While the pirates were teaming up with Doflamingo and plotting against the Research Commission, the Dodo Advance still followed its original plan, heading straight for the third starting island—Mystoria Island.
Sherwin had no idea that because of the pirate petty schemes, that unlucky Doflamingo was about to run into them again.
Of course, even if he knew, he wouldn't care. After all, the man couldn't even beat his own cats, let alone…
"Sherwin! Your 'Wirebug' is ready, meow!"
<(=`=)
Haibara Meow stood with one hand on her hip, the other holding high an armguard that looked somewhat like a piece of sacred armor… well, an armguard.
More precisely, it resembled a mantis-style Messiah Fist, the kind that older folks from the 70s and 80s would recognize as "The Last Supper."
The little kitten shook the armguard lightly, and it instantly transformed into a giant katydid.
"Go."
Haibara Meow pointed at Sherwin. The armguard-katydid fluttered its wings, flew onto Sherwin arm, hugged his forearm on its own, and then transformed back into an armguard.
"Hurry and try it, meow!"
(=ω=)
After giving Sherwin a quick explanation of how the Wirebug armguard generally worked, Haibara Meow urged impatiently, "I'm waiting to collect the data, meow!"
Sherwin first tested the basic "silk shooting" function of the katydid armguard.
Though it felt a bit different from the Wirebugs in his memory, it was smooth enough to use and could even function as a grappling hook.
But if he wanted to use it to swing around in the air like an enhanced Spider-Man? Not a chance.
Still, that didn't matter. With Germa jet propulsion devices and his own Sky Walk techniques, the feature wasn't essential anyway.
What Sherwin truly cared about was whether he could use Silkbind techniques through it.
After thinking briefly, he decided to start with the weapon he knew best—the Longsword.
Among its Silkbind moves, there was one very similar to the Hunting Art he had awakened not long ago.
If he couldn't perform even that move, the Wirebug wouldn't be of much use…
On the other side, Purah Meow also released a Guardian for Sherwin to test his blade.
Sherwin flicked his arm, and the katydid armguard came "alive" once more. Using the rope built into the armguard, it flew with precision toward the Guardian scurrying around the deck.
Its six legs clamped tightly onto the target, and its pincer-like mandibles bit firmly into the machine.
Then Sherwin tugged the silk, tapped his foot, and his whole body slid rapidly along the katydid drawn line.
His free hand had already settled on the hilt of the Longsword in preparation…
"Monster Hunter Style · Silkbind: Sakura Wirebind Spirit Slash!"
The gleaming Longsword spun in a wide arc as Sherwin dashed forward, landing cleanly on the Guardian body.
As the strike connected, he retracted the Wirebug and let his momentum carry him past the target side.
By the time the Longsword returned to its sheath, thin blades of force burst from inside the Guardian. In the blink of an eye, it shattered into scattered mechanical scraps.
"What wrong? Didn't it succeed just now, meow?"
(=ω=)
Seeing Sherwin fall into thought right after sheathing his blade, Haibara Meow quickly took out her small notebook for recording experimental data and ran to his side. "Is there something that needs adjusting, meow?"
"Ah, it not the armguard. You did a great job." Sherwin rubbed the little kitten head and smiled. "The issue is on my side…"
Although he managed to use the Silkbind technique, it still felt slightly different from what he remembered in his inherited memories.
To truly master it and apply it in real combat, he would need more practice.
Besides, in actual use, the Slash from the Hunting Arts was more practical than the Wirebind Spirit Slash from the Silkbind category.
The Hunting Art version offered greater flexibility, while the Silkbind version relied on the thrown wire anchor, making its openings more obvious.
Especially in the world of pirates, where most enemies were extremely agile, many Silkbind techniques became rather limited.
Of course, the Silkbind Arts did have strengths. Using the Slash as an example again, the Silkbind version hit noticeably harder and…
It simply looked flashier and more stylish than the Hunting Art version.
And naturally, aside from the eternal truth of "style is forever," some Silkbind techniques were genuinely practical—like Dual Blade Shrouded Vault, Sword and Shield Windmill and Metsu Shoryugeki, Bow Herculean Draw, Great Sword Power Sheathe stance, and so on.
Although recreating these moves through the katydid armguard would require adjustments and practice, none of it was too difficult for Sherwin.
Even the moves that required two Wirebugs had already given him ideas on how to modify them into weaker, single-wire versions.
All in all, as a substitute for a real Wirebug, the katydid armguard Haibara Meow made was quite decent.
"Only decent, meow…"
(=ˇˇ=)
But the little kitten held herself to very high standards. She scribbled rapidly in her notebook, occasionally asking Sherwin about details of the user experience. Clearly, she intended to further optimize the armguard.
Sherwin was more than happy to see that—however…
"When you reinforce the armguard, it doesn't affect it, right? We don't have a second Wirebug-type Devil Fruit lying around."
He pointed to his arm as a reminder.
"Hmph! If even an idiot like you could think of that, how could I not, meow?"
(=`へ=)
Haibara Meow puffed her cheeks and threw Sherwin a sharp glare, clearly displeased at being underestimated.
"Aw!"
Growing more annoyed the more she thought about it, the little kitten suddenly hopped up and bit Sherwin hand, then flicked her tail angrily and dragged Purah Meow with her toward the lab.
"Hold on!" Sherwin called after the pouting kitten. He took a few steps forward, picked her up, and gently squeezed her cheeks.
Only after her mood softened a little did he ask, "Did you give this katydid a name?"
"Nope." Haibara Meow let out a soft, contented purr, then shook her small head.
"The moment I finished it, I brought it over for you to test. I haven't thought about naming it yet, meow."
She paused for a moment before adding, "But before I imbued the armguard with the Katydid Fruit, its codename had already been updated to 0311, meow."
The third version, eleventh improvement, huh?
Sherwin was familiar with Haibara Meow naming conventions, so he immediately understood the meaning behind the number.
It seemed that crafting the armguard itself hadn't taken the kitten much effort—and she had long since mastered the technology for granting Devil Fruit abilities to objects, so…
At this moment he finally took out the armguard because he was preparing for its later upgrades?
"Then, do you want to give it a name?"
Sherwin shook his arm, and Armguard No. 0311 turned into a huge katydid, vibrating its wings and letting out a "dodo" sound.
"Then let call it 'Dummy Wen', meow." Haibara Meow said with a teasing look.
"Then we might as well call it 'Dummy Ai'!" Sherwin countered while pinching the little kitten cheeks.
While the two of them were fooling around, Klee Meow came over as well.
"Sherwin big brother, Sister Ai, can Klee help name it, meow?"
(=ω=)
The little ragdoll kitten hopped lightly and hung onto Sherwin arm, staring excitedly at the katydid that was going "dodo."
"Of course you can (meow)!"
Neither Sherwin nor Haibara Meow would refuse the investigation team little mascot, and Sherwin had already guessed why Klee Meow wanted naming rights.
Sure enough, once she got permission, the little ragdoll immediately gave the name she had already prepared —
"Then let call it 'Dodo', meow!"