Kesha Town, one of more than twenty villages on the Conomi Islands, had also been attacked by the Arlong Pirates three years ago and had been under their rule ever since.
However, the residents of Kesha Town did not give up. They kept looking for chances to seek help from the Navy outside.
Unfortunately, what they didn't know was that Branch 16, the one responsible for the entire Conomi Islands, had long since colluded with the Arlong Pirates.
Their efforts not only proved useless but even brought about the pirate retaliation.
"It was you lot who went to the Navy, hoping they'd deal with us, wasn't it? Chu!"
The kissing fishman Chu gripped the neck of the villager who had tried to ask the Navy for help, lifting him completely off the ground.
Behind him, a group of fishmen were recklessly destroying the buildings in Kesha Town, beating up the humans who lived there.
The residents didn't dare resist and could only silently endure the torment brought by the fishmen.
"Wh-why..." The man being choked had a face twisted in pain, but he still forced the question out through clenched teeth.
"Why were we discovered so quickly?! Where is the Navy branch?!"
The very fact that he asked this question meant he had already guessed a certain possibility—but he still held on to a sliver of hope, hoping things weren't as bad as he feared.
Because if they were, not just their town, but all twenty-some villages on the Conomi Islands would remain forever under the Arlong Pirate rule.
What made the man fall into despair was the cruel smile the fishman gave him:
"It just as you guessed. As soon as the Navy received your plea for help, someone immediately informed us. Now then... who could that someone be? Chu."
"H-how... how could this be..."
Seeing the light in the man eyes gradually fade, Chu lost all interest in torturing him.
"Looks like you've figured it out. In that case, time to die obediently, Chu."
The kissing fishman puckered his lips and spat out a droplet of water aimed at the man head—one with more power than an ordinary bullet.
"Pa!"
A pebble came flying in from a distance, intercepting the water droplet.
The force of the pebble shattered the powerful shot meant to pierce through a human skull, and yet the pebble itself remained intact, continuing its flight until it embedded itself deep into a large rock.
"Who there?!"
Chu turned his head toward the direction the stone had come from.
"Tch… Why does this kind of heroic entrance feel so cringe when it me doing it?"
Muttering under his breath, Sherwin stepped out from the crowd after having just thrown the stone to save the villager. He then glanced around the area...
"Tch, only one officer? I'll have to make another trip. What a pain."
Sherwin had zero interest in wasting words on this idiot who, in the original story, was taken down by Usopp with just a Molotov cocktail.
Without hesitation, he drew his Longsword and slashed at Chu neck in one clean motion.
With Chu level of strength, he didn't even have time to react to Sherwin attack—he was instantly killed in a single strike.
"Seijuro, no need to hold back later," Sherwin said, tilting his head slightly toward Seijuro Meow beside him.
"Yes, Lord Sherwin," Seijuro Meow replied in a deep voice. "I wasn't planning to hold back, meow."
Clearly, Seijuro Meow—who had a strong sense of justice—held no sympathy for the fishmen after witnessing the tragic state of Kesha Town.
Normally, even when facing other pirates, Seijuro Meow would go for a direct kill. This time would be no different.
This was also the reason why Sherwin had brought only Seijuro Meow with him for this mission…
Because Arlong had ties with Colonel Nezumi from Branch 16, if they left any survivors, it was highly likely those fishmen would be "accidentally" let go.
On top of that, sinking them to the bottom of the sea was useless against fishmen. So, Sherwin decided to go all the way—wipe them all out completely.
He wasn't about to show mercy to these fishmen just because one of them—Hachi, the octopus fishman who would later get a redemption arc, have ties to Rayleigh, and even play a key role in the plot—was part of the Arlong Pirates.
Still, like before, Sherwin didn't want Klee Meow, being a child, to witness overly gory scenes. So this time, he didn't bring her along at all.
Even Sanji Meow had been left on the ship to keep the plush doll company.
