People in the world of pirates—especially those key story characters among the pirates—have absurd physical constitutions.
Once Sanji ow had regained his strength from munching on his homade dried fish, Ace and Luffy—who had both been kicked to the point of being unable to move—also regained mobility almost at the sa ti...
Although their recovery wasn’t nearly as quick as Sanji ow, don’t forget: they were covered in injuries, while Sanji ow was almost entirely unhard.
"So you’re actually a good guy, Sherwin!"
Luffy, having recovered, gnawed on the dried fish Sherwin gave him as he cheerfully handed him a "good guy card," holding no grudge at all.
Ace, who had also recovered and was quickly devouring the dried fish, didn’t look nearly as pleased. His expression clearly showed he was struggling to accept the fact that he’d lost to Sherwin and Sanji ow.
"I am a good guy," Sherwin said with a shrug. "Generally speaking, pirates are the ones most people see as the bad guys, right?"
"Oh yeah!" Luffy suddenly realized, slapping his palm with a laugh. "But I still want to be a pirate!"
"You little brat! Still saying stupid stuff like that!" Garp imdiately followed up with a "fist of love."
"Ow, Grandpa! Why does it hurt when you guys hit ?!"
"That obviously because you’re too weak!"
Garp still chose to dodge the question, which only further confird Sherwin suspicion that he was deliberately hiding the existence of Haki from Ace and Luffy.
At that mont, Ace—who had been sulking this whole ti—suddenly spoke up: "Are people outside... all as strong as you guys?"
"Not really," Sherwin replied honestly, ignoring the frantic winking Garp was throwing his way.
"At least in the West Blue and East Blue, the only one I couldn’t beat was old man Chinjao. But even then, if it were now, the outco might not be so certain..."
Sherwin wasn’t bragging. Though he hadn’t been through any life-or-death battles on his journey, he had taken plenty of hits from Klee ow bombs.
His progress in training Armant Haki had gone far more smoothly than expected. And now, with the even stronger Seijuro ow by his side, if he were to fight Chinjao again, he felt he might just have a chance.
"The other pirates felt pretty weak to ," Sherwin continued.
"Especially here in the East Blue. Both their strength and bounties are way lower than those in the West Blue. Even the Marines here seem way less competent."
"Kid! I can’t just pretend I didn’t hear that!" Garp imdiately dropped Luffy, whom he had been carrying by the scruff, and marched up to Sherwin.
"Are you saying the East Blue Marines are garbage?"
Sherwin gave Garp a look full of hidden aning—because he had said that on purpose.
Although the old man didn’t seem like the kind of guy who’d care about things like that, he could actually be surprisingly serious when it ca to certain matters.
Since his plan to beco the "Pirate Lu Xun" had been rejected by Morgans, Sherwin figured he might as well try to work sothing out with Garp.
So Sherwin went on to recount everything he had seen and experienced along his journey, down to the last detail—especially emphasizing the collusion between Captain Nezumi and Arlong, and the tragic state the Conomi Islands had been left in before.
"Those damned bastards!" Garp slamd his fist down, shattering the table in front of everyone into pieces. He roared,
"I’ll have Bogard verify everything right away! If what you said is true, I definitely won’t let those parasites in the Marines off the hook!"
Sherwin, having already achieved his goal, rubbed his chin thoughtfully. He still couldn’t help but ask,
"Compared to the Celestial Dragons, isn’t soone like Nezumi nothing? Vice Admiral Garp, ever thought about cleaning house a little more thoroughly?"
The mont he spoke, he felt a pressure descend on him—far stronger than Chinjao or even Ace. But none of the people around him, not even Klee ow in his arms, seed to notice anything at all.
Advanced-level use of Conqueror Haki...
Sherwin clicked his tongue and calmly t Garp intense glare.
"Hahahahaha!" After staring at Sherwin for a mont, Garp reverted to his usual goofy deanor, laughing heartily as he scratched the back of his head.
But his tone carried a serious warning: "I’ll pretend I didn’t hear that this ti. But you’d better not say things like that again, kid. Even if the Celestial Dragons are trash... they’re not the kind of trash you can just take out easily."
"Whew—" Sherwin let out a small breath, realizing he had let his mouth run a bit just now. He gave Garp a nod and said, "That was out of line."
