I am the Bandit King of the East Sea.

However, Luffy has now redefined Higuma's understanding of what a good audience should be.

Previously, Sieg speculated that the influencing factors were probably the audience's strength, status, or number.

But Luffy right now has no strength or status.

The only special thing is Luffy's identity; he is the protagonist of the original work and the future Pirate King.

Thinking of this, Sigurd's gaze towards Luffy changed.

In his eyes, Luffy used to be a big, round black pot.

The current Luffy is a living compatibility experience pack. The key is that compared to Garp, Dragon, and others, young Luffy poses no danger to Higuma.

"Garp really gave me a great opportunity to grind experience points..."

Sig's eyes lit up.

As for Garp's previous threats.

Teaching Luffy and Ace to become the King of the Marines... Higuma isn't arrogant enough to accomplish such a fundamentally impossible task.

Since I'll most likely be getting beaten up by Garp in the future anyway, I might as well let loose now and grind some experience.

"Wait... I just had a brief chat with Luffy, and my compatibility increased by 0.2%."

"If I work hard to teach Luffy and eventually influence him to become a legendary mountain bandit king, would that allow the King character card to achieve a 1000% compatibility rate and unlock the hidden ability to summon the bald cape hero?"

Thinking about this, Sieg felt as if the door to a new world was opening for him.

Joining the Navy could be said to be against Luffy's will, but being a bandit is a different story... Luffy still has a good impression of bandits.

Sig stroked his chin, looking thoughtfully at Luffy among the bandits.

This seven-year-old child had become one of the bandits in a short period of time, and had even successfully infiltrated them to shout slogans.

"This guy, could he be a natural bandit?... No, perhaps becoming the Bandit King is Luffy's destined path!"

Sig understood.

As is well known, One Piece was originally titled Mountain Bandit King, and it tells the epic manga story of Straw Hat Luffy leading mountain bandits from all over the world to overthrow the World Government, liberate all mankind, and occupy the Holy Land Mary Geoise.

The initial draft of "Mountain Bandit King" was rejected by the editor because it was too epic and did not fit the style of a shonen manga. That's why it was renamed "One Piece" and Luffy's fate was changed as a result.

"Perhaps my mission in coming to this world is to correct the wrong plot developments and guide Luffy onto the right path. I'm doing something great; I'm carrying on Oda's will and bringing back the original 'Mountain Bandit King'..."

However, after staring at Luffy's straw hat for five seconds, Sigurd abandoned the idea.

Putting aside whether it can influence Luffy to change his dream, if he really did that, he would probably offend not only Garp, but also another Yonko crew.

After some thought, Sieg returned to where he started.

"Try to keep Luffy by your side as much as possible, and seize the opportunity to boost your compatibility."

............

In a small town in the Kingdom of Goa, at the secret stronghold of the Revolutionary Army.

The revolutionary army leader, Long, was examining several intelligence reports handed to him by his subordinates with a solemn expression.

Since learning of the existence of the Mountain Bandit King Higuma, the Revolutionary Army's intelligence system has basically focused on the Goa Kingdom, repeatedly investigating the movements of the Mountain Bandit King Higuma in the surrounding area.

Recent intelligence reports have left Revolutionary Army leader Ryu and Army Commander Ivankov, among others, quite perplexed.

Dragon's gaze fell on several photographs on the table, which were secretly taken by Revolutionary Army intelligence agents using camera Den Den Mushi (snail-shaped electric scooter).

The first photo shows a warship docked at the Windmill Village pier. The stern of the warship was severely damaged, with shocking cracks clearly visible.

"Vice Admiral Garp arrived at Windmill Village Wharf yesterday ahead of schedule, and his warship was heavily damaged, presumably after a naval battle."

"Judging from the damage to the stern of the warship, it was clearly hit by artillery fire, and it was a high-intensity bombardment."

A revolutionary army cadre analyzed the situation from the side.

The dragon's brows furrowed instantly.

There are too many strange things about this.

On this vast ocean, the firepower of naval warships is arguably the strongest, and ordinary pirates simply cannot withstand it.

Moreover, Garp's warship is no ordinary warship. As a naval hero, this warship, directly under Garp's command, is a large warship of the highest standard in the Navy Headquarters, with powerful firepower.

When ordinary pirates encounter such a large headquarters warship, they either flee or engage in boarding combat; there is virtually no possibility of a cannon-toss exchange.

Moreover, Garp was also on board.

Given Garp's strength as a naval hero, it was truly perplexing to the Revolutionary Army officers that someone could launch such a high-intensity bombardment at his warship.

"Where are the intelligence personnel? Have they extracted any useful information from the naval soldiers on the Garp warship?"

"Dragon asked in a deep voice."

In front of his subordinates, he always addressed Garp by his first name.

Upon hearing this, the cadres all wore solemn expressions.

"Our intelligence officers, posing as ordinary villagers, tried to extract information from the navy, but as soon as they mentioned the damage to the stern of the warship, everyone's faces showed fear, and several navy personnel even vomited immediately..."

"They may have encountered some extremely powerful enemy, which may have even left a psychological scar on these elite naval personnel from Marine Headquarters..."

