Five Pathways

The Freedom Star was a three-masted sailing ship. The first two masts carried square sails, while the mast behind the captain's cabin at the stern carried a triangular sail. It worked together with the wheel to turn the ship.

The wheel was connected to the rudder beneath the ship, changing direction by moving the rudder. However, steering required the helmsman to make almost instinctive judgments about the wind, currents, and the delay between the rudder and the wheel. It wasn't simply a matter of being strong enough to turn the wheel.

Moreover, Raitol wasn't a "helmsman," but a "steerer." He was also responsible for directing the sailors as they hauled the triangular sail's ropes. He didn't merely follow the captain's orders and turn the wheel.

Since it was a merchant ship, it had only two gun ports in the bow, along with four deck guns. There was no dedicated gun deck below.

Compared with the navy's specialized warships—four- or five-masted vessels with armored hulls, two layers of densely packed broadside guns below deck, and large-caliber bow and stern cannons—the Freedom Star naturally couldn't compare at all.

"Leave command of the cannons to me! I like these big boys," said a middle-aged man with a mouthful of rotten teeth and puffy eyes.

"Good! From now on, you're the ship's Gunner Chief." D'Artagnan patted his shoulder with the back of his sword.

He had done the same to Raitol just now. D'Artagnan wondered whether it was some local custom.

"Anyone who knows how to use these big boys, come over! And you little brats who can barely stand, come lend a hand!" the Gunner Chief immediately shouted.

The crew of the Freedom Star was fairly "versatile." After D'Artagnan called out, several sailors who knew how to use cannons immediately took their positions at the gun ports. They swiftly loaded the guns and hung the fire cords over the fuses, waiting only for the order to fire.

Among the ragtag "crew," some lacked sufficient combat ability and couldn't understand sailing commands. They were all classified as "gunners" as well.

Sig felt that he had become more capable in a fight, so he kept hold of his sword and indicated that he wanted to serve as a combatant.

Boom—

Boom—

The navy had already opened fire. Most of the cannonballs fell into the water with little accuracy, but some came toward the deck.

This was when the limitations of "stout ships and powerful guns" became apparent. D'Artagnon's figure flashed, and he had already leaped onto the bow. With wild swings of his sword, sword energy knocked away the cannonballs that were about to land on the deck one after another...

By comparison, the merchant ship's cannons clearly had a shorter range. Even though people were already urging him on, the newly appointed Gunner Chief merely stared expressionlessly at the enemy ship and still gave no order to fire.

Fortunately, in the Great Pirate Era, stout ships and powerful guns were only one part of naval warfare. Boarding was the more important deciding factor!

Sig had by then joined the combatants in tying up barrels...

The merchant ship clearly couldn't find enough "grappling hooks"—combinations of iron hooks and ropes used to latch onto the enemy's deck. Having enough grappling hooks would bring the two ships closer together, and once they were close enough, they could simply put up a gangplank.

The boldest combatants would even wear the grappling-hook ropes and force their way onto the enemy's deck. They were equipment generally used by pirates.

Without grappling hooks, boarding became much more difficult. However, for sailors of the Great Pirate Era, it wasn't as though there were no other methods.

For example, someone had already explained to Sig that without grappling hooks, they could tie heavy objects securely with ropes and, once they drew close, hurl them straight at the enemy's masts!

Fortunately, there were plenty of ropes aboard, probably used earlier to tie up cargo.

As long as the rope wrapped around the mast, it would serve the same purpose as a grappling hook. It simply required much more strength. The barrel Sig was tying contained over a hundred jin of seawater, and he would have to hurl the whole thing over afterward.

"Hey! Kid, don't throw out your back." A big-mouthed man beside him grinned at Sig.

Sig merely slapped his biceps to show that he was fine.

His overall level had risen to Sequence 8. The five "professions" were Reasoning Trainee, Telepathist, People of Fury, Listener, and Light Pray-er.

Among them, Reasoning Trainee was the advancement of Reader, and of the five Sequence 8 abilities, it was the easiest for Sig to understand.

It greatly increased his powers of observation and logical reasoning. The former could be regarded as the embryonic form of Observation Haki.

