Chapter 27

"Again!" Pushing my bulk off the mud slicked ground, I charged forward. Blades extended perpendicular to the side, I swiped them left, right, and diagonally more than a dozen times in a second. My target evaded every attack. A well-timed parry saw blood seep from my side.

Gasping for breath, and grimacing at the sting in my side, I didn't even have a moment to collect myself. The sound of a whistling blade was all the warning I had before I was forced to dodge. Five steps to my left, an axe buried itself into the soil. The rain had been knocked up by the impact, dispersing fog every which way. The strong fog bank quickly filled the vacuum, obscuring what little vision I had left on this moonless night.

Jumping away, I gave myself more than a dozen meters of space between my enemy. I struggled to get my ragged breathing in order as I stitched my wound shut.

"Ah!" A shark gasp of pain involuntarily escaped my lips. My shoddy stitch work had pinched some nerves. I could barely see my hands, much less accurately stitch my side.

Within seconds of my exclamation, the rapid pace of two hunters rushed towards my direction.

In a panic to get more time, and do a better patch job, I jumped again, away from the hunters. Midair, my leg was caught, and I was slammed into the ground. With a quick roll, I barely dodged the incoming slice. Flailing with my sword, I met resistance, and pushed my opponent back. Somersaulting from the ground, I struck downward in an overhanded power strike. My swords shoved my enemy into the ground. Before I could capitalize on my position, the other two had arrived.

Surrounded on three sides, I kicked forward, tossing the closest enemy a good distance. I turned just in time to block each attack with one sword apiece. The force of their attacks forced me to my knees. My swords shook from the exertion, all my earlier activities had ate up a large amount of my stamina, and I was running on fumes. My arms shook to hold them back, where as their arms held steady. No sign of weariness could be seen in their faces. They were relentless.

"RAAA!" With a shout, I mustered my reserves, and pushed them off me. Thrusting forward, I used my superior reach to score a blow. The one on my left blocked the attack, and fell backwards. My right sword met stubborn resistance; the loud shriek of metal rang out. My sword just barely pierced the armor. With another great exertion of strength, I attempted to slice downward, but it was futile. Realizing my opponent was readying his axe for another attack, I was in a dilemma. Abandon my sword, and potentially this fight. Or leave it in the armor, and dodge the strike.

The axe was swinging down as I made my decision.

With a yowl of pain, blood splashed across my chest. In response, I picked up the armored opponent, and slammed him into the ground several times. The other two had recovered, and were upon me in no time at all. Still holding onto the struggling armored enemy, I used him as a weapon. The armor crashed into the nearest of the two.

Madness began to spin in my eye. I disregarded all pain, charging towards the enemy standing in my path, I feinted to the left. Reaching with my right sword, I viciously shoved upwards past his guard. The sword pierced his chest, and with a cry of victory, I shoved down. Tearing him in twain.

"Stay down!" I cheered jubilantly, stomping him into the mud.

My victory was short lived however, I crouched and vomited blood all over the ground. Utterly spent, I fell to my knees. My mind was a hazy mess as two burry figures walked into my peripheral. With the coming dawn of morning, their blurry figures gradually became clearer and clearer.

"Ja ja ja, look at what you did to our mustache man. If you cut just a few inches higher, we'd be down a comrade." A mud caked Captain John stood to my side. His clothes were all but tatters, and several sections of bone and muscle were held together by thinnest pieces of skin.

Blood dribbled down my chin as I gasped. My darkened vision began to clear up after coughing up a few more mouthfuls of blood. My hands trembled, and face paled at the blood loss. I closed my eyes in concentration and began to sew my chest tight.

"Shut up John! My name is." Fu Manchu began right when a peel of thunder interrupted him.

"Remember it!" The sorry state of the mustached warrior was splayed upon the ground. A brackish substance sank into the mud around him, quickly diluting in the surrounding rainwater.

"Ja ja ja, even as weak as boss is without his devil fruit, he still got you. Where's your warrior pride Mustache?" John cackled, and clacked his teeth together in mockery.

"We've been doing this all night, of course he'd learn some of my moves! Besides, visibility was so bad, it's no wonder one of his attacks got through. A lucky hit! That's all it was." Fu Manchu hotly retorted.

