While Sherwin and Klee Meow went to hunt down Crocodile, Robin and the other Felynes were surrounded by members of Baroque Works swarming in from all directions.
But since Sherwin dared to leave them behind to face the rest of Baroque Works, naturally, he didn't think these people posed any real threat to the Felynes.
Not to mention, those so-called Billion Elders and Million Elders brought along just to make up numbers had absolutely no resistance when faced with Huamei Meow Conqueror Haki.
Even among the higher agents and middle agents with codenames, more than half of them couldn't withstand the Conqueror Haki either.
So by the time Sherwin returned, face darkened, together with Klee Meow, the members of Baroque Works had already been wiped out by the Felynes.
As for why Sherwin had such a dark face…
It was simply because he hadn't been able to dig the Sand-Sand Fruit out of Crocodile!
The world-famous Warlord of the Sea, and all Sherwin got from him was a box of premium cigars…
I don't even smoke, damn it!Originally, Sherwin had called Klee Meow along not only to prevent the sand crocodile from escaping but also to take advantage of Klee Meow good luck to increase the odds of getting a drop.
But even so, he still didn't manage to obtain the Sand-Sand Fruit…
As expected of the second-rarest among the Logias—it truly wasn't something so easy to get.
Because of this, Sherwin had already started considering the possibility of seizing the Dark-Dark Fruit.
As long as he kept an eye on the movements of the pirate who would be killed by Blackbeard, there was still a chance of intercepting the Dark-Dark Fruit first.
The only problem was… what was the name of the guy Blackbeard stabbed in the back and killed? Sherwin couldn't remember.
As for his appearance—forget it. In the manga, he only showed up for a few panels, so Sherwin had no impression of him at all.
It was with this kind of frustration that Sherwin returned to regroup with the Felynes, his face still dark.
But upon seeing the Baroque Works agents lying all over the ground, his mood immediately improved quite a bit.
Although he had failed to obtain Crocodile Sand-Sand Fruit, there was no shortage of Devil Fruit users within Baroque Works…
Miss Doublefinger Thorn-Thorn Fruit, Miss Merry Christmas Mole-Mole Fruit, Miss Valentine Kilo-Kilo Fruit, and Mr. 4 gun that had eaten the Inu-Inu Fruit, Dachshund Model…
Huh? Where did little Bon-Bon and Mr. 3 run off to? That little girl who partnered with Mr. 3, the one who used color hypnosis, was nowhere to be seen either.
But considering Mr. 3 personality of always going with the flow, the possibility that he slipped away early was pretty high.
As for his partner, Miss Goldenweek—considering how young she was when she appeared in the manga, it was still uncertain whether she had even set out to sea at this point.
As for Mr. 2, Sherwin did see someone covered head to toe in "2" motifs, but he wasn't Bon Clay.
Rather, he was a pirate who had once been fairly famous in the South Blue. However, by the time Sherwin had arrived there, this man had already entered the Grand Line. He hadn't expected that he would end up joining Baroque Works.
In the manga, this man never appeared—most likely, he'd been taken out by someone else before the story even began.
Aside from that, among the agents who should have been middle-ranking operatives, there were also several unfamiliar faces.
"Robin, among these people, which ones are Devil Fruit users?" Sherwin asked.
To prevent any slip-ups, Sherwin directly asked Robin beside him.
Sure enough, among those members Sherwin didn't recognize, there turned out to be a Devil Fruit user.
It was that so-called Mr. 2, but unlike the Bon Clay Sherwin knew from the manga, this one had eaten a fruit that had never appeared there before—the Paramecia-type Density Fruit.
Its ability allowed him to increase the density of himself and his weapons to boost their toughness, and he could even enlarge or shrink objects to a certain degree.
It sounded rather impressive, but unfortunately, this guy was far too confident in his power.
Believing that once he put on his "high-density armor," reinforced by increased density, he would be invincible—he ended up being taken down in one Heavenly Cat Flash by Meowjirou.
After picking out those Devil Fruit users, Sherwin originally intended to wipe out the rest of the Baroque Works members as well. But after some thought, he didn't immediately make a move.
The reason was that most of Baroque Works actually hadn't known about Crocodile true plan.
