Three days after Cavendish became one of the Seven Warlords of the Sea, Sherwin and the others were sailing across the sea as usual. Among a pile of Den Den Mushi gnawing on vegetable leaves, one suddenly rang…
"Buru buru buru…"
Sherwin glanced at it and realized the ringing one was his personal Den Den Mushi.
Although his personal Den Den Mushi wasn't much different from the expedition team shared public Den Den Mushi, and quite a few people knew this number, generally speaking, they would first call the public Den Den Mushi. Only if no one answered would they then dial this number.
Only people with rather sensitive identities would contact him through this Den Den Mushi right away—such as Uncle Kody, Kuma, Shakky, or Morgans when he wanted to discuss something more confidential with him.
Could it be news about a Devil Fruit?
Since he had asked Morgans some time ago to keep an eye out for Mythical Zoan-type and spatial-type fruits, that was naturally the first thing that came to Sherwin mind.
However, when he picked up the receiver, what appeared on the Den Den Mushi face wasn't a beak, but two familiar little mustaches…
"Uncle Kody?" Sherwin was slightly disappointed for two seconds, but quickly reacted. "Is there news about the Dyna Stones?"
"Meow?!!" ×2
(=ω=) ×2
The two Bombing Cats that had been playing around not far away instantly perked up their ears, their eyes shining as they looked over.
"Ahem, that right. The World Government has agreed to trade the Dyna Stones with you, but they can only give you one."
As Uncle Kody on the other end of the line gave his affirmative answer, Jinx and Klee Meow immediately dashed over, skillfully climbing up onto Sherwin shoulders.
The two little cats each grabbed one of his ears and tugged at them excitedly.
Reaching out to pat the heads of the two little troublemakers, Sherwin—long since used to this—calmly continued to ask, "So, what the price?"
"..."
After a brief silence on the other end, he slowly replied, "An ambush on Big Mom."
"…Huh?!"
"Don't worry, the Marines will also take action, and we'll be summoning the other Warlords as well," Uncle Kody hurriedly added.
(=`ω)」
"That nun, meow!"
Just as Sherwin was still digesting the news, with a reminder from Huamei Meow, Link Meow had already dashed in front of him.
He struck a pose like Ultraman firing a beam and accurately conveyed Lord Huamei inference to Sherwin.
With the cat reminder, Sherwin instantly understood.
The World Government had indeed taken advantage of the information he had deliberately fanned during the tea party and made a move against Big Mom.
Then Cavendish becoming one of the Seven Warlords of the Sea clearly wasn't just to save his life. This war against a Yonko was obviously also part of the conditions.
Thinking about it now, this was indeed far more reasonable. After all, Cavendish was merely a prince of an allied nation—there was no need for the World Government to show him such special care, especially when Sherwin had never shown any intention of going all-out against Cavendish.
At the same time, Sherwin also figured out where the heavy resentment in Uncle Kody tone during their earlier call had come from.
The World Government plan must have already been in preparation at that time, or even earlier.
But the problem was…
Sherwin was only responsible for stirring the flames. He had never intended to get involved himself!
"You didn't seriously think that just because you attended one tea party, Big Mom wouldn't come looking for trouble with you anymore, did you?"
Seeing that Sherwin hadn't replied for a long time, Uncle Kody couldn't help but speak again.
"Don't be naïve. Unless you take little Klee Meow and the others and join the Big Mom Pirates, there no way she'll let you off… or are you really planning to become a pirate?"
"How could that be?" Sherwin curled his lips. "If I wanted to be a pirate, would I have waited until now?"
"That good then…"
Kody couldn't help but let out a sigh of relief. The reason he had dared to state the World Government plan so directly just now was because he was confident that Sherwin was still the same as before—someone who couldn't stand the actions of pirates.
Even if the deal fell through, he wouldn't go and inform BIG·MOM.
And besides…
Did they really think CP agents couldn't see through Sherwin deliberate attempt to stir things up?
It was just that they happened to want to take this opportunity to strike at the increasingly rampant pirates on the seas, so they chose not to make an issue of Sherwin intentions.
…Though even if they wanted to make an issue of it, there really wasn't much they could do to Sherwin anyway.
Still, better safe than sorry.
