Hrist_Waltz

If the situation degenerate on webnovel though, I may adapt and change my mind.

For now, please enjoy chapter 63 !

Chapter 63: Ever danced with the devil in the pale moonlight?

Gecko Moria was choking. Him, one of the shichibukai, was being choked by a lone man. He couldn’t believe it. For one because it was supposed to be impossible, for two he was too busy trying unsuccessfully to breathe. When the man holding him applied a lot more pressure on his neck, Moria’s brain jolted for an instant. But that instant was enough, and he changed place with his shadow which was inside Oars.

*cough* “Who ..” *cough* “ Are you?!” *cough*

He tried to catch his breath with difficulty but sadly he didn’t have the time. The devil facing him was already on him.

~~~~~

Rick, now holding a shadow, squeezed it and made it explode. He turned around and looked for the prey that got away. It didn’t take him long to find it and propel himself with his gravity. The gravity blades he threw towards Oars were powerful, each one of them pushed him back a few feet. The Zombie tried to fight back by dodging and hitting with his arms but they were repelled by other gravity blades. Each was stronger than the one before and by a lot. Hands started to appear on Oars’ body? letting out a purple glow tearing small bits of flesh after small bits of flesh.

“What the hell is going on?!” asked Sanji.

“Rick is taking on Oars and Moria by himself apparently.” answered a baffled Usopp.

“More than that, he’s winning.” added Franky.

“Are you sure your friend wasn’t already that powerful?” asked Brook.

“Yes. I mean, sure with his gravity he can pull off from the ground really heavy things. But the heavier the more taxing it is for his body. He wouldn’t be able to push away our ship like that, so Oars who is many times heavier?” replied Nami.

“And yet, he’s doing it.” said Zoro.

“Do you think it’s related to the horns on his head?” asked Usopp.

“It’s possible, what I’m worried about right now is how long he can hold it.” answered Chopper.

“What do you mean?” asked Franky.

“Look at his body, it’s like he’s breaking from the inside. And I’m not even talking about the blood pouring out of those scars.” explained Chopper.

They heard a big tear sound coming from Oars. Rick had split a part of one of his shoulders, making his arm dangle a bit. Their friend let out a very maniacal laughter which send chills down their spine.

“You bastard! You will pay for that!” Yelled Moria.

“HAhaHAhAHahaHA.”

Rick didn’t stop there, he aimed for the ripped shoulder and thrusted Ryusei sending a powerful purple beam towards it. It hit and made a big hole severing the arm even more from the body. Everything the beam behind it touched just disappeared.

“Holy crap!” yelled Usopp.

“So that’s what he was talking about.” said Zoro.

“What do you mean?” asked Sanji.

“When we were in Water Seven, before sailing, Rick and I had a friendly spar with swords. He went easy on me and I asked why. The answer I got was that attack he just did right now. Though when he was talking about it, it was nothing as thin and refined as this.” explained Zoro.

“Thin and refined?” Brook asked.

“Rick channels his gravity in his blade. The higher the gravity the more powerful the thrust is, obviously but the harder it is to properly refine it. From what I gathered, if Rick had used the same level of gravity he used during the Davy Back Fight a good chunk of Water Seven would have been gone but not in a clean straight line like that. Yet The level of gravity he used on that attack is way higher than back then.” said Zoro.

“I’m super glad it was not aimed at us.” replied Franky.

Oars’ arm was not completely useless though. Moria made Oars spin around and with the centrifugal force, use it like a whip. Rick was too busy to laugh to do anything and got hit hard. He was sent flying past the crew and ended up colliding with a building which fell on him.

“““Rick!”””

They didn’t have time to worry about their Vice-Captain as Oars started his onslaught once again. Fortunately, or to be more accurate, unfortunately Rick burst out from the ruins of the building and sent gravity blades everywhere in front of him. The crew was stuck, one side was Moria on the other their friend. Zoro tried to take care of the gravity blade with his own flying slashes. He didn’t bother to try to stop them all there were too many but he focused on the one which would have hit the crew. That wasn’t an easy task and he was barely succeeding.

Meanwhile, Sanji was trying his best with Franky and Chopper to fight off Oars and Moria. The latter, no longer restrained by Robin, was now free to make Oars’ body stretch again. Usopp and Nami were taking care of waking up Robin, still down after her assault from Moria.

This was a nightmare. They couldn’t fight any of their opponents.

“Where is Luffy?! We really need him right now!” said Usopp helping Nami bandaging Robin’s wound with cloth ripped from Rick’s overcoat.

