Chapter 144: When Enemies Meet, Hatred Burns Brightest

The so-called maritime defense identification zone was, in reality, just the grinding zone where Garen farmed for experience.

Because he had to wait for a Vice Admiral of Marine Headquarters to arrive and host the Shichibukai certification ceremony, Garen temporarily set aside his plans to set sail for adventure and remained in Alabasta.

Since being idle was tedious, Garen simply used the pretext of maintaining security in Alabasta's waters to frantically intercept pirates around the country.

Compared to the small fish and shrimp of the East Blue, the pirates of the Grand Line were not only of superior quality but also came in satisfyingly large quantities, causing Garen's experience bar to plump up considerably over these past few days.

Since the Grand Line had only seven magnetic routes, Garen blocking Alabasta was equivalent to blocking one-seventh of all pirate crews on the entire Grand Line. Moreover, his enthusiastic civic work attitude and operational efficiency far surpassed that of an ordinary branch base.

Consequently, within just half a month, Alabasta had already become a perilous zone that passing pirates avoided like the plague.

Moria, however, was naturally different from those minor pirates. Back in the Florian Triangle, his line of work had always been ambushing passing merchant ships; how could he possibly be afraid of a fellow bandit plying his trade in Alabasta?

Even when Garen slightly displayed his formidable strength, Moria refused to lose face on the surface:

"Kid!"

"Do you know who I am?"

"Of course."

Garen looked down with disdain at Moria's seven-meter-tall, flask-shaped body, and said with a hint of amusement:

"Once you've grown to look like that, how could anyone fail to recognize you?"

"Gecko Moria, nothing more than a stray dog."

"Scoundrel!"

Moria's eyes bulged in fury, and he grinned wide, revealing a bloody maw larger than Garen's head.

Just as the enraged Moria was about to spit out some harsh threats, Garen slowly took a few steps forward, raised his head, and stared unflinchingly into Moria's crimson eyes, which were practically bursting with blood vessels:

"Ever since you resurfaced from your disappearance, you've been constantly attacking passing travelers and merchants along the way, making you a regular on the front pages of the newspapers these days."

"Every single day, merchant ships sink into your hands; every single day, innocent people die by your hands. Yet you still run rampant without a shred of restraint..."

While denouncing Moria's crimes, Garen maintained a steady pace as he slowly approached Moria's very front.

His height of under two meters appeared somewhat dwarfed before Moria, this mini-giant, but the resolute fighting spirit in his eyes instead suppressed Moria's blustering, paper-tiger anger.

Moria felt somewhat uncomfortable under Garen's nail-like gaze, and could only grit his teeth and force a laugh:

"Hahaha!"

"Why are you telling me all this? I'm a pirate!"

"Plundering a few merchant ships, killing a few people—isn't that only natural?"

As these words were forced out between clenched teeth, the fierce and violent aura within Moria burst forth completely, and that naked murderous intent poured unreservedly over Garen, who stood within arm's reach.

"Ha..."

Garen's stern expression suddenly dissolved into a dangerous smile:

"To think your crime spree would lead you all the way to Alabasta—it certainly saves me a lot of effort."

"And..."

Garen quietly tightened his grip on his greatsword, the smile on his face unwavering:

"After chatting idly with me for just a few moments, you actually dared to let me walk right up to you in such a swaggering manner..."

"That saves me even more trouble."

"What?"

Moria looked down from above at the young knight who didn't even reach his knees, a sudden sense of foreboding rising in his heart.

"Decisive Strike!"

A dazzling sword beam flashed, sweeping across the air as murderous intent surged to the peak.

Then, due to the irrecoverable height difference between the two, Moria took a sword to the knee.

The fragile knee bone collided with the sturdy blade, producing a heavy, muffled thud that made anyone who heard it wince in sympathetic pain.

Moria's massive torso staggered, and the tremors brought on by excruciating pain could no longer be suppressed.

"Shadow Assassin!"

Moria instinctively tried to manipulate his shadow to provide emergency self-defense, only to be horrified to discover that his Devil Fruit ability had vanished without a trace.

Without his Devil Fruit abilities, Moria's seven-meter-tall, bowling-pin physique was reduced entirely to a cumbersome and conspicuous target.

Garen's sword descended once more, though it merely slashed through the empty air before Moria, seemingly intended as a mere demonstration of force.

Just as Moria was feeling bewildered, he abruptly noticed that the sky above his head had suddenly grown bright:

"Demacian Justice!"

A brilliant blade of light plummeted from the firmament, dispelling the evil aura clinging to this ghost ship.

At the mere sight of this pillar of light brimming with righteous power, the zombie soldiers under Moria's command felt a burning pain in their eyes and weakness in their limbs, along with an instinctive awe and terror toward that radiance.

As for Moria himself, who was bathed within this curtain of light, his plight was utterly wretched:

The pale complexion he had cultivated by holing up in an ancient castle for years was instantly scorched pitch-black. Red-and-black burn wounds covered his entire body, and a large mouthful of fresh blood overflowed from the corners of his mouth under the impact of this heavy blow.

With a single strike, Moria had already displayed signs of defeat.

"Lord Moria!"

Perona and Absalom cried out in nervous alarm, but their limbs were too stiff to dare step forward and meddle in the battle between Moria and Garen.

That dazzling, falling sword-light had already shattered the combat perceptions of these two mediocre fighters.

Meanwhile, Garen lightly hefted the sword in his hand, looking with rapt interest at the utterly battered Gecko Moria, while recalling in his mind that sword-light which had surpassed his own expectations:

He had just discovered that the skill effects of Demacian Justice would scale and change according to the target's volume.

