After arriving at the South Blue, the map in the handbook switched to a new one. However, Sherwin could still switch the display back to the Grand Line and the already completed East and West Blues using the toggle icon that had appeared when he first entered the East Blue.
"Sherwin-nii, do you need Klee Meow help, meow?"
The little ragdoll leapt onto Sherwin back, tugging at his ear as she asked.
"Oh, no need. Did you forget? We already traded with Vice Admiral Garp for the maps of the South and North Blue." Sherwin opened the handbook and showed Klee Meow the South Blue map, most of which was already "pre-rendered."
"Awuuu…" Klee Meow immediately slumped down on Sherwin shoulder in disappointment.
But before long, her spirits lifted again. She stretched out her little head to peer at the map in Sherwin hand. "Then, does the South Blue have places like that explosion island before, meow? Can we go there first, meow?"
Why is this little one so energetic all the time…
Sherwin gave Klee Meow a helpless sideways glance, then tilted his head and rubbed his cheek against her. "Unfortunately, the map isn't that detailed."
"Awuuu…" The little ragdoll flopped back down again.
Ignoring the cute kitten doing push-ups on his shoulder, Sherwin called over Haibara Meow to help him plan out their route through the South Blue.
"Our final destination should be as close to Reverse Mountain as possible. That way, we can head directly into the North Blue from there," Sherwin said, gesturing at the map.
"You guys haven't seen that mountain yet, have you? The sea currents climb straight up the mountain—it a very unique sight."
The Klee Meow on his shoulder perked back up, full of energy again, and eagerly agreed, "Yeah, yeah! And it super fast too—it so much fun, meow!"
Then she tugged at Sherwin ear again, asking curiously, "Sherwin-nii, are we not taking the Grand Line this time, meow?"
Just like when they entered the East Blue from the West Blue, the South Blue and North Blue weren't directly connected. Their only meeting point was Reverse Mountain—or rather, the only way was through Reverse Mountain, which was both the fastest and simplest route.
But Sherwin didn't need to explain all that to Klee Meow. The little ragdoll had only asked casually, so he teased her instead: "If we go through the Calm Belt, then you'll have to steer the ship again."
"Meow!" The little ragdoll was startled, then turned her head away and said sheepishly, "Klee thinks it better to let big sister Haibara and the others see Reverse Mountain too, meow…"
(=ω=)
Sherwin poked the little clever one on the nose with his finger, then turned his attention back to the map to study the route together with Haibara Meow.
With Haibara Meow, the navigator cat, the entire route planning became much easier and simpler.
By analyzing the areas and progress covered by the previously activated Watchtower mode, she allowed Sherwin to skip some of the nearby islands whose ranges would overlap with the Watchtower coverage. She even gave a rough estimate of how much progress this trip would bring.
"…After we reach this island, the map progress should reach around 77%, meow. To avoid not covering enough area, I deliberately added a few extra islands along the way. And even if I miscalculated and we fall short, we just need to detour here a little bit, and we still won't be too far from Reverse Mountain, meow."
Haibara Meow gestured at the map as she explained her planned route to Sherwin, even preparing backup options.
Though she mentioned there might be miscalculations, with that confident look on the tabby face, Sherwin believed that even without those deliberately added islands, the progress would still land right on 75%.
As for why they weren't aiming for 100% map completion like in the East Blue, it was naturally because doing so would be too time-consuming and not worth the reward.
They already had the most essential navigator and medic cats. The Dodo Advance, upgraded with Adam Wood, was sturdy enough, so shipwrights weren't urgently needed.
Besides… even with 100% completion, there was no guarantee of specifically getting a shipwright cat. Support-type cats were just generally handy—whether or not they could repair ships was another matter.
Of course, the main point was that the all-rounder Link Meow had already claimed to know a thing or two about shipbuilding and repairs…
After finalizing the route, Sherwin pulled out the Den Den Mushi and called Morgans.
Since they had entered a new map, it was natural to seek out Morgans, that NPC, to learn about treasures (renowned swords and Devil Fruits).
