Chapter Thirty-Seven: Setting Sail Once More

Returning to his own laboratory, Buffon began to dismantle and examine Baggio’s corpse. Under his fists, Baggio’s body had suffered four broken ribs. Buffon carefully repaired them all, enveloped the bones in Armament Haki, and then stitched together muscles and skin.

Throughout the entire process, Shiryu’s shadow was in an extremely agitated state, spewing all manner of foul language. Fortunately, Buffon had already bound it to the operating table with threads from the Stitch-Stitch Fruit; otherwise, it would have torn the place apart.

When everything was finished, Saul said earnestly, “Captain Buffon, I’d like to spar with him.”

Buffon nodded. “Go ahead. Don’t worry about getting hurt—I’ll heal you.”

“Pirate! I, Shiryu, am not someone you can just toy with. Watch closely!” Shiryu’s shadow continued to shout.

“Remember, your name from now on is Baggio!” Buffon declared, then removed the threads.

With two swift movements, the giant and the zombie vanished.

“Ryoma, keep an eye on them!” Buffon instructed.

Two hours later, Ryoma returned, leading a group of zombie puppets carrying Saul and Baggio, both battered and bruised. As Buffon tended Saul’s wounds, he listened to Ryoma’s report.

At the start of the fight, Saul dominated, being a former Navy Vice Admiral. But as the battle progressed, Baggio exploited Saul’s lack of agility. The match became a stalemate, reminiscent of the battle between Ace and Jinbe, though it didn’t last as long.

After treating Saul, Buffon examined Baggio’s injuries. This time, no bones were broken; rather, many muscles had suffered varying degrees of tears.

“If it’s not your own body, you don’t know how to cherish it. Shiryu really is ruthless,” Buffon thought, sewing up the muscles while pondering improvements.

When he finished, he didn’t remove the threads but switched to the Hormone Fruit, using hormones to strengthen Baggio’s muscles. With this new approach, he attempted similar enhancements on other zombies. Muscle modification worked, but Armament Haki coverage on their bones did not.

“Is it because of Shanks’ arm?” Buffon mused aloud.

The next day, after training atop the lookout, Buffon returned to the lab and summoned Saul to the ice storage.

On the way, Buffon gave him a warning: “Saul, don’t get too emotional when you see the bodies of your kin.”

Saul did his best to suppress his anger and agreed.

Once inside, Saul saw the twenty-two corpses of his fellow giants and erupted, “Is this how the Navy’s research institute treats our kind?”

He stepped forward to touch a corpse less than ten meters tall and said angrily, “This is still a child!”

Indeed, for ordinary people, that height was insurmountable, but among giants, it was the body of a child.

He moved to another corpse, tears glimmering in his eyes.

“Basten, you joined the Navy two years before me, but…”

Buffon stepped forward and patted him on the shoulder to comfort him.

Saul shook his head, indicating he was fine. Since he had chosen to follow Buffon, he’d already steeled himself for this.

“Thank you, Captain Buffon. If not for you, their bodies would still be used for Navy experiments. And no one else could restore them so perfectly.”

Half of these giant corpses had served in the Navy; Saul knew most of them—some were his seniors, others his juniors, all fallen in battle.

He’d always believed their sacrifices, driven by justice, were worthwhile. But after the Ohara incident, he realized that the Navy’s so-called justice was merely the World Government’s stance. Who knew how many of these bodies had fallen for false justice? Saul felt their sacrifices were in vain.

And to be denied burial after death, used instead for experiments—Saul suddenly felt the justice he carried was filthy.

“Captain Buffon, let Moriah give them all shadows. In life, they died for dirty justice; now, since you can grant them perfect rebirth, let me lead them to live once more!”

Buffon nodded and went to discuss it with Moriah.

Moriah was delighted, though troubled by the issue of shadows. Giants’ bodies were powerful; if the shadow was too weak, it would be a burden. He also informed Buffon that Tiger’s body was still unusable—even a Fish-Man’s shadow wouldn’t suffice.

“Buffon, with your body, not learning combat skills is such a waste!” Moriah brought up the old topic again. “Hee hee hee hee! You’re nearly three meters tall now, always stitching corpses—what a waste!”

Buffon, contrary to expectations, agreed this time. He figured exposure was inevitable, but he could control how much was revealed.

From then on, Absalom became Buffon’s sparring partner in public, while Baggio trained with him in secret.

Three months later, Shiryu’s shadow, under Buffon’s relentless torment, finally lost its original consciousness, becoming the zombie Baggio in every sense. Even Moriah was amazed—normally, the most stubborn shadow adapted within a week, but Shiryu took three months.

The results were gratifying: Absalom, one of the three monsters, couldn’t withstand ten moves against Baggio, even when Baggio didn’t use a sword.

Buffon’s progress, however, disappointed Moriah. Though Absalom was helpless against Buffon’s physique, the intentionally restrained Buffon couldn’t defeat Absalom either. Moriah could only sigh at the fairness of fate—Buffon’s talent for stitching corpses was extraordinary, so…

Another year passed. In Saul’s eyes, Buffon’s true strength now rivaled that of an Admiral. Baggio, after Buffon’s constant modifications, had also improved greatly. According to Saul, no one below the rank of Admiral in the Navy was Baggio’s match.

One day, Buffon and Saul were sunbathing at the lookout when the Den Den Mushi rang.

“Hello, Buffon, it’s Marco!”

Hearing the voice, Buffon instinctively sensed trouble.

Sure enough, Marco told him that Blackbeard, in order to seize the Dark-Dark Fruit from Fourth Division Captain Thatch, had assassinated him and fled Whitebeard’s crew.

Marco’s purpose in calling was to ask Buffon to stitch up Thatch’s body, as Whitebeard wanted to give him a dignified funeral.

Upon hearing this, Buffon remembered his visit to Whitebeard’s ship, when he’d joked about stitching Thatch up someday. Unexpectedly, it was now to be done under such circumstances. As someone familiar with the plot, Buffon should have foreseen Thatch’s fate, but…

Without further thought, Buffon agreed.

This voyage would not be as simple as before—he would bring Saul, Baggio, Ryoma, and ten general-level zombies.

Before departure, Moriah asked at the dock, “Hee hee hee hee! Buffon, your ship still doesn’t have a name; you ought to choose one!”

Buffon replied without hesitation, “The Juventus!”