Chapter Twenty: Moria, Loyal and True

Half a day later, a news bird finally flew by, and Buffon once again used his finger-flicking prowess to buy a newspaper.

Front page headline: "The White Ghost gang suspected of disguising themselves as the Science Division, stole a Navy warship and escaped!"

Only now did it sink in—the Navy's alertness was remarkably low! Buffon silently commented to himself, then read on.

It turned out that headquarters, unable to reach Buffon and his warship for a week after the incident, began to suspect something was amiss after a thorough investigation. As a result, they immediately dispatched Ghost Spider with two warships to intercept them.

"There won't be any follow-up reports; the Navy can't afford to lose face like this," Buffon remarked, tossing the newspaper to Brook.

Meanwhile, on the Navy's transport vessel, Caesar and Sentomaru were being interrogated separately.

"It wasn't Sentomaru—whoever did it was heavy-handed, used Navy Six Styles and Haki, and was incredibly fast. I didn't even get a clear look at him before he snapped my neck," Caesar had repeated this statement thousands of times over the past days.

Yet the Navy interrogators remained skeptical: "Then why, when we found you, was there not a scratch on your body?" This question, too, had been asked thousands of times.

"How should I know? When I woke up, I was already like that!" Caesar thought to himself, for once telling the truth, only to find no one would believe him.

Outside the interrogation room, Vice Admiral Weasel was at his wits’ end. Caesar's statement matched Sentomaru's perfectly. Sentomaru firmly denied capturing Caesar and likewise couldn't identify the person who knocked him unconscious. As for his zombie defense squad, he had no idea of their whereabouts.

He had even suspected Buffon himself, but out of manly pride, he would never admit it. After all, he was said to be the tightest-lipped man in the world.

Helpless, Weasel dialed Fleet Admiral Sengoku once more. "Moshi moshi, Fleet Admiral Sengoku, their statements haven't changed at all. Should we resort to harsher methods?"

Sengoku was equally frustrated. His own scientist had destroyed the research facility, but at least the White Ghost could take the blame, preserving the Navy's reputation. However, the sudden appearance of this mysterious powerhouse—was he the White Ghost himself? It was a headache for the Fleet Admiral.

Just then, another Den Den Mushi rang. Seeing the samurai helmet, Sengoku's heart lifted: "Caught him at last!"

After hearing Ghost Spider's report, Sengoku erupted in anger again. "A bunch of useless fools! They can't even capture a petty pirate—what are all these vice admirals doing?"

Beside him, Garp was munching on a pork leg, unconcerned. "Sengoku, should I go myself and bring in this newcomer?"

Sengoku shook his head. "No need."

At that moment, another uncle, grinning slyly and wearing brown fly-like sunglasses, suggested, "Should we consider raising his bounty?"

Sengoku turned and rebuked, "Borsalino! First time on the wanted list, and you want to raise the bounty immediately? Do you think the Navy's reputation is worthless?"

Yellow Monkey wisely kept silent, then transformed into a beam of light and vanished from Sengoku's office, leaving a lingering message: "I'll go ask little Sentomaru myself!"

After Yellow Monkey left, Garp finally asked seriously, "How did the battle go?"

Sengoku hesitated, then reluctantly replied, "He knows the Six Styles, three types of Haki, and has the strength to defeat Ghost Spider in a single blow."

Garp's pork leg dropped to the floor. "Let's hope his name doesn't include a D!"

...

A few days later, while sailing, Buffon spotted a pirate ship approaching from the lookout tower.

When he recognized the flaming skull flag, he shook his head, jumped down, and said to Brook, "Moria is here. Go inside the cabin and lay low."

Brook nodded and retreated into the cabin.

Ten minutes later, Moria's enormous figure appeared on the bow of the opposite ship, his voice preceding him: "Kihihihihihi, Buffon, you really are hard to kill!"

Buffon stood on the bow, betraying no reaction, only glancing at Ryuma.

Moria boarded and asked with concern, "So, did you get hurt this time?"

Buffon shook his head. "No, I didn't even need to fight."

Moria turned to Ryuma, who stepped forward. "Ghost Spider was defeated in a single exchange."

"So it was Ghost Spider? Kihihihihi, looks like Ryuma, your strength is well above Vice Admiral level!" Moria laughed heartily.

"Yohohohoho! It's all thanks to Buffon's craftsmanship. With such a perfect body, dealing with that eight-legged monster was easy."

Luckily, zombies couldn't blush, or they'd have been exposed on the spot.

"And what about the rest of the zombie corps? Any losses?" Moria pressed on.

"Yohohohoho, absolutely none. Every Navy zombie we took, we brought back intact! Plus, we even brought back a pile of giant corpses!"

Ryuma's words dropped Moria's jaw.

Moria instantly released shadow bats to fly into the cabin and investigate.

Moments later, Moria's laughter echoed across the sea.

"Kihihihihihihihi! Buffon, from now on, you're the second-in-command of the Thriller Bark, and you can command the entire zombie army as you please!"

"Even if you didn’t, I could do it myself," Buffon retorted inwardly.

Still, Buffon felt a touch of gratitude for Moria's initiative in coming to their aid. If this guy hadn't been crushed by Kaido and had his spirit worn down, he might have been a captain capable of rampaging through the New World with his crew.

But he said aloud, "No need."

Yet, recalling Rosinante's corpse, Buffon's tone shifted. "This time, I found a very special body. The experiment is done. I need a suitable shadow."

"Oh, the experiment succeeded?" Moria asked.

Buffon nodded, then led Moria's shadow master into the cabin. Moria himself couldn't fit inside, given his towering six-meter height.

The shadow master circled Rosinante's corpse, unable to discern anything, and asked, "Who is this?"

Since he didn’t recognize him, Buffon explained, "Doflamingo’s brother, Navy undercover agent, Rosinante."

The shadow master recoiled two steps in shock before finally saying, "The fallen Celestial Dragon?"

Buffon nodded, then rolled up the corpse’s left sleeve and solemnly declared, "I transplanted this left arm—I suspect it’s Shanks’s severed limb!"

At this, both the shadow master and Moria himself were so stunned that Moria collapsed onto the deck.

Rosinante’s corpse was shocking enough, but Shanks’s severed arm? It was beyond belief.

Buffon exited the cabin, waiting nearly a minute before Moria recovered from his shock and, for once, adopted a serious expression. "This news stays between us. Don’t tell the Three Freaks."

Buffon nodded. In truth, even if he did tell them, no one would believe it.

Judging from Moria’s attitude, he likely believed it—after all, he’d met Shanks before and could decide for himself.

After a pause, Moria continued with some difficulty, "Only, I don’t have a suitable shadow for him right now."

That was true; if Moria weren’t picky, Oars wouldn’t have waited so long for Luffy’s shadow. It was clear Moria valued Buffon greatly and didn’t want to fob him off with just any shadow.