After learning about the connection between Luffy and Ace, Shanks, who originally had no intention of refusing, was naturally even more committed to guiding Huamei.
However, before that...
"Party time! Let have a party!"
The members of the Red Hair Pirates boisterously hauled over drinks and ingredients, quickly building a massive bonfire to resume the banquet that Sherwin had interrupted earlier.
"Sanji Meow, Link, you two go help out as well."
With so many people to feed, the Red Hair Pirate chefs couldn't handle it all alone. Besides, it was a good opportunity for Sanji Meow to exchange culinary skills with Lucky Roux.
"Klee Meow will help too, meow!"
(=ΦΦ=)
The third chef of the Felyne Mobile Sea Restaurant refused to be left out and pulled out her cooking bombs...
The Red Hair Pirates then witnessed the Spark Knight unique style of "culinary art."
"Boom! Boom! Boom—!!!"
"She... she actually made it! And it fast and good!"
After tasting Klee Meow "Explosive" Fish and its derivatives like "Explosive" Meat, "Explosive" Shrimp, and "Explosive" Vegetables, Lucky Roux almost lost confidence in his own cooking...
Fortunately, while Klee Meow "explosive food" was convenient and fast, its flavor wasn't exceptionally outstanding.
Then, it was time for Sanji Meow performance.
As the dishes prepared by the little yellow Felyne and the little leopard Felyne were served, the food made by Lucky Roux was instantly neglected.
"I... I lost..."
Lucky Roux lowered his head in frustration. His cooking speed had been bested by Klee Meow, and his culinary skill had been surpassed by Sanji Meow and Link. Even for someone as habitually optimistic as him, it was quite a blow.
In reality, while his culinary level wasn't quite up to Sanji Meow, there wasn't a glaring gap between him and Link. It was simply that the Red Hair Pirates were used to his cooking by comparison, the food prepared by the Felynes naturally felt much more novel.
Sherwin and the others had long since grown accustomed to seeing this reaction. Including himself as the Hunter, how many people had already been humbled by these Felynes?
"You guys are truly amazing!" Shank eyes lit up as he leaned toward Klee Meow. "Want to become my crewmates?"
Sherwin: "..."
So that habit Luffy has of trying to recruit anyone interesting he meets—he learned it from you!
"No way, meow!"
(`へ=)
The little Ragdoll Felyne turned her head and refused without a second thought. "Klee wants to stay with Big Brother Sherwin, meow!"
Undeterred by the rejection, Shanks turned around to try and recruit Sanji Meow and Link instead.
Sherwin found it hilarious but didn't bother to stop him...
Don't underestimate the bond between a Hunter and their Felynes!
"Does your ship have any beautiful big sister Felynes, meow?"
(ω)
The little yellow Felyne asked the obvious with narrowed eyes.
"Uh... no."
"Then I'm not going, meow!"
Shanks then shifted his gaze toward Link.
The little leopard Felyne answer was even simpler...
(ω≡ω)
"Huh? How can I understand what you're trying to say?!"
Just like everyone else meeting Link Meow for the first time, Shanks was startled by the little leopard cat peculiar way of communicating.
He stopped trying to recruit the Felynes, but as if discovering a new toy, he pestered Link Meow, wanting to experience the little leopard cat "emojis" again.
It wasn't just Shanks the rest of the Red Hair Pirates were also extremely interested and crowded around Link Meow.
(=益)
=(==(=ω=(=ω=)
|ω=)
Unable to stand the annoyance of this crowd, the little leopard cat leaped out of the group and quickly scurried behind Sherwin to hide.
Seeing Link Meow intense resistance, the overexcited Shanks and his crew finally began to cool down.
"Ahahaha... Sorry, sorry. It just that these Felynes with you are too interesting..."
Shanks apologized somewhat sheepishly to Sherwin and Link Meow, who was hiding behind him.
(=`н=)
However, kittens hold grudges, and it was naturally impossible to forgive him so easily—even if the opponent was an Emperor of the Sea and the user of the Face-Face Fruit.
While Shanks lowered his pride to apologize to Link Meow, the other members of the Red Hair Pirates also became interested in the remaining cats because of these three distinct Felynes.
And so...
"Meow-hahahaha! I win again, meow!"
(=`=)l▄︻╤
Jinx blew on the barrel of her Pow-Pow Gun and said to Yasopp with her head held high, "You're not good at being a daddy, and you're not very good at being a sniper meow!"
Yasopp: "..."
In reality, if it were purely a matter of accuracy, Yasopp wouldn't be any worse than Jinx, but the problem was the technological generational gap between their firearms.
Even though the gun in Yasopp hand had undergone many modifications and upgrades, no matter how much it was upgraded, it was still an obsolete flintlock. In terms of rate of fire, there was simply no way to compare it to the Gatling gun in Jinx paws.
But Yasopp obviously couldn't use that as an excuse, especially since his opponent was a little kitten even younger than Usopp.
"Thank you for the match meow."
(=ΦωΦ=)
Hiko Seijuro sheathed the "Kikyo Sen Tougetsu" and gave a slight nod to the Red Hair Pirate navigator and dual-wielding swordsman, Building Snake.
"I lost..."
The rugged-looking Snake put away his twin blades and looked down at the small slit cut into the hem of his clothes with a bitter smile.
If it were a battle to the death, the outcome between the two would be hard to say, but since it was a simple exchange of swordsmanship, Snake was quite a bit behind Hiko Seijuro in that regard.
One must realize that Hiko Seijuro was capable of discussing the way of the sword as an equal with the world greatest swordsman, Hawkeye.
Even in a contest of sword skills, he wouldn't be much inferior to Hawkeye. In the entire Red Hair Pirates, perhaps only Captain Shanks could steadily defeat Hiko Seijuro in fact, regarding the understanding of the Way of the Sword, Hiko Seijuro might even have the upper hand.
They couldn't win in marksmanship, and they couldn't win in swordsmanship...
The Red Hair Pirates, who were originally just interested in the Felynes, were now feeling a bit embarrassed.
However, if it came down to a real fight with bare blades and fists hitting flesh, they couldn't bear to lay a hand on these cute little kittens.
The most critical point was...
If they actually started fighting, they weren't certain they could win, as it was no secret that there were two Logia-type cats in the Hunter Investigation Team.
So, after some deliberation, this group of pirates decided to challenge Sherwin and the others to another contest that was extremely important to pirates—
Drinking capacity.
But when Sherwin carried the wobbling Suika Meow in front of them...
"Are you looking down on us?! Sending out a little kitten like this! And look at her—isn't she already drunk?!"
"Exactly! we don't need you to go easy on us!"
"Hiding behind such a cute little kitten... Sherwin, you brat, you're truly despicable!"
Sherwin: "..."
"Heh heh heh... It been a long time since anyone dared to underestimate me like this, meow!"
(●`н●)
Underestimated, Suika Meow puffed out her cheeks and muttered under her breath with a dark expression.
However, the little drunken cat quickly switched to a smiling face. she untied the sake gourd from her waist, took out her giant sake dish specifically used for pressuring others to drink, and poured a full bowl of super-concentrated Ibuki sake.
"Whether I can drink or not, we won't know until we've competed. Hey, Mister, why don't we start with a toast, meow?"
︺(●ω●)
The little drunken cat held the sake dish in front of Howling Gab, who had been shouting the loudest.
Sherwin sighed softly. It seemed that following the Whitebeard Pirates, the Red Hair Pirates were about to be "wiped out" by Suika Meow as well.