Good job! That it!Seeing Sherwin provoke the other Warlords just as he expected, Fleet Admiral Sengoku silently cheered in satisfaction.
In truth, Sengoku had already taken notice of this suddenly rising bounty hunter back when Sherwin defeated Cracker.
From the reports he'd gathered, many Marines across the Four Seas had nothing but praise for Sherwin and the Felynes who followed him.
So, even before the World Government expressed interest in recruiting him as a Warlord, Sengoku had already been considering whether to bring Sherwin into the Navy SWORD unit.
But before he could make a move, Sherwin went ahead and took down Crocodile—creating an unexpected headache for the Navy in the process.
Even so, Sengoku didn't hold it against him. On the contrary, he was even more impressed.
And then…
The young man he had high hopes for was snatched away by the World Government!
If that had been the end of it, Sengoku wouldn't have minded. Given Sherwin personality and his conduct so far, becoming a Warlord was actually a good outcome.
Even as a Warlord, there was still room for Sengoku to quietly pull him into the Navy later on.
But now, after losing face in their negotiations with Sherwin, the World Government wanted the Navy to step in and "teach him a lesson"? What kind of nonsense was that?!
When Sengoku received that order, he was extremely frustrated—but soon realized this might not be such a bad thing after all.
According to the intelligence the Navy had gathered, Sherwin had unresolved conflicts with Jinbe, the Empress, and the Heavenly Yaksha. That gave Sengoku an idea…
Since Sherwin, as a bounty hunter, was fundamentally different from those pirate-born Warlords,
Sengoku could take advantage of the "signing bonus" provided by the World Government to stir up dissatisfaction among the other Warlords.
By deepening their hostility toward Sherwin, he could fulfill the orders from above while diverting the resulting tension away from the Navy.
After that, he would "explain" things privately to Sherwin, then secretly compensate him with one of the Devil Fruits that was supposedly
"reassigned due to objections from the other Warlords," taken from the Navy own reserves.
With this combination of pressure and persuasion, coaxing Sherwin into secretly joining the Navy seemed entirely possible.
And so, Sengoku immediately began his plan—starting by sending letters to the other five Warlords, specifically emphasizing how the World Government had paid two Devil Fruits to recruit the newest one.
In his letters, Sengoku deliberately made his intentions clear—his tone practically screamed,
"Yes, I'm provoking you on purpose. Let see if you dare to teach Sherwin a lesson for me."
Sengoku knew these Warlords too well—lawless, arrogant, and proud. The more openly he tried to manipulate them, the more likely they were to take the bait.
To make his supposed "displeasure" appear more convincing—and to ensure no one suspected that Sherwin might secretly join the Navy—Sengoku even reversed the facts.
He discreetly spread the rumor among the officers stationed at headquarters that the Devil Fruit given to Sherwin came from the Navy own stores.
That, of course, explained why Colonel Verygood had treated Sherwin with such hostility earlier.
But what caught Sengoku off guard was that shortly after sending out those letters, he suddenly received two pieces of news—one, that an additional Devil Fruit had been given to Sherwin, and two, that Moria had already been beaten up by him.
Losing Moria as a potential pawn and possibly having to part with one more Devil Fruit? Not a big problem.
Though one of his planned "enforcers" had been eliminated before the operation even began, Sengoku wasn't worried.
Sure, Sherwin could defeat one Warlord—but four? That was another story.
Sengoku knew full well that Crocodile and Moria, who operated only in the first half of the Grand Line, were far weaker than the likes of Doflamingo, Jinbe, or the Pirate Empress, who thrived in the New World.
And if Sherwin had to face Dracule Mihawk—the world greatest swordsman—he wouldn't stand a chance.
Even if Mihawk wasn't interested in Sherwin or the Devil Fruits and chose not to get involved, the combined strength of the Heavenly Yaksha, the Sea Knight, and the Pirate Empress would be more than enough to give Sherwin a hard time.
Besides, given Sherwin record of taking down both Crocodile and Moria, it was impossible for those veteran Warlords to walk away from a fight with him completely unscathed.
Sengoku had another motive for stirring the pot—he wanted to use Sherwin hand to teach the Heavenly Yaksha and the others a lesson.
