Enel walked ahead alone, his face dark with anger, while Jabra leaned close to his ear and mocked him relentlessly.
"Gyaaaa~ burying your head in the dirt, ha ha ha ha!!"
Jabra's unbridled laughter rang in his ears. Enel's face flushed red, wishing he could drag this dog down with him in mutual destruction.
Such an embarrassing moment, witnessed by so many people! Social death — the kind where you're completely finished!
Enel shook off the others and ran toward the castle in humiliated fury, shouting: "You ghost-releasing bastard, get out here!"
Jabra wasn't about to let him off. He followed right on his heels with continuous taunts, shouting: "Can you handle going alone? Don't end up kneeling on the ground in repentance again!"
"Get lost!"
The noisy voices gradually faded into the distance. Noyer watched the two split off from the team — why were his crew members all idiots?
The passages inside the gloomy castle were intricate and complex, making it difficult to find Moria's location.
Noyer asked Blueno: "Can your Devil Fruit ability open directly to the castle's main hall?"
Blueno's body stiffened for no apparent reason. He replied somewhat fearfully: "Should be possible, but I'll need some time."
Noyer nodded and instructed Wyper: "Help me find someone — a samurai zombie carrying a black sword. If you don't see a zombie like that, find a fat doctor with black glasses and bring him to me."
Wyper nodded, "Understood."
Blueno pushed open his air door. Noyer stepped through in one stride, with Lucci following close behind.
Inside was a dark green alternate dimension. Not far away floated another door.
As everyone emerged, the stamina they'd consumed transferred instantly to Blueno. A dense layer of sweat formed on his forehead.
This was just a door transfer within the island, and he was already this exhausted?
Noyer looked at him with eyes full of concern for kidney deficiency.
Blueno's face reddened as he explained: "My injuries haven't healed yet…"
Lucci surveyed the hall, his expression turning serious, "Someone's coming."
The floor trembled as a massive figure with flaming onion-shaped hair emerged from behind the door — a corpulent body with an ugly, grotesque face.
Noyer stared at Moria in disbelief. Good grief, this guy must be seven meters tall, right?
In all his time at sea, the tallest person he'd encountered was Enel, who was only a few centimeters taller than himself.
What on earth did these humans eat to grow several stories tall?
Moria looked down at his uninvited guests and clapped his hands with a smile, "Hello there, powerful Mr. Noyer."
Noyer drew Rasetsuō, smiling back, "How polite. However, I'm here to cause trouble."
Moria rubbed his hands together, grinning with his fangs showing, "We have no grudge between us — don't be so hot-tempered!"
Was this what a pirate should say?
Noyer sneered, "Your man tried to touch my crew member, so I killed him!"
Moria's smile froze on his face. Then he roared viciously, "You killed Absalom?!"
"Too much talk!"
Noyer leaped up with Rasetsuō in hand, the sinister blade slashing toward his opponent's neck.
Moria hastily activated his ability, transforming his body into a black shadow-like fluid. The blade cut through it, slicing it to pieces.
A shadow in the distance took on Moria's form, switching positions. Having evaded the attack, he turned and fled without any intention of fighting.
A Warlord of the Sea — how could he be such a coward?
Lucci used Geppō and flashed in front of Moria. Moria swung his hand out, and the shadow beneath him flew out like fragments.
The fragmented shadows transformed into bats that bit onto Lucci. Moria reached out his hand toward Lucci's shadow cast on the ground.
Noyer rushed forward and kicked Moria's massive form, sending him flying. The bloated body hit the ground, stirring up clouds of dust. He struggled to stand.
Among the Warlords, this guy had to be dead last.
Overly dependent on his subordinates, Moria had never developed or trained his own techniques. His physical combat skills were nonexistent, and he'd completely wasted the highly functional Kage Kage no Mi.
Moria wasn't even as good as Crocodile. Croco had deeply developed the Suna Suna no Mi — though it was a Logia-type ability, he'd mastered its "desiccation" power to perfection.
If it weren't for the "Devil" Oars the Continent-Puller zombie and the Shadow's Asgard technique he couldn't fully control, Luffy probably wouldn't even need Gear Second or Third against Moria.
A single power-up would be enough to beat him down — just like Crocodile.
Moria's inverted triangular eyes glared at Noyer viciously. He pressed both hands to the ground and roared, "Go play with Doppelman!"
A massive figure identical to him emerged from the ground, clawing menacingly as it charged at Noyer.
Noyer sneered. Oars had no shadow to be revived, so no matter how Moria struggled, he had no means left.
He coated his blade with Armament Haki, stomped hard on the ground, and charged forward. Completely ignoring the obstructing Doppelman, he swung his blade toward its forehead.
