Shanks's crew were on their home island. Shanks lounged with a fruit juice in hand and unfolded today's newspaper.
One glance at the front page made him jolt to his feet.
"That brat! Trying to steal my business!"
"What happened?"
Benn Beckman leaned over, curious. But when he saw the near full-page photo of Creed, he could only rub his nose and chuckle. "The new wave pushes out the old—rookies these days are terrifying. Back in my day, at his age I was still chasing the village belle next door."
"Hard to believe. Windmill Village still feels like yesterday, and now he's already the Fifth Emperor of the New World. Tsk, even the 'Gods of Water' got frozen solid—so the Navy's Aokiji isn't all that special after all."
Behind them, Yasopp wore the same expression.
The next second, both he and Benn Beckman shouted in unison: "What?! He formed a pirate crew!"
"What an irony—once the Navy's most gifted prodigy, now one of the Five Emperors among pirates. Garp must hate the World Government to death by now."
Yasopp sighed and shook his head.
"No kidding. Garp's already retired to the East Blue to watch his grandson. Oh right, I've heard that grandson of his, Luffy, keeps shouting about becoming a pirate."
As Benn Beckman spoke, he and Yasopp both turned to stare at Shanks.
"Why look at me? It's not like I tricked the kid on purpose into being a pirate… hey, hey, you were in on it too, remember? Benn Beckman, you were egging him on plenty!"
Just thinking of Garp's terrifying iron fists made Shanks's scalp tingle.
"Right. Time to give Mihawk a call."
He suddenly remembered a certain promise.
Today's Creed… is worthy of drawing Mihawk's blade!
…
In the Fleet Admiral's office at Marineford, Sengoku, Aokiji, Kizaru, and several elite vice admirals were gathered.
The projection on the white wall showed the "Gods of Water" frozen into solid ice, and the room fell silent.
"Kuzan, give me an estimate of Creed's current combat strength."
After a long pause, Sengoku broke the silence.
As the Ice-Ice Fruit user, Aokiji understood what kind of power it would take to freeze a sea like that.
"I read the intel. The 'Gods of Water' is an extremely fearsome tsunami—usually seven towering waves, each stronger than the last," he said.
"The lowest is over a hundred meters, and the highest—the one in that projection—is more than two hundred."
"With my current strength, I could maybe freeze the first five or six. That seventh… I don't have it in me."
Aokiji rose, pondered a moment, and answered.
When he finished, the office sank into silence again.
Creed had already defeated Kizaru, and now Aokiji had personally admitted he couldn't match him. That meant Creed truly possessed Four Emperor-level strength.
And at his side stood Redfield and Crocodile.
Even if the entire Navy Headquarters moved out, victory was far from guaranteed.
"Fleet Admiral Sengoku, I'm still recovering, so count me out," Kizaru chimed in, nearly earning a tongue-lashing from Sengoku. "You've been 'recovering' long enough!"
Kizaru clutched his shoulder and yelped, "Oww, oww—bones and sinew take a hundred days, y'know! How long has it been, Boss?"
"Forget it. Leave him be for now. Creed will be leaving Water 7 soon anyway."
Sengoku was already regretting approving Garp and Zephyr's retirement—sending Gramps would've been perfect.
There was another reason: in Water 7, Creed was now hailed as a benefactor and great hero. Even Mayor Iceburg had personally awarded him an honorary citizenship medal.
If the Navy made a move in the next couple of days, the city would curse them to high heaven—and Sengoku had also heard that media tycoon Morgans was already in Water 7 to interview Creed. If the Navy showed up, that big-news vulture would latch on and never let go.
And the World Government hadn't issued any orders yet.
All in all, holding position was the best choice.
"Buro-buro!"
The Den Den Mushi rang. Sengoku saw the caller—Spandam—and tossed it to Kizaru.
Kizaru picked up. "Hello? Spandam? Can't hear a thing—bad signal. Call again tomorrow. 'Kay, bye."
Three days later, the Creed Pirates set sail from Water 7 to the cheers of the townsfolk.
But when they left, it wasn't a single ship—several vessels tailed behind.
Creed hadn't expected that announcing the founding of the Creed Pirates would go so smoothly—no Navy interference, no World Government sabotage—and that several pirate crews would even pledge themselves as affiliates.
Too much hassle for him to bother with, though. He dumped it all on Crocodile. Future arrangements and development? Crocodile's problem.
Aboard Creed's new ship there were only three people: Redfield, Creed, and Robin.
Soon, Creed parted ways with Crocodile.
Crocodile led people to develop in the New World, while Creed, Redfield, and Robin went searching for Poneglyphs—or for top-tier powerhouses to recruit.
With their current strength, talking about toppling the World Government was a fool's dream. The Creed Pirates weren't even on par with a single Emperor's crew yet.
And Creed still needed time to stabilize and settle into his new realm.
His power had broken through to SSSS-, and with three SSSS- abilities in hand, his overall combat power had risen to SSSS-.
Once he fully familiarized himself with the realm, he would attempt the SSSS-grade ability "Fusion"—to fuse some of his powers together!
That day, as Creed sat with eyes closed, meditating, Robin knocked and entered to report.
"Captain, there's a gigantic golden ship ahead. We tried to give way, but it's so huge that even after sailing several kilometers we still couldn't get around it," Robin said, astonished.
"The Golden City?"
Creed immediately remembered.
The Golden City—Gran Tesoro—is a colossal golden ship ten thousand meters long, with a city on its back. It's the largest entertainment city in the world, recognized by the World Government as an independent nation and a non-admission zone—an 'Absolute Sanctuary' the World Government cannot casually touch.
"Didn't expect to run into it here. Come on, let's go take a look."
Creed's interest was piqued.
(End of Chapter)
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