"Holy crap!"
The moment Garp raised his hand, Sherwin Observation Haki went into a full-blown alarm state.
In his perception, Garp aura suddenly spiked to a level he couldn't even begin to comprehend.
Without a second thought, Sherwin tossed his Longsword aside and grabbed one of the cats in each hand, hurling them far away.
At the same time, Garp fist came crashing down. Sherwin, who had already activated every ounce of his Armament Haki, saw only darkness in front of his eyes.
A roar of wind shrieked past his ears—and then came the sensation.
It was like being hit head-on by a speeding truck. Every bone in his body screamed in agony, and even the blood in his veins felt frozen in place. The next moment, Sherwin lost consciousness…
At that point, he hadn't even hit the ground yet.
"Sherwin-niichan!"
Klee Meow, who was well-versed in Observation Haki, instantly sensed Sherwin condition. The little ragdoll cat flared up in an instant.
"Klee gonna burn you to ash, you bad old man meow!"
(=`Д=)
With a piercing scream, a pillar of purplish-red flame burst into the sky, writhing and churning wildly in midair.
From afar, Luffy and the others—still watching the battle—were hit by a wave of heat. The air before their eyes shimmered and warped from the sudden rise in temperature.
Nearby, the plants, flowers, and trees around Klee Meow began to dry out rapidly under the intense heat. Some of the trees even caught fire, letting out a series of loud crackles and pops.
Fortunately, Sherwin had repeatedly drilled safety instructions into Klee Meow in the past. Soon, the fire in the sky began to slowly retract, and the surrounding temperature started to return to normal.
Then, within the writhing purplish-red flame in the air, limbs and a head began to form. The fire rapidly morphed into a clumsy-looking little bear.
If Sherwin had still been conscious at that moment, he would have immediately recognized this bear...
Although the color was different, the bear appearance was exactly the same as Guoba.
"Dodo Bear, attack meow!"
"Houm!"
The flaming Guoba in the sky let out a strange roar, then lunged toward Garp position.
"Impact!"
Drenched in sweat from the intense heat earlier, Garp didn't dare to be careless. He clenched his fist and struck at the strange bear above him.
However, under Klee Meow control, Dodo Bear immediately elementalized to evade the violent punch wind, then reformed and raised both fists to slam down on Garp.
At the same time, part of its flames split off, transforming into a fiery tornado that engulfed both itself and Garp.
"It scorching! Damn it!"
Surrounded by purplish-red flames, Garp let out a roar. The massive fire tornado suddenly expanded, exploding into countless flames that scattered through the sky.
Even Dodo Bear had vanished without a trace—only Garp, completely covered in black Armament Haki, stood firm in the center.
Right after that, Garp slammed his fists together again. A powerful shockwave extinguished most of the flames that had begun to regroup.
The remaining few flickered like candles in the wind, on the verge of going out at any moment.
Klee Meow was about to rally and launch another attack when Garp suddenly appeared in front of her using Shave, one of the Six Powers.
"Be a good girl and settle down, little kitty."
Garp grabbed Klee Meow, who was still trying to escape through elementalization.
"Let go of Klee! You big bad old man bullying Sherwin! Klee gonna bite you! Scratch you to death, meow!"
(=`皿=)
Unable to elementalize and flee, the little plush doll struggled violently. She scratched and bit at Garp hands, flinging small fireballs at his head one after another. However, they were all blocked by Garp exaggerated Armament Haki...
Garp was even cheerfully reaching out to pat Klee Meow little head, but the plush doll stubbornly shook her head, dodging his touch.
Unlike Klee Meow, Seijuro Meow didn't continue attacking Garp. Still, he was feeling rather down.
After all, not only had he failed to protect Sherwin, but he had also been thrown out of the battlefield by him when "danger" struck. For a samurai cat full of loyalty and honor, that was quite a blow.
"Alright, Klee, stop making a fuss, meow."Huamei Meow arrived to calm the still-frantic plush doll."We should hurry and check on the Admiral, meow."
"Let go of Klee! Klee wants to see Sherwin, meow!"The plush doll kept smacking Garp palm with her kitty punches—but this time, she had retracted her claws.
