Upon hearing this, Moria, who had been beaming with smiles, suddenly darkened his expression.
Looking at the zombie that had barged in, he roared loudly: "Your whole family is the one that's not well! Which eye of yours saw that I'm not well? I'm perfectly fine! I could eat ten tubs of rice!"
"N-no... that's not what I meant!!"
This zombie spoke tremblingly, its legs shaking violently.
The next moment, an eyeball directly fell out of its socket.
Moria: ....
This was the most important reason why he had recruited Hogback.
"Mo... Moria-sama, what I wanted to say was that there's a warship parked outside our ship!"
"Warship?!"
Hearing this, Moria was stunned for a moment, but then, as if thinking of something, a smile curled at the corner of his mouth.
"What are you panicking about! That's probably Absalom coming back!"
"Moria-sama, if we make a move against the Navy, will it...?"
Suddenly, Hogback, who was beside him, asked, a hint of worry in his tone.
"Kishishishishi!!"
"Don't worry, Hogback, what's the Navy?"
"It's not like this is my first time going against the Navy; among the zombies under my command now, some were made using the shadows of Navy soldiers!"
"Have you seen anything happen to me after all this time?"
"My strength isn't something just any Tom, Dick, or Harry can match. If the Navy wants to make a move on me, they'll have to think long and hard about whether they can chew through this tough bone!"
"Whether they'll chip their teeth!"
Moria's face was filled with arrogance.
"Moria-sama is mighty!!"
Perona beside him raised both hands and shouted again.
When it came to providing emotional value, Perona had it completely down.
"What Navy, how could they possibly be a match for Moria-sama!!"
"Kishishishishi!!"
Moria burst into laughter again.
Hearing this, Hogback visibly breathed a sigh of relief and also started laughing.
"Fosfosfos!!"
"Since that's the case, then I'm relieved!"
And so, the three of them laughed heartily in the castle, with only that zombie crouching on the ground looking for its eyeball.
Squelch!!
The next moment, the sound of a gelatinous object being crushed came through, causing this zombie's body to shudder suddenly...
---
On the other side, Kyle and the others had now arrived in a long corridor.
The floor of the corridor was paved with white bones, the surrounding environment was dim and quiet, exuding a strange, chilly aura.
But far from frightening everyone, this only made them more excited, their eyes sparkling as they looked around.
Luffy directly jumped out and shouted: "Zombies? Ghosts? Skeletons?!"
"Where are you guys, come out quickly!!"
This kind of atmosphere inexplicably gave Luffy a feeling of nighttime exploration, incredibly thrilling!
However, after a while, not a single ghostly figure emerged from the surroundings, which couldn't help but disappoint Luffy, who stubbornly shouted a few more times.
"Zombies? Come out and catch me!"
"Ghosts?? Won't you come out and play with me?"
"Skeletons?! Skeletons are fine too! Skeletons on the ground, I know you can piece yourselves together and stand up, come on?"
"Don't worry about scaring me, it's fine!!"
...
The atmosphere in the air quieted down again, not even the caw of a crow was heard.
A few more seconds passed.
"Damn it!! You cowards, dare to come out?"
"If you have the guts, come out now and fight me, otherwise, when I find you, you're gonna be in for it!!"
Sanji, seeing this from the side, suddenly let out a scornful laugh, his gaze calmly fixed on Luffy as he spoke: "Luffy! Have you ever thought that maybe, just maybe, you're too weak, and those things don't want to come out and bully you?"
"What did you say?!"
Luffy whirled around, his eyes glaring intently at Sanji. After a long moment, he suddenly smiled, slightly sidestepping to make room and even making an inviting gesture.
"Come on, Sanji, you do it! You can you up!!"
"I really want to see if someone as strong as you can call them out!"
Luffy's lips curled with a cold smile, his words laced with sarcasm as he simultaneously picked his nose.
The contempt was dialed up to the max!!
He really wanted to see what good that curly brow could possibly do!
(⊙o⊙)...
Sanji was momentarily stunned, a hint of embarrassment flashing across his face, but he quickly concealed it.
His original intention was just to talk big, but now he was in a bit of a bind.
But things having come this far, backing down was impossible, or else he'd be laughed at for a lifetime!
Sanji slowly stepped forward, arriving beside Luffy. He turned his head and glanced at Luffy calmly, then spoke: "Watch carefully and learn well!!"
"Ahem!!"
After clearing his throat, Sanji directly roared: "My subjects, come forth quickly and pay homage to your king!!!"
Everyone: ???
Instantly, everyone's expressions froze on their faces, and they all stiffly turned their heads.
This...
To be honest, no one expected this sentence to come out of Sanji's mouth.
Kyle's mouth twitched.
"Sanji, since when did you have such a big king complex like Luffy?"
"Ahahaha..."
The next moment, a loud laugh suddenly rang out.
Following the sound, they saw Zoro had completely knelt down, slapping the ground with both hands and laughing incessantly, tears streaming from his eyes.
"Hahaha... Your king?!!"
"Ahahaha!"
Then Zoro stood up again, mimicking the expression Sanji had just made and roared: "My subjects, come forth quickly and pay homage to... Ahahaha!!"
"No way!! I simply can't say such an embarrassing line! And you thought you could lure those things out like that? In your dream..."
"Ooooh~~"
Before Zoro could finish his words, a sudden wailing sound echoed from the darkness.
!!!
Instantly, Zoro, Luffy, and Sanji whipped their heads around to look, but the expressions on their faces were different.
Luffy and Zoro's faces were stiff and dazed, while Sanji revealed a hint of delight, and as a dark figure emerged from the darkness, the corners of his mouth curled up directly.
In everyone's sight, before long, a bizarre creature stepped out of the darkness and appeared before them.
"Hellhound?!"
Kuina tilted her head, a hint of curiosity in her tone.
This creature before them had three heads, its body covered in scars, many places wrapped in bandages, and its gaze towards them was extremely fierce.
The next moment, it suddenly roared at everyone.
"Woof!"
"Woof!"
"Ooooh~"
???
At this instant, everyone's gaze turned towards the yellow head, including the two blue dog heads as well.
Feeling so many eyes on it, the yellow head couldn't help but lower itself, looking utterly self-conscious.
"This... seems like a fox head, not a dog head!!"
...