Disclaimer: Godzilla and One Piece are the sole properties of Toho Co. LTD and Eiichiro Oda respectively. KP360 claims no ownership of anything save for any OCs, abilities, and locations.
Thriller Bark Opening: Dead or Lie by TRUSTRICK
Color Spread: The Straw Hats sitting around playing a game of Uno. Gian is raging Zoro because the latter just plopped down a draw 4.
"Well, you're the last person I'd expect to show your face around here." Moria hissed as he turned away from the top balcony of the only relatively intact portion of the mansion. For the last hour he's been regarding the scene down below with rapt glee. The Straw Hats were formidable, considering they made it this far into the Grand Line he'll admit that, but it's clear that despite everything they were still green and them currently being beaten to paste in the courtyard solidified that fact. Moria was waiting patiently for Oars to defeat them so that he could collect their shadows, but just then he had an unwanted visitor.
"As a matter of fact, you hardly show your face anywhere unless your masters tell you to!"
What's peculiar is that the one seeking his audience isn't usually the sociable type. Moria gazed at the newcomer with evident disdain on his face. The man across the room stood as tall as he, a stocky frame that was broader at the shoulders than around his hips. There was something off about the newcomer, it could be the religious text that he held in his hands, or the bear-eared hood he wore over his head, or it could be the fact that the man's unmoving gaze never left Moria, eyes completely blank and never blinking.
"It is exactly because of the higher ups concern that I am here, Gecko Moria." The man's monotonous voice droned out "They are quite concerned with appearance of Monkey D. Luffy in the territory of another Shichibukai. The World Government does not wish for a repeat of the incident with Crocodile, they expect you to dispose of him."
A vein popped in Moria's head upon hearing that "Are you suggesting that I'm incapable of defeating a greenhorn pirate on my own?! Watch yourself, we may both be in the 7, but you need to know your place, Bartholomew Kuma!"
Kuma gave no response to the threat as he continued his message "Regardless of your prowess, the World Government has deemed the Straw Hat Pirates to be a major threat. This especially extends to their captain, 'Straw Hat' Monkey D. Luffy. I merely came to pass on a message, and to offer your assistance should you require it. I must remind you, he has already defeated 'Sir' Crocodile in Alabasta, and scored another unprecedented defeat of CP9 in Enies Lobby. It would be wise to not underestimate him."
A vein popped in the giant demonic man's forehead "Assist me?! I should remind you I became a Shichibukai much earlier than you have, 'Tyrant'! If the Gorosei really are scared out of their pants by a mere child, then perhaps they shouldn't be giving me orders either! I will see to 'Straw Hat's demise myself, but only for him to have a place in my legion. A greenhorn like him does not stand a chance against me."
"In that case, then there would be nothing to worry about." Kuma stated before turning to leave. Right when he reached the door, the giant bear-like man turned slightly.
"I should also warn you not to overstep your authority. There are matters in this world not meant for your knowledge, it would be wise not to look too deep."
"I have no idea what you're talking about." Moria growled.
"I believe you do. The rumors are concerning, how you've managed to unearth a secret that should've died in those icy waters over a century ago. The contents were kept secret for a reason, even one of the Shichibukai are not immune to the consequences otherwise."
"You really do take this whole Government Dog thing too far, you know." Moria hissed, dismissing the statement with a wave of his hand "What I've been doing with that asset is none of your business. I never believed in such paltry rumors of what the World Government is trying to hide, they are powerful warriors for my army and nothing more!"
"I have no control over what you do, I'm simply delivering a warning. There is only so much power that you can control, Gecko Moria, pray you do not bite of more than you can chew."
"And I never asked for you opinion!" the devil-like man growled "If that's all you have to sprout out of that mouth of yours, then our talk is over! Or would you prefer to be another undead member of my soldiers?"
Kuma said nothing, the only sounds that could be heard were the loud footsteps of his as he departed. Moria grunted with irritation as he watched his fellow Shichibukai leave, his opinions on the man rather complex. Out of all 7 members of the Warlords, Bartholomew Kuma is one shrouded in mystery the most. Moria himself only knew a bit about his past, how he was once a supposed ruthless ruler in some place called the Sorbet Kingdom, and then later became a pirate. The man lets little leave his lips, and unlike some of their compatriots he seldom refers to any of his accomplishments, if any at all. Yet despite this air of mystery, Kuma is the only one to always answer the World Government's call when they require the Royal 7 of any duties, even for a group commonly dismissed as "Government Dogs". There are even some unsavory rumors surrounding the large man, whispers about how he's replacing his body to become something less than human…
"What a weird guy…" Moria shook of the thoughts of his compatriot with a huff. The Shichibukai rarely mingle amongst themselves, and rarer still have they worked together in any fashion. He just needs to focus on his own growing army of undead, and will no longer pay any attention to his fellow warlord.
"Now, I suppose Oars would have-"
"M-Moria-sama! We have an issue!"
The towering shadow master glanced back to see his scientist hobble up the stairs to his floor. Dr. Hogback seemed out of breath as he entered the massive room, signs of distraught evident on his face.
"Ah, Doctor!" Moria greeted "What brings you here?"
"M-Moria-sama! It's about Project Alpha! He's awake and now-!"
"Yes indeed, I've heard about that! A few other zombies have reported his whereabouts to me. They say he's developed quite a voracious appetite for shadows! I'll have to calm him down later so that I don't lose a portion of our troops!"
"That's what I want to talk about, don't you think he's consuming shadows a bit too ravenously?"
"Well, I certainly don't appreciate him targeting my army but if that's what it takes for him to become more powerful then I'll can accept that sacrifice."
"No! That's not what I'm trying to say! I mean he's going after just about everything with a shadow! He isn't differentiating between friend and foe!"
"What are you suggesting doctor?" Moria frowned before his gaze fell to Hogback's feet and he noticed what's amiss.
"My, my! Your shadow is now missing! Don't tell me you got a little reckless and Project Alpha ended up consuming yours as well!"
"If it were that easy, I wouldn't have bothered you!" Hogback cried "But something about that… abomination… unsettles me. The way it moves, the way it violently reacted to my presence… It was almost as if he's moving independently!"
That comment made Moria narrow his eyes "What do you mean by that…?"
Moria gulped when his master now leaned over him, the shadow master's visage loomed over him, causing him to break into a cold sweat "I-I just mean that the subject is acting-!"
"Are you suggesting that my power has flaws, Dr. Hogback?!"
"O-Of course not! I dare not even think of such a notion!" The surgeon whimpered "It's just that the way he's acting is similar to a person that has free will! Then I ran into 'Beast Warrior' and he said something about how his shadow somehow reconnected dormant memories within our specimen, and it messed with my head! I might be going crazy, but didn't those people that gave you the coordinates to where we found the remains say something about-?"
"-Those people were rambling lunatics, they are fools for believing how a supposed monster inhabits that corpse!" Moria growled "It is just a special zombie, nothing more! Even if it feels a bit rebellious now, it will fall under my control eventually!" Moria snapped.
"But surely, since they've both share the same Kaiju-Zoan, Project Alpha is acting as if it has a mind of its own! What if there really is a Kaiju-?"
"There IS no Kaiju! They are merely a lost legend that should remain buried by time! Beast Warrior's Kaiju-Zoan is only a cheap imitation of what once possibly existed in this world! There is nothing more to those now extinct monsters that some still whisper through the wind!" Moria's scowling face fell, replaced by an expression that showed more hurt, if anything else.
"You've been with me for many years now, Doctor, you've seen what my Kage-Kage no Mi can do. I've always trusted your ability to procure exemplary corpses for my use, surely you know my control over the shadows is absolute as well?"
"Have you lost faith in me, Doctor?"
"I-I wouldn't dare!" Dr. Hogback dropped to his knees "I have the utmost belief in your powers, Moria-sama! I am merely emotional right now! That blasted monster extinguished the life of my beloved Cindry-chan, he tore the shadow you gifted her right from her body. I am merely overcome by loss to think properly!"
"You need not worry about that, I will find another suitable shadow for her after we are done with tonight." Moria assured him "But now, no more talk about the Kaiju. I do not wish to hear those words again, understand?"
"O-Of course, Moria-sama!"
"Geez, what is with people tonight? First that blasted Kuma comes patronizing me, now you're rambling nonsense. I swear the World Government's strange fear of anything related to the Kaiju is so foolish, they are a thing of a distant past and they will remain gone!" he shook his head "But enough of that, right now Oars should be done pummeling those Straw Hats to dust and-!"
A sudden yowl sounded from outside, causing the shadow master to race to the balcony. Looking down, his face warped into a snarl as his beloved giant zombie now soared through the air and crashed through another section of the mansion.
Moria growled as he exited the room; some people just won't make things easy…
Outside, the Straw Hats currently battling Oars were speechless of what just occurred. Even with their teamwork, the gigantic oni simply overpowered them all. Even Zoro's tenacity could only last him so long, though the green haired swordsman showed no weakness in the face of an enemy many times his strength, and his determination continued to rally the remaining Straw Hats to stand against this terror.
Still, Oars was relentless. Zoro gritting his teeth he braced himself for the charging beast's attack, so it was to his surprise that a moment later Oars was sent into the air by one powerful blow. At first, even he didn't know where it came from. It wasn't until the figure landed and he managed to get a good look did he finally realize who it was.
"Luffy?!" Zoro gawked at his captain's enhanced form. A mix of shock and relief cross his face, though he had to crane his neck a bit to look up; the new Luffy really is rather tall.
