Sword Devil?

"What? That weak? What a waste of all that size."

Reiner sighed at the flame in his hand in disappointment.

"I thought I could recruit an elite monster. Damn, what a pathetic little trash mob!"

Reiner's Devil Fruit was the Zoan Mythical Beast Type—Human-Human Fruit: Necromancer Lord Form.

Besides enhancing his physical abilities and granting three transformation stages, it also allowed him to acquire other people's body templates through contact and use them to create Undead Creatures.

The undead's attributes were exactly the same as the template's. Although they could not inherit Devil Fruit Abilities, they retained certain traits and techniques.

Unfortunately, the stronger the target, the more time it took to collect them, and he could not collect targets whose strength surpassed his by too much.

Otherwise, before setting sail, he would have made an immortal, indestructible Garp Plus no matter what.

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

Reiner gathered his thoughts and looked toward the center of the distant training ground. It seemed no one had noticed this place yet, so he turned and headed into the Marine Base.

After wandering around and finding Zoro's swords, he called Luffy and Zoro and made a run for it.

Inside a tavern in town.

"Burp~~ That really was too much, even for lasting a month."

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

After finishing his meal, Zoro leaned back against the sofa and asked with a toothpick between his teeth.

Luffy stretched his cheek and grinned smugly. "That's right. I ate the Gum-Gum Fruit, so I'm a Rubber Man."

"That one's easy enough to understand."

Zoro nodded, then turned to Reiner. "But your ability looks kind of creepy."

"It's not that complicated."

Reiner tapped off some ash, stood up, and placed his hand on Zoro's shoulder. "Don't move."

As soon as he spoke, azure flames burst from his palm and covered Zoro's entire body.

"What is this!?"

Zoro was startled and instinctively tried to break free, only to discover that the flames had no heat at all. He calmed down then.

About three minutes later, the azure flames withdrew into Reiner's hand and became a flickering flame.

"His overall stats are actually comparable to Luffy's? His arm strength is even noticeably higher!"

Reiner clicked his tongue in amazement as he sensed the information within the flame in his hand.

But after giving it some thought, it made sense. Zoro had trained diligently since childhood, so it was only natural that his physical condition could approach Luffy's.

Reiner could not help giving Zoro another look. Was this what it meant to be a swordsman? With that terrifying grip strength, Arlong was probably the only one in the East Blue who could compare.

Reiner had long had an idea for Zoro's template. With a thought, a rift in space appeared out of thin air.

A black figure slowly stepped out of the void.

It stood over two meters tall, broad and muscular, wearing a black hat and a black suit beneath a long black overcoat.

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

Yet beneath the hat was a savage, horrifying face: a blood-filled maw lined with sharp fangs, with a long blade piercing through its forehead and extending forward.

Its hands also bore two long blades, their tips dragging along the ground and glinting coldly. There were no hilts at their ends; instead, they fused directly into its arms.

That was right. Reiner had modeled it after the Sword Devil from Chainsaw Man. Though only its appearance resembled the original, Zoro happened to use the Three-Sword Style, making this template exceptionally compatible.

"What the hell is that!?"

When Zoro saw the Sword Devil, he cried out, "Wait, don't tell me you made that from what you just took from me?"

"Wahaha~~ So cool!" Luffy shouted excitedly, his eyes shining.

This was why, after seeing Reiner's Devil Fruit Ability back then, Luffy had passionately kept inviting him to join his crew.

Who knew how his brain worked? The stranger something was, the more it attracted him.

"That's right!" Reiner admitted directly.

"I'm a Devil Fruit User. Through the method I just used, I can obtain other people's physical data and create undead."

His ability could make all kinds of undead, but they could not stray from the template's traits. If he used a dog as a template to make a humanoid skeleton, it would not even be able to stand steadily.

Only by shaping them according to their templates could he maximize their strength.

Reiner put away the Sword Devil. "Luffy, where are we going next?"

"I don't know!"

Luffy was completely unabashed as he grinned. "How about you decide, Reiner? I don't know anywhere anyway."

Reiner: "..."

Zoro: "..."

"Is this captain really reliable?" Zoro muttered speechlessly.

Reiner did remember that in the original story, Luffy would next head to the town where Buggy's base was located and meet Nami there, but he did not know the town's name.

"Well, just point somewhere on there."

Reiner spread out the map and pointed to a spot on it.

"We're here right now, so just pick somewhere nearby as our route."

Reiner decided to rely on Luffy's miraculous luck. If they did not run into Nami, they could just head straight for Cocoyasi Village later.

Zoro: "???"

Zoro slapped the table, his face full of shock. "Wait! Isn't something wrong with your logistics too?"

Reiner yawned and said, "Don't make such a fuss. There's nothing wrong with letting the captain decide the route."

"Normally, that would be true!" Zoro paused. "But are you two normal?!"

Reiner sheepishly took the map back and looked at where Luffy's finger was pointing.

"Syrup Village?"

Reiner thought for a moment. He vaguely remembered that Usopp's hometown was there.

Perfect. He could collect Kuro while they were there.

Before long, the three of them, full and satisfied, left the restaurant and arrived at the harbor.

"This is the ship you were talking about?"

"Yeah. What's wrong with it?"

"A pirate ship?"

Zoro looked at the small sailboat moored in the harbor and tied to a wooden post with rope, rubbing his chin thoughtfully.

He was considering whether it was feasible to chop Luffy down right now. Then he sighed. "Sigh~ I should've expected this."

In truth, this was already much better than the little raft Luffy had originally planned to use. At least it had a cabin to shelter them from wind and rain. Even this had been bought with money Reiner had saved up.

Handling logistics on Luffy's ship really meant being both father and mother.

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

"Stop, you bastard!"

"You thief! Don't run!"

A girl with short orange hair, a delicate face, and a curvaceous yet petite figure ran while taunting those behind her. "Come catch me, idiots!"

The girl was Nami, a thief who specialized in stealing from pirates. Today, she had infiltrated Buggy's base and stolen his Grand Line Navigation Chart.

The pirates chasing her were Buggy's subordinates. Their luck was fairly good—they had been the first to find Nami. Catching her and bringing her back would be a major accomplishment.

But—

"Damn it! How does she run so fast?"

"If we don't catch her and bring her back, the boss will get angry."

Seeing the girl gradually pull farther away, the pirates were frantic. That navigation chart was a treasure their captain valued highly.

If they failed the mission, they would definitely be used as test targets for special cannonballs.

"Damn it, stop right there!"

After chasing her all the way to the harbor, the pirates could only watch helplessly as Nami jumped onto a small boat and slowly sailed away from the shore.

"See you later~" Nami waved playfully at the harbor, instantly maxing out their hatred.

Watching Nami gradually vanish over the sea, the pirates could not help showing despairing expressions.

"We're so screwed~~"