Helplessly, Gekko Moria could only rely on his Devil Fruit abilities to maintain his combat strength, while the once-proud and masterful physical techniques he had honed were ruthlessly discarded, left to rot in the corners of his memory.
It was a source of deep, abiding shame for him.
"But now… everything can start anew!" Moria eyes, which had been dull with despair, now gleamed with an unwavering, almost fanatical determination.
A raging fire of pure, vengeful ambition burned in his chest.
Even if the title of Pirate King was now claimed by another, so what?
For Moria, this wasn't a failure—it was a rebirth.
He would reclaim everything he had lost.
He would climb back to the summit of the world, not on a throne of shadows, but on a mountain of his enemies' corpses.
He would have his revenge!
"Kishishishishishishi…!"
A bizarre, chillingly confident laugh escaped Moria lips, filling the ruined castle with an eerie, unsettling aura.
"Kaido… just you wait! I'll personally take your monstrous head!" His gaze then shifted to the newspaper, to the article about the Devil Fruit sale.
"One month from now," he declared to the shadows.
"I will be at Jaya Island!"
****
Water 7.
A fierce desperate battle raged on the outskirts of the vibrant city.
The Straw Hat Pirate Crew had unfortunately and immediately encountered the overwhelming, suffocating might of the Blackbeard Pirates.
They now faced an unprecedented crisis, a wall of power they simply could not overcome.
The air was thick with tension and a creeping despair.
The surroundings echoed with the harsh clashing of metal, the deep, guttural laughter of their enemies, and the pained groans of the wounded.
Franky and Sanji had already collapsed to the ground, their bodies drenched in blood.
Their condition looked dire, their fates uncertain.
Though Luffy fought with all the ferocious, wild abandon he possessed, he was ultimately captured by Blackbeard, whose mysterious darkness swallowed every attack.
Soon after, Blackbeard's subordinates clamped heavy Sea Stone handcuffs onto Luffy's wrists.
The cold, deadening touch of the stone instantly sapped his strength, suppressing the power of his Devil Fruit.
This left the already disadvantaged Luffy completely powerless, forced to watch helplessly as his beloved comrades fell one by one into deeper peril.
"Zehahahaha! Straw Hat brat, you're just as reckless as your brother, charging ahead without a care in the world," Blackbeard taunted, his massive hand holding Luffy firmly by the neck.
Yet even in chains, Luffy refused to yield.
He struggled to stand, but his body remained limp and immobilized by the Sea Stone.
He glared furiously at Blackbeard, flames of pure, unadulterated rage burning in his eyes.
"Damn it! Let me go, you sneaky bastard! I'll… I'll knock you out!"
Teach just glanced at him coldly before slowly retracting the swirling darkness of his Yami Yami no Mi.
His gaze shifted to the remaining struggling Straw Hats with a wide cruel smirk curling on his lips.
"Zehahahaha! From this moment onward," he declared, his voice booming with a false finality,
"The Straw Hat Pirate Crew is officially disbanded! Your captain… I'll be taking him with me." He laughed again, a sound devoid of all mirth.
"Keep an eye on the news! It'll be in the papers soon! Zehahahaha!"
As his words faded, the air seemed to freeze.
Zoro, his body bruised and bleeding, tightened his grip on his swords, his eyes burning with a desperate fury.
"Luffy…!" he roared. "I'm coming for you!"
But at that critical moment, a massive figure blocked his path—Jesus Burgess.
Reacting swiftly, Zoro deflected the champion's initial strike with his blades and turn around, ready to charge past him toward his captured captain.
"Wiiiihahaha!" Burgess's mocking laughter rang out again.
"Worry about yourself before you go trying to save others, little pirate!"
Another gust of wind rushed from behind—Burgess's fist was coming again, an attack so fast and powerful it was like a cannonball.
This time, Zoro had no chance to defend.
He could only brace himself and take the hit.
A white-hot explosion of pain surged through his body, but he gritted his teeth, his boots skidding across the ground as he forced himself to stay upright.
'Dammit…!' Zoro cursed inwardly.
He knew this wasn't the time to give up.
No matter what, he had to save Luffy—even if it cost him everything.
In an instant, Zoro drew his third sword, biting down hard on the hilt of his Wado Ichimonji while crossing the other two behind his back.
An eerie, green, demonic aura ignited around him, and ghostly shadows seemed to flicker at his back.
His cold gaze was capable of cutting down any enemy who stood in his way.
"Three-Sword Style: Burning Oni Giri!"
With a ferocious roar, Zoro's three blades lashed out like furious serpents, wreathed in a strange, ghostly flame as they blazed toward Burgess with scorching intensity.
Seeing this, even Burgess felt a momentary pang of unease.
But as a champion, he remained confident that he could crush this nobody with ease.
He sneered, "This next punch will put you to rest for good!"
Clenching his fist, Burgess coated it in a strange, black substance, turning it as dark and hard as obsidian.
He swung the empowered fist straight at Zoro's oncoming blades.
CLANG!
Their clash produced a sharp high-pitched metallic ring that grated on the ears.
But something was wrong.
Zoro's swords, which could cut through steel, bounced harmlessly off of Burgess's fist.
He was sent flying by the sheer force of the blow, his swords scattering as he tumbled through the air before crashing heavily to the ground.
Zoro glared at Burgess's fist—that black substance, harder than any steel he had ever encountered.
"What… what the hell is that?!" he coughed, a trickle of blood running from his lips.
Burgess strode forward, looking down at the fallen swordsman with utter scorn.
"Hah! You really are just some small-time pirate from a weak sea. You've never even seen this before?" He raised his black-coated fist.
"This is Armament Haki. And it means you never stood a chance."
With that, Burgess raised his fist again and drove it mercilessly into Zoro's stomach.
The sheer force instantly shattered Zoro's consciousness, and his world went black.
"ZORO!!!" Nami screamed in horror, her voice trembling with a helpless, gut-wrenching fear.
Her eyes were wide, as if she were witnessing something so unspeakable it couldn't possibly be real.
Robin, hearing Nami's cry, rushed toward her, her own face a grim, pale mask.
The situation was hopeless.
They had been utterly and completely defeated.
"Nami! Robin! Go! Get out of here! I'll hold them off!" Chopper's voice suddenly cut in, resolute and trembling, but not with fear—with determination.
He knew the situation was dire.
Someone had to stay behind to buy time for the others to escape.
Without a moment's hesitation, Chopper shoved a handful of his Rumble Balls into his mouth, chewing and swallowing them all at once.
The miraculous pills took effect instantly, triggering a horrifying, dramatic transformation in his small body.
His fur grew long and matted in an instant, his size expanding rapidly, his bones stretching and cracking at an astonishing rate—until he became a towering, monstrous reindeer.
Even his antlers grew to an enormous size, their points as sharp as deadly weapons.
"ROOOAR!!!"
Chopper let out a deep, powerful, inhuman roar, his eyes glowing a feral red as he teetered on the very edge of losing control.
His medical knowledge, his kindness, his very consciousness had vanished, leaving only a primal, protective instinct to drive him forward.
With massive, earth-shaking strides, Monster Chopper charged toward Blackbeard and his crew.
Though he knew this might put him in grave danger, that he might never come back from this, he rushed forward without hesitation—all to protect his friends.
"CHOPPER!!!" Nami screamed, her voice breaking as Robin grabbed her arm, forcing her to run.