Sigh…
How did things end up like this?
At this moment, Sherwin had already left Makino bar and was following behind Garp along with the Felynes, heading in the direction of Mt. Colubo.
After hearing Sherwin comment that he "doesn't know how to teach kids"—and getting strong agreement from Luffy—Garp forcefully dragged Sherwin along, insisting on taking him up the mountain to "show him what he capable of."
Obviously, Garp planned to have Sherwin go up the mountain and fight Ace, as a way of proving that his teaching abilities were just fine.
As for why the opponent wasn't Luffy...
Sherwin glanced at the rubber kid who was pestering the Felynes with a clueless look, asking all sorts of random questions, and who was barely a head taller than Seijuro Meow. The reason was already crystal clear.
Putting aside the fact that Ace definitely wouldn't be a match for him right now, Garp had clearly misunderstood what Sherwin meant by that comment… though his teaching skills really were questionable.
But what Sherwin actually meant was this—
He had wanted to raise Luffy to become a Marine, and yet ended up raising a future Emperor of the Sea he promised Roger he'd take care of his child, and then dumped Ace at a bandit hideout when he was still just a baby… Even handing him to Makino or the mayor of Foosha Village would've been better.
He barely saw his grandson a few times a year, and whenever they did meet, it was mostly beatings. No wonder Luffy had absolutely zero interest in becoming a Marine.
Later on, sure, Garp did keep Koby and that "Axe Emperor son" by his side to train… only to raise a "King of Deserters." And when Koby got captured by Blackbeard, Garp personally led troops to rescue him—going so far as to stay behind, injured, to cover the retreat.
Ah... no wonder Garp just stood by and watched Ace get killed during the Summit War. Turns out they weren't that close after all…
Of course, Sherwin knew that wasn't the truth. Garp and Ace did share a deep bond. It was just that, as a Marine, Garp couldn't stay loyal to both justice and family.
Still, that didn't stop Sherwin from mocking Garp in his heart. After all, Garp actions before and after were so contradictory, and his later performance was such a letdown.
Besides, the Marines' so-called "justice" was starting to look more and more like a joke.
"Hm?"
Garp, who was walking at the front, suddenly turned around and suspiciously looked back and forth between Sherwin and Luffy.
Although he was more proficient in Armament Haki, he still had a faint feeling that someone was talking badly about him.
It just that his Observation Haki couldn't read minds, so he could only vaguely sense something was off.
"What is it? Grandpa, is your senility acting up again?" Luffy asked, picking his nose.
"How can you talk to your grandpa like that?!" Garp immediately locked onto the target, raised his fist, and pounded Luffy on the head without mercy.
"Were you secretly cursing me in your heart again?!"
"Waaahhh! How did you know?!" Luffy, clueless, ended up taking the blame for Sherwin.
"Fist of Love!"
"Waaahhh——!"
After a round of "affectionate" interaction with his grandson, Garp led the group forward again. Before long, they arrived near the mountain bandit hideout on Mt. Corvo.
"Ace! Dadan! Come out here!" As soon as he spotted the bandits' wooden house, Luffy shouted and ran over. "Come see the talking Felynes!"
Hearing the ruckus, a bunch of odd-looking folks quickly poured out from the cabin. Leading them was a large woman with a head of curly orange hair — the leader of the bandits and the foster mother of Luffy and Ace: Curly Dadan.
Although it wasn't shown in the manga, the anime did depict what she looked like when she was young — a beauty who could rival even Robin and Nami... Oda curse is truly terrifying.
Standing beside Dadan was a freckled boy with fairly normal features. Clearly, it could only be Ace.
Though his appearance in real life wasn't as exaggerated as in the manga, the overall traits were still there.
The only real difference was... Sherwin didn't see the cowboy hat with the smiley and frowny faces.
"Garp! You're trying to dump another burden on me?!" Dadan immediately had a stress reaction when she saw Sherwin young face and the small Felynes beside him who looked more like kids than anything else.
She jumped up and shouted, "This time I'd rather be arrested than agree to it!"
"What nonsense are you spouting?" Garp replied while picking his nose. "That kid not my grandson. Don't you see we don't look alike at all?"
Meanwhile, Luffy had already dragged Ace over to Sherwin and the Felynes, loudly introducing them. "These Felynes can talk! I'm definitely gonna have a talking animal as a partner one day!"
Then he turned to the Felynes and introduced, "This is my big brother, Ace."
As for Sherwin, he was completely ignored from the start by Luffy, who was even more carefree than he was.
"Hello, meow~" The ever-friendly Klee Meow raised her little paw and greeted Ace and the others.
(=ΦωΦ=)
The other Felynes, having been pestered by Luffy the entire way there, were already starting to get annoyed. So Seijuro Meow and Hua Mei Meow just casually nodded at Ace.
Sanji Meow tilted his little face up, gave Ace a thorough look, and said, "You're this idiot brother? You seem a little smarter, meow."
Compared to the loud and boisterous Luffy, Ace was much calmer. He only showed slight surprise when Klee Meow spoke, but quickly composed himself and shifted his attention to Sherwin.
"Oh, he with those Felynes. His name is…" Luffy began introducing Sherwin but suddenly stalled mid-sentence. He turned his head toward Sherwin and asked, "What was your name again?"
There was no point getting mad at an idiot like him, so Sherwin just rolled his eyes and replied, "My name is Sherwin. I'm... a bounty hunter, I guess."
Since Garp had brought him here intending to have them spar, and Sherwin didn't object, he might as well be upfront about his role.
However, he had clearly overestimated Luffy grasp of basic knowledge...
"A bounty hunter? What that, Ace?" The future Pirate King looked completely clueless as he turned to the son of the former Pirate King.
"A bounty hunter is someone who catches pirates and turns them in to the Marines for money, you idiot!" Ace was stunned by Luffy ignorance.
"What?! Then he came here to catch us?!" Luffy cried out in alarm and immediately took up a defensive stance toward Sherwin.
"We're not even pirates yet!" Ace, having held back long enough, finally couldn't help smacking Luffy on the head — not that his punch did any damage to Luffy.
"Oh yeah," Luffy quickly calmed down and went back to picking his nose. "Then it fine."
At that moment, Garp came over laughing heartily. "Hahahahaha! So you're a bounty hunter, huh? That perfect! Go teach these two brats a lesson and show them that being a pirate isn't so easy!"
Sherwin gave Garp a speechless glance, then reminded him out of kindness, "Didn't you bring me here to prove that your teaching skills are better than old man Chinjao?"
"Ah!" Garp froze for a second, then waved his hand nonchalantly. "That kind of thing doesn't matter. I was never good at teaching anyway."
So you do know that yourself, huh...
Sherwin rolled his eyes, then looked at the Felynes beside him. "Well then, which of you wants to go?"