Moria's Awakening

Inside the castle of the Terror Thriller Bark.

Moria glanced at the zombies who had buried themselves of their own accord.

His heart trembled.

Using zombies as bombs... such an idea.

It was simply genius!

He felt like he had opened the door to a new world.

Why bother with a dull and foolish Zombie Army anymore!

Just stuff zombies into bombs and command them to explode wherever he wanted!

More importantly, it only required a corpse and some explosives, and the shadows attached to the corpse would return to their original owner because they no longer had a host.

Then he could cut them out again!

Moria felt that his decision to detain dozens of Pirates on the way was incredibly wise.

What if he got a few more corpses of Giants or Sea Kings?

Wouldn't that be enough to blow up the World Government?!

It was truly insane.

Moria felt like he must have been infected by that Joker.

But his heart soon swelled with excitement. He eagerly anticipated the astonished and regretful look on the World Government's faces when they witnessed his threat!

He watched the gradually thickening mist, a sinister grin on his face:

"You dare underestimate me, heeheehee!"

--

"Is the news true?!"

In the only relatively intact building in Marineford, Sakazuki, with a cigar in his mouth and half his body bandaged, asked while exhaling a puff of smoke.

There were too many post-war matters for him, an Admiral, to decide. Sengoku was still recuperating, Kizaru had gone to the New World to maintain order, and as for Aokiji, he didn't get along with him. With Sengoku no longer there to keep them in check, their animosity only grew, so they split up, with Aokiji leading a team to pursue the Prisoners released by Blackbeard.

Both of these matters were extremely urgent.

In short, as the only Admiral left behind, Akainu truly felt the pain of being in charge.

"Uncertain," the Staff Officer who came to report said with a troubled expression.

"Our intelligence agencies received multiple different pieces of intelligence simultaneously, some concerning Mary Geoise, others Marineford and Judicial Island."

"Among them, the possibility of Mary Geoise being attacked is the highest!"

"Explosions have already occurred in Red Port."

"Additionally," the Staff Officer pulled out another document, "there have been sightings of the suspected Enemy of the World, Buggy, in the Sabaody Archipelago."

"That guy?"

Sakazuki frowned. His strongest impression of Buggy was the latter's uncanny grasp of timing.

He had precisely chosen the moment when the Marines were too busy to disengage to commit treasonous acts in the Sabaody Archipelago.

Was this incident also related to him?

"Is this a Smoke Bomb, or does that guy really have that much audacity?"

Sakazuki's brow furrowed, a hint of disdain on his face as he muttered a few words with his Cigar.

Hmph, he's just a Joker who only dares to scheme behind the scenes.

Whether it was Buggy's scheme or not, if he dared to show himself at this time, he should be prepared to die!

Sakazuki had no intention of playing any strategy games with Buggy.

That was something he would only do against Whitebeard!

He planned to break through with sheer force.

"Prepare yourselves, we're setting sail."

"But, Lord Sakazuki, what about those messages?"

The Staff Officer was at a loss with the various pieces of intelligence.

"The more it's like this, the more we cannot be led by the nose by the other party."

Sakazuki stood up, the Cigar in his mouth burning faster.

"No matter what they want to do, we'll kill the first one who jumps out first."

Only the dead make evil fear.

However, he had barely taken two steps before a Den Den Mushi from the Gorosei was placed before him.

"..."

Another two cigar's worth of time passed.

When Akainu hung up the Den Den Mushi, his expression grew even stiffer.

He couldn't help but roar.

"What are these Higher-ups thinking!"

"At a time like this, they still want me to garrison Mary Geoise!"

Purely a liability!

Normally, Mary Geoise would have an Admiral stationed there permanently.

But the Marines had just fought a war, how could they possibly have the strength to defend so many places?

Akainu, the only one stationed at Headquarters, was already swamped.

When facing such a threat, the best method was to kill, not to defend!

If they were all killed, there would be no more problems!

In his opinion, they should have directly initiated a Buster Call and leveled the island, and then there would be no more problems.

But the Gorosei, because of some rumors about God Valley, were impatiently ordering him to go defend Mary Geoise!

"I still need to reach a higher position."

Akainu bit down hard on his cigar, his eyes filled with extreme unwillingness.

Night fell.

The fog over the Sabaody Archipelago grew thicker.

Especially when a crescent moon, like a smiling face, hung in the sky.

Visibility was reduced to the point where one could barely see their own hand.

Transportation at Red Port had temporarily stopped.

However, there should have originally been some Marines stationed here.

But now, only two figures could be vaguely seen in the dense fog.

A short distance away.

Mr. Buggy dragged his dripping Ruby Longsword through the white mist, his figure emerging.

The thick fog seemed to have no effect on his vision at all.

"The CP Organization has quite a keen sense of smell."

More than half the blood on his sword came from the CP Organization, which had been lurking in the archipelago.

Their previous failure had clearly angered them greatly.

But that was good; Mr. Buggy loved seeing such expressions.

He wore a sly smile, like the Crescent Moon in the sky.

The shadow in the white mist gradually became clearer.

"Mr. Buggy, the cable car is ready."

Sergeant Jacques, who had been waiting for a long time, couldn't help but speak.

Beside him, Swan's eyes widened.

"Mr. Arrow?"

She found the smile on Mr. Buggy's face incredibly familiar, and coupled with Sergeant Jacques' specific instructions when bringing her over.

So, that scoundrel Pirate, Mr. Buggy, was Mr. Arrow!

"I think 'Mr. Joker' would be a better appellation."

Mr. Buggy replied with a chuckle, tacitly acknowledging the other's address.

Swan covered her mouth, trying hard not to show too much emotion.

The Saint had come back to life!

Mr. Buggy wasn't interested in her surprise; he got into the Bubble Cable Car in front of him on his own.

There were already quite a few passengers inside.

Most of them, however, had their heads down, carrying a faint smell of earth.

"Good morning, everyone."

He chose a seat in the middle, sat up straight, and tidied his slightly wrinkled vest.

"So, everyone, you're all going to the Fireworks Party, right?"

Mr. Buggy asked, clapping his hands.

The passengers didn't respond.

"It seems the answer is default then."

His gaze shifted again to Swan and Jacques outside the cable car.

The expressions of the two became somewhat complex.

They had a deep-seated fear of where Buggy was going.

"No, no, don't worry, I wasn't asking you."

Buggy seemed exceptionally understanding. "We also offer outside tickets."

There was an inexplicable meaning in his smile.