When the dazzling white light slowly faded.
The blown-away purple miasma drifted back, and at the bottom of the crater left by the Gale Burst Shot lay the pulverized corpse of a beast-man, limbs torn off, features unrecognizable, a gruesome end.
"Beast-man?"
Carina and Nami peered over the rim into the pit, question marks practically popping over their heads.
"Let's go."
Karl rubbed the chibi dragon's head, crossed off this round's must-kill target in his mind, and led Carina and Nami toward the castle on Thriller Bark.
Poor Absalom of the Clear-Clear Fruit; his once-overbearing invisibility together with Perona's negative ghosts had long been a nightmare for ships targeted by Thriller Bark.
Unfortunately this time he ran into Karl's crew.
Karl didn't even need to act; his presence was sniffed out by the little dragon.
The Clear-Clear Fruit can turn the user and anything they touch invisible, but it cannot hide sound or scent.
The chibi dragon's nose was first-rate.
To it, Absalom's invisibility was no different from standing stark naked right in front of them.
Clearly he had never had guests like these; the trio and their dragon got near and the dragon's finisher erased him in an instant.
"More incoming. Stay sharp."
After taking down Absalom, Karl seemed to catch something and his face finally turned serious as he warned them.
"Negative, negative… negative, negative…"
Almost the moment his words fell.
A creepy doll-like voice drifted closer from afar.
A few negative ghosts floated down from the sky, making Carina and Nami pale.
"G-ghosts…"
Nami's face went white and she trembled uncontrollably.
Even Carina, usually strong-nerved, went a shade paler.
Clearly, spooks like these cowed girls more than brute force ever could.
"Don't be scared. It's a Devil Fruit user."
Karl didn't underestimate the ghosts for a second. He barked, "I've got the user's position. Little White, protect Carina. I'll take out the master."
"Rooar…"
The little dragon let out a roar unlike its usual cutesy chirps.
The sudden draconic bellow stunned the singing ghosts in place.
By the time they reacted, the lone male of the trio had vanished.
From a god's-eye view you would have seen Karl's figure in a few breaths streak through the gloomy woods behind the ghosts, carve a massive trench in his path, casually punch a Cerberus into a wall as he passed, and in under three minutes reach the castle gates at the island's heart.
That speed was no worse than Rayleigh crossing an island to aid the Straw Hats.
In a spooky princess-themed room within the castle, Perona was syncing to her ghosts' view, directing them to one-shot Carina, Nami, and the chibi dragon.
Indeed, in the three minutes Karl was en route, Perona had already dropped both girls and the dragon.
Carina's Barrier-Barrier Fruit grants absolute defense, but only against physical and elemental attacks.
Perona's wall-phasing negative ghosts happened to counter it.
That's the tyranny of rule-type abilities.
If abilities like that belonged to pirates unmatched in mind, skill, and body, this sea might have room for only four Emperors indeed.
"Weird. Where did that guy go?"
After dropping Carina, Perona sent her ghosts combing the woods for Karl.
Failing to find him, she pulled back her viewpoint for now and muttered.
"I'm right here."
A strange voice reached her ear. She opened her eyes to a grinning face filling her vision.
"A ghooooost!"
Face-to-face at less than five centimeters with that "gentle" smile, Perona's distinctive eyes all but popped.
With a shriek she collapsed onto the bed in a dead faint.
"Some Ghost Princess. A nerve this weak won't do," Karl griped.
He scratched Perona from the immediate crew list.
With nerves like that, what happens against real monsters?
He bound her with vines gathered in the woods, checked that the Blue-Eyes had recovered, and headed for the castle's strongest aura.
Karl's way to recruit Perona was simple.
Beat Gecko Moria and use his life to demand that Perona come aboard.
Perona saw Moria as a father; to repay years of care she would agree.
It sounded a bit underhanded.
But compared to the Davy Back Fight, this was nothing.
This sea has always crowned the winner king.
As for the Davy Back Fight
The Davy Back Fight is a game from Long Ring Long Land, a game of great import to pirates.
It's said to have spread from a certain pirate paradise.
Pirates use it to snatch elite crew from each other by "fighting for people."
Best two out of three decides the winner. The losers swear by Davy Jones to serve the victors for life.
If the winner fancies no one, they can even take the loser's Jolly Roger, a ship's very soul.
Hence it's called a cruel match that wagers "comrades" and "pride."
Compared to that, beating an enemy and using the leader's life to demand the loyalty of his crew is commonplace in the pirate world.
Just like the true man Roronoa Zoro, who for his captain's life was willing to give up his dream of being the greatest swordsman and die in Luffy's stead.
Aside from a few sly types, those who agree to switch camps transfer their feelings and loyalty from the former captain to the new one.
Pirate codes, or simply faith.
Perona herself adapts to where she lands, much like Nami.
Once she switched sides, she would surely become one of Karl's right hands.
Karl's crew would gain another walking cheat.