"An entire island made of desert sand?! How is this ow-possible?! Why doesn’t it collapse, ow?!"
Haibara ow stared at the enormous island in the distance, almost entirely composed of sand, her face full of confusion.
"There a Sand Barioth on this island, ow?" Huai ow asked curiously.
"How could that be..." Sherwin chuckled.
"There are only Sea Kings here, no Elder Dragons... well, probably none. Even if there were, they wouldn’t be the sa kind of Elder Dragon you’re familiar with."
"Then how can a desert form right in the middle of the ocean, ow?" Haibara ow tilted her head, utterly puzzled.
"With the properties of sand, it shouldn’t be able to stay stable against the waves erosion... especially when there no vegetation nearby, ow."
Sherwin, however, wasn’t surprised at all. He shrugged and said, "Nature is full of wonders—especially the nature of this world. Haven’t you gotten used to it yet?"
Haibara ow thought back on all the unbelievable sights they had encountered along the way and had to admit Sherwin had a point...
So the little kitten stopped overthinking and instead gave Sherwin a fierce bite.
Sherwin: "..."
The truth was, Sherwin calmness ca not only from being long accustod to the Grand Line violations of earthly common sense, but also because... Earth itself had a massive coastal desert.
That desert, called the Namib, wasn’t a full desert-type island, but rely a coastal desert.
Still, the principle should be roughly the sa?He even rembered that back when he first read the manga and questioned whether the Kingdom of Alabasta could really exist, he had specifically searched online and learned about it.
"Ugh... Sherwin, the sll here is so sharp, ow!"
(=` =)
As soon as they approached the harbor, all the Felynes instinctively covered their noses with their paws. Sanji ow, who had the sharpest sense of sll, was even choked to the point that tears welled up in his eyes.
"What the ow is this?!"
The little yellow Felyne rolled around on the deck in agony.
Sherwin quickly tore a few strips of cloth, dampened them with water, and handed them to the Felynes to cover their mouths and noses.
"Finally breathing again, ow..." Hua i ow showed a slightly regretful expression before muttering in a muffled voice,
"I rember now, this is the Rapeseed Port of the Alabasta Kingdom. The local specialty here is perfu. I should have reminded everyone to prepare in advance, ow."
"It fine, it fine. It not too late to prepare now. It just a matter of sewing a few masks." Sherwin patted Hua i ow head to comfort her.
"No need, ow!" Haibara ow suddenly stepped forward, pulling several oddly shaped masks out of her bag.
"I already made gas masks for everyone. As long as you wear these, there won’t be any problem, ow!"
Sherwin took one of the masks from the little kitten paws and examined it, finding that overall it wasn’t much different from an ordinary gas mask—just shaped and sized to better fit Felynes.
"When did you prepare these? And why would you even bother making gas masks?" Sherwin asked, half laughing and half exasperated.
"Oh, I made them back when I was developing poison gas bombs, ow," Haibara ow said flatly through the muffled voice of her mask, uttering sothing extrely dangerous in the calst tone.
"Since they weren’t useful in daily life, I just left them in my bag. If it weren’t for this situation, I would’ve completely forgotten about them, ow."
As she spoke, she pulled out a standard-sized gas mask and handed it to Sherwin. "I made one for you too. No need to thank , ow."
Although she said it like that, the expression on her face—one that not even a gas mask could hide—clearly read "Hurry up and praise ." If he didn’t say anything, this tsundere little kitten would definitely hold a grudge.
So...
Sherwin silently accepted the gas mask and stuffed it into his own bag.
"Hmph!"
(=`н=)
As expected, Haibara ow flicked her tail in a huff, sending out a very clear signal of "Co and coax ."
Sherwin chuckled, scooped up the little kitten, and placed her on his shoulder.
"Aiya, thank you, little Ai, for even preparing a gas mask for ~"
"Hmph~"
Then Sherwin suddenly changed the topic: "But, what this about poison gas bombs?"
The little kitten replied righteously, "Didn’t you say this world is very dangerous, ow?! I’m not very good at fighting, so of course I have to make sothing for self-defense, ow!"
What kind of cat uses poison gas bombs for self-defense?!
Sherwin pressed a hand to his forehead in frustration. Having a bomb cat at ho was already troubleso enough, and now he discovered he was also harboring a biochemical cat...
"Don’t worry," Haibara ow said in an old-soul tone, patting Sherwin head, "now that there the far more useful Germa technology, I’ve already phased out poison gas bombs, ow!"
Sherwin suddenly realized that aside from the Ope Ope Fruit, the Doku Doku Fruit, Gasu Gasu Fruit, and the Suku Suku Fruit all seed quite suitable for Haibara ow.
Hmm... but the Doku Doku Fruit apparently causes diarrhea as a side effect, so it not really fit for a cat... In that case, he should find a chance to take down Caesar, or snatch the Suku Suku Fruit before the Blackbeard Pirates get their hands on it!
With that cheerful decision in mind, Sherwin led the Felynes off the ship. However, because the scent in Rapeseed Port was so overwhelming, none of the Felynes—except Klee ow—wanted to venture into the city.
Still, although Hua i ow disliked the sll inside the city, she ca along anyway. And when Sanji ow saw this, he imdiately followed too, using the excuse that "the desert region should have so unique ingredients."
As for Klee ow, perhaps because she often played with explosives, she had the highest tolerance for the sll of perfu.
Plus, wearing the gas mask made her feel like she was part of the Anbu, so the little ragdoll not only didn’t resist Rapeseed Port, but excitedly darted around the streets.
"Brother Sherwin, aren’t we going to beat up that bad guy called Crocodile, ow?"
After the novelty of "cosplaying as Anbu" wore off, Klee ow leapt back onto Sherwin shoulder and asked in the sa muffled voice,
"Brother Sherwin, aren’t we going after Crocodile yet, ow?"
"There no rush to pick a fight with the Sand Crocodile. Let finish exploring this island first," Sherwin replied.
The Alabasta Kingdom was one of the largest islands they had encountered so far, and fully charting its map would likely take quite so ti.
But...
That wasn’t the real reason Sherwin was delaying making trouble for Crocodile.
Earlier, he and Robin had agreed to wait until she finished collecting solid evidence of the Sand Crocodile cris before making a move.
Sherwin had thought that the extra days they spent on the resort island would have been enough for her to complete the task, but unexpectedly, she still hadn’t managed to finish...
Wasn’t Robin supposed to be exceptionally skilled at gathering information? Was Crocodile simply too cautious, or had sothing gone wrong?
Sherwin felt a slight twinge of concern, but since he had no idea what Robin situation actually was, it didn’t feel right to call her directly. For now, he could only wander around Alabasta and see if he could pick up any clues.
Hua i ow followed along for the sa reason—when it ca to intelligence gathering, she was at least a notch better than Sherwin, if not quite on Haibara ow level.
Judging by the current situation, though, Robin side still seed relatively optimistic. After all, Sherwin hadn’t heard any reports of explosions recently in Alabasta...
Let not forget that Robin still had a stash of bombs Klee ow had given her earlier. And back on Little Garden, Sherwin had even handed over his own set of Felyne combat gear just in case. So even if Crocodile discovered her, Robin should have no problem escaping.
Most likely, sothing had simply delayed her, or Crocodile secrecy was just too tight to crack easily.
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