The people from CP did not make Sherwin wait long. They said a week, but in reality, the delivery arrived at Chain Island on the third day.
And…
It was an acquaintance.
Looking at the Door that appeared out of thin air before him, and the figure stepping out from it wearing what seemed to be a koala headpiece, Sherwin immediately understood.
If it was him, delivering it this quickly was hardly surprising.
After all, Water 7 was quite close to this place, and although this guy development of the Door-Door Fruit was rather average, using it just to travel was more than easy enough.
Just as Sherwin was hesitating over whether to expose the other party identity, Klee Meow, crouching on his shoulder, twitched her nose twice…
"Sherwin brother, this person is the uncle from the city where the Dodo Advance was built, the one who styles his hair like ox horns, meow!"
(=`=)σ
The little ragdoll pointed at Blueno—who not only wore a koala headpiece but had also wrapped himself tightly in a long robe—and said smugly, "Because that uncle hair is so interesting, Klee remembers him very clearly, meow!"
Seeing that Klee Meow had already exposed him, Sherwin immediately cooperated and put on a look of sudden realization. "So it you… The last time Uncle Kody talked business with me, it was in your shop, right?"
Then his expression darkened. "So the blueprints in Iceburg hands were stolen by you?"
"…"
Blueno almost spat out a mouthful of blood.
He hadn't even said a single word, yet his identity had already been exposed—and it was clearly Kalifa who stole the blueprints, but he was the one taking the blame.
As for denying it, Blueno didn't even consider that option. He didn't offer any explanation either. Instead, he simply removed the koala headpiece from his head, revealing that highly distinctive ox-horn hairstyle.
First of all, since his identity was already exposed, there was no way he could expose Kalifa as well.
Actually, even if he used the same excuse as Kizaru and claimed the blueprints had been bought from Iceburg…
Setting aside whether Sherwin would believe it, or whether he would go to Iceburg afterward to confirm, even if he truly believed it, that would not be a good thing for CP9.
If he wasn't the one responsible for stealing the blueprints, would Sherwin start to suspect that there were other CP agents around Iceburg? And that he might have other missions in Water 7?
All things considered, Blueno could only grit his teeth and shoulder the blame.
At the same time, he quietly activated Iron Body, already preparing himself to take a beating from Sherwin to let him vent his anger.
However, Sherwin did not make a move. It wasn't as if he didn't know the real situation—just now, it had merely been a sudden bout of mischief, scaring Blueno for a bit.
Although he was indeed quite tempted by the Door-Door Fruit on Blueno, and Purah Meow also needed a spatial-type Devil Fruit to create a teleportation device, now was not the right time to act against him.
Most importantly… the drop rate of the Hunter carving knife was truly abysmal. Acting now would yield too little in return—it simply wasn't worth it.
"Where the Dyna Stone?"
Keeping his face dark, Sherwin held out his palm in front of Blueno.
"Huh?"
Blueno, who had already braced himself for a beating, froze for a moment before quickly pulling out two cylindrical glass containers from within his robe.
The two glass containers were filled with a peach-colored liquid, and inside each one was a stone shaped like a pebble. The patterns on the stones flickered with a glow similar to the liquid in the jars.
Sherwin took the containers holding the Dyna Stones and lifted them before his eyes, pretending to examine them…
"Why are they soaked in this liquid?"
"Because the Dyna Stone will explode if subjected to strong shaking or impact, and it will also detonate upon contact with air. That why it must be preserved in this special liquid."
Blueno answered honestly, not concealing the properties of the Dyna Stone from Sherwin.
Sherwin clicked his tongue somewhat helplessly.
Originally, he had thought that if Blueno deliberately concealed something or failed to explain it fully, then later in the Drum Kingdom he could use the excuse of "I didn't know the Dyna Stone was so easy to detonate" to directly get rid of wapol.
