"How did you end up provoking that troublesome guy Akainu?"
After Akainu left, Kizaru immediately asked with a wry smile, "Before this, his evaluation of you was actually pretty high. He kept talking about getting you to join the Navy."
Yet Sherwin was completely innocent. He hadn't done anything at all, but the other party inexplicably came over and started pointing fingers at him.
In fact, setting aside their respective positions, Sherwin evaluation of Akainu wasn't bad either.
Even though Akainu had just lectured him with that overbearing, fatherly tone, Sherwin still thought so.
Because in the entire Navy, Akainu was probably the one who best fit the definition of a "soldier." It was just a pity that the World Government behind the Navy was no good, so the more competent Akainu was as a naval officer, the more he ended up aiding and abetting evil.
On top of that, he was an absolute hardliner with ruthless methods. So even if his attitude toward pirates was one of total extermination, Sherwin still couldn't bring himself to like him.
Therefore, now that he already had sufficient strength and status, Sherwin naturally wasn't going to indulge Akainu bad habits.
After briefly explaining what had just happened, Kizaru didn't really know what to say.
Unlike Akainu, that die-hard believer in absolute justice, Kizaru believed in ambiguous justice.
In other words, he was the admiral who best understood compromise and the art of slacking off.
Naturally, he wouldn't be like Akainu, thinking that there was anything wrong with what Sherwin had done…
The World Government had no objections, so why should the Marines be so serious about arguing with Sherwin over this?
So in his heart, Kizaru couldn't help but complain that Akainu was really asking for trouble.
Especially at a time like this, when they needed the Seven Warlords to contribute their strength—making a scene like this was practically weakening their own side combat power.
But on the surface, he couldn't say that. Instead, he had to help Akainu smooth things over.
"Don't worry, he just talking," Kizaru said as he patted Sherwin on the shoulder.
"Sakazuki temper is a bit fiery, and his personality isn't great either, but he'll still obey the World Government orders."
Of course, after saying this, let alone the Seven Warlords—even Kizaru himself didn't really believe it. Still, he had to put on such an attitude to calm Sherwin and the others.
And while saying this, he squeezed one eye at Sherwin through his sunglasses, and the hand gripping Sherwin shoulder tightened deliberately.
Sherwin: "..."
How should he put it? He wasn't sure whether Kizaru was deliberately putting on a show for him, or if he was genuinely using this method to remind him because of Sanji Meow.
Either way, the behavior felt pretty absurd to Sherwin.
Aside from Moria, that dead fat man whose strength had plummeted, everyone else present was an expert who had mastered Observation Haki. Kizaru little gestures were impossible to hide from the others.
"All right then, Sherwin, I won't disturb you all any longer."
Since the cats—more precisely, Sanji Meow—weren't around, Kizaru had no intention of staying any longer. He waved at Sherwin and prepared to leave.
Beside him, Aokiji let out another helpless sigh…
Originally, he had wanted to take this opportunity to talk with Sherwin about Robin.
Although Sherwin had already stood his ground against both Kaido and Akainu for Robin sake, that still didn't necessarily mean he truly regarded Robin as a companion. After all, anyone with ambitions toward the Poneglyphs would also refuse to back down.
So Kuzan had actually hoped that through further contact with Sherwin, he might be able to discern a bit more.
But with Sakazuki causing such a disturbance, and considering that their previous meeting hadn't exactly been pleasant… Kuzan felt that Sherwin was probably no longer willing to speak with him calmly.
Still, he wasn't particularly disappointed. Judging from Sherwin behavior, the likelihood of him being an ambitious schemer was quite low.
It was just that, twice in a row, whenever he tried to make contact with Sherwin, something unexpected had happened—leaving Aokiji feeling somewhat vexed.
Tch! That Sakazuki guy really does nothing but cause trouble!
After giving Sherwin a long, deep look, knowing he had once again missed his chance, Aokiji followed behind Kizaru and left together with him.
"Fufufufufu… I didn't expect you to have such good relations with a Marine Admiral as well. As expected of the most special one among the Seven Warlords."
Doflamingo narrowed his eyes, every word carrying an undercurrent of trying to isolate Sherwin from the Seven Warlords.
However, Jinbe and Mihawk, who were seated beside Sherwin, showed no reaction at all. Clearly, such petty tricks were nowhere near enough to fool them.
The Heavenly Yaksha, whose attempt at sowing discord had failed, did not feel disappointed.
