"What? They're the ones who killed Absalom?"
The moment Moria's words left his mouth, the little loli who had just been rubbing her sleepy eyes widened them in fury and glared at Rorschach and Hibari.
The instant she saw Hibari, she immediately remembered the newspaper she'd read earlier — the female Marine who killed Absalom looked exactly like the woman standing before her now.
Realizing that her long-time companion had died at the hands of this person, Perona's heart filled with uncontainable rage.
Without a thought, her small body emitted a ghostly figure identical to herself, which flew straight toward Hibari with outstretched hands.
"It was you who killed Absalom?! I'll kill you! I'll avenge him!"
"Ghost Bomb!"
Moria was shocked. "Perona! Stop it right now!"
He wasn't worried about Perona hurting Hibari — rather, it was because of the other person standing there.
That Marine brat, Rorschach, was no ordinary Marine.
Moria's warning fell on deaf ears. Perona, consumed by fury, couldn't hear a word.
With a flick of her wrist, a dozen small and adorable ghosts — each the size of a shuttlecock — appeared and whizzed toward Hibari.
"Zeus!"
Hibari didn't dare underestimate them. With a soft shout, she grabbed the thundercloud Zeus from atop her head and hurled him toward the oncoming ghosts.
"Don't! I'm terrified of ghosts!"
Seeing the small ghosts screeching toward him, Zeus trembled violently in terror.
In panic, his dark cloud body erupted in a burst of violent lightning, which surged outward in a thunderous wave.
The instant the lightning struck the approaching ghosts, they exploded one after another with immense force, like a series of cannon shells going off midair. The entire floor trembled, and dust rained down from the ceiling.
"What?!"
Perona was stunned to see her ghosts detonate before even reaching Hibari.
The energy radiating from Zeus's lightning was terrifyingly intense — far beyond her expectations.
But Perona wasn't scared off.
When her ghost bombs failed, she quickly waved again, summoning three life-sized ghosts that rushed at Hibari.
Seeing the trio of larger ghosts, Hibari frowned and leapt back several steps.
The previous small ghosts had the destructive power of cannon shells. If these large ones exploded, the blast would be far worse — catastrophic, even.
Although such non-Haki explosions couldn't harm her elemental body, Hibari didn't want to risk being forced into a defensive position.
"Zeus!" she called again.
"D-Don't let them near me!"
This time, instead of attacking, the terrified thundercloud turned tail and fled toward Hibari, sobbing uncontrollably.
"You're supposed to be a Homie created from the soul of a Yonko, and you're scared of a Shichibukai's subordinate?! Zeus, you're absolutely useless!"
Zeus wailed, "If you're not scared, then stop hiding behind me!"
Suddenly, a cold gust swept from behind, and a ghost shot through Zeus's body.
In an instant, Zeus froze, deflated like a popped balloon, and fell weakly to the ground, whimpering, "I'm just a poor unwanted thing... Mama abandoned me... I can never go back to Totto Land... I'm so useless... I just want to die…"
Hibari blinked in confusion.
In that moment of distraction, the three large ghosts rushed forward.
If she backed away any further, she'd fly right out of the castle.
So Hibari clenched her small fist, coating it with black Armament Haki, and struck one of the charging ghosts.
Pop!
The expected explosion never came.
The ghost she hit vanished like a soap bubble.
"Huh? An illusion?" Hibari muttered, punching again and dispelling another.
Only one ghost remained — it passed straight through her body.
Hibari didn't dodge. As a Logia user, ordinary explosions didn't scare her.
Even if one of them were real, it couldn't hurt her.
However, the next second, Hibari's body slumped as her face turned gloomy. Tears welled in her eyes as she weakly fell to her knees.
Supporting herself with one hand, she said in a trembling voice, "Brother Rorschach... I'm so useless... I'm nothing but a worthless slug... I can't help at all..."
Hibari didn't realize — this wasn't a ghost bomb.
It was a Negative Ghost.
Anyone touched by it would be overcome by despair and self-loathing.
Seeing Hibari's pitiful state, Rorschach covered his face with one hand.
He turned toward Moria, waving dismissively. "Alright, that's enough. I really need to ask you something—"
"No one can resist my Negative Ghosts! Die, Marine! Combination attack — Super Giant Ghost Bomb!"
