"Hmph! Still trying to pull off the Swordmaster Ryuma routine in front of me? Damn it, do I look like an idiot to you?!" Moria growled, utterly determined to avenge his two top lieutenants!
After a brief chase through the tight streets, Ryuma darted into a narrow, shadowy alley.
Traditional Wano architecture was full of these twisted back alleys, and more importantly—many of them were completely cut off from direct sunlight, meaning zero shadows to manipulate!
If Moria was foolish enough to charge in here, he'd be digging his own grave. Any guy with half a brain wouldn't fall for a trap this obvious.
"Bwahaha! Found you, you little rat! You really made me work for this!"
Hearing Moria's booming voice, Ryuma looked up, and sure enough—there he was!
Moria was hovering overhead in his brick-bat swarm form.
A split second later, the bat swarm vanished, and Moria came crashing down toward the narrow alley pavement. A loud BOOM echoed as the stone floor cracked open like a spiderweb, leaving Moria bleeding from his forehead.
Dazed and dizzy, Moria stumbled to his feet after a moment, glaring at Ryuma like a feral beast. "Brat, you've got nowhere left to run!"
"Yeah, you're right. Nowhere to run," Ryuma replied with a cool grin.
Moria tried to command the shadows surrounding his body, but no matter how hard he pushed, not a single shadow stirred!
It was only then that the realization hit him like a sack of bricks.
Crap... It's a setup! Moria's heart dropped into his stomach.
Ryuma shifted his grip on Shusui, his cold gaze locking onto his target. Beneath his sharp brows, his eyes flashed with pure lethality.
He focused, digging deep into his newly inherited memories to summon the Armament Haki used by the ancient swordmaster.
Even with his base stats restored, facing a Paramecia devil fruit user head-on without Armament Haki meant he might not even leave a scratch on the giant.
In other words, the stage was set: a single strike coated in Armament Haki would be more than enough to put Moria down for good!
A faint, brilliant purple glow suddenly erupted across Shusui's dark blade!
Ryuma swung the sword in a clean, effortless arc. Simultaneously, the stone ground beneath them split wide open, blowing a massive plume of dust high into the air!
BOOM!
A earth-shattering roar shook the entire alley!
Moria stared in sheer horror as the colossal flying slash came hurtling directly toward him. His eyes went wide, and though his brain screamed at him to dodge, his body refused to move, paralyzed by overwhelming fear!
Without his shadow shields, he was completely defenseless!
"AAAARGH!"
Moria let out a blood-curdling scream as the Haki-infused slash slammed into him, hurling his massive body several meters backward through the stone walls!
Lying on the ground, twitching in a pool of his own blood, Moria stared up at Ryuma in pure terror. Only now did he truly believe the impossible identity of the man standing before him!
"Ryuma... Wait! Don't do anything reckless!" Moria wheezed, his voice trembling with desperation. "If you stop now, I'll completely overlook the fact that you killed my two officers! We can call it even!"
He had never felt death standing so close. Even Mihawk hadn't given off an aura this suffocating—these two weren't even in the same league!
Ryuma didn't bother replying. He walked up, delivered several decisive follow-up strikes with Shusui, and only lowered his blade once he was certain Moria's pulse had completely stopped.
Ding! Congratulations, Host has acquired an S-Grade Fruit: Shadow-Shadow Fruit!
Ding! Shadow-Shadow Fruit: Paramecia type. Grants the ability to manifest and cut the shadows of others, insert stolen shadows into corpses to create zombies, use a shadow double as a decoy, swap places with shadows, and more...
Ryuma blinked in mild surprise.
Who would've guessed the Shadow-Shadow Fruit scored an S-grade ranking?
Then again, looking back at the series, the fruit itself had incredible potential—Moria had just ruined it by relying entirely on external zombie armies instead of training his own physical combat skills.
"Heh... Not a bad pick for my very first fruit ability," Ryuma chuckled.
He was confident that under his own training, this power would reach a completely different level.
Ding! Congratulations, Host has successfully absorbed the Shadow-Shadow Fruit capability.
Feeling a wave of excitement, Ryuma stepped out of the alley and tested the power, allowing his body to momentarily melt into a fluid shadow.
THUD!
THUD!
Before he could even enjoy his new trick, the ground beneath his feet began to vibrate violently!
Ryuma turned his head toward the source of the noise.
Stepping out into the open street, he was greeted by a massive military formation!
It was a full Wano division—a mixed force of samurai and ninja, numbering easily over a thousand troops!
And standing right in the center of the army was none other than Kurozumi Orochi!
That hideous face was impossible to mistake, even from a mile away.
System, what are Orochi's baseline combat stats?
Ding! Host, Kurozumi Orochi's profile is as follows:
Name: Kurozumi Orochi
Gender: Male
Devil Fruit: Snake-Snake Fruit, Model: Yamata no Orochi (Zoan - Mythical Beast)
Fruit Characteristics: Allows the user to transform into an eight-headed serpent, with each head possessing its own consciousness. The eight heads are green, with the central head sharing Orochi's facial features while the other seven resemble dragons.
Combat Level: Vice Admiral Rank or higher.
Reading through the readout, Ryuma took a slow breath, his expression darkening. Yikes... This is a huge crowd, and they're all Wano locals. How am I supposed to chop through them without causing a diplomatic disaster?
Orochi himself might be a total weakling in actual combat, but his inner circle was stacked with dangerous top-tier fighters: Kyoshiro the head bodyguard, the Oniwabanshu ninja squad, Kurozumi Kanjuro, and more. Picks like these were better off avoided for now.
Just then, a samurai in standard foot-soldier armor pointed a shaky finger at Ryuma. "Shogun Orochi! That's him—that's the grave robber!"
"Oh?"
A greasy, twisted smile spread across Orochi's face. "Right, right. Good work, step back."
Orochi waddled forward step by step, staring at Ryuma with a slimey chuckle. "Guh-hehehe... So you're the brat claiming to be Ryuma?"
Ryuma drew himself up, declaring with absolute confidence, "I am the Dragon-Slaying Samurai, Swordmaster Ryuma. A real man never hides his true name!"
"Very good, very good!" Orochi cackled. "Whatever your real name is, this Shogun won't press the issue. Guh-hehehe... I happen to appreciate true talent. If you join my forces today, everything that happened earlier will be completely forgiven."
Ryuma gave a flat, indifferent response. "I'll pass. That offer sounds a bit too heavy for me—you're better off finding someone else, General."
"I saw your fight with Gecko Moria just now, and you've definitely got the muscle of a proper pillar of state... You've even got a bit of that legendary dragon-slayer flair," Orochi sneered, his eyes narrowing into two menacing slits like the snake he was. "Join me, and you'll enjoy endless wealth and fine dining. Refuse... and I trust you know how grave robbers usually end up in Wano?"