I the King of bandits of the East Sea

"Really? What happened to that shark fish-man later?"

Sig rubbed his temples, and just as he asked the question, he noticed a tall, light blue figure appearing in his peripheral vision.

The shark fish-man he had just mentioned was now standing there, arms crossed, looking at him:

"Sig, if you truly hold onto this dream of racial equality and of elevating Fish-Man Island to the surface, then let me follow you to witness it."

Arlong's tone quickly stirred dissatisfaction among the bandits.

"Hey, who do you think you're talking to?"

"This newcomer sure is bold."

Other bandits sneered as they walked over, encircling the tall fish-man.

Arlong, however, remained completely unfazed, smirking coldly as he glared back at the bandits.

"I'm not like you. The strength of a fish-man is ten times that of a human! If I find out that Sig's dream is just some lie, I'll…"

"Shut up already!"

With a loud bang, the door to a cabin swung open, and a burly middle-aged man with blonde hair walked out.

"Morgan? You're done sulking?"

The bald-headed man was the first to recognize the middle-aged man and asked right away.

When it came to Morgan, his fellow ex-marine, the bald-headed man had always "taken great care" of him.

While Morgan had been despondent, despairing over his fugitive status and his inability to return to the Navy, the bald-headed man had consistently spread Sig's brilliance to him without fail.

Morgan didn't answer. He simply glanced at the noisy Arlong and others, then turned around and walked back into the cabin, closing the door behind him once more.

Sig watched this scene unfold, feeling a bit melancholic.

Morgan's gaze had noticeably changed compared to that of the passionate rookie he once was.

"Where did that hot-blooded rookie, Morgan, from back then go?"

"It's really ironic. Morgan hasn't been hypnotized this time, but for some reason, he seems to be subtly treading the same path as before."

"Is this some kind of pattern? Just like how, even though I warned Kuina, she still fell down the stairs."

As Sig reflected, the argument between Arlong and the others came to an unspoken stop.

"Hey, Arlong the fish-man, didn't you leave your sentence hanging just now?"

One of the bandits urged him.

Arlong's gaze, however, drifted toward the direction Morgan had left, and a cold sweat began to form on his back.

Having just escaped from the cage aboard Garp's warship, Arlong had personally witnessed Morgan cleaving Garp down with a single axe strike.

Only later did he learn that Morgan was merely one of Sig's subordinates, with a bounty of just ten million.

He could act tough in front of the other bandits, but when it came to Sig and Morgan…

"I'll just... go along quietly."

Arlong's voice gradually grew softer.

Sig observed all this calmly and nodded slightly:

"You want to join? I approve."

Inwardly, he had his own considerations.

Ten years later, Arlong would become the pirate with the highest bounty in the East Blue, standing at twenty million.

With his current strength, he was likely the strongest aboard the ship apart from Stussy.

However, Arlong hadn't mastered Armament Haki. To Sig at this point, he wasn't much of a threat.

Having just received the sword from Koshiro, Sig figured that as long as he worked with a few subordinates and utilized Li Jing's abilities, handling Arlong wouldn't be a problem.

The risk wasn't zero, but gaining a strong fish-man crew member outweighed the downsides.

As he pondered, Sig rubbed his temples.

It seemed like he really drank too much yesterday. Even a bit of thinking made his head ache.

However, headache or not, when it's time to drink, one has to drink.

After all, one drinking session not only brought him an achievement but almost resolved a significant hidden threat.

Thinking about that threat, Sig couldn't help but glance at Stussy. She responded with a smile.

"The instant-death effect seems to have failed. Judging by her lack of reaction, the intimidation effect doesn't seem to work either."

"Could it be that the instant-death failed, and I endured the enormous risk of its side effects for nothing?"

At the thought of the side effects of the "Cao Cao Possession Card," Sig felt a twinge of pain all over. He couldn't help but open the system panel and glance through it.

Even now, Sig wasn't sure whether the side effects had successfully taken hold of him or not.

Before long, something caught his attention.

Although he hadn't noticed any indication of the success of the "Cao Cao's Wife Effect," he did find something else noteworthy.

The system's achievement tasks had a long list, and Sig usually didn't bother to look through them in detail.

But this time, he noticed something unusual: next to the completed "Achievement Task: Revolutionary Lighthouse," there was another achievement task with an 80% completion rate!

"Achievement Task: Pirate Lighthouse (4/5)."

"Task Details: Influence any five key story characters in this world to become lighthouses of piracy. Luffy (1/1), Ace (1/1), Sabo (1/1), Kuina (1/1)."

"Task Reward: One opportunity to draw a random character card from this world."

This task left Sig quite shaken.

The reward wasn't a random possession card nor just a random character card—it came with an additional condition: the card must belong to someone from this world.

"Nice, a Garp Punch Card, here I come."

Sig immediately grew interested.

"However, the characters I've influenced include Sabo but not Zoro?"

From what Sig could recall, he hadn't even spoken a few words to Sabo, yet somehow, it still counted toward the condition.

Meanwhile, Zoro, whom he had patted on the head once, wasn't included.

"Was my head pat not strong enough? Should I head back to Shimotsuki Village and guide Zoro onto the path of the Three-Chainsaw Style?"

This thought even briefly crossed Sig's mind.

Shifting his focus away from the system panel, Sig immediately gave an order for his subordinates to bring the nautical charts.

The East, West, South, and North Blue in this world were still relatively normal oceans, where one could navigate without a Log Pose.

Before getting drunk, Sig hadn't issued any orders on where the ship should head. As such, it had been drifting aimlessly in the general direction of Loguetown, carried by the ocean currents.

After a moment of thought, Sig's gaze settled on one of the islands in the East Blue.

This island was relatively close to the ship's current drifting position, and it was estimated they could reach it in about half a day.

Syrup Village.

This island was also home to another key story character: a young Usopp.

"Yasopp."

Sig suddenly remembered the Red-Haired Pirates' sniper whom he had met before.

"Your wife and son are in my care; you needn't worry."

Of course, he wasn't serious about that. However, if Banchina was currently ill, lending a hand might help Sig complete his achievement task.

With that in mind, Sig changed the ship's course toward Syrup Village.