Looking at the Warlords, there are many heroes and remarkable individuals, but how many of them are imposters seeking fame?
Crocodile is one of them.
Although he suffered from being in an unfavorable Scenario, he was a man who dared to challenge Whitebeard.
It is understandable that he later sought the power of an Ancient Weapon, but his subsequent lax training led to him being defeated by the novice Straw Hat Luffy, which was purely his own fault.
But no matter what, Crocodile's strength is there.
You can question his combat record, but you cannot deny his combat power after he recovered.
Next, the one who served as a stepping stone for Luffy as a Warlord is Gecko Moria.
This Warlord, the earliest and most senior one, strictly speaking, failed because of-brain damage.
When the plot reached Moria, the Warlords' strength level was no longer as casual as Crocodile's, as seen from how Kuma easily defeated the Straw Hat crew without injury later.
Moria's strength is very high.
Even in the entire Thriller Bark arc, his defeat by Luffy was due to various self-destructive behaviors and plot-driven outcomes.
Moria had a similar experience to Crocodile, both challenging the Four Emperors and both failing miserably.
Crocodile lost an arm and stopped believing in his personal strength.
Moria lost all his companions and transformed from a fiery young man into a fat slob who collected shadows to create a large army.
Honestly, his strategic direction was not wrong.
The Shadow-Shadow Fruit's ability to extract shadows and put them into corpses is in many ways highly like Big Mom's Soul-Soul Fruit.
The Demon Oars he created was his fighting machine, similar in a way to the three Homies created by Big Mom by embedding her own soul.
But the problem is that he relied too much on his Devil Fruit ability.
This reliance is different from Kizaru's.
Kizaru's reliance is because he developed the ability of the Glint-Glint Fruit to the extreme.
Moria's development of the Shadow-Shadow Fruit's ability completely went down the wrong path.
He focused too much on cultivating shadow zombies, and his application of the Shadow-Shadow Fruit remained entirely at the stage when he entered the New World to challenge Kaido.
He was not like Big Mom, who ensured the Soul-Soul Fruit enhanced her own strength while developing Homies.
The only major move he developed over the decades, 'Shadow Asgard,' was also an incomplete version with serious flaws.
Jinbe, also a Warlord, even commented that Moria's Shadow Asgard was a move he couldn't control himself.
And putting aside his Devil Fruit ability, how was Moria in other aspects?
Looking at his obese body, you know his martial arts skills were a mess.
As for Haki, that's even more non-existent.
He was completely crippled after being struck by Kaido, and his powerful Devil Fruit ability was wasted.
After the Summit War, this guy was immediately abandoned by the World Government.
He was indeed too incompetent.
The most senior Warlord became the most useless Warlord.
And in terms of character-this guy is also the biggest scum among the Warlords.
Compared to the moral high ground of Warlords like Jinbe, Mihawk, and Bartholomew Kuma, the Empress who only pirated ships passing by Amazon Lily and rarely actively harmed lives, and Crocodile who at least put on a show, Moria's character is even worse than the sea thug Doflamingo.
What Doflamingo did in Dressrosa was certainly not humane, but he at least put on a show and maintained the rights of most people in Dressrosa.
But what Moria did was the actions of a true villain.
Just looking at the number of corpses on his ship, you can see how many graves this guy dug up, or how many people he simply killed to fill his zombie army.
Every year, more than 100 ships disappeared in Moria's territory.
In the decades he served as a Warlord, he had at least five digits of blood on his hands.
This guy is a scoundrel who disregards all taboos.
He is the most dedicated among the Warlords-using the legitimate piracy license issued by the World Government to commit all kinds of evil, robbing every ship that passed through the Florian Triangle or killing them to fill up his shadow army.
But he also completed the World Government's expectations for Warlords in a roundabout way-suppressing all emerging pirate forces and gradually cooling down the sea that was boiling due to Roger.
After all, the other Warlords either didn't care about money or had their own businesses.
Moria was the most standard and evil pirate among all the Warlords.
Weak and evil, and most importantly, a complete idiot.
It's no wonder that most pirate fan fiction likes to use him as a target.
So now, following the usual practice, Shin naturally chose Moria, the easiest target.
Choosing any of the others would also be fine.
Besides Mihawk and Kuma, the remaining ones, whether Hancock or Doflamingo, didn't make much difference in his eyes...
"This good item is worth 20,000 virtual evaluation points~"
Shin's Prayer #3 on Shiki's island summoned Barbatos.
Prayer #1's Long Arm had already sacrificed himself.
He entered the cockpit, controlling the Gundam to pick up the 'Rocket Launcher' from the ground, revealing a pleasant smile.
This good item was the weapon he intended to use to deal with Moria.
In fact, there were many ways to kill Moria, and there was no need to use such a cruel method.
It's just a shame.
Shin needed to establish dominance.
To gain a Warlord status that was relatively equal to the Five Elders, he had to demonstrate more deterrence than any other Warlord.
