Above the cloud-laden sea, Garp shot forward like a meteor stepping on the moon, his Moonwalk bursting the air as he vaulted to a spot directly above Carlo and the others in the blink of an eye.
Even though the two sides were still a good hundred metres apart,
his fist was already high in the air, smashing downward!
The instant the punch fell, black-red bolts that shredded the air crackled across his knuckles, ripping the atmosphere apart. In Carlo's and Kaido's widening eyes the blow bloomed into a dark-red spherical shock-wave hundreds of metres across!
The orb of force skimmed past the airborne Carlo and his companions and bored straight into the sea.
The next instant—
—BOOM!!!
A heaven-shaking roar detonated across the vast world.
Where the blast struck, the surface caved in as though an island had crashed upon it, plunging hundreds of metres.
Under the crushing pressure the surrounding sea rolled like enraged dragons, and in moments towering walls of water hundreds of metres high surged outward in every direction.
Only then did the hurricane-like after-shock sweep in, tossing the mid-air Carlo and the others like autumn leaves in a storm, helpless to resist.
Kaido, tumbling tail-over-teakettle through the sky, stared in shock at the overturned sea below, a colossal wave of awe rising inside him.
"Hey, hey, hey—you've gotta be kidding me! What is that?"
"Who is that guy?"
"That's one of those Devil Fruit Powers, right? Hey, Carlo—what ability is that?!"
Behind Carlo, a pair of golden wings more than ten metres long snapped open. Beating once, they whipped up a gale that steadied his spin as he shot out an arm to snatch back Old Buck and Kaido.
Hearing Kaido's yell, Carlo twitched and glanced over his shoulder at Garp, who was once again Moon-walking through the sky.
"You've got it wrong, Kaido. He's no Devil Fruit user. Like you, he's a normal human."
"Normal human?" Kaido gaped at the churning ocean, at the pirate ship being shredded by the rolling tsunami, and muttered, "You call that normal? What kind of normal human can wreck the sea itself?"
"Don't run, Carlo! Stop and let me arrest you!"
Garp's booming voice rang from the sky, making Carlo's eardrums buzz.
The three had only just steadied themselves when Garp—hundreds of metres away a heartbeat earlier—was almost on top of them.
Barely thirty metres separated the two sides now.
At that range they could feel the terrifying pressure radiating from him, a presence so inhuman Kaido almost thought he was facing Rocks himself.
As Garp's fist rose again,
Kaido's fear turned to delight. Grinning, he hollered, "Hey, Marine! What's your name? You look strong—how about a fight?"
Garp blinked, sized Kaido up, and while still sprinting across the sky casually picked his nose.
"Me? I'm Monkey D. Garp. And who might you be?"
Kaido hefted his spiked club, excited. "I'm Kaido, apprentice—no, junior fighter of the Rocks Pirates! Heh, how about it—want to throw down?"
"Junior fighter?" Garp lost interest at once. "Not worth my time. Tell your Captain to come fight me instead."
Kaido erupted, thrashing in Carlo's grip. "Bastard! You lookin' down on me? Let me go, Carlo—I'll take him on solo!"
"Shut up! You want to die, I don't!" Carlo snarled, hauling Kaido higher.
The instant he climbed,
a vast shock-wave scythed beneath his feet.
A sky-blackening tempest erupted, nearly knocking him out of the air.
Below, Garp lowered his fist and stared in surprise at the wings beating frantically behind Carlo.
"Carlo! Those wings—your power?"
"Yeah!" Carlo shouted back while flying. "I snagged a Mythical Zoan: Bird-Bird Fruit, Garuda form!"
Garp sprinted up the invisible stairs like a rocket.
"Mythical Zoan? Rare. But so what?"
"Kid, you still ate a Devil Fruit? Didn't I tell you outside crutches only make you doubt your own strength?"
"Once you start doubting, your spirit wavers and your Haki weakens!"
"Save the lecture! That won't happen to me. Fruit or Haki, they're just tools. If it makes me stronger, I'll use it!"
Carlo glanced down; despite his flight, Garp had barely fallen back.
That Moonwalk speed and stamina—inhuman.
This was Garp in his prime, barely past thirty.
"Is that so?"
"I don't buy it."
"Prove it!"
Garp inhaled, reset his breathing, and his air-dash suddenly multiplied several-fold.
—BOOM!
A white air-burst a hundred metres wide detonated underfoot.
The recoil hurled him like a meteor; in a heartbeat he closed to within ten metres of Carlo.
Black-red destruction-lightning once again coiled around his up-raised fist.
"Fohahaha! Show me if your Haki's improved!"
"Damn it!"
Feeling the deadly threat at his back, Carlo clenched his teeth.
Knowing he could not out-run it, he made his move.
He whipped his arms and flung Kaido and Old Buck like cannonballs.
Garp didn't even try to stop them, merely rocketed straight for Carlo with Haki-charged fist.
The instant he released them, Carlo snatched the heavenly dragon halberd from Kaido's grip, wings beating furiously as he shot upward even faster.
This time his speed out-stripped Garp and the gap widened.
Yet Carlo didn't use the distance to flee.
After rocketing hundreds of metres higher he slammed to a hover.
Then, looking down at Garp below, he flipped direction and dove head-first!