"Brother Sherwin! Bonney and the others are here, meow!"
∠(=ω=)
Standing on Sherwin shoulder, Klee Meow held onto his head with one paw while shading her eyes with the other, tilting her little face up toward the distant sky as she cheered.
Along with the little ragdoll delighted voice, three figures streaked across the azure sky, descending toward where Sherwin and the others were.
"Boom!" "Boom!" "Boom!"
Three enormous bear-paw marks appeared on the nearby ground, and from within them emerged one large figure, one small figure, and one of ordinary size.
"Klee! Sister Haibara Meow! Long time no see! I missed you so much!"
Bonney, who had grown a little taller, dashed over and threw her arms around Klee Meow and Haibara Meow, who had run up to greet her.
"Klee missed you too, meow!"
(つω=)つ
The little ragdoll hugged Bonney tightly and rubbed her cheek against hers.
As Bonney attending doctor, Haibara Meow was more concerned about her physical condition. While pulling down Bonney eyelids to check her, she asked, "How is your body now? Are you still healthy, meow?"
"Big sister Haibara Meow and Brother Law medical skills are amazing! I'm very healthy now!"
Bonney raised both arms and struck a strongman pose.
Then, as if presenting a treasure, she added, "Right, right! I'll show you something amazing!"
As she spoke, Bonney took a few steps back and activated her Devil Fruit ability…
"Distorted Future — The Future of the Felynes!"
Bonney figure grew slightly taller, and dense gray-white fur rapidly sprouted from all over her body. In just a few moments, she had transformed into a silver-shaded version of an "Felyne."
"Ooooh! Bonney, you turned into a Felyne too, meow!"
(==)
Klee Meow cheered again and pounced forward, immediately licking Bonney fluffy head.
What the heck is this?!
Watching Bonney suddenly turn into a cat mink, the Hunter was completely dumbfounded.
Wasn't Bonney ability the Age-Age Fruit? How could she turn into a cat too?
Although from Bonney shout just now Sherwin could roughly guess the principle behind how she activated this ability, but…
This is way too broken, isn't it?!
Doesn't that mean that as long as Bonney wants to, she can use the abilities of any Devil Fruit?
Was the guy who experimented on Ginny and Bonney back then brain-dead? Using such an absurdly overpowered Devil Fruit for experiments?
More importantly, if she hadn't run into Sherwin and Vegapunk, Bonney, as an experimental subject, would have died at the age of ten. In other words, he would've completely wasted such a powerful Devil Fruit.
But then again, considering that the other party was most likely a Celestial Dragon, such wasteful behavior suddenly seemed much more reasonable…
"Sherwin, long time no see."
Just as Sherwin was frantically complaining in his head, Kuma withdrew his doting gaze from his daughter and stepped forward to greet him.
Trafalgar Law still had that same cocky, untouchable look as he followed Kuma over.
He glanced around first, then frowned slightly and asked, "This is… Green Bit?"
As someone who had set killing Doflamingo as his current primary objective, Law had naturally done in-depth research on everything related to the Heavenly Yaksha.
So even though the others had yet to enter the Grand Line, he already had a certain understanding of Dressrosa, the Heavenly Yaksha stronghold.
However, unfortunately…
"No, this isn't Dressrosa yet. It the island before Dressrosa."
Sherwin shrugged and replied, "Kuma Devil Fruit ability makes quite a commotion. With how tightly Doflamingo controls Dressrosa, if you landed on the island like that, the chances of being discovered by him would still be pretty high. It'd be better for me to bring you there openly and aboveboard instead. By the way…"
He glanced around. "Didn't your subordinates come with you?"
"This is a personal grudge between me and Doflamingo. I don't intend to drag them into it." Law shook his head. "Besides, they're still far too weak. Even if they came, they wouldn't be much help."
Sherwin curled his lip. "You say that like you're all that strong."
Teasing him over the Den Den Mushi before had been one thing. Sherwin hadn't planned on continuing once they met in person, but Law smug expression was just too punchable. The Hunter couldn't hold back and launched another round of mockery.
Usually calm on the surface but actually hot-tempered, Law immediately jumped up and roared, "I'm not the same person I was two years ago! Not long after we parted ways, I successfully mastered Haki!"
Sherwin dug at his ear with a bored look on his face. "So what if you can use Haki? Is that really so impressive?"
"Yeah, yeah! Klee Meow can use it too, meow!"
