As he fell from the mainmast with his back facing the ground, Moria scowled as he saw Johnny jump and dive towards him at incredible speed, and Before he could react, the latter had already reached him.
Johnny held Moria's collar with his right hand and began punching the warlord's face with his prosthetic left as they fell to the ground at a rapidly increasing pace.
"Don't get carried away, brat! Doppelman!" Moria exclaimed as he began punching back in rage, his shadow re-materializing behind Johnny and holding his arms.
"I'll turn you into a flat pancake!" Moria exclaimed, still continuously punching Johnny's face as the Doppelman rocked its body to the side, turning Moria and Johnny over. It disappeared after leaving Johnny at the bottom, his back facing the ground.
Moria's grin intensified, growing smugger with every punch he delivered to Johnny's face. However, he suddenly stopped staring at Johnny in confusion at the latter's unphased expression as he merely smirked without retaliating.
"You won' be able to grin for much longer!" Moria exclaimed, gritting his teeth as they neared the ground, and he put more force into his limbs to keep Johnny pinned beneath him.
Seconds later, they hit the ground, but Johnny's grin stayed the same. It grew deeper as he disappeared into the dirt upon impact, seemingly melding with it and leaving Moria to take the full brunt of the fall.
"What?!" Exclaimed, grunting in pain as he hit the ground and looked around in an attempt to find out where Johnny went. He got to his feet and began vigilantly looking around. However, he suddenly froze as a pair of hands suddenly emerged from the ground, latching to his feet.
Moria felt his body turn lighter as the two hands pulled him to the ground, melding him into the dirt below. And before Moria could even make sense of the situation, Johnny emerged from the earth and began viciously kicking the warlord's face.
"I'm still grinning just the same, Moria!" Johnny exclaimed with a maniacal grin as he delivered a particularly powerful kick to the warlord's jaw, rocking his brain.
"Goddamnit, get off me, brat! Doppelman!" Moria exclaimed, and his shadow suddenly appeared behind Johnny, holding a giant scissor as it tried to cut his body in half.
Johnny saw it coming and dodged to the side, smiling as he watched the shadow stomp the ground, shattering it and getting Moria out of his predicament.
"You have a strange devil fruit ability, brat..." Moria remarked as he got out of the ground, dusting himself and taking the scissors from the shadow.
"But it won't save you!" Moria exclaimed, splitting scissors at the joints, into two large, curved swords. "I'll mince your meat!" he added with a demented smile, scraping the blades of his two swords together as if sharpening them.
"Oh? So we're playing with swords now? I can do that too," Johnny replied with a chuckle, unsheathing Triton and brandishing to the side as he lunged at Moria.
Johnny swung his blade at Moria, and the warlord used one of his curved swords to block while using the other counterattack, aiming for Johnny's face.
Johnny moved his head to the side, dodging the attack. However, Moria's shadow appeared behind Johnny, taking the curved sword from the warlord's hand and swinging it at Johnny's back.
"Die!" Moria exclaimed, rocking his fist backward and launching it at Johnny's face the same time his shadows attacked.
Johnny's expression was unchanged as he activated his devil fruit ability, phasing through the two attacks and almost bursting into laughter at Moria's mortified expression as the warlord and his shadow hit each other with their coordinated attack instead of Johnny.
"Bastard!" Moria exclaimed, clutching the open gash in his abdomen while glaring at Johnny.
Johnny merely laughed in response, suddenly disappearing, activating his ability to phase through light and turn invisible. And before Moria could question what happened, a bloody gash appeared on his back.
Moria gritted his teeth in frustration as he began looking around to no avail. He could not see or hear Johnny as the latter moved around, invisible and silent as he slashed away at the warlord's body.
...
"So this is the captain's strength, huh?" Elvis remarked with an astonished expression as he stood a fair distance away from the battle between Moria and Johnny, watching the fight with wrapt attention.
"Not quite," Doc said, patting Stronger's head as the horse thrust its head over his shoulder and neighed. "He's just playing around..." he added, shaking his head with an amused expression.
"I wonder how this moron will react if he wakes up and sees Moria getting beaten this badly?" Doc wondered aloud, turning to look at the unconscious and bruised Hogback lying on the ground near him.
"I still don't understand why you had to bring along this guy..." Law said, scratching his head as he looked at the unconscious Hogback. "We should have just left him there in the lab after we purified the zombies there and destroyed the research," he added with a sigh, shaking his head.
"The captain did say that Moria guys actually cares about his crewmates, so I brought him just in case..." Doc replied with a smile, unphased by Law's bemused frown.
"We are pirates, Law. Even if we believe our captain can wipe the floor with the enemy, we still have to be prepared to bail his ass out when necessary," Doc explained, spreading his hands to the sides.
"Whether he likes it or not..."
...
"As expected, this might be too much for you..." Johnny remarked as he appeared a distance away from Moria, gazing at the latter with a thoughtful expression. "Should I stop turning invisible?" he asked, tilting his head in wonder.
"Are you looking down on me, brat?" Moria shrieked, heaving for breath as he clutched the many gashes on his body while glaring at Johnny. "Very well... Kishishishi..." he added, strangely laughing at the end of his sentence.
"I didn't want to use this technique on a brat like you... but you've forced my hand," Moria stated with a demented smile, though he was gnashing his teeth.
"Shadow!" Moria exclaimed, spreading his arms. His shadow elongated, growing many tentacles that wreathed on the ground and shot into all directions of Thriller Bark.
"Asgard!" Moria continued, his shadows spreading all around the island and returning to him seconds later, carrying hundreds of humanoid shades that merged into the warlord.
"Kishishishi!" Moria laughed as his body swelled, and his neck bloated into extreme proportions, similar to how a gecko puffs its throat when threatened.
Moria's horns also grew as his body gained size, his hair turning spikey, and his legs elongating, while his arms gained width as he finally reached a high that would put even a giant to shame.
"I'll crush you like a bug!" Moria exclaimed in a distorted thundering voice, looking down on Johnny as he leaned on all four of his limbs, the proportions of his body leaving him unable to stand straight.
"Die, Silver Hand!" Moria shrieked, his voice shaking the very earth as he swung his fists down, hitting the ground, the strength of his mighty slam splitting Thriller Bark itself in half.
...
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