"I promise to complete the mission, Marshal Sengoku."
Watching Sengoku's retreating figure, Akira stretched his arms, took out a pair of wool shears and a clipper from the box, and slowly approached the goat.
The goat seemed to sense trouble and started to pace anxiously.
Buzz—
Akira turned on the clipper and tightly held the goat.
With a ripping sound, a groove was shaved into the goat's hair right against its skin on the top of its head.
The goat felt the coolness on its scalp and bleated softly, struggling violently.
"Quiet, it'll be done soon. I guarantee you'll charm all the little female goats."
Saying that, Akira's hands moved faster.
The shaved area was completely bald—no hair at all, like a bald patch.
In this world, animals were highly intelligent; not only could they understand speech, some could even talk themselves.
The goat glanced back at Akira with a "Yeah, right, like I believe you" look, then bleated even louder.
"Baa~ baa… baaa baa!!!"
"Hahaha, Sengoku, you old fellow, you wouldn't be doing anything shameful to your goat, would you? It sounds so pitiful!"
The door was suddenly kicked open, and Karp stormed in, stuffing a bag of rice crackers into his mouth as he walked.
At the same time, Akira finished the last cut.
The goat's body was covered in fluffy hair except for the top of its head, which was bare—looking like a bald middle-aged uncle, quite funny.
The goat stood there with tears in its eyes, staring at Karp.
"Pfft~ hahahaha, that's... that's too funny."
Karp couldn't help himself, leaning on the door laughing hard, dropping the crackers on the floor and even tearing up.
Akira smiled awkwardly and explained, "Marshal Sengoku asked me to help shave the goat's wool."
"Hahaha, this hairstyle—you're really talented, kid."
Every time Karp saw the hairstyle of his old friend's pet, he couldn't stop laughing until his stomach hurt.
"Senior Karp, you came just in time. Help me see if there are any flaws so I can fix them."
"Alright, let the old man guide you." Karp enthusiastically approached like a mischievous old kid.
At first, Karp directed Akira on where to cut, but later, finding it not exciting enough, he took the tools and started cutting himself.
Akira couldn't help but think that Karp's personality was so much like Luffy's—no wonder they're grandfather and grandson.
It was a miracle that a family of comedians could produce a dragon.
Finally, with their combined effort, a "killing style" goat was born.
"Hahaha, perfect. I really want to see the look on Sengoku's face when he sees this goat," Karp picked his nose and laughed.
Coincidentally, Sengoku returned just then after finishing his business.
The moment he opened the door, his first reaction was: What the heck is this strange beast on the floor?
Second reaction: Where's my goat?
Third reaction: That's my damn goat!
Sengoku's gaze slowly moved to the scissors in Karp's hand; a vein bulged on his forehead as he gritted his teeth and said clearly, "Karp!"
He threw the donut in his hand at Karp.
Karp laughed heartily, "Uh oh, Sengoku's really mad this time, let's run!"
He grabbed Akira and jumped out the window, stuffing a few donuts into his mouth before running away.
Just after turning a corner, Karp stopped, patted Akira's head and said, "Don't worry, Sengoku's anger will last at most half an hour."
Karp knew Sengoku's temper well since he often stole Sengoku's snacks.
"I'm not afraid. After all, Senior Karp, you're the real culprit. I'm just an accomplice."
Karp glared, "If it's my fault, it's my fault. Wanna come aboard my ship?"
"No thanks, Senior Karp. I still need to build my foundation at the Elite Camp."
Akira thought, with your personality, if you were with me, you'd probably punch all the pirates into the sea. No need for me to grind points.
"Tch. It's just Navy Six Styles; I can teach you anyway." Karp said this but didn't press after Akira declined.
After Karp left, Akira hid in a corner and silently recited, "Claim reward."
Meanwhile, in the world of Tom and Jerry:
Tom the cat was dragging a small bag of luggage on a stick, walking down the street with his head down.
Because he could never catch the mouse, his owner bought a robotic cat to replace Tom and kicked him out.
Just as Tom felt lost, a system voice sounded in his mind.
[Do you want to go to another world? 1. Yes, 2. Definitely yes.]
Tom's fur suddenly bristled; he leapt five meters into the air, fell to the ground turning into a puddle of liquid cat-pancake, then slowly transformed back into a cat form.
What was that sound? Did he hear wrong?
[In exchange, you may make your request.]
A piece of parchment appeared out of thin air in Tom's paw.
Tom's eyes popped wide open and then snapped shut like a spring.
Not a hallucination!
Seems like he thought of something, then fell silent.
After a long moment, a line of words slowly appeared on the parchment: Please give Tom a master, a master who will never abandon Tom.
In Tom's heart, only cats with masters are truly house cats.
Cats without masters are just strays.
Tom wanted to be a house cat, not a stray.
The parchment turned to ashes and dispersed in mid-air; suddenly, a black hole appeared and sucked Tom in.
Back to Akira, staring at the British Shorthair cat that had just appeared before him, he fell into thought.
The blue-and-white colors really matched the Tom he'd seen as a kid exactly.
"You are Tom?" Akira asked.
Akira wasn't worried that Tom wouldn't understand him—after all, this was an experienced cat.
Tom had been a sailor in America, a royal guard in England, a samurai in Japan, been to space, landed on the moon, assisted scientists...
A policeman, a prison guard, a sentinel, a swordsman...
Tom had learned countless skills and was fluent in sixteen languages through his rich life experiences.
Seeing the clothes on Akira, Tom quickly saluted and nodded.
"Amazing, it really is that Tom cat!" Akira rejoiced.
Akira crouched down to take a good look, when a stool was handed to him from the side; he took it instinctively, "Thanks."
But the next moment Akira realized and looked at Tom, "Where did you get this stool from?"
Tom scratched his head, then pulled another stool out from the fur near his tail.
"!" Akira's throat tightened—both stools were bigger than Tom! How did he hide them in his fur?
Of course—Tom from the cartoons also sometimes pulled out things like that, as if appearing out of nowhere.
"You can hide things in your fur?"
Tom nodded.
"How much stuff can you hide?"
Tom thought for a moment, seeming unsure how much he actually hid on him, and began pulling things out one by one.
A shovel, firecrackers, canned food, a hammer, dried fish, a telescope...
Endless items poured out from Tom, piling into a two-meter-high little mountain.
—