Dawn was approaching. A faint glimmer spread across the horizon, piercing layers of mist and shining over a landscape of ruins.
At the edge of a nearby forest, a group of people in ragged clothes, looking like vagrants, cheered excitedly, tears streaming down their faces.
"My shadow! My shadow's back!"
"After all these years, finally!"
"Quick! There's sunlight over there!"
"Let's go try it!"
One after another, figures rushed out of the forest toward a patch of ground illuminated by the dawn.
One of them was a plump woman with a nearly oval-shaped body, pink hair tied into two braids, two crossed swords strapped to her back, and a pair of thick, fiery red lips.
Lola followed her excited subordinates. They had been drawn over during Luffy and Moria's battle.
They had hidden in the bushes at the forest's edge, spying on the fight and witnessing it all with their own eyes.
Even now, she still looked incredulous. Gecko Moria, the Shichibukai who had stolen their shadows and commanded countless powerful zombies—
Had actually lost to an unknown young man!
Lola slowly walked over to Moria, who was wrapped in a mass of blazing blue flames.
The blue flames gradually died down, drawing back across his body and into his fat belly, where a man stood above him.
The man's face was calm and expressionless. His fitted blue shirt hinted at his muscular build. When he noticed her approach, he glanced at her briefly, then ignored her.
"Um..."
Lola blushed, bent forward, and called out loudly, "Could you please marry me?"
"Get lost," Lina said coldly.
"Captain Lola's been rejected again!!"
"Her 4,444th proposal has failed!!"
Two men in tattered clothes cried out loudly. They were Lola's subordinates, the Squirrel Brothers.
Lola wasn't too disheartened. She simply smiled and