Hogback was originally a top surgeon in the West Blue, known for his "extravagant greed," which made him a figure of extreme polarization. He was arguably the most popular doctor among the wealthy, with many rich people traveling great distances to see him, including patients from outside the West Blue.
A year ago, Hogback fell in love with Sindori, a female celebrity from the West Blue, during a medical consultation. When he was about to confess his feelings, he discovered that she had a fiancé, so he gracefully withdrew. At this time, although Hogback was obsessed with money, he was still a normal person.
However, just a few months ago, Sindori fell off the stage and tragically died during a performance accident...
In utter despair, Hogback cruelly stole Sindori's body, but... no matter how skillful the surgical technique, it could only preserve the body intact, not bring her back to life.
It was at this moment that Hogback met Moria. After learning about Moria's abilities, he immediately boarded the pirate ship—he never imagined before that he would become a pirate's Ship Doctor!
Moreover, his most important job as the Ship Doctor was not treating the sick and saving lives, but piecing together corpses...
However, Hogback didn't care. In fact, Hogback's mindset had undergone a great change. He genuinely enjoyed this new job and was further researching the body, soul, and immortality!
Sindori's death not only made him want to explore the forbidden medical arts of life and death, but also made him realize more and more that beautiful things are fleeting. Instead of moving towards "grasping beauty", his concept of beauty and ugliness began to become Distortion.
Sig had seen him, when faced with a lump of rotting flesh, display an expression of intoxication and appreciation that seemed reserved for admiring a beautiful rose.
The seemingly cruel and perverse work suited him perfectly.
Now, inside Sindori's body is the shadow of a young maid; as for Sindori's soul, it is long gone.
However, Hogback believed that he could truly bring Sindori back to life...
Sig also noticed this from his research notes.
Learning about human anatomy, or "flesh and blood," step by step, wasn't very helpful in portraying the Rose Bishop. However, the bizarre research and knowledge in Hogback's notes were propelling his portrayal of the Rose Bishop at an astounding pace...
Even Sig realized that if he used the Rose Bishop's abilities to parasitize other people's flesh and blood, conduct research, and devour them, he would accumulate role-playing progress much faster.
But this is somewhat below Sig's lower limit...
One part is out of concern for others, and nine parts is out of an inability to sacrifice oneself!
While he is compassionate towards others, Sig is capable of any cruelty, especially when the target is a slave trader or Celestial Dragons. The reason he doesn't intentionally torture or kill is simply because he has no reason to, not because he can't bear to.
But tormenting others is a minor issue; Sig himself is also worried that if he really plays the role like this, his own mentality will become increasingly Distortion and perverse.
Hogback is showing this trend now...
For the sake of his physical and mental health, Sig tried to avoid this point as much as possible, and when necessary, he used himself as a guinea pig for practical exercises.
If he had to inhabit someone else's body, Sig would prefer a corpse. Although this would prevent him from directly acquiring knowledge, it wouldn't be irreparable; he could still learn from the knowledge he had already compiled.
However, Hogback had already decided that Sig was one of his kind. He initially took out his notebook partly because he figured "this idiot wouldn't understand anyway," and partly to scare Sig...
Being good at fighting doesn't mean you have the mental fortitude to accept your "advanced" way of thinking.
However, Sig not only understood it, but also found it fascinating?
Hmm, this is a Fish-Man with good taste...
Just as Hogback leaned closer and asked Sig in a sinister tone what he didn't understand and suggested they study it together, the projection screen of the Den Den Mushi showed Moria defeating his opponent.
Before entering Wano Country, Moria's bounty was only a little over 300 million, but his strength far surpassed that of the current Kaoli!
Even ten years later, though Moria's strength had declined somewhat, he was still stronger than Kaoli.
In addition, Moria had higher expectations for his abilities due to his sparring with Sig. Although he didn't have any capable subordinates, he was able to beat up all of the Wolves' executives with the help of some zombie henchmen!
Ordinary independent pirates generally don't see their bounties increase much in the New World —because most of the time, it's a battle between pirates, and the World Government's control over the New World is already weakening.
Bounties will only be increased if the commotion causes the World Government to perceive it as a significant threat; otherwise, fights between pirates will not lead to an increase in bounties.
In this way, it is easier for the bounty to increase if one joins the pirate crew of the pirate overlord. For example, Moria, a "newcomer" who has been fighting against the overlord pirates and Great Pirate since he came to the New World ten years ago, has basically not changed his bounty.
If he could defeat Kaido, or even just escape unscathed from Kaido's grasp, his bounty would undoubtedly skyrocket. However, he was almost completely wiped out by Kaido and imprisoned for ten years, so naturally his bounty remained unchanged.
Sig, Moria, Kaoli all have bounties of over 300 million...
However, the gap between Kaoli and Moria is far greater than the gap between Moria and Sig.
With the Shadow Greatsword drawn, Moria swiftly dispatched Kaoli, who had transformed into his "Forest Human-Beast Form," and his minions.
Then, arrogantly, he sent someone back to inform Captain John to wash his neck and await his death...
It seems that Moria's role in teaming up with CP0 is to directly distract Captain John!
Of course, Kaoli and his key subordinates were detained, their shadows cut off one by one by Moria and stuffed into the zombies modified by Hogback.
Moria's Zombie Army is mainly divided into two types: one is modified zombies, which are mass-produced under Hogback's work, and the other is the corpses of strong people - the vast majority of whom come from Wano Country!
His most prized possession was undoubtedly the frozen corpse of Oz. Standing over sixty meters tall, coupled with his infamous reputation, it was clear that he was not to be trifled with.
When Moria returned, Sig noticed that he also had some minor injuries, but he had a "super cool" expression on his face.
Clearly, his fighting spirit and ferocity are gradually being rekindled.
If he can maintain this level, the one ten years from now should not be the "weakest Shichibukai" from the original work.
"Sig, that control you had over the shadows last time..." Moria wanted to exchange experiences with Sig after he returned.
However, Sig closed the book and said to Moria, "No problem, I can explain and demonstrate it to you in detail again."
Moria became wary of Sig's easygoing nature.
"In exchange, make me a silhouette..." Sig said, narrowing his eyes.