Boom!
A crushing aura exploded outward, shaking the entire Dragon Palace. Wreathed in fire and thunder, Big Mom descended like a calamity god—no mortal could hope to withstand her.
Facing that pressure, Creed raised his sword and slashed. A black crescent of sword aura shot out—not at Big Mom, but at the bubble membrane and ice ceiling above.
Boom!
The thick ice shattered into whirling frost that drifted down like snow.
That one cut alone displayed the pinnacle of a great swordsman's craft. Big Mom's eyes narrowed. "Your sword art has reached this realm?"
"Let's take this fight outside."
Creed turned into sword light and streaked out of Fish-Man Island.
Shiki and Redfield followed close behind.
Left behind, Aokiji and Katakuri exchanged looks—the feeling of being ignored was… unpleasant.
"Katakuri!"
Aokiji had no intention of letting the man before him go. He might not be able to bag Big Mom today, but sending her strongest subordinate to Impel Down would be plenty satisfying.
"Oh? You think you'll beat me for sure?"
Katakuri drew his trident, Mogura. Power surged around him.
Only after the four titans left did Neptune and the others finally come back to their senses. Then, seeing the blazing sun above, they erupted in cheers.
At last, Fish-Man Island had been brought to the surface. They could bask in sunlight every day instead of relying on the meager rays funneled through Sun Tree Eve.
But their cheers died quickly.
Around them, cottony white clouds drifted past, whipped by fierce winds.
They were in the sky?
Hah!
Creed and Big Mom landed one after the other atop a high mountain on the Red Line—Fish-Man Island had surfaced right beside it, so they'd chosen the Red Line as their battleground.
"Teikoku Ken: Hahajin (Shatter Edge)!"
Standing on Zeus, both hands gripping Napoleon, Big Mom unleashed a sweeping blade of light without holding back in the slightest.
"Good!"
Creed swung Rinne, lightning crawling along the blade, the body of the sword dark as ink.
"Hm? Your Armament Haki is at this level too? Creed, you truly are full of surprises."
At last, even Big Mom looked moved. Now she believed the rumors that he could trade blows with Kaido.
Boom!
Their first clash sent lightning and sword aura bursting in all directions, slicing away nearly half the mountain beneath their feet—ten-plus li of stone shorn like cheese.
Rumbles rolled as countless tons of rock and soil avalanched down. Dust blackened the sky.
A Yonko's power might not wipe out the world, but leveling a few hundred li was easy.
A mountain range that had stood for ages met its end in a single day.
"Big Mom—take my blade!"
Creed vaulted high and cut down. In an instant, dozens of li sank into night; five senses dulled to nothing.
Yoru no Ken'i (Night Sword Intent).
In raw power, he no longer fell short of a Big Mom who hadn't awakened her giant's might. He had no fear of clashing head-on.
"Mm? Isn't that Mihawk's Yoru no Ken'i (Night Sword Intent)? How can you—"
Sensing lethal danger, Big Mom bellowed. Ripples of invisible sound puffed from her lips—strange tones that rattled the soul.
Blinded within the night, she opted for an indiscriminate strike.
"Mom! Danger!"
Zeus swelled beneath her, wrapping her in a thunderous cocoon. Bolts poured down in torrents. On the thunderhead, suns of living flame danced—
"If he comes, I'll burn him to ash!"
Prometheus roared.
"An!"
A sword cry like a snap of winter.
Thunder and flame froze in place.
Crack.
Zeus and Prometheus turned into a single slab of black ice.
Kori no Ken'i (Ice Sword Intent).
"Found you!"
"Teikoku Ken: Kaizan (Mountain-Opening)!"
Boom!
Big Mom hewed through the ice shell and locked onto Creed.
"Rinne: Ningendō (Human Path)!"
"Ikazuchi Sen (Lightning Flash)!"
Her imperial stroke was vast enough to split peaks. Creed didn't take it head-on—he slipped past in a streak of light and countered with a backhand slash.
"Yuki-Kori Zan (Snow-Ice Slash)!"
A technique he'd derived atop his Tenshin Zan (Heaven-God Slash), blending frost and thunder—the cut before had been one of these as well.
At this point, Creed's swordsmanship could only be called myriad and ever-changing. His intents, forms, and attributes were many, suited to fine-grained, unexpected combinations—especially with Rinne Ken-dō (Samsara Sword Path) as the foundation, bearing six distinct sword intents. He strung them together freely without a hint of drag.
"Hah!"
Big Mom answered with another sweeping arc.
"Teikoku Ken: Hahajin (Shatter Edge)!"
This time Prometheus wound around Napoleon, burning fiercely.
"Burn!"
Prometheus howled.
Zzzla!
Below, Zeus rumbled again, lashing the sky with serpents of lightning that sought to bind Creed.
Boom! Clang-clang-clang!
They meshed and parted in a blink, trading a hundred cuts in breaths of time.
The resulting storm of sword aura tore apart the night domain and planed the hills flat for a hundred li.
Lightning, ice spurs, and fire-plume fragments rained down like a natural disaster.
As their duel climbed toward its peak, this entire stretch of land risked becoming swamp and ruin.
No—if they kept this up, a whole section of the Red Line might crumble into the sea.
"Creed!"
Big Mom roared. Zeus coiled up along the imperial blade as well.
Lightning and fire swelled together, sword aura spearing the heavens.
Uncounted souls howled and burned within that storm.
In this moment, she had gathered the full power of the three great Homies born of her soul.
Big Mom's strongest blow.
Creed stood centered, sword lifted until its tip pointed at the sky. Six strange lights wheeled out behind him and locked into a radiant halo.
Below the halo, a sea of night spread—a black ocean buoying the wheel—while silver-white cold misted up like fog, like cloud.
Rinne surged to full power. Six rings surfaced upon the blade. The sword sang porcelain-clear.
He, too, would answer with his strongest technique—to settle victory in a single exchange.
"Elbaf no Yari: Musō Ikoku (Peerless Sovereignty)!"
"Mujō Rinne (Supreme Samsara)!"
In the next heartbeat, their world-splitting slashes crossed.
(End of Chapter)
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