On Cake Island.
Silver Axe had already left.
Taking the members of the Flying Pirate Crew with him, he evacuated everyone without leaving a single person behind, heading back to Hachinosu.
Of course, Kurozumi Higurashi had no chance of leaving with them.
Carlo looked at Linlin, who was bound in layers of Sea Stone.
He then glanced to the side at the dozen or so children who had fainted on the ground.
He couldn't help but shake his head.
How tragic.
Carlo hadn't expected that the future Queen of Totto Land who would dominate the New World, the strongest female pirate Big Mom, Charlotte Linlin, would actually have such a humiliating moment.
Back when she was at Hachinosu, she had partnered with Long Bread to establish the Big Mom Pirates.
Although its scale couldn't compare to Golden Lion Shiki's Flying Pirate Crew,
and was later surpassed by Carlo's Sky Pirates,
her pirate crew still had a foundation of around eight to ten thousand members.
But after this battle with Golden Lion, her pirate crew could already be described as being completely wiped out.
Even Long Bread, who looked remarkably like Wong Cho-lam and was always inseparable from her, was nowhere to be found.
He might be 'gone' in the physical sense.
Now, the only remaining members of her pirate crew were her, the Captain, plus a dozen or so children who hadn't grown up yet.
And the duration of this battle between the two sides seemed to have only been a few days.
Furthermore, Golden Lion himself had only personally taken the field and made a move against them once at the very beginning.
All subsequent pursuit battles were carried out by the fleet under his command.
Without even acting personally, he was able to force a powerful pirate crew with top-tier combat strength to such a desperate end.
This also showed
just how powerful Golden Lion's pirate crew was now.
Carlo stepped forward, preparing to remove the Sea Stone chains bound around Linlin's body.
However, Katakuri stepped forward quickly and reached out to stop him.
"Carlo, it's best not to remove these Sea Stones now. Mama... she's currently in a state of hunger pangs."
He looked at Charlotte Linlin, whose eyes were blood-red, and who was still constantly struggling, trying to break free even though she was bound by Sea Stone,
trying to rush at them while emitting a tyrannical and bloodthirsty aura from her entire body, and he sighed in his heart.
"In her hunger pangs state, Mama can't distinguish between friend and foe. To break it, we either have to bring her a delicacy that satisfies her, or wait long enough for the symptoms to temporarily recede."
"And right now, we can't produce any food at all. So, just let Mama stay like this for now. Anyway, those guys have already retreated."
However, facing his explanation,
Carlo shook his head slightly.
"No, actually there's a third method."
Katakuri was stunned: "Ah? What method?"
Carlo walked over, raised the heavenly dragon halberd in his hand, and aimed the wide blade at Linlin, who was slumped on the ground. Under Katakuri's changing gaze, he swung the halberd down.
Grand Armament Haki compressed on the blade and shot out, turning into a black moon blade that struck the Sea Stone chains bound around Linlin with extreme precision.
Katakuri only heard a loud 'clang'.
In the next moment,
the dozens of Sea Stone chains bound around Linlin were all severed by Carlo's single strike, snapping away from her body.
Although the hardness of Sea Stone was comparable to diamonds,
that referred to high-purity Sea Stone.
These chains, which were only mixed with a little Sea Stone powder and mostly made of steel, were not like that.
Therefore, they could be broken.
The moment the Sea Stone chains on Linlin's body snapped and before they could even fall off,
the freed Linlin had already swung her arms, violently throwing the chains off her body.
She was like a dragon escaping from a trap, her blood-red eyes wide open, saliva dripping from the corners of her mouth, and her pink hair in a mess as she lunged at Carlo, who was closest to her.
On her pair of white jade-like arms, pitch-black Armament Haki suddenly surfaced.
A pair of fists clenched, smashing down at Carlo's head and face in a completely disorganized manner.
With the enhancement of her brute strength and Haki,
even this random swinging and smashing caused the air in front of Carlo to explode with a boom.
It was like the air bombs Kuma created by compressing air with his ability.
However, facing Linlin's demonic attack, Carlo didn't dodge or avoid it, still standing in place.
