"Physique +1"
Looking at the numbers that automatically appeared in his mind, the smile on Carlo's face was completely uncontrollable.
A surge of ecstatic emotion uncontrollably welled up in his heart.
"System! Check my panel!"
"Ding!"
"Attribute panel opened."
[Physique: 5-Star 58.383 + 1 = 59.383]
[Haki]
[Observation Haki: 6-Star 65.275]
[Armament Haki: 6-Star 68.002 + 0.2 = 68.202]
[Haoshoku: 7-Star 73.528]
[Devil Fruit Power: 2-Star 20.212]
[Overall Evaluation: 6-Star]
[Comment: In the eyes of top-tier powerhouses, someone like you is at most a loli.]
Looking at his attribute panel, his Physique had increased by a full point from 58.383 to 59.383.
At this moment, Carlo's mood was even happier than when he received ten billion Berries and a Mythical Zoan Devil Fruit from Kong.
He even ignored the system's poisonous evaluation because of it.
For months, his Physique, which he had been honing for so long, had shown no major progress.
Finally, under Kaido's strike, he made another breakthrough.
And it was an increase of a full point all at once!
Never underestimate this mere one point in attributes.
One must know that the Physique attribute is the hardest to increase among all attributes.
It's even harder than increasing Haoshoku!
Because it determines Carlo's strength, speed, stamina, endurance, and all other physical progress.
And it greatly influences the quality of Haki and the development of Devil Fruit Powers.
In Carlo's view,
Whether it was what Kaido would later firmly believe—that Haki reigns supreme over everything—
Or what the manga itself emphasized—that Devil Fruit Power is supreme—
Both were wrong!
Only Physique, only the physical body, truly reigns supreme over everything!
This is the foundation of everything!
Over the past years, Carlo had been meticulously honing and tempering his body.
He wanted to break through his limits step by step, pushing his Physique to a higher 7-star, 8-star, or even 9-star level!
To achieve an Indestructible Diamond like the future Kaido.
To become an Iron Balloon like Charlotte Linlin.
However, he was only a normal human after all.
Humans have limits!
In the early stages, his training allowed his Physique value to progress rapidly.
But when the attribute value reached over fifty, the speed of progress slowed down significantly.
About a year ago, his Physique had reached 50 points.
A year had passed since then, and his Physique had only increased by 8 points, reaching 58.
In the last few months, it had only increased by 0.3!
This extremely slow rate of improvement almost made Carlo feel despair.
He was starting to think that his limit might be right here.
Without a powerful Physique, his future achievements would definitely not be too high.
He probably wouldn't even become an Admiral until he died.
Let alone seeking revenge against Rocks.
But now, this strike from Kaido brought him hope!
This strike from Kaido told him that his, Carlo's, Physique had not reached its limit at all!
He still had room to grow!
Previously at Headquarters, it wasn't that Carlo hadn't sparred with Garp, Sengoku, or Zephyr.
But the results of that training were unsatisfactory.
It wasn't that Garp and Sengoku were inferior to the current Kaido.
It was that they were, after all, on his side.
Furthermore, they all viewed Carlo as a junior recruit.
When sparring normally, they would subconsciously hold back.
Even Garp, who was the most reckless when attacking, wouldn't use lethal force against Carlo, the descendant of a deceased Admiral.
But the Kaido in front of him was different.
He was fighting with the absolute determination to kill and crush Carlo.
The killing intent erupting from the lightning-wrapped spiked club made even Carlo feel a bone-chilling cold!
Perhaps it was this all-out killing intent that stimulated Carlo's biological instincts, allowing his Physique to make another breakthrough.
One strike was worth months of past tempering.
By comparison,
Carlo didn't even care about the 0.2 increase in Armament Haki.
What he was thinking now was: how much could he increase his Physique attribute in the upcoming battle?
Taking one hit increases it by one point.
This is too damn worth it!
Truly worthy of being the number one teacher of the pirates!
"Thank you, Kaido-senpai!"
With a heart full of gratitude, Carlo bared his teeth, climbed out of the pit, and looked at the approaching Kaido with a beaming smile.
Kaido was bewildered by his smile.
He thought Carlo was mocking him.
He immediately became furious.
"Don't get ahead of yourself! You Marine brat!!"
"The next strike will smash you into meat paste!!"
Without the slightest hesitation, the fuming Kaido grabbed his club and charged at Carlo.
His body, over seven meters tall, was taller than the surrounding two-story buildings.
As he charged, he was like a stampeding giant beast, arrogantly crushing all building obstacles in his path to pieces.
The pitch-black spiked club swung down wildly from above, heading straight for Carlo's head!
"Shave!" Carlo's figure flashed backward, avoiding the brunt of the strike like a teleportation.
Immediately after, he stomped on the ground, used Moonwalk to ascend, and agilely bounced and refracted in mid-air. With a right-angle turn and a stepping dash, he flashed behind Kaido and threw a punch at the back of Kaido's head.
Although he had just gained one point of Physique by taking a hit from Kaido,
Carlo had no intention of taking a second hit for free.
Increasing strength was important, of course.
But if he underestimated the Kaido before him, he might accidentally flip his car!
The prerequisite for being powerful is being alive.
If a person is dead, everything is gone!
Carlo threw a punch, and all 59 points of strength erupted.
With the strength of an adult giant—nearly ten thousand tons—the back of Kaido's head already felt a faint pain before the punch even landed.
He didn't dare take it head-on either.
There was no time to pull back the swung spiked club.
So he raised his left hand over his right shoulder, spread his palm, and opened his thick fingers, trying to catch Carlo's fist.
Looking at Kaido's large hand grabbing through the air, Carlo curled his lip.
"Who said that if muscles are too big, you can't reach your own back?"
Carlo didn't withdraw his fist; instead, he accelerated the strike.
Fist and palm collided.
"Boom!!"
The terrifying physical strength of both sides erupted.
Although Kaido's physical strength was a large margin higher than Carlo's,
his posture while receiving the punch was clearly lacking leverage.
With one punch, Carlo immediately knocked back Kaido's reaching left hand.
He immediately followed up with a hook, continuing to smash toward Kaido's temple.
By this time,
Kaido had also forcibly twisted his massive body. The spiked club in his right hand spun 180 degrees, like a morning star, smashing toward Carlo behind his head.
"Iron Body! Muscle Balloon!"
Carlo inhaled sharply, all his pores expanding to suck in air, and his whole body inflated a full size like a balloon.
His muscles bulged like spheres.
He actually bounced away the strike Kaido had swung over.
This was exactly the inspiration he had gotten from Luffy's Gear Third in the manga.
Although Carlo's body couldn't stretch like rubber,
with a body trained to the level of Life Return, inflating muscles to this extent was easily achievable.
Using his bulging muscles to bounce off Kaido's attack again, Carlo inhaled once more, gathering the air in his body toward his right hand.
In the next instant, his right fist suddenly expanded three or four times, wrapped in pitch-black Armament Haki.
Like a massive iron hammer, it swung in a wide arc toward Kaido's face.
"Muscle Armament! Battering Ram!!"
Kaido wanted to lean back to dodge.
However, Carlo suddenly opened his mouth and shouted,
"A real man never dodges a frontal assault!"
"Kaido! You coward! You balls-less wimp!"
Kaido's nose almost twisted from anger.
"Bastard!! Who are you calling balls-less?! I'm no wimp!!!"
Gritting his teeth, he stopped dodging and stood right there, staring with his wide bull-eyes, watching Carlo's fist smash toward his face.
"So what if I take this punch from you?!"
"A soft punch like yours isn't even qualified to scratch my itch..."
"Boom!!!"