"I can't do it! I have a condition where if I fight, I'll die! I need to see a doctor!" Hogback trembled, trying to flee.
"You fool! You are a doctor!" Moria glared fiercely at his incompetent subordinate. "You're not going out there. You just need to watch from the sidelines."
"Huh? Not controlling a zombie?" Hogback was confused.
"Giving orders is also a form of control. You just need to issue commands," Moria suppressed his anger. "I will cut out my own shadow and put it into Oars!"
Hearing this, Hogback's expression instantly became peculiar. He hesitated. "The Captain's shadow? Wouldn't that be a bit too…"
He secretly glanced at Moria's bloated figure. A shadow's combat ability was linked to the body's.
'Given the Captain's physique, how much combat ability could the shadow still have?'
Noticing his subordinate's doubtful gaze, Moria couldn't hold back anymore and asked menacingly, "So you want to go out there yourself?"
"No, no! The Captain's shadow is just fine," Hogback forced a smile.
Only then did Moria turn to Setsuna, saying viciously, "You wait! I'm going to bring Oars the Demon right now!"
Setsuna remained composed, lightly waving his hand. "No hurry. We have plenty of time."
Meanwhile, Ace got excited. "Oars the Demon? The legendary Ancient Giant race? Haha, I never thought my opponent would be a legendary Ancient Giant! This is so exciting."
Setsuna was also somewhat expectant. Although Oars's corpse didn't seem to demonstrate the might of the Ancient Giants, after Harald's appearance, the Ancient Giants' prestige skyrocketed.
That Giant King was a powerhouse comparable to Rocks himself.
Amid everyone's anticipation, the entire castle suddenly shook violently.
With a thunderous boom, a colossal figure, 67 meters tall, burst through the wall from the lower castle and crashed heavily onto the ground, stirring up clouds of dust.
Although everyone was used to Titan's size, seeing such exaggerated proportions on a humanoid creature was still visually shocking.
"Kishishishi." Moria's signature laugh came from Oars's mouth, rumbling like thunder.
"As expected of the legendary Oars the Demon's body! I feel great now! Even if that bastard Kaido stood before me, I could twist him into a pretzel! Kishishishi…"
Setsuna couldn't help but shake his head, 'How many drinks did he have to be this drunk?'
A blazing pillar of fire suddenly shot skyward. Ace had already leaped into the air, orange-red flames dancing merrily around him. "Big guy, your opponent is me."
A massive fist of flame slammed squarely into Oars's chest. The explosive impact made Oars's enormous body tilt back slightly.
However, Oars, controlled by Moria, didn't fall. Instead, he swung his giant arm with a sinister grin.
"Shadow Revolution: Giant Swing!"
Oars's arm suddenly elongated, sweeping across at an exaggerated speed.
This was an ability Moria used through Shadow Revolution… changing the shadow's shape, thereby altering the body accordingly.
Moria laughed. "Kishishishi, scared now, aren't you? Terrified? Oars's strength plus my ability to change body shape at will… it's a perfect combination!"
However, Ace was not alarmed but delighted. "Isn't that Luffy's ability?"
Instead of dodging, he excitedly charged forward.
The rich experience he'd accumulated fighting the Gomu Gomu no Mi from Luffy now came in handy.
Ace's figure flashed, precisely avoiding the sweeping giant arm. Simultaneously, he stomped down hard, his body shooting forward like a cannonball, punching toward Oars's face.
A fist coiled with Armament Haki smashed hard into Oars's nose bridge. The tremendous impact made Oars stagger back two steps.
Moria roared in fury, controlling Oars's arms to suddenly retract, then shoot forward explosively.
A torrent of fist shadows poured down like a rainstorm. He tried to seal off Ace's movements with dense, machine gun-like punches.
"Too slow. Too stiff."
Ace's figure weaved through the fist shadows like a ghost, predicting the trajectory of each punch in advance.
Although his Observation Haki wasn't top-tier, dealing with this familiar attack pattern made dodging as natural as breathing.
"How is this possible?!" Moria's astonished, furious voice came from Oars's mouth.
He couldn't understand at all why this young man before him was so familiar with his moves, as if they had fought thousands of times.
"Your 'Gomu Gomu no Gatling' is far worse than Luffy's!" Ace laughed heartily, grabbing an opening to leap up suddenly. A knee strike wrapped in Haki slammed hard into Oars's chin.
Thud!
In the dull impact sound, Oars's massive head snapped back violently, several teeth flying out.
Moria roared in anger, controlling Oars's arms to suddenly elongate, trying to blast Ace away with both fists.
"Haha, isn't this 'Gomu Gomu no Bazooka'?" Ace laughed loudly, feeling this fight was just too interesting. It was like fighting a copy of Luffy.
Ace dodged the attacks almost instinctively, then stepped onto Oars's arm. As Oars's arm began to retract, he launched a relentless assault on Oars's body.
His fists rained down on Oars's ribs, joints, and abdomen. The penetrating power of Armament Haki even caused the shadow of Moria inside Oars to tremble violently.
"Damn brat!" Moria roared, controlling Oars to suddenly leap up, intending to unleash a carpet-bombing assault from the sky with dense punches.
Ace seemed to have anticipated it. Fire erupted from his feet, instantly flashing behind Oars.
"Divine Fire: Unknown Fire!"
Two flame spears precisely struck the back of Oars's neck, knocking the airborne Oars, who had no leverage, down to the ground.
"Mirror Fire Flame!"
Ace crossed his arms in front of his chest. A pillar of blazing white fire shot across the battlefield like a laser, directly piercing through Oars's chest. The colossal body crashed down, stirring up clouds of dust.
Setsuna, watching from the side, shook his head. If it were Moria at his peak, he might have truly utilized Oars's strength.
But in Moria's current state, using physical combat was simply playing to his weaknesses. Not to mention he was using moves Ace was all too familiar with.
Hogback and Perona stood frozen, chilled to the bone, 'The invincible Moria-sama couldn't even defeat one of the other side's officers?'
Although it wasn't Moria's main body fighting, in their eyes, it was practically the same.
Lola was deeply shocked. She didn't expect Setsuna's four officers were almost on par with her mother's Sweet Commanders.
'What about the man himself? Could he possess terrifying strength on par with Mama?'
As the dust gradually settled, the shadow inside Oars was forcibly dispersed. Moria's agonized wail came from Oars's mouth. "Impossible… I actually lost…"
Ace landed lightly, clapped his hands, and said with lingering excitement, "Fighting Luffy? I'm a professional!"
Moria asked in pain, "Who exactly is this Luffy you keep mentioning?"
"My little brother. He's a Gomu Gomu no Mi user," Ace chuckled. "Your moves are too similar to his. I couldn't help but strike."
Moria was so angry he coughed up blood. The battle tactics he had painstakingly designed for Oars, and yet someone had already used them? And they became his fatal weakness in this bizarre situation?
"Damn it! Don't let me meet that Luffy!" Moria's furious roar echoed across the entire island, but it sounded more like impotent rage.