The Journey of Freedom After the Awakening of the Shadow-Shadow Fruit

"Ding ding...!"

The bullets struck Moria like marbles hitting hard alloy steel, producing only a pleasant clatter without causing any harm.

In fact, given the physical strength he has evolved after absorbing the life energy of sea kings, it wouldn't be an exaggeration to call him a weakened version of the Steel Balloon. Ordinary swords, guns, and bullets are basically useless against him.

However, Moria was habitually cautious and hardened his armor with Armament Haki, just in case he encountered a Seastone bullet.

Even if we don't meet now, what if we do in the future?

Therefore, caution should begin with small things.

"Shoot! Shadow Needle!"

Moria whispered a melodramatic line.

Two shadow needles shot out swiftly from the shadow beneath him, piercing through the heads of all the enemies surrounding Moria with lightning speed.

"call out!"

"Pfft pfft...!"

After Shadow Needle returned to Moria's side, these already dead enemies fell to the ground one by one.

Moria then quickly controlled his shadow to merge into the shadow of the house, connecting it to its shadow space, and then had his shadow servants sit inside to maintain their positions.

Two shadow needles swivel around him. Once an enemy gets within a hundred meters, they will automatically strike, piercing the enemy's head and killing them instantly.

"Whoosh...!"

Thus, under the protection of the Shadow Needle, after connecting and locating the shadow space of each house, Moria would quickly rush to the next house.

Of course, it's not limited to the shadow of a house. Moria will locate and connect to the shadow space of any object that he feels will not be easily destroyed or disappeared.

"Kid, what are you doing?!"

The golden lion, who followed Moria, roared with a hint of doubt.

He saw Moria wandering around his territory, but he didn't see any shadow servants being released, so he couldn't guess Moria's intentions for a moment.

However, one thing is clear to the Golden Lion: Moria is definitely doing something with ill intentions.

He must stop it!

Then, the Golden Lion erupted, his entire body suddenly covered in the Haki of the Upper Sakura. Ignoring the Shadow Needle attack, he flew towards Moria at lightning speed like a golden ray.

“Chengcheng! Cheng…!”

The golden lion, arriving above Moria, swung his foot like the wind. In an instant, endless slashing waves flew out from the longsword beneath his feet, sweeping towards Moria, who was flying low between the houses on the ground.

Moria kept dodging on the ground, and the ground around him was slashed with trenches.

Along the way, houses, streets, and rocks were all reduced to ruins by the relentless slashing waves unleashed by the golden lion.

If the Golden Lion isn't heartbroken, then Moria certainly won't be either.

However, since the shadow space on this island has been mostly located, Moria needs to go to the next island and randomly locate the shadow space of some objects in order to have an extra backup plan.

In order to distract the golden lion.

"Stop the Golden Lion with all your might!"

After giving the order to Shadow Needle, Moria flew to the edge of the island, then plunged down, flying towards an island below.

"Kid, what are you doing?!"

The Golden Lion chased after Moria, both annoyed that Moria was up to some unknown scheme and furious that Moria wouldn't confront him directly.

He seemed to be running away the whole time, but the shadow needle attacks around him reminded Golden Lion that he was going all out, while the brat was only putting in a small part of the effort, walking him around like a dog.

How could this not enrage him?

"Ding ding ding...!"

The Golden Lion's anger was to no avail. Countless shadow needles no longer attacked him, but instead blocked his path, shooting towards his Ryuo Haki like a tidal wave. Although they were like toothpicks piercing iron, they returned empty-handed.

However, the large quantity of food, though small, accumulated over time, successfully slowed down the Golden Lion's speed, preventing him from catching up with Moria in a short period of time.

"call out!"

After flying over the highest island, Moria quickly descended to an island to the lower left.

That island seemed to have originally been a floating island, which was moved there by Shiki using his Float-Float Fruit powers.

Many houses of the Sky Island residents are still preserved there, and many Sky Island residents live there as well.

"Tap!"

Moria landed quickly, and then, in the same manner, began to connect and locate the shadow spaces of these houses.

Because he flew directly there, Shiki didn't catch up with Moria in time.

It wasn't until Moria quickly connected to and located the shadow spaces of more than a dozen houses that the Golden Lion finally caught up despite the endless attacks of shadow needles.

Upon catching up, the enraged golden lion swung its legs.

"Chengcheng!"

"Boom! Boom!"

Two massive golden slashing waves swept across the ground like two giant fangs, instantly creating two deep trenches where Moria had left.

