"Ah… they really made quite a mess."
Returning to the building district, jin swept his gaze across the area and found it utterly battered.
And the culprits—
Were the two figures confronting each other in the open square.
"Straw Hat brat!!"
Moria, now nearly ten meters tall, had bloodshot eyes and a crazed expression as he roared,
"Don't think you're the only one who can strengthen yourself with shadows! As the ability user, I can do it too!"
"ROAR!!"
To defeat the brat in front of him, he had directly extracted a portion of the zombies' shadows from across the island and used them to empower himself.
With that, both his strength and speed had risen to a level no weaker than the boy standing before him.
"So what?" Luffy stared at Moria calmly.
"Even if you can use shadows to strengthen yourself, you're still not my opponent!"
"I'm one of the Seven Warlords—"
"I'm the man who'll become the Pirate King! So what if you're a Warlord?!"
With an angry roar, Luffy kicked off the ground and shot forward in an instant, charging straight at Moria.
"Gum-Gum Nightmare Punch!"
"Shadow Punch!!"
"BOOM!!"
The two fists collided hard in midair, unleashing a shockwave that sent debris flying in every direction.
As if that clash were the fuse, the two of them launched into a ferocious battle in the square, trading blows in a frenzy.
"This guy can actually fight Luffy in that state to this extent?" jin frowned. "That's honestly surprising."
From what Moria had shown earlier…
jin had thought he was pretty weak.
He even felt Moria might not be stronger than Crocodile.
But now it was like he'd become a different person entirely.
His speed and strength had both become terrifying.
It seemed shadows were especially effective at empowering him as their original ability user.
Even Luffy couldn't take him down easily now.
At that moment, jin noticed the pair of horns on Moria's head and said in surprise,
"These horns… why do they look so similar to Oars'?"
Could it be that Moria also had giant blood in him?
Then again, if he didn't have giant blood, there was no way he'd be this tall.
But…
What kind of person could even produce a mixed-blood child with a giant?
The body sizes didn't match at all…
A cave adventure?
As some strange mental image surfaced in his mind, jin's expression turned weird, and the corner of his mouth twitched.
Dispel the image… dispel the image…
Shaking his head, jin forcefully chased the thought from his mind.
Then suddenly, an idea flashed through his head.
"Oh… I get it…"
jin came to a sudden realization.
"There must be a Devil Fruit that lets someone grow huge."
Otherwise, how could a human possibly have children with a giant?
Thinking that, everything suddenly felt much more reasonable.
"Hey!!"
"jin!!"
"Hm?"
Hearing Nami's voice, jin instinctively turned around and immediately spotted her group on the ground below.
Jumping down from the rooftop, he looked at Nami and asked,
"So your fight's over too?"
"Yeah, it's over," Nami said. "Our side wasn't anywhere near as intense as yours."
"Not many zombies?"
"That's right," Aike replied.
"We didn't run into many zombies. Black Leg-bro and the others were amazing—even the General Zombies weren't their match! Hahaha!"
Hearing that, jin glanced down and noticed that many of them had already gotten their shadows back.
"Looks like things went smoothly…"
"The other zombies already hid themselves, and they're not easy to find," Sanji said. "So we came over here to check on the situation."
If Luffy could defeat Moria, then they wouldn't need to worry about the remaining shadows at all.
Once the ability user fell, the shadows would naturally return.
"What about Hogback?"
"I already beat him!" Chopper said proudly.
This time, he had given that bastard a thorough beating and let him know the consequences of defiling medical ethics.
"jin, jin! I beat some enemies too!" Merry raised her hand.
She had knocked down several zombies with her little hammer.
"Merry's amazing~"
jin crouched down with a smile and ruffled her hair, his eyes full of affection.
"What's the situation over there?" Nami asked.
"Oars has already been defeated," jin said. "I purified him with seawater."
"Eh?!!"
Lola and the others stared at him in shock.
He had actually purified that terrifying giant monster in that way?
"I'm a ninja, remember?" jin said with a grin.
"Oh… right…"
Aike immediately came to his senses.
Ninja-bro might know Water Release or something, so controlling seawater suddenly sounded completely reasonable.
As expected of Ninja-bro!!
"And that noise over there…"
"Is it Luffy?"