"How are you holding up?" Nightmare Luffy rasped as he set Nami down and looked towards the cloud of debris where he sent Oars into earlier. His new body brimmed with power, the shadows that were bestowed upon him each have their own unique strengths, and adding about 100 of those into one body, he's capable of harnessing them all.
"Is everyone alright?" Nami asked as the rest of the crew gathered around.
"We've been better, though now with you two here this should even the odds by a lot." Robin smiled at the navigator.
"I'm so happy you're safe, Nami-swannn!" Sanji swooned.
"So what's with Luffy?" Franky pointed "He manage to sneak in a workout during our time apart?"
"Not quite," Nami chuckled "It's a long story."
The ground rumbled as Oars staggered back up, the giant's lone eye glared down at the blue-skinned muscular man that stood beneath him.
"Who are you supposed to be?"
"I thought you'd recognize me, considering you're my shadow?" Nightmare Luffy pounded one fist into the other "I'm Monkey D. Luffy, you've caused a lot of trouble here. It's time to come back!"
"I'm supposed to pound you all into the ground!" Oars growled as he strode forwards with his fist raised "I'll stomp you all flat!"
"Luffy, watch out!" Usopp shouted "That giant has all of your moves!" but the captain only continued to glare.
"Gomu Gomu no Rifle!" The twisting punch spun rapidly as it drilled towards the smaller figure. A powerful move already in the hands of Luffy, in a giant many times his size it would completely pulverize a person.
Or, in this case, Nightmare Luffy merely stopped it with one hand.
Ignoring the shocked reactions of nearly everyone, Luffy merely pushed off the giant. A small gesture, with his enhanced strength it was as if he sent Oars stumbling with merely a tap! As the Giant tried to regain his footing, Luffy leapt up and reared his own fist back in the same move.
"This is how you throw one of my punches" he growled "Gomu Gomu no Rifle!"
And on a complete opposite end of the spectrum, Oars was sent soaring through the air. Becoming airborne for a full 4 seconds, he managed to crash heavily into a dense part of the forest.
To say the rest of the crew were in awe of such mighty strength was an understatement.
For Luffy, he merely cracked his knuckles and awaited his foe to return.
Meanwhile:
He finally caught up to Grendolas in a clearing, hunched over as the lifeless corpses of half a dozen zombies that laid around him. Gian clenched his jaw as he saw another shadow being dragged from the body into the undead Kaiju-Zoan user's shadowy form, and as he did so, strands of shadow anchored into the remains of his previously torn arm, slowly repairing it.
"I was wondering when you'd follow me." The revenant smirked as he held up the formerly damaged appendage, now fully resuscitated and functioning again "That man earlier, he has a similar make up of what brought me back to life. Is he an undead too?"
"That was my captain," Gian rasped "If you want to get to know him better I could always call him back to give you another thrashing."
"Heh, I'll pass. At my current level of power he poses too much of a threat to me, though that will change soon." Grendolas chuckled "Still, you don't seem to realize we're too evenly matched, and with each shadow I devour the gap between our strength is widening."
Gian's only reaction was to erupt in a plume of Blue fire as his Partial Transformation revealed itself once more.
"No more wasting time, I'm taking you on one-on-one."
"Oh, very well then." Grendolas growled as dark wisps began to gather around him as well. Two individuals that have bonded with the same fruit then clashed together, each throwing out their own assortment of blows.
"I must admit, your utilization of the Kaiju's power was far different than mine." Grendolas noted as he braced a heavy punch from Gian "I never bothered with mixing my body with the Kaiju's form, rather I simply took the beast's full appearance."
"Why would you?" Gian grunted "From what I gathered from the few things you cared to reveal, you had no qualms about simply fully transforming and destroying all in your path." His dorsal fins lit up, an Atom Ray lighting up the woods around them as Grendolas vaulted over the beam to deliver a kick to the Partially Transformed pirate's temple.
"I had a reason to, the world chose to ignore what I found, they chose to bury their heads in the sand." The revenant rasped "I simply gave them a wakeup call of fire."
"Wakeup call?!" Gian hissed, grabbing the leg and slamming his undead counterpart into the ground. "If you really did lay waste to entire islands 150 years ago how could you claim anything you've done would be classified as a warning!"
"You fool," the next thing Gian felt was a face full of shadow energy as Grendolas reared up, his shadow-infused fist slamming across the Kaiju-Zoan user's face "I was the warning! What I became, what I unleashed upon the world was meant to be a message that something is coming. The Kaiju, all of it, it was the truth that the World Government chose to hide, but they are only delaying the inevitable, and I was giving them a warning!"
"What do you mean?" Gian panted "How do the Kaiju factor into any of this?!"
Grendolas grinned, before the two slammed their fists against each other "Try to struggle against me a bit more, then perhaps I will tell you."
Meanwhile:
"GO LUFFY!" Usopp and Chopper cheered as Nightmare Luffy bounded towards a charging Oars, the giant roaring in fury as he threw his strength around wildly. Even though Luffy's height is now greatly increased, he is still dwarfed by the giant who possesses his shadow. Despite that, each punch Nightmare Luffy threw feels as if a 10 ton rock was thrown at high velocity, and each one managed to stagger the Oni, despite its immunity to pain. Luffy gritted his teeth; his newfound power came at a limit. Lola warned him that the shadows her crew gave him was only a limited boost in power. Already he could feel some of it slipping away. Which is why he planned to end the fight soon.
"You might be able to use my techniques, but you're far from the real deal!" Luffy barked as his fist collided with Oars' much bigger one. The size different may as well be nonexistent, as Oars was instantly sent stumbling as Luffy continued his assault.
Down below, Zoro and the others watched with rapt attention. The amount of power their captain displayed now was immense! They had spent nearly half the night trying to even bring Oars to kneel, and here comes a shadow-infused Luffy who's doing it in mere minutes.
"I'll crush you!" Oars roared, leaping up into the air "Gomu Gomu no Kane!"
"That's my line." Nightmare Luffy growled as he leapt along the sweeping arm, travelling to the giant's face. Rearing his fist back, the next punch sent Oars spiraling as it collided square in his face.
"Gomu Gomu no Pistol!"
"If only that happened earlier." Sanji grinned "We could've finished up so fast!"
Footsteps sounded as the crew turned to see Brook run up with the rest of the Thriller Bark Victims Association. The previously disheveled group of survivors now looked onwards with renewed hope as they witnessed the fruits of their creation.
"Hope we're not too late! It looks like Luffy-san is handling everything good enough without us though." The skeleton said.
"I feel like that's an understatement." Franky whistled.
Zoro looked at group before smirking "I take that what happened to our Captain was your doing."
"Yeah, sorry we couldn't give you a heads up." Lola nodded "We've tried it a few times in the past before, he's the first person actually be able to hold 100 shadows inside him."
"Well, I see it working fine. You'll get no complaints from me." Zoro nodded.
"To be honest, even we're a bit taken aback by how well it's going." Lola grinned as she saw Nightmare Luffy literally swinging his gigantic opponent like a ragdoll before tossing him into another part of the building "He won't have long though, in our experience we've only managed to keep that form up for a couple of minutes. It's getting close to 10 with 'Straw Hat', so he probably only has about 2 to 3 minutes left."
Zoro looked on at the carnage "With the rate he's going this'll be over before that."
Back with Luffy, the captain could feel his shadow-infused form beginning to unravel as well. Realizing he only has time for one more two attacks, Luffy went on the offensive once more.
"I'm only Luffy here, don't you ever forget that!" he growled, hoisting the massive blade on his back out of its sheath.
"Since when was he able to use a sword?" Chopper gasped.
"Heh, he might even do it better than you, Marimo." Sanji snickered. For once Zoro didn't retort, only smiling proudly at his captain.
With one swing, Luffy caused Oars to stumble, cutting a large gash across the zombie's stomach. He realized he only has enough juice left for one more attack, and as Oars rose back up, arms raised and ready to slam down on the pirate, Luffy began to twist his body.
"Gomu Gomu no…"
"RRRAAAGGHHH!" Oars bellowed as he slammed both arms down.
"…STORM!"
The result was a barrage of fists, each with the force of a cannon, slamming at rapid fire speed into the undead giant's torso. Though Oars could not feel pain, bones breaking and damage to his body was still something he could suffer from. It just so happened that each one of Luffy's punches could do both.
And with one final hard punch, Oars finally collapsed onto another section of the building, and this time he did not get back up.
"I…can't move…" the giant groaned.
"He did it!" Lola cheered "He knocked Oars down!"
"Hah…Hah…" Luffy panted as he felt the shadows slip away from his body. His gargantuan form slowly shrunk back to his usual size as he watched with lidded eyes as the shadows that formerly used him as a host floated away out of sight, back to wherever they came from. The exhaustion instantly washed over his body, it strains him to even move a finger. Zoro and Sanji soon came over and helped him to his feet.
Brook hurried over with a huge bundle of salt bags, passing them to the rest of the Straw Hats. "Now is your chance, you can purify Oars when he's down. Because of how big he is, you'd need more salt than usual."
"What if he wakes up again?" Robin asked "It would be right when we are defenseless."
"Which is why we're doing it from a distance!" Usopp declared as he placed down his massive slingshot "There is no way I'm going anywhere close to that monster, even if he can't get up!"
"Good thinking."
"Hehe, alright Luffy! Are you excited to have your shadow back?" Usopp grinned as he loaded up the payload "Hissatsu-!"
"Now don't be so hasty with that!"
