Sherwin immediately dropped the oar in his hands and picked up Klee Meow, who was making trouble nearby, then ran toward the front deck.
The Calm Belt was terrifying, but there were still some powerful pirates who could move freely within it.
Aside from them, there were also the unlucky ones who accidentally wandered into this place.
However, since they had already been in the Calm Belt for several days, the chances of running into such unlucky victims were rather low.
"So, it really is them?"
As the distant ship drew closer, Sherwin finally made out its appearance, along with the pirate flag it bore.
Its identity didn't surprise him at all—the Kuja Pirates, whose name and emblem strongly resembled a hydra.
Compared to the strong who could traverse the Calm Belt, it was far more likely for them to encounter the Kuja Pirates, whose homeland was originally located in the Calm Belt itself.
"Wow! Sherwin-nii, those are two huge snakes, meow!" Klee Meow clung to Sherwin shoulder, marveling at the Kuja pirate ship.
Then the clever little doll turned her head and suggested to Sherwin: "We could take them and use them to pull our ship, meow! That way, Sherwin-nii and Klee wouldn't need to row anymore, right?"
"That won't work." Sherwin shook his head, rejecting what seemed like a very constructive idea.
"Those sea serpents are pets and helpers raised by the people of Amazon Lily from birth. Even if we seized them, they wouldn't obey our commands."
"Uuuh… what a shame, meow…"
(=｀3=)
But Klee Meow words did spark something in Sherwin mind…
Right! The Kuja Pirates' two serpents should count as plot-related large monsters, right? And even the giant snake that the Empress used as her throne had quite a bit of screen time.
It was a pity they hadn't run into those two Sea Kings earlier, but if he could gather the last white Summoning Ticket fragment through these serpents instead, that would be pretty great too!
The only problem was that the timing wasn't right yet. Sherwin restrained his impulse to take out his handbook.
"Everyone, be careful. These pirates are completely different from the ones we met before. Each of them can use Haki—if we're careless, we'll get hurt. Huamei, keep an eye on Klee. I'll handle negotiations with them."
While warning the Felynes, Sherwin moved to the bow of the ship—both to prepare for negotiation and to guard against the Kuja warriors firing arrows at them.
Even though the enemy all possessed Haki, it wasn't as if Sherwin and his group couldn't fight back.
But considering the strength of Huamei Meow and Haibara Meow, he still felt it was best to avoid conflict with the Kuja Pirates if possible.
Apparently, the Kuja noticed that Sherwin side only had one small ship—or perhaps the design of the Dudu Advance was simply too lacking in intimidation—so instead of attacking right away, they pulled their vessel alongside, blocking the Dudu Advance path.
"Hey! Who are you?! State your names!"
A group of Amazon Lily warriors drew their bows—crafted from snakes—and shouted toward Sherwin, who stood at the bow.
The Perfume Yuda, being the only ship of the Kuja Pirates, was naturally much larger than the Dudu Advance.
It was even two sizes bigger than the Exploding Black Cat Maria, though the two ships were about the same in height.
"We're just travelers trying to cross the Calm Belt to reach the South Blue." Sherwin swept his gaze across the female pirates. Not spotting the Empress among them left him a little disappointed.
"I have no intention of making enemies with the Kuja. So, would you let us pass?"
At that moment, two distinctive figures stepped out from the crowd and appeared before Sherwin.
One had long green hair and an unusually large head. The other had orange hair and was round like a ball…
If Sherwin remembered correctly, these two were the younger sisters of Boa Hancock, though their full names were far too long for him to recall.
Still… the difference in appearance between the three sisters was way too big. Were they really blood-related?
Sherwin couldn't help but silently complain.
"Of course, we'll let you leave," said the green-haired Boa Sandersonia, flicking her serpent-like forked tongue as she spoke to Sherwin.
"As long as you obediently hand over all the treasures on your ship."
As expected, there was no reasoning with these pirates…
Sherwin sighed. "So, there no room for negotiation then?"
"Hmph! Fire!" Sandersonia gave the order without wasting any more words after Sherwin refused to hand over the treasure.
In an instant, a rain of arrows shot out from the Perfume Yuda, but every single one was aimed only at Sherwin, not at the Felynes behind him.