After Garp loosened his grip, Klee Meow didn't continue attacking him. Instead, she dropped to all fours and rushed toward Sherwin, who was still lying motionless on the ground.
But before she could reach him, Sanji Meow had already arrived at Sherwin side. After using Observation Haki to assess his injuries, he quickly pulled out a rice ball with a mild healing effect from his pouch. Without hesitation, he pried Sherwin mouth open and shoved it in.
"Puh—cough cough cough!"
Sherwin, who had been unconscious, was abruptly jolted awake by choking. As he struggled to swallow the rice ball, he glared at the culprit beside him and shouted:
"You little bastard—are you trying to choke me to death?!"
"The injuries on your body aren't that bad—how could you choke to death so easily, meow?"Sanji Meow replied confidently,
"This is the fastest way to wake you up, so Klee-chan won't have to keep worrying, meow!"
"Sherwin! Are you okay, meow?!"
Before Sanji Meow had even finished speaking, Klee Meow had already flown into Sherwin arms with a leap, her little paws gently feeling his face as she asked with concern.
"Of course I'm fine! Your Sherwin is super tough!"
Sherwin held Klee Meow tightly and gave her two big kisses, then demonstratively stretched and moved his body around, finally putting the little plush doll mind at ease.
"Lord Sherwin, please don't recklessly charge in alone next time, meow."
"It good that you're okay, Admiral. Klee was really worried about you just now, meow."
Seijuro Meow and Huamei Meow also came over to Sherwin, each expressing their concern in turn.
"Not bad at all, kid,"Garp walked over with a surprised Luffy and Ace in tow, along with the group of mountain bandits.
Once again, he extended an offer:"Still not thinking about joining the Marines? If you do, I can get you a famous blade and a Devil Fruit."
If Garp previous offer had just been casual, this time he was seriously trying to recruit Sherwin.
But Sherwin only smiled and shook his head, once again refusing Garp offer.
Still held in Sherwin arms, Klee Meow had finally calmed down too. She now understood that Garp hadn't really hurt Sherwin earlier, so she shyly apologized:
"Grandpa Garp, I'm sorry about earlier, meow."
(=ω=)
"Wahahahaha!" Garp waved his hand nonchalantly. "Your grandpa still strong as an ox! Little Klee, if you like, Grandpa can scratch your back for fun anytime—no problem at all!"
Luffy eyes lit up after hearing that, and he recklessly asked, "Then Grandpa, can I punch you anytime too?"
Naturally, he was promptly "educated" by Garp loving Iron Fist.
"Not fair... Why can Klee just hit you whenever... Grandpa, you're so biased..." Luffy sat sulking in the corner, his head covered in lumps, grumbling with resentment.
But no one paid attention to Luffy rambling. Everyone soon returned to Dadan bandit hut and picked up where they left off.
"If Devil Fruits and famed swords are off-limits, at least give me maps of the South and North Blue, right? And if you've got any maps of the Grand Line, even better... Hmm... oh, and toss in some Seastone too. I've never even seen the stuff."
Aside from Devil Fruits and named blades that could unlock entries in the Hunter compendium, the only other things from the Navy that caught Sherwin interest were precise nautical maps and Seastone.
He wasn't planning to use the Seastone as a weapon or to fight ability users, but rather to explore the Calm Belt...
The Navy mounts Seastone on the bottom of their ships to block Sea Kings' detection, which is how they're able to travel freely between the four Blues and the Grand Line through the Calm Belt.
And besides the Four Blues, the Grand Line, and the Red Line, the Calm Belt itself covered a decent area—enough to possibly yield a few map fragments.
"No problem, I can get you that kind of stuff."
This time, Garp didn't refuse. He casually agreed while picking his nose, clearly not taking it seriously.
After all, compared to Devil Fruits or famed swords, maps and Seastone weren't all that valuable.
Garp even went a step further and offered, "But the Grand Line maps won't be of much use. I'll just give you a Log Pose instead."
"Vice Admiral Garp is truly generous!"
Naturally, Sherwin had no reason to refuse such a great offer.
And just like that, the deal between the two sides was settled.