Fortunately, Kaido did not force Sherwin to activate his Plan D.
After all, Sherwin plans were basically arranged in order of increasing danger and decreasing success rate, so it was best not to use them if possible.
Even so, they were still chased by Kaido for a full day and night.
During that time, it wasn't as if he hadn't tried to attack Sherwin, but underwater many of Kaido methods were rather average in effectiveness, or they were moves like Elbaf Spear that required charging.
The only truly reliable option was the lightning ability that came with the Azure Dragon Devil Fruit, but Sherwin and the others had already put effort into this aspect after fighting Enel and summoning shermie.
On top of that, the Felynes would usually use their Mink mode to recharge the combat suits, so Kaido lightning attacks had no effect other than electrocuting a group of unlucky sea creatures…
Instead, it ended up recharging Sherwin and the other combat suits.
Coupled with the various harsh climates of the Grand Line that could be encountered even on the seafloor,
Kaido eventually realized that no matter how he chased, he couldn't catch up and was instead being left farther and farther behind, so he finally gave up the pursuit.
Of course, there was also another possibility—his drinking habit flared up again.
In any case, whatever the reason, Kaido departure was already an established fact, and Sherwin was finally able to let out a small sigh of relief.
However, the cautious Sherwin did not relax his guard because of this. Instead, he led Sanji Meow weaving back and forth along the seafloor for another half day before carefully floating up toward the surface.
"Looks like he really gone."
After sticking his head out of the water and observing for a while, Sherwin finally let out a long breath and took out a bottle of recovery potion to drink.
Although with his physique he had actually recovered quite a bit during the day-and-night escape, and the sharp pain in his body had long eased, the burden that Link Time placed on the body was rather special.
Relying on natural recovery alone, a single day was far from enough.
As the recovery potion went down, Sherwin injuries were quickly healed by consuming a large amount of stamina, so he immediately stuffed a few slices of jerky into his mouth as well.
After a round of eating and drinking, Sherwin condition recovered to about seventy or eighty percent. Even if Kaido were to appear again…
He could still run away!
Sherwin was in a fairly good mood at the moment and even had the leisure to poke fun at himself.
But soon after, he troubledly scratched his head…
Because all around him was nothing but seawater. There was no land or ship in sight at all.
Who knew where Kaido had chased them to—there wasn't even a temporary place to land.
Fortunately, Sherwin still had the Hunter Notes, a convenient tool that automatically recorded maps.
Although the unexplored areas were still completely blank, at least it allowed him to figure out the directions and roughly determine their current position.
Of course, before that, he still needed to make a call to the Felynes to report that he was safe and confirm how things were going on their side.
Thinking about the cats, Sherwin quickly fished his Den Den Mushi out of his clothes.
Thankfully, the Den Den Mushi in the pirate world were extremely tenacious.
As long as they weren't directly attacked, they could survive for quite a long time even if soaked in water.
Instead, it was usually the devices connected to them that were more likely to malfunction after taking on water.
However, Sherwin Den Den Mushi had been protected by his cat combat suit the whole time, so it hadn't been exposed to seawater at all.
There was also plenty of oxygen supplied inside the suit, and going a single day without food was nothing for a Den Den Mushi.
"Brother Sherwin! You and Brother Sanji Meow are both okay, meow?!"
As soon as the call connected, Klee Meow concerned voice immediately came out of the Den Den Mushi.
"Don't worry, we're both fine," Sherwin replied in a relaxed tone. "How are things on your end?"
"We're fine too, meow!" Hearing that they were safe, the little ragdoll voice instantly became cheerful.
"After we flew some distance away, Sister Huamei Meow had the Dodo Advance dive into the sea. That big bad guy who can turn into a dragon couldn't find us anymore, meow!"
"That good," only now did Sherwin truly feel relieved.
"Once Sanji Meow and I find a place to settle down, I'll let you know to come pick me up. During this time, Klee, you all have to be good and listen to Huamei, okay?"
"Klee will be good and listen, meow!" the little ragdoll answered without hesitation.
"Brother Sherwin and Brother Sanji Meow, you have to be careful too, meow!"
After chatting with Klee Meow for a few more moments, the cat on the other end of the call switched to Huamei Meow, and Sherwin learned more detailed information from her.
In fact, it was pretty much the same as what Klee Meow had said earlier. With the speed of the Dodo Advance, Kaido couldn't catch up to them in the first place, not to mention that he had been held back by Sherwin.
