"We truly don't know how to thank you for your great kindness and grace!"
As the warship gradually sailed into the distance, Bournt—who had remained silent the whole time—once again dropped into a formal dogeza in front of Sherwin, bowing his head to the ground in deep gratitude.
Sherwin sighed and shook his head. For him, this was just something he did in passing. Colonel Mouse neither dared nor had the ability to cause him any trouble, but for the people of the Conomi Islands, this was a matter of life and death.
If Colonel Mouse had found out that Arlong treasure had been taken by the villagers, he would definitely have seized it again under the pretense that it was stolen loot...
Just like how, in the original story, the 100 million Berries Nami had stolen were taken.
That was exactly why Sherwin didn't hesitate to take the blame himself. In the eyes of the Marines, bounty hunters were just a bunch of profit-driven mercenaries.
Once Sherwin admitted it, Mouse didn't doubt him in the slightest and immediately led his men away without question.
"This is all I can do to help," Sherwin said as he pulled Bournt up.
Then he warned him, "But I don't believe Colonel Mouse will just let this go. His cooperation with Arlong already gave him a taste of the benefits, and with his greedy nature, it very likely he'll seek out another pirate crew to take Arlong place and continue oppressing you."
Although in the original story, after Luffy defeated Arlong, Captain Nezumi didn't do this, once you rule out reasons like "plot necessity," the only explanation is Nami threat before she left.
That why, before the Straw Hats were captured, he didn't dare make a move against Cocoyashi Village.
It just like Whitebeard hometown—no pirates or Marines dared to cause trouble there. But once Whitebeard died, it was immediately attacked by all sorts of people.
If a powerful pirate emerged from a certain area, they could also serve as a protective umbrella.
That probably one of the reasons why, after Luffy and the others became famous, the people of their hometown were so proud of them.
However, this time it was different for Sherwin. He was merely a passing bounty hunter. Captain Nezumi didn't believe he would retaliate for the people of the Conomi Islands.
And in fact, that was true. At most, Sherwin might help eliminate pirates again, but going against the Marines—at least before he had enough strength—was something he wouldn't do for anyone other than the Felynes.
Besides, Sherwin couldn't stay on the Conomi Islands forever to protect these people, so all he could do was offer them a kind warning.
After being reminded like this, Beunte expression changed drastically. He had no doubt such a thing could happen.
But very quickly, Beunte gritted his teeth and said, "Even if he wants to find a new partner, it'll still take some time. During that gap, we can report Nezumi to the higher-ups in the Navy.
At the same time, we can organize the island men for training. Also, Sherwin, we can use part of the money you left us to buy weapons."
How should one put it...
Krsha Town truly lived up to its reputation as a village that had always chosen to resist. For an ordinary civilian like Beunte to come up with a countermeasure in such a short amount of time was already impressive.
It just that... the effect might not be significant...
Especially the part about reporting to the Navy higher-ups—Sherwin didn't have much faith in that.
All along the way, the East Blue Navy had shown nothing but incompetence and corruption.Beunte report was unlikely to amount to anything. It was a pity that Smoker hadn't arrived in the East Blue yet—otherwise, Sherwin could have pointed Beunte in his direction.
As for purchasing weapons and training the young men—it wouldn't be of much use either.
First of all, the villagers still had to make a living and tend to their own work, so they couldn't fully dedicate themselves to training.
Secondly, even if East Blue pirates weren't that strong, their combat experience and desperate ruthlessness were not things ordinary villagers could compete with.
And finally—and most importantly—without proper guidance, these inexperienced villagers could hardly train themselves into anything useful.
Their economic level also couldn't support the nutritional intake needed to replenish the physical exhaustion from intense training.
So after thinking for a moment, Sherwin said to him, "We'll be staying here for a while longer. Every morning and evening, we'll be doing combat training. You can bring people to join in. As for how much you're able to learn, that'll depend on your own talent and effort."
That being said, Sherwin didn't actually believe they would learn much. The only one he had real expectations for was Nami.
To be honest, even Nami didn't have particularly high combat talent, but at least she was better than the others.
As for Sherwin goodwill, Beunte was of course extremely grateful, thanking him over and over again.
That very evening, he brought a group of people to Arlong Park and started training alongside Sherwin and the others.
It just that the number of people who came was far fewer than Sherwin had expected. Most of them were Krsha Town residents who should have been busy repairing the town, along with some villagers from Cocoyashi. Nokkie and Nami, the two sisters, also came.
Sherwin was somewhat disappointed. Although he hadn't expected the people to grow much stronger during the short time he stayed, the fact that they didn't even have the desire to become stronger...
Habit was a terrifying force—especially after Roger inspired those dissatisfied with their fates to go out to sea.
The ones who still chose to live "stable" lives under layer upon layer of pressure were basically the "lambs" without the strength or will to change anything.
Letting out a sigh of frustration at their lack of resolve, Sherwin didn't say much more. If people wouldn't save themselves, no one else could save them.
For those civilians who had already become numb, Sherwin didn't know what method could inspire them to gather their courage.
This was also one of the reasons why Sherwin had never considered getting too involved with the Revolutionary Army.
Sure, before transmigrating, he had learned a lot of revolutionary stories, and the nine years of compulsory education had given him a solid grounding in theory. But all of that was just talk on paper.
Besides, the situation in this world was completely different. The very existence of pirates—human-shaped nuclear bombs who could easily change the tide of battle—meant Earth experience wasn't applicable.
Unlike real nuclear weapons, human-shaped nukes had their own thoughts and emotions. They couldn't be controlled just by a button in the hands of a ruler.
On top of that, the World Government still had many hidden forces yet to be revealed, not to mention that mysterious figure, Imu.
Under these circumstances, someone like Sherwin—who had never even been in a brawl before transmigrating, let alone a war, and whose biggest leadership experience was being the homework collector in elementary school—charging in to preach to Dragon about revolutionary theory based solely on textbook knowledge... that would just be plain stupid.
Maybe after traveling to more places, after gaining a better understanding of this world, and after his experience and abilities had grown further, he might eventually gain new insights.
Then, combined with the knowledge from his previous life, maybe he could offer the Revolutionary Army some constructive advice—but that time was definitely not now.
Although the number of people participating in the training was far fewer than Sherwin had expected, each of the villagers who did come was extremely dedicated.
Even after completing the training Sherwin had assigned, most of them would still stay behind for extra practice…
This alone showed just how terrifying the physical constitution of people in this world was.
They all looked malnourished, yet their stamina and recovery speed were completely beyond the reach of Earthlings.
But considering the large number of bizarre races in this world that somehow lacked reproductive isolation, even among humans there were several with special bloodlines.
So perhaps, to some extent, even these ordinary people carried traces of other races' blood.
Unfortunately, though their toughness had surprised Sherwin, the villagers' training results were about what he had anticipated.
Despite all their hard work, their natural limits remained. No one had shown the kind of talent that would make Sherwin eyes light up.
Of course, it could also be that they simply hadn't trained long enough. If they kept at it, maybe one of them could turn out to be a Coby or something…
As for Nami, who would be a future member of the main crew, although her physical capabilities hadn't improved much due to the limited time, her grasp of combat techniques was impressively fast.
So, based on the Clima-Tact she would eventually use, Sherwin taught her some techniques from the Insect Glaive and Lance.
He even tried to teach her demon mode, but she was unable to learn it. It seemed that the native residents of the pirate world were still bound by the rules of their own universe and couldn't fully master skills from the Monster Hunter world.
Still, this wasn't a major problem. The Haki system in the pirate world was quite formidable in its own right—it just demanded more from the user physical foundation.