Demon's Warning

"You really are persistent, aren't you?" Sig walked in with practiced ease, spotting the Prison Demon sitting on the innermost throne, sporting a handsome face.

First time meeting, second time familiar. Having been "pulled" in so many times, Sig wasn't too intimidated anymore.

The "two" of them basically couldn't do anything to each other. More importantly, as long as he was wearing Seastone handcuffs outside, the Devil Fruit's power wouldn't cause him to lose control!

Hearing Sig's playful words, the Prison Demon clearly grew annoyed: "If you're so capable, how about taking off your protective charm?"

What the Prison Demon was referring to were the Seastone handcuffs.

"Sure," Sig agreed nonchalantly.

"You don't dare... What? You're tricking me?" The Prison Demon was momentarily fooled by Sig's sudden change of tune.

"No, once I master enough sea power, I won't need Seastone anymore," Sig said as if it were obvious.

This was something Jinbe had guided Sig to think of. And judging by the feedback Sig had received after praying to the sea, the sea in this world indeed symbolized some kind of mystical power!

Furthermore, if he just wanted to use his Devil Fruit abilities, Sig should be able to do so...

Before, after putting on the Seastone handcuffs, Sig had asked Jinbe – since the Marines had Seastone handcuffs, why didn't they make Seastone bullets?

Although Seastone was difficult to polish, the current "bullets" weren't that refined. Lead bullets were just spheres, and the polishing difficulty shouldn't be much higher than handcuffs.

This time, Jinbe didn't beat around the bush or change the subject. Instead, he explained the reasons he could think of.

Firstly, Seastone was expensive. Secondly, true Devil Fruit masters would definitely know Haki. Even if they were ability users, the parts covered by Armament Haki could briefly touch Seastone and could completely block it!

Under these circumstances, using Seastone bullets on a large scale was clearly not cost-effective...

If only Sig had read the original story, he would have known that in the original story, in Wano Country, the origin of Seastone, Luffy was attacked by Seastone bullets. The result was that after covering his hand with Armament Haki, he blocked the bullets.

Of course, for ordinary ability users, once cuffed, they would be completely powerless, let alone use Armament Haki.

However, Sig was clearly an exception. Seastone could only restrict the Devil Fruit's power; Sig's own strength was still there. This meant...

As long as Sig covered his wrists with Armament Haki, the Seastone handcuffs would temporarily become ineffective, and Sig could then use his Devil Fruit abilities. After Sig mentioned this guess to Jinbe, Jinbe also leaned towards confirming it.

It was just that Sig couldn't control Armament Haki freely yet, so he had no way to experiment.

As for the issue of losing control, he didn't need to worry about it for now. From what he could see, losing control happened when Sig was unconscious or when his consciousness was pulled into the "prison."

When using Armament Haki, Sig was absolutely awake. Even if he were knocked unconscious, his Haki would be released accordingly, and the Seastone handcuffs would regain their restraint!

"Want to spar? I can also get familiar with operating my Devil Fruit in advance," Sig said, striking a Fish-Man Karate stance.

"Get lost..." The Prison Demon raged impotently.

"Not fighting again? Then what did you call me here for?" Sig asked, confused.

"Hmph, to see you, a defeated dog," the Prison Demon said coldly.

Sig looked at him carefully. Just as he was starting to feel uncomfortable, Sig tentatively said, "Could it be... you can't control when I can 'come in'?"

A well-formed character appeared above the Prison Demon's head, and he said angrily, "I'm just warning you that a powerful individual is approaching this detestable place... Believe it or not, the next time you hear other demons whispering, it will be your death day?"

"I don't believe you. You're not a pure Devil Fruit, but a combination of the Devil Fruit's power and part of my personality. If you die in that way, you'll die too, won't you?" Sig exposed his threat.

Regarding whether he would be in danger the next time he encountered a Devil Fruit, Sig now knew the conclusion.

The Prison Demon could block out the whispers of other demons, preventing Sig from dying from being unable to bear two abilities.

Otherwise, as Sig said, the Prison Demon would also "die."

Moreover, Sig was now clear that just approaching an ability user wouldn't cause him to hear whispers. Only approaching a Devil Fruit or special situations like the ghost ship would have an effect.

Additionally, Sig speculated that as long as he could master enough sea power to suppress multiple Devil Fruit abilities, he could accept more Devil Fruit abilities...

The Prison Demon was completely helpless against Sig and could only drive him out.

Sig took the Prison Demon's warning to heart – a powerful individual was approaching?

Since the Prison Demon could sense them, they should also be a Devil Fruit ability user, right?

At this moment, the Prison Demon was also a part of Sig. He might want Sig to lose control and completely become a "demon," but he didn't want Sig to die.

However, the Prison Demon said they were approaching "this detestable place," not Sig. This indicated that their location should be near Water Seven – the special currents here made the Prison Demon particularly uncomfortable.

Although Sig didn't understand the principle behind it yet, the power of the sea inherently countered Devil Fruits. Moreover, these two "enemies" corresponded to Sig's "Sun" and "The Hanged Man" sequences – in the original Tarot, these two also had a significant mutual restraint... yet also a mysterious divine-like quality. One purifies, the other corrupts, and both have a tendency towards brainwashing.

So Sig wasn't too nervous. Firstly, it wasn't urgent. Secondly, it was normal for Water Seven to have people coming and going, and they might not necessarily be targeting the Sun Pirates.

After Sig lost consciousness again, he slept in a daze until dawn, after which he was woken up by a newspaper being slapped onto his face.

The News Bird showed no intention of apologizing. After circling a few times in the sky, it left. Sig took the newspaper off his face and cursed a few times, but he held back from shooting the bird down.

News Birds all came from the world's largest news agency, the "World Economy News Company," or "WEC" for short. Because its president, Morgans, was an ability user of the "Bird-Bird Fruit, Albatross Model," he could effectively communicate with News Birds, making them the only news agency that could deliver newspapers on the Grand Line, giving them an infinite advantage...

Countless News Birds would roam the Grand Line indiscriminately, heading towards ships they saw to deliver papers. If the newspapers were taken, the ship's crew would have to pay voluntarily – otherwise, if they were blacklisted, News Birds would never deliver papers to them again. Generally, no one would quibble over the 100 Belly fee.

On islands, papers were usually delivered to places that had subscribed, and no extra payment was needed. Tom's Workers must have subscribed to the newspaper, and the News Bird didn't land this time.

"Ah! What were you doing halfway last night? Why are you sleeping here?" Franky, who was probably there to pick up the newspaper, saw Sig.

"Fighting," Sig replied, stating that fighting made him happy.

"Huh?" Franky looked at Sig in surprise, seemingly not realizing he was such a hardworking person.

Seeing Sig looking at the newspaper, Franky asked, "Any big news?"

"One of the Shichibukai has been replaced... The world's greatest swordsman, Mihawk, has accepted the World Government's summons," Sig announced the day's front-page headline.

Finally, there was a second person among the Shichibukai that Sig knew of