Right as the bag of salt was about to drop into the giant's mouth, a quick swipe managed to swipe it out of the air. Horrified gasps sounded as they saw a black mass rise up beside the giant, grinning at them with its jagged mouth before it tossed the bag of salt against a wall, ripping it.
"Moria!" Luffy realized "He's still here!"
"Well, you really did give me a show there, Straw Hat!" the demon-like shadow master glared at them from atop of a ledge "I know you can't manipulate the shadows, how were you able to get so much power?"
"I don't have to tell you squat! Get down here so I can kick your ass!"
"You've messed up enough of my plans for tonight, Straw Hat, you and all of your wretched followers." Moria growled "That last attack nearly put Oars out of commission with all the damage he took, you almost cost me a powerful member of my army!"
"This ends tonight, Moria!" Lola shouted angrily "We're not suffering under you any longer!"
"I'm sorry, have we met?" Moria scoffed "I don't care to remember those I take shadows from. You, Straw Hat, are the sole exception to that. You've cost me a lot of resources tonight, for that I'll make sure to butcher your entire crew!"
"There's still about an hour until dawn, I'll beat every shadow you've ever taken out of you!" Luffy snarled. Moria scowled at that.
"Yes yes, your bravado could be seen as somewhat endearing before, but now it's starting to piss me off!"
"Wait… Moria-sama! I don't need-!" That was the last thing Oars could do with his conscience.
Everyone took a step back as Moria's shadow sank into the downed body of Oars, before once again the giant began to stir.
"Oh no!" Usopp pointed "Oars is getting back up!"
The group looked on in horror as the giant they spent so much effort on bringing down now staggered back up, however now there was something different. Oars' eyes, previously still having a sense identity, was now completely blank and the giant didn't even make any noise for himself. It was as if the ancient beast was no longer able to animate by himself at all, merely act as a puppet while Moria pulled his strings.
And safely nestled in a cavity within Oars' abdomen was none other than the shadow master himself, now piloting Oars like a machine.
"I will remind you, Straw Hat that you do not have much time left. You have expended all your energy, and your crew who has spent half the night battling Oars are exhausted beyond measure. This is the final dawn you'll ever see in your life! Now crush them, my puppet!"
"Gomu Gomu no Pistol…" Oars groaned monotonously as he threw one arm back in the usual homage towards Luffy's signature move.
Only this time, there was one-
"WHAT THE HELL?! HOW IS HE SUDDENLY ABLE TO STRETCH HIS BODY?!" came Brook's shout as the punch smashed towards them.
Meanwhile:
"Just what did you find?" Gian roared as he pounded an Atom Fist towards his counterpart. They have been evenly matched, and Grendolas was perfectly fine with playing coy about the truth he unearthed about the Kaiju. Gian cursed inwards; his undead predecessor is probably trying to stall for time until the sun comes up, but somehow he knew that wasn't the case.
The two broke apart with one more clash of fists, sliding a few feet away from each other. Grendolas gave a sneer at the sight of the glare his living successor shot him.
"You really are serious about this aren't you? At this point it's not just simply about getting your shadow back, is it? You want to know what I discovered." holding up his hands, the undead Kaiju-Zoan user gave a shrug "Well, I suppose if it eases your thoughts one last time, I shall indulge you." Before Gian could react, Grendolas already sprang before him and latched around his temple with one hand.
Gian winced as the flow of Aura began to surge into him, the same Aura he possesses, but now with the addition of something more corrupted.
When he next opened his eyes, he found himself within a bustling room. Many people sitting at desks waiting for their instructions, and at the head of the room, a rather lean man stood as he lectured the class. The man did not seem like anything in particular, a simple plaid vest and grey pants with a full head of hair that showed the beginning of some specks of grey. He wouldn't have been out of place in any city or town.
"Before the events that changed my life happened, I was nothing more than a college professor." Gendolas' ethereal voice could be heard around him. "It was a classroom," Gian realized "This is a part of his memories…!"
"My life was rather simple, I had a career I was invested in. I had a home, a few colleagues and acquaintances that I interacted with fairly regularly. I was never married, I simply did not feel the need to and I was rather content with my life the way it was. I did, however, have one hobby that I enjoyed immensely: the idea of being outdoors and exploring the lost frontiers was a feeling that had been so elating…"
The vision shifted through multiple scenarios, how the still living Gendolas had climbed mountains and rafted down rivers. It was a feeling he wasn't unfamiliar with, considering how many adventures Luffy had dragged him and the others on the feelings here were rather relatable.
"Never would I have expected to one day find the key that would lead to this life unravelling out of my control." Grendolas' voice turned bitter as the images shifted once more, and this time, Gian himself took a step back at what he saw.
Gian could see Grendolas, along with a small number of people following close behind him, all standing before a massive stone carving deep within a cave, an incredulous and uncertain look on their faces. There, scrawled into the rock itself and dimly lit by torchlight, was the rough image of a titanic creature rearing up, mouth agape. Surrounding the titan were numerous figures, seemingly to represent people, though Gian did not know it was to signify fear or worship.
"Wait a minute, that the monster I turn into for my Full Transformation! That's Gojira!"
"I have never seen anything like it, the moment I laid eyes on those remnants it was as if something ancient was calling out to me. At the time, the less sensible side of me decided to alert the authorities in the area, and when the Marines showed up, they immediately said they would take over from that point on." Grendolas' voice turned bitter upon reaching that point "The next time I tried to find the cave again, I could no longer do so. The people who saw it with me that day declined to speak about it further, and the people who lived near that cave would claim they never heard of something like that. It was as if it had disappeared off the face of this world. I should've known something was up by then, but at first I seemed to have brushed it off. Unfortunately, that would not be the last time I would have an encounter with the ancient."
Multiple more memories surged through Gian's eyes, within them Grendolas would go on to chance upon more relics depicting Kaiju during his expeditions to uncharted areas, finding more evidence on the Kaiju that once existed in the world. There were not many, but enough revealed themselves that allowed the former professor to push onwards. Similar cave art showing more gigantic beasts being revered by humans, to buried shrines dedicated to the monsters. Even through the veils of a memory Gian could tell that the professor's demeanor was changing; Grendolas seemed to be pursing the knowledge of there being possibly more to these artifacts with increasing fixation.
"I could not get the thoughts of what I found out of my head, what began as an interest a first grew to a demand to know more. I loathe to admit that it took a hit to my career, my focus towards my work and life began to deteriorate, as did the relations between me and my peers. But they were the least of my worries; The World Government seemed to have realized my activities, and I have received multiple warnings to discontinue them lest I wished there to be consequences. It was only then that I realize the magnitude of such things went deeper than I originally thought, but then I made a discovery that dwarfed the others."
The next memory made Gian take a step back as he found himself at the foot of yet another rock engraving, this time seemingly within a decrepit temple in some unknown land. This one was far grander than the rest, each carving of an entire army of monsters surrounding what appears to be a rift within the land itself, as something monstrous erupted from the crack, threatening them with fire and brimstone.
It brought the conversations that he had back in Mu with a living Kaiju back to his mind.
"I found evidence of the events that occurred, of the great battle that took place between the Kaiju and their Progenitor. " Grendolas' voice echoed "It archived the events that happened long before us, but more than that it spoke of the fate of the Progenitor: For its violence, the Ancient Dragon was severed into 3 pieces that represented its sins and buried far apart, where they will remain part. If the pieces were to be reunited, the Progenitor will be reunited, and a new era of darkness will blot out the sun." Gendolas sighed upon revealing that fact.
"And what did the World Government do when they found out about this? They used everything in their power to label me with insanity! I was stripped of my position from my school, ostracized by my colleagues, and had nothing left. Yet they once again turned a blind eye to such a revelation, not even giving it a second thought. How could they ignore what was right in front of them? How could they not see the time we have is limited and ticking away?!"
Gian shuddered; a memory it may be, but he could feel the pure loathing and anger emanating from the former professor though the haze. As the memory changed, it now showed Grendolas sitting at a desk, the room hardly illuminated save for a small candle. Around him, multiple open books and maps laid strewn about, research seemingly conducted here with no regard to the surrounding. Texts, passages and related documents on whatever sparse information about Kaiju he could find and scrounge up, all of it on display. What was most concerning was the way he presented himself now; rather than the prim and professional educator that he once was, Grendolas now had an eerie fixation on the subject he's studying on, his once well-groomed hair now unkempt and dirty, and his eyes bloodshot, yet the focus he displays showed a chilling dedication.
And what Grendolas revealed next equally chilling.
"Then I found a way for people to see what the World Government was hiding, a tool for me to use to finally wake the world to the buried truth. An obscure document claimed of an ichor that makes the one that consumes it take the form of a cataclysmic beast, and after years of pinpointing the location I had found it. On an isolated island in the Calm Belt called Odo Island, within the remains of a lost temple, I found the piece that was linked to the past!"
"No…!" Gian couldn't help but whisper "You didn't…!"
"I almost didn't…!" Grendolas' voice began to grow in octaves as the scene around Gian shifted to showing the outcome of the day in question. The booming of cannons sang in the air, making his blood run cold; the events of Enies Lobby were still too recent for him to ever forget the presence of a Buster Call slamming down on the island, but that was exactly what had transpired. He could see Grendolas running through the jungle, bloodied and carrying some unseen object as angry voices sounded around him as they gave chase. It was only when he reached a clearing when Grendolas finally revealed the object he was carrying: a large grey-skinned fruit that periodically emanated blue light from lines running down its flesh…
Gian didn't even need to ask to know what it was. As the soldiers pursuing him reached the clearing before opening fire and studding him with bullets, they were already too late to prevent the former professor from taking a bite.