"Yeah." jin nodded. "Luffy is fighting Moria right now. The battle's pretty intense."
Now it was just a matter of when Luffy would win.
"Then let's hurry over and watch!" Merry said.
As soon as she finished speaking, she ran off on her short little legs toward the corner, since the sounds were coming from beyond it.
The others followed, but jin swept his gaze over the group and asked,
"By the way, why haven't I seen Zoro and the others?"
"Well… we don't know."
"I know!" Buckteeth suddenly said.
"I saw those guys running through the hallway earlier. Looked like they were searching for something."
"Running…" jin suddenly had a bad feeling and asked instinctively, "Who was leading?"
"Pirate Hunter-bro."
jin: …
Covering his face with one hand, jin muttered,
"Why him…"
Nami and the others also let out deep sighs.
They really didn't know what those idiots had been thinking, letting Zoro lead the way.
That guy was directionally challenged to the extreme.
If things kept going like this, he might circle all the way back to their own ship.
At that moment, Merry, who had reached the corner first, shouted loudly,
"jin, what's that horned guy?"
jin walked over to her side and looked at Moria in the distance.
"That's a loser who's lost his spirit and only knows how to rely on external power."
Lola: …
Moria was a loser?
In jin's eyes, Gecko Moria—a Warlord of the Sea—was nothing more than trash?
What a… terrifying man.
…
Meanwhile, on the main road elsewhere, Franky shouted at Zoro with a shark-toothed expression,
"What kind of route are you even leading us on?!"
He never should have trusted this guy.
It had only been a few hundred meters, but Zoro had somehow led them on a detour of several kilometers.
Franky was furious.
After being sprayed with spit, Zoro scratched his head and said,
"I don't think I went the wrong way…"
"Yohohoho~"
"Mr. Zoro is really quite interesting~"
Brook wasn't angry at all.
If anything, he found the situation amusing.
"You people really trusted Zoro…" Usopp sighed helplessly.
"This guy is famously terrible with directions."
"Hey!"
Ignoring Zoro's protest, Usopp continued,
"It's a good thing you ran into me, or you'd still be wandering in circles."
After defeating the ghost girl, Usopp had gone downstairs to look for the others.
That's when he found the group running around in circles.
He hadn't managed to catch up the first time.
Only on the second round had he finally intercepted them.
And once he learned Zoro had been leading the way, Usopp's expression had turned extremely complicated.
"You beat that ghost girl?"
"Yeah." Usopp puffed up proudly.
"It was obvious she was no match for me!!"
"Not bad at all~" Franky said, giving him a thumbs-up.
He had personally experienced how troublesome that ghost girl was.
Those terrifying Negative Hollows drained all willpower from anyone they touched and turned them into hopelessly negative wrecks.
Only someone like Usopp, who didn't fear that ability, could beat her.
"Of course! Who do you think I am?!"
"Hahahaha!"
Usopp laughed loudly, very satisfied with his achievement.
A mere ghost girl daring to act up in front of him?
Please.
"Oh right, who are they?" Usopp asked, pointing at Shik and the others.
"Them?"
Franky scratched his head.
"They said they're Lola's men. Luffy told them to come find us."
"Eh?!"
"And you just believed them?" Usopp looked at Franky in shock.
Was this guy an idiot too?
Hm?
Too?
Remembering some of his own earlier decisions, Usopp suddenly fell into deep thought.
"They don't have shadows," Franky said with a shrug.
He wasn't stupid.
He had checked.
Even if he couldn't confirm whether they were really Lola's subordinates, anyone without a shadow was definitely an enemy of Moria.
And if they were Moria's enemy, what was wrong with letting them join up?
"…Good point."
"BOOM!!"
At that moment, another explosion rang out in the distance, as if something enormous had detonated.
"Come on, let's go check it out!"
"Yeah!"
By the time they reached the destination, they found jin and the others standing behind a pile of rocks.
"Hey, everyone!!"
"Ah, Usopp, you guys made it."
Seeing them all safe and sound, Merry smiled happily and waved her little hands from atop the rock.
After regrouping, Zoro looked out ahead and asked,
"What's going on…"
"Is that Luffy?"
He pointed toward Luffy in his Nightmare form, confusion clear in his eyes.
If not for the fact that this figure kept shouting things about rubber, he really wouldn't have recognized him.
