Carl set his sights on Cracker, accelerating with fierce determination. The terrifying momentum of his advance sent Cracker into a panic, his hands moving in a blur as he summoned towering walls of biscuits. Each massive biscuit rose several meters high, forming an impenetrable barrier.
But under the force, those supposedly indestructible biscuits crumbled to dust. They shattered effortlessly, and the impact slammed Cracker backward, hurling him toward Linlin. Luckily, the biscuit shields provided some cushioning, so while Cracker was thrown back, his life was not in immediate danger.
Linlin extended her massive hand, catching Cracker with a sharp clap. He was already unconscious, his arms wrapped around a charred, blackened object barely recognizable as a human head.
Before Linlin could react, Carl was already moving. He lifted Oven's headless body with one hand, then threw it toward the garden, leaping after it. As Carl landed gracefully on the corpse, he balanced on it like a surfer on a waveboard, descending from the sky in front of the stunned onlookers.
"Again, it's you!" Roger growled, his brows furrowed, glaring at Carl. "You just won't leave us alone, huh?"
Carl shrugged nonchalantly. "Well, once you're dead, you won't have to see me anymore, will you?"
As Linlin's children recognized the headless corpse under Carl's feet by its clothing and build, they realized it was the missing Oven. Despite his Heat-Heat Fruit abilities, he was now stone-cold.
Seeing Carl, Buggy struggled to reassemble his body, gritting his teeth as he sidled up to Shanks. Finally, a slight sense of relief washed over him in Shanks' presence.
Linlin carelessly tossed aside the unconscious Cracker, fixing her gaze on Carl with a look of recognition.
"So, it really was you—the brat from the Valley of Gods!"
Carl had become a familiar face in the news, and Linlin had seen his photo before. When she first saw it, something about him struck a chord, reminding her of the past. She quickly recalled the day at the Valley of Gods. That memory stuck with her, especially since Carl's interference had cost her the Paw-Paw Fruit, which would have been hers otherwise.
The irony wasn't lost on her. The scrawny brat who once stood like an ant before her was now a Navy Admiral.
Carl chuckled and spread his palm, conjuring a dark vortex that pulled Cracker's limp body into his grasp. Before Linlin could react, Carl twisted Cracker's head off with a casual motion and tossed it backward. The severed head rolled to a stop at Shanks' feet.
Stunned, Shanks stared blankly at Carl's back, snapped out of his trance only when Cracker's head rolled to his feet.
Nearby, Buggy flinched in fright, then remembered the torment Cracker had put him through earlier. With anger boiling in his chest, Buggy stomped on Cracker's head furiously, grinding it under his foot.
Shanks ignored Buggy's outburst, opening his mouth as if to say something, only to be interrupted by Linlin's furious scream.
"Bastard! How dare you kill Cracker right in front of me!"
Linlin was seething with rage. She hadn't expected Carl to act so ruthlessly, attacking without warning—and targeting an already unconscious Cracker. This kind of brazen, unorthodox behavior from a Navy Admiral was something she had never encountered before.
Carl merely raised an eyebrow, his tone dismissive. "Why are you shouting so loudly?"
His words ignited Linlin's fury even further. She clenched her fists, summoning Prometheus, who merged with her hair, and Zeus, who transformed into a pitch-black thundercloud, hovering menacingly above Carl.
With a battle cry, Linlin swung Napoleon, her blazing sword, toward Carl, aiming straight for his head.
Whoosh!
A terrifying sea of flames erupted from Napoleon, engulfing Carl in an inferno. The scorching heat warped the air around him.
Linlin's children sneered at the sight. "That damned Navy, turning to ash in Mama's flames!"
The members of the Roger Pirates, however, watched calmly. They knew Carl's strength, and even wondered if Linlin's attack could so much as scratch him.
Their suspicions were soon confirmed. The sneers on the Big Mom Pirates' faces froze as a dark figure emerged from the flames.
With hands in his pockets, Carl strolled out of the roaring fire as if it were a gentle breeze. He took out a cigarette, holding it over the flames behind him to light it, then inhaled deeply, exhaling a long trail of smoke with a relaxed expression.
It was as though Carl had delivered a slap to their faces.
Refusing to accept defeat, Linlin hurled more massive fireballs at Carl. But every attack proved futile; he emerged unscathed each time.
With Lunarian genes granting him immunity to fire, Carl's body was impervious to flames. Being submerged in fire felt as harmless as a warm bath.
Linlin trembled with anger, her grip on Napoleon so tight that her knuckles turned white. She let out a deep breath, finally extinguishing Napoleon's flames, and swung her sword, unleashing a massive purple sword energy.
Carl's expression finally turned serious. In an instant, he drew the cursed Muramasa, unleashing a black blade of sword energy.
The two waves of energy collided midair, with the purple energy dissipating first. Linlin's face paled as she raised Napoleon to deflect the now-shrunken black energy.
Linlin was shocked by Carl's mastery of both swordsmanship and Haki. Looking at his young face, she suddenly felt a sense of futility, as if all the children she'd borne over the years had been in vain.
Even her prized "creation," Katakuri, couldn't match up to Carl. He had already reached her and Roger's level, despite his youth.
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+170 chapters on p@treon/tambeerg