"On that day, the world was given a reminder" Grendolas' voice snapped him out of his shock "Nature will point out the follies of man."
And Gian nearly found his mind being crushed as the massive pool of Aura burst outwards and revealed the titanic beast whose form he took so often. Grendolas instantly laid waste to the forces pursuing him, before turning his wrath onto the Buster Call fleet. What took an entire day to transpire was brutally ended in a single night.
And to Gian's horror, the memories did not end there. Grendolas immediate turned his attention to the rest of the world, lighting up port towns with atomic fire and crushing entire fleets of ships under his size. Gian could do nothing as he witnessed the hellish landscape left behind by the undead Kaiju-Zoan user's crusade, being merely a witness to events out of his control, he couldn't do anything, even as his body screamed at him to do so.
"It's quite dreary, when your head is scraping the cloud, the people down below seem to be nothing but ants." Grendolas sighed "I carried out my work with purpose, every death I inflicted, the trail of destruction I leave, it was all a sign of the World Government's failure to contain such a truth."
"You're completely insane…" Gian had to choke out.
"It was an insanity that needed to be demonstrated. That did not mean I enjoyed the ordeal." Grendolas shook his head "The deaths of those innocents were all blood on the World Government's hands, it was a casket waiting to blow up on them. Still, a piece of me reviled the role I had to play, and a part of me wishes that someone would actually have the ability to end my destruction. As you will see, that came to be exactly 1 year after I discovered the Goji-Goji no mi."
The scene shifted once again, this time to a much more somber atmosphere. Grendolas, clad in in his Full Transformation, was glaring down at a small boat, his size making it look completely miniscule. The only other being present was another middle-aged man, his lean frame and eye-patch over his left eye gave the impression of a pirate. But one glance at the device held in his hands would tell you otherwise. It was nothing more than a cylindrical tube with a ball of metal located in the middle, but Gian could feel, even though the veils of a memory, that the tech was something abnormal.
"In my quest of destruction, I had doomed countless people. The only one to truly stand out from that was him, and what he created that day claimed both of us to the sea." Grendolas' voice was softer now, almost reminiscing of the time. Gian watched with bated breath as the scientist dove into the icy waters of that night, and with a split flash of light, Grendolas himself closed his eyes and began to sink, some kind of smoke billowing around in the waters surrounding them.
The last thing he saw was the gargantuan beast dip below the water before his vision was overtaken by white.
Gian came to with a jolt, rapidly looking at his surroundings. They were back in the forests around Thriller Bark, the shared memory between them cut off.
"I ultimately did not know what the result of my year of destruction would end up with, perhaps I had been overly optimistic that the World Government would come to their senses and take steps to discover more about the Kaiju and prevent their return. Now however, after a century has past and my untimely resurrection, it appears little has changed. The World Government is still attempting to erase any evidence of the Kaiju." Gendolas sighed, and for once, Gian didn't know what to say.
"Over a century ago I have doubted my cause, but now it seems I am granted the chance to give the world that reminder once more. The Kaiju have not left this world, they are poised to take it back, and their presence will bring about the ancient beings that owned this world before us. Once I've gathered enough shadows to take on a stronger form, I will then be lacking the weaknesses I once had. And this time, I will not be alone in this endeavor."
Gian was snapped out of his stupor when Grendolas tilted his head up using 3 fingers, the revenant's milk-white eyes boring into his own dark ones.
"I know you've experienced the same as I have." Grendolas pushed "Just as you have peered into my memories, I have seen into yours. I know you are trying to uncover the truth about the Kaiju, and the World Government has already put you on their radar, they know the power you possess, and now they are trying to suppress you just as they have with me."
"What are you trying to say?" Gian croaked, and what was revealed to him was something he did not expect to hear.
"I had thought that you were merely an obstacle in my way, but now that I've seen what you've seen, I know we both share this monster's spirit. It was never ours to bear, but now that it is a part of us, we have an obligation to reveal to the world that titans exist."
Gian's eyes widened at what was to come next.
"Join me, we're both familiar with the Goji-Goji no Mi and what rests within it, use that power alongside me to truly show the world what the World Government tries to hide from it!"
A beat passed, their gazes never leaving each other. Finally, after a second, there was only one answer that could be given.
"Are you completely out of your mind?!"
Gian's eyes hardened as he felt an unnatural amount of fury explode inside of him. There really wasn't any other way to say it, and hearing from an undead predecessor of the same fruit he has just makes it all the more outrageous.
"The World Government once said the same of me, yet it seems their fears ultimately came true." Grendolas said dismissively "I herald the return of monsters, and they simply got a front row seat to it."
"What you're doing is condemning millions to die!" Gian shouted "Those people were never given a choice on what they know! They live their lives wondering what the next day will bring, and what they want to be in the future. And you would take that from them just so you could try and teach the World Government a lesson?"
"By uncovering the truth of the Kaiju you will inevitably bring destruction to people's lives!" Grendolas warned "The World Government will resort to drastic measures to keep these secrets hidden, including purge the very people you're attempting to shield from me! What we do is insignificant in comparison!"
"That doesn't make it right!"
"Enough! I already knew this would be your answer. When the remnants of the Goji Goji no Mi merged our mind through its Aura, I already saw your morals and values. I was once foolish enough to have the same." Grendolas scoffed "It matters not, soon the sun will rise and you will be confined here unless you wish for disintegration. There is no stopping me, not anymore."
"No… you're not going anywhere!"
Suddenly the clearly erupted as vast amounts of energy exploded outwards, causing Grendolas to stumble back, a look of confusion on his face.
Then he felt it, a feeling welling up within him, as if the remaining amount of Aura within him was boiling. If he still had blood within him that would've boiled too.
"Originally, I just wanted to get my shadow back so Luffy would have one less problem to deal with. Then I thought something about you was off, and lo and behold I was right." Gian's eyes were blazing orbs of fire now, the Aura of his kaiju now billowing off of his body in cloak-like flames as they slowly reared up and took up the ethereal form of the upper head and torso of his Full Transformation "After hearing everything you've done? Knowing what you can do right now? I cannot let you leave this island!"
And the next thing Grendolas felt was him flying through the air as a fist of atomic fire slammed into him.
Meanwhile:
"Come on… I can still fight…!" Luffy wheezed "If I can just get a few more punches in!"
"Don't push yourself 'Straw Hat', with that many shadows exiting your body you shouldn't make many sudden movements!" Lola urged.
"Let us handle this, Luffy." Zoro growled "You've done enough, we'll get your shadow back."
"You guys have been battling Oars for the whole night!" Brook gasped "If you continue your injuries will be too great! If this goes on then-!"
"-Then we'll take him on." Luffy said firmly again "There's not much time left, I just have to land a few good hits!"
"Can you?" Moria cackled from within Oars "You can hardly move a muscle, let alone throw a punch! I was right to say that you in way too deep over your head!" controlling Oars like a puppet, Moria flung one of the giant's arms back in a screw-like fashion, only this time the arm actually seemed to stretch more than it was capable of before.
"Watch out!" Sanji called out, and everyone had to dive out of the way as the massive fist impacted into a wall close to where they were.
"Gomu-Gomu no Rifle!"
"How is he suddenly stretching?" Usopp yelped "When we fought him before Oars was able to use Luffy's moves but he didn't have his rubber body so he couldn't do all of them, when did that change?"
"So you noticed it, then?" Moria scoffed "It's true, the shadows I plant into corpses can only imitate the original body within the capabilities of the body it inhabits. However, that rule does not apply to my shadow, and right now it's controlling this giant pile of skin like a machine!" the Straw Hats widened their eyes as Oars' body began to twist and curve in an unnatural manner, all the while a black mass of darkness pooled at the base of the giant "I can make this body move in any fashion not unlike what 'Straw Hat' can do, and with Oars' strength he can do it even better! Of course, there are limitations to this, but none of those apply right now!"
"So now you're really copying me!" Luffy growled "Have you even once relied on your own power to beat an opponent?"
"My power is what made all this happen you fool!" Moria snarled "Now fall under the might of Oars!"
As the giant's foot slammed down, Luffy was forced to scramble. The rest of the crew tried to intervene, but the force of the attacks from Oars seemed to be more fearsome than before, and this time Moria allowed no interruption.
"We need to attack it all at once again, we managed to bring Oars down for a moment before, even with Moria mixed in that logic should not change." Zoro proposed.
"And this time we have Luffy on our side," Sanji grinned "We'll do more than knock him down now."
"Even at that size, it'll be easier if we can somehow restrain it." Chopper noted "If we can get something big enough to pin him down even for a while-"
"Or something long enough to get him caught!" Franky grinned as he pointed up. Chopper beamed when he saw the target: The length of chains that served as the winches to opening and closing the gates to Thriller Bark.
"If that's the case, then me, Nami and Usopp will stay here and give Luffy any support he needs." Robin nodded "Zoro and Sanji can also help with keeping the giant at bay."
"My thoughts exactly." The swordsman nodded.
"Anything for you Robin-chan!" Sanji grinned.
"I think we might have a plan after all!" The cyborg affirmed before running off with Chopper in tow. The two of them looked over to the carnage; Moria seems to be hellbent on crushing Luffy at the moment, as his sole focus is on him. Each punch and stomp unleashed by Oars sent tremors as they missed the boy by mere inches. Then again, anyone else attempting to get close would get swatted away anyway.
"Luffy! We can help you bring him down, just keep him busy for a bit while we set up!" Chopper called out. The captain grinned upon hearing that.
