One Piece: Nobody knows Devil Fruits better than me.

Chapter 157 Moria, are you awake?
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Brooke felt his heart beating a little fast and his head spinning a little—oh no, he was a skeleton; he had no heart or brain.

This was certainly not his first time on Thriller Bark.

Several years ago, his shadow was taken by Moria and given to a corpse on the island to be turned into a zombie.

He has visited the island more than once to challenge his zombie and try to reclaim his shadow—although he does not have a ship to drive, he can run on the sea because his body is a skeleton, thus enabling him to make short-distance 'sea voyages'.

Without exception, he always sneaked onto the island, never intending to confront 'Gekko Moria' directly.

But this time, the situation is clearly different.

It wasn't just because his way of arriving on the island was unique—riding a legendary dragon amidst raging winds and thunder was indeed a special experience.

More importantly...
"Lord Chenlong, please come this way."

"Lord Moria is already waiting in the waiting room."

At this moment, Brooke can see the two zombies in front of him.

One of them he had not only met before, but had also become close friends with – in his memory, he was a very fierce guy.

But at this moment, his actions were very polite, like those of a gentleman.

In addition, wherever they went, there were even rows of zombies, holding makeshift cannons to welcome the procession.

"Mr. Chenlong—you're not a Celestial Dragon, are you?"

"Using such foul language, do you want to fight?"

"Yo ho ho ho~ Sorry, sorry, just kidding."

Brooke apologized and laughed heartily.

However, while he was smiling, he also understood in his heart that...
Mr. Chenlong, who suddenly visited his ship, must have a very high reputation in the outside world.

"However, speaking of the Celestial Dragons—are you very familiar with them?"

At that very moment, Chenlong asked a pointed question.

Because he suddenly remembered.

In the original work, one of the members of the Knights of God is a member of the "Military Palace" of the "Mammaia Family".

Even among all the members of the Knights of God, she was the most special one.

She participated in the God Valley Incident and seems to have gained immortality as early as the God's Blade era—a 'contract' bestowed by Im.

Judging from the subsequent plot, she even seems to be able to accept the arrival of Im's power, just like the Five Elders.

That is the characteristic of the 'Abyss Contract,' the highest-ranking contract among all of Im's contracts.

And the most crucial point is
This soldier has some connection with Brooke.

It seems that Brooke was very close to her during her childhood.

That's why Chenlong asked this question at this moment.

"Your Excellency Chenlong is joking."

Brook quickly shook his head: "I'm just a pirate, I have nothing to do with the World Nobles. In fact, even if we did, it would be a feud."

"Have a grudge?"

Upon hearing this, Chenlong raised an eyebrow.

"Yes, as I told you before—I used to be the commander of the royal guard legion of the Kingdom of Furidum in the West Sea."

Brooke's usually cheerful voice became unusually low.

"That's my homeland. Decades ago, I offended the Celestial Dragons and was wiped out, so I became a pirate because I had nowhere to go. Yohohoho!"

In the end, he tried to cheer himself up.

Upon hearing this, Chenlong originally wanted to ask a question.

But at this moment
"Guests, we have arrived at the waiting room."

Accompanied by the sounds of the zombies in front of them, the two did indeed see a huge door.

At that moment, the door was already open.

In the waiting room, Moria sat at a spacious table, with Hogback standing beside him.

"welcome!"

At that moment, Moriah stood up.

His gaze fell on Chenlong: "What an honored guest."

He raised his enormous hand, gesturing for Chenlong to sit down: "The highest-ranking official of the Twelve Constellations has actually come here to see me. Hehehe, please sit down. I've already sent someone to arrange a banquet."

"There's no need for a banquet."

Chenlong, however, didn't stand on ceremony and casually sat down in the chair.

Brooke, being quite sensible, strode up behind Chenlong and scanned the surroundings, looking every bit the bodyguard—and to be honest, he did have that air about him, having once been the commander of the guard legion.

The Twelve Zodiac Signs

However, he thought to himself, "It doesn't sound like the name of a pirate crew."

But while he was puzzled, Chenlong glanced thoughtfully at Hogback beside Moria.

Then he got straight to the point: "Moria, I come on behalf of the twelve constellations."

