One Piece: sign-in to Ryujin Jakka

One had to admit—Moria's face was thicker than steel, and his desire to survive was equally unshakable.

Roman turned to Perona and smiled.

"Perona, you heard it yourself. Your captain doesn't want you anymore. Why not come with me?"

He truly valued Perona—Of course, not for her personality, but her power.

The Ghost-Ghost Fruit was outrageously broken.

Other than someone like Usopp, who was naturally pessimistic, most people would fall under her ghost effects to some extent.

In a high-level fight, if Perona snuck in an attack, even just a one-second debuff—

That could completely turn the tide of battle. This ability was insanely strong.

Perona hadn't expected Moria to be this shameless.

Frustrated, she huffed: 'Fine, I'm out.'

"I'll go with you," she said, "but my body is over there—we'll have to retrieve it first."

Roman looked toward where she pointed, then fired off a Finger Gun(Shigan)!

The peak-level Finger Gun pierced the wall like tofu.

Perona's eyes widened in horror.

"Careful! That's my body in there!"

"Relax," Roman replied. "I'm quite confident in my output control."

Floating mid-air, Roman passed through the hole and flew straight into Perona's room.

It was… a princess-style room.

Well, a ghost princess's room, complete with creepy decor and eerie dolls.

Any regular person would think they'd walked into a haunted house.

"You really love this stuff, huh? All this darkness and gloom?"

"Darkness? These are cute, thank you very much!" Perona pouted. "Anyway, if I'm joining your crew, I require my room to be decorated just like this!"

"No problem. My warship is pretty big—you can pack it all up and bring it with you."

As he spoke, Roman waved his hand, activating his Rooster Talisman powers.

All the decorations floated into the air, including Perona's physical body, under his control.

"Wow… You're amazing! I really wanna know—who exactly are you?"

"Me? Just a lowly little Marine officer," Roman said casually.

"A little officer?" Perona blinked.

Even Moria was eavesdropping at this point, wanting to know Roman's identity for his revenge plans.

"I'm one of the Marines' Three Admirals—White Dove."

Roman said it like he was commenting on the weather.

But that calm delivery was like a bomb exploding in the minds of Perona and Moria.

"Admiral?!"

"Did I just hop onto Marines HQ's flagship?!" Perona shivered.

"Relax," Roman smiled. "You've just boarded Moria's ship. You don't even have a bounty yet, so technically it's not 'joining the enemy.' The Marines won't chase you."

He added, "And I protect my own. If anyone messes with you, I'll take care of it. Now let's go—I've got business to attend to."

With that, Roman flew out of Thriller Bark, floating alongside Perona's stuff, levitated by the Rooster Talisman.

Perona floated beside him in spirit form.

Back in the distance, Moria watched Roman's back, committing his figure to memory.

"One Kaido… now a White Dove… Just you wait. I will get my revenge!"

But Roman couldn't care less about Moria's inner rage.

After loading everything onto the warship, Roman extended his hand again.

This time, he channeled the ability of his Rooster Talisman powers like Golden Lion Shiki, directing them toward the sky and sea.

"Imperial Scroll of Heaven (Gosho Tenmaki)!"

In his control, the clouds were torn from the sky, and the seawater surged upward.

They combined into the shape of a massive dragon head, so lifelike that it exuded pressure like a real mythical beast.

Perona stared, mouth agape, utterly speechless.

Roman casually waved his hand.

The dragon's head shot forward, smashing toward Thriller Bark!

At that moment, Moria had just exited his palace, only to witness the terrifying fusion of cloud and water, crashing down from the heavens!

"Life and death, determined by fate. Perona, let's go."

"Huh? Oh—okay!"

Perona was still stunned.

She hadn't expected the man she followed in a moment of anger to be this powerful.

The dragon's head from the Imperial Scroll of Heaven bit right through Thriller Bark's center.

The so-called "largest ship in the world" was cleanly split in two.

As for her old captain? She wasn't sure if he'd survive that blow. Either way, she had now firmly latched onto this man called Roman.

Roman, meanwhile, was in a great mood.

After all, he'd just picked up a very interesting crewmate. Her Devil Fruit ability was a total cheat, too.

Used right, she was a deadly weapon. Of course, her loyalty still needed some discipline.

Roman glanced meaningfully at Perona.

Under his gaze, Perona felt like all her secrets were laid bare. She instinctively tried to change the topic.

"Uh, Captain… where are we going now?"

"Punk Hazard."

Roman responded briefly, then activated Hundred-Fold Phantom Illusion again, letting it control the warship and sail at top speed toward Punk Hazard.

Meanwhile, at Punk Hazard…

Inside a heavily guarded laboratory, Caesar Clown grinned maniacally while holding a test tube.

"Kihihihihi! Finally complete! My magnum opus! With this, I'll surpass Vegapunk and become the world's greatest scientist!"

Just as he finished speaking…A voice echoed behind him