"Boom!"
Like a humanoid laser, Carlo's back slammed heavily into the ground, shattering the permafrost and sending ice and snow flying.
The ground of the Underworld was carved into a trench several hundred meters long by his back!
Whitebeard, Golden Lion, and the others who arrived later and saw this scene couldn't help but have their eyelids twitch.
Even Old White's gaze toward Harald was a bit dazed.
Golden Lion muttered to himself, "This big guy's strength is simply too much. With strength at this level, who needs Haki? One swing of the sword would split the person, the ship, and even the island in two."
Rocky cheered excitedly, "Father is so powerful! He defeated Heavenly King Carlo in one hit!"
Harald, however, laughed.
"Hahaha, it's not that easy. In this world, there is no one who can defeat a powerhouse like him in a single blow."
The group looked toward the end of the trench.
Sure enough, they saw Carlo slowly standing up from the crater he had smashed into.
"Physique +0.1!"
Hearing the pleasant notification sound in his mind, Carlo felt as if he were listening to heavenly music.
The corner of his mouth, which was leaking a trail of blood, pulled back uncontrollably.
"As expected! My hunch was right!"
A look of pleasant surprise appeared in his eyes.
Feeling his body in a state of constant restlessness and longing to break through some kind of shackle, Carlo didn't waste a moment. Gripping the heavenly dragon halberd tightly, he stepped forward and charged again.
"Boom, boom, boom!"
His running speed grew faster and faster.
Wherever he passed, the permafrost beneath his feet was trampled into fragments.
"Boom!"
As his last step landed, the ground within a radius of dozens of meters collapsed several meters down with a roar.
The massive counterforce propelled Carlo into the air like a rocket, his halberd thrusting straight at Harald's chest.
"Heavenly Dragon Star-Piercing Thrust!"
Harald raised his sword to parry.
"Sun Shield."
The broad greatsword was held horizontally in front of him like a giant shield, steadily blocking the halberd blade Carlo thrust forward.
While blocking, he exerted force with his arm and swung the greatsword outward.
The tiny Carlo was immediately sent flying outward like a mosquito swatted away.
But before Carlo had even flown ten meters, he suddenly stomped on the air, causing a violent explosion that propelled him back. Holding the end of the halberd with one hand, he swung the heavenly dragon halberd at Harald's arm like a long whip.
Carlo's strength was also extremely terrifying.
With this casual swing, the heavy heavenly dragon halberd smashed through the air, letting out a dull, thunderous whistle.
Harald didn't meet it head-on; his pillar-like legs simply moved half a step back, dodging the halberd Carlo swung.
Then, another sword strike came slashing diagonally.
"Spear of Elbaf! Ikoku!"
The massive broadsword sliced through the air. The slash was like the Milky Way hanging upside down, hundreds of meters long and dozens of meters wide, leaving Carlo with nowhere to hide.
With a loud boom, Carlo was once again sent flying by the violent slash.
It was the same Giant Race technique, Ikoku.
The one Linlin used was already considered extremely powerful.
But now, in Harald's hands, this move displayed power more than ten times greater than Linlin's!
As the sword fell, the vast impact caused blood mist to burst from every pore in Carlo's body. He spat out a long trail of blood and flew backward, his head spinning.
Under this blow, he flew even further than before.
He flew backward for a full five kilometers before crashing into the ground of the Underworld, mowing down a large patch of pine forest.
"Jieahaha, that was a brutal hit. That kid Carlo must have broken at least a few bones." Golden Lion chuckled with a face full of schadenfreude.
Whitebeard frowned slightly and looked at Rocks, "Are we going to let them keep fighting?"
Rocks bit his cigar, looking calm. "That doesn't depend on us... Besides, I see that kid Carlo is actually enjoying himself. I didn't expect him to have such masochistic tendencies."
Five kilometers away, Carlo gritted his teeth and climbed up from under a broken pine tree.
He thrust the heavenly dragon halberd he was gripping tightly into the ground, reached for his chest, pressed down on a displaced rib beneath his muscles, and applied force.
With a snap, the fractured rib was forcibly realigned by him.
Then, a broken bone on his left side.
Harald's Ikoku strike had broken a total of four of his ribs!
Suffering an injury of this magnitude, even with a body as strong as his, it couldn't be considered a minor wound.
However, correspondingly, the benefits Carlo gained were also obvious.
"Physique +0.2!"
"Current Physique attribute: 89.4"
"It's 89.4! Only 0.6 left!"
Looking at the value in the Physique column on the attribute panel that appeared in his mind, Carlo suddenly felt that this bit of pain was well worth it.
To prevent Harald from stopping the fight, he didn't even rest for a second. He immediately grabbed the heavenly dragon halberd and charged toward where Harald was.
To speed up, he used the hybrid form transformation of the Garuda.
His body expanded to over eight meters, and three pairs of golden wings—one large and two small—grew from his back.
The invisible Mythical Zoan ability activated.
Under Harald's surprised gaze as he looked up toward the Upper World above his head.
Several thin bolts of lightning struck down from the canopy of the adam tree ten thousand meters above—the Heavenly Realm. They passed through the dense branches and accurately struck Carlo.
In an instant, he was enveloped in electrical light.
With a flap of his golden wings, Carlo's speed instantly surged seven or eight times.
In just two breaths, he flew across the five kilometers, shot toward Harald like a bolt of lightning, and swung his halberd down!
However, before swinging the halberd to strike, Carlo deactivated his transformation and returned to his human form, using his pure physical body to confront Harald.
"Clang!"
"Boom!"
"Bang!"
Collision after collision, he was sent flying time and again by Harald's various powerful and violent moves.
The injuries on Carlo's body worsened visibly with each strike.
Eventually, his clothes were stained red with his own blood.
Who knew how many dozens of bones he had broken.
Yet, he charged back again and again, clashing with Harald in a fierce battle.
He was just like a piece of sticky candy.
The tragic sight was more than even Whitebeard could bear to watch.
If he hadn't seen the smile still on Carlo's face, he might have almost stepped in to stop it.
Seeing the increasingly excited smile on Carlo's face, Golden Lion shuddered.
For the first time, he felt that Carlo was a bit of a pervert.
"This kid might actually be a masochist. I really need to stay away from him. This kind of person is either a fool or a lunatic."
He truly didn't know.
Carlo was currently experiencing both pain and pleasure.
While enduring the bombardment of Harald's unrivaled immense strength.
He was also enjoying the joy of his Physique attribute constantly climbing in his mind.
If Golden Lion had such a way to rapidly increase his own strength, he would probably be willing to come and get beaten up just like Carlo.
Isn't it just getting hit?
As long as it could increase his power, never mind getting hit—even eating shit!
Well, maybe not eating shit... that's going too far... "Physique +0.1!"
"Physique +0.05!"
"Physique +0.08!"
"Current Physique attribute: 89.9!"
Seeing the attribute in the Physique column in his mind soar to 89.9 in just a few minutes of fighting Harald.
Only 0.1 away from entering the Nine-Star Physique, the joy in Carlo's heart was about to overflow.
He charged back once more from five kilometers away.
While flying, he spat blood, his eyes red with hunger as he stared straight at Harald.
"Harald! Again!"