"Oh? Is that so? Let me see."
Sherwin was also very curious about who this final Warlord of the Sea was. Could it be the same as the original, recruiting that so-called "Whitebeard Jr."?
But considering that Whitebeard was still alive right now, he felt the likelihood wasn't very high…
Even if Miss Bakkin were blinded by greed and ignored Whitebeard stance, insisting on pushing Edward Weevil to become the final Warlord of the Sea, the Marines would never use such a method to provoke Whitebeard without first clarifying the situation.
Moreover, although in the original story they ultimately did recruit Weevil, that was only after Whitebeard had already died, combined with vacancies among the Warlords and the Marine urgent need for combat power, leaving them no choice but to overlook many concerns.
But now, the seas were still relatively stable. Sengoku had not retired, and Aokiji had not left, so the World Government still had to take Zephyr feelings into account to some extent.
With that in mind, the possibility of it being Weevil became even lower.
Most importantly, Sherwin had not received any news of Zephyr betraying the Marines during this period.
As for Blackbeard, he was still hiding within the Whitebeard Pirates, playing the role of a good son, so it definitely couldn't be him.
Trafalgar Law already knew Doflamingo background and had obtained promises from Sherwin and Kuma, so it was highly unlikely he would still choose the manga original method to oppose the Heavenly Yaksha.
Besides, at this time he should still be wandering around the North Blue, and his reputation was nowhere near enough to meet the requirements to become a Warlord.
As for Buggy the Clown, that was even more impossible. Before his status as a former Pirate King crew member was exposed, his fame was even lower than Law.
Not to mention, Buggy still had to stay in the East Blue to serve as an experience pack for Luffy, the protagonist, a few more times.
It couldn't possibly be Kuma, right? He had no reason at all to become a Warlord now.
After running through all the possible candidates in his mind, Sherwin only grew more confused.
With these doubts, he opened the newspaper that Huamei Meow handed to him…
As expected, the final member of the Seven Warlords was not any of the ones from the original work, but he could still be considered an "acquaintance" of Sherwin and the others.
Because on the front page headline of the newspaper was printed a very familiar handsome face—"White Horse" Cavendish.
"Heh heh heh… so this is Aokiji solution, or rather, the Marine solution?"
Sherwin let out a snort of laughter, couldn't be bothered to read the contents any further, closed the newspaper directly, and tossed it aside.
The World Government thinking was far too easy to guess.
As the prince of an allied kingdom, Cavendish could not possibly be executed or thrown into Impel Down just for "killing a few civilians." But just as Sherwin had said before, the Marines could not keep Aokiji protecting Cavendish at his side forever.
In that case, making him one of the Seven Warlords became the best possible choice.
Although during the earlier negotiations, Sherwin had obtained the right to take action against the other Seven Warlords, that premise required the other party to provoke Sherwin or do something that violated "the law." And under the privileges granted to the Seven Warlords by the World Government, what Cavendish had done was, strictly speaking, "legal."
So if Sherwin still wanted to keep his status as a Seven Warlord, then he could not make a move against Cavendish…
At least not openly.
Additionally, Cavendish appearance gave him extremely high popularity among women. Letting him become a Seven Warlord could, to a certain extent, also boost the reputation of the Marines and the World Government.
And there was yet another point…
Cavendish had a grudge against Sherwin.
Sherwin had not forgotten that at the very beginning, the World Government and the Marines had wanted him to be isolated by the other Seven Warlords.
It was just that Hunter had always treated others with kindness, so their plan had failed.
But now, with Cavendish joining, among the remaining six Seven Warlords, half of them bore grudges against Sherwin.
As for the other three, Hawk-Eye could only be considered an acquaintance, while Hancock had once had a minor conflict with him—though neither side cared about it anymore. So the only one he was truly close to was Jinbe.
So… those guys still hadn't given up?
Sherwin curled his lips, but didn't take it too seriously. After all, among the Seven Warlords, aside from Hawk-Eye, none of the others could really pose much of a threat to him.
Moreover, for the time being, he had no intention of deliberately going out of his way to trouble Cavendish.
After all, he was now so lazy that he couldn't even be bothered to kill small-time pirates who surrendered quickly.
So long as Cavendish didn't do something stupid and come looking for trouble with Sherwin again, he had no desire to risk losing such a useful Seven Warlords position just because of that guy.
What he was slightly curious about was this: it had already been quite a long time since Aokiji took Cavendish away, so why had he only now become one of the Seven Warlords?
The pirate world didn't have anything like "fifteen days of detention." With Cavendish status, it was even more impossible that he would be sent to Impel Down for a period of labor reform before being released…
"Huamei, do you know what that guy did after Aokiji took him away?"
Sherwin picked up the newspaper he had tossed aside earlier, shook it toward Huamei Meow, and asked.
"I don't know. That guy wasn't very strong to begin with, and Admiral, you didn't seem to have any intention of continuing to bother him back then, so I didn't pay attention to him at all, meow."
(ω≡ω)
Lord Xiang Feihu shook her head and added, "But I can ask around. Admiral, you can also try asking Mr. Morgans, meow."
Even without her reminder, Sherwin had already planned to do exactly that.
So, after one man and one cat each made calls through their respective intelligence networks, they obtained essentially the same information—
After that conflict with Sherwin, Cavendish had never shown himself again. Even when the matter of him becoming one of the Seven Warlords was officially announced, no one still knew where he was.
Because of this, Morgans even specially complained to Sherwin, since this time he hadn't received the slightest bit of advance news about the Seven Warlords. The World Government had announced it completely out of the blue.
To make sure they could at least get a sip of the soup, several of the World Economy New printing presses were burned out.
That is to say, after being taken away by Aokiji, Cavendish had been under the control of the Marines or the World Government the entire time?
Sherwin rubbed his chin, and suddenly thought of a possibility…
Could it be that Aokiji had taken Cavendish to see Vegapunk?
If there were anyone capable of solving Cavendish split personality problem, Sherwin could only think of him.
After all, Kuma had become one of the Seven Warlords precisely because he went to Vegapunk for treatment, so it was entirely possible that Cavendish had encountered a similar situation.
It was just that, given Cavendish status, he probably wouldn't end up in as miserable a condition as Kuma had in the original story.
Although he couldn't confirm his guess, nor did he know whether Cavendish split personality had been cured, Sherwin had already lost most of his interest in finding out…
After all, if nothing unexpected happened, it would be very difficult for Cavendish to have any further intersection with him in the future.
So after giving himself a fairly reasonable explanation, Sherwin planned to set this guy matter aside.
However…
As expected—
the unexpected still happened.
Sherwin also hadn't anticipated that his second meeting with Cavendish would come so quickly…