What kind of state was that?
"Let me explain," Shik said as he stepped forward.
"The shadows Moria steals can be stuffed into a body to strengthen it. Right now, Big Brother Straw Hat has a hundred shadows inside him."
"He currently has the strength of a hundred men!"
"A hundred men?!"
"That's right!" Shik gave a thumbs-up.
"Big Brother Straw Hat is incredibly strong right now—he can withstand a hundred shadows!"
"We can't even imagine something like that…"
"Yeah, being able to handle even one shadow is already impressive for a normal person, let alone a hundred."
One after another, they all spoke, all of them praising Luffy's strength.
At last, Shik turned toward jin with a grin.
"Ninja-bro, we didn't let you down, right?"
jin smiled and gave them a thumbs-up.
"All I can say is…"
"Beautifully done!"
"Hahahaha!"
They all burst into laughter at once.
That was the feeling of being acknowledged.
"So that's why Luffy turned into this…" Sanji said.
"The power of those shadows really is terrifying."
"It's powerful, but it won't last long…" Lola said.
"I just hope he can defeat Moria before the effect runs out."
If he failed to do that, then Straw Hat would fall into a very dangerous position.
"Hmph… even these insects dared to come out…"
After trading another punch with Luffy, Moria glanced toward the distant figures and sneered.
"How bold of them…"
The Straw Hat pirates were one thing.
Their strength meant they truly had the courage to stand against him.
But those weaklings hiding in the forest and clinging to life—
Why did they dare come out too?
Did they actually think… he wouldn't kill them?
Thinking that, Moria sneered coldly.
"A bunch of fools who don't know their place. Since you've come out begging to die, don't blame me for being merciless!"
Moria had truly become enraged now.
He clearly no longer intended to spare them.
At worst, he could just gather more shadows later.
They were all just trash anyway.
"I won't let you touch them!" Luffy stared at Moria coldly.
"Brat, at a time like this, you should let them help you."
"I don't need help!"
"I said it already—I'll beat you myself!!"
With a furious shout, Luffy suddenly poured more power into his arm and forced Moria backward.
"What—"
As Moria staggered back, disbelief flashed through his eyes.
Even in this state, Straw Hat could still overpower him?
He had twice as many shadows inside him as Luffy did!
Without giving Moria time to recover, Luffy swung out his arms, spinning them wildly in midair before smashing both fists toward him.
"Gum-Gum Bazooka!!"
"BOOM!!"
The devastating blow slammed into Moria's stomach, making his eyes bulge as his abdomen caved in.
"Bang!!"
"AAAHHH!!!"
With a miserable scream, Moria flew backward and smashed into the tallest building behind him.
"BOOM!"
A huge hole was blasted right through it.
Seeing Moria lying on the ground, Aike shouted excitedly,
"D-Did he win?!"
"I-I don't know…"
"He took such a heavy hit—he must've lost!!"
Everyone stared at the hole excitedly, waiting for their shadows to fly back.
But to their confusion, not a single shadow returned.
It was as if Moria losing consciousness wouldn't deactivate his ability at all.
"What's going on?" Franky frowned.
"Even if he loses consciousness, his power won't stop?"
"Because he hasn't lost consciousness at all."
Standing on top of a boulder, jin said calmly,
"He's still awake."
From his angle, he could clearly see Moria's condition.
The man hadn't blacked out.
He was still breathing with his mouth open, as if trying to force his injuries under control.
"What? Even after taking an attack like that, he's still conscious?"
"What a terrifying bastard…"
"So this is a Warlord?"
Aike and the others were shocked.
They hadn't expected Moria's toughness to be this absurd.
Then just how much force would it take to truly put him down?
At that moment, Luffy's body trembled, and a large number of shadows began pouring out of him and flying into the sky.
His body shrank rapidly, deflating back down to its original size like a popped balloon.
"It wore off…" Lola said, her face grim.
Even someone as strong as Straw Hat couldn't sustain that shadow-enhanced state for long.
"What do we do now?"
"We should go help him!!" Aike said, looking at jin.
"Ninja-bro, using shadows leaves you incredibly exhausted!"
"That's right! Let's all rush him together and not give Moria a chance to recover!"
"Hey, say something!"
But no one in the Straw Hat crew spoke.
