"Strange… why hasn't anyone come over? That shouldn't be possible…"
Sherwin rubbed his chin in confusion.
They had just fought the smile and the Dragon, and Suika Meow even turned into an Ultra Cat and caused such a huge commotion.
There was no way the survivors hiding on the island didn't hear it. Yet even after their banquet ended, no one came to find them.
"Could it be that they mistook all that noise as the fight between it… and the Dragon?"
Huamei pointed at the smile obediently curled up on the side. Then Huamei scratched her head again. "Speaking of which… shouldn't we give it a name, meow?"
"Paa-oo…"
smile let out a weak cry, as if trying to say it already had a name—but unfortunately, no one could understand.
Sherwin himself wasn't sure whether it was smile, Slimey, or something else entirely. After all, there were too many different translations in the One Piece manga.
Besides, since they had snatched this thing from Caesar, why keep the name Caesar gave it?
So he turned toward Klee Meow.
Normally, naming things was always left to Klee Meow. However…
There were already plenty of "Dodos" in the Research Commission group. If they kept going, Sherwin worried that one day he'd mix them all up.
Or rather… he might already be mixing them up now.
"Sherwin oniichan, are you trying to trick Klee again, meow?"
(ω)
The little ragdoll stared at Sherwin with full vigilance, the ears on her head swiveling like radar.
Clearly, her Observation Haki had sensed something.
"Of course not. I just feel like we already have enough 'Dodo on the ship, so I was thinking… maybe you could try a different style for the name."
Sherwin picked up the alert little ragdoll, bumped his nose against hers, and told the truth.
"What wrong with Dodo? What so bad about Dodo, meow?!"
(=`н=)
An indignant Klee Meow puffed up her cheeks and swung her tiny cat paws, patting Sherwin face over and over.
"I never said Dodo was bad." Sherwin smiled helplessly as he soothed the little ragdoll.
"But look—there the Dodo, the Dodos, the Dodo Bear and Dodo Buddy on your backpack, and that whole bunch of Dodo Transponders I can't even tell apart. That already so many 'Dodo. Shouldn't we at least try a different naming style?"
"Mm… it is kind of a lot, meow…"
(=ˇˇ=)
Klee Meow scrunched her little face in deep conflict.
Rationally, the little ragdoll admitted Sherwin had a point… but emotionally, she still wanted a Dodo-style name.
So after wrestling with the idea for a bit, the clever Spark Knight decided to give up the naming rights herself.
"Then Klee won't name it, meow! Sherwin-oniichan, you decide!"
Knowing full well he was terrible at naming things and could only rely on plundering names from Earth works, Sherwin immediately tossed the job to another cat…
"Let Haibara Meow name it. After all, it'll be spending most of its time with her."
Sherwin paused, then added, "Just… don't give it a name like 'Toxin 123' or something."
"It not something I created. I wouldn't name it like that, meow!" Haibara Meow gave Sherwin a sharp look, then without hesitation renamed the smile: "Let call it Shirley, meow."
"Uh… that works, I guess."
Sherwin looked at the smile—no, at Shirley dark red body. It didn't really match the color of sherry wine, but it did resemble red wine…
Just much thicker.
"Right, weren't we talking about those survivors just now?"
Sherwin had grown so used to being constantly sidetracked by his cats that he nearly forgot the original topic entirely.
"So what should we do now? Fire a signal flare to draw them out?"
Because Shirley had been taken in, it was no longer constantly releasing poison mist to keep the concentration high.
And thanks to the previous battles—absorption, burning, and everything else—a portion of the poison had already been consumed.
At this point, most of the toxic fog over Punk Hazard had dispersed. As long as the survivors on the island weren't fools, they would definitely come out to check the situation.
"I think that works, meow." Huamei also agreed with the plan and even improved it a little.
"Signal flares don't last long, and it still quite bright right now. It'd be better to have the Dodo Advance switch to its floating wyvern form and drift in the sky, meow."
Sherwin naturally had no reason to object. The Dodo quickly transformed into the Dodo Sky Wyvern and rose into the air.
And to make sure the survivors would definitely notice it, Sherwin and the others even hung a striking red cloth on the balloon of the airship form.
They then split into two groups: one ascended with the Dodo Advance, while the other remained on the ground, waiting for the survivors to arrive.
Haibara Meow and Purah Meow, the two research-loving Felynes, immediately dragged Shirley into the lab.
Shirahoshi, who was fascinated by the idea of flying, also chose to board the ship.
Since Jinx was the dependable big sister figure watching over Shirahoshi, she of course followed along, teaching her some combat tricks on the side.
And because someone had to keep an eye on that little crazy cat, Huamei Meow had to go with them as well.
Sanji Meow very much wanted to stay by the side of the gorgeous Beautiful big sister Felyne Shermie and show off, but there were still some dragon cuts that needed processing.
The little yellow cat could only tearfully retreat into the kitchen.
The clingiest ones, Klee Meow and Charmy, chose to remain by Sherwin side.
Meowjirou and Link Meow, frustrated that they couldn't join the earlier battle, found an open space nearby and began sparring. Suika Meow, who also hadn't fought enough, staggered after them.
Sherwin pulled two lounge chairs from his space bag. As usual, he and Robin lay back as if sunbathing on the deck, each holding a cat in their arms.
While stroking the Klee Meow nestled in her arms, Robin used her ability to manifest two new hands to hold a book.
In truth, she had also created several extra arms on top of the Dodo Advance overhead to attend to some of the more idle cats aboard.
She was simultaneously training her fruit power and her Observation Haki.
Seeing her take out the book reminded Sherwin of something—
He still hadn't checked his Hunter Manual to see whether Shirley had been added!
But if Shirley were recorded like Rasoo back then… which weapon category or bestiary entry would she even fall under?
Curious, Sherwin opened the manual.
No white light… looks like there no chance of getting a shard this time.
Clicking his tongue in annoyance, Sherwin flipped the manual to the weapon index first, but there was no sign of Shirley.
He then turned to the monster bestiary, yet whether it was large monsters or small monsters, her entry was nowhere to be seen.
It seemed his cheat couldn't classify a strange existence like Shirley either…
Sherwin felt slightly disappointed, though overall he remained calm. After all, he had never placed high expectations on this stingy cheat to begin with.
Still, since he had nothing better to do, he flipped through the entire manual.
And then he found Sherly illustration on the same page as Shirahoshi.
Uh… what was this supposed to mean?
Sherwin scratched his head in confusion. Shirley situation definitely shouldn't qualify as an "Ancient Weapon," right?
But if one had to name similarities, there were indeed a few—both Shirahoshi and Shirley could be categorized as "biological weapons" and "weapons of mass destruction."
Of course, there was another possibility—that this page actually belonged to a classification such as "Others" or "Miscellaneous."
Without a user guide and with too few precedents, Sherwin could only speculate.
But that wasn't the important part. The important part was…
If this page wasn't limited to Ancient Weapons, then there might be a new banner pool to unlock in the future!