"What did you say?!"
Moriah jerked his head up, his onion-shaped hair swaying as his fierce pupils shrank. Grabbing the large blade beside him, he rose abruptly.
Standing nearly seven meters tall with a muscular build and the already dim lighting around him, his intimidating presence was undeniable.
At this moment, he had completely escaped the fate of becoming the lazy shut-in he would have been in the future, with a resilient spirit and willpower, far from being the "shame of the Warlords of the Sea."
"T-that aura... and those monstrously powerful beings with him... there's no mistaking it!"
Despite his nervousness, the pirate underling's voice carried a trace of excitement. "Moriah-sama, are you going to take action yourself?!"
"Hey-hee-hee-hee, dealing with a little brat of that level doesn't require me to exert myself."
Moriah grinned, his signature crescent moon smile appearing in the darkness.
"Perona, Absalom, let's go. We're going to meet an old friend."
Under the puzzled gaze of his underling, Moriah put the large blade he had instinctively grabbed back in its place, folded his hands behind his back, and walked out of the hall with heavy, buzzing steps.
"Hey! Have you seen a little girl, around five or six years old?"
The thirteen-year-old Perona, already starting to develop, wore a top hat and a black evening gown, resembling a noble princess.
"Perona-sama, I-I think I did," the pirate underling respectfully replied.
Even though Perona was much smaller compared to his muscular build, she was one of Moriah's most trusted officers, and that commanded respect.
"Great! I'll get to see Kanna-chan again~"
Thinking of Kanna's cute, chubby little face, Perona happily skipped after Moriah.
"And how many times have I told you! Wear your stuffed animal costume before talking to me! You're disgusting!"
Perona snapped back at the pirate underling, who had dared to speak to her.
It's not like I asked you to talk to me in the first place! The pirate, who had a bounty of 80 million berries and was doing fairly well in the New World, lamented internally but bowed submissively on the outside.
"Y-yes, you're absolutely right."
Even without Moriah's presence, he still feared Perona greatly.
Compared to saying something like, "I feel like a piece of seaweed drifting in the wind," and being laughed at by his comrades forever, bowing and admitting fault was a small price to pay.
He had seen firsthand the methods of this "Ghost Princess."
"No matter the environment, Perona, you're as strict as ever…" Absalom couldn't help but comment.
"Shut up, you single-celled beastly pervert!"
Perona snapped back, with no intention of sparing him any face.
"…"
Absalom was rendered speechless, forced into an awkward laugh.
It wasn't like he enjoyed bowing in front of his subordinates either—what a blow to his dignity!
"Hey, are you two done playing around? Hurry up!" Moriah's impatient voice broke the awkward atmosphere as it echoed from ahead.
Perona pursed her lips, and with Absalom resigned to his fate, they quickly followed after Moriah.
As they stepped out of the dark castle doors, the outer square—usually tightly guarded—was now filled with pirates holding weapons.
These pirates, who roamed the New World, hadn't all joined Moriah's crew out of loyalty. Some clearly had their own hidden agendas.
However, with such a formidable enemy at their doorstep, regardless of their personal motives, they had to put on a united front and surround Zyhark's crew.
Faced with the infamous reputation of the enemy, their expressions were tense and filled with fear. Their muscles were taut as none wanted to be the first to step forward and take a beating.
The tense standoff eased slightly with the arrival of Moriah and his officers.
"Hey-hee-hee-hee, long time no see, Zyhark!"
Moriah walked up to his subordinates, staring at the smiling, handsome face of Zyhark not far away. His mind raced with a flood of thoughts.
Even though the events aboard Thriller Bark had left him humiliated, he had to admit that without that battle, he would still be the weak-willed loser, with no chance of a powerful comeback in the New World.
This much, even the arrogant and haughty Moriah had to acknowledge.
Zyhark and his crew were the biggest benefactors of his life!
"Yo, Moriah, long time no see."
The moment they met, Zyhark could clearly sense the sharp, powerful aura emanating from Moriah.
In such a short time, the Gecko Moriah who once fought Kaido had truly returned!
"For an old friend you haven't seen in a while, your method of greeting is quite special."
He smiled as his gaze swept over the intimidating pirates surrounding him.
This comment left the surrounding pirates dumbfounded.
Old friends? The infamous Thunder Demon Zyhark, a fellow Warlord of the Sea, was actually friends with Moriah-sama?
They had expected a fierce battle to break out once Moriah appeared, but this unexpected outcome left their minds spinning.
"Well, greetings between pirates would be a bit dull without this kind of ceremony."
