“Lord Moria! Lord Moria!”
“How are you?! Can you still stand?!”
After Kuma and the others left, Thriller Bark was once again swallowed by the dense fog, with a deathly silence hanging over the surroundings.
The zombies that had lost the shadows driving them had long since reverted into corpses. Only two extremely thin figures remained beside Moria.
“Perona… Absalom… are you two all right?”
“We’re fine, Lord Moria. Those people left after the battle ended. I went to check the docks, and they’re all gone.”
The frail-looking boy answered Moria’s question. This unbelievably skinny person was Absalom.
He had not yet undergone Hogback’s modification surgery, so outwardly, he merely looked like an emaciated human.
However, by this point Absalom had already eaten the Clear-Clear Fruit, and had used his invisibility to inspect the situation across Thriller Bark.
Apart from Moria, Absalom and Perona were the only two living people on all of Thriller Bark. Perona had been adopted by Moria when she was young. Although Absalom was technically a subordinate, his circumstances were fairly similar to being adopted as well.
Earlier, after receiving reports from the zombies that some troublesome people had appeared aboard the ship, Moria had merely told Absalom to take Perona and hide. Other than that, he ordered them not to do anything.
Deep down, Moria still valued his companions. Otherwise, in the original timeline, he would not have gone alone to Fullalead Island for Absalom.
It was just that the pain of losing his companions had left Moria without the courage to face such things anymore. If he never had anything, then he would never lose anything again. Aside from the two exceptions of Absalom and Perona, Moria had not recruited a single subordinate in seven years.
“As long as you’re both fine…”
Moria even felt somewhat fortunate that he had not recruited any companions. He would not grieve over dead zombies, and he could always go find new shadows to replace the ones he had lost. Looked at that way, he had not lost anything at all.
“Ryuma’s corpse and Shusui are still here. Those people… really do seem to have just been passing through.”
“I understand. You two go back first. I want to be alone for a while.”
Moria gestured for Absalom to take the sobbing Perona away, then fell into contemplation by himself.
“The shadows of weaklings aren’t enough. Their shadows can’t bring out the power of those strong corpses at all… I need stronger corpses… stronger shadows…”
In the end, Kuma’s paw strike was no personally taught awakening club from Kaido. Moria’s fear of “loss” still kept him from facing his own heart, and instead he chose to continue farther and farther down the path of creating zombies.
As for the pirates who escaped from Thriller Bark, their luck was not nearly as good. Not long after they left in a group, they ran straight into another ship that was equally enormous in scale.
The person aboard was still Harald, diligently working for the World Government. Even though he had now been promoted to a “Devoted Blade of God,” he still appeared in this area periodically.
Upon seeing those pirate ships, Harald simply swung his sword once, sending the pirates who had only just barely escaped with their lives right back where they came from.
However, before taking action, Harald seemed to hear those pirates discussing how Moria had been defeated.
“A Shichibukai was defeated?”
Harald also knew what the Shichibukai system had been created for. After thinking for a moment, he reported the news to Mariejois.
……
“Harald sent word that Moria was defeated.”
Inside the Five Elders’ private chamber, Saturn put down the Den Den Mushi in his hand. Harald’s “promotion” had granted him quite a few additional privileges; at the very least, he could now contact the Five Elders much more conveniently.
“That’s not good news. If word of this gets out, the Shichibukai’s influence will drop considerably. If the Marines learn about it, they’ll probably stir up some trouble again.”
Warcury spoke of trouble, but his actions showed that he did not seem particularly concerned.
The Marines had opposed the establishment of the Shichibukai system from the very beginning. Of course, fundamentally speaking, the Five Elders would never listen to any of the Marines’ opinions. Even if they did, it would only be because the Five Elders had already intended to do the same thing themselves.
Once the Five Elders made a decision, no one could interfere unless Imu personally issued an order.
But on the surface, the Marines had considerable advisory authority, so the proper procedures still had to be followed.
The Shichibukai system had been created to suppress the pirates who continued emerging after the beginning of the Great Pirate Era. A defeat meant that there was a problem with the system itself, and the Marines would certainly send over a huge pile of letters voicing their objections.
Even if they simply threw them into a shredder, it would still be troublesome.
Given the World Government’s control over newspapers and other channels of information, if anyone leaked this matter, it would become common knowledge within a single day.
“However, Harald also said that he killed those pirates afterward. There shouldn’t be many people who know that Moria was defeated.”
Saturn deliberately paused halfway through his statement. If truly no one knew, then the impact would not be that significant.
“Moria certainly wouldn’t go around publicizing his own defeat. As for the pirates who defeated him… send someone to investigate them. Perhaps we can fill another vacant Shichibukai seat.”
There were currently four Shichibukai in total, three of whom belonged to the losers’ bracket. Kaido alone had contributed two of those slots, while Hawk Eyes had made his name by cutting down Marines.
Adding someone to the winners’ bracket did not seem like a bad idea.
“What about Moria? If that guy really was defeated?”
Nusjuro did not object to Saturn’s suggestion, but instead brought up Moria.
“Let’s observe for the time being. If news of his defeat hasn’t spread, then let him continue holding the position for now.
But if he loses again…”
They had no intention of publicly announcing Moria’s defeat themselves. If they did that, it would become difficult not to strip him of his title. After all, they still needed to make use of this organization for a while. They could not simply remove a member whenever they pleased, or what would the other Shichibukai think?
The isolated environment had ended up helping Moria for once. What awaited him was merely questioning and a warning, rather than some sort of extermination order.
As for the World Government’s investigation speed regarding this matter… one could only say that it was consistent with the World Government’s usual procedures. By the time their people arrived at Thriller Bark, new zombies were already active on the island.
Moria’s exchange with them was far from pleasant, but it did allow the World Government officials to learn what had happened. And since no disastrous news had appeared in the newspapers during this period, it could be concluded that Harald’s accidental intervention had done Moria a huge favor.
Not long after they confirmed the identities of those who had defeated Moria, Luna and the others, who were still sailing through the first half of the Grand Line, were approached by a bat.
It was Carrier Bat unique to the World Government. How exactly it had managed to locate their ship was unknown, but it had indeed arrived before Luna and the others carrying an invitation to join the Shichibukai.
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