61 Happo Navy

Sherwin and the cats had been staying in the Country of Flowers for nearly half a month. During this time, he basically spent every day taking the two cats around to... well... eat, drink, and have fun.

He couldn't help it—the art style of the Country of Flowers was way too unique in the West Blue, and it even had a bit of flavor from Sherwin own hometown. So whether it was Klee Meow, Sanji Meow, or Sherwin himself, they all felt somewhat reluctant to leave.

Even Klee Meow, who had declared herself the first-ever "Explobuster Shadow" of Dudu Village, didn't mention anything about doing experiments.

After all, their Felyne Investigation Team goal was to travel the entire world, but if they just stopped at places to "check in" and fill out maps, that'd be a bit too shallow and boring. Experiencing local customs and culture along the way was totally normal, right?

Sherwin gave himself this perfectly reasonable excuse—and continued enjoying food and fun in the Country of Flowers with the cats.

Thanks to the friendly sponsorship of Capone Bege and the pirates, Sherwin had enough Berries to cover their expenses during their stay.

Of course, he wasn't just fooling around the whole time in the Country of Flowers.

In his free time, he would also read the newspaper and casually chat with people here and there, collecting both useful and useless information.

First, regarding the Country of Flowers itself: the nation had a total of nine armed forces, each called a "Happo Navy" from One Treasure to Nine Treasure. The Eight Happo Navy was simply the strongest among them, but each Happo Navy had different roles and duties.

For example, the One Happo Navy was the Royal Guard, responsible for protecting the palace. The Two Happo Navy was the City Guard, in charge of defense outside the palace.

Meanwhile, responsibilities like internal security and external military expeditions were all divided up among the various X Happo Navy.

Klee Meow even used Observation Haki along with her naturally sharp feline hearing to discover the existence of a hidden Nine Happo Navy that wasn't publicly acknowledged by the Country of Flowers.

Although she didn't catch exactly what they were responsible for, chances were they acted as an intelligence unit.

As for the Happo Navy Sherwin was most familiar with—the Eight Happo Navy—they handled all unofficial external strategies.

To put it bluntly, they were the ones who got their hands dirty. They were kind of like those European privateers who were once issued "letters of marque," or in other words, they were the Country of Flowers' version of the Warlords of the Sea.

The only difference was that the Warlords were recruited, while the Eight Happo Navy was homegrown by the Country of Flowers itself.

And precisely because of this, the Eight Happo Navy was rarely in the country—they were always off running around the world.

Sherwin had originally wanted to try making contact with them, but it turned out that all the people with real authority were gone.

Word was, they'd headed for the Grand Line, leaving only a group of "reserves" stationed at their base—meaning an outsider like Sherwin couldn't get in at all.

In that sense, the situation shown in the manga actually made a bit more sense… When the war broke out, the Eight Happo Navy wasn't even in the West Blue they were said to be somewhere in the latter half of the Grand Line.

So rather than rush back to take part in a battle they might not even make it to in time, it made more sense tactically to cut off the enemy arms supply line in Dressrosa and resolve the problem at its source…

Still, it felt like a really dumb strategy.

Besides, even if the Eight Happo Navy was away and couldn't return in time when the war started, Chinjao—the retired old powerhouse—should still be around, right?Or… was it that, because of the Eight Happo Navy special status, their participation in a formal war would provoke the Marines to intervene?

But that seemed highly unlikely. Judging by the overall power level of the West Blue, even if every Marine in the region teamed up, they still couldn't stop someone like Chinjao.

By the time Marine HQ sent over any real heavy hitters, the war would've been long over.

As a member nation of the World Government, the Marines didn't hold much actual authority in front of the royal family of the Country of Flowers anyway.

It just didn't make sense… Sherwin couldn't figure it out.

He shook his aching head and decided to stop thinking about these completely illogical details.

After all, One Piece was full of all kinds of absurdities. If he tried to make sense of every single one, it might be harder than becoming Pirate King himself.

What mattered most right now was going to Zuiyuelou to try their signature—ahem—to pay a visit to the retired veteran, Chinjao, who was rumored to be living in seclusion within the Country of Flowers.

…Of course, before that, he was going to Zuiyuelou.

Over the past few weeks, Sherwin and his two cats had gained a bit of fame in the Country of Flowers. More accurately, it was Klee Meow and Sanji Meow—these two adorable little creatures could draw attention no matter where they went.

Unlike usual, however, Sanji Meow had started to shine even more during their time here. He'd visited quite a few renowned chefs and picked up a number of traditional Chinese cooking techniques.

