Chapter Nine: The Arrival of the Seven Warlords

After Buffon had once again finished stitching Ryoma’s body, he sat down for a long, heartfelt conversation with Brook’s shadow. In the end, Brook came to accept the reality of his situation. The two agreed that Brook’s shadow would remain within Ryoma’s corpse, serving as Buffon’s bodyguard, and when the savior Buffon spoke of finally arrived, Brook would regain his freedom. In exchange, Buffon would periodically bring him to meet his original body and ensure he regularly took salt, keeping the shadow in a constant state of clarity.

Another year passed. Buffon and Hogback “together” had nearly completed stitching up Oz’s corpse—though in truth, Buffon did most of the work on his own. During this time, Buffon had fully figured out how to use the abilities of the Devil Fruits he had copied. In fact, copying the ability didn’t mean he truly possessed a Devil Fruit.

First, he couldn’t use several fruit abilities simultaneously; for example, he couldn’t be invisible and use the Stitch-Stitch Fruit at the same time. Second, the rule of “no two kings in one realm”: if the original owner of a fruit was within ten kilometers, Buffon couldn’t use that fruit’s ability. Yet, to Buffon, this rule could easily serve as a radar in the future!

Finally, there was the issue of the “landlubber.” Buffon didn’t become unable to swim; instead, whenever he encountered seawater, he simply couldn’t use the fruit’s abilities, though he wouldn’t become weak. The same applied to seastone. There were advantages and flaws, but overall, he was still an existence that defied the heavens.

That day, Buffon was enjoying red tea with Brook aboard the Rumbar Pirates’ ship in the Devil’s Triangle. Having received Moria’s commission, Buffon was now allowed to lead ships within the area, “plundering” lost pirate crews. Yet every time, Buffon would seize their treasures and then kick their ship away, never bringing a single shadow back for Moria.

Moria could only sigh at this, for every zombie sent along reported that Buffon, being utterly useless in combat, never took action. Ryoma, on the other hand, would always snatch the pirates’ underwear and toss them all back into the sea. Moria even regretted implanting such a shadow in Ryoma.

Just as Buffon rose, preparing to torment Brook once more, the Den Den Mushi rang:

“Hello, Buffon, hurry back! The Warlord, Bartholomew Kuma, has boarded the ship! His men are waiting for you in the laboratory, not sure what they want,” Perona’s voice came from the other end.

Buffon hung up and mused, “Why would Kuma come at this time? Could he be delivering some order from the World Government? But why summon me?”

“Brook, I’m leaving. Take care of yourself!” With that, Buffon took Ryoma and returned to the castle.

However, he didn’t encounter Kuma—instead, in his laboratory, he found Sentomaru!

This chubby young man, wearing a red bellyband, sporting a bob haircut, and shouldering a double-edged giant axe, saw Buffon enter and immediately said, “Are you Casty Buffon?”

Buffon nodded without replying. Sentomaru then declared seriously, “Pirate, I won’t tell you…”

Buffon paused, thinking to himself that this so-called tight-lipped man was infamous for leaking information with every word. It seemed getting the reason for Kuma’s visit out of him would be easy!

“I don’t want to know why you’re here,” Buffon replied, turning to walk toward the operating table.

Sentomaru was taken aback—this wasn’t how conversations were supposed to go. Should he say more, or remain silent?

After a short internal struggle, Sentomaru finally spoke: “I came here with Bartholomew Kuma to deliver the contents of the World Conference!”

Buffon thought, “That conference was last year or the year before, about guarding against Luffy’s father and the Revolutionary Army. Everyone already knows this—why bother coming all this way?”

Buffon continued his work, showing no reaction.

Sentomaru persisted: “To test artificial Devil Fruits, we’re here to ask Moria to help create some zombies!”

“Oh, that makes sense. You two are Vegapunk’s bodyguard and devoted follower—if you weren’t here for him, that would be strange. But didn’t Vegapunk’s experiment fail? Or maybe…”

Buffon pondered silently, but said aloud: “You came to borrow zombies for experiments?”

“I never told you that!” Sentomaru retorted.

Faced with such absurdity, Buffon felt the urge to slap him. Still, the information Sentomaru revealed was intriguing.

The original story never explained this, but given Vegapunk’s penchant for transforming Kuma into a Peacekeeper, it wasn’t impossible for him to collude with Moria. The benefit was obvious: these experimental subjects could be easily controlled. If Moria reclaimed the shadows, the specimens would become useless, fitting the logic of the World Government and Navy.

But could zombies really eat Devil Fruits? Buffon swiftly considered the matter and concluded it was plausible. After all, Spandam’s sword had consumed the Elephant-Elephant Fruit—if a sword could eat a fruit, surely a meat-filled, bloodless zombie could as well.

If so, then wouldn’t Buffon…

He didn’t allow his thoughts to wander further, because he noticed the enormous scar on Sentomaru’s face!

Now, whenever Buffon saw a scar not stitched by his own hand, he felt deeply uncomfortable—especially one so crude and prominent on the face.

Buffon turned, stared intently at Sentomaru, and silently approached him.

Sentomaru, noticing Buffon’s odd gaze, swung his giant axe in front of him and solemnly said, “I only fight opponents I respect.”

Buffon cursed inwardly, “Who wants to fight you? I just want to re-stitch the scar on your face.”

But he reasoned that if he operated on Sentomaru while he was awake, the loose-tongued fellow might discover some of Buffon’s secrets and betray him. So, as Buffon approached, he put on his gloves.

Then, with a single burst of speed, he darted behind Sentomaru and struck him on the back of the head. Sentomaru collapsed instantly.

“Goalkeeper’s secret technique—one-handed slap.”

Buffon was speechless.

He hoisted the unconscious Sentomaru onto the operating table and swiftly re-stitched the ugly scar on his face.

From the “Character Encyclopedia”:

[Character: Sentomaru]
[Level: T3]
[Faction: World Government]
…
[Skills obtainable: Observation Haki]
[Do you wish to acquire benefits?]

Ah! Observation Haki—not obtained from a corpse, but from a living person.

At that moment, a commanding voice sounded from outside the door: “Boy, what are you doing?”

Buffon turned to see none other than Bartholomew Kuma, one of the Seven Warlords of the Sea.