Chapter 69: The Thriller Bark (Part 2)
"Ara, what are these? They're kind of cute."
"They're Negative Hollows. If you get touched by one, it'll leave behind a stain that no amount of washing can remove. If someone who dislikes you sees you like that... it gets even worse."
Kurumi and Esdeath glanced at each other—then attacked simultaneously. Prepared for this, Eric flashed between them and took the attack to the face himself, flying toward the Negative Hollows...
"If there's a next life, I'd like to be a sanitary pad... I'm so useless. If there were a trash bin nearby, I'd jump in..." Eric dropped to all fours, his head hanging in total defeat, overflowing with negative emotions.
"Yep, definitely shouldn't touch those," Esdeath commented, hand on her chin.
"Ara, sorry about that, Eric -. You got caught in it." Click!
Kurumi apologized, but without any sincerity—she snapped a photo of Eric 's state instead.
"Haa… Please don't attack your own teammates," Eric sighed as he stood up, saying nothing about what just happened.
"Got it."
"OK."
Both of them looked a bit sheepish. After all, it was their fault Eric got hit.
Chiron asked, "So how do we deal with these ghosts?"
"There's no real way to fight them. They're spirits—can't be harmed, and if you touch them, you end up like I did. We have to avoid them for now."
Just then, the three transparent ghosts suddenly flew away like they'd been summoned.
"They're gone now."
"Yeah... Let's keep moving. The pink-haired girl is the Ghost-Ghost Fruit user. Recruiting her is one of our goals."
"Ara, Eric -, you sure have a way with the ladies."
"N-no, that's not true! Didn't I also recruit Uncle Kullikay?" Eric protested weakly. "And she's really strong!"
"Is that so?"
"Absolutely!"
...
"What a massive castle. But it's too gloomy. Not my taste. Eric , what kind of house do you like?"
Esdeath criticized Moria's residence before casually asking her captain.
"Me? Something castle-like, I guess? With snow-white walls… I'm not really sure. Why do you ask?"
"Obviously, it'll be our love nest. I'll have Da Vinci design it for us."
"You're delusional."
Kurumi shut that down immediately.
Inside the grand hall, all sorts of paintings and specimens adorned the walls.
"Ugh, so tacky. Even the characters in the paintings have stitch marks. Is that a parody of Da Vinci's Mona Lisa?" Kurumi asked as she examined one.
"Where?" Everyone gathered around.
"Ha! It is! I wonder how mad Da Vinci would be if she saw this."
"These paintings and specimens are zombies. Even this white bear rug under our feet." Eric pointed out.
"No wonder they all have stitches. Let's destroy them."
Esdeath drew her sword and slashed through the paintings.
"Wait—!"
One of the painted zombies had time to yell just one word before Esdeath sliced it—and the frame—in half.
Bang bang bang!
Everyone joined in smashing the paintings and taxidermy.
"You people have no respect! You're supposed to come at night and get scared!"
The last painting yelled its final protest before Eric destroyed it.
"Too bad. We don't owe you that kind of courtesy."
Eric refused to play by haunted house rules—he was easily spooked, and a heart attack was not on his to-do list.
"Moria really should've just opened a haunted house. He could've made a killing without ever being a pirate," Kurumi quipped.
"Haha, couldn't agree more."
"...Who said I should run a haunted house?"
A strange, eerie voice accompanied by heavy thud... thud... footsteps echoed through the hall. The source was clearly massive.
"He's here—Gecko Moria…"
The voice, the steps—identical to his anime counterpart—filled the space as the figure emerged.
"He's huge!"
Everyone gasped. At over six meters tall, Moria was especially intimidating in the enclosed space. Out in the open, it wouldn't have been so bad.
"You look strong. I wonder if you'll be enough to satisfy me."
Esdeath's battle smile emerged instantly after her initial surprise.
"Heh, keh keh keh… what a joke. Who killed Absalom?! Step forward!"
Moria completely ignored Esdeath. According to his intel, the highest bounty in this group was only 98 million Berries. He couldn't understand how Absalom got taken out so easily.
Though Eric couldn't see Esdeath's expression under her cap, he could guess she wasn't pleased.
"I did. So, Moria, how about you hand over your Warlord title? I think I'll take it from here."
Eric stepped forward boldly, unfazed by Moria's overwhelming presence.
"Keh keh keh… You've got guts. I admire that. But since you killed my subordinate, I can't let you live. Bat Swarm!"
Moria used his shadow to summon a swarm of bats that flew toward Eric .
Bzzzt bzzzt!
The bats that touched Eric turned into electric sparks. They dropped to the ground, revealing their shadows.
"What?! A Logia-type Devil Fruit user?! No wonder Absalom wasn't your match."
Moria was shocked—Logia users were extremely rare.
"I'm not really in the mood to fight you. Besides, look at Esdeath's face."
Moria turned—and froze. Esdeath's eyes, shadowed by her military cap, radiated a terrifying aura.
"I'm going in!"
Having restrained herself from sneak-attacking, Esdeath now rushed Moria head-on.
"Shadow Asgard!"
Startled by her speed, Moria summoned his shadow clone to block her.
Slash!
The clone was sliced in two. The resulting shadows turned into bats and tried to swarm Esdeath, but she calmly swatted them away with her sword and ice-coated fists.
"Another Devil Fruit user? Your crew sure has a lot of them."
Two out of five wielding Fruits—it was an alarmingly high ratio.
"Let's see how you handle my zombie generals!"
Armored zombie warriors entered the hall. Even their presence distinguished them from the typical cannon fodder zombies.
"These are generals I dug up from graveyards around the world—zombified. They're nothing like the peons. Taste the power of my zombie army! Keh keh keh…"
"White Ice Shard Storm!"
Hundreds of ice spikes materialized and skewered the zombie generals. Most were nailed to the walls, though a few managed to dodge or block them.
Among those still standing was the legendary Ryuma, the samurai of Wano known for slaying a Sky Dragon, now a zombie in wooden clogs, wielding the great sword "Shusui."
'Wait, he's not saying "Yohoho"? Does that mean Brook has already been rescued? Or has Moria not taken Brook's shadow yet?'
Eric , unaware of the timeline, couldn't recall that Brook met Moria four years later.
"Same kind of freezing ability as Aokiji? But you're Paramecia."
Moria, with his sharp eye, correctly guessed Esdeath's Devil Fruit type.
While Moria was Speaking—
"Freeze!"
Esdeath encased the last zombie general, Ryuma, in solid ice.
(END CHAPTER)
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