"Saint Charlos! Watch out!"
A CP agent in a black suit threw himself in front of Saint Charlos. Even as he was slashed by Sherwin and blood sprayed everywhere, he shouted loudly, "Quick! Protect the Lords and get them out of here first!"
"Ha! Quite a loyal dog you are," Sherwin sneered.
If he hadn't been trying to conserve his stamina, he would have activated Hunter Time just now and used the ultimate technique against the Celestial Dragons.
Although Sherwin kept claiming he wanted to see what it felt like to kill a Celestial Dragon, the priority right now was figuring out how to escape with Shirahoshi and the others later.
Therefore, he didn't continue the pursuit. Instead, he turned back toward the Felynes, intending to deal with the group of slaves first.
At a time like this, there was no room for misplaced mercy, nor was there time to individually unlock the chains on those slaves.
The moment Sherwin attacked a Celestial Dragon, a Marine Admiral could appear at any second—especially since the one responsible for the meeting security this time was the "Glittering Man" Kizaru, user of the Glint-Glint Fruit.
"It seems you didn't listen to my advice at all... Sherwin, my boy."
Speak of the devil. Just as Sherwin and the others engaged the slaves, Kizaru, having received the news, transformed into light particles and rushed over from the distance.
Meanwhile, a portion of the CP agents protecting the fleeing Celestial Dragons broke off, intending to join the Pangea Castle guards in pinning down Sherwin group.
The CP0 members led by Guernica arrived only a step behind Kizaru, accompanied by another wave of CP agents and guards.
"You truly are a dangerous individual, Hunter Sherwin. We should have sent someone to eliminate you the moment we learned you were harboring Nico Robin," Guernica said in a heavy voice.
"You guys were the ones who made the first move how can you turn around and blame me?"
With a casual swing of his blade, Sherwin sent a CP agent flying. He curled his lip and retorted, "I wouldn't have looked for trouble with the World Government for no reason. It your own fault for trying to steal my Felynes."
Faced with Sherwin accusations, Guernica had no intention of responding. Instead, showing a complete lack of martial honor, he launched a sneak attack.
In his eyes, the fact that Sherwin had not obediently delivered the Felynes to the Celestial Dragons was already "incorrect," so there was naturally no longer any need for verbal sparring.
In addition to Guernica, Joseph—who had previously had a hand cut off by Sherwin—joined the assault.
Ever since Sherwin severed his arm, he had been waiting for an opportunity for revenge he just hadn't expected this chance to be delivered to his doorstep so soon.
"Finger Pistol: Yellow Lotus!"
"Smasher: Bee Sting!"
Joseph prosthetic limb utilized the same technology as Zephyr. However, while Zephyr pursued massive size and high power, as a CP agent, Joseph opted for a lightweight, small-scale prosthetic.
Sherwin raised his beautiful big sister Felyne longsword and settled into a defensive stance.
Hunter Style · Hunter Art · Critical Juncture.
When their attacks struck the blade, Guernica and Joseph felt a strange counter-force surge through their respective arms. Both stumbled backward simultaneously, leaving themselves wide open.
Sherwin naturally wouldn't miss this opportunity...
Bullet Time, on!
Hunter Style · Iai · Total Cleave!
Even though the longsword Baby-5 had transformed into did not have a scabbard, sword masters in both the One Piece world and the Monster Hunter world had long ago developed scabbardless Iai techniques.
This was especially true in the Monster Hunter world a true Hunter isn't like a character in a game where the scabbard never falls off.
It is common for a scabbard to be accidentally dropped or destroyed during a hunt. As the Iai slash is one of the core techniques of a longsword user, how could it possibly be restricted by a mere scabbard!
"Iron Body: Steel!"
"Paper Art!"
The two CP0 members responded differently. Guernica, being more confident in his own strength, chose to tank the hit with Iron Body, while Joseph—likely due to having had an arm cut off by Sherwin before—reacted instinctively by trying to dodge.
However...
The result was the same!
"Slash."
Joseph Paper Drawing was completely meaningless in the face of Observation Haki. Even though he also possessed Observation Haki, it was still inferior compared to Sherwin, which was infinitely close to the advanced level.
More importantly, his speed was far slower than Sherwin.
