Chapter Eighteen: Harvesting Souls, The Vanished Pirate

Qingsi felt the changes within his body, his perception of shadows becoming incredibly acute, and a hint of delight appeared on his face. “It actually worked…”

“Moonlight Moria’s Haki should be stronger than mine. How could I manage to replicate it?”

He glanced at the stunned Moonlight Moria, and suddenly an insight dawned on him. “Even if the opponent’s Haki is formidable, as long as they’re not on guard, I can replicate it directly? That must be it.”

As the pirates charged at him, Qingsi’s lips curled into a slight smile. “Perfect, I’ll use this opportunity to test out the Shadow-Shadow Fruit’s powers. This Devil Fruit shouldn’t be weak, right?”

He sidestepped the fierce blow of the green-haired pirate. With a slight motion of his fingers, the pirate’s shadow, as if summoned, flew into Qingsi’s palm. His long blade swept down, slicing the shadow cleanly in two.

Under the sunlight, the green-haired pirate instantly evaporated, vanishing into nothingness.

Qingsi looked at the struggling shadow in his hand, then injected it into the nearby fallen navy corpse.

The navy corpse slowly rose from the ground and glared at Qingsi, roaring angrily, “Damn it! I want booze! I want women with big chests!”

Qingsi’s expression grew a shade more serious, and the reanimated mummy immediately snapped to attention. Bereft of a soul, it became a puppet at Qingsi’s command.

“Bastard! What have you done?!” The pirates, witnessing Qingsi’s actions, recoiled in terror. “He’s a Devil Fruit user! Everyone, be careful!”

But before the words had faded, Qingsi had already reaped another shadow, and that pirate’s body vanished from the world.

Qingsi unleashed shadow bats, shadow guns, shadow clones, and more. He suddenly realized just how formidable this Devil Fruit was—it was a wonder Moonlight Moria had used it so poorly.

With every shadow Qingsi harvested, the pirates grew more fearful. None dared approach him any longer, while the army of shadow mummies he created joined the fray. Since the mummies were undead and indestructible, they soon overwhelmed the pirates.

The pirates scattered in all directions, forming a wide ring around Qingsi.

From atop a high platform, Whitebeard looked over and frowned. “Isn’t that the power of Moonlight Moria’s Shadow-Shadow Fruit? How can this brat use it? Could it be… Hah, so he was trying to steal my ability just now?”

“You’re still a long way off, but… what a terrifying and troublesome power.”

Sengoku, too, glanced over, eyes flashing with surprise. “So that’s Shimura Qingsi from G-6? I just saw his application for lieutenant a few days ago. The Mirror-Mirror Fruit’s power is already impressive.”

He studied Qingsi for a moment longer, then refocused on the battlefield, observing every subtle change and analyzing the situation as it unfolded.

Qingsi did not pursue the fleeing pirates. As long as they kept their distance, he was satisfied.

Jinbe eyed the fifty or so mummies, then glanced at Moonlight Moria, feeling momentarily bewildered. Still, he leapt into the sea, and a surge of water swept toward the shadow army.

Qingsi tried to evade, but wasn’t fast enough. More than half the mummies collapsed instantly.

Two more waterspouts crashed down, and Qingsi’s entire shadow legion was wiped out.

There was nothing he could do—water was their nemesis. The mummies fell limp the instant they touched seawater.

Qingsi looked at the now-ashore Jinbe. Wasn’t he supposed to be escorting Luffy? Why come after me? Seriously.

Luffy is about to be sliced up by Hawkeye. Shouldn’t you be helping him?

If I really had to fight this guy, it would be a nightmare.

Amid Luffy’s screams, Jinbe turned his head, then dashed toward Luffy. Qingsi watched him leave, breathing a quiet sigh of relief, and recalled his shadows back from afar.

Hawkeye’s sword strikes were all razor-sharp, but he avoided any vital points—a true master of anatomical precision. The attacks looked fierce, but none landed a lethal blow.

After all, he was an old acquaintance of Red-Haired Shanks, and Luffy was the red-haired one’s favored junior. In his own way, he was secretly helping Luffy get closer to the execution platform.

If the navy were truly united, the entire Whitebeard Pirates would likely be buried at Marineford. But the marines’ hearts were divided, and many were simply going through the motions.

Luffy caught Buggy, who was flying through the air, and used him as a shield to block several of Hawkeye’s strikes.

Buggy was chopped into eighty-one pieces, then reassembled himself without a s