Spurred on by Sengoku's loving encouragement, the Warlords were now simmering with frustration. Fine, if they had to, they would put in a little effort.
They looked at the Marines and the pirates with the same indifferent eyes. We're making our move. Whether Marines or pirates die is none of our business.
Enel had, of course, witnessed the entire event. But he hadn't had his fill of fighting yet. How could he let these masters go so easily?
Boa Hancock was a woman. The brief test earlier had already revealed her depth, and Enel had no interest in fighting her.
The sand crocodile, Crocodile, was a good opponent. But the man was a mix of good and evil; there was no need to fight him to the death. For now, it was best to prioritize the family.
Bartholomew Kuma was a tough one. Although they hadn't fought, Enel had seen his remarkable abilities. He estimated that a fight with him would be a lengthy affair, and he wouldn't be able to break away to support his comrades. So, he was out of the question.
Having made up his mind, Enel set his sights on Gecko Moria. He could sense that this guy wasn't weak, but he wasn't incredibly strong either. If something unexpected happened to the family, he could easily disengage and provide support.
"Hey, big onion-head, how about another round? That last exchange was hardly satisfying," Enel said, looking at Gecko Moria, his eyes burning with a fierce fighting spirit.
"Onion-head? You bastard! You long-eared-thief, watch your mouth! Are you looking for death?!" Moria's expression froze for a moment, then twisted into a mask of rage. When had he ever been so insulted?
"I think you're the one looking for death!" Enel was not a patient man either. He couldn't stand being insulted by Moria.
The two were like gunpowder, exploding at the slightest touch.
The others, seeing this, had no interest in getting involved. They continued to go through the motions of their "righteous" duty.
"Cloud Dragon!"
Enel shouted, his hands moving in a rapid sequence of gestures. In an instant, a lifelike cloud dragon appeared before Moria, poised to swallow him whole.
Moria, at this point, was still quite capable. He wasn't the washed-up weakling he would be a decade later. After all, he was a man who had clashed with Kaido.
"Shadow Spear!"
Moria glared at Enel, determined to turn this long-eared thief into a zombie. His shadow morphed into a long spear and shot toward the cloud dragon.
The spear's attack power was formidable. Enel's cloud dragon was slightly lacking and was instantly cut in half.
Seeing this, Moria shouted in excitement, "Kishishishi! Now, become my zombie!"
"Celebrating a bit too early, aren't you?" Enel was completely unfazed by his cloud dragon being severed.
"Explode!"
Enel clenched his right hand into a fist, his voice confident.
The bisected cloud dragon self-destructed, its explosion colliding with the Shadow Spear.
"What?! Damn you!"
Moria's excitement was short-lived. Seeing his invincible Shadow Spear destroyed, his face turned ugly.
"What other tricks do you have? Bring them all out!" Enel challenged excitedly.
"Don't you underestimate a Warlord!" Moria said, his expression grim, his words threatening.
"I'm not underestimating the Warlords. I'm just underestimating you."
Enel's words were, as always, brutally cutting, leaving Moria stewing in silent fury.
"Damn you! Rise, my soldiers!" Moria shouted to the fallen corpses on the ground.
A large number of bodies began to rise from the ground and attack Enel.
"Just a bunch of trash. Still causing me trouble even after death," Enel said with disdain.
"Cloud Stream Impact!"
A fluid stream of clouds swept across the zombie soldiers. Unsurprisingly, they all fell.
However, they were down for only a moment before they stood up again.
"Kishishishi, my zombie soldiers are immortal!" Moria said, looking rather pleased with himself.
"Just a bunch of garbage, what's there to be proud of? Watch me smash them to pieces. Let's see how they move then," Enel said, unimpressed by the mere zombie soldiers.
He didn't know their weakness, but he had a solution: pulverize their bodies into dust. How could they move then?
"Cloud Doves!"
Enel formed countless white doves with his hands and sent them flying toward the zombie soldiers. One landed on each soldier's shoulder.
The cloud doves were small and cute, but they were also explosive.
"Dust Explosion!"
With Enel's deadly command, a violent explosion erupted from every single zombie soldier.
"Dammit!" Moria was furious. He couldn't believe his invincible zombie soldiers had been destroyed.
A thick cloud of dust enveloped the area. Seizing the opportunity, Enel blended into it, rapidly closing the distance to Moria and landing a kick.
Moria was quick-witted, managing to block with his hands, but he was still sent flying by the force of the kick.
"Cloud Spikes!"
