Chapter 127: Awaking Number 900

"Ooh, how deliciously victorious!" Moria cackled, as the spider mice carried in the chained up straw hat captain and vice captain. Attempting to present an aura of defiance, Luffy glared up at the warlord, whilst trying desperately to free himself from the chain bindings holding him. "Hey, onion man!" Luffy growled, "you're the one responsible for stealing shadows aren't you!" Almost immediately, the teenage captain was slapped across the face by the a young pink haired woman, dressed in pink and black gothic regal regalia, "don't mock Master Moria!" In response, straw hat grinned at the woman before retorting, "it's true though. You agreee with me, he does look like an onion. I can hear your mind".

The look on the young woman's face paled as she then darted her eyes to her right, trying to see if the warlord had heard the exchange. No he hadn't. Moria was too indulged in comparing his three zombie minions; Nin, Run and Bao to "bring out the lamps". As soon as the huge lamps were brought in, Luffy and Zoro immediately knew what was about to happen; so began a whole new wave of escape attempts. "Struggle as much as you want, pirates", Moria exclaimed offhandedly, "it will do you very little Good."

Lifting up the chained up straw hat captain into the air, Moria hung him on a hook suspended from the ceiling before nodding his head in the direction of Nin, Run and Bao. Zoro meanwhile managed to free one arm from his chains but before he could grab a sword he was rendered a weeping mass on the floor due to Perona's negative hollows. The chains holding said hook and wrapped around Luffy's body dug into his flesh eliciting a trickle of blood down his arms. Groaning Luffy didn't stop wiggling trying to squirm free, but Moria slapped him again; his nails scraping his cheek.

"Such a feisty soul you are, you will indeed be perfect for number 900. Through It is a shame Hogback won't be here to witness its awakening, he did so undertake so many hours working on it". As the spotlight came on, the warlord raised two fingers on his left hand; which appeared to take on the form of a pair of scissors, and snipped at the air. A precursor of what he was about to do. The lamps burned brightly, and illuminated the young straw hat captain's shadow across the floor of the room, to which Luffy gulped and began struggling to create his darkness. "Don't even try to use your devil fruit boy, these are sea prism stone chains".

The Warlord then walked forwards and peeled Luffy's shadow from the ground and held the struggling silhouette in between his right hand fingers then without preamble he snipped the shadow free from its corporeal body, resulting in the struggling Luffy dangling limp and unconscious from the hook. Sensing its bodies lumpiness, shadow Luffy resumed its squirming in Moria's hand, but due to shadows lacking sort of any mass; all its squirming amounted to to just add to the amusement of the one whom had bifurcated it. Raising his hand up to his face, Moria stared into the blank expression of the shadow, and laughed.

"Kiiishishishi! Forget your former master, loose your identity! For today up you serve a new master; me, Gecko Moria, and you will bow to me!" Shadow luffy slowed his attempts of resistance before stopping altogether and bowing his head. Nodding silently. With the ritual completed, Moria turned away from the captured swordsman stating to Perona; "get someone to take the others shadow and put it into number 96", before bye started walking towards the giant freezer doors, emblazoned with the number 900. Soon he would have his masterpiece, and then he would be ready to take back his lost reputation that Kaido had stolen from him. Thriller Bark was beginning to take deliberate steps toward its final purpose, unknown to Absalom and Perona not to Hogback.

With each step he took Moria seemed to giggle with anticipation and joy, and as he approached the second inner door the warlord audible growled; bemoaning his own security of the giant freezer and the tie wasted getting through. Taking one hand up to spin the wheel and then to push open the door fast, the warlord was hit by a blast of cold misty air. Not pleasant for standing in for long periods of time, but perfect for body preservation. As the metal creaked open, frost cracking and shattering over the protesting hinges, Moria grinned at the sight of his greatest soon to be monster, number 900: 'the Continent Puller' Oars.

The dead frozen, partially rotten, body was in a seated position and currently he was thirty metres tall but from ancient records, Moria had learnt that standing at full height Oars would make bugs out of the giant race, make Whitebeard look insignificant instead of powerful and put Kiado to shame. Oars's skin was naturally red, but in large areas that were rotted away or eaten by scavengers, was grey and green. Bulging arm and leg muscles showed that in life the continents puller was impressively built. Long, blond hair tumbled down the giants back from its head and two horns, each over twice the height of Moria, curved out from its forehead. And the square face, pronounced by, an underbite of two giant incisors that shot up in the lower jaw, almost reaching the same level as the monsters dead eyes.

Moving out of the doorway, and onto a metal walkway that surrounded the circular freezer chamber, Moria continued till he reached a section of walkway that stuck out towards Oars' gut, a skirt of woven dried plants was around the monsters waist. The feet, lost in the darkness below, and above was the head fangs and horns. Reaching the gut, Moria placed his own hand; the one holding Luffy's shadow, onto Oars. "Now!" Moria exclaimed excitedly, to no one in particular, the only people who had accompanied him had been Perona, Kumasi and the three little zombie servants; Nin, Run and Bao.

Still, the warlord didn't register the hidden the sixth individual, hidden back in the doorway, and currently sending 'speak and ill cut you' looks at Kumasi, Roronoa Zoro. "Finally, the pinnacle of my undead army shall rise! Live again, Oars, and obey your master!" Smacking his palm into the monsters gut, the shadow Luffy began to merge into the humongous zombie, as Moria watched on with glee and trepidation. The room was silent for almost a five minutes before one of the massive chains tying Oars down began to shake and rattle, and then one of the massive arms shifted and the zombie's dark eyes opened. "How are you feeling, Oars?" Moria spoke comfortingly, "I hope you remember your new loyalty to me". And in one gigantic loud roar, the revived Oars yelled: "Meat!"

Perona stood stock still, fear trickling through her veins as she laid eyes on number 900, at first she wanted to turn and run away but she knew that if she did so then whatever her reputation and trust she had built up with Moria would be destroyed. And as a result, her home Kingdom; and her father, would suffer. She suddenly became aware of Kumashi subtly prodding her right arm. Normally she would have yelled at her best friend, for daring to be 'not cute', but in this instance she let go of her displeasure the moment she saw the person that Kumasi was alerting her about. Before she could unleash her negative hollows at the intruding swordsman, number 900 broke free of its chains and leapt into the air; smashing straight through the vaulted ceiling. "Meat! I need meat!" The monster yelled, as it began pulling on the island ship's rudder; altering its direction, making everything shake violently. "Oars", Moria spoke loudly, "the kitchens are below you in the main mansions. Go eat and then return to me, I'll need your help in defeating those pesky Straw Hats".

"I'am going to be the King of the Pirates!" The monster yelled fro the top of Thriller Bark's castle, before he jumped up and descended right down through the castle itself into the kitchen. "Kiishishishi," Moria cackled, watching number 900 disappear. "This should be entertaining." Walking back along the walkway and sitting down against the wall of the freezer, Moria pulled out a newspaper and pencil. "Master Moria..." Perona uttered, attempting to point out their unwelcome visitor. "I know that the swordsman has been watching us..." the warlord responded, "it's more fun this way. It makes their inevitable defeat more delicious. You should go fight, I'll be along once I've done my crossword".

Perona bowed her head, holding onto her gothic crown as she did, "yes master Moria". Then swiftly, if a little distractedly, hurried off to fulfil her orders and protect her home by proxy. However, Zoro had made it outside and was now attempting to head back to the last place he remembered his group of straw hats being; knowing that Nami wasn't going to like the news he had to give her.