章節 10: The Shadow Revolution, Adapting with Flexibility
"Shadow Mage!"
No sunlight penetrated the thick mist, casting an eerie, terrifying aura over the ship. The coastline was a chaotic scene.
"Swish..." A black figure kept moving restlessly about.
"Flying Bats!"
In the next moment, that dark silhouette burst apart, releasing a multitude of bats.
"Flap flap flap..." They flapped their wings together, taking flight in a sweeping motion that spanned over ten meters before coalescing once more into a human form.
"Shadow Warrior!"
With a low growl, William, standing some twenty or thirty meters away on the nearby rocks, instantly switched positions with his shadow clone, as if teleporting. The inky doppelganger materialized directly in mid-air.
"Moon Walk!"
Plumes of white smoke exploded outwards as William seemed to step onto empty air itself, kept aloft by bursts of explosive force.
"Devil Wings!"
In the blink of an eye, a massive swarm of shadow bats streamed forth, merging and morphing into immense black wings that unfurled behind William's back. Those demonic obsidian wings gently flapped.
"Woooooo..."
Accompanied by fierce, howling winds, William transcended the atmosphere, leaping skyward. The black wings moved as though born with him, under his complete control. His entire being soared freely through the heavens.
"Swish..." At an astonishing speed, he circled the entire terrifying ship in flight, too swift for the eye to clearly follow.
"It's Lord William!!"
"Truly amazing!"
"So incredibly fast, I can't see it clearly at all..."
On the island ship itself, the shambling figures, each indistinguishable from true living people, raised their heads as one. The zombies paused their labors to gaze skyward at the soaring silhouette in awe.
Yet none registered surprise. For this was far from the first time they had borne witness to such an awe-inspiring spectacle. This was how their dread master had been trained.
"Huff...huff...I'm so exhausted!"
"I cannot...go on!"
On the coastline, one large and one small figure slogged along, drenched in sweat from desperate running.
Sweat poured off me in rivulets as I panted from utter exhaustion. Astonishingly, the two bedraggled forms were Dr. Hogback and Perona.
Already soaked through with perspiration, yet neither dared halt.
"You two, don't even think of slacking off..." High above, William looked down with a disdainful sneer. "Otherwise, I'll demote you both to the lowest rank of my zombie soldiers. Just like those mindless thralls, you'll work ceaselessly day and night transforming this island ship!"
"No! I don't want to live like that every single day, wuwu..." Perona's face drained of color at the threat.
Gritting his teeth, Dr. Hogback continued the grueling run.
"Huff...huff..." Perona staggered after, barely keeping pace.
After two months of this brutal regimen, he seemed to have lost a considerable amount of weight. Once only slightly plump, Dr. Hogback nearly cried tearless: "Why must I, the ship's doctor, endure this torturous training?!"
"Cease your senseless prattling..." William's voice was ice-cold. "A ship's doctor incapable of even protecting himself - do you wish to be the first targeted and slain by enemies in battle?"
"The weak are not qualified to survive aboard my ship!" He declared with cruel certainty.
"If you don't want to remain subordinates, I can simply strip you of your shadows!"
William's callous words struck Perona and Hogback like physical blows, rendering them numb with dismay.
They could only grit their teeth, continuing to push through the arduous training, running with every ounce of effort to strengthen their physical conditioning.
Though in truth, when compared to the frail, pitiful states they had been in two months prior, although neither could be said to have undergone earth-shaking increases in strength, their stamina did seem significantly improved, along with their overall combat effectiveness.
Roused by William at early dawn each morning, they began a marathon training session lasting two to three hours, running at full tilt around the expansive Thriller Bark without reprieve.
Lap after punishing lap, yet they did not collapse from utter exhaustion. Their energies were not yet utterly drained dry.
"Tch..." Seemingly satisfied for now, William said no more, soaring over their heads to return to the coastline training grounds.
Unbeknownst to the struggling pair, two months had elapsed since William had slain the former dread master Gecko Moria, appointing himself the new lord of this terrifying ship.
And as he further mastered the abilities of the Paramecia Devil Fruit, the Shadow-Shadow Fruit, William grew increasingly adept and formidable in its use.
One after another, the zombies who had lost their animating shadows, reverting to mere inanimate corpses, were resurrected anew by William's hand.
Yet this new zombie army differed vastly from Moria's original horrifying, grotesquely monstrous undead horde.
William swiftly eliminated any defective products - those rotten, disfigured cadavers missing limbs, or simply physically unimpressive forms.
Only those corpses meticulously restored to a semblance of their original human-like appearance by Dr. Hogback remained. Though devoid of life's spark, their visages were indistinguishable from the living.
Reanimated by the shadows William implanted within them, this labor force immediately set to work around the clock without rest or pause.
For William schemed to utterly transform this island ship into a mobile, nigh-unstoppable fortress of war.
As for providing the "starting energy" - the shadows - those naturally came from the pirates and wealthy businessmen he had directly imprisoned.
But for Dr. Hogback and Perona, the situation was far from ideal.
Because nowadays, William forced them to train relentlessly each day without mercy.
He formulated a strict regimen, mandating the two undergo high-intensity drills morning, noon and night without respite...
By day's end, their training spanned over eight grueling hours, leaving them so utterly depleted they could scarcely remain standing.
Yet in the face of William's cruel, inhumane punishments, they dared not slack off even for an instant.
Of course, William held no expectation that the two would become mighty generals or emperors overnight.
But as the sole officers serving aboard this dread ship, their combat abilities must reach the level of top subordinates to the Four Emperors, if not exceed it.
They could not be so easily cut down by any foe in just a few measly strikes.
Compared to Dr. Hogback's negligible potential, with Perona, William was somewhat more demanding.
Only eighteen years old, her natural talent was not inconsiderable, her future potential perhaps greater still.
Yet the girl had been spoiled rotten by Moria, raised as his indulged princess - her inherent laziness ran too deep to achieve growth without vicious, unrelenting hard work driving her.
"Shadow Revolution!"
Abruptly, the wings on William's back dissipated into his own shadow once more.
"Armament Hardening...Shadow Gatling Gun!"
William's eyes narrowed to stern slits, focused ahead at the immense, incredibly solid reef eight or nine meters tall and over ten meters high.
His fists, clad in jet-black Armament Haki, thrashed the air, unleashing blasts of force.
"Shooooosh..."
In a jaw-dropping display, the shadows of William's arms stretched at visible speeds, his limbs elongating like rubber, snapping out like lightning again and again.
"Huhhhhh...huhhhhh..."
Transformed into blurring afterimages filling the sky, each carrying tremendous concussive force to continuously bombard the reef ahead.
"Boom...boom..."
Smoke and debris filled the air as the craggy monolith, a hill-sized expanse of rock, was effortlessly blown apart like a block of tofu, the sheer destructive power stunning to behold.
"Pahhhh...pahhhh..."
William then leapt high, shooting through the atmosphere at blistering speed and soaring outward.
Crossing the "inland sea" of the island ship, they came upon a nearby dilapidated ghost ship hundreds of meters long, derelict and drifting aimlessly.
"Telescopic Giant's Battle Axe!"
The shadow of William's upraised right foot instantly stretched forth, continually expanding like a titanic giant's foot.
"Swish..." The next instant, an incredible phenomenon occurred - William's raised right leg itself elongated and enlarged monstrously.
The soles of his feet, originally human-sized, miraculously transformed into the massive proportions of a giant's.
Wrapped in pitch-black, glossy Armament Haki, the colossal foot slammed down violently towards the abandoned ghost ship below.
"Boom! Boom!"
(end of chapter)
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