The sudden burst of singing, coupled with the surrounding environment, instantly cast a spine-chilling atmosphere over everyone.
"What on earth is that?" a Marine atop the lookout tower suddenly shouted, pointing in a specific direction. His voice was laced with terror.
At his shout, several nearby Marines quickly looked over.
Seven or eight meters ahead, two entities floated in the air like ghosts from a legend. They stared back at the soldiers, emitting strange sounds.
"Kilo-kilo-kilo-kilo-kilo..."
"Lieutenant, what are those things?"
"Wait, Captain Kaku mentioned that one of the Warlord Moria's executives is named Perona. She's a user of the Hollow-Hollow Fruit and can release ghosts that, upon contact, cause the target to instantly lose their will to fight and become extremely negative. Could it be those things?" the Lieutenant asked as the realization hit him.
However, just as he finished speaking, the two ghosts in the air surged forward.
They phased instantly through the Lieutenant's body and then sequentially passed through the bodies of five other Marines standing beside him.
'Thump, thump, thump...'
The six men collapsed to their knees in an instant, entering "negative mode."
Simultaneously, inside the bridge.
"Lookout, what happened? Answer immediately!"
"Captain, there's no response from the lookout. Something might have gone wrong!"
Kaku frowned slightly.
A communication failure?
No, that was impossible. The internal communications on the new-model warships were handled via copper pipes, not Den Den Mushi. Simply put, it was a purely physical communication system; there was no such thing as a technical glitch.
"I'll go check it out!"
Kaku prepared to leave the bridge to investigate the lookout tower. However, before he could even step out, two ghosts phased directly through the bridge's hull, invading the room and passing through several Marines.
'Thump, thump, thump...'
"As a helmsman, I can't even sail this ship into the sky... I'm truly pathetic. I have no reason to keep living!"
"Twenty-five years old and still without a wife or children... I'm such a waste. Living any longer is just polluting the air!"
"As a man, I actually find Captain Kaku more attractive than women... I have truly failed all my fellow men!"
Watching this scene, Kaku's mouth twitched.
It wasn't the ghosts' ability that bothered him—he had already learned about it from Sean. What bothered him was what these three idiots were saying after being hit...
Sailing the ship into the sky?
No wife or children?
And especially that last guy...
Kaku almost couldn't resist the urge to kick that man across the room.
So... the loss of contact with the lookout was because of these things?
Hmm?
While Kaku was thinking, the two ghosts, having taken down a few more men, lunged directly at him.
Seeing this, Kaku used Soru to vanish and reappear, leaving them to lunge into empty air.
The two ghosts didn't seem to intend to give up. They pivoted and dove at Kaku again, this time attempting to flank him from both sides.
"Armament Haki!"
'Boom!'
Sean had mentioned two ways to deal with these ghosts. One was to defeat or knock out the ability user, and the other was to attack the ghosts with Armament Haki.
As for the user, she was likely within Moria's lair, meaning he couldn't get to her right now. That left only one option...
Coating his limb, Kaku's pitch-black fist slammed directly into one of the ghosts.
The effect was remarkably successful.
The ghost, which should have been immune to physical attacks, was blasted apart by Kaku's Hakuda strike, shattering into fragments of starlight before dissipating.
Having succeeded with one hit, Kaku immediately locked onto the second ghost. However, seemingly terrified, the other ghost phased straight through the bridge wall...
It escaped!
Kaku felt helpless. He couldn't exactly smash a hole through the hull just to keep chasing it.
He grabbed the internal communication mouthpiece.
"Attention everyone, this is Kaku!"
"An enemy ability user has launched an attack. The method of attack is incorporeal ghosts!"
"Remember the intelligence provided before departure: if you spot a ghost, avoid contact at all costs and notify the bridge immediately!"
'There are far too few people in the branch who can use Armament Haki!' Kaku sighed inwardly.
Out of the three warships, only Kaku possessed Armament Haki on two of them; the rest were ordinary Marines.
As for the third ship, Kaku wasn't worried. The one hundred and fifty Marines aboard that vessel were all Kuja warriors. To them...
Armament Haki was a basic skill!
'''
Half a minute later, a transmission reached the bridge.
"Captain, target spotted. Location: Engine Room—"
'Thump!'
"I can't even dodge a single ghost... I'm a waste! I've brought shame to everyone!"
The report had only been halfway finished before the tone shifted drastically.
Kaku's face darkened. He immediately dashed out of the bridge, using Soru to traverse the ship. In just over ten seconds, he arrived at the engine room.
However, he was too late. Over a dozen Marines were already kneeling on the floor, incessantly spouting the most absurdly negative thoughts imaginable.
