Chapter 3: The Birth of the Shadow
"Tsk...how disgusting!" Some time later, inside the castle, Obask William was determined. He forcefully swallowed the Shadow Fruit, skin and all, despite the indescribable disgust. His face turned purple, and it took a long while for him to recover.
"What an interesting ability!" He closed his eyes, feeling the changes in his body. Trying to master the newly acquired Devil Fruit power. The shadow beneath his feet seemed self-aware, coiling on the ground like a lion king. "Swish..." Soon, it split open like branches, transforming into multiple black tentacles, dancing gracefully in the air.
"Hiss, hiss..." In an instant, those sharp shadow tentacles pierced through the extremely thick walls, like going through tofu. It was chilling to witness.
"Next, I should deal with those people..." After some effort, the highly talented William quickly adapted to his new ability and used it with ease, his eyes burning as he looked out the dark window. He revealed a mischievous smile. He was not a good man.
If he let the pirates and merchants trapped here go, where would he find the tools and materials to experiment with the Shadow-Shadow Fruit? Moreover, even without the powers of the Shadow-Shadow Fruit, he never planned to let them go. Because from the start, he had decided to make Thriller Bark his new stronghold. How could he risk his information leaking out?
As a former member of CP9, he would never underestimate the World Government's intelligence capabilities. CP's spies were everywhere. This was not just an empty statement.
"Heheh...are you all there?" Outside the castle, in the forest, a large number of terrifying, skinny figures were hiding in groups, but did not come out. There were two or three hundred of them.
These were pirates, merchants, and travelers who had mistakenly entered these waters or passed through nearby seas, lured to this island by Moria, and unfortunately trapped. However, they had not seen sunlight for a long time and were malnourished. Many looked like demons and zombies, quite frightening.
Obviously, seeing that shadow return, they wanted to confirm what had happened and whether they had a chance to escape.
"It would be too troublesome to deal with them one by one!" William seemed calm. He directly jumped onto the huge window, overlooking the outside world.
"Hum--" In the next moment, William's eyes suddenly lit up. An unparalleled aura emanated from him, spreading out in all directions with the castle as the center.
"Plop, plop..." The invisible spiritual impact caused those pirates and merchants with little strength to roll their eyes back and foam at the mouth as they collapsed.
Conqueror's Haki. Ever since William regained his past life's memories, his entire brain was strongly stimulated and awakened. But he had always hidden it, never revealing it in public, only continuously exploring and experimenting in secret. After years of effort, he could finally control it freely and accurately.
"Indeed, Conqueror's Haki is closely related to one's 'spiritual power'..." William spread his arms, looking vigorous and chuckling: "Ever since I was determined to leave the World Government, even my Conqueror's Haki, which had been progressing slowly, has improved a lot!"
He could feel it. Ever since he truly decided to abandon his CP9 identity, even if they would face the massive World Government's endless pursuit in the future, they would live their own brilliant lives on these seas, without being ruled or ordered by anyone. From that moment, it was as if he had shed some invisible shackles and constraints. His previously slowly progressing Haki seemed to reach a higher realm, his entire spirit starting to radiate vitality.
"Shadow Mage!" Suddenly, the shadow beneath his feet left the ground. It visibly inflated, transforming into a pitch-black humanoid figure. Though completely black with no discernible face, its appearance was identical to William himself.
"I leave it to you, bring them all back!" In the blink of an eye, a dark shadow clone "fwapped" as it transformed into a swarm of bats, rushing out the window at an astonishing speed.
*Clang, bang, bang, bang...* In Moria's bedroom, William started rummaging through boxes, carefully searching: "A Warlord couldn't possibly have just that little treasure, right?"
He had infiltrated and searched the treasure vault above this castle. Apart from a large amount of cash, Moria also had quite a few jewels and precious metals. But in total, it was only worth two to three billion Beri.
For an ordinary small-time pirate, this was already an astronomical sum of money. But for Gecko Moria, one of the Seven Warlords of the Sea, this was clearly not befitting his status.
Of course, this guy was beaten down by Kaido the Beast until he was in a sorry state, just a ramshackle house. Over the years, he had been hiding in the Florian Triangle Mist, not actively attacking like the other Warlords or directly using his Warlord status to engage in various illegal profiteering businesses to grow stronger. He merely plundered passing ships on nearby routes, accumulating relatively little wealth. This was normal.
But it was a bit odd. This guy was obsessed with robbing tombs, digging up powerful corpses, and creating powerful zombies. As an experienced grave robber, logically he should have more than just this bit of treasure.
"As I thought..." Seeing the three or four ancient treasure maps found in the secret compartment, William smiled. The maps were covered in age and a faint soil scent - clearly they were "excavated artifacts." And there was one that looked fairly new, likely Moria's own treasure map.
"Captain John's Treasure Map?" Squinting at the ghostly ancient treasure maps, William mused. If he remembered correctly, Moria did steal Captain John's grave and turned his corpse into a zombie. Crucially, a jewel-encrusted funeral armband ended up in Moria's hands. It seemed that item was linked to Captain John's treasure.
If this treasure map was real, perhaps that armband was the key to unlocking it.
"I'm truly grateful to you, Moria..." William smiled, looking at Moria's wide open, lifeless eyes with some mockery: "This treasure will save me a lot of trouble!"
"Next, you'll all witness who is truly most suited for the Shadow-Shadow Fruit ability!"
(End of chapter)
Weekly Power Status
-- Power
Ranking 
-- Power
stone