Sherwin was so embarrassed he could practically dig out a three-bedroom apartment from the ground with his toes.
It wasn't as if he had never encountered enthusiastic receptions before. Compared to the other Seven Warlords, with both the World Economic Journal and the World Government helping to spread his name, his reputation among civilians was even better than that of the "lofty" three Marine Admirals.
However, a situation like Drum Island—where practically the entire island had turned out to welcome him—was something Sherwin had never experienced before…
No, to be precise, when he encountered Baroque Works on Cactus Island, there had been a similar situation. But first, Sherwin had known at the time that they harbored ill intentions, and second, that group hadn't singled him out by name the way this one had.
Most importantly, from this banner alone, it was clear that Drum Island—or rather, wapol attitude—was extremely fawning…
Just like how Sherwin used to receive major clients and high-ranking leaders back on Earth.
"Aiya~ Sherwin, you're amazing, meow~ The people of the Drum Kingdom even knew you were coming in advance and prepared such a grand welcome ceremony, meow~"
(=ω=)
Shermie Meow rubbed against Sherwin and said proudly, as if sharing in his glory.
Sherwin carefully looked at the little forest cat and confirmed that she wasn't being sarcastic…
That made sense. The cats probably weren't that sensitive to this sort of thing.
"Hmph! Why are they only welcoming Sherwin, this idiot, meow?! What about us?!"
(=`н=)
Even Haibara Meow, who usually loved to tease him, hadn't noticed Sherwin embarrassment and instead grumbled indignantly.
Still, Shermie Meow words reminded Sherwin of something…
"How did wapol know we were coming?"
Although they hadn't hidden their whereabouts along the way, and anyone with intent could easily find out the Investigation Team destination, with wapol foolish, selfish personality, how could he possibly pay attention to Sherwin movements?
Moreover, the Drum Kingdom had been tossed about by him to the point that its contact with the outside world had greatly diminished. Sherwin didn't believe wapol had any friends outside Drum Island kind enough to tip him off.
"Why think so much, meow? Just find someone and ask directly, meow? Check-it!"
(ゝω)~☆
Purah Meow, curled up inside Sherwin clothes, gently nudged his chin.
Sherwin thought that made sense. After slightly sensing with Observation Haki, he walked toward the nearest presence.
However…
With wapol lowering his stance so much, it would be much harder for him to find an excuse to make a move…
Fortunately, the Investigation Team need for the Human sword Fruit was no longer that high, so it didn't really matter.
"Knock knock."
Sherwin knocked on the door of a very ordinary wooden house. A response soon came from inside.
"Coming, coming! You're back already?"
Along with the somewhat aged voice, a white-haired old man opened the door. But when he saw the completely unfamiliar Sherwin, he froze on the spot.
"H… Hunter sama?"
After glancing at the three Felynes on Sherwin body, the old man carefully spoke.
As mentioned before, thanks to the promotion by the World Economic Journal and the World Government, Sherwin fame among ordinary people was quite high.
And the distinctive trait of always being accompanied by Felynes made him easy to recognize. So unless everyone on Drum Island was like the Bablin Pirates and never read newspapers, even if wapol hadn't staged this whole display, they would most likely have recognized Sherwin anyway.
"It me," Sherwin nodded, explaining amiably.
"We didn't dock at the island port, so we didn't run into your island welcoming party. But there something I'm curious about… how did you know I was coming?"
Seeing how gentle Sherwin appeared, the old man visibly relaxed. However, when it came to the question, he looked completely puzzled.
"Well… I'm not too sure either. It was just that four days ago, the kingdom advisor, Jess-sama, suddenly came down the mountain and ordered us to prepare to welcome your arrival."
"Four days ago?"
Sherwin rubbed his chin, his confusion deepening.
Because four days ago they hadn't done anything at all. They had simply been traveling, with nothing that could have given away any clues.
"Hmph hmph~ As expected of idiot Sherwin! You can't even figure that out, meow!"
