"Boom—!"
The wind from Jinx punch, a move from Felyne Karate, carried several strands of her shed fur and landed squarely against Kawamatsu "Soto Muso" defense before violently exploding.
Kawamatsu never expected that this young but formidable "Cat Mink" would actually know "sorcery," leaving him soot-covered and disoriented by the blast.
It was only because Jinx didn't intend to take his life otherwise, that single strike would have left Kawamatsu dead or severely wounded.
The samurai, however, did not know this. Given how ruthlessly the little crazy cat had fought previously, they all rushed forward to protect the blasted-down Kawamatsu.
Jinx, who hadn't had enough of the fight yet, hadn't offered any explanation before and certainly wasn't going to start now. She pulled out Pow-Pow and Fishbones again, intending to initiate the second round of combat.
But right at that moment, the hurried sound of footsteps treading through the snow echoed from a distance...
"Lord Kawamatsu! We've come to help... Eh?!"
Hantaro rushed over with a group of samurai, but upon seeing the Felynes confronting Kawamatsu and the others, he was momentarily dumbfounded.
The commotion Jinx made during battle was by no means small. Hantaro and the others staying behind in the Northern Cemetery had naturally noticed it. However, despite the fighting breaking out, Kawamatsu had never sent a signal for Hantaro to retreat.
After a bit of thought, Hantaro surmised that the enemies Kawamatsu group encountered were likely manageable, which was why they hadn't been told to withdraw.
Furthermore, these samurai were loyal and righteous by nature even if they had some slight criticisms of Kozuki Oden, they could not bring themselves to abandon Kawamatsu.
So, after consulting with the other samurai, Hantaro led another group of those still capable of fighting to the scene, hoping to help Kawamatsu resolve the threat quickly.
Only...
What was with this group of adorable cat Minks?
However, Hantaro reacted quickly. After all, Issho had mentioned Sherwin before.
"Is that Lord Hunter? Is there some misunderstanding here? Lord Kawamatsu and all of us were rescued from Kaido clutches by Lord Issho!"
Despite having already guessed why the two sides were clashing, Hantaro decisively played dumb, loudly and swiftly declaring their identity.
"Tch!"
(=`へ=)
Jinx curled her lip and tucked away the weapon she had just pulled out and aimed at Hantaro group. She muttered to herself in extreme dissatisfaction, "Dammit, I was one step too slow. Now I can't even have a fight, meow!"
Although Sherwin didn't hear exactly what she was grumbling about, based on his understanding of the little crazy cat, he immediately guessed her thoughts the moment he saw her frustrated expression.
Stepping forward quickly, he picked up the battle-maniac who feared nothing more than a lack of chaos. Both annoyed and amused, Sherwin gave the cat head a vigorous rubbing.
With Jinx temperament, she naturally wasn't willing to take such a loss and turned around to sink her teeth into Sherwin palm with a crunch.
Ignoring the little blue cat currently struggling with his hand, Sherwin held her and turned to look at Hantaro.
"I don't know if there been a misunderstanding. My Felynes and I were having a good time here when these guys suddenly approached us in a suspicious manner, and once discovered, they drew their blades and charged straight at us."
Sherwin glanced at Kawamatsu, who looked embarrassed and hesitant, and asked with a half-smile, "Does this... count as a misunderstanding?"
As soon as these words were spoken, the group of samurai who had arrived later all frowned.
They were not die-hard fans of Oden, but like Hantaro, although they had some dissatisfaction with Oden actions, they understood the priority of the situation.
They believed the most important task at hand was to expel Kaido and his Beast Pirates. Furthermore, since Oden was already dead, they felt there was no need to dwell on the past.
However, they never expected that Kawamatsu and the others would be so muddled. Just because the Hunter told some truths, they ignored the great enemy Kaido and took the initiative to attack their original allies.
The Hunter was indeed right Kozuki Oden was not clear-headed, and his followers were just as foolish!
The dislike Hantaro and the others felt for these remaining remnants of Oden followers grew even stronger.
But now was not the time to pursue these matters. Hantaro suppressed his dissatisfaction with Kawamatsu and the others and took the initiative to smooth things over for them, saying, "It seems this really is a misunderstanding!"
Hantaro used every bit of his acting skills, barely squeezing out a forced expression of sincerity that looked incredibly deliberate as he explained to Sherwin,
"We just had a skirmish with Kaido men earlier. Lord Kawamatsu and the others must have just had a bit of a stress response."
There was no helping it although he had started trying to use his head, "lying" was not something one could learn and master immediately just by thinking about it, unless one was naturally gifted.
Clearly, Hantaro talent in this area was far inferior to his swordsmanship. His theatrical expression wouldn't just fail to fool Sherwin—it probably wouldn't even fool Luffy.
Moreover, while explaining to Sherwin, Hantaro kept winking and gesturing at Kawamatsu, trying to get him to follow his lead and soften his stance toward Sherwin.
Only...
"Do you really think I'm blind? If you're going to drop hints, at least try to do it behind my back!"
Sherwin rolled his eyes speechlessly, and then...
He pretended he hadn't seen a thing.
Since he had keenly sensed that while the two groups of samurai looked like allies, they weren't actually on the same side, and because Hantaro differed from the Wano samurai in his memory, Sherwin was actually quite curious about them.
Besides, he never intended to truly do anything to Kawamatsu and the others. If the fight got too heated, Yamato wouldn't just stand by and watch anymore. It was better to use Hantaro words as a convenient way to back down.
Well, provided that Kawamatsu group didn't keep acting like fools.
Fortunately, the only ones truly incapable of seeing reason on Kawamatsu side were the few samurai who had struck first.
They had long been given special attention by Jinx and were beaten into the ground at the very start of the exchange, so no one else jumped out to cause trouble.
"That is correct. Yoshida and the others were simply too tense, and your counterattack was so fierce afterward that we didn't have time to explain."
Even when giving in, Kawamatsu insisted on being stubborn.
In the beginning, they truly didn't have time to speak, but after adapting to Jinx attacks, they had plenty of time to explain themselves. Yet, they had still chosen to continue fighting the little mad cat...
Sherwin had reason to suspect that they likely felt humiliated being suppressed by a single kitten, and combined with their dissatisfaction over his comments regarding Kozuki Oden, they hadn't stopped at the time.
While they also disagreed with Sherwin assessment, Kawamatsu and his group behaved completely differently from Yamato.
However, Inuarashi and Nekomamushi were much the same back then even after being left speechless by Sherwin words, they still insisted on a fight before they would let things settle...
Perhaps it was because they were Oden retainers and followers, whereas Yamato was merely a fan?
But that didn't seem right. Normally, shouldn't it be the die-hard fans who act as the "warriors protecting their idol against the world"? Even accounting for the "death before dishonor to one lord" mentality, it didn't stop Sherwin opinion of this group from dropping even further.
Much like his feelings toward Kin'emon and the others, Sherwin felt that these victims of the Oden Virus truly couldn't distinguish right from wrong...
They could neither prioritize the urgency of a situation nor recognize the gap in strength between both sides. In that regard, they and Kozuki Oden were truly a perfect match.
While Sherwin was internally ranting, his expression remained stoic. He used the Cat Hand to soothe the Felynes in his arms who were itching to snap back, and gave a cold, indifferent nod.
"In that case, let just call it a misunderstanding."