Chapter Five: Armament Haki

Inside the castle’s banquet hall, rows of coffins of all shapes and sizes stood lined up against the circular walls. In the center, under the dim light, Moriah Moonlight’s massive frame, all 692 centimeters of it, lay sprawled across the stone floor. Among all non-giant races in the world of pirates, he was, without a doubt, a towering figure. Yet the origin of his peculiar onion-shaped physique remained an enduring mystery.

Before him stood the three monsters: Absalom, Perona, and Hogback. Together, they pored over the latest reports from the newspaper, their voices low and intent.

“Heeheeheehee! Looks like the World Government means business this time. Which of you will accompany me on this little trip?” Moriah asked with a lazy, almost careless air.

Absalom replied, “Lord Moriah, Perona and I will go with you. Let Hogback stay behind and watch over the place.”

Moriah gave no immediate answer. Instead, his gaze shifted to Hogback, who replied with his characteristic hiss, “I’d like to get out for a bit as well, perhaps find some fresh graves for us to visit!” Hogback had no intention of being left behind. With Buffon now overseeing the stitching of corpses, he no longer worried about the numbers in their zombie army.

“Hogback, since we’re joining the Seven Warlords, you’ll need to speed up the creation of general-class zombies. Can Buffon handle it all on his own?” Moriah, uncharacteristically serious, pressed the point.

Hogback, just as earnest, answered, “Don’t worry. Buffon is like a human sewing machine. As long as the potions keep coming, he’ll manage just fine.”

“In that case, Perona, you’ll stay and watch the castle. The other two will come with me. And notify Buffon—he can begin stitching together the general-class zombies,” Moriah decreed. As he finished speaking, a bat-shaped shadow slipped from beneath him, flapping toward Buffon’s laboratory to deliver the message.

Over the past year, Buffon’s mastery in stitching corpses had earned Moriah’s trust and reliance. Yet, that trust had its limits. Despite shooting up from 191 to 213 centimeters tall, Buffon’s fighting prowess remained unimpressive—even less so than Hogback’s, who was himself no warrior.

Moriah had offered more than once to teach Buffon some combat techniques, but was met each time with Buffon’s cold refusal. Buffon’s reasoning was simple and irrefutable: “Even if I trained for another ten years, I’d still be outmatched by anyone on the Grand Line—so why bother?”

Upon receiving the order to begin stitching general-class zombies, Buffon’s face remained as expressionless as ever.

After a year of patching and mending, his main attributes had all reached level three. As for things like tattooing and massage—skills he deemed useful only for daily life—he had little interest in pursuing them further.

Ascending from level three required a thousand upgrade points; if the progression continued at that rate, the next level would require ten thousand.

“Ten thousand, huh? If I start working on general-class corpses now, it probably won’t take too long. The only question is how my skills will hold up.”

Lost in thought, Buffon walked to the cold storage. In storage rooms eight through twelve lay the corpses destined to become general-class zombies. He had already made his choice for the first: the great swordsman, Ryuma of the Frost Moon.

Ryuma’s coffin was easily identifiable—not by a cross, but by the emblem of the Kozuki clan.

As a samurai from Wano, Ryuma had never once tasted defeat; no matter his opponent, he could cut them down in a single stroke—a swordsman who had remained unbeaten all his life. In the original tale, when Ryuma’s corpse was animated with Brook’s shadow, he faced Brook twice, defeating him both times with identical techniques, each with a single, decisive move.

Lifting the coffin lid, Buffon found Ryuma’s corpse lying inside, fully dressed. His hair was snow-white, his face deeply lined, and a white cloth covered his left eye, the site of what must have been a grievous wound. He wore a white kimono, each sleeve embroidered with the character for “dragon,” and on his feet, wooden sandals. Beside him, the black blade “Autumn Water” rested quietly in the coffin.

Buffon picked up Autumn Water, weighing it in his hand before drawing it from its sheath. Instantly, the temperature in the already frigid storage seemed to drop further, the black blade radiating a cold, menacing gleam.

Holding the sword in his right hand, Buffon pressed the thumbnail of his left hand against the blade.

With a swift motion, his excess nail was sliced cleanly off.

“This sword is sharp—perfect for trimming nails, if a bit long,” Buffon murmured to himself. He returned the blade, closed the coffin, shouldered it, and carried it back to his laboratory.

Once inside, Buffon began a careful examination of Ryuma’s wounds. The body bore many injuries, a testament to the ferocity of Ryuma’s final, fatal defeat. The most severe was the wound over the left eye, likely the one that ultimately claimed his life.

He attached an IV drip to the corpse, administering fluids to help restore the body, which had spent a long time in cold storage and needed time to return to peak condition.

Buffon passed the time by drawing Autumn Water again and trimming his nails, waiting for over an hour until the body had recovered sufficiently. Then, donning his white gloves, he began the painstaking process of stitching.

Once he began, Buffon quickly realized the complexity was far beyond what he had initially observed. Internal injuries, blood vessels—details Hogback would have ignored—were all addressed with meticulous care.

Any imperfection could later become a fatal flaw in the zombie puppet’s performance.

Yet for Buffon, none of this was a challenge. With vision akin to a microscope and the unparalleled artistry granted by the “Sew-Sew Fruit,” he spent another hour meticulously restoring the corpse.

Turning to the “Character Compendium,” Buffon flipped to a new entry, where Ryuma’s details appeared:

[Master: Ryuma of the Frost Moon]
[Rank: T1]
[Faction: Kingdom’s Guardian]
[Bounty: 2,730,000,000 Berries]
[Obsession: 93%]
[Current Gains: Swordsmanship +858→2327 (Level 3 Sword Slave)]
[Skills Obtainable: Armament Haki (Rare), Dragon Slash (Limited Edition)]
[Claim Gains?]

Armament Haki—nothing was missing.

In Buffon’s understanding, Haki was clearly a higher-level power than Devil Fruits. Otherwise, how could Rayleigh, with no Devil Fruit ability, face off against Admiral Kizaru with only his sword?

With Armament Haki in hand, Observation and Conqueror’s Haki could not be far behind.

Still, Buffon knew that Haki was not something that could be mastered simply by stitching corpses—it required training to truly wield it proficiently.

As for why it was Armament Haki—wasn’t it obvious? The black blade Autumn Water was a sword permanently infused with Armament Haki. To acquire Armament Haki from Ryuma’s corpse was only natural.

With this realization, Buffon understood at last.

So this was how the Sew-Sew Fruit was meant to be used!