Unspoken Understanding

"Damn! Good thing that fat guy must've trained in Life Return. He had enough fat to cushion the blow!" the green-haired youth cursed as he and Sig fled down the road.

He'd also been wounded in the side. He clutched the injury, but blood was still seeping through.

Among the gunmen just now, one knew how to coat bullets in Armament Haki. Though they were only lead pellets, their penetration was terrifying.

Good thing that human shield had been thick enough. And good thing coating a tiny, fast-moving object like a bullet was difficult to begin with.

"Let's split up at the next junction. I'll head east," Sig said calmly.

"Why should I?" the green-haired youth protested.

The eastern route clearly offered an easier way to loop around toward the port. The other road led west.

"Because you're more badly hurt than I am," Sig replied reasonably.

The green-haired youth: ...

"You really are a bastard..." the green-haired youth grumbled, but he still accepted the plan. After a pause, he said, "I'm Tesoro. Hope I'll see you out on the open sea someday... If you can't make it on your own by then, maybe I'll give you a job!"

"Sig... If you manage to keep your head this time, listen up when I become a legend on the seas!"

After their "tearful farewell," they reached the junction and wordlessly split up, each fleeing in a different direction. Then...

Sig pulled out the flintlock he'd just picked up and turned to aim at Tesoro's knee, only to find Tesoro had also turned around and was aiming at Sig's knee with his own flintlock.

The two exchanged amicable smiles in perfect unison, then raised their guns skyward as a sign of friendship. Only then did they truly part ways.

"Sig, I'll remember you..." Tesoro muttered under his breath.

"Tesoro... That name sounds familiar..." Sig didn't have time to think about it.

Back in the chaotic square, Sig assessed the situation with precision and took a route where the slaves had the upper hand, but not too much of one. If they had too much of an advantage, the skilled guards might intercept them.

Clang—Bang—

A lone guard tried to stop Sig, but Sig blocked his slash with his sword, then drew his gun with his left hand and fired.

He immediately threw the gun away. There was no time to slowly load gunpowder and ammunition.

Of course, he didn't forget to follow up with another sword strike, making sure the guard was dead...

Sig wouldn't go out of his way to fight an opponent he could avoid, but once he'd started, he wouldn't pass up the chance to finish the job. After all, that gave the slaves behind him a better chance to escape—oh, what a kind soul Sigfried was.

With his sharp assessment of the situation, unremarkable appearance, and enough strength to avoid getting caught in some random crossfire, Sig fought and fled his way to the port.

Mary Geoise stood on high ground, and the entire port sloped noticeably downward. Looking down over it from above, Sig's face eased into a faint smile, and he felt half a breath of relief.

The four berths on the eastern side were ablaze with chaos, all the way to the ships moored at the end of the stone piers. It was a complete mess!

The eastern sheltered harbor was also already in disarray.

Mary Geoise's port had two sheltered harbors, one to the east and one to the south. In front of them, a series of stone piers stretched out to form the berths.

There were plenty of piers, but Mary Geoise constantly swallowed up tribute from all over the world. Ordinary cargo ships could only moor temporarily at the piers, then leave as soon as they finished unloading, or drop anchor in one of the sheltered harbors on either side to make repairs.

The high proportion of pirates among the slaves was a good thing, too. The slaves leading the charge clearly knew what they were doing. They had already seized four escape routes, and anyone heading east wouldn't have to worry about getting trapped in the port.

The eastern harbor was in chaos, too. In other words... the Celestial Dragons' lackeys could no longer stop everyone from escaping by destroying the ships.

Sig hadn't arrived especially slowly, but he hadn't arrived especially quickly, either.

That was because he'd chosen the safest route the whole way...

The closer he came to freedom, the more the shouts of battle and burning buildings around him felt like music and lights celebrating his race toward it.

With a sword in one hand and the loaded long musket he'd just picked up in the other, Sig ran and began to sing.

"We're pirates, fierce and free,

Left hands seize the treasure, right feet kick down the throne.

We're pirates, bold and skilled,

Come into my arms, my pretty little darling.

We're pirates, wild and free,

Guided by the skull and crossbones, soaring through the sky.

We're pirates, with no tomorrow,

Sailing on the open sea, forever without an end."

It was a common, vulgar pirate song. Compared to the tunes he'd sung for the Celestial Dragons, the singing was crude, as if he couldn't be bothered to put in any effort.

He didn't use a falsetto at all. The louder Sig sang, the hoarser his voice became. Then the rasp gradually peeled away, revealing a deeper, more mature voice.

As he sang of freedom, his voice rapidly changed under the power of Bard.

Of course, he wasn't shouting the song just to speed up his voice change. He also wanted to blend in with the pirates.

More than half the people rushing into the port were former pirates. Compared to the other slaves, pirates had a clear advantage in this situation.

As Sig sang his way along, the pirates caught on, too. Their spirits soaring, they joined in, naturally taking him for one of their own.

Out on the open sea, two pirate crews could easily turn on each other if they weren't careful. But here in Mary Geoise, in the middle of this mass escape, everyone did their best to stick together with their own kind...

Well, unless they needed their own kind to run more slowly and draw the pursuers' attention.

As Sig sang, slashed, and killed his way along, he could clearly feel the guards' morale collapsing.

"D-d-drop your weapons... You slaves... This is your final warning... Ah!"

"W-wait! You'll never get away with this—" Bang—

"Keep bringing the ships over, boys!"

Sig suddenly noticed someone was still "keeping order" among the escapees, even directing his men to bring more ships over from the sheltered harbor instead of rushing to escape himself.

Following the sound, Sig saw a figure of unusual stature...

To an ordinary person, being tall generally meant being a little over two meters, with a muscular build that made it obvious they could fight.

But the one directing his men to keep bringing ships to the berths so ordinary slaves could escape was more than twice that height—a Fish-Man standing over five meters tall, by Sig's estimate!

Sig had seen plenty of Fish-Men and Mermaids in Mary Geoise. The Celestial Dragons were fond of capturing them as slaves.

A Fish-Man's skin looked nothing like what Sig had seen in the 2D animation of his previous life. The burly Fish-Man before him seemed perpetually slick, his finely scaled, pale-red skin rippling over the muscles exposed by his bare upper body. He looked powerful.

By human standards, his thick lips might have seemed a little comical, but right now they gave him an air of dependability...

Just then, however, Sig's scalp prickled as he stepped onto the stone pier. Following the warning from his Spirituality, he ducked and drew his sword to guard his chest, then twisted around to look!

His defense was unnecessary. Two figures in black Battle Suits had leaped high into the air, kicking out two enormous slashes that swept toward the stone pier where Sig stood...