Lowering his head again, Carlo's eyes lit up as the black streamer reappeared in his palm.
It surpassed ordinary coating; the quality and quantity of Haki had both been honed far beyond the norm, achieving external Armament release.
It was the clearest sign that his Armament Haki stat had broken 70 and reached seven stars.
Apart from the obvious boosts to Physique and Armament.
The increases to the other stats were much smaller.
Observation Haki had risen by about four points.
Haoshoku, whose difficulty rivaled Physique, had climbed less than a single point.
There was nothing he could do.
Carlo knew Kaido possessed Haoshoku.
But during the Rocky Port battle Kaido had never shown it.
Perhaps he still hadn't mastered how to release it at will.
Without a clash of Haoshoku against Kaido, even a one-point gain was already decent.
Garp once told him that Haoshoku, a power symbolizing talent and spirit, couldn't be strengthened through training.
But was that really true?
With his status panel, Carlo discovered—after long and repeated trials—that it was not.
Haoshoku could be cultivated!
Though invisible and largely unrelated to physical strength.
Since it embodied one's spirit.
Then by forging that spirit, couldn't its intensity be raised?
Spirit, after all, was tied to mind and will.
To train the intangible, Carlo first recalled the classical line from his past life:
'When Heaven is about to confer a great office on a man, it first exercises his mind with suffering, his bones with toil, his body with hunger… to toughen his nature and supply his deficiencies.'
Guided by this, he embarked on a regimen of insane self-torture.
Including but not limited to—
Starving himself for a month in Marineford's mess while others gorged.
Volunteering for interrogation in Impel Down.
Spending a year shackled with death-row inmates across the six hells of Crimson, Beasts, Hunger, Scorching, Frozen, and Infinite.
Practicing celibacy in Sabaody Archipelago's lavish Pleasure District.
Trading Haoshoku blasts with Garp and Sengoku until blood ran from his seven orifices and he collapsed.
After these mad, near-suicidal trials.
He had pushed his Haoshoku stat past seventy.
But once it crossed that threshold, such death-defying stunts no longer worked.
Only one method still helped—direct Haoshoku clashes.
A contest of spirit!
So when Kong ordered him to infiltrate Hachinosu, Carlo's heart leapt.
Marineford had too few Haoshoku users.
Only Garp, Sengoku, and himself.
On Hachinosu, headquarters of the Rocks Pirates, Haoshoku wielders were everywhere.
Imagining the lawless, fight-to-the-death crowd he would soon face.
A wild grin crept across his face.
No fear of the unknown or of danger sparkled in his eyes.
Only hunger for battle, for blood, for that thrilling life—and impatience to begin.
Perhaps Kong was right.
He really was better suited than Garp or Sengoku to go undercover—as a pirate.
Dozens of minutes later.
'Hachinosu, we've arrived.'
Whitebeard's voice roused Carlo from his rest.
He stood and looked ahead.
A vast island filled his view.
A harbor several kilometers long stretched before them.
Dozens of pirate ships—large and small—lay at anchor.
Some belonged to the Rocks Pirates.
Others to different crews.
Though the island was Rocks' turf.
It was also the most notorious pirate haven in the New World.
Like Rocky Port, countless pirates came daily for revelry and trade.
Beyond the port sprawled a town.
Houses of every style stood in chaotic, wild disarray.
Most striking was the mountain shaped like a colossal skull, rising hundreds of meters.
Rumor placed the Rocks Pirates' base behind it.
Before their ship had even docked.
Carlo felt a crushing pressure radiating from the island.
His nerves tautened of their own accord.
As though facing a monstrous beast!
This island was the stronghold of the New World's mightiest crew—the Rocks Pirates.
Beast Isle, Hachinosu!
Wum!
Two red glints flashed in his eyes.
Not lasers—he had released Observation Haki.
Near-seven-star Observation swept the island in an instant.
In a heartbeat he detected powerful life-signs.
Rivals to Marineford's officers.
Some even stronger than Vice Admirals.
His perception pushed onward.
Past the town, toward the foot of Skull Mountain.
Then—
A terrifying life-force erupted in his senses!
Like facing the sea, the sky, a blazing sun.
More overwhelming than anything he had felt from Garp.
The instant his Observation brushed it.
The other party noticed.
In the next moment!
An invisible pressure burst from Skull Mountain and surged toward him.
A tidal wave that seemed to swallow everything—raging and fierce!
In a flash!
Carlo, standing behind Whitebeard, felt himself locked on by something deadly.
His white hair bristled, every hair on end.
Muscles reflexively tensed; he clenched his fists, ready to strike.
But no attack came.
The vast pressure that had chilled his back vanished as quickly as it arrived, sweeping over him and withdrawing.
It wasn't Haoshoku.
It was pure perceptive dominance.
This invisible might was Observation Haki!
Yes, Observation Haki!
Both sides were sensing life-force.
Yet the other towered above him.
Like two gazes meeting—
One the apex predator, a tyrant dragon, savage and brutal.
The other a frail chick, weak and helpless.
'So this… is Rocks?'