I Just Wanted to See If My Guess Was Right!

Akuta forced a weak smile.

A clone that can't move on its own is completely meaningless!

It's not that he needs to be extremely intelligent; if he were too clever, Akuta wouldn't dare use him.

But it should at least have some independent attack capability, right?

Akuta plopped down on the ground, staring at the shadow clone in front of him that required his full manual control, and fell into deep thought.

"Could it be that my development approach is wrong?"

Akuta closed his eyes and began to recall all the information he had read about the Shadow-Shadow Fruit.

The core ability of the Shadow-Shadow Fruit is the manipulation of shadows.

In the explanation of the Shadow-Shadow Fruit, shadows are not merely the shadows cast by light on the body.

Akuta suddenly opened his eyes; he suddenly remembered part of the setting of the Shadow-Shadow Fruit.

The shadows of people all carry the "personality" and "combat abilities" of their original owners!

This is also one of the most important mechanisms by which Moria can use shadows to create zombies.

A flash of understanding crossed Akuta's eyes.

"Does this mean that what I need to do is not to create a clone, but to 'invite' my own complete shadow out?"

Thinking of this, Akuta lowered his head and stared at the shadow at his feet.

As the saying goes, when you gaze into the abyss, the abyss also gazes into you.

Akuta didn't know if his shadow was looking back at him when he was looking at it.

He sank his consciousness into the shadows, sensing any possible connections.

Akuta forcefully raised his hand upwards towards the direction of the shadow and shouted:

"Rise, my shadow!"

The next moment, Akuta sensed a subtle change in the shadow beneath his feet.

His shadow, as if awakened from a deep sleep, slowly peeled away from the ground.

First, a pitch-black hand emerged from the ground, its five fingers spread out, as if adjusting to the feeling of being detached from a two-dimensional plane.

Immediately afterwards, the other hand was also stretched out, and both palms supported the ground, as if trying to pull himself out of the deep water.

Akuta opened his eyes and stared at the unbelievable scene before him.

The shadow is rising up "by itself"!

Its movements were difficult at first, but as time went on, the shadow's movements became more and more fluid and natural.

Finally, Shadow pushed off the ground with both hands.

A humanoid figure made entirely of shadows stood before the Akuta.

Akuta didn't speak, it just watched it quietly.

The shadow clone didn't move either, simply standing quietly in place, waiting for something.

Akuta tentatively considered a thought in his mind.

He clenched his fist.

The shadow clone moved.

Its movements were fluid and swift, throwing a punch into the air in front of it, creating a gust of wind.

Then, the shadow clone withdrew its fist and returned to its standing position.

The entire process was smooth and seamless, without any sense of sluggishness.

Akuta's pupils contracted slightly.

He didn't perform any manual control just now; he only gave a simple command, and the shadow clone completed the action on its own.

"This is the Shadow Mage I've always imagined!"

Looking at the Shadow Mage in front of him, Akuta couldn't help but snort softly.

He never expected his fruit development to go so smoothly; he succeeded in just a few steps!

"Hahahaha!"

With his successful experience, Akuta's confidence soared, and he immediately decided to continue developing several abilities related to the Shadow-Shadow Fruit.

While the Akuta was developing its fruit power, King also came to the mine to check on the situation.

Mining site.

Since he didn't know who the attacker was, Jhin's first step was to check out the situation at the mine.

By this time, members of the Beasts Pirates had already arrived at the mine and laid out all the corpses together.

Jin's gaze swept over the corpses one by one, his brows furrowing deeper and deeper.

They were all killed with a single blow.

He crouched down and examined the wounds of one of the pirates.

It was a narrow, deep penetrating wound that pierced through from behind and exited through the chest.

The edges of the wound were unusually smooth, with no signs of tearing or jagged pulling.

Jin stood up and walked towards another corpse.

The fatal wounds on each corpse were strikingly similar: narrow, deep, and penetrating.

The more Jin looked, the more his brow furrowed.

He was pondering what kind of weapon could have caused such an injury.

Suddenly, a weapon entered his mind.

"A katana! These wounds were caused by a katana!"

King's words surprised the Beasts Pirates members standing nearby.

A minor leader glanced at the corpse on the ground, then cautiously looked at Jin.

"Um... Lord Jin, the katana... wasn't it used for cutting? But these are all penetrating wounds!"

Jin chuckled softly and raised his finger to tap the tip of his sword.

"Wouldn't a straight stab create such a wound?"

The junior leader was taken aback for a moment.

Although there seemed to be nothing wrong with what Jhin said, something still felt off to him.

He scratched his head, and after a moment asked with some confusion:

"Um... but... why would the attackers do that?"

Besides, didn't all the samurai of Wano Country give up resistance along with Kozuki Oden?

Why would samurai attack us?

A glint of wisdom flashed in Jin's eyes.

He slowly crossed his arms and spoke with confidence.

"Because he needs to conceal his identity!"

"Concealing one's identity?"

The junior leader was slightly taken aback, not quite understanding what Jin meant by that.

Seeing that his subordinate didn't understand at all, Jin looked at him with some anger.

"How can the Beasts Pirates develop with a bunch of insects like you?!"

The leader truly didn't understand what Jin meant.

But as a subordinate, he could only give an awkward smile and then lower his head without saying a word.

Seeing this, Jin shook his head helplessly.

"I don't think you understand anything at all."

"The opponent must be a master. He didn't want anyone to know it was made of a samurai sword, so he deliberately changed his attack method, using thrusting instead of slashing."

The leader seemed to understand, but not quite; he vaguely guessed what Jin meant.

"Lord Jin, are you saying that samurai have been secretly attacking us?"

Jin nodded, taking over the conversation with a confident tone.

"That's right! It must be the samurai of Wano Country who are dissatisfied with us and secretly attacked us behind Oden's back."

The leader was still somewhat suspicious. He frowned and hesitated before speaking.

"But Lord Jin, the samurai of Wano Country are extremely loyal. Would they really disobey Oden's words?"

Jin smiled confidently, his eyes curving into a disdainful arc.

"Why not? It would be strange if someone would listen to that idiot Oden."

Who would want to follow a monarch who dances naked for his enemies?

The leader pondered for a moment, then gasped.

That's true!

He recalled Kozuki Oden's outrageous behavior of dancing naked in the Flower Capital during this period, and a hint of doubt arose in his heart.

Given their lord's demeanor, it's not hard to understand why the samurai would rebel in discontent.

He even thought it to himself.

If Kaido were to start dancing for others in the future, he'd probably run away too, right?