"Not good!"
Due to that tiny mistake, out of the corner of his eye, Kaido's bloodthirsty, savage grin was already inches away!
"An opening!!" Kaido roared, swinging his spiked club toward Carlos's face in a wide arc as if he were on stimulants.
"You're a goner!"
Red light flickered in Carlos's eyes. In the split second before the spiked club could smash into his face, he leaned his head back.
The spikes of the club swept past his eyelids, leaving several shallow bloody gashes on his face.
"Observation Haki +0.2!"
"Has my Observation Haki increased too?" Carlos was stunned for a moment, then immediately overjoyed.
As expected of a master's teaching, it was truly comprehensive.
"You were just smiling, weren't you?"
In the instant he was happy, a massive hand grabbed him from the air. With a grapple, Kaido actually hoisted Carlos off the ground in a chokehold.
Carlos's neck was locked by Kaido's terrifyingly thick left arm.
Meanwhile, Kaido's right hand grabbed the top of Carlos's head, exerting frantic force as he tried to twist Carlos's head off his neck!
Carlos was stunned by Kaido's move.
This guy had actually dropped his spiked club to fight him barehanded!
Because of this sudden action, his Observation Haki—which had been focused entirely on guarding against the spiked club—hadn't reacted in time.
Damn it!
Kaido wasn't playing by the book at all!
After a moment of shock, alarm bells rang wildly in Carlos's heart.
The terrifying force transmitting from his neck made his expression change.
"Worororo, I've got you, you damn navy brat!"
"I'm going to twist your head right off your neck!"
With bloodshot eyes and a savage face, Kaido's left arm tightly constricted Carlos's neck and body.
His arm was too massive.
It was so large that Carlos's entire upper body, including both arms, was pinned tightly by his left arm.
On his free right hand, muscles and veins bulged as he ruthlessly twisted Carlos's slender neck.
In an instant, Carlos heard the overburdened 'cracking' sounds coming from his neck.
If he didn't break free, his small neck would likely be snapped by Kaido's brute force!
"You've got it fucking backwards!!"
The panic brought on by the life-threatening crisis caused the blood to rush through Carlos's body. His heart pounded, and his white hair stood on end.
His muscles bucked wildly, and both arms struggled desperately to break free.
But how could Kaido let him escape easily now?
He exerted force with equal ruthlessness.
For a time, the two were frozen in place, locked in a hysterical struggle of life and death.
Carlos's neck was twisted inch by inch to the left by Kaido.
Then, with bloodshot eyes, Carlos forced it back to the center bit by bit.
Ink-black Armament Haki was squeezed out of his body in waves, wrapping around and covering his fragile neck.
"Snap already!!" Kaido roared impatiently.
"Snap your mother!!" Carlos roared back, his neck stiffening.
"Don't you dare insult my mother!!" Kaido was enraged.
"I'll not only insult your mother, I'll insult your mother's mother too!!"
"Waaaah! I will definitely snap your neck today!"
"You can't do it! You definitely can't do it!"
The two men, red-faced and straining, stood in the center of the ruined Rocky Port, locked in a pure contest of strength.
The atmosphere on the island grew scorching.
During this frantic struggle for his life, the mechanical announcements in Carlos's mind never stopped.
"Physique +0.5!"
"Physique +0.6!"
"Physique +0.5!"
"Armament Haki +0.2!"
"Armament Haki +0.15!"
Finally—
No one knew how much time had passed.
It might have been just a few minutes.
Or they might have been at a stalemate for hours.
When the Physique attribute in Carlos's mind, which symbolized his physical limit, jumped from 69.9 to 70.0—
He, who was still struggling in Kaido's grasp, suddenly stiffened. His eyes went blank, as if he had fallen into a daze.
Feeling that Carlos was no longer struggling, Kaido, whose muscles were aching from the strain, was instantly overjoyed.
"Worororo, have you finally run out of strength? You troublesome navy brat!"
He laughed loudly, his thick right hand exerting force on Carlos's head, intending to snap it.
Kaido believed that as long as Carlos didn't resist—
Snapping Carlos's neck would be as easy as snapping a cannon barrel!
However, as the five fingers of his right hand exerted force to twist—
The resistance coming from his fingers did not decrease, but rather increased.
Carlos clearly wasn't using any strength.
Yet, a force even more powerful than before erupted from his neck.
"What's going on?"
Kaido looked down in confusion.
Within his doubt-filled pupils...
The muscles on Carlos's neck were pulsing like living things.
Bundles of tendons seemed to have gained a life of their own, like small snakes twisting and binding together.
They combined into pythons and dragons.
The bulging muscles seemed to transform from simple flesh into springs or rubber.
While being full of elasticity, they also possessed the hardness of steel.
The sensation against his fingers was like pulling a taut bowstring; a rebounding force was automatically transmitted.
A powerful elasticity!
"This muscle texture..."
Feeling the incredibly elastic texture of Carlos's muscles and watching his own left arm—the one choking Carlos's neck—being forced open bit by bit.
The expression on Kaido's face became inconceivable.
Wasn't the explosive power contained within Carlos's new body the same as his own innate Iron Physique?
But... how was that possible?
Carlos's body had clearly been so weak just a moment ago!
He stared blankly at Carlos, whose face was gradually breaking into a brilliant smile.
"Your body..."
"It became stronger?"
"It became just like mine?"
"How is that possible?"
"Impossible!!"
"Absolutely impossible!!"
Kaido's worldview was crumbling.
What the hell!
How did this navy brat's body become as strong as his own just from a contest of strength?
What kind of a fucking joke was this!
Looking at the still-stunned Kaido, the smile on Carlos's face was more brilliant than ever.
"Thanks for the hard work, Kaido-senpai."
"Thank you for your guidance."
He felt the majestic power surging within him like a tsunami or a volcano.
Looking at the Physique values in his mind, which had slowed from 0.5 and 0.6 down to 0.02 and 0.01.
Carlos knew that at this point, Kaido no longer posed a significant threat to him.
Kaido's strength could no longer stimulate his body's instincts or cause his flesh to evolve and strengthen rapidly.
In that case... Carlos raised his arms and suddenly exerted force.
Boom!!
The air in front of him rippled as the arm Kaido had around his neck was violently forced open by Carlos.
Carlos's feet touched the ground. With just a slight push from his soles, he shot out like a spring, turning to stand more than ten meters away from Kaido.
He shook his arms and looked at the still-bewildered Kaido.
"Now, it's my turn."