"Sig! Let's team up and take these Navy fools down!"
Amid the continuous roar of cannon fire, Sig was momentarily stunned when he heard Buggy's words.
For a moment, he thought Buggy had genuinely changed his mind.
However, when he saw Buggy's ship still sailing away into the distance and heard Buggy's next words, Sig finally understood what was going on.
"Sig, let's split up! I'll break through, and you'll cover the rear! We'll meet up at the agreed location later!"
Sig fell silent for a moment before realizing Buggy's train of thought.
"So that's his plan. Those words were meant for the Navy..."
He felt a bit speechless. It seemed Buggy had the same idea as him.
One of Sig's intentions in contacting Buggy was to shift the blame onto him. If pushed to the brink, Sig planned to shout out Buggy's true identity to the Navy to divert their attention.
But now, Buggy seemed to believe that Sig's earlier claims were true, thinking the Navy's target was him, Buggy, and thus wanted to drag Sig into the mess.
"Unfortunately, it's too late."
Sig looked into the distance, where a barrage of cannonballs was relentlessly raining down, completely covering this small area of the sea.
Neither ship could escape now. It was just a matter of which one would be defeated by the Navy first.
"Boss, the Navy's cannon fire..."
"Boss Sig, maybe it's time for you to step in?"
Some of the mountain bandits were finally starting to panic, looking helplessly at Sig, who stood on the deck.
Sig raised his head, watching the dense rain of cannonballs fall. The heavy, drum-like heartbeat sound awakened once more.
His hand rested on his waist, but he remained standing in place, not drawing his sword.
What would happen if he drew his sword?
In theory, cannonballs, the ocean, and warships couldn't perform the "Empty Hand Catches White Blade" technique.
But based on Sig's experience, if he swung his sword, someone nearby might suddenly run over to catch the blade with their bare hands.
If no one caught the blade, Sig might transform into a seafood summoner, becoming the King of East Blue's Seafood.
Considering they were near the Calm Belt, he might even become a Sea King summoner, a Cthulhu summoner, causing a team wipe ahead of schedule.
Thump, thump, thump, thump, thump...
Amid the dense heartbeat sounds, Sig stood still, facing the rain of cannonballs without a hint of fear, as if he didn't care about any of it.
"If even such a small matter requires my intervention, what use are you?"
Sig's cold voice carried a hint of disappointment, causing everyone's expressions to change.
Immediately after, a light blue figure leaped into the air toward the cannonballs. After a series of explosions, the figure landed back on the deck.
Arlong the fish-man, carrying a large saw-toothed sword on his shoulder and biting a cannonball in his mouth, stood in front of Sig.
His serrated jaws clenched, and the cannonball in his mouth exploded. After a puff of smoke, Arlong stood there unharmed.
"Cannonballs from the Navy Headquarters' ships? They're definitely more powerful than the weak ones from the branch ships."
Arlong chewed on the fragments of the cannonball in his mouth, then spat them out. The shards whistled through the air, hitting several more cannonballs and causing them to explode.
On the other side of the ship, Kuro, with his bandaged hand, picked up his cat claws again, the ten blades gleaming coldly...
These individuals were no strangers to being pursued by the Navy and had plenty of experience dealing with cannon fire.
But this time, there were too many warships. Even with their efforts, they could only barely handle the barrage.
Sig looked up and saw that after this round of cannon fire, several figures from the approaching warships were using Geppo to step through the air toward them. Leading them was the fleet's commander, Vice Admiral Onigumo!
Onigumo's gaze locked onto Sig, his black hair writhing like the legs of a spider.
Behind him, several elite Navy officers using Geppo were heading toward Buggy's ship.
Sig's heart sank. He had been holding onto a sliver of hope that Onigumo would act like Garp had last time, leaving his warship behind and charging in alone.
That way, Sig might have been able to use the "Li Jing Card" to maneuver around him.
The battle had just begun, and the situation was already dire!
Onigumo intended to deal with both Sig's and Buggy's pirate crews at the same time!
Thump, thump, thump, thump, thump!
The engine-like roar burst from Sig's chest as he quietly turned on the amplifier in his chest, making the sound even louder.
In his line of sight, Onigumo and the others hesitated slightly but didn't stop their advance.
The Navy had already anticipated Sig's strength, and their original plan was to have Vice Admiral Momousagi deal with him.
Even if Sig unleashed an astonishing aura, it was within their expectations.
"Is this the end of the road?"
Both Sig and Buggy had the same thought flash through their minds, their hearts filled with despair.
And then, in the next moment, something unexpected happened.
Onigumo, who had been stepping through the air with Geppo, suddenly changed his expression drastically. He waved his hand, signaling the elites behind him to stop and hover in mid-air.
Their expressions turned alert, but their gazes weren't fixed on Sig or Buggy. Instead, they were looking at a patch of sea outside the battlefield.
Sig was completely baffled. He followed Onigumo's gaze but saw that the sea there was calm, with no signs of disturbance—not even a ripple.
But in the next moment, his heart tightened.
"A powerful presence..."
Sig almost couldn't control the change in his expression. He could feel an overwhelming aura gradually emerging.
In his line of sight, the sea surface remained calm.
But beneath the surface, a shadow of an enormous size was rapidly growing and rising to the surface!
The water suddenly bulged, and with a deafening roar, a colossal octopus head broke through the surface, sending towering waves into the air!
This was an unbelievably massive octopus-like Sea King. Its head alone, rising from the sea, was as tall as a mountain, while the rest of its body was as large as a small island.
"A Sea King? No, this is a super-giant Sea King that inhabits the Calm Belt, measuring several kilometers in length!"
At that moment, the relentless cannon fire seemed to momentarily cease.
Sig's heart was racing. He couldn't help but glance at Buggy on the distant pirate ship.
"Is this because of Buggy's Conqueror's Luck? Or is it because my lie became reality?"
After obtaining the "Usopp Card," Sig had told the same lie twice—once in front of Usopp and once in front of Buggy—claiming that he had slain a Sea King as large as an island...
"But... why does this giant Sea King have tentacles?"
"This is completely different from what I imagined!"
Sig's heart turned cold.