A faint shout came from the distance. Sig looked up and saw Buggy standing at the bow of his ship, grinning widely as he waved at him from afar.
"Sig, well done! Our joint operation was a great success!"
"But if you still want to cooperate with the great Captain Buggy, let's talk after crossing the Calm Belt!"
Although Buggy claimed he would meet Sig after crossing the Calm Belt, his ship was clearly sailing in the opposite direction, away from the Calm Belt...
Seeing this, Sig finally realized what was happening and took a moment to survey the battlefield.
At this point, the Navy fleet was too busy dealing with the giant turtle Sea King's relentless attacks to pay attention to anything else.
The earlier encirclement had been completely broken by the Sea King, and Buggy's ship was now speeding toward the gap in the encirclement...
"What are you standing around for? There's no point in wasting time with these weak Navy soldiers. Full speed ahead, shake them off!"
Sig shouted the order, finally feeling a surge of hope.
He saw a chance to escape.
"Boss, where are we heading? The Calm Belt?"
Sig's eye twitched slightly.
The two super-giant Sea Kings he had encountered both had limbs.
If they really tried to enter the Calm Belt without Buggy, they'd be doomed in minutes...
No, even with Buggy, it probably wouldn't end well.
Thinking this, Sig couldn't help but facepalm.
Buggy had been the MVP of this naval battle, perfectly showcasing the power of "Buggy the Great."
The giant turtle Sea King that had disrupted the battle had first blocked a barrage of cannon fire, then proceeded to either swipe at Sig or the Navy warships, but it never once attacked Buggy.
Aside from a few cannonballs and Hina's iron spears hitting their ship, Buggy's crew had suffered almost no real damage.
Throughout the entire battle, Buggy had done absolutely nothing, yet he had managed to escape unscathed. Now, he was even the first to flee...
The power of "Conqueror's Luck" was truly terrifying!
But this incredible luck seemed to only apply to Buggy himself.
Sig had verbally agreed to cooperate with Buggy, but he had still almost been wiped out by the Sea King.
Unless Buggy sincerely agreed to team up or joined Sig's crew... Sig had no intention of trying to cross the Calm Belt again.
After some thought, Sig gave the order:
"Set sail! We're not going to the Calm Belt... Our destination is Loguetown! Then we'll enter the Grand Line through Reverse Mountain!"
Sig's pirate ship adjusted its course amidst the lightning and thunder, quickly making its escape.
Witnessing this, Onigumo gritted his teeth in frustration but had no choice but to focus on fending off the Sea King's attacks with his eight swords.
The main force of this Navy fleet was made up of branch soldiers, and their morale had nearly collapsed in the face of the giant Sea King. The encirclement had already been shattered.
He could only watch helplessly as Buggy and Sig escaped one after the other.
Beside Onigumo, a Headquarters officer kicked out two sharp waves of air, but they only left shallow scratches on the giant turtle's forelimb.
The officer landed back on the deck, his expression bitter.
"Vice Admiral Onigumo, even without this Sea King, there's probably nothing we could have done."
"We underestimated Sig's strength. This Sea King, which Sig heavily injured, is already more than we can handle."
"Even if we caught up to Sig, we'd be powerless."
The other Headquarters elites nodded in agreement, their eyes filled with a hint of fear as they looked in the direction where Sig had fled.
Faced with this, Onigumo could only remain silent.
The Navy Headquarters' original intention had indeed been a feint, simply to drive Sig toward Loguetown.
This time, it was his overconfidence that had led to heavy losses for the fleet.
Meanwhile, the Headquarters officers were still discussing and marveling:
"His Conqueror's Haki can even intimidate such a monster? Just how strong is he?"
"Perhaps this was his plan all along. With the strength to easily sever a Sea King's limb, he could have killed it outright like Hawk-Eye. But instead, he chose to intimidate it with Conqueror's Haki, using it to break our encirclement..."
Amid the discussion, Onigumo's expression suddenly changed.
"Where's Hawk-Eye? These Sea Kings were brought here by him. We should summon him to deal with them..."
Onigumo and the others looked around, only to find that the man and his boat had disappeared without a trace...
Hawk-Eye was gone. Sig and Buggy had both escaped the encirclement.
And now, the Navy was inexplicably locked in battle with a super-giant Sea King...
Several hours later, aboard Sig's pirate ship.
Kuro sat in his room, gently wiping his glasses.
Having just survived the Navy fleet's encirclement, Kuro showed no joy on his face. Instead, he looked somewhat gloomy.
"I've long grown tired of the precarious life of a pirate. All I want is a peaceful, wealthy life. So why did I end up on this cursed ship?"
Kuro couldn't help but sigh.
He had no desire to venture into the dangerous Grand Line, but now it seemed he had no other choice.
Thinking back to the moment Sig had sliced through the Sea King with his sword, Kuro felt a chill run down his spine.
"That man is terrifying—not just in strength, but in his cunning as well."
Kuro's gaze fell on the heavily bandaged hand resting on his lap.
After actively blocking cannonballs earlier, the wounds on his palm had reopened, staining the bandages red once more.
"That man is so strong, yet when he fought me, he still resorted to poison..."
Kuro's expression was complicated, his wariness of Sig deepening even further.
It seemed that escaping from Sig's mountain bandit crew would require careful planning...
At the same time, in the captain's quarters.
Sig sat quietly in his chair, his fingers lightly tapping the armrest.
His gaze was fixed on the system panel floating in the air.
The moment the first giant Sea King had appeared, he had received a notification about a new task, but he hadn't had time to check it until now.
"Mission: A Colossal Lie"
"Mission Requirement: Successfully carry out a lie that shocks the world, and activate the ability of the Usopp character card: [Lies Become Reality], turning the lie into truth."
"Mission Reward: Depending on the completion level, receive 1 random card of S-SS tier quality."
When Sig saw the mission details, he immediately realized that the appearance of the two Sea Kings was likely the result of Usopp's [Lies Become Reality] ability activating.
Buggy's "Conqueror's Luck" was powerful, but Usopp's ability to turn lies into reality was equally absurd.
The lie, "I've slain a super-giant Sea King as large as an island in the East Blue," hadn't fully come true.
One of the giant Sea Kings had been slain by Hawk-Eye, and the other had only lost a claw to Sig, not completely killed by him.