"Sherwin-nii…" Just as Sherwin was planning to extract more intel from Bucks, Klee Meow tugged at his sleeve. "Klee wants to go play, meow."
Mm, Felyne business is more important!
Without hesitation, Sherwin nodded, then turned to Bucks and said, "Sorry, can I take Klee out for a stroll on the deck? It shouldn't interfere with anything, right?"
Bucks was taken aback for a moment, then smiled and waved his hand. "Of course, no problem. Just don't disturb the helmsman or Mr. Cody."
"Then we'll excuse ourselves for now."
Sherwin gave him a slight bow, then scooped up Klee Meow with one arm and took Sanji Meow paw with the other as they walked out.
Once they were some distance away from the room and no other sailors were around, Sanji Meow immediately shook off Sherwin hand and said in a low, disdainful voice,
"Good thing Klee-chan interrupted you just now, otherwise that big guy would've gotten suspicious, meow."
"Huh?" Sherwin scratched his nose awkwardly and also lowered his voice. "Was I that obvious?"
"What do you think?" Sanji Meow flicked his tail. "You almost straight-up asked that big guy where we are and what year it is, meow."
"Ahahaha…" Sherwin chuckled dryly and scratched his head. He didn't think Sanji Meow was exaggerating.
Before he crossed over, he had always been the type who wasn't very sensitive to others emotions. After the crossover, he had lived alone on a sea island for several years.
Although he had the company of Felynes, their thoughts weren't exactly complicated, so it was only natural his social skills were a bit lacking now.
"What are you two talking about, meow? Klee doesn't understand, meow."
Klee Meow looked back and forth between Sherwin and Sanji Meow with curiosity, her big round eyes full of questions.
"Mm… anyway, Klee, you did a great job just now," Sherwin said as he kissed Klee Meow on the cheek to explain.
"Really, meow? Ehehe…" Klee Meow twitched her ears, then wrapped her arms around Sherwin neck and rubbed her head against his chin.
The one human and two Felynes whispered as they moved from the cabin to the deck. Sherwin set Klee Meow down from his arms and quietly instructed, "Go play around here, but remember—no bombs, and no setting fires."
"Klee got it, meow!" The little plush Felyne cheered in reply, then started dashing around the deck wildly. "Meowhahaha… such a big ship, meow!"
As she ran, Klee Meow let out cheerful, energetic laughter, occasionally stopping beside the sailors at work to curiously ask what they were doing.
The sailors being interrupted didn't find her annoying at all—instead, they gently explained their tasks to her with kind smiles.
Sanji Meow, still beside Sherwin and yawning, flicked his ears, then followed Klee Meow example and approached the sailors, even deliberately raising his voice...
"Eugh—"
Watching Sanji Meow act completely against his usual nature, Sherwin instinctively shivered, goosebumps rising all over his skin.
Even though he knew Sanji Meow was actually trying to gather information for him, it was still deeply unsettling to see him—usually mature and occasionally switching to his flirty-cat mode—suddenly acting like a squeaky-voiced Felyne.
"What a pair of adorable little cats."
A stranger voice suddenly rang out behind Sherwin.
Sherwin turned around and saw a well-dressed middle-aged man standing there.
The middle-aged man had a slightly chubby build, a pair of neatly trimmed mustaches like Kogoro Mouri, and wore a dark-colored round top hat. His face looked very kind and gentle.
"Mr. Cody?"
"That me." The middle-aged man smiled and nodded, then walked up to Sherwin. After adjusting his expression slightly, he pointed toward Klee Meow, who was happily running around the deck, and offered a reminder:
"Inthe Underworld, Felynes are quite valuable. Especially ones as adorable as her. Even if some slave traders don't recognize what Felynes are, they wouldn't easily pass up such high-quality merchandise. For your own safety, it best to have them act like ordinary cats."
Looks like Bucks wasn't lying—this Mr. Cody really does seem like a good person...
That was what Sherwin thought, not only because of the man proactive warning, but also because of how appearances often reflected character in the world of One Piece.
Aside from those with undercover roles, most villains, while each uniquely designed, all shared the unmistakable "obviously evil" look. On the other hand, someone like Mr. Cody, with his kindly features, was most likely a good person.
"Thank you for the warning," Sherwin said, first expressing his gratitude, then gave a confident smile. "But I'm strong enough. I should be able to protect them."
