Chapter 157: Weather and Calamity, All at My Will
Above the Battlefield of the Guest Hall.
"So... so cold!"
Looking at the zombies turning into silver dust and the completely frozen hall, Brook shivered.
"But I'm a skeleton, I don't fear cold—Yohohoho!"
After the routine joke, he scanned the surroundings.
"Such large-scale destructive power, yet precisely controlled not to harm me... Ryuji-dono..."
Realizing only the area around him was untouched by frost, Brook understood.
The existence named Ryuji he met by chance was truly a terrifying powerhouse.
"But speaking of which, where is Ryuma? Dead?"
Then, Brook realized another key issue.
He knew even Moria's zombies couldn't regenerate under such an attack.
"Wait, if he died, my shadow should return..."
As his mutter faded.
"Kishishishi..."
Moria's laugh came again.
"Your ability can't kill my 'Zombie Generals', right?"
Moria's round body trembled.
There was no humor in his laugh.
Countless shadows flickered around him; his gaze was fixed on the figure in the shattered cage.
Rage was the only emotion in his heart.
Ryuji killed Absalom and Hogback just now.
He lost his partners... again!
"I am the Shadow Human who ate the 'Shadow-Shadow Fruit'. I can sense it—my Zombie Generals still exist under the ice."
He sneered. "Your ability is only this much."
"Not to mention you were trapped in the Seastone cage... just wait!"
Saying this, he grinned hideously, raising both hands to the sky. "Zombie Army—move out! Come and tear this guy... piece by piece!"
He roared.
Next moment...
RUMBLE!
Brook heard violent tremors erupting from the entire Thriller Bark.
"Kill!"
"It's Lord Moria's order!"
"Kill the intruder!"
"Let him feel the deepest pain!"
Outside the window, countless shouts echoed.
Brook glanced out instinctively and saw a shocking scene.
Within his vision.
The entire Thriller Bark began to surge with a massive 'Wave'.
Looking closely—the so-called 'Wave' was countless zombies.
Plant zombies, beast-man zombies, fusion zombies—sky, ground, everywhere.
"All zombies on Thriller Bark? The... the number is this exaggerated?"
Brook's afro became rounder with fright.
He knew there were many zombies, but never experienced it so directly.
How many?
Thousands? Tens of thousands?
This was the scale of a massive army!
But seeing the countless zombies gathering...
Brook's expression held solemnity, but no fear.
On the contrary...
"Ah..."
"Truly... makes one grit teeth in anger."
As someone who lost his shadow, he knew what this number represented.
Every zombie below represented a victim like him, harmed by Moria, unable to see sunlight.
So, the next moment...
"By the way—"
CLANG!
The wandering skeleton drew his sword.
Bones decayed, eyes empty, suit tattered—but that sword was always polished bright.
"Although I'm a skeleton, I really have a few teeth, Yohohoho!"
As his words fell, he burst out with amazing speed, appearing beside Ryuji.
He slashed toward the floor near Ryuji!
"Ryuji-dono, I'll save you!"
Brook's low shout was full of resolve.
Though his body was a skeleton, his mind hadn't decayed—he recognized the situation.
Once surrounded by the zombie army, it would be a desperate situation.
Brook couldn't imagine how to deal with such numbers.
But he knew the most important thing now—help Ryuji 'Escape'.
His sword couldn't cut Seastone, but...
"Destroying the floor under the cage is something I can do!"
"Aubade Coup Droit!"
His cane sword thrusted dozens of times at the floor.
But the next moment...
"Doppelman!"
A black shadow resembling Moria appeared before Brook.
The shadow took Brook's thrusts, pierced with dozens of holes, but healed instantly.
At the same time...
"Humming... killing you would release the shadow from Ryuma, but—you've angered me!"
Moria's murderous voice came.
"Tsuno-Tokage!" (Horned Lizard)
Next instant, a sharp spear thrusted out from the black shadow.
WHOOSH!
