"Soru..."
With a soft exclamation, Lancelot's figure flickered and vanished like a ghost before the two, leaving only a small crater where he had stood.
The Negative Ghosts that had been lunging at him, their primary targets now gone, lost their momentum and drifted aimlessly in the air, bewildered.
The next moment, when he reappeared, he was already beside Perona.
His speed, enhanced by Rokushiki and his new, Admiral-candidate-level physique, was breathtaking.
"AHHHHH!"
Perona stared in pure, unadulterated shock at Lancelot, who had suddenly materialized right in front of her.
Her beautiful, large eyes went wide as if they might pop out.
Her heart leaped into her throat, pounding so violently she could almost hear the frantic, painful thumping against her ribs.
Perona knew her strengths and weaknesses all too well.
Her Horo Horo no Mi ability was nearly invincible, allowing her to manipulate Negative Ghosts to deliver mental, soul-crushing blows that almost no one could withstand.
However, once an opponent closed in—especially a powerhouse like Lancelot, who was clearly skilled in high-speed close combat—her effectiveness plummeted, almost to zero.
Her personal, physical skills were only slightly better than an ordinary person's.
At this critical, life-or-death moment, Gecko Moria did not stand idly by.
Though his current strength had clearly declined from his peak—the days when he had rivaled Kaido—he was still a Warlord of the Sea.
His position was a testament to his vast, cunning combat experience.
Reacting swiftly, Moria instantly transformed his own shadow, Doppelman, into a swarm of scattered, flying bats.
These bat-like shadows, like well-trained soldiers, quickly swarmed and encircled Perona, intertwining and merging at an impossible speed.
They formed a black, box-like cube that shielded her securely, completely encasing her.
Then, with a sharp, decisive wave of his arm, the black cube, Black Box, suddenly seemed to be pulled by a mysterious and powerful force.
Weightlessly, it floated up like a dark feather, moving with a deceptive slowness yet astonishing speed, shrinking as it flew straight into Moria's outstretched hand, which he then closed.
"Huh..."
Witnessing this scene, Lancelot couldn't help but widen his eyes, a look of utter astonishment spreading across his face.
After all, in the original story, Black Box had always been Moria's ultimate offensive technique, a move used for trapping and crushing his enemies!
Yet now, unexpectedly, he had used it as a high-speed defensive maneuver to protect Perona.
This situation was completely beyond Lancelot's expectations.
Thinking this, Lancelot silently reflected.
'It seems I must re-evaluate the characters from the original story with greater seriousness. These individuals, renowned across the world, surely possess strength and abilities far beyond what was depicted in the anime. At the very least, judging by this unexpected turn of events, even the same techniques can vary drastically in their practical application.'
Therefore, this was a point that demanded serious attention.
Otherwise, if he arrogantly assumed he knew all their moves just because he'd seen the anime, the consequences when actually facing them in a real battle could be disastrous.
"Kishishishishishi…"
Just then, a sharp and eerie laugh pierced the air.
It was Moria, staring at Lancelot with a sinister grin, his massive, onion-shaped head tilting.
His gaze instantly turned hostile, like two icy beams shooting straight at Lancelot.
With a casual wave of his hand, he released Perona from the shadow prison, motioning for her to obediently stand far behind him, out of the immediate combat zone.
"Brick Bats!"
With a furious roar, Moria activated his Devil Fruit power once more.
His own shadow tore apart as if by an invisible force, rapidly splitting into countless bat-shaped shadows.
Like a black whirlwind, they swarmed toward Lancelot, covering the sky, blotting out the eerie fog.
A closer look revealed the bat-shaped shadows to be grotesque and terrifying, their gaping mouths baring sharp fangs, as if intent on devouring Lancelot alive and tearing him to shreds.
Faced with such a fearsome, wide-area assault, Lancelot showed no sign of retreat.
In a flash, he leaped into the air, using Geppo to shoot several meters high in an instant.
Then, his legs kicked out like lightning, swift as the wind.
"Rankyaku: Shigure!" Each kick unleashed a razor-sharp, compressed air slash, soaring straight upward.
In the blink of an eye, he had delivered six consecutive kicks, sending six massive Rankyaku slashes whistling into the sky like shooting stars.
Moria and Perona, watching from the side, were left dumbfounded.
Moria frowned in confusion, thinking to himself: 'What is this guy trying to do? Attacking the empty sky? How could that possibly pose any threat to us?'
Perona wore an equally bewildered expression, utterly clueless.
However, in the next moment, something astonishing happened.
The six Rankyaku slashes, upon reaching a certain height, suddenly exploded one after another.
With thunderous booms, the thick, scything slashes instantly transformed into a dense rain of thread-like special slashes, pouring down from above like a sudden, violent downpour.
These thread-like slashes descended with incredible speed and an unstoppable, piercing force, blanketing the entire area below.
And the coverage was truly extensive, directly enveloping the abnormally massive Moria and Perona, who stood near him.
The bat-like shadows surging toward Lancelot like a tidal wave naturally couldn't escape either.
Under this "torrential downpour" of air blades, they were sliced apart, melting away one by one like snowflakes under the scorching sun, gradually dissolving and dissipating.
Eventually, all the shadows merged back into a single, tattered mass, obediently returning beneath Moria's enormous feet.
At this moment, Moria, caught within the "torrential downpour," was clearly overwhelmed and flustered.
Indeed, his body was already colossal, and in recent years, due to neglecting his physical training, he had grown increasingly bloated and slow.
Faced with such dense, multi-directional, and fierce attacks, he appeared extremely disheveled, forced to wave his arms frantically to block, almost to the point of being 'unable to protect himself.'
Unless he was willing to endure the blows head-on, it would be difficult for him to spare any attention for Perona, who was cowering behind him.
"Soru..."
In the blink of an eye, just as Moria was preoccupied with the Rankyaku shower, Lancelot's voice rang out sharply.
In an instant, Lancelot's figure vanished without a trace from his original position mid-air.
By the time Moria's Observation Haki caught sight of him again, he was astonished to find Lancelot had already used the chaos to bypass his defenses, landing steadily right beside Perona.
Without hesitation, Lancelot raised an arm, transforming his hand into a hardened Shigan shape, and struck down with thunderous force toward the back of Perona's neck, aiming to knock her out.