Good… even though the women of Amazon Lily were different from ordinary women in temperament, their natural fondness for cute things was still there.
Sherwin placed his hand on the hilt of his Longsword. He waited until the arrows were nearly upon him before suddenly drawing it and swinging forward with a slash.
Monster Hunter Style · Ruinous Tempest!
A raging blade of wind scattered and sliced apart every incoming arrow, then continued forward with undiminished force, surging toward the Kuja warriors on the Perfume Yuda.
"Everyone else, get back!"
Boa Marigold, the rounder of the sisters, shouted loudly, then swung the massive guandao in her hands to intercept Sherwin flying slash.
The guandao clashed with Sherwin attack, locking against the flying strike. From Marigold strained expression, it was clear she was struggling.
That was a little surprising to Sherwin…
Though he had named this technique after the Tigrex quest, in truth it was nothing more than a Haki-infused charged Iai slash.
It was nowhere near the level of something like Crimson Sky End, which could even contend against advanced Conqueror Haki techniques.
Yet despite wielding Armament Haki, Marigold was clearly having trouble defending, and from Sherwin perception, the quality of her Haki didn't even measure up to Sanji Meow when he used demon mode as a shortcut.
Was it because the timeline had shifted ahead?
Sherwin quickly dismissed that thought, because he suddenly remembered—back in the manga, even before Luffy had mastered Haki, he was able to defeat these two sisters with just Gear Second.
So, although the warriors of Amazon Lily all knew Haki, the quality of their Haki… was actually pretty weak.
Then Sherwin recalled that Armament Haki was almost a standard ability for Amazon Lily warriors.
Still, the level of Haki wielded by ordinary fighters would definitely not compare to that of the Empress two sisters. Which meant…
The Armament Haki of Amazon Lily was actually somewhat similar to Hunters' demon mode—like a shortcut version? Except, demon mode was essentially burning stamina in advance for a power boost, while Amazon Lily version lowered the threshold for awakening Armament Haki at the cost of weakening its strength.
Unfortunately, Sherwin had no way of verifying his guess with them—after all, they were in the middle of a fight right now…
"Ahhhhhh!"
Just as she felt herself about to give out, Marigold suddenly let out a furious roar. In the next moment, her body swelled rapidly, transforming into a half-human, half-snake form.
With the strength granted by her hybrid beast form, Marigold swung her guandao upward with all her might.
She barely managed to deflect Sherwin slash into the air, but the tail end of the strike still grazed her shoulder, tearing it open and spraying a jet of blood instantly.
"Uwaaah!"
Clutching her blood-gushing shoulder, Marigold stared at Sherwin, eyes filled with dread.
Around them, the other female warriors all cried out in shock: "Impossible! Marigold was injured by just one strike!"
At that moment, the green-haired Sandersonia also transformed into a half-human, half-snake form, stepping in front of her wounded younger sister.
"Fall back! None of you are his match!" A proud, commanding voice suddenly rang out, stirring the Kuja pirates into a commotion.
"Snake Princess!"
"Is Lady Snake Princess going to fight?!"
Amid their cheers, a tall and graceful figure stepped out from the cabin. Even though Sherwin had already braced himself for this moment, he still found himself dazed when he laid eyes on her.
From the outside, Boa Hancock was indeed beautiful, but purely in terms of facial features, she wasn't much above Stussy.
Of course, when it came to her figure, she was on a completely overwhelming level.
But that wasn't what left Sherwin in such a daze. It was the indescribable aura she radiated—an irresistible charm that pulled people in, its effect rivaling hypnotism.
Sherwin even started to feel, little by little, that handing over his treasure to her wouldn't be such a big deal…
"Who dares to place a little cat in the path of my footsteps?!"
Boa Hancock lashed out with a kick, sending a small kitten flying aside. One of the Kuja pirates hurriedly scooped up the kitten that had nearly tried to scratch the Empress, bowing repeatedly as she stammered, "S-sorry, my fault… it my fault…"
"…"
That little interruption instantly snapped Sherwin back to his senses. The look in his eyes toward Hancock no longer carried the slightest trace of infatuation…
Well, maybe just a little.