Chapter 9: Chapter 9: Just Watch
"Um…" Claudia said as she timidly raised her hand while we were all getting pumped up for battle." Um, what should I be doing? I don't think I can fight." She mustered the courage to say.
"Oh don't worry about it Claudia. Just hide in the ship. It'll be over before you know it. Probably." I said.
We were going up against Gecko Moria, one of the Seven Warlords of the Sea. This was around a year before Luffy would have fought him, so I don't guess we'll have to deal with Oars, the giant Zombie that he put Luffy's shadow into. But Brooks should have already lost his shadow which means Ryuma the samurai should be here. That's cool I might get a chance to take Shunsui! I always thought that sword looked really cool. That being said, I doubt we'd see Brook show up here.
As far as I know, Moria doesn't know that we're here yet. That gives us the element of surprise, that's an important advantage when taking on someone with the status of Gecko Moria. We keep walking until we made our way to Moria's mansion.
"This looks like the place where their crew would be. What do you think we should do? I don't think they've noticed us yet." Jack said.
"What else do you do when you're in front of a door. You knock!" I said as I used Samehada to crush a hole in the wall door and all.
"That's not very subtle Captain."
"Yeah I know but it'll be quicker if we take them all head on." As we broke in, we were met by a crowd of Gecko Moria's zombies. "Jack take care of these guys."
In an instant, Jack shot all the zombies in the room in the head. "Are you sure that's going to be enough to keep them down?" Yuma asked.
"Yeah, I had Jack load his guns with salt. Apparently salt nullifies the effects of the Shadow Shadow fruit. So it's the easiest way to get rid of the zombies." I replied.
"How did you even know that!" Jack asked as we moved on.
"Um… I don't know, I just had a feeling." I said. Obviously I wasn't able to tell him that I knew it because I watched One Piece.
"Fosfosfosfos! You can't possibly believe that I'll just let you walk away after destroying so many of my creations!" A familiar voice said as we continued to push ahead.
It was the doctor who was responsible for creating the zombies that were then infused with the shadows stolen by Moria, Dr. Hogback. He wasn't alone as he was accompanied by an assortment of powerful zombies.
"Yuma, take care of these guys. We'll keep going on ahead." I said without breaking stride.
"You can count on me!" Yuma said getting ready to fight.
As me and Jack continued on he asked, "Are you sure Yuma will be okay by himself?"
"Yeah he's strong and resourceful. He's the Vice Captain of the Beast Sword Pirates. He can handle anything." I said beaming confidently.
"Yeah, but didn't you say that you needed salt to defeat the zombies? I'm the one who has all the salt right now."
I had totally forgotten about that in the moment. "He's strong and resourceful. He's the Vice Captain of the Beast Sword Pirates. He can handle anything." I said again with noticeably less confidence.
As we continued to push forward we were greeted by another familiar voice. "Horohorohoro! I-"
Me and Jack never broke stride and continued pushing ahead.
"Hey! listen to me when I'm talking! Don't just ignore me!" Perona shouted angrily as she chased after us.
Perona was another one of Moria's officers, she has Hollow Hollow fruit powers which lets her make ghosts that temporarily makes the person who touches it feel deeply dejected.
"Captain I know you probably don't want to fight a woman, but I don't think we're going to have that luxury. She's hit on our trail." Jack said.
"Don't worry I've got it." I then pulled out Samehada and fully released its monstrous form and its terrifying appearance scared Perona so badly that she passed out.
Continuing onward, we had yet another roadblock along the way this time in the form of a single zombie wearing a white kimono and carrying a magnificent black sword.
This was Ryuma the former samurai from Wano who was turned into a zombie that was infused with Brook's shadow. His sword was the legendary black blade Shinsui, one of the highest rated swords in the One Piece world.
Excited by the chance to cross swords with such a legendary swordsman, I rushed towards him and our swords clashed against each other. "Jack go on ahead. I'll catch up in a second. I get the feeling that I need to fight this guy right now."
"Alright but don't take too long or I'll take out Moria by myself." Jack said as he moved along.
Standing before me is one of the greatest swordsmen in the One Piece world, I thought his would be a perfect opportunity to improve my swordsmanship. Now, with his personality being fused with brook's he couldn't teach me any of his techniques from when he was alive. Even if he could, he wouldn't be able to as he was still being controlled by Moria. But even if that was the case I knew I'd learn something from him. All I had to do was watch the way he moved.