67 Pirate Kai VS Samurai Ryuma

[Florian Triangle, Thriller Bark],

Gecko Moria was currently staying at his massive room before a zombie that resembles a stitched-up vampire entered in, flying through the window.

He is Hildon and he is the messenger of Moria and Thriller Bark's Mysterious Four, reporting to them any noteworthy events that happens throughout the island ship, and at this moment he has an urgent report for his master.

"Master Moria!!"

"What is it, Hildon?" Moria turned to him and asked.

"Two pirate ships have made it inside the Thriller Bark!" Hildon immediately responded.

"Kishishishi! Is that so? I wonder who the victims might be this time?" Moria laughed manically as he felt excited about stealing the shadows of another unfortunate group of people "Did you recognize them?"

"The first crew has two red hair guys leading it while the second one is led by a man with a golden hook and a scar in the middle of his face" Hildon described them.

Moria's eyes widened in shocked after hearing the zombie's description "--Wait!!! Did you say two people with red hair and a man with golden hook?!!! Don't tell me--Crocodile and the Eustass brothers!!" While Moria wasn't necessarily afraid of any of them but having to handle both at the same time is going to be a hard job for him. Or at least that's what he thought in his mind.

"Tsk…what the hell does Crocodile and those punk brothers planning to do?! They think they could come here and do as they please…I'll teach them a lesson!!" Moria's forehead veins bulged from anger before he got up from his seat and shouted orders "Inform the Mysterious Four to send the zombies out after them, in the meanwhile I will prepare Oars for his first mission…"

"Right away!!"

Moria proceeded to leave his room and headed to the giant freezer, a special chamber where Oars is kept. Oars is an extremely large, red-skinned, skull-faced giant Oni who is more than four times the size of an average giant.

Oars still didn't have any shadow at the moment.

"…I can't underestimate those bastards. I'll go all out! Kishishishi!!"

…

Thriller Bark…Dead Forest,

Upon entering the island ship through the main gate, both the Victoria Punk and the Sea Scourge were sucked towards the center of the island where they had to dock and disembark.

The first place they found themselves at is the dead forest, a big forest that covers most of the island. Kai, Crocodile grouped up again and went to explore the place, leaving their ships behind.

Bonney was walking beside Kai with enthusiasm "Look at the large tower in the middle, it has a sail and a pirate flag in it. It must be the ship's mast"

Gin scanned the area around awe "Is this really a ship? It so massive that it feels like an island"

"If I'm not wrong this place used to be an island in West Blue before Moria convert it into a ship" Daz Bonez stated while following Crocodile.

Wyper didn't look as impressed as the rest "There sure are a lot of weird things down here in the Blue Sea" he commented with a cigarette between his teeth.

"Our target is Gecko Moria, one of the Seven Warlords of the Sea. Or should I say six now?" Kai glanced at Crocodile while saying that.

"Your planning to take him down, right?…Puff…that will make it five" Crocodile answered while pausing mid-sentence to take a few puffs from his cigar.

"Yeap, that's the plan" Kai's main reason for that is Moria's Shadow-Shadow fruit that could allow him to build a massive army of zombies, he could even convert the dead bodies of strong people and enemies that he defeats in the future into strong, loyal zombies.

Maybe also use technology to reinforce them with armor and weapons as well.

Kid stretched his body and cracked his knuckles in excitement "That means I could beat up whatever comes in my way"

"Our enemy is a man worth 320 million Berries, let's be careful, Kai, Kid" Even though Killer knows his captains' strength, he still warned them not to underestimate their opponents, after all overconfidence can lead to ones downfall if he meets the wrong person.

While passing through the forest, the crew arrived at a large graveyard.

"Man, this place is so depressing!" Krieg complained before dozens of zombies rose from the graves and attacked them.

"Zombies…" Kai calmly said.

"Aghh…they look weird" Bonney looked at them with disgust.

"GROWLLL!!"

"I'll take care of them!" Krieg raised his hand for everyone to stand back. He proceeded to pull out two guns while revealing a set of gun-barrels attached to his armor before he shot the zombies.

*GUN-SHOT*-*GUN-SHOT* Krieg emptied his entire ammunition at them, only to be surprised that bullets were not effective against them at all.

"They are walking dead bodies, bullets are useless against them" Kai explained while watching from behind.