The soaring Barbatos, after refueling, followed the direction of the Eternal Pose towards the West Blue.
Soon, it arrived in front of the massive, dilapidated ghost ship conglomerate.
"Thriller Bark..."
The hovering Barbatos examined the flag flying above the ghost ship fleet: a skull with a fire-shaped pompadour and a pair of flaming bat wings-Moria's flag.
Shin slowly lifted the 'Rocket Launcher' on his back.
Look how magnificent that huge ghost ship is.
-Destroying it in one go must be incredibly satisfying.
"Moria, come out and get hit!"
Although he was there to kill the man and destroy his home, Shin still politely greeted him.
"Who is it?!"
Moria's angry and sharp voice echoed throughout the Thriller Bark.
The next moment, the obese man with an abnormal physique transformed into a pile of dark bats and flew out, hovering below Shin.
"Steel Giant-it's you."
Moria clearly recognized this acquaintance who had the highest bounty increase rate so far, his tone filled with surprise and ecstasy.
"You dare to come and find trouble with me, the great Warlord of the Sea Gecko Moria?!"
"Hahahaha, your weapon can definitely replace Oars and become the new foundation for me to establish myself in the world! Hehehehehehehehe!"
Moria's laughter was particularly harsh and unnerving, making people feel as if this guy had gone crazy.
The Shin Prayer inside Barbatos tilted its head.
He really didn't understand why pirates in this world always had such a mysterious confidence.
"Don't you understand, Moria? I am representing the World Government and coming to revoke your position."
Shin said calmly.
"You, who were easily defeated by the Straw Hat crew, are no longer fit to serve as a Warlord. The hero of the West Blue who once dominated the seas was buried with your companions. Now, Warlord Moria will also become a thing of the past."
Moria was stunned, and his obese face twisted in anger.
"Kid, you're asking for death!!!!"
"Shadow Spear!!"
A sharp shadow spear shot out like lightning from Barbatos's shadow projected on the sea surface, an attack that shattered the ground, but it dissipated the moment it touched Barbatos.
"Just as I thought..."
Shin looked at the instantly shattered Shadow Spear and was thoughtful.
In the entire world of One Piece, what he feared most was the group of Paramecia users with endless bizarre abilities, especially awakened ones who could directly assimilate and change the surrounding physical environment through their own will.
But after talking with Shiki and fighting with Moria, he dismissed many of his concerns.
First, the awakened assimilation abilities of Paramecia users like Doflamingo cannot affect living organisms, nor can they affect things they do not understand.
They can transform steel and transform soil.
Special Paramecia users like Katakuri can even transform the world within his sister Brulee's mirror space.
But all of this is based on their understanding and 'cognition' of that substance.
For extremely complex special alloy materials like Barbatos's Gundam frame, neither Katakuri nor Doflamingo has the ability to transform them.
In contrast, Paramecia fruits that can also cause special effects on individuals, such as Shiki's Float-Float Fruit, have greatly reduced effectiveness against incomprehensible substances.
This is why Vegapunk's Pacifista is one of the World Government's most relied-upon weapons.
The special modified metal used to manufacture Pacifista combines Lineage Factor and artificial Devil Fruit complex technology, which inherently has a restraining effect on Devil Fruit users.
Moria's Shadow Spear, in a sense, transforms intangible shadows into a certain primordial substance that can interfere with physics.
The destructive power of this attack is very high for substances he can understand, but it has no effect on incomprehensible structures.
"Shadow's Haki!!"
Seeing that his attack was useless, Moria instantly summoned a shadow identical to himself.
The Shadow Warrior dispersed into countless bats the moment it formed, attacking from below through Barbatos's shadow.
Shin had no intention of fighting him.
Pure physical attacks also had limited effectiveness against attacks composed of this special substance.
He would not engage in prolonged combat with such Devil Fruit users until he had weapons made of Seastone.
Barbatos sprayed flames and ascended high into the sky, penetrating the thick dark clouds of the Florian Triangle and flying to the dome.
"Coward, can you only run away!!!!"
"What Steel Giant? Are you afraid of my power, hehehehehehe?"
Moria's sharp, mocking laughter echoed throughout the Thriller Bark, but unfortunately, Shin could no longer hear it.
He probably wouldn't have the chance to hear Moria speak again in his life.
Shin was adjusting the angle of the projection Den Den Mushi in his hand.
After aiming at the best angle on the screen, he smiled and said,
"Five Elders and Marine Admirals, please enjoy this rare sight."
"I call this-Light of the Dawn."
Barbatos slowly took the 'Rocket Launcher' from its back.
The barrel slowly extended, revealing a yellow and black symbol.
"You are the first person in this world to have the privilege of tasting this treasure."
Shin pulled down the scope, calibrated the coordinates, and laughed maliciously.
"Praise the sun."
He pulled the trigger.
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