When Kaido voiced his puzzlement.
The strange bird-headed man tilted his head, the golden beak opening awkwardly, as if still unused to the motion.
Then, to Kaido's shock, the avian features melted away—golden feathers and beak vanishing to reveal a face he knew.
"It's you?! How did you—"
Kaido stared, dumbfounded. The once-familiar Carlos now stood twice his former size, a pair of golden wings sprouting from his back.
"Never seen a Devil Fruit Power before?"
Carlos savored the new strength coursing through him.
In the instant Kaido froze, Carlos's golden vertical pupils blazed scarlet, twin coals igniting in the night.
Then—Shiiing!
Shiiing!
Two blood-red laser beams shot from his eyes and slammed into Kaido like lightning.
"What?!"
Caught off guard, Kaido took the blast square in the chest and was hurled backward as if struck by a battleship's shell.
A globe of searing light erupted around him, swallowing his entire frame.
Kaido looked like a slab of meat tossed into a microwave, roasted alive by the blazing radiance.
Hottest and most piercing of all were the twin points where the lasers had drilled into his pectorals.
Even his iron-hard muscles sizzled, charred holes blackening in seconds.
More startling still,
the crimson beams did not fade.
They remained solid, pinning the giant to the ground, grinding him across the earth.
Every yard they traveled erupted in blossoms of explosive light.
Only after hundreds of meters did Carlos tilt his head, letting the red glare die.
His eyes reverted to sharp golden slits.
No longer as terrifying as moments before, yet still commanding absolute awe.
No one could meet that gaze.
"Zoan, Bird-Bird Fruit, Mythical Model: Garuda."
"Or, the Golden-Winged Great Peng."
"A divine beast of legend that devours dragons."
"Possessing peerless speed, strength, and senses."
Carlos folded the golden wings forward, feathers—each as hard and keen as a golden blade—rasping softly.
He smiled, pleased.
All of it sprang from the Devil Fruit the World Government had delivered.
Mythical Zoan, Bird-Bird Model: Garuda.
When he'd first taken the fruit from the CP Agent, uncertainty had gnawed at him.
Would this power truly secure his future?
Or would it only saddle him with the curse of the sea?
Any Devil Fruit, well developed, could be mighty,
yet compatibility mattered.
They said each fruit held a demon's will,
seeking the right host.
A perfect match meant perfect strength.
What if this stolen Mythical Zoan rejected him?
Then it would all be for nothing.
Fortunately, Kong had contacted him,
detailing the fruit's staggering potential.
Only then did Carlos swallow it.
Yet even after feeling its might, one question lingered:
Why would the World Government part with such a top-tier Mythical Zoan?
He would never learn the answer.
Unknown to him,
the Gorosei had meant to fob him off with a common Mythic—
something worthless like the Pegasus fruit.
But Kong, out of guilt toward an old comrade, had traded years of military merit for this ultimate treasure from the Celestial Dragons' vaults.
He told Carlos nothing.
Perhaps it was better;
had Carlos known,
he would have confessed
that the bottle of "Elbaf Divine Oil" he'd given Kong that day was merely ordinary lubricant, useless for exhaustion.
A low groan from the rubble hundreds of meters away snapped Carlos from his thoughts.
He looked up.
The golden vertical pupils magnified Kaido's battered image as if through a lens.
The pirate was a sorry sight:
smoke wreathed his body, clothes incinerated,
hair and fur singed to ash—only the curved horns remained.
His skin was blistered and blackened,
ghastly to behold,
yet the injuries were far from fatal.
Only the twin charred holes in his chest throbbed with scorching pain.
"Damn it—what the hell is this thing?"
Clutching his chest, Kaido rose, panting, staring in bewilderment at the distant Carlos.
Carlos blinked.
Kaido had turned on his own kingdom at ten,
had sailed the seas for years—
how could he not know Devil Fruit Powers?
A moment's reflection supplied the answer:
Kaido simply never cared.
In his rampaging years he'd met no true challenge,
suffered no real defeat.
Those too weak to hurt him fell beneath his spiked club in a swing or two.
Aside from Logia users, other fruits only meant an extra smash or two.
Like the leech or blade-paramecia he'd just crushed.
"Raaagh!!"
spiked club finally in hand, Kaido—sent flying again—felt his rage near bursting.
He roared and charged once more,
swearing to redeem himself by smashing Carlos senseless.
Before he could close the distance, crimson light flared again in Carlos's eyes.
Shiiing!
Boom!
"Damn it—!!"