"Sniff sniff... sniff sniff..."
(≡)
After finishing her vanilla ice cream, Klee ow little pink nose twitched as she sniffed around curiously.
Before long, the little ragdoll locked onto her target—
Mr. 5, who, like the others, was desperately trying to make himself as small as possible.
"Heave-ho!"
Klee ow hopped off her stool and scampered over to his side with quick little steps.
"Big brother, do you like making bombs too, ow?"
Clinging to the edge of the table, Klee ow gazed at the flustered Mr. 5 with bright, eager eyes.
"N-no, no, no! I don’t make bombs at all!"
Though he had no idea why Klee ow was asking such a thing, Mr. 5 denied it without hesitation, terrified of upsetting the little cat in front of him...
Because the mont she leaned in close, every single person (and cat)—including that terrifying Hunter—turned their eyes on him in warning. He didn’t dare make even the slightest move that could be misunderstood.
"But you reek of gunpowder, ow... you wouldn’t be lying to Klee, would you?"
(ω)Little Rag Doll frowned, fixing Mr.5 with a suspicious look.
"I really wouldn’t make a bomb!" Mr.5 was nearly in tears. He hurriedly produced the gunpowder he usually used to "season" things and confessed everything:
"I only developed a taste for explosives after eating the Bomb-Bomb Fruit. I like to eat all sorts of explosive things now, so I carry so gunpowder around as snacks."
"The Bomb-Bomb Fruit!"
(=ω=)At the na her eyes instantly lit up. "How great! Klee ow really wants that power too, ow..."
Those words made Mr.5 break out in a cold sweat—he was terrified Sherwin might, just to please the cat before him, draw that longsword and cut him down so the Bomb-Bomb Fruit could respawn.
It wasn’t paranoia on Mr.5 part it was the conclusion he drew by putting himself in Sherwin shoes. And he wasn’t the only one in the pirate world likely to think that way...
That included the other Baroque Works mbers in the café.
They had no intention of rescuing him instead they quietly scooted their stools back a little, putting so distance between themselves and Mr.5...
So they wouldn’t get splattered with blood.
"Killing won’t help! The Devil Fruit rebirth is completely random— even if you kill , you still won’t get the Bomb-Bomb Fruit!"
His colleagues behavior only frayed Mr.5 already sensitive nerves further. Shouting loudly, he spun his not-so-bright brain as fast as he could, desperate to find himself a way out.
"ow?"
(=ω=)Little Rag Doll scratched her head in confusion...
"Klee, when did she ever—"
But before she could finish, the spiky-haired big brother in front of her—whose scent she actually found rather pleasant and who’d won a fair bit of her favor—suddenly made a move.
The "clever" Mr.5 had just thought of sothing: since Sherwin and the others valued this little cat so much, he could take her hostage—turn her into cat-stal and gamble for a chance to survive!
"...say she was going to kill you?"
"Don’t co any closer! Or I’ll kill her!"
Klee ow unfinished sentence and Mr.5 threat rang out almost at the sa ti.
"...Eh?!"
Only after shouting did Mr.5 realize what he was holding in his hands—the Little Rag Doll herself.
"What did you say?" he asked blankly.
"When did Klee ow ever say she was going to kill you?!" Little Rag Doll repeated angrily. "Klee is a good child, she would never bully people at random, ow!"
(=`н=)Actually, with Klee ow reaction speed, even without consciously using Observation Haki just now, she should have been able to dodge.
But first, because of the gunpowder scent on Mr.5, she felt a strange sense of familiarity, so Little Rag Doll lowered her guard toward him.
Second, the man looked so weak that she didn’t consider him a threat at all.
Of course, that was indeed the truth.
"Ah... ahahahaha..."
Mr.5 gave a dry laugh, about to explain that it was all a misunderstanding, when Sherwin voice suddenly rang in his ears—each word sharp, filled with murderous intent:
"You! Dare! Lay! A! Finger! On! My! Klee?!"
Imdiately after, a crushing aura descended on Mr.5. He didn’t even have ti to defend himself before his vision went black, foam spilling from his mouth as he collapsed unconscious.
Sherwin slapped a stack of Berries onto the bar counter, then hoisted Mr.1 in one hand and Mr.5 in the other."These two, I’ll be taking with . You don’t have any objections, do you?"
