"Why didn't you tell us earlier that the target was on Hunter Sherwin ship?!"
Baby-5 clenched a cigarette between her teeth, her arm transforming into a massive gun barrel that pressed directly against Captain Towani forehead—the man who had first contacted the Donquixote Family.
"Hehehehehe… If you think you can't afford to provoke the Hunter, you can still choose to walk away."
Even with the gun barrel at his head, Towani showed no panic. He even waved his hand to quiet his restless subordinates before mocking them with deliberate provocation.
The reason he dared to hide Sherwin identity when contacting the Donquixote Family was because he had already calculated everything.
And the moment Trebol agreed to his terms so readily, he had already guessed that Doflamingo would never let them off easily.
But since he had already dared to scheme against Sherwin, what difference did it make to scheme against one Warlord or two?
"Compared to the famous Warlord, a Joker who can only act high and mighty in the underworld would naturally feel afraid… hehehe…"
Towani continued pretending not to know Joker true identity, fueling the provocation.
Under their captain influence, his crew were all excellent at fanning flames. They shouted one after another:
"That right, that right! No matter how impressive Joker acts in the underworld, he wouldn't dare provoke a Warlord! Hahahahaha!"
"Joker would never be afraid of the Hunter!" Baby-5 shot back without hesitation.
Hooked.
Towani lips curled slightly as he continued pretending to agree while actually stirring trouble.
"Yes, yes, you're absolutely right. Lord Joker wouldn't fear the Hunter. It just that there no need for conflict. I understand, I understand."
"By the way, didn't that Hunter recently release the slaves from the Sabaody Archipelago auction house?" a nearby pirate said loudly on purpose,
"whispering" to a companion, "That place seems to be one of Joker businesses too, right?"
Bang!
Baby-5 swung her gun-barrel arm toward the source of the voice and instantly blew a hole through the pirate head.
"You don't need to keep provoking us," she said coldly.
"We'll deal with the Hunter. But don't think we'll let you off for deceiving Joker… Buffalo!"
"Right now? If the other pirates turn on us because of this, I'm not taking responsibility!"
Even though he said that, Buffalo still reached out to catch Baby-5—her arm now transformed into a massive cleaver—and his body began spinning rapidly.
"Damn it!"
Towani, who moments ago thought everything was under control, went pale. He hadn't expected Doflamingo people to be this brazen.
The matter with the mermaid wasn't even resolved yet, and they had already decided to tear things apart with him.
"Wait!" he shouted desperately.
"I had a reason for hiding this! It because I know Joker identity! I was worried he'd reject us!"
"Hahahahaha!" Buffalo laughed wildly as he tore into Towani crew.
"Did you really think the young master actually cares about others knowing his identity?! He just finds it more convenient to do things as Joker!"
Realizing things were completely different from what he had planned, Towani didn't hesitate—he sprinted straight for the edge of the ship.
He was one of those rare pirates who relied on "strategy" to survive at sea. His actual combat strength was average at best, and he had never considered fighting Baby-5 or Buffalo to begin with.
And once the captain himself fled, the others naturally weren't going to risk their lives.
Already being overwhelmed by Buffalo, they instantly collapsed and tried to escape, which only hastened their defeat.
...
While Buffalo and Baby-5 were slaughtering the pirates on Towani ship, the other pirates paid them no mind.
Or rather, blinded by greed, they didn't notice anything happening on Towani ship at all… even though he had been one of the main organizers of their alliance.
"Wahahahahaha! At this distance, they can't use those missiles anymore! Boys! Charge!"
The pirates, who could already see Shirahoshi, were riled up even further. They completely ignored the fact that Sherwin group hadn't shown the same firepower since earlier—clearly letting them approach on purpose.
Or more accurately, they understood this perfectly well. But the enormous profit of a mermaid made them willingly ignore it.
But just as the Dodo Advance was about to enter their firing range, the pirates were stunned to see the opposing ship suddenly produce a large white balloon… and float straight up into the sky!
"All right, let go!" Sherwin nodded to the Felynes preparing to deploy, then said to the rest of the cats,
"Take care of the Dodo. Raise the altitude a bit later—don't let her get damaged by this mob."
"Don't worry, Sherwin! Klee Meow will protect the Dodo for sure, meow!"
(=`=)
The little ragdoll cat perched on Shirahoshi shoulder patted her chest proudly, for once not rushing to join the chaos.
Shirahoshi immediately echoed, "I'll help too!"
"Sherwin! I'm going first, meow!"
The impatient little berserker cat shot forward with a "rocket jump," leaping straight toward the nearest pirate ship. Sherwin, who had planned to say a few more things, hurried after her…
After all, Jinx didn't know any Haki at all, yet she was the most battle-hungry of them.
Behind them, Nico Robin formed a pair of wings with her Devil Fruit ability and fluttered after Sherwin as they descended.
Aside from the three of them, Shermie with her keyboard and the eager Sanji Meow followed as well. The main fighters—Seijuro Meow and Link Meow—remained on the ship.
This time, the enemy wasn't particularly strong their advantage lay only in numbers. So Sherwin specifically used this battle to train Jinx and Robin in Haki.
As for Shermie, she came not only to support like Sherwin, but also to test whether she could awaken Armament Haki without relying on her fruit.
And Sanji Meow—though he came under the pretense of "assisting"—anyone could guess his real reason.
So once they landed on the enemy ship, Sherwin and Sanji Meow barely made a move, leaving the battlefield to Jinx and the others.
"You're all losers~ always crying like babies~ ta-ta-ta-ta~ meow~"
Even without any Haki, Jinx moved through the battlefield with perfect ease, singing a ridiculous tune she made up while giggling and firing bursts from her pop-pop gun into the pirates around her.
But her reckless rampage also attracted the most attention from the enemy, forcing Sherwin to keep most of his focus on her.
"Sanji, keep an eye on Robin. Stop staring at Shermie all the time."
Compared to Sharme—who had awakened Observation Haki and had a Logia ability—Robin obviously needed more protection.
So after Sherwin first eliminated the sniper who had intercepted the Reaper missile earlier, he specifically reminded Sanji Meow…
Only to get kicked by the angry little yellow cat.
"I'm not an idiot! I know which side is more important, meow!"
Under Sherwin watch, Jinx and Robin Haki training naturally progressed quickly.
After all, in this world rules, real combat granted double or even higher experience gains.
Since both of them had already been training their Haki regularly, their improvement under these conditions skyrocketed.
Soon, the one with the sharper combat instincts—the little mad cat—began to show new changes…
"Meow-hahahahaha! Let see how you block my bullets now, meow!"
With Jinx wild laughter echoing out, countless pitch-black bullets slammed into a pirate wearing a full suit of steel armor and holding an enormous shield. In an instant, both the shield and the armor were pierced through…
Uh… the first to awaken it turned out to be Armament Haki?
Sherwin pressed his fingers against his temples, half amused and half helpless as he watched Jinx destructive power increase yet again.
Still, even though the situation was a bit unexpected, thinking about it carefully, it actually fit the little mad cat personality perfectly.