"What?!!"
Upon hearing the sound, everyone immediately turned to look at Oars, but Oars remained lying quietly on the ground, showing no sign of moving.
But Moria walked over from behind Oars, first looking at Oars's corpse on the ground, then at the crowd, his eyes filled with rage.
You... are unforgivable!
"First they killed Absalom, then they ruined the corpse I had finally obtained. Unforgivable!"
" Moria, you're the one who should just surrender!"
"Now that your Zombie Army has been defeated by us, you... have run out of options!" Sanji said calmly, looking at Moria.
"Hehehehehe!"
To everyone's surprise, Moria burst into laughter upon hearing this, and it was clear to anyone with eyes that he was mocking him.
"What are you laughing at?" Zoro frowned slightly.
"Of course I'm laughing at your ignorance! A bunch of ignorant little pirates, haven't you ever seen how vast the world is? How dare you spout such nonsense!"
Even if it means exposing myself, I'm going to slaughter you all today!
"Anyway, once you're all dead, no one will know what I'm hiding!"
"Tch! Moria, have you gone mad from not being able to accept your failure? How could you say something like that?" Nami mocked mercilessly.
Although they had never fought Moria, Xia Chen had told them that Moria's strength among the Shichibukai was only average.
They had always believed what Xia Chen said.
But the next second, an expression of utter shock appeared on everyone's faces.
Suddenly, an extremely powerful aura erupted from Moria, pressing down on the group.
The moment the pressure hit, Nami, Usopp, and Chopper felt a momentary dizziness and then couldn't help but kneel down.
"Hey! You guys..." Zoro called out to the group.
After a while, the group gradually stood up. Nami looked at Moria with a serious expression and said:
"This is... Conqueror's Haki?! I almost lost consciousness just now!"
Usopp chimed in.
"Indeed, for a moment just now, I felt as if I were disconnected from reality. Is this the power of Conqueror's Haki?"
"Hehehehe~ How about it, can you feel this powerful force?" Moria looked at everyone and laughed sinisterly.
At this moment, not only Luffy and his crew were shocked, but Xia Chen and Kuma, who were not far away, were also extremely shocked by what they saw.
Xia Chen stared intently at Moria, his eyes dark and unreadable, lost in thought.
He felt that many things happening on this Thriller Bark had exceeded his expectations.
Moria has Conqueror's Haki?! Are you kidding me?!
Could it be... that all of this is related to Rocks?
Just as Xia Chen's thoughts were churning, another Conqueror's Haki suddenly appeared, drawing Xia Chen's attention. When he saw who was unleashing the Conqueror's Haki, a smile appeared on Xia Chen's face.
" Luffy?" Sanji stared in astonishment at Luffy, who had suddenly unleashed Conqueror's Haki beside him. Then he scoffed.
"Looks like Xia Chen was right, you've got some talent!"
At this moment, Luffy did not answer Sanji's question, but instead focused on the Conqueror's Haki he had released.
However, because he had just mastered Conqueror's Haki, he only released it for a moment before it disappeared. Afterwards, no matter how hard Luffy tried to release it again, he couldn't.
"You brat... why do you also have Conqueror's Haki?" Moria said with a grim expression.
"Because... I'm going to be the Pirate King!" Luffy said firmly, looking at Moria.
" Straw Hat Boy, don't be so arrogant! You won't have that chance!"
After saying that, Moria's body began to change. His originally bloated figure slowly shrank, and finally he became very strong, showing no trace of obesity.
Moria stretched out his hand, and a blade made of shadows appeared in his grasp. Then he twisted his neck and said:
"It's been so long since I've used this stance in battle, hehehehe~"
"For so many years, everyone thought I was devastated after my defeat by Kaido, but little did they know that was just a facade I put on for the world!"
"For the sake of a grand plan, I am willing to do this! You are the first people in all these years to see me in this state, and as a reward, I will leave you with a complete corpse!"
As soon as he finished speaking, Moria suddenly slashed his shadow blade at the group.
In an instant, a massive sword aura surged toward the group.
"Get down!" Zoro shouted.
Upon hearing this, everyone immediately dropped to the ground without hesitation.
The sword energy whistled past their heads, cleaving the entire forest in half in sight.
"This power..." A bead of cold sweat trickled down Zoro's face. As a swordsman, he knew how difficult it was to unleash such a strike; at least for the time being, he had no chance of doing so.
Before everyone could recover from their surprise, Moria attacked them again.
Under Moria's sword attack, everyone had no choice but to run around in a panic, covering their heads and looking extremely disheveled!
After dodging a sword strike, Luffy sped towards Moria, roaring, " Moria!"
Moria looked at Luffy charging towards him with a hint of mockery in his eyes, then slowly raised his hand and easily caught Luffy's attacking fist.
"How... how is this possible?" Luffy's face showed a look of horror. His punch, which combined Gear Second and Armament Haki, was caught so easily.
"Nothing is impossible, Straw Hat Boy! I told you, you haven't seen the vastness of the ocean!"
With that, Moria narrowed his eyes, turned his palm into a fist, instantly wrapped it with Armament Haki, and then punched Luffy hard in the stomach.
"Whoosh!"
Luffy's figure flew backward like a meteor, crashing through countless trees along the way. He flew backward for several kilometers before coming to a stop. As soon as he landed, Luffy couldn't help but spit out a mouthful of blood.
Luffy struggled to get up but failed. He felt as if all the bones in his body were about to shatter, and he was in pain all over.
Zoro and the others, who were still standing there, were stunned by what they saw. They hadn't expected Luffy to lose his fighting ability in just one exchange, and their gazes toward Moria became extremely solemn.
"That Xia Chen guy... is this what he called an average Shichibukai? He's way stronger than Crocodile!" Sanji said, his face grim.
" Crocodile? Don't compare that piece of trash to me!" Moria said dismissively.
"What right does someone who lost his spirit after being defeated by Whitebeard have to compare himself to me!"
"So, kids, don't get arrogant just because you defeated one of the Shichibukai! You'd better understand this principle in your next life!"