In the distance, a figure in a hooded cloak stood quietly behind a tree.
Even in this deep, untraveled mountain wilderness, the man kept his hood up, wrapped tightly from head to toe, only a sliver of his face exposed.
"Higuma? A bandit with an eight-million bounty?"
The man frowned as he watched Higuma's group walking along the mountain path.
No matter how he looked, those bandits—including Higuma—didn't resemble anything like true powerhouses.
A gust of mountain wind lifted one corner of the hood, briefly revealing half the man's face.
On the left side of that face was a dark red, square-shaped tattoo. Combined with his cold, severe features, it made him look especially vicious.
The world's most dangerous criminal.
The leader of the Revolutionary Army.
The son of the Marine hero Garp.
Monkey D. Dragon.
Behind those staggering titles, there was one more identity.
He was Luffy's father.
After hearing about Higuma's performance yesterday, Dragon—who had already been active around the Goa Kingdom region of the East Blue—came here alone.
But what he saw as he observed in secret left him disappointed.
"So it was him and Red-Hair Shanks egging Luffy on to become a pirate?"
"Looks like our intel net still isn't strong enough. We need to filter out more false reports."
Dragon murmured softly, then his expression shifted.
Something had changed.
In the distance, on both sides of the mountain road where Higuma's group was walking, dozens of bandits in headscarves stepped out—forming a loose half-encirclement that blocked Higuma's group in the narrow path.
...
"Not bad for the eight-million man. Goa Kingdom's top wanted criminal, and you still noticed us."
Dozens of bandits now surrounded Higuma's group from the roadside, closing in.
At their front stood a tall, burly brute.
"Top wanted?" Higuma was a little surprised. An eight-million bounty actually ranked first in the Goa Kingdom region?
No wonder the original Higuma had been so arrogant.
Of course, there were other bandits around here with bounties of six or seven million too—the gap wasn't that huge.
Like the ones in front of him.
"Isn't that Gilman from the mountain across from ours? We actually got robbed by bandits?" The bald bandit had sharp eyes and recognized them first.
"Boss, what do we do? They've got more people than us," a bandit muttered under his breath.
Higuma's side had about twenty men.
The other side had thirty-something.
Gilman grinned viciously, looking down at Higuma's group.
"Higuma. You're at a clear disadvantage in numbers. You don't stand a chance."
"Once I beat you, I'll become the biggest bandit force in this area. And then my… hegemony begins!"
"Hegemony?" Everyone on Higuma's side blinked in unison.
They were bandits. All they did was rob travelers and shake people down.
And yet, from the bandits in front of them, they were hearing an unfamiliar word like hegemony.
"That's right. My hegemony!" Gilman raised the blade in his hand and pointed it at Higuma through the crowd, sneering. "Higuma, I'm not like trash like you."
"You're just scum."
"But me? I've got ambition!"
Gilman's eyes blazed with grand, heroic passion.
"After I beat you, I'll absorb every bandit crew in the surrounding area, dominate this region, loot the Goa Kingdom, and then dominate the entire East Blue!"
He drew in a deep breath and roared it out.
"I'm the man who's gonna become the East Blue's Mountain Bandit King!"
His voice echoed through the mountains, startling flocks of birds into the air.
After a brief silence, Higuma's bandits burst into laughter.
"Bandit King?"
"He's saying he'll be Bandit King in front of our Boss Higuma!"
"East Blue Mountain Bandit King? I'm dying. Why don't you say you'll be the Mountain East Pirate King while you're at it?"
"Our Boss Higuma once stood shoulder to shoulder with the Pirate King Roger, and just yesterday he was laughing and drinking with a Yonko!"
Hearing the laughter, Gilman's face darkened. But when he caught that last line, he snorted through his nostrils.
"Pirate King? You mean you, Higuma?"
"Higuma, you think we don't know your background? You probably haven't even left the East Blue in your life!"
Gilman's bandits erupted into laughter too.
"They're looking down on Boss!"
"Boss, let us handle this low-rent trash!"
Higuma's men were bristling with outrage—but among them, Higuma himself wore a contemplative expression.
He'd just learned he was the top wanted man around here, and it already gave him a headache.
Garp was coming. The lower his profile, the better. If the words "top wanted" reached Garp's ears, he'd be finished.
Higuma raised a hand, palm down, signaling his men to calm down. Then he looked up and asked:
"You want to beat me, Higuma, to build your name? Fine. Simple."
"I surrender."
Higuma said it calmly.
"You can spread the word that I suffered a crushing defeat at your hands. I won't argue."
"So… can we go now?"
A collective shock rippled through both sides. Bandits on either side stared like their brains had short-circuited.
Then the laughter came back even louder.
"Instant fold! That's our number-one wanted man?"
"Surrounded and he doesn't even have the guts to swing?"
On the other side, Higuma's subordinates looked like they couldn't believe what they were hearing.
"Boss… why?"
They'd been secretly expecting their boss to teach these bandits a lesson.
"Higuma, are you looking down on me?" Gilman snarled, locking eyes with him, fury burning like flames.
"Of course not," Higuma replied in a low voice. "I even want to cheer for your dream of being Bandit King."
As he spoke, he lifted both empty hands to show he had no intention of resisting, then walked forward at an unhurried pace toward the encirclement.
"So, we can pass, right?"
The development left Gilman's brain a step behind.
He looked at Higuma's sincere gaze, scratched his head, and for a moment didn't know how to respond.
Higuma took a careful step. Then another.
He got closer and closer to the ring of blades.
And he still remembered to shout back at his men.
"What are you standing around for? Put your knives away. Follow me."
The bald bandits hesitated, faces complicated, but slowly sheathed their blades.
Gilman thought for a second, then finally signaled his own men with a look.
A small gap opened in the ring—barely wide enough for one person to pass through.
"Good… just walk through cleanly. Whoever wants to be Bandit King has nothing to do with me…"
Higuma thought.
At the same time, he flicked his gaze toward the bandits on either side.
Every one of them stared at him with a mix of contempt and wariness, their bright blades throwing cold metal flashes in the sunlight filtering through the trees.
As Higuma neared the gap, tension tightened in his chest.
Thump-thump-thump-thump-thump…
The Emperor Engine sounded again, uncontrollable.
(End of Chapter)
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