Though a little disappointed, Sherwin didn’t have much room to complain. After all, even he didn’t yet have the courage to go up against the Celestial Dragons. He had no right to expect Garp to do so either.
Besides...
Even though the Marines were given the na of "justice," in essence, they were still an organization that served the Celestial Dragons.
"Hm? What are the Celestial Dragons?" asked Luffy, clueless as ever.
"They’re kind of like the nobles in your Goa Kingdom," Sherwin replied.
"Only they have even more power—and are way worse."
At the ntion of the nobles from the Goa Kingdom, both Ace and Luffy expressions instantly darkened, and even the mountain bandits nearby looked visibly uncomfortable.
Noticing their reactions, Sherwin casually brought up sothing about Sabo: "When I was in the Goa Kingdom before, I heard that around five or six years ago, a Celestial Dragon ca to visit.
To prepare for the visit, they ’cleaned up’ the trash heap outside the city. Rumor has it one unlucky kid even got hit by a Celestial Dragon cannon fire."
Luffy and his brother faces, along with the bandits, turned even uglier.
"Alright! Stop talking about those annoying guys!" Garp, who had once heard Dadan ntion Sabo, interrupted the topic, then turned to Sherwin and asked, "Kid, interested in joining the Navy?"
"No." Sherwin refused without hesitation.
Garp seed to have expected this and, with a "just as I thought" expression, pointed at Luffy and Ace and continued,
"Then, how about helping train these two brats, along with these few Felynes?"
"And what benefit do I get from that?"
This ti, Sherwin didn’t refuse outright, but instead started negotiating with Garp. Still, he didn’t think Garp could offer any conditions that would truly tempt him.
After all, when it ca to Haki training, he had already learned nearly everything from old man Chinjao.
And even if he needed a teacher or sparring partner, wasn’t Koushirou from Shimotsuki Village a much better option?
As for the Navy Rokushiki, setting aside whether they would even teach it to him, even if they did, it wouldn’t be of much use.
He had already mastered the superior substitute—Color of Armant and Color of Observation Haki.
Though so advanced applications of Rokushiki were definitely powerful—otherwise, CP wouldn’t have continued using that system all this ti—but how long would it take to master them? With that ti, Sherwin would rather refine his swordsmanship and other Hunter skills.
Of course, fighting soone as skilled as Garp was a valuable experience in itself. But considering the old man personality—always going overboard when he struck—Sherwin felt torn.
On one hand, he really wanted to have a bout with him, but on the other, he worried he might end up getting beaten too badly. For the mont, he couldn’t make up his mind.
"Benefits, huh..." Garp tilted his head in frustration. He also realized that he didn’t really have anything he could offer Sherwin. As for giving pointers...
The kid had already said outright that Garp teaching ability wasn’t great. Garp, the legendary Iron Fist, still had his pride, after all—was he supposed to just throw away his face like that?
So, Garp simply kicked the ball back to Sherwin:"Then what do you want? I still have so connections in the Navy. Maybe I can get it for you."
Huh?
Garp words gave Sherwin an idea. The Navy—or rather, the World Governnt—did have quite a lot of good stuff in their possession.
"Can you get a Devil Fruit?" Sherwin instantly sat up straight.
"You little brat, dreaming big, aren’t you? Even if there was one, there no way we’d give it to you!" Garp burst out laughing at Sherwin outrageous request, then casually swung a fist toward his head.
He probably just did it out of habit, having smacked Luffy and Ace so many tis. But Sherwin wasn’t going to let him get away with that nasty habit.
Plus, he already had a bit of a desire to test himself against Garp—so he clenched his own fist and t the blow head-on without hesitation.
At the sa ti, he reached into his arms and picked up Klee ow, handing her off to Hua i ow beside him to look after.
"Hmm?"
Garp grinned widely. Not only did he not pull back his fist, he increased the force behind it—and even coated it with Armant Haki.
Unwilling to back down, Sherwin activated his own Armant Haki as well. Not only that, he entered demon mode and unleashed his Enegy Blade Slash technique.
This was currently the strongest burst of power Sherwin could unleash in a sudden situation.
With a violent gust of wind from their punches, a large and a small fist collided with a deafening impact.
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