AN: I now have a P -atreon link of which is in my profile if you wish to support me.
Our proclamation was still ringing in the air when everyone acted. Everything descending into the chaos of battle,even as dopplemen clawed their way out of every shadow to attack us. I turned to slice one in half just as Luffy, Zoro, and Sanji leaped into the air to attack Moria. The tricky warlord replacing himself with a doppelman before any of their attacks could connect.
Quickly returning my attention to the area immediately around me I stepped forward, a downward lash cutting through another doppelman just as it finished forming. The shadow howling silently straight at my face as it dissolved. A cry of pain echoing from behind and I spun on my heel to face the new threat.
Darkness. Total darkness filling all of my senses pressing in from every direction, threatening to crush me. Every breath that I took pulled the darkness into my lungs. A choking gasp wheezing from between my lips as the darkness threatened to drown me.
"But you don't need to breathe," a part of my mind whispered and the illusion shattered as I completed my turn to find myself looking at the back of a doppelman that had scratched Nami along the thigh. "Was that fucking Phantasmal Killer?!" I roared as I dropped my shield, lashing out with my suddenly unencumbered left hand.
Claws sinking into the shadows back, the feeling oddly like sticking ones hand into jello, then dragging the claws downwards. Shredding the creature until it was nothing more than shadowy ribbons. Kneeling down I snatched my shield up just before a shadowy hand tried to grab it. Nami gave me a quick nod of thanks before spinning her climatact around to brain a newly formed doppelman that had formed behind her.
"Gum-Gum Jet Rifle!" Sweeping my shield up I was just in time to prevent Luffy's punch from hitting me in the face. My rubbery captain's fist having been deflected towards me by Moria. The warlord currently exchanging blows with Luffy and Sanji. "Sorry Tii'chia!" Luffy shouted.
He likely would have said more if he hadn't needed to dodge a swipe from Moria's sword, the missed attack leaving Moria wide open. Which Sanji took brutal advantage of by planting a Diable Jamble right into Moria's side below the ribs. The attack sending the vampire wannabe rocketing into the air where Zoro clipped him with a sword wave before Moria switched himself with another doppelman.
What species was Moria anyways? He didn't look Human but then again he also didn't look like a Fishman or a Giant. While I was slightly distracted a doppelman slipped past my guard, cracking me in the chin with a rising uppercut that rattled my teeth. Kintsugi slicing through it a moment later, I really couldn't afford to let my attention wander.
A sudden unexpected chill ran down my spine and I leaped straight up into the air. Narrowly avoiding a beam of magical cold that shot through the space I had just been occupying. Twisting around as I dropped back to the deck I spotted Moria standing several feet away, his face twisted into a scowl. As I dashed forward to stab him, he replaced himself with a doppelman. Leaving the shadow double to take the hit instead.
The fight against this almost younger form of Moria was incredibly frustrating. The near constant creation of doppelmen combined with his ability to exchange places with them made it hard to land good hits upon him. At least too me it felt like fighting Naruto on steroids, channeling at least two tails, and with 25 intelligence. The worst part of the whole thing however was his sudden powerful spellcasting ability.
Earlier he had tried to catch me with a Phantasmal Killer, then a Polar Ray and that was just the start of the crap he started to fling. Showers of stone rained down to pummel us, the rocks sticking around to make the footing treacherous. Flaming meteors came screeching down after the stones like a twisted fucking prelude to Akainu and Fujitora.
We managed to cut down most meteors before they could hit Sunny. Of course some of us weren't quite as lucky. I got clipped by a meteor as did Sanji and Luffy when a particularly large one came down. That couldn't be all because of course it wasn't. Because as soon as the meteor shower had ended the number of doppelmen and Moria octupled.
"First Shadow Clones now Mirror Images. I. Hate. Fighting. Mages." I punctuated each word with a stab at a nearby doppelman since with True Seeing the false images might as well not have been there, slowly reducing the numbers.
"Honestly I'll take that as a compliment, since I can do similar things." Nami replied, the shimmering haze of a mirage floating about her. Creating Mirror Images of her own except these ones didn't pop after one blow. Black storm clouds floating above our heads opening up to rain lightning bolts down on the unending tide of doppelmen.
"Well it's a good thing that we aren't fighting each other then." I muttered while looking up at where Moria was exchanging sword blows with Zoro. Luffy and Sanji being kept back by five doppelmen each. The fight having moved up onto the spur of Sunny's main mast."Looks like my services are needed. Hold the fort for me."
"Oh I think we can handle things down here for the moment. Just give Moria a smack for me." Nami replied.
"With pleasure." My wings snapped open in preparation for flight. But rather then leaping into the air I reached for a power that I hadn't gotten the chance to use yet. A flickering blue door appeared floating in the air in front of me. Stepping through I was instantly transported into the air directly above Moria. Gravity already pulling me down even as my spread wings caught the wind.
