Shanks had no intention of idly chatting outside. After leaving the tavern with Sig, he finally revealed the message transmitted by the Den Den Mushi.
"Garp is heading to Windmill Village?"
Sig's pupils shrank instantly, and his solemn expression almost faltered.
"That's right... Mr. Sig, I guess you won't have to worry about lacking drinking buddies from the old days..."
Shanks chuckled and said,
"After all, he, like you, has experienced the previous era. You two should have plenty to talk about, right?"
"But I'll pass... If Vice Admiral Garp sets his sights on me, it'll be quite troublesome."
Shanks didn't think much of it, as Sig had mentioned Roger and Garp before, speaking as if he was very familiar with them.
Sig took a deep breath, trying to process the information.
"So, it's already time for Luffy to start Garp's training?"
"No... that's not the main issue here."
Sig's expression shifted slightly.
He thought back to the scene in the tavern earlier that afternoon.
He had personally placed Shanks' straw hat onto Luffy's head and even encouraged him to become a pirate.
"Could Garp hold a grudge against me for that?"
"No, no... impossible."
"To Luffy, I'm just a stranger he met today. My words can't carry that much weight."
"The pirate mentor of Straw Hat Luffy has to be Red-Haired Shanks!"
"Me? Haha, no way..."
"I'm just a random passerby, completely insignificant!"
Sig raged inwardly, trying to reassure himself.
"Shanks... Shanks..."
At this moment, little Luffy interjected from the side:
"When you set sail tomorrow, take me with you! I really want to become a pirate!"
"Hmm? Don't you want to see your grandpa?" Shanks asked.
Little Luffy's face immediately showed a horrified expression.
"It's not that I don't want to... but Grandpa is definitely going to make me go through Navy training this time."
"I don't want that! I really, really want to be a pirate!"
"But you can't swim for the rest of your life now, and you're way too young," Shanks rejected him once again.
Luffy hesitated for a moment, shifting his gaze from Shanks to Sig.
Hey... why are you looking at me? Your pirate mentor is Red-Haired Shanks...
"I'd rather become a mountain bandit than join the Navy..." Luffy muttered defiantly.
Looking back, he had probably overacted earlier. It seemed he had somehow given Luffy the wrong impression about mountain bandits.
Could this really lead to Garp coming after him? What should he do?
Sig was starting to panic.
The Red-Haired Pirates could be fooled because they only half belonged to the previous era and didn't fully understand Roger's time.
But if Garp showed up, his facade might be exposed in minutes...
The mere thought of this made Sig's breathing grow heavier.
Thump-thump, thump-thump, thump-thump...
The sound of his own heartbeat, like a war drum, resonated uncontrollably in the stillness of the night, sounding extraordinarily loud.
Sig's eyes widened in shock, startled by the sound of his own heartbeat.
Was he so nervous that his King's Engine activated on its own?
"Damn it, this must be a negative side effect of the KING character card!"
"There's no way I'm this cowardly. Just hearing about Garp coming shouldn't have triggered the King's Engine..."
"That's right, it must be this!"
Sig's heart pounded furiously.
Deputy Captain Benn Beckman, who had been chatting casually with someone nearby, suddenly froze, turning to look at Sig in surprise.
That sound—though not as intense and forceful as before—still carried a faint sense of pressure that seemed to rise involuntarily.
The man standing before them had once again entered a battle-ready state.
Just moments ago, Sig had been chatting with them normally. Was he about to turn hostile now?
While Beckman was still puzzled, one of the mountain bandits spoke up.
"As expected of the boss."
The bald mountain bandit's eyes gleamed as he stared at Sig, exclaiming in admiration,
"Just hearing the news that Marine Hero Garp is coming immediately ignited such intense fighting spirit?"
Garp's name was like thunder in their ears, even for mountain bandits in the remote East Blue.
Upon hearing this, all the mountain bandits once again looked at Sig with newfound reverence.
Sig's eye twitched slightly, and he swept his gaze around without changing his expression.
As he expected, even Benn Beckman and the other members of the Red-Haired Pirates now wore expressions of realization. Some even began to praise:
"What a pity our pirate crew is setting sail tomorrow. We won't have the chance to witness Senior Sig's duel with Iron Fist Garp."
"This would definitely be an epic battle rarely seen in the world. Missing it is truly unfortunate."
"Regretful, so regretful..." someone lamented, clutching their chest as though in anguish.
Sig shot a deep glance at the bald mountain bandit.
"I'm not, I didn't, stop making things up..."
Sig's voice remained deep and resonant. In the quiet of the night, it was like the low growl of a beast—not loud, but enough to send a chill down one's spine.
"We understand," Benn Beckman nodded slightly, smiling as he said,
"Unfortunately, we're pressed for time and really must set sail."
"You understand? What the hell do you understand...?"
Sig was on the verge of mental collapse, but he still maintained an expression of delight.
There was no choice—the persona of a big shot couldn't be ruined.
"System, is there a way to temporarily deactivate KING's King's Engine?"
Sig asked internally.
"The host can choose to unequip the KING character card. All effects associated with the KING card will be removed."
"Unequip the KING character card immediately!"
The drum-like sound of his heartbeat vanished instantly.
Benn Beckman froze slightly, a hint of doubt flashing in his eyes as he looked at Sig.
The moment the character card was unequipped, the war drum-like sound and the overwhelming pressure disappeared without warning, as if everything from before had been a mere illusion.
The Sig before them had undergone an indescribable change in appearance.
The hard edges of his facial features softened, returning to the art style of a typical mountain bandit—looking no different from an utterly ordinary passerby.
It was a complete departure from the Sig who had shattered a bottle over Shanks' head during his dramatic entrance.
"His fighting intent is so well-controlled that he can instantly disguise himself as an ordinary person?"
"Is this the secret to how Mr. Sig has remained hidden all this time?"
Benn Beckman grew even more curious about Sig.
The Red-Haired Pirates could swagger through the New World with ease, yet in all their years as pirates, they had never encountered someone so enigmatic.
"Maybe... we should persuade the captain to delay setting sail, wait to witness Mr. Sig's battle with Vice Admiral Garp, and then leave?"