"Damn human!"
Every fishman who could join the Arlong Pirates was, almost without exception, a full-blown racist.
Even after seeing their strongest officer, Chu, get cleanly taken out by Sherwin, they still howled and charged at him in a frenzy.
But Sherwin and Seijuro Meow were faster. One man and one cat charged into the group of fishmen with blades drawn.
With each flash of their blades, the once-arrogant fishmen were cut down in the blink of an eye, their lives quickly snuffed out.
"Thank you so much!"
The people of Kesha Town stood stunned by the scene before them for a long moment before finally snapping out of it.
They rushed forward and surrounded the pair with hopeful expressions.
"You and this… Mr. Cat—were you both sent by the Navy to rescue us?"
"No. I'm just a bounty hunter who does this for fun," Sherwin replied without even looking up as he flipped through a stack of wanted posters. He finally found Chu...
"Arlong Pirates officer, Kissing Fishman Chu. Bounty… five million Berries. Tch! So worthless."
The villagers of Kesha Town exchanged uncertain looks, unsure whether to be happy or disappointed by Sherwin blunt response and indifferent tone.
"The Navy isn't coming..." The man who had been choked by Chu earlier staggered to his feet, his face full of grief and anger as he pointed to Chu corpse.
"He admitted it just now—the Navy has long been colluding with Arlong! They're no longer worthy of our trust!"
After speaking, the man suddenly dropped to his knees in front of Sherwin and kowtowed hard.
"Please, I beg you—save us! Defeat the Arlong Pirates! We'll do our best to gather money and pay you!"
He clearly had a Westerner face, so how was his kowtow so perfectly executed and practiced?
Sherwin couldn't help but roast him silently in his head, but he still nodded and replied, "Even if you didn't ask, I was already planning to take down Arlong for the bounty. As for the reward…"
He glanced around at the village, which looked more like a refugee camp, and sighed, shaking his head. "Forget it. I doubt you have any money to spare."
"Thank you so much!"
The man kowtowed again, and the other villagers quickly followed suit, kneeling down before Sherwin just like he did.
Tch…
Sherwin was not used to being worshipped like some kind of saint, so without bothering to say anything more, he picked up Chu corpse—the only one worth any money—and quickly left with Seijuro Meow.
"So this is a fishman, meow?"
Once they had left Kesha Town, Seijuro Meow finally couldn't contain his curiosity and leaned in close to examine Chu corpse carefully.
Unlike Klee Meow and Sanji Meow, who had seen fishmen back in the West Blue, this was his first time encountering the species.
"What a shame… these fishmen are an intelligent race, meow…" After carefully studying the body, Seijuro Meow ended up voicing the exact same regret that Klee Meow and Sanji Meow once had.
"Tight flesh, clear muscle structure… just looks like it would taste really good, meow."
"All right, this world might lack many things, but seafood is definitely not one of them. So stop thinking about these poor Fishmen as your next meal." Sherwin chuckled helplessly as he rubbed Seijuro Meow furry little head.
"Poor? Forgive me for my ignorance, but I truly don't see what so pitiful about them, meow." Seijuro Meow frowned, looking at Sherwin in confusion.
"Actually, two hundred years ago, Fishmen were classified as 'fish,' not 'people'..." Sherwin sighed, then briefly explained to Seijuro Meow the general situation of the Fishmen in this world.
He emphasized once again, "That part of the reason I'm not in a rush to enter the Grand Line. First, I want to summon more companions, but more importantly, we're not strong enough yet. And once we enter the Grand Line, your situation won't be any better than the Fishmen."
"Don't worry, Lord Sherwin! I'll train hard, meow!" Seijuro Meow put on an adorably determined expression with his cute little cat face and declared solemnly.
Then, shaking his head, he added, "Taking out one suffering on the innocent—this guy called Arlong is nothing more than a coward who bullies the weak and fears the strong, meow."
