The battle between Maude and Moria left the pirates hiding in the forest utterly stunned.
The scene before them was something they had only dared to dream of.
Yet, even with that dream turning into reality right before their eyes, they still felt as if they were trapped in an illusion.
Moria had lost both arms—what did that mean?
They knew all too well.
If that young man just pressed a little harder, if he could bring Moria down completely…
Then, they would finally reclaim their stolen shadows.
In truth, thanks to Lafitte and the others systematically eliminating the zombies, more than half of the pirates present had already regained their shadows.
However, their long-standing struggle had always been about recovering every single stolen shadow.
Only when all of them had their shadows back could they truly declare victory.
Even if this victory had practically fallen into their laps.
"Defeat Moria…"
The burly woman leading the group murmured to herself.
In the Battlefield.
Both Maude and Moria had long been aware of the onlookers in the forest, but neither had the time to spare for them.
Thud—
Moria's severed arms tumbled through the air before crashing onto the ground, sending a sharp splatter of blood across the battlefield.
"I…"
Moria's eyes bulged with fury as blood gushed from his wounds. He roared, "How could I possibly be defeated by some rookie?! Impossible!!! I am… a Warlord of the Sea!!!"
His voice, filled with anger and unwillingness, echoed through the entire Thriller Bark.
As his furious roar rang out, shadow after shadow began pouring from his gaping mouth, streaking off into the distance.
With the departure of the stolen shadows, Moria's massive body began visibly shrinking.
Maude remained calm, watching Moria's rage-filled yet defeated expression. He flicked his wrist, adjusting his grip on his sword. Then, with a powerful push off the ground, he flashed past Moria in an instant, swinging the flat of his blade against Moria's abdomen.
Boom!
The force of the strike sent a powerful shockwave rippling through the air.
The immense impact coursed through Moria's body, forcing out another agonized scream as even more shadows spewed from his mouth.
Maude landed behind him, casually twirling his sword before slowly sheathing Shusui.
At this point, Moria's defeat was already sealed.
However—
Maude never left room for his enemies to rise again.
With Shusui secured in its scabbard, Maude reached for his flintlock pistol, Dark Crow, now loaded with Seastone bullets. He turned and leapt, planting a firm foot on Moria's back.
Bang!
Moria, his consciousness flickering between clarity and haze, was slammed to the ground. Maude then pressed the gun's muzzle against his shoulder blade.
Bang—!
A gunshot flared.
As the smoke settled, the Seastone bullet had already lodged itself deep into Moria's body.
This final shot utterly extinguished any chance of Moria escaping.
"T-This is… a Seastone bullet…?"
Strength drained from Moria's body as he lay sprawled on the ground, his face twisted in a demonic grimace.
"Damn it… Damn it all!!!"
"I cannot fall here—I refuse to fall here…!"
"I… I will return to the New World with my zombie army… I will take the Pirate King's throne with my undead legion…!"
"Just… one more step… Just one more step…!!!"
Moria muttered frantically, desperately trying to drown out the suffocating despair rising within him.
"One more step?"
Maude holstered Dark Crow and looked down at Moria indifferently. "Having a dream is a good thing… but don't make the mistake of thinking everything will be that simple. One step? You're nowhere close, Moria."
"No… No!!!"
Moria struggled to lift his head, his bloodshot eyes glaring upward. As he spoke, blood gushed from between his teeth.
Maude stared at him for a moment, then parted his lips as if to say something—but suddenly stopped. Whatever words he had in mind, he swallowed them back down.
At this point, further words would be meaningless.
Without another word, Maude knocked Moria unconscious with a single punch.
The next step was to let Law use his Op-Op Fruit ability to extract the Shadow-Shadow Fruit from Moria's body.
"…The Shadow-Shadow Fruit… Should I eat it?"
Maude mused quietly to himself.
He wasn't particularly worried about Moria bleeding out and dying. Casually, he lifted Moria's limp body over his head and began making his way toward the castle.
Before leaving, he glanced toward the forest.
In the Forest.
The pirates hiding among the trees flinched as Maude's gaze swept over them.
Only after watching him walk toward the castle did they finally let out a breath of relief.
A male pirate hesitantly approached their leader, the burly woman, and asked cautiously, "Captain Lola, should we… go thank him in person?"
Before Lola could respond, another pirate interjected.
"No way! We don't know anything about that guy. Our shadows are back, so we should just get out of here before we get caught up in something worse!"
"That doesn't seem right, though… If it weren't for him, we wouldn't have regained our freedom."
"I'm not going. Who knows if he'll just cut me down on a whim?"
A few of the pirates remained wary.
Years of living in fear had dulled the sharpness they once had as sailors.
Lola fell silent for a long moment.
As she listened to her crew bicker, she finally spoke up.
"We can't just leave like this!"
Her words caught everyone's attention, and all eyes turned to her.
Meeting their gazes, Lola declared with unwavering determination, "That man—without a doubt, is our savior! If not for him, we might have been trapped in this hellhole for another three years… or even five!"
"He brought us light! He gave us back our freedom! And now, after all that, we just turn and walk away? I refuse to let that happen!"
"..."
Hearing her words, even the hesitant pirates looked ashamed.
"She's right. If it weren't for that handsome guy, who knows how long we'd have been stuck here?"
"Captain Lola, you're absolutely right!"
"So, should we go thank him now?"
"Should we bring a gift? I have a beautifully carved artwork."
"Get lost! Don't go creeping him out with your weird bone carvings!"
"What do you know? This is art."
"Scram, scram, scram!"
Lola smiled at her enthusiastic crew, then raised her right hand and gestured for silence.
The noisy chatter gradually died down.
Lola then straightened her expression and said seriously, "Alright, let's go—time to propose to that handsome man."
"???"
Everyone froze, tilting their heads in confusion.
A beat later, they all shouted in unison:
"YOUR REAL GOAL IS JUST TO PROPOSE, CAPTAIN LOLA!!!"
"Oops, busted!" Lola gasped in mock shock.
"..."
Her crew sighed in exasperation.
None of them noticed that a skeleton had quietly slipped into their ranks.
As they all wiped the sweat from their brows, the skeleton did the same.
Then, he threw back his head and laughed.
"Yohohoho! But I have no sweat to wipe!"
"?"
The pirates stiffened, turning their heads in unison to stare at the laughing skeleton.
For a brief moment—
"G-GHOST!!!"
The entire crew shrieked in terror.
"How rude!"
The skeleton huffed in mild irritation. "I am not a ghost. You may call me… Brook."
Silence fell over the group.
"…GHOST!!!"
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