I am the Bandit King of the East Sea.

Lightning tore through the heavy clouds, illuminating the dark sky and bringing the giant ship Dushan, anchored on the shore, into Tianyue's view.

Ghost Island was Sig's residence for the past year, and the giant ship Dushan was also moored here, only one size smaller than Ghost Island.

As Amagi lowered his eyelids, he walked step by step toward the center of Ghost Island, toward the enormous, long-horned skull mountain.

Bang! Bang! Bang bang bang bang bang!

The sound was as dense as drumbeats and as loud as thunder. This deep sound could not be drowned out by the thunder. It came from inside that ridiculously large Skull Mountain. The air seemed to freeze, the walls trembled slightly, and dust fell in a flurry.

Looking out, the enormous skull that looms over Tianyue seems like a living, towering creature, and the drum-like sound is the heartbeat of this mountain-like giant.

Tianyue continued walking inside.

The sound, which resembled war drums and thunder, suddenly faded away.

Deep within Skull Mountain, a towering man, three or four meters tall, hovered in mid-air, the deafening roar of an engine emanating from his chest.

Suddenly, he opened his eyes.

Between the opening and closing of his eyes, it was as if a white storm erupted in his pupils, and an invisible psychic force spread out in a circle of ripples, stirring up a circle of dust, while the deep heartbeat finally disappeared.

Sig's body landed back on the ground, and with a series of soft cracking sounds, his three- or four-meter-tall body rapidly shrank to the height of a normal person.

"Why are you here?" Sig glanced at Tengetsu and asked casually.

"I just came to check in, you go about your business," Tianyue Shi said with a smile.

"Okay, I'll get back to work then."

Sieg turned and walked into the depths of Skull Mountain, leaving Tengetsu standing there with a slightly stiff smile on his face.

She stood there stunned for a while before letting out a soft sigh and following after them.

Higuma has been living a peaceful life in Wano Country for a year.

Actually, it wasn't exactly peaceful.

The shadow of Uranus, the King of Heaven, lingers. Even after hiding in Wano Country, there is still some worry and anxiety, and one is never truly at ease.

It can only be said that this year was not as peaceful or pleasant as Sieg had imagined.

He twisted his neck, and his heart suddenly accelerated, the heartbeat becoming loud for a moment, but quickly returned to calm after a few seconds.

Sig spent a year training and systematically performing life restoration, continuously transforming his body. Now, his body has recovered to the level of the original General Higuma, and he has even surpassed him in the skill of life restoration.

Now, he can easily control his heart rate and unleash the potential power of the Emperor Engine without self-hypnosis.

In addition, more than half of the 10 billion dose of psychic potion has been used, and the intensity of the psychic power is approaching that of Sigma.

Compared to his previous shadow clone, Higuma, he has now made further progress in life restoration, and also possesses Armament Haki, a battle suit, and gloves...

"I, Sig, have reached the level of a general."

Sieg felt a pang of emotion, and at the same time, he recalled once again that beam of light that had descended from the sky, his heart pounding.

"Let's play it safe for another two years, it's better to be cautious."

If you want to continue building up your defense, you can only focus on Armament Haki and Life Return.

The training of Armament Haki is a slow and steady process. It is born from a strong mind and gradually strengthens through daily practice. There are no shortcuts, and there is no use in rushing it.

Therefore, the focus is on further exploration of life restoration... that is, further modification of the body.

Unfortunately, we have now reached a dead end on the road to self-improvement and hit a bottleneck.

Upon closer examination, modifying the body can indeed be considered a cutting-edge technology.

"If Vegapunk could help, maybe we'd have a solution..."

Sig was lost in thought when he arrived at the training ground on the island.

"call...."

Luo lay naked on the ground, drenched in sweat and panting heavily. With the dark circles under his eyes, he looked half-dead.

"Doctor, you can't rest yet." The blue and white cat lay down next to Luo and quickly smeared his face with its paws, urging him to get up and continue training.

The Op-Op Fruit has a very strong ability, but Law's weakness is his stamina. He often exhausts his stamina due to overuse of his ability. Therefore, one of the training focuses set by Sigurd is to strengthen his physical fitness.

Sig wasn't looking for Law; he was looking for the cat.

The cat that Vegapunk used to own.

Although it may seem unreliable, the blue and white cat was, after all, an artificial creature and experimental assistant created by Vegapunk himself, and could be said to be the creature that was once closest to Vegapunk.

"You want to modify your body?" The blue and white cat looked on with human-like astonishment after hearing Sieg's words.

“After eating a Devil Fruit, one’s bloodline factors will also change,” Sigurd said.

"So Vegapunk was able to extract bloodline factors from Kaido and reverse engineer them to create artificial Devil Fruits..."

"So, if we selectively alter lineage factors, can we simulate the abilities of Devil Fruits?"

