"Perona!" Moria called out.
"What is it, Lord Moria?"
A pink twin-tailed girl in black-and-white thigh-high stockings, her midriff exposed and several ghosts floating around her, appeared in response.
"Go make a trip and invite that newly arrived Mr. Leno to come have a talk with me. Remember, it's an invitation. Be polite."
Moria deliberately emphasized the word.
"Okay~ okay~ got it~" Perona replied lazily, her body drifting lightly toward the outside of the castle.
She grumbled a little, but she still respected Moria quite a bit.
After she left,
large numbers of zombies crawled out from graves or emerged from the shadows, letting out low growls.
All of them surged toward the direction of the Straw Hat Pirates.
One could only say—this was the difference in treatment.
Look at that: one side gets a cute girl, the other gets zombies.
Meanwhile, in another part of the Grand Line—Banaro Island—
a battle that would truly shake the world and ignite the Summit War was about to begin!
The fuse had been lit.
Blackbeard looked at Ace standing in his way and greeted him with a grin.
"Zehahahahahaha! Isn't that Captain Ace? Long time no see!"
Around him stood the original core members of the Blackbeard Pirates.
"Teach…" Ace lowered the brim of his hat, the eyes beneath it burning with fury.
"Come back with me! You know the rules Pops laid down!"
"Zehahaha! Go back? Go back to die?" Blackbeard spread his arms wide.
A dark aura began to spread around him. "Ace, the era has changed! Pops is old!"
"This era is destined to belong to me—Blackbeard!"
"I spent over twenty years as Pops' son just for this Devil Fruit!"
At this point, Blackbeard had no need to hide his ambition.
Ace slowly raised his head. "Seems… there's nothing more to say."
Blazing flames surged up from his body.
"Then we'll settle this with strength, Teach!"
Blackbeard bared his teeth in a vicious grin, darkness capable of devouring everything gathering in his palm.
"Then let me show you the terror of this fruit!"
Boom!
Flames and darkness split Banaro Island in two.
The Summit War… was about to begin!
————
The scene shifted back to the eerie Thriller Bark.
Leno, accompanied by Domino, Robin, Kalifa, and Alice, had just stepped onto Moria's territory when—
a chilly breeze carrying a faint fragrance brushed past them.
"Hm?"
Leno sensed something and stopped.
He looked ahead at the mist with a faintly amused gaze.
"Horohorohoro~"
An airy yet slightly eerie girl's laughter drifted closer.
Then a figure slowly floated out of the fog.
Several semi-transparent white ghosts circled around her.
It was the Ghost Princess, Perona.
She floated to a spot not far in front of Leno and tilted her head.
"Horohorohoro~ You must be the famous 'Fallen One,' Mr. Leno?"
Leno looked at her expressionlessly, saying nothing.
Behind him, Domino and Kalifa stepped half a pace forward, visibly on guard.
Robin maintained a faint smile.
Little Alice's eyes sparkled with curiosity as she examined Perona and the ghosts around her.
Floating in midair, Perona patted her chest.
"I am one of Lord Gecko Moria's officers, the Ghost Princess Perona~"
"Lord Moria knows of your arrival and has specially sent me to invite you to the castle for a chat~ He's quite curious about you!"
Though she had a mischievous air, her attitude remained polite.
After all,
Moria had told her the man before her was not to be provoked.
Hearing this, a subtle curve formed at Leno's lips.
An invitation?
That fat shut-in Moria knew better than to force things.
This was the convenience brought by fame and strength on the seas.
He spoke calmly, "Lead the way."
"Okay~ okay~ please follow me~" Perona giggled and turned around, floating ahead to guide them.
The ghosts circled her, occasionally making funny faces and eerie "woo-hoo-hoo" sounds.
Leno stepped forward, the four women following closely behind.
Unlike them,
in another area of Thriller Bark—
the Straw Hat Pirates were in a completely different predicament.
"Gomu Gomu no Pistol!"
"Three-Sword Style: Oni Giri!"
"Mutton SHOOT!"
"Special Attack: Gunpowder Star!"
Not long after landing, they were completely surrounded by a horde of zombies charging in from all directions.
The zombies felt no pain, feared no death, and their numbers were terrifying.
"Waaah! Why are there so many zombies?!" Usopp screamed in panic,
firing all sorts of bizarre ammunition in a flurry.
"These monsters just get back up after you knock them down! There's no end to it!"
Nami swung her Clima-Tact, but with little effect, her face pale with fear.
Though the Monster Trio could cut them down without much difficulty,
it didn't help much.
"These guys are so annoying! You knock them flying and they just stand back up!"
The group fought while retreating,
driven into a rather miserable struggle by the overwhelming numbers.
Thanks to Leno, they were having an even worse time than usual.
Because of him, Moria's attention wasn't on the Straw Hats at all.
He was simply using zombie swarm tactics.
Some of those zombies even possessed the shadows of powerful fighters.
For a time, the Straw Hats simply couldn't break free.
Not far from the battlefield,
the invisible man, Absalom, licked his lips, his greedy gaze locked onto—
the only pretty girl among the Straw Hats.
"Heh heh, little thief cat Nami… looks like a fragile woman. That's the best kind."
He laughed inwardly, targeting Nami.
Cindry and Perona were far too fierce for his tastes.
Definitely not because he couldn't handle them.
With his attention fixed on the embattled Straw Hats,
he waited for a moment of chaos created by the zombies.
"This is the moment!"
He approached the exhausted, weakening Nami while invisible,
and directed the female zombies to wrap around her and carry her toward the depths of the island.
Revealing himself could wait—right now, what mattered was getting a taste of Nami.
If he got entangled in a fight, it would only waste time.
Seeing this,
Luffy roared and tried to charge over. "Gomu Gomu no—!"
But he was quickly blocked by a tidal wave of zombies.
"Luffy!" Zoro slashed down a swath of them, yet even more surged forward, locking him in place.
Sanji furiously shattered a zombie's skull with a kick. "Bastard! Put Nami-san down!"
Yet he, too, could barely move an inch.
The others were even less capable of breaking through.
They could only watch helplessly as Nami was abducted, disappearing from their sight.
"Ahhh!! Tasukete! (Help!)"
In the distance, only her terrified scream remained.
"Nami——!"
The Straw Hats' eyes were bloodshot with fury, yet they were powerless.
There were simply too many zombies!
And this was the second time they had failed to protect a crewmate.
It hurt.
It hurt too much.
The pain pierced straight through their hearts.
They couldn't do anything at all!
✨ Bonus Chapter Goals ✨
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