Moria's eyes widened in shock. His body transformed into shadow, switching positions with Doppelman.
Before he could feel any joy at his new position, Lucci — who had been waiting for this moment — was already attacking.
◇ Rokushiki: Shigan ⥤ Finger Pistol ◇
His sharp finger, like a keen spear, pierced through Moria's chest.
Long-untrained, Moria felt the pain and screamed with bulging eyes, shaking Lucci off.
But he'd been delayed too long. Noyer had already caught up from behind. Rasetsuō glowed with sinister light as it pierced straight through Moria's heart.
Blood surged throughout his body. He coughed up a mouthful of blood and finally collapsed to his knees.
Noyer watched Moria's struggling form with cold eyes. Rasetsuō hummed softly in his hand, like a bloodthirsty infant.
Noyer summoned the system and ordered: 'Copy his Kage Kage no Mi.'
After weighing the pros and cons, Moria's Red Rank Talent 〔Devil's Dwelling · Kage-Kage〕 replaced the 〔Climate Hyper-Perception〕 — also Red Rank — that had accompanied him all this way.
He'd originally copied Nami's talent because his own navigation skills weren't strong enough for sea travel — he needed her talent to get by.
Now, with so many people under his command, he didn't need to watch the ship himself anymore.
With this, five of Noyer's ten talents were now Devil Fruit abilities.
And besides that… Noyer cast a dangerous look at Moria on the ground.
He triggered his passive ability — "Gimme That!!"
The kidney-deficient, physically weak Moria was no match for him — let alone with Lucci here too.
Noyer raised his blade and swung. An incredible geyser of blood spurted from the enormous body, staining a large section of the castle hall carpet red.
Lucci patted his white suit with dissatisfaction, "You were spacing out just now — were you copying his ability?"
Noyer nodded, unable to suppress his smile.
The complete Kage Kage no Mi was his!
Moria lay on his back, eyes wide open in death, his massive body devoid of life.
A Warlord of the Sea, killed in secret on his own turf by a rookie who'd only been at sea for a year!
If Lucci had heard news like this before, he would've been full of doubt. But ever since he met Noyer, he understood instantly.
What rookie? This was a devil who didn't play by human rules!
The complete fruit ability gave Noyer a magical feeling. All his fantasies and development ideas for the Kage Kage no Mi could actually be realized!
This Devil Fruit had many uses — creating immortal zombie subordinates was just the most basic path, yet Moria stubbornly walked only this one and refused to turn back, even unto death.
If you wanted to create subordinates, how could yours possibly compare to what Big Mom creates with her Soul-Soul Fruit?
There were other uses — like materializing shadows in darkness for surprise attacks. That kind of attack was virtually impossible to guard against.
The user could also travel through shadows and swap out their body when attacked, replacing it with a shadow. This was basically the same principle as Obito's Kamui technique in Naruto — if you reached that level, it would be perfect intangibility.
Noyer sat cross-legged in the wide seat that should have been Moria's. He sent Blueno — who'd been idle — to find the scattered crew members.
Lucci led the CP9 squad to survey the castle, then sent Robin to check on Enel's situation.
As for Perona, the cute Horo Horo no Mi user — having Robin meet with her might yield better results for recruitment.
Once the great hall emptied, Noyer pondered how to develop the Kage Kage no Mi.
This ability was different from the ones he'd copied before. It had great training value, and since it was only Red Rank, he needed to quickly develop it into a Gold Talent. Plus, having killed the original user, its power was at 100%.
That way, after obtaining the Soru Soru no Mi, he could fuse them into a Black Gold mutant Talent.
What Noyer valued most was the Kage Kage no Mi's ability to seize shadows. Take away someone's shadow, and they immediately fall unconscious, then die when exposed to sunlight — this already involved "rule"-type abilities.
Like Sugar's Hobi Hobi no Mi, it was a typical "rule" ability. No matter how skilled you were, if you got hit, you had to obey the "rule".
Noyer held his chin, closing his eyes to consider a development direction suitable for himself.
He was a genuine Grand Master swordsman — what would happen if he applied this ability to sword techniques?
Moria's process for stripping away shadows was too cumbersome. If it could be streamlined to quickly sever the connection between shadow and person…
Suppose Noyer was fighting Mihawk and things were getting intense. He slashes toward the ground, cuts away the shadow with one stroke — his opponent falls unconscious and dies in sunlight. Noyer wins without glory, but it's effective.
The more he thought about it, the more feasible it seemed. After all, the fruit's restrictions didn't say he had to use scissors to cut shadows.
There was also shadow control — controlling people indirectly by controlling their shadows. That skill couldn't be passed up. Combining the two, he might even achieve shadows seizing other shadows!