Seeing Hibari collapse, Perona grinned, clasping her hands to create a massive, glowing ghost the size of a ship that flew toward Hibari.
"I said, enough." Rorschach's eyes narrowed, his tone turning cold.
Buzz!
A terrifying wave of power exploded from his body — black and red lightning bursting forth, sweeping across the entire Thriller Bark.
The fog over the ship boiled as scarlet lightning flashed.
In an instant, the entire island fell silent. Zombies and monsters alike dropped like dominoes.
Perona's astral form behind Moria flipped her eyes back and vanished into her body, while her real self slumped onto the bed, unconscious.
Even Moria himself blanked out for a moment.
When he regained focus, the entire ship was dead silent.
"Conqueror's Haki…"
Moria gripped his massive scissors tightly, staring nervously at Rorschach.
Ignoring his hostility, Rorschach calmly explained his purpose.
"The king of Alabasta went missing around here. Moria, I'm not accusing you — but do you know of anything else in this fog that could have taken them?"
Moria's embarrassment gave way to thought.
"Missing? You think I did it?" he sneered.
"If it were you, you wouldn't be standing right now," Rorschach said coldly, gazing out at the fog-covered sea. "I just need to know if there's any force or creature in this area that captures humans."
Moria hesitated, then relaxed a bit.
He looked back at the unconscious Perona, then cautiously cradled her in his arm before speaking again.
"The Devil's Triangle is huge. I can't say for sure what's out there. I've never met any other groups, but there are plenty of monsters — Sea Kings everywhere. Maybe the Alabasta ship was swallowed by one."
"Can't you say something less ominous?" Rorschach frowned. "If something really happened to them, I'll haul you off to Impel Down myself."
"Why would it be my fault?! You're going too far, Marine brat!"
Moria's teeth ground audibly. He wanted nothing more than to rip Rorschach's shadow out and stuff it into a pig.
"Vivi and the others weren't eaten by Sea Kings," Hibari insisted, holding the phone snail still sputtering static. "The call still connects — that means someone's there!"
Rorschach frowned, staring into the mist.
Where exactly had Vivi gone?
Suddenly, Moria's eyes flickered with realization. "Wait — was their ship carrying a lot of gold?"
"What?" Rorschach blinked. "What's that supposed to mean?"
Moria continued, "If their ship had a lot of gold, they might've attracted an Anglerfish."
"Anglerfish? Gold? What's the connection?" Hibari asked in confusion.
"Anglerfish live deep in the sea. They've got a glowing lure on their heads to attract prey. They say the more gold they swallow, the brighter that light becomes. They can sense gold nearby and hunt it down. Sometimes, massive ones even surface to attack ships loaded with treasure."
He pointed toward a damaged part of his ship. "Over there — I once stored several tons of gold in my treasure room, and an Anglerfish the size of an island swallowed it whole, even taking a chunk out of my ship. Maybe the Alabasta vessel met the same fate. If it did, though... well, those fish are as big as Sea Kings, and their stomach acid can dissolve even steel."
Following his finger, Rorschach extended his Observation Haki and indeed saw the bite — a crescent-shaped hole over five hundred meters wide.
Only a ship as huge as Thriller Bark could survive such a bite. Any normal vessel would've been swallowed whole.
Swallowed whole...
Rorschach's mind flashed to the legend of the giant golden Anglerfish — the one said to have islands in its belly.
If Moria's guess was right, and Vivi's ship was taken by such a creature, then perhaps they were inside that enormous fish right now.
Rorschach turned to Moria. "You got any gold left on this ship?"
Moria looked wary. "What are you planning?"
"To go fishing," Rorschach replied calmly. "If it really was an Anglerfish, we'll bait it out with gold."
"That'll take highly pure gold! I've got some jewelry, but it's low purity! And why should I help you? Who do you think you are, huh? Heheheh... Unless, of course, you kneel and beg me!" Moria sneered.
A few minutes later, at the edge of Thriller Bark, Rorschach stood amid crackling lightning, purifying crates of gold and gems into a massive, radiant golden sphere.
Not far away, Moria stood with a pair of black eyes, glaring furiously, his fat body trembling with rage.
"Damn Marine brat! I swear, one day I'll cut out your shadow and make you my zombie!"
End of Chapter)
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