Cherry spent a little time reorganizing the cargo and personal belongings in the Thousand Sunny after setting the ship upright in the sand. The current pushing and pulling it this way and that way sent everything that hadn't been tied down everywhere, making a huge mess on the interior.
'Oh, I probably need to grab some food, too. If I let Luffy go hungry, he might disrupt the local ecosystem or something,' Cherry thought to herself, stuffing the more perishable foods into her pockets that would likely go bad if left here too long anyways.
It was a shame that Cherry couldn't squeeze such a large object like the ship into one of her armor's pockets. The pockets could stretch quite wide, but not anywhere close to wide enough for something like that. Perhaps it would be possible if she could awaken the devil fruit, but Cherry had even less of an idea of how to do that than she did for Luffy's fruit, assuming it was even possible.
Suddenly, Cherry felt vibrations from below like heavy foot falls approaching the ship and growls and roars could be heard outside. Cherry sighed and made her way up top.
She peered over the edge of the railing to see Luffy watching a pair of oversized beasts fighting each other with their lives on the line. One was an odd looking dog or cat-like creature with polka dotted yellow fur, and the other was a red faced and white furred baboon holding a sword of proportional size.
Cherry narrowed her eyes at the sword. She wondered if it was coincidence that the baboon had a weapon that was properly sized for it or if it was affiliated with a group who had deliberately armed it; like the Beast Pirates, perhaps?
"Who's winning?" Cherry called down to Luffy.
"I don't know, they both suck at fighting," Luffy replied.
The ugly yellow thing and the baboon both looked at Luffy as if they were offended.
"You got a problem?" Luffy asked.
Both creature's felt a shiver down their spines, then turned their attention back to killing one another.
Cherry's sensitive hearing picked up a conversation happening inside the forest.
"Let me go! Give me back my rice!" the tiny, unmistakable voice of a child cried.
"Shut yer yapper! I overheard you say you were a servant of the Kozuki clan. That means I can do whatever I want, like sell you off to the red light district or throw you in prison if nobody wants to buy an ugly little girl like you! Ha!" the voice of a man who didn't know he was dead growled back.
"Look, there's a ship on the beach! I'll call it in!" another dead man said.
Cherry's eyes sharpened in their direction before turning back to let Luffy know someone is coming.
The two men broke out of the tree line shortly after, riding atop some kind of dinosaur. The second dead man spoke, "Huh? That's weird, the den den mushi won't wake up."
"Whatever, we'll just call it in afterwards-" the first dead man began, before he was cut off by Luffy's fist to the face.
"You-!" the second dead man couldn't finish his words as he heard his own spine crunch whilst his point of view twisted backwards. His final sight before darkness overtook him was cold, red eyes.
Cherry grabbed a squirming sack from the man's side and leapt off of the dinosaur's back. The dinosaur looked around in confusion, seeing that neither of its riders were in any state to give it commands.
"What's that, Cherry? A bag of meat?" Luffy asked.
Cherry untied the bag, allowing a purple haired little girl to poke her head out. "Well, I guess it's technically filled with meat…"
"Ahhhhh?! I surrender, don't eat me!" the little girl screamed and hastily shot her hands high over her head.
"Hahahaha! She thinks you're going to eat her!" Luffy laughed. Unbeknownst to him, the sword wielding baboon was sneaking up behind him with its blade reared in preparation to decapitate him.
The little girl, seeing that neither of her new captors were reacting to the danger, made a decision that might spare her the grisly fate of being cannibalized, in one way or another. She placed a hands against her cheek, forming a circle with her index finger and thumb, and pulled something like a glowing dango free. She then chucked it at the baboon, landing straight in its mouth.
The baboon paused, swallowed, then the aggression on its face faded in favor of a smile as it lowered its sword.
"I-I saved your life, just now! S-so-!" the little girl stuttered.
"No you didn't," Luffy denied instantly.
"So shameless!" the little girl was shocked.
"We aren't going to eat you, girl. We rescued you from those beasts in human clothing," Cherry said.
"Huh?" the girl blinked, then went very red in the face from embarrassment. "You're right!"
