"What's wrong, Gecko Moria?"
"Is this all you've got?"
"No way. The mighty pirate dominating the West Blue is this weak?"
Hammer's venomous tongue returned once again, making Moria's entire face darken.
The shadow behind him twisted irregularly.
"Damn Marine, I'm going to ki, ugh!"
"Shadow Doppelman!"
The shadow clone appeared once more, but this time it stood shoulder to shoulder with Moria.
"Die!"
This time, Moria didn't rely solely on the Shadow-Shadow Fruit to attack.
Instead, both he and his shadow clone charged toward Hammer simultaneously, each wielding a massive blade.
"Now that's a decent bit of momentum."
"Close combat, huh?"
"Heh. You probably don't know who trained me."
"Come on then, let me see your melee skills!"
Hammer showed absolutely no concern toward Moria's assault.
After all, he was one of the elite survivors who had endured relentless beatings from monsters like Zephyr and Sengoku.
When it came to hand-to-hand combat,
That was his specialty.
"Tekkai!"
CLANG!
Facing the descending giant blade, Hammer raised a hand to block it.
The collision between sword and fist produced a metallic ringing sound.
Moria had rampaged through the West Blue for years and naturally recognized techniques like the Marine Six Powers.
"Shadow Horn Spear!"
At the exact moment the sword was blocked, the Shadow Doppelman immediately launched a Shadow Horn Spear directly at Hammer's face.
Even Hammer couldn't help clicking his tongue in admiration at the coordination of that attack.
As expected, the current-era Moria really did have some skill.
Otherwise, he never would've dared challenge Kaido in the future.
But Hammer had no intention of holding back.
He suddenly punched directly toward Moria's chest.
"Air Hammer!"
A violent shockwave exploded straight into Moria's torso.
However, Moria's expression remained serious.
His chest was instantly covered by pitch-black shadow.
Hammer's devastating strike slammed directly into the shadow layer.
DUANG!
The Shadow Doppelman was instantly heavily damaged and sent flying backward.
Yet it suffered no real damage.
Very quickly, it adjusted itself and charged back toward Hammer again.
"Oh?"
"That's a pretty nice trick."
"Sure enough, Moria…"
"A melee mage really is the ultimate path!"
Honestly, Moria's shadow substitution technique was ridiculously smooth.
Even Hammer wanted to applaud and shout "666."
"Don't underestimate me, Marine!"
"Shadow Horn Spear!"
The black spear appeared once more.
But this time, both Moria and the Shadow Doppelman launched it simultaneously.
The two spears stabbed toward Hammer's head and chest respectively.
"Tekkai!"
Hammer naturally accepted the attack head-on, activating Tekkai again to block it.
This time, however, the spears did not shatter.
Instead, they slammed into Hammer and forcibly pushed him backward several meters.
His feet carved two long marks into the ground.
"Not bad strength."
"I actually felt a bit of pain there."
After the Shadow Horn Spears disappeared, Hammer casually rubbed his forehead and chest.
Internally, however, he was sweating.
'Damn it, that was close.'
'This bastard really used full force.'
'If I hadn't secretly coated myself with Armament Haki in time, my defense definitely would've broken.'
'No wonder this guy could clash with Kaido.'
'His fruit abilities are seriously well-developed.'
"How is that possible?!"
"You monster… what kind of defense do you even have?!"
Moria was completely stunned.
'Those two Shadow Horn Spears were full-power attacks.'
'And they still couldn't break through his defense?'
For the first time, Moria began doubting himself.
He had already gone all out, so why was this Marine, this damned Hammer, completely unharmed?!
Of course, he was the only one who thought that.
Behind Hammer, Lance and Shirley both looked shocked.
They had clearly seen Hammer use Armament Haki at the last second.
Neither of them expected that a pirate from the West Blue could actually force Hammer to use Haki.
Even if Hammer wasn't being serious, it still drastically raised Moria's status in their minds.
"Hehehe…"
"Moria, your vision needs to be broader."
"I'll give you two choices."
"One: Sit down quietly and listen to what I have to say."
"Two: I hammer you into a metal pancake first, and then you quietly listen to what I have to say."
"Pick one."
Those words sounded unbearably humiliating to Moria.
He completely snapped.
"DAMN MARINE!"
"DON'T GET COCKY!"
"I still haven't used my trump card!"
"Boys!"
"Lend me your shadows!"
"Shadow's Asgard!"
Moria erupted into his final frenzy.
The pirates behind him first changed expressions,
But quickly accepted it.
"Boss, take them!"
"With our power added to yours, you'll definitely kill Hammer!"
"Go, boss!"
The cannon-fodder pirates immediately began cheering for Moria.
That only inflated Moria's ego even further.
As the pitch-black shadows beneath his feet continuously flowed into his body,
His already enormous frame swelled again.
He grew to nearly nine meters tall, muscles bulging all over.
His aura instantly climbed to its peak.
"Oh?"
"You've got some presence now."
"Looks like you really want to become a metal pancake."
"In that case, I'll grant your wish."
Hammer already knew Moria wouldn't obediently cooperate.
But seeing him outright refuse still irritated him greatly.
He decided to properly educate this idiot on the importance of listening to advice.
"Cloud Armor!"
To increase his own intimidation factor, Hammer directly revealed his hidden trump card, the Cloud Armor.
The white cloud-patterned armor covered his body, making him appear incredibly majestic.
"Kishishi!"
"Don't think putting on armor means you can beat me!"
"Come on, Hammer!"
"I'm going to cut you to pieces!"
In his berserk state, Moria launched another assault.
Both his arms transformed into pitch-black shadows.
The shadows instantly turned into two giant blades that slashed toward Hammer from both sides.
"Shadow Horn Spear!"
At the same time, he activated additional shadow attacks for support.
Blades and shadow spears surrounded Hammer from multiple directions.
"Let me show you…"
"What a craftsman's weapon really looks like!"
"Cloud Armor!"
"Transform!"
"Dragon!"
The cloud patterns lit up as the Cloud Armor instantly transformed.
Iron Clouds surged outward.
Under Moria's horrified gaze, the scattered clouds blocked all of his attacks effortlessly.
Then, at astonishing speed, they condensed into a gigantic white dragon.
The dragon coiled around Hammer's body while glaring fiercely at Moria.
"What kind of ability even is this?!"
"This is way too ridiculous!"
Moria instinctively assumed all of this was Devil Fruit power.
"Don't talk nonsense."
"This is the power of a craftsman."
"It's also my personal ultimate skill."
"This move…"
"It's my first time trying it too."
"So don't die, Moria."
Hammer revealed a cold smile as his right fist suddenly rose and began gathering power.
Under everyone's gaze, the cloud dragon rapidly compressed,
From dozens of meters long to merely three meters in size.
An entirely different shockwave erupted from the Cloud Armor.
"Dragon Fist!"
As Hammer launched his punch,
A crimson light instantly ignited, dyeing the cloud dragon red.
Then, accompanied by terrifying shockwave sounds, the dragon shot directly toward Moria.
This attack combined:
Iron Clouds, Impact Dials, Flame Dials, and multiple other Sky Island Dial technologies into one devastating strike.