The Three Calamities didn't come to Gran Tesoro for Creed. They'd just pulled a big job and, on the way back, happened to spot the Golden City—so they hopped up to have some fun.
Who knew that right as they were relaxing, Jack's men would report that Creed had arrived in Gran Tesoro and become Tesoro's target.
Naturally, Jack was the first to lose his seat. He wanted to find Creed immediately and avenge the sunken fleet. King and Queen tagged along to watch the show—and maybe bring Creed back to meet Kaido. Ever since Creed left the New World and kept stirring up trouble, Kaido's interest only grew.
In their plan, the three of them dragging Creed back was supposed to be easy.
Yet here they were—two of them in their Ancient Zoan forms—and still unable to pin him down for even a moment.
"His abilities are too tricky!"
Even an SSSS-class monster like King felt a throb of headache. Creed was a never-before-seen freak: he commanded thunder, light, and ice; his swordsmanship was godlike; and rumor had it he wielded the powers of the Ope Ope no Mi…
Could he and Jack really handle someone like this?
Inwardly, King regretted letting Jack rush in so blindly.
Everyone knew Creed was famous for bending to kindness, not force. Even the World Government tried a hardline approach and got smacked for it. If they'd been courteous from the start—or knocked down Tesoro first, then extended an invitation—maybe they could have brought him to Kaido…
"What a pity Queen got stalled by Redfield. Otherwise, with his deadly gas, he'd definitely threaten this Creed."
"At this point, we can only throw everything we've got and crush him!"
King beat his wings. Fire rolled out in waves, blotting the sky.
Creed slashed.
The blade-light shone like snow, sweeping in a crescent arc.
King and Jack didn't dare meet it head-on; both slipped aside.
But wherever the blade-light passed, flames winked out and black ice sprang forth, unfurling into a glacial field.
The scene turned eerie and magnificent at once: above, layers of fire danced from King; below, Creed's ice domain spread.
A world of ice and fire.
Creed chose to use his cold sword-will to hold back King's flames.
Crack—
Beneath the frozen sword-domain, a strange sound rippled. Creed frowned.
Something was corroding the cold domain from below, devouring its power.
"Jack's 'drought miasma'? It can even erode the Frozen Sword Domain? No wonder his endurance is insane. Looks like I have to finish this fast. I was going to play with them a little."
Lightning wrapped Creed from head to toe, dazzling like a small sun.
Two Hundred Million Volts: Raijin (Thunder God)!
In a blink, he became a great thunder god—one hand gripping a blade of lightning, the other a blade of ice. Majestic. Bolts crisscrossed a hundred meters around him.
"Yo! Tesoro's trick?"
Jack was muttering why his drought miasma wasn't working this time when Creed transformed.
"ROOM!"
A transparent sphere appeared in Creed's palm—thumb-sized at first—then whooshed out to blanket a radius of five or six hundred meters.
"The Ope Ope no Mi…! Jack, danger!"
A note from Creed's dossier flashed in King's mind. He shouted a warning.
Ryūka no Tsume (Dragonfire Claw)!
King's twin talons hurled two roaring columns of flame to cut Creed off—yet Creed was already gone.
"Argh!"
In the next instant, thunder-god Creed appeared behind Jack. His twin blades of lightning and ice fell in an "X".
"You can't break my defense! Second only to Boss Kaido—"
Jack whipped his tail in fury, Busoshoku Haki (Armament Haki) flaring, drought miasma surging, hoping to trade blows and go down together. But the power of Creed's twin swords blew past expectation. An enormous "X" carved across Jack's back, blood geysering—bone laid bare.
Boom!
Jack tumbled end-over-end, blood splattering, lightning crawling, screams tearing free as black ice raced across his body. In barely a second or two, he was frozen solid in a slab ten meters thick.
His counterattack was no joke either: Creed's Raijin form shattered, and his blood surged uncomfortably.
"Ancient Zoans really are something."
Creed sighed and flashed aside as King's attack ripped through.
"King, bring out your real power. Otherwise your ending will be the same as Jack's."
Dozens of meters away, light re-condensed and Creed stepped out whole.
Besides his SSSS-class agility, King's Kenbunshoku Haki (Observation Haki) was also SSSS-class—his evasion absurdly high. In a straight fight, taking him while holding back would be tough. Forcing him to go all-out and clash head-on was without doubt the right call.
"What a cunning bastard."
Old hand that he was, King knew exactly what Creed was doing. Leaving was easy—but Jack, grievously wounded and trapped, couldn't be abandoned.
"Fine. Let me witness your true strength."
His wings shook. Fire poured off him in a deluge, turning the sky into a sea of flame in a single second, painting half the heavens red.
Next heartbeat, all that fire whipped back, compressing into his foretalons and wings—and the small talons along his wings.
As the flames condensed, their dark red turned nearly black.
A deathly aura bled off the compressed fire—indescribable, yet uncannily familiar to Creed.
"As I thought… it shares a root with the Jigokudō Kenki (Hell-Path Sword Aura) in my Rinne no Kendō (Samsara Sword). Hellfire, huh?"
Creed rolled his wrist on Rinne, cold sword-will billowing. Frost and snow rose anew. "Come."
Shu!
King became a streak of black-crimson light—speed pushed to the absolute peak. He moved—and nine strikes were already upon Creed.
Clang! Clang! Clang!
Creed met them, but for a moment he was on the back foot.
King's speed was too extreme.
Jack's mammoth excelled in strength and defense; King's pterosaur stacked everything into speed. If not for Raizen (Lightning Flash) and Hikari-taika (Light Elementalization), Creed would have struggled to keep up.
Hyōketsu Ken'iki (Frozen Sword Domain)!
Creed unleashed his cold sword-will, turning a kilometer around into a killing frost to slow King.
Rumble—
But King's fire didn't bow to the cold. The domain kindled at once, flames and frost locking in a tug-of-war.
Boom!
They traded a heavy blow and split at extreme speed.
The Golden King Hotel, under ice and fire, finally gave way—collapsing into a mountain of rubble.
"Damn it, Creed—don't act like I'm not here!"
Jack shattered his ice-coffin with a roar—only to be hit by a passing blade of frost and frozen again mid-sentence.
"Fall, King!"
Creed's Raijin form surged back, twin blades in hand as he charged.
"Come!"
King met him. Full power vs. full power.
Boom—boom—boom—!
Sword-qi and flame tore out in all directions. The towers around the Golden King Hotel crumpled one after another, the next two kilometers swept clean.
At the point of impact, radiance blazed like a tiny sun for several seconds—then a figure tumbled out of it, a sigh drifting with him: "Creed… worthy of the Fifth Emperor…"
When Redfield arrived, lugging the unconscious Queen, he stared at the flattened ruins, dumbstruck. The destructive power was outrageous.
Still, there was no surprise in the result. Their captain had won again.
"How do we handle them?"
Redfield dropped Queen beside the heavily wounded King and asked Creed.
"Tell Kaido this: his three signature men are in our hands. Have him bring money to ransom them."
Creed thought for a moment—and said something that shocked Redfield and the Beasts Pirates alike.
(End of Chapter)
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