"Sanji! What are you doing?!"
It had been two days since Sherwin and his crew left the Baratie, the floating sea restaurant. Along the way, they still adhered to the principle of stopping at every island they came across, but they didn't linger long at any of them—just a quick lap to light up the map, then set sail again immediately.
Sherwin intention to rescue the residents of the Conomi Archipelago wasn't entirely a lie.
It just that before they could save innocent civilians, there was still a very important matter within the crew to resolve...
"When did you learn to smoke?!"
Sherwin stormed over to Sanji Meow, who was puffing away, snatched the cigarette from his mouth, and smacked the little yellow cat on the head.
"Meooow—!"
Sanji Meow let out a miserable wail. He clutched the large bump on his head and crouched on the ground, baring his teeth in pain for quite a while before recovering.
"What the hell are you doing, you idiot meow?!" Once he'd recovered, Sanji Meow jumped up and kicked Sherwin—only to be immediately grabbed by the still-furious Sherwin and held upside down.
"Put me down! Sherwin, you big dumb meow!" Struggling fiercely, Sanji Meow flailed his limbs and tail, but his short little paws couldn't reach Sherwin at all. The only thing he could kick—Sherwin legs—was completely unaffected thanks to Armament Haki.
"You've got some nerve getting mad!" Sherwin spun Sanji Meow around and gave his furry head a vigorous rub, scolding loudly, "How old are you? And you're already smoking?!"
"That not a cigarette, meow!" Sanji Meow struggled to pry Sherwin hands off and defended himself. "I rolled up some dried catnip, meow!"
"...That still not okay!"
Sherwin had already suspected as much, since he'd considered this possibility before. Still, he eased up a little and gave the yellow cat one last light bop on the head before finally letting him go.
"If you want to eat catnip, I don't mind—but don't ever do it this way again! You'll be a bad influence on Klee!"
Luckily, Klee Meow was still in the cabin, sleeping in. If she'd seen that...
Seeing Sherwin bring up Klee Meow, Sanji Meow lost some of his confidence. Still, he grumbled stubbornly,
"Burning a little catnip doesn't harm the body. How could it be a bad influence on Klee, meow... Besides, I only tried it while she was asleep, meow..."
"You knew you had to hide it from Klee, and you're still saying it not a bad influence? Huh?!" Sherwin jabbed a finger at Sanji Meow forehead, questioning him fiercely.
"I also think this kind of thing is still too early for you, meow." Seijuro Meow, who had been training with his sword on the deck, walked over and said seriously to Sanji Meow.
"Alright, alright... I was just curious because that guy always has a cigarette in his mouth, so I wanted to try it out, meow." Sanji Meow quickly raised his hands in surrender.
"But honestly... once it burned, catnip doesn't smell good at all, meow."
"Sherwin-nii... was that you calling Klee just now?"
(=Φω=)
Right at that moment, the little ragdoll cat rubbed her sleepy eyes and walked out of the cabin.
"Was it? Maybe you misheard," Sherwin said while playing dumb. At the same time, he stepped forward, picked up Klee Meow, and skillfully began massaging her.
Still half-asleep, Klee Meow quickly dozed off again in Sherwin arms thanks to his soothing massage.
"Whew—"
The human and two cats all sighed in relief. Sherwin then shot another fierce glare at Sanji Meow before carrying Klee Meow back into the cabin.
Sanji Meow scratched his cheek and slinked off to prepare breakfast, while Seijuro Meow just chuckled and shook his head, continuing his sword training on the deck.
...
Thanks to Sherwin deliberate speeding up, the Explorer No. 1 quickly reached the vicinity of the Conomi Archipelago. Even from far off, they could already see the location of Arlong Park, modeled after the Sabaody Park.
There was no helping it—the tower shaped like Arlong nose was just too conspicuous.
The Conomi Archipelago was under the jurisdiction of the Navy 16th Branch and consisted of more than twenty villages, including Cocoyasi Village.
Although the villages here were occasionally raided by passing pirates due to their proximity to the Grand Line, by East Blue standards, this area was still considered relatively peaceful.
