"What did you say?!"
Moria yelled, his voice incredibly shrill, veins bulging on his forehead one by one.
"Isn't that the truth?"
"Let's take the simplest example. Look at how fat you are now? You've become a ball!"
"Now think about what you used to look like. You know better than anyone how big the difference is, right?"
Upon hearing this, Moria instinctively looked down.
Hmm. He did indeed see the curve of a ball.
But immediately after, he jerked his head up, his gaze fixed intently on Kyle, and shouted loudly,
"I am not a loser!!"
As his words fell, his palm shot forward, and the shadow beneath him instantly transformed into countless bats flying towards Kyle.
"Shadow Bats!!"
"Thunder Net!"
Kyle spoke softly. Purple lightning interweaved into a fine, dense net in front of him, enveloping all the oncoming bats.
Crackle!!
Moria's Shadow Bats exploded the instant they touched the Thunder Net, turning into countless tiny, fragmented black shadows, like ink.
Simultaneously, Moria's body shuddered uncontrollably. A strange tingling and pain sensation welled up from deep within his body. His eyes showed disbelief, and he blurted out without thinking,
"How is this possible?!"
The Shadow Bats were composed of his own shadow. In theory, no matter what kind of attack the shadow suffered, it shouldn't affect his own body.
Why is this happening?!
However, before he could figure out the reason, the sense of impending threat from ahead made his body jolt in alarm, forcing him to refocus.
He saw the purple Thunder Net hadn't changed at all, still coming towards him at an extremely fast speed.
The range of the Thunder Net enveloped him and a portion of his surroundings, like catching a turtle in a jar. Even if he wanted to dodge now, it was already too late.
In his panic, the remnant fighting spirit from eleven years ago possessed Moria. His right fist clenched, Armament Haki he hadn't used in who knows how long wrapped around it, and he punched fiercely towards the oncoming Thunder Net.
Boom!!
The Thunder Net was shattered by the punch, but it did not dissipate. Instead, it splattered into countless tiny, scattered lightning serpents that engulfed Moria.
Another series of crackling and popping sounds followed. Moria once again started dancing the disco, a true soul dancer.
Watching this scene, a slight smile appeared on the corner of Kyle's mouth.
'Didn't expect that, did you? I also have splash damage!!'
Not long after, as the commotion gradually faded, black smoke once again billowed from Moria's body. His whole person became unsteady again, finally his knees went weak, and he knelt on the ground.
His body pitched forward, but he ultimately used his hands to support himself, preventing a complete collapse.
"Huff... huff..."
Heavy breathing sounds came from Moria's mouth. His body trembled intermittently.
With great effort, he raised his head to look at Kyle, who was floating in mid-air, his eyes filled with extreme wariness.
Moria currently felt waves of pain and numbness coming from all over his body.
He had been struck by lightning before. During his battle with Kaido, the opponent could also manipulate lightning power.
Back then, relying on his powerful Armament Haki, he could defend against most of the lightning's damage, and the final effect on him wasn't significant.
But now, after taking a few of Kyle's thunder showers, he almost died on the spot.
Could it really be that his strength had declined too much over these eleven years?
No, impossible!!
This thought only appeared in his mind for an instant before being immediately rejected.
If getting electrocuted a few times and almost dying could be attributed to a severe decline in his strength, then how to explain the pain transmitted when his Shadow Bats were dispersed just now?
In his past battles with others, he had never experienced a situation where his shadow being dispersed could affect him.
Even during his fight with Kaido it was the same. Even if his shadow was scattered by Kaido's lightning, it could recover at an extremely fast speed without suffering any harm.
Looking at the purple lightning swirling around Kyle, Moria was one hundred and ten thousand percent certain the problem absolutely lay with this purple lightning.
The aura of destruction it emitted made his heart palpitate!
He couldn't help but ask,
"You... what kind of lightning is this?! Why is its destructive power so strong?!"
"Violet Heaven Thunder!!"
"Logia Type. Rumble-Rumble Fruit. Violet Heaven Thunder Form!!"
"So, how is it? The power is acceptable, right?"
Kyle looked at Moria with a beaming smile.
The corner of Moria's mouth twitched. 'This damn thing almost sent me to my grave, and you ask if it's acceptable?'
Moria's face kept changing color. If he had any thoughts of stealing Kyle's shadow before, now he had none at all.
He had not a shred of confidence in defeating Kyle. In these few exchanged moves, he had been at a disadvantage. If the fight continued...
He had an extremely high probability of losing!!
Thinking this, Moria hesitated for a moment before speaking up,
"Navy!! How about you don't arrest me, and also return Absalom to me. I can give you a large sum of Beli. How about it?!"
"Hah~"
Hearing this, Kyle first let out a light chuckle, then burst into loud laughter.
"Hahaha..."
Moria frowned slightly.
"What are you laughing at?!"
Kyle didn't answer, continuing to laugh heartily. Only after a good while did he stop. His gaze rested calmly on Moria as he spoke,
"Moria! You really disappoint me!"
"It seems I wasn't wrong just now. The you of now has not a shred of fighting spirit left. You're just a turtle who withdraws into its shell at the first sign of difficulty!"
"If I had known you were in such a pathetic state, I would have chosen a different target for my first mission to capture a pirate!"
The disappointment and disdain in Kyle's tone were completely undisguised.
His current strength was roughly at the level of a Vice Admiral candidate.
When choosing a mission target, selecting Moria was a decision made after some consideration.
Although Moria's performance in the original story was very unsatisfactory, that was only because he had been in a slump for over twenty years after his defeat by Kaido.
He completely focused his mind on his zombie army. His own strength hadn't just failed to improve, it had long since fallen to who knows what level.
Moria's battle with Kaido happened in the year 1501 of the Sea Calendar. At that time, the young Kaido's strength, while not as terrifying as in later years, was still extremely powerful.
Three years later, in the year 1504 of the Sea Calendar, Kaido and that clown Kozuki Oden had their epic showdown.
By then, both their strengths had firmly reached Admiral level.
Of course, the Admiral referred to here is just the standard Admiral level.
Individuals like the original Three Admirals of later years were not comparable to ordinary Admirals.
In short, based on Kaido's performance at that time for deduction, three years before his decisive battle with Kozuki Oden, even if his strength wasn't at Admiral level, it was very close.
After all, this is reality, not the later absurd situation where everyone levels up impossibly fast, matching a lifetime of accumulation by other strong individuals in just a few months.
So, further deduction suggests that even though Moria was defeated by Kaido, the fact that he could clash with Kaido proves his strength wasn't simple. He most likely had also reached the level of a Vice Admiral candidate.
Of course, that was him eleven years ago!
When choosing Moria as a mission target back then, this decision was finally made based on these deductions.
Thinking that since this isn't the later era, perhaps Moria's strength hadn't declined so severely yet?
But now it seems...
A dog by the roadside!!
...
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