74 Journey to the East

After turning in the Suwak Pirates for their bounties, Sherwin maintained his usual pace—unhurried and steady—lighting up the remaining islands one by one along his original route.

During that time, they took down a few more pirate crews, and two new entries were added to the West Blue Travel Guide.

Sherwin still had one final article that hadn't been published yet. According to Morgans' feedback, his fame as the "Traveler" had even reached the "ears of the heavens." Some Celestial Dragons who enjoyed roaming around were already planning trips to the West Blue because of his travelogues...

Of course, this wasn't exactly good news for most people living in the West Blue.

In addition, Sherwin obtained a famous blade he couldn't use himself, thanks to intel provided by Morgans. Unfortunately, he hadn't come across another Devil Fruit.

He had, however, encountered a pirate with a Zoan-type Hyena Fruit. His strength and bounty were mediocre, and Klee Meow took him down with a single bomb.

Sherwin hadn't forgotten his earlier theory either—he directly killed the pirate and used the Hunter Dagger to try harvesting "materials" from the body...

The result? He dug out 22 million Berries—exactly matching that pirate bounty.

Sherwin didn't believe this was just a coincidence. It was clear that the pirate bounty had also been considered part of the "material" by the Hunter Dagger.

So, although he hadn't managed to extract a Devil Fruit this time, it only made him more convinced that his theory was viable.

As for whether that 22 million was real cash... well, Sherwin had already spent it.

Still, the chance of encountering a Devil Fruit in the Four Blues really was low. Other than Capone Bege and that hyena pirate, the only other confirmed Devil Fruit users were a couple of Marines—information Morgans had provided, but Sherwin had never witnessed them himself.

It was nothing like the Grand Line, where you could run into Devil Fruit users just by taking a stroll. If a pirate crew or organization didn't have a few Devil Fruit users, they'd be embarrassed to even introduce themselves.

After sending off the final entry of the West Blue Travel Guide to Morgans, Sherwin opened his Hunter Journal...

"Sigh... In the end, I still couldn't push the exploration progress to 95%..."

Sherwin looked at the progress bar beneath the map and let out a helpless sigh.

The virtual exploration percentage had already been mostly filled, yet it stubbornly stopped at 94.8%—a number maddening enough to drive someone with OCD crazy...

Although it had only been at 91.7% before, they had occasionally come across islands not recorded on the Navy map during their journey.

So it wasn't surprising that the overall percentage had increased. When Sherwin first obtained the West Blue map from the Navy, the virtual exploration rate had only been around 80%.

Unfortunately, the increase in exploration didn't grant him what he had hoped for—like a summon token fragment or something like that...

Apparently, 100% really was the strict requirement.

With most of the map already illuminated, Sherwin could roughly estimate the locations of the remaining islands by observing the shaded areas.

If he wanted to, he could probably push the percentage even further. It wasn't out of the question to find all the islands.

But Sherwin didn't think it was worth it—after all, who knew if God Valley still existed? If they accidentally stumbled across it, the World Government might mark them.

Besides...

Sherwin original plan had been to make a wide loop through the West Blue and then head to the East Blue via Reverse Mountain.

They were already near the West Blue upstream river. From here, they could even see the distant Red Line with the naked eye.

Changing course now to go search for a few uncertain islands... was just too troublesome.

And aside from the 100% map completion goal, they had no other reason to stay in the West Blue. On the contrary, the East Blue held several "opportunities" waiting for Sherwin to uncover.

"Set sail! Destination—Reverse Mountain!"

Sherwin stood proudly at the bow, full of spirit.

"Meow oh meow—! We're finally heading to a new sea!" Klee Meow stood on Sherwin shoulder, cheering with him.

Even Sanji Meow, for once, was unusually cooperative. Not only did he unfurl the sails of Explorer No.1 right away, he even took the initiative to take the helm... Normally, the little rascal would need Sherwin to coax him into steering.

Sherwin also understood clearly why the little yellow cat was being so cooperative... It was nothing more than the hope that, once they entered a new map, they might soon get a new summoning ticket shard.

With that, they could piece together a full summoning ticket and finally welcome the Beautiful big sister Felyne he had been dreaming of.

As expected, lust is the greatest driving force.

Sherwin shook his head with a helpless smile and let Klee Meow climb down from him. Then he climbed up the mast to act as a temporary lookout, helping Sanji Meow, who was steering, to find the right direction.

In the manga, Luffy group encountered a storm when entering Reverse Mountain, but thanks to Klee Meow, their lucky Felyne, their journey was calm and smooth. They arrived at the base of Reverse Mountain without incident.

"Wow—! That mountain is so tall, meow!" Klee Meow stood at the bow of the ship, looking at the massive shadow obscured by thick clouds ahead, and exclaimed with excitement.

However, as the Explorer No. 1 approached Reverse Mountain, the sea currents below began to surge more violently. Sherwin quickly took down the sails and ran to relieve Sanji Meow at the helm.

Though Sanji Meow was strong enough to control the rudder even in the rough current, his small Felyne body was a disadvantage. One wrong move and he could be flung by the rudder.

Sanji Meow clearly understood this too. He cooperatively switched places with Sherwin and ran to the bow to help guide the direction.

"To the right, meow!"

"Too far! Pull it back a little, meow!"

"That it! Keep it this direction, meow!"

Under Sanji Meow shouts, Explorer No. 1 quickly followed the raging waves and rushed into the reverse current river of Reverse Mountain.

At the entrance of the current was a row of square stone archways, carved with patterns of some unknown sea beasts or Sea Kings—whether they had any special meaning was anyone guess.

Once they entered the reverse current, the water speed surged significantly. Explorer No. 1 was swiftly carried upward toward the mountain peak by the force of the current.

"Meow hahaha!" Klee Meow laughed joyfully. "Sherwin-nii, our ship is really climbing up! This is amazing, meow!"

Sanji Meow was equally excited. "No wonder it called Reverse Mountain—this world is just too interesting, meow!"

Even Sherwin couldn't help but let loose for once. He came to the bow, spread his arms, and embraced the wind rushing past as he let out a wild howl:

"Awoooo—!"

Klee Meow and Sanji Meow climbed onto Sherwin shoulders and, mimicking him, let out their own howls:"Meow-oooo—!" ×2

Soon, amid the alternating howls of one human and two Felynes, Explorer No. 1 reached the summit of Reverse Mountain...

And then, without hesitation, charged straight toward the Grand Line.

"Crap! I almost forgot!"

Sherwin abruptly stopped his howling and rushed to throw the ship anchor into the sea.

If he left it alone, the ship would follow the current all the way down the mountain and only stop when it reached Twin Cape.

While it was true that they could meet Laboon and Crocus at Twin Cape, Sherwin had already seen the island whale back in the West Blue. And there wasn't anything particularly beneficial to gain from Crocus at the moment, so going there now held little meaning. Besides, when they were ready to truly enter the Grand Line, they'd naturally have the chance to meet again.

After anchoring Explorer No. 1 in place, Sherwin and the others spent some effort moving the ship over to the reverse current river leading to the East Blue.

Though they could have simply rowed back down the reverse current, Sherwin decided to wait for the current to change direction and ride the flow down instead—just in case they ran into a ship climbing up along the way...

It was absolutely not because he was too lazy to row!