But this time, Sherwin didn't plan to run all over the place for uncertain information. Unless the information was solid, he wouldn't deviate from the route Haibara Meow had just mapped out.
Compared to collecting entries of swords, monsters, or fruits that had never appeared in the manga, the entries with actual plot significance clearly yielded shards much faster.
So as for the lesser-known swords and fruits, Sherwin would only collect them if they happened to be on the way—if not, it didn't matter.
Of course, there was another reason… every morning when he woke up, there were more and more cats piled on top of him. Sherwin no longer felt the same urgent desire to summon new ones as he had at the beginning…
"Hahahaha—!" The moment the call connected, Morgans' familiar hearty laugh came through first. "Your timing is perfect. I just happened to have something I wanted to ask you!"
"Huh?" Sherwin scratched his head in confusion.
Lately, he had been staying in the Calm Belt and hadn't really done anything major. If he had to say something, it would be that fight with the Empress—but that had been some time ago. If Morgans knew about it, he should have known long before now.
Could it be about the manuscript?
As it turned out, Morgans did bring up the Empress, though he didn't seem to know exactly what had happened…
"The Kuja Pirates seem to be asking around about you lately. Did you do something to offend that group of women?" Morgans asked.
The reason he had only just found out was simple. When Sherwin had encountered the Empress, they had just finished raiding and were on their way back to Amazon Lily. So even if Hancock wanted to investigate Sherwin, she would have had to wait until their next voyage.
After figuring that out, Sherwin didn't bother to hide anything. He casually replied, "I was on my way to the South Blue, and while crossing the Calm Belt I ran into a Kuja ship. A little conflict broke out, we fought for a bit, then both sides backed off and went our own way… I thought that was the end of it."
Once he had shaken off the Devil Fruit ability influence, Sherwin had simply put the matter behind him.
But if he ran into a Kuja ship again, he wasn't going to foolishly engage in a boarding battle—he'd just have Klee Meow go all out from the start.
"Heheheh…"
Morgans was a shrewd man. The moment he heard it, he immediately knew that it was the Kuja who had suffered a loss.
After all, with the Empress personality, she was never the type to talk nicely. If she had backed down, it must have been only because she had no way to deal with Sherwin and was forced to do so.
At this point, he was starting to believe that Sherwin truly hadn't known anything about the Queen of Spring city beforehand.
"You're not planning to turn this into news and spread it around again, are you?" Sherwin asked helplessly, already calculating which CP intelligence he should use this time to shut this Bird beak.
But after a moment of silence, Morgans actually shook his head at Sherwin guess.
"No. You two only clashed briefly, and the Kuja Pirates didn't suffer any real loss. Amazon Lily is also cut off from the world, so I can't find any evidence.
Of course, I could make something up, but the Empress is still one of the Seven Warlords of the Sea.
Without evidence, it wouldn't be wise for me to fabricate things about her… unless you're willing to step forward and admit it yourself."
Morgans' tone was full of regret. Clearly, he already understood Sherwin temperament well enough to know that he would avoid this kind of attention at all costs.
If he went ahead and hyped up the story on his own, not only would it offend the Kuja Pirates, but it would also create tension between him and Sherwin. And just for reporting on such a small-scale clash, it simply wasn't worth it.
Fortunately, all the time Sherwin had spent building a connection with Morgans wasn't wasted…
Sherwin couldn't help but let out a sigh of relief. He didn't have much CP-related intelligence left on hand, so saving one piece was better than nothing.
Then, he got to the main point—consulting Morgans about information regarding famed blades and Devil Fruits in the South Blue.
By now, Morgans no longer haggled with Sherwin over information of little value. Not only did he share everything he knew on the matter, he even promised that if new information came up, he would notify Sherwin immediately.
The reason he was willing to do this was not only because of the news that Sherwin had forced the Kuja Pirates to back down—an event that made Morgans raise his estimation of Sherwin even further—but also because Sherwin had entrusted him with his Vivre Card…
That proved Sherwin truly might not have any hidden backing. In that case, the World Economic Journal naturally had every reason to hold on tightly to this well-informed, powerful, and even article-writing ally.