Moria would begin molding shadows together.
Shadow Slash
A slash made entirely of shadows would be launched at Luffy's shadow—not him, his shadow. Because, you see, this slash did not attack the target itself but their shadow.
After fighting Kaido and realizing the man was tanky as fuck, Moria learned of this move—not really created, shit was already there. When the attack several years ago did happen, some intel on how each Devil Fruit could be maximized was leaked into the black market.
It wasn't a lot, but enough, and his Shadow Fruit was in there. He spent 500 million Berries to get that shit, and while he didn't want to spend the money in the moment, the money was worth it. {Yes, this is how future villains get buffed}.
Luffy, on instinct, would dodge the attack, yet the slash would hit his shadow.
"Ah!" Luffy yelled, blood gushing out from his arm. He totally dodged that attack, and yet he was still hit somehow.
"Kishishishi."
Moria laughed. Hahaha, Luffy wasn't able to dodge this attack.
"It doesn't matter if you dodge. As long as I hit your shadow, you will be hurt."
And of course, he had to explain how his attack worked like every One Piece villain.
And Luffy got it. This guy could attack his shadow, so Luffy rushed toward Moria.
His fist cocked back, Ryo flowing freely in his fist.
Slamming his fist into Moria's gut, the sound of ribs shattering could be heard.
Moria staggered back. Fuck, that shit hurt like a bitch.
Luffy did not give him time to breathe.
Gum-Gum Bazooka
WHAM.
Moria's eyes went wide. That shit hurt so badly, he wanted it to stop.
As he was getting hit, Moria used his shadow once more.
Doppelman!
From behind Luffy, a shadow would appear. Luffy's Observation Haki picked up on the intent and, without turning around, Luffy jumped away, just in time to avoid the Doppelman from slashing his back.
"You have Observation Haki. This will be annoying."
Moria was beginning to realize Luffy might not be free eats like he had expected him to be in the beginning.
Luffy cocked his fist back.
He was testing out something new. While he couldn't do this yet with Gear 3 or 4, it should be simple for Gear Second.
Gum-Gum Pistol
Luffy's fist shot out rapidly. Moria did not even get the chance to breathe as Luffy's fist slammed into his face with so much force he was once more sent flying, crashing against the wall again.
"It worked," Luffy sounded excited. What he had done was simple—he had used Gear Second, but only on his arm. Instead of pumping oxygen through his whole body, he did that shit only on the arm, and that shit worked.
After learning the name of his Devil Fruit and how it was supposed to work, Luffy's way of using it was different. As long as he thought it could do something, it would.
Granted, it wasn't cartoony Gear 5 level yet, but it would work.
He had a goal in mind—once he mastered a certain Gear, since they weren't really transformations that came with the fruit but more like techniques, he wanted to be able to use it on only certain body parts.
Speaking like using Gear 4 on only his arm and Gear Second on his leg at the same time.
"What the hell was that?" Moria was bloodied. That took a lot out of him.
Oh well, he unleashed another technique.
Brick Bat
Thousands of bats rushed toward Luffy.
"Heee—" Luffy moved his body out of the way as a bat nearly hit him. At first, he planned to let it hit him so he could have an opening to hit the bum, but his Observation Haki told him otherwise.
The bat he avoided would hit the wall behind him and explode... taking a decent-sized chunk.
Luffy's eyes widened.
"Hahah, scared now? My Brick Bats are now stronger than before."
Once more, that 500 million Berries was well spent. This attack was simply OP. Each single bat had enough explosive power to equal one stick of dynamite—now imagine thousands of them.
And if he got stronger, each individual bat would be stronger too.
"That was almost bad," Luffy said, having jumped away, narrowly avoiding becoming a RIP in someone's bio.
That shit was bad.
But he could manage.
Conqueror's Haki began pouring into Luffy's fist like no other—like a shit ton of Conqueror's Haki.
Gum-Gum... Storm
Luffy's fist made contact with one singular bat, but as it did, the Conqueror's Haki exploded outward like a bomb, connecting each bat and detonating them.
Think of it like the Conqueror's Haki spreading outward from one bat to the other.
This was fun for Luffy. His fist was still crackling with Conqueror's Haki.
"Got anything more fun?" Luffy said with a shit-eating grin on his face. He actually got to test his moves, not like against Lucci where he barely tried and the bum got one-shot.
Moria seemed able to actually tank his blows.
Maybe he could finally practice some new moves.
Yes, he was being used as a test dummy.
"Fine... you want something stronger? I got something for you."
Moria opened his hand. All the shadows in the room seemed to come to him—like all of them.
It was a bit eerie not being able to see any shadow at all. Only Luffy had a shadow. The room was illuminated by the moon, yet apart from Luffy's shadow, no shadow remained inside, even if only a small portion of the room was lit.
SHADOW'S ASGARD!
Moria began absorbing all of the shadows in the castle.
All of them.
Not only his own minions, but every single shadow in Thriller Bark.
All of them poured into his body.
Every single one.
His body began to grow. He began to look grotesque, yet an armor made out of shadows seemed to be forming around him—a full set of armor.
Not even an ounce of skin was showing.
Gecko Moria now looked like a proper warrior.
"...Now we're even."
Luffy could feel it. Gecko Moria's power—hell, even his Haki—had been upgraded practically 100 times over, practically reaching Yonko Commander, like second or third seat level of power.
In this state, apart from Doflamingo and Mihawk, Moria was the third strongest Warlord ever.
Luffy looked at Gecko Moria.
Now this looked fun.
A/N