"So, which is it, he saw through your moves, or you were so incompetent, that even with observation haki, you let him hit you. Or that even with armament haki, you couldn't block! Way I see it, whichever one's the truth, you're just an incompetent has-been. You bring shame to your name."

"You, you, you! A warrior speaks not with words, but with his sword, dieee!" Fu Manchu crawled towards John at speed one wouldn't expect from a cripple.

"Ja ja ja ja! Boss could take inspiration from you for new recruits. We'll call them crawlers. They can bite at our enemy's ankles!"

"Graa!" A frustrated Fu Manchu chased after John.

Like that, an hour had passed.

"Haaah." Releasing a sigh, I opened my eyes to the early morning sunlight. The clouds had parted, and scattered showers fell upon my face.

Pulling myself up from the mud, a large suction pop echoed about the clearing I found myself in. Fallen trees, shattered rocks, and small sized canyons littered my surroundings. Still ponds were filled to the brim by last night's heavy rain. Looking down, a large indent had been created by my massive body. My tattered clothes were drenched in mud, blood and water. Taking a look at my opponents, I had mixed feelings.

Shadow stitches held John's left arm and left leg to his body. Many of his muscles were exposed, and the skin was raw in some spots. Fu Manchu's state brought a smile upon my face, but that quickly dropped when I beheld Silver Knight. During my fights throughout the night, I had only scored glancing blows, the deepest I'd hit was a millimeter deep groove on his side before the nights final fight. In the final fight, I caused a hole about the size of two fingers where the chest is. Evidently my sword didn't go too deep. I knew that armor is supposed to stop weapons, but in this anime world, I expected my overwhelming strength to pierce the suit.

As I was observing him, Silver Knight nodded in my direction, and turned back towards the two clowns.

A wide grin broke out on my face, I really lucked out with these three. My grin morphed into a wince when the pain in my side flared up.

"Alright you lot, go get yourselves stitched up by Hogback. Tell him it's a priority, we're going at it again tonight. And someone grab Kenji and Saga!" Back in my office, I dismissed my three most powerful zombie general's.

"I'll get them for you Moria-sama." Yellow climbed out from underneath a table. Brush and dustpan in hand.

I raised my eyebrows in surprise at the little guy's sudden appearance. I should really make it a habit to better scan my surroundings. At the very least I should scan for the shadows nearby with shadow reading.

Relaxing into my beanbag chair, I lifted my sore arms behind my head, and began to relax. A bowl of fruit was on the table across the room. Next to the same table, Yellow still stood.

"Today Yellow."

"R-right away Gecko, uhh, I mean Captain! No that's not right..what did Red say. Uhh, right away Moria-taicho!" With a bow, Yellow scurried off to carry out his orders.

"Now where was I." Right when I was about to have Doppleman grab the bowl of fruit, I was interrupted.

"Captain, it's good that you came back when you did! These two troublemakers made me work overtime! This morning I went to Goa Kingdom to review the reports, and upon my return, what do I find? Your new recruits, Kenji, and Saga have ruined a section of wall, and a large portion of forest!" An irate Absalom dragged a bloodied Saga and Kenji, tossing them to their knees.

"Did you do this to them?!" I looked at Absalom in shock.

"Hmph! I would've done much worse if I was here!" Absalom crossed his arms.

"No, I found them like this. It's only been two days since we acquired this crewmate, Saga. He was heavily wounded from your fight, and Kenji fared little better after his fight with that springman. But these two brats still managed to make trouble on the island. I'm telling you Captain, they're bad seeds. Let me off them now." Absalom's crimson cat eyes gleamed with murderous intent as he fingered invisible guns held to his sides.

"Ki shi shi shi, they're hot blooded youths, I remember what I was like when I was there age. It's only natural for them to see who's stronger between the two. You leave them to me, all your focus should be on our finances." I grinned Absalom's way, and turned towards the two young men. Kenji glared up at me from the ground, his green eyes held little warmth. However, I couldn't take him seriously as a bandage across his nose gave him a strong childish vibe. On the other hand, Saga's cold, disinterested gaze made me think of a snake waiting for its prey. Keeping these two at odds with one another could only be in my best interest.

