At the edge of the Devil's Triangle Sea.
Rorschach and Hibari descended from the sky aboard their flying warship, slowly landing on the sea's surface.
When Rorschach spoke, Hibari quickly took out a Den Den Mushi from her pocket and began dialing Vivi's line.
"Bulu bulu…"
"Bulu bulu…"
The line rang more than ten times.
Just when Hibari thought no one would answer, the call suddenly connected.
"Vivi, where are you now? Rorschach and I have already reached the edge of the Devil's Triangle! Rorschach couldn't spot your ship anywhere. Tell us roughly where you are—we'll come to you right away!"
As soon as the call connected, Hibari spoke quickly.
However, what she and Rorschach didn't expect was that what came through the Den Den Mushi was only static—bursts of messy, crackling noise.
There seemed to be someone speaking, but it was impossible to make out what they were saying.
Rorschach immediately recognized this kind of interference.
It meant the Den Den Mushi's signal was being jammed—partially blocked but not completely—which resulted in this garbled sound.
Hibari frowned and looked at Rorschach with worry.
"Rorschach… I can't hear Vivi clearly. Do you think something happened to her?"
Rorschach couldn't say for sure if Vivi had encountered any trouble.
He could only reassure her for now.
"Don't worry. Since she could still answer the call, that means she's fine for the moment."
As he said this, he frowned and glanced at the thickening mist surrounding them.
He'd been here before, and the Den Den Mushi signal had never been affected.
After all, last time, the emergency call from G2 Vice Admiral Kadar had come through perfectly.
"Let's not panic. We'll keep searching. Don't hang up—the signal might clear up soon."
Rorschach lifted his hand slightly. The warship rose again—not soaring upward, but gliding swiftly just above the misty waves.
Wherever the ship passed, the fog rolled and parted on both sides, the air splitting cleanly away from the hull.
Rorschach extended his Observation Haki, spreading it across dozens of kilometers—like a human radar sweeping through the fog-choked Devil's Triangle.
Dozens of minutes passed, and his frown only deepened.
He couldn't find Vivi's ship anywhere—nor could he sense Vivi's or Cobra's presence.
The Den Den Mushi in Hibari's hands continued to buzz with the same disordered noise—no voice, no clarity.
"Rorschach… Vivi hasn't—hasn't run into trouble, right?"
By now, Hibari's face was full of worry, her eyes shimmering with tears.
She and Vivi hadn't known each other long—barely over ten days—but they'd become as close as sisters.
Now that Vivi was missing and unreachable, Hibari was nearly frantic.
Suddenly, she saw Rorschach's expression shift as he looked sharply toward a certain direction within the mist.
Hibari quickly asked, "What is it? Did you find Vivi and the others?"
Rorschach shook his head slightly, turned the ship, and sped off toward that direction.
"No. But I did find a certain fat shut-in. He's practically half the owner of this sea. Let's ask him—he might know something useful."
"Fat shut-in?" Hibari blinked, confused by the term.
But soon, when a massive, island-sized ship came into view, she understood what Rorschach meant.
Through the giant, gate-like jaws ahead, she could see towering masts and gears shrouded in mist.
What looked like a floating island was actually one of the largest ships in the world—the Thriller Bark, belonging to the Shichibukai Gecko Moria.
Comparable in scale to Gild Tesoro's golden ship, this was a monstrous, fortress-like vessel.
"Let's go ask Moria. Maybe he knows something."
Rorschach didn't even wait for the bizarre bat zombies to report his arrival. With a casual gesture, he steered the flying warship over the enormous jaws, soaring above the shadowed ruins toward the grand, gloomy castle ahead.
Below them, zombie soldiers—wrapped in bandages and stitched together like patchwork dolls—burst from the ground, howling and chasing after the ship.
"So many zombies!"
Hibari shrank back against Rorschach, her eyes wide in fright.
"Zombies! So scary! I'm gonna die of fear!"
