"It Uncle Cody! Has my Devil Fruit been approved yet?"
Sherwin grinned like a farmer seeing his harvest come in.
Cody: "…"
Rolling his eyes helplessly, Cody finally replied, "The Devil Fruits you requested have indeed been approved, but to actually get them, you'll need to make a trip to Marineford first.
We'll hand the fruits over to the Navy for safekeeping. As for whether you can take them from their hands… that depends on your own ability."
" Tch! I knew it wouldn't be that easy…" Sherwin clicked his tongue.
Clearly, as a "Warlord candidate," Sherwin was somewhat important to the World Government — but not that important.
A few Devil Fruits meant little to the World Government, but they would never just hand them over simply because Sherwin asked. This was a matter of face and authority.
But Sherwin wasn't the type to take a loss. Without hesitation, he countered,
"Since you've set limits on your side, then I'll have to raise my price too. After all… you seem confident I won't be able to get them anyway, right?"
"…"
The other side fell silent for a moment before Cody spoke again, his tone calm but cold: "Don't push it too far. You're not irreplaceable to us."
Sherwin was surprised by Uncle Cody sudden shift in attitude, so he turned his gaze toward Link Meow not far away.
Standing beside the small leopard cat, Hua Mei Meow whispered a few words to him, and only then did Link Meow use his expression to convey Lord Tiger intentions to Sherwin.
(=ˇˇ=)[Cody attitude change…]
(=ω=)[Most likely because there are others beside him right now…]
╮(=ΦωΦ=)╭[So he can't…]
(=`へ=)[Show that he too close to you…]
(=Φ×Φ=)[You shouldn't act too friendly either…]
(=`ω=)σ[Just use Moria to negotiate with him directly.]
Sherwin nodded in understanding, then made an OK gesture toward them.
As expected, the earlier analysis and countermeasures were all ideas from Hua Mei Meow, conveyed to Sherwin in this way.
"If I told you… I just defeated Gecko Moria, and he could be finished off by me at any moment—what would you say to that?"
Now backed by his "outside support," Sherwin deliberately made his tone more distant, with a hint of provocation.
"What?! You attacked another Warlord again?!" Cody exclaimed in shock.
"That not my fault. I was just sailing peacefully at sea when he suddenly used a trap to lure me onto his territory and tried to steal the shadows of me and my cats. I simply fought back a little, that all."
Sherwin swiftly shifted the blame.
The other side fell silent once again.
In truth, the World Government wasn't unaware of what Moria had been doing.
In fact, some Marines who had passed through the florian triangle had also had their shadows stolen by him.
However, because Moria held the title of a Warlord, those Marines who lost their shadows could only swallow the humiliation in silence.
So when Cody learned that Sherwin had defeated Moria, he had no idea what his superiors in CP thought about it—but as a former Marine himself, Cody secretly felt quite pleased.
This time, Cody remained silent a bit longer, most likely discussing matters with the higher-ups of CP.
Taking advantage of the pause, Sherwin used seastone chains to tie Moria up.
Of course, since seastone suppressive effect on Devil Fruit users was so overpowering, Sherwin didn't bind him too tightly—just looped it around Moria a few times casually.
By the time he was done, Cody voice came through the transponder snail once again—
"Alright. We'll add one more Devil Fruit as extra compensation."
"Only one more? How stingy," Sherwin muttered with a look of disdain.
"Enough nonsense! That already our biggest concession!" Cody snapped. "We could just as easily charge you with attacking a Warlord!"
Though his words sounded like a threat, it was in fact a warning for Sherwin to stop pushing too far—don't force the higher-ups into a corner.
Even without Hua Mei Meow "translation," Sherwin could clearly hear the meaning behind Uncle Cody words.
So, as the "negotiation expert," he immediately switched to a helpless tone.
"Alright, alright, fine. But besides me having to personally go to Marineford to retrieve those three Devil Fruits, there shouldn't be any other conditions, right?
Also, how am I supposed to get there? I don't exactly have a permanent pointer to Navy Headquarters."
"Gecko Moria knows the way—ask him. Also, the handover will take place in ten days, and only in ten days.
If you arrive early and the Marines find an excuse to attack, or arrive late and the Devil Fruit gets taken by them, that won't be our problem."
Clearly, the CP organization was deliberately making things difficult for Sherwin.
After all, he had just beaten Moria up, and now he had to ask the guy for directions—plus the strict time limit made it all the more troublesome.
How to put it? Such tactics were really petty—hardly befitting a power that had ruled the world for eight hundred years.
Still, Sherwin didn't bother arguing with them. He didn't care about trivial matters like this.
The Marine Headquarter location was public knowledge. To find Marineford, all he needed to do was ask around at any Marine base it was easy enough to get directions there.
Even if the CP organization had already informed the Marines not to tell him, Sherwin still had other options—he could ask Morgans directly or just let Klee Meow try her luck.
Even if he really had to get the Eternal Pose from Moria, Sherwin still had ways. After all, he still held two of Moria subordinates in his hands.
Although Moria always claimed that only undead zombie subordinates would never betray him, in truth, he was someone who valued his companions deeply.
Otherwise, he wouldn't have fallen into despair after his former crewmates were all killed by Kaido.
Later, he even went alone to confront Blackbeard—now one of the Four Emperors—just to avenge Absalom… He must have known full well he couldn't defeat Blackbeard.
After confirming there were no other hidden tricks, Sherwin ended his call with Uncle Cody and turned to face Moria, who had already regained consciousness.
"You heard everything just now, didn't you? So, hand over the Eternal Pose to Marineford, and we'll call our conflict even."
Moria was so furious at Sherwin words that he nearly exploded. More than half of his zombie army had been destroyed,
all the shadows he'd collected had fled, and he himself had been beaten senseless by Sherwin cat—and now the other side wanted to just laugh it off?
Still, despite his rage, Moria knew better than to act rashly. Judging from the phone call he had just overheard,
Sherwin was most likely about to become a new Warlord of the Sea. In other words, at the very least, his own life was probably safe for now.
"Let me go," Moria said coldly, though his voice lacked strength.
He couldn't help it—his body was still bound in seastone chains.
Sherwin wasn't at all worried that Moria would try something foolish once he regained mobility.
The only reason he had restrained Moria earlier was to stop him from interrupting the phone call.
So, without hesitation, Sherwin unlocked the seastone chains binding him.
"My two subordinates," Moria said as he stood up, his tone still icy but no longer reckless.
"Return them to me, and I'll give you the Eternal Pose to Marineford."
Sherwin sneered disdainfully. "Two ability users for one pointer? You really think too highly of yourself."
"Yeah, yeah! Klee still wants to keep those fun ghost Meows!"
"Then what do you plan to do?!" Shadows surged beneath Moria feet as he forcefully suppressed the urge to attack, growling,
"If you refuse to return my subordinates, I'd rather go down with you! Without the Eternal Pose to Marineford, don't even think about getting those three Devil Fruits!"
"The pointer to Marineford isn't that hard to get," Sherwin calm reply instantly darkened Moria expression—but then Sherwin tone shifted.
"However… returning them to you isn't entirely out of the question."
While gently patting Klee Meow, perched on his shoulder, Sherwin grinned at Moria and bared his teeth.
"But as their ransom, one Eternal Pose won't be enough."