After leaving Jaya Island, Sherwin and his crew decisively switched the Dodo Advance into its Chameleos form.
Without needing Klee Meow control this time, they flew at top speed toward Water 7 once again…
To be honest, Sherwin was getting a little tired of it already. After all, this was their third visit to Water 7.
The first two times, they had already upgraded their ship, unlocked the map, collected fragments, eaten Water Meat, and even ridden bullfish. There really wasn't anything new left to experience in this city.
But what could he do when Purah Meow insisted on seeing the blueprints of Pluton? Since even Robin didn't mind, Sherwin naturally had no reason to refuse her.
Besides, the newly summoned Shermie hadn't been here before, so they decided to come anyway.
Of course, making repeated trips to Water 7 required a reasonable excuse — after all, there were plenty of CP agents stationed on the island.
So after a brief discussion, they decided to visit the Galley-La Company again and borrow a shipyard.
Actually, after Shermie became the user of the Rumble-Rumble Fruit, Sherwin had suggested adding an electrical system to the Dodo Advance. He even thought about giving the ship a "Golden Lion" form.
Purah Meow had already installed the electric system back on Skypiea, but she vetoed the Golden Lion form, saying it was unnecessary.
For one, that form wasn't much different from the Magnamalo form — just a change in figurehead and "operating system."
For another, Shermie mastery over her Devil Fruit wasn't as good as Klee Meow,
so even if they built the Golden Lion form, it wouldn't be of much use for the time being.
But right now, it served perfectly as an excuse — giving Sherwin and his crew a valid reason to visit and stay in Water 7 once more.
"…So you're telling me you came all the way here, in that ridiculous form, just to add new functions to your ship?"
Iceburg sighed helplessly after hearing Sherwin explanation, pressing a hand to his forehead.
"Do you have any idea how much chaos your arrival caused in Water 7?!"
"That just because you people overreacted," Sherwin muttered, curling his lip.
"Besides, it not like we did anything bad. We even slowed down before landing."
"Fine, fine…" Iceburg didn't dwell on it further and turned the topic back to business.
"This time, we're charging you. Even if you're only borrowing a dock and don't need our shipwrights to help, there still a rental fee."
"No problem." Having recently struck it rich on Skypiea, Sherwin waved his hand generously. "Name your price."
Iceburg didn't overcharge — he quoted a fair rate, then had Kalifa lead them to an available dock.
"This must be Mr. Sherwin third time visiting Water 7, right?" Kalifa, unable to resist her curiosity, finally dropped her usual "sexual harassment" persona and instead started probing for information.
"Didn't you just remodel your ship not long ago? Why are you back so soon?"
Kalifa wasn't too worried about exposing herself. Her "habit" of accusing others of harassment was mostly reserved for Iceburg she was usually much more restrained with clients like Sherwin.
Moreover, Sherwin had intentionally kept a low profile to avoid drawing the attention of CP agents, so he hadn't interacted much with her before.
From her perspective, there was no reason for him to suspect her identity — and no reason he'd notice such a small detail.
Just as she expected, Sherwin didn't seem to care about that small detail… or rather, he was deliberately pretending not to notice.
"Didn't we just go to Skypiea before this?" Sherwin played along with Kalifa act, replying half-truthfully,
"We got a lot of strange Sky Shells up there, and then Purah got inspired. Since we weren't too far from Water 7, we figured—why not come here and use better equipment to upgrade the ship?"
"Skypiea?" Kalifa asked, feigning surprise. "You mean there are really islands floating in the sky?"
"Of course. One of the reasons we came to remodel the Dodo Advance before was because we discovered the existence of a Sky Island and wanted to check it out." Sherwin continued his half-true explanation.
"How enviable," Kalifa said with a practiced smile, continuing her subtle probing.
"You must've seen all sorts of amazing things up there. Would you tell me about some of them? I'm really curious."
Being able to use Skypiea as a distraction suited Sherwin perfectly. He picked a few harmless details to prove he really had been there—and even pulled out a Lamp Shell as a gift for her.
Soon enough, Kalifa was basically convinced by Sherwin excuse for visiting Water 7 a third time. After leading them to an empty dock, she took her leave.
…
That night, after confirming with Observation Haki that no CP agents were tailing them,
Sherwin quietly slipped out of the Galley-La Company dock,
taking Purah Meow, Haibara Meow, Klee Meow, and Shermie along with him as they stealthily headed toward Franky House.
Bringing Haibara Meow along wasn't just because he needed her "organization radar" for lookout duty—there was another reason:
her tranquilizer darts were going to be useful again this time. As for Klee Meow, she was there to lend her good luck and make everything go more smoothly. And Shermie… well, she was simply tagging along for fun.
Normally, Sanji Meow would have found an excuse to come too, but the little yellow cat was still being punished by Huamei Meow.
So for now, he could only stay behind in the dockyard, gnawing on his tail in frustration.
Sherwin had considered bringing Huamei Meow to knock everyone at Franky House out cold with her Conqueror Haki, but… that idea had its flaws.
The others would probably go down easily, but Franky—despite being a perverted delinquent—was undeniably tough.
The Haki might not work on him. So using Haibara Meow tranquilizer darts was the safer choice.
Sherwin knew just how effective those darts were—he'd experienced them firsthand.
Caught completely off guard, even he couldn't resist their effects. That time, Klee Meow and Haibara Meow took advantage of it and covered his face with watercolor doodles.
With their skills, even bringing along a group of Felynes wouldn't alert Franky crew.
Soon enough, the once noisy Franky House went silent under the influence of the tranquilizer darts.
Sherwin led the four cats over to the now-sleeping Franky. Purah Meow tapped lightly on his body with her small paw a few times,
easily locating the place where he'd hidden the blueprints for Pluton, then carefully retrieved them.
While the two research-minded Felynes examined the schematics, Sherwin leaned in for a look as well…
Yeah—he couldn't understand a single thing.
Never mind that all the notes were written in ancient script—even if they were in a language he knew, he still wouldn't have made sense of them.
Purah Meow and Haibara Meow, on the other hand, were completely absorbed, occasionally meowing to each other in discussion.
Once they finished going through the thick stack of papers, Purah Meow, looking quite satisfied, tucked the blueprints back into Franky body.
She didn't bother taking pictures or making any kind of backup.
After all, Purah Meow was only satisfying her curiosity. And although Robin had already said she didn't mind—and technically,
she had no right to stop Sherwin from obtaining the Pluton blueprints—as her companions,
Sherwin and the others still had to take her feelings into consideration.
Besides, neither Sherwin nor Purah Meow ever had any intention of building another Pluton in the first place.
So naturally, there was no need to keep a copy of the blueprints.
Just like when they arrived, Sherwin and his group quietly slipped away from Franky House without alerting anyone.
"Buru buru buru…"
Not long after they left, the Den Den Mushi on Sherwin body suddenly began to ring.
When he answered, the Den Den Mushi face sprouted a pair of Kogoro Mouri-style mustaches, and soon, Uncle Coby voice came through the shell—
"About that matter… how have you decided, Sherwin?"