Brook watched the fight on the field, then glanced at Kong Tai and the others, who looked completely unfazed. He finally understood how truly powerful Kong Tai and his companions were.
Although Kong Tai hadn't made a move, the way he seemed to traverse space with a single step, appearing and disappearing without a sound, had already widened Brook's eyes.
As for Kuina, he had distinctly felt the thunderous aura emanating from her earlier. Being naturally inclined towards a cold and阴冷 disposition himself, he could sense Kuina's immense strength.
"Hey! Brook."
At that moment, Kong Tai suddenly turned his head to look at Brook, then pointed at Ryoma, who was at the edge of the battle, "See that zombie?"
"I see him, what about it?"
Brook glanced at Ryoma, looking puzzled, "There's a familiar aura about him."
"Familiar is right," Kong Tai picked up his wine gourd, took a swig, and continued, "Go on! Your shadow is within that corpse. Go and retrieve it yourself!"
"Yohohoho~"
Upon hearing this, Brook's eyes lit up. He stared at Ryoma's corpse in the distance and let out a hearty laugh. He knew it! He had felt a familiar aura from that corpse, and now he knew it was his shadow!
Just then, Ryoma seemed to sense something as well. His eyes, glowing with a blue light, instantly turned towards Brook.
Their gazes met in mid-air, like the clash of swords. A sword's hum, audible only to swordsmen, echoed through the air.
That's right, Brook was actually a swordsman, and a formidable one at that.
Otherwise, Moria wouldn't have stuffed his shadow into Ryoma's corpse.
"Yohohoho~"
Laughing boisterously, Brook charged rapidly towards Ryoma. Ryoma's confused eyes seemed to regain a sliver of clarity, as if sensing a kindred spirit. He instantly abandoned the battlefield and charged towards Brook.
Clang clang clang!!
His cane, it turned out, was not a cane at all, but a sword cane.
The two collided and immediately engaged in a fierce battle.
Kong Tai wasn't worried about Brook at all.
While Brook might not be as powerful as Zoro in the original story, with the properties of his Yomi Yomi no Mi and his keen perception of souls, fighting against his own shadow should be a relatively easy victory.
Well, even if he couldn't win, they were still here to back him up.
Although Brook's transformation into a skeleton had granted him a lightness that allowed him to run on the sea, it had also cost him the strength that muscles provided.
Therefore, his usual combat style relied on his superb swordsmanship, the speed afforded by his light body, and the chilling cold from his Yomi Yomi no Mi.
The biggest drawback of lacking a physical body was that it made it impossible for him to awaken Armament Haki. As for Observation Haki, he hadn't awakened it in fifty years, so it seemed he truly lacked the talent for it.
It was also possible that he simply didn't know about Haki and therefore hadn't awakened it.
If Brook were to join his crew, he could focus on training his reaction time in the future and see if he could awaken Observation Haki.
After all, relying solely on his Devil Fruit, no matter how powerful, wouldn't allow him to become a top-tier fighter.
Moreover, his fruit was the special Yomi Yomi no Mi, which was very effective against souls, but for physical bodies, it could only utilize the coldness it brought.
However, if this guy could awaken his fruit, who knew what he would become.
Would he become the true master of the underworld?
Would he be able to bring an entire world to battle?
If that were the case, the thought alone was quite terrifying.
After all, every living being feared death and the underworld.
Shaking his head, Kong Tai withdrew his gaze from Brook and shifted it to the main battlefield between Ahua and the three of them, and Moria.
The colossal Oars, during the ongoing battle, had sustained numerous wounds on his body. One of his arms had been severed by Ah Tao, hanging by a thread of skin, a gruesome sight.
It was understandable. Individually, even with Armament Haki, any one of them might not be a match for Moria at his full strength. However, when the three of them combined their power, it was far more than the sum of their individual strengths.
Once they dealt with Oars, Moria's defeat would be a matter of moments.
"Eh?"
Just then, Kong Tai suddenly turned his head towards the right side of the battlefield.
Others might not be able to see him, but to Kong Tai, Kuina, and the others, who possessed Observation Haki, Absalom, who had turned invisible and was stealthily approaching the battlefield, was as conspicuous as a beacon in the night.
Judging by his movements, he was clearly intending to sneak attack Aruo, who was on the periphery of the battle, posing the greatest threat to Moria by constantly firing surprise shots.
The fruit he ate was the Clear-Clear Fruit, not an invisibility fruit. It only made his body transparent.
Naturally, eyes couldn't see him, as he was invisible. However, for those with keen senses or who had awakened Observation Haki, finding him was not difficult.
After all, a person's aura wouldn't disappear just because they became transparent.
If his aura disappeared as well, it wouldn't be the Clear-Clear Fruit anymore, but an invisibility fruit with spatial properties.
Unfortunately, that wasn't the case.
Therefore, as soon as he entered Aruo's danger perception range, Aruo immediately swept his Observation Haki over and instantly detected him.
He turned, aimed, and pulled the trigger.
Everything was done in one fluid motion.
"Trying to sneak attack me? You're just looking for death!"
Aruo gazed at the empty space in front of him, a scarlet light flashing in his eyes, a mocking smile gracing his lips.
Bang!
A black, semi-transparent bullet pierced the air, leaving a trace of black light thinner than a hair. It instantly appeared before Absalom's forehead.
This entire sequence of actions was completed in an instant. Absalom, on the other hand, was merely an ordinary person who had eaten the Clear-Clear Fruit.
Although slightly stronger than a normal person, his overall strength could be described as "trash."
Therefore, it wasn't until the bullet was about to enter his head that he was jolted awake by a soul-piercing sting at his brow.
However, his strength was too pathetic. Even if he woke up, he couldn't dodge or escape the bullet that was mere inches away.
So, he could only watch with his own eyes as the bullet, gleaming with a dark luster as if in slow motion, pierced his brain, inch by inch, by inch.
Then, the bullet expanded, and a searing light filled his brain, burning his soul.
*Boom*—!
A small mushroom cloud appeared in the void where Absalom stood, and then raging flames instantly engulfed his visible body.
"Absalom."
Moria, who was fighting Ahua, sensed the familiar aura appear and vanish behind him in an instant. He quickly turned his head to look.
That glance was a farewell for eternity. He only saw Absalom's body consumed by flames.
The blood vessels in his eyes instantly spread throughout his eyeballs. Moria turned, punched Ahua away, and then raised his head, letting out a roar that echoed throughout the entire island.
"Ahhh~"
He had witnessed another companion die by his side.
Once again.
And this time, he felt even more powerless than before.
After all, the big boss with silver hair standing nearby was watching as if it were a play, not intervening at all.