"Leave this to me! Just do what you need to do!"
"Whatever you're planning it won't work!" Moria gloated "There's no way off of this island for you all!"
"What are they planning?" One of the bystanders asked Lola.
"I hope whatever it is, it'll work. They look like they know what they're going to do even without talking to each other." the woman gulped. It looks like the Straw Hat Pirate already know what they would do, and thus they left the floor to them.
"I need a boost, if I can get to a high enough vantage point then I'll be able to pull this off!" Luffy called out "Brook! Can you get me all the way to the top of the tower, my stamina isn't quite recovered yet!"
"Anything you ask for, Luffy-san!" Brook nodded before hoisting the rubber boy up. Luffy pointed up to the tallest tower, and the speed of the skeleton allowed him to almost scale it vertically.
Unfortunately, Moria did not miss that.
"You're not going anywhere 'Straw Hat'! Gomu Gomu no Bazooka!" commanding Oars to throw both arms back, Moria was just about to slam both hands into the tower when-
"Rain Tempo!"
"Where did all of these clouds come from?!" Moria snapped, cancelling the attack as his vision was obscured in order to brush the clouds away. When he finally was able to see again, he was no longer focused on Luffy, but rather at Nami and Usopp standing atop a ledge closer to his head, with the latter now loaded up yet another shot with his sling.
"You're not fighting against just Luffy anymore!" the sniper shouted "Hissatsu: Cho Kemuri Boshi!" A stream of smoke once again blinded the shadow puppeteer, forcing Moria to thrash his arms around to try and clear the air once more.
"Enough with the cheap tricks!" Moria roared, about to throw another punch. His arm smashed into the higher ledges of the mansion, causing Nami and Usopp to be dislodge with a yelp. But soon he was face with a certain cyborg as he leapt down from his perch in front of his face.
"Best to keep your footing, Moria!" Franky shouted as his forearms swelled "Coup de Vent!" as the air cannon fired out, it wasn't enough to knock Oars down, but it did cause him to brace himself. The shipwright was then met with another swat from the massive fist, but before he crashed to the ground they offered the next part of the plan.
"Now, Chopper!"
"It's dislodged!" the reindeer affirmed from atop his target. Heaving the chain he spotted earlier down with all his might, it was up to Sanji to do the rest.
"Here we go! Let's get this guy wrapped up nice for our captain!" Looping a leg through one of the massive links, the chef using all of his power heaved the length of metal around Oars' torso, before throwing a powerful kick that embedded the other end into the ground.
"Argh! I'm stuck!" Moria cursed as he strained against it "But it won't matter! Oars' strength is stronger than even the metal on this ship!"
"That's why you won't get to break free!" Zoro shouted, nodding to his partner. Beside him, Robin only nodded as he crossed his arm.
"Luffy should be ready any time now." the archaeologist nodded, flower petals floating in the air near her as multiple arms sprouted from the ground to form 4 large ones that latched onto Oars' own. As Moria struggled to break free, already the penultimate Straw Hat was on the attack. With Wado Ichimonji clasped between his teeth as Sandai Kitetsu and Shusui spun around like a windmill, Zoro charged forwards before leaping.
"Santoryu Ougi-:"
"Aim for his stomach Zoro!" Chopper called "Get him to keel over!"
"-Sanzen Sekai!"
Scoring a massive cut across the giant's abdomen, Zoro inflicted a gash so grievous that Moria, hidden between flesh, was partially exposed. Shouting in confusion, Moria tried to stabilize his creation as Oars threatened to topple over.
Which would be done by the captain himself.
"Now Luffy! He's wide open!" Zoro shouted.
"Brook! Throw me off as strongly as you can!"
"Oh man, here goes!" the skeleton obliged and Luffy began to fall, as the captain brought both fists to his mouth and began to blow.
"Gear Third…!"
"Aim for his back, Luffy!" Usopp called.
"Gomu Gomu no…!"
"No! Straw Hat!" Moria snarled, straining against his captors as best he could, but he could do nothing as Luffy's twin forearms ballooned up.
"…Gigant Bazooka!"
And the massive blow smacked into Oars with extreme force, so much so that an audible crack was heard. The force of the blow cause Moria to rupture out of the remains of Oars' abdomen cavity, shouting in fear as he toppled to the ground. Groaning as he looked back up, the Shichibukai gave one shout of shock as the undead giant flopped onto him from the force.
And this time he would not be getting up. The last blow had struck Oars right in the center of his spine. For zombies, the laws of the body still apply. Even undead, the need to have a central nervous system is key in achieving locomotion, and once that's cut off, there was no way he could move anything.
It didn't help most of his other bones was smashed into powder long ago.
"W-Why can't I move…?" his question would go unanswered as Luffy fluttered to the ground, now shrunken due to his use of Gear Third. Fortunately, Robin was able to catch him in a net of hands.
"Did… Did they do it?" Lola called out from afar.
"They have to have this time!" one of her crew answered "There's no way Oars or Moria could get up after that!"
"Looks like we did it," Nami whistled "And with Gian still occupied with his counterpart, he should be getting a nice surprise once his shadow comes back to him in the middle of the fight."
"Now we just need to coerce Moria into relinquishing the shadows!" a shrunken Luffy called "Get out from under there, you bastard! There's no way you can win now!"
"You… You think you've defeated me…?"
Shadows pooled up from Oars' corpse as Moria formed himself, switching places with his own. The warlord looked like he's been ran through a meat grinder, battered and bruised as injuries littered his body. His eyes, now full of hate, trained onto the crew of pirates that just brought him down.
"It's just you now! You have no more army to back you up! We have all the salt we need to keep purifying them!" Zoro growled "Give it up, you've lost!"
"Give us our shadows back!" Lola shouted "Or do we need to sic the Straw Hats on you again?!"
"Kishishishi… You all have no idea what loss means. When you've been to where I am, then you'd know what it's like to truly lose!"
"What are you talking about?!" Luffy snapped.
"Just because you bested Crocodile, escaped Enies Lobby, you think you're prepared for the whole world?" Moria hissed "That overconfidence is going to get you killed, if I don't do it then someone further down in the New World will. The nakama you hold so dear to you, how'd you feel when they're brutally ripped from you and you're left all alone?!"
"That will never happen! We protect each other, we'll face anything that threatens us!"
"You know nothing, foolish boy!" Moria's expressions warped to that of rage "You think you can protect them? The New World claims the lives of people like you every day, those that think they're ready because they've gotten through the first half of the Grand Line. I once had a crew like yours, I had nakama that I felt kinship with, and I thought we could've conquered the Grand Line as well. But then Kaido appeared and slaughtered them all! I lost everything I have, you've never even known what it is like to lose the ones you care about!" Vivid flashes of the day in question appeared from his memory, how everything he's built up to that point burned around him as one of the Yonko stood triumphant above his broken body "People die so easily, not like zombies. They can be beaten as much as they wish and still stand up, and if they are broken I can just place the shadows in a new body!"
"So these zombies are just supposed to be a replacement?!" Luffy shouted "They aren't your crew! You're just trying to make up because you screwed up years ago! They won't replace them no matter what you do!"
"SHUT UP! THE NEW WORLD TOOK EVERYTHING FROM ME!" Moria's arrogant grin was no longer there, replaced by a pure mask of hysterical rage "My beloved crew… their only flaw were that they were living. I lost them because they could die, now with my new army of zombies, I'll never lose anyone again! I will have the largest army in the world, while you will see your own crew die in front of you one day, and for that to happen… LET ME GIVE YOU A LESSON IN THAT!""
Luffy yelped as he jumped up, avoiding the multiple shadows tendrils that snaked from Moria's body. Everyone else at the scene managed to do the same, though they'll soon find that they were not the intended target.
"What's going on?" Zoro shouted.
"You wish to have your shadows back? I'll make sure they're all in one place for you! The same shadows you wish to return will be the same ones that will lead to your demise!"
Across the entire island they went, Moria's shadow tentacles snaked out like a massive web. The remaining Zombies on the island, all unaware of their master's plan, hardly had time to react at the shadowy spears impaled into their bodies. Their last moments of awareness was of seeing the same substance that gave them life separated from them.
And bit by bit, Moria's body began to grow. Arms swelling up to disproportionate levels, the writhing mass of shadows fed their master as he began to tower over the ones who tried to resist him.
"Kishishishishi… KISHISHISHISHI…! You thought having 100 shadows gave you power? This is the power of absorbing 1000!"
"He's as big as Oars!" Lola shouted.
"And he has all of the shadows we're trying to get back in there too…!" Franky cursed "If Luffy was able to punch Oars halfway across the island with just 100 shadows, then this-!"
"Behold the power that will make me Pirate King! Behold, SHADOW ASGARD!"
And the group below scatted as Moria slammed a massive hand down, hard.
A hand that nearly split all of Thriller Bark.
Meanwhile:
"So there was more to the Goji-Goji no Mi's power! I never tapped into something like this before! It's as if the monster has been completely merged with his body!"
That was Grendolas' thoughts as waves of atomic fire rained down from fists, Gian did not let his undead counterpart have any recourse, unleashing every strike with the intent to fully relinquish every shadow in his hold. He was certain now; despite being brought to life by him, Grendolas could possibly be an even bigger threat than Moria. And everything he saw moments before all but confirmed that.
And Grendolas felt the full brunt of it. Every strike he lashed out with seemed to be ignored as his modern day successor simply shrugged it off and delivered something back 5 times stronger. Previously evenly matched, now the odds were shifting, and he was steadily losing steam.
