"Rear Admiral Hawk..."
Bartholomew Kuma steadied himself, suppressing the storm of disbelief raging in his chest. Their time together had been short, but even so, he could already tell the young officer before him was no ordinary man.
With his usual calm, Kuma asked, "Moria has shown himself. Should I engage?"
Renn Hawk shook his head. "No. This is their trial."
Kuma hesitated but nodded silently. He didn't fully understand why this Marine admiral-in-the-making would go to war with a fellow Warlord of the Sea, a man who also served under the World Government. But given how Hawk treated him not as an enemy, but as an ally he chose to stand back and watch. The truth, he knew, would reveal itself soon enough.
High above the battlefield, their conversation went unheard by the one-eyed figure below.
Gecko Moria only saw Kuma stand still after speaking and sneered in confusion.
Looking down, his twisted grin faltered. His once-proud zombie army the masterpiece of his necromantic craft was being slaughtered by the Marines. Dozens of his prized undead were falling every second, their corpses collapsing in heaps that would never rise again.
The black shadows that once animated them the essence of his power were leaking out of the bodies like air escaping a punctured balloon.
At this rate, his entire army would be wiped out.
These weren't ordinary zombies they were Moria's ultimate creations, built from corpses gathered across the world and infused with stolen shadows. His grand army meant to rival Kaido himself... was being destroyed before his very eyes.
"Ki-shi-shi-shi!" he cackled with growing frustration. "I can't let this go on!"
He raised his arm and bellowed, "Absalom! Go!"
"Show these fools what real horror looks like!"
"Yes, Lord Moria!"
From behind him, a tall man with the face of a lion grinned, his sharp teeth gleaming. The air shimmered around him, his body fading until nothing remained but the echo of his laughter.
The Invisible Man Absalom, wielder of the Clear-Clear Fruit.
"Heh... time to make some of these pretty Marine women my brides!"
While his laughter slithered through the fog, deeper within the castle, a metallic clang rang out.
A sword's cry.
A figure emerged from the darkness an aged samurai with gray hair, his entire body wrapped in bandages. Stitches and scars covered his limbs, marking him as one of Moria's resurrected.
He wore a white kimono emblazoned with the kanji for "dragon" on both sleeves, a blue scarf draped around his neck, and a spiral-patterned sash tied neatly at his waist. Wooden geta clacked beneath his feet.
At his hip hung a black blade one of the 21 Great Grade Swords, the famed "Shusui."
The undead warrior was none other than Ryuma of Wano the legendary Dragon-Slaying Samurai.
Though his body was long dead, the spirit of a master swordsman still emanated from him, sharp enough to cut through the mist itself.
Across the battlefield, Zoro mid-swing froze.
His instincts screamed. He turned, his gaze locking onto the samurai in the distance and the black blade at his side.
That sword... it was just like Mihawk's "Yoru" a true black blade, forged through countless battles and drenched in permanent Armament Haki.
This zombie... in life, had been a swordsman of the highest caliber.
The pressure alone made Zoro's Wado Ichimonji tremble faintly in response.
The swordsman's blood boiled. He tightened his grip, then broke into a run straight toward the ancient warrior, slicing through any zombie that dared block his path.
"That samurai he's mine!"
Before anyone could react, the ground beneath them began to quake.
Boom... Boom...
The Thriller Bark shuddered violently.
From the far side of the castle, a shadow loomed colossal, monstrous. A form that had slept for centuries began to stir, ice cracking off its massive limbs as it rose.
Even the mist above seemed to bend around its head.
A giant beyond even the race of giants...
The ancient demon, Oars, had awakened.
"Ki-shi-shi-shi! Rise, my strongest warrior!" Moria cried, his laughter echoing across the ruined fortress.
The Marines stared up at the living mountain, their breaths catching in their throats.
For a heartbeat, fear threatened to take hold but Hawk's soldiers did not falter.
"Reform ranks!" barked a commanding voice. "Target the joints! Snipers, aim for the weak points!"
Even in the face of a monster, their discipline held strong.
But amidst the organized chaos, a new, sinister laughter slithered through the fog low, mocking, and far too close.
"Hehehe... my, what a lovely Marine lady..."
The voice whispered right into Peacock's ear.
"How about becoming my bride?"
An invisible hand reached toward her shoulder.
Peacock's eyes widened her Observation Haki flared to life, locking onto the malicious presence behind her.
Her whip lashed backward.
"Whiplash!"
The strike sliced through the air with a crack but hit nothing.
Absalom's laughter rang again, now behind Skylark.
"Oh? This one's even better! So hard to choose!"
"Bastard!!!"
The furious roar came before the impact.
Sanji descended like a blazing meteor, his leg wreathed in fire as it collided with empty air
Bang!
A shockwave rippled through the mist, and an invisible figure was sent flying, tumbling across the ground before crashing into a heap.
Absalom coughed, clutching his chest in pain, eyes wide with disbelief.
"You... you actually hit me?! But how?! My power is invisibility! How could you possibly wait... don't tell me... you knew about my ability?!"
Sanji landed lightly, smoke curling from the cigarette between his lips. He exhaled slowly, his expression darkening.
"Knew?" he said, voice low, trembling with restrained fury. "I've known about it for years."
Images flooded his mind memories of boyhood nights spent reading forbidden encyclopedias, his heart pounding as he stared at the entry for that one legendary Devil Fruit.
The fruit of invisibility.
The fruit that could make a man's greatest dream come true.
The fruit he had always wanted.
And this filthy, lion-faced freak had eaten it.
Sanji's knuckles cracked as he took a long drag on his cigarette, smoke curling around his face like the calm before a storm.
The veins at his temple throbbed.
That dream his boyhood fantasy, the one he'd held onto for years had been devoured by this thing.
Unforgivable.
His eyes burned with a mix of envy, rage, and killing intent so pure it seemed to ignite the air around him.
"You..." he growled.
"The thief who stole my dream fruit... die!"
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