The heavy fog of the Florian Triangle clung to the shattered stonework of Thriller Bark. The island-ship, once a terrifying symbol of Gecko Moria's power, was currently tearing itself apart.
The eastern harbor was a warzone of ice and magma, while the western and northern walls had been breached by rival pirate crews. The constant booming of cannons, the clash of steel, and the heavy impacts of Haki echoed through the dead forests.
Far from the front lines, moving quietly through the shadows of the ruined courtyard, was Gecko Moria.
The Warlord of the Sea moved with a surprising lack of noise for a man of his massive, bulbous size. He crept along the edges of the battlefield, hiding behind fallen statues and broken mausoleums. He was sweating heavily, his stitched face contorted into a mask of pure, unadulterated fury.
"My beautiful island," Moria hissed under his breath, peering around a crumbling stone pillar. "Decades of work. Ruined in a single morning by a bunch of arrogant rookies and the World Government's lapdogs."
He watched as a squad of fifty Marine infantrymen were blown backward by a stray blast of air from the harbor, crashing into the stone walls and falling unconscious in the dirt.
Moria's eyes gleamed with a dark, opportunistic light. He didn't step out to fight. He knelt down beside the fallen soldiers. He reached into his coat and pulled out a pair of large, heavy iron scissors.
Using his Devil Fruit power, Moria grabbed the shadows cast by the unconscious Marines. To his hands, the shadows felt like thick cloth. With swift, practiced motions, he snipped the shadows away from their feet. As soon as the shadows were severed, he rolled them up and stuffed them into his pockets. The Marines groaned in their sleep, unaware that they had just lost their ability to stand in the sunlight.
"Fools," Moria muttered, moving to the next group of fallen soldiers. "You bring your war to my home? You think you can just trample over my territory? I will show you why they call me a Warlord."
Moria spent the next twenty minutes scavenging the edges of the battlefield. He didn't discriminate. He took the shadows of unconscious Marines, defeated government agents, and even a few low-level pirates from the Supernova crews who had strayed too far into the castle grounds.
By the time he was finished, his pockets were bulging, and a massive, writhing ball of black shadows was clutched in his hands. It was the combined strength, skill, and combat experience of hundreds of trained fighters.
"This will do," Moria grinned, a sinister, desperate chuckle escaping his throat. "Kishishishi... Oh, this will do perfectly."
He turned his back on the battlefield and hurried toward a concealed entrance at the base of his central palace. He pulled a hidden lever, and a heavy stone door slid open, revealing a dark, spiraling staircase leading deep underground.
The air grew significantly colder as Moria descended. The damp smell of earth was replaced by the sharp, biting scent of raw ice. He reached the bottom of the stairs and pushed open a pair of massive, frost-covered iron doors.
He stepped into the Special Freezer.
The room was vast, an enormous cavern carved directly into the foundation of the island. Massive blocks of ice lined the walls, keeping the temperature well below freezing to preserve the master's most prized possessions.
But Moria didn't look at the smaller blocks. He walked to the very center of the cavern.
Resting on his back, chained to the floor with links of iron as thick as tree trunks, was a corpse of staggering proportions. It was a giant, but it made normal giants look like ordinary men. The creature had massive horns protruding from its skull, long, unkempt hair, and thick, bulging muscles covered in rough stitches. Its lower jaw jutted out with two massive, boar-like tusks.
This was Oars. The legendary "Continent Puller." An ancient giant from a forgotten era, known for moving entire landmasses with his bare hands.
Moria stood near the creature's head, completely dwarfed by the sheer size of the monster.
"You have slept long enough, my greatest masterpiece," Moria said, holding up the massive, struggling ball of stolen shadows.
Normally, Moria would carefully select a single, incredibly strong shadow to animate a Special Zombie. But today, he had no time for finesse. He needed absolute, overwhelming destruction.
Moria slammed his hands down, plunging the entire mass of hundreds of Marine and pirate shadows directly into Oars' open mouth.
The effect was instantaneous.
The shadows flowed into the empty vessel. The ancient, frozen muscles began to twitch. The thick chains holding the giant to the floor groaned and rattled as the body filled with the stolen strength of hundreds of living men.
Oars' eyes snapped open. They glowed with a dull, eerie yellow light.
