While Zoro was getting his power-up.
Somewhere else in the castle.
Luffy burst through a window, glass shattering everywhere, the gremlin landing inside.
This was where he felt the strongest presence, like a couple floors below. He felt Zoro and Kairo entering a room—well, none of his business.
Luffy scratched his head as he looked at the dark room with its gothic aesthetic.
"Man... this place is weird."
Like, what was it with all those skulls everywhere?
The room was huge, with shadows practically everywhere. At the far end of the room there was a chamber with a fat ass sleeping inside of it, and this was what the future King of the Pirates decided to lock on to.
The big back lay there, snoring like crazy. It wasn't midnight yet—it was closer to 10 PM than it was to 12, the current time being around 8:45. So there were roughly 3-ish hours before the fat ass had to wake up.
And like 4-ish hours before Kuma were to arrive to tell him about the crackheads he had to worry about.
But that was if this timeline was the same as the original.
The Straw Hats got on this island a bit later than usual. Though that would be in terms of timeline—if we were speaking about the time taken from Water 7 to this island, they got there way faster, by virtue of the currents.
They did skip Enies Lobby, which meant there were two titans who stayed enslaved because the Straw Hats didn't have to go to the World Government's home turf.
That, however, wasn't important right now. This small bit of info wouldn't mean much for a while.
"SHURRRRROOOOOO..."
Luffy tilted his head.
"He's sleeping?"
The figure was huge, a bum sleeping in the bed, having gotten his shit rocked once in his life and deciding to give up on it.
Luffy walked closer.
Step.
Step.
Step.
He stared up at the sleeping bum.
"..."
Then he poked his stomach.
Nothing.
Luffy poked harder.
Still nothing.
The snoring continued.
"SHURRRRRRRRRRROOOOOOO—"
Luffy frowned.
"Huh."
Then he climbed the throne.
Now standing directly in front of the sleeping bum, Luffy leaned forward and stretched his mouth wide.
"HEY OLD GUY!!!"
"WAKE UP!!!"
His shout echoed through the entire castle.
The snoring stopped.
Slowly, the bum opened his eyes. He was in the middle of the best dream of his life where he was beating that "I wanna die but will never go fight a top tier" bum that was known as Kaido.
The fatass who changed his dreams more than a hoe switches guys.
Oh, I wanna be Joyboy.
Oh, I will change the world.
But in the end deciding to keep his fat ass in Wano and never budging. Indecisive fuck.
Could you tell he didn't like that bum?
Anyway, the future Kairo victim would finally notice the boy on his stomach.
"...Who the hell are you?"
Luffy, upon seeing his future power-up open his eyes, smiled.
"I'm Luffy!"
Pause, as if giving the man time to adjust to his words.
"I'm gonna be King of the Pirates!"
Yeah, he had to say that.
Moria blinked.
Was he high right now?
Did his allies get him high off shrooms or something?
He looked at the room, then back at the boy on his stomach.
'Am I high?' he thought to himself, because there was no way this was happening right now.
For example, this was as if you were the Great Kim and woke up to someone on your stomach saying they were finna be higher than you.
Of course you would think it's a dream.
"...You woke me up for that?"
Luffy nodded happily.
"Yeah!"
"..."
Moria's eye twitched.
"You woke me up... from my nap..."
Another twitch.
"...to say something stupid?"
Luffy leaned forward curiously.
"You drool when you sleep."
That was it.
A vein bulged on Moria's forehead.
"You little brat."
And the bum would slap at Luffy, who jumped away. He was careful not to get hit.
"You pretty strong," Luffy said. That blow from Moria actually had him use some form of Haki to dodge. That was nice.
"You must have a lot of guts, getting onto my ship and trying to wake ME up from my sleep."
Moria was annoyed. He was woken up from his beauty sleep, and he did not like that in the slightest. At all.
He was going to beat this guy black and blue.
Luffy had a big ass smile on his face.
"You are pretty strong... if I beat you, my bounty can climb higher."
This was Luffy math.
Moria was a Warlord, thus beating him would make his bounty higher, and maybe he could get a higher bounty than Kairo, who currently was working as his second in command.
Moria felt like he was going to break.
He would show this upstart what true power was.
"Don't think I am that easy to beat. I am a Warlord of the Sea."
And he was about to be a victim.
Gum-Gum Pistol
Luffy's fist slammed into Moria's gut so hard it seemed to go through him, blowing his back out more than Piccolo did Android 17 in the Android saga.
Yes, it was bad.
Moria was sent crashing into a nearby wall.
Oh, that shit hurt.
Luffy's fist was covered in Ryo and stabilized Conqueror's Haki. He was getting a decent grasp on it.
His eyes had witnessed advanced uses of Ryo, and his body had felt advanced uses of Ryo and Conqueror's Haki from Kairo.
He could replicate it.