A few days later, near the Sabaody Archipelago, a massive sailing ship appeared.
The person who had arrived was also one of the Seven Warlords of the Sea.
Gecko Moria.
The current Moria had regained much of his former strength after Kaido's death. He looked at everything around him with irritation.
"Damn it. Why issue a summons at a time like this?"
"Give me just a little more time, and I would have been able to extract that samurai's soul."
"Speaking of which, something about this place seems different. Perona, go and ask around."
Perona hugged her stuffed rabbit and floated lightly out of the cabin.
"Yes, Lord Moria."
Moria nodded, then walked toward the Marine branch alone.
After Moria left, Perona began wandering around Sabaody out of boredom.
"Lord Moria's order is so boring. I don't even know what I am supposed to look for on this island."
"After all, I have never been to Sabaody before."
"Wait… my body!"
Pop!
Like a bubble being pierced, Perona's body rapidly faded and vanished into the air.
Inside the massive Thriller Bark, Cleveland stood with a fruit extraction device and a sharp saber in hand, silently looking down at Perona's corpse at his feet.
"This mission was surprisingly simple."
The Marines had prepared an ambush long ago, and Raleigh had provided intelligence on many people, including Perona's ability.
Her Devil Fruit was almost impossible to deal with for someone unfamiliar with it.
But if one knew how her ability worked, then Perona's real body was extremely fragile, just like Sugar of the Donquixote Family.
After Gecko Moria left, Cleveland easily infiltrated the ship and found Perona's real body.
When he saw the doll-like Perona lying there completely unresponsive, Cleveland eliminated her without the slightest difficulty.
...
At the same time, Moria, who had already reached the Marine branch, knew nothing about this.
He swaggered into the meeting room.
At this moment, not all of the Warlords had arrived in the hall.
Besides him, there were three others.
Jinbe, Crocodile, and Hancock of the Kuja Pirates.
Ever since Moria had been defeated by Kaido and hidden himself inside the Florian Triangle, he had not paid much attention to the outside world. He was also extremely unfamiliar with Raleigh.
Whoosh!
Without anyone noticing, Kuma suddenly appeared on the sofa.
Everyone present turned their gazes toward him at the same time. Their eyes were filled with vigilance.
That ghost-like ability was troublesome.
Tap. Tap. Tap.
The sound of military boots stepping against the floor came from outside.
Raleigh pushed open the door with a relaxed expression and walked in.
"Hey, Marine. You had better have a good reason for calling us here." Moria spoke with extreme rudeness.
Raleigh's expression stiffened slightly.
He had not expected Moria to be this brave, jumping straight into his face the moment he arrived.
He could not help but sighing.
"I originally wanted to discuss the combat mission with you, but looking at it now, someone among you clearly is not suited to being a Warlord. If you don't mind, I will clean things up first."
The moment his voice fell, an overwhelming wave of Conqueror's Haki erupted and crashed wildly into everyone present.
Even Hancock, who had originally been unconcerned, was shocked by that Haki.
She immediately mobilized her own Haki to resist it.
Boom!
Raleigh's right fist, fully coated in Haki, slammed hard into Moria's stomach.
Even though Moria had managed to react, he still took the punch head-on.
Rumble!
Moria's enormous body smashed through the wall of the meeting hall and flew outside.
Shing!
A flash of brilliant blade light cut through the air.
Raleigh moved with his sword, appearing in the open space outside.
At this moment, Moria's entire body was wracked with pain from Raleigh's punch. Having landed under the sunlight, he also felt extremely uncomfortable.
He reached behind him, pulled out his weapon, and tried to cut toward the space in front of him.
He caught nothing.
A razor-sharp blade tip pierced out from his heart, carrying drops of blood with it.
Raleigh's figure appeared behind him.
"Wh-why?"
Moria could not understand it at all.
Why had this happened?
He had clearly arrived as ordered.
Why would the Marines suddenly strike so ruthlessly and kill him directly?
Raleigh patted the dust off his clothes and said as if nothing had happened.
"Killing the chicken to scare the monkeys. I had to choose the weakest one to intimidate the rest of you. You just happened to jump out, so I chose you."
Moria's enormous body collapsed to the ground.
Momonga stepped forward, pulled Mikazuki Munechika from Moria's heart, and returned to Raleigh's side.
"Freeze his body. It still has some use."
Raleigh did not actually care that much about Moria's Devil Fruit.
If it were truly that strong, Moria would not have lost to Kaido.
But Moria's body could still be used.
Turning it into a war weapon to deal with ordinary soldiers would be perfect.
While everyone drew in sharp breaths, Raleigh calmly walked back through the broken wall.
He glanced at the four people now guarded against him, and the corner of his mouth curled into a mocking smile.
"Relax. For now, I will not kill you."
"I did not summon you here just so you could watch me kill Moria. I called you here because you are going to the New World to fight the two Emperors."
"Now, let the meeting officially begin."
Raleigh's cold voice made even the proud Hancock unconsciously sit up straighter.
Although Crocodile and Jinbe both knew how powerful Raleigh was, this was still the first time they had seen him kill a Warlord so casually.
They understood very clearly that while the strength of the Seven Warlords varied, none of them could guarantee that they could kill another Warlord so easily.
And Raleigh, who had just killed Moria, showed not a single ripple in his eyes.
It was as though a Warlord was no different from some ordinary little pirate to him.
The few of them suppressed the thoughts and emotions in their hearts, sitting obediently where they were as they waited for Raleigh to speak.
"Next, we will need to launch attacks against Big Mom, Charlotte Linlin, and Red-Haired Shanks."
"You will work in pairs. Hancock and Jinbe will deal with Charlotte Linlin. Crocodile and Kuma will deal with Red-Haired Shanks."
"Remember, this mission is not about letting you go through the motions. I want to see real action. If you can't do that, I will replace you with another Warlord." Raleigh spoke coldly.
The others nodded in silence.
They heard the threat in Raleigh's words perfectly clearly.
"Replace you with another Warlord"—did that not mean he would kill them?
Damn it.
Sooner or later, they would make the Marines pay!
That was the thought shared by every Warlord present.