Holy crap!
There's really a chance!
"Uncle Brogy! Can you tell me the training method?" Rainer quickly asked, his eyes burning with excitement—no need to hide it, no way to hide it.
Brogy scratched his head, looking a little troubled.
"We've mastered it, but we're not exactly skilled. If you want us to teach you… Well, the method might be a bit clumsy."
"Not skilled?" Rainer raised his brows in surprise.
Elbaf was a giant kingdom famous even in the New World. As the captains of the Giant Warrior Pirates, how could Dorry and Brogy be unskilled in Haki?
Dorry explained,
"The seas are full of strange Devil Fruit users. That's why we learned Haki. But aside from that, our battles are based on our bodies and techniques."
"Exactly. We warriors of Elbaf only believe in flesh-to-flesh combat! Gahahaha!" Brogy added.
What kind of nonsense was that?!
Knowing Haki doesn't stop you from fighting with your fists! Rainer cursed silently.
But looking at the two rough giants again, he sighed.
Fine. This is very much like giants.
"What are you guys talking about?" Luffy tilted his head, confused.
The others looked equally baffled. Rainer gave them a quick explanation.
"But what's that 'clumsy method' you mentioned?" he pressed the giants further.
Dorry and Brogy exchanged a glance, then burst out laughing.
"Gahahaha! It's getting beaten up!"
"..."
Right. So Silvers Rayleigh must have been taught by you guys… Rainer's forehead went black with exasperation.
"Of course, it's not mindlessly getting beaten," Brogy continued.
"The essence of Haki is—"
He patiently explained to everyone, adding extra details since Luffy and the others had never even heard of it.
"An invisible armor?" Luffy rubbed his chin in thought. Then he tilted his head.
"Emmm… so Haki is just armor that doesn't look cool?"
Duang!
"Idiot! That's not what they meant at all!"
Nami gave him her daily beating.
"I think I get it now."
Rainer nodded in understanding. But before trying Haki, there was something else he wanted to test.
"Uncle, let's continue what we started before."
"Ohhh~ you mean that? Sure." Brogy stretched out his hand.
Rainer transformed into his half-beast form. Cyan flames seeped from his body, coating him in dancing fire.
Two short crimson horns sprouted from his forehead, and a blood-red marking spread from the bridge of his nose to his ears. His body gave off a lifeless, withered aura of death.
Though his physique hadn't changed much, the flames and the aura made him radiate a heavy, deathly presence.
"Wahaha! Rainer transformed again, so cool!" Luffy's eyes sparkled—anything involving transformations fascinated him.
"Hey, Luffy, what's going on with Rainer?"
Aside from Luffy, none of the others had seen Rainer transform before. Nami and Vivi didn't even fully understand the types of Devil Fruits.
"Ah, Rainer can transform with his powers! Damn it, I want that too!" Luffy said, pouting in envy.
Relax, you'll have yours someday, Rainer thought silently.
But Dorry and Brogy looked more shocked than anyone else.
They weren't surprised by his strange ability—they had seen countless weird fruits before.
What startled them was the familiar yet foreign aura radiating from Rainer's body.
"Why do you—"
"Don't overthink it, Dorry."
Brogy cut him off, patting his shoulder.
"We've seen similar things before. Young men walk their own paths. Best we don't interfere too much."
"Ahh, true! Gahahaha!"
"What the hell…?" Rainer stared at them, confused.
Was his Necromancer aura leaking out?
Forget it.
This time, when he pressed his hand against Brogy, the transfer worked smoothly with no obstacles.
So the earlier failure was likely due to Haki on the giant's body interfering.
Even if unused consciously, Haki still had some effect. Or so Rainer guessed.
After more than twenty minutes, he finally withdrew his cyan flame.
"Damn, that was exhausting~."
"What is that? Your ability?" Dorry asked, watching the flickering flame on Rainer's hand.
Rainer didn't hide it—he explained about molding undead with his power and asked for their cooperation.
Dorry was straightforward as always. "No problem!"
Rainer immediately covered him in the flame as well.
This time it took a bit less time. Not because Dorry was weaker than Brogy, but because Rainer's fruit had grown stronger—its development boosted his physical attributes further.
That was the essence of his Mythical Zoan development:
Use the powers constantly. Move closer to the form. Gather stronger templates. Mold stronger undead.
Simple, crude, but effective.
Plenty of people had changed their fate with a single Devil Fruit. He was just one more on that list. Especially compared to the bizarre Paramecia types.
But he had one big advantage: as a Zoan user, the deeper he developed, the more his fruit enhanced his physical body.
Of course, aside from the huge boost when he first ate the fruit, subsequent gains were smaller. That's why he kept up his physical training.
Only effort would never betray him—
Unlike, ahem, Marine "Hero" Coby, who ran from training.
But Rainer had other experiments in mind.
He reverted to human form and willed a rift in space to open.
Two warrior-shaped undead stepped out, about human-sized, clad like Spartan soldiers. But before they took more than two steps—
Crack! Crack!
"As I thought… they burst apart." Rainer stroked his chin. He had expected this.
He'd tried compressing their size for agility. But his current strength wasn't enough—their monstrous physiques couldn't be squeezed into human-sized forms. Their bodies simply tore apart the shells.
"This only proves how ridiculously strong their templates are."
He wasn't bothered and resummoned them.
This time, two taller undead emerged—about five meters high, slender and imposing. One carried a round shield and a long spear, with a greatsword at the waist. They looked every bit like Spartan warriors.
Except—
"Ahhh!!!"
A shriek came from behind. Vivi covered her mouth in horror.
She had only ever seen Rainer's fishman undead, which were still somewhat friendly-looking.
Even Nami winced, baring her teeth.
"You bastard! Why do you always make such creepy things?!"
These warriors had no skin—just skeletons, grim and terrifying.
"I can't help it," Rainer shrugged.
"I figured cutting out useless flesh would make them faster."
If only he could compress them more, he wouldn't have needed to strip them down.
He looked at the pair, each with a colored cloth tied at the waist—one red, one green.
"Blue Ogre and Red Ogre. We'll use the uncles' nicknames for these two."
He flicked his cigarette away, grinding it underfoot.
Now… time to test it. Let's see if you two can inherit Haki.