"Atom Fist!" shadows screamed as Grendolas gathered enough dark energy around his fist. A powerful imitation, now in the face of the original primordial power that Gian wields it seemed insignificant. The cloak of Gojira's visage that gathered around 'Beast Warrior' also bunched into a fist, a hand that consists of pure flaming Aura did the same.
"Atom Fist: Impact!"
The revenant was overpowered almost instantly, flying through the forest as multiple trees snapped at he struck them with his body.
"Just where did all this power come from? It's as if the Kaiju itself is awakening within him!"
His eyes widened as the blue glow drew closer, Gian's eyes never left his counterpart. In his mind, the Kaiju-Zoan user felt exhilaration; somehow the floodgates were open again, Aura flowing through his veins and pores freely.
"It's the same thing I did back at Enies Lobby…! It seems it only awakens during times of intense emotion, considering what he said to me that would add up…!"
It felt good, he could probably break down his predecessor's body to the point where no shadows could inhabit it. If that's the case, maybe they would all return to their original bodies without Moira needed to defeat them.
The Aura cloak of his Full Transformation's upper body opened its mouth, energy began to gather in a dense ball. Waves of atomic fire cascaded off of his body; power was being accumulated to the point that the ground beneath him was beginning to crack.
And Grendolas didn't need to be alive to know that if he was hit by that, he would probably not have an extant body anymore. Unfornutately, that last punch has launched him so hard that he was now impaled on a branch on a nearby tree, one that hasn't snapped with the force of the impact.
"No… I've been given a chance to once again give the world it's reminder about the Kaiju… am I really to be destroyed before that's to be accomplished?!"
"150 years you brought ruin to millions in your hubris… never again." Gian growled as if he's read Grendolas' thoughts. The Aura construct reared its head back, about to fire off one last blast.
Grendolas could do nothing, struggle as much as he can, it wouldn't be enough time to get free. Strangely, it seems that his possible final moment reminded him of that night; the same ice cold sea, just him and that scientist that ended both of their lives.
"Poetic… if not a bit unfortunate…"
"Atom Ray…" Gian's beam continued to charge. Grendolas only closed his eyes as he awaited vaporization.
"Megade-WHA-?!"
But it seemed that he would get a chance after all. Because the entire island had just shook at that moment, the quake rocked enough that 'Beast Warrior' was thrown off balance. The pulsing atomic ray fired off at another angle, searing past his head and setting the canopy ablaze above them.
It was that opportunity that gave Grendolas the split second he needed to free himself. And he wasted no chance. Rushing forwards, his hand fastened around Gian's throat, gritting his teeth as his living successor slammed his Aura enhanced fists into his sides, and tossed him down in a choke slam. Gian immediately countered with a flaming kick to the chest, causing Grendolas to spiral back again to gain his bearings.
It was only then that he noticed the tendrils of shadows seeking him out. Widening his eyes in alarm, he held up a hand as the strings latched onto him, and he could feel the shadows he accumulated being pulled from him.
"Holy-! What's going on over there?!"
Gian's cry of shock allowed Grendolas to look up, the two saw the pale, bloated body of Gecko Moria expand just above the treeline. Clearly, this was a final gambit attempt to defeat his enemies, which made Gian worry. Luffy and the others must be over there now, and if Moria was pressed to do this, it must mean his captain pushed him a bit too far. With dawn rapidly approaching, there was not much time left. He needed to finish things here and head over.
He didn't know that Grendolas had the same thoughts, only except his interest was only in Moria.
"Finally… It's time for me to pay this Gecko Moria a visit!"
"Wha-?!"
Gian took a step back upon seeing Grendolas roar out in exertion, the revenant gathered himself before thowing his arms out, the shockwave dissipating the shadow tentacles latching onto him.
"All of this island's shadows are gathered there! All of the ones I need for the final step of this body!"
"What are you doing?"
"Farewell Gian, if the sun has not risen by the time I accomplish my task, you perhaps will be able to see the final ascension of this form!"
"I said you aren't going anywhere!" Gian charged forwards, his tail lashed out in a wave of Aura. This time, however, Grendolas was ready. Ducking under the Aura wave, he latched both hands onto the incoming appendage before gripping it tightly. Planting his feet into the ground, the revenant roared out a cry of exertion before swinging his living successor in a circle. Gian cried out as he tried to lash back, until he felt himself flying into yet another tree. The impact was hard enough to crack the wood, but the true intent wasn't evident until Gian tried to stand up to continue. Another crack sounded, this time louder, and Gian barely managed to turn around when the entire tree toppled down.
"Oh Shi-!"
Now pinned under the log, Gian's Aura cloak dissolved as he struggled to free himself. A few feet away, he saw Grendolas leaving, the revenant glancing back with a side eye and giving a smirk before bounding away.
"Damn it all!" Gian cursed, before once again straining to get the log off. His plan just hit a major snag, and with their only being a little more than half an hour before dawn, thing could not be worse…
Back with the others:
"Kishishishi! KISHISHISHI!" Moria's echoed cackled sounded as he witnessed Luffy struggling to get up. Shadow Asgard, his ultimate technique, was one he did not expect to use. By gathering every shadow in the vicinity into his body, his can amplify his strength hundredfold. A single punch can crack stone and bend steel; the one he threw earlier nearly split his entire ship! Even with Straw Hat's rubber body, he couldn't take that many hits from this.
Of course, the drawbacks are rather noticeable, His grotesque and bloated form meant that mobility was limited. Perhaps the true extend of this ability was still out of reach, Moria had told himself; consider he himself has rarely gone to this extent, he may have to work on its mastery a little bit. It was actually quite preposterous that Straw Hat would even push him this far to make him use it.
Still, the benefits outweighed any negatives at this point, and he just wanted Straw Hat to suffer.
"You wanted to know what a nightmare looks like? You're looking right at him!"
"Crap… Can Luffy even take a hit from that?" Nami whimpered "Moria's even bigger than Oars; He's almost as big as Gian when he turns into a monster!"
"There has to be a weakness somewhere," Robin mused "By observing him, it seems that his movement is rather ungainly. Perhaps if Luffy can exploit that…"
"We don't have much time though… I estimate there's only 40 minutes left before the sun comes up. If that happens then…" Brook didn't need to finish that sentence. Everyone at the scene was uncertain about that.
"Stay back everyone, if I'm going to hit him as hard as I can I'll need all the space I can get!" the rubber boy gritted as he glared up at the massive warlord. Crouching down, Luffy noticed it too: Gecko Moria might hit harder than a cannon in this form, but he could hardly move his body. And when you need to outspeed something…
"Gear Second…!"
"I see what you're trying to do! Don't think just because you're fast that I won't flatten you like a pancake!" Moria howled as he witnessed the steam emitting from his foe, opening his palm he thrust down to squash him, but Luffy was already gone.
"Grrr… Damn it I-AUGH!"
"GOMU GOMU NO JET BAZOOKA!"
As Gecko Moria knew so well, a bigger body size means more area to hit, and Luffy took full advantage of that. Slamming his hands into the bloated frame of the warlord, the strike was enough to cause him to double over.
But more than that, it had caused some the shadows to spill out of his mouth. Barely able to be contained before, a single strike cause some shadows to spew out like water from a broken pipe, with the Shichibukai desperately clamping his hands around his mouth to contain them.
"He could barely even hold anything in!" Lola gasped "He's more desperate than anything else."
"Even the shadows he's enslaved no longer want anything to do with him." Sanji noticed "They're all trying to leave, it's as if that form weakens his hold over them."
"And that will be his down fall." Zoro grunted "Luffy is going to win this, there's no doubt about it now!"
Moria growled as he launched another fist down, making crater in the area where Luffy once stood. This time Luffy flashed behind him, throwing back a punch that caused the warlord to face plant into the ground. When the enraged Moria reared back up, Luffy was already gone again.
"Stand still you pest!" Moria roared, with a wave of his hand he summoned a flock of shadow bats that swarmed the rubber man as he dashed across the air. Luffy tried to fight them off but soon found teeth sinking into his arms, before the shadows coagulated and solidified into an air tight box.
"I'm going to smash you! Black Box!"
"Luffy/Straw Hat!" everyone at the scene cried out in horror, the box that encased the rubber captain slammed into the ground by Moria's massive fist. Nothing stirred, and Moria raised his fists in triumph.
"This is the difference between us, Straw Hat! Do you really think with power like this you can survive in the New World?" footsteps interrupted him as his eye caught Zoro and Sanji rushing at him in an attempt to free their captain. A single strike impacted the ground hard enough to cause the two to jump back into safety, and as the Warlord's gaze fell on the group around him, his grin widened savagely before flicking out two scissor blades.
"Now see how powerless you are! Powerless to stop me from slaughtering your nakama just as mine once were!"
"HE'S COMING THIS WAY!" Usopp screamed. The group running away from the sharp weapons as Moria plunged one down, narrowly missing the crowd. As Moria missed his next victim, he neglected to see that the shadow box he constructed was beginning to have dents on the sides.
"Nowhere to hide! Tonight, all of you will-!"
"GOMU GOMU NO JET RIFLE!"
"RRRRRAAAARRGGGGHHH!"
Luffy's punch was enough to cause Moria to spiral into the remnants of the island building. The warlord couldn't have avoided it even if he tried. His grossly swollen form were hardly supported by his smaller limbs, and so big that Luffy had plenty of places to hit even if Moria had tried to dodge. To make matters worse, with one punch more shadows have begun spewing out of his mouth like a torrent, and this time, Moria was really having trouble keeping it in.
