One Piece: Who still has dreams?

Moonlight Moriah was already waiting for him.

"Hehehe, I heard you defeated that 'Ryoma' zombie with ease?"

Moria, whose hair resembled a burning clump of leeks and whose body was enormous, stared down at the green-haired swordsman who was being carried over and bound by spider silk. "Looking closely, your face seems familiar..."

*Snap!* Several small zombies behind Zoro set up powerful spotlights, casting long shadows in front of him.

"I heard that you mentioned 'Haki' when you defeated Ryoma?"

Moria chuckled, "As expected of the Cursed Pirates. Speaking of which, how did you guys end up in Dressrosa in the New World, and then back in the first half of this place?"

Zoro smiled and said, "If you acknowledge me as your boss, I'll tell you this secret."

Moria's face darkened, but he quickly laughed nonchalantly, grabbing Zoro's shadow from the ground with one hand. The shadow of Zoro's outline struggled in his hand but could not escape.

"You brat, you think you're so great just because your captain defeated Doflamingo?" Moria swung a large pair of scissors in his other hand. "You haven't even seen the true terror of the New World yet! Do you know what that zombie you just defeated, 'Shimotsuki Ryuma,' is called in Wano Country? 'Sword God'!"

"Frost Moon?"

Zoro was staring at his own shadow being held in the other's hand, racking his brains for a way to escape, when he suddenly paused upon hearing this surname.

"The legendary swordsman Ryuma, who slew a dragon with a single strike hundreds of years ago! Yet, the very nation that gave birth to such a legendary samurai is now ruled by even more ferocious, terrifying, and powerful pirates!"

Moria opened his giant scissors and snapped the connection between Zoro's shadow and his feet with a cold cut, saying, "And this is what despair is."

"hateful……"

The moment Zoro's shadow was cut off, everything went black and he lost consciousness.

"Send him away. Don't let him die."

Moria nonchalantly gave the order, and the little zombies who had carried Zoro over from the ballroom carried him away through the back door while he was still unconscious.

Moria, holding Zoro's shadow, pushed open a secret door, passed through a long corridor, and arrived at a heavy iron door at the end. Behind the iron door, the temperature suddenly dropped, and the chill was bone-deep. It was a huge space that stretched for nearly a hundred meters from top to bottom—a cryogenic chamber specially prepared for the corpse of Oars, an ancient giant who was nearly 50 meters tall.

Oars' enormous corpse, bound by thick iron chains, sat in the frost-covered cryogenic chamber. The hideous, massive horns on his head reminded Moria of painful memories. His eyes darkened, and he raised the still-struggling shadow of Zoro in his hand, chuckling.

"Shadow of the Demon Swordsman Zoro, behave yourself! I am your new master! I will give you a new voice and body, but you must live as a zombie, forget all your past relationships, and become my soldier!"

Zoro's shadow quieted down and nodded.

"Hehehe, the contract is established."

Moria laughed and shoved Zoro's shadow into Oars's massive, mountain-like corpse. "From this day forward, you are Oars! Rise! Oars the Demon!"

Soon, the sleeping corpse, Oz the Demon, opened his only remaining left eye and stood up. As he did, a loud cracking sound could be heard from his entire body, and the huge iron chains that bound him snapped instantly.

"Tell me, who am I?" The demon's enormous left eye stared at Moria at the entrance to the passage, its voice booming like thunder. "Who am I? Huh?"

"What's the meaning?"

Moria laughed, "You are my zombie soldier, Oz the Demon!"

"wrong!!!"

Oars roared, "I am Zoro! I will become the world's greatest swordsman! I will make my name resound throughout heaven! Call Hawkeye over here!!!"

"Um?"

Before Moria could react, Oars the Demon slapped him across the face, yelling, "Where's my sword? Where's Hawkeye? Did you hide them? Give me back my sword! Call Hawkeye over here!! I'm going to become the greatest swordsman!!!"

Oz smashed the wall of the cryogenic chamber with a single blow, and Moria was also pulverized into countless fragments, though these were merely shadows of teleportation.

Moria's true form appeared on the other side, laughing, "Hehehehe, the more disobedient the zombie is during the adjustment period, the stronger the shadow is actually! Very good, very good..."

`

Zoro, who was in a deep sleep after his shadow was severed, had no idea what happened to his shadow in the freezer. He was carried by several small animal zombies, speeding down the long staircase leading to the sea from the back of the mainmast mansion…

On the way, a figure with outstretched wings flew up from the bottom of the steps, pointing at them in mid-air. Each finger produced a shockwave like a bullet, and with several bangs, the animal zombies carrying Zoro were sent flying, their blood and filth flying in mid-air.

"..."

Stussy grabbed the still unconscious Zoro with one hand, and suddenly the entire staircase and even the main mast mansion connected to it swayed slightly, as if some huge monster was causing trouble.

