Elsewhere, aboard Thriller Bark—
"M-Monster!"
Perona curled up in the corner, staring at Zoro in terror.
At the feet of that man who looked like a demon, bodies—or rather, zombies—were strewn everywhere in a dense, gruesome carpet.
First, Absalom, one of the Three Mysterious Creatures, had rushed over after being called in to help her, only to have his presence detected instantly.
Then, in a single flash of steel, he was cut into hundreds of pieces.
After that, thousands of zombie soldiers were crushed into finger-sized fragments by several enormous flying slashes, so thoroughly destroyed that even their zombie constitution could not give them the slightest chance to move again.
And finally, the zombie generals she had placed such high hopes in were also hacked to pieces by this man named Zoro, even while outnumbering him.
Among them, the one who had lasted the longest—Ryuma the swordsman—had only managed that much because this man had wanted to learn something from him.
What was most terrifying of all was that Zoro did not look exhausted in the slightest. On the contrary, he wore the expression of someone who had learned exactly what he wanted—then finished Ryuma off with a single strike, reducing him to ashes.
And that was not all.
That demon had even obtained the famed blade Shusui.
"So this is the inheritance of an ancestor? Well, I do not feel much about that part, but getting a famous blade is not a bad thing."
Zoro stowed Shusui away and paid no attention to the trembling Perona nearby.
Still, he did not do anything to her either. In his eyes, she had done an excellent job carrying out exactly what she was trying to do.
First, she had called over the invisible guy on the target list to save her, only for it to benefit Zoro instead, letting him kill the invisible ability user the instant he noticed movement.
Then she had summoned thousands of zombies, intending to wear him down through attrition.
It seemed she had not wanted Gecko Moria to learn what was happening here.
But in the end, Zoro had successfully used his flying slashes to thin out the enemy force, greatly reducing the burden on the other two outside.
Best of all, Perona seemed to be trying to make up for her mistake by dragging over a whole batch of zombie generals.
And among them just so happened to be Ryuma, along with the famed blade Shusui.
It had saved him a great deal of trouble looking for them.
Could anything be better than this?
Zoro could not help glancing back at Perona, admiration in his eyes.
"Lord Moria, save me!"
Perona shuddered, then burst into tears.
She was starting to regret not notifying her master immediately and having Lord Moria, one of the Seven Warlords of the Sea, kill this swordsman from the start.
Now there was no way this man would let her use the Den Den Mushi to call for help again...
After all, she had said so much already. He had to understand how powerful Lord Moria was.
But to her shock, Zoro tossed the Den Den Mushi back to her again.
"Anyone else?"
"..."
Perona's expression twisted once more. Furious, she grabbed the Den Den Mushi.
"Just you wait! I'm waking Lord Moria right now!"
"I hope you can do it quickly."
Zoro sounded genuinely expectant as he began familiarizing himself with the feel of Shusui.
Next, it would be his time to shine.
That side had a Warlord of the Sea, and Ren's side also had a Warlord of the Sea. Which meant that if he cut down Moria, he would have caught up to the captain, right?
On this point, Nami, you can't beat me!
Zoro waited patiently while recalling the information Ren had given him about Moria.
Whether it was Shadows Asgard or the giant demon Oars, he wanted to see them both for himself.
As for Perona...
She was too weak.
If the captain had not thought her ability was somewhat unusual and potentially useful somewhere down the line, Zoro might have cut her down the moment they first met.
But unexpectedly, before Perona could even connect the call, the actions of Cavendish and Urouge had already produced results.
After all, they were not weak either. Both were Super Rookies with bounties in the hundred-million range.
With most of the zombies no longer causing trouble, they had successfully found the survivors and obtained information about the key location.
And then, without any coordination at all, Cavendish boldly launched an attack on the great hall where Moria was staying!
The strength of a man worth over a hundred million Beli was not to be underestimated.
Cavendish had always been an agile swordsman. Caught off guard after waking in a hurry, Moria suffered heavy damage, his chest instantly riddled with dense piercing wounds.
Enraged, he tried to attack back—but he could not keep up with Cavendish's speed at all, forcing him to rely on his Devil Fruit powers.
As the user of the Shadow-Shadow Fruit, Moria could manipulate his own shadow.
He could use it as a Doppelman to defend against an opponent's attacks or attack in his place.
Its combat strength was equal to Moria himself—in other words, he effectively gained an extra fighter out of thin air!
Its powers were also deeply bizarre, allowing him to split his shadow apart and reshape it into all kinds of forms to attack.
Cavendish soon found himself beset by swarms of biting shadow bats.
That was not until Urouge arrived.
Acting as a sturdy tank, he withstood the attacks of both Morias and created the opening Cavendish needed to keep striking.
"Damn it! Damn it!"
Moria's shrill voice rang out with pain as the lightning-fast Cavendish carved one slash after another into his body.
Meanwhile, his Doppelman, his shadow bats, and all his other techniques were blocked time and again by that grinning giant of a man.
Moria could clearly feel it now—the burly fighter who had arrived later was no simple opponent either. He seemed to be a Devil Fruit user as well.
At last—
Moria chose to reveal his trump card.