He bared his white teeth, sweeping the room with a gaze that radiated suffocating pressure.
"No, no, no! We don’t know those two at all!"
Just like earlier when it ca to Daz Bones, the others decisively cut ties with the self-destructive Mr.5.
Sherwin nodded in satisfaction, then dragged the two unlucky n away, the cats following him out of Spider Café.
"F-finally gone..."
Paula body gave out, slumping weakly against the bar.
The other Baroque Works mbers weren’t doing much better. They kept wiping away the cold sweat pouring from their foreheads while trembling as they grabbed their drinks and gulped them down in a desperate attempt to calm themselves.
"No wonder the higher-ups told us not to provoke this Hunter!" Miss Valentine usual smile was long gone, her face filled with lingering fear as she cursed angrily,
"I almost got killed because of that idiot Mr.5!"
As his partner, she had been sitting at the sa table as him. When Mr.5 suddenly lashed out at Klee ow, she had nearly wet herself in fright!
"If we knew this guy was that strong, then we should have been told clearly!" Miss rry Christmas, who had finally managed to catch her breath,
slamd the table and roared, "All they said was not to provoke him! Didn’t they realize the organization still has idiots like Mr.1 and Mr.5 who don’t know their place?! Fools!!"
The reason she was so furious was because she knew her own temper wasn’t any better than theirs.
If Mr.1 hadn’t jumped ahead and served as a negative example, she might very well have been the one to provoke Sherwin.
"And that damn News Bird! Saying he defeated a Yonko officer just because his weapon countered the opponent ability! The reporter who wrote that article is also an idiot! Fool!"
By now, Paula had more or less recovered as well. Supporting herself against the bar, she slowly straightened up and then pulled a Den Den Mushi out from behind the counter.
"Enough yelling. I need to report what happened here to the boss."
...
"Before the lottery, take a breath of cat luck first!"
After leaving the Spider Café, Sherwin dragged the two Baroque Works mbers beneath a sand dune. Rubbing his hands together, he picked up Klee ow and took a deep breath.
The little ragdoll, already used to this routine, giggled and squird happily, then stretched out her tiny paw to gently pat Sherwin on the head.
"Mm-hmm, Klee has shared her good luck with Brother Sherwin, ow~"
After inhaling cat luck, Sherwin pulled out the Hunter Knife and poked it into the corpses of Mr. 1 and Mr. 5 in turn.
"Just as I expected..."
Sherwin looked at the black, apple-shaped Devil Fruit in front of him, its stem resembling a fuse, and wasn’t surprised at all.
After all, this was the bomb fruit Klee ow had pointed out. If any Devil Fruit were to drop, the chances of this one appearing were definitely higher than Mr. 1 Human sword Fruit.
Besides, Sherwin didn’t have much need for the Human sword Fruit. Most of the ti it would summon cut-cats, but cut-cats already had their own dedicated pool, and he had plenty of them.
"Anyone interested in eating this fruit?"
Sherwin gave the Felynes a rough explanation of the Bomb-Bomb Fruit abilities.
In the end, none of the Felynes were interested except Klee ow—yet she had already eaten the Fla-Fla Fruit.
"Uuuh... actually, Klee really wanted this fruit, ow..."
(=Φ︵Φ=)
Klee ow looked longingly at the Bomb-Bomb Fruit in Sherwin hand, her face full of sadness.
Sherwin couldn’t help but laugh and cry at the sa ti. He rubbed her little head and comforted her:
"But the Fla-Fla Fruit is stronger. And if you ate the Bomb-Bomb Fruit, you wouldn’t be able to summon Dodo anymore. Besides, the bombs you make yourself might even be stronger."
After all, in the manga, the explosions Mr. 5 used didn’t seem all that powerful... though if it were Klee ow, maybe things would be different?
But Sherwin words did remind the little ragdoll...
"That right! If the bombs aren’t made by , then it no fun, ow!"
Once she figured it out, Klee ow was no longer sad. She climbed onto Sherwin shoulder, using both hands and feet, and habitually started ssing with his ear again.
After persuading Klee ow, Sherwin put away the Devil Fruit that had once again been ignored by the Felynes, then opened up the Hunter Handbook...
A familiar white light flashed. At last, he had obtained the final fragnt of the Paracia-class Devil Fruits pool.
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