"I don’t know, but you’re right. We can’t hold on any longer.” replied Nami focused on her friend.

As if their prayers had been answered a giant blue hand came from the side of Oars and smashed him right in the face.

“Hey giant guy! What do you think you’re doing to my friends?”

““““““Luffy!””””””

“Straw hat! You’re right on time! Die with your pathetic crew!” yelled Moria.

With Oars remaining arm the shichibukai threw a punch towards Luffy who stopped it with one hand.

“What?!” exclaimed Moria.

“Give everyone back their shadow! “ yelled the strawhats captain, before hitting the zombie in the jaw with an uppercut.

The strength behind that hit was so monstrous that Oars was sent flying backwards a hundred feet and landed in the haunted forest. Luffy went after him, leaving his crew behind.

“I wouldn’t mind a bit of help here!” yelled Zoro.

He couldn’t hold Rick’s attacks anymore. What infuriated him was that his Vice-captain or whatever it was that faced him was toying with him. The gravity blades were not nearly as powerful as the ones Oars took. No, those ones were weak enough for Zoro to deal with but with great difficulty. It was like Rick was enjoying tormenting him, exhausting him blades after blades. Sanji deflected as many as he could but that put a heavy load on his legs and Franky, who got back his nunchaku that Zoro had borrowed, was hitting them head on with Brook. Chopper joined Nami and Usopp to help with Robin.

“How the hell did you fight him for so long?!” asked Franky but got no answer from Zoro, too busy holding up.

“How are we going to deal with him?” questioned Sanji.

“Get close and knock him out?” answered Brook.

“Easier said than done.” replied Zoro

Meanwhile with the weak trio, Chopper was taking care of the wounds Nami and Usopp hadn't yet treated.

“She’s going to be fine, if she’s careful there won’t be any scars.” said the doctor.

“That’s good,” said Nami.

“Now what are we going to do with Rick?” asked Usopp.

“I don’t know, last time I saw him, he faced a dangerous guy that came on the island.” answered Nami.

“Is he the one responsible for Rick’s change?” wondered Chopper out loud.

“I don’t think that’s the case. When I left they were facing each other and were talking. If a fight would have broken out we would have felt and heard it from here.” replied Nami.

“Then why did he become like that?” asked Chopper, again.

“I don’t know but when he was choking Moria he was really scaring me.” replied Usopp

“Yes it was like.. he was taking pleasure in hurting him.” added the reindeer.

“Why Moria?” muttered Nami?

““Huh?””

“Why Moria and not us?”

“Do you need glasses?! He’s attacking us right now!” said Usopp.

“But not with the same savagery he did Moria! Look! He’s taking his time! He’s enjoying toying with them.” retorted Nami pointed to their friends doing their best to fight Rick off.

“Against Moria he was relentless and ruthless.” remarked Chopper.

“But now he isn’t. Why is that? What did Moria do that made Rick lose his mind like that?” wondered Nami.

“Now that I think about it, that was weird to begin with.” declared Usopp.

““What was?””

“When Rick left to get sea water to get Luffy’s shadow back Moria hadn’t appeared yet. How did he know Moria was.. Moria?” asked Usopp.

That was a really good question actually and it prompted Nami to replay? the scene in her mind.

‘Rick suddenly arrived by charging Moria.. If he didn’t know Moria why did he go after him? What was Moria doing when..’

“ROBIN!” she yelled.

““What?””

“When Rick charged Moria, the latter had just attacked Robin!”

““So?””

“So Rick is very protective of us, especially her! Now I know what happened with Vivi.” she muttered not low enough for the other two to not hear her.

“Vivi? What does she have to do with the situation?” asked Usopp.

“Nevermind that! We need to wake Robin!”

““WHAT?!””

“You heard me! She may be the only one who can stop Rick right now! Chopper, can you do something?” asked the navigator.

The reindeer opened his bag and pulled out a test tube. He opened it by removing the cork on top of it and quickly put one hand to hold his nose and used the other to put the test tube under Robin’s. The effect was instantaneous. The archaeologist opened her eyes and raised herself.

“““ROBIN!”””

“Wha..”

“We need your help!” said Usopp urgently.

She was still a bit out of it but quickly enough found her bearings.

“My help? What for?” she asked.

“For this!” answered Usopp pointing at Rick still toying with the guys.

“Rick? What hap..”

“We don’t know, but we think you’re the only one who can stop him right now.” intervened Nami.

“Me?”

“Nami thinks he lost it because you got hurt.” replied Chopper.

Robin looked at her boyfriend. Horns on his head, his face wearing a sadistic and gleeful smile. He was sending attacks after attacks towards her friends who held their ground, barely.

“What do you want me to do?” she asked.

“I don’t know.. something?” answered Usopp.

