**Chapter 13: Life and Death Struggle! Seven-Star Body!**
"Not good!"
Because of that one tiny mistake, out of the corner of his eye, Kaido's bloodthirsty grin was already right in front of him!
"An opening!!" Kaido roared, acting as if he had taken stimulants, swinging the kanabō in a full arc to smash directly into Carlo's face.
"Are you insane!"
Red light flickered in Carlo's eyes. In the split second before the kanabō smashed into his face, he leaned his head back.
The spikes of the kanabō swept past his eyelids, leaving a few shallow bloody scratches on his face.
"Observation Haki +0.2!"
"Did Observation Haki increase too?" Carlo was stunned for a moment, then overjoyed.
Worthy of a master teacher's instruction; it was truly comprehensive.
"You smiled just now, didn't you?"
Just as he felt a moment of joy, a giant hand grabbed him from mid-air. With a tackle, it actually lifted Carlo off the ground.
Carlo's neck was strangled by Kaido's terrifyingly thick left arm.
And his right hand grabbed the top of Carlo's head, exerting insane force, intending to twist Carlo's head right off his neck!
Kaido's action left Carlo dumbfounded.
This guy actually threw away his kanabō to fight him bare-handed!
This sudden move meant his Observation Haki, which had been fully focused on guarding against the kanabō, didn't react in time.
Damn it!
Kaido, this guy, doesn't play by the rules!
Carlo was stunned for an instant, then alarm bells rang wildly in his heart.
The terrifying brute force coming from his neck made his face change color.
"Worororo, caught you, you bastard Navy brat!"
"I'm going to twist your neck right off your head!"
Kaido's eyes were red, his face ferocious, his left arm strangling Carlo's neck and body tightly.
His arm was too big.
So big that Carlo's entire upper body, along with both arms, was tightly clamped by his left arm.
Muscles and veins bulged on his empty right hand as he viciously twisted Carlo's slender neck.
Carlo instantly heard the overwhelmed cracking sounds coming from his neck.
If he didn't break free soon, his slender neck would probably be forcibly snapped by Kaido's brute force!
"You've got it backward, damn it!!"
The panic brought by the life-threatening crisis made Carlo's blood flow accelerate throughout his body, his heart thumping wildly, and every hair on his head standing on end.
Every muscle in his body struggled frantically, his two arms flailing desperately, trying to break free.
But at this moment, how could Kaido let him escape easily?
He exerted force just as viciously.
For a moment, the two froze in place, locked in a hysterical life-and-death struggle of strength.
Carlo's neck was twisted bit by bit to the left by Kaido.
Then, with red eyes, he forced it back straight bit by bit.
Pitch-black Armament Haki was squeezed out of his body wave after wave, wrapping around and covering his fragile neck.
"Break, damn you!!" Kaido roared impatiently.
"Break your mom!!" Carlo also roared with a stiff neck.
"Don't insult my mom!!" Kaido was furious.
"Not only will I insult your mom, I'll insult your mom's mom too!!"
"Waaaah! I will definitely snap your neck today!"
"You can't do it! You absolutely can't do it!"
Two men, faces red and necks thick, stood in the center of the shattered town of Rocky Port, locked in a contest of pure strength.
The atmosphere on the island became anxious.
In this crazy struggle for life, the mechanical notification sound in Carlo'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.
Maybe it was a short few minutes.
Or maybe the stalemate lasted for hours.
When the Physique attribute in Carlo's mind, symbolizing the physical limit, jumped from 69.9 to 70.0.
Struggling in Kaido's embrace, he suddenly stiffened, his eyes staring straight ahead, as if falling into a trance.
Feeling Carlo stop struggling, Kaido, whose muscles were sore from squeezing, was instantly overjoyed.
"Worororo, finally out of strength? You troublesome Navy brat!"
Laughing loudly, his thick right hand exerted force, gripping Carlo's head, ready to snap it.
Kaido believed that as long as Carlo didn't resist.
Breaking Carlo's neck would be as simple as snapping a cannon barrel!
However, when the five fingers of his right hand exerted force to twist.
The resistance coming from his fingers didn't decrease; instead, it increased compared to before.
Carlo clearly wasn't exerting force.
Yet, a force stronger than before burst forth from his neck.
"What the hell?"
Kaido looked down in puzzlement.
In his confused pupils.
The muscles on Carlo's neck were pulsating like living things.
Bundles of tendons seemed to gain life, like little snakes, intertwining and binding together.
Combining into pythons, flood dragons.
The bulging muscles seemed to change from simple flesh into springs, rubber.
While full of elasticity, they also possessed the hardness of steel.
The feeling on his fingers was like pulling a taut bowstring, automatically transmitting a rebounding force.
Powerful elasticity!
"This muscle texture..."
Feeling the elastic muscle texture on Carlo's body, watching his left arm strangling Carlo's neck being pried open bit by bit by Carlo.
The expression on Kaido's face became incredulous.
Wasn't the explosive power contained in Carlo's brand-new body exactly the same as his own innate steel physique?
But...
How is that possible?
Carlo's body was so weak just moments ago!
He stared blankly at Carlo, whose face gradually bloomed with a brilliant smile.
"Your body..."
"Became stronger?"
"Became like mine?"
"How is that possible?"
"Impossible!!"
"Absolutely impossible!!"
Kaido's worldview was somewhat collapsing.
What the hell!
How did this Navy brat's body become as strong as his just by struggling for a while?
Is this some kind of joke?!
Looking at the still-stunned Kaido, the smile on Carlo's face was more brilliant than ever.
"Thanks for your hard work, Kaido-sensei."
"Thank you for your instruction."
Feeling the majestic power surging wave after wave within his body, like a tsunami, like a volcano.
Watching the Physique value growth speed in his mind change from 0.5, 0.6 to 0.02, 0.01.
Carlo knew that the current Kaido no longer posed much of a threat to him.
Kaido's strength could no longer stimulate his body's instincts to make his flesh evolve and strengthen rapidly.
In that case...
Carlo raised his arms and exerted force abruptly.
"Boom!!"
The air in front of him surged. Kaido's arm strangling his neck was violently pried open by Carlo.
Carlo landed on the ground. Just by exerting slight force with the soles of his feet, his whole body shot out like a spring. Turning around, he stood more than ten meters away opposite Kaido.
He shook his arms and looked at Kaido, who was still in a daze.
"Now, it's my turn."