After they had roughly solved the problem of integrating Haibara Meow into the group, a more important question was placed before Sherwin and the Felynes—
Where were they now?
Unlike the calm and peaceful Four Seas, the Grand Line extreme and completely unpredictable weather made sea charts useless.
The only way to navigate was by relying on two special tools: the Log Pose and the Eternal Pose.
Although Sherwin group had a Log Pose gifted to them by Garp, it was temporarily useless.
That was because the way to use a Log Pose was to stay on an island until it had fully recorded the island magnetic field.
Only then would it point to the next island. Since Sherwin group hadn't entered the Grand Line from Reverse Mountain, their Log Pose hadn't stored any magnetic field at all—meaning it couldn't point them in any direction.
"So, we have to first find an island that can provide a magnetic field. Then… see if we can buy an Eternal Pose there to head toward another route." Sherwin explained to Hua Mei Meow, who was in charge of navigation.
Indeed, even after finding an island, the Log Pose wouldn't allow them to simply cross the Grand Line directly.
Entering from Reverse Mountain led to seven different magnetic routes, each stretching along the Grand Line until they eventually converged.
All Log Poses would ultimately lead to the same destination—the Water 7 Star Island.
In other words, no matter which route you were on, the Log Pose would only point to the "next" island once its magnetic field was charged.
To switch routes and cut across the Grand Line, you needed an Eternal Pose, which was unaffected by magnetic fields.
Without one, their only hope now was—
"Oh, lucky little angel Klee! Please guide us to our path!"
(^o^)/
Once again, Sherwin imitated that old baboon holding up Simba, standing on the figurehead of the cat-shaped ship and lifting Klee Meow high over his head.
Klee Meow cooperated perfectly, raising her little paw and pointing in a direction that gave her a strong feeling of certainty. "That way, meow!"
(=ΦωΦ=)
And so, Sherwin and the others decided their next course just like that.
"Isn't this a bit too ridiculous, meow…" Haibara Meow stared wide-eyed at the man and cat clowning around at the bow of the ship.
Then she turned to Hua Mei Meow, the one who seemed most in charge, and asked, "You're not seriously going to go along with that idiot Sherwin and sail in whatever random direction Klee pointed to, are you?"
Hua Mei Meow smiled sweetly, her tone tinged with sentiment. "Back in the Calm Belt, you probably didn't feel it much, but it won't be long before you understand the value of Klee luck… Sometimes, I even start questioning whether I really needed to study navigation at all, meow."
Haibara Meow opened her mouth but couldn't find anything to say.
Logically speaking, it was hard for her to believe Hua Mei Meow words. But knowing Hua Mei Meow, she wasn't the kind of Felyne to exaggerate things.
And even that idiot Sherwin wouldn't joke about something that could endanger everyone safety.
Haibara Meow decided, for now, to trust these companions she was slowly beginning to accept.
…
Just like Hua Mei Meow had said, it didn't take long after they changed course for Haibara Meow to witness the true value of Klee Meow luck…
After they had sailed for a while, a massive dark cloud suddenly appeared, covering more than half the sky, and rushed toward the Explosive Black Cat Maria at incredible speed. From within, the sound of rolling thunder echoed.
The thundercloud had come so abruptly and moved so fast that even though Hua Mei Meow had sensed it a moment earlier, the ship didn't have time to turn away.
Just as the cloud was about to pass directly over Sherwin and the others, it suddenly stopped less than a hundred meters away.
Then, before Haibara Meow had even caught her breath, bolts of lightning descended from the thundercloud, slicing through the sky like blades and striking the sea.
Countless fish and shrimp were stunned by the electric shock, their bellies turning up as they floated to the surface.
Once it had done its work, the thundercloud vanished just as quickly and suddenly as it had appeared.
The sky that had been dark and oppressive moments ago became bright and clear again in an instant.
