After rubbing the little cat head in annoyance for a while, Sherwin finally let shermie go.
Placing her back onto his shoulder, Sherwin asked, "So? Did your Devil Fruit ability successfully awaken?"
"Not yet~" Shermie rubbed her cheek against his. "But I've found the general direction. As for when it will truly awaken, I don't know meow~"
╮(=ω=)╭
The little forest cat spread her paws helplessly.
Sherwin gently scratched her chin and said, "No rush. Your Rumble-Rumble Fruit is already very powerful. Even if it never awakens, it not a big deal."
"Heehee~ Sherwin dear is the best meow~"
Shermie hugged his head and rubbed wildly for a long while.
Only when Klee Meow and the others arrived did she finally jump off Sherwin with satisfaction and start playing with the two mischievous little cats.
After curiously asking what exactly Shermie had been doing just now, Klee Meow then asked,
"Sister Shermie, where did all the clouds in the sky go? Did you absorb them too meow?"
"Of course not~ I didn't eat the Cloud-Cloud Fruit meow~" shermie proudly took out a dial.
"After realizing that absorbing only lightning would never end, I tried using a Cloud Dial to absorb the storm clouds at the same time. And it worked meow~"
"Sister Shermie wisdom shines as brightly as your beauty—like the most dazzling star in the heavens meow!"
Sanji Meow immediately placed one paw over his chest, raised the other dramatically, and began praising her like an infatuated poet.
"Little brother Sanji still speaks so sweetly meow~" Shermie happily hugged Sanji Meow and rubbed her cheek against his…
And then the little yellow cat froze stiff in an instant.
Shermie, with her childlike personality, wasn't just considered the most beautiful among the Felynes—she was also the most "approachable" of the three big sister Felynes.
Huamei dignity naturally needed no explanation, and Purah Meow was indeed friendly and lively, but most of her attention was devoted to research. She was often buried in her laboratory, making her hard to find at all.
Only Shermie would frequently get close and affectionate with Sanji Meow.
She had even once impulsively helped him groom his fur with her tongue, but the poor yellow cat didn't last even a second before his nose spurted blood, nearly passing out from blood loss…
"Hehehe~ Little brother Sanji is still so funny meow~"
Already accustomed to his "violent reactions," shermie flicked her tail playfully, then grabbed Klee Meow and ran off into the distance.
"Klee dear~ come help big sister get used to this new power I just mastered meow~"
"Okay, okay! Can Klee throw bombs meow?"
(=ω=)
The little doll cautiously looked at Huamei Meow first. Seeing she wasn't stopping her, she immediately widened her ruby-like eyes, staring at shermie with hopeful anticipation.
"Uh… well…" shermie hesitated a little. She didn't reject the little doll request, but she still set three rules:
"You can, but only bombs with power below Boom-Boom, okay~ And you can't add extra materials to the ignition spark meow~"
"No problem meow!"
(=`=)
Klee Meow agreed without a second thought. As long as she could throw bombs, everything was fine.
"Are we fighting meow? Count me in too!"
Jinx, carrying her Boom-Boom Gun, chased after them with excitement.
Watching the three mischievous little cats run off, Sherwin face twitched slightly. He turned to Robin and said, "Let pick up the pace too."
Just like Huamei Meow, who hadn't stopped them, Sherwin naturally couldn't dampen their excitement once shermie used the perfectly reasonable excuse of "getting used to her power."
But considering the kind of chaos Klee Meow and Jinx could cause when they teamed up…
It was better to finish mapping Thunder Island quickly, return to the Dodo Advance as soon as possible, and leave the place for the three little cats to wreak havoc.
Amid the roar of thunder, the explosions of bombs, and the rapid da-da-da of a machine gun, Sherwin and Robin sped up, quickly circling the entire island.
Thanks to shermie storing all the storm clouds into the Cloud Dial, there was no risk of lightning strikes. Their "strolling" became much easier.
Elsewhere, Huamei Meow—well aware of the little cat destructive power—and the recently awakened Sanji Meow were also rushing to help Purah Meow gather Thunder Island rare materials as fast as possible.
They even made it back to the ship before Sherwin and Robin.
By the time Sherwin and the others left Thunder Island, not only had the perpetual thunder and clouds been completely cleared,
but the island also gained a brand-new basin made of countless craters stitched together.
As seawater seeped in from the coast, it quickly turned into a strangely shaped lake…
Sure, Klee Meow only used bombs below the Boom-Boom level—but let not forget Jinx, who had eaten the Explosion Fruit!
If shermie hadn't quickly stepped in the moment things looked wrong, Thunder Island would have ended up with more than just a new lake.
Sherwin wasn't sure whether the island climate would ever return to normal. If not, had they unintentionally ruined that old man business?
Well, considering he sold umbrellas for 10,000 belly apiece, he had probably earned more than enough already.
Shaking off that thought, Sherwin asked the others, "So, where should we head next?"
The second half of the Grand Line was different from the first—Sherwin couldn't follow Luffy original route steadily anymore.
So he decided not to force anything and simply go wherever the journey took them.
Since they had spent less than half a day on Thunder Island, the Log Pose naturally hadn't updated. The other two pointers still aimed toward Risky Red Island Island and Mistoria Island.
"The other two islands shouldn't be the same as that Thunder Island… right?"
Shirahoshi asked timidly.
"Don't worry. Both Risky Red Island Island and Mystria Island are inhabited. They might not have the forests you're hoping to see, but compared to Thunder Island, they're much safer, meow."
Huamei Meow, who had been gathering information all along, patted Shirahoshi tail fin with her small paw and comforted her gently.
Then…
Huamei looked at the paw she had just withdrawn, and finally couldn't resist leaning in to give it a light lick.
Although she quickly covered it up with the usual "lick paw and wash face" routine, it couldn't fool Shirahoshi, whose Observation Haki carried a hint of mind-reading.
The young mermaid hesitated only two or three seconds before she shyly offered her tail to Huamei Meow…
"H-Huamei big sister, if you like… you can bite it too."
"T-That not really appropriate…"
(=ω=)
She said the words of refusal, but Huamei Meow eyes kept darting toward Shirahoshi beautiful, fragrant tail.
"Klee Meow and Jinx bite it all the time anyway."
Shirahoshi sounded a bit resigned, but after being nibbled by the two mischievous kittens for so long without ever being hurt, she finally had the courage to "offer" her tail.
Of course, she also knew that once she opened this door, it would be hard to refuse any other cats in the future.
Her tail would almost certainly become the cat teething stick. But Shirahoshi had already prepared herself mentally, so she even took the initiative to invite the others…
"You can… you can bite too. J-Just… please be a little gentle."
With tears welling in her eyes, Shirahoshi put on a look of heroic resignation.
"Then I won't be polite, meow~"
"Yes, this is essential scientific research, meow."
"Don't worry, little sister Shirahoshi. Once I analyze the flavor of your tail and recreate it in cooking, I'll help free you from this fate, meow!"
The mischievous kittens had no concept of restraint, and the other Felynes—after hesitating shyly twice—also ended up half-reluctantly biting Shirahoshi tail.
Tsk! Watching them like they were high on catnip, even Sherwin found himself getting curious about what Shirahoshi tail tasted like…
Sherwin was the cat tree, Robin was the grooming brush, Shirahoshi was the teething stick. Everyone had their role. Perfect.