"Good morning, Sherwin."
Early the next morning, Sherwin brought the cats off the Puffing Tom. As soon as he entered the city, he saw Inuarashi with a kindly expression nodding at him in greeting.
"???"
Sherwin looked at him in uncertainty, unable to tell what kind of nonsense the other party was suddenly up to.
However, after simply greeting him, Inuarashi clasped his hands behind his back and wandered casually around the city, occasionally chatting with nearby Felynes, and from time to time stepping forward to help deal with some minor troubles…
He looked just like an ordinary, warm-hearted middle-aged uncle.
Could it be that after getting beaten up he suddenly figured things out? Or did I knock his head completely broken?
Sherwin rubbed his chin and guessed.
But in truth, Inuarashi really had figured things out—just not in the way Sherwin thought.
After all, the "Oden virus" was not something that could be easily removed, and the Felynes were famously stubborn. Even if it weren't Kozuki Oden, they would still give their lives for friends they acknowledged.
What Inuarashi ultimately came to understand was this—
Back then, when Oden-sama learned that he had been deceived, he said: "Let past judgments stay in the past… let talk about the future."
So even if things were indeed as Sherwin said—if Wano current downfall was caused by Oden-sama naive trust—this did not affect their determination to drive Kaido and Kurozumi Orochi out of Wano and reclaim the daimyo seat for Kozuki Momonosuke.
At the same time, he was no longer obsessed with obtaining Sherwin help, because even if in the end there were only a few of them left, Inuarashi and Nekomamushi would never retreat or give up.
With this further-strengthened resolve, when facing Sherwin, he was naturally able to appear calm and composed.
In fact, setting aside their brainless fan behavior whenever Kozuki Oden and Kozuki Momonosuke were involved, Inuarashi and Nekomamushi possessing such awareness and conviction was still something worthy of admiration.
Even from the retainer perspective, they had already done more than well enough…
It was just a pity that their judgment was poor and they had followed a useless lord.
Sherwin did not know about the shift in Inurashi and Cat Viper mindset, but even if he had, he would not have had many thoughts about it.
To Sherwin, this was something that had little to do with him in the first place. Whether they figured things out or not made very little difference to him or the Investigation Team.
The only real impact might have been…
The Minks became even more enthusiastic.
Because Inurashi and Cat Viper, who were still the dual kings of Zou for the time being, had put aside their misgivings toward Sherwin and his group, their attitude naturally continued to influence the other Minks.
Although the Minks had already been quite friendly to Sherwin and the others before, among a portion of them—mainly members of the Musketeer Squad and the Guardians—there had still been a faint sense of relative coolness in their attitude.
But after Sherwin defeated Inurashi and Cat Viper and caused the two of them to change their stance, those originally cooler Minks also became warm and friendly.
As for the Minks who had already been enthusiastic, they even tried to persuade Sherwin to take part in the election for the new king…
However, just like other cats, Sherwin decisively refused the suggestion and instead immediately nominated the little rabbit Carrot, who had originally been destined to become the next ruler.
Of course, given her current age, Sherwin nomination was naturally not accepted by the Minks, and he was even bitten once by the flustered little rabbit.
After several days of intense discussion and nominations, Wanda, the "King of Birds" who could act both day and night, ultimately became Zou new king through a vote of the people.
After attending the banquet celebrating the new king ascension, Sherwin and the others continued to stay on Zou for more than another month.
Originally, Haibara Meow and Purah Meow experiments had basically concluded, and Robin archaeological work on Zou had also come to an end.
However, with the appearance of the Moon Lion, the two research cats gained a new topic of study.
Inurashi and Cat Viper, who had just stepped down, happened to be quite idle, so they were dragged over by the two of them to serve as experimental subjects.
"No Moon Lion form? How is that possible? As long as they're Minks, they should all be able to awaken it. The only difference should be whether they can control it or not."