"I thought I made it clear gentleman. Don't. Mess. With. My. Stuff." With each word, shadows began to manifest themselves. Completely blotting out the sides of the room. The shadows slowly snaked themselves around the two's arms, and legs. With a snap of my finger, they were forced to kowtow. Their foreheads slammed into the granite bricks, causing spiderlike fractures to spread randomly across the floor.

"It wasn't my fault, the bi-polar freak started it! He was talking about Justice one moment, and then asking me how strong I was the next!" Kenji rose to complain.

"Sh shh." Doppleman stood behind him, and forced Kenji back on his knees.

"I'm not interested in excuses. You're a member of the Thriller Bark Pirate's now. My crew. My family. I expect quarreling and jockeying between family members. Celebrate it even. However, what you two did is cut into my bottom line. Oh sure, 'it can easily be fixed by zombie labor' a casual observer may think. What they don't think is that these tree's, these stone walls, the material has to come from somewhere. The zombies will be occupied with manual labor soon.

I admit, it's a small price to pay, something I barely care about. The thing is. It's the principal of the matter. You two agreed not to harm my things when I signed you aboard. And a man without principal is worthless before my eyes. Today, you destroy my tree's, my walls. Tomorrow, you kill a couple zombies, maybe a ship. The next day, my generals, my very home!

You keep pushing, and pushing. At first, you start with something small. It's a gentle nudge, no harm no foul. Next, a light touch, and finally, a push with so much violence, someone is going to fall." During my speech, I gently nudged Saga, upping the strength in the shadows binding him until I pushed him onto his back.

"I am your Captain. Hate me, curse me, spit at me, I don't care. But don't you ever, ever break my things again. The zombies, this island, my crew, everything is mine. You are mine. Don't you push me, lest I push you with twice the force. Do we understand each other?" The shadow of an inmate slowly crawled over me as I stared deep into their eyes. In their eyes, I saw an image, he was a parody of a man. His form rippled, as if he could pounce at any moment. Most stunning were his pupils, small violet dots surrounded by a sea of white. It was like the image of the devil reflected in their eyes.

I blinked, and released my hold on them. Sunlight rushed into the room, filling it with great gusto, like a man on the verge of drowning greedily gasping for air. My damaged appearance from last night's training was once again full on display.

Three people muttered to themselves after my display.

"Evil...I have to protect Gramps.."

"I want that. No, I need that."

"Captain's back.."

"So how'bout it then?" My crooked grin, and previous drama had set them on edge.

"I'll fight for you, Captain. After you destroyed that island, I have no doubts." A grim faced Kenji grit his teeth, and was the first to submit. This time, his defiance had greatly diminished.

"Destroyed an island?" Saga asked with interest.

"No matter, I'll destroy two islands!" Saga grinned a bloodthirsty grin, but quickly lost his smile when Doppleman clubbed him on the back of the head.

"Hmph, you already won my sword. You know where I stand."

"Says the man on his knees apparently." Kenji snickered.

"Boy! I'll get you back for that explosion attack of yours!" Saga turned towards Kenji in a rage.

Seeing where this was going, I stopped it ahead of time from devolving into another childish brawl. Managing this group of personalities was draining to say the least.

"Alright, enough is enough. You two are prospective officers in my crew. I know, I know, it's a great honor, and one you don't feel worthy enough to accept. But I see greatness in the both of you. Kneeling on the ground before me is a privilege few will experience. You're blessed, truly. If anything, today has furthered my expectations. I know you're both so eager to show off, like a peacock in heat.

So, I've prepared a little test. I have a mission that'll be one step further in proving yourselves. The Goa Kingdom sits upon Dawn Island this is already a good sized island to begin with.. Additionally, the kingdom encompasses a chain of small islands, an archipelago if you will. This land is filled with pirates, privateers, and bandits. This land is my land. Absalom, hand them the map."

"Your orders are as follows. Exterminate all pirates, and bandits within the islands on this map. The island dyed in red is off limits, it's under the protection of Garp the Hero. Attack it, and make sure you suffer a terrible end. As I'm not a heartless employer, this mission has a reward. I'll grant any one request I deem to be equal in value to 5 million beri to whoever clears out the most bandits."

