Chapter 672: 672 Aokiji is Exhausted and Wants to Retire

Morgans was efficient enough. Although he mentioned needing time to dig through his warehouse, he didn’t keep Sherwin waiting too long. In less than a week, a winged person carrying a permanent pose for Elegia found the Dodo Advance sailing at sea.

"Hunter!" 𝕗𝗿𝕖𝐞𝐰𝗲𝕓𝐧𝕠𝕧𝗲𝐥.𝚌𝐨𝚖

The winged person, with pink feathers beneath their arms, landed on the deck and bowed respectfully to Sherwin.

Many of the natives Sherwin had rescued from Shiki had chosen to work for the World Economic Journal. Beyond seeking Morgan protection, it was also their way of repaying Sherwin.

After the messenger flew away with an excited expression, Yamato couldn’t help but lean in.

"That person hybrid form is so strange. Usually, wings grow directly from the back or the arms transform completely into wings, right? Having them only half-changed like that must make flying much more difficult than having full wings."

"Those wings aren’t from a Devil Fruit Meow~"

Haibara Meow took over with a look of pride, explaining to Yamato on Sherwin behalf, "That is an evolutionary effect caused by a plant called IQ Meow..."

Then, the little Felyne and the little puppet Felyne took turns recounting the story of Shiki and his floating base to Yamato.

"’Golden Lion’ Shiki! I know him! I was..."

Yamato paused for a moment before continuing, "Anyway, I just know. He was a great pirate on par with Roger and Whitebeard!"

Ignoring Yamato as she pestered the Felynes with questions, Sherwin picked up Dodo Advance, who had just reappeared after hiding.

"You still don’t want to see outsiders, do you?"

"I just don’t like them, meow~ And Dodo Advance can’t leave its main body anyway, meow."

(=ω=)

The little one replied while burrowing forcefully into Sherwin stomach.

Sherwin looked thoughtful, lifting her up by her armpits to hold her in front of him. "So, if there comes a day when you can leave your main body and move around with us, you won’t hide from others anymore?"

"Hmm... of course I still will! I don’t like talking to people I don’t know anyway, meow!"

(=`へ=)

Dodo Advance tilted her small head and thought for a moment before answering with perfect confidence.

Sherwin rolled his eyes, speechless. He placed her on top of his head and handed her the Eternal Pose to Elegia.

"Suit yourself. Head in this direction. First, we’re going to help your Shermie Meow sister and Sasha sister find this singer named Uta."

"Yay! Dodo Advance also really likes listening to her songs, meow!"

(=＞＜=)

Dodo Advance cheered immediately. Over the past few days, she had frequently watched Uta performances along with the others.

It had to be said that for someone to become a world-class idol, no matter how strange their thought process or personality might be, their professional skills were absolutely beyond reproach.

In less than a week, Uta fame had already spread across the sea like a virus. Had the war between the "Beast-Big Mom Alliance" and the World Government not been intensifying, the speed of its spread would have been even faster.

As for why the war, which had originally tended to stabilize, was intensifying...

It was naturally because Morgans had leaked the information about Vegapunk.

Initially, the sudden withdrawal of the "Hundred Alliances" had made Kuzan happy for a brief moment, but as the undercover agents within the pirates sent back news that they were searching for Egghead Island, Kuzan, who had only relaxed for a few days, immediately fell into a state of even greater distress than before.

The Navy and the World Government didn’t even have the time to investigate how this information had been leaked they could only push through the obstruction of the "Hundred Alliances" and send troops into the New World.

Furthermore, because they had shifted from defense to offense, the crisis at Mary Geoise was resolved.

The Holy Knights quite bluntly chose to withdraw, and the Warlords now had more room to slack off. The actual strength of the Navy had, in fact, declined.

What frustrated them the most was that in order to avoid revealing Vegapunk location, they couldn’t head directly to Egghead Island to set up a defense.

