Monster Hunter of the One Piece World

Clearly, Capone Bege meant to settle scores after the trade fair was over—but Sherwin didn't take it to heart at all…

After all, he couldn't beat me or my cats.

As the person directly involved, Sherwin was completely unfazed by Bege tough talk. Klee Meow and Sanji Meow didn't pay it any mind either. Instead, it was Uncle Bucks who was anxiously fretting on the sidelines.

"Mr. Cody, maybe we should find a chance to get the kid Sherwin out of here first," he suggested.

"How do you know Capone Bege didn't say that on purpose just to separate Sherwin from us so he could go after him in secret?" Cody shook his head, rejecting Bucks proposal.

Seeing that the two decision-makers both held the same stance, Bucks could only sigh helplessly, then focused even more on staying alert—nervously watching in case someone from the Capone Family suddenly jumped out to make a move.

As for Sherwin, he was having a grand time stuffing himself with food and drink at the venue with the two Felynes, not taking Capone Bege threats seriously in the slightest.

Of course, he didn't slack off in his guarding duties either. Even while enjoying the feast, he never strayed more than a hundred meters from Cody.

With Sherwin current reflexes and speed, even if something really did go down, he'd make it back to his employer in time.

And while eating and drinking, Sherwin was also keeping an eye on the situation around the venue...

Though most of these gangsters were dressed in black suits, the leaders who came to "negotiate" with the merchants had slight differences in suit styles.

It didn't take long for Sherwin to distinguish the leaders from each of the three factions.

Then he noticed something a little odd—

One of the groups seemed to have a strangely high success rate in these "negotiations." But it wasn't because they were offering better terms or anything like that—rather, whenever competition arose, the other two groups always chose to back off first.

If Sherwin hadn't guessed wrong, that faction should be the Buono Family.

So, among the three families, the Buono are actually the true power behind the scenes?

Since Capone Bege would eventually become one of the West Blue Five Underworld Emperors, Sherwin had originally thought his faction was the strongest among the three.

But then again, history has plenty of examples where early winners still lose in the end, so Sherwin didn't see it as a big deal.

He just quietly chuckled in his heart at the Buono Family, who managed to lose even with a dragon riding on their face.

Additionally—perhaps due to Capone Bege having sent word in private, or maybe because the other two families didn't want to risk souring relations with the Capone Family over something so trivial—not a single person approached Cody side with any intent to strike a deal.

Even a few merchants who had been happily chatting with Uncle Cody earlier now kept their distance.

Sherwin frowned. He wasn't the least bit afraid of the Capone Family, of course—but if their intimidation ended up affecting Uncle Cody business, he couldn't help but feel a little guilty about it.

Still, it not like he could just hold a knife to people throats and force them to work with Cody.

Just as Sherwin was feeling troubled by this, he spotted someone unexpected—Buono John, the man who had spoken on stage at the very beginning—personally walking up to Uncle Cody.

Mind you, aside from an early scuffle with the second son of the Simont Family over a merchant, Buono John had only interacted with two other merchants the entire time.

Judging from how the others reacted, those three must all be major business players. And no matter how you looked at it, Uncle Cody didn't quite seem to be in the same league as them.

So it wasn't just Sherwin who was caught off guard. Even the other merchants, many of whom were hoping to watch some drama unfold, now looked completely stunned.

As the bodyguard, Sherwin naturally returned to Uncle Cody side the moment he saw this happen—definitely not because he was curious!

"It been a while, Colonel Cody… or rather, I should call you Mr. Cody now," Buono John greeted warmly, as if he were greeting an old acquaintance.

But Uncle Cody expression remained cool and detached. Still, his tone carried a trace of emotion.

"Yeah. Never thought someone who once fled from under my command would climb to where you are today."

"That exactly why I should thank you, Mr. Cody, for showing mercy back then." John wasn't offended in the slightest. Instead, he offered sincere gratitude:

"To express that gratitude, the Buono Family won't charge a single beli from any of your businesses."

"Hmph…" Cody let out a cold snort. "What the catch?"

"It always easy talking to a smart man." John chuckled, giving the cane in his hand a twirl before changing his tone.

"I hope that next time Glace applies for membership as a World Government affiliate, Colonel Cody might be willing to put in a good word."

Sherwin raised an eyebrow in surprise. Cody was just a branch colonel—what made this John think he had the authority to influence matters of a member state? More importantly, Uncle Cody didn't even refute it. After a brief flicker of surprise, he suddenly fell silent.

Looks like… Uncle Cody identity might not be so simple after all...

"If Mr. Cody agrees, I can also help settle things with the Capone family," John continued to sweeten the deal.

"Is that so?" Mr. Cody glanced at Sherwin, then suddenly broke into a smile. "Alright, I agree."

"Well then, I won't take up any more of your time." John smiled, bowed slightly, and took his leave.

"Mr. Cody?" That roundabout conversation clearly overloaded Uncle Bucks mental CPU. Looking bewildered, he asked,

"What if the application fails and the Buono family gets furious? And besides, even if you were a colonel, you shouldn't be able to interfere with member state matters, right?"

But Uncle Cody only gave a sly smile. "How could I possibly influence decisions from up top? I just agreed to put in a word—that all. Never promised it'd work. And anyway, how would he even know whether I really helped or not?"

"I see." Bucks immediately assumed Cody had just been bluffing John.

But Sherwin subtly pursed his lips.

He believed Cody when he said he wouldn't really help. But claiming he had no sway over higher-level decisions? That was a different story.

Buono John might one day lose to Capone Bege, but that didn't mean he was an idiot. If Cody truly had no such pull, why would John approach him for this deal? There had to be some reason John believed Cody could actually make it happen—or at least had the kind of clout to be worth negotiating with.

In fact, Sherwin suspected that John didn't truly expect Cody to help. He probably just saw this as a chance to build a connection with Cody.

With that, Uncle Cody hidden identity became quite an intriguing matter.

But… what did that have to do with this cat?

Sherwin had no intention of digging into Uncle Cody secrets.

Even if Cody did have some kind of special identity, it didn't mean much to Sherwin. If anything, it just meant he no longer had to worry about being a burden to Cody business…

If someone like John thought Cody could influence the World Government decisions—even if it was just John own assumption—that was already more than enough to deal with Capone Bege.

Most importantly, even though Uncle Cody had clearly noticed Sherwin was hiding something himself, he never tried to pry. On the contrary, he always looked out for them. There was no way Sherwin would repay that kindness with suspicion.

Soon, the trade gathering drew to a close. The merchants present had all decided which faction they would pledge themselves to, and Buono John once again stepped onto the stage to deliver a closing speech.

Sherwin didn't bother listening to his pretentious speech. Instead, he searched the crowd for Capone Bege. After all, the guy had said he'd come looking for trouble after the trade fair ended. As one of the future Worst Generation, he at least deserved a bit of respect.

But after scanning back and forth several times, Sherwin still didn't see Capone Bege. If it were just that the man was too short and got blocked by others, fine—but even those two distinct subordinates of his were nowhere to be seen. That wasn't right.

Could it be...

That guy on stage was that efficient and already took care of Capone Bege?

Sherwin looked toward the center of the hall where Buono John was still delivering his passionate speech.

Then—

Bang!

With a gunshot, Buono John skull burst open, and he fell straight to the ground.

Sherwin: "...Huh?!"