Machu Picchu Island

"I can already see the port of Machu Picchu Island. Looks calm for now." Talissgo called down from the crow's nest, holding his protruding eyeball in place.

"Calm? Because it's not the day yet?" Willy wondered aloud, a little frustrated. He was itching for a fight.

"Should we take the port first and set up an ambush before the Two-Headed Wolf guys show up?" Arlong suggested, ever violent.

Fisher Tiger shook his head. "No. We can't hide that, and the locals will definitely have Two-Headed Wolf spies. Better not get close."

Compared to freeing slaves, Arlong and Willy were clearly more interested in punishing the slave-catching crew—after all, the slaves they'd be rescuing this time were probably humans, not their own kind.

But Tiger clearly didn't see it that way. His goal was to free the slaves, not to tip off the enemy.

"Tiger, boss, are we just going to wait here? I mean... what if those bastards slip away after meeting up?" Arlong tried to persuade him.

To avoid alerting anyone, they could only watch from a distance.

Ordinary pirates might go unrecognized, but the Sun Pirates were far too distinctive!

Last week, in the newspaper delivered by the News Bird, the headline had been the Mary Geoise incident—though the report had been twisted to read: "Fish-Man villain Tiger plunders slave ship bound for Mary Geoise at port," with no mention of the chaos that had actually erupted there.

The Fish-Man Pirates had been branded as vicious pirates who looted slave ships and raided legitimate merchant caravans.

Tiger, Jinbe, Aladdin, Arlong, and Willy all had bounties. Makoro had probably gone unnoticed because he kept such a low profile.

But for a crew made up entirely of Fish-Men, the "Sun Pirates" were conspicuous even without bounties. The authorities hadn't even used the name "Sun Pirates"—they'd simply called them the "Fish-Man Pirates" the whole time.

Tiger was still wrestling with the problem when Sig stepped forward. "Tiger, boss, let me go to the island!"

Seeing Sig, Tiger paused, then understood what he meant.

Usually on the ship, Sig kept himself in Fish-Man form almost all the time—except when sleeping—to fit in better. But he could fully transform into a human!

"Tch." Arlong clicked his tongue in disdain.

He knew his plan to convince Tiger to take the port had already failed.

"Right, and Little Fei... that's perfect! I'll leave it to you." Tiger reached behind his waist, pulled out a strangely shaped short-barreled gun, and handed it to Sig. "This is a signal gun. Take it. If you spot the slave-catching crew or run into danger, fire it into the sky."

Sig took the gun and nodded firmly.

Tiger also called Sig "Little Fei," but Sig could tell that Tiger wasn't as close to him as he appeared. Deep down, Tiger didn't trust or accept Sig nearly as much as Jinbe did.

Tiger's attitude toward Sig was complicated—rooted in his complicated feelings toward humans...

Deep down, Tiger harbored a deep hatred for humans. But rationally, he knew he shouldn't think that way. No one knew better than him that the only ones worth resenting were the slave-catching crews and slave owners among humans. Many ordinary people were victims too, just like the Fish-Man Race.

Emotionally, though, Tiger couldn't bring himself to let go.

The reason he acted friendly toward Sig wasn't two-facedness—after all, he was the captain, not Sig.

Tiger didn't want that hatred to spread to the next generation of Fish-Men, so he worked hard to show closeness to Sig, who was of mixed blood, and to appear unbothered by humans.

Sig fully understood Tiger's feelings. If Tiger were a Celestial Dragon, Sig would never be able to forgive him either.

With the signal gun clenched between his teeth, Sig swam from a distance where the island was barely a blur on the horizon all the way to a quiet stretch of shore, far from the port.

He kept his head above water the whole time to keep the signal gun dry, but he wasn't slow.

Since it was evening, and he landed on a rocky beach, no one noticed him.

The Sea Bass had circled Machu Picchu Island earlier. It wasn't a big island—the only large settlement was probably the port town.

Once ashore, Sig dropped his Fish-Man features and headed toward the town in human form.

He slipped into the back warehouse of a clothing shop, picked out an unremarkable outfit—a loose short-sleeved shirt—and changed out of his soaked clothes.

After a moment's thought, Sig decided not to leave any money...

He did have cash on him. In the small pouch at his waist were over a hundred 500-beri coins—the largest coin denomination.

Those "pocket change" had been looted from the Navy earlier. Everyone had pooled their coins and given them to Sig.

After all, the Sun Pirates didn't attack merchant ships, and the Navy didn't carry much cash—coins even less.

They'd probably have to pull off a black-market heist before the Sun Pirates got rich!

A few tens of thousands of beri was enough for now, but Sig figured he'd grabbed the most common type of shirt. If he didn't leave money, it might not even be noticed. A missing shirt could easily be chalked up to inventory error, not theft.

But if someone quietly left money behind, that would look suspicious and increase the chance of being found out.

Besides, Sig's moral compass had sunk pretty low. If he had a reason not to pay, he'd naturally save the cash!

He wandered around town without raising any suspicion, then picked the liveliest tavern he could find.

He asked the bartender what their signature drink was. The answer was beer... A little disappointing, but Sig ordered a big mug to try it anyway.

At sea, three types of alcohol were most popular: wine, rum, and beer. Wine was by far the most prestigious, but also the most expensive and not strong enough. That's why pirates usually stocked rum.

Rum, made from fermented sugarcane molasses, was cheap, and like wine, it helped prevent scurvy—plus it packed more punch.

As for the cheapest option, beer was only better than fresh water for preservation and did nothing against scurvy...

Of course, for the Sun Pirates, scurvy wasn't a concern. Their physiology was different!

But because the Fish-Man warriors preferred strong liquor, and their "supply source"—the Navy—stocked rum as standard provisions for long voyages, the Sea Bass was also loaded with rum.

Sig sipped his beer, blending into the tavern atmosphere, while quietly observing his surroundings, hoping to pick up something useful.