As Moria completely lost consciousness, countless shadows burst out of his mouth and scattered in all directions, flying off to search for their original owners.
A portion of them rushed straight toward Aiko and the others.
"Ahhh!!"
"It's back—our shadows!!"
"Hahaha, we won!!"
Cheers erupted instantly.
Everyone was overwhelmed with relief, as if they had just survived a catastrophe.
After struggling for so long, they had finally reclaimed their shadows with the Straw Hat boy's help!!
It was… truly wonderful.
Meanwhile, at the massive crater, Jin quickly checked Luffy's condition. After confirming there were no fatal injuries, he finally let out a quiet breath of relief.
'Looks like the power of the Gum-Gum Fruit helped him endure most of the damage…'
Otherwise, with attacks capable of shattering the ground, an ordinary body would have been completely destroyed.
"Just as expected of you, Luffy."
After speaking, Jin crouched down, pulled Luffy up, and placed him on his back before jumping out of the crater.
"Did I win…?" Luffy muttered weakly.
"Yeah. You won."
"That's great…"
Luffy suddenly smiled, then relaxed completely, falling asleep on Jin's shoulder without a shred of worry.
"Hey—how's Straw Hat big brother?!"
Seeing Jin carrying Luffy over, Aiko and the others immediately rushed forward. "He's okay, right?"
After all, he was the hero who had defeated Moria for them. No one wanted anything bad to happen to him.
"Relax. His life isn't in danger," Jin said.
"That's great…"
"That's really great!!"
Everyone finally wiped the cold sweat from their faces.
As long as Straw Hat big brother was fine, that meant this battle had ended in total victory!
"Huh?!"
"Jin, are you a doctor too?"
Chopper stared at him in shock. This was the first time he'd heard of it.
"I just know some medical ninjutsu and battlefield first aid," Jin said with a smile.
"I can't compare to Doctor Chopper."
"D-doctor, huh…"
Chopper's body twisted shyly as he waved his hooves.
"E-even if you praise me like that, I won't be happy or anything, you jerk~!"
"Hahaha!"
Everyone burst out laughing.
That was definitely not the reaction of someone who wasn't happy.
"Hey~"
Chopper blinked excitedly. "Since you know medicine too, let's exchange knowledge in the future!"
"Sure, no problem, Doctor Chopper."
As he spoke, Jin gently laid Luffy down on a stone slab. "You can check his condition too."
Chopper immediately ran over, examined Luffy carefully, then nodded.
"No serious problems. He's just completely exhausted."
"Based on past experience, he should wake up after resting for about three days."
Hearing that, everyone relaxed once more.
At that moment, an elderly man walked over trembling, tears streaming down his face.
"Thank you… thank you so much… If it weren't for you, I would never have had the chance to walk under sunlight again…"
With his strength, he couldn't even defeat the zombie that held his shadow—let alone Moria himself.
Worse still, his body was already failing. Without the Straw Hat Pirates, he probably wouldn't have lived another month.
"That's right—thank you, everyone!!"
Lola and the others bowed deeply to the Straw Hat crew, expressing their heartfelt gratitude.
"It's nothing," Zoro said, waving a hand.
"We weren't just fighting for you—we were fighting for ourselves too."
As he spoke, he took the sword from his waist and walked over to Bucktooth.
"Thanks for the blade."
"N-no problem…"
"It's a good sword. Take good care of it."
"Don't worry, Pirate Hunter big brother!" Bucktooth said seriously.
"I'll treat it well!"
"Good."
After giving his shoulder a firm pat, Zoro returned to his companions.
Bucktooth carefully sheathed the weapon.
At that moment, he recalled something an old man once said:
(Treat your weapon the same way you'd treat your lover.)
From today onward, this blade was his lover.
Smiling at him, Jin said, "We're friends. You don't need to be so formal with us."
"That won't do," Lola shook her head.
"In the end, we didn't contribute much. We still have to thank you properly."
"Right—do you want treasure?" she added.
"We don't have much saved up, but we're willing to give you everything."
The moment the word treasure came out, Jin's mouth twitched as he subconsciously glanced at Nami.
But to his surprise—
Nami didn't show her usual greedy expression.
"Lola," Nami said with a warm smile, grabbing her hands,
"just like Jin said—you don't need to be polite with us."
"We don't need your treasure. You should keep it."
Lola blinked.
They didn't want treasure?
"EH?!!"
