After the brief, pinnacle-level duel with Garp, Karl now had a full understanding of the strength of his new body.
His physique was number one in the world. Even if Kaido used his dragon-human form, he couldn't compare to Karl using As Big or Small as I Please. His strength, speed, and defense were all number one in the world.
His Observation Haki was in the top three in the world. His unique perception range and eavesdropping ability surpassed the highest level of application, the prediction of the future, and was second only to the heaven-sent cheats of natural Observation Haki and the Voice of All Things.
His Armament Haki was in the top ten in the world. His unparalleled physical constitution gave Karl a Haki capacity and quality that belied his age. At 17, he was not inferior to those super-powerful individuals who had been at the top for several years, a dozen years, or even decades.
His Conqueror's Haki was in the top ten in the world. The sublimation after the battle with Kaido, and the battles with Yamato in the past two years, had allowed Karl to make rapid progress in Conqueror's Haki. Last year, he was able to transform his aura into pressure and knock out people at will. This was also the reason why the clash of Karl's and Garp's Conqueror's Haki Infusion made the sky cloudless, not tear it apart.
His martial arts were in the top three in the world. Even if his techniques couldn't compare to a master of martial arts like Garp, Karl's talent could still make his martial arts among the strongest in the world.
Excluding his fruit ability, Karl's overall strength, as he had said, was unquestionably that of an overlord of the seas, at least a top-five, or even a top-three, first-tier contender in the world.
The enemies who could fight him and take a long time to decide a victor, in this world, there were only an infinitely small number of them, a small double-digit figure.
Four in the New World, five in Marine Headquarters, two known in Impel Down (one of whom is currently extremely weak), one in the Revolutionary Army, two known among civilians, one known in Mary Geoise, and a few unknown.
Although the known super-powerful individuals above could fight Karl to a standstill for a long time, Karl, with his Rumble-Rumble Fruit and Spear of Mystery, was very confident that he would be the final victor.
He could win, and he could kill...
The current Karl was almost invincible in single combat and could challenge the throne of the world's strongest at any time.
Just like that year.
The news of the Celestial Dragon being killed, and the Marines dispatching an Admiral and a Marine Hero to lead five warships to cleanse the Sabaody Archipelago.
Under the reports of those reporters and lookouts outside the cleansing range, it quickly reached the ears of the major powers and the higher-ups of various large and small newspaper companies.
When they first learned that someone had killed a Celestial Dragon again, those major powers were also very surprised.
But after hearing that the person who killed the Celestial Dragon was Dragon Knight Karl, who had at some point run off to Paradise, these people had a slight realization and then paid no more attention.
Today, Karl was no longer the nobody he was at the beginning of Sea Circle Calendar 1517.
In just two short years, he had reached the pinnacle, becoming the fifth Emperor of the Sea, one of the highest peaks in the world.
Besides the titles of Overlord of the Seas and Dragon Knight, he also had the titles of former World's Number One Bounty Hunter, current World's Richest Man, and God-Slayer.
If this were the first time he had killed a Celestial Dragon, then even as an overlord of the seas, the major powers would be very surprised, even shocked.
Because he would have created history, achieving the great feat of killing a World Noble.
But this feat, Karl had achieved two years ago, and it had indeed caused a sensation throughout the world at the time.
Karl had also gained a large number of fans of all races around the world with this feat.
Compared to the first time, the shock of Karl killing a Celestial Dragon again, in the eyes of the major powers, was not even as great as Karl killing the Golden Emperor, Gildo Tesoro.
Of course... that was for the major powers.
In the eyes of ordinary people, Karl killing a Celestial Dragon again was still a super big news.
Therefore...
Morgans, who hadn't sent a news coo to secretly monitor Karl for nearly two years, after getting the first-hand information from his newspaper underlings, prepared to use his writer's imagination to personally write the headline news of the God-Slayer's kingly return.
Not long after Morgans started writing, he suddenly received an unexpected call.
It was unknown what the person on the other end of the Den Den Mushi said.
Morgans immediately nodded excitedly, then directly tore up the manuscript he had written a lot on and started writing a new one.
In the early morning of the next day, countless news coos, carrying freshly printed newspapers, flew to all parts of the world.
Just as the sky was breaking dawn, the kingly return of the God-Slayer quickly caused a huge sensation around the world.
"Lord Dragon Knight actually killed a Celestial Dragon again?!"
"When did this great figure return to the first half of the Grand Line? There was no news at all?"
"Why did the Dragon Knight kill a Celestial Dragon again? Does he not like that bunch of pigs?"
"Wait... so that's it. Is this the reason?"
"The legendary Mermaid Princess, her name is Shirahoshi, and she's one of the Dragon Knight's companions."
"No wonder the Celestial Dragon was killed again. Last time it was the Golden Bell, this time they actually set their sights on the Mermaid Princess. What a bunch of unlucky guys. Why do they always set their sights on the things of the world's richest man?!"
"So big, so beautiful a mermaid. As expected of the legendary Mermaid Princess whose beauty is said to be no less than that of the Pirate Empress."
".........."
"If I'm not mistaken, Ryugu Kingdom is also one of the member nations of the World Government, right?"
"A Celestial Dragon set his sights on the Mermaid Princess and was then tragically killed by the Dragon Knight. Will Mary Geoise kick Ryugu Kingdom out of the member nations and send troops to subjugate Fish-Man Island?"
"You're overthinking it. Kicking them out of the member nations might be possible, but even if you gave Mary Geoise and Marine Headquarters a hundred guts, they wouldn't dare to subjugate Fish-Man Island, which is ten thousand meters below."
"Not to mention Fish-Man Island's deep-sea advantage, this underwater paradise now has two overlords of the seas backing it."
".........."
Besides discussing Karl's kingly return and his killing of a Celestial Dragon again.
More of the talk actually revolved around Shirahoshi.
That's right...
The person who had spoken with Morgans was Karl.
Just as one of the two major reasons Karl had killed Saint Charlos was to tie Shirahoshi to his ship and have Neptune agree and request that he protect her.
For this, Karl had promised Morgans a favor and had also told him one of the reasons for killing the Celestial Dragon.
Because the battle between Karl and Garp, and the battle between Akainu and Yamato, had an extremely large area of destruction, even if there were news coos in the sky at the time, they would have been knocked out or killed by the Haki fluctuations of the Conqueror's Haki Infusion.
Morgans actually knew nothing about what happened after the Celestial Dragon was killed.
Morgans, who had originally planned to use his writer's imagination to write a gimmicky piece of news, after receiving the favor from Karl, immediately followed Karl's wishes and told the cause of the Celestial Dragon's death in the newspaper, also announcing Shirahoshi's identity and name, and tying her to Karl's group.
Now the whole world knew that the legendary Mermaid Princess was named Shirahoshi and was one of the Dragon Knight's companions.
Fish-Man Island, which was originally Whitebeard's territory, now had another overlord of the seas as a backer.
From now on, all pirates entering the underwater paradise would have to weigh their own strength before causing trouble.
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