation method she was currently using. This also increased the difficulty.
Three, Cherry had skipped over the previous three tribulations, so the Heavens were making up for them. In some sense it was lucky she had experienced it now rather than later.
Naturally, "The Heavens are fair" did not only refer to the challenge, but also to the reward.
Cherry felt she could do without the reward if it meant she didn't have to do it again though.
The number one cause of death for cultivators was heavenly tribulations. By the way, the second highest cause of death was murder, and that's not even including war related deaths. Bunch of psychopaths. Cherry definitely didn't miss dealing with other cultivators.
The final bolt of lightning that had turned gentle started to repair her ruined body, and ruined was by no means an overstatement.
As the clouds diminished to nothing, Cabernet rushed to Cherry's side, tears bubbling up in her eyes. Cherry could only send comforting thoughts her way to calm her as she fretted over what to do.
'Relax, Cabernet, it's over. It's fine now. It'll take a little bit before I've recovered, just be patient.' Cherry consoled.
It truly wasn't long until her body was good as new, better even. Well... except that all her hair had burned off. Other than that, though, everything was great.
As the lighting bolt finished its repair work, it left Cherry's body and transformed into her sword. Cherry felt her connection with it was stronger than before as well.
She willed it to change into lightning and it did so, and flew around as she bade it to.
'This is totally busted...' Cherry thought. It would hard to prevent this from going to her head.
Cherry got some new clothes from Cabernet's storage and got dressed. "Let's meet back up with the others, shall we?"
Cabernet nodded.
...
Cherry and Cabernet journeyed back to the Going Merry only to find that a festival seemed to have been started.
Cherry followed her Life Sense to find the others, easy enough since Luffy and Chopper had devil fruit abilities. There were also two new devil fruit users, one of whom was some sort of Zoan type.
"Fefefe, I wonder which one of you I'll pick first?" Some weirdo said, he was one of the devil fruit users.
Serene's hand shot up. "Pick me! I'm a masseuse!"
Cherry wasn't sure exactly what was going on, but she got some of the gist from this interaction.
"What exactly is going on here? And Serene, you're not going anywhere until you've paid your debt to me." Cherry asked.
""""Pfft!"""" The Straw Hats took one look at the bald Cherry and burst into laughter.
Serene was failing to hold herself together, fearing she would be punished for laughing.
Sanji was the only one grieving and cursing the cruelty of the world.