Tch… so weak. What a waste of size.
Reiner sighed at the flickering green flame in his hand, clearly disappointed.
"I thought I'd get at least an elite-class mob. Damn trash."
Reiner's Devil Fruit was a Mythical Zoan: Human-Human Fruit, Model – Necromancer Lord.
Beyond strengthening his physical abilities and granting him three transformation stages, it also allowed him to harvest templates by making physical contact with others. With those templates, he could create undead minions.
The undead copied the stats of their template perfectly. While they couldn't inherit Devil Fruit powers, they retained unique traits and techniques.
Unfortunately, the stronger the target, the longer the harvesting took. And if someone's power level was far beyond his own, he couldn't harvest them at all.
Otherwise, before setting sail, he'd have happily spawned himself a "Karp-Plus, the Immortal."
"Well, whatever. I'll just wait for Zoro's template. Been drooling over that body for a while."
Reiner shook off his thoughts and glanced back at the training yard. Nobody seemed to have noticed what he'd done. Turning away, he slipped into the Marine base, wandered around, and quickly recovered Zoro's swords.
Soon after, the three of them slipped out and escaped the base together.
Inside a tavern in town—
Burp! Zoro leaned back against the sofa after a heavy meal. "Damn… lasting a whole month really was pushing it. Anyway—so both of you are Devil Fruit users?"
Luffy stretched his cheeks wide and grinned proudly.
"Yup! I ate the Gum-Gum Fruit! I'm a rubber man!"
"That one I can sort of understand."
Zoro nodded, then turned his sharp gaze toward Reiner.
"But yours… yours looks a little creepy."
"It's not that complicated."
Reiner tapped the ash off his cigarette, stood up, and casually placed a hand on Zoro's shoulder.
"Don't move."
A green flame burst from his palm, covering Zoro's entire body.
"What the hell!?"
Zoro flinched and instinctively tried to shake it off. But when he realized the fire had no heat, he forced himself to stay calm.
Three minutes later, the flame retreated into Reiner's hand, forming a tiny flickering wisp.
"Unbelievable… His overall stats are comparable to Luffy's. And his arm strength is even higher."
Reiner studied the flame's data in awe.
Then again, it made sense. Zoro had trained relentlessly since childhood. For him to rival Luffy physically wasn't unreasonable.
Reiner gave Zoro another look, inwardly impressed. This guy's sheer brute strength… in the East Blue, maybe only Arlong could compare.
He already knew exactly what he wanted to do with Zoro's template. With a thought, a rift tore open in the air.
From it stepped a tall, broad-shouldered black figure, over two meters in height. It wore a dark suit beneath a black trench coat, topped with a wide-brimmed hat.
At first glance, it was like a mysterious, stylish man in black.
But the head beneath the hat was monstrous—razor-sharp fangs splitting a gaping maw, and a long blade protruding forward straight from its forehead.
Each of its arms ended not in hands but in massive swords fused into its flesh, their gleaming tips dragging sparks across the ground.
Yes. This was modeled after the Blade Devil from Chainsaw Man—or at least its appearance. And paired with Zoro's Three-Sword Style template, the synergy was perfect.
"What the hell is THAT!?"
Zoro's eyes widened. "Wait… don't tell me you pulled that thing out of me just now!?"
"Wahahaha! So cool!!" Luffy's eyes sparkled like stars.
That was the exact reason he had been so eager to recruit Reiner the moment he saw his powers.
Reiner smirked.
"Correct. I can harvest people's data like I just did with you—and then create undead warriors."
His ability could create any form of undead, but the results were useless if he strayed from the template. Try making a humanoid skeleton from a dog template, and the thing wouldn't even be able to stand.
The closer the undead matched the original template, the stronger they were.
Reiner dismissed the Blade Devil with a wave and turned back.
"So, Luffy, where to next?"
"Dunno!"
Luffy grinned, hands on his hips. "Why don't you decide, Reiner? I don't know anywhere anyway!"
Reiner: "…"
Zoro: "…"
"This captain… is he really reliable?" Zoro muttered under his breath.
Reiner, however, remembered that in the original story, Luffy's next stop was the small town under Buggy's control—where they would meet Nami. Unfortunately, he didn't remember the town's name.
"Eh, just point at the map."
He spread out a chart and tapped it.
"We're here right now. Just pick a nearby destination for our course."
If luck worked out, they'd run into Nami. If not, they could always head straight for Cocoyasi Village later.
Zoro blinked in disbelief.
"Wait a damn second. You call yourself 'support,' but something feels seriously off here!"
Reiner chuckled.
"Relax. Isn't it normal for the captain to choose the route?"
"That's true… if the crew were normal! But you guys!—" Zoro cut himself off, exasperated.
Reiner glanced at the spot Luffy had pointed to.
"Syrup Village, huh?"
He thought for a moment. That was Usopp's hometown. Perfect. He could stop by and recruit Captain Kuro as well.
Soon after, the three left the tavern and made their way to the port.
"This is the ship you're talking about?"
"Yup! Why?"
"…Pirate ship?"
Zoro stared at the small sailboat tied to a dock post, rubbing his chin.
For a second, he seriously considered cutting Luffy down here and now. But in the end, he sighed.
"Should've expected this."
Still, this was leagues better than the little raft Luffy had originally planned to use. At least this had a cabin to keep out the rain. And only thanks to Reiner's savings.
Being "support" in Luffy's crew basically meant being both mom and dad at the same time.
Meanwhile, in Orange Town, where the Buggy Pirates were stationed, a chase unfolded on the streets.
"Stop right there, you brat!"
"Thief! Don't you dare run!"
A short-haired girl with fiery orange hair and a delicate yet mischievous face darted through the alleys. Smirking, she called back over her shoulder:
"Catch me if you can, losers!"
Her name was Nami. A thief specializing in robbing pirates. Today, she had infiltrated Buggy's base and stolen his treasured map of the Grand Line.
Behind her, a few of Buggy's men chased desperately. Fortune had let them spot her first—if they could catch her, it'd be a huge credit to their names.
But—
"Damn it! How's she so fast!?"
"If we don't bring her back, the captain will kill us!"
Nami was slowly widening the gap, their panic rising. That map was one of their captain's most prized possessions.
Failure meant they'd end up as test dummies for Buggy's "special cannonballs."
"Stop right there, damn it!!"
They chased her all the way to the harbor, only to watch helplessly as Nami leapt into a small boat and pushed off from shore.
"Bye-bye!" she sang, waving cheekily as she sailed away, their hatred maxed out.
The pirates could only watch her vanish over the waves, despair sinking into their faces.
…We're screwed.