I the King of bandits of the East Sea

In the already broken wooden house, Garp gazed at the sky through the hole he had punched, his interest waning in an instant.

What could he do with the man before him?

Teach him a lesson?

If he scared him any more, the man would probably clutch his chest and lie on the ground, accusing this sixty-year-old man of bullying him.

The once overwhelming fighting spirit had entirely dissipated.

But at the same time, Garp still felt something was off.

"This doesn't add up… How do you know the names of great pirates like 'The Lonely Red,' 'The Evil King,' and 'The Giant Battleship'?"

"Are you trying to fool me?! These great pirates are currently locked up in the deepest levels of Impel Down. Just their names alone are classified secrets!"

"How do you know about these things?"

"And also… about Roger and Shanks. These aren't things a bandit from the East Blue should know about!"

Garp questioned him sternly.

He recalled everything he had asked little Luffy along the way.

Young Luffy seemed bent on making Garp and others believe in Sig's supposed strength. Without much prompting, he had eagerly spilled all the boasts Sig had made in the tavern.

Hearing this, beads of sweat began forming on Sig's forehead.

Back then, when Sig used the Emperor's Engine effect, he could barely fool Shanks and the others, who were straddling the line between the old and new eras.

But the Garp standing before him now was someone who had personally witnessed many of these major events. The boasts Sig had made in the tavern were riddled with holes in his eyes!

Fortunately, Sig had already done his best to portray himself as weak and timid earlier. Sweating didn't necessarily mean guilt—it could simply be fear.

"I shouldn't have taken that drink back then. If only I had even a single grain of rice to eat, I wouldn't have exaggerated so much…"

Sig tried to maintain a calm expression on the surface, but inside, he was deeply remorseful.

One lie required countless others to cover it up.

Now, Sig was riding a tiger he couldn't dismount. He had no other options.

After all, he was a top bounty target. If he couldn't patch up his lies, he wouldn't even need a formal hunt to end up beaten to a pulp in no time.

Sighing softly, Sig sat on the chair, looked directly at Garp, and explained in a low voice:

"I heard these things from Roger himself."

"Hm?"

Garp's eyes widened slightly. He hadn't expected the timid Sig from just moments ago to admit to having a connection with Roger.

"So, you really are an old friend of Roger's!"

"To be precise, I was Roger's… drinking buddy."

Sig corrected him.

He let out a soft sigh, raised his head to gaze at the sky, and began to showcase his acting skills, his eyes reflecting a trace of nostalgia.

"I grew up in Loguetown and already knew Roger. I drank with him many times in the taverns…"

"Over a decade ago, after his second voyage on the Grand Line, Roger had already become the Pirate King. He secretly returned to Loguetown."

"At that time, it seemed like he knew his death was near. He talked endlessly, telling me all sorts of things..."

Sig shared a great deal, even mentioning many things about Roger's pirate crew and the events of the old era.

The apprentice crew members, Shanks and Buggy, the Pirate King's right-hand men, as well as Kozuki Oden, Nekomamushi, and Inuarashi…

…

The narrative Sig spun was not hastily crafted.

He wasn't the kind of person to sit and wait for doom. From the first day he woke up in this world after transmigrating, he had been thinking about how to cover up his boasts.

The best way, of course, was to silence all the witnesses by smashing their heads with bottles and even taking down the remaining Four Emperors. If he could completely erase all the old era's powerhouses, no one could expose his lies.

Perfect plan!

But… Garp arrived too quickly.

Now, Sig had no choice but to drink poison to quench his thirst.

"Is that so…"

Garp scratched his head.

But gradually, as Sig recounted many things, Garp was drawn into his memories.

Much of what Sig mentioned about past events was indeed true, though he lacked specific details.

But considering that Sig himself wasn't a direct participant and only learned these things from Roger over drinks… it seemed plausible enough.

Unknowingly, Garp had already pulled up a chair to sit beside Sig, listening to him chat about the past.

At this point, Sig's acting instincts were kicking in, and he started to get into the flow.

"In fact, Roger's first crewmate wasn't the Dark King, Rayleigh—it was me, Sig!"

"Is that true?" Garp was surprised.

Sig gave a faint smile.

"Before Roger embarked on his first voyage, he asked me if I wanted to join him in turning the world upside down…"

"But I refused!"

At this point, Sig placed a hand over his heart, a hint of melancholy and loneliness flashing in his eyes.

"Because I was too weak. My heart had been frail since childhood. If I joined Roger's crew, I would've only been a burden."

"That's not the right way to think…"

Garp tried to persuade him, saying, "You're still young. As long as you train hard and grow stronger, you can definitely set out to become a pir—cough, cough."

Halfway through his words, Garp suddenly realized what he was saying and stopped abruptly.

What was he doing?

As a Vice Admiral of the Marines, was he actually encouraging the man before him to become a pirate?

How had he unknowingly been drawn into this conversation?

Clearing his throat, Garp decided to stop letting Sig steer the narrative. Instead, he began questioning him directly:

"You've said so much. What about those 56 Emperors of the Sea you claimed to have defeated personally?"

"If memory serves, several of those infamous pirates were taken down by me personally!"

"And… why has Luffy been going on lately about how if he can't be the Pirate King, he'll become the Bandit King instead…?"

As Garp fired off questions one after another, his aura once again turned dangerous.

Hearing these questions, Sig's expression turned a little awkward.

"At the time, I happened to run into Roger's former crewmate, Shanks, and got carried away drinking."

"Those dozens of pirate names? I just mentioned them because I'd heard them from Roger."

Sig explained.

"I admit, I also have a bit of vanity… so I pretended to be some legendary senior figure in front of Shanks."

Garp was momentarily speechless.

Sig's explanation did make sense. At most, he was just a braggart drunk.

As Garp's dangerous aura subsided slightly, Sig resumed rambling about his imagined glorious past, trying to shift the topic.

"When Roger returned from his second voyage, we got absolutely hammered in a tavern…"

"He even talked to me about you, Vice Admiral Garp."

Sig's eyes glimmered with a smile as he looked at Garp.

"What did Roger say about me?" Garp asked warily, trying to keep his mind sharp.

"He mentioned the battle at God Valley."

Sig said softly:

"He told me how you and he once stood together at God Valley to end the era of Rocks!"

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