East Blue's Mountain Bandit King (Not Really)

Who do you think I am?

"Open your dog eyes wide! I'm an eight million Beli bounty bandit! A bottle of liquor isn't even enough for me to rinse my mouth!"

"Don't compare me to you trashy pirates. I've killed fifty-six guys like you."

"If you like cleaning, then clean to your heart's content! You wimp."

When Sig and Lucky Roo returned, they witnessed a shocking scene— Shanks was humiliated by being doused with wine by the "Mountain Bandit King".

Of course, the title of "bandit king" is just a joke; he's just a bandit with a bounty of eight million, not even considered top-tier in the Mount Kolbo.

After teasing Shanks for a while, Higuma turned and left with little interest, since the pirates had already drunk all the wine in the tavern!

"If there's no more alcohol, there's no need to stay here. Let's go!" Higuma said, turning and leaving with his Little Brother.

Seeing Sig and Lucky Roo who just came in...

Well, although Sig has maintained his human form in Foosha Village, he is still a burly man over two meters tall, while Lucky Roo beside him is just a fatso... Higuma deliberately bumped into the fatso without hesitation, and then snorted through his nose.

Lucky Roo was completely bewildered, and after Higuma left, he just joined the others in mocking Shanks.

"Our boss got bullied so badly!"

"This is so embarrassing..."

"Move the floor carefully, don't give Miss Makino extra work."

"Hahaha..."

"Lucky Roo, Sig, you've missed the show."

The tavern was filled with laughter and chatter, Shanks himself scratched his head and chuckled.

However, Sig read emotions in Shanks, Yasopp, and others that were completely different from their outward "open-mindedness."

Of course, it wasn't "anger" or anything like that, otherwise Higuma wouldn't have been able to leave the tavern in the first place.

If you're truly angry, there's no reason to tolerate it.

These different emotions are...

Sad!

If I had to describe it as "anger," then it would also be anger towards myself.

Oh, and there's also a genuine little bit of anger.

"What are you laughing at? How can you still laugh at this? Is this what you call being a pirate?" Luffy was as angry as a hen whose eggs had been stolen.

"Even if the other person looks strong, laughing while being bullied like this doesn't make you a man!" Luffy said, then looked at Sig: "Why don't you use your fists to hit him?"

"Huh? I still don't understand what happened." Sig spread his hands innocently.

"Alright, Luffy... it's just that you got splashed with wine, there's no need to be angry about something like that," Shanks said calmly.

Seeing Shanks like this, Luffy became even angrier. He turned around, jumped off the chair, and angrily said, "I'm ignoring you guys!"

"What a child," Shanks said with a smile.

However, Sig could sense that his true inner emotions were completely different from what he was showing.

"What's wrong, Captain?" Sig asked, wiping the chair Luffy had just stepped on as he sat down... then looking down at Shanks, who was cleaning up the mess.

The use of the formal title "Captain" is entirely different from the context of addressing someone as "Boss."

"Honestly, I told you not to use mind reading on your comrades!" Shanks complained, bluntly referring to Sig's Observation Haki as "mind reading."

"No, it's just facial recognition with the naked eye." Sig thought to himself: If I used Observation Haki, wouldn't you be able to sense it?

"An'er is dead." Shanks said with a forlorn expression.

My earlier laughter was less about enjoyment and more about mocking myself.

"The King?" Sig asked rhetorically, but his tone was very certain.

"Well... Peter's plan was just a delaying tactic... An'er and I acted like fools..." Shanks said, covering his face with one hand.

Sig expressed his agreement with silence.

Shanks also started talking about what happened before...

Logically speaking, no matter how cunning Peter, he couldn't possibly kill An'er in front of Red-Hair.

Even though Peter used his status as a "Celestial Dragons's loyal dog" to summon CP0 agents in advance, Shanks easily took An'er away—because he didn't want this East Blue country to be labeled as a "pirate" in the future, so he didn't directly confront CP0.

To evade CP0's pursuit, the Red-Hair Pirates' officers also fought against CP0, covering An'er's journey and escorting him back to the Terminal of Uncertainties's base.

By this time, An'er's wife and children had also been brought over.

After...

An'er died at the hands of his wife.

As Yasopp said, in terms of the responsibilities of a father and husband, An'er was inferior to him in that...

Banchina is also the best wife and mother!

An'er, who also rarely returned home, had a wife who was a typical Goa noblewoman. After learning about An'er's situation, she was thinking about how to avoid being implicated.

No, it wasn't even about "not wanting to be implicated," but rather that they fundamentally disagreed with An'er's "sharing."

If it were anyone else, Shanks could avenge An'er, but if the murderer is An'er's wife and the mother of An'er's son...

Shanks had no idea what to do.

The resistance almost collapsed overnight, and many nobles who had once supported An'er went back into hiding...

In the end, An'er's wife also died at the hands of the CP0. However, in order to appease the nobles of the Augusta lineage, as a result of the game, Peter arranged for An'er's son, Stelly, to be adopted by Outlook III of the Oterluk family.

The Otluk family was also a major noble family in Goa, and Outlook III had long been troubled by the fact that his son, Sabo, seemed completely incapable of inheriting the noble title.

Furthermore, Peter secretly promised that Stelly could marry his daughter in the future, which would further solidify the position of the Otelluk family. Outlook III gladly accepted Stelly as his adopted son.

The reason Peter was willing to do this, besides appeasing the Augustan noble family, was also because of Stelly's temperament...

It's easy to imagine what kind of person Stelly was raised to be—the presence of his own kind made Peter realize that An'er's son would not become a beast like his father, but rather an "excellent Goa nobleman."

Looking at the Kingdom of Goa, which had gradually calmed down, Shanks was powerless to do anything.

With his strength, if he were to strike at the heart of the nation in Garp's absence, he could destroy it, but he couldn't change it—just like Sig in the Drum Kingdom.

"Ah! Luffy! What are you eating?" Lucky Roo suddenly exclaimed.

Sig and Shanks turned to look, only to see that while they were talking and listening, a Luffy had gone to the storeroom and eaten a "strange fruit"...