At that moment—
When the Iron Arm Madman saw Creed, looking exactly like the boy in the newspaper, his eyes turned blood-red.
It was him. The one who killed Yuri.
Enemies meeting face-to-face—rage surged like an inferno.
The Iron Arm Madman's killing intent and hatred reached their peak.
With a thunderous roar, he stomped down hard, launching forward like a cannonball. His massive fist clenched tight, a blast of wind swirling around it as it came crashing toward Creed.
Creed's own foot slammed into the ground. He didn't even draw his sword—meeting the attack with his own fist instead.
BOOM!
Their fists collided with an ear-splitting crack, a hurricane-like shockwave erupting from the impact.
The ground trembled violently as their terrifying strength split and cratered the earth beneath their feet.
"Not bad. You live up to being a pirate with a 500 million bounty!"
The two locked in a contest of raw power.
The Iron Arm Madman's left fist clenched, Armament Haki coating it in an obsidian sheen.
The punch howled through the air as it came for Creed again.
Creed's own left fist tightened, his arm gleaming with a metallic luster.
BOOM!!
Another thunderous explosion rang out as their fists smashed together again. The shock tore chunks from the ground, sent rubble flying into the air, and churned the seawater by the harbor into violent waves.
In the crowd, those with weaker constitutions felt their hearts pound painfully, their blood churning, their eardrums aching from the pressure alone.
The ground beneath them splintered into a spiderweb of cracks, sinking deeper with each exchange.
BANG! BANG!
BANG! BANG! BANG!
Their figures became blurs, colliding again and again. Those without the strength couldn't even follow their movements—only the thunderous impacts, the sudden new craters in the ground, and the explosive cracks of air giving way under pressure.
The weaker onlookers retreated hundreds of meters, unwilling to watch from the harbor.
Even standing too close, the shockwaves made their blood flow irregular—it wasn't worth dying just to spectate.
So they watched from a safer distance.
BOOM!!
Another collision—both figures flickered into view as they slammed into each other, leaving another massive crater in the ground.
The scene was staggering.
Creed's slender, youthful frame stood against the towering, bear-like physique of the Iron Arm Madman.
And yet, that pale fist had met the massive, grindstone-sized fist head-on.
They separated after the exchange, realizing that neither could be easily overwhelmed.
The onlookers stared at the battered harbor, littered with pits and cracks, swallowing hard.
He'd stopped him.
A Marine rookie had withstood a veteran great pirate from the New World.
This was a man who had survived and thrived in the sea of monsters that was the New World—
And yet, he was being held back.
Was this… defying reason itself?
Even a newly acknowledged Great Swordsman shouldn't be able to match the Iron Arm Madman blow for blow.
Disbelief shone in every eye.
Not just theirs.
Even Bunian and the other Marines were stunned.
They knew Creed was a Great Swordsman, but they had assumed he had only recently stepped into that realm.
But now—he was holding his own against a veteran New World monster.
Bunian felt it the most—he couldn't even block a single strike from the man.
…
On the battlefield—
The two parted. The Iron Arm Madman took a deep breath, clenching his right fist tight.
Before their eyes, his arm began to swell, growing larger and thicker at visible speed. He swung it forward with a roar.
BANG!!
Like rolling thunder, the punch split the air, compressing it into a shockwave.
A streak of white pressure shot toward Creed at blinding speed.
The ground split in its wake, dirt churning to either side in violent waves.
"Soru!"
Creed vanished, the shockwave missing him entirely.
It smashed into a small docked ship, splintering it to pieces before slamming into the sea. The impact sent water erupting skyward like a geyser, leaving a swirling whirlpool behind.
"You take one from me, I take one from you!"
Creed smirked, drawing Rinne in one fluid motion before slashing forward.
A blinding flash—the blade light shot out like a comet.
The Iron Arm Madman roared, crossing his massive arms before him. His forearms ballooned even further, their surfaces taking on a metallic luster, forming a shield-like wall.
CLANG!!
The sword light struck, ringing like steel on steel.
The impact forced him back, his feet gouging deep trenches into the ground, but his body remained unscathed.
Creed's brows lifted slightly. Such defense…
He now saw clearly—the man's arms were no longer human flesh. They resembled the mechanical steel limbs of a Transformer, each one longer than his own body, their tips dragging against the ground.
"So… this is the Iron Arm Fruit." Creed's eyes narrowed.
…
(End of Chapter)
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