(=`=)ジ
Haibara Meow proudly raised her little head and smacked Sherwin head with her paw.
"Then what brilliant insight does our great felyne brain have this time?"
Sherwin reached up to scratch under her chin while asking cooperatively.
"Four days ago—no, to be exact, five days ago—based on the route we were taking, it would've been easy to deduce that our final destination was Drum Island. Someone must have notified the king here, meow!"
"I know someone notified him. The question is who did it…"
Sherwin pinched Haibara Meow cheek speechlessly.
And got bitten for it.
"How would I know, meow?!"
＜(=`へ=)＞
After leaving a few shallow bite marks on Sherwin hand, the little kitten finally licked her teeth in satisfaction, then put her hands on her hips and spoke with complete confidence.
Perhaps it was because of the newspaper promotion of Sherwin, or perhaps his earlier interaction with Haibara Meow had convinced the old man of Drum Kingdom that Sherwin truly wasn't a bad person…
While Sherwin was still fooling around with the little kitten, he suddenly heard a "thud" as the elderly man abruptly dropped to his knees in front of him.
"Please! Hunter! I beg you—please help us drive wapol out of this country!"
Immediately afterward, the old man, with a speed and clarity of speech completely unfitting for his age, rapidly recounted wapol crimes to Sherwin…
In addition to monopolizing medical resources, there were also heavy taxes, reckless disregard for human life, and other all-too-common abuses.
How should he put it?
Sherwin wasn't surprised at all to encounter a scene like this. He had experienced similar situations in plenty of other countries before.
In the pirate world, with a matching mechanism no less outrageous than that of certain small African nations, kings like wapol and Bekori were far too common.
So, just as he had done in similar situations before…
He refused without hesitation.
"I'm sorry. Even though I'm one of the Seven Warlords, I can't casually lay a hand on the king of an allied nation," Sherwin said regretfully as he helped the kneeling old man to his feet.
"To be precise, it exactly because I'm one of the Seven Warlords that I can't make a move against wapol."
Although losing the title of Seven Warlords wouldn't be a big deal to Sherwin at this point, he had no intention of throwing away such a convenient identity just because of a useless good-for-nothing like wapol.
Besides, to be fair, if it were only a matter of wapol monopolizing medical resources, the common people of Drum Kingdom might not necessarily be worse off than those elsewhere. After all, there was still that elderly witch acting as a safety net.
But if you added wapol other crimes into the mix… the difference still wouldn't be that great. Once things had reached this state, there wasn't much room left to get any worse.
Even so, Sherwin still had no intention of taking the initiative to attack wapol—not even sneaking back after leaving to ambush him.
Aside from the fact that he didn't urgently need the Munch-Munch Fruit right now, the more important reason was—
After leaving Drum Island, Sherwin was going to cause trouble for Doflamingo. At a time like this, it was better not to provoke the World Government any further.
Oh, right…
Sherwin suddenly came to his senses. The one who informed wapol… could it have been someone from CP? To be precise…
Uncle Cody?
After all, aside from Uncle Cody, Sherwin really couldn't think of anyone else who wouldn't want him to keep provoking the World Government—and who also had the ability to make wapol obediently back down.
Although this well-behaved wapol made it somewhat inconvenient for Sherwin to deal with him personally for the moment, that didn't mean he intended to simply let the matter drop…
From a certain perspective, the situation in the Drum Kingdom was actually very similar to that of the Sorbet Kingdom.
In the Drum Kingdom, people wanted treatment but couldn't find doctors in the Sorbet Kingdom, people wanted treatment but couldn't afford doctors.
So, the vice-captain of a certain Bonney Pirates crew should be very interested in this country, right?
"Don't worry, old sir. Maybe after a while, wapol will run into some other kind of trouble… like being killed by passing pirates, or suddenly dropping dead or something."
Sherwin blinked at the disappointed old man and spoke with meaningful intent.