"Shadows Asgard!"
Using the power of his Devil Fruit, Moria summoned every shadow under his control and absorbed them all into his body.
One hundred, two hundred, four hundred, one thousand shadows' worth!
Swelling to dozens of meters tall, Moria smashed through the hall itself. With a mere wave of his hand, he sent Urouge flying, then with one palm strike shattered the foundations of the castle.
Cavendish lost his footing, his balance thrown off, and was sent flying far into the distance by another slap before he could recover.
But the side effects of Shadows Asgard were immense as well.
That power was borrowed, not truly Moria's own.
It required overwhelming mental control to use properly—and in the past, Moria had never absorbed as many as a thousand shadows before.
And so—
By the time Zoro arrived, what he saw was a crazed Moria, lashing out wildly at Urouge and Cavendish.
There were also a number of survivors helping the two of them.
"So he's lost his reason? Then he's no different from a beast."
Zoro was a little disappointed, but after thinking it over, he still decided to make his move.
Armament Haki coated his three swords as he employed the ever-improving breathing technique he had honed.
"Three-Sword Style: 1080 Pound Phoenix!"
The flying slash shot forward like a crescent moon, the overlapping arcs converging into a remnant-moon-shaped slash that tore ahead at blinding speed.
Zoro sheathed his swords at once and turned to leave.
Behind him, a thunderous roar erupted.
The sudden flying slash struck Moria head-on. In a flash of light, it split both him and the ancient castle behind him cleanly in two!
Compared to the strike he had unleashed back on the Ark, his current Three-Sword Style flying slash was actually far simpler.
There was no overwhelming spectacle to it, no phoenix-shaped wave of sword energy.
It was merely a pure flash of sword aura—
And because of that, it was even more terrifying.
Within the domain of Space-Time: The Creator, he had once fought a recreated Mihawk.
Although it had only been a replica of memory, repeated study and reflection had still benefited him immensely.
A sword is a weapon.
Swordsmanship is the art of killing.
And if its purpose is to kill, what difference is there between a simple strike and a dazzling one?
Better to compress everything into one point in exchange for an even stronger, more direct attack.
Though Mihawk could not speak to him, the sword aura he wielded at the time seemed to convey exactly that meaning.
I've grown too.
With that thought, Zoro left the area without the slightest hesitation.
Compared to showing himself and receiving those people's praise and gratitude, Ren's plan was far more important.
Revealing himself would only bring unpredictable complications and make it troublesome for Cavendish and Urouge to gain fame.
And that was precisely why—
He had swung only that single slash.
Only then did the people fighting below the castle finally come back to their senses.
That strike had come too suddenly, too swiftly, too fiercely. It had caught everyone off guard.
"H-Hey! What just happened?!"
"...A flying slash?!"
"Someone attacked! Are there still other people on this island ship?!"
Lola cried out in shock, while the nearby survivors' alliance all turned to stare in the direction the slash had come from.
But they found nothing.
The scene they had expected—of a swordsman slowly stepping forward—never occurred.
Urouge and Cavendish, however, seemed to understand something.
"So he still made a move? We really are still far too weak..."
Urouge clenched his fists hard, as if reflecting on his own shortcomings.
Cavendish, on the other hand, muttered unhappily,
"Tch. If he was going to act, he could've done it sooner. What was the point of waiting until things got this bad..."
His gaze shifted toward the dust cloud rising ahead, where a massive shadow was beginning to emerge once more.
It was Moria!
"He's... not dead?!"
"How is his vitality this monstrous?!"
"Don't panic! Look—he's spitting the shadows out!"
Lola shouted the warning, though she also noticed that Cavendish and Urouge seemed to have expected this already.
The moment she spoke, the two of them had already charged forward!
"Bastards!"
Moria let out a shrill howl, then vomited mouthful after mouthful of blood.
A terrible wound had been carved across his body, one deep enough to nearly spill his guts.
Shadows poured endlessly out from both the wound and the blood he was coughing up, carrying away that power that had never truly belonged to him.
He was still in a state of furious rage, swinging his hands wildly as he attacked his enemies again.
But compared to the brute force he had displayed before, his strength had clearly declined far too much now!
"Karma Retribution!"
Urouge rushed to the front, his entire body swelling to more than ten meters in size.
After dropping his shoulder and swinging his arm to block that palm strike, he drove a Haki-coated fist straight into Moria's face.
Immediately after, Cavendish came racing in, man and sword becoming a vast ocean of steel.
"Beautiful Sword: Sea of Stars!"
Thousands of razor-sharp sword energies pierced through Moria's massive body, accelerating the escape of the shadows while also crushing Moria completely!
The gigantic figure crashed into the ruins once more, sending dust billowing into the sky.
But this time, Moria had no chance of standing up again.
"We won!"
Lola and the others burst into cheers.
The nightmare that had tormented them for years had finally been broken. Every member of the Rolling Pirates' Victims Association felt their shadow return to them.
Even more shadows flew off into the distance, escaping the shackles of the Shadow-Shadow Fruit and returning to their true owners.
And that scene—
Declared the defeat of Gecko Moria!