Chapter 63: Tribulation

Chapter 63: Tribulation



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.n/ô/vel/b//jn dot c//om

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.

'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.