Boom! Boom!
Rumble!!!
The entire Thriller Bark shook relentlessly, the ground shattered indiscriminately, and countless rocks and soil splattered in all directions, propelled by waves of surging air. A vast, misty cloud of dust rose like an earthen fog.
"You damned brat, if you've got the guts, stop hiding!" Moria roared furiously, his mood, which had briefly improved, becoming manic and enraged once more.
"Spiky Shadow Lizard!!!"
"Brick Bats!!!"
"..."
Moria, in his rampaging state, continuously pursued Cross, causing their battlefield to quickly shift deeper into Thriller Bark's interior. Trees along the way were uprooted, leaving the gloomy forest a mess, like a heavy construction site.
After dodging for a while, Cross saw through Moria's facade and immediately scoffed, "It's useless, Moria. Using power that isn't truly yours and that you can't even control won't let you defeat me. Just take this punch!"
Boom—
With that, he dropped from mid-air to the ground, his powerful landing shattering the earth beneath his feet. Like an arrow loosed from a bow, he shot upwards again, heading straight for Moria's head.
"You're asking to die—" Moria shrieked, unleashing a fierce downward punch.
However, Cross's speed was even greater. Before Moria's fist could land, he had already stepped into the opponent's defensive range.
"Shigan: Revolver!!!"
In an instant, Cross's eyes widened in fury, his expression twisted. His muscles tensed, and he let out a low roar.
This was a technique he learned from his Sensei, Zephyr: a high-speed punch delivered in the manner of a 'Finger Pistol', so fast that it made the air explode in a circular white ripple. It was as swift as lightning and as powerful as a cannonball, striking heavily on Moria's face.
Thud—
A muffled thud.
Before Moria could react, ripples spread across the part of his face struck by Cross's punch. His head violently snapped to the right, blood spurted from his nose and mouth simultaneously, and a visible shockwave appeared in the air, rapidly spreading outwards in a circle.
At this moment, Moria's eyes rolled back. His mind buzzed, then went blank. He completely lost control of his body, and his gigantic, titan-like frame toppled like a collapsing mountain, falling heavily to the ground with a thunderous boom. His immense weight made the earth tremble, kicking up a towering cloud of dust.
"Gahhhhh—"
Immediately after, Moria couldn't help but open his mouth, spewing out a massive amount of shadows like black fireworks blooming in the sky.
"Go, go, go back to your own masters!" Cross muttered to himself, hovering in mid-air using Geppo, upon seeing this scene.
After Moria defeated someone, he liked to cut off their shadow and stuff it into an intact corpse. This allowed him to gain a zombie subordinate that obeyed his commands. Therefore, the 400 shadows he stuffed into his own body were all from other people, and the terrifying surging power naturally came from outsiders.
"Ughhhhh—"
Suddenly, after roughly a hundred shadows had escaped, Moria regained consciousness. He abruptly clamped his mouth shut and covered it with both hands, preventing the shadows inside his body from continuing to escape, and also preventing too much of his surging power from draining away.
"It's no use. This sudden surge of power doesn't truly belong to you. You should give it back!" Cross, seeing Moria regain consciousness and stop the shadows from fleeing, immediately charged forward again.
"Brick Bats!!!"
Moria quickly got up from the ground and decisively transformed his own shadow into a large swarm of bats, flapping to block Cross.
"Rankyaku: Ran (Disorder)!"
Having lost his weapon, Cross had to rely on the Rokushiki martial arts for combat. His legs rapidly kicked out over a dozen slashes, quickly tearing a path through the bat swarm.
"Get out of my way!" But at this moment, Moria had recovered from his brief unconsciousness. He raised a hand and delivered a heavy punch towards Cross, who had just broken through the bat swarm.
"Oh shit!" Seeing the massive fist now directly in front of him, Cross's heart seized. He quickly crossed his arms over his chest, bracing himself to take Moria's heavy punch head-on.
Thud—
Boom—
A muffled thud, and a visible white airwave exploded in the air.
Cross was sent flying backward like a black blur, traversing hundreds of meters in an instant before slamming heavily into the distant forest. Only then did several gradually expanding circular air bursts appear in the sky.
Subsequently, a muffled, thunderous roar echoed from far away. The surrounding ground vibrated violently in waves, and a surging air current, mixed with a large amount of dust, billowed up, forming an earthen wall tens of meters high, as if swept by a gale. Many trees were uprooted.
"Kishishishi~ You're dead, you stinking brat!" Moria shrieked with a sinister laugh, his face covered in blood and bruises, his expression twisted and deranged, like a mad demon.
Whoosh—
Suddenly, a large tree came whistling from a distance, like a giant javelin, but still covered in leaves.
"Nani?!" Moria was momentarily stunned. Before he could react, the nearly ten-meter-long, luxuriant pagoda tree slammed directly into his face, instantly making his face bloom with blood. He staggered, nearly falling to the ground.
"Moria, your punches still can't kill me!"
Cross, still encased in his 'Armor-Hardening' Armament Haki, looked like a living metal sculpture. Carrying a seven or eight-meter-long luxuriant tree on his shoulders, he laughed as he dashed through the ravaged forest.
"Ahhhhhhh—You bastard!"
"I'll kill you!!!"
Moria's face was as twisted and hideous as an Oni. He clutched his injured right eye, blood streaming down his cheek. His remaining left eye was bloodshot, and he let out a nearly hysterical roar of rage.
However, no sooner had his voice fallen than Cross had already charged beneath Moria. With both hands, he swept the massive tree horizontally, striking it heavily against Moria's right knee.
Thud—
The seven or eight-meter-long tree instantly snapped in half, sending countless splinters and leaves scattering.
"Ahh—" Moria cried out in pain, involuntarily half-kneeling on the ground.
At this moment, Cross threw the remaining half of the tree onto the ground. He took a deep breath, then boldly stepped forward, each step leaving a clear imprint on the ground.
Then, he leaped into the air and delivered a fierce flying kick directly to Moria's face.
"Geppo: Higetsu!!!" (Flying Moon)
Thud—
A muffled thud, and a fierce, visible wind pressure spread out.
Cross's kick was both fast and brutal, instantly distorting Moria's facial features. The immense force impacted his brain, immediately causing his eyes to roll back, his teeth to scatter, and blood to gush from his nose and mouth.
At this point, Moria's mind was blank; he had completely lost consciousness. His upper body tilted backward from the powerful impact, and then he fell backward onto the ground.
Whoosh, whoosh, whoosh, whoosh—
Countless shadows, like fireworks blooming, spewed from Moria's mouth, like a volcanic eruption, only he was spewing black shadows.
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