The Bystander
As expected, when Captain Rat saw that the bastards from Cocoyasi Village had wiped out the Twin Blade Pirates who had been paying tribute to him and were now coming to collect the bounty, he flew into a rage!
My initial suspicion is that it was done by an "uninformed" Pirate Hunter, possibly even a "part-time Pirate Hunter" with a clandestine identity—otherwise, why would the Cocoyasi Village police station come to collect the bounty?
The Twin Blade Pirates were just one of the pirate crews that paid tribute to him, not exactly a "Pillar his business," but Captain Rat felt his authority had been challenged by that bastard Pirate Hunter, and even... the people of Cocoyasi Village dared to get angry? And even help him collect the bounty?
It wasn't until Captain Rat learned the name of the person who had offered the bounty from Genzo and checked the previous bounties offered by that person that he immediately changed his tune.
Captain Rat directly searched for information about "Siegfried" in the Navy's archives and naturally found the latest intelligence—a member of the Shichibukai pirate crew, with a bounty of 175 million... Judging from the bounty, it's basically the treatment of a "first Captain"!
Captain Rat naturally wouldn't know that Sig had left the group, and even if he did, he wouldn't have any other thoughts about giving Sig three million from his own treasury.
This is Great Pirate with a bounty of over 100 million, an invincible force in the East Blue—at least that's what Captain Rat thinks!
To avoid trouble, Captain Rat had no intention of clashing with Sig...
As for reporting?
Captain Rat felt it was best not to bother his superiors with such a "trivial matter," otherwise he might lose the Navy Division, his cash cow.
Genzo was also surprised that Captain Rat had actually paid the full bounty. Normally, bounty Hunter would have a lot of their pay deducted from their bounty when they came here!
Seeing Captain Rat's initial arrogance followed by obsequiousness, Genzo realized that Sig was more dangerous than he had imagined!
As for Sig, the "Invincible of the East Sea," he then encountered an epic event.
Sig was enjoying a drink at the bar— Sig wasn't worried about not being able to pay off his debts because he was about to receive three million in revenue.
Even when Bellemere came to see him again, he specially ordered two glasses of Orange Wine, one for Bellemere, showing his strong personality.
But just then, thanks to Sig's visit, the bar, which had been rather quiet these past few days, suddenly became lively again.
A group of clueless pirates rushed in, each finding their own spot as soon as they entered. They were clearly a ragtag crew, with officers sporting outdated slicked-back hair, fat as pigs, monkey trainers, and a bunch of grunts wearing sunglasses... Especially the Captain, who looked thin and weak, with nothing remarkable about him except for his red hair, and he was even wearing a tattered straw Straw Hat!
"So noisy! Can the pirates be quiet for a bit?" Bellemere, her face flushed from drinking, shouted, emboldened by the alcohol.
After all, she never had a good impression of pirates.
Sig:...
"Sorry, sorry, I didn't expect to have friends here on dates?" the Red-Hair said, scratching the back of his head, looking embarrassed.
However, the other officers and crew members clearly lacked the Red-Hair's composure, and they all started whistling and making jokes to egg him on.
"Haha, it's okay, just pretend we don't exist!"
"Whoosh, whoosh... My friend on the high seas, are you disembarking or just temporarily returning to your little harbor?"
"Pfft, pfft, pfft! That's not a small harbor, it's clearly a small hill..."
"Little brother, let me advise you, women are all Sea King, we men of the sea shouldn't mess with them."
"Don't listen to his nonsense! But he's right about one thing: a man of the sea shouldn't think about starting a family. The promise is too heavy; the ship can't bear it..."
Then there was the outgoing, curly-haired Yasopp, who came over and put his arm around Sig's neck, saying something with a sigh.
Why did Sig know he was Yasopp?
Because of his bizarre aesthetic sense... he wrote his name on a headscarf and then tied it to his forehead!
But at that moment, Red-Hair suddenly glanced at Sig a couple more times— Oldest One, he hadn't sensed anything unusual about the slightly tipsy Sig, and since this was a small village in the East Blue that didn't seem to have many pirate crews stopping there, he naturally assumed Sig was just an ordinary pirate.
After advancing to Sequence 7, Zieg's "Psychiatrist" abilities allowed him to control his Sig outward emotions with ease, and he didn't display any "imposing presence."
Given Red-Hair's temperament, even a small-time pirate would be willing to make a few jokes...
But when Sig used his Observation Haki to envelop the entire area, Red-Hair vaguely sensed something!
That's right, Red-Hair only "vaguely sensed" it, and wasn't even sure if Sig had used Observation Haki.
After all, Red-Hair isn't Four Emperors yet. According to the timeline in the original work, Red-Hair became Four Emperors "two years later" and "six years ago," which is roughly three or four years before the start of the original story and six or seven years later now!
Although the current Red-Hair Pirates are super rookies who have defeated a Shichibukai, the past six or seven years have also been a period in which the Red-Hair Pirates' strength has improved significantly.
The most obvious example is that Red-Hair, who is now standing in front of Sig, is only about 1.7 meters tall. He even looks a bit "petite" next to Sig. The fat man, who is gnawing on bones and meat, Red-Hair. However, during the Paramount War the original work, Red-Hair grew to two meters tall, which is still within the range of average height. But Lucky Roo, that fat man, is almost twice the height of Red-Hair, and his width is more than three or four times that of Shanks.
Other figures, from Beckman to Yasopp, also exhibited drastic changes in physique and demeanor among cadres...
In comparison, the current Red-Hair Pirates are only equivalent to the Straw Hat Pirates before entering the "New World," and there is still a lot of room for improvement compared to the Four Emperors' pirate crews later on.
Of course, Red-Haired Shanks now has considerable experience and is quite old. Although he is only in his twenties, he is much older than Luffy when he set Luffy, and his strength is much greater than Luffy's at Marineford. However, he is still somewhat behind Aokiji and others. The next six or seven years will be the time for him to fully grow and surpass them.
The current Red-Hair could sense that Sig's Observation Haki was already "unexpected."
Furthermore, Sig vaguely sensed that, judging from Red-Hair's emotions, he seemed to find his Observation Haki familiar?
Just then, Baiyemen didn't move, but two figures appeared in the tavern—that's right, it was Nami and Nojiko, who were shorter than Baiyemen.
Upon seeing the two little girls enter, the Red-Hair Pirates members quieted down a bit and consciously reduced the amount of crude jokes they told.
The two little girls were dirty, but the dust marks looked very fresh. Even without the keen observation of Knowledge Keeper, Sig knew that the sisters had just been fighting!
"Aunt Bellemere!"
"Uncle Sig!"
Nami and Nojiko each clung to a powerful figure, blaming each other for being "disobedient"...