18

The afternoon sun was mercilessly beating down upon my back, causing a droplet of sweat to roll down the back of my flabby neck. My body was sore, and covered in scabs, scratches and a plethora of welts. The smoke had cleared, and corpses lined the harbor. Their vacant pupils staring listlessly into oblivion. A whiff of the air had me resist the urge to gag. The stench of the sunbaked corpses was more pungent than any of the chemicals or formaldehyde I had smelt in the lab. In comparison, the zombies on Thrillerbark island were kept fresh likely by some combination of Hogback's efforts and some devil fruit powered shenanigans.

As my thoughts wandered, the wind rustled upon my hair in a slight breeze. I further observed my surroundings, and spied the ranks of Marine's stepping side to side in anxiety. Even the wounded fell silent. Waiting. What had felt like an eternity in purgatorial had in actuality been less than thirty seconds. Based on Sengoku's change in posture from one of uncertainty to one of strong resolve, it appeared he had finally come to a decision. And I had a suspicion I wasn't going to like it.

"Portgas D. Ace." This name was said with great solemnity. Silence reigned supreme for a good minute after this declaration. Just as tensions were beginning to rise again, a sound rang out. Like a bell toiling for the dead, a deep gonglike noise vibrated deep within everyone present. As someone who's soul had been transported through time and space, I could swear that I not only felt this vibration to my bones, but to my very soul. There was not a hint of Conquoror's Haki being emmited from him, but the pressure he gave off was no less than Whitebeards, even greater than Ace's!

As the gong came to an end, Sengoku in all his golden glory had enlarged to stand at a towering height. The powerful figure known throughout the world as Fleet Admiral was an intimidating idea to face. Fleet Admiral meant strength, and a representation of the World Government, but to me, and the countless others, he had transcended such a worldly title, such a worldly role. Before us stood a man that could only be described in two words. Heavenly Buddha.

With a face filled with implacable hostility, Sengoku did away with his usual eloquence, and moved with ruthless decisiveness.

"Your terms are null and void. The Marine's shall never suffer any man who claims the title Pirate King to live."

Sengoku moved. I knew that I could already move very quickly for someone my size. Much like Dr. Eggman outrunning Sonic, and Moria managing to outrun Luffy in the Thrillerbark arc. I already knew large and fat guys could move in this universe, but Sengoku was something else. With a brief flash, hundreds of pirates were instantly vaporized. I think even that shark fishman Division Captain was barely hanging onto life from the blast! Additionally, Ace and Marco were knocked back as blood spewed from their orifices.

I planted my feet into the ground, and braced myself as the shockwave from the explosion pushed me back. Mouth agape, I stared helplessly at the destruction. Carnage couldn't even be applied to the situation…there weren't any bodies left behind!

"Is this the power of a Yonko!?" I muttered to myself.

I knew that this was my second time exclaiming that today, but it had to be stated! I had been shocked and surprised by Whitebeard's power earlier. With a mere flick of the wrist, he had sent me flying into the sky, unconscious. Seeing it on a screen is one thing, experiencing it through your body is another! Here, Sengoku was replicating Whitebeard's ability for destruction.

Like the dozens of Marine's around me, my mouth was open, powerless before the might being displayed. Sengoku didn't stop with one thrust of his palm, he kept going, lighting up the sky, and leaving nothing but craters. His palm thrusts were so intense, I half expected him to shout 'ora! ora! ora!' at any moment. He alone had the entire pirate force on the backfoot, Ace and Marco could barely 2v1 him. Surviving in a fight was a difficulty for them, don't even mention containing him from collateral damage!

Looking left and right, many Marine's who had gotten over their shock began to smile and cheer. Today was a grim day, but with their commander on the field everything was going to be okay.

I had a small while thinking about Whitebeard's foolishness. Why did he think he would win? Hadn't he clashed with Sengoku in the past? Didn't he know the overwhelming firepower of the three Admirals? The Marine's forces were just too strong for any one Yonko to face. Although in reflection, I was a bit hypocritical. I had underestimated Sengoku's power, and his level for violence. The chants of pirate King had really set him off.

I should've expected Sengoku to hit at the same level as a Yonko, but I had been to reliant on the anime. Everything that I'd seen or read could be used for a guideline, but at the end of the day…that's all the anime should be! A guideline!

To the side, Doberman gave me a taunting smirk, likely at the power the Marines were currently displaying. If Buggy was here recording this, then the whole world will soon be reminded of Sengoku's might. Doberman along with many Marine's began to advance. The pirates began a hasty fighting retreat. One of the only things I had learned from medieval wars was that most casualties took place during a route. That part of history was certainly true right now. The pirates were falling one after the other.

