72 Klee Meow, the Eternal God!

"You—who are you?! Where are my men?!"

As Sherwin jumped down from the Explorer One, the group of pirates surrounding him quickly formed a defensive stance. The one leading them—a burly, grotesquely built bald man—barked out a demand.

Sherwin ignored the pointless question. Instead, he calmly pulled out a stack of bounty posters and quickly found the one with that man face.

"Lind Suvak, alias 'Greatsword Brawler.' Bounty: 53 million Berries... Not bad."

The average bounty for pirate captains in the West Blue hovered around 30 million Berries. Suvak was nearly double that, making him the highest-bounty pirate Sherwin had encountered so far...

Of course, that didn't include Chinjao or Capone Bege, who hadn't reached their full potential yet.

Sherwin then glanced at the greatsword strapped to Suvak back. The handle was wrapped in cloth, so he couldn't confirm whether it was Centaur, one of the Twenty-One Great Grade swords.

But according to the intel from Morgans, Suvak often cleaved enemy weapons in half with that sword during combat. That wasn't something a mere Grade Sword could easily accomplish...

Unless he, too, had mastered the art of "Cutting Steel." But Sherwin just couldn't picture Suvak as someone who seriously studied swordsmanship.

"So, you're a bounty hunter, huh?" Suvak, having overheard Sherwin mumble, cracked a cruel grin. He pointed at Sherwin and called out,

"Boys, looks like we've got another cocky fool walking right into our trap. Which one of you wants to take him down?"

Sure, Sherwin had just taken out a dozen of his subordinates, but they were all weak grunts to begin with. Suvak didn't think much of it. After all...

The seas were full of young upstarts trying to make a name for themselves. Suvak had already killed more of them than he could count. To him, Sherwin was just another unlucky fool.

The surrounding pirates burst into mocking laughter. Soon after, a grotesque-looking man wearing spiked knuckle dusters stepped forward.

"Leave him to me, Captain. You know how much I love teaching these arrogant little punks a lesson."

"Hahahaha! Lord Bloodfist is taking the stage—poor little guy doesn't stand a chance."

"Go easy on him, Bloodfist! Let us enjoy the show a bit longer!"

"Break his limbs and toss him into the sea for the fish!"

The rest of the pirates hooted and hollered, throwing all sorts of threatening and obscene gestures at Sherwin.

The smell of third-rate cannon fodder villains was overwhelming...

But this was the true face of most pirates in this world. The ones with quirky, unique personalities that appeared in the manga were the exception.

Among them, the most iconic was probably Blackbeard Teach—a textbook pirate personality: arrogant, ambitious, and deviously cunning.

Sherwin, long used to this kind of scene, didn't pay them the slightest attention. Instead, he continued flipping through the stack of bounty posters at his own pace...

"'Bloodfist' Lugo, combatant of the Suvak Pirates. Bounty: 7 million Berries... Tch! Not even ten million."

Though Sherwin was clearly unimpressed, this was actually average for the West Blue. Counting in the underlings, the average bounty of pirates in this sea barely reached 20 million.

In the East Blue, the average was even lower—around 3 million. Among the Four Blues, the North Blue had always boasted the highest bounty averages.

But ever since the Heavenly Yaksha Doflamingo became a Warlord and the entire Donquixote Family was no longer wanted, even the North Blue bounty levels had dropped to be about the same as the South Blue—60 to 70 million Berries being the ceiling now.

All of this intel had been generously provided by Morgans, so its accuracy was beyond question. But if someone equated bounty level directly with combat strength...

They'd have to be brain-dead.

Not to mention the "Worst Generation" who would each rise to fame a few years later—just in the West Blue alone, there was Chinjao who had already retired; the North Blue had Germa,

which was a member nation and thus exempt from bounties and even the South Blue had Bartholomew Kuma,

who was currently living in seclusion. Even the "weakest" East Blue had a great swordsman like Shimotsuki Koushirou.

"You still dare to space out? Looking for death?!"

Seeing Sherwin not only look at his bounty poster with disdain but then even begin daydreaming, Blood Fist Lugo instantly flew into a rage. He swung his spiked knuckle dusters and hurled himself at Sherwin.

And then, he was suddenly kicked flying by a small figure that leaped down from the Explorer No.1.

