"You know, if you'd just let Conqueror's Haki knock you out, maybe you wouldn't have died!" Cross feigned helplessness, shaking his head and sighing. "Now look, you'll have to pay for your loyalty with your life!"
A perverted voyeur who enjoyed peeking at women, dressed impeccably but utterly lacking in grace or morals—Cross felt no hesitation whatsoever in killing such a man.
Daring to grope my Nami-san and Robin-chan? You absolutely have to die, die, die!
Then, Cross manipulated two massive mud-and-stone tentacles, ruthlessly crushing them down onto Moria's and Absalom's heads.
Boom! Boom!
Absalom's skull exploded, crimson blood mixed with white brain matter splattering out and mixing with the mud on the ground. Just like that, Absalom, who had just appeared and barely uttered two lines, met his end.
However, despite suffering the same head-crushing attack, Moria wasn't dead, merely bloodied and with a fractured skull.
"As expected of a great pirate, even his head's harder than normal!" Cross muttered, clicking his tongue. With that, he unsheathed Kagehide from his waist and, with a clang, plunged the sharp blade directly into Moria's eye socket, deep into his brain, then twisted it for good measure.
At this point, the former 'Hero of the West Blue', the great pirate Gecko Moria, with a bounty of 320,000,000 Berries, breathed his last without a single cry, thus drawing the curtain on his life.
Hooo—
Cross's expression relaxed as he let out a heavy breath, feeling completely at ease.
Suddenly, Scáthach reappeared, surprisingly moving onto Moria's body. Her form abruptly stretched and expanded, covering his body like a large black cloth.
"Scáthach, what are you doing?" Cross looked surprised, not understanding her actions.
But Scáthach didn't respond to Cross; she simply remained quietly covering Moria's corpse.
Seeing this, Cross frowned, thoughtfully raising a hand and unconsciously stroking his chin.
'This scene... it felt so familiar... like when Blackbeard Teach covered Whitebeard Edward Newgate's corpse with a black cloth during the Summit War.'
'Could it be... Scáthach is taking Moria's ability?!'
At this thought, Cross half-pleased and half-worried, shut his mouth, not wanting to disturb Scáthach further.
Just like that, a few minutes passed...
Abruptly, the large black cloth covering Moria's corpse gave a sudden twitch.
Scáthach rapidly reverted from the form of a large black cloth to her female shadow figure, standing on Moria's large stomach.
At this moment, Scáthach looked at her own hands, seemingly a bit bewildered.
"Scáthach?" Cross called out tentatively.
Scáthach looked up at Cross, then quickly stepped off Moria's corpse and knelt before Cross.
"Father, I think I absorbed Gecko Moria's ability!"
"???"
The slightly magnetic, neutral voice coming from Scáthach's mouth almost made Cross think he was hallucinating.
"S-Scáthach, you... you can talk?!" Cross stammered, momentarily speechless.
"Father, I absorbed Gecko Moria's Paramecia-type Shadow-Shadow Fruit ability, which granted me the power of corporealization. I'm no longer just a mere illusory shadow!" Scáthach said respectfully.
With that, she extended her right arm straight, instantly transforming it into a rapidly elongating spear.
With a boom, it pierced through a mud-covered rock over ten meters away. When Scáthach's arm, now a spear, retracted, a clear hole the size of an adult's arm was visible on the large rock.
"Incredible!" Cross showed a shocked expression, exclaiming in amazement. "I can't believe you can really absorb Moria's ability. It's truly unbelievable!"
He leaned closer to Scáthach, carefully observing her graceful figure. He noticed a faint, dark purple glow on her body, almost black-purple, which perfectly matched the shadow color Moria displayed when using his Shadow-Shadow Fruit ability.
The key was that while Scáthach was now an independent life form, she was still fundamentally his shadow, subject to his control and commands. This essentially meant that Cross had gained the abilities of the Paramecia-type Shadow-Shadow Fruit, becoming an unconventional dual-Devil Fruit user.
Paramecia-type Live-Live Fruit!
Paramecia-type Shadow-Shadow Fruit!
...
Inside Moria's castle, in a spacious room, Perona slowly woke up on a soft, large bed, clutching a life-sized stuffed bear. She looked at the familiar ceiling with some confusion.
"Am I... in my room?" Perona rubbed her eyes, sat up from the large bed, then looked around the familiar layout of her room, muttering with a pout, "I think I had a nightmare. I dreamed a Marine came to the island and fought Moria-sama."
Boom—
Suddenly, a loud crash made the entire room shake, and dust rained down.
"Ahhh!!! What's happening?!" Perona jumped in fright, letting out a shriek.
Bang—
The room door was abruptly pushed open, and a young Marine walked in. His sharp gaze, like an arrow, made Perona's scalp tingle. "Your room was really hard to find; I almost went through a wall trying to get here!"
"Y-y-y-you're that Marine from my dream who fought Moria-sama!" Perona's eyes suddenly widened, and she screamed in terror, stammering.
"Hahahaha~" Cross smiled at her words, teasing, "Little girl, I'm afraid I have bad news for you. That wasn't a dream; it was something you actually saw!"
"Nani?! So... you're an enemy!" Perona gasped in surprise, then reacted the next second, leaping from the bed into a defensive stance. Two cute, Sunny-Go-like ghosts appeared before her.
"I remember your name is 'Perona,' right? Don't get agitated. Moria is already dead by my hand. If you just cooperate and help me find Moria's treasure, I won't hurt you!" Cross waved a hand, reassuring her.
"Liar!" Perona shrieked, disbelievingly shouting, "Moria-sama is invincible! Someone like you couldn't possibly kill Moria-sama!"
"Negative! Negative!"
"Negative! Negative!"
The two ghosts swung their arms, quickly floating towards Cross.
"Tsk, tsk, if you act like this, you're really not cute, Perona-chan!" Cross's expression subtly hardened. He narrowed his eyes, and a terrifying, surging killing intent suddenly erupted from him like a tidal wave, engulfing Perona. The air temperature in the room instantly dropped by several degrees.
"A—"
Perona's face was terrified. She stood rigidly on the large bed, like a duck with its throat squeezed, and even the two ghosts stopped in mid-air.
At that moment, she felt as if she was seeing a phantom image of her own death.
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