Kitten Fishing (Blasting), Part Two

Xie Wen entered "three heads, two arms" mode again, carrying a cat on each shoulder as he walked out of the inn.

To make it easier for the two cats to perch on his shoulders, Xie Wen had even hung the Nodachi Cody had given him at his waist... Luckily, it was shorter than White Calm, and Xie Wen had kept growing lately, so it only just managed not to interfere with his movements.

It would have been more convenient, and more in line with his habits, to let the cats walk and carry the Nodachi on his back, but in a place crawling with the Gang, he did not dare let Klee Meow run around.

After all, the character this little one was based on was famously fond of wandering off. Add a kitten's natural curiosity to that, and if he put her down, she could disappear the moment he looked away.

Fortunately, Little Plushie was also rather clingy. Put her on the ground, and she would vanish, but once he carried her on his shoulder, she would stay put obediently...

Well, aside from occasionally pawing at his ears and hair, and tickling his neck as her little head constantly swiveled around.

Since he was carrying Klee Meow, Xie Wen naturally would not play favorites. Sanji Meow claimed his other shoulder as a matter of course.

Although the little yellow cat had looked thoroughly unimpressed when Xie Wen called him over, he climbed up almost as quickly as Klee Meow. Xie Wen had long since gotten used to Sanji Meow's prickly little personality.

Fortunately, Palicoes were not heavy. With his current physique, carrying them barely affected him at all.

It might become a problem once he had more Palicoes, though...

He really would have to summon a "parent cat."

As a hopeless cat addict, Xie Wen at least had enough self-awareness to know he was not suited to disciplining cats, especially with a Little Plushie as good at acting cute as Klee Meow among them.

With the cats on his shoulders, Xie Wen wandered aimlessly through the city, browsing the dazzling array of goods lining both sides of the streets. There were quite a few weapons merchants among them, but unfortunately, he found no weapons of Skillful Grade. He did buy some special gunpowder for Klee Meow, though.

"Young master, would you be willing to part with those two cats?" asked yet another merchant. Xie Wen had lost count of how many had made offers.

"Sorry, they're not for sale."

At first, Xie Wen had explained that the Palicoes were his companions, not pets. Eventually, he got sick of being asked and simply refused with a cold expression, then turned and left before they could pester him further.

Still...

Uncle Cody's prediction had been pretty accurate.

He had spent so long wandering the streets with the cats, surrounded by greedy stares, yet nobody had tried to snatch them. Everyone had sent someone over to propose a legitimate deal.

Someone even noticed that Xie Wen was looking for a good blade and offered to trade a Skillful Grade longsword for one of the cats. Naturally, Xie Wen refused that too.

Under normal circumstances, once Xie Wen had explored the city and revealed its map with the cats, he could head straight back or keep wandering around with Klee Meow, who had not had enough fun yet. But he still had the task Uncle Cody had entrusted to him.

So, after making a circuit of the city's main streets, he started venturing into its out-of-the-way corners...

Xie Wen did not even have to deliberately pretend that something had lured him into those secluded places. Klee Meow had looked fascinated the entire time, so he simply appeared to be indulging his cat's curiosity. There was nothing suspicious about it.

Come to think of it, this was how I baited Uncle Bax back in Paper Lantern Town too...

Xie Wen silently mocked himself.

Still, an old trick was fine as long as it worked.

The Gang was the Gang precisely because its members "didn't play by the rules." Expecting them to do business honestly was clearly impossible. The moment Xie Wen gave them an opening, a pack of jackals began following him.

"Someone's following us, meow," Sanji Meow quietly warned beside Xie Wen's ear.

Xie Wen nodded without giving anything away, then continued pretending to follow Klee Meow's directions as he wandered through the city's nooks and crannies.

"That's strange, meow..." A while later, Sanji Meow murmured again, "Several groups were following us before, but almost all of them have left now. Only two groups are left... Oh, they've joined up, meow."

"Hmm... They're probably from the Three Great Powers backing this country. They must have chased the others away," Xie Wen said quietly.

Gless Island was different from Paper Lantern Town. Its underworld forces had already been consolidated, so it took only a little thought to work out what had happened.

He just did not know which of the three families they belonged to-or whether all three families had sent people.

Although cooperation between gangs was unlikely to mean they were truly united, the trade fair they were jointly hosting was approaching. It was still possible for them to cooperate sincerely for the time being.

Whether their partnership was going smoothly was of no interest to Xie Wen. What he cared about was whether he could meet that Supernova named Capone...

Maybe there's a page in my Hunter's Notes for characters from the original story.