Even though they were worried about Luffy's condition, none of them made a move.
Because Luffy had said it himself—
He would defeat that guy with his own hands.
Seeing this, Aike was completely baffled.
At a time like this, who cared about some captain's duel?
The priority should be finishing the enemy!
"Big Brother Straw Hat, we'll—"
"Don't!!" Luffy shouted.
"Don't?"
Aike froze.
Even in this condition, he was still refusing help?
Luffy slammed a fist into the ground and forcibly stood up.
"None of you interfere!"
"I said Moria is mine. I'll send him flying!"
After taking a deep breath, Luffy lowered himself into a half-crouch and stared fixedly at the gap ahead.
Clearly, he had already noticed Moria's condition too.
Under Luffy's gaze, Moria's body trembled, then he slowly rose to his feet, his expression becoming even more savage.
With one hand, he tore apart the wall obstructing him and roared,
"Straw Hat!!"
"Moria!!"
Seeing that Luffy still showed no fear, Moria sneered.
"Heh. So the ability wore off."
That state which had allowed him to match Moria was gone now.
"So what?" Luffy took a deep breath and forcibly suppressed the discomfort in his body, then activated Gear Second.
He stared at Moria and said,
"Even like this, I'll still beat you!"
"Anyone can talk big!"
As he spoke, Moria glanced toward jin and the others and revealed a vicious grin.
"A bunch of brats who don't know how high the heavens are…"
"I'll crush you with my strongest power and show you what a real nightmare looks like!"
"Shadow's…"
"ASGARD!!"
"BOOM!!"
Countless black strands burst from beneath Moria's feet and spread rapidly across the island.
Every zombie hiding in the darkness was caught by his ability, and their shadows were ripped out by force.
Before everyone's eyes, Moria's body began swelling larger and larger.
"Straw Hat…"
"I'll use absolute power to show you how laughable your strength really is!!"
"300!"
"500!"
"700!"
"…"
"888!!" Moria roared.
"With the power of 888 shadows inside me, none of you can possibly be my match!!"
"ROAR!!"
Moria let out a thunderous howl, madness blazing in his eyes.
Clearly, even for Moria, maintaining awareness while empowered by 888 shadows was no simple matter.
After absorbing them all, his body grew monstrously huge—
Reaching a terrifying height of dozens of meters.
At that moment, the pressure Moria gave off surpassed even Oars.
"H-Hey, you've got to be kidding me?!" Shik cried out in horror.
"Big Brother Straw Hat was already that terrifying with just a hundred shadows—and now Moria has 888?!"
"Damn it, how strong is he now?!"
"He's huge!!"
Even jin frowned.
When Luffy had used only a hundred shadows, he'd been able to launch Oars flying.
So how strong would Moria be with 888?
"Thank goodness jin burned some of the zombies earlier…" Usopp swallowed nervously.
Otherwise, Moria might have absorbed far more than 888 shadows.
Hearing that, everyone felt a surge of relief.
jin really had been thinking ahead.
jin himself said nothing.
He just stared at the bulging veins on Moria's face.
Judging by that expression, maintaining 888 shadows clearly wasn't easy for him.
'If he had even more shadows… would he just lose consciousness outright?' jin thought.
"Hey, run!" Aike shouted.
"Get away from that monster!"
"No."
"There's no need," Zoro said calmly.
Not just Zoro—
No one in the Straw Hats moved.
Because they believed Luffy would beat that guy.
"Hey, you people…"
Before Aike could finish, Moria moved.
"Straw Hat, your companions really trust you," Moria said, shaking his head as he lowered his gaze toward Luffy.
"But it doesn't matter."
"I'll kill all of you!"
As soon as the words fell, Moria raised his giant fist and smashed it down at Luffy, roaring,
"Try the power of 888 fists!!"
"Straw Hat!!"
Luffy's expression changed as he leaped aside to avoid it.
The next moment—
"BOOOOM!!!"
That terrifying blow smashed straight through the ground of Thriller Bark itself!
The entire island shook under the force!
"What kind of power is that…"
"What a terrifying monster!!"
Aike stared at the shattered ground in horror.
Moria had smashed the island's surface apart with a single punch?
What kind of existence was that?
"Don't be fooled by appearances!!" jin shouted.
"He's basically berserk right now, and his condition isn't good either. He might collapse on his own before long!"
