80 The “Cheap” Pirates of the East Blue

Just as Sherwin had expected, ever since "Naruto Meow" reached the part where Deidara appeared, this No.1 art-loving maniac from the Naruto world immediately won over Klee Meow heart. So much so…

Back in Loguetown, the little plushy had even pestered Sherwin to custom-make her an Akatsuki uniform.

It was only because the outfit had just been picked up and Klee Meow hadn't had the chance to put it on—otherwise the vibe would've been even stronger.

After this round of "art," the pirate ships surrounding the Explorer No.1 were naturally annihilated.

Given the average power level of East Blue pirates, there were hardly any who could withstand even a single whoosh-whoosh bomb from Klee Meow—certainly none from this group who clearly couldn't gauge the difference in strength.

"Let go check it out. See if there are any valuable ones among them we can turn in to the Marines for bounty."

While the bounties in East Blue were generally low, even a mosquito has meat on it. Besides, they were near the entrance to the Grand Line—any pirate who made it this far should be worth a little something, right?

As if jolted awake by Sherwin words, Seijuro Meow, who had been so shocked he was almost frozen like a statue, suddenly shuddered. His Kikyo Sendōgetsu even slipped from his paw and clattered to the deck.

Although Klee Meow looked like she had just tossed a few sonic bombs, Seijuro Meow had never seen anything with such wide range, overwhelming power, and the terrifying bonus of flight.

Even some Elder Dragons' roars weren't this devastating!

That was Seijuro Meow gut instinct as he evaluated the power of those "sonic bombs."

"My apologies for losing composure, meow." Coming back to his senses, Seijuro Meow quickly picked up his katana, sheepishly wiped his face, and then looked with wide-eyed amazement at Klee Meow, who was now striking a dramatic pose at the bow of the ship.

"I never imagined Princess Klee possessed such strength. Lord, your subordinates are truly full of hidden dragons and crouching tigers, meow."

So stunned was he that Seijuro Meow unconsciously reverted to his original, old-fashioned manner of address.

Sherwin didn't bother correcting him; these things were better left to Seijuro Meow to gradually adjust on his own.

Facing Seijuro Meow praise, Sherwin proudly lifted his chin. "Of course~ Klee is super strong!"

"Yeah yeah~ Klee is super strong, meow!"

Hearing Sherwin praise her, the little plushy stopped striking poses and zipped over with a whoosh, jumping into Sherwin arms and snuggling her head against him, acting all cutesy.

As Sherwin stroked Klee Meow, he continued, "And actually, Klee is the strongest among us."

"!!!"

Seijuro Meow was stunned once again—but this time, a doubtful look quickly crept onto his face.

After all, those bombs just now were powerful, sure, but he had the ability to dodge them. Even if Klee Meow had stronger bombs, how strong could they really be?

Looking at the way Sherwin doted on her, Seijuro Meow figured he was just trying to flatter her.

But with his uptight personality, Seijuro Meow wasn't very good at hiding his expressions. As Sherwin calmed the about-to-go-boom Klee Meow, he explained,

"I mentioned before that there something amazing in this world called Devil Fruits, right? Klee ate one—specifically, a Logia-type Flame-Flame Fruit. As long as you don't have Armament Haki, normal attacks basically can't hurt her."

Right on cue, Klee Meow transformed part of her body into flames, forming a massive flaming cat paw that looked like it was about to swat Seijuro Meow.

But Sherwin flicked her lightly on the nose, and she pouted as she withdrew the fiery paw.

Still, that was enough to convince Seijuro Meow. He immediately bowed ninety degrees to Klee Meow. "I was disrespectful—please forgive me, Princess Klee, meow!"

"Meow… Klee not mad~ I was just teasing you a little, Brother Seijuro, meow."

The little plushy clearly wasn't good at dealing with serious types. She waved her little paws in a fluster, then, as if fleeing a plague god, scrambled up and over Sherwin body and hid behind his back.

Seijuro Meow glanced toward Sherwin shoulder, where only Klee Meow wide eyes peeked out. He awkwardly twitched his ears.

"I told you, don't be so stiff," Sherwin said with a smile, ruffling Seijuro Meow head.

Just as Sherwin was about to say something else, an angry Sanji Meow stormed over from the helm and began furiously kicking at Sherwin calf with his little black paws.

"Quit chatting already! Are you gonna catch those pirates or not, meow?!"

"Ah, sorry, sorry."

Dodging Sanji Meow flurry of kicks, Sherwin gave his head a quick ruffle, then pulled out a stack of wanted posters from his bag and jumped onto the now-silent pirate ships, comparing each unconscious pirate one by one.

Klee Meow whoosh-whoosh bombs had been enhanced several times by now, and with the level of strength in these East Blue pirates, they weren't waking up for at least three to five hours. There was no need to waste time tying them up.

The Felynes followed him over as well, helping to identify which pirates were worth money.

Very quickly, they picked out the "valuable" ones, which were basically all small fry with bounties around two to three million. The highest was only 5.5 million Berries, while some of the cheaper ones were only worth a few tens of thousands.

"These pirates have such tiny bounties... not even a single one over ten million, meow..." Klee Meow muttered as she flipped through the wanted posters.

Can't be helped—her standards had already been raised by the pirates in the West Blue. Seeing these little snacks with only five million at most naturally made her a bit unimpressed.

Honestly, Sherwin wasn't thrilled either. It wasn't like he needed the money. The bigger issue was... these guys were in the human trafficking business.

If it had been a few days ago, Sherwin would've rather let go of the cash and sent this entire bunch to the bottom of the sea to feed the fish. But now...

After confirming with Seijuro Meow that he didn't mind, Sherwin told Sanji Meow and Klee Meow to take the looted treasure back to the Explorer No.1, while he and Seijuro Meow beheaded each of the wanted pirates and stuffed them into Seijuro tacky little pouch—or rather, his "wallet."

Once they returned to their ship, Sherwin fired off a few Crescent Moon Slashes toward the pirate ships, sending the rest of the traffickers to the bottom of the sea as fish food.

...

With the pirates dealt with, Sherwin finally decided to get down to serious business—that is, learning Seijuro Meow Flying Cat Sword Style.

Sure, Flying Cat Sword Style might not be the highest tier in terms of power, but damn, it looked cool!

Besides, Sherwin own Monster Hunting Style and the rapier style he learned from Uncle Bacchus were, at their core, just about drawing and slashing or stabbing techniques.

What made them powerful were the Monster Hunter and Pirate world power systems that amplified their effects.

So, as long as the Flying Felyne Sword Style incorporates the power system of the pirate world—or even if it simply exists within the worldview of One Piece—it might not necessarily lose to the native sword styles of that world.

Sherwin pulled out a poorly scaled, rudimentary map he had bought from a tavern in Loguetown. After struggling to make sense of it for a while, he finally had Sanji Meow steer the Explorer No. 1 toward the southeast.

If this cursed map—which couldn't even load a dynamic map—wasn't marked incorrectly, then not far to the southeast, there should be an uninhabited island suitable for Seijirou Meow to practice his swordsmanship.