"No…! The shadows…!" Moria groaned as he continued to regurgitate more shadows. He thought he had everything under control, that his army of zombies could easily overcome these mere trespassers. But that was not what happened, they banded together and overcame his forces, causing him to go down to their level and take things into his own accords.
Now, he realized he might lose it all.
"The shadows! Look!" a member of the Thriller Bark Victims Association pointed in glee "They're escaping!
"Which means he's losing control!" Lola grinned "He's losing his hold on them!"
"Go Luffy!" Chopper cheered
"Get em Straw Hat!"
But then Robin frowned as she noticed something was amiss.
"Hold on…" She mused "Where are those shadows going?"
"Huh?" Franky blinked "Wait… now that you mention it, why does it look like they're being drawn towards the forest?"
Nami noticed it too "They are, huh? But only things in that direction are Gian and- OH NO!"
"This ends now! I'm releasing every shadow you ever took!" as he declared this, Luffy placed his thumb into his mouth and began to blow. Leaping up into the air, he prepared one final strike.
"NO! I can't be defeated by you! I am-!" Moria held out his hand in a futile attempt to stop what happened, but it was too late, Luffy's arm swelled up, punch reared back. This hit would be the one that decides it all.
"Gomu Gomu no Gigant-!"
"LUFFY LOOK OUT!"
"ATOM RAY!"
"WHA-?!"
And it was cut short as a shadow beam cut through the air before him. Luffy had to blow out all the air stored in his arm in order to avoid it, the beam narrowly missing his hair by an inch as it carved into the ground between him and Moria. He could feel the heat singe his face as he landed on his butt, now shrunken again.
"What the-?! It's you!" he realized the new assailant, standing up on a ledge above Moria and grinning down at them with unnatural glee. Grendolas looked upon the bloated shape of Moria, and if the warlord had been paying attention, he'd see that the revenant was practically licking his chops.
But in his desperation, all he saw was that his secret weapon had arrived on the seen.
"What the hell is that thing?" Sanji snapped upon seeing the pale undead.
"Grendolas!" Nami realized "He was the one we saw in the forest!"
"He's the one that has Gian's shadow!" Chopper gasped.
"Then if he's here, then… Oh no…" Brook gasped.
"WHAT DID YOU DO TO GIAN?!" Luffy shouted.
Grendolas sneered down at the group "So these are his crewmates, his memories of you seem accurate. Do not fret, he's alive. In fact, knowing him he'll be hounding me even now. But before he arrives, I need to take care of business."
Looking up at the swollen Warlord, Grendolas was met by a gaze of wonder and awe.
"Amazing… in the flesh you're even more amazing than what Dr. Hogback described! Project Alpha, you're the savior of tonight!"
"So you must be Master Moria…" the former Kaiju-Zoan user smirked "I had expected something more… regal."
"All those years of work… all the shadows I've planted… you've finally taken form… AND I'VE NOW WON!"
Moria's feral expression levied towards the uncertain group, who took a step back as the undead Kaiju-Zoan user leapt down. Raising a bloated arm, Moria gave his order.
"Use your power… I don't even care about their shadows anymore, I can just get more… destroy everyone of them… KILL THEM ALL!"
The squad down below backed up, weapons raised in defense as they anticipated the incoming attack. Luffy in particular, now back to full size, glared defiantly at the revenant.
But Grendolas made no move, much to everyone's confusion. Even Moria was beginning to be a little perplexed as to why his pawn was not doing anything.
"Project Alpha… I ordered you to kill them! Why are you not attacking?"
"Yes, there may be plenty of bloodshed tonight." The revenant spoke absentmindedly, before his eyes hardened. By now he had leapt down, right onto Moria's wide chest, and the bloated shadow master felt a shade of uncertainty gather within him.
"Tonight… and every night henceforth!"
"What? What are you-?!"
Whatever Moria was about to say was cut off when Grendolas planted his fist directly into his chest in a shadow infused punch. The warlord's choked cry of shock was stifled by the large amount shadows he retched out as a result, shadows that flowed into the body of his former project.
And if that wasn't enough, multiple shadow tendrils shot off of the revenant's body and hooked into the Shichibukai, draining more shadows from him.
"Moria was attacked by his own zombie!" a stray pirate cried out "What's going on?!"
"The shadows!" another cried out "He's absorbing the shadows!"
"'Beast Warrior' said something was strange about this one… I have a bad feeling about this…!" Lola murmured.
"The entire time, he was on the pursuit of shadows to add to his body… could it be that hunger has allowed it to even defy its master?" Brook asked.
"No… it's more than that." Robin answered "It looks like Gian had a point earlier…!"
Needless to say, everyone was rather shocked at the sudden betrayal.
But none more so than the master himself.
"P-Project Alpha…" Moria croaked out "What are you doing…! How could attack me?! I created you… I GAVE YOU LIFE!" Gradually, his swollen body from Shadow Asgard was shrinking, the shadows pouring into his creation now caused him to grow instead.
And soon, Project Alpha swelled up to almost his height.
"Yes, you did bring me back to this world. Congratulations, Gecko Moria. You let the world once again be reminded of what the World Government tries to hide."
Moria's eyes widened at that, and only now did he recall the warning Dr. Hogback gave him earlier in the night. He had dismissed it then, seeing his power to greater than that, but now he realized that there was something far more ancient in the remains he found.
And just by transplanting the shadow of a living Kaiju-Zoan user, he unknowingly brought back a link to those monsters. And it was about to cause all of his plans to crash and burn.
"No… NO…! I'VE WORKED TOO HARD FOR THIS…! IT CAN'T JUST END BECAUSE OF THIS…!" Mustering up all the strength he could, Moria picked up one of his scissor blades and plunged it deep into the expanding undead's neck. Grendolas grunted slightly, before scoffing as the energy continued to build, and he grew taller and taller. It was when his own shadow was pulled out that Moria knew it was futile, as his shadow clawed at the air in an attempt to use anything to escape, it was pulled into Grendolas' mass as well.
"Now you understand, in the face of powers long before you, you are merely-"
"EVERYONE HIT THE DECK!" Zoro, the first to sense a change in the air, screamed out the warning as Grendolas' body flashed brightly for 3 seconds. Everyone dove to cover as best they could.
"-Irrelevant."
Then the island exploded in white light.
Smoke cleared, the sounds of confusion and coughing soon were heard. The atmosphere grew eerie, something unnatural had just occurred, but none of them knew what they were in for.
"Everyone ok?" Lola called out.
"Captain! I think a lot of people are hurt!" One of the Risky Brothers called out.
"Nami-san! Robin-Chwan! Are you safe?" Sanji could be heard amidst the debris.
"What just happened?!" Franky yelled "Where did that things come from…!"
Chopper gasped as he hurried along to check for injuries, his doctor condition taking over. It was his animal senses that picked it up first.
"THERE'S SOMETHING OUT THERE!"
Everyone's blood ran cold, because then they felt it. The ground beneath them began to shake, gradually growing louder. But with the amount of debris still in the air, vision was obscured and nothing could be seen.
"boom… Boom…"
"Do you all feel that?!" Brook yelped.
"Boom…!"
"I feel it…! And it's something massive too!" Nami cried out "We need to get-!"
"WHAT THE HELL IS THAT THING!"
And with a swish of its tail, the monster finally unveiled itself. Upon seeing it in its full glory, everybody knew one thing:
They knew nothing of horror up until that point.
"No way…" Sanji gasped.
"Is that Gian's-?" Nami squeaked.
"No! That's not Gian! It looks like his, but it feels completely different!" Chopper realized "Gian's monster is frightening, but it feels natural and imposing. This thing only has traces of that, it feels mainly dead… it feels dark!"
"What horror is this…?" was all Robin could say.
"SKREEEEEEEEEOOOOOOONNNKKK!"
The Straw Hats have all familiarized themselves to that cry by now, but this time the roar brought nothing but chills to them. Standing so tall it was as if his head scraped the heavens, Grendolas' new monstrous form was nearly identical to Gian's Full Transformation. Considering the two had both came into contact to the Kaiju-Zoan at some point in life, which was to be expected. Yet the subtle differences were evident. Unlike Gian, this monster had a much more square jaws, it's front incisors were also more fang shaped, contrasting the rows of sharp teeth Gian had when he Fully Transforms.
And the Straw Hats couldn't ignore eyes. Where Gian had fiery orbs that glowed like hot coals or blue sapphire sometimes, these eyes were of a soulless white, the lack of pupils another unnerving layer to it. The monster stood, grasping the unconscious remains of Gecko Moria in one of his claws. Looking down Grendolas merely curled his lips at the sight of the one who brought back from the land of the dead, before unceremoniously tossing him aside, the tall warlord landing in a head half-way across the island.
Grendolas ignored the scurrying crowd under his feet, admiring his newly formed body. Over 1000 shadows were used as the foundation for a form he's gotten quite familiar with, as while he was unable to completely replicate his Full Transformation he had during life, this was a suitable replacement.
"To think I once viewed this form with disdain. The world wanted a monster, and I gave them one. Now I realize It's a part of me, one that will always remain."
"Damn, they just keep getting bigger and bigger tonight." Sanji cursed.
"We were so close…" Lola hissed bitterly "I thought with Moria defeated we would get our shadows back, but what is this creature before us?"
"Captain…" One of the Risky Brothers said with tears in his eyes "We have less than 30 minutes before the sun comes up…!"
