"Kehehehe…"
Seeing the towering figure that had suddenly appeared on the ship, even Rorschach was momentarily stunned.
He knew that appearance all too well.
Combined with the ability to manipulate shadows, the man's identity became instantly obvious.
"Shichibukai! Gecko Moria!"
Lucci frowned slightly, glancing at Moria standing over Morisaki Ichiro and Hanks.
He was a bit confused.
Why did Moria claim those two were his subordinates?Weren't they hunters from the Bounty Hunter Guild?A simple mission investigating Explosive Rock… and now a Shichibukai is involved? Things just got a whole lot more complicated.
Rorschach, intrigued, studied Moria in front of him.
The bottom tier of the Shichibukai.
A shadow-collecting demon hiding in the Florian Triangle.
Once a rising star among pirates, he had been crushed by Kaido and fell from grace, becoming a disgrace of the Shichibukai—a bloated shut-in.
All of those were titles Moria had "earned."
Though in the manga, Moria came off as pretty pathetic—
A Shichibukai who didn't even know the basics of Haki.
But in this world, in the current year of 1517, the influence of the Shichibukai on the seas was still significant.
If nothing else, the Shichibukai's legal right to plunder at sea attracted countless pirates who threw themselves at them in wave after wave of challenges.
And yet, after all these years, the roster of Shichibukai hadn't really changed.
Forget about powerhouses like Mihawk, Doflamingo, or Boa Hancock.
Even Moria and Crocodile—despite serious defeats—still firmly held their positions among the Shichibukai, untouched by rising stars.
Of course, what Rorschach didn't know was that, at this very moment, deep beneath the sea at Fishman Island, Jinbe the Sea Knight—also a Shichibukai—had just been defeated by Jack the Drought, who went berserk after drug enhancement.
That defeat had ignited a fierce clash between two superpowers: the Whitebeard Pirates and the Beasts Pirates, shaking the New World.
Standing behind Rorschach, Sera stared at Moria with a trace of suspicion in her eyes.
Rorschach stepped forward and came face to face with Moria, looking up.
"Moria, you just said… they're your subordinates? As far as I know, they're bounty hunters from the Hunter Guild. Since when did bounty hunters become pirate underlings?"
Moria looked down at the casually dressed Rorschach, surprised. "Who are you?"
"I'm Rorschach, Rear Admiral of Marine Headquarters."
Rorschach once again introduced himself.
"A Marine? And just a mere Rear Admiral?" Moria blinked, then opened his massive, fanged mouth and burst into laughter."Kehehehe! Kehehehe!"
After a few chuckles, his expression turned cold. His gaze grew sharp and filled with killing intent, and his voice dropped into a chilling tone."And who the hell do you think you are? A lowly Rear Admiral dares to question me? If you don't want to die, get lost. Otherwise, I won't mind taking your shadow."
As Moria's words fell, the shadow beneath his feet stretched toward Rorschach, its dark hands opening wide. Under Lucci's watchful eyes, it grasped Rorschach's shadow.
"Careful. If your shadow is cut and exposed to sunlight, your body will disintegrate into ash," Lucci warned from above.
"Heh, thanks for the heads-up." Rorschach smiled, seemingly unconcerned.
"You seem to know a lot about my abilities. Are you a Marine too?" Moria looked up at Lucci in the sky, still smiling, then suddenly stretched out a large hand, swiping at him.
Lucci shifted his footing, vanishing instantly and reappearing on the bow of the ship behind Rorschach.
"Kehehehe… Don't think that just because you're flying, I can't deal with you."
"Shadow Mage: Shattering Bats!"
With a wave of Moria's hand, the Shadow Mage that had grasped Rorschach's shadow suddenly vanished from the deck and shot toward Lucci.
The Shadow Mage moved at an incredible speed and reached Lucci in the blink of an eye, breaking apart with a whoosh into countless black bats that flooded the sky, swarming toward him.
Lucci's expression hardened. He didn't dare to underestimate it. His body instantly expanded and stretched, transforming into his leopard hybrid form.
"Shigan! Spots!"
Like a storm of bullets, his Shigan (Finger Gun) pierced through the air, popping each of the incoming black bats one after another.
Meanwhile, Lucci weaved and dodged the swarm of bats chasing him.
"Not bad, for a Marine," Moria sneered, extending his hand in a crushing gesture.
"Fragment Reassembly: Shadow Box!"
Suddenly, all the shredded bat fragments from Lucci's attacks shot toward him in unison, surrounding him on all sides—
Here is the English translation of the provided text, with your translation rules applied:
Before they even got close to his body, the countless black bats fused together, linking and intertwining.
In an instant, a massive black box appeared at the bow of the ship, rapidly shrinking down in size.
