"Devil?"
"Yes, bat wings, ram horns, counter-jointed legs, what looks like an arrow-shaped tail tip, plus the Five Elder bizarre immortality and the pentagram array... No matter how you look at it, it resembles a legendary devil."
After quickly hiding beneath the Red Line, Sherwin immediately told Dragon what he had seen.
Of course, he hadn't actually seen the arrow tail clearly, but that devilish figure had awakened Sherwin memories.
In the original manga, King Cobra and Sabo had both been pierced by some kind of arrow-shaped black shadow. The other Five Elders didn't have this ability, so it could only belong to Imu. Combining that with the devilish figure he had just seen, it was highly likely to be a devil arrow tail.
"Klee saw it too Meow~"
(=ΦωΦ=)
The little ragdoll, who had already returned to Sherwin shoulder, raised her little paw. "Even though Klee didn't see it very clearly, Klee also saw the bat wings and curved horns Sherwin brother talked about Meow!"
Then, the little ragdoll tilted her head. "Did that big bad guy named Imu eat a Devil Fruit that lets him turn into a devil Meow? So it should be called the Devil Devil Fruit? It feels a bit weird to say Meow..."
"Silly Klee, according to the official naming convention, it should be the Human-Human Fruit, Mythical Zoan, Devil Model Meow!"
(=へ=)
Haibara Meow, who had also returned to Sherwin shoulder, glanced sideways at Klee Meow and corrected her with a pout.
"Klee is not silly Meow!"
(=`н=)
The two little rascals started swinging cat punches at each other across Sherwin head over the minor disagreement...
Well, unsurprisingly, seventy to eighty percent of them landed right on the Hunter face.
Sherwin, who was long accustomed to this, ignored the two little rascals who were using him for practice under the guise of roughhousing, and continued to say to Dragon: "Of course, this is just my guess. Perhaps it some other Devil Fruit, or... it might not be a Devil Fruit at all."
"Not a Devil Fruit?! What foolish things are you saying, Sherwin Boy?! Other than Devil Fruits, what else could possibly grant that Imu such strange abilities! Hee-haw!"
"Who knows," Sherwin shook his head, "After all, that person has been alive for over eight hundred years, as for their abilities..."
"People from eight hundred years ago, or even earlier, were capable of creating devastating Ancient Weapons like 'Uranu and 'Pluton'. Who knows if those ancients hadn't mastered some form of human modification or other technologies? It possible that even 'Poseidon' ability was artificially manufactured, and was only able to be inherited through bloodlines due to some reason."
This speculation had appeared in Sherwin mind a long time ago. After all, the other two Ancient Weapons were artificial products only Shirahoshi, or rather the Mermaid Princess, possessed an innate ability, yet she was classified into the same category, which felt somewhat incongruous no matter how one thought about it.
For this reason, Sherwin had even specifically asked Haibara Meow to examine Shirahoshi body, though nothing was found. It was possible his deduction was wrong, but it was also possible that after generations of inheritance, the artificial traces had long since fused with the Mermaid Princess bloodline.
And Sherwin reason for having such a guess was not without cause after all, Bonney was actually in a similar situation, and besides her...
"...Vegapunk and Germa have also already proven that even without eating a Devil Fruit, one can still obtain miraculous abilities by relying on scientific technology."
In fact, the most powerful proof was the cats in the investigation team, especially the newly summoned Cat Princess. Even if she had eaten a Devil Fruit, it would be impossible for her to possess such a huge array of strange and bizarre abilities.
However, the Palicoes were not "local cats" after all, so Sherwin found it difficult to use them as examples.
And the main reason why Sherwin had this conjecture was...
Saint Saturn, who was simultaneously bound by Seastone and seawater, was directly "summoned" back. Although there are monsters among ability users like Kaido who can completely ignore the restraints of Seastone and seawater, Imu certainly did not seem like the type who would endure hardships to train their resistance to Seastone.
"Whether Imu ability comes from a Devil Fruit or not doesn't make much of a difference to us," Dragon said in a deep voice. "Ultimately, we have to eliminate him."
"That right! Who cares if he a demon or something else! We just need to defeat them all!"
Belo Betty, who had eaten the Pump-Pump Fruit, spoke in an impassioned tone, and unintentionally used her ability slightly, making Sherwin blood boil a little...
However, he quickly regained his composure amidst the increasingly rapid cat punches from the two mischievous little Felynes.
"You two little rascals! Give it a rest already!"
Sherwin plucked Haibara Meow and Klee Meow from his shoulders and gave each of them a flick on the forehead.
After suppressing the two mischievous Felynes, Sherwin finally had the time to deal with Saint Saturn matter...
"Purah Meow, when the Five Elders were summoned away earlier, did anything happen inside your 'Poke Ball'?"
"What kind of name is Poke Ball meow! My mechanical ball has a name! It called the heikah Ball' meow!"
(=`н=)
Purah Meow protested huffily.
As expected, it was still like this...
Sherwin grinned.
Although he was terrible at naming things, at least he knew the art of copying and "borrowed" from other places. Odelia naming ability was even worse than Sherwin, basically prefixing everything with Sheikah or her own name, and then adding the type or appearance of the weapon or equipment, focusing on being simple and clear.
But then again, the other research Felyne naming ability was even more concise, directly using various serial numbers and digits.
Perhaps this was a common ailment among genius scientific Felynes.
Just as Sherwin was spacing out, Purah Meow had already pulled out her Sheikah Slate to observe the situation inside the snowball...
"That big spider from before might be someone else..."
(=ˇˇ=)
Odelia lifted the Shika Pad in front of Sherwin, "The person captured before seems to still be inside, meow."
Sherwin looked at the monitoring screen on the tablet and saw a skeleton wrapped in a Sea Prism Stone capture net, lying quietly in the seawater filling the inside of the snow globe.
Next, Purah Meow opened the sealed snow globe, and the skeleton, which was highly likely Saint Saturn, washed out along with the seawater.
"In other words, even the Mythical Zoan ability to transform into a Gyuki is part of the contract?!"
Sherwin muttered in surprise, then subconsciously pulled out his Hunter knife.
Although he didn't know if it was still in time... anyway, stabbing it wouldn't cause any loss.
"Clack!"
Sherwin stabbed his knife into the ribs of the skeleton, making a crisp clashing sound and snapping two of the ribs in the process.
As expected, it was too late...
Having failed to carve even a "consolation prize," Sherwin retracted his Hunter knife resentfully.