Nefer-Tum's Hand!
"Ugh."
His face contorted in agony, a terrifying force stretched Moria's neck to its limit, then sent him spinning through the air as he plummeted to the ground.
But Vidal gave him no time to freefall, transforming into a streak of green light and swiftly catching up, clasping his fists together and mercilessly pounding Moria's back.
With a muffled thud, the latter instantly turned into a black line. He was like a giant cannonball, smashing through several large trees and finally lying in the crater he had created.
"Puff--"
Moria had just struggled to his feet from the mud when suddenly he coughed up a mouthful of blood, staining his black collar and the cracked ground red.
"Captain"
Suddenly, he heard a very familiar, but extremely weak and faint call. Looking in the direction of the sound, he was shocked to find that Makasi and Lusi’en were covered in thick thorns and hanging from two tree trunks in the distance.
What enraged Moria the most was that the blood of his own kind and companions seeped from the thorns and flowed down the straight tree trunk, forming a dark red pool of blood.
The person who just spoke was Makasi, while Lusi’en seemed to have fallen into a coma.
Even so, he still gripped the broken serrated knife handle tightly in his hand.
"Vidal!!"
Moria roared, unleashing his boundless rage at the green figure in the air. His roar echoed throughout the entire Grove 53, and even Antoine, Vincent, and the other marines by the Wood Cage could hear it clearly.
Vidal has witnessed firsthand what it means to be furious and enraged!
Strangely, with that roar, he noticed that Moria's aura had become stronger, but he didn't know what changes had occurred in the other's body.
"Captain. Ship. Shadow, with our shadows." Makasi's weak voice rang out again.
"Shadow?"
Moria's roar abruptly ceased, and only then did he realize that the sunset had long since vanished, and darkness had fallen!
"Ah, let's witness the power of the Shadow-Shadow Fruit!"
"Shadow’s Asgard-- "
With another earth-shattering roar, the shadows of Makasi and Lusi’en, who were closest to him, were the first to break free from their master's body and shoot into Moria's open mouth like arrows.
[Buzz--]
Moria's upper body muscles, which resembled Mundo's, suddenly swelled to twice their size, and his height increased by one meter!
That wasn't all; hundreds of shadows of the Moonlight Pirates, who had been ignored by everyone before, also swarmed in.
Finally, another seventy or eighty shadows flew in from the direction of the port.
During this time, Vidal naturally did not stand idly by. Both the Tree World and he himself had already taken action at the first opportunity.
But even the previous Moria couldn't stop it, so how could it affect Moria after absorbing the shadows of Makasi and Lusi’en?
Meanwhile, Vidal rushed in front of Moria and threw a powerful punch at his abdomen, but this time Moria neither dodged nor avoided it, instead coldly slashing out with his Shadow Blade.
[Duang--]
The ear-piercing sound of clashing swords echoed through the sea of trees, but this time, Shadow Blade held its own, steadily blocking Green Fist's heavy blow!
Moria increased the power of his shadow blade, first knocking back Vidal, then instantly switching positions with the aerial Doppelman, and then swallowing the shadows of the lower-ranking crew members in one gulp, quickly growing to over six meters tall with his muscles and physique.
"Hehehe, these useless clones again!"
Seeing that the two Wood Clones closest to him had caught up again, Moria laughed in anger. He then slashed horizontally with his Shadow Blade, unleashing a crescent-shaped black Flying Slash amidst the whooshing sound of air being cut.
However, this time the slash was extremely powerful, with a length of more than ten meters and a thickness comparable to his waist!
Faced with such a terrifying Flying Slash, even if the two Wood Clones joined forces to unleash the Wood Ingot Wall, they were still instantly reduced to dust along with the wooden wall, and now the medium of transmission was gone.
That wasn't all. Moria swept his sword horizontally and then followed up with a vertical slash, his target being Vidal stood between the Tree World!
"Shadow Demon Slash!"
[Boom!]
Seeing this, Vidal frowned. At three meters tall, he was like an ant in the face of this slash, but he was not troubled by it.
It was just a Flying Slash, even if its power had increased several times over.
[Smack!]
With a loud shout, Vidal slammed his palms together in front of him.
"Nefer-Tum’s Hand!"
The next moment, the trees within a fifty-meter radius beneath his feet grew wildly, quickly converging in front of him into a giant wooden palm with clearly visible palm lines and a faint resemblance to a lotus flower.
The wooden palm grabbed at the dark Flying Slash, and at the same time, the palm surface was quickly stained with a layer of black light, which was the Hardening of Armament Haki!
[Boom--]
The incomparably sharp blade kept cutting into his palm, but it just couldn't break through that layer of blackness.
Moria's Flying Slash was indeed more powerful due to the surge in power, but Vidal's Haki level was much stronger Moria's. As a result, the stalemate continued until the slash exhausted its power, and it was crushed by the wooden hand!
But this period of time was enough for Moria to absorb the power of the final wave of shadows.
Hehehe! Hehehe!
"Despair! Even if Marine Admiral now, I would have enough power to escape!"
These words left the audience, who were initially shocked by his sudden increase in height to over eight meters, completely bewildered. What the heck? They thought he was going to say that he could defeat even Admiral.
Vidal was speechless. Was Moria some kind of idiot, speaking his truest thoughts in the most arrogant tone?
But to be fair, Moria's current momentum is indeed quite fierce!
Just by standing there, he felt an overwhelming pressure. This was no joke. In this world, willpower, spirit, and aura all possess immense power; that's where Haki comes from.
"Phew--, this is finally getting interesting." Facing such a formidable opponent, Vidal revealed an eager smile.
That's more like it. While Moria's bounty of 100 million Beli was decent, it didn't put enough pressure on me. Now, it's probably around 200-300 million?
His gaze then fell upon the Apis Divine Bull, which was still colliding with Yifuli.
Although he controlled the bull himself, since he's in this chuunibyou (delusional) world, it seems normal to act a little chuunibyou himself.
Seriously, which top-tier celebrity isn't a bit of a chuunibyou (a person with delusions of grandeur)?
Therefore, Vidal shouted at the Apis Divine Bull, "Stop playing around!"
The divine ox paused for a moment, and even turned its head to look at him in a very lifelike manner.
"Use the 'Sun's Holy Wheel' to finish him off!"
[Moo--]
The divine ox raised its head and bellowed, gathering its Photosynthetic Energy in front of its mouth to form a golden ball that emitted a dazzling light.
"What is that?" Moria, who was walking on Geppo in the air, was stunned. He was quite familiar with this golden light; he had almost died from it before.
[Boom!!]
As the Apis Divine Bull thrust forward, the golden ball shot out, transforming into a thick, long golden pillar of light.
"Ugh, it's so bright!" Yifuli was forced to close his eyes, and instinctively swung his double hammers in front of him.
The next second, the beam of light collided with the enormous bronze hammer, accompanied by a whooshing sound.
Honestly, I'm not very satisfied with this Sun's Holy Wheel right now. I definitely need to find a chance to revise it later, at least to make the style consistent with the other secret techniques.