Chapter 703: 703 Subsequent Impacts and Chain Reactions
"Sherwin-dear~ You’re back, meow~"
=(つ=(つω=(つω=)つ
When Sherwin and the others returned to Elegia fully loaded with spoils, Shermie Meow transformed into lightning and lunged into his arms at the first instance, then vigorously rubbed her little head against his cheek to act spoiled.
"Alright, alright~ Didn’t we see each other every day?"
Sherwin stroked Shermie Meow back, comforting her softly.
Although they had been staying on Egghead Island for the past few days, they would be pulled into the Sing-Sing Fruit world through Uta singing every day to meet with the other Felynes. Though the time wasn’t long, there was still enough time to give every single Felyne a good petting.
In fact, Sherwin had once envisioned connecting Uta Sing-Sing Fruit world to Vegapunk brain—which was Punk Records.
Because the main reason Uta couldn’t stably maintain the Sing-Sing Fruit world was that her mental strength, or rather the activity level of her brain, couldn’t keep up.
On the other hand, Vegapunk, who had eaten the Brain-Brain Fruit, had a brain that was constantly growing larger every moment, and the Sing-Sing Fruit world also happened to be capable of fulfilling Vegapunk vision of a "brain network".
Furthermore, with Uta participation, the monopolization of "network" privileges wouldn’t happen, and the danger level would be greatly reduced.
It could be said that the abilities of the Sing-Sing Fruit and the Brain-Brain Fruit, as well as the respective visions of Uta and Vegapunk, were a match made in heaven that complemented each other perfectly.
But in the end, Sherwin still didn’t mention this matter to Vegapunk. Because among his clones, there was still the unstable factor of the "Desire" clone, York.
Even if he wanted to bring Vegapunk and Uta together to build a "metaverse", that would have to wait until after the World Government was overthrown.
"How can that be the same, meow~ The Sherwin-dear in the Sing-Sing Fruit world isn’t real~"
(==)
Shermie Meow, whose clinginess was not inferior to Klee Meow, placed her two little paws on Sherwin collarbone, craning her neck to lick his cheek with all her might.
After finally waiting for this clingy little fellow to finish acting spoiled, the other Felynes who had stayed behind in Elegia, Robin, Uta, and the people of the Red Hair Pirates all rushed over together in a massive crowd.
After greeting them one by one, Baby-5 immediately handed over all the newspapers that Sherwin had missed during this period.
Opening the latest issue, the headline news was that the Navy convoy escorting the scientists had been attacked by pirates again, and they had driven them back once more...
Well, this situation had long been within his and Vegapunk expectations.
If you can’t capture Vegapunk, it only normal to settle for the next best thing and grab a few members of the Science Squad.
In reality, those convoys transporting the scientists were all smoke screens they had already been sent back to Egghead Island via the Navy replicated Valstrax. Otherwise, Sherwin and the others wouldn’t have been in such a hurry to leave.
Now it seemed the Navy intended to use this method to tie down the pirate attention, and incidentally, set traps to further weaken the pirate forces.
Sherwin flipped back a few more issues and found that the content was mostly the same, until he flipped to the issue covering the Battle of Egghead Island...
Regarding the existence of the Five Elders, neither the official newspapers nor the World Economic Journal made any reports whatsoever. Sherwin didn’t believe Morgans was completely oblivious to this, so it could only mean he had been "PR’d" by the World Government.
After all, no matter how gutsy that guy Morgans was, he wouldn’t dare provoke the highest authority of the World Government giving in was perfectly normal.
Besides, there were so many witnesses at the time, so forcing the newspapers not to report it was just the World Government burying its head in the sand. Sherwin estimated that the intelligence brokers in the underworld had already spread the news about the Five Elders everywhere.
Emmmm... Should he have Huamei, through her alter ego in the underworld, leak the existence of Imu as well?
Sherwin, who not long ago thought it best not to provoke the World Government any further, was now restlessly pondering the idea...
Anyway, the one provoking the World Government isn’t me, the Hunter. Furthermore, if the speculation about the Five Elder immortality being related to Imu is leaked together, it might even get those pirates to help test the waters.
But doing this also carried risks. Heaven knew if Imu would have some violent reaction after being provoked. It didn’t matter how many pirates died, but if Imu decided to "shut mouths" by erasing entire islands, just like how Lulusia Kingdom was treated in the manga, that was definitely not something Sherwin wanted to see...
Given the cold-blooded personality Imu displayed in the manga, this possibility was actually very high.
However, if that spaceship suspected to be "Uranus" could only be powered by the Mother Flame provided by Vegapunk, Sherwin wouldn’t be worried.
Because after Klee Meow swallowed and spat it out a few times, she was already fully capable of controlling this flame. As long as Imu dared to send it out, Sherwin could pack it up and take it away in a matter of minutes.
The only worry was that the thing might still have a backup power source.
After all, the World Government had held that weapon for centuries before Vegapunk, so it was impossible for it to have just been sitting around collecting dust the entire time, right?
Just as Sherwin was hesitating over whether to gamble on it, he suddenly caught sight of a minor news story related to the Battle of Egghead—
[The Whitebeard Pirates and the Revolutionary Army Suspected to Have Contact]
Below this headline was a photo of Ace and Sabo hugging each other with joyful expressions.
So, Sabo and the Revolutionary Army were also on the island at that time?
Sherwin scratched his head. He hadn’t completely told Ace and Luffy about Sabo situation at the beginning, not only because it was hard to explain, but also because he actually entertained the thought of using this information to trade with Whitebeard or the Revolutionary Army for some benefits.
But after getting closer to both sides later on, Sherwin abandoned that idea. He had even thought about finding an opportunity to mention it to Ace or Kuma at some point.
As it turned out, as time passed and things piled up, he completely forgot about it...
He hadn’t expected that they would actually reunite because of the Egghead incident.
Well, looking at it this way, Whitebeard joining the battle later on was probably more or less related to Sabo.
However, with the Revolutionary Army being exposed at Egghead, the World Government and the affiliated nations, who had previously somewhat overlooked them, would likely become vigilant again. It was hard to say just how many affiliated nations they had actually infiltrated.
Sherwin suddenly felt that it was time for him to have a proper talk with Dragon.
At the very least, he could first tell him the information about Imu and "Uranus" to see what his thoughts were.
Although the Revolutionary Army led by Dragon had acted rather abstractly before, that was more a matter of vision.
The fact that Dragon could develop the Revolutionary Army to the extent shown in the manga right under the nose of the World Government was actually already very impressive.
Weatheria, the Revolutionary Army, and a not-so-urgent Sleeping Old Town—the originally leisurely days were suddenly about to become busy.
As Sherwin lamented, he picked up the latest batch of bounty posters issued by the Navy...
Unsurprisingly, the bounties for the members of the Beasts, BIG MOM, and Whitebeard Pirates had all increased. The bounties of the three captains had even broken through five billion all together, pulling a considerable distance away from Sherwin and Shanks, who "did not appear on Egghead Island."
In addition, Sabo and a group of other Revolutionary Army members were also given bounties no lower than those of the "Lead Performers" and "Sweet Commanders."
But none of these were the most important.
Because, at the very bottom of this large stack of bounty posters, a bounty poster that was completely insignificant compared to the previous ones appeared in Sherwin vision—
"Straw Hat" Luffy, bounty 3 million, Dead or Alive.
