47 Classic Plotline

"Where should we go next?"

Sherwin eyes moved back and forth across the map in the Hunter Manual, picking their next destination.

At the moment, he and the two Felynes had already boarded their newly acquired Explorer No. 1 and sailed away from Guresse.

The escort mission was complete, and now that they had the most important things—a ship, a longsword, and money—and the map of Guresse had long since been fully explored, there was naturally no reason for Sherwin to stay any longer. So after catching up on some sleep and saying a simple goodbye to Uncle Cody and the others, Sherwin set sail with his two Felynes.

Before leaving, however, Uncle Cody had suggested that Sherwin apply for a sea travel permit.

Though nowadays, whether or not you had that permit didn't really matter much out here on the sea, having one could still save you a lot of trouble.

According to Uncle Cody, even if Klee Meow accidentally blew up someone street again, as long as you showed the permit to the Marines, they wouldn't immediately classify you as a pirate… Of course, you'd still have to pay for the damages.

But the permit only worked on the Marines. Forget about the Celestial Dragons—even among the member nations, there were many who couldn't care less about that kind of thing. Unless Sherwin could get a permit issued directly from the Holy Land...

But if I could really get a permit from the Holy Land, wouldn't it be better to just become a Warlord of the Sea?

Sherwin secretly curled his lips and casually brushed off Uncle Cody suggestion.

...

"The Capone family didn't send anyone after us. Looks like no extra bounty for them, nya." Sanji Meow, who had been watching from the top of the mast for a long time, dropped back down onto the deck and kicked Sherwin twice as he stared at the Hunter Manual. "Still haven't picked the next destination? Then why'd you even set out to sea if you hadn't decided yet, nya?"

Sherwin didn't respond. He only glanced at Klee Meow, who was running wildly all over the ship.

"Hmm… well, if that the case, then never mind, nya." Sanji Meow scratched his head, stopped questioning Sherwin decision, and instead moved closer to help him pick a destination.

Sherwin original plan had been to head straight for the East Blue as soon as they got a ship, but the more he understood the current situation, the less urgent it seemed.

There were still a few years before the main story began, and both the Sandai Kitetsu and Yubashiri were still in Loguetown and not going anywhere. Besides, the West Blue didn't seem that dangerous, so there was no real need to bolt.

The most important thing was... their starting point was a little off the beaten path...

Hmm, calling it "off the beaten path" might not be quite right. It actually pretty close to the central region of the West Blue. More accurately, it just a bit far from the East Blue.

If you don't count flying, there are three main ways to travel between the Four Blues.

The first is to cross the Red Line, which is under the control of the World Government.

Given Sherwin current clean record, going through the Red Line wouldn't be much of a problem. The real issue is that, from his current location, getting to the nearest point of the Red Line is not much different from crossing half the West Blue.

The second method is to pass through the Calm Belt into the Grand Line, then cross the Calm Belt again to reach another sea.

But without Seastone, not even Luffy later Thousand Sunny could manage that—let alone a small boat like the Explorer No. 1. And even if he did have Seastone, without a Log Pose or Eternal Pose, there no telling where he'd end up in the Grand Line, with its chaotic and unpredictable weather.

And… getting to the Calm Belt isn't much closer than the Red Line either. That because the Four Blues are split into quadrants by the Grand Line and the Red Line—like a cross. So being in the center of the West Blue, the distance is more or less the same no matter which way Sherwin goes.

The last method is to use one of the four reverse-flow rivers on Reverse Mountain to reach the other seas.

Yeah, when Sherwin learned about this third option, he was actually kind of surprised, because from what he vaguely remembered, once you climbed Reverse Mountain, there was no going back.

But after thinking it through, that didn't really make sense. In the original story, the Krieg Pirates entered the Grand Line and were chased back out by Mihawk. As a low-level pirate who could only throw his weight around in the East Blue and didn't even have a bounty of 20 million, Krieg certainly didn't have the means to climb the Red Line with his ship. So he must have come back the same way he entered.

Makes sense. Even though the reverse-flow rivers are turbulent, considering the physical strength of people in this world, rowing back with some effort isn't out of the question. Plus, Sherwin had even asked Uncle Cody about it specifically and learned that the reverse rivers are sometimes affected by the tides, temporarily turning into regular downstream currents.

