On the battlefield inside the reception hall.
"So cold!"
Brook looked at the zombies around him that had already turned into silver flakes and scattered away, as well as the entire reception hall that had been completely frozen over.
"But I'm a skeleton, so I'm not afraid of the cold… yohohoho!"
After delivering his usual skeleton joke, he swept his gaze around the area.
"A destructive force on this scale… and it can even precisely avoid harming me, Lord Shinryu."
When he noticed that only the area around himself showed no traces of being frozen, Brook naturally understood. The existence known as Shinryu, whom he had met by pure chance, was an unimaginably terrifying powerhouse.
"But speaking of which… where's Ryuma? Is he dead?"
Soon afterward, Brook realized another critical issue. He naturally knew that even zombies created by Moria would have absolutely no chance of regenerating after an attack of this magnitude.
"That's not right. If he died, then my shadow should've returned…"
Just as his muttering fell.
"Hehshishishi…" Gecko Moria's laughter echoed once again. "You think your power can kill my immortal 'Zombie Generals'?"
At this moment, Moria's rotund body trembled slightly, and there was not the slightest trace of amusement in his laughter.
Countless shadows flickered around him as his eyes locked onto the figure inside the cage.
Anger was the only emotion left in his heart.
The other party had just killed Absalom and Hogback.
He had lost his companions… once again!
"I ate the Shadow-Shadow Fruit. I'm a Shadow Human. I can sense it, the Zombie Generals beneath the ice are still there." He sneered.
"Your ability is only this much. Not to mention that you're still trapped inside a Seastone cage… just wait!"
As he spoke, he let out a savage grin and raised both hands toward the sky.
"Zombie legion, move out! Come over here and tear this bastard apart… little by little!"
He roared furiously and in the next instant,
BOOM!
Brook could hear the violent tremors erupting throughout all of Thriller Bark.
"Kill him!"
"It's Lord Moria's command!"
"Kill the intruder!"
"Make him experience the deepest pain!"
Countless shouts came from outside the windows.
Brook subconsciously glanced out the window and immediately saw a horrifying scene.
At this moment, within the range of his vision, the entirety of Thriller Bark had begun surging like a massive tide.
But upon closer inspection, one would realize that the so-called "tide" was actually made up of innumerable zombies.
Plant zombies fused from trees and humans, beastman zombies fused from animals and humans, fusion zombies made from human bodies; they filled the sky and the ground alike.
"The entire zombie population of Thriller Bark… there are actually this many?" Brook was so shocked that his afro seemed to puff up even more roundly.
He had naturally known that Thriller Bark possessed an astonishing number of zombies, but he had never experienced it this directly before.
How many were there?
Thousands?
Tens of thousands?
This was already the scale of a massive army!
But after witnessing the endless sea of zombies gathering toward this place… Brook's expression held no fear, only solemnity and seriousness.
On the contrary…
"Ah… This really… makes me so angry I could grit my teeth."
As someone whose shadow had been stolen, he naturally understood what such a quantity of zombies represented.
Every single zombie below represented a victim just like him, someone harmed by Moria, someone unable to walk beneath the sunlight.
So, in the next moment…
"Oh, and by the way…"
Shing!
The wandering skeleton drew his sword. His bones had decayed, his eyes were lifeless, and his suit was worn and tattered, but only that sword had always been polished to a brilliant shine.
"Though I'm a skeleton, I really do still have a few teeth left, yohohoho!"
The moment the words fell, his figure exploded forward with astonishing speed, instantly appearing beside Shinryu. He swung his sword toward the floor near where Shinryu was trapped!
"Lord Shinryu, I'll get you out!" Brook's low shout was filled with determination. Although his body had become a skeleton, his thoughts had never decayed, he could clearly recognize the current situation.
Once the zombie army completely surrounded them, it would become a true dead end.
Brook could not even imagine how anyone could deal with enemies in such overwhelming numbers.
But he knew what mattered most right now was helping Shinryu "escape."
His sword was not enough to cut through Seastone, but…
"Destroying the ground beneath the cage is still something I can do!"
"Flask Waltz - Chain Strike!"
As he spoke, his cane sword unleashed dozens of rapid thrusts toward the floor.
But in the very next instant…
"Shadow Asgard!"
A pitch-black shadow, nearly identical in appearance to Moria himself, appeared before Brook. The dark shadow received Brook's thrusts, dozens of holes being pierced through it, yet they healed completely in the blink of an eye.
And at the same time…
"Humming Slash… Even though killing you would make the shadow inside Ryuma disappear… you've already angered me!" Moria's voice rang out, filled with killing intent.
"Horn Blade Shadow!"
In the next moment, Brook saw a sharp spear suddenly thrust out from within the dark "Shadow Doppelman."
SHHK!
The shrill sound of the spear slicing through the air was unbearably piercing. Brook did not even need to look carefully to know that this strike was absolutely powerful enough to blast his skeleton body into powder.
Even for someone like him, who had eaten the Yomi-Yomi Fruit, if his soul lost the place it was anchored to, he probably wouldn't be able to survive either.
He would die.
And so, regret and guilt inevitably arose within Brook's heart.