She looked toward the Mast House and suddenly caught a glimpse of a figure flying through the thick fog in the distance, heading toward the Mast House from the other side.

Stussy was startled. They were still chasing me?

She carried Zoro away silently, flying all the way back to the giant bear paw print where Zoro had originally landed.

This guy is still not awake...

Stussy tossed Zoro back into the bear paw print pit. Seeing that Zoro was still fast asleep, he thought for a moment and said sarcastically, "How pathetic. As a man, your bounty is less than a third of what the female crew members earn..."

`

"Wow!"

Zoro shuddered and jolted awake, sitting up and looking around, but couldn't see a soul. Standing up and looking down, he saw it was the palm print that Kuma had left on the ground after sending him flying there.

"?"

A question mark appeared above Zoro's head. Could it be that everything that happened before, including his shadow being cut off by the monster, was just a nightmare?

"..."

He looked down and saw that there was no shadow at his feet. Although the fog was thick and the light was dim, it was still possible to distinguish whether there was a shadow or not.

"It's not a dream..."

Zoro, his face dark and veins bulging on his forehead, strode into the depths of Ghost Island, his hands on the three swords at his waist.

However, almost a day later, Zoro was still wandering alone in this eerie and unsettling forest...

"There's no reason for that. I followed the same route as last time."

Zoro walked faster and faster, becoming increasingly agitated. When he saw a crooked tree that he had passed by for what seemed like the 111th time, he was on the verge of complete madness.

Suddenly, his eyes narrowed, and he drew his sword, pointing it at a spot in the dark woods. He said coldly, "Who's there? Show yourself!"

"..."

A group of extremely disheveled and strange people emerged from the shadows of the woods, led by a fat woman with a pink whip and a very large head.

"Was this your doing?" Zoro asked, brandishing his sword and his face dark. "You're the ones who made it impossible for me to find that Moria guy?"

"Um... so you wanted to go find Moria?"

The plump woman with the pink braid and her men exchanged bewildered glances. She said, "We've been secretly observing you for quite some time now, Ghost Swordsman… Did you… get lost?"

"get lost?"

Zoro was stunned.

"yes!"

"At first, we thought you were wandering around in the woods for some special reason!"

Even the slowest person should realize they're lost by now...

"The woods here are very dark, and the trees look very similar, so it's normal for people who aren't familiar with the area to get lost."

"We are the Rolling Pirates, and this is our captain, Lola. We are all losers whose shadows were stolen by Moria!"

"There's a victim support group, do you want to join? If Moria takes away your shadow, you can never live in the sunlight again; you'll just turn to dust!"

"You're a member of the Cursed Pirates, who's been making waves lately, right? You can just wait here for your captain to come and rescue you."

"Your captain is a formidable pirate with a bounty exceeding 12 billion! As long as you're here, he'll definitely come, right? Great! Finally, there's hope of defeating Mor...Lia..."

These down-on-their-luck pirates, their shadows stolen, chattered amongst themselves, when suddenly they saw Zoro in front of them, his face buried in his hands, his shoulders trembling uncontrollably. They exchanged incredulous glances and asked, "Are you crying?" "Who wouldn't be afraid of never seeing the sunlight again..." "His bounty is only 3000 million, after all. Moria's bounty before becoming a Shichibukai was almost that much!"

"Heh heh heh... Loser? Lost?"

Zoro's shoulders trembled, and he covered his face, laughing out loud. The laughter grew louder and louder until he threw his head back and laughed wildly. The frustration that had been building up in his heart for so long suddenly erupted like never before.

How stupid! Redio already said that as long as you have strong enough Armament Haki, you can resist strange Devil Fruit abilities—why did you fall for it?! That ghost woman's ability—why didn't you just block it with Armament Haki beforehand?

I was careless, I was negligent, I wasn't paying attention, I let my guard down...

No amount of excuses could extinguish the anger Zoro felt towards himself at that moment.

get lost!

Lowest bounty!

loser!

The shadow has been stolen!

Thump, thump... Around Zoro, the defeated members of the Rolling Pirates, whose shadows had been stolen, one after another rolled their eyes back, foamed at the mouth, and collapsed to the ground.

Chapter 144 Nightmare

"Captain Lola, what... is going on...?"

The squirrel brothers trembled as they reached out their hands, foaming at the mouth and collapsing to the ground.

Lola managed to stay conscious, staring in shock at the Ghost Swordsman who exuded a terrifying and intimidating aura like a demon, and instinctively kept backing away.

"Conqueror's Haki... Haki?!"

It's just getting lost, everyone has those moments, why did you suddenly unleash such a strong Conqueror's Haki!

This doesn't make sense. How come even the lowest-bounty member of the Cursed Pirates has Conqueror's Haki?