Chapter 141: The Whereabouts of Moria

Grand Line, a certain sea area.

"I will definitely kill you."

The "Moria" life raft was still drifting on the water, feebly repeating the line that had already calloused the ears of his three subordinates:

"I definitely..."

Before he could finish, Moria's large mouth was stuffed with a bloody piece of raw fish meat.

Moria's gaze immediately turned a few shades fiercer.

Absalom, the invisible man endowed with the strength of a beast, shivered subconsciously at Moria's glare, while the petite Perona showed no fear whatsoever as she complained to her boss:

"Lord Moria, stop being so picky!"

"We've been drifting on the sea for two whole days, and this is all we have to eat."

"Doctor Hogback had a really hard time catching this fish!"

Doctor Hogback was also one of Moria's Mysterious Four, appearing outwardly as a perverted fat man who liked to wear black fishnet outfits.

Hearing Perona's words, Hogback shuddered all over as terrible memories of the past two days flashed back:

Moria, Absalom, and Perona were all Devil Fruit users unable to touch water, leaving him as the only normal human qualified to go into the sea and catch fish;

Yet Doctor Hogback was himself a weakling doctor who couldn't even defeat a fish, so his real job over the past two days...

Was actually acting as bait underwater to lure flesh-eating fish.

Perona's words offered no comfort to Moria's mood either.

Moria didn't want to kill people simply because the raw fish tasted terrible—having been a pirate for so many years, he could endure that much hardship;

What truly drove Moria to despair was the humiliating spectacle of being fed in turns by his three subordinates.

The seven-meter-tall man finally could not help but shed tears of regret:

He would rather starve to death and sink to the bottom of the sea than take another bite of their fish.

Thus, Moria never stopped his scathing reprimands toward his three subordinates:

"I will definitely kill you."

Then, seizing the moment when Moria was cursing, Perona would shove another piece of fish into his large mouth.

Moria obediently swallowed it, then opened his mouth again:

"I definite..."

"Ah, the fish is gone!"

Perona suddenly let out an exclamation, unable to help complaining resentfully:

"The three of us haven't even eaten yet..."

"Lord Moria, you eat way too much..."

Moria glared furiously, while Perona and Absalom quietly cast their eyes toward the shivering Doctor Hogback beside them.

"Again?"

Hogback turned pale, pointing at his own rolls of fat and crying out: "I've already been soaked in the ocean for two days!"

"No choice."

Saliva dripped from Absalom's lion-like jaw:

"My body was modified by you, Doctor, so you know how big my appetite is."

"There's not much else to eat on this sea besides fish, except..."

Looking at the animalistic desire gradually emerging in the eyes of the beast-man he had personally created, Hogback broke out in a cold sweat: "Ex-except for what?"

"A bird!!"

Perona pointed at the sky and shrieked.

Hogback and Absalom instantly raised their heads in unison: sure enough, a bird was circling continuously in the sky.

After circling for a moment, the bird foolishly flew down from the sky and landed right in front of them.

"Uh..."

Three pairs of blood-red eyes immediately locked onto its plump and juicy little body.

"Coo??"

A flurry of chaos ensued.

As it turned out, this was no ordinary bird. Instantly sensing the crisis, it took to the air once more and fled for its life.

Leaving behind only a tuft of bird feathers carrying the lingering aroma of meat, along with a dozen or so... fresh newspapers.

Picking up the newspapers, Perona sighed with emotion:

"Turns out it's a News Coo... Good thing we didn't eat it."

News Coos were highly intelligent animals, and their blood contained a special type of pheromone.

Anyone tainted with this substance would likely never be willing to look at the newspapers delivered by News Coos for the rest of their life.

"We're about to starve to death!"

Absalom said with bloodshot eyes: "Who cares about reading newspapers?!"

"Ah!"

Perona shrieked again in startlement: "Something big has happened!"

"What big thing?"

The voice belonged to Moria, who was being stepped on by Perona.

As a renowned and formidable figure, even when reduced to adversity and riding a life raft, Moria never forgot to harbor the universe and swallow the heavens.

Without dragging it out, Perona replied with a face full of astonishment:

"One of the Warlords has been killed!"

