Kage Kage no mi

A snow-filled battlefield. 

Two parties could be seen running towards each other. 

One leader wielded a heavy Kanabo, (Metal club with spikes)

The other leader carried a large katana. As both clashed lightning flashed. Both used armament haki. 

Blow after blow. both fighters smiling ear to ear. One oni vs another oni. 

They had known each other for a long time and had been rivals. They had bonded in their shared experience of being from a rare race called Oni. 

They periodically fight. It serves as a great whetstone for thee both of them 

Their subordinates had been the same as well. They had also known each other for quite some time as well. 

But this time something was different. 

Kaido had been in wano at this time and someone in there wanted this to end. Someone that wanted Kaido's full focus to in Wano and not wander. 

That someone was Kurozumi Orochi.

He wanted the total destruction of the Moria Pirates and for Moria to go away. 

So he gathered the weapons of the beast pirates and poisoned them with an extremely strong poison. One scratch was enough for death. 

And so after this bout came to an end with a draw again, the Moria pirates left.

"Boss, I don't feel so good." One of the members said. 

He then fell over and stopped moving. 

Moria then ran over.

"What happened?"

"He just fell over."

Moria then flipped him over and then he sqaw it. The man's entire body was filled with blue veins. His body was extremely warm from fever. 

"Everyone, check yourselves. Do you guys also have these blue marks?"

"I do!"

"I do too."

and some more also said. Then they checked and it seemed like they all spread from wounds made from this recent fight.

Moria's right hand man there asked, "Could it be? Did the beasty pirates poison us?"

"No, this can't be! we've been fighting for so long. We're practically friends at this point! Why would he do this?

WHY??!!"

"Captain, calm down, there must be an explanation. For now why don't we look for a place where we can rest. I'm sure our doctor can cure it."

They then went towards the nearest village for a place to rest. 

"I'm sorry, I've tried everything. BHut nothing seems to work on the poison!

I'm sorry. 

*cough *cough."

The doctor himself, also being a member of the crew, seems to have been poisoned as well. 

"NO! NO! NO! What do I do? TELL ME, WHAT CAN I DO?"

"Wait. Dr. Hogback!!

I heard that he is here, in wano. He might be able to cure this!"

"Alright, I'm going to find him! Just you wait!!!"

Saying that Moria flew out of the place. He used his shadow fruit ability to fly and move extremely fast.

**

"Hmm, The body of the great ------ and his sword. His tissue still hasn't been completely decomposed. His muscles are still intact!!

Unbelievable. What a great specimen. I wonder what my research on him will show. If anyone can be brought back alive, this must be it!"

After returning to the inn that he has been in, Hogback suddenly heard a loud voice that screamed out his name. 

"What? Who?"

But before he could properly react, he saw black bat hovering in front of him. 

A large man then entered his room and held him in a tight grip. 

"Hogback! Come! I need your help!"

Before he got any time to complain he was yanked away and was flown to a village house. 

There he saw what could only be described a room full of corpses. Their bodies cold and filled with black veins. 

"I'm sorry. But these men are not alive. They aren't even breathing!"

But his words did not enter the ears of the man called Moria. He was simply breathing and looking at his men. 

'Hibino, my doctor. He sent me away so that I won't have to watch them suffer as they die.'

' Jigoro, he always had a weak constitution, he was the first to fall. Yet he said nothing.'

'Ben...'

'John....'

'Tararan...'

he started to go through the names of all his crew members as he remembered one tidbit after another about themm

One of them liked to train at night cause he couldn't sleep unless he was dead tired.

One of them had a lump on his head that everyone would make fun of.

One of them once said his horns were fake and dared him to prove they were real.

One of them wished to one day be the greatest navigator in the world.

One of them wanted to be able to beat Rayleigh and become the best swordsman. 

One of them wanted to find a way to replace his left eye because he saw badly with that one eye. 

One of them ran away from home hoping to become a famous painter.

One of them..

"Moria!!! This person is still alive!!!"

"What!! Absalom?"

"Yes, some parts of his body must be amputated, but he'll live."

Absalom then quickly got to saving the man's life. 

The poison used was made from a native flower in wano.

Since Hogback had been there for a while, he recognised the poison immediately and injected the cure. 

Hogback then amputated some parts of his body. Mainly the ones that were beyond saving. 

At that point, to make sure he survived, Moria then injected his own shadow into Absalom in the hope of strengthening him. 

Absalom survived. 

But Hogback seemed fascinated at the power displayed by Moria. 

"How can I repay you Hogback? You've saved my friend."

"I have nothing I need at the moment, however, I would love to have the favor of a man like you."

"Alright then, I owe you a favor. feel free to come to me anytime you want."

Saying that Moria went back to tending to Absalom. 

**

[Trauma enactment complete]

Rick woke up in a white space. A space that looked the same as the 'reflection plane'. but the sole difference was that he could speak this time. 

As he looked around, a few cards flew around him. Their backs were to him so he couldn't see their contents. 

But he could see that they were graded. two were golden, three were silver and 5 were bronze.

Rick was still reeling from the visions that he saw. So many things were recontextualized in that one vision. 

But that wasn't the thing that shook him. it was feeling what Moria felt. His despair, pain, and anguish. 

And mainly his sense of being betrayed by someone he considered close. Someone he considered a brother. 

He understood how Moria is what he is today. 

A broken man trying hard to keep all the broken pieces together. 

And he looked at a skill that showed a black bat, forlorn and tired. 

The skill had a moving image of a bat inside and read,

[Kage Kage no mi]

[A paramecia fruit ability that lets the user control shadows as he sees fit.]

[You have chosen a skill]

He then saw his surroundings suddenly break apart as he returned to a time 24 hours ago. The start of a day that will end in the annihilation of the future pirate crew. 

And all that stands between that and the safety of the strawhats, is an overweight man with zero stamina that just got an ability that he has no prior experience in using. 

What could go wrong?