Just as Linlin's fist smashed down from above his head, seeing that it was about to hit his head,
he moved!
The heavenly dragon halberd was thrust into the ground by Carlo.
He stepped forward with his right foot, twisted his waist, swung his arm, clenched his fist, and aimed at Linlin's chest... abdomen, throwing a punch like a lightning bolt!
"Fist Bone! Meteor!"
Armament Haki compressed to the extreme turned into pitch-black lightning, bursting from his fist and condensing into a ball. As his fist shot out, it landed solidly on Linlin's abdomen.
With a loud boom!
Carlo's entire fist sank into the muscles of Linlin's abdomen.
The wild and domineering power tore through the thick Haki armor covering her body like pulling weeds from a dry field.
The highly compressed Haki lightning, like a chisel, pierced through her 'Iron Balloon' defense which was comparable to high-level Armament Haki, and poured fiercely into her body through her abdomen.
Then, the condensed Haki and punch force erupted from the inside out, violently shaking Linlin's tall body.
Her entire person jolted violently, and a large cloud of blood mist exploded outward from her graceful and tall figure.
Linlin was lifted off the ground by Carlo's punch, her red lips wide open as she let out a muffled groan and spat out a large mouthful of blood.
In those eyes that were bloodshot and crimson due to hunger pangs, much of the blood-red color seemed to be dispersed by this punch, and her consciousness became clear.
"Carlo..."
She opened her mouth, seemingly wanting to speak.
But the terrifying residual force of Carlo's punch had not yet subsided.
With a boom!
Her body smashed through the air and shot backward.
Like a humanoid slash, she left a long trail of scratches on the ground behind her.
Finally, she split the sea and flew backward for hundreds of meters before crashing into the ocean with a roar, splashing water everywhere, all under Katakuri's dumbfounded gaze.
"Mama!"
Katakuri rushed to the seaside, looking at the vanished Linlin, his face full of bewilderment.
At this moment,
he finally experienced what Kurozumi Higurashi had felt not long ago.
Wait?
Where's my mom?
Where's my huge mom?
Katakuri's mouth twitched, and he turned his head with a resentful look to see Carlo behind him.
"Carlo, did you do that on purpose?"
"What are you talking about? How could I have done it on purpose? Your mother is my ally. I was saving her. How could a Little Brat like you understand my good intentions?"
Carlo chuckled and tilted his chin toward the area behind Katakuri.
"Look, your mom is back."
"Ah?"
Katakuri turned around in surprise.
He just happened to see the surface of the sea in the distance break open.
A tall figure burst out of the water, pulled by transparent chains formed by strong winds, skimming across the sea surface and flying toward them at high speed.
Seeing that figure, the worry in Katakuri's heart was instantly relieved.
That was indeed his mother.
Linlin flew back toward Cake Island across the sea.
While still in mid-air, she had already woken up from the frenzy of hunger pangs.
After going through the washing of seawater, the suppression of Sea Stone, Carlo's punch, and then being soaked in seawater again,
no matter how frantic the hunger pangs were, it was hard not to overcome them.
Um... Linlin felt that if her hunger pangs were still there, she would probably still be soaking in the sea right now.
Thinking of this,
and feeling the stinging pain from her abdomen as well as the soreness all over her body, Linlin's eyebrows shot up, and she looked at Carlo standing on the ground below with an unfriendly expression.
The moment she landed from the air, she suddenly lunged forward, clenched her right fist, and punched toward Carlo's face.
"Carlo! You bastard! Who told you to hit so hard! Couldn't you... have some tenderness for the fairer sex?!"
With a muffled 'thud',
it exploded under her fist.
Linlin was stunned.
She looked at Carlo, whose face had been hit by her fist, with a look of astonishment.
"You... why didn't you dodge?"
Carlo actually didn't dodge her punch.
Instead, he stood in place and took it directly with his face.
This was truly somewhat beyond Linlin's expectations.
In fact, she wasn't really biting the hand that fed her; it was just that being hit by Carlo was a bit painful, and she wanted to truly get back at him by hitting him back.