(=`=)
The little ragdoll, who had already slipped back with Bonney, immediately chimed in.
Trafalgar Law: "..."
"Haki is that ability that turns your hands black, right? I learned it not long ago too!"
As she spoke, Bonney stretched out her arm, which had already turned jet black.
As expected of Bonney, who in the manga became a Supernova with a bounty over a hundred million at just ten years old—her talent was simply ridiculous.
The Surgeon of Death: "..."
Haibara Meow, the little schemer, also joined in on the fun. "I had already mastered Haki before I even met you, meow."
Captain of the Heart Pirates: "..."
And Sherwin, who had started the whole thing earlier, delivered the final blow—
"Don't worry. I won't look down on you."
Patting Law on the shoulder, Sherwin spoke with utmost sincerity.
Law: "..."
After joining forces with the Felynes to tease Law for a while, Sherwin turned and gently rubbed Bonney head.
"Long time no see, Bonney."
"Long time no see, Brother Sherwin!" Little Bonney threw herself at him and hugged him, then tilted her head up and asked with a serious expression,
"The travel guide you wrote has barely been updated these past few months. Klee Meow said you went to so many places!"
"Cough, cough, cough, cough, cough!" The Hunter, completely caught off guard, froze for a second before breaking into a violent coughing fit.
Then he stiffly changed the subject. "We'll talk about that later, later… Let discuss Doflamingo first."
"Before heading to Dressrosa, there are a few things I need to make clear to all of you…" Sherwin adjusted his expression and said seriously, "It about Donquixote Doflamingo and the abilities of his subordinates."
Law expression shifted slightly, as if he wanted to say something, but he quickly swallowed his words.
Although Law had once served under the Heavenly Yaksha, he hadn't actually come into contact with every member of the Donquixote Family, nor could he be certain that what they had shown back then was all they were capable of.
What more, so many years had passed. Even his own strength had changed considerably. He wasn't naive enough to think that the Donquixote Family had been standing still all this time.
Next, Sherwin went over the abilities Doflamingo had displayed at Marineford, as well as the powers of the subordinates he could remember, recounting them one by one. Law only spoke up occasionally to fill in any details Sherwin had missed.
"…These people, including Doflamingo himself, aren't really that big of a problem. With our strength, as long as we're not overly careless, there shouldn't be any major issues. The only one we truly need to watch out for is an officer named Sugar."
As the most overpowered ability user within the Donquixote Family, Sherwin deliberately saved her for last and gave her special emphasis.
"This Sugar is the user of the Hobby-Hobby Fruit. The fruit itself doesn't have much combat power, but it possesses a terrifying ability. Anyone Sugar touches—human or animal—can be turned into a toy that must obey her commands. And once someone is turned into a toy, everyone forgets them, as if that person had never existed in this world."
"But you don't need to worry too much," Sherwin added.
"The Hobby-Hobby Fruit requires direct physical contact to work, and Sugar herself is physically quite weak. As long as we're careful, we won't fall for it."
"Wait! If that the case, then the toys on Dressrosa—?"
Law shot to his feet with a whoosh, his face filled with shock.
"That right. They're all humans who were turned into toys by Sugar. The reason Doflamingo was able to become the king of Dressrosa and even maintain a decent reputation is because he turned most of those who opposed him—and those who knew the truth from back then—into toys."
"The truth from back then?" Shirahoshi, as a mermaid princess, was more concerned with matters of governance. "Is there some hidden story?"
"That right. Back then, King Riku was deeply loved by his people. If Doflamingo wanted to seize Dressrosa, he first had to destroy King Riku reputation within the country…"
Sherwin slowly recounted how the Heavenly Yaksha took control of Dressrosa.
"That horrible!"
Shirahoshi covered her mouth with both hands, her face full of shock.
"Wow! So that string-playing uncle was that bad, meow? If I'd known, Klee Meow would've just blown him to ashes back then, meow!"
The little puppet crossed her arms and shouted indignantly.
Kuma, on the other hand, nodded thoughtfully.
"So that how it is? No wonder he clearly knew all along that Doflamingo was Joker, yet never made any move…"
Because Law was present, Kuma did not directly mention Dragon name.
However, Law didn't pay attention to such details. He was still immersed in a mix of lingering fear and relief.
If he hadn't gotten involved with Sherwin, then according to his original plan, the outcome would likely have been either being killed… or turned into a toy and forgotten by the world.