"Heh heh heh! What a fine place. I ought to praise Perona for finding it."
A little scrap of white paper fluttered in his hand, seemingly guiding him onward.
Eek, eek!
The farther he walked, the clearer the monkeys' cries became.
Then a figure came into view, with hair shaped like a flaming leek, a demonic face, horns on either side of his forehead, and pointed ears and teeth.
Crosshatched stitches like sewn-up wounds ran from his head to his neck. He wore a shirt with a bat-shaped collar and Gothic clothing. He was enormous and grotesque.
A flicker of surprise crossed Gecko Moria's eyes. He and the swordsman behind him, who carried two swords on his back, stopped walking.
Ahead, among a cluster of gravestones, stood a troop of monkeys. Their eyes were fiercely wary, and each held a human weapon—swords, guns, even cannons—as they watched the two of them.
The moment Gecko Moria took a step forward, the monkeys answered with sharp, urgent cries.
Eek, eek, eek!
They seemed to be warning him that if the two came any closer, they would attack.
"Interesting. Very interesting. Heh heh heh!" Gecko Moria watched them with keen interest. He had not expected the monkeys here to react this way. The human wars of years past had clearly left a deep mark on their behavior.
That meant the island held plenty of dead, and Gecko Moria was fond of the dead. It only strengthened his resolve to make this island his new base.
Gecko Moria kept walking. His massive feet thudded against the ground, sending timid birds fleeing through the forest. Only the carrion crows turned to look.
Eek, eek, eek, eek!
The monkeys' cries grew more frantic, but they did not stop Gecko Moria. When they saw that neither of