Although the lousy translation had rendered his earlier search for Sleepy Town a complete waste of effort, Xie Wen had not put much thought into it to begin with, and now Klee Meow's good luck had led them to stumble upon it anyway, so he naturally had nothing to be annoyed about.
Taking the cats into Toras Town, Xie Wen discovered that the residents of this sparsely populated little town reacted to the sight of them mainly with curiosity.
It was not that they were not allowed to be curious. The problem was that Xie Wen was now one of the Five Emperors, renowned throughout the Four Seas, and the cats were hardly any less famous than he was. In theory, their reaction should have been more surprise than curiosity... he would not even have found it strange if they had mostly been afraid.
"Welcome, travelers from afar."
An old woman with a face full of wrinkles, about the same height as the Palicoes (except Kaido Meow), walked up with a cane. Curiously examining the distinctly different-looking cats and Shirahoshi, she said slowly, "It's been a long time since any outsiders came to our Torrance Town. I'm the village chief here. You can call me Maroma."
"Hello, Granny Maroma~ Klee came here to hunt for treasure, meow!"
(=＞＜=)
Without the slightest wariness, Little Plushie held the Treasure Map high and announced exactly why she had come.
Yet Chief Maroma paid no attention whatsoever to the Treasure Map in Klee Meow's paws. Instead, she cried out in horror, "The c-cat talked!"
Xie Wen: "..."
Erm... how should I put it? That really was a nostalgic reaction.
Even if she did not recognize Klee Meow and the others, this was still the latter half of the Grand Line. Had she really never