Above Puttelocrone.
A colossal black sphere plummeted, radiating a hair-raising menace.
Without Future Sight, Carlo could still feel the unnatural crisis.
Flung here by Whitebeard, he stared up at the falling orb, his gaze turning cold.
When the Marine fleet appeared, he'd planned to hide out on Puttelocrone and wait for the war to end.
He didn't really mind being a pirate now.
But he was, after all, still a Marine at heart.
That identity didn't change just because he despised the World Government behind the uniform.
There were people he knew in Marineford.
He didn't want to hurt those who'd once helped him.
Yet Admiral Haines, seeing him on the island, still chose this ruinous move.
And he'd flown right overhead to do it.
To claim there was no personal grudge—
Carlo would never believe it.
The retired Admiral Haines had served with his dead father.
When Carlo's father was alive, Haines had been overshadowed by Kong and Soros White.
In strength and in administration, he lagged behind both Kong and White.
White's codename was White Dragon; Haines's was Gray Serpent—telling enough.
Haines was a Logia user of the Oil-Oil Fruit.
The black sphere above Carlo was a mass of oil Haines had created.
Its name: Red Lotus Black Sun.
A black sun that burns.
Once ignited, it could obliterate an entire island.
Carlo had heard of the technique from his father.
But he'd never seen it.
Today, he would.
Worse, he would be the first to face it.
Shred!
Brilliant golden wings unfurled behind him.
He rose in Garuda's Hybrid Form, racing to escape the blast.
Then—
Countless black tendrils burst from the sphere and lashed at him.
'Bastard! You really want me dead!' His face turned ice-cold.
Crimson beams lanced from his eyes, piercing the sky.
Heaven-Piercing Gaze – Heat Vision!
Whoosh!
The red rays struck the sphere before Columbus's lighter, drilling clean through.
'Carlo!! You dare!' Haines roared from within the falling mass.
He hadn't expected a Marine mole to attack a former Admiral.
Neither Haines nor Columbus had guarded against it.
The searing heat ignited the volatile oil prematurely.
A hundred metres up, the black globe burned from within.
Flames burst outward, wrapping the sphere in a roaring fireball.
A black sun turned into a true sun.
The burning sun swelled; a tide of fire expanded, sweeping outward.
In an instant light and heat bloomed above Puttelocrone.
The island was bathed in blinding white.
Monks and pirates alike were blinded by the glare.
After the light came the devastating blast.
The shock-wave levelled earth like a hurricane.
Finally, the thunderous boom rolled across the island, bursting eardrums.
No one saw, as the pillar of fire rose, a golden figure streak away just ahead of the inferno.
Rumble—!
The explosion struck without warning, shaking heaven and earth.
Dust shot sky-high.
Seconds later the smoke began to clear.
Not a single temple remained intact.
Rubble stretched everywhere.
Scores of Rocks Pirates lay dead.
More screamed, maimed among the ruins.
Seeing his crew's fate, Rocks—locked in combat with Garp—exploded.
'Damn you! I'll kill you!'
Tremendous Haoshoku surged round his blade as he slashed at Garp, trying to break free and strike Haines.
But Garp would not yield.
Fists clad in black Haki became a meteor storm.
They smashed the air, clashing head-on with Rocks's blade.
Fist Bone rang against steel like shattering bells.
'You're going nowhere, Rocks! Fight me with everything!'
'Fist Bone – Meteor Swarm!'
His iron fists, black meteors of war, kept Rocks pinned.
Meanwhile, the warship carrying Sengoku and Zephyr beached.
A thousand elite Marines—rank of Lieutenant Commander or higher—leapt ashore behind them.
Sengoku rolled his sleeves, spotted a familiar blond figure amid the temple ruins, and charged.
'All hands, follow me—attack!'
'Yes, Vice Admiral Sengoku!'
Zephyr surveyed the apocalyptic ruins, face grim.
He thought: besides pirates and greedy monks, there must have been innocent pilgrims.
Back in Marineford he had argued for evacuating them first.
But high command and World Government staff insisted secrecy came first; his plea was denied.
So he volunteered to lead the landing force—
—to save whoever he could.
Yet Admiral Haines's ruthless opening strike had exceeded all expectation.
Between Whitebeard's quake and Haines's Black Sun, the island had suffered two near-island-ending blows.
In those twin catastrophes, not just the innocent—
Even the Rocks Pirates were decimated.
Though the weight pressed on Zephyr's heart—
This was war.
In war, people die.
Watching Sengoku's vanguard clash with the pirates, Zephur dashed forward, sprinting straight at an oni giant wielding a spiked club.