83 Felyne Face, Deadly Grace

After enduring a round of relentless bombardment, Sherwin—nearly depleted of his Armament Haki—finally made it back aboard the Explorer One, bringing along a thoroughly satisfied Klee Meow and a limp-limbed Seijuro Meow, who had been blasted into exhaustion...

Sure enough, Klee Meow bombs had gotten even more powerful!

As the island—now missing nearly half of its landmass—gradually disappeared from view, Sherwin let out a helpless sigh.

He knew full well that once they entered the New World, the destructive power of explosives would escalate once again.

After all, in the first half of the Grand Line, even a massive bomb couldn't kill Pell the Falcon, who didn't use Armament Haki. Yet in the second half, a much smaller explosion could blow off the arm of someone like Perospero, who did use Armament Haki, or outright kill someone like Ashura Doji—also a Haki user.

If we exclude author inconsistency or plot-driven decisions, then there only one possibility: in the second half of the Grand Line, where Haki users are plentiful, someone has already developed a formula for explosives that specifically counters Armament Haki.

Also, there was that energy ore that only appeared in the movie—Power Stone or whatever it was called. Who knows if that thing actually exists in this world?

It a mess. Some of the movie plots and original TV episodes clash so much with the main story canon that it impossible to tell what real and what not.

Take that infamous pirate , who supposedly owned a third of the world gold, yet only had a bounty of 60 million Berries.

Maybe the early movies felt off because Oda wasn't involved, while the later ones are more consistent with the story… though even those still have their discrepancies.

Unfortunately, the one with Zephyr falls into the more plausible category. The only truly questionable element was that Power Stone capable of destroying the entire New World…

If the World Government really had such a weapon, why the hell didn't they use it during the Marineford War?

But regardless of whether that thing actually exists, to Sherwin... the problem… well… shouldn't be too big!

At worst, he could just work on improving his escape skills. The next time Klee Meow conducts an experiment, instead of tanking the blast head-on, he could take the Felynes and dodge out of the explosion range.

Besides, Klee Meow was getting more and more adept at controlling the power of her explosions. Maybe, in the future, he wouldn't even need to worry about her experiments at all?

Drifting off into a brief daydream, Sherwin finally pulled his gaze away from the war-torn island in the distance and turned, helplessly, to look at the still-sprawled-out Seijuro Meow lying on the deck...

Sherwin had told him not to push himself—but Seijuro Meow really hadn't. Instead, he had used his natural danger sense and combat instincts to adjust his distance from the explosions, positioning himself just at the edge of the blast radius to endure them multiple times.

When his Armament Haki was depleted, he would obediently curl up in Sherwin arms to rest. Once he'd recovered enough, he'd repeat the process—all the way until his body hit its limit.

Do all swordsmen train this recklessly?

Thinking back to Zoro absolutely inhuman training methods in the original story, and then comparing them to Seijuro Meow performance just now...

Sherwin had originally thought he was working pretty hard after crossing over—what with trying to survive and take care of the Felynes.

But if he really had to train like Seijuro Meow, throwing his life on the line... Sherwin had to admit, he didn't quite have the guts for it.

Even though his body was now just as tough as the locals in this world, before transmigrating, he was just an average shut-in guy from a peaceful era—he couldn't even stick to the most basic daily workouts.

Sure, he exercised every day now, but suddenly jumping into life-or-death-level training? That was still too much for him to handle.

And yet...

Just thinking about those ridiculously powerful people who show up later in the series...

Maybe he should double his training… uh… or maybe just increase it by half for now...

A little provoked by Seijuro Meow determination, Sherwin decided to give himself a bit more pressure too.

Sherwin pulled his thoughts back and looked at Seijuro Meow again—only to see that at some point, Klee Meow had run over to his side. She was poking at Seijuro Meow body with a little wooden stick.

And that little bastard Sanji Meow wasn't stopping her—instead, he was egging her on, making the situation worse.

