Blade Devil?

"What a letdown. You're so weak, even though you're huge."

Lina sighed, disappointed, as he looked at the flame in his hand.

"I thought I could get an elite monster. Damn, you're pathetic!"

Lina had the Zoan-type Mythical Zoan Human-Human Fruit, Model: Lich Lord.

Besides enhancing his physical abilities and granting him three transformation forms, it also let him obtain other people's body templates through contact and use them to create undead creatures.

The undead had the exact same attributes as their templates. Although they couldn't inherit Devil Fruit powers, they retained certain traits and techniques.

Unfortunately, the stronger the target, the longer it took to collect their template. He also couldn't collect the template of anyone who was far stronger than him.

Otherwise, before setting sail, he would've whipped up an immortal Garp Plus.

"I'll just wait for Zoro's template, then. I've been craving his body for a long time."

Lina gathered his thoughts and looked toward the center of the training grounds in the distance. It seemed no one had noticed what happened here, so he turned and headed into the Marine base.

After looking around, he found Zoro's swords, then called for Luffy and Zoro to make a quick getaway.

Inside a tavern in town.

"Gulp... Yeah, lasting a whole month really was too much to ask."

"By the way, are you two both Devil Fruit users?"

After eating, Zoro leaned back on the sofa and asked through the toothpick in his mouth.

Luffy stretched his cheeks and grinned proudly. "That's right. I ate the Rubber Fruit, so I'm a Rubber Person."

"That one's easy enough to understand."

Zoro nodded, then turned to look at Lina. "Your ability seems a little weird, though."

"It's actually not that complicated."

Lina tapped the ash from his cigarette, stood up, and rested a hand on Zoro's shoulder. "Don't move."

As soon as he finished speaking, a blue flame rose from his palm and enveloped Zoro.

"What the hell is that?!"

Zoro was startled. He instinctively tried to break free, but when he realized the flames weren't hot at all, he calmed down.

About three minutes later, the blue flame receded into Lina's hand, turning into a dancing little flame.

"His overall stats are actually on par with Luffy's? His arm strength is even higher!"

Lina marveled at the information he sensed from the flame in his hand.

But after thinking it over, he understood. Zoro had trained hard since he was a child, so it made sense that his physical abilities could come close to Luffy's.

He couldn't help taking another look at Zoro. As you'd expect from a swordsman—his terrifying wrist strength was probably matched only by Arlong's in the East Blue.

Lina had already decided what to do with Zoro's template. With a thought, a rift appeared in midair.

A black figure slowly emerged from the void.

It stood a little over two meters tall, with a muscular build. It wore a black hat and a black suit, along with a long black coat.

If you ignored its head, it looked like a mysterious, handsome man in black.

But beneath the hat was a terrifying, grotesque face, with a gaping maw full of sharp teeth and a long blade jutting forward through its forehead.

It had another long blade in each hand. Their tips dragged along the ground, glinting coldly, while their ends had no handles and instead merged into its arms.

That's right. Lina had modeled it after the Blade Devil from Chainsaw Man. It only looked like the original, but since Zoro used Three Sword Style, the template was an incredibly good fit.

"What the hell is that thing?!"

Zoro exclaimed at the sight of the Blade Devil. "Wait, is that something you just made from me?"

"Wahahaha! That's so cool!" Luffy shouted excitedly, his eyes shining.

That was why Luffy had kept enthusiastically inviting Lina to join his crew ever since he first saw his Devil Fruit power.

Who knew what was going on in his head? The weirder something was, the more fascinated he became.

"That's right!" Lina readily admitted.

"I'm a Devil Fruit user. I can collect other people's body data in the same way I just did and use it to create undead."

His ability could create all sorts of undead, but they couldn't stray from the traits of their templates. If he used a dog as a template to make a humanoid skeleton, it wouldn't even be able to stand properly.

Only by following the template could he bring out its full strength.

Lina put away the Blade Devil. "Luffy, where are we going next?"

"I don't know!"

Luffy grinned shamelessly. "Why don't you decide, Lina? I don't know anywhere around here anyway."

Lina: "..."

Zoro: "..."

"Is this captain really reliable?" Zoro muttered, exasperated.

Lina remembered that in the original story, Luffy next went to the town where Buggy's base was and met Nami there, but he couldn't remember the town's name.

"Well, just point to somewhere on the map."

Lina spread out the map and pointed to a spot.

"We're here now. Just pick somewhere nearby for our route."

Lina decided to rely on Luffy's incredible luck. If they didn't run into Nami, they could just head straight to Cocoyasi Village.

Zoro: "???"

Zoro slapped his hand on the table, looking shocked. "Wait a second! You're in charge of supplies, but you're not exactly doing that right either, are you?"

Lina chuckled awkwardly. "Don't make such a fuss. There's nothing wrong with letting the captain choose our route."

"That's how it usually works!" Zoro paused. "But are you two normal?!"

Lina awkwardly took the map and looked at the spot Luffy had pointed to.

"Syrop Village?"

Lina thought for a moment. He vaguely remembered that it was Usopp's hometown.

They might as well go there and take Kuro.

Soon, the three of them left the restaurant, full and satisfied, and made their way to the port.

"This is the ship you were talking about?"

"Yeah. What's wrong with it?"

"A pirate ship?"

Zoro looked at the small sailboat moored at the port and tied to a post with a rope, stroking his chin as he thought.

He wondered if he could get away with cutting Luffy down right now. Then he sighed. "Ah... forget it. I should've expected this."

It was still much better than the little raft Luffy had originally planned to use. At least this one had a cabin where they could shelter from the wind and rain. And even this was something Lina had saved up to buy.

Being in charge of supplies on Luffy's ship was like being both his father and mother.

Meanwhile, in Orange Town, where the Buggy Pirates were based, a chase was unfolding in the streets.

"Stop, you bastard!"

"You little thief! Don't run!"

A girl with short orange hair and a pretty face, her figure curvy and petite, ran along while taunting the people behind her. "Come and catch me, you idiots!"

The girl's name was Nami. She was a thief who specialized in stealing from pirates. Today, she had infiltrated Buggy's base and stolen their map of the Grand Line.

The pirates chasing after her were Buggy's men. They'd been pretty lucky to find Nami first. If they brought her back, they'd be rewarded.

But...

"Damn it! How is she so fast?"

"If we don't catch her, the boss is going to be furious!"

Seeing the girl pull farther and farther ahead, the pirates grew frantic. Their captain treasured that map.

If they failed the mission, they'd definitely be used as targets for testing the specially made cannonballs.

"Damn it, stop right there!"

They chased her all the way to the port, where they could only watch helplessly as Nami jumped into a small boat and slowly rowed away from shore.

"See you~" Nami waved playfully at the port, rubbing salt in their wounds.

Watching Nami disappear across the sea, the pirates couldn't help looking utterly desperate.

"We're screwed~~"