50 Encounter with Pirates

The exploration of the Bone-Crushing Archipelago didn't have anything particularly special. Just like Odelia had said, there were absolutely no humans living here.

The ferocious fish and sea beasts she mentioned didn't pose any threat to Sherwin and the others—in fact, they became ingredients for Sanji Meow.

Sherwin had originally wanted to tame one or two sea beasts to pull their ship. But considering that feeding such a giant creature would be a big problem—and the risk that it might run off while they were off guard, possibly damaging the Explorer No. 1 in the process—he gave up on the idea.

So, after quickly lighting up the map, Sherwin returned to the ship with the two cats.

Of course, they didn't come back empty-handed. Besides mapping the area, Sherwin unlocked several sea beast entries.

Sanji Meow got his hands on plenty of ingredients, and the lucky Klee Meow—aside from accidentally digging up a ruby—also found quite a few materials for making explosives...

Hmm. Whether that last discovery was good or bad, Sherwin couldn't really say.

The rest of the journey went much the same as on the Bone-Crushing Archipelago. Every time they arrived at a new island or chain of islands, Odelia would stay behind to watch the ship, while Sherwin went ashore with the cats to map the area…

This beautiful big sister really didn't have the best luck. One uninhabited island after another, just like the Bone-Crushing Archipelago.

Still, judging by her calm expression, she didn't seem particularly anxious about it.

Even when they finally came across a small inhabited island, Odelia didn't want to stay behind. She wasn't even willing to disembark.

"The Capone Family base might be in Gress, but their sphere of influence stretches much further. We haven't even left their territory yet. And if you count the places where they have indirect control, the range is even bigger," Odelia explained to Sherwin.

"Besides, this island is too small. It'd be hard to find another ship to leave on."

That reason made some sense, but Sherwin still couldn't help testing her:

"Just to be clear, I'm not trying to rush you off the ship or anything. But aren't you being a little too cautious? From what I know, Capone Bege doesn't care much about becoming a member nation.

And you're just a maid from the destroyed Buono Family. Even if you know Cody identity, Bege probably wouldn't care all that much."

"This..." Odelia expression shifted. In the end, she sighed and said, "Sorry. I lied to you. I'm not a maid from the Buono Family. My full name is Buono Odelia. I'm the third daughter of the Buono Family."

Just as I suspected.

Sherwin felt a little smug for a moment, then gently reassured her, "Don't worry. As long as you're on my ship, we'll keep you safe.

Capone Bege shouldn't dare cause trouble for us again. And if you're really afraid of being found by the Capone Family, I can take you to Uncle Cody hometown.

With his identity, plus the nearby Navy base, it'd be easy to give you a peaceful life."

"No... no need..." Odelia declined his kindness with a slightly strange expression, then softly explained,

"I've already decided where I want to go. When the time is right, I'll get off the ship on my own."

Oh...

Sherwin understood.

It was obvious that the Buono Family still had some influence outside. Odelia was probably planning to regroup with old allies or something like that. As for what happens after that, it wasn't Sherwin business.

He had no interest in avenging the Buono Family. After all, it was just a gang-on-gang dogfight. Sherwin wasn't going to start thinking foolish things like "she innocent" or "if I don't help her, she'll lose to Bege" just because Odelia was beautiful.

And Odelia was very tactful—she never once asked Sherwin for help.

The days that followed weren't much different than before: sailing, landing, sailing again, repeat.

Luckily, he had the company of two cats on the ship, and the beautiful big sister Odelia took care of the daily life onboard.

Sometimes he and Klee Meow would take the little dinghy out to set off a big "firework," and when there was absolutely nothing to do, he could always pull out the "never-wears-out fishing rod" to fish at sea or something.

So rather than feeling bored, Sherwin actually thought this kind of laid-back life was pretty enjoyable.

Only...

Was this really the world of One Piece? He'd been out at sea for so long and hadn't seen even a single pirate ship.

"Sherwin, there a big ship coming toward us from the right, meow!" Sanji Meow, who liked to climb up the mast to act as a lookout when he had nothing better to do, suddenly shouted,

"There a skull flag on their ship! I think we've run into pirates, meow!"

Sherwin: "..."

Of course. He really did have the mouth of a jinx...

Thinking this with a helpless smile, Sherwin quickly walked over to the starboard side of the ship.

Just like Sanji Meow had said, there was a dark shape in the distance steadily drawing closer.

After crossing into this world, Sherwin nearsightedness had been cured, and with the mysterious boost to his physical fitness, his vision had also improved considerably—he could easily make out the pattern on the pirate flag flying from the sails.

A skull pierced vertically by a dagger, with two flintlock pistols crossed behind it.

Emmmm... Didn't ring any bells. He didn't recognize it—probably not one of the pirate crews that had ever appeared in the manga.

Makes sense. After the East Blue arc, the manga plot went straight into the Grand Line. Aside from the Supernovas who also entered the Grand Line, pirate crews from other seas naturally didn't get any screen time.

"Do you recognize which pirate crew that is?" Sherwin immediately asked the all-knowing Odelia.

Odelia seemed to have sharp eyes too. She placed a hand on her forehead and looked for a moment before answering,

"That the Skull Hunter Pirates. Their captain is the Skull Hunter Contis, with a bounty of 27 million Berries. His biggest hobby is chopping off his enemies heads to make into wine cups. He a very brutal pirate."

"Mm, you can tell just from the name," Sherwin nodded.

Pirate crew names usually fall into a few categories—either based on the captain traits, the captain abilities, or just the captain name or nickname. The point is to be straightforward and clear.

"Is it time to beat up bad guys, meow?!" Klee Meow eyes lit up as she climbed onto Sherwin shoulder, tugging on his ear just firmly enough as she emphasized,

"It Klee turn this time! Sherwin-nii, you're not allowed to steal the fight from Klee, meow!"

"Okay, okay, okay…" Since they'd run into an enemy, Sherwin naturally wasn't going to joke around with Klee Meow at this moment. He raised both hands in surrender and replied repeatedly,

"This time, neither I nor Sanji Meow will make a move. We'll leave it all to you, Klee."

A pirate with only a 27-million-Berry bounty was no threat to Klee Meow at all. Losing such a warm-up target wasn't a big deal, so Sherwin saw no reason to stop her.

However…

"You'd better not blow them up—crew and ship—altogether," Sherwin reminded her again.

"They're pirates, so there might be a lot of treasure onboard. If you blow up the whole ship, we don't have the means right now to dive down and salvage it."

The chances weren't high, but if those pirates happened to have a famous blade or a Devil Fruit on board, that'd be a huge gain. Not to mention, there was still at least 27 million Berries in bounty money…

This also showed how cheap Sherwin offer to Capone Bege had been. Just bumping into a random pirate now netted nearly 30 million.

If Sherwin remembered correctly, Luffy bounty before entering the Grand Line was also just 30 million Berries.

"Right..."

Klee Meow, who had just been happily excited a moment ago, immediately fell into distress again upon hearing Sherwin reminder.

Her usual combat habit was to use explosions—and even bigger explosions—for full-area attacks. Holding back simply wasn't something written in Klee Meow tactical manual.

But Klee Meow was Klee Meow. She tilted her clever little head and thought for a moment, and quickly came up with a solution.

"Klee got an idea, meow!" The little plush proudly lifted her chin, swaying her head as she said smugly, "Klee can use zoom-zoom bombs to knock all the bad guys out cold, meow!"