People in the world of pirates—especially those key story characters among the pirates—have absurd physical constitutions.
Once Sanji Meow had regained his strength from munching on his homemade dried fish, Ace and Luffy—who had both been kicked to the point of being unable to move—also regained mobility almost at the same time...
Although their recovery wasn't nearly as quick as Sanji Meow, don't forget: they were covered in injuries, while Sanji Meow was almost entirely unharmed.
"So you're actually a good guy, Sherwin!"
Luffy, having recovered, gnawed on the dried fish Sherwin gave him as he cheerfully handed him a "good guy card," holding no grudge at all.
Ace, who had also recovered and was quickly devouring the dried fish, didn't look nearly as pleased. His expression clearly showed he was struggling to accept the fact that he'd lost to Sherwin and Sanji Meow.
"I am a good guy," Sherwin said with a shrug. "Generally speaking, pirates are the ones most people see as the bad guys, right?"
"Oh yeah!" Luffy suddenly realized, slapping his palm with a laugh. "But I still want to be a pirate!"
"You little brat! Still saying stupid stuff like that!" Garp immediately followed up with a "fist of love."
"Ow, Grandpa! Why does it hurt when you guys hit me?!"
"That obviously because you're too weak!"
Garp still chose to dodge the question, which only further confirmed Sherwin suspicion that he was deliberately hiding the existence of Haki from Ace and Luffy.
At that moment, Ace—who had been sulking this whole time—suddenly spoke up: "Are people outside... all as strong as you guys?"
"Not really," Sherwin replied honestly, ignoring the frantic winking Garp was throwing his way.
"At least in the West Blue and East Blue, the only one I couldn't beat was old man Chinjao. But even then, if it were now, the outcome might not be so certain…"
Sherwin wasn't bragging. Though he hadn't been through any life-or-death battles on his journey, he had taken plenty of hits from Klee Meow bombs.
His progress in training Armament Haki had gone far more smoothly than expected. And now, with the even stronger Seijuro Meow by his side, if he were to fight Chinjao again, he felt he might just have a chance.
"The other pirates felt pretty weak to me," Sherwin continued.
"Especially here in the East Blue. Both their strength and bounties are way lower than those in the West Blue. Even the Marines here seem way less competent."
"Kid! I can't just pretend I didn't hear that!" Garp immediately dropped Luffy, whom he had been carrying by the scruff, and marched up to Sherwin.
"Are you saying the East Blue Marines are garbage?"
Sherwin gave Garp a look full of hidden meaning—because he had said that on purpose.
Although the old man didn't seem like the kind of guy who'd care about things like that, he could actually be surprisingly serious when it came to certain matters.
Since his plan to become the "Pirate Lu Xun" had been rejected by Morgans, Sherwin figured he might as well try to work something out with Garp.
So Sherwin went on to recount everything he had seen and experienced along his journey, down to the last detail—especially emphasizing the collusion between Captain Nezumi and Arlong, and the tragic state the Conomi Islands had been left in before.
"Those damned bastards!" Garp slammed his fist down, shattering the table in front of everyone into pieces. He roared,
"I'll have Bogard verify everything right away! If what you said is true, I definitely won't let those parasites in the Marines off the hook!"
Sherwin, having already achieved his goal, rubbed his chin thoughtfully. He still couldn't help but ask,
"Compared to the Celestial Dragons, isn't someone like Nezumi nothing? Vice Admiral Garp, ever thought about cleaning house a little more thoroughly?"
The moment he spoke, he felt a pressure descend on him—far stronger than Chinjao or even Ace. But none of the people around him, not even Klee Meow in his arms, seemed to notice anything at all.
Advanced-level use of Conqueror Haki...
Sherwin clicked his tongue and calmly met Garp intense glare.
"Hahahahaha!" After staring at Sherwin for a moment, Garp reverted to his usual goofy demeanor, laughing heartily as he scratched the back of his head.
But his tone carried a serious warning: "I'll pretend I didn't hear that this time. But you'd better not say things like that again, kid. Even if the Celestial Dragons are trash... they're not the kind of trash you can just take out easily."
"Whew—" Sherwin let out a small breath, realizing he had let his mouth run a bit just now. He gave Garp a nod and said, "That was out of line."
