Gecko Moria Goes "Crazy"

In the territory of Totto Land, a towering figure held sway: one of the Four Emperors, BIG MOM, Charlotte Linlin.

"Mama, Mama! Look at this!"

Big Mom was stuffing herself with sweets when Katakuri, one of her Four Sweet Commanders, hurried over with a newspaper in hand.

Big Mom was a little annoyed at having her sweets interrupted, but she was quite fond of Katakuri, so she held her temper and took the newspaper to read it.

The moment she looked, Big Mom was stunned. Her eyes went wide, and her Conqueror's Haki erupted uncontrollably. Even Katakuri, standing before her, had to muster his strength to resist it. Judging by that alone, her composure was far inferior to Whitebeard's.

A few seconds passed before Big Mom finally calmed down and accepted the news.

"It looks like another extraordinary figure has appeared on the seas!"

The Florian Triangle was shrouded in thick fog all year round, and hidden within that fog was a small island.

In truth, however, the island was not an island at all, but a ship-a ship as large as an island, named Thriller Bark. If Noah's Ark, submerged near Fish-Man Island, was excluded, then Thriller Bark was the largest ship in the world.

As for the island's surroundings, the thick fog never lifted, and sunlight never reached it. It remained in perpetual darkness, making it a true island of eternal night.

Not only that, but graves and dilapidated buildings littered the island, giving the whole place an utterly ghastly atmosphere.

Yet someone lived in this godforsaken place where even birds wouldn't dare take a crap: Gecko Moria, one of the Shichibukai!

He was a shadow mage who had eaten the Paramecia-type Shadow-Shadow Fruit, and one of his abilities allowed him to steal other people's shadows. Anyone robbed of their shadow would crumble to ash if sunlight touched them!

Every year, many ships mysteriously disappeared in the Florian Triangle. In reality, Moria had stolen their crews' shadows, leaving them trapped aboard the sunless Thriller Bark.

At that moment, inside the castle at the center of the island, a giant bowling pin with an onion-shaped head was going crazy. One moment he cried, the next he laughed, then he flew into a rage. Occasionally, he even smashed things.

This giant who looked so much like a bowling pin was none other than the master of Thriller Bark, Gecko Moria, one of the Shichibukai!

Several of Moria's subordinates, including Perona, hid outside the room, watching their clearly unstable master with obvious concern.

Absalom poked his head into the room for a look, then hastily pulled it back. A vase flew past, grazing his ear and leaving him drenched in cold sweat.

"What the hell is going on, Perona? Lord Moria was perfectly fine earlier!"

"I don't know either!" Perona tapped her head with a curled finger, then added, "Oh, right! A new newspaper arrived earlier. Could Lord Moria have read some upsetting news?"

The News Coo that delivered newspapers here seriously deserved an employee of the year award!

A newspaper lay quietly amid the wreckage strewn across the floor. Printed on it was a photograph of Kaido lying in a huge crater, looking utterly wretched.

What connection could Moria, a Shichibukai, possibly have with Kaido, one of the Four Emperors? Quite a connection, as it turned out!

Long ago, Moria had challenged Kaido. Back then, he hadn't had his current bowling-pin figure. He had been a well-proportioned, spirited young man, albeit a rather tall one-nearly seven meters tall.

As for the outcome, he had naturally lost. And it hadn't ended with defeat: Kaido had wiped out every one of Moria's subordinates, leaving Moria as the sole survivor.

From then on, Moria had been too frightened to fight. Kaido had utterly destroyed his confidence. Despite his frightening appearance and the pair of little devil-like horns on his forehead, Moria had actually treated his subordinates quite well and cared about them. Yet his own arrogant desire to challenge Kaido had gotten them all killed. The blow had truly been devastating.

Perhaps that was why, after so many years of indulgence, Moria's body had ended up looking like this.

He had taken over the Florian Triangle partly to build up his strength in secret, planning to take revenge on Kaido someday.

But now, his lifelong enemy had been defeated by some "kid" who had appeared out of nowhere. Moria's emotions had collapsed, leaving him in his current state, crying, laughing, and raging by turns.

Perhaps even now, he still hadn't forgiven his past self. He wept over his own "weakness," over his dead subordinates, and over all those years.

Yet whenever he thought of the once-insufferably arrogant Kaido ending up like this, he wanted to roar with laughter, reveling in his misfortune.

But he wasn't the one who had defeated Kaido. I haven't even challenged you again yet! How could you lose, Kaido?!

Outside the room, his subordinates watched him anxiously while Moria continued his rampage. His eerie, hoarse voice pierced the walls, even dispersing some of the fog that had lingered for years.

In Alabasta, another Shichibukai, Crocodile, had made his home.

Inside a room, Crocodile studied the newspaper in his hands with a cigar between his lips, his thoughts unreadable.

Behind him stood a dark-skinned woman wearing a cowboy hat, her face still filled with profound shock.

The seafaring restaurant Baratie was also the place where Su Yu had first arrived.

It looked just as it had back then, except that a certain cigarette-smoking fellow with curly eyebrows was gone.

Zeff, the owner of the seafaring restaurant, was reading a newspaper.

He had been to the Grand Line himself and naturally understood what the Four Emperors represented. Now, he stared blankly at the figure in a white shirt in the photograph.

"...To think he was someone of that caliber..."

Somewhere on an unnamed stretch of sea, a small sailing ship was making its way across the water. Its bow featured a rather cute sheep's head, but the pirate flag fluttering above made it clear that the vessel belonged to a pirate crew.

Just then, a News Coo flew over, landed on the windowsill, and tapped the window with its beak.

"Oh, more news, huh? Here you go."

A fellow with curly eyebrows opened the window, handed the News Coo a few coins to buy a newspaper, and casually began reading.

The moment he saw the front page, however, he was stunned. As someone with a bit of a background, he naturally understood what the Four Emperors represented, and so he understood all the better how terrifying someone capable of defeating one of them must be.

He stared at Su Yu's calm face in the photograph, unable to settle his emotions for a long time. To think he had actually met someone like that back then!

"Sanji! Any interesting news?"

Just then, someone with a loud, boisterous voice bounded over to Sanji, hopping up and down as he tried to get a look at the newspaper.