Very Arrogant

Even though this lively tavern was on an island in the Grand Line, and it was easy to guess it was full of pirates and outlaws, Sig—who currently showed no Fish-Man features—stood at 1.8 meters tall, with an unrecognizable skull-and-crossbones tattoo on his arm that anyone could tell was a pirate flag. Despite looking a bit young and sitting alone, no one bothered him.

Originally, Sig wanted to scout for members of the Two-Headed Wolf Slaver Squad who might be casing the area, but through the detailed observation of his Mind Reader ability, he found no one suspicious.

Just as Sig felt disappointed, however, he suddenly caught a much more "direct" lead...

"I saw that little Belka chick at the port again today, tsk tsk... that figure, that ass..."

"Damn, talk if you're gonna talk, but stop drooling!"

"Gahaha, you guys can only look. That chick's not just about the ass—ordinary bounties of a few million aren't even a match for her."

"Pfft, it's just that fewer pirates have been coming to Machu Picchu Island lately. You think her skills can cut it on the Grand Line? More like on the bed!"

A group of guys—whether pirates or some other lawless types—were jabbering crudely about women.

Sig had no interest in women, but the name "Belka" caught his attention—according to Navy intelligence, the informant on Machu Picchu Island was currently using the alias Belka!

Sig had originally assumed that after the main Navy force assigned to the Two-Headed Wolf case went to hunt down the Sun Pirates and called off the siege, the informant would have pulled out too.

Besides, Sig wasn't Navy, so he hadn't planned on contacting any Navy informant.

But hearing that Belka was still around, Sig perked up immediately.

The table next to him, which had just brought up the topic, now expanded on Belka's affairs, letting Sig know that Belka was currently one of the gang leaders in the Machu Picchu town district. Nominally, she acted as a "middleman" for two pier docks at the port, introducing stevedores to cargo ships and cargo owners to stevedores, but in reality, she was just collecting protection money.

Sig was a bit surprised—he hadn't expected an "informant" to be so high-profile...

Now that he knew Belka's whereabouts, Sig immediately dropped 500 Beri, downed his beer without wasting a drop, and got up to head for the port.

Sig hoped to pry information out of Belka as much as possible. If that failed...

She was just a Navy petty officer, and from a branch at that—she probably couldn't beat him, right?

Pushing open the tavern's small louvered door, Sig came face-to-face with a woman slightly taller than himself.

In his human form, Sig stood 1.8 meters tall, having shot up a bit during his advancement on the Divine Path.

But this pink-haired woman, who looked about twenty-five or twenty-six, was even taller than Sig. She wore a low-cut, midriff-baring top under a cropped denim jacket, with tattoos visible on her upper arms and stomach. A cigarette dangled from her lips, and a short flintlock was tucked into her waistband, her expression screaming "I'm the baddest bitch around."

As they passed each other, Sig turned his head to glance at her ass... very perky.

At the same time, recalling the flash of "disdain" that had crossed her face just now, Sig mentally confirmed the identity of this well-endowed lady.

Though she tried to hide it, Sig noticed that when she saw the skull-and-crossbones tattoo on his arm, her eyes flickered with contempt—a look of disappointment, like she was frustrated at his wasted potential.

No one would recognize the flag of the Sword of Freedom, but anyone could tell it was a pirate flag.

If she was really as she appeared, this crow in her getup had no reason to call him the black sheep...

Plus, she had two lackeys whose expressions differed naturally from hers—they were clearly nervous.

Combined with the "physical traits" that matched the passersby's descriptions, Sig was eighty percent sure she was Belka!

So, a bit awkwardly, Sig followed her back into the tavern.

Sure, when he'd turned to check her features, his Mind Reader ability allowed for "covert observation" without triggering her instincts or being noticed, but... having already left the tavern, then seeing a woman with a nice ass at the door and eagerly trailing back in—this image was hardly aboveboard.

Belka kicked the louvered door open with a raised leg, and the noisy tavern fell silent for a moment.

The guys who'd just been discussing Belka's attributes now sipped their beer quietly.

Sig tried to slip back in as inconspicuously as possible—at this moment, he desperately wished he'd already reached Sequence 6, which would let him use Psychological Invisibility and hide in the blind spots of everyone's attention.

As it was, quite a few people glanced at this sneaky, lecherous bastard—what else could it mean when a guy follows a woman back inside?

"Boss! Orange wine!" Belka sat down, propping both feet on the table and tilting her chair back.

Yet with this attitude, she hadn't ordered hard liquor, which seemed a bit off.

Sig glared at the bartender—did I look like a broke man? Why'd he recommend beer earlier?

"Orange wine," Sig said quietly to the bartender as he came over.

The bartender gave him a weird look, like he was sizing up a pervert.

Belka turned her head to glance in Sig's direction, but Sig had already stopped looking at her—if not for that "brush past" at the door, Belka wouldn't have even noticed he'd followed her back.

It was hard to tell whether to be pleased or annoyed—after glancing at Sig, Belka flashed a teasing smirk.

The good news was that Belka didn't suspect Sig's intentions; the bad news was that she simply took the young guy for a lecher—hadn't he already left the tavern, only to come back trailing after her?

"Big Sister, those guys have noticed us. Should we head back and report... report to the boss?" Lackey One asked nervously.

"Even if we don't go back, we should keep a low profile... and staying any longer won't do much good," Lackey Two added.

The noise around them had picked up again, so no one could easily hear what they were saying, and even if they did, most wouldn't catch anything off.

But Sig automatically filled in the blanks: "The Two-Headed Wolf scouts spotted they're Navy," "Persuading Petty Officer Belka to return to the Navy base for debriefing," "The reinforcements for the slaver roundup have already gone after the escaped slaves, so no backup is coming."

"Drink your booze and shut up!" Belka snapped irritably.

After a bit more cryptic talk, they finished their orange wine. Belka slammed her thick-bottomed glass on the table and said to the bartender, "That kid over there is paying!" Then she got up and left.

Sig: ???

The rough men around him burst into laughter, mocking the young grass who tried to nibble the old cow and ended up getting roasted instead.