"Shiki was pretty adamant about me joining his crew. I think he'll be looking for me as soon as he realizes I have escaped." Nami said. "I think he's arrogant enough to come alone once he does."
"So we should ambush him, huh? I can construct some traps, send some projectiles flying at him. It'll be hard to hit a flying target, but we can restrict his movements that way for a time." Franky suggested.
"I can help with that. With my marksmanship, we can fire at the best timing!" Usopp said.
"I'll be able to restrict his limbs for a moment." Robin added.
"Sounds like we're shaping up for a decent ambush. Overconfident old fogies make the easiest targets, sometimes they'll walk right into a trap even if they know there's a trap." Cherry nodded with approval.
"Quack!" The large duck nodded as well.
"He said he agrees too." Chopper translated.
"""Where did he come from?!""" They shouted belatedly.
"He followed me here." Cherry spoke, then turned to the duck. "You're with us until the end now. If you try to run away, you'll be treated as a spy and traitor, and thus be summarily executed."
"Quack?!" The duck looked shocked.
Cabernet leaned down to Chopper and whispered a question. "What did he say?"
"He said 'Quack?!'" Chopper answered.
"Oh." Cabernet felt a bit silly.
"Okay, Luffy! I had an idea for a combo move, so let's go practice while the others iron out the plan." Cherry said, dragging him along.
"A combo move?!" Luffy exclaimed with shining eyes.
As for the reason she was bothering with combo moves when she could just face Shiki directly? Because it would be fun, that's why. You can't just live your life doing things in the most efficient manner all the time.
After a while, they finished practicing and returned to the others. Luffy had a giant smile on his face and couldn't stop chuckling to himself because he was so excited.
"So did you get the details worked out?" Cherry asked.
"Yeah, we just need a place to set up the ambush. It has to be close by to where we'll send out the bait, but not so close that they can discover us during construction." Franky said.
"Hm, so we'll have to do some scouting. Cabernet and I will go, we'll be the most mobile." Cherry said.
"Quack!" The duck said.
"No, you can't come. You're too noisy and you glow like a giant lightning bug." Cherry said.
"Quack..." He was disappointed because he knew it was true.
Cherry and Cabernet went flying around the islands at tremendous speeds. They were looking for something like a separate base of operations that could contact the main base, but not heavily manned.
Instead what they found was a village surrounded by the Daft Green trees. Getting closer, they saw the residents were middle aged or older women and children with feathered arms.
Cabernet set them down near a house on the edge of the village.
Cherry scanned the village with her Life Sense. Aside from the regular people living here, she discovered large den den mushi that she suspected were some sort of surveillance system.
Cherry approached the house and knocked on the door. It was still somewhat dark out, but the first light of dawn was cresting over the horizon so it shouldn't be too early in the morning for village folk. They were already awake at least.
A red haired woman answered the door with a confused look, with a young girl peering around from behind her.
"Hello? Who are you?" She questioned.
"I'm a visitor to the islands here, madam. You might call me a gentlewoman explorer! I happened to notice those trees over yonder seemed to release a substance into the air and wished to enquire as to whether it was toxic?" Cherry put on a very fake posh accent.
"Oh, yes. The Daft Green trees are quite toxic, you should stay away from them." She answered, despite being perplexed by the situation.
"I see, I see! Is there anyone in this village who has had the misfortune to be poisoned by the Daft Green trees?" Cherry asked, keeping up the accent.
"Well..." She hesitated. "My mother has caught the illness, as have a number of others in the village."
"If you don't mind, may I examine her? Perhaps I can assist, or if not, then my companion who is much more verse in the medical arts may be able to?" Cherry asked.
The woman thought for a few moments, but decided to let her inside. She figured if she meant any harm, she did not need to be deceptive about it with mere villagers.
The older woman was sat up in her bed, having overheard the conversation.
"I hope I haven't disturbed your rest. Would you mind if I examined you?" Cherry made sure she had the permission of the patient before beginning.
Cherry faked an examination while getting a better idea of the workings of the woman's body. Sure enough she found signs of the IQ plant as well as another foreign substance that matched with Daft Green.
"Interesting, interesting! I think I can do something for this." Cherry said.
"Oh, you have a way as well? Normally only the IQ plant can cure Daft Green, but it's so rare..." The younger woman said.
"Yes, see here?" Cherry held out her hand where a dark green ball sat on her palm.
"What is it?" The older woman asked.
"Mother! The spots on your face are gone?!" The younger woman said.
"That's right! I took it all out when you weren't paying attention, HOHOHOHO!" Cherry was having a lot of fun with this persona.
The two woman could only gawk with wonder at her. The little girl hadn't noticed what was going on as Cabernet was juggling her.
"Can you do this for the others in the village too?" The younger woman asked.
"Naturally, but first I'll need to bring my companions here. Would you mind accommodating us?" Cherry asked.
"Well, I don't mind, but... Shiki has surveillance den den mushi in the village. I don't know what he or his men will do to you..." The women were worried quite a bit over this.
"Not to worry, we can handle ourselves. If anyone comes asking about us, just rat us out. In fact I INSIST that you do so if that comes to pass! Understand?" Cherry spoke adamantly.
The two women didn't understand why she would want that and still felt guilty about doing such a thing to someone who had helped them. However the frightening look in her eyes left no room for them to refuse, so they simply nodded their heads.
"Great! If you'd be so kind as to quietly spread the word that doctors have arrived that can treat Daft Green poisoning and get the information of where to go back to me, that would be fantastic! I'll return shortly with my companions and we'll made quick work of it, before this Shiki fellow can do anything about us!" Cherry ranted whilst walking outside, dragging Cabernet along with her.
They flew back to the others and filled them in on what they found.
"We can set up the ambush a ways away from the village. Cabernet, Chopper, Nami, and I will go into the village and make a big show of our charitable work as a cover for the fact that we're bait. Sound good?" Cherry said, receiving nods of agreement.
The hard part would be moving the Thousand Sunny without getting seen, so that would need to be done the following night. The traps would take a while to set up anyways.
The group of four returned to the village, keeping to cover to avoid being seen by the den den mushi.
"I want to check up on the woman you treated first, to make sure she's doing well." Chopper said. Cherry didn't take offense from this, she knew he was just being cautious for the patient's sake.
Whilst Chopper checked on the older woman, the younger woman told Cherry about the people who were suffering from Daft Green poisoning, as well as a few others with different ailments.
Cherry plotted their route carefully, as they needed to avoid being caught until the preparations were complete.
They visited the people who were suffering the worst on the first day before returning to the others for the day. Tomorrow they would finish up, then Nami would 'accidentally' get seen by the den den mushi patrols. Hopefully Shiki would take the bait and be stupid enough to come alone.