But...
It wasn't a big deal! Weren't there still three of them left?
After a brief moment of annoyance, Sherwin did not pull the bowstring again. Instead, he treated the Impact Dial Bow in his hand as a melee weapon, parrying the attacks of the remaining others one by one.
"G-Earth Fist Ultimate Secret Technique: Battle Preserving Fist!"
Lao G, who had known from the start that they were only coming up to let Sherwin vent his frustrations, had originally wanted to save some of his strength. However, seeing two of his allies fall so easily, he decisively activated his strongest move.
Even if they were going to lose, they couldn't lose too miserably, or else the outside world would think their Young Master was far inferior to Sherwin in every aspect...
Though, that was indeed the truth.
With the activation of the G-Earth Fist ultimate secret technique, the originally withered and short Lao G instantly transformed into a muscular and towering figure.
Judging solely by the physical transformation, he looked even more exaggerated than Master Roshi did when he blew up the moon.
However, in terms of combat power, Lao G was far behind.
Furthermore, in Sherwin perception, the hidden power that had erupted was dissipating at a rate that wasn't exactly fast, but certainly wasn't slow either. Even if Sherwin did nothing, it would probably only last for about ten minutes or so.
As expected, this G-Earth Fist sounded impressive at first, but in reality, it wasn't any remarkable technique.
Suppressing the urge to activate demon mode to compete with the opponent explosive skill, Sherwin raised the Impact Dial Bow again, blocking the combined attack of the three.
After pulling back with a series of small hops to create distance, he fired back a single arrow at each of them just for show.
This time, Sherwin "counterattack" didn't even utilize elemental arrows he only used the impact arrows stored within the Impact Dials.
"Matador Cape!"
"Lumbago Style: Eye-Poke!"
Diamante and Lao G both blocked the impact arrows flying toward them relatively easily.
But...
"Eek!"
Because the impact arrows had no visible characteristics, Dellinger—who was still quite young and had not yet awakened Observation Haki—actually stood there blankly like a fool. He was struck directly in the head by Sherwin arrow and sent flying backward, landing flat on his back.
It was fortunate that the piercing power of the impact arrow itself wasn't particularly strong, and coupled with the fact that a fighting fish Fish-Man head was tough enough, his head didn't explode.
However, he still lost consciousness with his face covered in blood it didn't look like he would be getting up anytime soon.
Sherwin: "..."
Can't you guys show a little more spine?! I'm holding back this much, so how are you still falling so fast?!
The Hunter, who wanted to stall for time, was feeling very helpless.
"Half-Moon Glaive!"
Diamante thoughts were actually similar to Lao G. Originally, he had planned to circle around with Sherwin for a bit and then find an opportunity to be knocked into the sea. But after only a short exchange, three of them had already gone down...
Doflamingo certainly wouldn't accept them returning like this, so Diamante had no choice but to go all out.
A massive sword pressure split the arena beneath their feet in two, continuing unabated as it slashed toward Sherwin.
"The power is too dispersed..."
Sherwin did not dodge or retreat he sighed softly and placed his empty hand in a fist at his waist.
Monster Hunter Style: Inner Fist!
The fist, coated in Armament Haki, slammed heavily into Diamante grand slash, forcefully shattering it.
As Diamante only move that did not utilize a Devil Fruit ability, the power of this flying slash was actually decent.
However, Sherwin had spent a significant amount of time sparring and exchanging pointers with the world greatest swordsman, Mihawk, and swordsmanship was the discipline he had studied the longest. Naturally, this move was far from enough to challenge him.
"G Symbol!"
Almost the exact second Sherwin dispersed Diamante slash, Lao G long-charged attack followed.
However, Sherwin simply used a side-step to easily dodge the sneak attack. Another weakness of the Battle Preservation Fist was that the aura could not be contained after an eruption under Sherwin aura perception, every single move Lao G made was glaringly obvious.
"Don't think it ends this easily... G!"
Passing by Sherwin, Lao G suddenly twisted his body and swung his hands, which were posed in the letter G, toward Sherwin.
On the other side, Diamante also activated his fruit ability again, causing the ground beneath Sherwin feet to ripple, attempting to interfere with his dodging movements.
The fluctuations beneath his feet were nothing to Sherwin. In his inherited memories, he had frequently fought atop giant monsters like Jhen Mohran and Yama Tsukami fighting on such moving surfaces was a compulsory course for a Hunter.
Furthermore, naval battles in the pirate world were equally unstable, and Sherwin possessed a wealth of both memory-based and practical experience.
Therefore, he simply ducked low to avoid Lao G attack... and this was also thanks to his currently surged physique otherwise, with his original body size, Sherwin would have had to crawl on the ground to dodge.
Then...
"Crack."
"Ouch! My back... G!"
Having missed his punch, Lao G suddenly clutched his lower back and fell to his knees. At the same time, his body rapidly shrank, returning to his original appearance.
Sherwin: "..."
Can you guys actually fight properly?!!
The Hunter was very depressed. He had finally decided to try something technical, so why were the enemies being so uncooperative?
Could it be because he hadn't been petting Klee Meow enough lately?
In a foul mood, Sherwin didn't bother to continue watching Lao G "scam" him there and directly blasted him into the sea with a flame arrow.
"How terrifying! Truly terrifying! Is this really the 'Hunter' promoted by the World Government as a defender of justice?! He shows no mercy even when facing the elderly and children! He like a cold-blooded assassin!"
The host biased commentary, along with the boos he incited from the crowd, made Sherwin mood even worse...
So, he decided to stop worrying about stalling for time. Anyway, with Shermie Meow speed, whatever needed to be set up should be almost finished. At worst, he'd just let Kuma help stall for a bit more later.
With that thought, Sherwin raised his bow and aimed at the distant Diamante, firing three arrows in rapid succession.
Hunter Style · Hunting Art · Ravenous Raven!
However, Diamante was still one of Doflamingo four top officers he instantly turned into a "paper man," easily dodging the elemental arrows shot at him.
Afterward, Sherwin fired a few more arrows, but they were either evaded in the same manner or blocked by the steel-made cape Diamante wore.
"Tsk..."
It was only at this moment that Sherwin realized the bow and arrow fighting style seemed to be quite countered by the power of the Ripple-Ripple Fruit.
In fact, among the hunting arts for the bow, there is a technique called Wire Blade, which involves tying a steel wire to two arrows and firing them simultaneously to create slashing damage. However, in the world of One Piece where flying slashes exist, this move felt very redundant, so Sherwin hadn't practiced it at all.
Furthermore, the "Kuma" uses elemental arrows without physical form, making it impossible to tie any steel wires to them anyway.
Sherwin didn't know what to say anymore. Earlier, when he clearly wanted to stall for time, his opponents were frantically throwing their lives away now that he wanted to settle things quickly, a character capable of contending with him for a while finally stepped up to show their strength...
To hell with this!
Feeling as though he was being targeted, the Hunter decisively shoved the Dial bow back, swapped it for his most handy Longsword, and clipped it to his waist. He then slammed his foot against the ground, charging toward Diamante while maintaining a sheathed sword posture.
Monster Hunter Style: Iai: Spirit Slash!