"Laboon… I guess this is as far as I go. Sorry… I couldn't keep our promise." He muttered silently to himself.
And then he realized…
"Hm?"
The sharp sound of something cutting through the air had suddenly stopped.
Even Gecko Moria's shrill laughter had abruptly ceased as well.
Brook subconsciously raised his head and saw a dragon claw covered in crimson scales and wrapped in crackling lightning.
At some unknown moment, Shinryu had already appeared before him and caught the pitch-black "Horn Blade Shadow" with one hand!
Crack! Crack!
The sharp shadow spear scraped against his palm, producing dazzling sparks, yet it could not truly injure him in the slightest.
"How is this possible? My Horn Blade Shadow actually…"
"Kaido… you bastard…"
At this moment, Moria, who was driving his power against Shinryu, clenched his teeth tightly.
Within his rage-filled mind, that painful memory which filled him with terror surfaced once more. Because of that, he had no time to think about how the other party had escaped from the Seastone cage. He had even subconsciously called him by the wrong name.
Too similar.
Aside from the difference in color and a few details in their abilities, this form was almost identical to the Kaido from his memories.
Mythical Zoan - Fish-Fish Fruit, Model: Azure Dragon (Lineage Factor Creation - Failed Prototype - Scarlet Dragon Fruit)
Current Level: LV5
Devil Fruit Ability: Allows the user to incarnate into the legendary Scarlet Dragon.
LV5 Effect:
Devil Fruit Awakening - Scarlet Dragon True Form. Grants the unique awakened transformation of a Zoan Fruit. The user can freely create flame clouds, gain dragon scales and the physique of a true dragon, and obtain overwhelming vitality, defense, and physical strength. The user can manipulate flames, lightning, wind, and various heavenly phenomena as extensions of combat.
Yes.
Not long ago, after learning through Marine intelligence that the "Punk Hazard Great Explosion" had already occurred, Roy had instructed Zishu to make a trip to Punk Hazard and retrieve the artificial Devil Fruit once created by Vegapunk, the very same "Scarlet Dragon Fruit."
This Devil Fruit had originally been created by Vegapunk using the Lineage Factor extracted from one of the former Yonko, Kaido of the Beasts, during one of Kaido's captures.
At first, Roy himself had not been entirely certain about the exact nature of this fruit.
But after obtaining it, he finally confirmed the truth.
The special artificial Devil Fruit created by Vegapunk truly could be recorded within the Devil Fruit Encyclopedia, and aside from its color being different, its effects were genuinely identical to Kaido's Azure Dragon Fruit… and it could even awaken.
So Moria's judgment was not wrong.
At this moment, in terms of ability, Shinryu truly was no different from Kaido himself.
"No! I don't believe it!" But Moria grit his teeth and let out a furious roar. "You're not that monster… No, even if you were, so what?!"
His voice trembled uncontrollably.
"I'm different from the past now! I created a zombie legion, I won't lose anything ever again!"
His anger and hatred seemed to give him courage, allowing him to speak such words.
Zombies were corpses.
They were consumables.
Perfect "companions" that held no concept of death.
They would not fear, would not bleed, required no emotional investment, and even if they were destroyed, they could simply be remade.
"I'll use them to achieve my dream! I'll ascend to the throne of the Pirate King!"
"My zombies are invincible…"
BOOM!
His crazed roar had not even finished before thunder had already exploded across the sky.
At that moment, the entire castle city tilted and shook once more, even more violently than before.
The surrounding walls, already cracked by freezing, instantly collapsed under the strain and the entire upper half of the castle crumbled apart in an instant.
"Invincible?"
Moria heard Shinryu's voice.
"That's exactly why I say you've degenerated too much."
Shinryu looked at Moria with a somewhat helpless expression.
Just as he had said earlier, he originally had no intention of fighting Moria.
He had assumed that if Moria were at least somewhat rational, then after hearing about Crocodile and the recent reputation of the Twelve Zodiac, he would understand that attacking him was the wrong choice.
But reality proved otherwise.
Moria had attacked him without the slightest hesitation.
Or more precisely…
"You think my abilities can't harm your 'Zombie Generals'? You think these so-called zombies you created are invincible?"
Shinryu naturally understood why such absurd thoughts existed.
"Meaningless fantasies born from running away from reality… and yet you actually believed them?"
And then…
BANG!
Wild winds roared once more, and Moria, who was fully exerting his powers, suddenly realized that his body had completely lost control as he was blown upward into the air.
At the same time,
BOOM!
Amid the crashing thunder, Shinryu's figure also rose high into the sky, carried upward by raging winds. His long robe fluttered violently in the gale, while the dragon horns atop his head resembled a crown beneath the lightning's glow and it was at that exact moment that the airborne Moria finally saw the full sight of Thriller Bark.
It was a scene he had never witnessed before.
WHOOOSH!
A colossal waterspout connecting sea and sky roared wildly across the ocean.
Countless tons of seawater were being dragged upward into the heavens by the tornado, gathering above Thriller Bark.
And simultaneously…
BANG!
