Chapter Seven: Obsession
After finishing the handover, Absalom left. As he departed, he told the two of them that they had uncovered clues to a grand tomb this time and would be going to retrieve the corpse hidden inside. Buffon directed his zombie legion to move all 300-plus coffins from this treasure ship back into the ice vault, then began to inspect them one by one.
It took him half a day to sort through all the bodies. To his surprise, among the corpses were some belonging to navy officers—not many, but all with high ranks displayed on their uniforms.
“So the World Government’s secret support for Moria went this far. I wonder how the navy at large would view the World Government if this ever came to light,” Buffon mused, hefting the massive giant clam as he made his way back to the lab.
Upon returning, Buffon opened the clam, and the corpse inside gradually came into view. He didn’t even need to look at the face; the “Sunfire” tattoo, which had once been the “Hoof of the Celestial Dragon,” emblazoned on the chest, combined with the color of the skin, was enough for Buffon to identify the body.
It was Fisher Tiger—the founder and first captain of the Sun Pirates, a legendary fish-man explorer.
Even Buffon, well-versed in all things, found himself a little shocked by this discovery. Moria was audacious enough to steal even Tiger’s body. If Jinbe, now also one of the Seven Warlords, ever found out, he’d surely come after Moria with murderous intent—after all, Jinbe was his nemesis!
“A pitiable man,” was Buffon’s verdict on Tiger.
Fisher Tiger had scaled the Holy Land of Mary Geoise—the World Government’s headquarters—with his bare hands, set the place ablaze, and liberated thousands of slaves of various races, all to save his fellow fish-men who had been bought by the Celestial Dragons as slaves. The three Boa sisters were among those freed that day.
But this idealist’s ending was a tragic one. As Buffon recalled from the original story, this pirate with a bounty of 230 million Berries would surely be rated at least T1 in the “Character Compendium.”
With this in mind, Buffon started to insert intravenous lines into Tiger’s corpse.
A new question occurred to him: why, among the thousands of corpses from previous pirate ships, had there never been a single fish-man? With this in mind, Buffon began to strip the corpse and examine the wounds.
It was then he noticed the tiny white granules scattered over Tiger’s body.
In that instant, Buffon understood the crux of the matter: a fish-man’s corpse is basically dried fish! And what’s special about dried fish? Lots of salt, and sea fish at that! Trying to implant a shadow into dried sea fish—Moria must be dreaming.
But that was Moria’s problem, not his. For now, Buffon focused on extracting every possible benefit from the corpse.
He donned gloves and began stitching. The needle danced, and in less than half an hour, he had finished sewing up the body.
[Character: Fisher Tiger]
[Rank: T2]
[Faction: Pirates]
[Bounty: 230 million Berries]
[Obsession: 93%]
[Current obtainable benefit: Water Affinity +321 → 11150 (Level 3 Sea Dog)]
[Obtainable Skill: Power of the Fish-Men (Rare)]
[Claim benefit?]
The power of a fish-man—ten times the strength of a human on land! The ability to breathe and fight freely underwater! This was truly a game-changing acquisition.
Underwater breathing—in the world of pirates, this was about as useful and overpowered as skills could get!
Buffon gazed at the corpse for a long time, then murmured, “Brother Tiger, it was a pity you died unable to accept human blood. Such a needless end.”
Just then, he noticed something unusual. Fluid was seeping from what he had identified as the fatal wound at Tiger’s waist. Confused—this was a first for him—Buffon stopped the IV drip and opened the wound for a closer look.
After a thorough inspection, he finally understood: it was an artery, left unstitched. The blood vessels hadn’t been connected! This fit perfectly with the account that Tiger had bled to death.
Suturing blood vessels might be a challenge for others, but for Buffon, with his Stitch-Stitch Fruit abilities, it was a breeze.
He stitched the artery, then closed up the flesh and skin.
The “Character Compendium” updated:
[Obsession: 94%]
Buffon breathed a long sigh of relief. The mystery was solved! It had all been down to that tiny blood vessel.
With this insight, he continued his experiment—dissecting Tiger’s body, examining every wound and blood vessel, repairing each one, and finally restoring the corpse’s appearance.
As expected, 100% obsession was achieved!
Along with this new milestone came a fresh reward:
[Inherit the Will of Fisher Tiger!]
Was this the prelude to a quest? Was the plot about to accelerate?
Buffon wasn’t ready to inherit this “will” just yet. Instead, his thoughts turned to the other corpses. Did each one possess a will, or was this unique to Tiger, given his special status?
To test this theory, Buffon retrieved one of the zombies he had previously stitched up.
After re-stitching, as expected, nothing happened.
Still unconvinced, he brought out Ryuma’s body and repeated the process.
This time, there was a result!
A week later, Buffon had accumulated enough wills and began his “archaeological film viewing.”
Naturally, his first choice was Fisher Tiger’s will. He opened the “Character Compendium” to inherit it, and scenes began to play out in his mind.
It began with Tiger’s final moments. He and several members of the Sun Pirates were aboard a captured navy vessel. The ship only carried human blood supplies, and none of the other fish-men shared Tiger’s rare S-type RH-negative blood.
Tiger, disgusted with human blood and refusing to submit, declined a transfusion.
As he faded, he revealed to Jinbe, Arlong, and the others that he had once been a slave, confessing that he could never bring himself to love humans.
He pointed out that only Princess Otohime’s policy of peace offered a true path forward for both fish-men and humans.
Tiger believed that only by sparing the next generation from hatred and prejudice could true coexistence be achieved.
And so Fisher Tiger, having lost too much blood, passed from the world—a legendary leader of his people, gone.
When the vision faded, a mission prompt appeared:
[Fisher Tiger’s Final Wish: Help the fish-men eliminate their grudge against humanity. Reward: One rare item of your choice!]
“So they want me to take down the Celestial Dragons myself?”
Thankfully, there was no time limit on this quest, nor any stipulation that it had to be completed before continuing to use the “Character Compendium”—otherwise, Buffon would have choked on his own decision to inherit the will!
Setting that aside, Buffon proceeded to inherit the wills of other corpses.
[Shimotsuki Ryuma’s Wish: Find a true successor for the spirit of swordsmanship…]
That one was simple, though it would take time. There was no way he could travel to Shimotsuki Village in the East Blue right now.
[Captain John’s Wish: Find the Rocks Pirates’ treasure and deliver it to Charlotte Linlin…]
This one truly shocked Buffon, and the hidden information was immense! He had always suspected that One Piece, the legendary treasure, was likely a massive hoax. And the Rocks Pirates’ treasure, which Buggy the Clown had been obsessing over, was probably just a rumor.
Yet now, judging from this wish, it might actually be real. But why give it to Charlotte Linlin? Could it be that Captain John and Big Mom had a relationship back in the day?