In the dense forest of Whiteleaf Island, Bege and Gecko Moria stood facing each other, surrounded by the members of the Gecko Pirates and Bege's disciples. The atmosphere was heavy with tension.
"Masked Hunter!"
Moria spat the words coldly, drawing the enormous scissors on his back. He split the giant scissors in two with both hands, gripping one half in each hand.
"You'd better bring out your full strength. I'm not that useless Supernova, Fierce Crocodile Kairodo. I am the Shadow Demon, Gecko Moria, with a bounty of two hundred million Berries."
Bege drew his sword, his expression unchanging, the eyes behind his mask utterly calm.
"Let me see just how strong you are, with a bounty fifty million Berries higher than Fierce Crocodile Kairodo."
"You'll find out soon enough. So then!"
"Let the battle begin."
Bege was fully prepared. He couldn't afford to be careless against Gecko Moria. This was the man who had challenged the future Emperor, Kaido. Even though he had failed, his strength was not to be underestimated.
Especially seeing the young Gecko Moria in person, the aura and confidence he exuded were clear indicators of his power.
Moria held a half-scissor in each hand, his posture ramrod straight. In an instant, he stomped the ground, and with a thunderous boom, charged forward. His burst of speed was astonishing.
"Whoosh!"
A fierce wind whipped up. Bege's eyes narrowed, shocked by the speed Moria displayed. It was common knowledge that the heavier the body, the slower the speed. Gecko Moria's physique was nearly seven meters tall, his body massive, yet the speed he unleashed was surprisingly fast. This was no simple feat.
Moria arrived in an instant, one half of the scissors slashing down. But Bege's reaction was equally swift. He instantly dodged the scissors, which slammed into the ground with a boom. Simultaneously, another gust of wind arrived as the other half of the scissors swung towards Bege.
Moria wielded the two halves of the scissors with minimal delay between strikes, and his attack speed was extremely fast, creating a dense flurry of blades.
Bege weaved through the flurry, dodging each strike. However, Moria's attack speed increased further. Eventually, Bege felt he was on the verge of being unable to evade the dense slashes of the twin blades.
Bege instantly drew his sword to block. The scissors, larger even than Bege himself, crashed against his sword. The immense force generated a powerful gust of wind that swept behind him.
Moria's eyes widened. He hadn't expected Bege to so easily withstand his heavy slash. Taking advantage of a momentary distraction, Bege's figure instantly vanished, flashing into the air and appearing before Moria.
"One Sword Style – Flying Dragon!"
Bege unleashed a slash, sending a dragon-shaped blast of sword energy that slammed directly into Moria's forehead. The energy dragon exploded, and Moria's head instantly burst apart.
"He died just like that? Impossible." Bege frowned, landing on the ground and looking at the headless Gecko Moria.
His eyes lit up, and he flashed forward again, charging towards Moria. However, as he approached, he swerved, circling behind Moria's body.
"One Sword Style – Octopus Thrust!"
Bege's sword thrust forward rapidly. To the onlookers, it seemed as if he had eight swords, like the tentacles of an octopus, swiftly firing out blasts of sword energy.
The dense sword energies weren't aimed at Moria's body, but at his shadow.
The shadow on the ground quickly transformed into Moria himself. The Moria whose head had been blown off by Bege turned into a shadow, the shattered pieces of his head quickly transforming into bats. Simultaneously, his headless shadow body also transformed into shadow bats, rushing to shield the Moria on the ground, only to be shredded into pieces by the thrusting sword energies.
Moria took the opportunity to spring up from the ground and leap back several paces.
The shadow bats were completely torn apart by the thrusting sword energies, fluttering in the air like scraps of cloth. However, these cloth-like shadows quickly gathered and reformed into Moria's complete shadow, falling to the ground and merging back into his feet as a dark silhouette.
Moria's expression was extremely grim. He said in a deep voice, "You know me quite well, to be aware of my Shadow Warrior ability."
Bege's lips curled into a smile. That's right, in that instant, Bege had remembered Moria's Shadow-Shadow Fruit ability, one of which was Shadow Warrior. It allowed him to switch places with his shadow. The shadow could withstand any damage; even if its head was blown off or it was torn to shreds, it could reform. With the right timing, Moria could effectively avoid damage.
When Bege's Flying Dragon slash was about to hit Moria, Moria had used Shadow Warrior, switching places. Bege's attack had merely blown apart Moria's shadow.
"I happen to know a bit about your abilities. Come on, let's continue the fight," Bege said calmly.
Moria's expression was impassive. The shadow at his feet quickly extended, slithering on the ground, then grabbed his scissors and brought them back to him. Moria grasped the scissors, a terrifying aura emanating from his body.
Bege felt Moria's aura. The corner of his mouth twitched, and he abruptly stomped forward, his figure vanishing with a whoosh.
"So fast!"
Moria's reaction was equally swift. He crossed his two scissor-blades, blocking in front of him.
"Boom!"
Bege's sword collided with the crossed blades. A tremendous force erupted, the shockwave instantly transforming into a gale that spread outwards.
"Get lost!" Moria roared, swinging his blades forward with force, throwing Bege back. Bege quickly flipped in mid-air.
Moria's shadow transformed into shadow bats, flying towards Bege and rapidly merging around him, forming a black box.
"Shadow Box!"
However, just as the Shadow Box formed, it was ripped apart by a domineering sword energy. Bege burst out from within.
The torn Shadow Box transformed back into shadow bats, which then re-converged in the air, forming a black, triangular spearhead.
"Shadow Corner Gun!" Moria roared. The black spearhead instantly extended and shot forward.
Bege's expression changed. He raised his sword to block, but the Shadow Corner Gun struck the blade, causing a crack to appear. Bege's face contorted. In an instant, his sword was shattered. The Shadow Corner Gun slammed into Bege, sending him flying into the forest, smashing through several large trees.
"Godfather!" Hank and the others shouted in alarm, their faces filled with murderous intent.
"Don't worry, Bege won't die that easily," Modi blocked Hank and the others with his long sword, saying gravely.
"The captain won! That guy couldn't possibly block the captain's Shadow Corner Gun," Moria's crew cheered.
Moria held his head high, looking arrogantly ahead. Suddenly, his brow furrowed. A figure emerged from the forest.
It was Bege. The cheers of Moria's crew abruptly ceased.
"Whew, that was close. I almost got killed by you." Bege looked at the wound on his waist. The instant his sword shattered, he had forcibly twisted his body. The Shadow Corner Gun had grazed his waist. He had used Armament Haki, but he still sustained a cut.
He inwardly sighed at his carelessness. How could he have underestimated Moria's Shadow Corner Gun? That was a terrifying attack that could pierce through the body of Little Oars Jr., who was even larger than a giant.