Usopp stared at Nami in disbelief. "Nami actually… doesn't want money?!"
"Am I dreaming?!"
"Hey, Usopp, pinch me!"
Without hesitation, Usopp pinched Chopper.
"Ah—! It hurts! So it's not a dream!"
The two exchanged suspicious looks and slowly turned toward Nami.
Had she been replaced?!
"What kind of look is that?!" Nami snapped.
Her terrifying aura erupted instantly, making Usopp and Chopper tremble.
Yep. That was her.
After snorting, Nami turned back to Lola, her tone soft again.
"You saved me earlier. Of course I won't take your treasure."
"Don't be distant with us, okay~"
During the earlier battles, Lola had saved her several times from the zombie generals. Nami remembered that clearly.
Besides—Jin had said they were friends.
And friends didn't take each other's money.
Lola thought for a moment, then said,
"Then we'll help you move all of Moria's treasure onto your ship."
"And food too."
She remembered the Straw Hats' supplies had been completely taken earlier.
This place was far from Sabaody—without food, the journey would be miserable.
"Hehe, I already took Moria's share~" Nami said, sticking out her tongue.
"That includes the food."
"Yep! It's all with me!" Merry raised her little hand cheerfully.
Inside her space pocket was a massive amount of supplies—everything taken from Moria earlier.
Just like Jin had said.
Moria had paid everything back—with interest.
"You're a Devil Fruit user?" Lola asked.
"Nope~" Merry smiled. "I'm a ship spirit!"
"EH?!"
"EH—?!!"
Lola stared at her in disbelief.
"A ship spirit?!"
"You're actually a ship spirit?!"
She had noticed the little girl looked unusual, but never imagined she was a legendary being.
"That explains why you'd travel with a child…" Aiko swallowed.
"A real ship spirit…"
"I thought those were just myths."
"So did I…"
"She's adorable…"
"A living legend…"
Everyone spoke at once, full of amazement.
Looking at the cute little Merry, Lola suddenly smiled.
At that moment, she truly believed—
The Straw Hat boy might really become Pirate King.
After all, even her mother's ship had never given birth to a ship spirit.
"But why does a ship spirit have spatial abilities?" Bucktooth asked.
"I don't know either," Merry shook her head.
"I just can."
"Inborn talent, huh…"
That made sense.
If such legendary beings had no special powers, that would be strange instead.
"It's just a pity Moria's treasure was so little," Nami said with a sigh.
"I estimate maybe two or three hundred million Beli at most."
Far less than she'd imagined.
After all—
He was a Warlord!
"I think I know why," Robin said.
"Oh?"
"Why's that?"
"Moria collects corpses to create zombies," Robin explained.
"That means traveling the world to gather information on powerful bodies."
"And information like that isn't cheap."
"His money was probably all spent on that."
"…That makes sense," Jin nodded.
Otherwise, there was no explanation for why a place that swallowed a hundred ships every year had so little wealth.
"Damn it—using my money to buy corpses…" Nami gritted her teeth.
"Damn you, Moria!"
Everyone: ...
When did it become your money?
"How obsessed with money is she…?" Aiko muttered.
"She can resist negative ghosts because of it," someone replied.
Aiko: ...
He suddenly didn't know how to respond.
"Alright, once Luffy wakes up, we'll—"
Jin stopped mid-sentence.
As if sensing something, he abruptly turned his head and looked upward.
"…This guy."
His eyes sharpened instantly.
When did this person appear?
Did he teleport?
What kind of Devil Fruit was this?!
"What's wrong?"
"Huh…?"
Following Jin's gaze, everyone looked up—
And froze.
At the top of the tower sat a gigantic figure, holding a Den Den Mushi.
"Th-that's—!!"
Aiko collapsed to the ground, his body trembling uncontrollably.
"What?"
"Who is he?!"
"Another Warlord…?"
"Bartholomew Kuma!!" Lola swallowed hard.
"An extremely powerful one!"
Even in the New World, very few dared provoke him.
Why was he here?!
"A Warlord?!"
"Why is there another one now?!"
Usopp went completely numb.
They were already exhausted from defeating Moria.
Luffy was in deep sleep.
And now—
Another enemy of that level appeared?
How were they supposed to fight this?!
"Prepare for battle!!" Zoro shouted.
He didn't know why this man had come—but he refused to believe it was just to watch the show.
If this Warlord attacked, then they would fight to the death.
"This really is…"
"…the worst possible timing."
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