Carlo’s massive roar even drowned out the explosive crash of him plowing through the houses.
Like rolling thunder, it echoed across the skies of Hachinosu, reaching the ears of every pirate on the island.
Watching Carlo speed off into the distance, Kaido stood there stunned.
“I thought he was crazy before.”
“I never expected this guy…
to be even more out of his mind than I thought!”
“Still…”
“The first person to challenge Rocks is going to be *me*!!”
A burning competitive spark ignited in his eyes.
Lowering the kanabo from his shoulder, he stared straight at Carlo’s fast-receding back.
Pushing off with explosive force, Kaido set off in hot pursuit!
What Kaido didn’t expect, however, was that as soon as he gave chase, a portion of the pirates originally hunting Carlo spun around and swarmed toward him instead.
“That guy’s got an accomplice!
Together now, tear him apart!”
Perhaps out of rage over their fallen comrades, the charging pirates no longer cared whether Carlo and Kaido had any connection to Whitebeard, who was walking up behind them.
Facing the dozen or so pirates rushing his way, Kaido’s eyes glinted with ferocity.
He swung his iron club in a brutal arc.
“Get out of my way, you trash!
I don’t have time to waste on useless scum!”
“Thunder…
Bagua!!”
The lightning-laced kanabo swept horizontally with a thunderous roar.
With Kaido’s massive arm span of three to four meters, a single swing opened up a rain of blood in front of him!
A dozen New World pirates didn’t even manage to slow him down for a single second before every last one was slaughtered.
Stepping over the carpet of corpses, Kaido pressed on.
He had originally worried he wouldn’t catch up to Carlo.
After all, Kaido was carrying a fair share of injuries, whereas Carlo was less hurt and possessed a flying ability.
Yet after chasing for a dozen seconds, Kaido was pleasantly surprised to find that he had caught up.
Carlo stood at the far end of the long street up ahead with his back turned, his forward march brought to a halt.
Kaido paused in surprise, then grinned in delight.
Had Carlo spotted Rocks?
“Hey!
Carlo!
Rocks is mine!”
As he ran, however, Kaido’s stride gradually slowed.
The anticipation on his face melted away.
Emerging from the densely packed residential district, his field of vision suddenly opened up.
Spread before them was a massive plaza.
At the far end of the plaza stood the towering Skull Mountain.
Right now, however, blocking the path between them and the mountain, a dense, dark crowd of people had gathered on the vast square.
Leading the horde were two hulking men, each standing four to five meters tall.
One wore a black suit and a leather hat, clutching a massive revolver in his hand with a thick cigar clamped between his teeth.
The other was built like a wall of muscle, clad in a gleaming suit of golden full-plate armor, currently tearing into a giant bone-in roast leg with savage bites.
Flanking the head of the crowd like twin guardian deities, the two men stood squarely in Carlo’s way.
Carlo glanced at them, casually reached out, and pulled a slightly squished cigar from his pocket, popping it into his mouth.
When he went to light it, he realized his lighter was gone.
Frowning, he looked at the suit-wearing giant on the left.
“Hey.
Lend me a lighter.”
The cigar-smoking giant froze for a second, his eyes flicking to the cigar in Carlo’s mouth.
“Douglas cigars?
You’ve got taste.”
He nodded, but instead of reaching for a lighter, he abruptly raised his oversized revolver and snapped off a shot right at Carlo’s face.
*Bang!*
The bright silver revolver jerked violently as a tongue of flame spurted from its muzzle.
A bullet at least ten times larger than a standard flintlock round roared out of the barrel, hurtling straight for Carlo’s head.
Carlo’s expression remained placid.
He tilted his body slightly.
The flying round grazed the tip of his cigar, lighting it perfectly before slamming into the building behind him to his right.
*Boom!*
The building’s wall looked as though it had been struck by a cannonball, a hole over a meter wide blasted through it.
Carlo drew a long drag from his cigar, pale blue smoke curling lazily from his nose and mouth as he stared blankly at the two hulks opposite him.
“Senior Combatants of the Rocks Pirates.”
“West Blue Mafia Godfather Malone.”
“The Smuggler King, Gansui.”
“Are you two…
trying to stand in my way?”
Malone, the suit-clad giant, rubbed the barrel of his revolver and replied in a deep, gravelly voice, “To be precise, that’s Mafia Godfather Malone, bounty four hundred and eighty million Berries, and Smuggler Tycoon Gansui, bounty five hundred and twenty million Berries.”
Gansui, completely encased in armor, had just finished off the last bit of meat from the bone.
Opening his mouth wide to reveal two rows of snow-white teeth, he stuffed the huge leg bone into his mouth and crunched it down in two or three bites like sugarcane, devouring it completely.
He then stuck a grease-covered finger—thicker than a radish—deep into his nostril, digging around vigorously as he looked down at Carlo through squinted eyes behind a pair of round tinted glasses. Read this novel at g.com for the best experience.
“Normally, we wouldn’t bother with overconfident brats like you running your mouths about challenging Rocks,” Gansui sneered.
“But you brats don’t know your place, do you?”
“Even though Hachinosu doesn’t forbid pirates from slaughtering each other, this island is the private property of the Rocks Pirates.
Running wild and causing this much destruction here…”
“It means you don’t respect us at all.”
Right in front of Carlo, Gansui dug a disgusting blob of dried mucus out of his huge nostril and flicked his finger.
Carlo tilted his head, letting the foul lump whiz past his ear.
The flicked booger flew toward the building Malone had just shot.
And then…
*BOOM!!!*
A deafening, catastrophic explosion suddenly erupted on the spot.
The entire building was instantly engulfed in a soaring fireball.
Scorching flames and thick smoke surged into the sky, forming a massive mushroom cloud.
A rolling heat wave accompanied by the explosion’s shockwave swept out in all directions.
When the fiery tide blew back slightly, the building was gone, leaving behind a crater over ten meters deep.
More than a dozen neighboring houses were caught in the blast, collapsing into rubble!
Kaido was startled by the sudden detonation.
“A…
a booger blew up?!”
“What kind of disgusting technique is that?
And how is it that powerful?!”
Gritting his teeth in revulsion, he stared at Gansui, who was already back to digging his nose.
“So you’re one of those Devil Fruit users too, huh?
What’s your power?
Are you a Booger Man?”
Gansui glanced at Kaido and ignored him.
Beside him, Malone said in his low voice, “To be precise, he’s a Bomb Man who ate the Paramecia-type Bomb-Bomb Fruit.
He can turn any part of his body into a high-yield bomb, and he’s completely immune to cannonfire and explosions.”
“Hey, hey, hey!
Malone!
Who told you to blab about my fruit’s abilities?!” Gansui roared in annoyance, suddenly raising his right hand and sweeping it down hard.
“Seize them!
Bring them before Rocks for judgment!”
“Raaah!!”