Chapter 2: The Shadow Fruit Reborn
"Ahhh..."
"Why is this happening?"
"What's going on?"
"Ahh...the shadows inside my body..."
"Damn it, the shadows are leaving!"
"No! Lord Moria!!"
...
On the Thriller Bark ship.
Not far from the castle.
Inside a magnificent yet eerie church.
Countless zombies of various forms had gathered there.
They were originally going to attend the wedding of Absalom, one of the "Three Mysterious Beings", but they did not get to see the bride and groom arrive. Instead, they were met with a nightmarish scene of despair.
They screamed and struggled in anguish, filled with fear and anxiety. But still, they could not stop themselves from opening their mouths, as streams of black shadows burst forth, flying in every direction...
On the other side of Thriller Bark.
"Boom boom..."
"Damn it...what's happening?"
The ground shook violently.
Smoke and dust billowed up.
An enormous, exaggerated figure that blotted out the sky also let out an unwilling roar.
The voice boomed like a tremendous bell, its terrifying aura making one's hair stand on end.
"Curse it! Ahhhhh..."
No matter how gigantic it was, no matter how unwilling, no matter how hard it struggled.
It could not stop itself from opening its mouth wide.
"Swish..." A black shadow detached from its body.
Shooting off toward the castle.
The towering body, dozens of meters tall, immense beyond belief.
Seemed to suddenly lose all supporting strength.
It crashed thunderously to the ground.
"Rumble rumble rumble..."
For a while.
The entire island ship.
They all seemed to violently tremble.
Rocks flew, thick smoke billowed.
A staggering wind pressure raged, tossing waves on the sea surface.
It was enough to make one break out in a cold sweat.
"This is..."
"Shadows! My shadows!"
"My shadows have come back!"
"Wonderful! We can leave now!"
"Thank God!!!"
"Woah..."
Deep in the forest.
Faint screams echoed.
A pirate and a merchant, who had passed through this demonic sea before, were captured by Gecko Moria and forced onto this terrifying ship, unable to escape or see the sun...
Everyone was overjoyed, crying tears of joy.
...
And right at that moment—
Inside a magnificent castle.
Gazing at that towering, blood-soaked figure lying there unwillingly with eyes wide open, Obask William remained calm.
Not caring about the changes around him, he picked up a cloth nearby and slowly wiped the blood from his hands.
"Did you come back?"
Looking down at the shadow at his feet, he smiled faintly.
He was born an orphan on an island in the Grand Line.
Naturally gifted with awakened Observation Haki, he could easily encompass the entire island, sense the aura and emotions of targets, and even directly judge if they harbored ill intent.
Sponsored by the World Government, he was raised in an orphanage. His Observation Haki awakened at the age of five due to his innate abilities.
Moreover, his food intake was astonishing and his body far surpassed that of ordinary people.
Thus, he caught the attention of CP9 agents.
He was taken to the CP9 training base on Guanhao Island for indoctrination and training.
With his amazing talent, he stood out and became another shining star attracting as much attention as Rob Lucci.
When he was eight years old, he accidentally injured his head during training.
After awakening his "Self-Awareness", he began recalling all past events, and finally understood what kind of world he had entered.
So from that moment on, he was unwilling to be mediocre, unwilling to remain a lackey of the World Government, so he began secretly hiding his true strength.
And training harder than ever before.
Gritting his teeth, he put in two hundred times more effort than others, practicing day and night.
Even when others thought he was asleep, he still stayed awake, meditating to practice the secret of Life Return.
With his innate talent and intense work ethic, by age twelve he had mastered all six Rokushiki styles, and by fifteen he had mastered Life Return.
Today, William, who had just turned seventeen not long ago, already exceeded 5,000 Doriki.
Not only was the Observation Haki innate for him, he had also honed it to perfection.
And he had already mastered Armament Haki as well.
He had become the truly strongest person in CP9 for 800 years.
