Into the Depths

The tribulation's lightning were not the only threats that Cherry had to contend with this time.

The massive cyclone that had sprung up with her in its eye also had some trials for her. The eye was no longer the safest place to be inside this storm.

Razor sharp wind began to rush past her body, slicing open her skin and muscles. It was meant to distract her and consume more of her vital energy healing the wounds.

Cherry would not fall for this trick. She only spared the minimum amount of vital energy necessary to stop the bleeding and nothing more. She did not need to move during the tribulation so her muscles did not need to be repaired immediately, she only needed to keep her blood on the inside to avoid further energy loss.

The lightning came more frequently, two or three strikes at a time, the four and five. Cherry weathered them all, outmaneuvering the pseudo sentient electrical serpents like a game of strategy.

Seeing that it did them little good, they started to combine themselves into more powerful strikes. Now they were growing deeper and deeper shades of green, appearing like long vine-like whips that ripped apart all living tissue they touched.

Cherry's arms and legs were useless now, blackened like charcoal and unable to move even if she wanted them to. Her head and torso did not look much better, but they were still very much alive underneath the burned flesh. Her heart was untouched and still going strong.

98 lightning strikes had struck her. The only indication that she still lived was that the tribulation had not ended early.

The hurricane winds converged upwards into the great black cloud, changing and molding its shape into something else.

Cherry could be seen again, or at least what was left of her. Robin had seen many gruesome sights in her life, but the charred husk of Cherry's form affected her in a way that nothing else ever had.

The black cloud had finally taken shape in this brief lull in the endless onslaught. Its form now of a gargantuan snake, filled with roiling arcs of electricity.

It suddenly rushed down, opening its great maw wide as it slammed into Cherry. The stone spire she rested upon was shattered, leaving Cherry to plummet into the lightless depths of the Grand Line. The maelstrom that held the water at bay stopped and the walls of the ocean converged with the roar of water.

It all happened too quickly to intervene. Even Cabernet couldn't have swooped in fast enough, not even if she had had prior warning and had been only half the distance from her.

Robin's face was filled with horror and disbelief.

Cabernet just stuffed another handful of popcorn into her mouth.

…

"OI OI OI OI OI OI OI!!! THAT WAS INCREDIBLE!!!" Shouted Haredas with great gusto.

"You can't still think that was natural can you? It turned into a giant snake at the end!" Nami said.

"Our instruments suggest it was a natural phenomenon, at least. In the end it doesn't really matter if it was or wasn't. The data we've retrieved from this is simply amazing! It will be a tremendous help for almost all of our projects, from predicting the weather, to controlling it." Haredas said with a wide smile.

Nami couldn't say anything to that. She hadn't been with them for too long, so her knowledge hadn't caught up just yet.

"Did any of you get a close look at that rock? I could have sworn I saw a person on it." Nami changed the subject.

The weather wizards looked around at each other and shook their heads in denial.

"We were focused on the instruments more than the event itself. If there was someone on the rock, they aren't there any more that's for sure. In fact, there isn't a rock there now either." Haredas supplied.

Nami promised herself not to become like these eggheads who only cared about their research.

"Oh, I see something flying towards our island, it looks kind of person shaped. Should I shoot it down?" A weather wizard announced, looking eager to try out their defense systems.

"That's an awfully rude suggestion, Garmichael." Haredas reprimanded. "But yes, go ahead and shoot them down. Better not to take any risks."

"No, wait!" Nami stopped them, recognizing the figure as it came closer. "This is one of my friends, don't shoot her down!"

"Well, okay, if you say so. You heard her, Garmichael." Haredas said.

"Awwww…" Garmichael sighed in disappointment, deactivating the Sonic Shockwave Cannon.

…

Cherry was blissfully unaware of the goings on far above the murky depths she found herself in.

Well, perhaps not "blissfully" so, as she was in quite a bit of trouble actually.

The curse of her devil fruit had come to bite her with a vengeance, ensuring that any physical strength she had left her as quickly as it came. She wasn't able to spare the vital energy to puppet her body as she needed every little bit to restore her body. As such, she was forced to float where the water took her.

Not that she had much of a body left to puppet, in any case.

At least she didn't need to breathe, else this would have been a death sentence.

No, the main issue would likely be sea kings.

Normally they were just big brutes, easily dispatched with her more concentrated power. However, she now had no capability whatsoever to defend herself against them.

One might think that she would be fine if they swallow her whole, but they'd be wrong to think so. Sea kings had the most potent digestive systems in the world, a necessity given their enormity and equally enormous diets.

You might briefly survive being swallowed, but the moment you drop into the stomach proper, you're dead meat. Assuming you can't bust your way out or find some footing to keep yourself out of the stomach acids. Neither of which Cherry was currently capable of.

'It's a good thing that Tribulations don't just leave you to fend for yourself afterwards.' Cherry thought, doing her best to metabolize the influx of gentle energy that the heavens so kindly bestowed upon her, right after disintegrating most of her body.

'My tribulations were never this bad before. It feels like this world is rejecting my cultivation much more vehemently than the myriad worlds did. This is too much, even for a top quality body cultivation method.' Cherry pondered.

Cherry sensed danger through her haki, then felt something wrap around her body.

'Ah, fuck.' Cherry cursed. 'Sea kings aren't supposed to be this common! The ocean is such a big place, how did it even find me?!'

Cherry only had a vague sense of touch right now. So aside from her observation haki, she possessed no means of observing the world around her.

*BANG*

A sudden jerking motion.

'Is it fighting another sea king? Over little old me? Well, I'm flattered, but I'm afraid to say that I'm already taken.' Cherry thought, distracting herself from her imminent demise.

She was jerked around a few more times, but it seemed to be resolved quite quickly.

'Come on now, don't give up! Don't you want this tasty morsel?!' Cherry thought, thinking the other sea king was just a little bitch.

No other attacks came, however, much to Cherry's dissatisfaction.

Thankfully, the big brute that had its filthy fish limb wrapped around her was too stupid to eat her right away, and instead seemed to be moving somewhere. Undoubtedly the feasting would commence soon enough, but every moment got Cherry that much closer to fighting form.

The giant creature stopped, perhaps reaching its destination.

Cherry's eyes had recovered and so she opened them and gazed upon the form of her kidnapper.

An octopus that was tens of times larger than a ship, looking at her with intelligent eyes. Its expression suggested that it had found a rare delicacy.