Thinking of Luffy, Creed's thoughts drifted a little.
Time really did fly.
Shanks visiting the Party's Bar, everything that happened with the bandit Higuma… it all felt like it was yesterday.
And now, Luffy had already made a name for himself in the first half of the Grand Line, with a bounty of several tens of millions.
As for him… he'd become the undisputed First Emperor of the New World, that was about to launch a total assault on the Holy Land, Mary Geoise.
Creed couldn't help thinking again: if he really overthrew the Celestial Dragons and established a new World Government… where would he go after that?
Would he follow that strange world coordinate into an unknown world?
Or would he stay in the pirate world, enjoying everything that came with being the King of the World…?
"Huu…"
Creed felt like he was thinking too far ahead. After exhaling a muddy breath, he handed control of the Ark Maxim to Ain, then went into seclusion to sort through his gains.
This time, defeating Kaido brought him quite a lot.
Fighting Kaido bitterly for days—without using other abilities, purely clashing strength and defense—finally upgraded the Strength attribute that had a question mark into SSSS-level, giving him his first SSSS-level base attribute at last.
Not only that—he extracted Kaido's Dragon Power, that is, the "undying" ability. But without the Mythical dragon fruit's boost, the level of Dragon Power was only SSSS-.
Even so, the endurance increase from Dragon Power made a question mark appear after his Endurance attribute as well—breakthrough imminent!
Upgrading Strength, plus possessing five SSSS-level abilities, finally pushed Creed's overall combat power into SSSS+ level!
And beyond raw strength—while Kaido wasn't paying attention, Creed had skillfully used Tsukuyomi to take Kaido's Yonko treasure chest. Now he was about to open it and see what was inside.
"Open the Rainbow Treasure Chest!"
Creed didn't hesitate.
But honestly, items from this kind of chest couldn't make him that excited anymore.
"Ding! Opening Rainbow Treasure Chest… Congratulations to the host for obtaining: Six-Tomoe Rinnegan 1/4, one Sword Intent Upgrade Card, one Ability Upgrade Card, and one Vitality Potion."
Kaido's Rainbow Chest reward had one more Sword Intent Upgrade Card and a bottle of Vitality Potion compared to Big Mom's—worthy of an SSSS+ pinnacle powerhouse.
Creed was surprised by the newly appearing Vitality Potion, and immediately checked its information:
A masterpiece of ancient alchemists—just a few drops could restore a heavily injured warrior's wounds and fighting power…
"So it's for healing… I probably won't need it, but for others, in a crisis, this is basically a holy medicine. It can save a life. Good stuff!"
Creed was still thinking when his eyes suddenly flared with a burning sensation.
The 1/4 Six-Tomoe Rinnegan reward fused in, and his Rinnegan evolved again.
At this point, after obtaining two Yonko treasure chests, he now possessed 1/2 of the Six-Tomoe Rinnegan!
"Congratulations, host. You have obtained new Rinnegan abilities: Perfect Susanoo, and Kamui Shuriken."
The system notification made Creed a little surprised.
Perfect Susanoo was expected.
But Kamui Shuriken was a pleasant surprise.
Kamui Shuriken was an extremely powerful move used after Kakashi unleashed Perfect Susanoo—imbuing shuriken with Kamui's power. The might was so terrifying it could even sever the arm of Kaguya's tailed-beast form…
With such a strong move in hand, Creed's confidence in defeating Imu rose again.
The Rinnegan's various powers were absolutely his greatest reliance.
So after handing control of the Ark Maxim to Ain, before reaching the Marine Headquarters, he stayed in seclusion—fully comprehending the Rinnegan's ultimate moves, aiming to master them as soon as possible.
Of course, before that, he used the Sword Intent Upgrade Card to raise his Ice-Erosion Sword Intent to SSSS+.
SSSS-level Ice-Erosion Sword Intent could already freeze and corrode the void—it was terrifying.
After boosting it to SSSS+, Creed believed it would have enough impact against Imu's Space Fruit.
And if he added killing intent amplification on top of that… Creed felt even Imu would get a headache from it.
As for the remaining Ability Upgrade Card, Creed temporarily set it aside.
Meanwhile—
Inside a hotel on Sabaody Archipelago, the Straw Hat Pirates were all present. The atmosphere was unusually solemn, with none of their usual goofing around.
Every crewmate was stunned by what Captain Luffy had just said.
No one expected that even after entering the Grand Line, Luffy would talk about disbanding the crew.
"…Luffy, do you even know what you're saying? When you invited me, you said you'd become Pirate King, and I'd become the world's greatest swordsman! How can you quit halfway?!"
The green-haired Zoro slammed a hand on the table, shouting. He flat-out refused to believe Luffy would make such a decision.
"Tell me, Luffy—you're just joking!"
"Luffy!"
Nami stared at him too, full of disbelief. "Whatever it is, we can face it together. Whether it's the Marines or the Four Emperors!"
"Tch… fine, I won't help you hide it from everyone anymore…"
Sanji finally couldn't hold it in.
Luffy stayed silent.
After hearing what Sanji said, Zoro's mouth curled up. "I thought it was something big… it's just the Marines."
"Even if the captain ordered us to sail straight into an erupting volcano, we'd do it. We're not the kind of crew that panics and jumps ship."
Nami nodded along.
"Let's go make a scene. This'll be the ultimate feast—like an all-out banquet!"
Sanji took a hard drag of his cigarette, exhaled a perfect smoke ring, and made his stance clear.
Chopper lifted a hoof in agreement. "Yeah!"
Luffy was so moved he almost couldn't speak. "Everyone…!"
He knew how dangerous this trip would be!
Only Usopp was huddled in the corner by the wall, clutching his head and trembling. "You're all insane! That's Marine Headquarters—where the Admirals are! I'm going home… AAAAAH!"
(End of Chapter)
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