Although he had inadvertently taken Luffy's place as the "Fifth Emperor," being one of the Five Emperors made little difference to Xie Wen and the Palicoes.
Robin, Baby 5, and Shirahoshi, the three natives, were excited for a while, but when they saw how utterly unconcerned Xie Wen and the others were, they gradually calmed down too.
"Boss Xie Wen, this is the title of Emperor of the Sea! How come you aren't excited at all?"
Shirahoshi leaned closer and asked curiously.
"What's there to get excited about?" Xie Wen curled his lip. "Morgans calling me an 'emperor' doesn't make me a real emperor. Besides, I never wanted to be one."
Honestly, if the concept of "Emperors of the Sea" hadn't come from Morgans, that birdman who loved stirring up trouble, Xie Wen might even have thought the World Government had deliberately set them up as targets so other ambitious pirates would wear them down...
That would work far better than the Shichibukai. Take the original manga, for example: aside from contributing a little during the group assault on Whitebeard, while slacking off and getting in the way in various ways, the Shichibukai barely helped at all. Instead, some befriended the Four Emperors, while others worked with them.
In the end, dealing with the Four Emperors still fell to Luffy and his fellow Supernovas.
"Oh..."
Shirahoshi pouted and muttered, "I just thought it was really impressive that you could stand on equal footing with Whitebeard Pops, Boss Xie Wen."
"Ha! Even without becoming some Emperor of the Sea, I could still stand on equal footing with him." Xie Wen pulled over Suika Meow, who was drinking from a gourd beside him, and rubbed her furry head as he declared smugly, "With Suika's Ibuki Sake, even Whitebeard and Red-Hair have to