Sieg remained on the deck of the Snapper Head, watching as Willie led the boarding fish-men to an early victory. The battle on the warship was overwhelmingly in favor of the Sun Pirates!
Sieg suspected that the Navy had severely misjudged the strength of the Sun Pirates due to their previous two instances of closing in but not engaging, and then fleeing.
Two standard fleets to encircle the Sun Pirates?
Without deploying an Admiral, shouldn't they at least use a "Buster Call" level of force to show they're taking it seriously?
Of course, Sieg also understood that the Sun Pirates weren't a fixed island, and didn't even have a fixed route when sailing, so the Navy couldn't possibly spread "Buster Call" level forces across the entire ocean.
However, Willie was really carefree, not even bothering to leave anyone to guard the deck of the Snapper Head. At this time, another warship pulled alongside and extended a gangplank.
"Those damned fish-men... Kill that fat helmsman first!"
Sieg: ...
At this time, Jinbe wasn't yet famous on the high seas. The World Government would definitely keep quiet about the Mary Geoise incident. In the eyes of the Navy, he was just a seemingly non-combative blue fatty.
Right now, this "fatty" was single-mindedly steering the ship, cooperating with his own gunners to fire cannons while trying to evade the enemy's incoming cannonballs.
It was hard to imagine that a ship could be so agile.
As for the ones he couldn't dodge... there was also the ship's doctor, Aladine, who could also be used as damage output!
With Jinbe not taking action, Sieg, as the second helmsman, took on the task of protecting the main helmsman.
Clang clang clang—
Sieg drew his sword.
"Can you use a sword? If not, your body is the best weapon for a fish-man," Jinbe reminded him.
Sieg instinctively wanted to say that he didn't know any fighting techniques, and that a blade would be more lethal.
However, the words were on the tip of his tongue when he suddenly reacted and realized Jinbe's intention—Boss Jinbe wants to teach me combat skills?
As for Hachi...
It wasn't that Jinbe was being biased, but Hachi was originally a rare octopus fish-man. According to the classification of the world before the transmigration, octopuses weren't even considered fish.
Moreover, although the anime shows seemed to have no difference, Sieg, now truly interacting with the fish-man race, could clearly feel the difference—other fish-men either had scales or hard skin, while Hachi's skin texture was very different among the fish-men, and his body defense was weaker than ordinary fish-men!
However, his advantage was that he had six arms, and he had indeed practiced swordsmanship himself...
"Oh," Sieg decisively threw away his sword, awkwardly raising his fists and imitating the stance of a martial arts film, with his legs spread apart.
"Slightly bend your knees, lower your center of gravity to your waist, don't put it on your knees!" Jinbe said sternly.
Sieg immediately followed the instructions and adjusted his posture, while the approaching Navy soldiers were stunned—at first, seeing him throw away his sword, they thought he was going to surrender, but then he struck a strange pose?
An officer who looked like a lieutenant then waved his hand and said, "Take him down!"
Because they had already boarded the deck, the other party didn't bother with guns first, and Aladine also avoided this side.
Sieg: ...
What is this? A strategic abandonment of the helm position in a deck battle?
Although he complained in his heart, Sieg's body had honestly tensed up.
He was even more nervous than when he was in Mary Geoise, the first time he fought with someone, the first time he killed someone!
After all, at that time, Sieg only had one thought in his mind: "Survive"—just do it.
And now it was much safer than back then, and Sieg's thoughts became uncontrollable—is it good to perform like this? Will Boss Jinbe focus on teaching me later? I haven't practiced any fighting skills, will I disappoint Boss Jinbe? What if I accidentally kill someone?
Fortunately, Sieg's hard stats were strong enough, and "combat aptitude" was also part of the increase from the God pathway, especially the Sailor pathway—"Folk of Rage" is also called "Storm Guardian", which is itself a combat sequence!
Therefore, Sieg's physical instincts were actually very good...
Relying on his great strength and speed, Sieg used a move of "random punches to kill the master", stunning the person in front of him, then directly lifted him up and swung him against the other Navy soldiers' blades, causing the Navy to hesitate.
However, the officer immediately ordered, "He's just strong! Cut off his arms! The World Government will not forget your sacrifice!"
Once the Navy ignored casualties, Sieg immediately became flustered, and the bright blades chilled Sieg's heart.
"Fool! The blades of mere ordinary soldiers, use your heart to see! Even if they directly hit you, only a few trajectories and a few points of force can hurt you! The opponent's flaws are much bigger than this!" Jinbe was more stern than when he was teaching him to steer the ship.
Hearing Jinbe's words, Sieg's heart stirred slightly, and he immediately understood what Boss Jinbe meant.
With the strength of these ordinary Navy soldiers, ordinary cuts, even if Sieg didn't know Armament Haki and his scales weren't as hard as Arlong's skin, would still be enough to defend.
Unless the opponent swung around and stabbed with the tip of the knife...
Although there were sharp blades all around, for Sieg, it wasn't that he couldn't touch them at all, as long as he was careful of the force points of those swinging blades!
Facing the sharp blades, Sieg tried to suppress his fear, keenly analyzing and judging, taking advantage of the opponent's lack of force, either slapping away the blade, or attacking the opponent's body, arms...
After receiving guidance, Sieg's combat ability increased at an alarming rate.
However, the other party was still outnumbered. If he used a sword, Sieg should have already solved the opponent, but the meaning represented was completely different.
Sieg using a sword was just relying on the sharpness of the weapon, as well as his own strength and defense, to bully the miscellaneous soldiers. It was not beneficial to his own growth.
Seeing Sieg panting and finally knocking down his opponent, Jinbe finally smiled.
Sieg, who observed this out of the corner of his eye, also confirmed Jinbe's intention—eighty percent of it was naturally to see if Sieg was a malleable talent in combat, and another twenty percent... was in the final confirmation!
After all, in the Sun Pirates, Sieg was the only "half fish-man" whose background was unknown. Now Jinbe could completely confirm that Sieg had absolutely no fighting skills before, and was not an undercover agent.
At this time, the entire battle was already coming to an end. Jinbe took his hands off the helm, took a puff of his pipe, and exhaled smoke: "Phew... Sieg, do you want to learn Fish-Man Karate?"
Hearing this, Sieg was pleasantly surprised. Although the thought of "I'm not a real fish-man, can I really learn it?" flashed through his mind for a moment, he immediately thought that Kerla in the original work had even less to do with fish-men, but wasn't she still able to learn it?
"Master!" Sieg shouted directly.
Jinbe was startled and choked: "Cough cough cough, what master? Fool... Just call me Boss, Arlong and the others' Fish-Man Karate were all taught by me..."