13

"Begin bombardment of the nearest pirate ship." I ordered my new zombie servants.

"Right away Captain!" My zombie crew saluted, and began loading the cannons, stumbling over limbs, and slipping on blood.

"And someone clean this mess up!" I scowled at the idiocy that was on display. A single New World pirate may be worth a hundred pirates from the East Blue, but no one said they were smart. One misstep with the gunpowder could see the ship go up in flames, ruining all the effort I put in to claiming the ship.

I took a moment to rest, battling Curiel, and getting decked by Whitebeard had taken a lot out of me. Sure, I was healed physically by absorbing shadows, but I was sore all over, and tired from the whole conflict. The adrenaline had already coursed through my body, and my mind was slightly numb from all the fighting. I have a feeling that if I hadn't absorbed the shadows of people used to conflict, I probably would've broken down by now.

For a moment, I wanted nothing more than to just relax on my bean bag, and never leave the Florian Triangle. But the thought left as soon as it arrived. After Marineford, the world would enter a new age of brutality. Between the Revolutionary Army, World Nobles, Marines, and new pirate factions, I doubt I'd be allowed to just disappear. Moria is too well known. Shichibukai or not, someone will be gunning for my head. Either for the bounty, the position of Shichibukai, or for revenge.

Firming my resolve, I decided I couldn't stop, not just yet. I had just cleared my third pirate ship, and this was a perfect opportunity to expand my forces. New world pirate and Marine corpses were ripe for the picking. One of these guys is probably worth one Luffy pre Alabasta. That's not incredibly strong, but a whole army of them would be a force to be reckoned with. They'll form the backbone of my new crew. Now all I need is to find worthy officers…

From what I could tell, all of the new world pirate Captains, and Marine Vice Admirals were fighting on the island. As far as I'm concerned, this sea battle is free real estate.

The air was becoming increasingly thick with smoke. Muskets and cannons went off almost every second here in the ocean. My ears were left ringing after my ship finally joined the battle. Wood splintered on the deck of our enemy ship, and a few men flew into the water.

"Hm, they won't expect a pirate ship opening up on them in the middle of a battle with the Marine's." I grinned to myself in expectation. I'd always wanted to see a ship battle ever since I saw Pirates of the Caribbean. With a wide grin, I was enjoying every second of it.

Their return salvo came moments later. Being pirates, I suppose they weren't as surprised as I assumed, they would be. No matter.

"Dark Crescent" around me, crescents made of shadow surged towards the opposing cannonballs. The sheer number of shadows I could create meant that not a single cannonball reached my ship. A few of my crescents went on to strike the opposing vessel, leaving large gashes on their hull.

I always thought it was lucky that Luffy and company could jump into the air, and bounce back every shot. I understood that the Marine's were just trying to find their range, but in a close quarters battle as vicious as this, every ship was giving it their all to sink their enemies.

"Ki shi shi shi shi! Shoot at every pirate vessel you can see! Board them, and cut them up! Take as many prisoners as possible!"

Aokiji took a deep breath at the lull in the battle Sakazuki's death had created. For a moment, the entirety of the Marines, and pirates had stood still at the death of an Admiral. Aokiji never considered someone with such strong views about Justice like Sakazuki to be a friend. But he had never wished harm on the man. At least with Sakazuki you knew he was going to enter every fight with 110%.

Looking around, Aokiji spotted naked disbelief on the face of nearly every Marine. For the rank and file, one of the pillars of the Marines had collapsed. It didn't matter how beat up Whitebeard looked. The cold hard truth was Whitebeard lived, and Admiral Akainu died. Marineford, the home of the Marine's families was in shambles, and a full quarter of the island had been obliterated in their power struggle.

"I-I surrender! Please, no more!" A low ranking Marine threw down his sword, and begged on his knees.

Before the low ranking Marine could bow his head to the ground in submission, a sword pierced his back.

"No insubordination! Whitebeard is on the brink of collapse! His officers lay in ruin, forward!" Finished with his execution, cum impromptu speech, Vice Admiral Doberman rushed back into the melee.

