Just as he was racking his brain, thinking about how to stop Roger and whether he should just step in himself...
Suddenly, an earth-shattering sound of a thunderstorm echoed in the sky above Hachinosu.
Everyone looked up and saw the wind and clouds surging ten thousand meters high in the sky.
A wild wind, coming from out of nowhere, quickly blew together a large expanse of ink-black clouds, forming a massive, sun-blotting dark cloud over Hachinosu in the blink of an eye.
Above those dark clouds, streaks of silver-white lightning flashed, emitting muffled roars of thunder.
Then, in the next instant—
"BOOM!!"
A pillar of lightning as thick as a towering giant tree suddenly shot out from the heavy black clouds, like a massive pillar piercing through heaven and earth, reaching down to Hachinosu Island and striking somewhere behind Skull Mountain.
"Five Hundred Million Volt Thunderstorm! Heavenly Punishment!"
"Boom!"
There was another deafening roar.
The ill-fated Skull Mountain was pierced through by something once again.
In everyone's eyes, a smoking black shadow flickered, whistling as it flew out and crashed into the messy plaza.
"Roger!" Gloriosa exclaimed in shock.
Seeing that the one flying over was actually Roger, Golden Lion Shiki said in surprise, "How is that possible? You were sent flying by that kid Carlo? How could that kid be so powerful?"
In the pit in the plaza, the smoke-covered Roger slowly stood up, with an afro on his head that looked like a chicken's nest, still emitting black smoke.
Strands of electric current were still flickering on his hair.
The clothes on his body were blasted apart in many places, looking tattered and worn, like a beggar's outfit.
Ignoring Gloriosa who was running over, Roger exhaled a puff of black smoke, completely indifferent to his disheveled appearance, and looked toward the sky opposite him with great interest.
"Is this the legendary Golden Garuda of the New World seas? But I don't recall hearing that you could also control lightning?"
Opposite him, in the sky above the peak of the several-hundred-meter-high Skull Mountain...
A figure with the head of a bird and the body of a human, with three pairs of golden wings on his back and holding a pitch-black war halberd, came flying through the air.
Ten thousand meters above his head, dark clouds as thick as city walls surged and gathered, flashing with thick electric snakes that meandered down from the sky with a crackle, continuously converging toward the tip of that pitch-black war halberd.
Converging onto the golden wings on that person's back!
Wild winds and thunder gathered on that strange man's body simultaneously, whistling and roaring, shaking heaven and earth, making him look like a god descending upon the world!
"The awakening ability of the Mythical Zoan Garuda is to control the wind and thunder elements of nature. By wrapping wind and thunder around the wings, one can easily reach the world's ultimate speed."
The bird head twisted and transformed into Carlo's appearance.
The three pairs of golden wings on his back, wrapped in wind and thunder, gave just a gentle shake.
In the next instant!
His figure disappeared.
Only the whistling of the wind and the flickering of electric light remained in the sky.
When Carlo reappeared, he had already crossed a thousand meters and arrived in the sky above the plaza in front of Roger.
His speed was so fast, it was like instant teleportation!
Even Wang Zhi, who possessed the Instant Teleportation Fruit ability, was horrified when he saw it.
At this moment, Carlo raised the heavenly dragon halberd in his hand, which was dragging countless bolts of lightning, and slashed it down toward Roger's head.
"Wrapping lightning around the weapon is... the Descent of Thunder!"
"One Billion Volts! God's Judgment!!"
As the war halberd in his hand slashed down, countless bolts of lightning gathered from the dark clouds above his head, striking down a pillar of lightning even thicker than before, almost like a mountain range, crashing toward Roger along with the heavenly dragon halberd.
This terrifying power truly made him look like a Thunder God controlling lightning.
Facing such a terrifying world-destroying heavenly lightning, there was not a trace of fear in Roger's eyes. He stabbed his long blade diagonally toward the sky, as if he wanted to pierce the heavens with a single strike.
"Hahaha, impressive power, but you're still far from being able to defeat me!"
"Aratama!!"
*Swoosh!!*
Magnificent Haki Entanglement lightning bloomed from the Supreme Grade blade Ace, converging at a single point and transforming into a spiral of energy that pierced straight toward the sky.
The massive pillar of lightning from above struck down into mid-air, only to be met by this spiral Haki Entanglement Roger had thrust out, which pushed back against it, tearing it apart as it moved upward with unstoppable force!
Even Carlo, who was slashing down with his halberd, was sent flying together with it!
This spiral thrust continued to surge upward, causing the continuously roaring pillar of lightning to collapse and scatter, turning into countless electric snakes that filled the sky above Hachinosu.
Finally, the spiral-thrust-like Haki Entanglement strike pierced straight through the layer of dark clouds gathered ten thousand meters above, punching through that ink-black cloud mass! Blowing it apart!
In the eyes of everyone on the ground, it seemed as if Roger's strike had truly poked a huge hole in the sky.
"You can control natural wind and thunder, so I'll just disperse nature. How's that?"
Having blown apart the dark clouds ten thousand meters high with a single strike, Roger looked at Carlo proudly.
Then he froze for a moment, seeing Carlo, who had been sent flying by him, falling straight from the sky and crashing onto the plaza ground, as motionless as a stone statue.
