"Now that looks like something. But if you're going to make a move on me, Creed, don't hold back—otherwise, the next moment you might be a corpse."
Creed said it flatly, but his gaze stayed locked on Wildfire King. Jack was ferocious, sure—but his instincts screamed that King was far more troublesome.
Boom!
Creed set his blade crosswise and took Jack's head-on charge. His body rocked, feet skidding back two, three steps—then rooted firm.
SSSS-class strength plus the power of the giant—together they told.
"What?! You don't even have a Zoan transformation, so how do you have that kind of power?!"
Jack roared, disbelief blazing in his eyes.
Transformed into a mammoth, his strength was terrifying; within Kaido's crew he was second only to Kaido himself in raw power. Yet today, Creed had blocked him with nothing but human strength and a horizontal sword—how could he not be shocked?
Rumble—
Tesoro's barrage crashed in, only to hit a wall of ice that surged up out of nowhere—thick, dense, and absurdly tough. Attacks that could have collapsed the entire hotel were stopped cold.
Crack!
The ice wall did finally give way—but Tesoro's momentum dipped with it.
"Damn it—sword domain!"
Staring at the deep sword gouges lining his golden giant fist, Tesoro understood at last what that wall had been formed from—and his heart lurched.
"So this is the might of a great pirate with a total bounty of six billion belly!"
His fighting spirit ebbed fast—fear even creeping in. If not for the arrival of the Three Disasters, he might well have apologized to Creed—might even have bent the knee. For all his twisted mind, years of obscene wealth had taught him to cherish his life. With reason back in the saddle, he had no desire to die here.
"No wonder the captain wants to recruit you. You really are a once-in-an-era monster."
King flicked his hand; thin crimson firelines snapped out, forcing Creed to give ground again and again, leaving him no gap to counter Jack.
"Three-on-one—so that's the Beasts Pirates' style?"
Lightning rippled along Creed's blade Rinne, shredding the incoming firelines as he needled them back.
"Haha, we've got no choice. You're already the New World's Fifth Emperor, Creed. If us 'mere' first mates don't team up, we can't very well 'invite' you."
King's tongue was as sharp as Creed's—but the dark-red flame he wielded made Creed wary. Those unassuming firelines—each hair-thin thread burned at a terrifying temperature, like fresh-poured molten iron, no less than Akainu's magma.
"Mammoth Rush!"
Jack lunged in again.
Crack!
Creed refused to play his game. A forest of ice spikes erupted from beneath Jack's feet like a thousand lances.
Frost Sword Intent: Thousandfold Ice Spikes!
Pak-pak!
In full mammoth form, Jack's offense and defense both jumped a tier; hide thick as armor, the spikes only scored red lines across his skin—yet they froze all four legs to the deck.
Enraged, Jack bellowed, "Damn you, Creed—fight me head-on if you've got the guts!"
Zzzap!
Tesoro fared worse—Creed's Thunder Dragon hammered him out of the air again, flinging him down gods knew where. Whether he could jump back up this time… questionable.
"So I'm the one you're after. Come—show me what the Fifth Emperor has."
King drew the long blade at his waist and caught Creed's lightning-flicker strike. Fire roared up around him in an instant, turning him into a man of living flame.
Boom!
Thunder slammed into fire. Power blasted outward. Knife-qi and sword-qi scissored madly, slicing ten-plus floors of the hotel—and several surrounding high-rises—into dust.
Only then did the gawkers in the towers around the King of Gold realize the level of the battle. With wails and curses, they fled for their lives. This was not a show for mortals.
"Not bad."
Crackling with lightning, Creed peeled back, slipping past King's next slash.
Rumble—
Elsewhere, Red the Aloof and Plague Queen had joined battle as well. The grand eight-star hotel would be torn to pieces in minutes.
"Your swordsmanship is good—but if you don't transform, you won't last ten moves."
Creed flashed and flashed again, a ghost of thunder; sixfold sword intents crossed and barred, leaving King a shade pressed.
"What style is this? I didn't expect to see swordplay of this caliber outside of Mihawk or Vista." King praised without stint—and then tried to recruit. "Creed, your future is limitless. Join the Beasts Pirates. Take the first-billing 'Disaster' spot—be vice-captain. I'll yield it to you."
But when Creed drew the Ame-no-Murakumo Sword, King's eyes cooled. So—no, he wouldn't join; he meant to defeat King here.
"That… is that Kizaru's Ame-no-Murakumo?"
Recognition flickered—and response followed at once.
Graaaah!
A colossal pteranodon form exploded outward—an ancient beast wreathed in fury and flame. In a blink the entire King of Gold became a hell-furnace.
"This fire…!"
The blaze roared, the heat insane. Concrete, stone, steel—everything sloughed into magma.
Creed flooded Rinne with frost-cold intent in time, or his hair and brows would have gone up in smoke.
"This transformation… at least three to four times stronger! Are all Ancient Zoans this ridiculous after transformation?"
His brows drew tight. No wonder Wildfire King's bounty sat even above Queen's near-1.4 billion—well earned.
Thud-thud-thud!
Drought Jack returned—this time from above, titanic tub-thick elephant feet stomping down on Creed.
Clang!
Rinne crossed with the Ame-no-Murakumo; Creed caught the stomp. But from within that massive foot poured a strange, scorching dryness—like an ocean of desiccation—hammering at his protective sword-qi and Armament Haki, stripping away at something essential. Discomfort crawled over his whole body.
As if… that searing aura was stealing the vitality from his flesh?
"What the hell is that?"
He blanched. If he hadn't pre-shifted to frost intent against King's inferno, he would have been badly burned by this dryness as well.
"They say where Drought Jack treads, all withers as if a drought demon passes—until only ruin remains. Is this his specialty: the 'Drought Spirit' aura?"
Creed guessed, then blurred to light and slipped free.
King and Jack together fit hand to glove. Even for Creed, breaking the pincer in an instant wasn't simple.
(End of Chapter)
[Check Out My P@treon For 20+ Extra Chapters On All My Fanfics!!]
[[email protected]/Draumel]
[Thank You For Your Support!]