That is, until three years ago, when a group of fish-men arrived and began ruling the area in an extremely brutal fashion.
Under the demands of the Arlong Pirates, the residents of the Conomi Archipelago were forced to buy their lives at the price of 100,000 for adults and 50,000 for children. Those who couldn't pay were executed. Even after that, they had to pay a hefty monthly protection fee to the Arlong Pirates.
In the original manga, this kind of unsustainable overfishing and exploitation continued for eight years, until Luffy and the others chased Nami here and defeated Arlong and his crew.
The reason Arlong was able to maintain his rule for so long without being "discovered" was not only because he rarely left his territory after taking it over,
but also because he colluded with Captain Nezumi of the 16th Branch, which led to the rest of the Navy having no idea what he was doing here—so naturally, they didn't send anyone to wipe him out.
Oh, wait, no—that not entirely true. In the original story, a branch rear admiral was invited by a villager who had barely escaped. But he didn't even get to see Arlong face. He and his entire ship were taken out by three officers of the Arlong Pirates working together.
So yeah, the overall strength in the East Blue... if it weren't for a few powerful individuals and the main cast holding things together, it'd be hard to imagine this place being the birthplace of the Pirate King.
Then Sherwin thought of those poorly disciplined Marines he had encountered earlier in Loguetown and started wondering whether he should slip a few personal notes into his East Blue Travel Guide.
Of course, that could wait until later. The more pressing issue right now was: now that they had arrived near the Conomi Islands, what should they do next?
Sherwin thought about it. It didn't really seem necessary to go to the nearby villages to gather intel—might as well strike directly and take down those fishmen.
According to the intel from Zeff, the Arlong Pirates first appeared in the East Blue about three to four years ago.
By cross-referencing multiple sources, Sherwin could more or less confirm the current point in the timeline—this should be about four to five years before Luffy sets out to sea...
He wondered how many sea charts Nami had drawn by now.
Considering that even years later she still hadn't finished mapping the East Blue, Sherwin was pessimistic.
But oh well, might as well treat this as doing a good deed. After all, it was a part of Sherwin youth—there was no need to think about the benefits right now.
"Sanji, head that way." After a brief moment of thought, Sherwin pointed toward a jagged spire and said to Sanji Meow at the helm,
"But don't go straight there. Find a spot nearby to land, then we'll walk the rest of the way."
With that miserable branch rear admiral as a cautionary tale, Sherwin naturally wasn't stupid enough to sail the ship straight into the fishmen.
Even though there wouldn't be any real danger if the ship were sunk, Klee Meow couldn't swim, and Sherwin couldn't bear to see the little ragdoll suffer.
Besides, even though he did plan to switch to a new ship someday, the Explorer One had been through thick and thin with them for quite a while now.
Knowing there was a chance it could get damaged, how could Sherwin possibly take the initiative to sail it into harm way?
Sanji Meow steered the Explorer One along the coast toward Arlong Park, while the newly joined Seijuro Meow stood atop the mast, taking over the lookout duties from the multitasking Sanji Meow. As for Sherwin and Klee Meow… the two of them were basically the mascots of the ship.
Klee Meow was a mascot because no one had the heart to make her do any real work, and even if she tried, she'd most likely just get in the way. Sherwin, on the other hand, was simply lacking in ability…
He could steer, but not as well as Sanji Meow. He could keep watch, but his eyesight wasn't nearly as sharp as the cat.
It wasn't worth constantly using Observation Haki just for something like that—so in the end, he could only accept his fate and, like Klee Meow, be a mascot "kept" by the other cats.
"Lord Sherwin! There seems to be something happening over there!"
Seijuro Meow suddenly shouted from the mast, pointing to the starboard side.
Sherwin immediately activated his Observation Haki and swept his senses toward the right...
Hmm… the range wasn't wide enough—he could still only sense small animals in the forest and such.
"Then let dock here and head over to take a look."
Without hesitation, Sherwin made his decision.
It was probably just that some members of the Arlong Pirates were collecting protection money from a village or town, and the locals had finally had enough of the oppression and chose to resist or something along those lines.