No matter what Shanks thought, Creed didn't care. Behind the scenes, he began extracting Shanks' Haoshoku Haki (Conqueror's Haki).
Just as he'd guessed: Shanks' Haoshoku Haki had finally advanced to SSSS tier—and Creed extracted it successfully.
As expected of the man hailed in the original story as the strongest Conqueror's Haki user.
At this point, Creed's three great forms of Haki had all entered SSSS tier. The instant the extraction succeeded, a mysterious feeling rose up inside him, letting him faintly touch something profound and wondrous!
Haki and Devil Fruits were the greatest powers in the pirate world—but Creed had never pushed either one to the absolute extreme.
Now that he'd gained this thread of enlightenment, Creed felt he should take either Haki or Devil Fruit power—just one—and develop it to the very limit!
Then he could see whether that would let him touch that unknown realm.
"Oh right—there's still Red Hair's Yonko Treasure Chest!"
Creed looked at the Yonko chest above Shanks' head, shining with seven-colored radiance.
There was no way he was letting that slip.
Shanks saw Creed suddenly staring at him and felt confused. He was about to speak, but then he realized Creed's eyes had turned purple at some point, and inside them, several thin rings were spinning.
"This is—?!"
Before Shanks could react, a strange dizziness surged in his mind.
"Creed!"
At that moment, in Shanks' eyes, Creed was like a lion stretching out its claws and opening a fanged maw—none of the earlier friendliness remained.
Was he pretending the whole time?! Was he actually planning to swallow the Red Hair Pirates and kill him?!
Shanks roared, struggling, resisting Creed's Tsukuyomi.
That resistance shocked Creed as well.
Tsukuyomi's effective range was five meters, and it was practically an irresistible ocular technique. Ever since Creed obtained the Sharingan and Rinnegan, this was the first time someone had withstood Tsukuyomi with raw mental power—
Shanks even tried to counterattack!
That was the terror of SSSS-tier Haoshoku Haki!
If Creed's own Haoshoku hadn't advanced to SSSS tier yet, Shanks might have bought himself one or two seconds of resistance.
But Creed was SSSS now too!
"Weng!"
Shanks only felt everything in his head blur… and then it was no longer under his control…
It felt like a long time had passed, and yet it also felt like only an instant!
"Ah!"
Shanks jerked awake in alarm, only to find Creed staring at him in astonishment.
"Shanks, what's wrong?"
"Just now…?!"
Shanks quickly checked his body and found nothing had changed. Then he secretly glanced at the clock in the reception hall and saw that only one second had passed.
"I'm fine. I just didn't sleep well."
Cold sweat drenched Shanks' forehead.
With his strength, he naturally knew something had been wrong just now. But since he couldn't detect anything, he could only swallow the loss.
"To be honest, I was rude just now. I tested your Haoshoku Haki. Shanks's mastery is truly astonishing!"
Sensing the atmosphere stiffening, Creed made up an excuse.
As for whether Shanks believed it—Creed didn't really care.
Right now, to him, the Yonko Treasure Chest mattered far more than Shanks's trust.
Shanks gaze shifted slightly, but he didn't say anything. Soon, he left.
After obtaining one Yonko chest from Shanks, Creed now had two Yonko chests in his hands.
When he arrived at the Navy's New Headquarters, Whitebeard was already dead, so Whitebeard's Yonko chest had transferred to Blackbeard. That was one of the reasons Creed had to kill Blackbeard!
In other words, Creed had now gathered all of the Yonko treasure chests.
After returning to his bedroom, Creed began opening the two Yonko chests.
"Ding! Opening seven-colored treasure chest… Congratulations to the host for obtaining: Six-Tomoe Rinnegan 1/4, a Devil Fruit Awakening Card, an Ability Fusion Card, and an Ability Enhancement Card!"
"Ding! Opening seven-colored treasure chest… Congratulations to the host for obtaining: Six-Tomoe Rinnegan 1/4, a Devil Fruit Awakening Card, a Devil Fruit Ability Extraction Card, and a Zanpakuto—Hyorinmaru!"
Creed was already used to the rewards from the first chest, but the last item from the second chest made him freeze—then burst into wild joy!
He never expected the Yonko chest to truly spit out such an enormous surprise.
The Zanpakuto Hyorinmaru—the strongest ice-and-snow-type zanpakuto in the world of Death Gods! In the original story, it belonged to the captain of the Tenth Division of the Gotei 13, Hitsugaya Toshiro.
Needless to say, this ice-type zanpakuto's power was even above Creed's Supreme Great Grade Blade, Rinne.
If Hyorinmaru were used together with the Ice Erosion Sword Intent… just imagining it was terrifying.
Before, the rewards had mostly been items from the pirate world and the ninja world. This time, receiving a treasure from the Death God world truly caught Creed off guard.
With Hyorinmaru in hand, Creed's confidence in defeating Imu rose by several more levels.
But he still forced down that impatient battle intent.
Before breaking through to SSSS+ tier, he would not rashly charge into the Holy Land Mary Geoise.
After all, what he carried on his shoulders now… was far too much, far too heavy.
(End of Chapter)
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