The chefs of the Country of Flowers were more than generous—each one eager to share everything they knew with Sanji Meow.

Besides the fact that Sanji Meow was cute and sweet-talking, there was another reason: Sherwin had generously spent quite a bit of Berries on these recipes.

To Sherwin, as long as he could regularly taste the flavors of his hometown in the future, spending a little extra money wasn't a big deal… especially since it came pretty easily.

Once again, thanks to old buddy Bege and the pirates for their generous sponsorship!

So, when Sherwin walked into Drunken Moon Tower with the two cats, the "waiter" inside immediately came up to greet them.

"Hello, what would you like to eat?" The waiter, dressed in Western-style server attire, rubbed his hands together and asked with a beaming smile.

Sherwin rolled his eyes silently. After spending so long in the Land of Flowers, he'd seen plenty of this kind of jarring cultural mix, and he was no longer as thrown off by it as he had been at the start.

After ordering a few of Drunken Moon Tower signature dishes, the waiter proactively said, without needing Sherwin to speak up, "You're here to check out the kitchen, right? I'll take Mr. Sanji there right away."

Sherwin nodded and let him lead Sanji Meow to the kitchen, while he sat at the dining table playing paw games with Klee Meow to pass the time.

The Land of Flowers also did a good job replicating one thing: its public security. Sherwin had been swaggering around here with the two cats for nearly half a month, and no one had even thought about trying anything shady…

Of course, there were still people who tried to offer money to buy the cats, but after Sherwin refused several times, they gradually stopped asking.

On top of that, Sanji Meow strength now wasn't considered weak in the West Blue, and with Klee Meow Observation Haki able to locate him at any time, Sherwin wasn't the least bit worried about someone trying to kidnap Sanji Meow or anything like that.

Sure enough, before long, Sanji Meow returned with a satisfied look on his face, following behind the waiter who was carrying the dishes.

"Haha! I knew you guys were here!"

Not long after the food was served, a bold female voice called out from outside. Moments later, a woman with a head of golden hair and wearing a floral-patterned cheongsam strode in with the air of a tiger descending a mountain, heading straight for Sherwin and the others.

"Hello, Sister Lisa~"

Klee Meow politely greeted her, while Sanji Meow smirked mischievously and nudged Sherwin at his side.

"Sigh…" Sherwin let out a long sigh and set down his chopsticks. "Big sis, can't you just let me off for once?"

The woman was named Holisa, daughter of the naval officer Erbao. While it might be a stretch to say she was broad-shouldered and muscular, she was definitely sturdily built.

Actually, her figure as a whole was quite curvy, with all the right proportions—but her face had a very pirate-like aesthetic. To sum it up in one phrase: uniquely striking bone structure.

This young lady from the Happo Navy Second Division had made a few appearances in the manga as well, though not in the main story—just in the cover page mini-arcs. She also holds another identity: the fiancée of Don Sai, the 13th pillar of the Happo Navy.

"Of course, no problem—as long as you give me one of your Felynes," Holisa said, pointing at the cat who was hungrily devouring food at the table.

Sherwin rolled his eyes. "You know that impossible."

"Then marry me! That way, Klee Meow and Sanji Meow will both be mine!" Holisa didn't bother hiding her true intentions at all.

"That even more impossible!"

Never mind her rather bizarre appearance—just the fact that she already had nearly twenty husbands, none of whom she had divorced, was enough.

Simply put, this woman was like a budget version of Big Mom. Sherwin would have to be out of his mind to marry her.

Thankfully, though Holisa was brash and overbearing, she was still quite upright and wouldn't do anything like forcefully taking a man as her own.

After being rejected by Sherwin once again, she didn't get angry. She just reached over and grabbed a chicken leg from the plate in front of her and started eating heartily, without the slightest hint of politeness.

"Sigh…"

Sherwin held his head and sighed again. He really shouldn't have tried to cozy up to this woman just to find out where Chinjao was.

(In the original story, it mentioned that Chinjao arranged the engagement between Don Sai and Holisa in order to merge the Second and Happo Navies into a Ten Happo Navy. So, a "Ten Happo Navy" definitely doesn't exist.

As for why Chinjao had that idea—it very likely that there already a Nine Happo Navy out there, more than the Happo Navy eight. And since CP also goes up to 9, I designed it that way.

In the cover story, Holisa had 25 husbands. Since the timeline in my version is a few years earlier, I subtracted a few.)