"We need you to provide some information and return this friend's shadow to him."

He pointed at Brooke.

Upon hearing his words, Moria grinned at Brook: "I know him—'Nose Song.' He's caused me a lot of trouble."

He clearly knew Brook—after all, the latter always caused chaos whenever he came to Thriller Bark.

"Hehehe. Is he also a member of the 'Twelve Zodiacs'?"

As Moria said this, he also sat down in the chair.

But at the same time, he waved his hand almost imperceptibly.

"He's not a member of the Zodiac, he's just a new friend of mine."

Chenlong replied casually, while continuing to look at Moria: "If you cooperate with my mission, I can give you some reward."

"After all, I am not a person who likes fighting. I prefer a deal that doesn't harm either side."

He spoke in the same words he had used in Alabasta.

"Don't like fighting?"

But Moria continued to laugh after hearing this: "This is not what I heard. My colleague, Crocodile the Sand, died at your hands, didn't he?"

After saying that, he continued without waiting for Chenlong's reply.

"Moreover, your abilities are different from what I've heard. The way you were acting just now reminded me of an acquaintance I used to know."

As he spoke, the bloodshot eyes and excitement in them were almost palpable.

"Just looking at it is enough to make one..."

His words suddenly turned utterly chilling: "You can't help but want to kill!"

"Shadow Mage - Coffin!"

As the words fell.

From beneath the table, Moria's shadow had unknowingly flowed to Chenlong's feet.

At that moment, the enormous shadow that was almost a one-to-one replica of Moria solidified instantly, transforming into a huge coffin that directly enveloped Chenlong.

"Hogback! Absalom!"

"Do it!"

At the same time, Moria roared.

"Yes, Lord Moria!"

"Ouch!"

The next moment, Dr. Hogback suddenly took a step back and stomped heavily on a floorboard behind him.

"Click!"

The next moment, a huge iron cage rose up from under Chenlong's feet—and judging from the material of the iron cage, it was clearly 'Seastone'.

At the same time, Absalom's transparent figure appeared out of thin air from behind Chenlong, holding bottles of dark green potion which he poured directly into the shadow coffin.

All of this happened very quickly, almost in the blink of an eye.

"Your Excellency Chenchen Long!"

It was only at this moment that Brooke realized what was happening and hurriedly grabbed his sword to rush forward and help.

But the next moment...
"Boom!"

The sharp slash passed right in front of him.

Brooke narrowly dodged, and then saw a figure that he knew all too well standing in front of him.

The opponent held a black knife in his hand, and even though he had been dead for many years, his figure still exuded the agility of a strong man.

"Dragon Horse."

That was a zombie created from Brook's shadow, and also the corpse of the greatest swordsman of a certain era—'Shimotsuki Ryoma'. And besides him...

At this moment, Brooke could clearly see that the entire waiting room had been surrounded by zombies at some point.

The zombie general and zombie soldiers all entered, each wielding a weapon.

"We're doomed."

Seeing this, Brooke's expression grew increasingly somber.

"It's a truly terrifying situation, oh dear, I don't even have a scalp."

Clearly, Moria wasn't in the mood to listen to Brook's lame jokes—in fact, Brook was no nobody in his eyes at that moment.

"Hehehehehehe!"

He simply let out an unprecedented, ferocious laugh.

"Even giants cannot open my Shadow Coffin in a short time."

"With the seastone cage and Dr. Hogback's specially made potent anesthetic, I succeeded!"

His fangs were even dripping with saliva from excitement.

"Yes, Lord Moria—"

At this moment, Dr. Hogback was also very excited.

"The World Government has issued us a top-secret order: if we can capture the top executives of the Twelve Constellations, we can use the World Government's resources to achieve our goals."

Yes.

What he was saying at that moment was the order issued by the World Government to its directly subordinate 'Seven Warlords of the Sea'.

If the Seven Warlords of the Sea can capture the top executives of the Twelve Constellations, they can be allowed to mobilize resources within a certain scope to achieve their wishes.

What Moria wanted was clearly very obvious.

"The more corpses of the strong, the better."

"That's not all—this guy's abilities are so great that Kaido almost took his corpse and turned it into a zombie too!"

