Shaking his head, Kyle spoke again.
"Alright, since you've become this sorry state now, I have no interest in playing with a waste any longer."
"Catching you earlier means returning earlier."
As his words fell, Kyle's figure turned into violet lightning and vanished from the spot in an instant, reappearing right in front of Moria.
A fist entwined with violet lightning slammed fiercely towards Moria's round, bulging belly.
!!!
Moria's pupils suddenly contracted. He instinctively wanted to defend, but his current speed was far too slow compared to Kyle's.
Thud!!
A dull sound rang out. Kyle's punch landed squarely on Moria's belly. The violent violet lightning mixed with immense force erupted simultaneously, blasting Moria away instantly.
The power Kyle used in this punch was stronger than the first one. Moria's body smashed through countless trees along the way, finally crashing into his castle.
The castle cracked, countless stones fell, burying Moria under the pile of rubble.
Kyle hovered in mid-air, his figure flashing again, arriving in front of the castle in the blink of an eye. The castle was still collapsing before him, rubble flying, dust billowing.
With a casual wave of his hand, a blast of air exploded, scattering the dust, blowing away the stones, revealing Moria underneath the rubble, his whole body charred black, smoking, with his eyes showing white.
Kyle landed on the ground, walking step by step towards Moria.
Suddenly, a loud shout came.
"Moria-sama!!!"
Kyle's figure paused slightly. Following the sound, he saw a loli running from not far away, her gaze fixed on Moria, visible worry in her eyes, even glistening with tears.
Soon, she arrived in front of Moria. During this process, Kyle did not attack her.
He recognized her as Perona immediately.
He also understood the relationship between Perona and Moria.
So even though she was a pirate, and he was a marine.
Out of basic decency, he didn't mind giving this "father and daughter" a little time to say goodbye.
After all, once captured, they would most likely never see each other again.
Perona, tears in her eyes, kept shaking Moria's body, crying out.
"Moria-sama, what's wrong with you, don't scare me."
"Wake up, wake up."
However, no matter how hard she tried, Moria showed no signs of waking up.
Suddenly, she wiped away her tears, turned around, spread her arms, and stood blocking Kyle, looking at him with a stubborn and determined gaze.
"I won't allow you to lay a hand on Moria-sama."
"Come on. Let me be your opponent. If you want to touch Moria-sama, you'll have to step over my corpse."
Perona's voice wasn't very loud, but it was very resolute.
After speaking, she stretched out her palm and shouted.
"Negative Hollow."
A white hollow flew out from her palm towards Kyle.
"So you've already eaten the Devil Fruit at this time."
Kyle murmured softly. He took no action, completely ignoring the Negative Hollow flying towards him.
The Negative Hollow crashed directly into Kyle's chest. Perona's face lit up with joy, she instinctively shouted.
"It hit."
But the next second, her eyes widened in an instant. She saw her Negative Hollow didn't pass through Kyle's body as usual, but instead dissipated immediately upon touching Kyle.
Kyle showed no signs of negativity either. Instead, he chuckled.
"It did hit, but it's useless."
"This. How is this possible."
Perona took two steps back in disbelief, completely unable to understand why her always reliable Negative Hollow had failed today.
"Don't make me seem like the big villain."
"Remember your identities. You are pirates. I am a marine."
"As pirates, you must have the resolve to be captured or killed."
"You're lucky. In my view, you're not the type that must die. So I'm giving you the lifetime all-inclusive package."
As his words fell, Kyle's figure flashed, turning into lightning and vanishing instantly.
!!!
Perona's eyes contracted. Her gaze swept around frantically.
Where. Where did he go.
Before she could think more, she felt a force on her neck. Then everything went black, she lost consciousness and fell.
But before she hit the ground, Kyle grabbed her by the back of her collar and lifted her up.
Taking a look at Perona, then at Moria on the ground.
Four people, three already caught. So only Hogback is left.
Thinking this, Kyle immediately released his Observation Haki. In an instant, he found Hogback's location.
Just as he was about to go find him, he suddenly sensed something unusual. He immediately put Perona down and crossed his arms in front of him, coating them with Armament Haki.
And in the very next second, a black fist much larger than a normal person's punched directly onto Kyle's crossed arms.
Boom.
Immense force erupted. Kyle's figure was instantly sent flying backward. But before flying even ten meters, he turned into violet lightning with a flash, appearing dozens of meters away.
Looking up slightly, he saw a few pieces of rubble rolling down. A huge shadow stood where Kyle had been just moments before.
Behind it, Moria slowly crawled out from the pile of rubble. Stones rolled off his body, stirring up wisps of dust.
A hint of surprise appeared on Kyle's face.
"Not completely unconscious, huh."
"Whatever. Defeating you now holds no difficulty at all."
Kyle's words suddenly halted. It was because he met Moria's gaze.
These eyes held calmness, confidence, completely different from the previous stupidity and timidity.
"Hah."
Kyle laughed.
Moria was still Moria, but he was no longer the Moria from moments before.
Although it was just a meeting of eyes, Kyle could be sure.
He saw Moria's shadow lift Perona onto its shoulder, then leapt mightily, disappearing from Kyle's sight after a few jumps.
Kyle did not stop it. He understood Moria's intention. It was just to put Perona further away, to prevent her from being caught in their upcoming battle.
Escaping this ship was definitely impossible.
Whether Perona would be captured or continue living freely in the Florian Triangle depended on whether Moria would lose or win in the upcoming fight.
Lose. The whole group gets packed up and taken away.
Win. Then she can naturally continue staying freely on this ship.
Soon, Moria's shadow returned to this place.
Then it returned beneath Moria's feet.
The next moment, a scene that left Kyle dumbfounded occurred.
He saw Moria's body 'shrinking' at an extremely fast speed. In no time, it transformed into the physique of the Moria that Kyle remembered from when they fought.
"What. Is your body structure this ridiculous too."
...
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