But upon second thought, Sherwin knew that idea had been a bit too naive. After all, with only one or two pieces of the Dyna Stone, even if they truly exploded, they wouldn't be enough to kill him… considering he'd already endured so many bouncing bombs.
Moreover, the World Government had no reason to eliminate Sherwin outright just because of slacking off in battle. Even if they wanted to deal with Robin by his side, they wouldn't use a method that would also attack Sherwin at the same time.
In addition, Sherwin also remembered that when he had asked the World Government for the Dyna Stone, the excuse he used was that Klee Meow might be able to research a more stable way to use it.
Whether they believed it or not was uncertain, but there was no need for them to cause trouble over something like this…
After figuring it out, Sherwin waved his hand half-heartedly, signaling Bruno that he could leave.
Bruno, whose identity had been exposed from the very beginning, said nothing. He opened an Air Door and stepped straight through it.
"Brother Sherwin! Hurry and let Klee take a look at the Dyna Stone, meow!"
(=ω=)
The moment Bruno Air Door closed, the already impatient little ragdoll immediately started tugging at his ears and nose, urging him repeatedly.
On the other side, Jinx also darted over at top speed, her eyes locked firmly on the two glass jars in Sherwin hands. There was even a faint glimmer of drool at the corner of her mouth.
"No rush, no rush."
Sherwin did not hand the Dyna Stone over to the two of them right away. Instead, he soothed them gently,
"Didn't that guy just say it explodes even when it comes into contact with air? For safety sake, we'd better find an uninhabited island first. We can also let Purah Meow and Haibara Meow take a look and see if they can help you set up a proper environment for researching the Dyna Stone."
Since Bruno had also mentioned that the peach-colored liquid inside the glass jars was specially used to store the Dyna Stone, Sherwin wasn't sure whether ordinary seawater could prevent it from exploding.
Otherwise, he would have simply had Klee Meow put on her combat suit and dive into the sea to conduct her research.
"Mm… fine then…"
(=ε=)
Although Klee Meow and Jinx were still staring eagerly at the Dyna Stone in Sherwin hands, they did not continue to make a fuss.
Of course, the reason the two little troublemakers were being so well-behaved wasn't just because the cats were naturally obedient when it came to important matters. The main reason was the small tabby cat who had quietly appeared at Sherwin side.
Sherwin caution proved to be quite necessary. After Haibara Meow extracted a small amount of the liquid from the glass jar for analysis, she discovered that its nature was actually closer to oil. Ordinary water most likely would not be able to preserve the Dyna Stone.
Fortunately, the composition of that liquid was not particularly complicated. Before long, Haibara Meow and Jinx had set up a temporary workshop on the uninhabited island where they had briefly landed, specifically for Klee Meow to research the Dyna Stone.
Once the workshop was completed, Sherwin and the others immediately returned to the Dodo Advance and sailed far away.
Everyone naturally had complete confidence in Klee Meow ability to develop bombs—but they also had equal confidence in the little ragdoll ability to blow up her own workshop…
As for Jinx, she did not hurry to bite into the Dyna Stone that belonged to her.
For one, the little blue cat did not enjoy sticking her head into liquid to eat. For another, she trusted Klee Meow "abilities" just as much as everyone else did, so with the bearing of an older sister, she decided to leave her own Dyna Stone as a spare for Klee Meow.
However, this time, Klee Meow seemed to have let down everyone "trust."
Perhaps because the little ragdoll also knew that the available materials were limited, the uninhabited island they had "temporarily requisitioned" remained quiet for a long time—completely unlike Klee Meow usual workshop, which would frequently erupt with flashes of fire, smoke, and explosions.
As a result…
This unusual silence only made Sherwin and the others even more uneasy.
"Boss Sherwin, Klee-chan won't be in trouble, right?"
Shirahoshi was worried about Klee Meow condition. Sherwin, however, wasn't concerned about the little ragdoll herself. What he was truly worried about was…
Could this little troublemaker be holding back something big?