I formed the El Cat Investigation Team in Pirates.

"!!!"

Shanks, lying on the ground, suddenly opened his eyes, and then saw his "dead" companions surrounding him, looking at him with a smile.

Shanks reached out and wiped the tears from the corners of his eyes. He was not stupid, but just had a carefree personality. He quickly realized what was going on.

"…I'm so glad that Uta and you are all okay."

Shanks naturally would not blame his daughter. He got up from the ground and said with confusion and pride: "I didn't expect Uta's ability to be so strong that he can even simulate Kaido. I didn't even feel anything broken..."

The words got stuck in his throat when he was halfway through speaking, because Shanks, who stood up, had already seen a certain Blue Star who had "left and returned" and his group of cats.

"Thanks-Wen-!!!"

Shanks squeezed out Xie Wen's name from between his teeth viciously.

If he still doesn't know which Kaido he just fought with at this time, then he would be very stupid.

"Ahahaha! You're welcome. This is what I should do!"

The shameless Blue Star ignored Shanks' murderous gaze and gave him a thumbs up.

"I……"

Shanks held his breath in his chest and almost suffocated.

But thinking about it carefully, he had to admit with a wry smile that if Xie Wen hadn't done this, the relationship between him and Wuta might not have been able to ease so quickly...

Well, Shanks, who had been receiving wrong information, had no idea that if it weren't for the instigation of Xie Wen and the little cats, he only needed to say a few nice words to Uta, and the other party would most likely forgive him, and there would be no need to go through so much trouble.

Unfortunately, he didn't know.

and so……

"He has to thank us!"

Xie Wen said this to the cats after returning to the real world.

Facing Xie Wen, who was irritating but had indeed "helped" him, Shanks, after some hesitation, decided to ignore him. He directly shifted his gaze from Xie Wen to Uta...

"That's great, Uta... You're okay, that's really great..."

Shanks, who had just experienced the separation of life and death, did not show any intention of being reserved. He quickly stepped forward and hugged Uta, who looked a little nervous.

"Shanks, you... aren't you angry?"

"Of course, you are my daughter, how could I be angry with you."

Shanks answered without hesitation.

Uta was relieved and hugged him, "I'm sorry, I didn't believe Shanks and everyone in the Red Hair Pirates."

"No, I should be the one saying sorry. No matter what the reason is, a father should not abandon his daughter."

Seeing the father and daughter opening their hearts to each other, Xie Wen and the others as well as the people from the Red Hair Pirates did not disturb them. Yamato was moved by the scene and hugged Kaido's cat next to him. After stiffening for a moment, Big Maine gently placed his paw on her head.

"Hehehe~ Brother Xie Wen has never been angry with Klee, meow~"

(つw)つ

The little doll happily hugged Xie Wen's neck and rubbed his cheek hard.

"Humph!"

(=`へ=)

On the other shoulder, Huiyuan crossed his arms, "That's the only good thing about this idiot, meow."

After saying that, the arrogant little kitten began to glare at Xie Wen with his eyes slanted...

If you don't touch me again, I'm going to bite you, meow!

Although Huibara Meowth didn't say anything, Xie Wen could easily tell what she meant from the little tsundere's expression.

Not wanting to be bitten, he naturally reached out his hand and started stroking the kitten's head.

"Humph~"

(=`=)

Graybara Cat continued to maintain that look of disgust, but its little head honestly cooperated with Xie Wen's palm and turned slightly left and right, and a "humming" sound continued to come out of its throat.

In addition to these two kittens, other cats also gathered around Xie Wen. Even with the help of Robin and Baby-5, he was still in a panic.

While Xie Wen was busy petting the cats that came over to act cute, Shanks and Uta were about to finish their conversation...

"... Shanks, before I become a musician for the Red Hair Pirates, I must stay in Elegia and restore it to its former glory."

Uta took the initiative to mention his next plan. Shanks naturally would not stop Uta's choice. He stroked his head and said, "No problem, just do whatever you want to do. I and everyone in the Red Hair Pirates will support you."

"That's right! Uta! Even if you're not on the ship, you're still a member of our Red Hair Pirates!"

The members of the Red Hair Pirates who had been paying attention to the two of them spoke up at this time, causing Uta to be moved again.

