Because of the fight between Sanji ow and Ace, Sherwin and the others stayed one more night at Twin Cape.
The next morning, after sponsoring the Spade Pirates with a Log Pose, the Dodo Advance sailed away from Twin Cape toward Cactus Island.
It was hard to say whether it was ant to drive away overconfident rookies who dared to set foot on the Grand Line, or to give them a heavy enough warning,
but in the stretch of sea between Twin Cape and the first island, the changes in climate were far more violent than what Sherwin and his crew had experienced when they crossed halfway before.
Basically, the weather changed about once every hour of sailing. In just half a day, Sherwin and his companions went through thunderstorms, breezes, snowfall, scorching heat, hail, clear skies, dense fog, overcast skies, and even stretches of completely cloudless skies—both good and bad climates alternating one after another.
And even though everyone clearly felt that the Dodo Advance had been maintaining a straight course,
with the ocean currents below relatively calm—no strange whirlpools or undercurrents altering their heading—the Log Pose still suddenly swung ninety or even one hundred eighty degrees several tis.
Worse still, it often pointed Sherwin toward places where the weather clearly looked dangerous.
Fortunately, Sherwin and his crew had already experienced similar situations when they first crossed the Grand Line.
So no matter how much the shifting winds and climates tried to confuse them, the Dodo Advance firmly followed the direction indicated by the Log Pose.
"Ahhhh! Klee ow snowman lted again, ow!"
Perhaps because the little plush doll especially loved playing in the snow, they had already gone through several bouts of snowfall on the way.
But every ti after Klee ow finished building a snowman, the weather would change quickly, causing the snowman they had worked so hard to build to lt away before long...
Even so, Klee ow still enjoyed it endlessly, and Sherwin and the others could only indulge the little plush doll and play along with her.
But this ti was different, because Sherwin had already seen the enormous cactus rising from the sea horizon—their destination was in sight.
Whiskey Peak, originally just an ordinary town on Cactus Island, was much like the towns on other starting islands.
Its main livelihood had once been hosting pirates who had just entered the Grand Line and providing supplies to passing rchant ships.
But ever since the Warlord Crocodile established the Baroque Works here, Whiskey Peak had been taken over by his bounty hunters.
Aside from a few in charge, most of these people weren’t even the lowest-ranking "Billions" or "Millions." They were rely fringe mbers, casually recruited into Baroque Works.
They usually disguised themselves as the ordinary residents of Whiskey Peak, warmly welcoming any passing pirates.
Once their guests let their guard down, they would steal the treasures the pirates carried and capture—or even kill—them to claim bounties.
And as a criminal organization, they of course didn’t target only pirates. rchant caravans and adventurers passing through were also marked by them, their goods stolen or plundered.
The massive cacti were not plants at all but a kind of green rock known as Cactus Stone. What looked like spines from afar were actually rows upon rows of tombstones.
Because Sherwin and his crew had arrived relatively early, Baroque Works had only occupied the place for a short while.
So most of those tombstones still belonged to the island original residents, with only a small number marking the graves of recently slain pirates.
As the currents carried them closer to Cactus Island, a group of Baroque Works mbers—disguised as residents—waved banners of every kind, raising bouquets and firing party poppers, cheerfully welcoming Sherwin and his companions.
"Welco to the City of Welcos, Whiskey Peak!"
"Welco to the Grand Line!"
"Long live the warriors of the sea!"
Accompanied by the crowd enthusiastic cheers, Sherwin and his crew docked the Dodo Advance at the shore.
"Sherwin-nii, these guys have bad intentions, ow."
"CP? Doesn’t seem like it, ow. More like a bunch of shady innkeepers."
Even though Sherwin didn’t know their true background, under the Observation Haki of Klee ow and Haibara ow, their real intent was laid bare.
"No rush, let play along with them."
Sherwin raised a hand, imitating Old Man Kizaru pose, before leading the Felynes down from the ship.
"Welco, I am Julorde, the mayor of Whiskey Peak."
The one who ca forward to greet them wasn’t the curly-haired old man Sherwin rembered, but an unfamiliar face.
After all, Crocodile plan might have only just begun at this point, and the Kingdom of Alabasta hadn’t reacted yet—so of course, there wouldn’t be any of their undercover agents here.
"...This is a town famous for its winemaking and music, and our specialty is hosting guests from afar."
The fake mayor earnestly introduced Whiskey Peak, then offered to hold a banquet in Sherwin honor.
But...
"We’re just a bunch of kids. Not many of us can drink." Sherwin pointed to the two young Felynes perched on his shoulders, then at his own youthful face. "Besides, I’m not even of age yet."
Julorde: "..."
What now? There didn’t seem to be a response for this in the organization training script!
The stuck fake mayor kept wiping sweat from his face with a handkerchief, needing quite a while before finally recovering.
"O-oh, that not a problem! We can still treat you all to a al! And at the sa ti, you can enjoy the music we’re so proud of!"
"Then we’ll take you up on that."
Sherwin didn’t add any more awkward remarks to choke the man with. If they got annoyed and turned hostile, that would an losing out on a free al.
It had to be said, their disguises were put together with so effort. Not only was the food above average, but the music performances were also quite good.
At least to Sherwin, who didn’t have much of an artistic sense, it felt about the sa as the original soundtracks from the gas he had listened to before crossing over.
The most important thing was that even the one with the most refined taste, Huai ow, also approved of this music.
"Actually... with their level of skill, if they managed things properly, the money they could make shouldn’t be any less than what they earn by robbing others, ow. After all, they’re willing to spend quite a lot just to throw a banquet, ow."
After finishing the free feast, Huai ow gave this evaluation.
Sherwin: "..."
As for Huai ow comnt, Sherwin naturally believed it. After all, scarlet tiger also had exceptional talent in business.
And before Baroque Works took over this place, the fact that Whiskey Peak had been able to survive was already proof that legitimate business was feasible.
As for pirates preying on other pirates, the profit wasn’t necessarily higher than running a proper business.
Not to ntion the cost of free banquets—if they went after pirates with high bounties, they couldn’t beat them or didn’t dare to make a move. As for low-bounty pirates, how much valuable loot could they really carry?
Most importantly, Sherwin suddenly rembered that in the manga, when Luffy and his crew arrived at Twin Cape, Princess Vivi and that prince-disguised Mr. Whatever-number attacked Laboon because Whiskey Peak was short on food and needed whale at to make up for it.
Yet when Luffy and the others later arrived at Cactus Island, this sa group sohow managed to prepare enough food and drinks to treat the Straw Hat Pirates to their fill, completely free of charge.
How should one put it? That really was a brain-dead developnt with a very pirate-like flavor.
In the original story, Princess Vivi did ntion that because Reverse Mountain funneled in the magnetic fields of seven different routes at once, the climate and magnetic fields of the first stretch of the Grand Line would be especially chaotic.
The New World harsher climate was probably for a similar reason—since further down the routes started to overlap, eventually converging at Raftel.
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