Moriah looked at Hera, who was attacking again, and made up his mind: "Fine, since you are determined to fight me, don't blame me for being ruthless." Seeing that this battle was unavoidable, Moriah naturally would not evade it, and exchanged a few blows with Hera using his large scissors.
Hera, possessing Armament Haki and spatial power, was naturally unafraid of Moriah's slashes. Her immense strength and the sharp aura of the Cutting Sky left Moriah struggling to cope. Moriah seized the moment Hera was airborne and used 'Shadow Box,' wrapping Hera with the shadows beneath his feet. Just as he thought he could relax, less than a second later, Hera used the Cutting Sky to break through the Shadow Box.
With this one second of delay, Absalom of the Thriller Bark Pirate Crew used his Paramecia - Clear-Clear Fruit ability to reach behind Hera, intending to launch a sneak attack.
However, Hera's Observation Haki within the domain of the City of Devouring Time meant no disturbance could escape her perception. 'Shigan: Black Finger'—the moment she broke free, Hera located Absalom. She exerted a fierce twist from her waist, spun her body in place, and thrust her Haki-infused finger toward Absalom's fist.
The Cutting Sky in her other hand met Moriah's scissors, blasting both of them away.
Absalom was forced into visibility by the blow. He tried to turn invisible again to help, but a hand wreathed in flames appeared before him, swiping toward his arm. He immediately felt danger and hurriedly dodged, but still got hit; one of the rocket launchers strapped to his arm disappeared.
Ain stepped in front of Absalom: "The feel is wrong. Are you hiding something else on your arm? What a lucky man. But I can't let you interfere with our Captain."
Absalom slowly retreated, activating his devil fruit ability as he backed away, turning invisible again. He muttered to himself, "Such a cute girl, just as fierce as Perona, not cute at all." He wanted to slip past Ain and continue helping his Captain.
When Ain saw the now-transparent Absalom, she closed her eyes and used her senses to feel the change in the air. She detected a slight airflow moving past her. Her leg, now covered in black Armament Haki, kicked out in the direction of the airflow—'Rankyaku'—striking Absalom as he tried to bypass her.
"If you want to get past me, you have to take me down first." Ain calmly looked toward Absalom's position and got into a stance. 'Damn woman!' Absalom knew he couldn't ignore this woman. He hid himself, searching for an opportunity.
On the other side, Moriah was in dire straits. Having lost his fighting spirit after being beaten by Kaido, he had neglected his training for years, and his Haki had long since faded to the point of being unusable. His Shadow-Shadow Fruit powers were suppressed by the City of Devouring Time, and the mass-produced zombies were no match for the black shadows within the City. To Hera, this guy was much easier to deal with than Eneru.
The longer the fight went on, the more alarmed Moriah became. The power of his Devil Fruit seemed to recede even faster as he was suppressed. Moriah gritted his teeth and decided to activate the corpse of the ultimate weapon, Giant Oars, ahead of schedule.
Moriah extracted the shadows from the regular zombies and concentrated them all onto Oars. Now he couldn't afford to find a strong shadow for Oars as originally planned; he could only rely on quantity, hoping to awaken Oars.
"Hera, you forced me to do this! I will take your shadow and those of your crewmates to restore my army!" Moriah roared, adjusted his angle, and flew toward Oars' corpse during their next collision.
Awakened by the numerous shadows, Oars fell into a chaotic state, rampaging indiscriminately across Ghost Island. Moriah entered Oars' control capsule and managed to direct Oars' fist to smash toward Hera.
Hera sneered, swapping the Cutting Sky in her hand for the minute hand, and fired 'Second Bullet' at Oars. Oars' movements slowed down, and Moriah's thinking inside the control capsule also slowed.
With a flash of light, the muzzle of the Forging Sky gun glowed white. 'Lions Bullet'—the charged shot pierced Oars' body. Under Hera's control, the white trajectory weaved through Oars' body. By the time the deceleration from 'Second Bullet' ended, Oars' body was riddled with holes.
Perona, residing in the castle, was also awakened by the massive commotion. She walked out fiercely: "Who is making such a racket on the island early in the morning?" She happened to see the collapsing Oars, her eyes popping out in shock. She slammed the door shut, rubbed her eyes, and opened it again, muttering, "Haha, I must have overslept."
But the scene outside the door would not reset. Just as Perona tried to close the door again, a flash of electricity rushed in. Nami, transformed into lightning, burst through.
"This isn't a dream, little sister." Nami's fingertip rested on Perona's neck, and a surge of electricity shot out, causing Perona to collapse.
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