Moria's distinctly non-human physique had widened his ultimate's pillar of light by more than double, making it look all the more resplendent and dazzling.

Facing the naked contempt in Garen's eyes, Moria felt nothing left inside his heart except sheer panic.

Once the two-second silence effect wore off, Moria eagerly regained the use of his Devil Fruit ability and hastily resorted to his signature technique to escape from the bizarre knight capable of critically wounding him with a single sword:

"Shadow Swap!"

Garen saw a flash of shadow instantly sweep past his eyes, and Moria's massive torso vanished altogether. In his place stood a solid mass of shadow roughly matching Moria's stature.

The so-called "Shadow Swap" instantly exchanged the physical body's position with that of one's shadow.

It allowed one to preserve their life at a critical juncture while simultaneously executing sudden, unexpected kills amid fierce combat.

Seeing Moria employ such a stunning technique merely to flee for his life, Garen could not help sighing inwardly:

With such a powerful skill tucked away, rather than properly honing his martial arts to train himself into the ninja style of the Shinobi world, Moria had instead gone the opposite route, fattening his body up into a heavy tank and positioning himself as a squishy summoner who could do nothing but summon zombie mobs.

After putting some safe distance between them, Moria finally vented his panic and anger amidst the lingering waves of pain all over his body:

"You shameless, insidious villain!"

He clutched his knee, which had been fractured by a single sword slash, his plump face trembling constantly from the agony: "To think you'd launch a sneak attack while we were talking!"

"Hehe..."

"With scum like you, there's no need to speak of honor among thieves."

Garen merely chuckled coldly, looking with seasoned composure at Moria, who had been hacked down to half-health by his two strikes:

The damage from his ultimate came from the inside out, yet its exact impact on Moria remained difficult to gauge; after all, Crocodile's tenacious vitality had previously taught Garen that the effects of his ultimate were still relatively limited.

However, Moria's knee—fractured right at its vital point—had severely impaired his mobility, and his excessively tall frame now moved with extreme uncoordination, virtually guaranteeing his defeat today.

Garen walked unhurriedly toward Moria with his sword, an expression of panic instantly springing onto Moria's face.

For every single step Garen took forward, Moria dragged his crippled leg and involuntarily retreated two steps back.

Yet this was Moria's flagship, surrounded by the boundless sea on all sides—how many places could Moria possibly escape to?

Before long, Moria's oversized body was cornered by Garen at the stern of the ship, his expression so flustered that he dared not make any superfluous movements.

Perona and Absalom could only stand aside and tremble, hesitating for a long time without daring to rashly rush forward to block Garen's blade.

Moria harbored no expectations of these two subordinates either:

Even if it relied on a sneak attack, Garen—who was capable of hacking him down to this wretched state with just two blows—was unquestionably his equal in sheer strength.

And how could Moria not know the extent of his two subordinates' capabilities?

Seeing Garen close in once more, the despairing Moria caught sight of a familiar flag fluttering across the vast sea.

Moria cried out in excitement: "You can't kill me!"

"Huh?"

Garen paused slightly, amused as he asked: "Why on earth not?"

Moria's lips twitched for a moment, his large face flushing crimson as he blurted out: "The Marines are here!"

"Marines?"

Garen followed Moria's line of sight and indeed spotted the vague silhouette of a naval vessel's sails looming in the distance on the horizon.

That naval vessel was by no means small; it was a colossal warship of the type exclusively assigned to the rank of Vice Admiral.

Yet Garen felt only a mild surprise before asking Moria with playful interest:

"You're a pirate, yet you actually expect the Marines to protect you?"

"Is that also 'only natural' for you pirates?"

Moria's large face grew even redder, but the primal urge to survive forced him to endure the humiliation and utter words he himself found shameful:

"I am a Shichibukai recognized by the World Government!"

"Everything I do is entirely lawful and sanctioned by the World Government!"

"......"

Garen's gaze toward Moria turned exceedingly bizarre, as if he were trying to measure the thickness of the man's skin with his eyes.

Seeing Garen fall silent, a terrified Perona could not help but tremblingly echo her captain's words:

"Th-The Marines are right there watching, you can't kill us!"

"Oh?"

Garen let out a cold hum and looked back in the direction of the voice.

Their eyes merely brushed past each other, and Perona was so frightened by Garen that her soul nearly left her body.

"Y-Yeah!"

Driven by the will to survive, Absalom also braced himself, stepping forward to invoke higher authority:

"We are l-lawful pirates under Marine protection..."

Seeming to realize how utterly absurd those words sounded, Absalom's tongue stumbled just as badly as Perona's.

"Ah..."

The murderous intent Garen harbored toward Moria genuinely receded somewhat, because his attention had suddenly locked entirely onto Absalom's half-beast, ugly face—one he had just dismissed as a minor extra.

A warm and amiable smile instantly bloomed on Garen's face as he spoke pleasantly to Absalom:

"I seem to recall you now."

"Could you be Absalom, the user of the Clear-Clear Fruit under Moria's command?"

Absalom's eyes lit up, and he said with some excitement:

"That's right, I am Absalom."

"My lord, you've heard of me?"

"Hahaha... I've heard of you for a long time!"

Garen smiled as he raised his greatsword, a monstrous murderous intent—unseen until now—suddenly erupting from his calm eyes:

"Whether Moria lives or dies, I don't care."

"As for you—you are dead today!!"