Before Moria could let out a laugh, the rapidly shrinking black shadow box suddenly trembled, burst open with a large hole, and then exploded into countless shadow fragments once more.
"Rokushiki Secret Art! Armament Haki! Rokuōgan!"
Lucci's hands were covered in black Armament Haki. With both fists, he smashed through the shadow box encasing him and leapt out.
"Kehehehe… Not bad. You've even awakened Armament Haki."
Moria let out a strange laugh, then pulled a pair of scissors from his waist, splitting them into two long blades and gripping them in both hands. His bloated body began moving toward Lucci.
Just then, a black war halberd swept up and barred his path.
Rorschach tilted his neck slightly and said calmly,"That's enough, Gecko Moria. Leave now, and you might still have a life left to return to the Florian Triangle and keep being a shut-in."
Moria's steps halted, and he looked down at Rorschach.
His expression froze for a moment, then he suddenly swung the scissor blades toward Rorschach.
"Kehehehe… You little Marine brat, you're pretty arrogant. Do you even know who you're talking to? Didn't Sengoku teach you how to deal with real power?"
"Swish!"
The two-meter-long black scissors came crashing down, bringing with them a violent gust of wind.
But Rorschach casually raised his halberd with his left hand to block.
"Clang!"
A deafening crash rang out as Moria's scissors were stopped by the war halberd in Rorschach's hand.
Moria gritted his teeth and pushed with force, trying to overpower Rorschach.
But the halberd didn't budge an inch.
Not only that—
Even the shattered deck beneath Rorschach's feet remained intact, uncrushed by the immense pressure from above.
Because, at some point, a deep blue aura had flowed from beneath Rorschach's feet, spreading across the deck as if it were part of him.
"You…"
Moria's pupils shrank.
"Leave now. Stay out of the Bounty Hunter Guild's business. Otherwise—"
Before Rorschach could finish his sentence, Moria's other scissor blade slashed diagonally at his neck.
"I told you, who do you think I am?! A mere Marine Rear Admiral?!"
Moria's face contorted in rage as he slashed both blades toward Rorschach.
Rorschach shook his head, his face turning cold. He switched the halberd to his right hand, a deep blue glow spreading over the weapon. In a flash, he swept it horizontally.
"Clang!"
"Clang!"
Two explosive sounds rang out across the ship.
Moria's grip faltered, the force shattering the skin between his thumb and forefinger. The scissors were knocked from his hands by the halberd and sent flying, disappearing with two sharp whooshes, vanishing from sight.
"You…" Moria's expression changed drastically.
"I told you I'd spare your life, but you wouldn't listen. You just had to bring this on yourself, huh?"
The heavy halberd spun in Rorschach's hand, creating gusts that sounded like thunder. He wielded it like a staff and swung it toward Moria's obese belly.
"Boom!"
Even before it landed, the air between them exploded from the sheer force.
The violent blast of wind sent the entire ship swaying wildly on the ocean, threatening to tear itself apart.
"Doppelgänger!"
Moria's massive body suddenly turned into a black shadow, and was then blown apart by the incoming halberd, scattering into countless shadow fragments.
"Armament Shadow Horn Spear!"
From the direction of the ship's bow came Moria's voice.
In front of Rorschach, the shadow fragments rapidly gathered into a pitch-black spear, flying silently toward his body.
Rorschach stood motionless, expressionless. He spun his halberd in one hand and slashed downward through the air.
"Swish!"
The black Shadow Horn Spear shattered without suspense.
"Shattering Bats…"
Just as Moria was about to turn the shadows into bats again to attack Rorschach, Lucci, standing in front of him, frowned.
"What, am I invisible to you, Gecko Moria?"
"Soru! Armament! Tekkai Gun Punch!"
A black Haki-covered fist slammed into Moria's bloated stomach.
"Boom!"
Moria's huge body staggered backward, crashing through the figurehead of the ship and tumbling toward the sea.
"Doppelgänger!"
Just as his bloated form was about to fall into the ocean, Moria swapped places with his shadow in the nick of time.
In front of Rorschach, Moria reappeared once more.
Rorschach raised his halberd again, ready to strike.
Suddenly, an intense sense of danger surged from Moria in front of him.
"Kehehehe… You're pretty strong. No wonder you're so confident—first of the new generation of the Marines, huh?"
"But… do you recognize this thing?"
(End of Chapter)
────────────────────────────────────
"If you're interested, please support me in my other novel [Naruto: Starting with Tsunade-san]."
"If you're interested, please support me in my other novel [Battle Through the Heavens: Heavenly comprehension]."
"If you're interested, please support me in my other novel [Soul Land 2: Golden Dragon King]."
"If you want early access to nearly 35+ chapters, join my patreon:- patreon.com/BaDwYGaMeR"