Monster Hunter of the One Piece World

The next morning, Sherwin, still bleary-eyed, was awakened by a rapid knocking on the door.

"Ha—who is it?"

He first moved the two cats lying on top of him to the side, then got up yawning and swaying.

Because they finally had their own ship, the two Felynes had been too excited to sleep last night. Klee Meow first pestered him to tell a long story from Naruto Meow, then started a game of chase with Sanji Meow.

And most of it revolved around him. The two cats didn't settle down until the sky was starting to lighten, curling up on top of him and falling fast asleep...

And just when Sherwin had finally managed to close his eyes for only two or three hours, someone came knocking at the door again.

"It you, Uncle Bucks... yawn—what going on?" Sherwin kept yawning, his head nodding as he asked.

"Uh… the Capone Family sent the money and the blade. Go down and receive it." Bucks looked at Sherwin and was a bit speechless... this guy sure had a big heart.

"Oh! The people delivering the money are here?!"

Sherwin instantly perked up. Even the two cats dozing on the bed jolted awake and darted to Sherwin side in a flash.

They weren't that concerned about the money—the key was the famous blade. It might earn them a new summoning ticket.

Sherwin quickly changed clothes and followed Uncle Bucks downstairs, where he saw the Capone Family member delivering the money and blade… it turned out to be someone familiar.

"Lord Sherwin, the items you asked for are all here."

Vito placed a longsword and a box in front of Sherwin, while giving Sanji Meow at his side a complicated glance.

"What're you looking at, meow? Want me to beat you up again, meow?" Sanji Meow raised his paw and swiped it twice at him.

"Nyoro-ro-ro-ro… I'm no match for you, lick. Of course I've got no interest in another beating." Vito raised his hands and took two steps back with an awkward smile.

Aside from that disgusting verbal tic, Weird Gun Vito, like many characters in One Piece, also had a very distinctive laugh.

Sherwin ignored the interaction between Sanji Meow and Vito, and didn't bother checking whether the box really held fifty million Berries. Instead, he immediately picked up the famous blade.

Putting personality aside, Capone Bege at least handled things cleanly... or maybe he'd just been scared into submission by Sherwin.

In any case, the blade he'd gotten for Sherwin was also a ōdachi, even longer than the nodachi Cody had given him. It was just a bit shorter than the Longsword only by about the length of a fish snout.

The overall color scheme of the blade was a striking combination of orange and yellow. More precisely, the scabbard was orange, the handle was yellow, and the tsuba had a traditional cross shape—more accurately, it resembled a four-lobed papaya.

Sherwin drew the sword from its sheath and was surprised to find the blade had a brilliant red hue, giving it an oddly seductive, almost bewitching feel.

He casually swung it a couple of times, and as expected, it felt slightly more comfortable in the hand than the nodachi he'd been using before. He wasn't imagining it.

Mm. As expected of a famous blade.

That said, Sherwin still felt the most at ease with the longsword he kept in his spatial pouch. After all, his entire swordsmanship foundation had been built using the Longsword, so it was naturally the one he was most familiar with.

"What this blade called?" Sherwin slid the sword back into its sheath and turned to ask Weird Gun Vito.

He wasn't Tashigi, not even a "local," and without checking the Hunter Guide, he had no way of knowing anything about these famous swords.

Vito quickly replied, "This blade is called Nagatsuki. It one of the Fifty Skillful Grade Blades. Our men brought it overnight from another island, lick."

As expected, just a Skillful Grade blade. Sherwin nodded, completely unsurprised.

It wasn't that he didn't want to aim higher, but finding a Great Grade blade wasn't something even the Capone Family could pull off easily. And Sherwin didn't have time to waste waiting around here for them to try.

Anyway, for Sherwin, just getting the blade and unlocking the entry in the weapon compendium to exchange for a summoning ticket was enough. The grade didn't matter that much.

"Good, that settles it—we're square," Sherwin said, sheathing the blade. Then he looked at Vito. "You're welcome to come cause trouble again."

"Nyoro-ro-ro... Lord Sherwin, you must be joking. One beating like that is more than enough, lick." Vito twisted his long tongue awkwardly, forcing out a stiff smile. Then he gave Sherwin a half-baked gentleman bow. "Well then, I won't disturb you further, lick."

With that, he quickly left the inn.

"Ha—" After he left, Sherwin yawned again, his energy already starting to fade. Sword in one hand and box in the other, he turned to Bucks and shook his head. "Uncle, I'm going back to catch up on sleep. See you in a bit."

"Go, go. I'll tell the innkeeper to save breakfast for you," Bucks waved his hand impatiently, then hurried off to report back to Cody.

But as soon as Sherwin staggered back into his room, he perked up again.

Catching up on sleep was just an excuse—what he really rushed back for was to unlock the weapon compendium!

By the way, the Hunter Guide didn't include any "story character entries" like Capone Bege. But that made sense—games didn't usually come with an NPC compendium.

"Hurry up, meow! Hurry, meow! Check if the weapon page in the handbook is unlocked, meow!" Sanji Meow was even more impatient than Sherwin, urging him excitedly.

As usual, Klee Meow was perched on Sherwin shoulder, pawing at his ear and asking with excitement, "Brother Sherwin, are we getting a new companion, meow?"

"A new companion probably still a ways off," Sherwin said while pulling out the handbook, dashing cold water on their hopes. "Most likely it another summoning ticket fragment—and probably one in a different color again."

"Oh…"

The little plush cat excitement immediately deflated by more than half. Sanji Meow, on the other hand, kept his cool like always.

"That still pretty great, meow! And doesn't that mean we'll have at least three more companions in the future, meow?" The little yellow cat swayed its head with anticipation. "If they're all big sisters, that would be the best, meow!"

Hmm, looks like even without Sherwin reminding him, Sanji Meow—after his experience with Klee Meow—is already prepared for the possibility of summoning a Felyne who isn't a big sister type...

Well, that good. With his heart prepared, Sherwin won't have to go out of his way to comfort him later.

Thinking that, Sherwin flipped his hunter manual to the weapons page...

The page, which had long shown its type, had unsurprisingly been unlocked now. And the description of the famed blade Nagatsuki was much more detailed—covering everything from its length, weight, blade width, to the blacksmith, materials used, and the weapon history. It was all recorded.

But before Sherwin had time to read it in detail, a familiar scene unfolded. A white light flared, and a serrated-edged square paper piece appeared between the pages.

As expected, it was a fragment. Sherwin had even correctly guessed that the color would be different. The new fragment was primarily iron-gray, with silvery-gray patterns—easily evoking the image of a blade...

Looks like the Felyne summoned with this fragment is definitely going to be a cutting-type battle cat, no doubt about it—most likely one that uses a Longsword.

As for who will be summoned, there were too many possibilities to guess. Sherwin didn't really care who it might be, so after casually glancing at it a couple of times, he put the new summoning ticket fragment away together with the hunter manual.

He also shoved the chest containing fifty million Berries and the retired Tachi back into the hunter pouch.

And then...

Back to sleep!