At the same time, I ignored Doberman's no doubt rousing speech to his men. I'm sure it sounded something like 'Justice, Justice Justice! Grr! Pirate's Bad! Justice!.' The man had no class when it came to appealing to emotion, although…

"Fufufufufufu. No need to be so surprised now, is there Moria-kun? Afterall, you felt firsthand what a Yonko's strength is like." Hands in pockets, and devil may care smirk in place, Doflamingo approached me, breaking me out of my tangent. A welt on his right cheek from his death battle with Diamond Jozu was one of a few factors that diminished the playboy image he had going for him.

Physical observations aside, this psycho's always sneaking up on me. If I didn't know better, I'd say he was onto me being isekai'd, or suspicious of how I'm acting vs. the old Moria. But knowing his character, the most likely, and cold hard truth is. He's bored.

Adjusting his cracked glasses, and flicking some blood off his high heels, Doflamingo gave me no room to break his flow.

"So, knowing the strength of Sengoku, and Whitebeard, still think we could take on Kaido in two years time?"

"I-"

"It's been fun Moria-chan but don't talk to me again until you're serious about commitment. You wouldn't want to hurt my feelings, would you?" With a fake smile and wave, Doflamingo joined in the slaughter.

Sighing in helplessness at Doflamingo's craziness, I decided to enter the fray. I was determined to halfheartedly go after the pirate riff raff, and stay far, far away from any of the officers. I sent swarms of brickbats, other animal shaped shadows and a few dozen waves into the fleeing pirates. At this point ignoring the gore, screams, and other bodily fluids had become a habit, I didn't revel in the deaths of these people. From my point of view, it was just business. As a Shichibukai, I'm contractually obligated to be the World Government's attack dog…or face a lifetime in solitary confinement/death.

Upon further reflection on our now pyrrhic victory, pyrrhic in that the Marines lost an Admiral and thousands, maybe tens of thousands of men, I truly didn't expect the battle of Marineford to end so anticlimactically. I thought maybe some Vice Admirals would die, or maybe with Aokiji wounded Ace might melt him into a puddle. Especially after Ace's speech about retribution and Batman levels of menace. I had expected Shanks to swoop in and save the day like he did in the anime, but canonically he was supposed to be protecting Whitebeard's territories from Kaido. I guess a fight between Yonko's isn't so simple.

"Run ahead, I'll stay behind and block him!" A cigar smoking pirate charged at me to give his comrades extra time to escape.

I didn't even bother responding to the guy as a dozen shadow hounds ran at him, a some ran past him. However, my expectations of a gory mess were shattered, as his sword caught aflame, and all of the beasts were destroyed with a few swipes of his sword.

After analyzing his movements, I determined him to be faster than the average New World Pirate, but likely worse than Zoro when it came to skill with a sword. I was no swordsman in my past life, and had never fought for my life before today. However, between a combination of muscle memory from Moria's body, and some of the shadows he had previously absorbed, I felt like I currently had a competent understanding of combat. How to swing a sword, positioning, they all felt natural. I sized up Cigar Guy preparing for a fight.

His speed may be faster than the average, but I determined my strength and speed to be above his. He would be the perfect target to practice my close quarters combat. Against some enemies, it will be impossible to be a mid to long range glass cannon, close range survivability will be key to my continued survival. Cigar Guy will make the perfect stepping stone for my further development.

By the time I had drawn my dual blades, Cigar Guy was upon me. We exchanged several rounds of furious slashing. I was faster than him, and blocked all his strikes. But his skill with the blade meant I couldn't land a hit either. We slowly began to become exhausted from our drawn out duel. This could mostly be attributed to the accumulated battles over the course of the day, our speed began to noticeably slow down.

Unfortunately for Cigar Guy, while I may be beyond morbidly obese, I had a great advantage in the stats department. The shadows of at least half a dozen Marine's and pirates shadows empowered me, Moria's natural constitution was excellent, and not to mention whatever else Moria had stuffed inside this body prior to my possession. My physical stats and recovery were utterly ridiculous when all these factors were combined. Seeing that he was losing the war of attrition, Cigar Guy decided to make a risky gambit.

He completely opened himself up to attack, in an attempt to take me out with him! He wanted to commit suicide with me to save his friends! He closed the distance, and thrust with his flaming blade. It was headed straight for my heart, in my hubris over superior speed, he had positioned me so I was blocked off by the flow of combat happening around us. There was nothing I could do to avoid it!

Shink

The sound of a blade stabbing deep into flesh sounded for but an instant. Blood splattered everywhere. I took a step back in dismay, a dark expression on my face. A crimson-red sticky, stinky mess had splattered all over me again!

