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Moria's eyes went wide. "What did you just say, you idiot?"
"Isn't it clear enough, Moria? She came to me because of your own failures."
"You bastard. You forced her."
"Whether I did or not, you already know the answer." Ikki's voice stayed level.
"I'll ask you one thing: are you going to let Perona come back or not?"
"I never arrested her, so what would I be letting go? If anything, I'm worried that sending her back to you means she ends up in someone else's hands before long."
As he spoke, Ikki glanced at Moria with open contempt.
Moria might have been formidable once. That time had passed. He was too weak now. Even Luffy, before he had mastered Haki, had been enough to beat him.
Ikki had no intention of returning Perona to someone like that. There was no telling what would happen to her. She was his crewmate, and he had given her his own Zanpakuto. He would not hand her back to weakness.
"Bastard!"
Moria's composure finally broke under that dismissive gaze. His body dissolved into a swarm of bats and vanished from the spot. The next moment the swarm reconverged directly behind Ikki, and Moria's massive frame took shape again.
"Your shadow belongs to me now."
He reached toward Ikki's shadow, his expression savage.
"What the hell do you think you're doing to our captain?"
Nami spun around, red light flaring in her eyes as a wave of Conqueror's Haki surged outward. At the same moment, Nojiko's hand dropped to the hilt at her hip, and her own Conqueror's Haki crashed over Moria with equal force.
"Conqueror's Haki?!"
The twin eruption froze Moria mid-motion. He had not expected this. These two slight women at Ikki's back actually carried Conqueror's Haki, and not a shallow trace of it either. It pressed against him with genuine weight.
While Moria was still reeling, Nojiko and Nami moved. One came from the left, the other from behind, one wreathed in flame and one in lightning, both closing on him in the same instant.
When Moria's senses snapped back, what he found in front of him were two blades already at his throat.
'I'm going to die.'
Cold sweat broke across his skin. Two edges hovered at his neck. He felt death leaning in close. Even reaching for the Shadow-Shadow Fruit's power to escape, he already knew it was too late.
Then, to his shock, both blades left Nami and Nojiko's hands at once and arced through the air into Ikki's outstretched grip.
Nami and Nojiko pulled back and looked to Ikki.
"That's enough, all three of you." Ikki's tone was easy. "Moria's arrogant, but he genuinely cares about Perona. We're not going to hurt him for that. Besides, this is Marine Headquarters. We came to help, not to cause problems. Let's not make things harder for Fleet Admiral Sengoku."
He held the three blades in one open hand and looked up at Sengoku with a calm smile.
Sengoku observed the scene with quiet satisfaction. It was obvious Moria had started it. If Ikki had cut him down, the Marines could not have said a word against it. Instead Ikki had pulled his crew back and handed Sengoku the easier situation. The man was rising steadily in the Fleet Admiral's estimation.
"Alright, Captain Ikki. Since you've said as much."
Nami shot Moria one last sharp look, then crossed to Ikki and reclaimed her sword. Nojiko followed a step behind and did the same.
Moria let out a slow breath, watching both blades disappear back into their sheaths. Whatever carelessness he had come in with, the force Nami and Nojiko had just unleashed had stripped it clean away. He would not underestimate them again.
"Wait." He frowned. "Why were there three blades? And why did you mention Vivi?"
At that moment a figure slipped quietly around from behind Moria, moved to Ikki's side, and took the last blade from his hand. Moria turned his head and stared at Vivi with open confusion.
"You still don't understand, Moria?" Sengoku uncrossed his arms and spoke without raising his voice. "When you attacked Ikki, it was not only Nami and Nojiko who came at you. Vivi attacked you as well."
"What? When?"
Moria looked at Vivi as if seeing her for the first time.
Mihawk spoke then, his voice unhurried.
"Your attention went entirely to Nami and Nojiko the moment their Conqueror's Haki erupted. Understandable. Their Haki is loud, and their swordsmanship announces itself in lightning and flame. The impact is hard to ignore. Vivi released no Conqueror's Haki. Her swordsmanship moves like still water. You simply did not notice her." He paused. "That said, if her blade had actually landed, you would have come away seriously injured."
Moria stared at Vivi, his disbelief deepening.
"She could actually hurt me?"
"With advanced Armament Haki layered into that level of swordsmanship, I doubt your body could have taken it."
Garp dug a finger into his ear, then turned a lazy eye toward Ikki.
"Ikki, how exactly are you training these people? Never mind the swordsmanship for a moment. The Haki development alone is something else. Vivi has already reached internal destruction with her Armament Haki, hasn't she? Nami too. Nojiko's Armament Haki is a step behind the other two, but she can still apply it externally."
His tone was casual. His certainty was not.
Moria went rigid.
Garp knew Armament Haki as well as anyone alive. If he said Vivi had reached internal destruction, then she had reached internal destruction.
Moria thought about it: Vivi coming at him with advanced Armament Haki woven through her blade, so quietly he had not even registered her presence. The chill started at the soles of his feet and climbed all the way to the crown of his head.
'I would have died. I absolutely would have died.'
The thought roared through him. If all three had connected at once, there was no version of events where he walked away. He might have dodged one. He might have taken a wound and escaped a second. But three simultaneous attacks at that level would have finished him outright.
Moria was not the only one shaken. The Marines and Warlords gathered around them had all gone quiet. The Admirals absorbed it with composure, as expected. The Marine Vice Admirals at Headquarters were different. They understood exactly what they had just watched, and they understood that if they had been standing in Moria's place, the outcome would not have been comfortable for them either.
The Marines were impressed by the strength Nami and the others had shown. Unsettled, even. Still, they were not without confidence. The attack had come from three people working in concert. Set three Headquarters Vice Admirals against the same combination, and they believed they could handle it.