"What?!"
Moria was shocked. His own nickname was "Bat," so he never expected one of the Three Monsters, Alucard, to have a similar move.
But Moria turned his own shadow into bats to attack, while Alucard transformed his body into bats to dodge.
The shadow spear shot past Alucard, piercing the bar behind him and shattering countless bottles on the liquor shelf.
Clack!
Hearing the sound of a gun being cocked, Moria quickly turned his head, only to see a pitch- black muzzle aimed directly at him.
Bang!
It was a single, simple shot. But the moment it hit Moria's body, it instantly caused a strange, powerless sensation. Then, as it burrowed in, it exploded, blasting a huge chunk of flesh from the right side of his waist.
"What... what was that gun...?"
The black pistol, Jackal, was held aloft by just one of Alucard's hands. He had fired it from a distance, obliterating the chunk of Moria's waist, and only after the bullet hit did the scattered bats begin to re-coalesce, slowly reforming Alucard's body.
"..."
A hint of surprise flickered across Alucard's face as he examined the muzzle of Jackal. He then looked at Moria. "What's wrong? Can't get up?"
"Damn you..." Moria cursed, trying to stand, but wave after wave of weakness washed over him. As a Devil Fruit user, he knew this feeling all too well.
"Is it... Seastone?" Moria realized with a jolt. That bullet must have been made of Seastone! "It's a 13mm exploding Seastone round."
Alucard explained, resting the back of the black gun on the brim of his top hat. "There is no Devil Fruit user who could take one of these and still stand up. You are the first."
'Am I going to die here?'
Moria felt a deep sense of injustice. He couldn't accept this. He had to get his revenge on Kaido!
But Moria never imagined that before he could even escape the New World, he would run into another monster.
Suddenly, Alucard lowered Jackal from the side of his hat. Just as Moria braced himself for a shot to the head, Alucard's action changed. He simply stowed the gun back inside his coat.
"Why... why didn't you kill me?" Moria, with blood spilling from his mouth, was utterly confused.
Alucard, who was about to leave, glanced sideways at Moria on the ground. He asked a strange question. "Have you ever seen an ant on the side of the road?"
"Huh?" Moria furrowed his brow, completely baffled by the question.
"When you're walking and you see an ant, do you choose to step on it, or not?" Alucard asked again.
Moria didn't immediately get it. He thought about it for a moment. 'Stepping on an ant on the road? When I was a kid, I used to step on them sometimes. It wasn't because I had a grudge
against them; I just treated it like a game. Sometimes I would, sometimes I wouldn't...'
The thought hit Moria like a jolt. He instantly understood the meaning behind Alucard's question, and his rage flared even more. "You... you're calling me an ant!?"
When he feels like killing you, he'll kill you. When he doesn't, he'll let you go. It's all based on a whim. In Alucard's eyes, Moria was nothing more than an ant on the road. Alucard simply wasn't in the mood to step on him, so he let him live.
That's all it was.
No insult could have been more infuriating. Moria's anger flared, and he ripped his wound open, coughing up another mouthful of blood.
Alucard said nothing more. He turned and walked away. Just as he said, the Moria of today was an ant in his path. Whether to crush him or not was a choice to be made in a single thought.
Alucard simply didn't feel like stepping on him. That was all.
Seeing Moria in his current state, Alucard felt a lot of mixed emotions. With the passage of time, people change. Moria was a prime example of this. After this battle, would he remain a worthless failure, or would he wake up and grow?
He didn't know, but that's what made things interesting.
Two days later, Alucard ran into an uninvited guest on a deserted island. The man represented a country, one with a history tied to Alucard from ten years ago.
The man now kneeling before Alucard was named Effman, the general of the Harald Kingdom's army.
The North Blue is the strongest of the Four Seas, producing an average number of powerful pirates far exceeding the other three seas, thanks to its endless conflicts. The most chaotic sea is where the strongest are born, and that's the nature of things.
The Harald Kingdom is one of the four strongest nations in the North Blue. Ten years ago, they hired the newly-departed-from-home, pre-bounty Alucard. With his immense power, they quickly defeated the Joris Kingdom, which was also one of the Four Nations.
It was because of that war that Vegapunk discovered Alucard's Blacklight Virus infection, which triggered a series of events afterward.
Now, this general had come to ask for Alucard's help once more, hoping he would assist the Harald Kingdom.
When he heard that these people had traveled all the way from the North Blue to the New World to find him, Alucard almost burst out laughing.
Looking at Effman and his retinue from the Harald Kingdom, who were all kneeling and drenched in cold sweat, too terrified to say a word, Alucard maintained his smirk. He simply waited, wanting to see what kind of scheme they were cooking up.
After about three minutes, a soldier behind Effman couldn't stand the pressure anymore. He covered his mouth with one hand and threw up on the spot.
Hearing the sound of his comrade's retching and smelling the foul stench, the others also lost their composure and began to gag.
The pressure from one of the Three Monsters was even more terrifying than being on a battlefield.
"Heh, how did trash like this even make it to the New World?" Alucard sneered from his chair.
Effman, the only one who barely maintained his composure without throwing up, grew even more nervous. How could he have known that the young man from ten years ago would have become a monster whose very presence shook the world?
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