It was also a fact that Sherwin got along very well with the BIG·MOM Pirates in Totto Land, and it wasn't exactly a secret that the BIG·MOM Pirates were fond of political marriages.
It was perfectly normal for a young man to be unable to resist temptation.
Not to mention that Sherwin had once stood up head-on against Kaido for Nico Robin—he already had a record like that!
Fortunately, Sherwin didn't disappoint him.
"So then, what are you still hesitating about?" Kody pressed on.
"This operation will involve other Seven Warlords of the Sea and Marine Admirals. Safety is still guaranteed, and the World Government won't require you to risk your life."
In fact, the World Government had been worrying about how to get Sherwin to participate in the battle in the first place.
His situation was different from that of the other Seven Warlords of the Sea, and it was very difficult for the World Government to force him to do anything. Then they just happened to run into his desire for Dyna Stones.
Just as Sherwin had said, although the power of Dyna Stones was enormous, the World Government had many ways to destroy islands and wasn't lacking this one method.
Keeping them under control was simply to prevent them from falling into other people hands.
But if only one or two pieces leaked out—and the recipient was someone like Sherwin, a "pro-Marine" type—the World Government could still accept that.
So after Kody reported Sherwin request, he didn't actually spend much effort speaking on Sherwin behalf at all—the application was approved right away.
Kody, who had originally been agonizing over how to come up with a deal that would satisfy both sides, was momentarily left a bit dumbfounded by this turn of events.
But after learning the World Government thinking, he immediately felt that this was actually a pretty good set of terms.
Not only could it allow Sherwin to obtain Dyna Stones, it could also make him clearly draw a line between himself and the BIG·MOM Pirates again!
Of course, Kody also understood that, from Sherwin standpoint, playing both sides was the optimal choice.
Still, he couldn't help worrying that this young man he thought highly of might really be pulled over to BIG·MOM side…
After all, he had a prior record!
Sherwin, for his part, had absolutely no idea that Uncle Kody had already slapped a "lecher" label on him, but he wasn't in a hurry to agree to this deal either.
Because…
(=ω=)
"That a Yonko we're talking about, and I only just managed to build a good relationship with them. Doing this will earn BIG·MOM resentment.
Don't give me any nonsense about it being foolproof—if you were really that confident, you wouldn't have let the Yonko squat in the New World for so many years. So… you'll have to pay more!"
Based on the information relayed by Link Meow, Sherwin began haggling with Uncle Kody.
On the other end of the Den Den Mushi, Kody wore an expression of exactly what he had expected.
Before making this call, he had already guessed that this guy Sherwin was going to try to gouge them like a lion (cat) opening its mouth wide again.
"We can't give you a lot of Dyna Stones," Kody replied.
"Of course, I didn't need that much to begin with." Sherwin said while glancing at Link Meow, who was wiggling his eyebrows nonstop.
"But one piece is still too little. You have to at least give Klee some room for trial and error, right? How about three pieces? Also, since you can't give much of the Dyna stone, then just use Devil Fruits as a substitute… I think a Mythical Zoan would be pretty good."
"How could we possibly give you that kind of fruit?!"
Even though he was mentally prepared, Kody was still so enraged by the demand Sherwin made so casually that his blood pressure shot through the roof.
"Tch… then give me a fruit with spatial transfer abilities. That way, if I run into Kaido again, it'll be easier for me to make a clean escape."
Under the direction of Huamei Meow, Sherwin made another "perfectly reasonable" request.
Mm—unsurprisingly, it was rejected again…
"Impossible! Fruits like that are extremely sought after even within the CP organizations. We don't even have enough for ourselves—how could we give one to you?!"
Afraid that Sherwin might say something even more infuriating, Kody hurriedly continued,
"And I already told you, you won't be the only one participating in this battle. The danger level isn't actually that high.
Even if BIG MOM wants revenge, she won't be targeting just you alone, so there no way we're offering that high of a reward!"
╮(=ΦωΦ=)╭
Seeing that Uncle Kody was genuinely panicking, and that Link Meow was also gesturing helplessly, Sherwin could only decide to stop while he was ahead.
"Then three pieces of Dyna stone it is… sigh… I'm really taking a huge loss here."
"Mm, then it settled…" Kody nodded on the other end of the call, then suddenly reacted. "Wait! When did I ever agree to give you three pieces?!"