"Forward!" The veteran Marine's and officer's rushed into the fray.

"Sakazuki, I never saw eye to eye with you on most things, but I'll do my best by you as your comrade." A sad sigh escaped Aokiji's lips as the screams of the dying, and pleas of the wounded reached his ears.

"K-kill me, please." A gore covered pirate gasped out towards any who would hear him.

The face of a pirate twisted in agony greeted Aokiji's searching gaze. His chest had a small incision no more than a couple inches leaking copious amounts of blood. Death was nothing new to Aokiji, but it always amazed him how fragile the human body really is. A simple knock on the head could be lethal. It made him question the gift from Kami he was given. His Devil Fruit, the Hie Hie no mi. A magical fruit that made him a god among men.

Within a moment, the dying pirate was granted his final request. Shattered into a thousand pieces. The sound of wings flapping turned his attention to an approaching threat.

"Ironic, that the man with the body made of ice has a heart warmer than most Marines. I wonder. If I tear it out, will it bleed red? Or will it be blue, just like the coward that you are?"

"…." Running a hand through his messy hair, Aokiji never knew how to react to this kind of taunting. He was still lamenting over the senseless slaughter caused today. However, one thing was certain, this upcoming fight was sure to be interesting.

"I'm going to make you pay tenfold for what you did to Jozu." First Division Commander Marco the Phoenix addressed Aokiji. Simmering hatred was laced within every syllable, the flames around his body fluctuated wildly as his emotions got heated.

"And so, the cycle of hatred continues." Aokiji sighed. If it was up to him, this war would've never happened.

"You may think my hatred is getting the best of me, but I'm no simpleton. You can't get to the position I'm holding by being a berserker. No, this rage is focused." Behind the wrath, a calculating glint shined in Marco's eyes.

Marco transformed into his bird form from his semi-transformed state. The flames that had steadily been building up around him during his conversation were being swallowed into his open mouth. A split second later, a condensed beam of blue yellow fire shot out from his beak.

"Hyperbeam!" Marco called out his attack. The shot already halfway to Aokiji by the time Marco finished talking.

Aokiji's eyes widened in shock. His spars with Borsalino had aided in fighting fast opponents, but this kind of energy attack coming from a zoan was outside of his expectations.

Using his tried and true escape method, Aokiji broke his body into chunks of ice, to allow the beam to pass through. Although things were beginning to become uncomfortably hot.

"Didn't think that'd work again, did you Aokiji!?" Marco spat out. He flew low to the ground, flaring a cloak of flames melting stone and patches of ice that he passed by. And then he was upon Aokiji.

Reforming his body to meet the threat, Aokiji began to emit a frosty aura so cold, that some combatants nearby began to claw at their throats, unable to safely breath the freezing cold air.

Aokiji took a deep breath, inhaling as much air into his lungs as possible. With an exhale, hundreds of ice shards launched towards Marco's flying form. As they neared, they exploded creating massive concussions in the air.

Marco's flight was interrupted, causing him to stumble. The pressure imbalance had blood leak out of his orifices, his eyes cried bloody tears, and a torrent squirted out of his mouth. Seconds later, he healed the damage, and flew towards Aokiji with twice the fury.

Seeing that his attack had no effect, Aokiji redoubled his efforts, and launched a mass of snow and ice at Marco in an attempt to slow down his momentum.

Fully encased in the snow, Marco began to wade through, creating slush with his flames. "You can't put off the inevitable Aokiji. Let's see if you bleed!"

"Heart Burn!"

A flaming claw encased in armament haki flew out, scoring a searing blow on Aokiji's chest.

As they collided, Aokiji enveloped Marco in a massive bear hug. A freezing aura slowly began to spread across Marco's body.

"Ice Time." In a deep voice that echoed to the far ends of the island, Aokiji called out his technique.

Ba-Dump

A mouthful of blood drenched Marco's face, Aokiji's face finally changing from its neutral taciturn expression to one of unexpected pain. In contrast, the ice from Aokiji's attack had creeped up to Marco's waist in spite of his flame power. Despite all that, Marco wore a silly grin, sure in his victory.

