The next moment, that spot seemed to become a window for a prison break, as countless shadows frantically fled through it.
When it came to manipulating shadows, Nereus naturally could not compare to Moria. The Shadow-Shadow Fruit was the true expert at controlling shadows.
However, Nereus was still capable of merging into shadows and using them for a certain degree of concealment.
As one of his blood descendants, Ginny had inherited a small portion of that power, and by making use of her ability to manipulate shadows, she opened a window of salvation within the prison inside Moria’s body where the shadows were confined.
Those shadows had already been struggling to escape. The moment they discovered an opening, they immediately began fleeing without regard for anything else.
“B*stard… What did you do to me?!”
Moria noticed the abnormality beneath him, but it was already too late. Ginny made a face at him and even waved goodbye before directly closing the door and entering the door world.
After seeing Ginny’s actions, Kuma did not remain idle either. The Paw-Paw Fruit’s abilities were extremely versatile, covering healing, movement, defense, close combat, and ranged attacks. It could truly be called an all-round ability.
This time, Kuma’s target was not a physical object, but the air itself.
Kuma pressed both hands forward into empty space, compressing all the air in the surrounding area. When it had been reduced into a tiny paw-shaped imprint—
“Ursa Shock.”
Kuma slapped the small air bubble forward. It was not until it struck him in the chest that Moria heard the tearing sound coming from the air.
There was no fire and no deafening explosion. Moria, after being hit, seemed to freeze in place.
The compressed air erupted inside his body, and the terrifying impact burst straight through him. The shadows within his body completely slipped out of his control and began frantically escaping in every direction, trying to return to their owners.
Moria’s enormous body began shrinking like a deflating balloon, gradually collapsing to the ground.
The excess force pierced through Moria’s body and shot straight into the clouds. Even the thick fog was split apart in a curved path, allowing sunlight to fall upon this land for the first time in a long while.
However, this was no blessing.
Those whose shadows had already returned to their bodies were fine, but those who had yet to reclaim their shadows hurriedly began seeking shelter when they saw this.
Moria himself was not afraid of sunlight, nor were the zombies he created. But anyone who had lost their shadow would instantly turn to ash if exposed to sunlight.
This was also precisely why Moria had chosen this sea area. It was not because he cared about the owners of the shadows, but because Moria needed them to remain alive in order to ensure that his zombie army could continue functioning normally.
The people trapped on Thriller Bark were pirates themselves. After reclaiming their shadows, they immediately rushed toward the place where Moria had stored their ships, intending to leave these waters.
As for the battle between Kuma’s group and Moria, those pirates had no interest in it. They had no intention of gambling on Kuma’s character. Their earlier interactions had only been in the hope that this powerful man could help them defeat Moria.
……
“Come to think of it… why were we fighting this guy again?”
“No idea. At first, we just wanted to investigate what exactly was going on here. Then we were attacked by zombies, and afterward this guy came running out.
He seems to be a grave robber? Otherwise, why would there be so many corpses here?”
After the battle ended, Inuarashi and Nekomamushi suddenly found themselves unable to figure out exactly how the fight had started.
This “onion man” had appeared talking about stealing their shadows, and much of what he said during the battle had sounded like incoherent nonsense, leaving them completely confused.
“Wait a moment. I definitely recorded information about this guy. I just can’t quite remember it.”
Luna flipped through the intelligence notes she carried with her. After sailing for so many years, keeping records was necessary. At the very least, they needed to know exactly what kind of opponent they had encountered.
“It should be… this one, right?”
After searching for a while, Luna showed the others one page of her notes.
“Isn’t this exactly the same person? What are you doubting?”
“Yeah. You should eat some carrots to take care of your eyesight. How can you not recognize him?”
Inuarashi and Nekomamushi repeatedly compared the portrait with the defeated Moria and felt that the two looked like they had been carved from the same mold. There was no difference at all. They simply could not understand why Luna had stared at it for so long.
“I hate carrots… No, wait! How are these exactly the same?!”
Luna compared the portrait to the fat shut-in version of Moria in front of her once again and began to question her companions. She had never imagined that not suffering from face blindness would instead cause her trouble.
The Moria in Luna’s records was still the Moria from before his battle with Kaido. Back then, although Moria could not exactly be called handsome, he had been well-proportioned and muscular. He was nothing like he was now, with a rounded body and even a noticeably longer neck.
After being defeated by Kaido, Moria went down the path of becoming a fat shut-in and rarely showed himself, causing Luna’s intelligence updates to lag behind. That was why she had failed to recognize him.
However, judging from his Devil Fruit ability and the flag revealed after the fog dispersed, they could confirm his identity.
“Defeated by Kaido seven years ago, one of the Shichibukai…”
After a brief comparison, Luna finished filling in the missing information.
“If all the Shichibukai are at this level, that’s actually a good thing. At least guys like this won’t interfere with Lord Nereus’s plans. But defeating a Shichibukai… could that cause some trouble?”
“Maybe. I didn’t expect you people to run into a Shichibukai here either. Looks like… we seem to have pretty bad luck with the Shichibukai?”
As Luna muttered to herself, a somewhat unfamiliar voice suddenly came from behind her. This time, however, there was no problem with recognizing the person.
“Your Majesty? Why are you here?”
“Just passing by. I was originally heading back to Fishman Island, but I sensed some commotion over here, so I came to take a look.”
Kuma’s final attack had temporarily blasted a gap even through the thick fog that never dispersed throughout the year. In this sea of fog, such a gap was no different from lighting a torch in the middle of a pitch-black night.
After noticing something unusual and flying high into the sky, it did not take long to see what was happening here.
“No need to worry. You’re not flying Fishman Island’s flag, and no one outside knows the specifics of your situation.
Normally speaking, either your bounties will increase and the Marines will begin targeting you more heavily, or… you’ll receive an invitation from the World Government to become Shichibukai.”
There had yet to be any precedent of a Shichibukai being defeated. Amphitrite could not be certain what would happen in the future either, so all they could do was take things one step at a time.
However, Amphitrite had no intention of doing anything to Moria. This time, it was not like in Alabasta, where it had been inconvenient for her to personally take action, so she had simply left Crocodile there as a whetstone for the next generation.
Rather, Amphitrite understood that unless the Shichibukai system itself was abolished, defeating one of them would only result in a replacement appearing before long.
Instead of letting the World Government gain a new combatant with unknown abilities, it was better to leave someone this easy to deal with in place…
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