This rotten trope borrowed from Earth made the frenzied Charlotte Linlin freeze for a moment.
Sherwin seized that opening, sweeping his long spear sideways at the back of her knee and successfully tripping her.
Before the buffs from the demon blade , the seamless stance, and anchor-charge power faded, Sherwin current strength was still enough to wrestle with BIG MOM head-on.
"What are you standing there for?! Hurry up and pin her down!"
Sherwin roared at Perospero and Katakuri, who were standing dumbly to the side.
What he wanted to test had basically already been tested, so he naturally had no interest in continuing to fight the old hag any longer.
Only then did the eldest and second sons of the Charlotte family snap back to their senses.
They first cast complicated looks at Sherwin, then activated their respective Devil Fruit abilities, binding the old hag to the ground.
But…
"almond croquembouche—!!!"
Charlotte Linlin, lying on the ground, merely flailed about a few times like a crying child, and the syrup and mochi wrapped around her were easily shaken off.
Thinking of how Mr. 3 once easily suppressed Brogy, a powerhouse even among the giants, with nothing but candle wax…
No wonder Charlotte Linlin was able to defeat the giant elders at the age of five.
So this was the strongest nation in the manga setting?
After habitually tossing out that complaint, Sherwin began to consider whether to go back in and give the Yonko another full combo, or to hand the battlefield over to the Charlotte Family to resolve among themselves.
However, he soon didn't need to agonize over it, because a group of chess-piece Homies came rushing in from outside, pushing an enormous cart.
On top of the cart were piles upon piles of almond croquembouche stacked high.
"Mom! The almond croquembouche is here!" The Homies quickly pushed the cart right in front of Big Mom, who had just managed to get back on her feet.
Sanji Meow and Link Meow rushed to Sherwin side at once. "Sherwin, are you all okay,meow? Link and I finished making the almond croquembouche at top speed, meow!"
(=)
Link Meow also made a fist-pumping gesture toward Sherwin.
"Of course we're fine." Sherwin put away his weapon and rubbed the heads of the two cats. "You came at just the right time."
At the same time, he said to Klee Meow, who was still fiddling with Prometheus, and to Char Meow, who was treating Zeus like a mattress, "Alright, you can let the two of them go now."
"Eh… Klee hasn't played enough yet, meow…"
(=｀3=)
Although the little ragdoll pouted unwillingly, she still released Prometheus, whom she had kneaded into a chubby dumpling-like shape. Char Meow also jumped down from Zeus with some reluctance.
"Waaah—! Mom! These two cats are so scary!"
Prometheus and Zeus immediately fled toward Charlotte Linlin, but she had no mind to pay them any attention at the moment…
"So—delicious—!!!"
After gulping down every single almond croquembouche in one go, Big Mom revealed a look of bliss and shouted happily at the top of her lungs.
Once Charlotte Linlin had completely recovered from her hunger pangs and the satisfaction of eating good food, she finally looked down at her arm…
Although the tiny wound there had long since healed, leaving not even a trace behind—and under normal circumstances BIG MOM would not remember anything that happened during her hunger pangs—because she had not been injured in many years,
even though everything else that had just happened had already been forgotten, Big Mom still remembered that strike in which Sherwin had stabbed her.
If before this she wanted to recruit Sherwin mainly because of Sanji Meow and Robin, then now she truly wanted Sherwin to become her subordinate and her son-in-law.
"Mamamama! I'm very satisfied with the food you made. You can ask for any reward you want," Big Mom said with a loud laugh.
Having already failed to recruit him once, she naturally wouldn't embarrass herself again so soon. She laughed and said to Sherwin and Sanji Meow, "Even if you want a Devil Fruit, I can get one for you!"
Sherwin was tempted for just a moment, but he quickly regained his composure.
It was just making some desserts for Big Mom. No matter what, that wasn't worth a Devil Fruit. A Yonko favor was never that easy to take advantage of.
So he replied with proper restraint, "I hope to visit your collection of rare beasts, and also let Sanji and the chefs here learn some techniques from each other."
"Is that really all you want?"
Hearing such a "sensible" request from Sherwin, Big Mom instead looked somewhat unhappy.
Sherwin pretended not to notice and continued, "Our Felynes mobile restaurant runs an honest business. The prices are clear, and what due is what due."
Hearing this, Big Mom was reminded of what Sherwin had said when they first spoke on the phone.
"Mamamama! You really are interesting!"
At this moment, Big Mom suddenly wasn't in such a hurry to recruit Sherwin anymore.
She didn't even mind the wrecked surroundings she had caused and simply sat cross-legged on the ground, waving her hand as she said,
"No problem, I agree. Whenever you want to visit, just have my sons or daughters take you to the library. As for learning cooking skills…"
She looked at Sanji Meow and Link Meow with eyes full of appreciation.
"They can ask my chefs for guidance anytime. But…" Big Mom licked her lips,
"In exchange, they'll have to cook a few more delicious meals for me!"
"Of course there no problem, meow!" Without waiting for Sherwin to answer, Sanji Meow rushed to speak. "As a chef, I will definitely do my utmost to satisfy the diner requests, meow!"
"Mamamama! That truly wonderful!"
Being able to eat even more delicious food made Charlotte Linlin extremely happy. After laughing for a while, she finally remembered the cooperation Sherwin had proposed before her hunger pangs flared up.
"Perospero, go bring the Poneglyphs we've collected."
"Lick~ I'll take care of it right away, Mama."
Perospero glanced at Sherwin, then turned and walked outside.
"That bamboo-pole idiot wanted to use fake Poneglyphs to test Sister Robin, meow."
Having climbed back onto Sherwin shoulder, Klee Meow quietly tattled.
Earlier, when Perospero was whispering with Big Mom, he had been suggesting using this method to test whether they truly intended to cooperate.
Although Sherwin hadn't been able to hear what he was muttering at the time, it couldn't escape the cat keen ears.
But Sherwin didn't care at all about the Big Mom Pirate test, because from the very beginning, they had never intended to fool the other side.
So after Perospero returned with two rubbings, Robin only gave them a quick glance before stating with great certainty,
"I think you may have obtained fake Poneglyphs, because the sentences on them are completely jumbled and have no meaning whatsoever."
"Ku ku ku… perhaps I accidentally took the wrong , lick~"
Perospero didn't really bother to hide his intent to probe them. After casually making up an excuse, he took out another rubbing.
This time, Robin read it carefully, then gestured over it a bit before speaking even more directly.
"These lines and these lines seem to have been swapped, and the last two lines look like they were cut from another Poneglyph."
After pausing for a moment, she still translated the content written on it. "If arranged in the correct order, the content here should be…"
Sherwin also leaned in out of curiosity and listened for a bit. He found that it talked about matters related to that ancient, massive kingdom, but for Big Mom, it didn't really have any useful value.
After that, Perospero didn't take out any more Poneglyphs. Clearly, they didn't want Sherwin to know the contents of the Road Poneglyphs.
Sherwin didn't mind. He had proposed this cooperation only as a side attempt anyway. If he could see them directly, that would be best if not, it didn't really matter.
Just as Sherwin was already saying his goodbyes to Big Mom and preparing to properly stroll around Totto Land, a sudden flash of inspiration struck him…
"I have a question!"
Already at the doorway, Sherwin turned back and asked Big Mom—
"Why don't you turn the Poneglyphs you've obtained into Homies? Maybe they themselves could translate the content written on them."