Moria's head jerked back at an unnatural angle to stare up at me, features widening in surprise. I wasn't sure how he could have noticed me but it didn't matter. I was too close for him to try and evade. Instead he tried to block my strike with his own sword, his blade coming up a fraction of a second too slow. Kintsugi scoring a long deep cut along his side as I unleashed the dispelling magic stored within it. Cold necrotic energy lashed out as my blow connected. My arm and hand going numb as the energy connected. Whatever magic that had just struck me shattering like glass as it was dispelled. Which was good since that counter had hurt.
Zoro, who clearly didn't see Moria as a swordsman, struck out as the warlord's attention shifted towards me. Hitting only a doppelman as Moria replaced himself to move to somewhere safer. Earning an annoyed growl from Zoro growling around the hilt of Wado as Moria escaped.
Beating my wings hard I remained aloft, using the height to my advantage to try and spot where Moria had gone this time. I mentally kicked myself, dealing with mooks was all well and good but when your enemy had an almost infinite supply of them then you needed to focus on the leader. I spotted Moria just as he appeared near Robin, sword already in mid-swing towards her head. Robin barely even turned her head to look as the glaive spun through the air to interpose itself in the way of the swing. The sword slamming harmlessly into the glaives haft.
Arms sprouted along Moria's body, grabbing onto the arm that was holding the sword. Then they all yanked and twisted at the same time, Moria's arm bending backwards before with a sharp crack of bone and a spray of blood it broke. Moria howled in pain as the sword dropped from nerve less fingers, arm hanging limply at his side.
Before Moria could even try to replace himself Kuma took advantage of the opening that Robin had created. Looming over Moria, Kuma, with his gloves completely removed to expose the pads on each hand, clapped his hands together with Moria in the middle. There was a moment of perfect stillness just before Moria let's out an unholy wail. The Doppelmen mimicking with their own silent screams.
Moria's body started to twitch and vibrate violently. The movements getting faster and wilder, the wailing growing louder and more shrill with each passing second. The sound rising to a crescendo that caused glass to shatter before Moria collapsed facedown onto the deck. Moria was had reverted to his pudgy body instead of the body of his younger self. Floating above his body was a formless black mass that appeared to be trapped between Kuma's hands.
The mass shifted before in an instant contracting into a point of utter blackness. Then just as swiftly as it had contracted it shoot back to its original size. Air cracked as a tendril of darkness flicked out faster then the eye could follow. Slicing straight through Kuma's the joint between Kuma's left arm and his body. A shower of sparks and a spray of black liquid shooting from the wound even as the arm dropped to the ground. The force of the blow sending Kuma spinning before he crashed heavily to the deck and didn't rise.
Before Kuma had even started to spin the mass was moving, shooting up several feet to hover just outside of anyone's immediate reach. All of the crew's eyes were fixed on the mass as it seemed to stare back while it studied us. Once more the mass contracted into a single body, our bodies tensing with anticipation of a coming attack, before the mass seemed to unfold.
Briefly the black mass took the form of a younger Moria before morphing into Arlong. The changes didn't stop there however as it started to rapidly morph between various bodies and appearances. Luci, Blackbeard, Akainu, Big Mom, Lily Carnation, Doflamingo, Kaido, Hody, Van Auger, where just some of the forms I had time to make out before it shifted again. Finally it seemed to settle on a single form that of a towering figure of shadows and darkness wearing a huge crown capped by four points. Malice radiating off of it in sickening waves that seemed to cause the very world to go still.
It was like gazing into the abyss only to find that the abyss was gazing back and that it always had been. The icy hand of terror clutched at my heart, my breath coming out in shorter and shorter panicked gasps. It was worse than any panic attack I had ever had in my life, a million times worse. It was worse then a full blast of Garp's Conquers Haki, than the fear and wrongness that had shrouded the Great Old One Ithaqua. My emotions always feeling so muted except at brief moments flaring up all at once. I was feeling true genuine fear for the first time since I had arrived in the world of One Piece and it broke me.
My awareness flickered and I found myself crumpling to the ground unable to command my body in anyway. I could see Merry and Franky flopping to the deck like marionettes that had suddenly had their strings cut. The only one still standing in my field of view was Luffy, fists clenched so tightly that blood dripped to the deck. He wore an expression that I had never seen before on his face, one of righteous anger and hatred.
"This is not your time or your place. Im, god of.." Luffy started to say, voice unlike anything I had heard from him before, hair almost looking like it was glowing. I didn't hear or see the rest as I lost my desperate grip on reality and fell down and down into oblivion.
Darkness pressed in from all sides upon me, chipping away at my very identity. Parts of myself getting pulled away leaving me to desperately scramble after them. I couldn't remember what it was that I was chasing only that I didn't want to lose it.