Not to mention Shadow's Asgard, the skill of devouring shadows to gain others' combat techniques…
The more he thought about it, the more excited Noyer became.
Such a wonderful Devil Fruit — what blow had Moria suffered to make him insist on the zombie-making path and never look back? It was like he'd been traumatized by a certain blue dragon…
In the vast hall, shadows flowed and surfaced across the ground — Noyer was having a grand time playing with his shadow by himself.
The air door opened again, and Blueno emerged with Wyper.
Wyper was carrying an unconscious fat man, "Captain, we caught him — goes by the name Hogback."
Blueno was also holding the black blade Shusui, which he presented to Noyer, "There was indeed a swordsman zombie named Ryuma — very difficult to deal with, but his movements suddenly stopped."
Noyer frowned, "Did his shadow separate?"
Wyper shook his head, "No, but his shadow seemed somewhat incompatible with his body. Oh right, the zombies in the courtyard all seem to be like this."
Noyer looked thoughtful — it seemed to be an effect he'd caused.
Although the Kage Kage no Mi's power had seamlessly transferred from Moria to him, the essence of the power had changed somewhat. It should be fine soon.
Noyer took Shusui and drew it from its sheath to examine it.
Though both were dark-toned blades, Shusui and Rasetsuō gave completely different impressions. One felt heavy and solid, the other unruly and violent.
Blueno's air door opened again — Lucci and the others had returned from their reconnaissance, "We found the bridge of the Thriller Bark. The zombies on the ship have all become sluggish, and we found a corpse even taller than a giant in the freezer."
The corpse was definitely Oars — though of the giant race, his build was far larger than any giant's.
Moria really had left quite a legacy…
After waiting and waiting, Noyer asked in puzzlement: "Where's Enel? He still hasn't handled it?"
Blueno, playing messenger, laughed, "Enel and Jabra can't catch the person controlling the ghosts — they're going crazy."
Wyper asked doubtfully: "Is that opponent very difficult to deal with?"
Blueno nodded, then shook his head, "The ability is tricky, but it's really just an intelligence beatdown…"
Wyper nodded… he understood…
Noyer sighed, "Let's go. I'll take a look."
The Wonder Garden — where Perona, one of the Mysterious Four, lived.
When Noyer arrived, electrical currents were zigzagging wildly above the courtyard.
Before long, Enel lay prostrate on the ground, doubting his existence again, "I'm like kelp drifting with the seawater… no one cares…"
Urgent, loud laughter rang out as a little girl with pink twin-tails and a crown ran frantically toward him.
Behind her, Jabra chased with his tongue hanging out.
Robin saw Noyer arrive and ran to his side with a smile, "The little girl is quite clever — Enel's being played for a fool."
Noyer laughed sympathetically, "She does have some street smarts."
Exhausted from running, Perona suddenly saw a man standing in front of her. In her desperate escape, she shouted sharply, "Get out of the way!"
A white ghost emerged from her palm and rushed toward Noyer. He wasn't about to fall for such a stupid trick — he twisted his body to dodge.
But just then, the system's voice unexpectedly sounded.
『 Ding! External Talent Detected Attempting Forced Intrusion. Absorb? 』
﹃﹃﹃﹃﹃﹃﹃﹃﹃﹃﹃﹃﹃﹃﹃
〔 Ghost Negativity Blessing 〕
〔 Rank: Blue 〕
〔 Description: Those possessing this talent will experience an extremely negative abnormal state, losing the will to fight. This talent is lost after time passes or fighting spirit is slightly recovered. 〕
﹄﹄﹄﹄﹄﹄﹄﹄﹄﹄﹄﹄﹄﹄﹄
Noyer's eyelid twitched. Negative emotions like that counted as a talent?
Was it because negative emotions caused by Devil Fruits were different from normal ones, so the system classified it as a talent?
This was the first time he'd encountered such a situation. So if it wasn't emotions but any negative state caused by a fruit, would the system classify them all as talents?
◈◈◈
T/N: Comment, give me Power Stones, like and favorite, it all supports me and makes me go foward with this. Appreciate my other stories as well, I guarantee the good work!
If you want 20 chapters ahead of this novel for just $5 or enjoy a large catalog of good novels with excellent translations (free or starting at $1.5): MrBlackWing (you know where to search)
I'm currently translating another project (for $1.5) where the main character travels through various worlds, like Highschool of the Dead, Kabaneri of the Iron Fortress, Darwin's Game, and many more, building a massive harem. It will have smut chapters (+18) and spicy images of the female characters. Check it out if you're interested! :)
That's it and happy reading! (-‿◦)