Though a little disappointed, Sherwin didn't have much room to complain. After all, even he didn't yet have the courage to go up against the Celestial Dragons. He had no right to expect Garp to do so either.
Besides…
Even though the Marines were given the name of "justice," in essence, they were still an organization that served the Celestial Dragons.
"Hm? What are the Celestial Dragons?" asked Luffy, clueless as ever.
"They're kind of like the nobles in your Goa Kingdom," Sherwin replied.
"Only they have even more power—and are way worse."
At the mention of the nobles from the Goa Kingdom, both Ace and Luffy expressions instantly darkened, and even the mountain bandits nearby looked visibly uncomfortable.
Noticing their reactions, Sherwin casually brought up something about Sabo: "When I was in the Goa Kingdom before, I heard that around five or six years ago, a Celestial Dragon came to visit.
To prepare for the visit, they 'cleaned up' the trash heap outside the city. Rumor has it one unlucky kid even got hit by a Celestial Dragon cannon fire."
Luffy and his brother faces, along with the bandits, turned even uglier.
"Alright! Stop talking about those annoying guys!" Garp, who had once heard Dadan mention Sabo, interrupted the topic, then turned to Sherwin and asked, "Kid, interested in joining the Navy?"
"No." Sherwin refused without hesitation.
Garp seemed to have expected this and, with a "just as I thought" expression, pointed at Luffy and Ace and continued,
"Then, how about helping me train these two brats, along with these few Felynes?"
"And what benefit do I get from that?"
This time, Sherwin didn't refuse outright, but instead started negotiating with Garp. Still, he didn't think Garp could offer any conditions that would truly tempt him.
After all, when it came to Haki training, he had already learned nearly everything from old man Chinjao.
And even if he needed a teacher or sparring partner, wasn't Koushirou from Shimotsuki Village a much better option?
As for the Navy Rokushiki, setting aside whether they would even teach it to him, even if they did, it wouldn't be of much use.
He had already mastered the superior substitute—Color of Armament and Color of Observation Haki.
Though some advanced applications of Rokushiki were definitely powerful—otherwise, CP wouldn't have continued using that system all this time—but how long would it take to master them? With that time, Sherwin would rather refine his swordsmanship and other Hunter skills.
Of course, fighting someone as skilled as Garp was a valuable experience in itself. But considering the old man personality—always going overboard when he struck—Sherwin felt torn.
On one hand, he really wanted to have a bout with him, but on the other, he worried he might end up getting beaten too badly. For the moment, he couldn't make up his mind.
"Benefits, huh…" Garp tilted his head in frustration. He also realized that he didn't really have anything he could offer Sherwin. As for giving pointers...
The kid had already said outright that Garp teaching ability wasn't great. Garp, the legendary Iron Fist, still had his pride, after all—was he supposed to just throw away his face like that?
So, Garp simply kicked the ball back to Sherwin:"Then what do you want? I still have some connections in the Navy. Maybe I can get it for you."
Huh?
Garp words gave Sherwin an idea. The Navy—or rather, the World Government—did have quite a lot of good stuff in their possession.
"Can you get a Devil Fruit?" Sherwin instantly sat up straight.
"You little brat, dreaming big, aren't you? Even if there was one, there no way we'd give it to you!" Garp burst out laughing at Sherwin outrageous request, then casually swung a fist toward his head.
He probably just did it out of habit, having smacked Luffy and Ace so many times. But Sherwin wasn't going to let him get away with that nasty habit.
Plus, he already had a bit of a desire to test himself against Garp—so he clenched his own fist and met the blow head-on without hesitation.
At the same time, he reached into his arms and picked up Klee Meow, handing her off to Hua Mei Meow beside him to look after.
"Hmm?"
Garp grinned widely. Not only did he not pull back his fist, he increased the force behind it—and even coated it with Armament Haki.
Unwilling to back down, Sherwin activated his own Armament Haki as well. Not only that, he entered demon mode and unleashed his Enegy Blade Slash technique.
This was currently the strongest burst of power Sherwin could unleash in a sudden situation.
With a violent gust of wind from their punches, a large and a small fist collided with a deafening impact.