It was just a little bit of willfulness out of anger.
But Carlo didn't dodge.
Was this... him being tolerant of her willfulness?
Linlin withdrew her arm somewhat stiffly.
What she saw was Carlo's unscathed, tough, and handsome face.
Carlo raised his hand, rubbed his nose, and smiled at her.
"You didn't use any strength, Linlin. Are you hungry? This little bit of strength can't hurt me."
However, Linlin didn't respond to his humor at all.
Instead, she gritted her teeth, lowered her head, and stared fixedly at Carlo.
"Just now, why didn't you dodge?"
"Huh?" A question mark appeared over Carlo's head. "What do you mean why?"
"I'm asking you! Just now! Why! Didn't you! Dodge!"
Linlin asked again, stressing each word.
Seeing Linlin's serious look, Carlo clicked his tongue.
"Because there was no killing intent in your punch. A punch without killing intent can't hurt me, so why should I dodge?"
Linlin's face darkened. "Are you looking down on me? Do you look down on me too? Just like that bastard Shiki, thinking I'm just a woman, so you look down on me?"
"Uh..."
Carlo was choked by Linlin's triple-strike.
However, he could somewhat understand
why Linlin was so sensitive.
Think about it from her perspective.
Right now, her pirate crew was wiped out, her territory was all lost, and the huge enterprise she had worked so hard to build was destroyed in an instant.
No matter who it was, their mindset would probably explode after such an encounter, right?
Think about Moriah, who was defeated by Kaido.
Having lost his companions and his pirate crew being wiped out, he went from being able to compete with Kaido to eventually becoming a shut-in fat guy, isolating himself in the sunless Florian Triangle.
Seeing that Carlo didn't answer,
Linlin also fell silent.
After a long time, just as Carlo was preparing to take his leave and go to Hachinosu to find John,
Linlin suddenly said: "Carlo! I'll ask you one last time, will you be my husband? If you agree, I will love you dearly, and in the future... I won't go looking for other husbands anymore."
Carlo stumbled and almost fell face-first.
"Cough, cough, cough!!"
He coughed violently.
The expression on his face was a bit hard to maintain.
Carlo didn't understand what kind of brain circuit Linlin had.
How did she suddenly go from that aggressive and angry state just now
to... wanting to take him as a husband... bah!
Wanting to marry him?
This attitude was more than just a 180-degree turn.
This was practically a 720-degree Thomas flare turn!
It almost made him strain his back.
Speaking of back... he seemed to have forgotten to let Zephyr take that bottle of divine oil back to Kong?
Wait... what was he thinking?
Karlo shook the messy thoughts from his head and subconsciously looked at Linlin in front of him.
At first glance...
So tall!
Currently, Karlo's height was approaching four meters due to the continuous increase in his physical strength.
Even among the many pirates of the New World, he could already be considered tall and burly.
But compared to a special human like Linlin, who was practically a genetic mutation at 8.8 meters tall—nearly the size of the Giant Race—he was far behind.
Besides that.
Karlo also had to admit.
Linlin was very beautiful.
Truly beautiful.
Not only did she have flowing long pink hair and a pretty, perfectly proportioned oval face.
She also possessed a hot figure with a curvaceous body and long legs.
At this moment, her clothes were damaged in many places due to the intense battle.
Combined with being soaked by seawater.
They clung tightly to her near-perfect curves, highlighting a breathtakingly seductive body.
What was even rarer...
Was that her skin was excellent.
Logically speaking.
The larger a creature's body, the coarser its pores should be.
Yet this flaw was nowhere to be found on Linlin.
He wondered if it was the effect of her Iron Balloon talent or if she was just born this way.
Her skin was very white and smooth, and looked like it would feel great to the touch... "Do I look good?"
A sweet voice reached his ears.
Karlo nodded subconsciously.
"You look good."
Then he gave a sheepish laugh.
Looking up, he happened to meet Linlin's hot, peach-blossom eyes.
The possessiveness in those eyes was not hidden in the slightest.
It was naked!
It made Karlo feel a bit creeped out.
Linlin stretched her tall figure and deliberately leaned down, bringing her face close to Karlo's.