Nami leaned and whispered in her ear.

“You really think it will work?” the archaeologist doubted Nami’s idea.

“Probably? I don’t have any other plans.”

Robin got up and crossed her arms in front of herself. Immediately? multiple pairs of arms bloomed from behind Rick’s back and embraced him. Now restricted, his attacks stopped allowing Zoro, Sanji, Franky and Brook to take a break. They were out of breath. Their Vice-captain tried to free himself but stopped in his endeavor when a mouth appeared near his ear and whispered to him. His eyes closed and the horns disappeared before his entire body went limp. He had passed out.

“““You did it!””” exclaimed the weak trio.

Chopper rushed to Rick’s side to see his condition, while Nami, Usopp and Robin went towards the guys.

“Good job.” said Zoro, exhausted.

“What did you do exactly?” asked Franky.

“Woman’s secret.” said Robin with a little smile at the corner of her lips.

“Well, that was effective, and that’s all that matters” replied Brook.

“And right on time, I don’t think I would have been able to go on much longer.” confessed Sanji.

Their little break was abruptly over when Oars crashed right beside them into the main tower and Luffy now back to normal crashed on the ground next to them. However the fight was not over. The giant zombie raised himself ready to continue. Unfortunately for him, the entire crew, minus Rick, was present, ready to finish him off. They did everything to make him stand straight. Nami made a rain cloud above Oars head and made it pour on it; it was followed up by Franky hijacking a pipe from the main tower, and with the freezing gas in it froze his legs. Thriller Bark being a ship island the helm was gigantic and used a huge metal chain to move. Sanji took it and put it around Oars’ torso.

The undead giant was now restrained straight on his two legs. The opportunity was there and Luffy didn’t miss it. He asked Robin to make some kind of ladder on the main tower’s wall so he could climb as high as he could. Once at a good height he jumped and went into gear 3rd. Two giant rubber arms landed right on Oars’ head as he was looking up.

The blow was devastating and broke the reanimated giant’s spine, making him unable to move for good.

“Woohoo!” exclaimed Usopp.

Unfortunately for him the fight was not over yet. Oars may have been defeated but Moria was still kicking.

“THAT’S IT! ENOUGH!” the shichibukai yelled.

“Give us back our shadows!” replied Luffy.

“Oh, you want shadows? I’ll give you shadows!”

Moria raised his hands, his shadow expanded in tiny strings that scattered around the whole island. Soon enough the strings brought back shadows.

“How many did you take in your body earlier? A hundred? Then I’ll just have to take more!”

Hundreds and hundreds of shadows wera absorbed by Moria. His body became bigger to the point he reached the size of Oars.

“Kishishishi! What are you going to do now! I have the power of a thousand shadows!”

“There is no way he can control all those.” said Nami.

Luffy went into gear 2nd and hit the shichibukai’s belly with his jet bazooka attack. That seemed to work as shadows escaped from Moria’s mouth. Seeing that Luffy kept on attacking, unfortunately his opponent didn’t let him and fought back. With this power up Moria was even stronger than Oars. Now more than ever was the time to claim victory as the sun was rising. A few more minutes and everyone not hiding would disappear, killed by the sun’s ray.

Out of nowhere a purple beam went straight towards Moria and struck him. The blow was powerful enough to make the shichibukai release all the shadow he stole and knock him out. Everyone turned around to see behind them an exhausted Rick panting, supporting himself on his sword stuck in the ground.

“Absorb that *pant* bitch.” he said.

The fight was over and the strawhats won. The crew started celebrating with the crowd around. They were pirates whose shadows had been taken by Moria and stuck on the island since then. However, everyone's joy was cut short by a voice.

“The worst case scenario came true. How unfortunate, we just decided Crocodile’s successor and now we have another vacant seat for the shichibukai.”

The voice came from a den den mushi held by Kuma.

“Who’s that guy?!”? asked Usopp.

“That’s the guy Rick faced when I left him at the Sunny” answered Nami.

“He’s Bartholomew Kuma, another shichibukai.” said Rick.

“““Another one?!”””

The voice from the den den mushi talked again.

“Is Moria still alive? If he was, we can just wait for him to recover. As for what happened here... the news must not reach the world . Understood?”

“Understood.” answered Kuma.

“Then we await your report.” said the voice.

Kuma hung up the den den mushi, and moved. He appeared in the middle of the crowd without anyone knowing how he did it in a blink of an eye.

“You said you will not interfere, Kuma!” yelled Rick.

“In the fight with Moria, yes. But the fight is over.”