Shadow's Asgard

The colossal figure of Oars, with his fiery hair and demonic appearance, suddenly charged toward Moonlight and Kuma. From within the giant's chest, Gecko Moria, dressed in his Gothic, bat-like attire, manipulated his monstrous puppet.

However, before he could even get close, he was caught in the crossfire. The sheer aftermath of Moonlight and Kuma's attacks swept over him, sending the massive giant flying backward even faster than he had charged, crashing through what remained of the castle.

"What?! Oars was sent flying so easily?"

"Those two are terrifying monsters!"

Everyone—Absalom's trio, Luffy's crew, Lola's group, and the surrounding zombies—stared at the scene, letting out a collective gasp of disbelief.

"Gecko Moria? For a fellow Warlord, he's incredibly weak," Moonlight commented dismissively. The fight between him and Kuma was reaching its climax. After their exchange, Moonlight had gauged his opponent's strength. Kuma was powerful, but there was still a slight gap between him and a Marine Admiral. The Paw-Paw Fruit was incredibly versatile, giving him the power to contend with the Admirals, but against Moonlight, it wasn't enough. It was time to end this.

"Yohohoho! You dare look down on me?" At that moment, Moria climbed to his feet again. Though the shockwave from the two fighters was terrifying, Oars's body, heavily modified by Hogback, was even stronger. Hearing Moonlight's words, Moria let out a sharp, grating laugh, his voice filled with a cold killing intent. He drove Oars's huge body forward, rushing at Moonlight once more. This time, he learned his lesson, circling around from the side with surprising flexibility for a creature of that size.

"Your opponent is me!"

Before he could reach his target, Luffy's arm stretched out and slammed into him. In Gear Second, Luffy's speed was incredible, and when combined with the elasticity of his rubber body, his range was nearly limitless. Even from tens of meters away, the punch landed squarely on Oars's head.

"BOOM!"

Oars's massive body shuddered to a halt, then stumbled back again and again, carving a long trench in the ground. Luffy's speed and strength had been greatly enhanced, and he now had the power to fight Oars head-on. The modified giant, however, recovered quickly and roared at Luffy.

"Give me back my shadow!" Luffy shouted, completely unfazed, and met Oars's charge head-on, unleashing a barrage of Gum-Gum Gatling punches. At the same time, Absalom and the others rejoined the battle, and the scene descended into chaos once more.

"Paw-Paw Pressure Cannon!" Kuma shouted, making his move. He clearly realized that ordinary attacks were useless against Moonlight and that a prolonged fight would only lead to his defeat. He slapped his palms together, and an oversized, paw-shaped bubble of compressed air appeared between them. He then began to concentrate it, pressing his palms together, making it smaller and denser, again and again, until the massive amount of pressure was condensed into a sphere the size of his palm. He then hurled it toward Moonlight.

As the devastating pressure bomb flew toward him, Moonlight shot into the sky. A dozen swords made of pure sword energy materialized and plunged into the ground below, while another dozen formed in the air above, creating a "sword field" that completely enveloped Kuma. In the next moment, Moonlight began to flicker through the sword-filled domain, moving as if teleporting.

"Extreme Ghost Swordsmanship: Storm Style!"

"BOOM!"

Kuma's pressure bomb detonated, unleashing a horrific vortex of air pressure that spanned a hundred meters, centered on Moonlight's original position. The terrifying impact devastated everything within the blast radius, and the entire island trembled violently. The other combatants stopped their fighting instantly, shocked by the sheer power of the fluctuation.

"Damn you, Kuma! Are you trying to tear my ship apart?" Moria shrieked, disengaging from Luffy. He manipulated Oars's massive body over to the giant three-masted rudder at the island's center and, without hesitation, began to turn it.

Suddenly, the entire island began to shake violently. It was then that everyone saw the truth. This was no island.

It was a ship the size of an island.

"What a huge ship!" Luffy marveled.

"This is a ship?" Zoro and the others stared, their mouths agape. It wasn't that they were ignorant; they had simply never seen a vessel of this colossal scale.

"This has to be the largest ship in the world!" Lola and her crew exclaimed in shock. To suddenly discover that the island they had been living on was actually a ship was a mind-bending revelation.

"Did you see that? This is our captain's masterpiece," Absalom and the others gloated, laughing.

"Our Moonlight Pirates will conquer the entire world!" Hogback cackled. They had all been invited by Moria to join his crew before he became a Warlord.

"Kishishishi! Our Moonlight Pirates are the strongest in the world! I will turn the entire world into zombies and create an undead army! No one will be my opponent! Kishishishi!" Moria laughed maniacally. With Oars resurrected, his plan was halfway complete. Only Oars possessed the power to turn such a massive rudder.

"Turn the whole world into a zombie army?" Hearing this, a fire ignited in Luffy's eyes, and his entire expression became deadly serious.

"That's right, Straw Hat boy! If you want your shadow back, then come and get it! Kishishishi! But without your shadow, I'll just sail this ship out into the sun and let you all turn to dust! If you have the ability, then come and stop me!" Moria cackled, turning the massive rudder to pilot the three-masted galleon. He intended to leave the Florian Triangle and sail into open waters, where the sun would shine. Anyone who had lost their shadow would be instantly reduced to ash.

"No! Don't let him sail out of the fog, or we'll all die!" Lola's face went white with terror as she screamed at Luffy.

"Damn it!" Zoro and the others rushed forward. They understood the stakes perfectly.

"Gear Third!" Luffy took a deep breath, preparing to inflate his arm for a final, decisive blow. It was the only way to stop him.

"Protect the captain!" Absalom, Perona, and Hogback moved to intercept them, trying to buy time for Moria.

But just as everyone was about to clash, a huge body suddenly fell from the sky, smashing furiously into Oars.

