Colored Paper Town—just like its name, the main industry of the town residents was making all sorts of colorful paper.
The paper they produced wasn't just pretty and durable, it was also highly water-resistant.
In a pirate world where the seas dominate, that naturally made it more appealing to the masses.
So, the paper from Colored Paper Town had quite the reputation across West Blue, with many merchant ships visiting every year to bring the town paper to other islands.
As a result, even though this town wasn't particularly large, it was able to make a decent profit.
Naturally, that attracted quite a few gangs to the area. Aside from collecting protection money from the locals, they also wanted to squeeze a bit more out of the merchants doing business here.
Why such a detailed intro about Colored Paper Town?
That because…
When Sherwin woke up in the morning, Cody merchant ship had already docked at the town harbor!
Which meant—even if they hadn't taken Cody ship, and had followed their previous route drifting on a raft for about a day, they still could've reached Colored Paper Town.
Damn! Got scammed by the News Bird!
Even if it was just "a Chopper worth" of money, it was still a scam. And the worst part was, there were so many News Birds, and they all looked pretty much the same. He had no way of getting revenge.
…Whatever, at least he got some intel ahead of time, and even scored a free set of clothes.
Sherwin could only comfort himself like this while changing into the clothes Cody had given him for free.
"Wah—this town so fun, meow!"
Klee Meow, as usual, climbed onto Sherwin shoulder, then stretched her neck out, eyes full of curiosity as she looked at the town in front of them.
As a town famous for its paper industry, most of the decorations in Colored Paper Town were also made from their own colorful paper.
Every household had paper crafts hanging under the eaves, and even the streetlights were mainly paper lanterns. The whole town was vibrant and colorful, with a very unique aesthetic.
"Sherwin-nii, Sherwin-nii, Klee wants to play in this town, okay meow?" Klee Meow tugged on Sherwin ear, acting all cutesy with her babyish voice.
"Okay okay okay…" Sherwin had always had no resistance to Klee Meow cuteness. But he still had to remind her, "You can play, but the usual rules still apply—no bombs, and no setting fires."
If Klee Meow started a fire in a place where everything was made of paper… Sherwin didn't even dare to imagine how "heated" that scene would be.
"Got it, meow! Klee not stupid!" The little plush ball huffed with a pout.
Having to repeat this every time made it feel like she was super disobedient or something.
The more she thought about it, the angrier she got, so Klee Meow gave Sherwin ear a chomp—but just a light one, to show her dissatisfaction. After biting, the little plush even reached out her paw and rubbed Sherwin ear.
"Don't worry, meow. that idiot has thick skin. Klee-chan, even if you bite harder, he'll be just fine, meow."
Unlike the well-behaved Klee Meow, Sanji Meow, that little punk, was getting more and more into the habit of causing him trouble.
Sherwin, annoyed, gave the little brat a flick to the forehead, then grabbed him by the scruff of his neck and lifted the clawing, squirming little furball into his hand.
After saying goodbye to Cody and the sailors on the ship, Sherwin disembarked holding one cat in his hand and carrying one cat on his shoulder, heading into Colored Paper Town.
After leaving the port, Sanji Meow finally calmed down. Only then did Sherwin set him down and let him bite him once without dodging—just to vent his frustration.
"Someone secretly following us, meow."
Having regained his pride with that bite, Sanji Meow twitched his ears and spoke.
Sometimes, having cats with such sharp senses wasn't a good thing—it made Sherwin subconsciously slack off on awakening his Observation Haki.
While making excuses for himself, Sherwin asked in a low voice, "Can you tell who it is?"
"It should be that big guy, Uncle Bacchus," the one who answered was Klee Meow on his shoulder. She twitched her cute pink nose. "That uncle has a strong smell of alcohol on him, meow."
"Bacchus, huh?" Sherwin frowned and muttered, "Don't tell me… Cody actually not a good person?"
Not knowing that Cody was acting out of goodwill, he instinctively assumed the guy was trying to steal his cats.
But on second thought, that didn't really make sense. Back on the ship, he was even more "helpless." If Cody really had bad intentions, why go through the extra trouble?
Unable to figure it out, Sherwin simply pretended he didn't know someone was tailing them. After all, with his and the cats strength, he wasn't afraid of anyone coming to cause trouble.
So he just casually strolled through town with his two cats. Along the way, Klee Meow, who kept shouting and darting around, quickly attracted everyone attention… some of it kind, and some of it not.
"How it looking?" Sherwin quietly asked Sanji Meow beside him.
Sanji Meow twitched his ears, raised his paw, and made an OK gesture. "The number of people following us has increased, meow."
Sherwin nodded in satisfaction, waved to call back Klee Meow, who was tugging at the decorations hanging from someone eaves, and began steering them toward less crowded areas.
Turning the tables on bandits and getting his first pot of gold from them was basically one of the standard moves for a transmigrator.
Sure, if Sherwin rummaged through his bag, he might be able to find something valuable to sell, but first, he didn't want to expose his dimensional gear so soon, and second… while doing this kind of zero-cost business, he could also observe what Cody and Bacchus were really up to.
Sherwin wasn't sure if people in the pirate world were just naturally careless, or if those gangs were so used to doing whatever they wanted.
But his near-obvious tactic of "drawing the snake out of the hole" didn't scare off the stalkers. According to Sanji Meow, even more people had joined in…
They hadn't even made it to a completely deserted spot when someone couldn't hold back anymore and jumped out.
"Wahahahaha! Kid! Hand over those two cats beside you! Maybe we'll let you live~"
How to put it… it was the classic villain lines, and the ones blocking the road all had that proper villain look—crooked features and lopsided expressions.
Also, gangs really did live up to being the specialty industry of West Blue. These guys in front of him were all dressed like members of the distillery from Detective Conan.
Sherwin was just about to say something when another group appeared behind them, cutting off their retreat.
"Sorry, Delanel. Our Caster Family has taken an interest in those two cats as well."
This new group clearly wasn't part of the same gang as the ones in front, but their outfits weren't any different—all wearing those extremely underworld-style black suits…
So when they fight each other, do they ever mix each other up?
Just as Sherwin was spinning off into this kind of ridiculous thought, a third group showed up.
"Too bad. Our boss also ordered us to bring them back."
Then, members of the three gangs all drew their weapons at the same time, facing off against each other, while the primary targets—Sherwin and the two Felynes—were glamorously forgotten off to the side.
"Sherwin-nii, can Klee use bombs to blow them up, meow?"
Klee Meow tugged at Sherwin sleeve, eyes sparkling as she asked. The little plush doll hadn't set off any explosives in days—she was practically bursting.
"Uh… let wait and see first."
Sherwin rubbed Klee Meow head and gently soothed her.
Don't forget, Bacchus was still hiding somewhere. It was better to wait until everyone jumped out, then take care of them all at once.
Just as he thought that, he saw Bacchus swagger out from his hiding place. The big guy who had seemed a bit simple before now radiated an imposing aura, instantly drawing everyone attention.
"This young man is a guest of Mr. Cody. I wonder if you all would be willing to show me some respect?"
Seriously, do all West Blue folks talk like this?