"Hmph, then I have a hundred more ways to defeat them" Krieg clicked his mouth before he threw away his guns and charged at them. When he got close, he raised the right arm-guard in his armor, revealing a small flamethrower with considerable range.

He recently upgraded it with a Flame Dial to be able to use it multiple times and increase its power.

"Eat this!!...Flamethrower!!--*BOOOOM*" While aiming at the zombies, he released a big blast of flames that incinerated the zombies in a second "Kuhahaha!! Taste the power of my weapons!!"

"Don't get full of yourself just because you defeated a few dumb zombies blockhead!" Bonney exclaimed.

Krieg glanced at with arrogance before he said, "Shut up or I'll turn you to ashes!"

"Enough of that and let's get moving" Kai said, and everyone headed to the large tower that is located at the center of the island. Which is actually the ship's mast where Moria's mansion is located.

The group encountered a few more zombie groups which they took care of really quickly before arriving at the tower. After entering they split up into a few groups and search the place.

Kai's group has Kid, Crocodile and Daz Bonez. After they walked around the place for a few minutes they were stopped by dozens of zombies again lead by a zombie as well. The zombie has several bandages covering part of his skull face, which has no eyes and no nose, and wears a samurai gi.

'Sword God Ryuma!' Kai recognized him instantly before his eyes fell upon the sword that he was carrying with him, 'Shusui'. His eyes gleamed while breaking a smile, one of the 21 Great Grade swords and a Black Blade that was once wielded by the legendary samurai Shimotsuki Ryuma is something that he would like to get his hands on.

Even if he doesn't wield it himself its better in the hand of a living person that a dead one. He could also exchange it for Enma if he wants to once he visits Wano in the future.

"Yohohoho! We have to carry master Hogback's orders and eliminate the intruders" Ryuma said, giving the signal to the zombies to attack while he stood back and watched them with his arms crossed.

"GROOOWL!!!!" All the zombies charged towards the four pirates at once.

Crocodile was the first one to step forward and perform an attack against them.

"Desert Spada!" He formed his right hand into a loose blade of fast-moving sand, and then stabbed it into the ground, extending it along the ground like a torpedo, splitting all the zombies in its path in half.

Seeing his captain engage with the enemy, Daz Bonez proceeded to join and assist him.

"Chaotic Slashes!!" Daz turned his arms into sharp blades and swung them in front of him, resulting in several powerful horizontal slashes. The slashes were so sharp that they cut the zombies into pieces, while Kid used his magnetic power to shape a massive sword and proceeded to slash through the rest of zombies with ease.

It only took them a few minutes to defeat all of the zombies except Ryuma before the shadows in them returned to their original owner.

"Now, only that samurai looking zombie is left" Kid remarked.

Ryuma calmy stood in his place before breaking into laughter after witnessing the short battle "Yohohoho! It seem like I need to deal with you myself…" Ryuma said, glancing at Kai's direction who was also just watching from behind.

'That laugh…he definitely has Brook's shadow' Kai thought in his mind while observing him as well.

Ryuma looked curious when he saw Kai carrying a sword with him "You're a swordsman?"

"Yes, I am…" Kai stepped forward while holding his sheathed sword's hilt "…and I challenge you into a duel!"

*Shing* Kai declared while unsheathing his sword 'Shichiseiken', which started glowing with a green aura.

"A duel you say? You seem fairly strong…I must say that I feel excited to the point that I cannot contain myself!" Ryuma declared, taking out his katana and charging towards Kai at a high speed.

'Shusui!' Kai exclaimed in his head while looking at the black blade that has a distinct reddish-purple reverse wave hamon and its handguard has flower-like edges in the shape of an octofoil. It also has no accessories on the hilt, being wrapped with black silk. The sheath is also black, decorated with dark red circles split into even thirds.

Clang!! Ryuma swung his blade at Kai in a downward motion aiming to slash him across the chest, but the latter swiftly held his sword in front of him and blocked the attack.

BAAAM!! A powerful shockwave was generated from their sword clash.

"What the hell? That samurai zombie is actually that strong!" Kid was taken aback by Ryuma's strength as he didn't expect a mere zombie to be powerful enough to clash with Kai.

The two swordsmen towed back their weapons and backed away.

"I expect no less from the Sword God Ryuma. Even though you're just a corpse, you're still pretty powerful" Kai commented on his strength.

"I could say the same, I can already tell your power from that clash…But that sword of yours, I can feel a lot of cursed energy coming from it" Ryma said.

