With Morgans helping to mediate, Sherwin naturally didn't need to keep Cracker in his hands any longer.
Although that birdman combat ability might not be all that great, Sherwin still trusted his connections, so instead of waiting for Big Mom response, he simply tossed the still-unconscious Cracker over to the Homies first.
After recovering Cracker, the Homies immediately took off with the biscuit ship without a second thought.
After all, their role was essentially the same as Germa clone soldiers—they didn't have the strength or the guts to pick a fight with Sherwin and his group.
But before handing Cracker back to the Homies, Haibara Meow had pulled out a big syringe and extracted several tubes of his blood, and even collected a fair amount of tissue samples from the wound on his shoulder.
So, although Sherwin hadn't been able to get his hands on the Biscuit-Biscuit Fruit, there was still hope of using Cracker Lineage Factor to replicate his abilities...
Sherwin figured that the biggest use of this fruit would probably just be making sure the Felyne Restaurant never had to worry about biscuit supplies again, but having materials for Haibara Meow to study and develop Lineage Factors was still a good thing.
Even if Haibara Meow needed a long time to produce results similar to the Seraphim, wouldn't the already-mature technology on Egghead Island be available to "borrow" in a few years anyway?
Once Luffy and his crew landed on Egghead Island under the convergence of the world line, with that naturally chaotic brat Monkey drawing attention, Sherwin could have Kuma sneak them in to take advantage of the situation.
By then, forget about just Seraphim—even if Haibara Meow wanted to build an entire "Celestial Organization," it wouldn't be a problem.
Because of Cracker interference, it was impossible to keep the restaurant business going. After tidying up the deck, Sherwin and his group also left the island that had been caught up in the battle.
Once at sea, Sherwin opened the Hunter Handbook. The salted pretzel he had snatched from Cracker had naturally unlocked an entry in the bestiary—it turned out to be one of the 21 Great Grade Swords.
But just like Sandai Kitetsu before, even though it was a weapon that had appeared in the story, it still didn't reward Sherwin with a summoning ticket fragment...
He still couldn't figure out what rules this stingy handbook was following.
Although not getting the fragments left him a little disappointed, Sherwin didn't pay it too much mind. After all, he wasn't exactly lacking in blade-type cats at his side right now.
"Buru buru buru..."
Sherwin had just put away the stingy handbook when his Den Den Mushi rang. He casually picked up the receiver, only to see the Den Den Mushi sprout long eyelashes, its face puff up round and plump, lips painted with thick lipstick, and a tuft of curly pink hair growing on the back of its head…
Just what kind of principle was behind this bizarre transformation of Den Den Mushi appearances anyway?
While Sherwin silently ridiculed it, a strange laugh came through from the other end of the line.
"Ma ma ma ma ma… you're Sherwin, aren't you?"
"Yes," Sherwin calmly replied, already recognizing the caller identity from the Den Den Mushi transformation. "To actually receive a call personally from one of the Four Emperors, Big Mom—it truly an honor."
"Ma ma ma, you sure know how to talk." Big Mom, whose tone had originally carried a hint of interrogation, seemed rather pleased with Sherwin flattery.
Her voice softened considerably, but before long, it turned cold again: "Then why did you refuse my invitation?"
"Because being a pirate isn't part of my life plans for now." Sherwin, completely unfazed by the threat in her tone, answered with steady composure.
"If you want to taste the food we serve, you can wait until we enter the Grand Line and come dine with us then. But as for joining Totto Land as your personal chef, I'm afraid I must decline."
"Dine?" Big Mom picked up on the meaning behind his words, sounding somewhat surprised as she confirmed: "You actually expect me to pay?"
"Running a restaurant means doing business, and of course business requires payment," Sherwin replied matter-of-factly.
"Ma ma ma ma ma ma ma ma ma!" After a brief silence, Big Mom suddenly burst into loud laughter.
"An interesting little brat. I'm quite looking forward to meeting you. Also, that Travel Guide you wrote wasn't bad."
With that, she hung up the call on her own without waiting for Sherwin reply.
As expected, when her hunger pangs weren't acting up, Big Mom could at least be reasoned with—barely.
Of course, the only reason they were able to converse on such "equal" terms was because Sherwin had demonstrated enough strength, along with Morgans mediation. Perhaps Sherwin Travel Guide had even helped in some subtle way.
Most crucially, the Felyne Restaurant didn't actually have any unique signature dishes. That meant Big Mom obsession with them wasn't all that strong.