The piercing sound was extremely harsh—Brook knew without looking that this strike could shatter his skeleton body.
Even with the 'Revive-Revive Fruit', if his soul had no vessel, he probably couldn't survive, right?
He would die.
Regret and guilt filled Brook's heart.
"Laboon, looks like this is it for me."
"Sorry for not keeping the promise..."
He muttered internally.
Then he noticed...
"Hm?"
The piercing sound stopped.
Even Moria's sharp laugh stopped abruptly.
Brook looked up instinctively and saw a red-scaled dragon claw wrapped in lightning.
Unnoticed, Ryuji appeared before him, grabbing the black 'Tsuno-Tokage'!
Creak! Creak!
The sharp shadow spear sparked against his hand but couldn't scratch him.
"Impossible? My Tsuno-Tokage actually..."
"Kaido, you bastard..."
Driving his ability against Ryuji, Moria gritted his teeth.
In his rage-filled mind, painful memories surfaced again.
This led him to ignore how Ryuji escaped the Seastone cage, even misnaming him instinctively.
Too similar.
Except for color and ability details, this form was almost identical to the Kaido in his memory.
[Mythical Zoan · Fish-Fish Fruit · Model: Azure Dragon (Lineage Factor Creation - Failure - Red Dragon Fruit)]
[Current Level LV5]
[Fruit Effect: Transform into the legendary Red Dragon.]
[LV5: Fruit Awakening · True Red Dragon. Gain Zoan Awakening transformation. Create Flame Clouds at will, gain dragon scales and physique, extreme vitality, defense, and strength. Control fire, lightning, wind, and other weather phenomena for combat.]
Yes.
After learning about the 'Punk Hazard Explosion' via Marine intel.
Roy sent Nezumi to Punk Hazard to retrieve the artificial Devil Fruit Vegapunk created years ago—this 'Red Dragon Fruit'.
Created from Kaido's Lineage Factor when he was captured.
Roy wasn't sure about this fruit initially.
But after obtaining it, he confirmed.
Vegapunk's special artificial fruit could be recorded by the Fruit Encyclopedia.
Its effect, aside from color, was identical to Kaido's Azure Dragon Fruit—it could even 'Awaken'.
So, Moria's judgment wasn't wrong.
Ryuji's ability was indeed identical to Kaido's.
"No! I don't believe it!"
Moria gritted his teeth, voice furious. "You aren't that monster... No! Even if it's him, so what?"
His voice trembled uncontrollably.
"I'm different from the past. I created a zombie army. I won't 'Lose' again."
Rage and hatred gave him courage to speak.
Zombies were corpses, consumables, perfect 'Comrades' without the concept of death.
No fear, no bleeding, no emotional investment. Even if destroyed, they could be remade.
"I will use them to fulfill my dream, become the Pirate King."
"My zombies are invincible..."
RUMBLE!
Before he finished his manic roar.
Thunder exploded.
The castle tilted and shook violently again, worse than before.
The frozen walls couldn't bear it anymore—the upper half of the castle collapsed instantly.
"Invincible?"
Moria heard Ryuji's voice.
"That's why I said you degenerated too much."
Ryuji looked at Moria helplessly.
As mentioned, he didn't plan to fight Moria initially—he thought a rational person would judge fighting him as a mistake based on Crocodile's fate and The Zodiac's fame.
But Moria attacked without hesitation.
Or rather...
"You think my ability can't hurt your 'Zombie Generals'?"
"You think these so-called 'Zombies' are invincible?"
Ryuji knew the reason for these absurd thoughts.
"Boring fantasies created to escape reality... did you start believing them?"
Then...
BOOM!
Gales howled again. Moria, exerting full power, found his body flying uncontrollably.
At the same time...
RUMBLE!
Amidst thunder, Ryuji flew up too, driven by gales.
His robe fluttered, dragon horns like a crown under lightning.
In this instant, Moria, flying high, saw the entire Thriller Bark.
