"Lord Creed, I was coerced by that damned Celestial Dragon! I'm innocent—everything was his doing. If you spare my life, I'll offer one thousand billion belly."
Locked onto by killing intent, Tesoro no longer dared to flee. He dropped to his knees and kowtowed for mercy.
He regretted it to his bones. Had he known Creed was this terrifying—able to suppress the Three Calamities—he wouldn't have dared target Creed even with a hundred lives to spend.
Creed, of course, wouldn't let the culprit go.
Suddenly—
"Zlurrrp!"
A weird chuckle echoed. A gigantic black hole opened beneath Tesoro, and he dropped straight through.
Nuke Nuke no Mi (Through-Through Fruit)!
At the same time, a single coin flicked out of that black hole and whistled toward Creed.
Tesoro's subordinates had found their moment to act—they were trying to pull Tesoro out.
But before Tesoro could fully slip away, a lance of reishō laser punched through his skull. He died on the spot.
Without awakening, the Nuke Nuke no Mi was simply too slow before Creed.
Had Tesoro not sicced a Celestial Dragon on him to kill him earlier, Creed might have considered letting him go once. But he did—so he died.
As for that ordinary-looking coin, Creed was wary. He turned into light and flashed back, like dodging the plague.
Ding.
The coin fell at the feet of the Celestial Dragon and the CP0.
A heartbeat later—boom!
The ground there collapsed in a wide swath. They screamed as they plunged down, life or death unknown.
"Luck really is a terrifying power."
Abilities like that—almost a causality weapon—did give Creed a headache. You never knew what kind of "accident" might happen. Though he had more than enough ways to protect himself, he had no desire to tempt those damned accidents.
So he decided to spend a bit of effort and froze the entire lower area with Hyōketsu Ken'iki (Frozen Sword Domain).
Crack—crack—
"There."
He locked onto two figures caught in the ice and dropped in front of them.
By then, the man with the Nuke Nuke no Mi—Mr. Tanaka—was already dead. Though he could pass through inanimate matter like the black ice, the razor-edged sword-will within it shredded him to pieces.
Strangely, Baccarat escaped disaster precisely because of Tanaka's death.
The Raki Raki no Mi (Luck-Luck Fruit) really was strong.
"Looks like you've sucked up a lot of people's luck."
Creed, still a little rattled, led the shaken Baccarat back up to the surface.
Up top—
"Tch! These are 'Celestial Dragons'? 'World Nobles'? 'Gods' on top of the world? They look more like sewer rats to me."
King laughed, taunting Charlos.
The latter had already fallen into a deep pit and couldn't even answer back.
Creed cut him off. "Enough. Call Kaido."
Then he pulled out seastone cuffs. Together with Redfield, he shackled all three of the Calamities.
He'd noticed that although the trio were gravely wounded, their vitality was rising by the second.
Such monstrous recovery—worthy of the Animal-type fruits.
If he didn't shackle them, give them a little time and they'd be able to fight him again.
So he wasn't about to let King stall him with chatter.
A twinge of frustration flashed in King's eyes. Creed was too sharp.
Truth be told, there was something Creed envied about them: their life force and recovery.
Creed had plenty of abilities—each able to stand on its own—but he lacked anything that boosted pure vitality and regeneration. Maybe the Giant's Power gave a touch of recovery, but compared to a true Animal-type Zoan, it was streets behind—worlds apart.
Sadly, those two traits were the exclusive domain of Animal-type Devil Fruits; they didn't appear in the extractable-ability column. And Creed no longer had any Devil Fruit ability extract cards—he could only sigh.
If he could patch that weakness, he'd truly wield Yonko-level combat power.
After cuffing the Three Calamities, Creed finally let out a breath and told Baccarat to get everything arranged.
He would remain in Gran Tesoro and wait for Kaido.
King had already spoken with Kaido by transponder snail—Kaido would arrive in a few hours.
"A few hours? So he's flying here?"
Kaido wasn't nearby. By ordinary ship speed, it would take at least most of a day.
So Creed guessed Kaido would take on his blue dragon form and ride the clouds.
If so, that was fine with Creed.
He'd just fought a big battle and spent a lot of energy; if Kaido had to hustle to get here, that evened things out. When they fought, it'd be a bit fairer.
Truth be told, Creed still felt a touch unsure about Kaido.
Kaido was called the world's strongest creature—the strongest in solo combat across sea, land, and air. His power might very well exceed Big Mom by a half step.
With time to kill while waiting, Creed had Baccarat guide him to sweep up all the belly Tesoro possessed—including the Heavenly Gold for the Celestial Dragons.
"Tesoro owns twenty percent of the world's belly," people said—but that counted all his industries and the Golden City together. If you only counted ready cash, it wasn't nearly that much.
Of course, a good chunk of Tesoro's money had blown up together with the Golden King Hotel.
With her heart in Creed's hand, Baccarat didn't dare hide a thing. She told him everything she knew, which gave Creed other ideas.
Tesoro's assets were enormous. If he could seize the nest and take it whole, his crew would never have to worry about operating expenses again.
In a luxurious underground manor, Creed swept the hidden funds clean. As he walked and looked around, he sighed, "Money really is great."
Forget anything else—the private garden alone ran over a thousand square meters, trees and flowers lush and neatly trimmed. Inside, quite a few animals wandered or were penned.
"Hm? What's this?"
His gaze fell on a creature that looked familiar—but he couldn't recall exactly what it was…
(End of Chapter)
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