"Ptoo, ptoo, ptoo! Your Marine ship is total garbage—how can it not even have an emergency braking system?"
Sherwin brushed the dust off his body, lifted the wreckage pressing down on him, and walked out from a pile of debris.
"That strange. The previous test runs all went smoothly—how did it suddenly refuse to stop?"
Kizaru, who had reassembled his body from scattered points of light, scratched his head and muttered in confusion.
But he quickly put on his familiar sleazy grin. "Well, something that being officially put into use for the first time having a few malfunctions is pretty normal, right~?"
The other Seven Warlords and the Marines responsible for operating the ship also climbed out of the wreckage one after another…
"I will absolutely never board a Marine ship again!"
"Fuffuffuffu… you wouldn't happen to be planning to wipe us all out in one go using this method, would you?"
Although the other Warlords didn't voice their complaints, they all cast dissatisfied looks at Kizaru and the Marines.
Moria was even more malicious, pulling out his giant scissors. "Heehehehehe! Marines who work so carelessly—why not let me cut off their shadows and turn them into zombie soldiers instead?"
Sherwin ignored the dispute over there. He looked around at the familiar faces present, then raised his hand and greeted them enthusiastically. "Everyone, long time no see!"
"Brat! We invited you here to deal with the BIG MOM Pirates! Not to reminisce!" Garp shouted irritably, having temporarily stopped fighting.
Charlotte Linlin, meanwhile, wore a gloomy expression as she demanded, "Sherwin, are you planning to stand against me as well?!"
Tch! I knew it!
Because BIG MOM had unilaterally regarded Sherwin as her "future son-in-law," his appearance here naturally made her see him as a "traitor."
Sherwin wasn't particularly bothered by it anyway.
"I'm actually pretty comfortable being a Shichibukai. I'm not planning to resign anytime soon," Sherwin shrugged as he answered.
"Then go die!"
Charlotte Linlin immediately abandoned Akainu and Garp, swung Napoleon, and slashed straight at Sherwin.
Old man Garp rushed in at once to try to stop Big Mom, but that Akainu bastard turned his head and went off to deal with other people instead.
"Damn it!"
Sherwin had long expected to be targeted by Big Mom, but he hadn't anticipated Akainu being so petty.
Fortunately, Kizaru and Aokiji were still reliable. They immediately moved in to fill the gap Akainu left behind.
As for Sherwin, he had no intention whatsoever of fighting Big Mom head-on. Taking advantage of the moment when she was entangled by two Admirals and Garp, he quickly withdrew and then began slacking off according to plan…
"Isn't this Cracker? Come on, let me see whether you've made any progress lately."
Sherwin blocked his "old opponent." With a casual swing of the Longsword, he dispersed the two biscuit soldiers Cracker had summoned, then crossed blades with him.
Cracker, who had been somewhat nervous at first, took several strikes from Sherwin and soon realized that although the longsword in Sherwin hand looked ferocious as it swung, it actually carried very little force. Instantly, he understood Sherwin intentions.
"Don't push your luck too far!"
Smashing apart the newly summoned biscuit soldier again, Sherwin lowered his voice in warning.
Slacking off by trading blows with Cracker, a former defeated opponent, was already more than enough. If he let Cracker keep summoning biscuit soldiers to go help elsewhere, it would be hard to explain things to the Navy…
He still wanted the Power Stone from the World Government!
Seeing Sherwin attitude, Cracker also understood that Sherwin bottom line was dragging him along to "disconnect" together.
Considering the other man true strength, Cracker was worried about his brothers and sisters, but he didn't stir up any more trouble and instead cooperated with Sherwin, putting on an act with him.
While Sherwin and Cracker were having a great time acting things out on this side, the other Shichibukai weren't fighting seriously either.
Mihawk, who had originally wanted to test himself against a Yonko, lost most of his fighting spirit after seeing BIG·MOM already surrounded by the Navy.
