Set Sail

"No! Wait... This is my ship... If the Celestial Dragons find out you used it to escape, they'll kill me!" A man dressed like a wealthy merchant tried to stop Sig from boarding.

The Fish-Men who had pushed the ships over from the harbor to the sheltered waters weren't particularly strong to begin with. The stronger ones were busy holding the berths at the harbor. An ordinary Fish-Man was only a few times stronger than an ordinary human, and could breathe underwater and exert himself more effectively in the water.

So they only pushed the ships over; they didn't "clear" the crews off the decks.

The merchant had only come to Mary Geoise to do business or present tribute. He wasn't necessarily a slave trader. Having his ship stolen by slaves could well make the Celestial Dragons take their anger out on him. He really was somewhat innocent...

Sig raised the gun he'd just picked up from the corpse of a caravan guard. "Jump."

Too bad Sig wasn't a Judge. He was just a slave who'd escaped moments ago.

"No, you can't..." Bang—"Ah!"

The gunshot sent a bullet flying past him, but it still made him scream in terror.

Sig tossed the gun aside in disgust. As expected, ordinary guns in the hands of ordinary people had terrible aim. To snipe, you needed Observation Haki—or at least the beginnings of Haki—and had to sense and account for everything, from the vibrations of the bullet passing through the gun to air resistance.

Although he hadn't taken careful aim, Sig hadn't deliberately fired wide, either...

When the merchant saw Sig coming at him with a sword, he hurriedly jumped overboard. The other guards and sailors on deck had more or less been cleared out, too.

The merchants and bodyguards who'd wanted to protect their ship had either fled or been thrown overboard. If they ran into someone with a shorter temper, well, they'd just have to chalk it up to bad luck.

Expecting slaves who'd only just caught sight of freedom to feel any sympathy for the merchants and guards who'd come to Mary Geoise was pure fantasy.

Some of the slaves had once been pirates, and some hadn't, but now they certainly weren't a force for justice. The only creed they held to was, "Anyone who wants to make my life miserable can die miserably."

"Men of the sea! I, Bartz Dadanion, the West Sea Swordsman, will be the captain of this ship from now on... the Freedom Sword!" D'Artagnan, the blond swordsman, declared, raising his sword beside the helm.

No one fought him for the position. They'd already agreed on who their "boss" would be before boarding.

At the same time, an artist had already painted a black skull on the caravan's old flag. Seeing the captain raise his sword, he added a crimson blade running vertically up through the skull from below!

"D'Artagnan! Sword of Freedom!"

"D'Artagnan! Sword of Freedom!"

"D'Artagnan! Sword of Freedom!"

Amid the slaves'... no, the pirates' cheers, the skull flag was hoisted.

This was the first time Sig had been aboard a ship since crossing over.

In Sig's eyes, the body he had now was simply a younger version of himself. But judging by the way everyone called him "Siegfried," this body had previously lived a normal life in the world of pirates. Maybe it was... an alternate-world version of himself?

One thing was certain: "Siegfried" hadn't been a sailor before.

Yet with the Sailor Sequence's boost, Sig found the swaying deck more comfortable than solid ground. He could stand firmly, wasn't seasick in the slightest, and even found it more comfortable to walk with the motion of the waves.

And...

As Sig cheered with the other slaves beneath the skull flag, a force burst forth from within him.

No one else noticed, but Sig could clearly feel his body... growing stronger!

It wasn't just his body, either. Sig felt that his thoughts and comprehension had become clearer. A glance around brought all sorts of details he would usually overlook flooding into his mind, where they were analyzed one by one.

"What is this..." Sig stared at his hands in disbelief.

Had his Sequence advanced?

So... he had to "act" out all five Sequences to a certain degree before they could all advance together?

But Sig was still confused. He'd only just started acting as a Sailor...

No! He'd only just boarded the ship. He hadn't even pulled on a rope yet.

And he'd already completed the acting?

"Hahaha, what are you standing around for, kid? We're free now!" A bearded man had somehow found the ship's rum. He drank deeply and clapped Sig on the shoulder as he stood there, stunned.

"F-free?" Sig echoed, taken aback.

Then it dawned on him. Perhaps acting as a Sailor didn't mean being a "crewman," but symbolized freedom instead?

Just as Luffy had said, "The freest person is the Pirate King."

Well, Sig had only shed his status as a slave and become... a fugitive? He certainly wasn't the freest person. But maybe this change in status was enough for him to complete the Sailor's acting?

Sig laughed, too...

But just then, a Fish-Man in the shallows shouted, "Ships! Warships... The Navy fleet is here!"

At the horizon where sea met sky, a fleet of warships flying Seagull Flags was closing in on the harbor.

"It's the Navy!"

"Damn it! How did they get here so fast?"

"It's over, it's over! They're going to take us back..."

"Back? I'd rather die!"

"I, I used to be a Pirate Hunter. I... I'm not a pirate. I've never broken the law!"

"Hahaha, even if you used to be an emperor, you're one of the Celestial Dragons' escaped slaves now, just like us."

"My bounty's actually eight million berries. Since we fought side by side just now, you can try taking my head. But... do you really think the Navy will let you go? Don't be stupid!"

The last group of slaves to board from the shore had been mostly stopped here. Panic spread all around, from ship to ship...

D'Artagnan struck his sword against its scabbard, then called out, "Brothers! Take up your weapons and fight! Maybe you'll only be sailors for an hour, but... I'd say that's better than spending half our lives as slaves!"

The bearded man had now made his way to the helm. After taking a few more swigs of rum, he tossed aside the bottle and said, "Captain, I used to be a helmsman. Raitol's the name."

Raitol had clearly realized that the captain might be brave, but he didn't know how to sail.

"Excellent! From now on, you're the helmsman of the Freedom Star! With the most experienced helmsman on our side, we've already won half the battle!" D'Artagnan said, doing his best to raise their spirits.

"Hahaha, then I'll take charge of sailing the ship! Raise the sails! Don't look so glum when we put out to sea, lads! The wind's coming from the northwest. It's in our favor, and the sea is on our side!"

"Yeah!" "Let's get 'em!" "I've killed more Navy men than I can count!"

The crew's spirits rallied somewhat. After all, they were fighting with their backs to the wall. There was nowhere left to run.

The dozen or so ships around the harbor were probably in much the same situation.

One after another, the merchant ships hoisted skull flags in full view of the Navy, whose numbers were several times their own. Many of the flags had been drawn so crookedly that they were hard to make out. Then the ships raised their sails against the wind...