"Uncle, are you okay?"
Zeraora had no such concerns, clearing the way with lightning and eliminating the zombie minions, then he locked onto his own enemy while watching Hatch fighting Moriah.
No matter the reason, his father-in-law was fighting someone, so he definitely had to help him.
Thus, a lightning bolt struck Moriah, causing his body to twitch a few times, although he didn't lose consciousness. Just as Zeraora was preparing to face Moriah's next attack, he noticed Moriah took two steps back.
Even if subtle, for a strong combatant, this was something that should never happen, and the root cause was Moriah's fear.
The battle three years ago almost became a nightmare for him. During the period just after escaping Wano Kuni, he would see his dead comrades and Kaidou's face every time he closed his eyes.
He kept telling himself that once he found more powerful corpses and created an invincible Undead Legion, he could then take revenge against Kaidou.
But the emergence of this mindset indicated that he had already begun to fear Kaidou deep down, and due to his lack of confidence in his strength, he thought of relying on external forces.
Three years without training his body led to reckless abandonment, focusing all his energy on searching for powerful corpses.
Even if he doesn't admit it verbally, the slight retreat of his steps upon seeing Zeraora was evidence.
Or rather, he wasn't simply afraid; he couldn't face reality, so he hypnotized himself and began pursuing and doing useless things like seeking Oars' corpse.
Due to his complicated emotions towards Kaidou, Moriah was very familiar with the members of the Hundred Beasts Pirates. He recognized any pirate from the Hundred Beasts Pirates with a bounty.
"Kaidou's underling?!"
Zeraora's presence twisted his expression slightly, not knowing whether it was anger or fear. His hands holding the scissors were trembling.
"You're... Moonlight Moriah."
After being defeated, Moriah had almost vanished from the scene, and he had to think for a while before recalling such a person.
"Uncle, be careful. This guy is tough to handle."
Even though Kaidou wasn't particularly serious back then, Moriah was able to engage with the normal form Kaidou for a while, so Zeraora was very cautious.
"Is he really difficult to deal with?"
"Yes..."
Upon hearing this, Hatch took out a Moonstone and directly entered Moon Lion state to avoid being a hindrance.
"Shadow Horn Spear!"
Seeing the two in front, Moriah's shadow squirmed for a while, then turned into a spear blade, piercing towards Zeraora, but was grasped by Zeraora's Haki-covered hand.
His expression showed some confusion; if this was the extent of Moriah's strength, he shouldn't have been able to fight Kaidou for so long.
Seeing his attack being caught just like that made Moriah's face even uglier.
Subsequent actions by Moriah took Zeraora by surprise. His shadow turned into countless bats, obscuring their view, and when the bats disappeared, Moriah was no longer there.
His courage wasn't completely eroded away. Years later, upon hearing news about Absalom, he dared to enter Blackbeard's territory directly, facing numerous Blackbeard officers without fear.
That was his heart guarding true comrades, but now it was different; he was alone without comrades, accompanied only by dead zombies. His rational mind told him battling Kaidou's subordinates now wasn't sensible.
Since Hatch could enter Moon Lion state, it meant Zeraora could too, and the brief exchange indicated a problem—he might not be able to defeat Zeraora.
He didn't know why Zeraora was here, and if there were other Hundred Beasts Pirates around...
After considering the gains and losses of the battle, he ultimately chose to leave.
However, he was somewhat over-thinking it. He always regarded Kaidou as a major enemy, but Kaidou had long forgotten about him; to Kaidou, failures weren't worth remembering.
There were only a few pirates worth remembering: Rocks, Roger, Whitebeard, Kozuki Oden.
...
"Did... did it just end like this?"
Watching Moriah suddenly vanish, Hatch couldn't make sense of it. He didn't understand the purpose of the big guy appearing only to disappear.
Moreover, when Moriah vanished, the surrounding zombies also fell one after another, as Moriah directly extracted the shadows within them.
"Uncle, let's go. Let's meet up with Setsuna and the others first."
Zeraora's Observation Haki could still track Moriah's location, but he opted not to pursue him. Moriah's abilities were too bizarre, and he worried Moriah might return and harm others, so he chose to leave with Hatch.
"By the way, Uncle, why did you suddenly leave?"
"Because of something ghost-like."
"A ghost?"
"Just like the thing beside you." Hatch said, pointing to the side where a white ghost was floating. Seeing Hatch had discovered it, it didn't run away but instead passed through Hatch's chest.
"I'm not some proud wolf, I'm just a mutt, merely wasting the air of this world..."
Observing Hatch suddenly becoming downcast, Zeraora thought the ghost was remarkable. Based on Setsuna's description and time spent together, he knew Hatch was particularly proud; hearing this from him was equivalent to a joke of the century.
However, he became dispirited for just a few seconds before standing up again.
"I think there's something wrong with this country, we should leave earlier... Oh, and don't tell Ling and the others about this incident."
"Got it, Uncle, but aren't you curious about the source of that thing?"
With the electric current, Zeraora's Observation Haki covered a large area, and since most people in this country were attending the celebration event, he quickly found a nearby presence.
...
Guided by Zeraora, they soon arrived at another cemetery, and inside a deserted tomb, they saw a pink-haired little girl hugging a teddy bear.
Perona, according to the normal timeline, should have been taken by Moriah who came here searching for corpses, and then raised by him.
But due to Zeraora's presence, Moriah left the country earlier, so she naturally missed the chance to encounter Moriah.
Following the tradition always adhered to by the Hundred Beasts, Zeraora felt it was worth trying to take a child back, especially since her ability that made even Hatch depressed seemed extremely interesting.
"Little girl, why are you living in this place?"