BOOM!
Aegis vomited blood like a fountain, staring at the gaping hole in his chest in sheer terror!
The defense he'd always been proudest of—was pierced clean through by Creed's punch!
After Creed entered Dragon God Mode, his power surged to a horrifying degree—at the very least, it had leapt an entire major tier above before. And as the battle dragged on, he only became braver and stronger!
Before long, Creed's strength had reached the point where he could outright crush Aegis. In front of Creed, Aegis was as fragile as an ant, and in the end, he was killed in a single blow!
That terrifying power cast the shadow of death over him. His vitality drained away almost instantly, leaving his mind hazy. A strange illusion rose within him: Creed's silhouette and Imu-sama's seemed to overlap—both like gods, both utterly unbeatable…
"Heh… what a pity I won't get to see it… If Imu-sama could fall from the Empty Throne, that would actually be something worth looking forward to. After all, Imu-sama has been invincible for far too long… it must be lonely…"
All of a sudden, a bizarre thought was born in his heart, and it made him shiver to the bone.
"So… I'm going to die? Maybe… that's a kind of release…"
He murmured his final words softly, leaving Creed momentarily stunned.
Release…? I'm good…?
A beat later, Creed understood.
Aegis carried the responsibility of protecting the Celestial Dragons—and the Celestial Dragons were the most arrogant, tyrannical, lawless existence in this world. As their strongest shield, Aegis naturally had to cover for them the moment anything happened.
If Aegis had spent decades—maybe even a century—doing nothing but wiping their messes, then yeah… that really would be suffocatingly boring and agonizing.
So that title, "the Celestial Dragons' strongest shield," which looked glorious and prestigious on the surface, was actually just a higher-class shackle. Only the one wearing it truly knew how cold and heavy it was.
In that moment, beyond a faint sense of emotion, Creed also felt a sudden urge to use his remaining Devil Fruit Ability Extraction Card to extract the Devour Fruit's power.
For a Paramecia strong enough to rank top three, this was a fruit Creed valued highly.
He wanted the ability to devour an enemy's attack and convert it into his own power.
Right now, his strength was practically flawless—perfectly integrated—but he still had a slight weakness in sustained endurance.
Of course, his overwhelming recovery was enough to handle two or three top-tier opponents.
But if the enemy went for a rotation battle—especially with bizarre abilities—then it could start to fall behind.
Especially like today: Creed first defeated Akainu, then suppressed Blood Shadow Twin Blades, then faced two CPO giants. He won—but he still paid a heavy price, even being forced to reveal one of his trump cards: Dragon God Mode. He'd also used two drops of stamina recovery fluid!
But with a shift of thought, Creed extinguished the extraction impulse.
Devouring was strong—but his ambitions were bigger.
The legendary Time Fruit, and the Space Fruit—those were what he truly wanted to extract.
Time is supreme! Space is king!
It was very possible those two Devil Fruits were among the top three strongest in this pirate world!!
So for now, he needed to save at least one Extraction Card—because if he needed it later and didn't have one, that would be a catastrophic loss.
The Time Fruit's traces had appeared in Wano before, with its user being Kozuki Toki, the wife of Kozuki Oden.
As for the Space Fruit, there was not the slightest clue.
Creed had tried gathering information on it before, and found nothing—even later with Shiki and Big Mom helping him.
It was as if the Space Fruit had never appeared in this world.
However, Creed had his own theory—and it wasn't unlikely:
The Space Fruit might be in Imu's hands.
If nothing else, just the name "Empty Throne" was blatantly tied to space.
Or you could even say:
Imu, who ruled the entire world, also controlled the void itself.
Those thoughts flashed by, and the next moment, Creed did something else instead:
He executed the two severely wounded Blood Shadow Twin Blades! And Shi as well!
But the dying Shi had been transported away somewhere by Aegis's Door-Door Fruit, and Creed couldn't find him immediately—so the unlucky ones were the Blood Shadow Twin Blades, who couldn't get far at all.
Bang! Bang!
Creed hammered at the air from afar. The Tremor-Tremor Fruit activated—two space-rending shockwave slashes cleaved through the void, easily blowing apart the two who were fleeing in panic!
From the moment Aegis fell, the entire battlefield had gone silent. When Blood Shadow Twin Blades were blasted to pieces, the Navy side became even more terrified—silent as cicadas in winter.
But opposite the Navy's reaction were the countless viewers watching the live broadcast.
Their emotions, fueled by Creed's invincibility, erupted to the highest point again:
"Creed! Creed!"
"Too insane—he even shattered the Celestial Dragons' strongest shield!"
"More than that! Even Admiral Akainu, the symbol of Absolute Justice, got wrecked!"
"Waaah don't say it—my idol Admiral Akainu got beaten so badly!"
"He'll be the one to overthrow Imu—the next master of the Empty Throne!"
"I stand with the Navy, but I can't help being convinced by Creed… today he's an undefeated war god!"
"Look! The giant meteors are about to hit Fleet Admiral Kong's fleet!"
"Holy—how can he summon such terrifying meteors, and more than one?!"
A moment later, the people who were still marveling were struck dumb by an even more horrifying scene!
Above Fleet Admiral Kong's fleet, three massive meteors were roaring down in flames. They were less than a little over a thousand meters from smashing into them!
The meteors hadn't arrived yet, but the overwhelming pressure they produced had already begun cracking the ice below—and even some ships split apart. Some soldiers were crushed flat to the ground, unable to move, only able to helplessly accept the death that was about to descend.
Only Vice Admiral–level powerhouses could barely remain standing under this pressure.
"Creed, you brat—you're bullying people too far!"
Kong moved!
He drew in a heavy breath, his fists coated in dense Armament Haki, then locked onto two of the meteors and fired two ferocious punches that shook the very sky and void!
He intended to blow up two meteors!
But the third—he couldn't handle it.
In this situation, he could only abandon some of the Navy soldiers.
Yet with meteors falling at this speed, even if he shattered them, it was hard to say his own side would remain unscathed!
"Yasakani no Magatama (Eight-Span Magatama)!"
At that moment, Kizaru—finally freed—unleashed his ultimate technique as well. Countless light bullets blasted toward the remaining meteor.
"Yasakani no Magatama (Eight-Span Magatama)!"
RUMBLE—!!
Before three terrifying forces, all three meteors were shattered—only to turn into a skyful of flaming boulders that rained down like cannon shells!
BOOM BOOM BOOM!
"AAAAAH!!"
Countless Marines were smashed by these falling firestones, screaming miserably as bodies piled up everywhere…
(End of Chapter)
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