As for the remaining members of the Beasts, there was even less they could do.
Once the Dodo Advance submerged into the sea, even attempting a large-scale search became impossible.
"There one more thing," Huamei Meow added after filling in some details.
"Mr. Morgans called just now. I already told him everything that happened earlier, and I suggested that he report it truthfully this time, meow."
The Den Den Mushi with anti-eavesdropping functions was kept on the ship, so Sherwin hadn't received the call from the "boss."
However, Sherwin agreed with Huamei Meow approach. Before, keeping the Felynes hidden was simply to avoid drawing attention.
Now that the cats had already taken action at Marineford, and he himself had become one of the Seven Warlords, there was naturally no need to keep hiding them anymore.
Moreover, displaying the strength of the crew could make most people who wanted to make a move on Robin back off.
It was just that…
"Has he already thought up your nicknames? Forget it, I'll just call him myself when I have time later."
Huamei Meow: "..."
After Huamei Tiger, Sherwin spoke a few more words with all the cats except Link Meow…
Well, actually, Link Meow did call too. It was just that his strange talent lost its effect after being relayed through the Den Den Mushi.
In the end, he still let out a single "meow," which counted as reporting that he was safe.
Then there was Shirahoshi, crying her eyes out on the other end of the line, followed by Robin, whose tone sounded fairly calm.
In the end, even Dodos and Shirley squeezed over to the receiver and shouted a couple of times.
Finally finishing the call, Sherwin put away the Den Den Mushi and suddenly realized that something seemed off…
Wasn't a certain little yellow cat being far too quiet? He hadn't even made a fuss about wanting to talk to the big sister Felynes.
"Sanji Meow? Are you okay?"
"I'm fine, meow…" Sanji Meow voice sounded dejected, and then he apologized to Sherwin again.
"I'm sorry, it all because of me that you had to wait until now to drink the medicine and recover, meow…"
"Hey, it just a small thing!"
Sherwin rubbed the little head resting on his shoulder, with no hint of blame in his expression.
Although this little dummy moment of impulsiveness earlier had caused his plan to go awry, that was simply something Sanji Meow would do by nature.
It was a bit of a headache, sure, but Sherwin could still understand and accept it.
And to be fair, compared to the explosions Klee Meow occasionally caused, the trouble Sanji Meow made this time really wasn't that serious.
It looked dangerous, but the actual damage Sherwin suffered was far less than back when Klee Meow still couldn't properly control the power of her bombs.
What more, seeing how guilty the little yellow cat looked, it was obvious that he already understood his mistake. Naturally, there was no reason for Sherwin to keep pressing the issue.
"Alright, you little guys cause me trouble all the time anyway. It really nothing serious. Just don't be so impulsive next time."
Seeing that Sanji Meow was still drooping without much spirit, Sherwin gently tugged at his ear and continued to comfort him.
"Besides, if it weren't for your raid suit helping out, we wouldn't have been able to put distance between us and Kaido and make him give up the chase on his own."
Sanji Meow of course knew that if he hadn't been dropped by the Dodo Advance, Sherwin would have already shaken off the enemies through Link Time. Still, Sherwin words of comfort lifted his mood quite a bit.
The little yellow cat, having regained some energy, stretched his neck, licked Sherwin ear, then affectionately rubbed against his cheek.
"Let hurry up and find land, meow! When we get there, I'll make you a big feast, meow!"
"Mm, then I'll look forward to it."
Sherwin smiled, then took out the Hunter Manual and glanced at the map…
Just as he had expected, aside from that "escape route" stretching all the way from the G-5 branch, the surrounding seas were still unexplored. There was no indication at all of where land might be.
The Record Pose fully charged with magnetism had been left on the ship. The ones in Sherwin pouch were either Record Poses that weren't fully charged, with all three needles spinning wildly, or Eternal Poses pointing to the first half of the Grand Line. None of them could be used as a reference.
Going back the way they came wasn't impossible, but Sherwin was worried about running into the returning Beasts Pirates halfway.
And besides…
After casually zooming the map in and out, Sherwin suddenly noticed that, in a place fairly far from them, there was a cluster of cat-head icons packed together.
Right! This map can show the locations of the Felynes.
Sherwin belatedly smacked his forehead.
Because he was usually always together with the cats, he had completely forgotten that the manual map had this function.
Now there was no need for Sherwin to hesitate anymore. He could just swim straight toward where the cats were.