"ROOOOOOOAR!"
Oars let out a deafening, earth-shaking bellow. The sheer volume of the sound cracked the ice on the walls of the freezer. The giant sat up, snapping the massive iron chains holding his arms as if they were made of brittle string. He looked down at his own massive hands, flexing his thick fingers, feeling the combined martial arts and combat training of the Marines flooding his new body.
Moria stepped back, looking up at his creation with a wide, triumphant grin.
"Listen to me, Oars!" Moria shouted, pointing toward the heavy ceiling of the cavern. "Above us, at the eastern port, enemies are destroying my island! There are Marines and pirates! They are tearing down my castle!"
Oars slowly turned his massive head, looking down at Moria. The amalgamation of shadows inside him made his mind chaotic, but the overriding command of his master cut through the noise.
"Enemies..." Oars rumbled, his voice so deep it vibrated the floorboards. "Destroy enemies..."
"Yes!" Moria yelled. "Go to the port! Attack everyone! Smash the ice! Crush the magma! Do not stop until every single intruder is flattened into the dirt! Leave nothing standing!"
Oars didn't ask questions. He simply raised his massive fists and punched directly upward.
The thick stone ceiling of the freezer caved in instantly. Dirt, rock, and foundational support beams rained down as the ancient giant carved his own exit, climbing out of the underground cavern and stepping up toward the surface of the island.
Moria watched the giant's legs disappear through the hole in the ceiling. He let out a long, satisfied sigh.
"That should keep them busy," Moria muttered.
He didn't follow the monster to the battlefield. He turned around and walked briskly toward a small, hidden elevator at the back of the freezer. He pressed a button, and the elevator carried him rapidly up to the highest tower of the main palace.
The doors slid open to his private observation room.
Standing by the large, arched window, looking out over the chaotic harbor, were Perona and Dr. Hogback.
Perona was clutching her pink umbrella tightly, floating nervously a few inches off the ground. Dr. Hogback was sweating profusely, biting his fingernails as he watched the distant explosions of magma and ice.
"Master Moria!" Hogback gasped, spinning around as the Warlord entered the room. "Thank goodness you are safe! The situation outside is completely out of control! The Straw Hats are fighting the Admirals, and the other pirates have breached the walls!"
"It's awful!" Perona whined, landing on the floor. "My ghost hollows can't even get close to the harbor! The air is too hot, and the pressure is too scary! What are we going to do?!"
Moria walked over to the window. He looked down at his ruined courtyards, the shattered gates, and the fires burning in his forests. He felt a sharp pang of anger, but he quickly pushed it down. He was a survivor above all else.
"We are leaving," Moria said flatly.
Hogback blinked, his jaw dropping. "L-Leaving? But Master Moria, this is Thriller Bark! Your castle! Your territory!"
"Look out that window, Hogback," Moria pointed a thick finger at the harbor. "Do you see what is happening down there? That isn't a simple skirmish. That is a war between monsters. The Straw Hats brought down Enies Lobby, and the World Government sent their highest military powers to kill them."
Moria turned to his subordinates, his expression completely serious.
"If we stay here, we will be caught in the crossfire. The island-ship is lost. It is going to be destroyed today."
Perona looked around the beautiful, gothic room. "But all our treasure... our zombie generals..."
"A castle can be rebuilt," Moria stated firmly. "Treasure can be stolen again. Armies can be raised from new graveyards. But if we die here, it is over. I have just activated Oars. He will march to the port and attack both sides. He is massive, and he has the skills of a hundred Marines. He will cause enough chaos and distraction for us to slip away unnoticed."
Hogback wiped his forehead, realizing the terrifying logic of his master's words. "You are right, Master. Survival is the highest priority. Where will we go?"
"To the hidden escape ship docked in the rear cavern," Moria ordered, moving toward his private safe to gather his most valuable belongings. "Pack only what you can carry. We leave the heavy loot behind. Even if Thriller Bark survives this war, we can always come back and reclaim it when the dust settles. Now, move!"
Perona and Hogback didn't argue. They immediately scrambled around the room, grabbing small bags of gold, rare medical texts, and essential supplies. The Ghost Princess and the mad doctor followed their pragmatic captain out the back door, leaving their haunted kingdom to the wolves.
