I the King of bandits of the East Sea

For a moment, Sig stood frozen in place.

He never imagined that the script he had hastily concocted earlier to deal with Garp would end up turning into a noose tightening around his own neck, leading Garp to come up with this idea.

"Vice Admiral Garp, this is a bandit's den, not some kind of daycare center..."

Halfway through his sentence, Sig abruptly stopped speaking.

After all, Dadan's place was also a bandit's den...

It seemed Garp's approach to child-rearing was to hand kids over to bandits and wait for them to be trained into the strongest Marines under the guidance of bandits.

"I wanted to send them to the Marines for training, but that's just not possible."

Garp shook his head slightly.

"There's no need to argue. You were entrusted by Roger, after all. Perhaps Ace should have been raised by you in the first place, and as for Luffy..."

Garp glanced at Luffy.

"Uncle Sig is so strong! Of course, I want to train here and become stronger—so I can become the Pirate King!" Luffy exclaimed, full of excitement. At Mt. Colubo, his first impressions of Dadan and Ace weren't exactly great.

"No! Both you and Ace will become the strongest Marines!"

Garp immediately punched Luffy's head.

"Sig, help me keep an eye on him. You absolutely mustn't let Luffy stray down the wrong path!"

"My grandson becoming the Pirate King? Or a Bandit King? No way in hell!"

At this point, Garp intentionally or unintentionally pulled out a corner of a bounty poster from his pocket—Sig's bounty was on it!

Sig suddenly felt a headache coming on.

Facing Garp, it seemed like he had no room to refuse.

In the end, all Sig could do was stand there and watch Garp gradually walk away, his silhouette fading into the horizon.

"This time, it's finally, finally over, right? Garp isn't coming back again, is he?"

Sig let out yet another sigh of relief.

He had truly managed to survive this ordeal. Thinking back to everything that had just happened, he still felt a bit tense.

Stepping outside the wooden walls, Sig clasped his hands behind his back and looked up at the sky. Filled with a mixture of reflection and rekindled ambition, he couldn't help but sigh deeply.

"Iron Fist Garp... Not bad."

Sig's deep voice resonated.

"It's just a shame that this Bandit King hasn't regained his strength yet. I couldn't engage Garp in a thrilling battle at my peak. I'll let it slide this time."

As he said this, a trace of regret appeared in Sig's gaze as he looked toward the sky.

Every movement and gesture exuded the demeanor of a true powerhouse as if he really had just fought a world-shaking battle with Garp.

"Uncle Sig..."

"Boss Sig..."

A voice interrupted him, startling Sig.

He turned around to see his subordinates and Luffy, all staring at him with sparkling eyes.

"Huh? When did you guys show up? Did you hear what I just said?"

Sig instantly felt embarrassed. After going head-to-head with Garp in an impromptu performance, he couldn't help but get a little carried away.

"We truly never expected it," the bald subordinate said, wiping away tears with emotion. "It turns out that Boss Sig has such a glorious past."

"Boss, to think you and Vice Admiral Garp share such a deep bond that he entrusted his own grandson to you! That's an extraordinary level of trust!"

"We were so foolish," another bandit chimed in, sighing. "We used to think Vice Admiral Garp was your destined rival, but it turns out he's a close friend!"

The other bandits nodded in agreement, one after another.

"Boss, we feel so ashamed. Back when we were at the foot of the mountain, we even dared to harbor the slightest doubt about your strength."

"It's just a pity that Boss hasn't recovered to his peak strength. He only clashed with Garp once, and although they were evenly matched and both completely unscathed, it still allowed Vice Admiral Garp to see that Boss's strength is on its way back to its peak..."

"Truly, heroes recognize heroes! It's such a shame that we're too weak to have witnessed this great battle in person!"

"Wait a minute... you all... those words just now..." Sig suddenly became anxious.

"We understand. This is a secret we cannot speak of."

"Just like with that guest from last time. We don't know anything, absolutely nothing, and we certainly don't know what the Revolutionary Army is!"

Sig put a hand to his forehead, momentarily at a loss for words.

...

At the Windmill Village dock, beside the moored Marine warship—

"Alright! Get ready to set sail! Duty calls, and we must immediately return to the Grand Line!"

The old man, holding a bag of rice crackers, shouted energetically.

"Vice Admiral Garp, before you say that, you might want to take a good look at the state of our warship..."

A subordinate officer glanced helplessly toward the rear of the ship, where a large swath of charred and damaged areas looked as if the ship had just survived a massive naval battle.

"The journey to the Grand Line is long. If this warship isn't repaired, it will be difficult to reach the destination on schedule."

The officers all wore expressions of concern.

Garp's method of accelerating travel by using cannon fire might indeed be effective, but it also caused considerable damage to the warship's structure.

If they were to continue using cannon fire acceleration for the long return journey to the Grand Line, even this top-tier warship from Marine Headquarters would suffer significant damage.

Attempting to navigate the Grand Line with a semi-damaged ship was practically suicidal.

"I see."

Garp stretched his arms and laughed heartily.

"It seems I'll just have to step things up a notch and get serious. Prepare the cannonballs!"

The moment these words left his mouth, every Marine nearby froze.

"He's actually going to do it again?"

"And this time, Vice Admiral Garp said he's going to step things up..."

Some of the sailors, recalling earlier incidents, immediately turned pale and clung to the railings, starting to retch.

These Marines, seasoned veterans of the Grand Line, had weathered all kinds of bizarre weather conditions. Yet, the scenes from just two days ago still left many of them psychologically scarred.

"Vice Admiral Garp, what I meant by not reaching the destination on time is that the ship itself may not survive that kind of... high-intensity travel method."

"The journey to the Grand Line is too long. Using this kind of high-intensity method over an extended period will cause serious damage to the warship..."

The officer wiped the sweat from his brow as he tried to explain.

"Huh?"

Garp's eyes widened. "Didn't I tell you all to repair the ship?"

At this, the Marine officer's face turned dark with frustration.

"Vice Admiral Garp, this is Windmill Village, just a small place. For repairs of this scale, we'd at least need to go to the capital of the Goa Kingdom or a nearby Marine branch."

"The capital of the Goa Kingdom? No way."

Garp refused outright.

He had no fondness for what was supposedly the most beautiful country in the East Blue.

"Then head to the nearest Marine branch."

In the end, Garp issued the order, and the warship set sail once again.

____________________

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