Instinct grabbed at a piece as it was torn away, curling tighter about the few precious bits of itself that remained.
It clutched at the last piece of itself, struggling against the darkness that threatened to extinguish it's tiny wavering flame.
The flame flickered, dimmed to little more then a spark that struggled, fought, and lashed out at the void. It refused to surrender. Nothing more then sheer Defiance that shouted out that even if it was the only one left that it would still stand tall.
A spark flickered to life, pulled from it's own torment and joined the Defiant flame. It too shouted out into the darkness, Resolving to never falter again. More sparks flickered in the void, each it's own tiny star that swirled and danced. Finally joining together, the flame growing brighter and brighter.
Light pierced the darkness from beyond, a hand extending out of the light towards the flame. It, no, Tii'chia reached out to clasp the hand of light.
I jerked upright with a gasp. Startling several birds that had been pecking at my teeth. The birds let out screeches of annoyance as I flailed at them before they flew away. Looking around somewhat dazedly I realized that I was sitting next to what remained of Moira's mansion after the explosion. Which appeared to be the first floor and parts of the second floor, maybe more in places. The fog that had shrouded us since our arrival was gone for the moment with the bright rays of the sun shining down on us. It was us and not me as the rest of the crew began to stir around me, all looking somewhat befuddled and bleary eyed. There was a smack of boot connecting with sword sheath as Sanji and Zoro woke up with a jerk and realized that they had been sleeping face to face with their noses almost touching.
I turned at the sound of a groan from slightly behind me to see Usopp sitting up. One hand rubbing the back of his head. "Ugh, what happened? Last thing I remember was us defeating Moria with Kuma's help then nothing."
I opened my mouth to reply before snapping it closed. The last thing I could remember as well was defeating Moria with Kuma's help and then nothing. Judging by the rest of the crew's expressions and the fact that nobody said anything they didn't have a clue either. Actually at second glance I couldn't see Kuma or Luffy anywhere. I couldn't be certain that Garp had informed Kuma of anything at this time so the possibility that Kuma was still trying to collect his head still existed.
A faint spasm of fear shot through me as I twisted around to look for either Luffy or Kuma. Eyes darting frantically before settling on a low broken section of wall about ten feet off, from which a familiar snore sounded. Pushing myself to my feet, body loudly protesting at being moves, I headed over to the rumble and peered over it.
Luffy was sprawled out on top of some more rumble, his straw hat covering his face. The hat rising and falling slightly in time with his snores. "Luffy's fine, just asleep. No sign of Kuma though." I shouted back to the rest of the crew, most of which let out sighs of relief.
The momentary bout of panic subsiding Nami and Chopper flopped back down onto the grass. Brook who had just gotten to his feet, walked over to where I was standing. Peering down at Luffy's sleeping form as he asked. "So what now?"
"Well Brook now we."
"Party! Sanji, food!" Luffy shouted, cutting me off as he bounced to his feet. Straw hat going through a frankly impossible looking arc only to land perfectly on top of his head. The cries for a party soon being taken up by other members of the crew along with people that had been trapped here so long without shadows. Who spilled out from inside of the mansion and lifted the crew onto their shoulders before carrying all of us back into the mansion.
The party was held in the remains of Moria's mansion's dining room. Tables and chairs getting dragged in from wherever they could be found. Soon there was more then enough seating for everyone. But before the party could really get started there was one very important thing to do first. Find and loot Moria's vault for everything of value.
Thankfully between Nami's uncanny ability to sense nearby gold and Usopp's keen eyesight it didn't take long to find the vault. The massive metal door hidden behind a false wall. A couple of quick slices by me and Zoro followed by a powerful kick from Sanji had the once impressive vault door broken down into little more than scrap metal. Gold gleamed from every corner of the vault as light fell upon it, coins spilling from inside over-stuffed chests. One thing that was immediately clear was that someone had looted the vault recently and in a hurry. Obvious paths through the dust marking their progress along with coins that had missed the bag in whoevers hurried looting.
There was a few items that even to my untrained eye could only be magical. It was interesting that whoever had looted the vault earlier had ignored the magical items completely even though they were all placed close to the front. I was just about to step into the vault when twin shrieks of unholy glee erupted from behind me. Spinning around I found myself facing Nami and Merry, both with berri symbols in their eyes, looking like they were going to pounce. Deciding, perhaps wisely, that I didn't want to get caught between the two of them and treasure I booked it out of the vault as fast as I could. Quickly joined by Zoro, Usopp, Sanji, and a laughing Luffy.
Once back to the dubious safety of the dining room, Merry and Nami's gleeful shrieks still ringing in our ears, the party officially commenced. Beer kegs were rolled out and tapped and it didn't take long after that for most of the pirates to become inebriated. Drunkenly singing along to Bink's Sake as Robin played it on the piano.