Meanwhile, Klee Meow acted as if nothing unusual had happened at all, leaning over the ship railing and shouting excitedly,
"Sherwin-nii, look! There are so many fish I've never seen before, meow! Let scoop them up and have Sanji-nii cook them for us, meow!"
"How about it? Impressed yet, meow?" Hua Mei Meow patted the still-dazed Haibara Meow and said with a wry smile,
"We've seen this sort of thing plenty of times before. And inside those fish, we might even find shiny gems Klee loves… or materials perfect for making explosives, meow."
Of course, this didn't mean Hua Mei Meow navigation skills were useless—because for an adventure-loving cat like Klee Meow, running into storms and strange weather was part of the fun. If things were too calm, it just wouldn't be interesting.
But her good luck would never cause Sherwin and the others to face a completely unavoidable or devastating situation, so when they encountered weather like just now—dangerous at first glance—everyone actually didn't worry much.
However, if they ran into an ordinary storm, they would have to rely on Hua Mei Meow to judge and give orders.
The whiskers at the corners of Haibara Meow mouth twitched violently. She wanted to say something, but the scene before her had shocked her so much that she couldn't make a sound.
Back in the Calm Belt, although there were Sea Kings everywhere, there had been no severe weather, so Haibara Meow had simply thought that while those Sea Kings looked terrifying, their temperaments weren't as violent as the monsters in her original world.
But after witnessing what had just happened, Haibara Meow suddenly realized that the reason those Sea Kings had gotten along peacefully with them back then might not have been because they were gentle by nature, nor solely because of the Seastone Sherwin had mentioned.
It took Haibara Meow quite a while to recover from her shock. She let out a long breath and then asked, "Then from now on, why not just let Klee give directions, meow?"
"That impossible!" came the horrified reply from Sanji Meow. He waved his paws frantically and said,
"If you always let Klee give directions, there a very high chance you'll run into all kinds of explosion incidents, meow! That why Sherwin usually only asks little sister Klee for help after he confirmed the target, meow."
Thinking of how that little ragdoll usually showed great interest in all kinds of explosives, Haibara Meow instantly understood the reason.
She flattened her ears in lingering fear, then looked at Klee Meow—who was shouting loudly while directing Sherwin and Meowjirou to salvage the unlucky sea fish—with a gaze that held a complicated mix of admiration, wariness, envy, and speechless exasperation.
"Meow?" Noticing that gaze, Klee Meow turned her head and waved her little paw at Haibara Meow.
"Big sister Haibara, come here, meow! Come see if there any fish in here you especially want to eat, meow! Wait for big brother Sanji to cook them first, meow!"
Haibara Meow had intended to refuse, but when she recalled the various delicacies Sanji Meow had made before, she couldn't help swallowing her saliva as she stepped toward Klee Meow.
After enjoying a meal that was truly a "gift from nature," Sherwin and the others set off again. Following the direction Klee Meow indicated, they soon arrived at an island that had never appeared in the original story—Explosion Island.
As the name suggested, the island specialty was all sorts of explosives…
The most common minerals like saltpeter and sulfur didn't even need to be mentioned.
The island also had Blast Mushrooms that exploded on contact and released a large amount of powder,
causing a secondary dust explosion Firework Pomegranates that not only exploded themselves but also had seeds that could detonate as well—though their actual power was small and Firecracker Peas,
which, like a string of firecrackers, would go off in rapid succession with endless crackling noises. There were all kinds of strange plants with unique explosive properties…
In short, after landing, Klee Meow was in a state of pure, unrestrained joy. If Hua Mei Meow hadn't been keeping an eye on her, the excited little ragdoll might have blown up the entire Explosion Island.
Sherwin, meanwhile, was feeling thankful… At least it was just an Explosion Island that didn't exist in the original plot. If they had landed on that island from the movie, the one full of Dynastones…
He didn't even dare to imagine how powerful Klee Meow bombs would become in the future.
And at that moment, Haibara Meow once again realized just how ridiculously overpowered Klee Meow luck really was.