Very soon, Carlo sensed Kaido’s presence once again.
However…
“This guy still hasn’t lost his ability to fight?”
Within his perception, Kaido’s aura was extremely chaotic and had grown much weaker, yet he was still continuously moving, diving deeper and farther into the dark waters.
Still, likely knowing that his physical condition would not allow him to hold his breath for long, Kaido didn’t dive too deep this time.
After descending a few hundred meters, he picked up speed and bolted toward the right.
Carlo casually trailed him from above, taking his time along the water’s surface.
This chase lasted for another dozen minutes.
With a loud burst of water, the pale-faced Kaido erupted from the sea ahead, opening his mouth desperately to inhale fresh air.
But this time, the attack from behind came even faster!
Two air-scorching laser beams struck his two curved horns with precise accuracy, blasting Kaido—who was just about to take a deep breath—right back down into the ocean.
As a result, what Kaido swallowed wasn’t the air he craved, but a huge gulp of bitter, salty seawater!
*Gurgle—!*
He choked until his eyes rolled back.
His wide-open eyes were bloodshot, and a complex surge of despair, unwillingness, humiliation, and rage flooded his mind like a crashing tide.
*Damn it!!*
*Am I, Kaido, going to die here today?!*
*I won’t accept this!
I refuse to accept this!*
*I haven’t even met Rocks yet!
I haven’t challenged him!
I haven’t defeated him!*
*I haven’t become the pirate overlord of the New World!*
*Damn Marine brat!
Damn Carlo!!*
Violent, chaotic emotions stormed through Kaido’s fading consciousness.
Deprived of oxygen, his thought process gradually slowed down, and the world before his eyes began to turn black.
Just as Kaido went completely limp, his eyes glazed over, and his mind went blank as he began sinking toward the ocean floor…
The seawater around him suddenly churned unnaturally!
As if shoved hard by an invisible power, the chaotic water transformed into a massive current.
In the next moment, Kaido was wrapped up by this self-aware current and propelled straight toward the surface!
Carlo, who had been flying low over the sea, suddenly flapped his wings violently and pulled up into the sky.
The moment he cleared the water’s surface, the sea within a radius of several hundred meters bulged upward abruptly, as if a colossal Sea King were rising from the depths.
*BOOM!!* Enjoying the story? Read on at g.com.
The seawater erupted, and the unconscious Kaido was spat out as if the ocean itself were spitting him up.
Immediately after, a distinct ripple of distorted air appeared beside him.
The air seemed to bulge outward before snapping back.
Midair above the sea, Kaido was dragged down by an invisible force toward a ship fast approaching below.
At the bow of that pirate ship bearing a skull flag, a tall, burly man with a prominent white crescent mustache stood tall and proud.
One of his hands rested on a giant naginata, while the other clawed at the empty air in a yanking motion.
The airborne Kaido was caught with a flick of the blonde man’s wrist and tossed onto the deck at his feet.
The man reached into his coat and pulled out a bounty poster.
He looked down at Kaido, whose eyes were rolled back, covered in blood, marred by burn marks, and whose clothes and hair were almost entirely scorched away.
Only then did he raise his head to look at Carlo flying in the sky, his eyes filled with surprise.
“Gurararara!
He really is the Oni pirate Rocks was looking for—Barbarossa Kaido.”
“I thought I had the wrong guy.”
He stared at Carlo’s face with keen interest while continuously sizing up the wings on Carlo’s back.
“So, mind telling me who you are?”
“To beat a rookie pirate that even Rocks has his eyes on into this state…
if I had come a moment later, you probably would’ve killed him outright.”
“With this kind of combat power, young man, you shouldn’t be a nobody.”
In the sky, Carlo held the kanabo as he looked down at the blonde man standing on the ship below.
Looking at the iconic crescent-shaped white mustache beneath the man’s nose and the massive naginata in his grip, Carlo’s face showed no great shock.
Clearly, he wasn’t at all surprised by the man’s arrival.
After all, flying high above the ocean gave him an exceptionally vast field of view; he had noticed this pirate ship approaching from afar long ago.
Even so, a bright gleam erupted in Carlo’s eyes!
“Whitebeard, Edward Newgate!”
“Oh?
You know me?” The corner of Whitebeard’s mouth curled into a relaxed smile.
Carlo grinned.
“The First Division Commander of the Rocks Pirates!
The strongest officer under Rocks!
The right-hand man of Rocks D.
Xebec!
The Tremor-Tremor Fruit user, the Earthquake Man—the great name of Edward Newgate is known to everyone across these seas.
It’d be strange if I didn’t know you.”
Hearing this, Whitebeard’s smile faded, and he let out a low snort.
Rocks and I are merely in a partnership.”
“As for you, you haven’t answered my question.
Who…
are you?”
“Me?” Carlo smirked, descending until he floated not far above the pirate ship, looking down at Whitebeard.
“Marine Headquarters Major, Soros Carlo!”
“Marine?
Major?” Whitebeard froze.
He seemed entirely caught off guard by Carlo’s response.
Seeing Whitebeard stunned, Carlo couldn’t help but laugh.
“What?
You don’t believe me?”
“I indeed find it hard to believe.”
Whitebeard remained noncommittal, glancing at the unconscious Kaido at his feet before shaking his head.
“Your style is completely different from any Marine I’ve ever encountered.
And…”
“I don’t believe a Headquarters Major could beat a rookie favored by Rocks to this extent.”
“Is that so?
But what if I told you I know someone whose rank hasn’t even reached Headquarters Major, yet possesses the strength to match you for a bout or two—would you believe that?”
Carlo dropped Kaido’s kanabo.
It crashed onto the deck behind Whitebeard, smashing a crater into the wood.
He then descended from the air.
Right in front of Whitebeard, he landed on the ship’s railing.
The wings on his back rapidly retracted and vanished.
His six-meter frame quickly shrank back down into a white-haired youth just over three meters tall.
Looking at Carlo standing right before his eyes—completely fearless and extraordinarily young—a look of admiration flashed in Whitebeard’s eyes.
Hearing Carlo’s words, he narrowed his eyes in thought before saying hesitantly:
“The person you’re talking about…
couldn’t be that Zephyr guy, could it?
But if I recall correctly, his rank should be Marine Rear Admiral right now.”
“No, he got demoted again.
He’s currently a Marine Headquarters Lieutenant—ranked even lower than me,” Carlo replied with a helpless smile.