Back at the eastern harbor, the battle had reached a fever pitch.
Luffy was dodging another wave of Akainu's molten magma, his fists blackened with Haki as he landed a heavy blow on the Admiral's side. Not far away, Zoro and Sanji were moving in a synchronized blur, attempting to corner Aokiji amidst a forest of jagged ice spikes. Franky and the Iron Legion were continuing their relentless, explosive dance against the Pacifistas.
The noise was deafening. The heat and cold clashed violently, creating thick walls of steam.
But suddenly, the ground beneath their feet began to tremble.
It wasn't a subtle vibration. It was a massive, rhythmic quaking that shook the loose cobblestones and made the frozen seawater crack.
THOOM. THOOM. THOOM.
Akainu paused his attack, his eyes narrowing as he looked toward the center of the island. Luffy stopped in his tracks, tilting his head in confusion. Zoro and Sanji backed away from Aokiji.
The thick fog hanging over the ruined castle walls began to swirl and part.
A massive hand, the size of a Marine galleon, reached out and grabbed the top of the outer stone wall. With a casual, effortless pull, the giant ripped the entire fifty-foot stone barricade away, tossing it aside like a child's toy.
Stepping into the light of the harbor was Oars.
The ancient giant stood over a hundred feet tall. His massive horns pierced the low-hanging clouds. His stitched, decaying skin looked like rough leather, and his yellow eyes burned with a mindless, chaotic rage.
The entire battlefield ground to a halt.
The Marines dropped their rifles, staring up at the towering monstrosity in sheer terror.
"What... what in the world is that?!" a Marine Captain screamed, falling to his knees. "That's not a normal giant! It's a monster!"
"It's a zombie!" another soldier yelled, pointing at the stitches. "Moria's ultimate weapon!"
Akainu scowled, the magma on his arm dripping hotly onto the ground. "Abominations of the dead. Disgusting. The Warlord has lost control of his own island."
Luffy, however, had a completely different reaction. He didn't look scared. His eyes widened with pure, unadulterated awe.
"SUGEEEEEEE!" Luffy roared, entirely dropping his guard as he pointed at Oars. "IT'S A SUPER GIANT! IT HAS HORNS! I WANT TO FIGHT IT!"
"Idiot," Akainu growled.
Seizing the blatant opening, the Admiral thrust his arm forward. A blistering hound of magma shot across the space, aimed straight for Luffy's exposed chest.
"Luffy, move!" Zoro barked from across the ice.
Luffy's instincts snapped him back to reality. He twisted wildly, the searing heat grazing his shoulder and singeing his black jacket as it flew past.
"Hey! That's dangerous!" Luffy yelled, glaring back at the Admiral.
"I don't care, rookie," Akainu said coldly.
Oars didn't care who was who. The chaotic mix of Marine shadows inside his body simply demanded violence. He looked down at the tiny figures swarming the harbor.
"ENEMIES!" Oars bellowed.
He pulled his massive right arm back. Despite his towering, bulky size, the giant dropped into a perfectly disciplined, rigid Marine fighting stance. It looked absurd on a creature of his scale, but the execution was flawless.
Oars threw a straight punch directly at the center of the harbor.
The sheer physical force of the punch displaced the air, creating a massive windstorm. The pressure blew dozens of Marines off their feet before the fist even landed.
The massive fist slammed into the ice, completely shattering the frozen bay and sending heavy chunks of glacial debris flying into the air.
"He's destroying the battlefield!" Sanji yelled, dodging a falling block of ice. "We can't fight the Admirals if this overgrown corpse keeps smashing the floor!"
High above the harbor, hovering smoothly in the air, were Ben and Kizaru who stopped the fight to see Oars.
He looked down at the ruined courtyard. "A giant zombie," Ben muttered to himself, adjusting his glasses. "Moria must be desperate. Or he's packing his bags."
Ben looked toward the edge of the conflict. Dory, Oimo, and Kashii were currently holding the line against a squad of Vice-Admirals.
But dealing with a Continent Puller required a different approach.
"Dory!" Ben's voice rang out, magically amplified to carry over the roar of Oars.
