"Hey, hey, hey, no way, Absalom got defeated?"
On the island, in a building facing the sea, a round man with purple hair looked at the floating ghost in front of him and complained.
"I told you that guy was unreliable, relying on the Clear Clear Fruit to sneak onto the enemy's ship alone!"
"His fruit ability only makes him invisible, not invincible! —He can still be hit by random attacks..."
"—What should we do?"
Facing the floating ghost that looked like a simple drawing, the doctor named Hogback thought for a moment.
"This time it's the Straw Hat crew, with three super rookies worth over a hundred million each."
"Alright, you stall them, I'll go wake up the zombie generals. —No need to wake the master, we'll handle them!"
——————Meanwhile, on the outskirts of the island, the Straw Hat crew faced:"Woof!"
"Woof!"
"Awooo!"
A giant three-headed dog, covered in stitches, drooling as it pawed at the skeleton beneath it, staring intently at the crew.
But:"Ah, what a big three-headed dog."
Usopp calmly commented;
"One of the heads is a fox."
Chopper pointed out the mistake;"Well, whether it's a dog or a fox, someone go deal with it."
Nami waved her hand.
???
Three-headed dog: Are you looking down on me?!
"Let me handle it..."
Facing Zoro, who was ready to take it down with one strike, Luffy enthusiastically rubbed his chin and stopped him.
"Wait, let me see if I can tame it."
"Since it's a dog," Luffy walked up boldly and extended his hand, "Good dog, give me your paw, shake hands—"
"Crunch!" x3"Roman, your captain..."
Facing the worried Brook, Roman signaled him not to worry because:"You should be concerned about that synthetic dog instead—"
"Good dog~~ behave~~"
With the three heads biting his upper body, Luffy calmly pried open the dog's jaws and pulled his head out of the Cerberus's throat. Then:Boom!
He punched sideways, quick as lightning! The force instantly penetrated the three heads of the Cerberus without causing any external injuries! Luffy's control over his strength was not perfect, but it was quite advanced.
Plop,
"Great, I told it to lie down, and it did."
...It was clearly knocked down by you!
Facing the shocked Brook, Roman had to comfort him.
"Taming beasts—it's all about using both the whip and the carrot. This is normal."
...
Brook's jawbone moved, but in the end, he dared not speak out.
Soon, Luffy rode the newly acquired 'mount,' the Cerberus, and the group arrived at a:Forest.
But unlike a normal forest, trees with human faces sewn onto their trunks danced with their arms around each other; lions with human heads turned around, revealing broken ribs under their bandages; cats with unknown animal faces leaped through the air; long snakes with arms slithered and climbed..."Ah, it's definitely a terrifying scene."
Nami rubbed her forehead. Under normal circumstances, shouldn't she be screaming and crying to set the mood? But now:"Yeah, Nami, I understand how you feel because:"
Usopp sighed and pointed ahead with his thumb:"Hahaha, got you!"
"Let go, let go—"
"I caught one too, this is rare~~"
"Help!!"
"Join us as pirates~~"
Facing Luffy and Franky, who looked like they were 'kidnapping,' Zoro and Sanji were furious.
"Are you out of your mind?!" x2
...The scene was extremely bloody and violent!
Luffy and the others finally looked a bit like 'pirates,' cheerfully capturing people, while those terrifying-looking 'monsters' who could star in any horror movie screamed and scattered. Nami, Usopp, and Chopper, the timid trio, sighed in unison.
"Indeed, these guys are scarier."
"Of course," Roman watched from the side, "Fear is just an emotion that arises from a lack of strength. At our level, whether it's zombies, monsters, or whatever, let them taste the fists and swords that can pierce steel first!"
"Moreover, these are just 'artificial' things."
Roman pointed to the strange things with numbers on them, "Look at this, a normal 'monster' wouldn't have a number on itself. They are just the master's experiments."
"So cute,"
The intellectual beauty Robin, however, was fascinated by these stitched-together 'monsters', looking like she was ready to take one home, forcing Roman to shatter her fantasy.
"It's useless. These things can only be driven by Moria's fruit, they are essentially just corpses. Once they leave this island, they will be immediately reclaimed by Moria."
As the noisy crowd arrived at an open space, several white 'ghosts' in the air caught everyone's attention.
"Negative~~ Negative~~ Negative~~"
These ghosts, looking like simple sketches, laughed 'Hahaha~~' while chanting negative slogans and flying around. They didn't look scary at all, but rather a bit... cute.
"These ghosts can dance, there are so many of them, it's so fun!"
Luffy immediately waved a net to catch the 'ghosts', making Roman rub his temples.
