Most of the crew had spread out across the city for the day, as Cherry learned from Usopp. That was understandable given how much time they all spent together in the close confines of the Thousand Sunny.
Of course, Cherry knew all this already. It was a bit annoying to know these things all of the time, but past experience has taught her how quickly things could happen when she didn't.
Still, she did relax occasionally. Constantly fretting over her young friends was no way to live forever.
"Chopper!" Cherry called with a small smile when she saw him.
Chopper had been perusing a local pharmacist's wares and medicines to expand his own knowledge base. He was just asking the pharmacist about his techniques when Cherry burst onto the scene with Usopp and Uta in tow.
"Cherry! We were worried!" Chopper gave a quick bow to the pharmacist before breaking off to greet them.
Then he stopped short when he spotted Uta, his eyes going as wide as dinner plates and his little jaw dropped in shock.
"This is Uta," Cherry introduced, though it was apparent that the introduction was unnecessary. "Can you look her over? She has been eating quite a lot of wakeshrooms recently."
"Wakeshrooms?!" Chopper chirped, snapping out of his frozen expression. In place of his usual goofy self, his staunch professionalism made its appearance. "How long has it been since the last one you ate, and how many have you eaten?"
"About… six hours? I ate several dozen, but definitely less than a hundred," Uta answered truthfully, caught up in the reindeer's rhythm.
"That's not great, but I can work with that," Chopper responded. "How are you even still awake after so long, though?"
She pointed at Cherry.
"Ah, right," Chopper nodded. It was surprisingly easy to forget their crew's resident miracle worker, once his medical training kicked in. He always looked for practical solutions, not for what was essentially magic.
Chopper tapped his little chin with a hoof as he gazed around the shop. "I think I can make an antidote with what's available here. I'll just be a few minutes. Cherry, could you check her temperature, heart rate, and blood oxygen level for me?"
Usopp questioned, "How is she going to-?"
Cherry gently grabbed Uta by the wrist and interrupted him. "35.6 degrees, 63.1 beats per minute, and 91.7 percent."
"Oh dear, but I suppose that's quite good given the circumstances," Chopper tutted.
"How do you know that?" Usopp gave her an odd look.
Cherry shrugged, releasing Uta's arm. "Hey, it took some practice to get that kind of accuracy."
About three hours worth of practice, she failed to mention. Sanji was a good sport about it, and a great test subject given how erratic those three measurements could be when he got excited.
Chopper actually overestimated how long the antidote would take to whip up, which was pretty impressive since he did it with ingredients he wasn't accustomed to and without thumbs. The local pharmacist definitely looked impressed; in fact, he was taking notes!
"Here you are! Drink half now and half when you're in bed, please," Chopper handed over the tincture.
Uta grimaced at it. It did look pretty gnarly, a bit like sludge. "I should have just drank what Shanks gave me…"
She held her nose and tipped it back. "Huh?! It tastes good?!"
"Of course it tastes good, he's the best doctor in the world," Cherry said, sending Chopper into his usual dance and curse routine.
"Did you say Shanks???" Usopp asked. He turned to look at Cherry. "Where in the world did you go?"
"I went to a concert, obviously," Cherry said.
"And you didn't bring any of us?! What the heck?!" Usopp bemoaned. "I've wanted to see a live Uta performance for years!"
"I didn't even know who she was," Cherry said.
"That makes it worse! Stop making it worse!" Usopp cried.
"Um…" Uta mumbled. "I wouldn't mind doing a performance-"
"No!" Chopper crossed his arms in an 'X'. "You need bed rest. How long have you been kept awake by the wakeshrooms?"
"A few days…" Uta answered. "That's not that long, right?"
"That's pushing it under normal circumstances!" Chopper denied. "Under the effects of wakeshrooms, it's about the equivalent of a month without sleep! That's why they kill you when you stop eating them! Extreme exhaustion!"
"Alright…" Uta found it difficult to reject this terribly adorable creature. He looked like a little stuffed animal! "I don't really feel that tir… tire~d…"
*thump*
Uta fell straight backwards, out like a light.
"You put a sedative in there?" Cherry asked.
"Just a mild one, and of course I did. Nobody listens to me, so I took preemptive measures," Chopper said.
"Why did you tell her to take the other half of the medicine before bed, then?" Usopp asked.
"I said when she's in bed," Chopper gave him a smug smile. "When she wakes up!"
"It's a good thing you're so cute, because you're terrifying," Usopp said.
"I guess we should get her somewhere comfortable instead of just leaving her lying on the floor," Cherry pointed out.
"Do you have a stretcher?" Chopper asked the pharmacist.
…
"Is that…?" Robin questioned.
"World famous superstar, Uta, whom I'd never heard of until yesterday? Yes," Cherry nodded.
"How have you never heard of her? Koala is like her biggest fan; she listens to her records constantly," Robin quirked an eyebrow at her.
"Her music is nice enough, but if you've heard one pop star you've heard them all!" Cherry defended.
"I can't believe you," Usopp rolled his eyes. "Wait until Brook hears about this."
""Hears about what?"" Brook and Cherry spoke simultaneously. Cherry followed up with, "I caught you this time, sneaky bone man! HA!"
"Drat. I'll have to up my game," Brook looked at the girl on the stretcher. "My eternal rival!"
"Your eternal rival?" Chopper questioned.
"I never once reached the top of the charts thanks to her, and her stage shows are legendary! I just couldn't beat her," Brook shook his head in mock disappointment. "My manager was always busting my balls about it… or he would have if I had any! Bone joke!"
"... Actually, that's not funny," Brook drooped in depression.
"I bet chopper could make you some prosthetics," Cherry offered. Chopper shot her the most betrayed look she'd ever seen.
"Really? You'd do that for me, Chopper?" Brook clasped his hands in hope and perhaps even prayer.
"Y-yes?" Chopper forced out, unable to refuse his empty puppy dog eye sockets.
"As interesting as Brook's emasculation is, I'd rather know what's wrong with Uta-chan," Robin changed the topic.
"Oh, just a minor case of lethal poisoning!" Chopper grasped onto the topic change like a life preserver in a hurricane. "Not to worry, between my honed skills and Cherry's unscientific nonsense, she'll be fine after some rest."
"That's good to hear," Robin sighed. "Who poisoned her though? I can't imagine anyone could have a grudge against her… a stalker, perhaps?"
"Oh, she poisoned herself," Cherry said.
They looked at the girl in sympathy.
"She was trying to do this whole 'create a peaceful new world' with her devil fruit by dragging her entire audience from around the world into a dreamland and then die to keep them there forever," Cherry finished.
"""Eh?!"""