To this, Sherwin merely shrugged without responding. After all, putting himself in their shoes, if he were in the same situation as the Fishmen, he wasn't sure whether he'd act any differently than Arlong. Maybe he'd turn out even more extreme.
Still, even so, Sherwin would never go as far as Arlong, who clearly fled to the East Blue due to lack of strength, yet shamelessly put up a front about "building power here to strike back against humanity." That kind of blatant self-deception and hypocrisy was beneath him.
By comparison, those other Fishmen who also acted in the name of race but stayed on Fishman Island causing trouble—while they were just as much of a pain in the ass—in Sherwin eyes, at least they had more backbone than Arlong.
Of course, if they ever crossed paths, Sherwin wouldn't hesitate to kill them if he had to. He was just a regular transmigrator—not some chosen savior of the world.
The affairs of Fishman Island… best leave that to Monkey D. Luffy in the future.
...
Guided by the sawtooth-shaped spire, Sherwin and Seijuro Meow—unlike Zoro, that super directionally-challenged guy who could even get lost on a staircase—made their way easily to the front gates of Arlong Park.
"There not even a single guard or sentry…"
Sherwin looked at the completely undefended Arlong Park and couldn't help but twitch the corner of his mouth in speechless disbelief.
Just how many times had he come across an important facility or stronghold with such pathetic defenses?
But then again, considering the Fishmen overwhelming strength in the East Blue and their collusion with Captain Nezumi, this kind of negligence didn't really seem like a big issue...
If it weren't for Sherwin and his group, these Fishmen would've continued running rampant for another four or five years before Luffy and the others showed up to take them down.
As he activated Observation Haki, Sherwin immediately locked onto the positions and states of every Fishman inside.
Almost all of them were cloaked in the aura of "brutality" and "hatred," basking in the pleasure of taking revenge on humans.
After confirming Arlong location, Sherwin tossed the corpse of Chuu into the air and, as it began to fall, delivered a powerful kick to launch it forward.
Boom!
With a massive impact, the body smashed through the gates of Arlong Park and continued hurtling forward, crashing straight into Arlong, the sawtooth shark Fishman seated at the head of the hall.
"Who there?!"
The Fishmen inside the park instantly drew their weapons and turned toward the entrance, where Sherwin and Seijuro Meow stood.
Some of them recognized the figure that had just been flung in.
"Ah! It Chuu! He been taken out!"
"What?! He was one of the top three officers of our crew!"
"Didn't he go to Shells Town to deal with those unruly humans?"
"Could it be the Marines?!"
Amid the chaos, Arlong climbed to his feet. Having just been hit at close range by Chuu, he had immediately realized that the latter was dead.
Enraged, he roared at Sherwin, "You filthy lowly human! How dare you kill one of my brethren?!"
Sherwin sneered in disdain. "A bunch of stinking bottom-feeders forced into hiding underwater by humans—what right do you have to say something like that?"
Sherwin wasn't a racist by any means, but when dealing with someone like Arlong, an irrational, extremist racist, there was no point trying to reason.
It wasn't like Arlong would listen anyway. So the only option was to go all in—full aggression, no mercy.
Besides, Sherwin words might have been harsh, but they were nothing less than the harsh reality of the Fishman race current situation.
Lady Camille Felos once said, "Lies won't hurt you—truth is the sharpest blade."
So just that one sentence from Sherwin was enough to collectively shatter the mental defenses of the Fishmen present.
Arlong eyes were especially triggered—his pupils now narrowing into vertical slits.
"Humans are a stupid, weak, and inferior species!" Arlong roared, lunging at Sherwin with jaws wide open.
"Oh yeah?" Sherwin sidestepped the bite effortlessly, kicking Arlong away in the same motion as he kept the pressure on with another biting mockery:
"Then what does that make you, a so-called superior race that had to rely on protection from Whitebeard—who, by the way, is also human?"