Massive pillars of lightning descended from the heavens, continuously crashing down upon every corner of the island. Wherever they struck, the zombies were instantly reduced to dust, while the nearby zombies were temporarily paralyzed by the lightning coursing through them.
And even more unbelievable, after the lightning descended, freezing frost actually began spreading across the island itself.
The ice rapidly expanded throughout the entire island, rising upward in jagged formations, each block of ice trapping a zombie within it, leaving only its head exposed and unable to move.
But even that was not the end.
At this moment, Shinryu slowly raised a single finger.
And then, from beneath the ocean surface…
BOOOOM!
Scorching magma rose into the sky.
It pierced through the wind and rain, and its terrifying heat instantly evaporated the seawater that had been gathered above the island and once the water had evaporated, what remained behind was a white crystalline substance.
It gathered together in the sky, forming a vast white ocean.
But clearly that was not the sea. It was the residue left behind after seawater had been vaporized by magma…
"Salt!?" Gecko Moria's eyes widened instantly.
"You actually…"
He already understood what the other party intended to do and the reality was exactly as he had guessed.
WHOOOSH!
The roaring winds rose once again, sweeping through the sea of salt gathered in the sky.
And so, snow began to fall upon Thriller Bark.
"…To think such a thing is even possible…"
At this moment, the anger in Moria's heart quietly faded away. He could no longer comprehend what he was witnessing.
The colossal waterspouts connecting heaven and sea.
The crashing thunderbolts.
The howling storms.
The torrential rain.
The spreading frost.
The blazing magma.
And the snow formed from salt itself.
The man before him seemed like the sovereign of all heavenly phenomena.
"Even Kaido's abilities shouldn't be capable of this level of power."
As a great pirate who had once battled Kaido personally, Moria naturally knew that and in truth, that was indeed the case.
Kaido's Azure Dragon Fruit was practically one of the most perfect Devil Fruits in existence.
Flight, monstrous physical strength, and various abilities capable of influencing the weather gave it almost no weaknesses at all. But even so, the Azure Dragon Fruit merely manipulated natural phenomena, it did not truly create them.
Kaido could unleash dragon flames powerful enough to destroy mountains, but he could not genuinely control magma itself.
He could draw lightning from thunderclouds and use it as an attack, but he could not create large-scale thunderstorms out of nothing.
He could unleash slicing wind blades or generate devastating winds through the sheer size of his dragon body, but he could not produce a storm capable of overturning an entire island.
But…
Shinryu could.
Fusion Devil Fruit — Logia-Type: Weather Devil Fruit LV5
Fusion Materials:
Goro Goro no Mi (Thunder-Thunder Fruit) LV5
Gale-Gale Fruit LV5
Smoke-Smoke Fruit LV4
Devil Fruit Effect:
Grants all abilities of the three fused Devil Fruits, allowing the user to manipulate clouds, smoke, wind, and lightning.
Additional Fusion Effect — "All Phenomena Are Mine"
Effect 1: Nearby lightning, storms, clouds, and mist can all become extensions of the user's body. The user may freely control the weather and heavenly phenomena within the surrounding seas, creating devastating natural disasters.
The closer the target is to the user, the greater the degree of control.
Effect 2 — Awakening: Can gather and fuse all weather-related elements together. Every attack may contain the terrifying destructive force of a natural disaster and permanently alter the surrounding terrain.
And beyond that…
Magu Magu no Mi (Magma-Magma Fruit) LV4 -
Advanced Devil Fruit Development, capable of controlling nearby magma, including magma from undersea volcanoes.
Hie Hie no Mi (Ice-Ice Fruit) LV4
Advanced Devil Fruit Development - capable of controlling nearby cold air, with freezing power great enough to freeze an entire sea.
Yes.
For the Scarlet Dragon Fruit, the addition of the Ice-Ice Fruit and Magma-Magma Fruit to the fused Weather Devil Fruit was practically the perfect enhancement combination.
Without exaggeration, Shinryu was the true dragon purely in terms of ability strength, compared to Kaido,.
"The natural disasters of heaven themselves… all move according to my will."
Just at that moment, the pure white salt snow drifted down onto the frozen zombies below.
And then…
BUZZZ! BUZZZ! BUZZZ!
Countless black shadows burst out from the zombies' bodies and flew toward the distant horizon.
That was also the reason Moria's expression had turned so ugly earlier. The greatest weakness of the zombies created by his Shadow-Shadow Fruit was salt.
Once a zombie's body came into contact with or consumed salt, the shadow inside it would be expelled and return to its original owner.
And that also meant the zombie would revert into nothing more than an ordinary corpse.
So now, within only a few breaths, under Shinryu's natural-disaster-like power, the zombie legion Moria had spent nearly ten years creating was completely erased.
But clearly, Moria no longer had the luxury of caring about his zombies anymore, because he had already seen Shinryu raising his arm.
BANG!
In the next instant, the fist struck forward.
Along with a spray of blood, Moria's enormous body was blasted downward instantly.
BOOOOM!
Violent tremors and shockwaves spread outward in every direction.
And the gigantic castle standing at the center of Thriller Bark collapsed completely beneath that single punch.
(End of Chapter)
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