Chapter 55: The Titan’s Awakening: Life and Death on Beehive Island

“Charlotte Linlin?”

“You really jinxed it.”

Sengoku glared at Garp, looking like he might explode, though deep down he knew this wasn’t the time to blame him. Garp was just a convenient target for his frustration.

Garp gave a helpless smile. Even he hadn’t expected Charlotte Linlin to show up here.

“Heavenly Emperor—Sky King!”

Charlotte Linlin rushed onto the battlefield and spotted Karl at the center, instantly believing he was already dead.

Without hesitation she sent Zeus charging at Garp and Sengoku, launching a barrage of random strikes. Lightning crackled wildly across the whole island.

Garp and Sengoku, already exhausted from battle, were barely hanging on. Facing Charlotte Linlin was one thing—but what really worried them was the fear that the Rocks Pirates could appear at any moment.

Their eyes met, both grave. They understood exactly how dangerous the situation was. Without hesitating, they flew toward the shore and ordered the Navy to set sail back to Headquarters at once.

Seeing Garp and Sengoku retreat, Charlotte Linlin didn’t chase after them. Instead, she leapt to Karl’s side.

Standing before him, she looked down into Karl’s empty, lifeless eyes.

“You’re not… really gone, are you?”

Tears of grief welled up in Charlotte Linlin’s eyes.

“Thump!”

“Huh?”

Charlotte Linlin froze, hardly believing her ears—she could just barely make out the sound of Karl’s heartbeat.

Her hands trembled as she reached out. Ignoring the blood covering Karl’s body, she gently gathered him to her chest.

“Thump, thump, thump!”

“You’re alive—thank goodness!”

The very next second, Charlotte Linlin broke out in a laugh. She hadn’t been mistaken—Karl’s heart was still beating, though faintly.

Karl’s body had gone into emergency shutdown. After his full awakening as a Titan, the strain was too much for his body to bear, triggering an instinctive response—a state of suspended animation.

By appearing dead, his body could adapt to the new, transformed state!

All that blood everywhere? Most of it was toxins, expelled from his body during the Titan transformation.

Garp and Sengoku hadn’t had the chance to get close enough to finish Karl off—Charlotte Linlin had arrived just in time and saved him from certain death.

“Zeus!”

Charlotte Linlin shouted to the sky.

“Mama!”

Zeus, who’d been bombarding the Navy ships with lightning at the shoreline, perked up at her call.

Despite Garp and Sengoku’s weakened state, Zeus alone didn’t have enough firepower to do real damage to the Navy’s ships.

But when he heard Charlotte Linlin shout, he raced back immediately.

“Get us back to Beehive Island as fast as you can!”

Zeus glanced between Charlotte Linlin and Karl.

“Don’t worry, Mama.”

With that, Zeus morphed into a massive thundercloud.

Charlotte Linlin’s heart ached as she looked at Karl’s battered body.

She carefully cradled Karl in her arms, stepped onto the cloud and sat cross-legged.

“Hold on tight, Mama.”

Zeus wore a serious expression; he knew just how important this mission was.

With a burst of speed, the thundercloud shot through the sky toward Beehive Island.

“Karl is probably dead by now, right?”

“Didn’t get a chance to check—this is all your fault, you and that big mouth of yours.”

Back aboard the Navy warship, in the infirmary, Garp grinned at Sengoku.

“Hahaha!”

“If he survived this, then luck’s really on his side.”

Now that the battle was over, Garp stopped obsessing over whether Karl lived or died. After all, their reports showed that Karl hadn’t slaughtered innocent civilians.

So for Garp, it didn’t really matter what happened to Karl. If Karl was a pirate guilty of atrocities, Garp would have risked anything to make sure he didn’t escape—but that just wasn’t the case.

If Karl died, well, that would just be bad luck for him.

“You make it sound so easy. This is just the start of our headaches.”

Sengoku had a different perspective. To him, letting such a powerful pirate slip through their fingers like this meant there’d be bigger trouble down the line.

This had been their one and only chance to kill Karl themselves. Now, it was gone.

“Brrr brrr!”

A transponder snail buzzed on Sengoku’s shoulder, its shell-shaped receiver clearly belonging to Fleet Admiral Hill—ready to hear the results.

“You pick up.”

Sengoku gave Garp a mocking look.

“Ahaha!”

“Oh no, I’ll leave this one to you!”

“I’m out—don’t want to get in your way!”

Laughing, Garp hurried out of the medical bay, moving so fast you’d think someone was chasing him.

“Tch, look at you.”

Sengoku and Garp had known each other since their days at the recruit camp. Of course Sengoku understood his old friend’s temperament. He just shook his head helplessly and answered the call.

…

“See how he’s doing, quickly!”

Meanwhile, Charlotte Linlin flew through the skies for hours before finally reaching Beehive Island. The first thing she did was summon the resident ship’s doctor to check on Karl’s condition.

“On it, right away!”

Seeing Charlotte Linlin’s anxious face, the doctor didn’t dare to hesitate. He grabbed his tools and rushed to examine Karl.

He strapped on his medical gear and took a deep breath, focusing intently. Carefully, he pried open Karl’s eyelids, checking the state of his pupils.

He pressed the stethoscope against Karl’s chest, listening to his heartbeat and organs.

With his right hand, he checked Karl’s pulse, taking in every detail.

The doctor’s face was grave. He’d never seen injuries this severe—there wasn’t a single unbroken bone in Karl’s body, every one of them was cracked. Yet despite such massive internal damage, Karl was still barely hanging on.

Charlotte Linlin, watching his expression, turned deathly pale—certain that Karl couldn’t be saved.

“Is… is he going to be all right?”

Charlotte Linlin’s voice trembled, just like a family member waiting outside an operating room.

Glancing at her, the doctor panicked, blurting out,

“Please don’t worry. Lord Karl’s body isn’t in any mortal danger.”

The doctor knew if he hesitated even a second, his own life might be on the line. Just from Charlotte Linlin’s worried look, he could tell how much she cared for Karl.

If his report was bad, he’d be the first to pay the price.

“What’s his exact condition now?”

Charlotte Linlin finally let out a breath, her captivating smile returning.

“Reporting, Lady Linlin, Lord Karl’s vitality is extremely weak. He’ll need a lot of nourishment to recover.”

“I’ll dress Lord Karl’s wounds, but as for restoring his energy, I’ll have to trouble you, Lady Charlotte Linlin.”

The doctor spoke with obvious fear, choosing every word with caution around her.

The truth was, no one really knew Karl’s secret. Even Karl himself had neglected to mention it to Charlotte Linlin.

He actually possessed the Titan’s Gift, and, with help from the System, held the power of Titan blood.

As long as his feet touched the ground, no matter how badly he was hurt, as long as his heart kept beating, he’d slowly recover to peak condition over time.

Simply by standing on solid earth, his stamina would flow back non-stop.

But Charlotte Linlin had quickly picked him up and brought him back to Beehive Island, cutting off that connection to the ground.

Even so, Karl’s body was still stubbornly healing, but without more energy, the wounds would take much longer to close.

“You handle his wounds, I’ll go get some food.”

“If anything goes wrong, you know what’ll happen.”

As soon as Charlotte Linlin heard Karl needed energy, she didn’t waste words.

Throwing the doctor a warning, she strode out quickly—she needed to get a Sea King beast for Karl right away.

In the world of pirates, Sea Kings were the ultimate source of high-energy food.