32 Difficult Training
Cherry approached the tree she was instructed to cut down with the stalk of grass.
'Am I supposed to figure this out all on my own? Or are Brogy and Dorry just terrible teachers?' Cherry sighed.
In either case, she would give it a good go at least.
'Grandma said Haki is the will manifested into the world. How do they do that though?' Cherry pondered. 'Well, I'll just start swinging and see where that takes me.'
Cherry did just that, swinging the stalk of grass endlessly at the trunk of the tree. Naturally this did no damage to the tree whatsoever.
10 swings...
100 swings...
1,000 swings...
At first, Cherry tried out a number of things. Such as concentrating on the stalk of grass, on the tree, on the idea of cutting. She tried imagining the grass was a sword and the tree was only soft, vulnerable flesh.
Nothing seemed to click, though. Eventually, she sank into a trance-like state and cultivated to pass the time, all the while swinging away at the tree mindlessly.
Brogy and Dorry finished their duel with yet another tie. After recovering from the exertion, they walked over to observe Cherry.
"Her concentration is good." Brogy whispered.
"Yes, but that's not enough." Dorry whispered back.
Dorry leaned down, placing his head next to Cherry. "Does your weapon cut when you have not willed it to do so? No, it is only an object. Your weapon is only a tool to make the cutting easier. It is your spirit, your soul, your will that cuts into the world."
Cherry's arm ceased to swing the stalk of grass and her eyes opened.
'That's stupid and makes no sense at all.' Cherry smiled. 'Just like the rest of this world of madness and absurdity.'
Cherry cast aside all doubt. Her word became truth, her will became reality.
"Cut." Cherry uttered. It was a simple word, but it was filled with conviction. As if there was no other outcome that could occur.
The stalk of grass swung towards the tree and just before it touched the bark, the faintest flash of black light raced along its length. The stalk of grass dug a few inches into the tree before it ripped itself apart.
Cherry looked at the tree with dropped jaws.
"I did that?" Cherry asked, pointing at the deep gash in the wood.
"Gegyagyagyagya!" "Gababababa!"
"Not bad, Cherry! Are you sure this is your first time learning Haki?" Brogy asked.
"It's not even been a single day, you're a monster! Gegyagyagya!" Dorry said.
Cherry was truly surprised, she hadn't thought it be so simple. Her mistake previously was trying to explain it, she supposed.
'Just what kind of conviction does one need to possess to carve out a mountain with the force of will alone?' A shiver went down her spine as she looked at the laughing giants.
...
Now that Cherry had a starting point for Armament Haki, she decided to take a break and explore the island.
Little Garden, the giants had told her the name, was a large island of sprawling ancient forests. Cherry would not miss the opportunity to gather the many useful materials that could only obtained on ancient islands such as this one.
After a few hours of exploration, a familiar signature popped up in her Life Sense's range.
"A devil fruit!" Cherry shouted and raced towards the location. She could not risk it being eaten by something while she dallied.
She sprinted towards the devil fruit at maximum speed for half an hour.
Finally she reached the place, it was nestled in a hard to reach point that likely prevented the typically large animals from getting to it.
The devil fruit appeared to be a pineapple. The spikey skin of the fruit was a silver white color with black, tear drop shaped spirals. The leaves on top resembled flames.
She didn't recognize this particular devil fruit, which was somewhat annoying.
Although it didn't really matter to her if the power was useful or not, she currently had two blood bound artifacts she could bind it to. Knowing what the devil fruit does would make the decision easier.
'No matter, I'm not ready to use it yet anyways, I'll decide when the time comes. One more thing I need to do on this island, I guess I'll be staying here for a while.' Cherry thought.
Cherry returned to her camp near the giants' camps. She decided to tell them about the fruit so they wouldn't eat it by accident somehow. She could trust them not to steal something this valuable from her.
Cherry spent a few months doing nothing but cultivate and train Armament Haki, rarely even stopping to sleep.
Cultivating would only get harder the higher the realm she reached.
The first realm, or the Muscle Strengthening Realm primarily tempered the musculature, but also improved organ function and the five senses. This realm was a breeze for Cherry due to her training before she started cultivating.
The second realm, or the Bone Refining Realm primarily enhanced the durability and quality of the skeleton and also the flesh to a lesser extent. This has the added benefit of enhancing the blood and making it much less likely to bleed to death. Her training only helped a little bit in this area.
The third realm, the one she's in currently, is known as the Heart Core Realm. It's primary purpose to it revamp the heart and thus bring a qualitive leap to one's vital energy as the heart is its source. The higher the quality of the vital energy, the stronger one's techniques with it became.
Cherry would be able to manage the third realm well enough on her own, but if she wanted to complete the next realm and beyond in a timely fashion, she would need miracle medicines designed for that purpose.
Which meant she needed someone like a doctor to help her, but can also be trusted. Not an easy task.
In the meantime, she had also hit a roadblock with her Haki, which meant she needed to try something new.
She approached the giants after one of their duels. "Guys, I need to do the life threatening method. My training isn't working out lately-"
*BAM*
"Gabababa! Not like that, Cherry! You have to become an immovable mountain, an unbreakable shield!" Brogy laughed after kicking her halfway across the clearing.
Brogy continued to bash Cherry around the clearing, increasing the strength of his blows whenever she started to get even slightly comfortable.
Although it was a very brutish method, it was also very effective. Cherry started to improve once more, albeit slowly.
Cherry continued in this daily routine of getting thrashed in the day and cultivating in the night for another few months.
By this point her Armament Haki had reached a decent level in both offense and defense and her cultivation had finally reached the point that she could use the devil fruit to perfect the realm.
Cherry returned to her ship, the Cabernet, and sat cross legged on the deck. She brought out her sword and the devil fruit, and pondered about the choice between the two blood bound artifacts.
Her sword had been with her for far longer. That was a reason in favor of using it first. Though, she could also say that's precisely why she should not use a random devil fruit with unknown effects on it and choose more wisely.
While lost in her thoughts, the rudimentary spirit she had sensed from the Cabernet before, once more awoke from its deep slumber. It could not communicate properly, but Cherry could feel that it was asking for her to choose it.
"Well, if that's what you want." Cherry had been stuck on the fence and this request tilted it in favor of the ship.
She wasn't sure what this spirit was or how it formed, but she was interested to see how it would develop in the future, especially with a devil fruit.
Cherry put the sword away and place the devil fruit onto the deck. She focused her own devil fruit to fuse the new one and the Cabernet together and found the process proceeded much more smoothly than she could have hoped.
A change came over the ship and Cherry dragged the excess energy into herself to complete the third realm.
Her mind was focused entirely inwards, taking no notice of the happenings in the outside world.
So when she finally opened her eyes with a sigh, having perfected her Heart Core, she was shocked to see that there was no ship in sight. Fortunately. she had beached it beforehand or she would have fallen into the water.
Instead of a ship, there was a woman with silver white hair, scarlet eyes resembling Cherry's own, reddish-brown skin with patterns like the grain of wood, great black feathered wings, and crimson flames dancing along her shoulders and upper back.
Cherry gawked at her. "Cabernet?"
