Although somewhat surprised by Shiki enthusiasm, Sherwin, who already wanted to find the location of his aerial base, naturally could not refuse the invitation.
"Jiehahahaha!"
Shiki was very happy to receive Sherwin response. Originally, he had planned this trip to contact several pirate groups he felt could be won over, but now...
Naturally, the work of recruiting "cannon fodder" would be delayed to focus all efforts on securing Sherwin support.
"In that case, let head back! You guys just follow behind my pirate ship."
Shiki walked to the side of the Dodo Advance and gestured with one hand. The airship hovering in the distance immediately changed direction. He then floated off the deck of the Dodo Advance and flew toward his own pirate ship.
Worrying that Sherwin might misunderstand, he didn't even mention using the Float-Float Fruit ability to control the Dodo Advance to travel together, and he kept his hands strictly away from touching the ship.
Sherwin, who had been secretly paying attention to this, breathed a small sigh of relief. He was indeed worried that if he fell out with Shiki later, the man might use his ability to seize control of the Dodo Advance. From the look of things, Shiki sincerity regarding the alliance was quite genuine.
However, wouldn't this make it a bit difficult to turn against him later?
After all, Shiki even planned to give him his "prosthetic limbs"!
Of course, it was impossible for Sherwin to truly let Shiki go over such small favors.
Besides...
Shiki still carried a Float-Float Fruit blind box on him! So, he could only say "sorry" to him.
Sherwin rubbed his chin and let out a mock sigh.
"Brother Sherwin, are we really going to cooperate with that old grandpa meow? Klee Meow doesn't really like him his 'voice' sounds very mean meow."
(=ω=)
Seeing that Sherwin actually had the Dodo Advance follow, the little Ragdoll gently tugged on his ear to remind him.
"Of course not," Sherwin explained, rubbing Klee Meow little head. "Didn't we hear him mention a peculiar plant called IQ? Let let Haibara take a look and see what that all about first."
Other things were a bit difficult to explain, so the Hunter, wanting to save himself the trouble, simply used Haibara Meow as an excuse...
Regardless, he had intended to do this anyway, so he wasn't entirely pulling the wool over Klee Meow eyes.
As expected, the little Ragdoll Observation Haki didn't detect anything amiss. Having received a reasonable explanation, she immediately turned back to playing and laughing with the Dodo Advance.
On the other hand, Haibara Meow was very satisfied with Sherwin "deliberate" act of looking out for her. She hugged his head and gave him a few licks before jumping down from his shoulder and nudging her head against Sherwin hand.
Sherwin, naturally being very tactful, began to pet Haibara Meow feline head.
...
"Hmm, this direction..."
After following Shiki pirate ship for a while, Sherwin, sensing something, took out his Hunter manual and opened the map.
On the dynamic map, the direction they were heading and their approximate destination were already clearly visible.
"As expected, is it the Calm Belt?"
It made sense Shiki had a sort of PTSD regarding storms and other harsh weather. Moreover, he really didn't have a good affinity with bad weather—his two major failures in the original story were both related to the climate. It was perfectly reasonable for him to choose to place his base in the Calm Belt, where he would never encounter wind or rain.
Even putting aside those mystical elements, from the perspectives of safety and secrecy alone, the Calm Belt was originally Shiki best choice.
The flying pirate ships controlled by Shiki ability, which could also accelerate using wind and manpower, were not slow. Dodo Advance went without saying after switching to Valstrax Mode, there were few in this world who could catch up to her. Even in Paolumu Mode, she could still accelerate using fire jet propulsion or electric transmission.
So very quickly, they arrived near the Calm Belt.
"Sherwin brother, look! It a sky island meow!" (=`=)σ
Klee Meow stood on his shoulder, pointing toward the distant sky where several islands, appearing only the size of a palm, were looming fitfully amidst the clouds.
Clearly, Shiki had not placed his base too deep into the Calm Belt, settling it only in the fringe areas.
[Sherwin brother, that old pirate is coming over again meow.] (=ΦωΦ=)
Dodo Advance, who was crouching on top of Sherwin head, also gave a "vocal" reminder. Then she jumped down from Sherwin head and, with a beautiful diving posture, dove into her main body.
"Jiehahahaha!"
Before Shiki himself arrived, that signature laughter had already drifted over.
"Do you see it? That is the base of our Flying Pirates!"
After landing on the deck of Dodo Advance, Shiki also pointed at those "sky islands" in the distance and spoke with pride.
And then...
He started dancing again.
Sherwin: "..."
After another round of eye-searing dancing, Shiki finally opened his arms to the sky and excitedly added the final name.
"STRONG WORLD!!!"
Well, Sherwin finally understood where the name "Strong World" in the movie title came from.
"So, these islands aren't actually Sky Islands, but were sent into the sky by your Fruit ability, meow?"
(=ω=)
Haibara Meow couldn't help but chime in: "But the air pressure and temperature at high altitudes are different from the ground, right? Won't doing this affect the growth of that plant called IQ, meow?"
Shiki glanced at Haibara Meow with some surprise. He wasn't shocked that Haibara Meow knew about Sky Islands—after all, the Dodo Advance could fly, and Sky Islands weren't exactly a secret in the latter half of the Grand Line—it was just that Dr. Indigo had said similar things before.
"Jie hahahaha! So you're Sherwin ship doctor?" Shiki burst into laughter after his initial surprise, then patiently replied: "You can rest easy on that point. Merveille was originally a high-mountain island above the clouds. I simply moved it from elsewhere to the Calm Belt the altitude hasn't changed much."
"I see..." Haibara Meow nodded in understanding, then asked: "Then, once we land on the island later, can you give me some IQ to study, meow?"
"Jie hahahaha! Of course, no problem! If you need it, I can even let you see the research data along with it!"
Shiki made the promise very generously.
The reason he was being so magnanimous, aside from wanting to win Sherwin over, was primarily because he didn't take Haibara Meow seriously at all.
Regarding the Felyne Investigation Team—the "allies" he yearned for—Shiki had done quite a bit of homework. He naturally recognized Haibara Meow as the one with the lowest bounty in the entire investigation team, the "Felyne Brain."
Perhaps the low bounty was because the ship doctor wasn't responsible for combat, but Shiki likewise didn't think Haibara Meow medical skills could be that high.
After all, a Felyne who clearly looked underage probably hadn't even been studying medicine for two years. It would be impressive enough if she understood a bit of medical theory could she possibly understand pharmaceutical research better than his right-hand man, Dr. Indigo?
He figured even if he placed Indigo research materials right in front of this little kitten, she wouldn't be able to make heads or tails of them.
Shiki thought to himself with a hint of amusement.