He had no interest in taking advantage of someone else situation, and he wasn't particularly interested in the other members of the BIG·MOM Pirates either.
So after casually releasing a few slashes, he simply folded his arms and stood off to the side, with no intention of continuing the battle.
A few nearby Marines tried to urge him to keep fighting, but the moment he shot them a glare sharp as a hawk, they immediately didn't dare say another word.
As for Hancock, who hadn't wanted to come in the first place, she simply hadn't lifted a finger at all…
"I don't wish to fight, so you'll all forgive me, won't you?"
Hancock put on a pitiful, delicate expression, making it impossible for the surrounding Marines to harden their hearts and criticize her.
Jinbe, meanwhile, was similar to Sherwin. He found a few fish-man pirates and staged some fake fights, though he was a bit more "dedicated" than Sherwin—whenever Marines ran into danger, he would casually step in and save them.
By comparison, Heavenly Yaksha so-called "Anti–Hunter Squad" was far more proactive.
Cavendish hardly needed mentioning. He had long since reached an agreement with the Marines and was the most hardworking of all the Seven Warlords.
It was just that his strength ranked among the bottom tier of the Warlords, so no matter how hard he tried, his impact on the overall battlefield was limited.
The second most active was Gecko Moria. In order to replenish the corpses of powerful fighters that had been burned away by Klee Meow, he threw himself fully into attacking the BIG MOM Pirates.
At the same time, however, he also diverted part of his attention to collecting the Marine corpses that had fallen as well.
Perhaps because he had already reached an agreement with the Marines beforehand, the surrounding Marines looked displeased but did not step forward to stop him.
Even so, despite being somewhat distracted, Moria Shadow-Shadow Fruit was better suited for large-scale battles, so the threat he posed to the BIG MOM Pirates was actually greater than Cavendish.
As for Doflamingo, although he too was attacking pirates, his method was to use puppet strings to control both Marines and pirates at the same time, putting on a grotesque puppet show and trying to make both side "puppets" destroy each other.
With his status as a "former Celestial Dragon," he could act so recklessly, completely unconcerned about being held accountable afterward.
Naturally, the Marines were not about to let Heavenly Yaksha continue this farce. Vice Admiral Tsuru, who was commanding from the rear, decisively took action and went to put a stop to Doflamingo "game."
"Stop it, Doflamingo. If you don't want us to attack you."
"Fufufufu… since Staff Officer Tsuru says so… then let end it here."
However, Heavenly Yaksha actions completely contradicted his words. As his fingers moved, the Marines and pirates under his control all abandoned their defenses and charged at each other with a suicidal resolve.
"…Sigh."
Vice Admiral Tsuru, who had long since guessed that Doflamingo would not obediently comply, raised her hand and reached straight for him.
"Tch!"
Many years ago, Doflamingo had already suffered at Vice Admiral Tsuru hands. He could only stop his little amusement and dodge Tsuru withered, firewood-like hand that looked utterly lacking in strength.
After forcing Doflamingo back, Vice Admiral Tsuru did not continue her attack. Instead, she covered the Marines who had just been controlled, escorting them to the side to bandage their wounds, and at the same time used the Wash-Wash Fruit to slap the pirates who had also just broken free of Heavenly Yaksha control, turning them into clothing-like "paper people."
Something not right…
After sparring with Cracker for a while, Sherwin finally sensed a hint of incongruity.
Even though most of the Seven Warlords were slacking off or even dragging things down, if this trend continued, even if BIG MOM herself was not killed or captured by the Marines, her pirate crew would still suffer severe losses.
It was one thing for the emotional Charlotte Linlin to refuse to retreat, but Cracker and the other members of the crew also did not seem particularly anxious.
If Sherwin had arrived a bit earlier, he would have noticed that the current behavior of the BIG MOM Pirates was exactly the same as the Marine ten-odd minutes ago—they were all stalling for time while trying their best to preserve their own strength.
There was only one explanation for this situation…
The BIG MOM Pirates also had reinforcements!