Devil's Triangle

The Shadow Mecha's first attack method was to cut away an object's shadow. An object that lost its shadow would directly collapse under the constraints of the real world's rules.

Of course, under such circumstances, the severed shadow would collapse as well.

This trait was incredibly lethal. Even if someone had trained their Armament Haki to the highest level, once their shadow was cut away, exposure to sunlight would leave them reduced to ashes.

It was a form of Rule Power that conventional methods could hardly resist.

Then there was shadow materialization—turning shadows into sharp blades and the like, suddenly striking out from the darkness. It was simply impossible to guard against.

Especially at night, bolstered by the environment, not even a Naval Headquarters Admiral might be able to contend head-on with a Shadow Mecha user.

There was also Shadow Sculpting.

The concept behind Shadow Sculpting was that an object and its shadow were closely linked in form.

Once a Shadow Mecha user altered a shadow's shape within the Shadow World, the shape of the real object would change accordingly.

However, this ability had limitations. To permanently alter a real object, the user had to maintain the altered shadow form for ten minutes, allowing the real object to gradually transform.

But the only limit on this ability was the user's stamina. If the user wanted to alter an object's form immediately, they could pour in more stamina and accelerate the sculpting transformation until it became instantaneous.

In the underground private training ground on Gourmet Island.

Wang Gao held a book and scribbled across its pages. It was a Biomass Book constructed from Mecha materials.

After filling one page, he pressed his palm against it and softly chanted, "Sculpting Arcana—Rock Wall."

Five meters ahead, a rock wall instantly rose from the ground. It was 0.5 meters thick, 10 meters long, and 3 meters high—dimensions that could be adjusted.

He then turned to the next page and pressed down. "Rock Spikes."

A Large Area of sharp rock spikes erupted from the ground without warning.

"Rock Cave!"

In an instant, the ground split open into a pit more than ten meters deep.

"Burial!"

The cracked ground swiftly sealed itself back up.

As he tested the skills, Wang Gao adjusted the stamina consumption of Shadow Sculpting, gradually fine-tuning each skill's power, cost, and specifications to achieve the highest Cost-effectiveness.

For ordinary ability users, their stamina limits were far lower than those of Mecha users with High-Energy Calories hearts.

Just like Wang Gao at that moment—despite conducting Large-scale skill tests, this Clone's stamina had barely decreased.

After the preliminary tests, Wang Gao wrote many of his ideas regarding the Shadow Mecha into the Mecha's intelligent core.

He also entered some of Moria's techniques into it.

Three Days Later, Wang Gao transformed three more promising Devil Fruits into Devil Mechas: the Logia Nitrogen-Nitrogen Fruit, the Paramecia Mask-Mask Fruit, and the Dark-Dark Fruit.

Other than giving the Shadow Mecha to Lucifer, he assigned the remaining three Mechas to the Training Camps at the Gourmet Island, Black Reef Archipelago, and Starfish Island bases.

As for the Devil Mechas of the other six Seven Deadly Sins, Wang Gao already had candidates in mind. The Dark-Dark Mecha, Nitrogen Mecha, and Mask Mecha were not among them.

After Beelzebub and the others discussed it, Gourmet Island took the Nitrogen Mecha, Starfish Island received the Mask Mecha, and the Black Reef Archipelago got the Dark-Dark Mecha.

Having obtained the Shadow Mecha, Lucifer's strength reached unprecedented heights when combined with the Brain Mecha he already possessed.

After all, Lucifer controlled Skynet, the Human Reform League's intelligence network. This allowed him to fully exploit the Shadow Mecha's strange properties while also making it complement Skynet.

Using the Shadow Mecha, he accelerated Skynet's deployment.

Previously, Skynet covered all of the South Blue, 82% of the West Blue, 42% of the East Blue, 6% of the North Blue, 67% of the first half of the Grand Line, 31% of the Grand Line—New World, and 61% of the Red Line.

Other special regions, such as the underwater Fish-Man Island, the Sky Islands high above, Naval Headquarters Marineford, and the Celestial Dragons' holy land of Mary Geoise, had not yet been infiltrated for intelligence gathering.

Recon Seagulls, reconnaissance insects, and the Coral Network all found it difficult to approach these regions.

But now, Lucifer, with the Shadow Mecha, had a way to infiltrate them.

In less than a week, Recon Seagulls and reconnaissance insects had spread throughout the Four Seas and the Grand Line, while the underwater Coral Network expanded frantically.

The Human Reform League's intelligence system had preliminarily formed comprehensive surveillance across sea, land, and air. Countless pieces of intelligence were gathered under Lucifer's command.

With so much intelligence under his control, Lucifer would be an utterly terrifying opponent in battle.

After all, he understood his enemies inside and out and could formulate targeted battle plans based on that intelligence. Coupled with the Shadow Mecha's survival capabilities, he was practically invincible.

The first half of the Grand Line.

The Devil's Triangle waters, Thriller Bark.

This sailing ship, said to be the largest in the world, was indeed enormous, but it also moved exceedingly slowly.

After Moria had sailed the ship from the West Blue to the Grand Line, the Red Line blocked his path. Combined with the ship's immense size, it was difficult to coat it for underwater travel. Thus, when he advanced into the New World, he could only temporarily hide the ship within the fog-shrouded waters of the Devil's Triangle.

After Moria escaped from Onigashima, he returned to Thriller Bark. However, with all his former subordinates dead, he could not operate such a massive ship alone.

Thus, Thriller Bark remained hidden in the fog of the Devil's Triangle.

At that moment, Lucifer had a Clone use the Shadow Mecha to arrive at Thriller Bark. There, he also found some of Moria's remaining assets, such as the corpse of the great swordsman Shimotsuki Ryuma and his blade, Shusui.

Standing atop Thriller Bark's castle, he looked over the surrounding sea shrouded in mist. This was an extremely strange stretch of ocean.

Interesting place! Lucifer's shadow shifted beneath his feet, instantly plunging into the shadows within the mist-covered sea.

He closed his eyes and, with the help of his main body's Brain Mecha, analyzed at full capacity how this sea region had formed and the secrets hidden within it.

As his shadow continued to search, the circumstances of this sea region were gradually peeled away, revealing its true face beneath the mist.

Huh! So it was him!

On a dilapidated wooden ship more than two hundred kilometers from Thriller Bark, an afro-haired skeleton stood on the deck, playing a violin.

Suddenly, the skeleton's music came to an abrupt stop. "..."

He seemed to sense someone watching him, yet he could not find the other party. Brook's soul power was exceptionally sensitive, allowing him to detect the anomaly.

Suddenly, a figure flashed into existence behind him.

As if he had eyes on the back of his head, Brook instantly Turned His Head, gripping his cane sword tightly as he watched the uninvited guest before him.

"A living skeleton? A Revive-Revive Fruit user?" Lucifer asked with feigned puzzlement.

"Who are you?" Brook asked warily.

Lucifer glanced at him. Just as Brook was about to say something, his soul power suddenly sensed a chill.

Several Shadow Chains bound his shadow, and the surrounding planks transformed into a sealed wooden coffin with lightning speed, trapping Brook inside.

Inside the wooden coffin, Brook tried to struggle free, only to discover seawater flooding in.

Soaked in seawater, Brook's ability was severely disrupted. Without any chance to resist, he was captured by Lucifer.

Thank you all for your support (ω｀)