But being naturally cautious, he always kept a low profile and hid his true power.
Outwardly, he only showed talent and strength nearly on par with Rob Lucci, the CP9 genius, but slightly surpassing his rival - without seeming exaggerated.
Until half a month ago, when he received orders from Spandam, the Chief of CP9.
He was instructed to follow Rob Lucci and others to the Galley-La Company in Water 7 as an undercover agent or shipwright apprentice.
But he didn't want to waste precious time like Rob Lucci's team in the original story, nor did he want the World Government to easily obtain the Pluton blueprints.
So he decisively refused and tried to shirk the mission.
Originally, Spandam had already agreed to let him stay behind.
However, he then ran into the former CP9 chief Spandyne, who happened to be visiting from Mariejoa to see his son.
Seeing his dignified CP9 chief son actually deferring to the opinion of a mere agent, Spandyne was extremely displeased. He arrogantly overruled William's objections and tried to force him to obey using his authority.
The irritated William pretended to reluctantly agree at first.
But after Rob Lucci's team set out, he turned around without hesitation and killed the long-displeasing father and son duo of Spandam and Spandyne.
He even snatched two Devil Fruits that had just been delivered to Enies Lobby, intended to be sent through the giant underwater current to Mariejoa.
He defected from CP9 in grand fashion.
Unfortunately, they then encountered a huge storm.
He strayed into the Devil's Triangle and ended up on the terrifying Thriller Bark ship.
He was even targeted by Gecko Moria, one of the Seven Warlords of the Sea.
After an intense battle, he was finally crushed by Moria, whose strength had greatly increased after stealing hundreds of shadows with his Shadow-Shadow Fruit.
When he awoke, William found he had not only lost his own shadow, but was also imprisoned by Moria in the jail cells below the castle.
Unwilling to be slaughtered, William began plotting his revenge.
Relying on his extremely skilled Life Return technique, he reset his broken and dislocated bones back into place.
After recovering significantly from his grave injuries, he used Life Return to greatly reduce his size and escape confinement.
Using Life Return again, he shapeshifted into the form of a zombie to disguise himself and bide his time.
He also saw his own zombie doppelganger, the demon Oz.
It was clearly different from the original Oz, seemingly mastering not just the Six Powers but Haki techniques as well.
But as an elite CP9 agent trained by the World Government, how could William be so foolish as to confront that threat directly?
His plans appeared to be going well so far.
Suppressed by Kaido, Moria had completely lost his fighting spirit. Coupled with living the overly comfortable Shichibukai lifestyle for many years, the former heroic monster from West Blue had gone soft.
Moria was dead now, killed by William.
"Then what happens next..."
But suddenly, William turned around.
He caught sight of the fruit platter next to him.
His pupils shrank, and he stood there dazed.
"That is..."
He didn't know when it had appeared there.
A round fruit wrapped in large leaves, dark purple with strange swirling patterns, had quietly materialized on the platter.
"The Paramecia...Shadow-Shadow Fruit?"
William subconsciously stepped forward and picked up the fruit.
Having studied Devil Fruit encyclopedias before, he naturally recognized this particular fruit. This was clearly Moria's Shadow-Shadow Fruit.
It seemed that after its previous owner's demise, the "demon" fruit had escaped from his body and was reborn directly in front of William.
"Ah la la, does this mean you've chosen me?" William stared at the Shadow-Shadow Fruit and smiled lightly.
Although it wasn't that he lacked other options, he didn't necessarily have to claim this power for himself. But he had to admit he felt a bit moved in that moment.
After all, no matter which version of the story, the ability granted by the Paramecia-type Shadow-Shadow Fruit was one of the most potent and problematic abilities around.
The former user, Gecko Moria, that guy who had been utterly broken by Kaido's torment and lost all his fighting spirit, becoming an overweight slob, simply never unleashed the full potential of his Devil Fruit.
(end of chapter)
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