"Klee, try poking here. The reaction was strongest when you poked this spot, meow."

"Stop corrupting Klee, you little punk!" Sherwin strode over, flicked the little yellow cat hard on the head, then scooped up the mischievous Klee Meow and gently pinched her chubby little plush-cheeks.

"How it going, Seijuro? Any progress with Observation Haki?"

Holding the squirming Klee Meow in his arms, Sherwin crouched down, scratching Seijuro Meow chin as he spoke, activating his own Observation Haki to dodge Sanji Meow incoming retaliation.

Seijuro Meow let out a few contented purrs before replying weakly, "Apologies, Lord Sherwin. I haven't sensed any trace of Observation Haki... but I do feel like I've gained some new insights into Armament Haki, meow."

After pausing for a breath, he analyzed his situation: "Perhaps it because I've already mastered 'Mind Eye.' Its effects are quite similar to Observation Haki, though its range of perception doesn't extend as far, meow…"

"Enough fooling around."

Sherwin withdrew his hand from Seijuro Meow chin and quickly subdued Sanji Meow, who was still trying to stir up trouble.

He then unleashed the sacred technique of the Kato Cat Paw Massage upon the little yellow cat.

Only after Sanji Meow began purring contentedly and curled up in Sherwin arms without further fuss did Sherwin nod thoughtfully and say to Seijuro Meow, "Actually, I've experienced something similar myself…"

When Sherwin had trained his perception to a certain level, he too had entered a state similar to this "miniature version of Observation Haki"—or as Seijuro Meow called it, the "mind eye." However, that state was more like a sense of danger, commonly referred to as a sixth sense.

At the same time, that state also marked the bottleneck stage of Observation Haki. Once one broke through this bottleneck, awakening Observation Haki would naturally follow.

As for Seijuro Meow current situation, he had essentially skipped the earlier stage of perception training and directly entered the bottleneck phase.

More precisely, he had already trained his perception to the level required to awaken Observation Haki even before being summoned. It was just that in the Monster Hunter world, there was no such power as Observation Haki.

"…That being the case, Klee bomb training method won't really work on you anymore." After sharing his analysis with Seijuro Meow, Sherwin offered a solution. "So from now on, you'll have to stay alert. We'll be ambushing you at any moment."

That right—this solution was the same as what Sherwin used when he trained in Observation Haki. Since the cats' sneak attacks were mostly playful in nature, the mind eye, which primarily sensed danger, wasn't all that effective against them.

"I couldn't ask for more!" Seijuro Meow responded loudly with great enthusiasm.

But before that, he needed to recover from his current state of total exhaustion...

"Sanji, go make something for Seijuro to help him recover," Sherwin said, patting the little yellow cat in his arms.

Sanji Meow instinctively turned his head and bit Sherwin before letting out a whiny meow and hopping out of his arms toward the kitchen.

"And one more thing…" Sherwin grabbed Klee Meow, who was trying to sneak away, and lifted her up in front of him. "You little rascal, stop poking Seijuro with that little stick!"

"Okay, meow~" The little plush cat curled up her limbs adorably and answered in a sweet, childish voice, "Then Klee wants to hear a story, meow~"

(=òωó=)

Sherwin tapped Klee Meow damp little nose with his finger and ruthlessly refused, "Stories come later. I need to finish today training first."

He had just made up his mind—there was no way he was backing out so quickly.

After speaking, Sherwin gently set Klee Meow aside and coaxed her softly, "Why don't you go draw for a while, okay?"

"No, meow!" With a quick swish, Klee Meow darted back onto Sherwin, climbed up to his shoulder, and rubbed her cheek hard against his. In her sweet, childish voice, she continued, "Klee wants to stay with big brother Sherwin while he trains, meow~"

How could anyone resist such an adorable and clingy little kitty...

Sherwin nearly caved, ready to abandon his training plan and tell the kitty a story instead.

Cat charm is a dangerous thing... cat charm is dangerous!