Add to that the fact that Sherwin and his group were currently in the North Blue, far out of Big Mom reach, otherwise she absolutely wouldn't have let the matter slide so easily.
But the next time they actually crossed paths, things probably wouldn't be so easy to brush off.
Still, it was absolutely impossible for Sherwin to just back down. Leaving aside the fact that Big Mom had bouts of madness from time to time, simply the matter of having to regularly pay a "soul tax" after joining Totto Land was something Sherwin would never accept.
Even if "valuable" members didn't have to pay the soul tax, if he truly wanted to join a Yonko crew, wasn't the Red-Haired Pirates or Whitebeard crew—both safer and more protective—far better choices? Even the Beasts Pirates,
where status was determined purely by strength, would be a better place to go. So why would he ever join Big Mom crew, where he could get collateral damage from her madness at any time?
…
A few days later, the news that Charlotte Cracker, one of the Big Mom Pirates Sweet Commanders, had been defeated in the North Blue by the bounty hunter "Hunter" Sherwin, made the front page of the latest issue of the World Economy News.
Flipping through the article, Sherwin saw that his "good leader" Morgans clearly understood his intentions.
Rather than exaggerating Sherwin strength, the report emphasized the Longsword in his hand, which was suspected to counter Cracker Devil Fruit abilities, leading to Cracker defeat.
Even so, Sherwin had still managed to make quite a splash this time. After all, no matter how many pirates he had taken down before, none of them had the same reputation as a Yonko commander.
In fact, the combined bounties of all the pirates he had defeated so far still didn't add up to much more than Cracker bounty alone…
Which was exactly why Sherwin felt it had been such a loss to let Cracker go.
What more, although Cracker had been beaten by Sherwin—and had even been forced to reveal his true face, hidden all along inside his biscuit warriors—the Navy had, as a result, gained a deeper understanding of his abilities.
After some discussion, they actually raised Cracker bounty even higher, bringing it straight up to 800 million…
Why did it feel like he had lost out even more?
Sherwin curled his lip, put Cracker wanted poster aside, and continued flipping through the rest…
Aside from some pirates who had never shown up in the manga, the bounties of Kuma, Law, and several other familiar faces had all increased.
There was also an update for the bounty of "Magician" Basil Hawkins, who was likewise from the North Blue.
His bounty had risen by a small two million, but unfortunately, Sherwin had never managed to run into him.
The likely reason he hadn't encountered Hawkins was that Hawkins had used that strange divination of his to avoid him.
After all, Sherwin was quite interested in the Straw-Straw Fruit. It could take hits, fight back, control the battlefield, and even summon a strawman version of a Gundam. Compared to it, some of the weaker Logia fruits felt far less practical.
As for X. Drake, who would later become an undercover agent, Sherwin still hadn't seen a wanted poster for him. He figured Drake must still be serving as a Marine at this point in time.
When he finally reached the very last poster—the one with the smallest bounty—Sherwin saw another familiar face.
"Spade pirate" Portgas D. Ace.Bounty: 13 million, dead or alive.
Looks like Ace had finally set out to sea. However, without the Flame-Flame Fruit, his epithet was taken directly from the name of the pirate crew he had founded.
The Marines responsible for issuing wanted posters really were hopeless at naming!
Thankfully, Sherwin had long ago secured the title of Hunter through Morgans.
Sherwin couldn't help but feel a bit of relief.
From Ace bounty, it was also clear that his true identity hadn't yet been exposed. Judging by the amount, he probably hadn't left the East Blue yet—or had just barely done so. In today East Blue, a bounty over ten million was already quite remarkable.
After all, Sherwin himself had swept through those high-bounty pirates in the East Blue just a year earlier, so by now there shouldn't be many formidable ones left.
And with what Sherwin knew about Ace, it was more likely he'd gotten his bounty for something like dining and dashing, offending a noble, or crossing paths with the Marines.
After finishing the paper and the wanted posters, Sherwin tossed them aside and paid them no more attention.
Not long after, Kuma call came through. At the same time, Klee Meow received a call from Bonney, and even Law called Haibara Meow to express his worry and concern…
Hmm… had Sherwin underestimated just how famous the Four Emperors really were?
After dealing with the calls from friends who were checking in on them, Sherwin scratched his head a little belatedly, then quickly tossed the matter to the back of his mind.
After all, the issue had been temporarily settled. Worrying about it any further was useless.
It would be better to hurry up and finish mapping out the North Blue, then head to the Grand Line as soon as possible to make money and get Devil Fruits.