"You even know about the experiments Dr. Vegapunk conducted..."

The blue and white cat was taken aback, then pondered for a while.

"But the doctor is now the chief scientist of the World Government and has long since left the old research institute. Who knows where he is?"

"His identity is special and his status is very high. It is impossible for him to leave the World Government. Even if you can find the Doctor and make contact with him, it will attract the attention of the World Government."

"However, perhaps someone else can help," the blue and white cat said slowly.

"Do you remember Vinsmoke Judge from the Kingdom of Germa? He was also a member of Dr. Vegapunk's research team back then."

"Judge's research on lineage factors differs from Vegapunk's; he has forged his own path,"

"Cyborgs, clones, and combat suit technology are the three core technologies that Germa has mastered."

Sig frowned slightly upon hearing this; he knew about Judge as well.

Reiju, a cyborg, is born with a superhuman physique and skin as tough as steel, which cannot be penetrated by ordinary bullets.

But Sieg no longer needs this level of modification technology.

Sig's return of life also involved transforming himself and strengthening his physical body in a similar way.

Reiju and the others do not possess superpowers similar to those of Devil Fruit users; their abilities are granted by their combat suits, not by their own inherent abilities.

In other words, Judge's research focus is not on Devil Fruits, but rather on using technology to create combat suits comparable to Devil Fruits.

"Not satisfied?" The cat stretched out its leg and scratched its body, then casually licked its paws.

"Among the Doctor's team back then, there was a strange guy named Caesar... who was actually quite talented."

"If we can't find a PhD, he can be considered a substitute."

"Ok?"

Sieg's heart stirred, and he seemed to be deep in thought.

At this time, Caesar should still be lurking in the Punk Hazard research institute, conducting experiments on human giantification and artificial Devil Fruits.

His research interests are indeed related to both human modification and Devil Fruit abilities.

At this point, when contact with Vegapunk is impossible, Caesar is perhaps the best option.

“Then let’s go out,” Sig decided.

He suddenly realized something, turned around and looked at Tianyue who had walked up to him, and suddenly asked, "Are you here to see me off?"

Tian Yue nodded quietly.

"If you encounter any insurmountable difficulties, you can come to me. I can use the power of the Time Fruit to send you to the future," she said, repeating the exact same words as before.

Chapter 1177 The Storm Rises Again (4k)

Dark clouds gathered, a cold wind howled, and a torrential downpour began. Dense raindrops fell from the gloomy sky onto the sea, only to be swallowed up by the surging waves and disappear without a trace.

On Ghost Island, the bandits received orders from Sig, and large groups of bandits boarded the Dushan Ship one after another, preparing to depart.

"Boss, everything is ready, we can set off anytime."

The bald man stood on the shore and spoke.

On the coast, Sig and Toki stood side by side. Heavy rain was pouring down, but the raindrops were blocked by an invisible elliptical air shield, so Sig and the others did not get wet.

Sig watched her quietly from the side, recalling what had happened before.

This voyage was a sudden idea from Sieg, and he hadn't told anyone beforehand, but Tenzuki suddenly came to see him off.

This should be the ability to foresee the future derived from the Time Fruit. Based on the previous description of the Heavenly Moon, the development of this ability is only one of the unpredictable possibilities of the future.

Seeing the future, perhaps it could be called...futurism?

Sieg paused, his expression slightly surprised.

When Sigurd first met Vegapunk during his journey through the past, he was trapped in a time loop.

In order to deal with Vegapunk, Higuma lied that he was a user of the Time-Time Fruit and had developed his ability to the point of "future vision." He then spoiled Vegapunk's future and finally broke Vegapunk's mentality with a bunch of boasting.

Unexpectedly, the true user of the Time-Time Fruit, Toki, was actually able to develop the fruit's ability to "see the future."

In a sense, this is also a case of a lie coming true.

Sieg fell into deep thought...that wasn't his focus.

It's important to understand that his purpose in setting sail this time was simply to capture Caesar, nothing major. He didn't even plan to bring many people with him; after capturing him, he intended to return to Wano Country to continue his life of hiding.

But since Toki Amatsuki came to see him off, it means that in the future she foresaw, Sig himself probably wouldn't return to Wano Country in the short term.

Otherwise, she wouldn't have needed to come all the way to say goodbye.

"It seems that in the future that I foresaw, something unexpected happened after I set sail this time. Why didn't I return to Wano Country as planned?"

Having figured this out, Sieg changed his plans immediately. He gathered everyone, boarded the Dushan, and prepared to go all out.

"Aren't you coming with me?" Sig asked.

The moon and sky are silent.

"Look, so many people are waiting to set sail," Sieg said tentatively, pointing to the sea of ​​people in the distance.

"Give me some face and come sailing with me?"

“This…” Tengetsu hesitated slightly.