After all, he had been transported to another world and had a magical set of Hunter's Notes. It was not impossible.

So Xie Wen actually began looking forward to the pack of jackals trailing them making their move.

The Gang on Gless Island really was a cut above the small-time thugs in Paper Lantern Town...

These fuckers are way too patient!

Xie Wen was getting tired of waiting, yet they still had not acted. They simply followed at a steady distance. If he had not checked with Sanji Meow repeatedly, he would have thought they had already gone home.

If even Xie Wen was growing impatient, Klee Meow had certainly been bored for ages. But knowing Xie Wen had something to do, she kept enduring it obediently. Unfortunately, Little Plushie did not have much patience...

"Big Brother Xie Wen, can we go somewhere else, meow?" Klee Meow asked in her soft little voice, pawing at his ear.

"We're not going anywhere else. We're heading straight back!"

He had cast his bait, after all. If they refused to bite, there was nothing Xie Wen could do about it.

Coming home empty-handed was nothing new for an angler.

Then those bastards finally started moving...

You fuckers are messing with me on purpose, aren't you?!

Despite his inward complaints, Xie Wen knew they had most likely seen that he was about to leave and acted because they were afraid of missing their chance.

So...

"You could also say you brought this on yourself, idiot, and dragged me and little Klee into it too, meow," Sanji Meow said from Xie Wen's shoulder, twisting the knife without a shred of sympathy.

"Shut up!"

"Big Brother Xie Wen, Klee doesn't blame you, meow." Little Plushie patted the back of Xie Wen's head with her paw pads, then licked his hair and softly comforted him.

Klee Meow is the cutest little angel in the whole world!

Sanji Meow, take a look at her!

If the situation had allowed it, Xie Wen would have hugged Little Plushie and buried his face in her fur to his heart's content...

Yes, while they were talking, the gang members had emerged and blocked their way back.

He had to admit, the gangs of West Blue were utterly indistinguishable. They all wore black suits, without any obvious insignia identifying their respective gangs.

"Kid, hand over those two cat Minks you've got. If I'm in a good mood, I might even give you a few extra Beli."

Perhaps to protect the trade fair's reputation, these gang members actually intended to pay... Though judging by their expressions, they clearly had no intention of paying much.

Xie Wen scanned the crowd, but found no familiar faces. He immediately lost any desire to exchange a few words with them.

That made sense. They were only dealing with an apparently ordinary boy. Naturally, none of their higher-ups would show up.

"Which family are you from?"

Xie Wen asked casually as he let the two cats climb down.

"What? Planning to settle the score afterward?" one gang member replied menacingly. "I don't mind telling you. We're from the Capone Family. Come make trouble for me all you like! Hahahahaha!"

The other gang members joined in the raucous laughter.

"Really? What a coincidence." Xie Wen rubbed Klee Meow's little head, calming her eagerness to jump into action, then walked toward them.

Just as the gang members were wondering what he meant, Xie Wen abruptly vanished before their eyes, leaving only two adorable cats staring at them with wide eyes.

"Where'd that brat go?!" a gang member bellowed in panic, sensing something was wrong.

Click. The crisp sound of a blade being sheathed rang out behind the gang members, followed by Xie Wen's still-calm voice-

"Hmph. Once again, I've cut something worthless."

I've noticed that a lot of people keep getting hung up on the Flame-Flame Fruit's maximum temperature.

Most arguments that the Flame-Flame Fruit cannot reach very high temperatures basically rely on two lines of reasoning: "Devil Fruits are manifestations of human desires, so the flames represented by the Flame-Flame Fruit are capped at the temperature of ordinary flames in nature," and "Under normal conditions, oxygen concentration affects flame temperature."

But I don't think either argument holds up. Soot in nature cannot transmit sound over a distance, and burying someone in sand does not suck the moisture out of their body. What actually dehydrates people is the blazing sun, not grains of sand.

If we really went by what occurs in nature, Aokiji would struggle to freeze a person, let alone the sea. There is no naturally occurring cold air that can instantly turn someone into a block of ice. Even dropping someone into liquid nitrogen would not instantly freeze them solid the way movies and TV shows depict it. Besides, liquid nitrogen does not form naturally either.

And even some Paramecia powers with similar abilities can be used in all sorts of imaginative ways. There is no reason Logia powers, which rank higher in the setting, should instead be constrained by their supposed behavior in nature.

Pirates is a world where will and belief matter enormously, and Devil Fruits embody that more than anything else. So I don't believe Devil Fruit abilities would be restricted so rigidly.

Without an official ruling, the rules in this book naturally come down to me, the author. I won't be giving dedicated explanations about this again.