"Then are we doomed?" Lola clenched a fist. The rest of the Thriller Bark Victims Association also felt despair creep into their heart "Will we be forever bound to-?"
"Hey!" Luffy challenging cry jolted them out of their loss "Give my shadow back to me!"
Grendolas peered down from above; from his height, Luffy was akin to a small insect that he could squash with one foot. Deciding to humor him, the undead Kaiju-Zoan user leaned down, his massive head causing some of the more frightened people within the group to shy away.
"Are you addressing me?"
"All of our shadows are inside you right now, aren't they?" Luffy growled.
"Skrehahaha… Yes, that is correct. I had to fashion a stronger body using the shadows in this island, and this is a form I knew well in life. It isn't quite perfect, but it will be enough."
"Then that means if I beat you… every shadow should go back to their owners right?"
"Is that how it works? Back when the one who brought me back from the grave was still able, he supposedly commanded the shadows under his shackles. Now that he's no longer in a state to do so, perhaps the shadows within me will have a bit more agency." He chuckled "What a fool, he thought he control powers out of his realm, though I should thank him for giving me the opportunity to once again burn a reminder for the world."
"I don't care what you're planning!" Luffy snapped "I just know that I have to kick your ass in order to get our shadows back for good this time!" Grendolas laughed at that.
"You wish to attack me? Your hubris would be amusing if it weren't so misplaced. I have faced down entire battalions of soldiers in my lifetime, boy! You are a mere child, one who doesn't even know what used to rule this world-!"
"Gomu Gomu no Gigant Pistol!"
Luffy was no longer in the mood for talking, his fist expanding to giant size before clocking the undead Kaiju in the face, causing Grendolas to stumble. Everyone at the scene cried out in disbelief that Luffy was still capable of fighting.
"STRAW HAT JUST PUNCHED THAT GIANT MONSTER!" Lola yelled.
"Luffy…!" Zoro, the most serious of them, stood beside his captain "Are you still able to continue?"
"We have our shadows to get back, don't we?" Luffy grinned "Even with the amount of time left, I won't go down that easily!"
"Good answer, count me in." The swordsman nodded, right as Grendolas righted himself and glared down at the one who struck him. The punch, though enough to cause him to recoil, ultimately did nothing.
"Skrehahaha… a blow like that showed that you aren't a run of the mill seagoing explorer." Zoro clenched down harder on a blade as he stood beside his captain, right as a dim blue glow began to light up upon Grendolas' back "Allow me to give you the honor of being the first people who witness the return of the King of Mon-"
"ATOM RAY!"
A second thermonuclear beam lanced into Grendolas' chest as it pushed him through the remains of the mansion. The Straw Hats looked back, their uncertainty breaking into joy as they saw who arrived!
"Damn it…! I'm too late!" Gian's cursed in his Full Transformation "I had hoped this wouldn't happen."
"At least you're here now, though we all certainly took our time with this." Franky called out.
"I knew you'd find me again soon." Grendolas staggered up. Two monsters; one living, the other dead, locked eyes. The air was thick with an oppressive force, one that caused the weaker willed people to be barely able to stand on their feet.
"Now there are two of them…" Brook whispered.
"That must be 'Beast Warriors' Kaiju-Zoan." Lola gasped.
"Had you given my offer another answer, we would be making an example of the people here."
"You can take your offer and shove it up your ass!" Gian roared "This ends now, I promised you won't get off this island!"
He was forced brace himself as Grendolas fired off his own Atom Ray, the beam lanced into this chest, a powerful hit that was enough to cause him to fall to one knee as Grendolas stomped forwards.
"So overconfident… you are aware your time is almost up? You cannot hope to vanquish me before the sun rises! Soon, you'll be nothing more than dust in the wind, while the world will be reawaken to the existence of Kaiju once more."
"Then it's a good thing we're all going to kick your ass at once!" that statement made the undead King of Monsters pause.
Gian gasped as he looked down at none other than Sanji walking up, a cigarette lit in his mouth as his gaze didn't falter when he looked up at the undead Kaiju. Was the cook about put himself up front? It just wasn't possible, even for someone as strong as him.
"Sanji, I got this! Don't overreact to-!"
"Save it Shitty Monster, we're all a bit pissed off tonight." The cook responded "First Oars makes mincemeat of us, then Moria himself made it difficult. Now just as we're finally about to get our shadows back, this asshole comes out of nowhere and hoards all of it? He just made it personal!"
"Surely there could be-!"
"He's right, this involves all of us now." Franky stepped up next, his left hand flipped open "We've had to take on a giant once already tonight, what's one more?"
"Besides, it's clear that he's not a regular zombie at this point." Nami added, combining her poles "We all saw what he did back in the forest, he can't just get away with that."
"Don't worry Gian! We'll all fight together!" Chopper affirmed as he joined up.
"Everyone, please!" Gian urged "This isn't like the opponents you normally face! He's something that could turn you into a bloody mess by just stepping on you! I can handle him, I just-!"
"And he'll come after us anyway, so why not bring the fight to him?" Zoro drew his swords again "It's like Franky said, all of our shadows are inside that monster, so it's just as much as our fight as it is yours! We're taking him down!"
"I'll fight too!" Usopp shouted.
"Didn't you once say to me to trust everyone here, Gian?" Robin stood alongside them as she crossed her arms "And against a foe like that, they are demonstrating that trust, so we'll be fine."
"You guys…"
"Yohohoho… it sure has been quite a night." It was Brook that landed beside them before brandishing his cane sword "I never expected getting back to Laboon to be easy, and this just proves it. Until the sun comes up, no matter what Luffy-san or you may ask, my blade is yours!"
"Even you Brook?"
"You can count us in as well!" Lola called out, no longer scared as she stood alongside the crew that brought hope to them "Everyone's running on fumes now, but seeing you guys still willing to fight, we can't just sit around and do nothing! We've endured 5 years of misery because we lost our shadows. I won't just sit there and let that monster walk over us, we'll teach him that the Thriller Bark Victims Association is nothing to be trifled with!"
"YEAH!" "THAT'S OUR CAPTAIN FOR YA!"
Gian was at a loss for words; he had always hope to bear the brunt of anything related to the Kaiju for his nakama upon learning about them, and up to now he's always placed himself there when opponents related to that appear. Yet here they are, his crewmates alongside the allies they made tonight united against a singular threat, and they refuse to let him shoulder it alone.
"We've fought together against a few monsters already, haven't we Gian?" and the one spearheading all of this was none other than his captain. Smacking his fist against his palm, Luffy looked on courageously towards the shadowy titan that reared above them "I don't know what that thing is, but I can tell its bad news. And if it goes out into the world that would be even worse. So let's go defeat it together and get our shadows back!" everyone stood together, in the coming dawn, they don't care what happens anymore.
And for some reason, it was Luffy's words that assured him everything will be alright.
"Hehe, you guys sure don't make this easy." Gian chuckled "Just make sure I get first dibs on ripping that son of a bitch to pieces."
And upon seeing that, Grendolas couldn't help but feel amused.
"It seems you've gathered up somewhat of a small army. Impressive how I still manage to rally the world against me. But I've faced down entire fleets of Marines before, this will over before it even begins."
"That's what you don't know about us." Gian grinned as he reared up above his crew and allies with a massive roar "The people here, especially my nakama? They're greater than any fleet in the world."
A/N: Ok! So this went on a bit longer than I expected! I didn't expect this chapter to get to this many words. Looking at it, I wonder if I should've split the chapter into 2 parts, but I really want to focus everything here to one chapter and devote the entirety of the fight between everyone v.s Grendolas in the next. Anyway I hope it doesn't drag on for too much.
I also know that with Moria being usurped as the final boss of this arc will no doubt upset a few people. I mainly did things the way it did because of 2 reasons. One: Moria wasn't built up to be all that much of a threat for this arc, despite being a Shichibukai. Crocodile nearly killed Luffy, and they really did Moria dirty the series considering he hardly ever won a fight. Because of what happens here, I am also making plans that Moria's actions will change further down the timeline, especially after the timeskip, but htat shouldn't be for a while. Which brings me to my second point in that I really wanted to try and begin presenting the Kaiju as an emerging threat to the crew. Before it was really just Gian and sometimes Luffy getting involved in this as everyone watches, but I figured it's about time the rest of the crew get themselves into the fray when it involves Kaiju, as soon they'll be appearing more frequently. This is just to show that the crew, when fighting together, is able to stand up to a giant monster like that. I don't know, it might just blow up in my face but for now let's just see how it works.
Anyway, hope you like the chapter. This time around I won't do any responses to reviews, and I might just discontinue that from now. Most reviews I get are just comments regarding the chapter, and for questions most people just tend to PM me anyway. Other times it's because the review doesn't really have any substance and generally doesn't have anything to do with the chapter, or story in general, to begin with (you know who you are), so I feel like it's just a way of time. I will be answering a few general questions in the authors notes section from now on though, mostly to clear up any confusion. One of them being a review sent about Shanks' Yonko status. To Trald1994, I wrote this story in 2015, to which back then no one knew when Shanks became a Yonko yet. By the time Oda revealed Shanks became a Yonko 6 years ago, I was already up to about 70 something chapters. By then a lot of stuff has already been established, so I didn't bother changing it. Plus, this is fanfiction and a few changes that are appropriate don't do any harm.
With that, I'll see you after my finals! If you need me, I'll be renting Godzilla V.S Kong because there's no HBO Max in Canada.
G: Also because theatres in his area aren't open yet.
Is it worth the 25 bucks? Yes, yes it is.