"No, meow. They've been poisoned for far too long. The cells in their bodies have already necrotized. Even if the toxins are removed, there no way for them to recover, meow."
Haibara Meow pushed up the pair of glasses she used purely for show and spoke to Sherwin.
Sherwin had been waiting a long time for that group of survivors, and only when they finally arrived before him did he learn the reason.
It wasn't that they were unwilling to come quickly—rather, both of their legs had long since been paralyzed from inhaling too much poison gas. This group had crawled all the way to Sherwin on their hands…
No wonder in the manga these people were all fitted with animal legs by Law.
Sherwin had thought it was one of Caesar peculiar hobbies, considering that the artificial Devil Fruits he created also caused similar effects after being eaten.
Although the situation of this group was rather miserable, Sherwin didn't feel much sympathy for them.
Given the nature of the World Government, among those they convicted there were surely many who were framed, or who had the bad luck to offend a Celestial Dragon, or rebels like the Revolutionary Army who could no longer endure oppression—but such people were highly unlikely to be thrown here as experimental subjects…
Unless they were of a special race like King.
Of course, more importantly, Hua Mei Meow had already confirmed that these survivors had all been pirates before.
Even if they couldn't be called utterly heinous, they certainly weren't good people either.
The reason Sherwin had Haibara Meow treat them was simply because the little kitten herself was interested in their condition, and because a whole group of people paralyzed from the waist down was rather troublesome to deal with…
Mm, facing such a group of cripples, Sherwin really couldn't bring himself to kill them outright. Given their current state, it was already a fate worse than death.
"It—it okay… being saved at all is already very good… wuuuu…"
As expected, after hearing that their legs could no longer be cured, despair showed on the faces of the survivors.
After forcing themselves to hold on for a short while, they still couldn't help but break down and cry.
"Brother Sherwin, is there really no other way at all, meow?"
(=ω=)
"Yeah, Boss Sherwin, they look so pitiful."
As the two softest-hearted members of the investigation team, and the ones who could sense other emotions most keenly, Klee Meow and Shirahoshi both looked at Sherwin with sympathy.
Of course there was a way— the simplest way would be the same as in the manga, to find Law to help, but…
"Leaving aside the fact that I don't have a way, even if I did, I wouldn't tell them. Don't forget, these guys aren't good people. After curing them, should I just let them go back to being pirates and continue burning, killing, and plundering?"
"That right! These people are all bad guys, meow!"
∑(=ΦДΦ=)
Klee Meow immediately stopped feeling sorry for them.
As for Shirahoshi, although she was still somewhat reluctant, after Sherwin and the other constant guidance, she had long understood that unlimited kindness was not a good thing.
So her saintly compassion did not overflow instead, she quietly retreated to the side.
Faced with Sherwin blunt and unceremonious words, the group of survivors only gave bitter smiles. They naturally knew that they truly were not good people.
However, since in the manga these people could be so fiercely loyal to Caesar, at least in terms of "righteousness" they were very pirate-like, so they did not bear any grudge against Sherwin because of this.
"For you to disperse this poisonous fog is already a huge favor to us, benefactor. Otherwise we would have died here sooner or later. As for treatment, we truly dare not trouble you further…"
The leader among the survivors, Chappe, nicknamed the "Rope Controller," spoke up:
"After this, I will search for a way to heal myself, but here I can swear to you, benefactor, that no matter whether my legs can be cured in the future or not, I will never become a pirate again!"
The others all followed with their own promises.
Then the kind-hearted Shirahoshi began looking at him again with her misty, tear-filled eyes.
There was no helping it. Back on Fish-Man Island, Sherwin had acted as though he knew everything—solving Vander Decken problem for Shirahoshi and even taking her to avenge Queen Otohime—so the young girl had come to feel that Sherwin was omnipotent.
"I really don't have any way."
Sherwin spread his hands and lied without hesitation.
From what the manga showed, this group really might keep their word—but what did that have to do with Sherwin?
Besides, in the manga they had helped Caesar conduct human experiments on a group of children.
That alone proved that although these people spoke of "righteousness," their sense of good and evil was extremely shallow.
Even if they did not become pirates after recovering, there was no guarantee they would not commit evil deeds. Naturally, Sherwin had no surplus compassion to spare for them.
It was just that, with Shirahoshi special Observation Haki, his lie should not be able to fool her, right?
Sure enough, after being rejected by Sherwin once again, Shirahoshi quickly showed a pitiful, wronged expression, while Klee Meow also wore a look that plainly said "Brother Sherwin is lying again."
(ω)
It made Sherwin feel as if he had become a cold-blooded villain.
However, Shirahoshi did not expose him. Because she trusted Sherwin, who had helped her many times, she soon withdrew her gaze.
As for Klee Meow… she naturally bit Sherwin ear first to vent her dissatisfaction, then gently licked the tooth mark she herself had left as an apology.
Sherwin pinched the little doll cheek in annoyance. Only then did he finally have the time to ask this group of survivors about the main purpose of his trip to Punk Hazard.
"Do you know where the island main experimental base is? Also, do you know what the other experimental bases are each responsible for?"
Chape and the others were stunned for a moment, then they began answering Sherwin questions all at once.
Because the experiments they had participated in were all different, the intelligence Sherwin obtained from them was far more detailed than he had expected.
Very quickly, based on their descriptions, Huamei Meow drew a rough distribution map of Punk Hazard, while Haibara Meow and Purah Meow, by questioning them about the test contents they had taken part in, inferred the main research projects of some of the bases.
Unfortunately, there were no research-type talents among these survivors, so even for the projects they had personally participated in, they could not explain the particulars.
But for Sherwin, as long as he could find that Dragon Fruit, this trip would absolutely not be a loss.
As for whether Momonosuke would starve to death after he took that Dragon Fruit…
It was none of his damn business!
In truth, Sherwin did not harbor any "Momonosuke must die" kind of thinking.
No matter what, the other party was still just a child under ten years old. Although he had quite a few personality flaws, it was not to the point that Sherwin would want to hunt him down and kill him.
Of course, Sherwin did not have any goodwill toward him either—especially that so-called "samurai spirit" of his, where he would rather die than accept charity from others. Sherwin simply could not comprehend that at all.
After all, that was not some humiliating handout, but something the children on the same ship had taken out out of kindness.
If he really ended up starving himself to death because he no longer had the Dragon Fruit, Sherwin would only say it was self-inflicted and would not feel a shred of guilt.