Moria, who was already flying in the sky, stopped trying to connect to and locate the shadow spaces of other houses.

For now, positioning in China Unicom's shadow space is sufficient.

Unless the Golden Lion demolishes all the houses, just like the mirrors in the mirror space of the Mirror-Mirror Fruit, once they are broken into small pieces, it will be impossible for people to travel between the mirror space and the real world through the mirrors.

Moria locates objects in the shadow space, such as houses. Once a house is demolished and becomes ruins, the shadow space is correspondingly divided into smaller shadow spaces.

Once the Shadow Space shrinks and can no longer accommodate the Shadow Servant, the Shadow Servant will be automatically expelled and returned to Moria's own Shadow Space.

Therefore, if Shiki destroys all the objects in the shadow dimension that Moria has located and connected to, then Moria will not be able to arrive at Shiki's floating island in an instant.

However, Moria believed that the Golden Lion couldn't possibly understand the rules involved.

"Let's put on a proper punch before we leave!"

From mid-air above the island, watching the golden lion seemingly surrounded and constantly struggling by a swarm of black wasps, Moria decided to show the golden lion some respect, and then a thought struck him.

moment.

All the shadow needles surrounding the golden lion flew swiftly and straight toward Moria.

It looked as if Moria was about to be pierced through the heart by a thousand needles.

Even the Golden Lion was astonished, "What's wrong with this guy? Did he commit suicide?"

Obviously not, but the clueless Golden Lion still stopped instinctively.

"Whoosh...!"

Countless shadow needles flew in, heading straight for Moria's body.

However, instead of piercing through his heart, it quickly merged into Moria's body like birds returning to their forest, and then he took the opportunity to activate his seven-meter-tall complete Shadow Golden Body mode.

"Finally getting serious, brat!!!" Shiki, seeing Moria's expression, finally laughed, though his laughter was fueled by rage.

Moria, on the other side, also smiled at the Golden Lion.

then…

"Peng!"

A white shockwave, as thick as an arm, suddenly exploded in the air, accompanied by a sonic boom. Moria vanished from his spot, swinging his fist like a high-speed spinning drill, and shot it toward Shiki.

With his Observation Haki activated, the Golden Lion, who was prepared, raised his right foot almost the instant Moria moved, and simultaneously charged towards Moria with a kick.

The sharp longsword attached to his foot was covered with flowing Haki, flashing like a cold glint as it pierced towards Moria's swinging fist.

"Clang!"

"Sizzle sizzle...!"

The enormous fist collided with the sharp longsword in mid-air. In an instant, a sharp collision sound rang out, followed by countless powerful lightning bolts flashing and exploding in the air.

The two men's powerful aura and will permeated the surrounding area.

Suddenly, the surrounding environment went dark, as if it were the end of the world.

The sky seemed to change under the influence of the two people's extreme collision and will.

But in reality, nothing has changed; the sky is still the same sky, it hasn't darkened.

However, in the eyes and feelings of the sky island residents, the whole world seemed to suddenly enter a dark moment.

These are all effects of attacks carried out with unwavering resolve.

Only those with strong willpower are unaffected by this illusion.

"Still a bit weak!!"

Moria shook his head slightly, then with a thought, his Shadow Golden Body mode changed into the strongest defensive scale armor mode.

The moment the transformation was complete, the Golden Lion's extremely penetrating Ryuo Haki pierced through Moria's Ryuo Haki and struck Moria's fist, which was now covered in scales.

"hiss!"

It was as if a drop of strong acid had landed on Moria's fist, causing a puff of white smoke to rise from it, followed by a sharp pain.

then…

"Ding!"

The golden lion's sharp longsword finally pierced Moria's fist, and at the same time, an invisible white shockwave, like a ray compressed to its limit, passed through Moria's fist and then through his entire arm.

"Peng!"

A shockwave erupted, and Moria and Shiki each retreated.

Moria shook his arm and raised his fist, a bright red dot still visible on it.

Moria looked up, a hint of amazement in his eyes as he gazed at the golden lion.

"As expected of a legendary pirate, his attack power is truly terrifying!"

It's worth noting that Moria's Shadow Golden Body Scale Armor Mode, a defense that even Whitebeard's extremely powerful and shocking slash couldn't cut through, was actually pierced by Shiki's Extreme Slash Penetrating Wave.

Although it wasn't a true piercing, it was like an invisible shockwave that crushed through Moria's arm, but it still caused the flesh inside his arm that had been pierced to turn completely red.