After all, he'd been fed up with those Warlords for a long time, but orders from the World Government kept him from acting directly.
As for the idea that Sherwin might actually defeat all the Warlords who came to trouble him—Sengoku never even considered that possibility.
Just like everyone else who had underestimated the Felynes, Sengoku had no idea how powerful those little companions of Sherwin really were.
Their cute appearance alone made them easy to dismiss, and Morgan long-standing efforts to downplay their presence had only deepened that misconception.
In truth, Sengoku had a chance to notice the flaw in his plan—and even a chance to fix it.
After all, Garp, who had fought Sherwin before and later went to the Sabaody Archipelago to investigate, knew perfectly well just how strong Sherwin and the Felynes had become.
However, Sengoku had only discussed his plan regarding Sherwin with Vice Admiral Tsuru.
Garp had no idea what he was plotting. And since Sherwin had exposed Garp embarrassing secret during the events on Sabaody,
the old Marine Hero, upon returning, merely gave Sengoku a casual report that went something like:
"That old geezer Rayleigh doesn't play fair—he tried to bully a youngster."
Of course, the actual report wasn't worded that way, but the meaning was about the same.
Most importantly, Garp—careless and absent-minded as always—never mentioned that Rayleigh had actually come off the worse in that encounter.
Sengoku, unable to imagine that Sherwin and his Felynes could fight Rayleigh to a standstill, simply assumed the Dark King had been impressed by Sherwin ability and decided to spar out of curiosity.
He never thought to question Garp about how that fight ended—and that was how he lost his last chance to correct the mistake.
Completely unaware that his plan was already full of holes, Sengoku was now feeling rather pleased as he watched Sherwin provoke the other Warlords. As expected, the Warlords reacted immediately.
Only, before Sengoku could realize that Sherwin and the Felyne strength was far beyond what he had imagined, a small but critical twist appeared in his plan.
The first to speak was the one acknowledged as the strongest among the Seven Warlords—Dracule Mihawk.
Sitting cross-legged on a chair, Mihawk spoke lazily, "I have no interest in Devil Fruits. I only heard that the Hunter is a fairly skilled swordsman, so I came to have a little spar with him."
However, while speaking, those hawk-like eyes of Mihawk lingered on Seijuro Meow for quite a while.
"You can deal with your matters with them first," Mihawk said after retracting his gaze. "I'm quite free these days, so I can wait."
Sengoku: "…"
"I have no interest in the Devil Fruit granted to you by the World Government," said Jinbe, the most composed among the Seven Warlords, speaking before Hancock and Doflamingo.
"I came here simply to express my gratitude on behalf of the two rescued Fishmen."
After speaking, he bowed slightly to Sherwin.
In fact, Jinbe originally hadn't planned to come—just as Sherwin had guessed.
Although he felt sorrow over the destruction of Arlong Pirates, he didn't bear any hostility toward Sherwin.
Instead, he even felt apologetic toward the humans who had suffered under Arlong tyranny.
Still, since Sherwin had killed his fellow Fishman, Jinbe hadn't intended to involve himself too deeply with him.
However, just a few days ago, Jinbe learned about Sherwin actions—freeing slaves and wiping out slave traders.
Later, he met the two Fishmen Sherwin had rescued—both from Fishman District, and both former members of the Sun Pirates.
That changed Jinbe mind. He traveled back from the New World specifically to see if there was any way he could lend Sherwin a hand.
Sengoku: "…"
Boa Hancock thoughts were quite similar to Jinbe—she too had no interest in any so-called Devil Fruit.
The only difference was that, at first, she'd actually intended to take this opportunity to give Sherwin some trouble.
However, after hearing about how he had rescued slaves, her feelings grew complicated.
Moreover, Shakky—the one who had once helped her and her sisters escape back to Amazon Lily—had personally reached out to her afterward.
Because of that, even though Boa Hancock still didn't particularly like Sherwin, who had once offended her, nor the group of Felynes around him who seemed immune to her charms, she decided to let go of her grudge.
"For Shakky sake, I shall erase the debts between us!"
Even when making peace with Sherwin, the Empress still stood with her back arched at nearly ninety degrees, looking down her nose at him in her usual proud manner.
Sengoku: "…"