The next moment, the internal broadcast rang out again.
"Captain, target spotted in the Marine cafeteria."
"Hold it there! I'm on my way!"
Kaku shouted into the engine room's mouthpiece and immediately raced toward the cafeteria.
At this moment, Kaku actually missed his old warships. The new models were certainly better, but the internal layout was too complex; getting to a specific cabin required winding through too many corridors.
'''
Another ten seconds later, Kaku reached the cafeteria.
Fortunately, the crew hadn't been completely wiped out. Three Marines were still using Soru to constantly retreat and avoid the ghost.
But the moment Kaku appeared in the cafeteria, the ghost noticed him as well.
The ghost, which had been charging at one of the Marines, suddenly performed a graceful arc in mid-air like a flicking tail and vanished into a nearby wall.
'It's too good at escaping!'
Kaku's expression was grim, yet he felt powerless. If he could freely destroy the warship, he could easily trap the ghost, but the problem was...
He couldn't do that!
'Right, the Kuja!'
'How could I forget them!'
Thinking of the entire ship of Kuja warriors, Kaku's eyes lit up. He immediately pulled out his Den Den Mushi.
'Purupurupuru...'
"This is Ship Three. I am Rindo!"
"Lieutenant Rindo, we are currently under attack by a Hollow-Hollow Fruit ability user. Physical attacks are useless against them. While maintaining the minimum crew necessary to keep the warships sailing, deploy one squadron to Ship One and another to Ship Two. Use Armament Haki to purge the ghosts and ensure the safety of the rest of the voyage!"
"Understood, I'll arrange it immediately!"
After hanging up the phone, Rindo felt a surge of smugness.
'Just watch. You might have won the Grand Tournament, but when it really counts, we still have to rely on our Kuja warriors, don't we?'
She turned to Ran, who also held the rank of Lieutenant.
"Ran, make the arrangements. Mobilize two squadrons of warriors and send them to support Ship One and Ship Two!"
"Let those Marines see that when things get critical, the Kuja warriors are the ones who save the day!"
"Make it quick. Do not embarrass the Snake Princess!"
'''
While Kaku continued his pursuit of the ghost on Ship One and the Kuja warriors on Ship Three prepared to deploy, ghosts appeared on Ship Two as well—three of them, to be exact.
Since there was no one on Ship Two who had awakened Armament Haki, the three ghosts entered an invincible state, attacking the Marines at will.
In less than a minute, over fifty Marines were on their knees... plunged into a state of total negativity!
It had to be admitted that in specific environments, combined with long-range strikes, the Hollow-Hollow Fruit was truly a devastating trump card.
Of course, it wouldn't work against truly powerful opponents.
First, the negative ghosts were not particularly difficult to dodge. Second, while physical attacks were useless, Armament Haki could deal a finishing blow to these spirits instantly.
Three minutes later, a squadron of forty-eight Kuja warriors arrived at Ship One via small boats. The warriors were quickly deployed into every compartment, where they successfully eliminated the ghost using arrows coated in Armament Haki.
Five minutes later, another Kuja squadron reached Ship Two. In less than three minutes, they wiped out the three invading ghosts.
Once everything was settled, Kaku did not allow the two squadrons to return to Ship Three. After all, there was no telling if Perona would release more ghosts to attack.
However, to ensure the stability and combat strength of Ship Three, he transferred one squadron of Marines from Ship One and another from Ship Two back to the third ship.
Just as Kaku was about to order the fleet to move forward and search for Moria's lair, that eerie singing began to echo once more.
"Yo-hohoho, Yo-hohoho... Binkusu no sake wo, todoke ni yuku yo... Umikaze kimakaze namimakase... Shio no mukou de, yuuhi mo sawagu... Sora nya wa wo kaku, tori no uta... Sayonara minato, Tsumugi no sato yo"
"Captain, a ghost ship has been spotted ahead!"
Kaku was exhausted. Was Moria a pirate or a horror movie director? First ghosts, now a ghost ship! When would it end?
'''
At the same time, about one mile from the fleet, aboard Thriller Park.
Perona had just informed Moria that their patrol in the Florian Triangle had encountered a Marine fleet and wiped them out. She had even confirmed their identity.
"You're saying it was the fleet from the East Blue's 16th Branch?"
"That's what the flag says!" Perona nodded. "Gee-hee-hee! I've always heard that the Marines under Sean are exceptionally elite—even more so than the Marines from Headquarters, especially regarding their physical constitutions."
"Three whole warships... what wonderful material!"
"Tell me, for this batch of Marines, should I take their shadows... or their corpses?"
"It's such a difficult choice!!"