"CRACK!"

Oars's colossal body buckled under the impact with the sickening crack of breaking bone. The giant collapsed to the ground, its body broken and twisted. The figure who had struck him was none other than Bartholomew Kuma.

How could he be here? Had his fight with Moonlight already been decided? It looked like Kuma had been defeated! But what about Moonlight?

Almost everyone had the same thought, and their eyes instinctively turned to where Moonlight had been. There, emerging from the dust, Moonlight walked forward step by step, his Pheasant Sword held loosely in his hand, bathed in the cold moonlight like an avenging reaper.

Bartholomew Kuma had been defeated.

"Moonlight defeated another Warlord, the one they call 'The Tyrant'?"

"Incredible! Moonlight actually defeated a guy like that!"

Nami and the others were stunned, staring at the slowly approaching Moonlight with awe.

"That man..." Absalom and his companions trembled. Kuma, a man as infamous as their own captain, had just lost?

Lola and her crew also stared at Moonlight in shock. This man was the Vice-Captain of the Straw Hat crew?

But no one was more shocked than Gecko Moria. Kuma was defeated? Just like that? Looking at the countless sword marks covering Kuma's body, it was clear his injuries were severe.

"ROAR!" Moria roared, lashing out at Moonlight with all his might.

SWOOSH!

Moonlight casually swung the Pheasant Sword, and a single arc of sword energy shot out. Oars's massive body was sent flying backward, crashing into a small mountain at the center of the island and completely leveling it. The fact that Moonlight could so easily toss aside a being of that size was even more terrifying than the giant itself.

"Hiss!" Everyone drew a sharp breath.

"Before we get the shadows back, this ship can't leave this sea," Moonlight announced, walking to the giant rudder wheel. "Brook, you know this area. You navigate. I'll take the helm. Luffy!"

Luffy, who had been about to unleash his own Gear Third attack, understood immediately and nodded. Moonlight placed his hands on the massive wheel and, with a grunt of effort, began to turn it. Though the rudder was immense, his power was no trivial matter.

"Right!" Brook didn't hesitate, quickly calling out directions. He knew better than anyone what fate awaited them if they were exposed to sunlight.

"Okay," Luffy nodded heavily, seeing Moria emerge from Oars's broken body in the distance. Now was the time to get his shadow back.

"Straw Hats! All of you! I will never let you go! Never!" Moria was furious. Since Luffy and his crew had arrived, all his plans had been ruined, his island-ship was a wreck, and now even Oars had been completely destroyed. It would take Hogback a long time to repair him, if it was even possible. But worst of all, they were stealing his ship, his life's work. How could he endure this? Facing a powerful enemy like Moonlight, he held nothing back.

"Shadow's Asgard!" he roared, tilting his head back and opening his mouth wide. A horrible, attractive force emanated from him, forcibly pulling the shadows from everyone within a hundred-meter radius. The shadows flew toward him, drawn into his mouth. Many of the pirates who had just regained their shadows were shocked to lose them again. Zoro, Sanji, and the others were all caught in the pull. One after another, the shadows streamed into Moria's body. In a matter of seconds, he had swallowed at least a thousand shadows.

His body began to grow, swelling to a colossal size, even larger than Oars.

"Luffy's body could barely handle one hundred shadows!" Lola trembled. "Moria just absorbed a thousand! How horrible will his power be now?"

"What? The shadows of 1,000 people?!" Zoro and the others swallowed hard. Nightmare Luffy had been incredibly powerful; this new form was ten times stronger! They would surely be annihilated. Their faces grew grim, but they had no intention of giving up. They were about to charge, but someone was already faster.

It was Luffy.

He leaped high into the air, took a deep breath, and his right arm suddenly swelled to a colossal size, growing larger and larger, the elasticity of his rubber body seeming almost limitless. In moments, Luffy's right fist had become the size of a meteorite, and he brought it down directly on top of Moria. Such a massive fist, with such immense power—there was no stopping it.

"Kishishishi! All of you, die for me!" Moria shouted wildly, lashing out. But a massive shadow suddenly enveloped him. He looked up and saw Luffy's giant fist descending upon him. With its range and speed, he had no way to escape.

"Gum-Gum... GIANT PISTOL!" Luffy's punch finally connected.

"ROAR!" Moria roared in defiance, but the next moment, he disappeared under Luffy's massive fist. The entire island-ship trembled from the force of the impact. The power of Luffy's Gear Third, unleashed with his full strength, was incredible.

"Captain!" Absalom, Hogback, and Perona rushed forward, but were intercepted by Zoro, Sanji, and the others. Though Hogback's zombie army was endless, they couldn't stop the Straw Hats. Absalom's invisibility was quickly found to be useless, and while Perona's Negative Hollows were difficult to deal with, she was quickly overwhelmed and defeated when cornered.

"Where there is life, there is hope!" Seeing the battle was lost, the three subordinates exchanged a look and fled without hesitation, hoping to escape and return to rescue their captain later.

"Three-Verse Humming: Arrow-Tail Slash!"

They hadn't gotten far before a cold light flashed past them. Brook appeared behind them, his cane-sword already sheathed. "My apologies," he said lightly.

"Agh!" Blood blossomed on all three as they collapsed to the ground, defeated.

At the same time, Moonlight finished turning the ship back into the dense fog. He turned to look around, only to find that Kuma had, at some point, woken up. Though his body was covered in wounds, none were fatal. He looked at Moonlight, all hostility gone from his eyes. He lowered his head and whispered something.

Hearing his words, Moonlight's eyes widened in shock.

At that moment, the unconscious Perona began to float away in her ghostly form. Seeing this, Kuma simply slapped her out of the air, sending her flying off into the distance.