"When the time comes, my zombie army will find Kaido and take revenge, and then I will become the 'Pirate King,' hehehehehe!"

Moria raised his hands high and let out a wild laugh.

But it is precisely at this moment
"The World Government actually issued such an order secretly?"

Moriah, however, heard a sound.

"Varied"

Then, Moriah's maniacal laughter came to an abrupt halt.

He turned his head incredulously to look at where Chenlong was.

then
"call"

Inside the huge, originally enclosed waiting room, he heard the howling wind.

His body felt the extreme cold that permeated the wind, a cold that seemed capable of freezing everything.

That wasn't ordinary wind.

Moriah clearly saw that wherever the wind passed—whether it was the torches or lamps around him, or the floor and wall tiles—it creaked under the weight.

Ice crystals spread with the wind, freezing the countless zombies in the waiting room in an instant.

"Moriya."

Hogback and Absalom instinctively wanted to call for help, but it was too late.

They had barely uttered Moriah's name when they were frozen in place by the terrifying cold wind.

"No!"

Moria also let out a shrill scream, but his body was also being frozen.

"Shadow Armor!"

Moria gritted his teeth, and a dark shadow instantly rose up, covering his body and barely protecting him from the cold wind.

But it is precisely at this moment
"boom!"

The 'Shadow Coffin' suddenly shattered in the cold wind.

And so, Moria finally saw Chenlong again.

At this moment, Chenlong remained seated upright in his chair.

He didn't even change his posture.

But at this moment, his appearance had completely changed.

Beneath the crimson dragon horns, the half-human, half-dragon physique presents an almost perfect physical form.

Around his body, a frosty white, extremely cold aura swirled and swirled.

That made him look like a god sitting on a throne.

"Knowing full well that I killed Crocodile, knowing full well that I am one of the 'Twelve Zodiacs,' why did you still attack me for the 'benefits' offered by the World Government?"

He spoke calmly at that moment.

Those eyes, now transformed into vertical pupils, looked at Moria before them: "Is your mind truly clear?"

"You bastard—disable your powers and release Absalom and Hogback!"

At this moment, Moria's voice was filled with rage and threat: "Otherwise..."

"otherwise?"

But before he could finish speaking, he saw Chenlong already laughing: "Are you threatening me?"

"Hey, Moria, I've heard that you've been devastated ever since you were defeated by Kaido."

His words were tinged with coldness.

“But it seems you’ve degenerated even more severely than I thought. You can’t see the difference between us at all, and you’ve even forgotten the rules of this ocean.”

As he spoke, he waved his hand.

The movements were very casual.

But the next moment...
"boom!"

The already biting and howling wind became even more ferocious at this moment.

Almost instantly, it transformed into a pitch-black tornado, completely destroying everything in the already frozen waiting room!

"Boom!"

The walls collapsed and the bricks and tiles shattered.

And those countless zombies, as well as the 'ice sculptures' of Absalom and Hogback.

In an instant, under Moria's wide-eyed gaze, it turned into a sky full of silver dust.

"what"

Moria stared wide-eyed at the scene in disbelief.

Then,.
"How dare you!"

His voice was extremely hoarse, and the bloodshot in his eyes almost made them appear scarlet as he glared fiercely at Chenlong.

But at this moment, Chenlong, bathed in the swirling silver dust, simply looked back at him calmly.

That calm and indifferent gaze sent a chill through Moria's heart, which was filled with anger.

His threatening words stopped in his throat.

"Do you remember now?"

At this moment, he heard Chenlong's voice again.

And naturally, Moria understood what the other person meant.

Yes.

Threats, coercion, and even the display of power are all common tactics used in confrontations and transactions.

However, once one side truly begins a battle with the goal of 'killing the other'.

The so-called threat thus becomes empty and meaningless.

At that time, there was only one rule governing this vast ocean.

"Power is the rule of this ocean."

Chenlong said calmly.

"I've said I don't really like fighting, but that doesn't mean I'm not good at it."

"I did originally intend to talk to you, but now..."

He finally stood up and twisted his neck.

"The negotiations have been cancelled."

　Today's update: 1.22 words

　　
　
(End of this chapter)