The requirements of the Acting Method were also simple: investigate more things and do some detective work. That should be enough to improve.

Another one related to Observation Haki was Telepathist—the advancement of Spectator. As the name suggested, its observational ability went deeper than appearances and into the inner self, bringing a new understanding of how to judge expressions, eyes, and countenances. In this world, Sig guessed that it belonged to a special embryonic form of Observation Haki.

Although he had never systematically trained in it, while in Mary Geoise and interacting with other slaves, Sig had also absorbed plenty of knowledge about this world's power system.

After all, among the slaves in Mary Geoise were quite a few who could be called "experts" outside.

Speaking of this world's power system, Haki was impossible to avoid. For ordinary people, the only things they could hope for were Armament Haki and Observation Haki. There was also a third type, Conqueror's Haki, said to require the talent to appear only once among several hundred thousand people...

Of course, considering this world's population and its enormous base, it wasn't strange for there to be a hundred or so people with the talent for Conqueror's Haki.

Armament Haki could be understood simply as attack and defense, while Observation Haki could be understood as insight and perception.

There were also traits that varied from person to person. For example, Sig knew that Roger and Luffy's Observation Haki in the original story allowed them to hear the Voice of All Things. Katakuri's Observation Haki could briefly grant Future Sight. Usopp had displayed an ability resembling extremely long-range vision...

Some of these "traits" were born after training to the utmost extreme, while others seemed to be innate talents that manifested while they were still only embryonic.

Sig had long suspected that his ability was not a true Path of the Divine, but merely a part that could manifest after adapting to this world.

In other words, because of the Telepathist sequence of the Path of the Divine, his embryonic Observation Haki had a tendency toward observing people's minds.

When carrying out the Acting Method, he should focus on "observing other people's mental activity."

The Sequence 8 abilities of these two Paths of the Divine did not noticeably increase his combat power. By comparison, People of Fury, the advancement of Sailor, was far more violent in effect—the increase in strength and speed brought by improved physical fitness, as well as greater capability in naval combat...

And just as its name suggested, his physical attributes would increase even more drastically while he was enraged!

Sig was somewhat bewildered about how to act it—perhaps... he had to pretend to be short-tempered? But did that mean pretending to be angry, or actually getting angry often?

As for the remaining two, Listener and Light Pray-er, Sig had no clue for the time being.

In Lord of the Mysteries, Listener was considered "certainly a madman or a hidden madman," because they could hear the whispers of secret entities and obtain powerful but distorted knowledge. This made it difficult for them to maintain their rationality. Moreover, it was passive and couldn't be avoided on their own...

However, in this world, Sig guessed that perhaps because no other High Sequence beings existed, he was completely confused about the Listener pathway. He couldn't hear any whispers. The advantage was safety, but the drawback was that Sig didn't know how he was supposed to "act."

Could listening to ordinary people unburden themselves count as being a Listener?

Judging from the name, it seemed possible, but Sig always felt that it couldn't be that simple.

However, seeing that its lower Sequence 9, Secrets Suppliant, could improve through praying to Devil Fruits, perhaps Listener should also explore in that direction.

Light Pray-er also left Sig utterly confused. Its Sequence 9 was Bard, and it had indeed given Sig's singing a certain inspirational power beyond simply being beautiful and pleasant to hear.

Actually, Sig's progress when acting as Bard before had been extremely slow. He could roughly guess the reason—the essence of Bard was not "singing," but "Praising the Sun."

He had merely sung as a singer for those stupid pigs, which did not really fit its core. That was why his progress had been so slow. It had taken him two years to succeed.

Sig had also tried praising the sun in private, but it had done nothing. It made sense when he thought about it. After all, the "sun" in Lord of the Mysteries was a Sequence 0 existence, not merely a star. The sun in this world clearly did not possess such symbolism or authority.

Thus, Sig was equally confused about acting and developing abilities along this pathway.

There was no time to think further. Just as Sig finished tying up the barrel, the hull suddenly rocked violently. Clearly, the lower hold had been hit!

The navy on the warship's deck was now clearly visible, each face brimming with anticipation of earning merit!

The Gunner Chief then gave the order: "Fire!"