She immediately went into a dogeza, half burying her head in the sand, and started to thank Cherry and Luffy profusely.
"Cut it out," Cherry picked her up by the scruff and settled her back on her feet. "Anyone who calls themselves an adult should help a child in need. You should learn to be a little more shameless, like my captain here."
The girl looked unsure.
"Hey, are we in Wano?" Luffy asked.
"Oh, yes! We're in the Kuri region of the land of Wano!" she confirmed quickly. "I was heading home when those bad guys stole my rice! I got angry and… said something that was against the law…"
The girl looked up at Luffy to say something else, but paused when she saw Cherry a little ways away hurl the two Beast Pirates into the water. She thought 'That lady is vicious…'
*GURGLE*
Luffy's stomach chose that moment to growl something fierce.
"Let me repay you for saving me! I can cook you a meal!" the girl insisted, seizing on the opportunity that presented itself.
"Really?! That's great!" Luffy was quite happy to accept the offer.
"Let's move the ship somewhere out of sight, Luffy. We don't want more of those losers poking around our ship," Cherry said.
Between the two of them, it was easy enough to get the ship back into the water and into a hidden cove in a nearby cliff face.
"So what's your name, kid?" Cherry asked, as they started walking into the forest.
"My name is Tama!" Tama said.
"I'm Luffy! I'm going to be the king of the pirates!" Luffy declared.
"I'm Cherry," Cherry said, then she thought of something and added, "I'm going to live forever."
"F-forever?!" Tama said. "That's.. Quite a long time, isn't it?"
"Sure, but the world changes quicker than you'd think. I don't reckon I'll get bored of it any time soon," Cherry said.
Cherry looked at the bag of rice that Tama was carrying. "By the way, is rice expensive here or do you live alone?"
"Oh, yes, rice is very expensive! I live with my master, but this is enough for us," Tama said.
"Is that so?" Cherry said. It was obvious to her eyes that Tama was malnourished, so she doubted that it was truly enough. She thought darkly, 'Her master better not be a fatso, or I'll help him lose some weight…'
The baboon and the lion-dog-thing carried the group of three to a humble home nestled in the trunk of a large tree. The tree was decorated with a thick rope tied above the entrance of the home, with paper talismans hanging off of it as well as an assortment of large bells.
Overall, it appeared more like a shrine of some sort instead of a house that people lived in. If Tama hadn't talked their ears off about becoming a 'bewitching kunoichi' then Cherry might have assumed that she was a priestess in training.
"Come on inside! Make yourselves at home while I cook the rice!" Tama said as she rushed through the front door of the abode.
Luffy plopped himself down on the floor in the small foyer and looked around curiously whilst Cherry followed Tama into one of the other rooms towards the back of the house.
"This is the kitchen? It's pretty cute," Cherry commented, looking at the various cookware. Some of the things here reminded her of home, back at the dojo.
"Ah, you should go relax! I'll be finished soon, I promise!" Tama insisted, fruitlessly attempting to push Cherry back the way she came.
"You said that I could make myself at home," Cherry stated.
"Yes?" Tama didn't know what she meant.
"So, I'll help you make the meal. Just like when I'm at home," Cherry said.
"No! I-I mean… rice is easy, so there is nothing to… help with…" Tama's voice trailed off and her eyes went as wide as saucers.
Cherry had discretely pulled several whole chickens, a twenty kilo bag of rice, and a host of fresh fruit and vegetables from seemingly nowhere. "Let's get started quickly. Luffy might wander off if he doesn't smell the food cooking soon."
"T-there's no way I can accept this! These must have cost you a fortune!" Tama rejected vehemently, despite the drool pooling in her mouth.
"At home, nobody goes hungry. Unless you're taking back your words?" Cherry leveled a glare at Tama that would put even the sternest of mother's to shame.
Tama gulped. "N-no…?"
Cherry smiled sweetly and chirped, "Good~!"
Cherry purposefully neglected to mention that this amount of food wouldn't fully satisfy Luffy's monstrous appetite, even if he ate it all by himself. Otherwise, Tama might try to turn it down again.
Chery wouldn't claim to be a master chef like Sanji, but her mastery with fire combined with the unique advantages provided to her by her fusion fruit, she was able to whip up quite the feast.
