Experiment Continues

"Put a smile on your face."

Moria stared blankly at the man in front of him, who was grinning from ear to ear.

The other man reached out and pulled at Moria's swollen face, creating a smile uglier than a cry.

The old neighbor, Baku, lay obediently on Joker's back, its semi-corporeal body seemingly weightless.

It was an extremely well-behaved accessory.

Very different from the extremely malicious personality Moria remembered.

And vastly different from that terrifying figure that blotted out the sky not long ago.

"What do you want?" Moria asked, his voice trembling.

He didn't quite understand why this man, with a white skull painted on his face and bright red lips always curved upwards...

had no fear in his eyes.

Nor the anger that should accompany resistance and deception.

In Moria's heart, none of that overshadowed his fear of the man before him.

It wasn't the fear of being crushed by sheer strength like with Kaido. The fear of Joker was inexplicable, a fear of his bizarre methods.

Even more frightening was how his inner vulnerabilities seemed to be laid bare for the other to see.

"Hmm... a little preliminary work."

Buggy rested his chin on his hand and answered seriously:

"Although I haven't figured out how to use this little cutie yet." He gently stroked Baku's head, which felt like a plush toy. "But who cares."

Executing a plan with a clear objective?

No, no, no...

That would be too easy to guess for those dark schemers who always hid behind the scenes.

Hmm, he usually liked to tell those high-and-mighty people a plan that would inspire terror, like sending a certain cute mayor to meet his grandmother, but he would achieve it in a way that was completely unexpected.

A very important part of this was.

Having no plan.

To be precise, it was making the plan possibly exist or possibly not exist.

Who knew?

Buggy didn't know it himself.

But this way, he could see the panicked fear on those people's faces and enjoy the thrill of his plan coming to fruition.

It was wonderful.

Buggy couldn't help but lick his lips.

He also had a separate palm resting on Moria's shoulder.

His upper body was also floating.

After all, Buggy was only 1.9 meters tall, and it wasn't easy to reach Moria's shoulder, who was nearly seven meters tall.

However, Moria didn't have much ability to resist now.

He lay flat.

Whatever.

He couldn't win the fight anyway.

Moria had already suffered enough blows recently.

First, he was beaten to the ground by a rising junior.

After being summoned to participate in the war, he was beaten by those New World pirates.

He finally managed to survive until the war ended.

Then his World Government turned against him!

He was almost beaten to death.

When he fled back home, thinking he could have some peace, he was beaten by his own shadow!

More importantly.

Even his most proud Devil Fruit ability was toyed with in the palm of someone's hand.

What was the point of playing anymore?

Moria felt as if he had returned to the time in Wano Country.

He lay alone and collapsed on the snowy ground, barely surviving.

Around him were the corpses of his comrades.

Their blood stained the snow, and then it was covered by fresh snowfall.

As if it had never existed.

Buggy continued to experiment with his abilities on the formerly reclining Shichibukai.

Splitting a person's cognition, thoughts, and mind.

Compared to the splitting of matter, this type of splitting was more abstract and dangerous.

It was like performing brain surgery on a patient in a rural clinic.

There was no need for mistakes; the occurrence itself already produced irreversible consequences.

Fortunately, Buggy didn't care about consequences.

Within the touch of his abilities, Moria's mental world contained a mass of light, predominantly gray, mixed with various dark and black hues.

This symbolized emotions and feelings.

There was also a long line, like a film strip, symbolizing cognition.

Splitting emotions and cognition was roughly equivalent to splitting four Goldens.

Of course, finding the specific masses of light and film strips he wanted to split out was the more troublesome part.

After all, these things didn't just pop up with a title.

Buggy's judgment was much simpler.

He first split out a piece of gray light.

The splitting of the mental world was not like that of matter, where it would divide into two.

The smaller, weaker part would blink out of existence after detaching from the whole.

Just like a thought that once popped into your head but you could never recall later.

Hmm, the splitting of the mental world was exclusive.

Buggy nodded silently, then observed Moria's reaction.

"Kekeke--"

Moria, who had been content to lie flat moments before, suddenly lowered his head and chuckled. His eyes, surrounded by pale skin, revealed a fierce glint.

He managed to support himself and stand up, beginning to contemplate revenge.

Revenge against Straw Hat Kid, against the World Government, against Kaido, against the...

Moria noticed the man before him and paused.

"Let's forget about this."

In his mental world, the originally gray area was filled with a thick blood-red.

"Expressiveness?"

Buggy mused internally. The blood-red area wasn't large, certainly not as large as the gray, yet Moria instantly displayed a heart full of vengeance.

Did this mean that emotions would be more directly expressed once the blank areas were filled?

It was like a person's true nature was gentle, but at a certain moment, they might suddenly want to do something bad.

He decided to conduct more experiments.

He split the entire blood-red mass of light, allowing the largest gray area to completely take over.

Thump.

Moria, who had just been looking fierce and forcing himself to stand, naturally lay down.

His expression relaxed.

He even began to snore lightly almost immediately.

"Lethargy."

Buggy felt a bit more enlightened, his bloodshot eyes filled with excitement.

Apart from the minimal consumption required for splitting his own body, splitting any external object consumed his own mental energy.

Moreover, from the moment he encountered Black Shadow until now, he had been in a state of Fruit Awakening.

The manifestation of the Four-Way Split-Split Fruit after awakening seemed ordinary.

But its potential was immense, and it could be normalized.

Yet, this pressure, this feeling of tension, actually made him feel fulfilled.

He now proceeded to split the entire gray mass of light into smaller portions, multiple times.

Moria, who had been lying down, suddenly opened his eyes.

He couldn't sleep.

His mind felt like it was burning.

After a very, very long time, Moria once again recalled his dream.

To find Roger's treasure!

Then!

Dominate the world!

It's ignited!

"Yahahaha, the Pirate King's position, here I come!"

Fatty Moria sprang up like a carp.

Most of the wounds all over his body tore open.

"Waa, pain pain pain!"

Moria grimaced and rolled around.

But before long, he forced himself to strike a punching pose.

He began to train diligently.

Struggle?

Or Dream?

Buggy didn't know how to describe this emotion for a moment.

But it was black.

Gulp--

Not far away.

Abrosam and Hogback, bound by Seastone Handcuffs.

They saw the once spirited Lord Moria.

Under the manipulation of that Terrifying Clown, he was lying down one moment and punching the next.

They swallowed hard.