But again, the problem is… Reverse Mountain is on the Red Line—and it really far from them.

Given that, and the fact that even if he went to the East Blue, he'd still have to come back to the West Blue eventually to finish mapping it out, it made more sense to explore the West Blue fully first, get the summon ticket, and then head for the East Blue.

He might even be able to summon a few more Felynes along the way.

So rather than saying Sherwin was picking his next destination, it would be more accurate to say he was planning a route... Otherwise, he'd just let Klee Meow randomly point to an island.

The first thing Sherwin decided was their final stop in the West Blue—Reverse Mountain.

Although there were two other routes to choose from, the one through the Grand Line and Calm Belt could basically be ignored. And on the other side of the Red Line adjacent to the West Blue... was the South Blue.

To get from the West Blue to the East Blue, aside from climbing the Red Line and trekking a distance that wasn't any shorter than sailing, the only other way was through the intersection of the two "meridians"—the Grand Line and the Red Line.

One of those intersections was Mariejois, the Holy Land, where the Celestial Dragons were concentrated. Sherwin would have to be out of his mind to bring his Felynes anywhere near there. That left the other intersection: Reverse Mountain.

And heading to Reverse Mountain came with two advantages. First, the entrance to the East Blue was very close to Loguetown—in fact, Loguetown sat right next to the East Blue side of Reverse Mountain. The second benefit was... getting to see the island whale, Laboon.

Sherwin wasn't particularly interested in cheering up a stubborn whale and didn't have the kind of protagonist charisma or talk-no-jutsu that Luffy did. The main draw was that such a massive whale would definitely be included in the Hunter Manual bestiary.

...Wait?

Sherwin suddenly remembered something—Laboon was brought over from the West Blue by Brook and his crew, wasn't he? Which meant it might be possible to unlock the island whale entry in the West Blue itself.

Well, that left only one real reason to head to Reverse Mountain now.

Sherwin curled his lips and refocused on the map. It wasn't a big deal, anyway.

Now that the final destination was decided, planning the route became much easier. Sherwin quickly settled on their next stop.

"Bonecrack Archipelago... Doesn't sound like a pleasant place..."

However, Sherwin, bold because of his skill, naturally wouldn't change his plans over just a name.

Just as Sherwin was turning the helm, adjusting the course of the Explorer One, an excited shout suddenly rang out from the storage room where the fresh water and provisions were kept—

"Sherwin-nii, Klee caught a thief Meow!"

Sherwin immediately let go of the helm and rushed into the storage room with Sanji Meow.

They saw Klee Meow, her fur bristling and tail puffed up, raising her tiny paws in the air, making fierce little growls toward a corner of the storage room. In that corner, a shivering figure was crouched down, arms wrapped around their head.

"D-Don't kill me, I… I'm not a thief," the figure stammered in panic.

A woman?

Hearing that delicate voice, Sherwin heart leapt. Could this be that classic damsel-in-distress scene that every transmigrator has to experience?

It wasn't that his thoughts were impure—he just felt a strange excitement from stumbling into such a familiar plot twist.

Besides... these kinds of side quests usually came with decent rewards, which made Sherwin even more curious and eager.

"Ahem…" Sherwin cleared his throat deliberately, suppressing the excitement in his chest, and said in a calm tone, "Don't worry. We're not bad people—we don't kill without reason."

As he spoke, he picked up Klee Meow, who was still "intimidating" the stranger, and cradled her in his arms.

Sanji Meow, standing nearby, gave Sherwin a sideways glance. He didn't say anything, but his look said it all.

Sherwin ignored the judgmental look from the little yellow cat and continued, "Still, you'll have to explain why you're on our ship."

"I-I was hiding… from the Capone family pursuit…"

Perhaps sensing the kindness in Sherwin voice, the figure gradually stopped trembling. She cautiously lifted her head halfway, revealing a pair of timid eyes, and replied in a soft voice.

Even though only half of her face was visible and the lighting in the storage room was dim, it was still clear enough to tell—she was a beauty.

As expected! It really was a hero-rescues-beauty moment!