"Hahahahaha!" Shanks, in a good mood, embraced his daughter and walked to the center of the crowd, "Everyone! Let's have a party!"

“Oooooohh ...

Xie Wen: "..."

If I remember correctly, didn't we have a party not long ago?

Although I know that holding banquets is a common practice among pirates, isn't this a bit too frequent? Why don't you wait until tomorrow?

Of course, Shanks also has his reasons...

"The previous banquet was to celebrate the reunion with Uta, and this one is to celebrate the reconciliation with Uta!"

彳庍口巴.

Xie Wen shrugged. He didn't care anyway.

"Ahem, Xie Wen, we finished our wine at the last banquet, don't you think...?"

Shanks didn't leave in a hurry, but rubbed his fingers together in a flattering manner.

Xie Wen: "..."

"Didn't we agree to exchange it for a devil fruit, meow? Where's the devil fruit?"

(=`へ=)

Before Xie Wen could say anything, Huibara Cat stretched out its little paws and asked Shanks for payment.

Originally, she was not very interested in these things, and she also knew that Xie Wen would not care so much.

But the problem is...

She has already developed her Demonic Medicine Core and Hardening Medicine Core, but she has not been able to obtain any new Animal-type Fruit. Even the Animal-type Fruit that Whitebeard said he would find for her has not been found.

Therefore, Huibara Cat, who was anxious to add new members to his "brewery team", had to be materialistic.

"Can I owe you this first?"

Shanks scratched the back of his head and embarrassedly started to negotiate with the kitten.

"It's been so long, and you haven't even found a devil fruit?"

Xie Wen, who was originally a man who didn't care about anything, didn't care about these things, but he couldn't help but ask curiously: "You didn't take this matter to heart at all, did you?"

After all, Shanks is one of the Four Emperors... Oh, now he's the Five Emperors, so it shouldn't be too difficult to get a devil fruit.

"It's not because of you."

Shanks complained, "Because you spread the news that Vegapunk can copy devil fruits, the price of devil fruits has risen sharply during this period, and as soon as they appear, they will be bought or taken away by others. So now even if someone has a devil fruit, they will not easily expose it."

"Uh……"

Xie Wen touched his nose. He didn't expect that he had intended to cause trouble for the World Government, but ended up hurting himself inadvertently. It seemed that the reason why there had been no news from Whitebeard was because of this reason.

"That's not right. Even if it's because of an artificial devil fruit, that technology can only copy animal-type ones, and has nothing to do with superhuman-type ones."

"Ah? So there is such a saying?" Shanks scratched his head, "I was wondering why the animal-type fruit increases the most..."

At this time, Xie Wen also reacted. Except for the World Government, other people did not know that there was such a restriction, so it was normal for prices to increase collectively. As for the animal series, which had the largest price increase, it was probably because the World Government was also involved.

"Wait, that's still not right!"

Xie Wen frowned and continued to ask: "When I asked you to help collect devil fruits, the news of artificial devil fruits had not yet spread!"

"Uh... that's not... I haven't finished my Ibuki wine yet?" Shanks smiled awkwardly, "I thought there was no need to rush, so I didn't collect the devil fruits right away. By the time we wanted to start collecting, the price had gone up. Besides..."

He glanced at Klee on Xie Wen's shoulder and spread his hands, "I was also injured by Klee's bomb, which delayed me for a long time."

Well, that's convincing.

Having satisfied his curiosity, Xie Wen signaled Suika-nyan to hand the Ibuki wine to the Red Hair Pirates first, then scratched Haibara-nyan's chin and consoled her, "It's okay, we can just look for it ourselves. I know a place where there might be an animal-type devil fruit. After everything is settled in Elegia, we'll go look for it there."

The animal-type devil fruit that Xie Wen mentioned is the vampire fruit in Shuigu Town. Although that is a setting in a derivative game, Xie Wen has already learned that there is indeed a person called "Lone Red" in Impel Down, so it is possible that the vampire fruit also exists.

Anyway, they don’t have any clues to the last signpost of historical text, so it doesn’t matter where they go.

However, before they headed to the Sleeping Ancient Town, a better place suddenly appeared...