"So it's kind of like that thing you did with Nami's magic weather stick?" Franky asked, hopelessly lost.
"Yeah, kind of. Just doing something different than making things hot, cold, or zappy," Cherry agreed.
"I'm not sure I want to muck around with my masterpiece like that," Franky shook his head.
Cherry shook her head as well. "I'm not ready for that kind of commitment, either. I want you to make a miniature model of the Sunny. Something I can practice on."
"I can do that, I guess," Franky was playing it off, but he was actually really excited. He'd never thought to do scale models of ships before, so this would be new! "What is it that you're planning to do with them, though? It may not be the same as one of my proper ships, but anything I make is precious, you know?"
"I know," Cherry agreed. "I'm hoping to make them more resilient. Maybe something like resisting the crushing pressure of the ocean depths, or holding up better against cannonfire."
"That'd be nice," Franky said. "But the Sunny is made of wood from the treasure tree. She's already pretty resilient against those things."
"True, but if I get this right, then it'll only multiply that strength," Cherry said.
"You don't sound too sure of that," Franky pointed out.
"And isn't that exciting? I'm finally at a point where I can start with real experimentation! No more copying someone else's work," Cherry vibrated with glee at the very thought.
Franky stood and struck his patented pose. "Then let's get started! SUPEEERRR!"
…
"That was quick," Cherry held the remarkably accurate model of the Thousand Sunny up to inspect it. "You didn't cut any corners, did you?"
"Who do you think you're talking to?!" Franky exclaimed in outrage.
"I'm just joking, Franky. Don't get your panties in a twist," Cherry huffed.
"My panties are twist proof!" Franky declared proudly, framing his speedo with his enormous robot hands.
"Alright," Cherry brushed past that particular topic. "Let's see what I can do with this."
Cherry set to work. Inscriptions had always been harder to write on objects with numerous parts, like a ship. She hadn't been the kind of craftsman who made the flying ships of the Myriad Realms, as she primarily worked with metal, only using wood as a supplement for her work. She had met one such person before, though, and came away from that meeting with an understanding of what kind of personality it took to make such works.
In a word, they were insane.
As she set about trying to inscribe her newest inscription on the miniature ship, it became apparent why one had to be a madman to do this kind of work.
*BOOM*
"Teeny Sunny?! NOOOOoooo!!!" Franky cried in grief over the now exploded ship model.
Cherry coughed. "That wasn't supposed to happen. Hmm…"
"And you want to do this to Thousand Sunny?!" Franky growled.
"Not that, no," Cherry said. "That was an accident… and the reason we're doing this on models."
"How can you be so heartless?!" Franky cried. He stood up from where he'd slumped down over the remains of Teeny Sunny, wiped the tears from his face and smiled brightly. "Oh well! No use crying over spilled cola! Let's try again!"
The speed of his recovery from what appeared to be genuine grief gave Cherry whiplash. "Uh, you aren't angry?"
"Sure I'm angry, but you did tell me we were experimenting beforehand. I've had more than a few experimental ships blow up in my face, so no big deal," Franky shrugged.
"Okay," Cherry accepted. "So how long before you…"
Franky was holding a second, nearly identical Sunny model out to her. "I made spares, of course. You didn't think I'd give you my very first model ship to do with as you pleased, did you?"
"I didn't think you'd be able to make more than one in half an hour," Cherry answered.
"After the first, it was easy to streamline the process!" Franky gave her a toothy smile. "I have eight more!"
Cherry ignored the instinct to rebuke him for not taking the proper time on a project. Working with metal was different than with wood, she reminded herself. "Okay, let's try it this way this time-"
*BOOM*
"Or not," Cherry brushed the splinters from her hair.
"Eensy Sunnyyyyyy!!!" Franky cried.
Oh, he was going to do that every time, wasn't he? Was he doing this on purpose to guilt her into being more careful? If so…
It was working… damn it.
…
Seven exploded model ships, two imploded ones, and many grief filled cries later.
Cherry and Franky were tense as minutes stretched on without the tenth and final spare model ship destroying itself. Cherry's fingers danced about its hull, laying down lines that glowed briefly before vanishing into the wood.
Then Cherry removed her hands, but kept them hovering over the ship as if she was afraid that sudden movement would have it all come crashing down. A reasonable precaution as that had actually happened on one of the previous attempts.
Weeny Sunny sat on the worktable, literally trembling from the power imbued into its shape.
"Did it work?" Franky whispered in a voice quieter than he'd ever spoken in his life. He was a loud man, and proud to be so, but he could use his indoor voice if it meant another one of his babies didn't die a horrible death before his eyes.
"Maybe," Cherry spoke without certainty. "It's barely holding together, but it is holding."
"Okay… what does that mean?" Franky asked.
"It means we move on to step two of the experiment," Cherry said.
Franky almost screamed when she pulled a sledge hammer out of her pocket. Instead he resort to softly begging her to reconsider. "Please please please don't! She's not long for this world anyways, let her have these final moments of peace!"
Cherry hoisted the hammer onto her shoulder and thought about it. Then she thought about it some more. "I suppose… it could be educational just to see how long it lasts without outside interference."
Franky nodded quickly and a bit desperately.
"But-" *CRASH* "Long term endurance is something I've always tested last." Cherry slammed the hammer down onto the model ship.
"NOOOoooOOO!!!" Franky wailed, already sobbing his eyes out. Then, "Wait…"
"Huh," Cherry looked over the trembling ship, noting that it was decidedly not shattered to bits. "This one's a fighter, ain't she?"
"Yes!" Franky cheered. "Fight, my child! Don't give up!"
"Yes, you're right Franky. This isn't over until it's over," Cherry swung again.
"NNNNNOOOHOHOHOHO!" Franky shouted.
…
"Not bad at all for the first successful test," Cherry marked down her observations in her notes, both encoded and in shorthand so that nobody who found the notebook could make any sense of it whatsoever.
"Wittle Sunny is dead and you call that a success, you monster?!" Franky cradled the remains of the tenth model ship in his arms.
"She took five blows from a sledge hammer, Franky, of course that's a success!" Cherry ignored the snot running down his face. "It's clear that stability is still the issue at hand, since it withstood a fair amount of force before catastrophic collapse. I'd like to try on something a little bigger, if you don't mind?"
"Of course!" Franky's smile wasn't dimmed at all from the numerous heart crushing tragedies he'd suffered in the last hour.