Suddenly, a fragrant breeze brushed his face.
Her breath was like orchids as she looked directly at Karlo.
"Karlo, I know you also desire this perfect body of mine, don't you? Don't deny it! Six years ago, I saw the desire in your eyes."
"Become my husband, my final husband. After that, you can have me to your heart's content."
She extended her large, white jade-like finger and tapped it against Karlo's steel-like pectoral muscle.
"Anytime, anywhere, as many times as you want. Don't worry, I can take it."
*Hiss...*
Looking at Linlin's lustful peach-blossom eyes, Karlo took a sharp breath.
He really hadn't expected this woman, Linlin, to have such a... wild side.
This declaration of love was a bit too... naked, wasn't it?
Who could handle this?
Karlo almost wanted to agree directly.
He even saw Katakuri, standing far behind Linlin, looking over with a face full of hope.
That gaze seemed to be saying:
"Just agree already!"
Karlo had no doubt that if he really agreed,
Katakuri would truly recognize him as this cheap... stepfather.
And recognize him sincerely.
But as a dignified seventeen-foot man,
How could he live off a woman?
So Karlo looked at Linlin and asked under her expectant gaze, "So, Linlin, are you going to join my pirate crew? I admit, I do have some thoughts about your... body. If you are willing to give yourself to me heart and soul, I can..."
"Can't it be you joining my pirate crew, joining my Charlotte Family?"
Linlin interrupted him, a hint of... pleading in her eyes.
"I can give you everything of mine, on the condition that you join my pirate crew. I can make you the Vice Captain of the Big Mom Pirates..."
"Forget it, Linlin."
Under Linlin's disappointed gaze, Karlo shook his head.
"Why? Don't you want me?" Linlin's gaze was mournful, and she looked like she was about to burst into tears.
Karlo looked at her and chuckled, "Stop pretending, Linlin. I know you; you're not the type of little woman who would just cry like this."
"Hmph, you've seen right through me."
Linlin gave a light snort.
She emphasized the word 'through'.
At the same time, she deliberately puffed out her magnificent chest.
Karlo ignored it and continued, "It's impossible for me to agree to fully join your pirate crew. Conversely, it's also impossible for you to abandon your status as the Captain of the Big Mom Pirates and quietly become my wife. Therefore, it's impossible between us."
After hearing Karlo's words.
Linlin's expression finally returned to calm.
She sighed and stood up.
"As expected, you're the one who understands me, Karlo. Sigh, Mama is so disappointed. How great it would be if you could join my pirate crew. In that case, my crew could definitely surpass Shiki's and Newgate's crews in one fell swoop, surpass the Roger Pirates, and become the number one pirate crew in the world."
Then she looked back again, her tone shifting as she looked at Karlo with a fervent gaze:
"Karlo, are you interested in having a child with me? If the two of us combine, we will surely give birth to the descendant with the strongest talent! His talent might even be stronger than Katakuri's! Want to try? Even if you don't want to be my husband, I can let you..."
"Alright, Linlin, you know that's impossible. Let's stop this topic here. I'm going to Hachinosu; John and the others are still waiting for me there."
Karlo grabbed the heavenly dragon halberd and walked toward the seaside.
A flash of disappointment flickered deep in Linlin's eyes.
But she soon chased after him with a smile on her face.
It was the smile belonging to the strongest female pirate, Big Mom.
"If you're going to Hachinosu, take me with you! This old lady also wants to go find trouble with that bastard Shiki!"
Karlo paused and glanced at Katakuri and the group of brothers and sisters beside him who were still unconscious.
"You're not going to care about your children?"
"Mamamama, don't worry, my children aren't that fragile." Linlin laughed like a silver bell and turned back to Katakuri:
"Katakuri! Find a ship later and take Perospero and the others to Dressrosa, you hear me?"
"Yes! Mama, please rest assured, I will definitely bring everyone there safely!" Katakuri replied firmly.
"Let's go." After giving the orders, Linlin tilted her fair chin toward Karlo: "Are you doing it, or am I?"