Eventually needing a break I slipped away to sit at one of the empty tables that was someways off from the center of the party. I could see Luffy, Usopp, and Chopper ontop of a table at the center of the party, chopsticks in their noses and stretching their faces. Much to the amusement of the drunken pirates.
Turning my head slightly as someone pulled up a chair besides I found myself looking at Lola. Who had adopted an apologetic expression for some reason. Still there was a glint of something mischievous in her eyes.
"So."
"I'm not going to marry you. Good try though." I said interrupting her before she could even finish her sentence. Members of her crew going oh snap in the background.
"Darn, rejected again. Anyways I was talking to Luffy about the fact that me and my allies didn't help out during your battle with Oars and Moria."
Thinking back on it I realized that Lola and the others had vanished after most of us had gone out to fight Oars while Merry and Sunny charged the cannon. While it might have been helpful for them to help us out, I couldn't hold it against them. Those fights had been ludicrous even for an insanity that our crew got up to.
"It's fine. Honestly during the chaos I forgot that you guys were even on the ship."
"Still I want to make it up to all of you. I asked Luffy what I could do and he said that you would know what help the crew would need best."
I shot a glance over at Luffy, who was still dancing ontop of the table, a slight smile tugging at my lips. Looking over at Lola I found that she was also watching the party with a smile. Then I turned my thoughts towards what we would need in the future.
"Well the first thing that comes to mind is getting a vivre card from you for your mother. It'll be helpful once we actually reach the New World, and yes I know who she is but I won't talk about it to anyone." I paused there at her poleaxed look, waiting for her to regain herself.
"How do you know that?! Most of my crew doesn't even know!" She half whispered half hissed at me. Leaning over the table to fix me with a glare.
"It's not something that I can easily explain. The short version is that I know things that I shouldn't, one of those things is that I know your mother is Big Mom and the reason behind why you didn't go through with the marriage. The one that she setup for you."
Lola spent a long moment glaring at me before settling down into her chair. Placing a hand on her cheek she continued to stare at me while considering my words. "I'm not happy about this but I feel like I can trust you and your crew to keep your word. You've got yourself the a vivre card. Is that the only thing that you guys want? Or is there something else?"
I was halfway through shaking me head and saying no when I remembered something Lola had that could be very helpful. Knowledge. "Actually there is one last thing that you can do for us. I want you to give the crew pointers on how to use Haki."
That earned me a raised eyebrow from Lola combined with an inquisitive look.
"I know we don't have the time for you to get any kind of proper teaching done. But anything you can do to explain things would be great. I know only the basic of basics about Haki and if my crew is going to improve then we need all the help we can get."
"I'll think about it."
"That's all I can ask for."
In total we spent almost a week on Thriller Bark. 3 days of wild and crazy partying during which we saw no sign of Kuma or any of the other former Thriller Bark residents. They next 3 days was a mixture of finding and burying the numerous corpses still scattered across the island. Along with getting a vessel seaworthy to get everyone living off of the island and to Water 7. After that they would be free to head wherever they wanted. The last day was spent learning about Haki from Lola, as she did her best to explain everything that she knew about the subject. She also handed over Big Mom's vivre card to Nami for safekeeping.
Eventually however the week had to come to an end and we parted ways with those that had been stuck here for years. The Thousand Sunny heading onwards towards the next island and the Skelter Bite, which I may of suggested as the name for Lola's ship, heading towards Water 7. Much to our shock they also left with about 70% of the treasure that had been pulled from Moria's vault. When asked Nami had said that they would need it more then us in order to commission a proper ship of their own.
What we did keep however was all of the magical items that had found their way into Moria's hands. Which was actually more then I could have expected from him. It seemed that Moria had been busy getting his hands on as many items as he could find. It was a little disturbing to find as many as we did. How many magical items were out there now that Moria could have gotten his hands on so many. Either way the loot needed to be divided up.
Luffy despite the previous vote was allowed to keep the ring of water walking. Since the reasons he had been given it in the first place all still applied, even if it might lead to him running off more often. In addition to the first ring a Luffy was given a ring of major energy resistance to fire. He also got a hide vest made from the scales of a silver dragon that would offer some protection against cold. Sadly as far as I knew there wasn't any kind of energy resistance against Light, maybe if we had been in Persona.
Nami got a pair of bracers of armor that created an invisible coat of armor over her skin. A nasty surprise for anyone that thought she would be an easy target. The last item that she got earned us another unholy squeal of glee as Merry handed Nami a wand of control water. Judging by the way she was cradling it and shooting glances into the sea she already had several ideas for what she could do with it.
Chopper was given two potions of cure serious wounds which left him giddy with excitement. Probably because it meant that he could use less bandages the next time one of us got seriously hurt.
Brook was handed a Harp of Charming since as the ship's musician he was basically the only one that could use it. Plus the thought that he could use it to charm whole crowds was amusing.