ok.
Cherokee is a type of North American Native Indian.
Buffalo is 100% one of them. Their is even a song about that connection.
I wanna say they rode horses? Which could be our overlap word with CASH as well.
So I think Buffalo -> Horse -> ? is best.
For ?, it cannot be chocolate, glove, missile, Jacket.... just none of those make any sense.
Drop and Tick really do not have any connection either.
That would leave us with....
Ground - They lived on the ground in tents and all that. Also, ground as in like ownership... we can to their grounds and like stole it from them, so maybe that.
Bark - while I dunno exactly, lots of stories of indians and explorers using tree bark as medicine
Pole - to hold up a tent?
Rock - just cuz rocks.