He had only tried it casually in the first place—success would have been ideal, but failure simply meant maintaining the status quo. Either way, he lost nothing.
What was more, wasn't there still a "neutral" Warlord present?
Doflamingo shifted his gaze toward Boa Hancock, who had followed Kizaru in and remained silent ever since.
What he did not know was that, compared to Sherwin—who had once made her lose face—Hancock despised the Heavenly Yaksha, a man who dealt in the slave trade, even more.
Of course, that did not mean Hancock would take Sherwin side because of it.
"Hmph! Such boring men!"
Hancock lifted her chin high, completely ignoring all the male Warlords present. She walked off on her own, found a spot, and sat atop her pet snake.
Then, with a commanding gesture, she ordered a Marine, "I am thirsty! Bring me something to drink!"
The Marines, who had long since been completely captivated by the Pirate Empress, immediately brought over all kinds of beverages and alcohol. She casually picked one, sipping it in small mouthfuls.
Those who were familiar with the Pirate Empress temperament naturally did not go over to talk to her and invite discomfort upon themselves.
As for Cavendish, although he had never met Hancock before, as the "world most handsome man," his resistance to beauty seemed quite high.
He merely glanced at her a few times before withdrawing his gaze, not becoming absent-minded like those Marines.
Thus, the hall quickly returned to its previous state, except that there was now an additional Boa Hancock who sided with neither party.
After drinking with Jinbe and the others for a while longer, Sherwin was instead the first to grow restless…
He did not enjoy drinking, and there were no cats to pet here either, so he soon began to feel bored.
"I'm planning to go out and look around. What about you?"
Sherwin set down his glass.
"No interest."
Mihawk shook his head. Not much of a drinker himself, he had already stopped long before Sherwin.
Just now, he had been sitting there with his arms crossed, eyes closed in quiet rest, only occasionally joining the conversation when the mood struck him.
Jinbe thought for a moment as well, then shook his head. "I won't go with you either."
As he spoke, his gaze flicked toward Doflamingo.
Clearly, he intended to stay behind and keep an eye out for Sherwin.
Although Sherwin felt it was unnecessary, he did not refuse the gesture of goodwill. After nodding to Jinbe, he left the mayor mansion alone and began wandering aimlessly around Obestan Island…
After touring most of the not-so-large island, Sherwin finally became certain that this definitely wasn't the place to ambush BIG MOM.
Because among the three Admiral auras, two were already gone. Only Kizaru, the fastest one, remained.
And aside from that, the Marine auras left on the island were fairly ordinary. Forget Marineford— even the SHIELD unit or the G-5 branch had stronger overall presence than this place.
Leaving aside Kizaru and Sherwin group of Seven Warlords, this place at best was only on the level of a relatively strong Four Seas branch.
So… was this just a smokescreen?
Thinking about it that way made things feel a bit more reasonable.
Setting aside Sherwin, a Seven Warlord who didn't come from a pirate background, the other Warlords weren't exactly trusted by the Marines.
Whitebeard at the summit war was an open confrontation, so there was no need to hide anything from them.
But an ambush on BIG MOM required covert operations— that earlier kind of high-profile mobilization clearly wouldn't be appropriate.
With no cats to pet, the idle Sherwin put a bit more thought into it…
Their side was probably meant to serve as a smokescreen and reserve force. The real ambush on BIG MOM should be taking place on another island, most likely not too far away.
After BIG MOM fell into the trap, they would move out to join the encirclement or cut off her retreat.
Sherwin replayed his deductions in his mind and felt that he was probably right eight or nine times out of ten.
To verify his guess, he even took out a Den Den Mushi and called Klee Meow. Sure enough, just as he expected, the signal was blocked— meaning they were no longer able to transmit any information to the outside.
However…
Sherwin immediately took out another antenna shaped like a tuning fork and placed it on the Den Den Mushi shell.
How could Haibara Meow and Purah Meow, those two research cats, not have studied a miraculous creature like the Den Den Mushi—part living being, part "digital device"? Not to mention that within the bizarre climate and geography of the Grand Line, signal interference was something that came up often.
So long ago, Purah Meow had already tinkered together a device specifically meant to boost the Den Den Mushi signal.
"Big brother Sherwin~ Klee misses you so much, meow!"
Very quickly, the antenna-equipped Den Den Mushi transmitted the soft, sweet, milk-cute voice of the little ragdoll cat.