Chapter Fifty: The Secret of the Terrifying Three-Masted Ship

Inside the terrifying three-masted ship, Moria was leading Buffon toward the castle’s underground vault. Upon reaching the lowest level, Moria activated a mechanism, and a passageway appeared in the floor of the vault, its opening so large that Buffon estimated even Sauro could easily enter.

Buffon followed and descended the stairs for several minutes before reaching the end. At the bottom, he found himself in a vast chamber filled with rows of devices resembling bicycle pedals, linked by axles and gears. Some of these mechanisms were enormous—the largest pedals towered above Buffon’s height.

The sight stunned Buffon, who realized that this must be the secret source of the ship’s propulsion besides wind—a detail never addressed in the original story. Now, the truth was revealed! He recalled the scale of Moria’s pirate crew before his clash with Kaido and immediately understood: the ship had a human-powered apparatus.

With sufficient manpower, this ship could traverse the windless zone with ease. Seeing Buffon silent, Moria continued, his peculiar laughter echoing: “Hehehehehe! This ship was converted from an island in the West Sea. This human-powered device drives the propeller groups at the stern. I’ve never used it since the ship came into my possession, so I’m not sure if it still works!”

Buffon grew curious about the craftsmen who built the ship. He knew it hailed from the West Sea and, recalling details, guessed it wasn’t the shipwrights from Water Seven. Moria’s next words confirmed Buffon’s suspicion: “This ship was modified by giant shipwrights from Elbaf. See those massive devices? They were made specifically for the giants!”

Now Buffon fully understood: the terrifying three-masted ship was crafted by shipwrights from Elbaf, the land of giants, which explained everything. Otherwise, a vessel thousands of times larger than the Sunny would be impossible for ordinary humans to construct.

Yet new questions arose in Buffon’s mind: Which island was this originally? How did it travel from the West Sea to here? And how did it end up in Moria’s hands? If it were stolen, Buffon wouldn’t believe it for a second.

Moria noticed Buffon’s silence and pressed on: “I bet you want to know how I got this ship, right? Hehehehehe! That secret can’t be shared just yet. All you need to know is that I bear no ill will toward you.”

Buffon nodded, saying nothing more. From what Moria had revealed and connecting it with his own knowledge, Buffon could analyze and judge for himself, likely getting close to the truth. Yet he sensed that behind such secrets lay ties to great events, and knowing them now might not be a blessing.

But after uncovering the secret of the three-masted ship, Buffon had mastered another method to cross the windless zone. If the ship could sail again, traveling between the East Sea and the South Sea would be no issue at all.

Moria hadn’t spoken plainly, but Buffon understood his intention: it was time to prioritize the giant zombie army. Yet where to find suitable shadows? That was a headache, for Moria’s trump cards in the original story weren’t limited to Oz and Ryoma.

There were also three formidable figures who, due to weak shadows, were defeated in a single move by Luffy and his crew. Thus, though the corpses of twenty or so giants had already been stitched together, Buffon had yet to let Moria fill them with shadows.

Returning to the surface, Buffon didn’t rush to inspect the propellers below the sea, but went back to the lab to organize his gains from this expedition. If his theory proved successful, the shadow problem might be much easier to solve.

His harvest this time was truly bountiful: the abilities copied from three Devil Fruits all greatly enhanced him. Immediately, he switched to the Swallow Fruit’s power and began synthesizing Wapol alloy from a heap of metals. While Buffon worried about whether he could succeed on the first try, he soon found the process much simpler than expected.

After swallowing the materials, all the relevant formulas Wapol had previously synthesized appeared, eliminating the need for Buffon to experiment further. Once he produced the finished Wapol alloy, he needed only to forge suture needles and scalpels. After ten years of stitching corpses, Buffon was certainly skilled in smithing.

Even if his skills were lacking, he could rely on the old maxim: “With persistence, even an iron rod can be ground into a fine needle!” With the powers of the Flame Fruit, Buffon had no need for furnaces or similar tools, replacing the smith’s hammer with his fist coated in Armament Haki.

Though his smithing skill was already at level four, actual practice proved challenging—he spent most of the day honing his technique to match his mental precision. Progress sped up afterward; within two hours, Buffon forged sixty-six suture needles, four scalpels, and one large pair of scissors.

Testing them on a corpse, he found the tools much superior to his previous ones. Even thick-skinned beasts could now be handled easily, with or without Armament Haki.

Next, Buffon began experimenting with the Dark Fruit. Blackbeard’s phrase, “the gravitational force that can swallow all light,” inspired him: those deprived of their shadows could never stand in the sun, but perhaps by developing a skill to absorb sunlight using the Dark Fruit, he could solve the zombie army’s major weakness.

Yet developing such a fruit ability would not be easy, though Buffon lacked neither subjects nor time. Many on the ship had lost their shadows; they would surely welcome any experiment that might restore their ability to bask in sunlight.

Buffon had Ryoma find Lola’s real body and, after handing her a cloak, led her to the lookout tower. Lola, following him, grew increasingly anxious and finally blurted out, “Master Buffon, are you eloping with me? Why didn’t you warn me beforehand so I could prepare?”

Buffon, exasperated, switched to the Silence Fruit and immediately silenced this marriage-obsessed woman. Once at the lookout, he dismissed the fruit’s power.

Confronted by the long-awaited sunlight, Lola grew almost delirious, reaching out to touch the rays, but Buffon stopped her. “If you don’t want to turn to ashes, do as I say.”

Buffon then erected a shelter atop the lookout, had Lola enter and remove her cloak, and, without further explanation, switched to the Dark Fruit. “Extend your hand,” he said.

Lola obeyed, gazing at Buffon seriously. “Master Buffon, will it really work?”

Buffon, uncertain, replied, “I’ll do my best.”

Lola nodded, saying nothing—years of companionship had built her trust in Buffon.

Buffon’s plan was simple yet complex: he intended to use his unparalleled needlework to implant dark matter produced by the Dark Fruit onto Lola’s skin via tattooing. The idea was straightforward, but execution proved difficult. The first ten attempts failed: either the implantation was too shallow and the dark matter wouldn’t stay, or too deep and it harmed Lola’s body.

On the eleventh try, Buffon found inspiration, recalling the unused Microscope Fruit. Using its power, he injected minute quantities of dark matter into Lola’s skin cells, then expertly stitched up the cell walls.

After nearly an hour of effort, Buffon managed to treat just one of Lola’s palms.

“Try it,” Buffon urged.

Lola was fearful, but trusting Buffon and longing for sunlight, she closed her eyes in a gesture of resolve and thrust her hand into the sunlight.

The unbearable burning sensation she had always felt was gone, replaced by warmth. Lola instantly opened her eyes, staring at her glowing hand in the sunlight, tears streaming down her cheeks.

“Thank you, Master Buffon! I thought…” At this moment, Lola’s admiration for Buffon was boundless, a feeling of unworthiness she had never experienced before.

Buffon waved her off, saying, “Come on, let’s return to the lab—I’ll finish your whole body.”

Lola nodded and followed Buffon down to the laboratory, where she hesitantly asked, “Master Buffon, once you see my body, does that mean…”

Buffon’s mind was filled with exasperation. “In a doctor’s eyes, there’s no gender!” he declared, then knocked her unconscious with a karate chop.