Before this, they had already assigned matchups for the Three Demon Generals. Due to the Illusory Demon's exceptionally unique and powerful abilities, Moria and Brook were tasked with handling him together.
Little Oars Jr., hefting his greatsword, strode purposefully towards the second of the Three Demon Generals, Black Widow Bellia. Modi, on the other hand, faced off against Demon Swordmaster Alletha. As for the others, they engaged the remaining captains under the Fear Pirates' banner.
"We can't tangle with the Three Demon Generals. We'll just have to take down as many captain-level opponents as possible!" Enel, crackling with electricity, golden staff in hand, charged towards the enemy captains.
"Enel, let's have a contest this time! See who can take down more captains!" Wiper, lightning also erupting around him, iron gauntlets on his hands, issued a challenge to Enel.
"You think I'm afraid of you?" Enel's eyes blazed, and he shot forward even faster.
"You two brats, stand aside! Those are my opponents!" Riki, jets of high-pressure air blasting from his legs, dived down from the sky. A series of deafening booms erupted as the all-out war between the two pirate crews officially began.
"So, you're the one who broke my nightmare world! I'll kill you first!" Zatmoro glared furiously at Brook. Black smoke billowed from his body, and the surrounding space began to rapidly transform. An invisible black light enveloped Brook and Moria, and the space they occupied instantly became a dark nightmare realm. Zatmoro's Illusory Dream Fruit could now even affect the real world.
"Hundred Demons Devour Soul!" Zatmoro roared. From the pitch-black space, demonic figures clawed their way out, one after another, and lunged at Brook.
Moria splayed his giant scissors, swinging them in wide arcs, cleaving through the attacking demons. Brook drew his sword cane, his swordsmanship incredibly sharp and lethal. In mere moments, the two of them had cut down over a hundred demons.
However, the severed demons quickly reformed, becoming whole once more.
"This nightmare space is my dream! Within my dream, I can create an unlimited number of demons!" Zatmoro cackled sinisterly. More and more demons crawled out from the space, layer upon layer, even clinging to the air above, hanging from the ceiling. Within the nightmare space Zatmoro created, all rules were dictated by him.
Thousands upon thousands of demons materialized, completely surrounding Moria and Brook.
"Kill!" At Zatmoro's command, the myriad demons swarmed towards the two.
Moria pulled a ball of shadow from his pocket and tossed it into his own shadow, which rapidly expanded. Then, countless spear-like black shadows erupted from his enlarged shadow, impaling demon after demon. "Shadow Thorn Forest: Blooming Tree!"
With Moria's shout, black thorns instantly sprouted from the shadow tendrils. These thorns extended in all directions, new thorns growing from existing ones, endlessly branching out, quickly forming a grotesque, colossal thorn tree that pierced through the charging demons. In an instant, it had skewered several thousand of them.
A giant thorn tree stood in the pitch-black land, impaled demons writhing on its branches – a truly ghastly scene, like a true depiction of hell.
Those demons were Zatmoro's creations; they could not die. Even impaled, they still clawed and thrashed, tearing at the giant thorn tree. The remaining demons swarmed onto the thorn tree, wreaking havoc.
"What a troublesome ability," Moria frowned. His gaze followed the gaps in the thorn tree towards Zatmoro, a strong killing intent flashing in his eyes. "Looks like I'll have to take him out first."
Moria retrieved another shadow ball and swallowed it. His body began to swell, his muscles bulging impressively. Gripping one half of his giant scissors like a massive blade, he swung with tremendous force, unleashing an astonishing slash that instantly tore through the shadow thorns, shredded countless demons, and shot straight towards Zatmoro.
Zatmoro stood motionless. He raised a hand and pressed forward. The space before him abruptly fractured. The flying slash disappeared into the fractured space, vanishing bizarrely. In truth, Moria's attack hadn't disappeared; Zatmoro had merely redirected it outside the dreamscape, where it carved an enormous fissure in the actual battlefield.
A cold smirk touched Zatmoro's lips. "In here, I am a god. Your attacks are useless against me."
Moria's expression darkened. He stomped, shattering the ground, and instantly shot forward. Countless demons lunged at him but were torn apart by Moria's twin scissor blades. He charged Zatmoro, bringing his single massive blade down with vicious intent.
Zatmoro's body simply dissipated. The powerful slash cleaved the ground apart, but Zatmoro reappeared behind Moria. In his hand, Zatmoro now held a longsword, which he instantly plunged into Moria's body. Blood sprayed out.
Moria spun around and slashed, but Zatmoro's body vanished again, and Moria's attack hit nothing but air.
"Useless, useless! You can't hit me!" Zatmoro's mocking laughter echoed from all around, making it impossible to pinpoint his location.
"What a bizarre ability. Even with prior preparations, experiencing it firsthand reveals just how terrifying it is," Moria said, his face grim. He spread his Observation Haki, trying to locate Zatmoro. "I suppose only the highest level of Observation Haki – Future Sight – could possibly predict his movements. How troublesome." Moria's Observation Haki was only at an intermediate level, not even advanced; pinpointing Zatmoro's position beforehand was impossible for him.
"Brook, do you have any ideas?" Moria called out.
"Yohohoho! Leave it to me!" Green flames, his Soul Fire, ignited in Brook's empty eye sockets. "Even if you can use your dream to hide your tracks, a soul cannot be hidden! Found you, Zatmoro!" Brook, relying on his Devil Fruit ability, sensed the location of Zatmoro's soul. "Moria! He's at your ten o'clock!"
Almost without hesitation, Moria slashed in that direction, but his attack still missed. Zatmoro's figure quickly materialized. He looked at Brook with a sinister gaze and an eerie smirk. "Even if you can sense my position, so what? Your attacks still can't harm me."
"Is that so? Then I'll just have to destroy your dream!" Brook's expression was extremely serious.
Zatmoro's figure vanished instantly. Brook's face changed. "Moria, come protect me!" Moria immediately rushed towards Brook.
Zatmoro was faster, appearing before Brook as if he had teleported. "You truly are a nuisance. I'll dispose of you first." Zatmoro's longsword aimed straight for Brook's head.
"Don't forget, I can sense your soul!" Brook spun around instantly, his sword cane directly parrying the longsword. Zatmoro only managed to force Brook back a few steps.
Ice rapidly formed on the sword cane, and the surrounding temperature plummeted. The frost spread from Brook's sword to Zatmoro's longsword. The chilling cold made Zatmoro wary, and he quickly retreated two steps.
Moria arrived at that moment, his single scissor-blade slashing quickly. Zatmoro dissipated once more.