Machu Picchu Island

"We can already see the port on Machu Picchu Island. Everything seems peaceful for now," Talissgo said from the lookout, holding onto his protruding eye sockets.

"Everything's peaceful? Is it because the day hasn't come yet?" Willy wondered, feeling a little frustrated, too. He could hardly wait to fight.

"Why don't we seize the port and lie in wait before the Two-Headed Wolf's people get here?" Arlong suggested, rather violently.

Fisher Tiger shook his head. "No. We couldn't hide ourselves, and there are bound to be Two-Headed Wolf lookouts around. We'd better not get close."

Compared to rescuing slaves, Arlong and Willy were clearly more concerned with punishing the slave traders. After all, the people they were rescuing this time were probably all humans, not their own kind.

But Fisher Tiger clearly didn't see it that way. His goal was to rescue the slaves, and he didn't want to alert the enemy.

"Boss Tiger, are we really just going to wait here? I mean... what if those bastards quietly meet up and leave?" Arlong tried to persuade Fisher Tiger again.

If they wanted to avoid alerting the enemy, all they could do was watch from a distance.

Ordinary pirates might have been able to avoid being recognized, but the Sun Pirates' distinctive features were simply too obvious!

In the newspaper delivered by a News Bird last week, everyone had already seen the headline about the Mary Geoise incident. But the report had been altered to say, "The Fish-Man villain Tiger looted a slave ship headed for Mary Geoise at the port." It didn't mention the chaos in Mary Geoise at the time, either.

The Fish-Man Pirates had also been branded as vicious pirates who preyed on slave ships and looted legitimate merchant vessels.

Fisher Tiger, Jinbe, Aladdin, Arlong, and Willy all had bounties. Makoro might not have attracted attention because he kept such a low profile.

But even without bounties, the all-Fish-Man Sun Pirates were bound to attract attention. The authorities hadn't even used the name "Sun Pirates" in their reports. They just called them the "Fish-Man Pirates"—an unmistakable description.

As Fisher Tiger hesitated, Sig stepped forward. "Boss Tiger, I'll go to the island!"

Fisher Tiger was surprised at first, but then he understood what Sig meant.

Though Sig usually maintained his Fish-Man appearance aboard the ship to fit in better with everyone, except when he was asleep, he was capable of turning completely human!

"Tch," Arlong scoffed.

Clearly, he knew that his plan to convince Boss Tiger to seize the port had already failed.

"Right, and there's Little Fei, too... That's perfect! I'll leave it to you." As he spoke, Fisher Tiger took a strange-looking pistol from behind his waist and handed it to Sig. "This is a Signal Gun. Take it with you. If you see the slave traders, or if anything dangerous happens, fire it into the sky."

Sig took the gun and nodded firmly.

Fisher Tiger also called Sig "Little Fei," but Sig could tell that Fisher Tiger wasn't as close to him as he seemed. When it came to genuinely accepting Sig, Fisher Tiger fell far short of Jinbe.

Fisher Tiger had complicated feelings about Sig, rooted in his own complicated attitude toward humans...

Deep down, Fisher Tiger was intensely hostile toward humans. But rationally, he knew he shouldn't think that way. No one understood better than he did that the only people who deserved hatred were the slave traders and slave owners among humankind. Many ordinary people were victims, just like the Fish-Man Race.

But emotionally, Fisher Tiger couldn't bring himself to let go of his resentment.

His warmth toward Sig wasn't two-faced. After all, Fisher Tiger was the Captain, not Sig.

Fisher Tiger didn't want this hatred to be passed on to the other members of the Fish-Man Race, so he always made an effort to be friendly toward Sig, who was of mixed heritage, and to show that he didn't resent humans.

Sig understood Fisher Tiger's feelings perfectly. If Fisher Tiger had been a Celestial Dragon, Sig would never have been able to forgive him, either.

With the Signal Gun clenched in his teeth, Sig swam from a spot far from the port, where it was barely visible, to a secluded stretch of shore.

He kept his head above water the whole way to keep the Signal Gun dry, but he still made decent time.

Since it was already dusk and Sig came ashore on the side of the island with a rocky beach, he didn't attract any attention.

The Sea Bass had circled Machu Picchu Island from a distance earlier. The island wasn't very big, and the only major settlement was probably the town by the port.

After coming ashore, Sig stopped maintaining his Fish-Man features and hurried toward the town in human form.

He slipped into a storeroom behind a clothing shop, picked out an inconspicuous outfit—a short-sleeved shirt worn open—and changed out of his soaked clothes.

After thinking it over, Sig decided not to leave any money...

Sig had brought money with him. In the small pouch at his waist were more than a hundred 500-Beli coins, the largest denomination of coin.

The group had pooled together these "small change" coins that they'd taken from the Marines earlier and given them to Sig.

After all, the Sun Pirates didn't attack merchant ships, and the Marines didn't carry much money either, let alone coins.

The Sun Pirates would probably only get rich after pulling off a robbery themselves!

A few tens of thousands of Beli would be enough to cover the cost, but Sig figured he'd taken one of the most common types of clothing. If he didn't leave money, no one might notice. It was normal for the count to be off by one item, and they might not even suspect a thief.

But if someone had also left money behind, that would seem strange and only increase the chance of being caught.

Besides, Sig's sense of morality had sunk pretty low by now. If he had an excuse not to pay, he'd naturally save himself the money!

He wandered around town for a while without arousing suspicion, then headed to the busiest tavern he could find.

He asked the bartender what their signature drink was. The answer was beer... which disappointed Sig a little, but he still ordered a large mug to try it.

Three kinds of alcohol were most popular at sea: wine, rum, and beer. Wine was undoubtedly the most high-end, but it was also the most expensive and not strong enough, so pirates usually stocked up on rum.

Rum was made by fermenting sugarcane molasses. It was not only cheap, but, like wine, it could also prevent scurvy—and it packed more of a punch than wine.

As for the cheapest option, beer, it simply kept longer than fresh water and did little to prevent scurvy...

Of course, the Sun Pirates didn't have to worry about scurvy. Their physiology was different!

It was just that the Fish-Man warriors preferred strong liquor, and the Marines, their "suppliers," stocked rum as standard provisions for long voyages. So the Sea Bass carried nothing but rum, too.

As Sig drank his beer and blended into the tavern, he quietly observed the people around him, hoping to pick up some useful information...