Recruit Luffy at the start and build the strongest navy.

"What did you say?!"

Moria roared, his voice incredibly high-pitched, and the veins on his forehead bulged.

"Isn't that right?"

"Take the simplest example: look how fat you've become! You're practically a ball!"

"Think back to how you used to be. You know better than anyone how different you are, right?"

Upon hearing this, Moria subconsciously glanced down.

Yes! I definitely saw the ball's curve!

But then he abruptly raised his head, staring intently at Kyle, and shouted:

"I am not a loser!!"

As soon as he finished speaking, he stretched out his hand, and the shadow beneath him instantly transformed into countless bats that flew towards Kyle.

"Shadowbat!!"

"Thundernet!"

Kyle spoke calmly, and purple lightning wove into a fine net in front of him, enveloping all the attacking bats.

Sizzle!

The moment Moria's Shadow Bats touched the lightning net, they exploded into countless tiny black shadows, as black as ink.

At the same time, Moria's body trembled involuntarily, a tingling and painful sensation inexplicably emanating from deep within his body. An incredulous look appeared in his eyes, and he instinctively blurted out:

"How is that possible?!"

The Shadow Bat is made up of his shadow, so theoretically, no matter what kind of attack the shadow is subjected to, it should not affect the Shadow Bat himself.

Why is that?!

However, before he could figure out the reason, the overwhelming sense of threat from the front made him shudder and quickly come back to his senses.

The purple lightning net remained unchanged and continued to hurtle towards him at an extremely fast speed.

The lightning net completely enveloped him and a portion of his surroundings, trapping him like a turtle in a jar; even if he wanted to escape now, it was too late.

In desperation, Moria's remnant soul from eleven years ago possessed him. He clenched his right fist, and Armament Haki, which he hadn't used in a long time, wrapped around it, slamming it fiercely towards the incoming lightning net.

boom!!

The lightning net was shattered, but it did not dissipate; instead, it splattered into countless tiny lightning snakes that engulfed Moria.

Another series of crackling sounds came, and Moria started dancing disco again, he was a true soul dancer.

Seeing this, Kyle smiled slightly.

Surprised? I also have splash damage!!

Before long, as the commotion gradually subsided, countless plumes of black smoke rose from Moria's body once more, and he began to sway unsteadily again. Finally, his knees buckled, and he knelt on the ground.

His body also leaned forward, but he managed to brace himself with his palms, preventing himself from falling completely.

"Huff~ Huff~"

Heavy breathing came from Moria's mouth, and his body trembled from time to time.

He struggled to lift his head, looking at Kyle who was suspended in mid-air with extreme fear in his eyes.

Moria felt waves of pain and tingling throughout his body.

He's been struck by lightning before; when he fought Kaido, Kaido was also able to manipulate the power of lightning.

At the time, he was able to defend against a large amount of damage from lightning thanks to his powerful Armament Haki, so it didn't have a significant impact on him in the end.

But now, after taking a few of Kyle's Thunder Showers, he almost died on the spot.

Could it be that his strength has really declined too much in the past eleven years?

No, impossible!!

The idea only flashed through my mind for a moment before being immediately rejected.

If the fact that he was electrocuted several times and almost died could be due to a significant decline in his strength, then how do you explain the pain he felt when Shadow Bat was blasted apart?

He had never experienced anything like having his shadow shattered and still affecting him when he fought others before.

Even when fighting Kaido, the shadow can be blasted apart by Kaido's lightning and recover at an extremely fast speed without suffering any damage.

Looking at the purple lightning swirling around Kyle, Moria was absolutely certain that the problem lay with this purple lightning.

The destructive aura emanating from it made his heart tremble!

He couldn't help but ask:

"What...what kind of lightning is that?! Why is its destructive power so strong?!"

"Purple Heaven Divine Thunder!!"

"Logia-type Rumble-Rumble Fruit - Purple Lightning Divine Form!!"

"How was it? Not bad, right?"

Kyle looked at Moria with a smile.

Moria's lips twitched. This guy was about to send him away. What do you think?

Moria's expression kept changing. If he had previously harbored any thoughts of taking Kyle's shadow away, now he had none at all.

He had absolutely no confidence in defeating Kyle; he had been at a disadvantage in the first few exchanges, and if the fight continued...

He has a very high chance of being defeated!

With this in mind, Moria hesitated for a moment before speaking:

"Navy!! How about you don't arrest me, and while you're at it, return Absalom to me? I can give you a huge sum of Berries, how about it?!"

"Heh~"

Upon hearing this, Kyle chuckled softly at first, then burst into laughter.

"Hahaha……"

Moria frowned slightly.

"What are you laughing at?!"

Kyle didn't answer, but continued laughing for a while before stopping. He then looked calmly at Moria and said:

"Moria! You really have disappointed me!"

"It seems I wasn't wrong. You've lost all your spirit; you're just a coward who wants to back down at the first sign of trouble!"

"If I'd known you were this kind of jerk, I would have chosen a different pirate for my first mission!"

Kyle's disappointment and contempt were undisguised.

His current strength is probably at the level of a reserve general.

Choosing Moria as the target for the mission was a well-thought-out decision.

Although Moria's performance in the original work was very unsatisfactory, that was only because he was in a slump for more than 20 years after being defeated by Kaido.

He focused all his attention on his zombie army, and his own strength, let alone improving, had long since declined to an unknown extent.

The battle between Moria and Kaido took place in 1501 of the Sea Calendar. At that time, the young Kaido was not as terrifying as he would be in later years, but he was still extremely strong.

Three years later, in the year 1504 of the Sea Calendar, Kaido and Kozuki Oden, that clown, began an epic battle.

At that time, both of them had already reached the level of generals.

Of course, the term "general" here refers only to generals of average skill level.

The three great generals of later generations were not ordinary generals.

In conclusion, based on Kaido's performance at the time, it can be inferred that three years before his decisive battle with Kozuki Oden, his strength was close to that of an Admiral, if not quite.

After all, this is reality, not some absurd situation where everyone in later generations has cheat codes and can achieve in a few months what other strong people have accumulated in a lifetime.

Therefore, to speculate further, even if Moria was defeated by Kaido, the fact that he could fight Kaido proves that his strength is not simple, and he has most likely reached the level of a candidate admiral.

Of course, this is him eleven years ago!

The decision to choose Moria as the mission target was based on these speculations.

Thinking that this is not the future, Moria's strength may not have declined so much.

But now it seems...

One by the roadside!!

……