"Kishishishi!"
"You small fry! Hurry up and come to the Grand Line with me!"
"This little backwater called the West Blue will understand how powerful our captain is sooner or later!"
Moria returned to his hometown in the West Blue.
In the little town where he had once helped terrorize others, he rounded up all his old hoodlum associates and took them with him.
The trouble was.
Many rookie pirates from the West Blue swarmed in, hoping to make their names by stepping over Moria.
They were desperate to kill Moria and make their bounties skyrocket.
Instead, the young pirate made a name for himself in one fell swoop, using them as stepping stones.
"How old is this guy? How can he be so terrifyingly strong?"
"He's horrifying! Everyone whose shadow he stole turned to ash!"
"If we follow a monster like Moria, maybe we'll qualify to join that lord on Hachinosu's crew someday!"
"Just what I was thinking! Hahahaha! That would be wonderful!"
Amid their whispered plotting.
Moria's cold gaze had already settled on them.
"Kishishishi!"
"You think you deserve to join the captain's crew? How ignorant!"
"Clean this place up for me! Show them just how strong the Dragon Emperor Grand Fleet's number-one rookie crew member is!"
Gecko Moria sailed aboard a massive ship and seized Thriller Bark.
This move also alerted the Marine Branch in the West Blue.
"What use does that Moria have for a ship the size of an island? Something that size is impossible to handle. It takes far too much manpower to operate!"
"Captain! Unfortunately, Moria recruited every pirate he defeated into his crew, putting them to work operating the massive ship!"
"And this brat's strength, like his bounty, is already at the level of a Supernova!"
The branch's Marines had already begun