"That girl actually dares to look down on me!" A flash of anger crossed Uta's eyes. She stepped forward with determined strides.
Perona's eyes darted around. Although the red-haired girl before her seemed like the weakest among the four officers, she wouldn't let her guard down.
"I'm warning you~" Perona floated in the air, hands on her hips, pretending to be serious. "My ability is super cruel! If you surrender now, you'll suffer less~"
"Hmph, let's just get started," Uta said impatiently.
"Then I'll…" Perona's eyes suddenly lit up, and she shouted excitedly, "Absalom, well done! Attack their Captain like that!"
"What?" Concerned for her Captain, Uta instinctively turned her head.
Setsuna was still standing there perfectly fine, no sign of trouble.
"Not good! It's a trick!" Uta realized, but it was too late.
A translucent Negative Hollow silently passed through her body.
Uta felt all her strength instantly drain away. Her legs gave out, and she knelt on the ground.
"Horohorohoro, so easy to fool!" Perona gleefully spun a circle in the air, her pink twin-tails swinging happily. "Once hit by my Negative Hollow, you're definitely going to lose~"
"Kishishishi, well done, Perona!" Moria was overjoyed.
However, Absalom nervously tugged at Moria's sleeve. "Moria-sama, something seems off."
"Hmm?" Moria looked closely and saw lightning flashing and space distorting around the girl, as if some terrifying power was awakening.
Uta sank into depression. "It's all my fault. I caused everyone's death…"
Setsuna shook his head slightly, 'It seemed the guilt in Uta's heart wasn't so easily dispelled.'
Cavendish was sweating profusely. "Captain, is Uta going to use… that move?"
Ace also felt a chill. Although the music demon had been destroyed, with Uta's nearly awakened Devil Fruit ability, if it went out of control… just imagining it was terrifying.
Perona also sensed something was wrong. The oppressive aura emanating from the other party instinctively frightened her.
Perona asked nervously. "Um… are you okay? Should I dispel the ability for you now…"
Before she could finish, countless terrifying monstrosities surged from the cracks between reality and illusion.
Their twisted, writhing bodies were covered in bizarre musical note patterns, emitting hair-raising roars.
"Wah! Ghosts!" Perona screamed in terror, running back to Moria's side. But when she looked back, she saw an even more horrifying scene.
Moria's bloated body was tightly bound by countless leaping musical note lines. The glowing lines were visibly cutting into his flesh.
Fortunately, Setsuna appeared beside Uta in an instant, knocking her unconscious with a chop.
All the monstrosities and musical note lines vanished, as if it had all been an illusion.
But Moria didn't think so. The bloody marks on his body reminded him he had just walked on the edge of death.
"What kind of ability is that?" Moria looked at Uta with terrified eyes. He had almost been killed just now.
Perona was even more pale-faced, 'What was wrong with this girl? Could she really be that terrifying when depressed?'
Even Lola stared in shock. When those monsters appeared, she almost thought it was her mother's Soru Soru no Mi's ability.
'This girl possessed a terrifying power comparable to an Emperor.'
Setsuna held the unconscious Uta with one arm, his tone calm. "I intervened in this match. It's your win."
Even so, Hogback and Absalom felt no joy at all.
If the seemingly weakest among the four, Uta, was this monstrous, did they really have a chance to win?
Moria took a deep breath, forcibly suppressing the unease in his heart, and said gravely. "Absalom, the rest is up to you."
Absalom stepped forward, trembling, scanning back and forth among Ace and the other two.
His gaze first lingered on Ace but quickly dismissed him.
His invisibility ability feared wide-area attacks the most, and fire was undoubtedly top-tier in that regard.
His gaze then fell on Cavendish. After a brief hesitation, he dismissed him as well.
The swordsmanship displayed by the other party earlier was also terrifying. He might not have time to dodge.
Finally, Absalom fixed his gaze on Enel, nodding slightly. 'This guy looks sloppy, with no aura of a strong person at all.'
"I choose him!" Absalom excitedly pointed at Enel, completely missing the sympathetic looks in Ace and Cavendish's eyes.
"Me?" Enel snorted coldly. He was being looked down upon? "Weak insect. Make your move. You won't get a second chance."
"Look! A monster!" Absalom imitated Perona's trick, trying to divert his opponent's attention.
But Enel merely gave him a look as if he were an idiot, a mocking sneer on his lips.
"Damn it, it failed?" Absalom muttered gloomily, then entered his invisible state.
Enel didn't even bother using his Mantra to sense Absalom's presence. Instead, he let out a sinister laugh. "Raigo!"
An attack capable of destroying an island was concentrated within a hundred-meter radius. Thunderbolts so dense they were frightening poured down from the sky in an instant, turning the entire space into an ocean of lightning.
Moria stared dumbfounded at the scene before him, 'The other party was actually a Logia-type user of the Goro Goro no Mi, and had developed it to an extremely high level.'
"Not good! Absalom!" Moria reacted, calling out his subordinate's name.
When the lightning subsided, only a charred, unrecognizable corpse remained on the spot.
"Absalom!" Moria was in agony, experiencing once again the pain of having all his comrades killed by Kaido back then.
Although Perona and Hogback didn't share such deep feelings, they felt the sorrow of a fellow's demise and were filled with fear.
Of course, it was mainly Hogback who was terrified. Thinking he was next, his legs shook like a sieve.
'Such monstrously powerful individuals are just that man's subordinates?!' Lola was so shocked she almost forgot to breathe.
In her opinion, that long-eared powerhouse was almost as strong as her brother, Katakuri.
Moria's eyes were bloodshot. "You dare kill Absalom?! I'll tear you to pieces!"
Hogback and Perona clung desperately to the furious Moria, tears and snot smearing their faces. "Moria-sama, you can't! You'll be killed!"
The difference in strength was too vast. There was no chance of winning.
Moria still roared. "For a true pirate, death is no threat!"
"But… but we don't want to die!" Hogback and Perona wailed.
Hearing his subordinates' pleas, Moria forced himself to calm down, saying viciously. "Hogback, you fight Fire Fist Ace next. Kill him, make that bastard know the pain of losing an important subordinate!"
"Me… I kill him?" Hogback pointed at himself in confusion.
He looked down at his trembling hands… hands that only held scalpels, 'These hands were asked to kill that Fire Fist Ace, who was said to have defeated a Warlord?'