Several sharp spikes formed from clouds shot toward the airborne Moria.
If those hit, he'd be pierced through and through.
"Doppelman!"
Moria quickly swapped places with his shadow, narrowly avoiding being skewered.
"Brick Bat!"
Now safe, Moria saw Enel rushing toward him and unleashed a swarm of bats to disrupt his attack and buy himself some time.
"Get lost!"
Enel punched the bats, causing them to burst, and appeared before Moria in an instant.
He threw a punch straight at Moria's face, a blow that threatened to knock his big onion-head sideways.
"Dammit!"
Moria threw a punch of his own. The two fists collided, and the air cracked with a sonic boom.
BOOM!
Moria was thrown back several steps by the powerful impact. Enel, however, stood his ground, completely unmoved, as if nothing had happened.
Moria saw this, and his eyes narrowed in disbelief.
"An old man should know his place. The new era doesn't belong to you, loser," Enel said, his confidence soaring as he relentlessly berated Moria.
"The one who will lose is you! What do you know? You could never defeat me!" Moria, as if his sore spot had been poked, argued back.
"Today, you will be defeated," Enel paid no mind to Moria's blustering. His only focus now was to defeat him.
"Doppelman!"
"Brought a helper, have you?" Enel wasn't too surprised to see the shadow clone. It was no surprise for a Devil Fruit user to have such abilities.
"Give me your shadow! With your shadow, I'll be one step closer to becoming the Pirate King!" Moria looked at Enel with greedy excitement, coveting his shadow.
"That depends on whether you have the skill. The Pirate King is not someone a person like you can become," Enel said dismissively.
"Brick Bat!"
Moria didn't want to waste any more words and attacked Enel directly.
"Useless."
Seeing Moria use the same trick again, Enel scoffed.
The shadow bats drew Enel's attention while the Doppelman snuck around for a surprise attack from behind. In front, Moria also launched his own assault.
Now, Enel was attacked from both the front and back, with no way out.
But Enel had already sensed both of their movements with his Observation Haki. He wasn't flustered at all.
"Armament Haki: Hardening! Lose to me again!"
Enel roared, throwing a hardened fist at both Moria and his Doppelman.
"Armament Haki: Hardening!"
Moria, of course, knew Armament Haki. He hadn't yet neglected his physical training, his potbelly wasn't too big yet, and his Haki was still decent.
The clash of the three ended with Moria being sent flying.
"How is this possible!" Moria couldn't accept this outcome.
Enel stood his ground, not pressing his advantage, waiting for Moria's next move.
Struck down by Enel, Moria looked on in disbelief. He then turned his gaze to the Marines and pirates around them.
If I'm not strong enough on my own, then I'll just have to take their strength! He didn't want to fail again. He didn't want to experience the pain of losing his comrades again.
"Aaargh!"
"Shadows Asgard!"
Grabbing the people around him, Moria began to sever their shadows one by one.
"Let's settle this! Shadow's Asgard!" Moria, having absorbed a massive number of shadows, began to swell in size.
"Is this your power?" Enel said with contempt.
"You will see how you lose!" Moria said confidently.
"So naive. This power... it's not your own," Enel scoffed.
"So what? As long as it becomes my power and can defeat you, that's all that matters," Moria said dismissively. His defeat at Kaido's hands had broken him, sending him down the wrong path, trying to reclaim his peak by relying on the strength of others.
"Naive. Let me show you the gap between us," Enel sneered at Moria's words. Strength never lies. Borrowed power, no matter how great, is still an illusion. Only the power you grasp in your own hands is real.
"Cloud God!"
Just as Moria's body swelled to a gigantic size, Enel revealed that he, too, knew such a trick—a technique inspired by Doflamingo's Thunder God form.
Two massive giants now stood before everyone, instantly capturing their attention.
"Are they going all out?" Crocodile casually tossed aside a pirate's corpse, watching Enel and Moria.
Kuma and Hancock also looked at the two with serious expressions.
The other grunts had never seen such a spectacle and fled in terror.
"Die!"
"You're the one who's going to die!"
Their fists collided in mid-air. The entire island shook for a moment, making people wonder if it was just their imagination.
BOOM!
The shockwave from their clash spread rapidly. The innocent people on the island were helpless against this natural disaster, swept up into the sky by the blast wave, only to fall to their deaths.
No one cared about their fate. Your life is your own; it's up to you to protect it. What good does praying to others do?
Cries of agony filled the air.
The two giants' next attack was imminent. Who knew how many more would die this time?