Although the meteor crisis had been dealt with for the moment, there wasn't the slightest relief or joy on Kong's side.
Staring at his fleet—where not even one-fifth had survived—and listening to the dying screams of countless Marines, Kong's face darkened like the bottom of a pot.
This battle… couldn't be won!
And the losses were catastrophic!
What was even more frustrating was that if they didn't retreat now, they would suffer even worse damage.
Creed—who had killed Akainu, the Blood Shadow Twin Blades, and fought Aegis—was someone no one present could stop anymore. (Kong still believed Akainu was dead!)
In the Navy's initial battle projection, the worst-case scenario had been that Aegis and Creed would both end up severely wounded.
But now, after cutting down multiple foes in succession, Creed was only lightly injured. That level of combat power was simply terrifying.
Without a doubt, Creed would come for Kong next—after all, capture the leader first.
Kong knew he wasn't Creed's opponent.
If the Navy also lost its Fleet Admiral here, then forget retreating—most of them would probably be wiped out on the spot!
Just thinking about Creed's Tremor-Tremor Fruit and the terrifying method of summoning meteors sent a chill through Kong's entire body.
"Pass down my order! Retreat! The Admirals will cover the rear!"
Kong hesitated only for an instant before issuing the command.
If the Navy were completely buried here today, then in the future they'd have no way to maintain stability in the other seas.
Even if he had to bear the responsibility for defeat, Kong would rather not watch the Navy make meaningless sacrifices that would destabilize the World Government.
As long as the Navy could still restrain pirates across the Four Blues and the first half of the Grand Line—and with the World Government's strength behind them—sooner or later, they would return.
Any pirate who opposed the World Government… would never have a good ending!
He looked toward Creed in the distance, hanging in the sky like a god descending upon the world, and felt an emotion he couldn't name.
If back then… he could have fought harder with the World Government's side… maybe none of this would have happened…
"The World Government won't regret it! And Creed will never leave his name in history!"
Remembering how he had barked those words at Sengoku back then, when Sengoku spoke of the Navy's regret, Kong suddenly felt like it had all happened in another lifetime.
Regret? Yeah—damn it, he regretted it!
Or rather… the Navy and the World Government, for one person's selfish desire, had personally buried themselves…
Creed, having caught his breath, also cast his gaze toward Kong's side.
As long as he killed Kong next, the World Government coalition would collapse and defeat would be inevitable.
But at that moment, another "harvest" made him pause.
He hadn't expected that after such a brutal battle—tempered by Blood Shadow Twin Blades and Shi—his swordsmanship and Supreme Reincarnation and the like, which had stagnated for so long, would actually advance!
As early as his first meeting with Mihawk, Creed's swordsmanship had been SSSS-.
Yet after extracting so many sword intents, it still hadn't improved even a little—showing just how difficult it was to break into SSSS rank.
And today, it finally happened—like the clouds parting to reveal the moon, all at once and perfectly on time.
A huge surprise.
Suddenly—
"Creed!"
A furious roar burst upward from below, and before that roar even finished, a massive pillar of magma shot into the heavens!
Within that gigantic magma pillar was condensed an incomparable core fire. The instant it appeared, it made ripples bloom through the void as if space itself were being scorched—some areas even began to peel away.
It was core fire above ten thousand degrees!
And the one driving that towering flame pillar—
Was Akainu!
At this moment, he looked like a monster formed from black flame and magma, with not the slightest trace of human shape left, as if he had fused into the very earth itself.
"What?!"
Creed was shocked. He immediately slashed out with his sword—an ice sword intent surging forward to block the attack.
But—
BOOM!
After only two or three seconds, the ice sword intent was completely washed away by the magma.
Akainu was clearly even more ferocious than before!
"So the Magma-Magma Fruit, after a complete awakening, can do something like this?"
Sensing Akainu's aura, Creed couldn't help but be horrified.
This Akainu had actually absorbed most of Creed's Amaterasu flames and turned them into his own power—but because there was still Amaterasu within him, he couldn't return to human form yet.
And the whole process had taken less than half an hour!
Akainu's talent for controlling flames truly was top-tier!
However, even after breaking through mid-battle and absorbing most of the Amaterasu, Akainu was still a full tier below Creed in Dragon God Mode!
Bang!
Super Shinra Tensei (Almighty Push)!
A purple Rinnegan pattern surfaced in Creed's eyes as he unleashed another major move!
A core fire mixed with Amaterasu was simply too dangerous—Creed chose to blast the surrounding magma and flames away first.
"AAAAH! For Absolute Justice! Creed, you must die!"
But Akainu was already like a rabid dog.
Even after being hurled away by the overwhelming repulsive force and suffering heavy injuries, he still screamed and charged right back, determined to fight Creed to the death.
Clearly, the fusion with Amaterasu had made him lose himself—only the obsession of killing Creed remained. His fighting had no structure at all. He didn't care about his own safety—only about trading his life for Creed's.
"What a damn mad dog!"
Creed hadn't expected Akainu to suddenly become this troublesome—his expression hardened.
But being stalled here like this?
Impossible!
"ROOM!"
"Chibaku Tensei (Planetary Devastation)!"
Creed stretched out his hand and clenched the air.
BOOM BOOM BOOM!
Countless stones were instantly teleported to Akainu's side by ROOM, then smashed into him, sealing him within one or two seconds into a gigantic floating rock sphere!
"AAAAH!"
The floating rock sphere shook violently. Gradually, black flames and crimson fire seeped out from the cracks in the stone!
Without Yin-Yang power, Chibaku Tensei's sealing effect against Logia users was still lacking.
But Creed wasn't trying to seal Akainu permanently—he only wanted an opening for himself, and then—
"Dark!"
His right hand trembled. Rinne's sword cry rang out as countless divine rings rose and fell upon the blade, spinning forward and backward. Divine radiance surged like an ocean—reincarnation without end!
99% Supreme Reincarnation!
After battling Blood Shadow Twin Blades and Shi, his Ultimate Good Sword and Ultimate Evil Sword had both reached 100% perfection—while even Supreme Reincarnation had reached 99%!
And his swordsmanship had broken into SSSS rank!
Now was the perfect time to test the enhanced might of this sword strike—
On Akainu!
"Supreme Reincarnation!"
Creed shouted low and swung the sharpest sword he had ever unleashed so far!(End of Chapter)
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