Above her head, a puff of dark cloud formed into a sweating face. Two trembling cloud-hands clutched Hibari's hair tightly.
It was Zeus, the former thundercloud of Big Mom, now tamed and serving Hibari.
Seeing the two of them terrified, Rorschach couldn't help twitching the corner of his mouth.
He really didn't understand what there was to fear—these stitched-up freaks were nothing.
Hibari had faced pirates from the New World without flinching! She'd even tricked Charlotte Daifuku during the G1 Grand Battle, causing Big Mom herself to eat her own son.
And now she was scared of these weaklings?
Even their master, Moria, didn't have a bounty higher than Daifuku's!
Before the warship even reached the castle, Rorschach sensed Moria's shadow form fleeing rapidly away from the fortress.
He sighed.
"Hey! Moria! You're supposed to be one of the world-famous Shichibukai, a man of status on the seas—why are you running the second you see me?"
Rorschach's voice echoed through the fog-covered ship.
But instead of stopping, Moria sped up even more!
A narrow, flowing black shadow darted across the ruins and forests toward the shore.
"Rorschach, should we chase him?" Hibari asked.
"No need. He'll come back," Rorschach replied with a mysterious smile as he landed the warship on one of the castle's upper floors.
The two disembarked—and Hibari gasped.
Inside the gloomy castle was a surprisingly warm, cozy room filled with a sweet, girlish atmosphere.
In that room, curled up on a bed piled high with plush toys, a petite girl hugged a teddy bear and slept soundly.
When Rorschach and Hibari appeared, the stuffed animals turned their button eyes toward them—some even nudged the girl, trying to wake her.
But the girl only murmured softly and kept sleeping, much to the toys' frustration.
"Eh? Who's that little girl? Moria's daughter?" Hibari asked, baffled.
She couldn't understand how such a comforting, pink-filled room could exist in a place as dark as Thriller Bark.
The contrast was almost absurd.
"Close enough," Rorschach said with a smirk. "If we catch her, Moria will definitely come crawling back."
No sooner had he spoken than a shadow shot into the room from outside—like a streaming sheet of black water.
It surged upward, taking form—and soon, the seven-meter-tall, round-bodied Gecko Moria materialized, his face filled with hostility and tension.
"Marine brat! What do you think you're doing?! I warn you—don't make any sudden moves!"
"Why are you so scared? I'm not going to hurt you. Relax—we just want to ask a few questions."
Rorschach smiled disarmingly, taking a step forward.
"Stop right there! Or I'll attack!"
Moria's shrill voice echoed through the chamber. He brandished his giant scissors defensively.
"I told you, I just want to talk. You're making this difficult."
Rorschach's voice dropped, cold and steady.
Vivi's disappearance had already left him in a foul mood, and Moria's attitude only made it worse.
The air thickened around them, heavy and suffocating.
An invisible pressure spread through the castle—so intense that Moria's hands began to tremble, sweat dripping down his forehead.
The oppressive force surged toward him like a tide, radiating from the boy half his size.
It was far stronger than when they'd last met in Alabasta.
Moria's heart skipped a beat.
What had this kid been eating to grow this powerful in just a few months?!
Thinking of all the recent headlines about Rorschach, his anxiety only deepened.
But he couldn't just abandon Perona and run away again.
After escaping from Wano years ago, he'd sworn never to leave a comrade behind.
So he raised his scissors and faced Rorschach head-on.
Rorschach's eyes grew colder. The air seemed to groan under the pressure.
And at that moment, the girl on the bed stirred.
Rubbing her eyes and yawning, she sat up, still half-asleep.
"Moria-sama… what's going on? Who are they?"
"Perona! You're awake? They're Marines—those bastards who killed Absalom! Stay back, don't come near them!"
End of Chapter)
────────────────────────────────────
"If you want early access to nearly 60+ chapters, join my patreon:- patreon.com/BaDwYGaMeR"