After understanding why Haibara Meow and Purah Meow had asked for their help, Inurashi and Cat Viper finally realized where the crux of the problem lay.
"We've always said that we're Felynes, meow. It just that whether it people outside or you folks on Zou, you all insisted on thinking of us as cat Minks."
╮(=ΦωΦ=)╭
Haibara Meow spread her little paws and shrugged as she replied.
They had never intended to hide this from the very beginning, so their attitude was naturally open and straightforward.
After a brief moment of surprise, Inurashi and Cat Viper quickly stopped making a big deal out of it…
After all, even humans, in the eyes of the Minks, were merely hairless or short-haired variants with little fur.
Compared to them, the much closer Felynes still counted as Minks even if they lacked a Moon Lion form.
They even believed that Felynes should be capable of transforming into Moon Lions as well, and that it was probably due to bloodline or other issues that it simply hadn't been awakened yet.
Because of this, they instead became even more dedicated in cooperating with Haibara Meow and the other experiments.
Unfortunately, although Felynes and Minks were extremely similar, they were fundamentally two different species. Naturally, it was impossible for them to activate any Moon Lion form.
On the contrary, with Sherwin hint, Haibara Meow managed to create the medicine that could trigger the Moon Lion form without a full moon before Chopper did.
The little kitten even went a step further, integrating a small amount of Dash Juice and Potion effects into it, allowing the Minks to maintain the Moon Lion form for a longer time after using the medicine, while also reducing the impact of the aftereffects.
Of course, during the development of the medicine named "Moon Lion Pill," Haibara Meow ever-present side effects were, as expected, impossible to avoid.
Fortunately, this time the medicine was developed specifically for the Minks to take, so there was no need for Sherwin to test it himself.
Well… that meant Inuarashi and Nekomamushi, the two former kings of Zou, really suffered for it…
After leaving behind a considerable number of finished Moon Lion Pills as well as their formula, Sherwin group, who had already stayed for quite some time, departed Zou amid the Mink heartfelt send-off.
"Waaahhh…"
(=TДT=)
Sanji Meow looked at the gradually vanishing figure of Zunesha disappearing into the dense fog, clinging to the railing of the Dudu and crying his heart out.
Sherwin walked over and irritably kicked the little idiot once.
"If you're that reluctant to leave, how about I send you back?"
"No way, meow!" The little yellow cat who had been sobbing a moment ago instantly regained his spirit, leaping up and rapidly returning more than ten kicks to Sherwin.
"No matter how many Mink big sisters there are, they can't compare to Sister Shermie Meow, Sister Huamei, Sister Purah Meow, and Sister Suika, meow!"
"Meow? I'm included too? You've got good taste, kid, meow hahahahaha… hic!"
Although she looked like a kitten on the outside, Suika Meow was actually long past adulthood.
She did care a little about this sort of thing, and upon realizing that Sanji Meow was surprisingly perceptive, she immediately became delighted.
And once Suika Meow was happy, she handed over her wine cup.
"Come on! Have a drink with big sister, meow!"
(●ω●)つ︺
"Let hurry and find an uninhabited island to summon a new companion. Who knows what kind of Felyne we'll get this time… come to think of it, the last several summons have all been girls."
Sherwin stopped Huamei Meow, who was about to step forward to stop Suika Meow from urging drinks, then deliberately raised his voice and muttered this aloud.
The little yellow cat who had been holding a bowl of wine and was just about to drink immediately perked up his ears.
He swiftly stuffed the still-full bowl back into Suika Meow hands, flashed forward, and appeared right in front of Sherwin.
"Boss Sherwin! Is our investigation team about to welcome another big sister Felyne, meow?!"
(=ω=)
Sherwin: "..."
Even though he had already guessed before opening his mouth that something like this might happen, when it actually did, Sherwin still felt utterly speechless.
Sure enough, Sanji Meow, this idiot little lecherous cat, was completely beyond saving.