Chapter 465: Dreams Stolen, Fists Ignite

The consciousness left in the shadow had been altered by Moria, injected only with orders for loyalty and protection.

But with Wang Zhi’s robust body, even an ordinary soul couldn’t tap into his full potential—it was still more than enough to take care of small fry.

“Fine, if you won’t listen, I’ll just knock you out first.”

“Gum-Gum Gatling!”

Bam bam bam!!!

A flurry of blows struck Wang Zhi, but nothing slowed his steady advance.

Off to the side, the three-headed dog, seeing Luffy was tied up, tucked its tail and took off down a narrow path.

He never wanted to get beaten up again—he’d find his master for revenge.

In no time Luffy realized after a few minutes of throwing punches his regular attacks weren’t doing a thing to this zombie. He stopped.

“Who the heck are you? Why are you so tough?”

Luffy rubbed his red, swollen fists.

“Intruder. Die!”

Wang Zhi clearly had no intention of talking. He swung his massive sword at Luffy.

Top-quality shadows were rare, and the better the shadow, the stronger its will.

Any truly powerful shadows had already been absorbed by Moria himself.

With Karl’s help, Moria gained a new skill: he could fuse an enemy’s shadow into his own body and carefully sense all that person’s techniques.

That meant top-notch shadows were always in short supply. The zombies under his command were all made from the ordinary pirates who’d wandered into the Devil’s Triangle over the years—their self-awareness stripped away.

Clang!

Every swing Wang Zhi made left deep gouges in the earth.

“Gomu Gomu no…!”

“Battle Axe!”

Just as Luffy dodged a wild swing, he shot his right leg high into the air, coating it with Armament Haki, and brought it crashing down at Wang Zhi’s head!

Though Wang Zhi’s body was controlled by an ordinary shadow, years of muscle memory kicked in right then.

Snap!

“Wait, something’s coming back to me…”

“Your fighting’s a little childish.”

Boom!

His left fist rocketed forward, sending Luffy flying into the air with a single punch.

“Fighting—this is living!”

It’d been ages since Wang Zhi’s body felt alive like this. He dropped his sword, raised his fists, and went toe to toe with Luffy—blow for blow.

At first, Luffy could keep up with Wang Zhi’s punches, but he was soon overwhelmed by a violent barrage of fists.

Even then, Luffy never activated Gear Fourth. He used Wang Zhi’s onslaught to learn even more close combat skills.

Their battle echoed far and wide. The others wanted to help, but ran into troubles of their own.

“What is this thing?”

“They all look like they’ve been dead a long time. Must be some Devil Fruit power.”

Chopper stepped forward, inspecting the zombie that Johnny and Yosaku had tied up, probing it with his medical instrument.

It was his first time seeing a corpse walk around so freely.

“Let me go already! I’m a zombie—I’m immortal!”

“Yeah! You can’t kill us!”

The tied-up little zombies started yelling, cocky since they’d never felt a taste of real life.

Dang dang!!

“Baka!”

“Nani?!”

“I’m a zombie now. Why can I still feel pain?”

The zombie who got smacked clutched the bump on his head, eyeing Nami with terror as she withdrew her fist.

Since becoming zombies, pain was a thing of the past—or so they’d thought.

“Boss lady, all that fighting back there… Could it be Luffy?”

After tying up the whole lot of zombies, Johnny walked over to Nami and pointed left.

Whenever they land on an island, only their captain can cause this much chaos.

“Seriously, can’t you sit still for five minutes?!”

…

Elsewhere, someone appeared who made Sanji burn with envy.

“Ever since I saw this fruit in the Devil Fruit Guide as a kid, I swore I’d find it someday.”

“I always thought this Devil Fruit didn’t exist. Never imagined…”

Sanji dropped to his knees, clutching his face in both hands as tears streamed down.

That made Absalom, who’d been sneaking up for a surprise attack, wonder if Sanji was some kind of idiot.

He hadn’t even started yet. Why was Sanji surrendering already?

Still, the thought passed in a flash. Silent as a shadow, he crept up on Sanji.

“Collier!”

Sanji suddenly spun around and kicked him flying.

“Broil!”

“Fillet!”

“Devil’s Wind Kick!”

“I’m going to kick you into a meat patty!”

The Clear-Clear Fruit was Sanji’s dream. Before he knew it existed, maybe it was all just hope, but seeing his most beloved fruit already eaten by someone else set his heart ablaze.

“Why are you so strong?”

“Are you really the pervy chef from the Straw Hat Pirates?”

Absalom’s job was to scout pirates who drifted into the Devil’s Triangle.

He’d heard from his intel that Luffy’s crew didn’t have high bounties. They ought to have been easy work.

So why were they so much stronger than their wanted posters suggested?

“Strong?”

“After seeing you, rage is about to set me off like a bomb!”

Flames blazed up around Sanji, but his suit didn’t burn. Instead, he looked every bit a devil risen from hell.

“Tough luck for you. Turns out we have some unfinished business!”

Sanji was blazing with fury—this was his stolen dream. His hair stood on end, practically bristling with rage.

“You’re the man who stole my very first dream!”

“I don’t remember that. Pretty sure you’ve got the wrong guy. We’ve only just met, today!”

“Still, now that you’ve pummeled me like this, I’ll kill you with my Undead Hands!”

Absalom didn’t understand why Sanji was so mad, just got rattled by the barrage of attacks. As soon as he snapped out of it, he threw out both hands.

“Boom boom!”

Two rockets sprang from launchers hidden under Absalom’s sleeves.

A sly grin curled Absalom’s lips. He’d offed a lot of opponents with hidden tricks like this. Why should this guy be any different?

After all, who expects a fistfight to turn into a rocket attack?

Bang bang!!

With a quick spin, Sanji kicked both rockets out of the air. He didn’t even drop his cigarette.

“Huff!”

“Take it off!”

Sanji turned, plucked the cigarette from his lips, and exhaled a puff of smoke. “Take off those rocket launchers from your arms.”

“Don’t get it? Attacks like that do nothing to me. And I’m not just going to beat you black and blue.”

“Uh…”

Absalom was left dumbfounded. How had Sanji figured out he was using rockets? No one had ever noticed his hidden weapons during a fight before.

“How does he know?”

But seeing Sanji’s back turned, Absalom made a desperate gamble and triggered the rocket launcher hidden under his arm again.