Dory swung his heavy sword, knocking a Marine officer away, and looked up at the hovering Magician.
"We have a slight pest problem," Ben called down, pointing at the towering, roaring zombie. "It seems the enemy has brought a giant to the field. I believe we have a giant of our own who can show him how it's done."
Dory followed Ben's finger. He looked at Oars. He saw the sheer size, the horns, and the stitched flesh. He saw the ancient giant drop into another stiff, unnatural Marine martial arts stance.
A wide, fierce grin spread across Dory's bearded face. His warrior blood began to boil.
"A giant of old," Dory rumbled, gripping the hilt of his Uru-metal sword tightly. "I have heard the tales of the Continent Pullers in the halls of Elbaf. They were brutes who relied only on their size. Let us see if the dead can truly fight!"
"My thoughts exactly," Ben smiled.
Ben raised his right hand. His eyes glowed with the warm, golden energy of his magic. He focused his intent entirely on the Blue Ogre.
"Command T: Restore."
SNAP.
The air around Dory distorted violently. The magical restriction holding his size in check vanished instantly.
VOOOOOM!
Dory exploded upward. He didn't just grow; he shot into the sky like a rapidly expanding mountain. The ground cracked beneath his expanding boots. He bypassed ten feet, twenty feet, fifty feet, growing until he returned to his true, towering Elbaf glory.
He stood nearly seventy feet tall, his massive horned helmet gleaming in the strange light of the harbor. He wore his tailored black suit, which Ben had enchanted to stretch perfectly with his size. In his right hand, the Uru-metal sword expanded with him, becoming a massive, heavy blade capable of cleaving ships in half. On his left arm rested the silver Vibranium shield, vibrating with raw, heavy power.
The Marines on the ground shrieked, scattering wildly to avoid being crushed beneath Dory's massive, polished black shoes.
"G E B A B A B A B A!"
Dory's laugh was deafening. It rolled across the harbor like thunder, completely drowning out the groans of the zombies and the shouts of the soldiers.
"Now this is a battlefield!" Dory roared, rolling his massive shoulders. He looked up, finally standing eye-to-eye with the undead monster.
Oars stopped his rampage. The zombie giant slowly turned his head, his yellow eyes locking onto the new challenger. Oars was still slightly taller, but Dory was broader, heavily armored, and radiated the focused, overwhelming presence of a living, breathing warrior king.
"Dory!" Ben called down from the sky. "Take care of him! Keep him away from the Battlefield!"
"Leave it to me, Ben!" Dory yelled back. He banged his heavy sword against his silver shield. The metallic CLANG echoed across the island.
Dory pointed his blade directly at Oars.
"You wear the skin of an ancient giant," Dory shouted, his voice dripping with warrior pride. "But you stand like a stiff wooden puppet! You fight with the stolen movements of little men! I am Dory the Blue Ogre, Captain of the Giant Warrior Pirates! I will show you the true strength of Elbaf!"
"ENEMY!" Oars bellowed in response.
Oars didn't charge blindly. Guided by the disciplined Marine shadows within him, he dropped his massive hips, pulling his right arm back to his waist. He was attempting a giant-sized, highly focused karate punch.
He thrust his fist forward. The sheer speed of the massive arm created a visible ring of white vapor around his wrist.
Dory didn't dodge. He knew that dodging a blow of that size would just result in the harbor being destroyed behind him.
Dory planted his feet firmly into the bedrock. He raised his left arm, angling the massive silver shield forward, and coated the metal in a thick, dense layer of black Armament Haki.
KRA-KOOOOOOM!
Oars' fist slammed directly into the center of Dory's shield.
The impact was deafening. The ground beneath Dory's boots shattered, deep fissures tearing through the stone harbor and plunging into the frozen sea. A heavy blast of air blasted outward, flattening everything in a hundred-yard radius.
But Dory didn't move an inch backward.
The special alloy of his shield instantly absorbed the raw physical power of Oars' punch. The silver metal glowed with a bright, pulsating blue light, swallowing the destructive force whole.
"A heavy hand!" Dory grunted, feeling the pressure against his arm. "But there is no spirit behind it! It is just dead meat!"
Oars looked confused. His stolen Marine instincts expected the target to be crushed or sent flying. He pulled his fist back to strike again.