Even though Sherwin agreed that Mr. Cody suggestion was the safest and most foolproof approach, he couldn't possibly go through with it—especially considering how the two cats felt, and most of all, Klee Meow happiness.
Not to mention, Haki—this kind of "top-tier power"—was rarer than Devil Fruits in the seas outside the Grand Line.
Except for the North Blue with the Donquixote Family and Germa 66, the other three seas rarely encountered people with Haki.
As long as Sherwin didn't do anything reckless or insanely unlucky, there was basically no danger.
Moreover, in his impression, aside from Shanks, the West Blue didn't seem to have produced any truly powerful figures.
Even Shanks himself wasn't actually a native of the West Blue—he was a descendant of the Celestial Dragons who had ended up here.
It could be said that the West Blue was, in the truest sense, the "weakest of all seas."
Seeing Sherwin bold and shameless attitude, Cody couldn't help but frown.
There was no helping it—Sherwin, who clearly still looked like a teenager, paired with those adorable Felynes, was just too misleading.
"Don't think I'm just trying to scare you," the kind-hearted man advised again,
"We're about to land in Colored Paper Town, and that place is crawling with gangs. The highest bounty among them even exceeds ten million!"
"Uh... ten million... that really... impressive…"
Sherwin had long gotten used to bounties in the later parts of the manga—where they casually soared into the hundreds of millions or even billions—so even though he said it was impressive, anyone with eyes could tell from his face that he didn't care at all.
But it really lived up to its name as the "weakest East Blue." When Luffy first set out, the highest bounty in the East Blue had only been around twenty million.
Yet here in the West Blue, even some random gang members from a single town had bounties over ten million.
Speaking of gangsters, among the Supernovas of Luffy generation, there was one pirate modeled after the Italian mafia boss Al Capone. Could it be that he was also born in the West Blue?
Sherwin recalled for a moment—he seemed to be called something like Capone as well, and had eaten the Fortress-Fortress Fruit, which let him store crewmates and weapons inside his own body.
In essence, he was a humanoid dimensional backpack. Judging by the rest of the "Worst Generation," by the time they reached the Sabaody Archipelago, he hadn't awakened Haki yet either, so…
Nothing to worry about!
Seeing Sherwin return to his nonchalant expression just moments after briefly looking serious, Cody could only shake his head helplessly. "Forget it…"
Young people really don't know the meaning of fear.
He didn't plan to push the issue any further. After all, they had just met, and as someone fairly worldly, Cody knew that boys like Sherwin would never recognize their mistakes just from someone words. It might even provoke their rebellious side.
Still, being the well-known good guy around this region, Cody couldn't just ignore Sherwin completely. Besides, he truly liked those two innocent and adorable cat-like Felynes and didn't want them to suffer any misfortune.
Might as well ask Bucks to keep an eye on them. Let the young man suffer a bit of hardship too—it might do him good…
Sherwin, unaware that this old softie Cody had already arranged for someone to secretly watch over him, didn't try to continue the conversation when he saw Cody go silent. Instead, he turned his attention back to his cats.
Meanwhile, Cody, having made up his mind, quietly turned and walked away to find Bucks and discuss how to look after Sherwin group.
…
It had to be said—adorable cats really were naturally gifted at gathering information. By the time Klee Meow got bored of playing, Sanji Meow had pretty much finished prying out all the useful intel.
It was just a pity that most of the information was only related to Mr. Cody and a few islands he frequently visited for trade—none of it was particularly useful to Sherwin.
Only two pieces of information really caught Sherwin attention—
The destruction of Ohara had already happened more than ten years ago. In other words, Robin was now in her twenties, and might have already entered the Grand Line, scraping by under Crocodile.
But Sherwin still didn't know exactly how many years it was until the main story began.
The other piece of information was that two years ago, a sheriff nicknamed "Demon Sheriff" was expelled from the West Blue for excessive use of violence.
…So Lafitte was from the West Blue too?!
Though the revelation surprised Sherwin, he didn't dwell on it too much…
At this point in time, it was hard to say how strong Lafitte really was, and since he'd already been kicked out of the West Blue, he was probably in the Grand Line by now.
Tch… he still needed to keep collecting intel.
Sherwin gently stroked the two cats lying on top of him and slowly drifted off to sleep.