She pointed to the fire clouds emerging above her head.
"I'll do it. You're too slow."
Karlo said indifferently.
Then, he casually tossed the heavenly dragon halberd toward Linlin, and his body began to expand rapidly, surging with the wind!
He twisted his neck, and his head turned into that of a bird.
His hands transformed into glittering golden wings.
Countless golden feathers sprouted on the surface of his body.
His feet turned into bird talons.
With a flap of his wings, Karlo, transformed into a giant golden bird, began to ascend rapidly.
And his figure grew larger and larger.
After only a few seconds.
His form had expanded to a wingspan of hundreds of meters, transforming back into that golden divine bird that blotted out the sun.
The Golden Garuda!
On the ground below, Linlin caught the heavenly dragon halberd in one hand and leaped up, her tall body jumping lightly onto the giant bird's back.
It was as spacious as a football field, incredibly large.
As Karlo flapped his wings, he began to accelerate his flight.
The gale on the bird's back also intensified, blowing Linlin's pink hair into a wild dance in the wind.
However, her body remained firmly seated on the soft feathers of the bird's back.
She even had the leisure to tease Karlo about what he had just said.
"Mamamama, Karlo, it's not good for a man to be too fast."
Just as she finished speaking.
Deafening thunder suddenly rumbled in the sky above.
At the same time, the wind between heaven and earth grew more urgent.
Suddenly.
A thick bolt of lightning shot down from the sky, accurately striking the flying golden giant bird.
This caused Linlin, sitting on the giant bird's back, to cry out in surprise. She almost released her thundercloud Zeus to block the falling lightning.
But just then.
The golden giant bird that Karlo had transformed into suddenly flapped its wide wings under the stimulation and push of the lightning.
Gales swirled around his massive body, cutting through the oncoming airflow.
It caused the mountain-like body to accelerate violently, breaking through layer after layer of sonic booms ten thousand meters in the sky.
Like a bomber that didn't exist in this world, he trailed a series of Mach rings in the sky!
This massive acceleration knocked Linlin over on the bird's back, making her tumble a dozen times.
If she hadn't reached out and grabbed the feathers on the bird's back at the last moment,
She would have almost been blown off.
"So... so fast!"
Linlin's face shook violently from the oncoming gale.
She had to release her Armament Haki to block the violent airflow that was hitting her like a tsunami.
Karlo's flight speed was so fast that it shocked her.
No wonder Karlo could rush from Dressrosa to this place so quickly.
This was the reason!
For the first time, Linlin felt that...
Sometimes.
It wasn't a bad thing for a man to be a bit faster... Just as Karlo was carrying Linlin toward Hachinosu at hypersonic flight speeds.
On the other side, outside Hachinosu Island.
Dozens of warships from the Sky Pirates, led by John, were sailing toward this place aggressively.
Dressrosa was not very far from Hachinosu.
The straight-line distance was only a few hundred miles.
This was also why, in the manga, Burgess would go to Dressrosa to participate in Doflamingo's gladiator tournament.
The Sky Pirates' unhidden intrusion immediately caught the attention of the Flying Pirate Crew.
Soon.
The pirate ships docked at the port of Hachinosu turned and scattered one after another, spreading out across the vast sea, standing ready against the charging Sky Pirates.
At the same time.
What was happening here was reported to Golden Lion Shiki on the island immediately.
In the meeting hall, after Golden Lion Shiki finished listening to Silver Axe's report over the den den mushi, the smile on his face instantly vanished, and his eyes were full of rage.
He pushed away one, two, three, four... women lying on him.
He stood up indignantly!
"That bastard Karlo!! How dare he ruin my plans! How dare he kill my people! You really have a lot of nerve!!"
His body floated up, flying out through the large eye-socket hole of Skull Mountain.
His long golden hair draped over his shoulders, fluttering in the wind.
The two long swords in the hall also floated up with him.
From a distance, looking at the dozens of pirate ships sailing from the distant horizon.
A ferocious smile appeared on Golden Lion's face.
"In that case, I will wipe out your fleet! I'll leave you all alone!"
"This is the consequence of opposing me!!"