"My turn!" Dory roared.
Dory pushed forward with his shield arm, instantly releasing all the stored power from Oars' own punch directly back into the zombie's chest.
BAM!
The reflected force snapped Oars backward violently. The zombie giant stumbled, his rigid Marine stance failing him as he lost his balance and took a clumsy, heavy step back, crushing a ruined tower beneath his heel.
Angry and disoriented, Oars reached down into the frozen harbor. His massive fingers dug into the permafrost left behind by Admiral Aokiji. With a raw display of brute strength, Oars ripped a chunk of solid ice the size of a Marine galleon straight out of the bay. He hoisted it over his head and hurled it directly at Dory.
"You throw stones like a child!" Dory laughed.
Dory tightened his grip on his Uru-metal sword. He coated the heavy blade entirely in black Haki. He didn't try to dodge the incoming glacier. Instead, he treated his sword like a massive baseball bat. He planted his back foot, twisted his hips, and swung with everything he had.
CRACK!
The blade struck the giant block of ice perfectly. The heavy Uru metal, reinforced by Dory's immense Haki, didn't shatter the ice; it completely reversed its path. Dory batted the massive boulder right back at Oars.
The block of ice slammed squarely into Oars' face, shattering into a million pieces upon impact and forcing the giant zombie to stagger blindly backward, rubbing his stitched eyes.
Oars let out a furious, mindless roar. Feeling no pain from the impact, the zombie threw caution to the wind. He charged forward recklessly, ignoring his stolen martial arts training, and threw his massive body directly at the Elbaf warrior.
Dory stood his ground, preparing for another clash, but Oars didn't punch. Instead, the ancient giant threw his arms wide and wrapped them completely around Dory, trapping the warrior in a bone-crushing bear hug.
"You hold tight, corpse," Dory grunted, his arms pinned to his sides. "But a warrior cannot be trapped so easily!"
Dory didn't struggle physically. He closed his eyes, focusing his formidable willpower. His body darkened entirely, coating himself in full-body Armament Haki. Then, with a sudden, explosive shout, Dory released a massive burst of his spirit outward.
The sheer force of the Haki eruption hit Oars like a physical wall, violently forcing the zombie's arms open and breaking the grapple.
Dory stepped back, drawing his sword back to his side. Oars, frustrated by his inability to crush the armored giant, raised his right foot high into the air, aiming to stomp Dory directly into the bedrock.
"A predictable move," Dory noted calmly.
Dory dropped his Uru sword to the ground. As Oars' massive foot descended, Dory raised both his bare hand and his silver shield. He caught the bottom of the zombie's boot perfectly, his boots digging deep into the stone harbor to anchor himself.
"HUUUUAAAGH!" Dory roared, tapping into his pure, unadulterated Elbaf strength.
He didn't just stop the stomp. Dory pushed upward, lifting the hundred-foot-tall ancient giant entirely off his feet. With a mighty heave, Dory flipped Oars backward, executing a flawless, earth-shattering suplex.
Oars crashed flat onto his back in the middle of the ruined harbor. The island shook violently, a massive cloud of dust and debris rising into the air as the Continent Puller was pinned to the floor by the King of Elbaf.
"Gebababa!" Dory laughed, picking his sword back up and resting it on his shoulder. "You fall too easily, corpse! A true warrior of Elbaf would have maintained his footing!"
Oars groaned, slowly pushing himself up off the ground. His yellow eyes burned with frustrated anger. He didn't understand why his stolen strength was failing against the armored warrior.
"Destroy..." Oars rumbled, pulling a massive, broken ship's mast from the rubble to use as a club.
"Come then!" Dory challenged, dropping back into a perfectly balanced, seasoned combat stance. "Let our blades sing!"
The two towering titans clashed again, their weapons meeting high above the heads of the battling pirates and Marines. The fight between the ancient, mindless monster and the skilled, Haki-wielding King of Elbaf raged on, shaking the very foundations of Thriller Bark with every thunderous blow.
Dory clearly held the upper hand, his superior technique and unbreakable weapons dominating the clumsy brute. But Oars, feeling no pain and possessing endless, undead stamina, refused to stay down, ensuring the colossal duel would not end quietly.