I the King of bandits of the East Sea

"When it comes to kingship, what kind of king do you aspire to be?"

When asking this question, Sig felt a hint of nervousness deep down.

If Luffy truly strayed down the path of becoming a Bandit King, leaving aside whether he himself would be pummeled to bits by the biscuit-loving old man, even One Piece might need a name change.

"Of course, the Pirate King! Only the Pirate King is truly free," Luffy replied confidently, easing Sig's worry for a moment.

"But, Uncle Sig, being the Mountain Bandit King also seems interesting. How about I first become the Mountain Bandit King, then the Pirate King?"

"The Mountain-Pirate King, that's my dream!" Little Luffy clenched his fist and shouted with great determination.

Sig took a deep breath and rubbed his temples.

The scenario he dreaded the most had come to pass.

"Luffy, don't you remember what I told you before in the tavern?"

Sig's expression grew stern as he attempted to correct Luffy's thoughts.

"A dream is not something to be joked about," he said seriously. "A true man who pursues freedom should set sail on the great seas…"

Repeating the rhetoric he had used when first meeting Luffy, Shanks, and the others, Sig hoped it would work this time.

After finishing, he instinctively patted the straw hat on Luffy's head.

Both of them couldn't help but recall the earlier moment when Mountain Bandit King Sig placed the old friend Roger's straw hat on Luffy's head.

"This visual again? Stop it!"

Sig shook his head to dispel the image from his mind.

"But Uncle Sig, wasn't your dream to become the Mountain Bandit King, usher in a Great Mountain Bandit Era, and reach Mary Geoise?" Luffy asked curiously.

"That's my dream. It has nothing to do with you. Just focus on becoming a Pirate King… No, wait, that's not my dream either!"

Sig felt his head spinning. It was only through his instinctive acting prowess that he managed to maintain a strong and stoic demeanor, adjusting his tone to the gravitas of a "King," as he tried to persuade Luffy.

"A man's dream shouldn't be so easily swayed. Just because you've had a little exposure to bandits, you suddenly want to become a Mountain-Pirate King? That's utterly ridiculous."

"Don't forget the promise you made with Shanks."

Switching tones and invoking Shanks once again, Sig finally managed to steer Luffy's aspirations back on track.

"I understand now. I'll still become a Pirate King… But Uncle Sig, you're so strong! Let me train under you! I want to become the Pirate King!"

Hearing Luffy's words, Sig felt a mix of relief and guilt.

Suddenly, he remembered Garp's parting warning:

Regardless of whether Luffy wanted to become the Pirate King, the Mountain Bandit King, the Mountain-Pirate King, the King of Billy, the King of Demonic Times, the King of Harems, or even the King of the Next-Door Neighbor—Garp would view all of them as straying from the righteous path. Without a doubt, Garp would come and personally pound him into the ground.

"Well, Luffy, how about you change your dream? You know, becoming the Navy King isn't such a bad idea either," Sig said as he patted the straw hat on Luffy's head.

"???? Uncle Sig, weren't you just saying that a man's dream shouldn't be so easily swayed?"

"You're still young, and your understanding of dreams is shallow. You're more likely to go astray. So think about it carefully—becoming the Navy King might actually suit you better."

"....."

...

Sig wasn't arrogant enough to think he could play the life coach and change someone else's life trajectory with just a few words.

Luffy's talk about becoming some sort of Mountain-Pirate King was likely just a fleeting fancy.

After all, even Luffy's own grandfather, Garp, couldn't make him pursue a future as the "Navy King." How could Sig expect to deter Luffy from something as outlandish as becoming the Mountain Bandit King or the Navy King?

"Could Garp be planning to pin the blame for Luffy and Ace becoming pirates squarely on me?"

The thought left Sig feeling disgruntled.

"I knew I shouldn't have taken that sip of wine. If only I had a single head of cephalosporin, I wouldn't have blurted out that I was here to secretly look after Ace. That way, Garp wouldn't have forced Luffy onto me…"

"Even though I hadn't actually drunk any wine that day," he added in frustration.

With that, Sig opened his system panel.

Recently, he had been observing the data carefully to figure out how the compatibility score worked.

One glance at the numbers on the panel left him stunned.

The original 61% compatibility had risen slightly to 62%.

"Today, I didn't really do anything… If I must say something…"

Sig squinted his eyes and glanced at Luffy, a thought forming in his mind.

"Luffy, I've heard that you don't get along well with Ace and the Dadan family?"

Sig leaned in closer and asked in a low voice.

This question immediately opened the floodgates for Luffy, who began to pour out his grievances:

"The first time I met Ace, he spat right in my face! It was so disgusting! And when I asked him to apologize, he just ignored me…"

Sig nodded and patted the straw hat on Luffy's head, continuing to speak in his deep voice:

"Do you remember that scene back at the bar in Foosha Village?"

"I personally smashed a bottle over Shanks' head, and one of my men…"

Sig glanced over at the group of mountain bandits in the distance, singling out a conspicuously bald one:

"…he poured an entire bottle of alcohol all over Shanks."

"Do you think this was because Shanks and his crew were cowards, too scared to fight back?"

Seeing that Luffy was momentarily silent, Sig's lips curled slightly. He reached out a finger and touched the faint scar under Luffy's eye.

"Shanks told me this scar was something you carved yourself with a knife, trying to prove your bravery so you could convince him to let you join his crew?"

Sig chuckled lightly, but his expression soon turned serious.

"Being aggressive and hot-headed is only the hallmark of small-time pirates."

"Men like Shanks have the magnanimity and composure of a true great pirate."

"I poured alcohol on him, smashed a bottle over his head, and exchanged fists with him? That guy Shanks wouldn't get angry over such petty things."

"But… imagine this: if I had drawn my blade and hurt one of Shanks' crewmates back then, do you think he would have remained indifferent?"

Behind Sig's smile was a tinge of guilt—only he knew how dangerous things had truly been back then.

"The composure… of a great pirate…"

Little Luffy murmured those words to himself, seeming to understand yet not fully grasp their meaning.

Sig didn't say anything more. He stood up, patted the dust off his clothes, and walked away.

However, he suddenly realized that at some point, his group of bandits had gathered around them again, watching him with sparkling eyes.

"So that's how it was! No wonder, back in the bar, the Red-Haired Shanks, a man as esteemed as an Emperor of the Sea, didn't fight back against our boss."

"This was the unspoken understanding between the great pirate Shanks and the Mountain Bandit King Sig!"

"I can't believe it took me until now to finally understand Boss Sig's deep intentions back then…"

Sig ignored his subordinates, who clearly didn't know when to quit. He focused his thoughts and opened the virtual panel, his lips curling into a small smile.

After his little performance just now, the compatibility rate had risen from the original 62% to 62.2%, perfectly aligning with his theory.