The old man, in addition to his sword, overly-tall sandals, and yukata, was wearing a big pair of fake wings and a red mask that had a nose almost as impressive as Usopp's. His white hair was long and pulled towards the back in a free flowing style. Cherry got the impression that he was a man of importance, judging by the way he held himself.
"Have a seat, old man. There's plenty to go around," Cherry said. The old man was skin and bones, so it was clear that he wasn't starving Tama while stuffing his own face, at least.
The old man, who calls himself Hitetsu these days, watched the woman play keep-away with a roasted chicken on a tray. The stretchy man was rather desperate to obtain it, but her movements were too erratic for him to catch it.
"I am not hungry," Hitetsu declared.
*GROWL*
"I am not hungry," Hitetsu reiterated, ignoring his traitorous stomach. "Tama should have her fill, first."
"I've had plenty, master! In fact, I'm more full of food than I've ever been in my life! So please, eat…" Tama said, looking like she was about to start crying if he refused again.
*GROOOOOWL*
Hitetsu clenched his teeth. His apprentice's puppy dog eyes and his wailing stomach made it increasingly impossible to remain stubborn. He did not deserve to eat so well, but… perhaps, a reminder of the delicacies he once enjoyed would make a suitable punishment?
"No," Hitetsu spoke with a firm resolve, sheathing his sword. "There are many in this land who are starving death at this very moment. I will not stuff myself whilst my countrymen suffer."
His stomach began to protest once again, but he sent a deadly glare at it and shut it up.
Cherry accepted the old man's rejection and let Luffy have the chicken, which was picked apart in about a minute flat. She felt that he had his own reasons and wasn't being stubborn just for the sake of being stubborn.
Unfortunately, it did seem that Tama was going to follow his example, even as she gazed longingly at the basket full of fruit that she hadn't touched yet.
"Have some fruit, Tama. Don't you want to grow up to be a big, strong kunoichi?" Cherry tempted, tossing a vibrant red apple up and down before crunching down on it with her teeth to showcase how crisp and juicy they were.
Tama shook her head. "I don't want to be big and strong! I want to be lithe and beautiful!"
"My bad. Eat some anyways," Cherry insisted, dangling another apple by the stem before her face.
Tama turned her face away obstinately.
"Well, if we're done with the meal then I guess I'll go have a bath in the river," Cherry said.
"You can't! The river is poisonous!" Tama waved her arms about in a panic. Hitetsu opened his mouth to concur with his apprentice, but paused as Cherry glanced at him meaningfully.
"Why should I believe a disobedient brat like you? You just don't want to share," Cherry said. It was exceedingly obvious what she was doing, but Tama was young and too worked up to notice.
"What?! But- but…!" Tama stammered.
Cherry stood up and started walking in the direction of the river. Even without enhanced senses, one could hear its rushing nearby. Tama moved to stop her, but Cherry just kept on walking like she wasn't pushing against her with all her strength.
"I- I'll eat some fruit okay?! Just don't go into the river!" Tama shouted.
"Alright," Cherry said, stuffing the apple in her hand into Tama's hands.
Tama felt like she had just been played. Of course, that was because she had.
*crunch* "So sweeeeet~!" Tama squealed in joy.
Hitetsu smiled. Cherry wondered what the red mask was made of with the way it morphed and stretched around his mouth.
"Why do you live next to a poisoned river?" Luffy asked, having finished off all the food he could get his grubby rubber hands on.
"It was not always poisoned," Hitetsu frowned at the dour change of subject. "There used to be a whole village here called Amigasa, the village of woven hats. The last of us were driven out or killed by one of Kaido's new subordinates by the name of Drake, in spite of the five samurai who fought to protect them."
"Why?" Cherry asked with a frown. "He already rules the country. What could he possibly gain from doing this?"
Cherry hadn't had the impression that Kaido was a mindless destroyer. She reckoned that he was, at worst, like Big Mom in his attitude. Perhaps she would need to reevaluate that assumption. At least Big Mom only destroyed settlements because she wanted something from them.
"They hid themselves away, which was as good as rejecting the rule of Shogun Orochi, as far as that wretched man is concerned. It even worked for a time. This was a small village, even before the famine took many of their lives, so they were easily forgotten. Alas, they were forced to leave their relative safety in search of food, which brought the Beasts' attention and wrath down upon them," Hitetsu said.
"Why are you still here, then?" Luffy asked bluntly.
"To wait for Ace to come back!" Tama blurted out.
"Ace?" Luffy suddenly had a big, goofy smile on his face. "So, you met my brother, huh?"
"Ace is your brother?!" Tama gasped in shock. "If you're here, does that mean he's coming here soon, too?!"
"No clue!" Luffy laughed as Tama wilted in dejection.
Cherry snatched the hat off Luffy's head, much to her captain's annoyance, and focused on Ace's vivre card that was sewn into the infamous straw hat's band.
"Huh, he's not that far away actually. It'll be a while before he gets to Wano though, if this is where he's headed," Cherry said.
"Really?!" Tama's smile was as bright as the sun, as was Luffy's.
Hitetsu looked a bit skeptical. "I have seen those papers before, but I was not aware they could be used to gauge distance as well as direction to a person."
"For most people, that's true," Cherry said. "I'm not most people."
Hitetsu wasn't sure whether to trust Cherry's word or not, but he couldn't think of a reason she would lie about it. Pointless cruelty was doubtful, given they had let Tama eat her fill from their own food supplies, much in the same way that Ace and his crew had shared their own when they had come to Amigasa.
Perhaps he could afford to trust these two, then. Besides, he didn't have the heart to poison Tama's hope with his own doubts.
"Right! Where's the closest place we can get food and water?" Luffy slapped his thighs and stood up.
"That'd be Okobore, the town of leftovers. However, you would need to cross the wasteland to get there, and it is a dangerous place if you don't know which way to go," Hitetsu said. "Unfortunately, I have my own circumstances because of which I cannot guide you myself."
"I'll guide them, master!" Tama shot her hand up like an eager student in a classroom.
Hitetsu looked unsure, but ultimately nodded. "Be sure to keep to the safe route, Tama. Don't stray too far from it, if you must at all."
Tama nodded seriously, neglecting to mention that she had gotten captured while returning home along that "safe" route. Surely nothing bad would happen a second time, though?