Carl's reaction made Makino tense up as well. She didn't understand—why did the battle suddenly escalate the moment Shanks shouted "Dad"?
Makino shouted Shanks' name toward the center of the arena with all her might. However, her voice couldn't penetrate the cube at all. Earlier, while Carl had reinforced its defenses, he had also sealed off all sound transmission.
After all, judging by the stance of Shanks and Garling, the shockwaves from their upcoming clash weren't something an ordinary person could withstand.
Sensing her mother's anxiety, the usually cheerful Amara started crying.
But Shanks and Garling had already focused all their attention on each other, completely oblivious to what was happening outside.
As flashes of Conqueror's Haki crackled and clashed, the two moved at once—one red, one black—like twin afterimages streaking toward each other.
The next second, a terrifying shockwave from their Haki collision burst forth. The air fractured with countless blue cracks, and blazing red flames erupted violently.
The resulting energy surged toward Carl, but his body remained utterly still. As the shockwave reached the cube behind him, the black markings covering its surface absorbed it completely, leaving Makino and Amara inside untouched.
Even separated by such violent energy, Carl could still clearly see Shanks and Garling at the center of the storm. The moment anything went wrong, he was ready to intervene and stop the fight.
Garling and Shanks stared into each other's eyes. Suddenly, Shanks spoke.
"All these years... you never once thought of bringing me back from Roger's ship?"
Garling had no answer. But his silence only fueled the flames in Shanks' heart. That anger stirred the primal instincts of his Mythical Zoan Devil Fruit, pushing his power into an even more ferocious state.
The sudden surge in Shanks' strength forced Garling to retreat. Still, he hadn't unleashed his full power—he was entirely capable of pushing back this assault.
But Garling didn't strike back.
He simply allowed himself to be pushed further and further toward the edge of the space by Shanks.
Carl, who had been closely monitoring the situation, furrowed his brows. In his hands, black mist rose into twin spirals of dark flames. Just as he was about to step in and halt the fight, Garling slowly shook his head at him.
Carl was momentarily stunned. Garling's meaning was clear—he didn't want Carl to intervene.
That immediately reassured Carl. Clearly, Garling-san still had strength left. Carl dismissed the darkness around his hands.
...
But what Garling did next caught Carl completely off guard.
Rather than increase his power output, Garling's strength diminished. It was as if he had given up on resisting entirely.
Shanks, now overtaken by his beastly instincts, didn't notice at all. He kept pressing forward relentlessly. Garling had nowhere left to retreat. The sword in his hand was being forced closer and closer to his own chest.
Just as Carl couldn't bear it anymore and was about to move, Garling gave Shanks a bitter smile and said softly:
"It's your father who failed you. Back then... I was stubborn and foolish."
Before Shanks could react, Garling suddenly weakened his grip. The blade in his hand was flung away without resistance, and Shanks' sword slashed straight across Garling's chest.
Blood gushed from Garling's chest, dyeing Shanks' eyes red and instantly jolting him back to his senses.
Staring at Garling's heavily wounded and pale body, Shanks' eyes widened in horror. His partial dragon transformation vanished in an instant.
The energy storm enveloping them faded just as quickly.
Garling coughed up a mouthful of blood, his body staggering as he nearly collapsed.
Shanks caught him in time, supporting him in a panic and shouting:
"How could this happen!?"
Garling, feeling the overwhelming weakness in his body, let out a self-deprecating laugh.
"Guess I've never been this badly hurt before..."
Even back at the Valley of Gods, when he'd fought the Rocks Pirates, he hadn't taken such a serious injury.
Shanks, completely rattled, looked around desperately and cried out.
Whoosh!
Carl's figure instantly appeared beside them.
He glanced at the diamond-shaped mark on Garling's forehead. Its color was still bright red, though dimmer than before. Countless tiny red lines were spreading out from the mark. Seeing that, Carl relaxed a little.
The mark on Garling's body was the highest level of Carl's Embrace—a special gift that not only preserved youth, but also converted stored blood energy into healing force in moments of life-threatening injury.
To be extra safe, Carl pressed a finger to Garling's forehead. A drop of deep crimson blood seeped from his fingertip and merged with the diamond mark.
As the blood was absorbed, Garling's pallor quickly began to fade, and his face regained color. Carl finally let out a helpless sigh.
"Garling-san, our Figarland family isn't cursed to kill their own fathers, you know."
Garling's mouth twitched. He took a labored breath and said,
"I'm fine. I still used Haki to defend myself. This kind of injury won't kill me."
Shanks roared in frustration beside him.
"What were you thinking?! That was insanely dangerous! Are you really that confident in your own Haki!?"
Garling fell silent.
Carl flicked Shanks' forehead and scolded him,
"Then why the hell did you hit him so hard? What, were you treating Garling-san like...!?"
Feeling wronged, he muttered,
"... I just lost control for a moment... it was weird. It felt like there was this surge of rage I couldn't hold back..."
Carl narrowed his eyes, quickly piecing it together.
Zoan-type Devil Fruit users were often influenced by the instincts of the creatures they'd inherited. A powerful user like Shanks might not usually show it, but when emotions ran too hot, that beastly nature could still take over. And dragons, after all, weren't exactly gentle creatures.
Thinking back to the conversation between Garling and Shanks earlier, Carl sighed and looked at the silent Garling.
"Garling-san... even if you feel that guilty, you didn't need to throw your life into that slash, did you? You're really this childish too?"
"..."
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+110 chapters on p@treon/tambeerg