Consequently, Joseph other intact arm was also severed by Sherwin.
Guernica, who chose to endure the hit, fared slightly better. Having crossed his arms in front of him, he was also struck by Sherwin blade, but with the enhancement of Armament Haki and Iron Body, he managed to keep them from being cut off entirely.
Of course, the condition of the struck arm was not optimistic. Not only were the tendons and muscles sliced through, but the bone inside was nearly severed as well. If not treated quickly, Guernica would likely follow in Joseph footsteps.
"Ugh!"
Guernica and Joseph groaned in unison and retreated rapidly.
At the same time, the surrounding CP agents in black suits lunged at Sherwin one after another, clearly intending to use their lives to stall him so that their two superiors could escape.
However, Sherwin had no intention of pursuing them at all, because...
"Waaah!"
The two people retreating suddenly let out screams of agony. Immediately after, streaks of sword energy burst from inside their bodies outward, turning them into two bloody figures in an instant.
Monster Hunter Style: Kinsect Fusion Technique: Sakura Slash.
Not everyone is as indestructible as Kaido or Big Mom. After receiving guidance from Hawkeye, Sherwin had developed the habit of incorporating Sakura Slash into his attacks whenever possible.
Looking at it now, the results were quite good.
The strength of these two CP0 members was somewhat inferior even to Doflamingo they simply couldn't withstand the sword energy Sherwin had buried within their bodies.
With a casual Tempered Spirit Blade: Roundsword Slash, he sent the swarming CP agents flying. Having no other immediate opponents, Sherwin looked around...
The tallest CP0, Gismonda, was in a heated battle with Jinbe, but his strength was inferior to Who-Who defeat was only a matter of time.
Of the other two unnamed CP0 members, one had already been turned to ash by Klee Meow, and the other was being suppressed by the combined efforts of Sanji Meow and Link Meow—it was estimated he wouldn't hold out much longer either.
If Link Meow had a weapon in his hands right now, he wouldn't even need Sanji Meow help he could have handled a CP0 member on his own.
As for the other black-suited CP agents, Celestial Dragon slaves, and Mary Geoise guards, they were similarly no match for the fishmen of the Sun Pirates and the three Neptune brothers—not to mention there was a little crazy cat in the back who would occasionally drop a blast into their midst.
It was only a matter of time before this crowd was dealt with.
And so, for a brief moment, Sherwin suddenly found that he actually couldn't find anywhere he was needed to help...
Huamei Meow was still idling on the side!
Why does it feel like the defensive forces of Mary Geoise are... a bit weak?
Sherwin, who had originally expected a bitter struggle, scratched his head in confusion and complained silently in his heart.
However, considering that in the manga, even with two Marine Admirals stationed there and Lucci group acting as counterparts to the Straw Hat Crew, Mary Geoise was still turned upside down by a few members of the Revolutionary Army—who even managed to escape without a single person being captured—this situation didn't seem so hard to understand.
Speaking of Marine Admirals, one naturally couldn't forget the World Government strongest and most troublesome asset: "Kizaru" Borsalino...
"Boom! Boom! Boom!"
Sherwin looked up. Above them, two streaks of light—one yellow and one blue—were colliding frantically, emitting bursts of thunderous noise.
No! Those sounds... actually were thunder!
"The Logia-type Rumble-Rumble Fruit is truly like a monster. How scary~"
Raising a leg to block the lightning thrown by Shermie Meow, Kizaru maintained his usual leisurely tone.
"You speak as if you aren't a Logia-type yourself, Uncle Kizaru. Sherwin said that you are the most suitable opponent for me, meow~"
Shermie Meow licked her paws, responding in a lazy tone.
"Oh dear, this is truly a headache... Sherwin is really too much. I honestly don't want to bully you little kittens."
Kizaru shook his head with some distress, and then, a rare serious expression appeared on his face.
"Regrettably, now is not the time for me to be willful."
He glanced down at the CP agents, who were already showing signs of defeat, and sighed helplessly.
"Although I don't particularly like Teacher Zephyr, there is one thing he said that is correct—you shouldn't rely too much on Devil Fruit powers~"
With a flash of light, Kizaru figure appeared beside Shermie Meow, and a long leg covered in Armament Haki swung toward her like a steel whip.