Upon hearing his subordinate's assessment, Long's expression grew even more grave:

"It seems that this weakest part of the East Blue is indeed full of hidden talents. Besides the bandit king Higuma, there is actually an unknown powerful force that can suppress Garp's warships with firepower, and there may even be a strong person who can rival Garp... It seems that our intelligence system still has many shortcomings."

"Dragon, that's not necessarily true."

Beside him, Ivankov pushed the second photo on the table in front of the dragon.

In this photo, Sieg stands on a hilltop with several of his subordinates, his face expressionless, his eyes looking down at the warships at the Windmill Village dock in the distance.

"Shortly after Garp's warships arrived at Windmill Village, Sigboy appeared on this hilltop, clearly observing Garp's warships."

Chapter 36: Has the grand plan succeeded?

"Are you implying that the damage to the Garp warship is related to Sig?"

After listening to Ivankov's account, Long slowly shook his head.

It sounds absurd that a top-tier warship with a vice admiral stationed at the Navy Headquarters was involved in a naval battle in the East China Sea, the weakest region in the world, and that the warship suffered severe damage to its stern.

If it were any other naval commander, it might be considered that they had encountered a formidable enemy.

But for Garp, Dragon's eccentric father....

Long believes there might be something fishy about this matter.

It's hard to rule out the possibility of encountering a powerful enemy... but since it happened while Garp was attached to the ship, there might be some other mysterious reason.

Compared to these two possibilities, Dragon believes that the likelihood of the bandit king Higuma causing damage to Garp's warship is extremely small.

The Revolutionary Army's intelligence system has been closely monitoring Sig's movements all this time.

Not to mention Sig himself, his bandit henchmen have also been staying quietly in the deep mountains lately, without making any big moves.

The dragon then spoke:

"Sigu's appearance doesn't mean anything. Perhaps he is as well-informed as our Revolutionary Army and just came to observe after learning of Garp's arrival."

Ivankov did not speak, and then a revolutionary army officer beside him placed a small Den Den Mushi on the table.

"Our Den Den Mushi intercepted what Sig was saying while he was observing the warship."

"Due to the limited eavesdropping distance, we did not record the conversation between Sig and the other bandits clearly; we only recorded the last sentence."

On the table, the little Den Den Mushi put on a stern face, showing neither joy nor sorrow, perfectly mimicking Sig's expression.

The next moment, Sig's highly recognizable deep voice rang out from the Den Den Mushi:

"...This is part of a larger plan, no need to ask any more questions."

Inside the room, the revolutionary army cadres all paled.

"This...it really is related to Sieg! He's already admitted it himself!"

"Could it be that the bandit king Sig is no longer content with being just a bandit? Has his sphere of influence expanded to the surrounding seas, and he even possesses powerful warships capable of suppressing Garp's warships with firepower?"

"Has his power grown to this extent? Is that bandit group of over two hundred people in the deep mountains just a facade?"

"But there's also Iron Fist Garp on that navy warship!"

Some people have raised questions.

"Iron Fist Garp is no ordinary vice admiral. As a hero of the Navy, he has at least the strength of a vice admiral."

"What are you talking about? Garp has repeatedly and explicitly refused the promotion to admiral, which proves that he is fully capable of being an admiral!"

"Nonsense! Iron Fist Garp is the Pirate King's nemesis. He chased after the Pirate King Roger many times. He should at least have the strength of a Yonko!"

"Hmm? You mean the Four Emperors are stronger than the Admirals? Come and fight, heretic!"

"The Four Emperors are on par with the current Marine Admirals; their strength should be roughly equal!"

"The Navy is the most powerful force overall. If the Admirals were stronger than the Four Emperors, they would have already swarmed in and wiped out an entire Four Emperor crew! Therefore, the Admirals are not as strong as the Four Emperors!"

Seeing that the topic was gradually going astray, Long tapped the table lightly with a sullen face, which brought the discussion to an end.

Many of these revolutionary army cadres came from the revolutionary army's intelligence system. They had heard all sorts of unverified intelligence and rumors, and sometimes got caught up in all sorts of strange arguments.

"It seems our intelligence agencies still have many areas for improvement..."

Long sighed inwardly, then turned his attention back to the discussion in the room.

An intelligence officer cleared his throat and summarized:

"In short, the bandit king Sig is likely related to the unknown damage to Garp's warship."

"One possibility is that Higuma's forces are vast, secretly possessing powerful warships capable of suppressing the Navy Headquarters' ships with firepower. He may even have a strongman who can rival Vice Admiral Garp. This means that the Mountain Bandit King Higuma's power is far greater than we imagined, and he has at least one subordinate or ally with the strength of a near-Admiral..."

"I don't want to hear the phrase 'quasi-general level strength' again," Long said with a dark face.

"...Second possibility: the grand plan claimed by the bandit king Higuma is not directly related to the damage to the naval warships...but according to the intelligence our Revolutionary Army has previously obtained, the target of the bandit king Higuma's grand plan is very likely to be Vice Admiral Garp."

"Even if the damage to the warship was not caused by the bandit king Sig's forces, it is very likely that it was part of their grand plan."

After listening to the cadre's analysis, Long pondered for a moment, only to feel a headache coming on.

The first possibility is truly astonishing, indicating that their revolutionary army has far underestimated Sig's power.