Chapter 174: Florian Triangle Stepping Stone Legend.
"Got it!"
"Caught a super fat shark~~"
A shark that would be deadly to ordinary people was just a harmless 'toy' in the hands of Luffy and the others. After their daily training, Luffy and Usopp's favorite activity was fishing because:
Thud!
"Put it in the tank~~"
Throwing the shark into the entrance on the deck, the two excitedly ran to the first floor of the ship and pushed the door open.
"Did you see the shark we caught?"
Facing the excited Luffy and Usopp, Roman, who was resting, pointed to the aquarium behind the glass wall.
"I saw it, but at the same time, the other fish disappeared."
"Huh?!"
"Idiot, don't you know sharks eat other fish?"
Facing Sanji's scolding, Luffy immediately thought of a way for the shark to 'atone' for its actions.
"Sanji, grill this dumb shark for me!"
"...You're such an amateur. With such fresh fish, you should make sushi, soup, or something spicy..."
Let me think, next is:
Roman couldn't care less about whether it was a shark or a dumb fish. Originally, the ship's compass was pointing towards Fishman Island. But if nothing unexpected happens, they should soon run into the infamous recluse and tomb raider of the pirate world:
The stepping stone - Gecko Moria!
Forgive Roman for calling Moria a 'stepping stone.' After all, others at least have a recognized 'title' when they appear, like Crocodile, Empress, Sea Knight, Heavenly Yaksha... But Moria, in Roman's impression, only had the 'Seven Warlords of the Sea' label when he appeared.
And then there's his track record: defeated by Luffy, defeated by Jinbe on land, defeated by...
After the Summit War, even the World Government thought he was too weak and had Doflamingo finish him off to save face.
In Roman's previous life fan circles, Moria was often a boss that various protagonists could solo... or rather, an elite monster that could be one-shotted; if you exchanged more than a few moves with Moria, it was a disgrace!
Looking at all the powerful figures Luffy encountered after entering the Grand Line, Moria was definitely the weakest.
But:
A skinny camel is still bigger than a horse.
In his younger days, Moria was also a well-built man who could wield a sword and fight Kaido!
"Sanji, let's have this shark as a snack~~"
"Didn't you just have lunch?! You're a pig... no, even pigs don't eat as much as you do—"
In the background was the daily conversation between Luffy and Sanji, while Roman rubbed his fingers together, and a picture appeared in his hand. It depicted a huge, oddly-shaped, round figure.
With a leek-like hairstyle, a devilish appearance, horns on his forehead, pointed ears and teeth, cross-shaped stitches from head to neck, wearing a bat-collared shirt and Gothic-style clothing.
Gecko Moria, Shadow-Shadow Fruit user,
With a bounty of 320 million berries, he was the next formidable enemy the Straw Hat crew would face!
Unfortunately, ever since he was defeated by Kaido and his crew was killed, he became a depressed, obese recluse obsessed with grave robbing, and his strength plummeted! Even more despondent than Crocodile, but—
Although they had just narrowly defeated CP9, Roman wasn't arrogant enough to think Moria was an easy target. His strength would still pose a significant threat to the Straw Hat crew. So they had to be cautious~~
Shadow-Shadow Fruit:
It allows the user to manipulate their own shadow, which can act as a substitute to defend against attacks or attack in place of the user, with strength equal to the user.
The shadow can split and transform into various shapes to attack, turn into bats to bite opponents, or trap opponents in a shadow box. The shadow has no fixed shape and can reform if damaged.
The user can switch places with their shadow to dodge attacks and can also control others' shadows.
They can pull others' shadows like tearing tape and cut them off. Those whose shadows are taken will burn to ashes in sunlight. If the stolen shadow is placed in a corpse, it can turn into a zombie, with the same strength and personality as the original shadow's owner, but without the fruit's abilities.
Moria's fruit is actually very powerful, making him like two people!—Just imagine what two Garps would be like...
And various shadow skills can be quite versatile, especially stealing others' shadows in sunlight, which can cause instant kills. However, after losing his fighting spirit, Moria only played with shadow zombies, but the zombies were limited by the shadow's abilities, making the legendary swordsman Ryuma only as strong as Brook...
Brook: Blame me for being weak?
Even the corpse of Captain John from the Rocks Pirates, a big figure, was turned into a minion by Moria. It was so weak it brought tears to one's eyes...
Moria's subordinates... can only be described as a tragedy.
Three, just three! A fat doctor, a perverted voyeur, and a gothic loli...
And each one is worse than the last, each one more useless. The 'strongest' one is actually that little girl Perona. As for the rest of the zombies that can be dealt with a handful of salt, let's not even mention them.
Speaking of Perona, I wonder what her 'Negative-Negative Fruit' really...
"Attention,"
Zoro's voice came from the lookout at the top of the mast. Although Roman's paper birds were convenient, they could only execute simple commands without his focused attention and couldn't handle sudden situations as flexibly as a human.
"Something is floating over the sea."
?
"Let's go check it out!"
Luffy and Usopp immediately dashed out without hesitation, while Roman, sitting on the sofa, had already seen what it was through the suddenly lively paper birds outside.
A barrel.
A barrel with a flag stuck on it, looking like:
"A treasure chest?"
Luffy and the others gathered around the barrel, their eyes shining with excitement, but Nami waved her hand to dampen their enthusiasm.
"Sorry, it's just wine and food."
"It's written on it—this is an offering to the sea god for a safe voyage."
"If there's wine inside, let's drink it!"
Zoro was the first to suggest.
"Idiot, drinking such offerings will curse us~~"
Usopp immediately opposed.
"After drinking it, just replace it with new ones."
Robin proposed a compromise, and Luffy and the others were already eagerly preparing to open it—
Thud,
Roman pressed his hand on the barrel.
?
"Let's play a game,"
Stopping Luffy and the others by force was meaningless, so Roman tried a different approach.
"Let's guess what's inside the barrel."
??
"Didn't you say it's wine and food..."
"I guess,"
Roman had already given his answer.
"It's a flare!"
???
"Roman, you're cheating!" Luffy was the first to react, "Your Observation Haki has 'x-ray vision,' of course you know—?!"
"Right,"
Roman released his hand from the barrel, but this time no one was in a hurry to open it.
"Is it really okay to just open such an unknown object floating on the sea so carelessly?"
"Maybe it's poison gas, maybe it's explosives, maybe it's a signal flare—so, Nami!"
Nami pointed at herself with a 'why me' expression.
"It's time to show the results of your training."
"What training—?"
"I got it," Nami took out a book from her waist, turned to a page with a door, and then placed her hand on the side of the barrel and 'pulled.'
The barrel magically opened into a 'door,' revealing its contents to everyone:
A signal flare that would be triggered once the lid was opened!
"Alright, I'll take this."
With a wave of Roman's hand, a huge mouth opened in his palm and swallowed the barrel. Luffy and the others were disappointed, but Roman was in a good mood, having acquired a useful tool...
"Everyone, be careful,"
Nami looked up at the sky. Although it still appeared to be blue skies and white clouds to everyone else, she said:
"A storm is coming, in five minutes—"
"Head southeast!"
"Got it," Roman nodded, and the White Knight at the helm immediately began to turn, leaving Franky, who was witnessing the Straw Hat crew's 'human weather forecast' for the first time, in shock.
Is this even possible?
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