Forget it, these things aren't harmful, let Luffy 'suffer a bit'...Swish, swish, swish—Although Luffy swung the net so fast it left afterimages, he couldn't touch the sketch-like ghosts flying in the air, as if they had no physical form! This made Franky adjust his sunglasses.
"If physical attacks don't work, try this—"
Taking a deep breath, Franky's cheeks puffed up, and a blazing flame shot out from his mouth!
"Franky Fire!"
Whoosh, whoosh, whoosh~~Although the long, hot flames lit up the forest, the ghosts in the fire remained unscathed! It was as if they existed in another dimension. As a ghost suddenly 'passed through' Franky, the usually 'iron man' Franky's eyes darkened.
"No, I can't do anything this week~~~"
"I can't go on living~~"
Franky knelt down in frustration.
"Do you really need to be so depressed?!"
Sanji was furious;"Watch me catch it!" Luffy threw away the net and lunged forward, naturally letting the ghost pass through him, then:"If there's a next life, I want to be a shell~~"
Luffy knelt down in frustration.
"What are you two doing?!"
Sanji was even angrier;"Hmph, useless."
Zoro looked disdainful, "It's because you don't train your willpower that you're confused by the ghosts—"
The next second, a ghost passed through his chest.
"I shouldn't have come to this world, sorry~~"
Zoro knelt down in frustration.
"And you have the nerve to criticize others?!!"
Sanji was furious again;
"Do you now understand the importance of Armament Haki?"
Roman looked calmly at his three kneeling companions. Armament Haki is the key to countering Devil Fruits—Swish, a ghost passed through Roman.
"As a proud member of the crew, if I can't punch the three Admirals or kick the Four Emperors, what face do I have left~~~"
Roman knelt down in frustration.
"Hey, hey, hey, where's your Haki?!"
Sanji... was no longer angry, because:"No way, even Roman got hit? Does that mean just being touched by these ghosts will cause a mental breakdown...?"
!!
"What do we do now?" x4
Seeing the reliable Roman, Zoro, Franky, and even Luffy all kneeling in despair, Nami, Usopp, and Chopper huddled together in fear! Could this be the day the Straw Hat crew gets wiped out?
"Hey, wait, why are there four..."
Sanji looked at Brook, whose jawbone had dropped to his chest, not knowing how to react.
You're a skeleton, what are you afraid of..."Don't... panic!"
Roman struggled to get up and waved his hand."It turns out that Armament Haki has some resistance. The fact that I recovered first is the best example."
"Roman, now is not the time to worry about that."
Sanji and Robin, sweating, were speechless.
"Besides, only you and Luffy know Armament Haki, so even if we know, it's meaningless, right?"
...I was careless!
Armament Haki can't immunize against negative ghosts!
Roman took a few deep breaths, cautiously watching the ghosts floating around, laughing harmlessly. He had to face the reality of the Paramecia-type Devil Fruit abilities in this world again.
Previously, they had encountered combat or support-type Paramecia Devil Fruits, but this was the first time they encountered a 'rule-type' ability that forced people to become negative—
Just a moment ago, Roman was utterly depressed, feeling that life was meaningless. Forget fighting, he didn't even want to stand up...If a sword master came now, the Straw Hat crew would be instantly reduced!
But—
Right. If Armament Haki could immunize against Paramecia Devil Fruits, then why could Sugar turn the arena's experts into toys?
There were Haki experts like Lao G, Chinjao, and Cavendish in there. Yet they all fell victim...
"I'm so angry! I won't keep these ghosts anymore!!"
"They must have a weakness. Watch how I deal with them—!"
A few seconds later, Luffy and Franky, having shaken off the negativity, got up in a rage!
"Wow, you guys are so interesting~~"
Facing Sanji's mockery, Zoro's forehead bulged with veins.
"Shut up!!"
"Roman..."
Seeing Nami's worried face, Roman waved his hand.
"Don't panic... Okay, this thing is scarier than I thought, but it's fine..."
Roman had already discovered the opponent's 'weakness,' or rather, a non-weakness. That is—they aren't very fast!
At the very least, they definitely can't catch up with Luffy in Gear Second, or Roman in his 'lightning-fast' state! In other words, as long as they don't get hit, they can choose to bypass these ghost attacks and go straight for the main body...Moreover:Glancing at the nervous Usopp who was looking around anxiously, it seemed that this 'Moria dungeon' might need Usopp to take the lead. — There's no way Roman could use his destructive skills to attack Perona, right?
After all, she's Zoro's..."Achoo,"
Rubbing his nose, Zoro frowned and looked around.
"I have a feeling something is watching me..."
"Could it be that ghost from earlier—"
"Shut up!!"
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