Dust billowed, noise fell silent, and in the clear sky above, a massive stone sphere nearly thirty miles across hung suspended like a moon fallen from the heavens, leaving hearts trembling long after the shock had passed.
Trafalgar Law's jaw, for one, still hadn't closed.
Whether it was the Golden Lion driving more than ten islands into battle, lifting the sea surface for hundreds of miles, or the two men's sword auras sweeping across a thousand miles… even the earlier island bombardments like falling meteors—none of it could compare to the impact of this man-made moon before his eyes.
Everything he'd witnessed today made him feel that his former self had been nothing but a pitiful frog at the bottom of a well.
Redfield, Robin, and the others also stared up at that artificial moon for a long time before they finally managed, with difficulty, to drag their gazes back down to Creed—bathed in sunlight, standing there like some kind of god.
Their captain had never once let them down. All he ever gave them were surprises and shocks they could never have imagined in advance.
Only after Redfield and the others steered the ships to a safe distance did Creed finally draw Rinne and slash down at the colossal stone sphere.
"Graaack!"
Sword aura streaked for hundreds of miles. The enormous stone orb was split cleanly in two, and the Golden Lion sealed at its core was struck by that blade light, vomiting blood in great mouthfuls.
The earlier Chibaku Tensei (Planetary Devastation) had already left him gravely injured. Creed's follow-up slash only worsened his condition, completely robbing him of any power to continue fighting.
But Creed had no intention of letting him off so easily.
"ROOM!"
A transparent ROOM expanded outward, enveloping Shiki's broken body. Within that space, the power of the Operation-Operation Fruit plunged into his chest and neatly extracted his heart.
Creed did want to kill the Golden Lion—but with powerful enemies looming, Marines closing in from all directions, he would not pass up any opportunity to increase his own side's strength for the unprecedented war to come.
Otherwise, he wouldn't have gone all the way to Totto Land to seek out Big Mom. Even if Big Mom failed to uphold her promise, Creed fully intended to use that agreement as leverage to force her to lend a hand when the critical moment arrived.
"You—what is this?!"
Shiki stared in horror at the hole in his own chest, then at the heart floating in Creed's hand, wrapped in a jelly-like membrane—yet he felt no pain at all.
Creed was in no mood to be gentle. Heart in hand, he squeezed.
Agony lanced through Shiki's body; he almost collapsed on the spot.
"This is also the power of the Operation-Operation Fruit…?!"
Clutching his chest wound, the Golden Lion growled through gritted teeth.
"Shiki, you have two choices," Creed said coldly. "One: die right now. Two: help me overthrow the Celestial Dragons' rule. Once it's done, I'll return your freedom."
Shiki's relentless provocations had truly stirred Creed's killing intent.
All it would take was a single refusal, and Creed would crush the heart in his hand. There was nothing more to discuss.
He'd still walk away with the Float-Float Fruit.
Of course, if Shiki chose to submit, Creed could let the past go.
After all, the man hadn't actually harmed even a single hair on his people. There was no unbridgeable blood feud between them.
Shiki's face shifted from shadowed to livid and back again. For a long moment, he couldn't decide.
He was an ambitious monster who sought to dominate the world. How could he bow his head and serve under another, obeying orders like a subordinate?
For an instant, he even wanted to curse Creed out and refuse on the spot.
But then he caught the flicker at the corner of Creed's eye—his line of sight had locked onto something: the Lion King, floating a hundred miles away.
If he refused, the Lion King would be blasted to dust along with him.
Thinking of the crew aboard the Lion King, Shiki felt a faint stirring in his heart.
Those crewmembers might not be particularly powerful, but from the moment he broke out of Impel Down up until now, they had followed him for nearly twenty years. To cast them aside so easily… seemed a little hard, even for him.
"I wasn't like this before… Have I gotten old?"
A trace of hesitation flashed through the Golden Lion's eyes. At the same time, another plan, something else he wanted to do, surfaced in his mind.
"Three…"
"Two…"
"One…"
Creed began to count down.
If Shiki had only come today to provoke him and seek a duel, Creed might have spared his life. But once he endangered Creed's crew, there was no room left for mercy.
Just as Creed was about to crush the Golden Lion's heart, Shiki finally shouted:
"Stop!"
Creed's fingers stilled. He looked down at him.
"I'll serve you for three years. No more."
Shiki spoke at last.
If Creed found that insufficient, he was prepared to go as high as five years.
But if Creed demanded more than that, then he'd rather die here and now.
He still had his pride.
"Fine."
Creed smiled and casually stored the man's heart away. At the same time, a violet hue surfaced in his eyes.
"Rinnegan: Tsukuyomi (Moon Reading)!"
"You… bastard!"
A nameless sense of crisis erupted in Shiki's chest. For a moment he even forgot that his heart was in Creed's hand and tried to spring up with sword in hand, ready to fight to the death.
In that instant, he realized he might have fallen into the enemy's illusion.
No wonder just now he'd been overcome with sighs, sentimentality, and indecision—emotions utterly at odds with the domineering, iron-blooded man he'd been for so many years.
But just as he moved, the world spun.
The Creed vanished from in front of him, and Shiki suddenly found himself in a strange, alien world…
When Creed returned, he had an unconscious Golden Lion dangling from one hand, and behind him the Lion King was obediently following along.
The crew of the Creed erupted into cheers.
Trafalgar Law was especially thrilled.
What did defeating the Golden Lion mean for the Creed Pirates?
Creed had already defeated Big Mom. Now he'd brought down the Golden Lion as well. Two emperor-level powerhouses in a row—this meant Creed now had more than enough strength to ascend to the throne of the New World's first Emperor.
Of course, towering in front of Creed were still the world's strongest man, Whitebeard, and the strongest one-on-one monster, Kaido.
From now on, however, Creed would no longer be someone who lived in their shadow. He had become a man who stood shoulder to shoulder with them.
Creed tossed the Golden Lion onto the deck, and Shiki quickly came to.
Creed only needed the purple-gold chest on his person, so earlier he'd merely knocked him out.
"You… What did you do to me?!"
Shiki scrambled to his feet, fury blazing in his eyes as he glared at Creed.
"Nothing," Creed replied calmly. "Your injuries were pretty serious, so I treated you a bit."
Naturally, he wasn't about to explain the truth, so he fobbed him off with a casual excuse. In reality, on the way back, Creed had indeed used the power of the Operation-Operation Fruit to patch him up a little.
Still suspicious, the Golden Lion checked his body over. Sure enough, just as Creed had said, many of his minor wounds were already showing signs of healing.
"Shiki greets the captain."
Letting out a quiet sigh, the Golden Lion finally accepted his new role. He bowed his head and offered Creed the salute of a subordinate.
(End of Chapter)
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