"What do you know, it's red after all. I knew you couldn't resist enveloping me in an attack like this. You've done it to Jozu, and to hundreds if not thousands in your career as a Marine. I already told you. I didn't get to this position by being a simpleton.

"Kuh!" A fresh torrent of blood dribbled down Aokiji's chin.

"Hah! See? You're already starting to fade! You look befuddled, like some scratches on your chest shouldn't have done this much damage. Well, I'll give you a little mercy like you did that pirate earlier. You see, my flames not only melt things, or can be used to heal me. I can also use my flames to heal others." At the end of Marco's statement, a look of understanding came into Aokiji's rapidly fading eyes.

"Seeing you die in the agony of cardiovascular arrest is a fitting end. The way you treated Jozu is a terrible way to go. Your strategy to encase me in ice is pointless anyway. I'll simply melt my way out, and heal up within seconds. After I kill you, I'll help pops fight Garp and Sengoku, rescue Ace, and finally end this war. Have any final words?"

"…."

"Didn't think so. Two Admirals down, one to go." Breaking away from Aokiji, Marco flew into the air, speeding off towards the loudest explosions.

I was in complete awe. A few moments ago, an eruption occurred on Marineford the likes of which I've never seen. I've seen footage of volcano's spewing magma and lava everywhere, but that didn't prepare me for the sheer intensity behind Admiral Akainu's attack. Huge globules, the size of an average sized house spilled into the bay and beyond. What happened next was even more shocking. A pale sphere exacerbated the shock wave created by Akainu, and spread the fiery hot droplets kilometers away from the epicenter of the battle.

"Evasive maneuvers!" As I cried out my order, the ship nearly bowled over from the shock wave. Droplets of magma set fire to the sails in the middle of the turmoil.

"Put those flames out! Quickly!" I commanded the zombies. I was trying to relax a little here! Conquering these ships was supposed to be easy pickings! At the same time, my newly emerging sixth sense warned me of an imminent attack. "!"

"Kuh!" I barfed blood onto the tip of a sword. A cutlass? A cutlass is sticking out of my chest!

"Hiii hiii hiii hiii! It's good to see you again. Mo-rye-uh Kun~" A crooked high pitched voice was whispered into my ear.

"W-Who?" I struggled to get my bearing's, as the pain coursed through my system, and my vision went black for a split second.

"Oh? Don't you recognize Big Sis~ Elmy?" The 'Big Sis' then jiggled her sword, widening the wound and took a step back.

"Gah!" I gasped, and fell onto my knees. Looking up, I saw a tall rotund woman. Her face was aged, wrinkles readily lined her face. Long red hair, huge breasts that'd put Nami to shame, feathered tricorn hat, distinctive purple vest, and the fishnet leggings get-up was setting off bells inside my head. Was this old hag, 'Elmy' really related to Moria in some way?

"How-"

"How did I sneak up on you? Oh Moria-Kun, it was simple. You're always relying so much on that Devil Fruit of yours. I waited inside the ship, and defeated all of those shadow creatures of yours. It's nice to see you've finally moved on from bats, Big Sis is proud of you!" A smiling mouth full of crooked teeth greeted my inquiring gaze.

"F-fine!" My voice reached a new high pitch as I struggled to maintain my cool.

"You're going to regret not finishing me off immediately!" I think about ten shadows should be enough to heal a wound like this. Reaching out my hand to gather the shadows from some of the zombie crew, I was startled as the fat women moved.

"Hiii hiii hiii hiii! Nuh uh! You think I don't remember! You can't hide anything from family~" She flicked her sword still covered in my blood and obliterated the shadows I tried to gather to myself. All the while she gave me an infuriatingly smug grin.

This! My eyes went wide, my veins bulged, and I clenched my fists in rage. Taking a deep breath, I let it go. Rage undoubtedly can make attacks stronger in this world, but it could very easily turn into double-edged sword. Now's not the time to enter a blood rage. She's obviously baiting me.

Injured as I am, I don't know if I could face a person who's clearly a New World Captain. But if I can capture her…her shadow or corpse would make an excellent addition to my forces. To hell with it, if I pull back now, I'll lose this ship. Putting all of my previous efforts to waste.

