Chapter 11: Gaileo VS Moria!

After Jack had left me to fight Ryuma, he had ended up being attacked out of nowhere, it was strange. The attacks were coming but he couldn't see who was attacking him. Jack then focused hard and let loose a round of shots from his pistols. He had hit something, and suddenly, in front of him was a feline faced man. this was Moria's final officer, Absolom.

With the power of the Clear Clear fruit Absolom could turn himself and his weapons invisible. He tried to attack Jack while invisible but he was instantly shot down. Even though he was invisible, Jack could still see him due to his keen sense of perception. Unbeknownst to Jack this keen sense of his was actually a natural talent he had for observation Haki, though it hadn't been fully developed yet. With all of his officers and most of his zombies defeated. All that was left was the showdown with Moria himself.

After we had all finished our respective battles, we met back up in the courtyard of Moria's mansion. "It's good to see you guys all made it out in one piece." I said slapping the other two in the shoulders.

"Yeah, barely. You really put me in a tough spot you know?" Yuma said with a vein bulging in his forehead.

"Not me, I had a pretty easy time." Jack said with a shoulder shrug.

"Really? Why am I always the one getting the short end of the stick?" Yuma said getting frustrated.

"You know we've been causing a pretty big ruckus around here, and I haven't seen hide nor hair of Gecko Moria. Why is that? Do you think maybe he's not home or something?" I asked ignoring Yuma's complaints.

"Kishishishi, you've made quite a mess of my crew. First it was that Afro skeleton and now you. Every time I my zombie army starts growing it gets cut down! I've had enough I'll have to take care of you myself!" Moria said emerging from the shadows. "The first thing I'll do is take your shadows to make up for the ones I've lost!" He said as he made a grab for Yuma and Jack's shadows.

"Redirection Kata: Weeping Willow!" I redirected the flow of Moria's momentum and threw him into the ground and placed Samehada on his neck. "This is a one on one fight between me and you Moria. You should leave my friends out of it." I said as I let him back on to his feet. "Alright now let's have a honorable dual. Roar! Zabimaru!"

As I extended Zabimaru towards Moria it was blocked by a bat made of shadows. "Brick Bat!" More bats appeared and then attacked me. I managed to block all of them but they kept me at a distance and Moria wasn't going to let me get close.

"Dang it, I really need to get closer to attack but these annoying bats are in the way. If only I could attack from a distance." I thought. "Wait I remember now, I could try that flying slash that Zoro did!"

"I've never actually practiced this, but then again neither did he when he did it for the first time. I'm the type of guy that learns best from just doing it." I thought as I lifted up Zabimaru and swung it in the air a few times and nothing happened. As I was failing to use the technique I was getting pelted by Moria's bats, but I used the Niko style's Adamantine Kata: Indestructible to minimize any damage.

Eventually I suddenly got the hang of it and some random slashes came flying off Zabimaru's jagged blades and missed hitting anything. "Dang it! So close! I guess the irregular shape of Zabimaru's blade is making it harder to control. It keeps coming off like a shotgun blast." I thought, but then it gave me a pretty good idea. "Wait a minute, a shotgun is perfect for hunting bats! Let's try this one out!"

"Shotgun Slash!" I unleashed my technique and a volley of several flying slashes took out all of Moria's bats, this gave me the opportunity to close the distance and hammer Moria into the ground with Samehada.

"Why does this always happen to me? I've had enough I'm going to crush you all!!!"

"Shadows Asgard!" Moria had now absorbed all of the shadows he had stolen and grew to an even more enormous size than even his normal height. He then unleashed a punch that split Thriller Bark in half.

"Ha! Now thats more like it!" I said getting pumped up. "Let's have an epic battle, Gecko Moria!"

"Bankai! Hihio Zabimaru!!!!" I used Zabimaru to smash into Moria's frontal assault head on which knocked him down into a crater on the ground.

"Alright a nice hit by me. Now get up Moria! Let's keep this going!" I said in eager anticipation of his next attack. Suddenly all the shadows he absorbed started to flow back out of him. "Eh, did I beat him already?" I asked disappointedly. To my dismay I'd actually taken Moria down in a single hit. I know he wasn't as strong as he was when he fought Kaido all those years ago but still he was a warlord of the sea. I'd expected to have a more competitive fight.

"Well , that's a bit of a let down. Am I actually like really strong or something?" I asked my crew mates as were preparing to depart the island.

"Yeah of course you are! Wow! I can't believe that you took out one of the Seven Warlords just like that! That was incredible!" Yuma said excitedly.

"You know, from what I've seen, you've pretty much won all of your fights easily. How did you not know you were really strong?" Jack asked.

"I don't know, I just figured all my opponents were weak or something like that." I said rubbing the back of my head.

"As one of your former opponents, that kinda stings you know." Jack replied.

After we left Thriller Bark, we didn't make any effort to publicize the fact that I'd beaten one of the Seven Warlords. That being said, it wasn't long before the World Government noticed and several days later I received a letter asking if I would join the Seven Warlords, taking Gecko Moria's spot.