They could only continuously attack the territories of the Beast and Big Mom Pirates to tie up their manpower...

Regardless, it was quite lively. Sherwin and his group had encountered ships belonging to these three factions several times over the past few days.

However, the people from the Beast Pirates and the Navy were sensible enough not to disturb them, proactively steering clear when they saw the Dodo Advance. Big Mom people, on the other hand, would come forward to greet Sherwin.

It was only because the Revolutionary Army was busy seizing this opportunity to expand their underground activities and hadn’t jumped in that things weren’t even more chaotic.

Additionally...

There was still no word from Shanks, and his situation remained unknown.

Could it be that he also saw Uta live broadcast or a recording and secretly ran off to Elegia to see his daughter?

He couldn’t have been seriously injured for some ridiculous reason, just like when his arm was bitten off by the Lord of the Coast in the East Blue, right?

But no matter what, following this trend, it was only a matter of time before Egghead Island was discovered.

Sherwin wasn’t sure if Vegapunk could slip away ahead of time, but it was clearly impossible to clear out that massive pile of messy inventions under these circumstances.

Therefore, the matters at Elegia had to be settled as quickly as possible to find an opportunity to get a piece of the action at Egghead Island.

Thinking of this, Sherwin patted Dodo Advance small head and said, "Just accelerate and head over there."

"Understood meow! Dodo Advance! Transform and set off meow!"

(=＞＜=)

The hull of the Dodo Advance, which had been sailing smoothly with the wind on the sea, immediately retracted its sails. After a series of mechanical shifts and clangs, it switched into Valstrax form.

In the next second, the Dodo Valstrax, trailing a long exhaust flame, soared into the sky and flew rapidly toward Elegia.

However, Sherwin overlooked one point.

Even though he had shown no interest in Egghead Island from start to finish and had no intention of interfering in the dispute between the two sides, he was, after all, the primary beneficiary of Vegapunk technology among forces outside the World Government.

No matter how much he acted indifferent to the world struggles, others could not possibly ignore him.

And...

Sherwin had previously obtained the "legacy" of all of Punk Hazard. Heaven knew if there was any information or intelligence within it regarding Egghead Island or the means to locate Vegapunk.

So, as the Dodo Advance flew high into the sky with such fanfare, whether it was the alliance of a hundred or other factions planning to fish in troubled waters, they all mistakenly believed Sherwin had found the location of Egghead Island after seeing that firelight piercing the sky.

Consequently, they swarmed after the Dodo Advance toward Elegia.

Such massive movements by Sherwin and the pirates naturally could not be hidden from the Marines and the World Government.

Even if they could see that the direction Sherwin was heading was not Egghead Island, they could not just sit back and watch. They could only dispatch a portion of the Marines to follow and join the commotion.

After all...

Heaven knew what kind of big news this guy, the "Hunter" Sherwin, was trying to stir up again!

Compared to Kaido and Big Mom, whose goals could be seen at a glance, Sherwin—this troublemaker whose actions followed no pattern yet always managed to cause a major stir—was the one who gave the intelligence departments of the Marines and the World Government the biggest headache.

Sherwin, completely unaware of the large crowd of tagalongs following behind him, arrived near Elegia after a relatively short flight.

Given the flight speed of Dodo Advance, let alone the fact that Elegia was still within the New World, it wouldn’t have taken them much time even if it were in the Calm Belt or the first half of the Grand Line.

Thus, Uta, who was practicing her singing by the seaside as usual, saw a strangely shaped ship trailing sparks and lightning as it plummeted from the sky, crashing less than a hundred meters away from her.

"BOOM—!!!"

The Dodo, executing a violent landing, slammed directly onto the beach, kicking up countless sprays of sand and seawater that pattered down onto a completely dazed Uta head.

"Meow-hahahaha! Sherwin, look! Sister Uta is right over there! Klee Meow told you this was the right place to land, meow!"