"It's fucking raw!" I shouted in outrage.

A moment later, I gave a smirk and laughed at Cigar Guy's lifeless corpse. "Ki shi shi shi. Try to take me down with a suicidal attack, huh? Bastard! Good work Doppleman." My heart pounded from the adrenaline rush. Standing some ways behind me, Doppleman gave me a wave. My chest had swapped with Doppleman's right when Cigar Guy stabbed into me. He'd stabbed only shadow! Getting the timing down so he doesn't pull away is seriously difficult! If I wasn't quick enough, I really could've died there. Sure, I could've swapped my entire body with Doppleman to save my life, but that defeats the purpose of training. This lifesaving technique of swapping body parts is honestly one of the kage-kage fruits best abilities. I wonder what other hidden abilities I can conjure up? I currently have the moniker Ruler of Shadows. Hmm, thoughts for later.

Flicking my swords, I sheathed them, and decided to kill Cigar Guy's friends for getting his blood all over me. It's the simple things in life after all that are best. Ignoring my tattered and already gore drenched coat, I sent rows upon rows of shadow javelins into the pirate ranks.

Mopping up the 'trash' mobs of a Yonko was good fighting experience. These guys may be considered trash compared to top tier fighters, but they're still New World pirates, and a lot of these guys still kept fighting without arms, eyes, legs, or fighting with dozens of bullet wounds. It was actually an eye-opening experience to just how resilient the pirates of the New World are. The constitution of the people in this world is crazy, even the midranked people don't go down easy! Some of them can tank a shadow javelin and keep running, simply incredible.

If I'm lucky, I can buy, cheat or steal some of these bodies for my own zombie army. I feel like Saitama from One Punchman buying everything on sale at the supermarket. Who would've thought risking my life like this for a government that clearly hates me, could yield such great rewards! At this point, I'm thankful Shanks didn't show up to stop the war. I had dollar signs in my eyes at the potential profit before me.

As the mindless slaughter continued, my mind couldn't help but wander back to the conversation with Doflamingo. From my understanding of Doflamingo's fake flirting, and crazy manner of speech, what he said between the lines, was that neither of us is prepared to fight a Yonko. I one hundred percent agree with him. Of course, I knew I was just bullshitting him to appear strong and not appear on any World Government hitlists. I worry that my bravado may've revealed that I'm not quite as strong as I said I was. That my bravado was as easy to see through like a kid who's obviously below legal age using his older brothers I.D. for some alcohol or cigarettes.

Going back to the thought that I told him, two years of training...two years seems like too little! Doctor's go to school for eight, minimum! For the moment, two years seems like an awfully short time to power up to the level of a Yonko, or even near Yonko level power. Although, then again, Luffy and crew went from East Blue weaklings to powerhouses in just two years.

This is a can I'll have to kick down the road. Besides my ambitions, and me honoring Moria's former goals of revenge, I'll need to prepare myself for the times and tribulations to come. I have no clue what exactly the world will bring me in the next two years. From my growth, my allies, and my enemies. I know Dr. Vegapunk has a plan to replace all the Shichibukai, and that the organization was disbanded after the Levely. That's as far as I know before I became Gecko Moria.

Hmm, if I can get a seat on the council of nobles, or at least a puppet, and Doflamingo retains his seat…will my situation with the World Government and the Marines remain? Having all the benefits and protection from the government, while still having the right to loot and plunder near anyone I please is a supreme state of equilibrium, personal freedom and long-term sustainability. For such a famous idiot, Luffy is smart in his own way. The best thing about being a pirate is the freedom.

Should I try to keep Ace alive then, so that Luffy doesn't have some reason to get the Devil Fruit? Heck, will Luffy make it out of this? Eh, worst comes to worst, he might take a sub, besides, I may have to fight him in the future…Looking at Sengoku pounding away at Ace, I decided to leave the conclusion up to fates decision. No need to risk my skin over angering the Heavenly Buddha right now. Shaking my head, I decided to put these heavy thoughts aside for another day. The better I preserve a corpse; the less work Hogback will have to do. Just focus on harvesting, this battle is in the bag.

"ZEHAH HAH HAH HAH!"

AN: I think people sleep on Sengoku.

In case I didn't make it obvious, there's no slash in this story. Doflamingo just likes fucking with people. If there was, it would be a gag, side character, or someone who already is canonically. *cough* Bon Clay *cough* Idk if there will be romance for the SI, if there was, it wouldn't be the focus. However, if I did, the 3 ships I think about are in no particular order, Petty Officer Girl (Isuka), Whitey Bay, and Lily Enstomach. That's right, the giants will play a role in this story, Interlude 1 has some foreshadowing. No harem btw. :^)