Giving Up

"Huh?" Dalton looked at the Fish-Man ability user in front of him with a puzzled expression, and then put the bars back.

He should have had the upper hand...

Is it because he lacks the stamina to continue activating the Devil Fruit?

Or are you worried that if you delay any longer, you'll be surrounded and attacked?

Dalton's instinctive feeling was probably not for that reason.

"Dalton?" Sig looked at the bison-man in front of him and asked in a cold voice.

Dalton remained silent, simply maintaining his position of blocking Wapol.

"Remember, you saved Wapol this time. From now on, you will bear responsibility for all the consequences that this country will face because of him," Sig said solemnly.

Dalton was taken aback by Sig's words and did not immediately grasp Sig's intention.

Sig had already turned and left.

The icy and snowy environment is not suitable for the Fish-Man Karate to perform, and even causes Sig to lose stamina faster - its impact is second only to the desert climate.

His injuries had not yet fully healed, which limited Sig's strength, especially his stamina.

Of course, even so, if Sig persists, he still has a 50-60% chance of killing Wapol. Even if he fails, Sig will still have a good chance of escaping unscathed.

Sig was willing to take the risk, but once he realized the timing wasn't right, Sig decisively gave up.

Before leaving, Sig left a strong hint in Dalton's mind—that if the country continued to fall into darkness under Wapol's tyranny, Dalton would feel even more self-reproach and a sense of responsibility.

As agreed with Kuroobi, Sig arrived at the eastern coast. A decent ocean-going vessel was already anchored in the shallow water, and Sig swam directly over.

Seeing Sig's expression, Kuroobi, oblivious to the danger, asked, "Did you fail?"

Sig rolled his eyes at him but didn't say anything.

"That was indeed too hasty. You weren't prepared, were you?" Kuroobi continued, showing no tact whatsoever.

"No, it's that this country isn't ready yet," Sig said, using words that Kuroobi didn't understand.

Confused, Kuroobi finally dropped the subject and said, "There were even bigger warships, but we can't operate them."

Apart from Sig and Kuroobi, the rest of the crew consists of women and children. Although ordinary Fish-Man are stronger and more physically capable than humans and are adapted to life at sea, they lack the skills to coordinate and operate a warship.

"This one will do, so as not to attract too much attention." Sig didn't intend to steal a warship.

"Where do we go next?"

Although Sig was in charge and Kuroobi just following along, he still asked one more question.

"I found the Eternal Pose for Koen Island at the Royal Palace. It should be the closest island to here. Although it's not as famous as Drum Island or Water Seven, it's a rare stable place on the Grand Line. The Navy's G15 branch is nearby, so pirates tend to keep a low profile there..."

Sig plans to send the Mermaid to Koen Island first.

After a pause, Sig added, "Once we get there, the responsibility of making transit connections will be yours! I'll just go out to sea and take a look around."

Although Sig looked serious, Kuroobi was clearly not so easy to deal with. A twitch at the corner of his mouth, he said, "So you want me to stay and protect our people while you go find Brother Long and the others yourself?"

"Arlong is a grown man, he's not going to get lost, why would I look for him? I just wanted to ask around for some information," Sig explained forcefully.

Indeed, Sig didn't intend to go find Arlong, nor did he have a pointer to Water Seven or Lanster Island; he only had Fisher Tiger's Vivre Card!

Arlong didn't tell anyone else about the Vivre Card, Kuroobi naturally didn't know either.

Just three days later, the ship arrived at Koen Island.

Sig spent half a day browsing the black market, deeply regretting his lack of ability to find "Error" Pathway —otherwise he could ignore the prices and "buy" directly.

Although he saw the compass needle Water Seven, Sig only used some of the medicine from his ship to buy a small boat on the black market because he was broke and didn't want to cause trouble.

The next day, Sig left Koen Island alone.

Because Sig alone couldn't pilot the large ship, he was only able to maneuver a small sampan with sails...

For ordinary people to sail on the open ocean in such a small boat, especially in the Grand Line, would undoubtedly be suicidal.

People who do this are usually extremely confident in their own abilities, and often also possess the ability to assist in navigating the seas. For example, Aokiji can freeze the sea surface, Ace in the future can pilot a flame-powered seaplane, and Hawk Eyes can use his Black Blade to paddle through the water...

Furthermore... it's the Fish-Man Race who dare to do this.

With the resolve that "if all else fails, I'll just swim," Sig sailed away alone.

The destination is exactly where Fisher Tiger's Vivre Card points—if nothing unexpected happens, it should be on Axe Island!

That's right. Previously, Fisher Tiger had nominally announced that he would go to "Mobech Island" and proceed step by step to Axe Island. Even Sig initially thought that this was the only way.

However, Fisher Tiger told Sig that the Sun Pirates actually had the Eternal Pose for Axe Island when they left the Ryugu Kingdom!

Although the Giant Axe Pirates forbade the Eternal Pose from Axe Island from leaving the island, the Log Pose of the Ryugu Kingdom were all stockpiled from countless years ago, and coincidentally, Axe Island one of them, before the Giant Axe Pirates occupied it.

After Fisher Tiger revealed this, Sig strongly advised Fisher Tiger to temporarily suppress the news—if Makoro was the traitor, then he would spread false information that the Sun Pirates were going to Mobech Island, which would also have the effect of diverting attention from the enemy.

Because if the opposite were true—that the Giant Axe Pirates didn't receive news of Fisher Tiger's journey to Mobech Island —it would prove that none of his crewmates were spies. Therefore, Fisher Tiger accepted Sig's suggestion.

Sig has been paying close attention to the newspapers lately because he anticipates that if Fisher Tiger's surprise attack succeeds, it will cause quite a stir!

As the mastermind behind numerous slave-catching teams and slave traders, the Giant Axe Pirates' headquarters probably had just as many slaves as Mary Geoise.

If a slave revolt were to be staged there again, it would definitely be Big News Morgans.

As Shichibukai, the only Affiliated Nation of the World Government. However, in reality, the Giant Axe Pirates have done far more than that.

However, Sig hasn't seen any related news in the newspapers recently, which has been keeping Sig on tenterhooks...

Five days after leaving Cohen, a News Bird spotted the small, dilapidated boat on the sea and landed on its tattered mast, which was barely taller than a person.

Sig took the newspapers from the last few days and then stuffed a handful of coins into its mouth...

Finally, on August 15th, Sig saw the news he wanted to see in the newspaper!