"Gramps, everyone…" A fire was lit in Kenji's eyes at my statement.

"Power." Saga looked tantalizingly at his sword.

"You have several mission parameters, and options. One, don't cause needless civilian death or draw the attention of the Marine's. Two, ff you capture the bandits alive and turn them into me, it will count as two kills. Three, you may turn them in to the Marine's for a bounty. Ten percent of all sales are yours to keep. Fourth, and finally, every mostly intact corpse retrieved is worth one fourth of a kill. The time limit is one month starting next week. The both of you need to recover, and Saga, you're on probation." With another smile, I pushed Saga into the shadows, and closed the blinds. Seconds later, I snipped his shadow, and absorbed it into my body.

"Yellow, get Red to take Saga to his room. Make sure he doesn't step out into the sun now." I kicked the now unconscious Saga into Yellow's tiny arms.

"Everyone leave, it's time for me to rest." Right when I was about to go to sleep, my stomach grumbled. Maybe some of that fruit would be good right about now. Opening my eyes, I summoned Doppleman to finally grab the fruit bowl when someone coughed to my side.

"What is it now Absalom?" I tried hard to keep the irritation out of my voice.

"News Captain. Germa 66 has received our message, and will be here within the hour."

Yellow, who had been outside on the balcony came rushing in.

"Moria-sama! Moria-sama! A castle on the backs of giant snails is headed this way! What should we do, I don't think the gates of Thriller Bark could fit all of them!"

Purru purru purru…purru purru purru…purru purru purru.

Sharing a glance, Absalom reached into his pocket to answer the Den Den Mushi.

"We're here. Open the gate, and get the money ready. One beri less than the total we agreed upon, and this island is gone. Who's that standing next to you, Moria?!" The den den mushi wore a yellow helmet, and sported a pointed mustache. It's eye stalks eyed me up and down with a clear look of disdain.

"Have the Shichibukai fallen so low? An utter disgrace to the institution. To think I was going to have a meeting with you on the matter. My son will handle the business dealings in my stead. Shabby appearance aside, your money's still good. Hmph." The man who I could only assume was Judge Vinsmoke snorted, and hung up without so much as a please or thank you.

My eye began to twitch, and I had an awful taste in my mouth. This fruit was overly ripe!

"Bleh! Absalom, you handle this matter, I can't be bothered with arrogant noble's."

"Aren't you technically nobility now Moria-sama?" Yellow casually asked before took taking the fruit bowl away, and leaving the room.

"Ah, hah, ha. I better get to work than, see you around Captain!" Absalom practically ran after Yellow to leave the room. In his haste, he left a newspaper on the table.

On the front page cover, a picture of Luffy and Ace battling pirates was front and center.

"Hmm, is Luffy going to attempt to reunite with his crew still now that Ace isn't dead?" I curiously scratched my chin before covering myself in a blanket. Time for sleep.

"Easy. Easy. I said easy, godamnit!"

Thuuump!

"Okay, now lift it again!"

"Ugh. What time is it?" I woke up to a familiar sound I didn't think I'd hear again. Jackhammers pounded away, cranes lifted and lowered cargo. It was the joy of construction. This was a sound I couldn't escape even in a fantasy pirate land.

Taking a peak outside, I was shocked. The bare bones of the factory were more than halfway done. The concrete structure had been formed, and all that was missing were windows and doors. While this surprised me, it wasn't totally stunning. I'll be impressed if they can stick to their deadline of a week. Constructing, and installing machinery isn't any easy task.

It was early evening, and I decided I didn't want to deal with these loud noises. Looking down at my tattered shirt, I thought about changing into a new one, but this set would get ruined anyways, so why bother. I might've cared if I was going about business or was going to meet someone.

A strong image is key to leadership after all. People respected people like Zoro or Mihawk just because of how they look. Hell, a man in my former world pretended to be a doctor, an attorney, teaching assistant, and co-pilot successfully for years. He flew on more than 250 flights! This can largely be attributed to his uniform, and demeanor. Now, I may be an obese monsterman, and could likely scare anyone, regardless or perhaps because of my tatters. However, any charisma I might have goes out the window in the face of strangers. Clothes make the man and all that.

