Just as the crew stepped onto the long, arched corridor leading into the heart of the castle, a high-pitched, rhythmic laugh echoed from the rafters.
"Horohorohoro..."
Several translucent, round-bellied ghosts seeped through the stone ceiling, spiraling down toward Portgas D. Ace.
At the far end of the hallway, a girl in a pink Gothic dress floated downward. Her hair was tied into long, candy-pink pigtails, and she idly spun a ruffled parasol. Perona pouted, her eyes narrowing with irritation.
"What rude guests. You've made a mess of the courtyard I worked so hard to keep tidy." She gestured forward with a gloved hand. "Go, Negative Hollow! Let them feel the weight of true despair!"
Three ghosts streaked through the air, aimed directly for Ace's chest.
Ace didn't break his stride. His pupils shifted slightly, locking onto the spectral entities. There was no physical exertion, no movement of his hands; instead, a silent, invisible shockwave of absolute will rippled from his frame. It was the command of a King.
"Disperse."
The word was a flat, cold decree.
The aggressive Negative Hollows shrieking toward him hit an invisible wall of domineering pressure. They let out a thin, piercing wail before disintegrating like frost under a midday sun.
Perona's smug confidence vanished, replaced by a deathly pallor. To her, it felt as though the man approaching wasn't a human at all, but a celestial body moving through the hall.
"You're one of Moriah's, right?" Ace stopped five meters away. The air around him grew heavy, the pressure of his presence forcing Perona's legs to tremble. "I'm here to see him. Lead the way."
Perona's eyes went wide with terror. She let out a short scream, spun around, and scrambled through the air, floating toward the main hall without daring to look back.
The crew followed her into a vaulted chamber large enough to house a small army. Upside-down bats clung to the dark rafters, and flickering candles cast long, dancing shadows across a massive figure seated at the far end.
Gekko Moriah sat atop a mountain of a throne, his bloated, bat-like features contorted with rage. The veins in his spindly neck bulged, and the shadows pooling at his feet churned like black oil.
"Enough! You reckless barbarians!" Moriah's roar shook the crystal chandeliers. "How dare you breach my domain and strike my subordinates! I'll carve the shadows from your hides and turn you into the crown jewels of my army!"
Ace came to a halt dozens of meters from the throne. He studied Moriah, his gaze lingering on the man's decaying physique and the rusted pair of giant scissors gripped in his hand.
"So this is the hero who once challenged Kaido of the Beasts?" Ace's voice was devoid of mockery, yet the truth in it stung worse than any insult. "Look at you, Moriah. Hiding behind a wall of corpses, relying on stolen shadows to fake a strength you no longer possess. You've stayed hidden here for ten years just to prove that defeat broke your spirit."
"Shut up! You know nothing!" Moriah lurched to his feet, his shadow expanding until it swallowed half the hall. "Individual strength is a myth! In the face of absolute numbers, you are nothing! I am the ruler of the shadows!"
"Numbers? To a true King, numbers are just the dust that settles after a victory."
Ace raised his right arm, embers beginning to flicker across his skin.
"Never mind. The current you doesn't even stir my blood. Eneru, see if this Warlord has anything left but a big mouth."
The tension in the room snapped like a bowstring.
"You want me to test him?" Eneru tilted his head, his long, gold-weighted earlobes swaying. He snorted, gripping his golden staff in a reverse hold as he stepped past Ace. A cruel, electric excitement danced in his blue-white pupils. "It's a bit insulting to be used for errands, but if I must... I'll show this mutant bat the weight of a God's judgment."
The stone floor tiles beneath Eneru's feet splintered.
"What did you call me? Mortal?!" Moriah's neck swelled with fury. He had spent too long as the undisputed master of this dark sea. "A mere subordinate thinks he can speak to a Warlord like this? Doppelman!"
The ink-like shadow at Moriah's feet rose, taking on a twisted, mirrored shape of his own massive body. The Doppelman's hands sharpened into pitch-black spears that lunged violently toward Eneru's heart.
"Yahahaha! In a damp tomb like this, the air conducts beautifully."
Eneru's form blurred, transforming into a crackling bolt of lightning. Guided by his perception of the hall's electric field, he bypassed the shadow spears with effortless precision. He refracted through the air in a blinding Z-pattern, rematerializing directly above the Doppelman.
"Thunder Gold: Thundercloud Burst!"
The tip of Eneru's staff turned void-black, coated in a layer of refined Armament Haki. Millions of volts coiled around the metal as he brought it down on the shadow's head.
The strike was absolute. The Doppelman was blown apart, its form flattened back into two dimensions as the violent current surged through the shadow and into the floor. A blinding blue-white light filled every corner of the hall, followed by the sharp, metallic tang of ozone.
"Waaaaah!"
Moriah let out a guttural shriek. The current raced through the ground, snaking up into his main body like a hive of vipers. His muscles spasmed uncontrollably, and his massive frame was thrown backward, the giant throne flipping over with a deafening crash.
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