When Sig received news of the Red Force's return, he rushed back to find everyone feasting in the tavern...
Sig didn't know if the Red-Hair Pirates really liked throwing parties, or Shanks was trying to boost Makino's sales figures by having a small party every day and a big party every three days. Now that their exploration was clearly not going well, they still had to hold a party. He wondered what they were celebrating.
"Hey, Fatty, you've lost a lot of weight?" Sig patted Lucky Roo's belly.
Lucky Roo rolled his eyes at him, then continued to devour the bone-in meat in his hand.
She has really lost a lot of weight; her stomach is almost touching her back now—it's the kind of belly that sticks to her back after being swung around.
The Red Force normally sails entirely by wind power, unlike the Navy, which has dedicated hybrid-powered warships that can propel their outer wheels by engines even in Calm Belt.
To cross the Calm Belt, the Red-Hair Pirates Red Force, the Red, could only rely on its oars—once it entered the Calm Belt, six enormous oars extended from the cannon ports to provide power.
Of the six oars, four were operated by the crew, while the other two, which served as the main propulsion, were operated entirely by Lucky Roo alone!
After the trip, Lucky Roo was so exhausted he lost weight...
As for techniques to evade Sea King, the Red-Hair Pirates also knew some – they placed Seastone at the bottom of their ships.
This is a "trick" that Red-Hair discovered after sinking several Navy warships. However, the Navy must have done other processing on the Seastone or had some other techniques. Simply installing a piece of Seastone on the bottom of the ship does not have the same concealment effect as the Navy. It cannot guarantee that the ship will not be discovered by Sea King; it only reduces the probability.
"If you want to cross the Calm Belt, a smaller boat is better."
"Or... shall we go and steal a warship?"
"Ordinary warships won't do, and there aren't any warships in the East China Sea that carry foreign vessels, are there?"
"Captain, when will your bird grow up?"
Morio and the other crew members complained to Shanks and Beckman...
Only Lucky Roo, too busy devouring flesh several times his own weight, was too preoccupied to speak!
Luffy didn't understand anything else, but he felt that Lucky Roo was incredibly powerful, and he was completely no match for him—is this what pirates are like?
"Don't worry, don't worry, Sig will go with you next time." Shanks said awkwardly, glancing at Sig who had just walked in.
"That's right. If Bananaman and I go too, just the few of us can manage with just a small boat." Sig guessed that Shanks also wanted to send more people back to Goa to assist that An'er.
"The few of us? You, me, and Lucky Roo? We can't be too small..." Morio said after looking at Lucky Roo.
Three people, a monkey, and a salamander aren't that big, but... Lucky Roo needs meat supplies for dozens of people!
Normally, Sig could go into the sea to help him catch fish, but when they were in the Calm Belt, Sig didn't want to go into the sea easily.
"Haha, how about I replace Lucky Roo?" Yasopp suggested.
Indeed, if you're traveling in a small boat, there's no need to bring a rower...
"Alright! Then the three of you will be in charge of searching for that Devil Fruit!" Shanks immediately decided.
"Hmph." Beckman snorted softly, then put down his glass.
Shanks paused for a moment, not daring to say anything, while Makino chuckled to herself.
Beckman then sighed and stepped forward to talk about another "mission" the rest of the Red-Hair Pirates would be undertaking.
Aside from Morio, Yasopp, and Sig, the others will remain in the Kingdom of Goa to help An'er Auguste transform it into a kingdom of sharing.
Of course, the so-called "help" is unlikely to be in the form of direct force.
Given the strength of Red-Hair and his crew, it wouldn't be difficult for them to catch the World Government off guard and quickly wipe out the royal family and a large number of nobles.
However, if the World Government finds out that An'er's usurpation of the country was supported by the Red-Hair Pirates, they will definitely make him a key target, so Red-Hair' actions are destined to be very limited.
Sig wasn't interested in the Kingdom of Goa... or rather, in what An'er was going to do.
An'er is similar to Shanks, but not to Sig.
In contrast, Sig was more interested in the "Vampire Fruit," and... that dream.
"When are we leaving?" Sig asked Ooo as he sat down and played with Morio.
Morio's face fell as he said, "Sig, I've just gotten back. I should at least attend a few more banquets and get some rest, right?"
Upon hearing this, Sig pursed his lips. "I know, I wasn't rushing you... If you're not in a hurry, I'd like to take a walk around the area recently... on other nearby islands." Sig wanted to try and find another part of Dawn Island, the one that was hit by the cannon fire.
"Did you find something?" Shanks looked over curiously.
After hesitating for a moment, Sig said, "Well, my special Observation Haki allowed me to sense the aura of a certain era here before, but it seems... there was another part of this island before, and I want to take a look around."
The density of islands in the four seas is much greater than that in the Grand Line.
"The spirit of the times?" Shanks asked, puzzled.
Sig, on the other hand, was prepared to play the riddle-maker. He didn't feel obligated to reveal anything until he had a complete understanding of the matter, since it was something that happened eight hundred years ago and had nothing to do with the current Red-Hair Pirates.
Seeing that Sig didn't say anything more, Shanks simply added, "By the way, if there's no chance to bring that fruit back later, either Yasopp or Sig can just eat it."
Upon hearing this, Yasopp simply gestured with his index and middle fingers together between his temple and Shanks' direction to indicate that he understood—this was also a long-standing rule of the Red-Hair Pirates: whoever wanted the spoils should openly say so, and now he was mainly referring to the newcomer Sig.
In fact, many powerful pirate crews are like this... they'll turn against each other for a single Devil Fruit. This is mainly true for small and medium-sized pirate crews, especially those with a poor internal atmosphere.
As Blackbeard mentioned in the original work, if he asked, Thatch would likely give him the Darkness Fruit, and he could then find another way to repay him.
Blackbeard simply didn't want to take any risks, and once he got his hands on the Darkness Fruit, it meant he was about to embark on a premeditated path to becoming a king. Whitebeard was also seen as his prey, so he directly and ruthlessly killed Thatch!
Of course, if something like Devil Fruit can't be taken with you, eating it on the spot is different from "taking everyone's shared spoils." If it's either eaten or thrown away, there's no "compensation." When that happens, there's no need to be polite.
Sig wasn't in a hurry, and even went to drink with Yasopp, with whom he would be working later, suggesting that he take advantage of the free time to go back to Syrup Village and visit more.
However, Yasopp just shook his head, saying things that Sig didn't understand...
Then Yasopp changed the subject, saying, "Speaking of An'er, he's not exactly a good father or husband, just like me..."
Previously Yasopp and Beckman had investigated the Auguste family together. Indeed, the Duke of An'er had abandoned his wife and children in High Town because he was always fighting for his ideals.
"That's different. The nobles of High Town at least live a life of luxury and don't need to worry." Sig decisively exposed Yasopp's fallacy of misrepresentation.
Yasopp, however, retorted, "No, I've seen my son, and he'll definitely grow up to be a great man. Banchina is also the best wife and mother... But that brat named Stelly, I always feel he..."
As he spoke, Yasopp shook his head, perhaps feeling he had no right to criticize others for their lack of family involvement in this matter...