The man was already straining to maintain this state—
How much longer could he really fight?
Even if he was the original ability user, jin refused to believe he could sustain this for long.
"Ninja brat, who do you think I am?!" Moria roared.
"I'm Gecko Moria!!"
"How could my own power make me go berserk?!"
"With strength like this, even an Emperor of the Sea—"
"Gum-Gum Bazooka!!"
"BOOM!!"
Luffy didn't give him the chance to finish.
His attack slammed into Moria and knocked several shadows right out of him.
"Ugh…"
"No, my shadows…"
Moria instantly clamped a hand over his mouth, afraid more shadows would escape.
If they all spilled out, his state would collapse and he'd never be able to kill them.
After forcibly stabilizing himself, Moria glared down at Luffy.
"Straw Hat, you—"
Before he could finish, Luffy had already leaped into the air again, and both of his fists rapidly expanded until they became as huge as a giant's.
"Hey, is Luffy really okay in this state?!" Usopp cried out in panic.
Back at Enies Lobby, Gear Second alone had nearly put Luffy on death's door.
And now he was using both Gear Second and Gear Third at once?
Wouldn't that be even worse?
But unfortunately, no one could answer him.
Because everyone else wanted to know too.
"Moria!!"
"I'm going to beat you and leave this island alive with my friends!!"
"Gum-Gum Giant Bazooka!!"
Seeing Luffy charging closer and closer, Moria also let out a furious roar and swung his fist down at him.
"STRAAAW HAAAT!!!"
"DIE!!"
"BANG!!"
"BOOM!!"
Moria's attack struck Luffy head-on and deformed his body from the impact, but Luffy's fists never stopped.
They slammed brutally into Moria at the same time!
"BOOM!!"
"BOOM!!"
Moria's blow smashed Luffy into the ground and blasted open a giant crater!
But Luffy's attack crushed into Moria's abdomen, caving it in and launching him backward until he smashed straight through Thriller Bark's main mast!
"BOOM!!"
The enormous structure tilted violently and collapsed straight down onto Moria.
"No!!"
Seeing the gigantic structure crashing down toward him, Moria's furious eyes nearly burst from their sockets.
But he couldn't do a thing.
He could only watch helplessly as it came down on him.
In the end, that colossal structure pinned him beneath it.
The impact was so terrible that even his consciousness began to fail.
His eyes slowly rolled back.
Moria stretched a hand out, as if trying to grasp something—
But in the end, it fell limply to the ground.
"Looks like that's it," jin said, letting out a sigh of relief.
Then he leaped forward to look for Luffy, who had been slammed into the ground, intending to pull him out and begin treatment.
"…Damn it…"
Looking at jin jumping over to retrieve Luffy, Moria remembered the words jin had said to him earlier.
'So this is the consequence… of never working to strengthen myself…' Moria thought bitterly.
Now it was as if he were handing jin an answer.
An answer the boy had already spoken aloud from the very beginning.
With a bitter smile, Moria used the last of his strength to say,
"Ninja brat… was I really wrong?"
He hadn't wanted his companions to die again.
That was why he had created undead zombies—
To rely on them to defeat his enemies.
But from the results…
The zombies he had created were meaningless.
Even Oars, powerful beyond belief, had fallen to them.
Not only that—
Even he himself, strengthened by shadows, had still been defeated.
For a moment, Moria's heart was in turmoil.
Hearing his question, jin glanced back at him.
"You should look for the answer to that question in the deepest part of your own heart."
"In my heart…" Moria muttered.
The next moment, jin's blood-red eyes filled his vision, the distinct three tomoe spinning slowly within them.
Moria's consciousness began to blur, and his aura weakened more and more.
He was on the verge of passing out.
Moria laughed bitterly inside.
So in the end, he really had lost to a bunch of rookies.
His awareness was fading…
Was this really the end?
But to Moria's utter shock, in that final moment—
He saw the companions he had longed for so desperately.
Not as a memory.
They were truly standing right in front of him.
As if they had never died at all.
"So… you came to take me with you…"
At that moment, the memories buried in the deepest part of Moria's heart were completely awakened.
A trace of tears appeared in his eyes.
Then his head tilted to one side, and he finally lost consciousness.
'…I'm sorry.'
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