Under the watchful eyes of the crowd, Buggy was repeatedly sliced apart by Sig.
He tried to fight back, he tried to dodge, but it was all useless. Under the relentless onslaught of Sig's sword, every time Buggy tried to reassemble his body, he was immediately cut apart again.
Finally...
"Stop!"
This time, Buggy only reassembled his head and mouth, making a stopping gesture while shouting.
Sig's sword finally came to a halt, and he looked somewhat unsatisfied as he pointed his sword at the floating Buggy.
"Stopping so soon? Didn't you say my slashes were useless against you?"
Sig's expression clearly showed that he was far from done, as if he couldn't stop himself.
Damn it, it's rare to have a training partner who can't be killed no matter how much you cut them. Sig could barely hold himself back.
After obtaining the "Li Jing Card," Sig had gained incredibly powerful swordsmanship, but he usually couldn't use it freely.
For so long, only the Lord of the Coast back then and now Buggy had allowed Sig to unleash his true swordsmanship without restraint.
Sig treated the "Li Jing Card" as his trump card. The more it was exposed, the more likely it was that enemies would find a weakness. Sig didn't dare use it often.
If things really went south, he still had Stussy on his ship, a ticking time bomb who seemed to have submitted but could turn at any moment.
"Since slashes are useless against you, why not let me cut you for another ten minutes—no, another half hour."
Sig said in a low voice, the corners of his mouth gradually curling up as he looked at the floating Buggy. There was even a hint of fanaticism in his eyes, like a man who had been single for thirty years suddenly encountering a particularly attractive sow.
The subtle expression in Sig's eyes wasn't clear to others, but Buggy, who was right in front of him, saw it perfectly and immediately felt a chill run down his spine.
"He's addicted to cutting me..."
Buggy felt a shiver run through him and couldn't help but sniff his big red nose.
He truly wasn't afraid of any slashing attacks, but the experience just now wasn't exactly comfortable. Every time he tried to fight back, escape, or even speak, he was immediately interrupted, unable to do anything.
It was as if he was completely at Sig's mercy, being toyed with and reshaped at will, with no chance to fight back.
As for Sig's swordsmanship... Buggy, being a former crew member of the Pirate King, could catch a glimpse of its true power after experiencing it firsthand.
"Sig, being able to fight evenly with me, the great pirate Buggy, is enough to prove your strength."
Buggy reassembled his body again, his upper half floating in the air as he crossed his arms and said:
"Your swordsmanship may not be able to harm me in the slightest, but it does have potential against the giant Sea Kings of the Calm Belt."
"So, you've proven your strength. Let's end this evenly matched duel here."
Buggy firmly declared the outcome of the duel as a draw.
In a sense, the two of them really hadn't determined a winner, and neither had been injured.
"Oh?" Sig raised an eyebrow.
"Could Buggy actually be considering teaming up with me to cross the Calm Belt?"
Crossing the Calm Belt? He had just thrown that out casually. Was he really going to pin his hopes on Buggy's elusive "Conqueror's Luck"?
Something so dangerous? Sig would never do it.
It was just a pretext he had made up on the spot to get close to Buggy.
While his mind was racing with thoughts, Sig maintained a calm exterior:
"I've slain Sea Kings as large as islands before. The Calm Belt holds no pressure for me..."
"So, Buggy, have you made up your mind to team up with me?"
Sig asked.
"Team up..."
Buggy didn't answer immediately. Instead, he continued to float in the air, thinking it over. But then he suddenly remembered something, his gaze falling on his empty wrist. His expression changed:
"Wait, my hand fell into the sea!"
"Is this how you invite someone to team up with you?"
Buggy shouted angrily.
However, this time, despite his anger, he carefully restrained himself from grabbing Sig's collar again.
"Small matter."
Sig walked to the ship's railing and looked down... Of course, there was nothing on the surface of the sea.
He then looked toward his own ship, his eyes landing on the prominent fish-man among the mountain bandits.
"Arlong, it's up to you," Sig called out from a distance.
"Me?" Arlong was stunned, pointing at himself in disbelief, then snorted:
"You're actually asking me to retrieve a hand that fell into the sea?"
Sig silently stared at him for a few moments until Arlong began to sweat, then finally spoke:
"This is something only you, as a fish-man, can do. For an ordinary human, retrieving Buggy's hand from the sea would be too difficult."
"Y-You're right."
Arlong avoided Sig's gaze and leaped into the sea.
Within a few minutes, his figure reappeared on the surface of the water, and he threw Buggy's hand back onto the ship.
Sig didn't try to stop Buggy's hand from returning.
After that brief duel, Buggy might have claimed it was a draw, but in reality, he had been completely helpless. The entire Buggy Pirates likely wouldn't dare to oppose him now.
"Now that your hand is back, let's continue discussing how we'll team up..."
Sig had just finished speaking when a panicked pirate ran up to them.
"Captain Buggy, it's bad! The Navy ships are catching up!"
As soon as the words were spoken, a whistling sound rapidly approached from the distance. A cannonball landed right beside the pirate ship, and the ensuing explosion caused the sea to churn violently.
Sig turned to look and saw several Navy warships appearing in the distance.
His face darkened, and he immediately leaped back onto his own ship, taking a telescope from one of his crew members to look at the ships behind them.
Then his expression turned even grimmer.
Through the telescope, he saw someone he really didn't want to meet on one of the Navy warships.
It was a man with a fierce appearance, wearing an old-fashioned helmet and having thick black hair. He was draped in a Justice Cloak, staring coldly in Sig's direction from a distance.
As if sensing Sig's gaze through the telescope, the man's icy eyes met Sig's across the vast distance.
Then, the man's long hair seemed to come to life, moving without wind, splitting into six thick strands that each gripped a sword, hovering behind his head.
"Vice Admiral Onigumo from Navy Headquarters? We've run into the main force of the Navy fleet, an elite from Headquarters."
Sig's face grew even darker, and a voice in his mind roared:
"What happened to the Conqueror's Luck?"
"Was it because I delayed with Buggy that the Navy caught up?"
Sig stood still for a moment, lost in thought, when he suddenly heard another noise.
He turned to see that the Buggy Pirates' ship, which had been sailing alongside his, had now turned its course and was fleeing in the opposite direction.