With that, the smile on Moriah's face disappeared.
In its place was a surge of powerful aura that erupted from his body.
The impact blew nearby stones into a frenzy, rolling across the ground.
At the center of the shockwave, Moriah wasted no time, raising his armament-coated fist, shrouded in shadows, and lunged at Zyhark with lightning speed!
The thick, dangerous aura, combined with the Armament Haki, rushed toward Zyhark and his crew. Yet, Aqua and the others remained unmoved.
In an instant, Moriah's gigantic fist descended.
The ensuing wind pressure ruffled Zyhark's black coat.
Without drawing a weapon, Zyhark raised his own unassuming, Armament Haki-coated fist to clash head-on with Moriah's strike!
Boom!!
The collision unleashed a chaotic, tearing gust of energy, cracking the hardened ground beneath them like a spider web.
The sheer force behind the clash was evident.
Caught in a deadlock of strength and Haki, Moriah, feeling the weight behind Zyhark's strike, let a grin return to his face as he was the first to withdraw his hand.
Zyhark followed suit, mutually agreeing to stop.
"You monster, it's been only two months, and your strength has grown this much?" Moriah exclaimed in surprise.
In their previous battle at the Devil's Triangle, Zyhark had shown great combat prowess, but his raw physical strength was lacking, nowhere near what it was now!
"Well, while you were busy building your forces in the New World, we weren't exactly sitting idle either," Zyhark replied with a smile.
The harmonious exchange once again stunned the surrounding pirates.
From calling each other old friends to Moriah suddenly throwing a punch, only to have both sides pull back simultaneously...
Everything happened so quickly that the pirates could hardly grasp the situation.
The only thing they knew for sure was that Zyhark and their boss, Moriah, really were old acquaintances!
"Well, big guy, it seems you've cleaned up nicely since the last time we met!" Aqua waved, greeting him.
Her "enthusiastic" greeting made Moriah's grinning lips twitch.
She was as infuriating as ever, that blue-haired idiot goddess.
Choosing to ignore Aqua, he looked around at the other familiar faces.
There wasn't much change in the cat Meowth or the little girl Kanna, but King, the one he dreaded most, seemed to be losing some hair.
Well, it made sense. Being part of a crew where even the captain occasionally acted insane must have been quite the burden!
Good thing I was smart enough to get out and build my own forces!
Feeling smug, Moriah suddenly noticed the unfamiliar, muscle-bound figure among them.
"Oh wow, Brook has turned back into a human? And such a muscular body too!"
Naturally, Moriah mistook Escanor for Brook, who was no longer with them.
It had to be said, his observational skills were on par with Aqua's…
"Cough, cough, this is our new companion, Escanor. As for Brook, he had to disembark temporarily due to some reasons," Zyhark explained with a light cough.
Come to think of it, he did miss Brook a little.
If nothing else, Brook was great at lightening the mood!
"What?!"
Moriah's eyes widened in disbelief.
Sharp as he was, he had actually mistaken someone for another?!
As Zyhark casually led the way toward the castle, the pirates around him, still confused, parted to allow passage.
"This isn't the place to talk. Let's continue inside the castle."
"Oh, right."
Moriah instinctively nodded.
It wasn't until Zyhark had entered that Moriah snapped out of his daze and shouted angrily, "Damn it! This is my territory now!"
Amid Moriah's grumbling, the group entered the castle and sat down on the leather sofas in the main hall.
Completely unperturbed by the fact that this was Moriah's base, they made themselves right at home.
Aqua, with her keen sense of smell, immediately found the stash of wine and helped herself to a bottle of red wine.
As the Goddess of Water, Aqua prided herself on principles and discipline. She wouldn't even run away after accidentally breaking down a wall, instead owning up to the damage and paying for it in despair.
But here at Moriah's place? That was different. Zyhark was her captain, and that made Moriah her subordinate too.
Why bother being formal with her own people?
In this sense, it seemed Aqua had finally acknowledged Moriah.
The others also relaxed, as if they were back home, casually chatting with Absalom and poking around.
The most unusual sight, however, was Perona hugging Kanna tightly, squishing the little girl into her ample chest.
Kanna's expression? It was one of mild frustration.
Seeing a big lolita hugging a little loli was somewhat heartwarming, to say the least.
— As for the subordinates Moriah had gathered, they clearly weren't important enough to be here.
"What?! You're saying you guys took down Shiki, that old monster?!"
Back in the main hall, Moriah let out a sharp screech of disbelief.