I took a look in my room's mirror. "I could lie to myself, and say I don't care what other people think. And to a degree, I don't. I'm an obese giant, why should I care? At the same time, I've got to have a little class." With a self-deprecating smile, I changed into a new pair of clothes.

After summoning the zombies for training, I took them to the island we had been at previously.

"Begin!" This time I incorporated Saga's sword style, and footwork into my technique.

"Ha!" With a thrust, I scored a glancing blow on John.

Grinning, I pushed them back, again and again. Since it was sparring, and I didn't want to destroy them, I pulled my blows from complete destruction. Hours had gone by, and I was gasping for breath. Meanwhile, the three zombies had unlimited stamina, their attacks were relentless.

"Has it been another hour? Okay, take ten everyone!" I fell on my ass, breathing hard.

"Ja ja ja, who needs a break?"

"A warrior never backs down! Not even in death!"

"…"

Like this, five days had passed by.

In the dawn's early morning, I sat cross legged, meditating. I took in every bird's chirp, the sound of the insects buzzing, a frog croaking, the splash of a fish…the shouts of men.

Men?

"Haha ha! One of my penpals in Boobies Weekly wrote that his boss said one of the strongest swordsman in the world came from East Blue! He said you're from East Blue, Captain! What an idiot! Like anyone strong could come from here!"

"Oi, you got something to say?"

"Ah, ah, Yasopp-senpai! You can put the gun down, I didn't mean it, didn't mean it!"

"Now now, it's an honest mistake! Plenty of strong men have come from East Blue. Captain came from here, and he knew his way around a sword."

"O-Oh! I forgot that the King of the Pirates is from Logue Town! I'll message my penpal in next week's issue!"

"Talking about Captain brings up memories. Heh, let's party some more!"

"OHHHHH!"

It was at this point, that I knew someone important was walking up the beach. Looking down at my tattered clothes, I looked left and right in a panic. Clothes, clothes, clothes! Ah! I've got it! I'm always wearing a dozen or so shadows for my shadow armor, my time limit now is almost twenty minutes. If I wear a singular shadow, I could probably quadruple my time! Worst case if a fight breaks out, I add more shadows and run away! In fact, all this time spent thinking, I can just run away now! Yeah, that sounds like a plan. I'll just scoop these zombies up, and run away!

"Gecko Moria, as I live and breathe! Another famous man from West Blue! While we're on the subject, do you know who else is a famous pirate from West Blue? Curiel-san. I heard you had quite the encounter with him." At this, the man with red hair, Yonko, and one of the strongest people on the planet gave me a look.

What felt like eons was in actuality a look lasting no more than three seconds.

"Not one snowflake in an avalanche is innocent. Be it voluntary or forced, anyone in war is a tragic figure, while also inflicting tragedies onto others. This is the sadness and glory known as war. That being said, I have one very important question for you."

To the side, some of Shanks's crewmates openly gaped at me. Whether it was my identity, or my appearance, shadow reading told me it was a mixture of both. I didn't dare attempt to read Shanks, or any of his senior crew. Who knew if they already noticed my actions with their observation haki.

To the side, Benn Beckman smoked a cigar staring off into the distance with apathy. Lucky Roux held his trademark smile, and patted his melon cap. Yasopp openly glared at me, sliding his finger across his throat.

During the lull in conversation, I had already sent Doppleman far away, ready to abandon my zombies, and escape with my life. However, I was sweating bullets, if things turned south, my island was a mere thirty minute flight away, easily reachable by boat. Considering Shanks fought Kaido in canon, and sailed across a good portion of the grandline in a morning to reach Marineford, I knew he could sail fast.

"Wanna party with us?" Shanks had a goofy grin on his face as he held a bottle of booze out in my direction.

AN: I'm really excited for next chapter. I have an important fight planned that will kick off the next arc. This kingdom building stuff will keep going on in the background, but there's going to be a new threat.

One of the new Shichibukai should also be officially introduced in the next three? chapters. A few of you may've even guessed at his identity.