I'm not too confident using my shadow armour after already using it earlier today. I'd probably be in a coma for a few days if I had to use it again in quick succession. I'm really going to need more training after this. Now how am I going to defeat her? If things look truly lost, I'll just make wings, and fly away. Wait a minute, wings!

"Ki shi shi shi! Ki shi shi shi!"

"What are you-"

"You see, you're not dealing with the same old Moria!" I spread my arms to gloat.

"Sure sounds like it." Elmy muttered in a dry voice.

"Behold!" I jumped into the air, and a pair of wings unfolded behind my back. At the same time, I gathered a small mass of shadow and slowly began to stitch my wounds. I wasn't the most proficient at it, but it was something I'd been forced to learn in school. Something to ask Doctor Hogback about when I get back to Thrillerbark.

"Zombies, attack that red haired pirate!" While the zombies hopefully distracted her for a second, it was time to go back to the basics. A swarm of javelins formed around me, and sped towards Elmy at breakneck speed. I was worried that I would damage the boat beyond all repair, but having such a strong servant would be more valuable than any ordinary New World pirate.

"Hiii hiii hiii hiii! Oh, you haven't changed as much as you think you have sweetie. You're the same showboating show off I remember! Come give Big Sis a hug!" With that, she launched herself at me, jumping off from the boat. I increased the intensity of my barrage, but she paid it no mind. Her sword flashed, sweeping aside the javelins with ease.

"Ha! You may've reached me, but you'll be helpless the second you fall down!" With that said, I began to immediately ascend to a higher altitude, so as to avoid her cutlass.

"This isn't my first time fighting an opponent who can fly you know." She pouted. A woman who's at least sixty, has the saggiest pair of breasts, and a mouth full of missing teeth just pouted at me.

"Now get back here, and take my love!" When it looked like I was in the clear, and she was about to fall back to Earth, she did the unexpected. She took an extra step, then another, and then one more still! Every step of hers jettisoned her further upwards towards myself.

Shit! How does she know the Moon Walk ability from the six powers? I quickly put my utmost effort into putting as much distance between us, launching attacks at her every second I flew away. Okay, calm down, that technique takes a huge amount of energy to maintain, I just have to outlast her, and…

"Got you!" A slash came down from above me.

"Later!"

Shink

"Ki shi shi shi! Forgot about Doppleman in all the excitement, have you? You'll never catch me with that Moon Walk technique! You might as well give up!" I shouted at her a good distance away.

"Oh Moria, you sweet child, it's called Geppo, and of course I didn't forget honey." Elmy's devilish smile, and a tingle on the back of my neck was my only warning to a new imminent threat.

Looking down, just a couple meters below me, another New World Captain was rushing towards me, using Geppo.

"Now, Whitey Bay!" The figure was a blur of blue and violet. I barely had enough time to erect a condensed shield of shadow to block the attack. It wasn't enough, as a haki covered blade pierced the barrier, and laid a deep slash across my midsection.

"Bitch!" I grimaced in pain at the new wound. Focus! I didn't have enough time to even do a rudimentary stitch job, so instead I got a mass of shadow, and slapped it against the wound.

"That how you treat your former romping partner, eh luv?" A distinctly British sounding accent came from the women in front of me.

"Although it's not that much of a surprise considering you left me to die when you fought Kaido." Righteous anger entered her voice as she scowled at me.

"…" I'm utterly confused. Moria…just what did you do to these women!?

A/N: Will update a bit more frequently. The Marineford arc is almost over, would you guys be interested in a detailed Whitebeard/Garp/Sengoku/Marco fight, or prefer for Moria to advance the plot sooner? FYI, I consider Moria's current power level to be near/slightly above/slightly below the average New World Captain. Depends on his opponent, some people he won't be able to kill, but they won't be able to kill him either.

If you have Amazon Prime, watch "The Boys" Homelander and Butcher are the best characters. Homelander owns every scene he's in, he's hilarious.

Thank you for reading/reviews.