As someone who held sway in the New World, he had naturally heard rumors that the long-escaped Golden Lion had been recaptured and sent back to Impel Down.
Though the Navy hadn't yet published an official report, the news had already spread throughout the New World, causing quite the commotion.
What Moriah never expected was that this massive tremor shaking the New World had been caused by none other than Zyhark himself!
"Well, he took over our territory without so much as a word, so we took him down and collected some bounty from the Navy while we were at it."
Speaking as though it was the most casual thing in the world, Zyhark took a sip of his drink, completely unbothered.
"Huh? That's what you're focusing on?! The Golden Lion Shiki, a monster who stood shoulder to shoulder with the strongest man in the world, Whitebeard!"
Moriah's shock took a long time to subside.
As a pirate from the old era, he had witnessed Shiki's terror firsthand when he was still a rookie.
And now, Zyhark had quietly taken down this legendary pirate!
"He was already gravely injured, and his strength had diminished significantly," Zyhark replied calmly.
It was true.
Had Shiki been in his prime, like Whitebeard before his illness, the outcome of the battle above Angel Island might have been entirely different.
Looking at the young man sitting before him, Moriah fell into a contemplative silence, before finally letting out a sigh of resignation. "Even so, your growth, you bastard, is simply astonishing…"
Even with Shiki's injuries, Moriah couldn't believe that Zyhark from two months ago, who had fought against him, possessed the power to defeat Shiki head-on!
"There's no need to sell yourself short. You've clearly undergone a significant transformation yourself in recent times," Zyhark said softly.
In the world of pirates, appearances reflected one's inner strength, and Moriah, having reclaimed his path as a formidable force, had undergone a noticeable transformation in his physical appearance.
If not, Aqua wouldn't have said what she did when they first met.
"Hey-hee-hee-hee, this is far from my limit!"
Moriah, regaining his pride, reverted to his usual arrogance, sitting smugly.
"Since we're practically family now, I'll tell you this: In a month's time, I'm going to march into Wano and settle the score with Kaido!"
Zyhark: "…"
Dude, Aqua's the one drinking, so how did you get drunk?
Just because I complimented you a little, now you think you're ready to take on Kaido?!
Setting aside how much stronger Kaido had become over the years, even in your current state, you'd have trouble handling the Kaido from ten years ago!
Looking into Moriah's burning eyes, Zyhark ultimately refrained from voicing this harsh reality.
With someone like Moriah, trying to talk sense into him would only backfire. Only Kaido's Raimei Hakke could knock sense into him.
Besides, letting him suffer a bit might prevent him from becoming a liability during their final battle against the World Government.
Here's hoping that "Teacher Kaido" leaves his subordinate alive…
After silently praying for Moriah, Zyhark spoke quietly, "Well then, I wish you success in avenging your grudge."
"Don't worry, I haven't forgotten what I promised you. Once I'm done with Kaido, just tell me if you need anything."
Moriah was very pleased with this empty promise, lazily crossing his legs and resting his large head on his arms.
If, before, joining Zyhark's crew had left him feeling somewhat unwilling, learning that his new boss had defeated the Golden Lion left no room for doubt.
In this sea ruled by strength, the only thing that truly commanded respect was power!
As they continued their idle conversation inside the castle, outside, on the square where Moriah's men stood guard…
One pirate silently slipped away to a secluded corner, taking out a Den Den Mushi emblazoned with the Donquixote Family crest.
"Master, it's me."
"There's no mistake, the Zyhark crew from the Sea Restaurant is here on Shadow Island!"
After a brief silence, the voice on the other end of the line, belonging to a Den Den Mushi wearing sunglasses, let out a sinister laugh, "Fuffuffuffuffu..."
"So, I've finally found you, damn Zyhark. You dared destroy my factory?"
"This time, I'll make sure you know just how terrifying it is to cross the Donquixote Family!"
Without further delay, Doflamingo, from his palace in Dressrosa, gave orders for a full-scale attack.
Soon after, the core officers of the Donquixote Family gathered: Trebol, the user of the Stick-Stick Fruit; Pica, the user of the Stone-Stone Fruit; Diamante, the user of the Flutter-Flutter Fruit; and Monet, the user of the Snow-Snow Fruit.
Aside from a few like Senor Pink and Sugar, who stayed behind to defend Dressrosa, the entire Donquixote Family set sail!
With its gaudy pink figurehead, the pirate ship with three masts sailed out from Dressrosa's port, heading full speed toward Shadow Island.
(End of Chapter)