A scene he had never seen.
WHOOSH!
Waterspouts connecting sky and sea roared madly.
Countless seawater was lifted, gathering above Thriller Bark.
BOOM!
Massive lightning pillars fell from the sky, striking the island continuously.
Where they struck, zombies turned to dust instantly; nearby zombies paralyzed by electricity.
Even more incredible—after lightning, biting frost spread on the ground.
Ice bulged, trapping zombies with only heads exposed.
But that wasn't all.
Ryuji raised a finger gently.
Then...
Moria saw, from beneath the sea surface.
WHOOSH!
Scorching magma rose.
Piercing through wind and rain, the intense heat evaporated the gathered seawater instantly.
After water evaporated, only white crystals remained.
Gathering in the sky, forming a white ocean.
Clearly—not sea.
But the residue after magma evaporated seawater...
"Salt!?"
Moria's eyes widened.
"You actually..."
He understood what Ryuji intended.
And his guess was correct.
WHOOSH!
Howling wind blew again, moving the salt ocean in the sky.
Thus, on Thriller Bark...
It began to 'Snow'.
"To achieve... such a thing..."
Moria's rage faded quietly.
He couldn't understand what was happening.
Waterspouts blocking the sun, roaring lightning, howling gales, pouring rain, spreading frost, scorching magma, and snow made of salt.
This man before him seemed like the master of weather.
"Even Kaido's ability couldn't do this much."
As a great pirate who fought Kaido, Moria knew this.
Kaido's Azure Dragon Fruit was near perfect—flight, physique, and weather manipulation left almost no weakness.
But its weather manipulation was just manipulation—dragon breath destroyed mountains but couldn't control magma truly.
It could draw lightning but not create massive thunderstorms out of thin air.
It could create wind blades but not storms overturning an island.
But...
Ryuji could.
[Fused Fruit · Logia · Weather-Weather Fruit LV5]
[Fusion Materials: Rumble-Rumble Fruit LV5 + Gust-Gust Fruit LV5 + Smoke-Smoke Fruit LV4]
[Fruit Effect: Obtain abilities of all three fruits. Control clouds, smoke, gales, and lightning.]
[Extra Fusion Effect - All Phenomena Are Me]
[Effect 1: Nearby lightning, gales, and clouds become part of the user's body. Control local weather at will, creating powerful calamities. Stronger control closer to self.]
[Effect 2: Awakening Effect. Gather all weather-related elements nearby. Every attack contains the destructive power of natural disasters and permanently alters terrain.]
Additionally...
[Magma-Magma Fruit LV4 - Deep Development. Control nearby magma, including undersea volcanoes.]
[Ice-Ice Fruit LV4 - Deep Development. Control nearby cold air, power enough to freeze the sea.]
Yes.
The Fused Fruit 'Weather-Weather Fruit' plus Ice and Magma fruits were the perfect enhancement for the 'Red Dragon Fruit'.
To be blunt—in terms of ability strength alone.
Compared to Kaido, Ryuji was the True Dragon!
"Weather and Calamity, all at my will."
At this moment, white salt snow fell on the frozen zombies below.
VMMM! VMMM! VMMM!
Countless black shadows flew out of the zombies, drifting far away to their owners.
This was why Moria looked grim earlier.
The biggest weakness of his Shadow zombies was salt.
Contact or ingestion of salt released the shadow.
The zombie would revert to a corpse.
So in just a few breaths.
Under Ryuji's calamity-like ability, the zombie army Moria spent nearly a decade building was 'Erased'.
But clearly.
Moria had no time to care about his zombies.
Because he saw Ryuji raising his arm.
BOOM!
The next moment, a punch struck out.
Accompanied by spraying blood... Moria's massive body plummeted downward instantly.
RUMBLE!
Intense tremors and shockwaves spread.
The massive castle in the center of Thriller Bark... collapsed abruptly under this punch!
☆☆☆
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