Before heading out to witness the ferocious beasts of this place, Sherwin made a request on behalf of Haibara ow to see that IQ first.
Shiki, who had already agreed previously, naturally had no intention of going back on his word. He called over his top researcher and ship doctor, Dr. Indigo.
"Puji, puji, puji..."
Accompanied by a series of strange footsteps, a fellow wearing a white lab coat and a blue scarf with yellow spots approached Sherwin and the others.
Dr. Indigo looked normal enough in other respects, except for the clown makeup on his face and those soft shoes that made strange noises.
Speaking of which, the look of a comical clown seed quite popular among pirates. Aside from Buggy with his natural red nose, whom Sherwin hadn’t managed to et, he had already encountered several pirates who intentionally dressed up as clowns.
"Indigo, take our future allies to visit the IQ and your laboratory."
Then, the clown-faced doctor began to gesture wildly with his hands.
"What are you trying to express?!"
As usual, Shiki failed to understand.
Just as Indigo was about to explain, Klee ow, perched on Sherwin shoulder, tilted her head and answered first: "This strange uncle should be saying, let us be careful not to ss up his laboratory, ow?"
"...You actually understood?!"
After a mont of silence, Indigo clutched his head with both hands and shouted in shock.
"So you can speak!" After habitually complaining, Shiki was equally shocked: "Was her understanding actually correct?!"
"Although this uncle expressions and movents aren’t as intuitive as Brother Link, Klee can still understand them, ow! Klee is very smart!"
(=`▽´=)
The little Ragdoll cat placed her paws on her hips, triumphantly tilting her small head up.
Based on what Klee ow ant, she had understood Indigo strange movents by applying what she learned from being used to Link ow way of "speaking" only through expressions?
But didn’t even Indigo himself sotis not know what his own movents ant? Besides, I chat with Link ow all the ti how co I can’t understand them?
Sherwin looked blankly at the other cats, finding that they all wore expressions similar to his own—even Link ow was the sa.
"Boss Sherwin, I can also understand what this uncle is saying!"
Shirahoshi jumped out and spoke with a face full of excitent.
Well, it seed to be the credit of Observation Haki—specifically, that so-called "Voice of All Things."
After Shiki and Indigo heard Klee ow explanation, they subconsciously looked toward Link ow...
(눈_눈)
"I actually understood that too!"
"This kitten insults are so foul! I am not just performing randomly!"
After forcing out a defense for himself, Indigo imdiately collapsed into an ORZ pose on the ground, indignantly pounding the floor with his fists.
"Dammit! My personal gimmick actually lost to a cat!"
(=益=)
The look of disdain on Link ow face intensified...
He didn’t want to be compared to this guy who looked ridiculous and seed a bit slow in the head, ow!
"Sherwin, when are we going to see the IQ, ow?"
(⇀‸↼‶)
Although the antics of Shiki and Indigo were quite amusing, Haibara ow, having entered research mode, was completely uninterested. The kitten tugged at Sherwin pant leg and asked impatiently.
Reminded by the kitten, everyone finally returned to the main topic. Led by the "puji puji" footsteps of Dr. Indigo, they soon arrived at an indoor garden filled with small pinkish-white flowers.
"So this is IQ ow? It really is a direct and appropriate na..."
(=ˇˇ=)つ
Haibara ow plucked one and held it before her eyes, observing it closely.
This plant, known as IQ, possessed pinkish-white flowers. However, unlike most floral species, this flower did not have distinct petals—or rather, its petal was a single, complete sphere.
On this spherical petal was a circular opening, the edge of which was lined with a ring of pink. A long, similarly pink stan extended from this opening like a tongue. When viewed from the front, it looked exactly like a pink letter "Q."
Klee ow leaned in curiously, peeking out from behind her as she spoke. "This flower looks so interesting, Haibara big sister! Can we plant so on the ship too, ow?"
"Mmhmm..."
The kitten, having already entered her research state, gave a few absent-minded hums of agreent. She swiftly pulled five cylinder-shaped instrunts—each about the size of a soda can—from her pocket and lined them up in front of her. Then, using a pair of tweezers, she took small tissue samples from the leaves, roots, stems, petals, and stans of the IQ plant and placed them into the small canisters.
"T-That the latest model of the portable component analyzer?!"
Indigo, who knew his trade, shouted in a trembling, disbelieving voice. "The price of one of those things is comparable to a Devil Fruit, and ordinary people can’t even buy them! You actually have five?! And they’re special models specifically adapted to your size!"
His voice even carried a hint of jealousy.
After all, although Shiki had been a world-renowned pirate twenty years ago, he had ultimately been captured by the Navy. Furthermore, he had spent the last twenty years hiding his tracks, so his finances were sowhat strained.
He could certainly afford the research on IQ, but providing the most cutting-edge equipnt was beyond his reach. Moreover, many devices required going through World Governnt channels to obtain, which was even more difficult for Shiki.
Consequently, for the past twenty years, Indigo could only drool as he watched research equipnt being updated generation after generation.
And yet, the very treasures he had longed for but could never obtain, this little kitten before him could casually pull out five of them...
And they were custom editions!
How could Indigo not be jealous in a situation like this?
"Because we made them ourselves, so they didn’t cost any money ow."
(=`=)
Since waiting for the analysis results would take so ti, Haibara ow had the chance to respond.
"Y-You made them yourselves?!" Indigo beca even less composed. "But isn’t that World Governnt technology? Even if Sherwin is a Warlord, there no way he could get his hands on that!"
"Oh, that because we once reached Punk Hazard. That was the original base for the World Governnt Science Unit and Vegapunk forr laboratory."
Seeing Haibara ow already buried in recording data, Sherwin took over and answered for her, "An experintal accident occurred there, and it was covered by a massive amount of toxic gas, so the World Governnt simply abandoned it. Because it was a sudden event, a lot of equipnt and materials couldn’t be taken away in ti. The blueprints for this analyzer were found there."
After hearing Sherwin explanation, Indigo eyes filled with tears of envy. Without a word, he perford a sliding kneel and grabbed Sherwin leg.
"Lord Sherwin! You must join forces with Lord Shiki! Or... does your Felyne Survey Corps still need a ship doctor?!"
"I’m still standing right here!"
Shiki slapped the back of Indigo head and roared in exasperation.
However, beyond his anger, he grew increasingly expectant of the alliance with Sherwin.
He had originally thought Sherwin joining would only add a few high-end combatants, but he hadn’t expected it to simultaneously boost their technological level.
Sure enough, using "Sakura Ten" and "Kogarashi" to win Sherwin over was truly the right move!
Shiki, who had felt a bit of reluctance before, was now considering whether he should just detach the two swords from his legs right now and stuff them directly into Sherwin arms.
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