"Bastard! What are these reporters writing nonsense for? I'm not dead yet!"

Moria shook with rage, causing the "raft" to pitch and roll once more:

"Even Silvers Rayleigh couldn't kill me!"

"No, the paper only says you're missing."

Perona held the newspaper photo up to Moria's massive face as he lay flat on the water, explaining further: "Crocodile has been killed."

"Crocodile is dead?"

Moria's expression paused, a glint of greed flashing within his eyes.

Following the sweep by Silvers Rayleigh, all the shadows and zombies Moria had collected were utterly destroyed, dealing a devastating blow to his current combat power.

Though Moria had lost much of his courage, he was ultimately a powerful figure unwilling to submit to others, and the first thing he thought of after failure was to recover his strength as quickly as possible.

Yet powerful shadows were hard to find, and formidable corpses were even rarer.

In the Florian Triangle, Moria had painstakingly operated for ten years, yet most of the corpses he collected were merely those of second-rate powerables renowned only locally.

The news of the death of Crocodile, his fellow Warlord, instantly stirred up the greed and covetousness of Moria, the professional grave-robber.

Moria's old affliction as a zombie-manufacturing specialist flared up immediately:

"Crocodile, Crocodile..."

"That—that is an absolute masterpiece of a corpse!"

"If I turn him into a zombie and pair him with a powerful shadow, most of my previous losses will be recovered!"

Hearing Moria's grand aspirations, Perona helplessly pointed at the boundless sea surrounding them and said:

"Lord Moria..."

"Crocodile died in Alabasta, and whether we can even make it to land right now is still a question!"

"Eh?"

Perona's outstretched hand stiffened abruptly in mid-air: "Is that a pirate ship?"

In the exact direction she had casually pointed, a pirate ship flying the black Jolly Roger had actually appeared!

"A pirate ship?"

Moria's large eyes widened, and he immediately issued a warning:

"Pay attention!"

"Act weak, all of you! Don't scare them away!"

"And have Perona stand at the front, act delicate!"

Moria possessed rich seafaring experience and knew all too well how treacherous human hearts were in this world.

Few people on the sea dared to casually rescue castaways, because no one knew if the fellow they pulled aboard might turn out to be a demon.

Among pirates, those with the kindness of heart to save people were even rarer than phoenix feathers and unicorn horns.

Thus, Absalom, who looked the most ferocious of the three, quietly hid behind Doctor Hogback, while Perona, who appeared exceedingly delicate, took her place at the very front playing her natural role.

Moria even narrowed his eyes and tucked his massive head to the side, pretending to be a dead body while trying his best to keep people from seeing his rather famous face.

Even so, Moria still felt a trace of panic in his heart:

After all, he was a full seven meters tall; lying on the ocean, he could serve as a life raft for others. Small-time pirates would probably take one look at this giant and not dare to approach.

Yet that pirate ship showed not a shred of hesitation, altering its course and sailing directly toward the unidentified drifting object that was the "Moria" life raft.

"They're really sailing over?!"

Gazing at the rapidly approaching pirate ship, Absalom said with wild joy: "Are we saved?"

"Hahahahaha!"

The un-dissipated greed in Moria's eyes abruptly transformed into rampant violence, as if all the humiliation he had suffered drifting on the sea for the past two days had found an outlet:

"Rescuing people casually on the ocean? These fellows are truly naive!"

"Just in time, I'm due to replenish some shadows..."

"Perona! Absalom!"

Moria issued orders to his two subordinates once more:

"Get ready, both of you. Teach these ridiculous juniors a good lesson!"

"Yes!"

Absalom clenched his fists, a fierce, bestial glint sharpening the corners of his eyes.

"Understood."

Perona accepted the command without the slightest hesitation.

Young girls like Perona, taken away to become pirates from an early age, basically lacked basic concepts of right and wrong; as long as the boss gave the word, she could turn and bite the kind souls who came to rescue her without any compunctions.

"That ship is almost here!"

Absalom turned to Perona and said: "Let's make a move!"

"Wait a moment!"

Moria's sinister and malicious eerie laughter echoed across the sea surface:

"Let them fish me up first."