"First meat, meow!"

Sanji Meow landed perfectly after kicking Lugo away, and Klee Meow also jumped down from the ship, landing steadily on Sherwin shoulder.

"Brother Sherwin, all the bad guys are tied up, meow!"

"Mhm, good job, good job." Sherwin reached out and rubbed Klee Meow little face, praising her.

"It... it the Cat Swordsman!" The surrounding pirates gasped in shock at the sight of the two Felynes.

That nickname again…

Sherwin sighed helplessly.

During this time, besides the pen name "Traveler," Sherwin had made quite a name for himself around the West Blue.

After all, traveling with two naturally conspicuous companions, even if he tried to keep a low profile, he couldn't stop those who wanted to snatch the Felynes from coming to cause trouble.

On top of that, he had exchanged pirate bounties at the Navy several times, so it was only natural that some people started to take notice.

At first, people who didn't know Sherwin name would just call him "that bounty hunter with the cats," and over time, the nickname was gradually shortened into the rather cute "Cat Swordsman."

"What there to be afraid of?!" Suvak growled fiercely as he drew the greatsword from his back.

"It not like I haven't defeated sword-wielders before! Besides, he just one man!"

"Damn it! Being ignored again! Even though it always me and Sister Klee who handle things lately, meow!" Sanji Meow complained with an unhappy look.

Sherwin shrugged. "That not my fault. It those Marines who don't believe it."

Even though the recent pirate encounters were all resolved by the two Felynes, and even the pirates themselves swore up and down to the Marines that they were defeated by the cats, the Marines just wouldn't believe them.

They either thought the pirates were trying to shift the blame or were just playing games with them…

There was no helping it. The appearance of the Felynes was simply too deceptive, and the Four Seas knew next to nothing about the Mink Tribe.

If Sherwin hadn't held him back, Sanji Meow would've already gone to beat up that group of Marines just to prove his strength.

Klee Meow, on the other hand, didn't care about fame or recognition in the slightest—unlike Sanji Meow, who constantly sought glory.

The battle that followed wasn't much different from the previous ones. Though Suvak bounty was the highest they'd encountered so far, neither Sherwin nor Klee Meow needed to take it seriously.

Even Sanji Meow alone had enough strength to deal with them. So, even without Sherwin lifting a finger, these pirates never had a chance of winning.

Soon enough, the entire Suvak Pirate Crew was knocked out under Sanji Meow flying kicks and Klee Meow bombs.

Just like with the previous dozen lackeys, Sherwin and the two Felynes tied them all up and threw them back onto their own pirate ship, planning to sink it later as fish food.

Of course, the valuable ones were kept to be handed over to the Marines for bounty rewards…

Once everything was taken care of, Sherwin finally unwrapped the cloth from the greatsword.

Sure enough, it was the Centaur—one of the famed Grade 21 Great Blades listed in the sword registry, and one of the rare few not shaped like a traditional Japanese katana.

"Too bad… it doesn't feel right to use."

Sherwin swung the Centaur a couple of times, then regretfully stored it away in his pouch, planning to sell it later.

As a longsword, this two-handed design felt far too awkward to wield. And as a greatsword, it wasn't thick or wide enough, and was far too light.

Unless Sherwin added a long handle and a large shield to turn it into a sort of lance, it was even less useful than that pirate scimitar he'd taken from the gangsters back then.

"Sherwin-nii, look what Klee Meow found!"

At that moment, Klee Meow, who was in charge of collecting the spoils, ran over excitedly while holding a small treasure chest.

Sherwin took the box from the little plush Felyne and opened it, revealing a fruit covered in spiral patterns lying quietly inside.

Klee Meow, the Eternal God!

(The average bounty of 3 million Berries in the East Blue was mentioned in the manga, but as for the other four seas, I made those numbers up myself.

Actually, at first I planned for the average bounties to be higher—North Blue, the strongest, was even going to average over 100 million.

But considering that the "Worst Generation" only reached the hundreds of millions by the time they arrived at Sabaody, and that Bellamy, also from North Blue, was feared and respected in the first half of the Grand Line with just a 50 million bounty, the bounties in the Four Blues shouldn't be that high. Around 50 to 60 million would already count as a big-time pirate.)