"Hehehehehe..." After a brief moment of shock, Moria's excitement exploded into pure delight.
The stronger this scroll's power, the stronger he became. Facing Kaido would finally be something he could actually attempt.
"Let's put this to the test!" Moria said, directing his clones to spar with each other.
The sound of fists clashing rang out through the hall, leaving everyone even more slack jawed than before.
"Lord Moria is fighting himself?"
"What in the world am I seeing right now?"
"Are all of these the real him?"
The crew stared at the brawling clones, utterly stunned.
"Stop!" After a quick test, Moria called his clones to a halt.
"So they really are solid, physical bodies. Their power is a bit weaker than mine, but they're still working with about thirty percent of my strength. Incredible."
Through the test, Moria quickly worked out exactly what these shadow clones were capable of. Each one carried roughly a third of his own power, which meant he could send them out to fight in his place. The result left him thrilled. Thirty percent strength wasn't much on its own, but the sheer numbers more than made up for it, and losing a clone or two hardly mattered. Of course, if the clones were killed, it would cost him some of his own energy, but compared to everything he stood to gain, that drawback barely registered. This was an incredible power to have.
Dismissing his clones, Moria turned and bowed deeply to Amon. "Mr. Amon, I truly cannot thank you enough. With this skill, I'll never again need to stay in hiding."
The truth was, he'd come to this stretch of sea specifically to avoid being hunted down by Kaido, and to keep other pirates from challenging him and stealing his position as one of the Seven Warlords. Now none of that mattered. Most of his crew had already been wiped out, but with this technique, it was as good as gaining an army of reinforcements. Even if an Emperor came for him, he could use his clones to buy time and escape. With that many identical figures appearing at once, even an Emperor wouldn't know which one to strike down first. Unless the enemy had some kind of soul based attack or an area effect skill, chasing him down would be next to impossible. No one would know which Moria was the real one.
"So this is why Lord Moria is so powerful, all because of this merchant standing right here."
The crew members, who'd been knocked out early on by Brook and had missed everything that happened since, finally understood the full picture watching Moria now. Every one of them was stunned. Who could have guessed that such a small jar held something this extraordinary inside?
"Lord Moria, could I open a jar too?"
Perona, who'd been watching the whole exchange, had grown thoroughly curious about Amon's jars herself. Now that Moria was finished, she turned and made her own request.
"That's... you'll have to ask Mr. Amon and see if he's willing." Moria had no authority to order Amon around. The chance to open his own jar had taken plenty of begging to earn.
"Then, Mr. Amon, will you let me open one too?"
Hearing that, Perona turned and walked over to Amon, wrapping both small arms around his arm and gazing up at him with eyes full of hope.
Seeing her like that, a mischievous streak lit up in Amon, and he shook his head. "No."
"Aww, come on! I want to open a jar too! I want a big doll!"
Perona wasn't ready to give up just because Amon had turned her down. She kept clinging to him, refusing to let go.
"Fine, fine then, what if I came and traveled with you from now on? Would that work?" Perona's eyes locked onto Lily standing behind Amon, and with what looked like sudden resolve, she said something that caught Amon completely off guard.
"What? Travel with me?"
Amon blinked, thrown by the offer.
"That's right. If you just let me open a jar, I'll join your crew from now on. Lord Moria won't mind, will he?" Perona said, turning her big, pleading eyes toward Moria.
"Hehehehehe, you were never really one of my crew to begin with. You're free to go wherever you like."
Perona had been someone Moria happened to save on his way back, and with nowhere else to go, she'd simply ended up following him to this place. Mostly because she liked the whole dark, gothic castle aesthetic. But now, having met Lily, this adorable living doll, she no longer wanted to stay. On top of that, she found Amon's jars endlessly fascinating, which made following him around sound like a lot more fun.
"So, Mr. Amon, will you say yes or not?"
With Moria's blessing secured, Perona turned back to Amon.
"Heh, looks like our captain has already made up his mind." Robin, catching the look on Amon's face, could tell he was already won over, and answered on his behalf before he could say anything.
"Really? That's wonderful! Thank you so much, sister!"
With Robin's confirmation, Perona's mood soared through the roof.
"Alright then. But if you want to open a jar, you'll still need to pay in Berry, same as everyone else."
Amon didn't dislike Perona at all. In fact, he liked her quite a bit, and having her join the crew of her own accord was more than welcome. With her aboard, they'd finally have enough people for proper games. But rules were rules. Opening a jar still came with a price.
"Aw, I need Berry too? I definitely don't have as much as Lord Moria does."
Hearing there was a cost, Perona assumed Amon meant the same ten million Berry Moria had paid, and her face fell immediately.
"Who said anything about ten million? Since you're already part of my crew now, you'll only need a hundred thousand Berry. That's the crew discount."
"A hundred thousand? Oh, I actually have that much!"
Perona had spent most of her Berry on dolls over the years, so ten million would have been impossible, but a hundred thousand was well within reach.
"Captain, go ahead and count it out!" Perona switched over to calling him captain almost instantly.
"No need to count. Do you think I don't trust you? Go pick out whichever jar catches your eye."
Counting Berry was the system's job anyway, and given how notoriously stingy it was, Amon had no doubt he wasn't about to come out on the losing end of this deal.
"Pick a jar?" Perona's eyes lit up at the words. She'd already seen exactly how the process worked when Moria opened his, and without a moment's hesitation, she threw herself into browsing the selection.