"Waaaahhhh!!" Arlong was once again mentally shattered, shouting in blind denial, "Fishmen are, of course, a race far superior to humans! One day we'll rise above them all!"
Sherwin sneered. "If you could rise above us, you would've done it already. What, still need a few more centuries of getting pushed around?"
"That only because we had an incompetent king! Once I've gathered enough power here in the East Blue, it will be time for the Fishmen to rise and take revenge on humanity!"
"Oh wow… what an amazing plan." Sherwin clapped slowly, his sarcasm practically dripping.
"Choosing the weakest sea to 'gather strength'—what a brilliant strategy. Avoiding all the powerful humans while saving face at the same time… truly worthy of the 'wise' Fishmen~"
"Shut up, you lowly human!!"
This time, Arlong wasn't just mentally cracked—he was clearly flustered.
What he hadn't realized himself was that ever since he'd been easily defeated by Kizaru, his courage had been broken along with his pride.
That why, after leaving the Sun Pirates, he subconsciously chose the weakest sea—the East Blue—as the place to build his power.
And after taking control of the Conomi Islands, he hadn't expanded outward at all. Instead, he teamed up with the very humans he claimed to hate, becoming nothing more than a petty local tyrant.
But on the surface, he masked this cowardice with grand talk about "building up strength" and using the sea charts provided by Nami to gain control over the oceans—just to delude both himself and his followers.
And those other Fishmen who also came from the Grand Line—did they really not see the problem with this so-called plan?
Which is why, as Seijuro Meow had said, the Arlong Pirates were nothing but a bunch of cowards who bullied the weak, feared the strong, and refused to face reality.
They didn't even dare to cause much of a scene—just hiding in this remote corner and bullying a group of defenseless civilians.
"Struck a nerve and got nothing to say, huh?" Having vented his anger, Sherwin finally drew the longsword.
"Well then, let wrap up this pleasant chat. Now, let me see what so 'superior' about you so-called higher races... Crescent Moon Slash!"
...Yeah, it definitely not because Sherwin wanted to cosplay. It all Klee Meow and Sanji Meow bad influence!
A massive, crescent-shaped flying slash tore through the ground and flew toward the Fishman. Without hesitation, the Fishman leapt to the side...
Though the Fishman strength wasn't anything special, he had at least seen some of the world following Fisher Tiger on the Grand Line. Naturally, he wasn't foolish enough to take that dangerous-looking flying slash head-on.
Unfortunately, even though he reacted quickly enough, the gap in strength between the two was undeniable. One of the Fishman arms was still sliced clean off by Sherwin "Crescent Moon Slash."
"AAAAARRGGHHH—!"
Clutching his severed left arm, the Fishman let out a harsh, grating scream. His already vertical-slit pupils turned blood-red with rage.
"I'm going to kill you!"
Completely losing his mind, the Fishman charged at Sherwin in a blind fury.
Facing a target practically delivering itself, Sherwin didn't need to think twice...
"Hiten Mitsurugi-ryu: Amakakeru Ryū no Hirameki!"
Gotta admit, Fishman physiques really are something. That slash from Sherwin could have cleaved smaller Sea Kings in two, yet the Fishman wasn't completely split.
But that was about it. At this point, the Fishman was like a gutted fish, collapsed on the ground, twitching faintly.
"Fishman... superior... race..."
Coughing up blood, the Fishman choked out his final few words as his last breath left him.
After cutting down the Fishman and sheathing his blade, Sherwin suddenly felt someone tugging at his clothes...
"Lord Sherwin, please don't go changing my sword technique name at will, meow."
(ˇˇ)
Seijuro Meow looked up with his little face, visibly a bit sulky as he spoke to him.
"Uh… sorry, sorry."
Sherwin scratched his head with a dry laugh. He really didn't do it on purpose—he just had a stronger impression of the original name, so he shouted the "wrong" one without thinking.