"That's because it's actually cursed" Kai declared before leaping into the air and slashing it, creating a green colored flaming projectile slash that he launched at Ryuma "Mystic Fire Slash!!"

"Green fire?!!" Ryuma looked startled by that. However, he easily redirected the attack away before he propelled himself towards Kai who landed a few meters away from him and attack him.

"Three-Verse Humming…"Ryuma slashed Kai at such a fast pace that it appeared that he did not attack him at all and that he simply walked passed him, walking a few feet behind him "…Arrow Notch Slash!"

"Impressive speed…" Kai smirked while holding his sword in front of him, if it wasn't for his Observation Haki and quick reflexes, that attack would have landed on him without a doubt.

Kai swiftly turned towards Ryuma and used Soru to charge at him, and while holding his weapon with both hands, he channeled green flames into it, engulfing the entire blade before he slashed Ryuma sideways prompting the latter to use his sword to block it.

But even though Ryuma did that, the force of the attack sent flying back and crashing into a wall.

*CRASH* Ryuma crashed through the wall into a room at the end of the hallway. If Shusui was a normal sword, it would have been certainly destroyed by the force of that attack.

Also, Kai was deliberately not using his devil fruit power in this duel, after all if he needs to use that much then it means that he is still not ready to call himself a swordsman.

Ryuma quickly got in his feet after seeing Kai charging at him. He clenched his sword tightly before delivering several thrusts against Kai that it looked as if he was thrusting with several swords.

"Polka Remise!!" The result was him unleashing a barrage of purple-colored compressed air bullets.

Clang! Clang! Clang! With precise and graceful moves, Kai parried all of them before hardening his arm muscles until they bulged while holding his sword in the right hand, preparing for his next attack.

<Seven Star's Earth-Shattering Slash>

Kai swung Shichiseiken downward, generating a rapid, green flame slash wave that traveled across the ground, destroying it along the way. (Note: 'Shichiseiken' means 'Seven Star Sword' in English but I use the Japanese name because its cooler)

Ryuma narrowed his eyes while looking at the attack coming to his direction, it was so fast that he had no choice but to attempt on stopping it.

"AGHH!!" The zombie samurai held his sword with both hands in front of him and tried to stop the slash, but he failed and was pushed back by it until he crashed into another wall. The slash left a huge cut across his torso that it didn't matter because of his zombie body.

However, Kai's last attack was just a distraction and he proceeded to close on Ryuma from behind using Soru and stabbed him from behind with his fiery sword.

"UAGH!!...The flames…" Ryuma looked at the wound as the green flames that were wrapped on Kai's sword proceeded to engulf his entire body 'I lost'.

Kai pulled out his sword from Ryuma's back and slowly put it back on its sheath.

The samurai's body was engulfed with green flames. He proceeded to turn back to Kai while showing off his katana "This Meito once carried by a legendary samurai…"

"…Shusui!! With you as its master, this sword should be satisfied." Ryuma declared.

"Ryuma…" Crocodile muttered while he and the rest were observing the fight from a distance.

"Who's that?" Kid asked, having no idea about who the legendary samurai is.

Crocodile took a couple puffs from his cigar before answering that question "I'm not sure if he's the one but I heard a story before, about a legendary samurai who lived centuries ago from the land of Wano who was referred to as the 'Sword God'…"

"…Some say that he's the strongest swordsman to ever live and there is also a famous story about him slaying a dragon"

"That guy was that strong when he was alive?" Kid looked shocked, what could have been the cause of death of such a strong person.

"Moria, that shithead must've been to Wano and got his hand on that sword somehow" Crocodile said.

Ryuma proceeded to throw Shusui to Kai "I have allowed this samurai's body to suffer defeat…I am ashamed!!"

"You have my respect, Shimotsuki Ryuma. I would've liked to meet you when you were still alive…rest in peace, your sword will be in good hands" Kai said to him, and a black shadow got out from his body and flew away.

…

Somewhere in the Florian Triangle,

An abandoned ship was roaming the sea inside the fog. It looked very old, with its sails tattered and the floors cracked.

A skeleton figure was playing the famous Bink's Sake song before a shadow entered his body.

"Huh?...Ah…AHH!! IT'S BAAAAAACK!!!" When the skeleton looked down and saw his shadow, he shouted in relief "My shadow is back!!!"

"Who's kind enough to this? I'm so happy I could cry…even thought I have no eyes, Yohohoho!!"