Under the moonlight, a strange mist suddenly rose from the sea.
Even stranger, the mist glided across the waves with unnatural speed.
The sound of a hull slicing through the water came from within—almost as if the mist itself was a massive warship.
Soon, the drifting fog reached the vicinity of the Whitebeard Pirates.
It halted a few hundred meters away, and began to rise into the sky, even blocking out the moon above.
But oddly, the moon's silvery light only flickered for a moment—then shone down again, clear and bright.
As if it had never been obscured at all.
A shadowy figure, glowing in a sinister purple-black hue, suddenly darted out from the mist—gliding swiftly toward the Moby Dick.
Inside the captain's quarters, Whitebeard was seated cross-legged on the floor, continuing his training in Life Return.
Although Roya's sudden rise had allowed him to offload all responsibilities of the crew onto his new right-hand man, Whitebeard's pride refused to let him fully retire.
Then, from the porthole, the moonlight flickered.
Whitebeard's eyes snapped open. He stared toward the window.
"This sensation… a completely artificial light and shadow?"
"Moonlight… Moria!"
His body tensed as he urgently looked down at the shadow cast on the floor beneath him.
Seeing nothing abnormal, he finally relaxed.
"One of the Seven Warlords, huh? That was fast."
"They must've responded to the Marines' call… and upon discovering Roya's strength, got greedy. They're hoping to steal his shadow before the war breaks out—using it to replicate his monstrous evasion abilities."
With that realization, Whitebeard exhaled and settled back into his training.
"Small-time trouble like this… I'll leave it to my vice-emperor."
"Aahh, I'm really getting spoiled. What a frustrating little blessing…"
He continued his meditation, purging the lingering necrosis from his body.
Meanwhile, that black-purple shadow had already slipped onto the deck of the Moby Dick.
In a flash, it solidified—revealing the pale, zombie-like figure of the 7-meter-tall Moria himself.
He waited a moment until the shadow beneath his feet reappeared, reuniting with his body after their swap.
The moment the shadow returned, it fragmented into hundreds of tiny bats—swarms of them flooding silently through the cabin doors.
They swiftly reached the sleeping crew members, silently merging with their shadows.
Within moments, they fell into an even deeper slumber.
Even the powerful commanders—Marco, Vista, and the others—succumbed, having dropped their guard.
Only then did Moria relax slightly.
The last few shadow bats at his feet twitched.
His body began to fade, turning transparent, merging with the darkness.
Now in this state, he slipped soundlessly through the ship.
In truth, Moria's Shadow-Shadow Fruit made him far more suited for stealth than Lucci's Cat-Cat Fruit.
Where Lucci had to snap door locks to enter, Moria simply slithered through floorboards and door cracks like a shadow—right into Roya's cabin!
The moment he entered, the room twisted strangely.
Moonlight that should've poured through the porthole now shone eerily from the wall beside the bed.
This unnatural glow cast a long, dark shadow from Roya's resting body onto the floor.
Although the shadow was shapeless and indistinct, it was still a shadow—and that was all Moria needed.
He crouched, pinched the shadow between his fingers, and lifted it cleanly from the floor.
Reaching into his coat, he drew a long pair of black scissors and positioned them at the point where shadow met body.
One snip, and Roya's shadow would be severed—his body doomed to vanish at sunrise if the shadow wasn't returned.
Moria's twisted smile widened, fangs bared, red tongue licking his lips.
"No matter how refined your Observation Haki is, you can't defend your own shadow, can you?"
"This snip… let's see you dodge this."
"You'll make a fine addition to my shadow collection."
Snip!
The black scissors closed with a crisp click.
"Hmph… so this is the so-called rookie who shocked the world? Pathetic."
Moria sneered, tying Roya's shadow into a neat butterfly knot and stuffing it in his pocket.
Just as he turned to leave—
"Oh? Is that so?"
A disappointed voice spoke from the doorway.
"Who—who's there?!"
Moria froze.
By all logic, with Roya's shadow severed, his body should've lost function entirely.
At worst, he should've been curled up on the floor like a tied ribbon.
So who was the young man standing at the door, arms crossed, smirking at him?
Shaken, Moria instinctively sent a signal.
From the shadow beneath his feet, a Doppelman detached and slithered silently toward the man's back, merging with the wall like a ghost.
Simultaneously, the scattered shadow bats shot forward, flying low to the ground as a distraction.
The bats were bait—the Doppelman was the real strike!
But then, to his shock, a swarm of identical shadow bats erupted from under the young man's feet, swarming back at Moria!
Moria froze, stunned.
So this was how it felt to face his own tactics.
Still, his years of experience let him react just in time.
With a loud thud, Moria's bulky form hit the floor.
He rolled like a massive ball, bouncing forward in a panic.
Shing!
A blade of cold steel sliced horizontally through the air—barely missing the spot where Moria had just stood.
"Impossible!"
"T-that's… that's my own—!"
The same Doppelman ambush, the same shadow bats—everything was identical!
He may have evaded the blow using his shadow-sense, but…
The young man had taken the Doppelman's attack head-on—
Yet his body merely rippled like a breeze over water.
Not a single scratch.
Moria's mind finally shattered.
He collapsed like a deflated sack on the floor, unmoving.
Mouth agape, he stared back and forth between his Doppelman and the unharmed young man.
"Returning your technique in kind… not bad, right?"
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