Thanks to an unnatural degree of control over heat distribution, it was all finished cooking in record time as well.
In Tama's eyes, Cherry might as well have been performing a magic show just for her; and in a certain manner of speaking, that's exactly what she had done.
"Is it done yet?!" Luffy called out impatiently.
"Yes, Luffy. Give us a minute," Cherry called back.
That snapped Tama out of her trance and she immediately panicked. "The rice?!"
"Relax, I was keeping an eye on it," Cherry assured her whilst wondering whether using awakening to cook was a bit too extravagant.
Tama was blushing furiously now. She had promised to cook for the two of them as repayment for saving her, but in the end she had gotten distracted watching Cherry do all the work.
Cherry snickered at her predicament. "You can afford to be a little selfish, kid. Take the chance while you can get it."
"I won't eat a single bite…" Tama murmured, head pointed at her feet as she trudged back to the foyer ladened with trays of food that looked and smelled more delicious than she ever imagined food could.
"Did you hear that Luffy?" Cherry asked quite loudly as the two of them stepped into the room he was in.
"What?" Luffy asked.
"Tama says she isn't going to eat a single bite," Cherry relayed. "And after all the hard work I put into cooking it, too!"
"Eh?!" Tama yelped.
Cherry could almost see the gears turning in Luffy's head as it slowly tilted beyond the point that someone not made of rubber could manage.
Suddenly his head snapped back upright and he asked, "Did she poison it?"
Cherry burst out laughing and Tama started waving her hands about in distress, insisting that she would never ever ever ever ever do such a thing!
"You said you're going to be a kunoichi, though," Luffy said.
Tama froze in place, too shocked by the logical leap between her refusing to eat and kunoichi's reputation for killing people with underhanded means.
Cherry started laughing even harder; she hadn't even considered that line of thought. Luffy could really surprise you with that pea brain of his sometimes. When she finally got control over herself she said, "Alright, let's eat before it gets cold. That means you too, Tama-chan."
Tama seemed to calm down as she slowly realized that neither Cherry nor Luffy were angry at her, so they probably weren't seriously accusing her of attempted murder.
"I can't eat the food meant for my saviors…" Tama was still being stubborn, then her stomach growled. "B-but I suppose I can taste it… just to prove it isn't poisoned…"
Cherry smirked victoriously as she set the food she was holding down.
Luffy started to dig into the chicken immediately, which was why Cherry chose them. Luffy had to slow down a bit to get all the meat off the tiny bones, leaving more time for others to have their own.
Cherry heaped healthy portions onto Tama's plate, ignoring her feeble protests that she would only have a little nibble of each. When Tama gave up arguing, she used her spoon to take the smallest bit of broth from the vegetable soup that could manage and sipped it.
Tama blinked and belatedly realized that she drank the entire contents of the bowl unconsciously. While the soup itself wasn't fine dining, it was easily the tastiest dish she had ever eaten by far.
"No, I didn't mean to-!" Tama started.
Tama's words were cut off when Cherry shoved a piece of roasted, herb-infused chicken into her mouth. Her face twisted in delight as she savored the bite, before starting to devour all the meat on her plate, even gnawing on the bones. She said nothing when Cherry placed another portion in front of her, simply continuing without thought.
*BLAM*
"Who goes there?!" An old man kicked the front door in with his absurdly tall wooden sandals, brandishing a rather nice sword.
What he found in his home were not the intruders that he anticipated, however. He saw his little student, Tama, with the biggest smile he had ever seen her wearing and tears of joy streaking down her face as she ate a meal whose quality was higher than anything he had seen for a long while.
Tama quickly broke out of her food induced ecstasy upon seeing him, though. "Ah?! Master!"
She glanced around worriedly, unsure if she should be ashamed of her actions or not. When the thought occurred to her that she was enjoying this wonderful meal without sharing any with her master, she quickly bounded over to him and kowtowed. "Forgive me, master!"
The old man felt a shiver down his spine as he caught the eye of the mysterious woman. She was judging him, he could tell; and if he was found wanting, he got the impression that he might just lose his head.