Many of their activities were little different from ordinary bounty hunters. What more, Crocodile grand scheme had only just begun,
so it wasn't even certain that these people had committed any unforgivable crimes. Even those few Devil Fruit users he singled out might not necessarily have done evil…
As for the possibility that they might do bad things in the future, that was no concern of Sherwin.
After all, in this world, countless people set out to sea to become pirates every single day. Was he supposed to kill them all?
So, although Sherwin coveted the Devil Fruits these people possessed, he still asked Robin about their usual conduct.
Robin, however, only shrugged. She explained that she wasn't very familiar with the day-to-day activities of these subordinates either.
Crocodile early plans had mostly been about expanding the organization, raising funds, and gathering weapons.
As for how things were carried out, most of the time, the agents themselves discussed and decided.
Only when it came to targeting the Alabasta Kingdom—or when facing troublesome people like Sherwin—did Crocodile personally issue orders.
For example, the Whiskey Peak setup had been an idea proposed by Mr. 3, who had already slipped away early.
However…
"I don't know much about the others, but these agents with codenames all have quite a few lives on their hands.
It precisely because they act without restraint that Crocodile recruited them under his command."
Robin explained: "Also, if someone has an ability that Crocodile needs, he'll try to recruit them.
For example, not long ago, he asked me to recruit someone called Bon Clay, an okama. His Imitation Fruit was an important piece in Crocodile plans.
But since you were about to fight him, I only made brief contact and told Crocodile he refused."
Sherwin: "…"
Although it was a bit of a pity that he couldn't "draw" the Imitation Fruit, it wouldn't have been very useful to him anyway. At most, it was just one less fragment. If he didn't get it, so be it.
Besides, there were still plenty of Devil Fruits in front of him waiting to be drawn. Sherwin didn't bother with the small fry, but he didn't spare a single one of the codenamed agents. With his Hunter knife, he stabbed each of the ability users…
"Tch! This drop rate is way too low!"
Sherwin stabbed four people in a row, and to Robin shock, the only thing he managed to dig out in the end was a Devil Fruit shaped like a weight— the Density Fruit— which didn't even have any plot importance.
Counting the Sand Crocodile from earlier that didn't yield anything, the overall drop rate was just 20%. As for that Dachshund gun, Haibara Meow took it away to study.
Like the previous Fruits, the Density Fruit, which couldn't solve the bathing problem, was once again ignored by the Felynes.
Actually, Seijuro Meow did consider it, since the Density Fruit ability to adjust body size could let him spar against opponents of different builds without issue.
But first, Felynes were already skilled at dealing with larger opponents, so the ability wasn't necessary for him.
Second, of course, was because the little black cat still wanted a Fruit that would let him avoid taking baths in the future.
So in the end, the Density Fruit was still taken in by Sherwin.
Then…
He turned his head toward Nico Robin, who was still in shock.
"Remember to help me keep this a secret. Even though the drop rate isn't high, if others found out, it'd be a real hassle."
"Don't worry, I won't say a word."
Robin snapped back to her senses, nodded, and gave her solemn promise.
Then she pointed at the still-unconscious members of Baroque Works: "What do you plan to do with them?"
Since Rainbase was Crocodile territory, his status as a Warlord meant the Kingdom of Alabasta couldn't station troops there.
On top of that, the royal family was already overwhelmed with all kinds of urgent problems, so they had no spare forces to waste on a city that had plenty of water and was considered "peaceful."
Sherwin shrugged indifferently. "As long as you have enough evidence, you can just leave them. Whether or not to arrest them later will be up to King Cobra. If your evidence isn't solid enough, then it better to bring along a few witnesses."
"In that case, better to bring a few witnesses." Robin said reluctantly, her expression bitter.
"I'm still too useless. All I managed to gather was evidence that Crocodile secretly purchased Dance Powder, ordered people to smear the Alabasta royal family, planted spies in the court, and incited the citizens to rebel. It probably not enough to convince King Cobra to believe us."
Sherwin: "…"
How could he forget that this big sister had such a skewed perception of her own intelligence-gathering ability?
Back in the Wano arc, when Robin disguised herself as a courtesan to collect information, it was the same.
She practically uncovered everything there was to know about Orochi side, yet still believed the intel she gathered wasn't enough.