Shadow and Flash Showdown!

[Whoosh!]

As a golden, gleaming long leg flashed past, Gecko Moria's head shattered, turning into torn fragments of black shadow that danced through the air.

"Eh—?"

Borsalino looked doubtfully at Moria's body, which had turned into a mass of purple-black shadow.

[Swish!]

Suddenly, the shadow fiercely swung its sharp Shadow Blade, turning into a black gleam that slashed horizontally across his waist, cutting Borsalino cleanly in two.

Yet there was neither wound nor blood at the cut. Instead, bright golden light burst forth, then flashed, and in the blink of an eye he reappeared where he had originally been standing.

"How scary~"

Borsalino wore a lingeringly frightened expression as he looked past the shadow at Gecko Moria, who had somehow appeared fifty meters away, his face full of confusion.

"You're a Logia too? But wasn't the information saying you were a Paramecia Shadow-Shadow Fruit user?"

"Hehishishishi—I'd like to know why your elemental form can ignore my slash when that attack was clearly coated in Haki."

Gecko Moria had no interest in explaining his abilities. Instead, he threw the question back. This was his first time facing a Logia user, so he was not entirely sure whether Haki could harm an elemental body.

"Well, who knows~"

Borsalino's answer lacked all sincerity.

"Hmph, we'll find out by fighting. I refuse to believe Haki is useless against you!" Gecko Moria snorted, then shouted, "Doppelman, attack with me!"

[Bang—]

He stomped the ground hard. His nearly seven-meter-tall body accelerated in an instant, effortlessly smashing through a burst of sonic-boom air and charging forward as a massive purple-black afterimage.

At the same time, the black shadow identical to him raised its Shadow Blade and closed in on Borsalino first, launching a slash.

"Ama no Murakumo~"

Borsalino moved even faster. With a casual motion, he drew a golden longsword formed entirely from light particles, blocking the Shadow Blade's attack in an instant.

For less than two seconds, the Shadow Blade and light sword clashed at speeds too blurred for ordinary eyes to follow. Black gleams and golden light rang out in a furious exchange, while rings of rippling airwaves continuously spread through the sky. The occasional stray slash carved long, vicious cracks into the ground.

The next second, Gecko Moria's true body closed in. He tried to circle behind Borsalino, but the latter flashed backward several meters, giving him no chance to be attacked from both sides.

Left with no choice, Moria and "Doppelman" launched rapid attacks from left and right, every swing sending out dangerous purple-black slashes.

As Borsalino swung his sword to defend, he observed the two of them.

He discovered that this so-called "Doppelman" was essentially identical to Moria's true body in strength, speed, and reaction time.

Only their Haki differed in intensity. The Shadow Blade was merely coated in a weak layer of Armament Haki, while the Haki aura on Moria's long blade was extremely dense, even hardening the blade itself.

But in Swordsmanship alone, he was clearly stronger, though Moria's blade technique was quite impressive as well.

And then there was speed!

[Swish—]

Borsalino turned into a flash of light again, vanishing from where he stood in the blink of an eye before appearing at Moria's left and slashing at him.

Fortunately, his Observation Haki was decent, and he reacted at once. However, it was already too late to block with his blade.

As for hardening his body with Armament Haki to test the sharpness of Ama no Murakumo, he did not even dare consider it. That light sword was clearly coated in Haki as well.

"Shadow Substitute!"

At that critical moment, Moria once again used the power of the Shadow-Shadow Fruit to switch places with his shadow—Doppelman.

"Oh my~~"

Borsalino raised a brow at the sight, but Moria did not hesitate in the slightest and immediately unleashed his killing move.

"Brick Bat!"

With a boom, the Doppelman in front of him suddenly exploded, turning into a dense swarm of shadow bats that rushed forward. They scattered in all directions, closing in on Borsalino from every angle like a black net.

The move was sudden, but Borsalino possessed Observation Haki as well. Combined with the unmatched speed of the Glint-Glint Fruit, he instantly dodged every biting bat. By the time he reappeared, he was already high in the air.

"Yo~ What a troublesome ability—" Borsalino rubbed his chin as he looked down in annoyance.

At the same time, Gecko Moria stood on the ground, frowning deeply as he stared into the sky and muttered, "This guy's way too fast. How am I supposed to fight this?"

In his view, their Swordsmanship was evenly matched, and neither could gain an advantage through it. That meant the deciding factors would be Haki and Devil Fruit abilities.

He seemed to be at a slight disadvantage in both Armament Haki and Observation Haki, while their abilities appeared incapable of doing anything to each other.

With Doppelman and Shadow Substitute working together, it was practically elementalization plus spatial switching. It was more than enough for self-preservation, but hurting Borsalino would be far too difficult.

Looks like this battle will last a long time, Gecko Moria thought. Then he suddenly remembered his fellow clansmen.

Things had gotten this intense over here. Why had they still not noticed?!

[Beep—]

But Borsalino gave him no chance to check on his fellow clansmen. Ama no Murakumo had already vanished from his hand, replaced by a dazzling golden light at his fingertip.

[Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh!]

Three beams of light shot out, so fast that they reached Gecko Moria in an instant. Yet with Observation Haki, he casually took a few steps and easily avoided the laser beams.

"Hehishishishi—What's that supposed to do?" Moria sneered.

Though Borsalino's Observation Haki seemed somewhat stronger than his, the gap was not so great that he could foresee Moria's own foresight.

But the next second, as the beams struck the snow behind him, three bright red fireballs of explosion swelled outward. High-temperature flames and shockwaves immediately engulfed a large expanse of snow along with Gecko Moria.

[Beep—]

Borsalino remained completely calm in the sky. The light beams at his fingertips continued firing, sending another three shots downward.

Couldn't he switch places with his Shadow Clone?

Fine. Then he would blow both of them up together. Let him try dodging that!

[Swish!]

Suddenly, something changed. Amid the continuous blasts and firelight, a massive purple-black slash appeared, temporarily cutting through the flames and airwaves.

Then Doppelman shot into the sky. The moment it reached Borsalino, the black color rapidly faded from its body, revealing a somewhat battered Moria himself.

"Die!!"

The three-meter-long blade came down in a savage chop. Its sharp edge was wrapped in a thick purple-black Shadow Blade and dense Armament Haki as it cleaved Borsalino in two from above.

Yet the result was the same as before. No blood appeared. Instead, he turned into two streaks of golden light that shot left and right, then merged back into one in the distant sky. That infuriatingly sleazy face appeared once more.

"Yo~ Your shadow clone can fly too? What a terrifying ability~~"

Borsalino puckered his lips, looking deeply surprised. But when he saw Moria falling back down, he grinned. "So that's it. After switching places, you can't fly anymore."

However, Moria's torn clothing and furious expression clearly showed that the explosions from those six light beams had done some damage.

In that case, he would increase the intensity!

Just as Gecko Moria landed on the scorched, crater-filled ground, it was as though an extra sun had appeared in the sky. Blinding golden light covered the entire blue expanse overhead.

"Yasakani no Magatama~~"

Here is a report on this book's current statistics for all my dear readers: 180 bookmarks, 174 recommendations, 41 monthly votes, and rank 76 in the light novel category of the signed authors' new-book list.