Shadow Revolution, Missed Opportunity

"Quick, quick, quick! Something huge happened!"

"Grab your weapons and head to the arena for support! Some white-haired lunatic broke in!"

"Second Boss got punched flying! Move!"

In the passage above the arena, chaotic footsteps rang out.

Gang members poured out from every corner like a swarm of hornets, sprinting toward the dueling grounds.

Beneath that torrent of activity, another team moved quietly.

Splash.

A drainage grate was gently pushed open.

Roy poked his head out through the gap and sniffed.

"No one," Roy said in a low voice, turning back to beckon them. "Come up."

Behind him, Moria crawled out first, followed by Glen.

The eight of them climbed onto the surface one after another.

This was the edge of the underground preparation area beneath the arena, a corridor piled with training equipment.

Tremors and impacts constantly echoed from overhead, dust sifting down from the ceiling.

"Lin Nuo's fighting them," Moria said, glancing up at the ceiling.

"We need to hurry too."

Roy nodded, lowered his head again, and sniffed rapidly.

"This way." He set off down the corridor.

The others quickly followed.

Glen and several youths gripped their guns tightly. The corridors twisted in every direction, with countless forks.

Yet Roy chose the right direction every time.

The tremors overhead grew increasingly violent.

One particularly fierce impact made the entire underground area shake.

"They're fighting really hard up there..." one of the youths said, swallowing.

"Stay focused," Moria said without looking back.

"Lin Nuo will make as big a scene as he possibly can. This is our chance to act."

After two more turns, they found a half-open iron door ahead.

Roy stopped before it, pressed his nose close to the gap, and inhaled deeply.

"We're close." He gently pushed the iron door open.

What lay beyond made everyone's eyes light up.

It was an underground hall containing dozens of iron cages.

Children were curled up inside every cage.

Besides the cages, the hall was piled with cargo crates and weapons.

"We found them!" Glen said with obvious relief.

They immediately put away their guns, took out the lockpicking tools they had prepared, and ran toward the cages.

"Don't be afraid. We're here to save you," Glen said softly. "Keep quiet, and we'll be out soon."

The children stared back at them blankly.

Roy also let out a breath of relief and was about to join the rescue.

But he suddenly stopped.

His nose twitched twice, and he frowned.

"What is it?" Moria noticed something was wrong.

"I smell something strange," Roy said quietly.

His gaze swept through the dim hall.

Then Roy slowly walked along the wall, his nose nearly brushing the stone.

At last, he stopped before a rough wooden table scattered with playing cards and empty wine bottles.

Beside the table was a wall with a large poster pasted onto it.

Roy stared at the poster, his nose twitching again.

"Something's wrong. The source of the smell is behind this wall."

Moria came over as well, staring at the poster in confusion.

Then Roy suddenly stretched out his right hand. His arm rapidly swelled, thickened, and took on beastly features.

With a ripping sound, he tore the entire poster down.

Behind it was still a wall.

"Right here!" He stepped back half a pace, the muscles of his right arm bulging as he threw a punch!

The wall shattered on impact, rubble flying as dust filled the air.

"What are you doing?!" Moria snapped. "You'll draw people here!"

But the next second, the words caught in his throat.

As the dust cleared, a one-foot-square hidden compartment had appeared in the once-solid wall.

Inside the compartment lay a small black wooden box.

Roy reached out with his beast claw, pinched the wooden box between his nails, and applied a little force.

The box cracked open.

A fruit appeared inside, pitch-black in color and covered in brown patterns, wrapped in tender green leaves.

"This is...!"

Moria stepped forward, his eyes fixed on the fruit.

"Paramecia... Shadow-Shadow Fruit."

"How could it be here..." Moria's voice was dry.

The thing he had dreamed of was right before him, within arm's reach.

The source of power that could make him truly strong, so he would no longer be at others' mercy.

His throat tightened, and he could not help swallowing.

Roy looked at the fruit in the box and raised an eyebrow.

"With all these crates and kids here, this must be where they keep their 'prizes.'"

Roy scratched his head with his beast claw.

"Didn't expect them to hide a Devil Fruit behind the wall too."

"Heh, looks like being a dog has plenty of perks after all."

Roy was relaxed about it, but Moria's breathing had already become hurried.

A few seconds of silence passed.

Moria suddenly raised his head to look at Roy, his voice trembling with excitement.

"Roy, can I eat this fruit?!"

"Sure."

Roy casually tossed the fruit to him.

Moria caught it clumsily and hugged it to his chest, completely stunned.

"Y-you're just giving it to me?!" He stared at Roy, finding him utterly unbelievable.

"This is a Devil Fruit! Do you know how much one is worth? Do you know how much power it can bring?!"

Roy shrugged, his beastly right arm returning to human form.

"We're comrades. What's the big deal?"

"Besides, that damn bird always thinks I stole his Hellhound Fruit. He looks at me all day like I owe him money."

"Now I've found a fruit for his most valued core crew member."

He patted Moria on the shoulder, smiling brightly.

"Consider the debt repaid."

Core crew member...

Moria stood there in a daze, clutching the fruit.

He recalled what Lin Nuo had told him when he first arrived in Tenpan City.

"If you run into someone you can't beat, just run first."

Comrades, companions, core crew members...

"Thanks," Moria said softly, raising the fruit.

"Oh, right." Roy suddenly remembered something.

"Devil Fruits taste awful, like shit. You'd better—"

Before he could finish.

Moria had already taken a bite.

"Urgh—!!!"

The next second, he began violently dry-heaving.

"Hehe, got you too, huh!"

"Water... water..." he begged hoarsely.

But at that moment, a flood of knowledge poured into his mind.

Knowledge of the essence of "shadows."

Cutting away others' shadows, implanting shadows into corpses to grant them "false life," merging shadows into his own body to gain power and traits...

Shadow clones, cages, even weapons...

A few seconds later, Moria slowly raised his head.

He lifted his right hand and spread his fingers.

On the ground, his own shadow also raised its hand.

Then Moria lightly clenched his fist, and the shadow mirrored the motion perfectly.

But before he could study his ability further, a burst of footsteps interrupted him.

"Bad news! Roy! Moria!"

Glen rushed over, his voice frantic.

"We checked every cage!"

"But... but we can't find the three people Lin Nuo mentioned!"

"What?!" Roy spun around.

"Ivankov, Ginny, and Kuma aren't here!" Glen said rapidly.

"I asked some of the older children. They said those people were taken away separately this morning!"