Cherry was rather pleased with the outcome of her little performance. It truly went off without a hitch. She had half expected some hidden powerhouse from the Shogun's castle to come out and get in her way, but instead it was as she anticipated; no such person would care about a random child.
Toko had also believed her little fib about rescuing her from a would-be kidnapper pretty much instantly, which made babysitting her a lot easier.
Right now the two of them were crossing the wasteland away from the Flower Capital. Toko sat on Cherry's shoulders and hummed an unfamiliar tune with a big smile on her face.
Cherry glanced up at her. "You know, you don't have to keep smiling any more. I fixed you up for as long as you don't eat any more of those nasty fruits."
"Mhm!" Toko acknowledged and kept on smiling anyway.
'This kid is nothing like her father. He refused to smile even when he was happy, yet she's so thrilled that she doesn't have to that she can't stop,' Cherry thought with a shake of her head.
Even the other children at Ebisu Town weren't this determined to be in a good mood.
*RAAAWWWR!!!*
A mutated tiger leapt out from behind a boulder and pounced on them.
*Voom*
The tiger froze in midair. The glare leveled upon it by the larger of the two manfolk chilled its heart into ice. Despite the fact that tigers couldn't perspire, it still managed to break out into a nervous sweat. It dared not move for fear that doing so would be the last time it ever did so.
"Hahahahaha!" Toko clapped her hands and laughed as the tiger tumbled helplessly to the ground, unmoving.
Cherry regarded the beast coldly before turning away from it with a huff.
The tiger couldn't feel relieved yet, though; not until she was long gone. It hadn't felt this helpless under a glare since it was a mere cub following its own mother around.
Cherry picked up the pace a little bit. She had been keeping her speed down since she was carrying Toko, but there was little point in that if random beasts were going to attack her.
Fortunately, Toko was a rambunctious child. The strong wind blowing through her pink hair was a delight rather than being overblown into a disaster.
"Trees!" Toko tapped Cherry head and pointed out the greenery that appeared on the horizon as if she couldn't also see it with her own eyes.
"Yes, I see them. That's where we're going," Cherry said.
"Not to the town over there?" Toko asked, pointing at the settlement adjacent to the forested mountain.
"My business is with the folks living on the mountain, not those in the town," Cherry explained patiently.
Toko nodded in understanding. "Are they monkey people? I've heard that monkeys live on mountains with trees!" Toko asked.
"Unless you count humans as monkey people, then no," Cherry said. She saw Toko's smile falter slightly and quickly added, "There'll be all kinds of people there with all kinds of animal features, though! The good kind, not Kaido's pirates."
"Really?!" Toko was positively trembling in excitement.
"You'll see soon enough," Cherry said.
…
And see she did. Toko's eyes were wide with wonder as they walked past a colorful menagerie of Minks.
"Cherry!" Carrot bounded over to them. "Whose this?"
"I'm Toko! You're a rabbit!" Toko cheered.
"I'm a rabbit Mink!" Carrot corrected her with a gentle smile.
"Is Kin'emon still here?" Cherry asked.
"Yeah, he's over there organizing war supplies," Carrot pointed.
"Thanks, I'll chat with you later," Cherry said.
Cherry wandered over yonder where Carrot said Kin'emon would be, Toko in tow. The girl 'ooh-ed' and 'ahh-ed' at the Minks, but seemed to possess enough manners not to disrupt their work.
"Kin'emon!" Cherry called out.
"Huh?! Cherry, you have returned?" Kin'emon took note of her arrival. "I do hope you have caused a mess!"
"If I was going to cause a mess, you would have heard about it long before now," Cherry said.
Kin'emon seemed to search her face for ies, but found none. "Why did you bring a child here? This is no place for such a young lady."
"Relax, Kin'emon. I'm a responsible adult," Cherry reached down and moved Toko's wandering hand away from a basket full of swords without looking. "I'm just babysitting my good buddy Yasuie's kid until all this nasty business is over with."
"Yasuie?!" Kin'emon sputtered and his eyes darted to the girl, then back to Cherry. "You didn't catch his surname did you?!"
His shout drew the attention of everyone around for a moment, before returning to their work upon seeing that there was nothing to concern themselves with.
"Uh, no?" Cherry didn't recall him ever giving a surname. "He's an older fellow, about yea high, big head and blue hair?"
"Oto-san's surname is Shimotsuki!" Toko helpfully added. Then she looked panicked and said, "Ah! I forgot I wasn't supposed to tell anyone! Forget what I said!"
Kin'emon plopped himself down onto a crate. "Yasuie is alive, then? That's great news!"
"You knew him?" Cherry asked.
"Yes. He was the Daimyo of Hakumai. Competent, loyal, and honorable; all things that Orochi wouldn't want in someone under his banner. How was he doing?" Kin'emon asked, with hope in his eyes.
"He looked like a beggar, but then most honest people in Wano do. Otherwise, I'd say he was pretty motivated, helping all the people that he can," Cherry said.
"Mm, that sounds like him. He was never one to wallow when the going got tough. I'm not surprised that he hasn't changed in all this time." Kin'emon had a far off look in his eyes. He refocused on Toko, a hand coming up to his chin. "Although, I never imagined he'd have a child, let alone during such dark times…"
"I'm adopted!" Toko raised a hand and chirped.
"Ah, that makes much more sense." Kin'emon nodded.
"Anywho! I'm sure there's something I can do around here." Cherry gracefully changed the subject.
"We have pretty much everything taken care of actually," Kin'emon said. "Things are going remarkably well! … Suspiciously well…"
"If you don't need me, then I can go find something else to entertain me. Like assassinating Orohochi, maybe?" Cherry looked genuinely thoughtful.
"No!" Kin'emon shouted, finding himself the center of attention again. "I mean… I'm sure we can find something for you to do."
"I'm just messing with you, man. Did you forget that I'm babysitting?" Cherry patted Toko's head. "Besides, look at this crap…"
Cherry drew a sword from a passing basket in Wanda's arms. "I wouldn't even use this to whittle with, let alone kill a man."
"Well, you don't generally use a sword to whittle with…" Kin'emon got tangled up in semantics.
"Not with this you wouldn't, but that?" Cherry pointed at the rapier on Dogstorm's hip. "I could turn a tree into scale models of everyone here in half an hour with /that sword. This doesn't even deserve to be called a sword! It's just a- a sharp bit of metal!"
"Technically-" Kin'emon started.
"If you're about to say "all swords are sharp bits of metal", then I might just demonstrate the difference by skinning you alive twice and asking you which was more pleasant," Cherry spoke with an eerie tone that sent shivers down his spine.
Kin'emon decided it was better to remain silent than to ask how she could do it twice.