At close range, Carlo's height now exceeded eight meters, his muscles displayed a golden luster, and the three pairs of wings on his back shone with brilliant golden light, truly making him look like a golden deity.
Seeing Carlo freeze up, Roger also sheathed his blade and stopped, scratching his head as he asked, "What's wrong with you?"
Opposite him, the motionless Carlo was looking at the two attribute values that had popped up simultaneously in his mind.
"Armament Haki +3"
"Conqueror's Haki +3"
"Your Armament Haki has broken through to Nine Stars."
"Your Conqueror's Haki has broken through to Nine Stars."
[Host: Sorus Karlo, 20 years old]
[Physique: Eight Stars—Steel Bones and Iron Ribs—89]
[Haki]
[Observation Haki: Nine Stars—Future Sight—92.22]
[Armament Haki: Nine Stars—Martial Armor—92.205]
[Conqueror's Haki: Nine Stars—Haki Entanglement—91.12]
[Devil Fruit Power: Awakened—Eight Stars—86.02]
[Comprehensive Evaluation: Nine Stars! Top-tier Combat Power!]
[Comment: With Imu, Rocks, Harald, Whitebeard, Garp, Roger, and Tot Musica away, you are invincible!]
Looking at the brand-new panel attributes in his mind and feeling the surging, majestic power within his body, Carlo's emotions also began to surge and fluctuate.
Finally!
He had achieved Nine-Star combat power!
Although his Physique had not yet broken through to Nine Stars...
In terms of comprehensive evaluation, he had officially stepped into the Nine-Star level.
In fact, in the system's judgment, Nine Stars was top-tier combat power.
But top-tier combat power was not necessarily Nine Stars.
According to Carlo's speculation, when a person's dual-color Haki approached 90 attribute points, even if their Physique attribute was slightly lower, around 80, with the assistance of their own swordsmanship or Devil Fruit abilities, they could possess top-tier combat power comparable to an Admiral.
And the system's Nine-Star rating could be considered mid-range even among top-tier combat powers.
Because it assessed the average value.
Physique, Observation Haki, and Armament Haki all had to reach an average of 90 points for Nine Stars.
In other words, a balanced 'triangle' warrior.
The current Carlo had already reached this level.
Of course, there was still a slight flaw.
That was his Physique, which still hadn't broken through to Nine Stars after the battle with Roger.
It was 88.888 before, and now it was 89.
It had only increased by 0.112!
This growth rate was just ridiculous!
This also meant that in terms of Physique, Roger was completely unable to give Carlo instinctive pressure, and could not help him make a breakthrough in his Physique.
Roger's current physical strength might not even be as strong as Carlo's.
Then, there was an even bigger surprise.
That was his Haoshoku, which had actually successfully broken through after this clash with Roger, entering the Nine-Star level, the level of Conqueror's Haki Entanglement!
This also meant that the current Carlo was already able to use attacks with Conqueror's Haki Entanglement!
Thinking of this, a massive burst of deep red lightning suddenly erupted from Carlo's god-like, towering body, startling Roger who had leaned in to observe him.
Before Roger could speak, he saw Carlo, after erupting with the thunderstorm-like Conqueror's lightning, suddenly raise his hand and grab at the deep red lightning emanating from his body.
In the next moment, a strange sight appeared.
Those invisible bolts of Conqueror's lightning were actually grabbed by Carlo just like that, held in his hand, and quickly compressed and gathered. Then, under the astonished gazes of Rocks, Whitebeard, Golden Lion, Linlin, and the others, it flowed and wrapped around Carlo's hand like Armament Haki.
"This is... Conqueror's Haki Entanglement?!! Carlo! You actually comprehended Haki Entanglement?" Linlin was the first to cry out in surprise.
One must know that even she had not yet mastered this advanced power of Haki Entanglement.
As the Fourth Division Captain, Carlo had actually mastered this power a step ahead of her.
Didn't this mean that she had already been surpassed by Carlo?
Amidst everyone's shock, the Conqueror's lightning wrapped around Carlo's hand flowed onto the heavenly dragon halberd, and he swung the halberd toward Roger.
"To have mastered Conqueror's Haki Entanglement so quickly, this is not just a breakthrough in technique, but also a breakthrough in the quality of Conqueror's Haki." Roger raised an eyebrow and slashed out with his blade.
This time, neither of them went all out.
They just casually swung their respective weapons.
Roger knew that Carlo was testing his blade.
The pitch-black heavenly dragon halberd and Roger's Ace blade clashed together across two or three meters of empty space.
Even though the two weapons clearly did not touch, they remained deadlocked in the air, and an amazing impact erupted.
This shocking scene left Kaido, standing in the crowd, looking on with a face full of yearning.
"Is this the top-tier application of Conqueror's Haki, the Haki Entanglement that can strike from a distance without touching?"
"Damn it! This guy Carlo actually comprehended this kind of power so quickly!"
"I'm not satisfied! I must work even harder!"
He clenched his fists and swore secretly, "From today on, I will challenge Carlo three times a day!"
Then Kaido seemed to think of something and suddenly felt discouraged again.
"Three times a day is thirty million Berries. I already owe him over ten billion Berries! If I keep owing him like this, I won't be able to pay it back even if I sell myself!"
"Chikushō!!"