Wang Zhi's body turned into a series of afterimages, appearing in every corner of the steamship at the same time.
Dense sounds of breaking air rang out from all directions.
Carlo, standing at the center, looked up and saw hundreds of pitch-black slashes exploding toward him from every blind spot!
To his front, back, left, and right, above his head, and even from beneath his feet—since he was flying in the sky—sharp slashes were shooting toward him!
"A Thousand Strikes in an Instant! Instant Purgatory Slash!!"
Wang Zhi shouted, his entire being completely merging into the hundreds of slashes, charging forward along with the whistling strikes.
Even Carlo's Observation Haki couldn't capture his presence!
At this moment, a strong sense of crisis surged in Carlo's heart.
Wang Zhi's all-encompassing slash was indeed powerful, bringing immense danger to Carlo.
Under the enhancement of Armament Haki, the power of these slashes was enough to easily cut through steel.
Coupled with the bonus of his teleportation ability.
Even with Carlo's current formidable physique, he couldn't withstand such slashes.
If he were hit by so many slashes at once...
...even with the vitality of a Mythical Zoan, his body would likely be shredded to pieces instantly, leading to his death!
Should he use his fists to shatter the slashes in one direction and force his way out?
This was the first thought that flashed through Carlo's mind at this moment.
This was the decision made by his combat instinct.
But as soon as this thought surfaced, he forcibly suppressed it.
No!
He wanted to stay!
Now was a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity!
A perfect chance to make a breakthrough in his Observation Haki!
If he couldn't find a way to crack Wang Zhi's teleportation ability...
...even if he broke through this move and escaped, he would just fall into this kind of danger again.
Rather than that...
...it was better to take a gamble!
As long as he achieved a breakthrough in his Observation Haki and became stronger, he might be able to reverse this deadlocked battle.
No sooner said than done.
Under Wang Zhi's astonished gaze,
Carlo, surrounded by hundreds of slashes at the center, suddenly closed his eyes. As if resigning himself to fate, he just floated there in mid-air.
At this moment, Carlo abandoned his sight and gave up on counterattacking, relying entirely on his body's instinct and Observation Haki's perception to deal with this life-and-death crisis.
*Swoosh!*
The air surged before him as a pitch-black slash instantly flew toward Carlo's face.
Carlo sidestepped, and the ten-meter-long slash flew past his nose.
"Observation Haki +0.2!"
*Swoosh!*
His back tightened as three parallel slashes shot out in a triangular formation, simultaneously striking at Carlo's head, back, and legs.
Carlo folded his wings behind him and suddenly curled up like a large ball. His body spun, avoiding the two slashes flying from above.
Then he instantly unfolded like a flat ribbon, narrowly avoiding the next slash aimed at his body by a hair's breadth.
"Observation Haki +0.5"
"Observation Haki +0.3"
"Observation Haki +0.7"
"Current Observation Haki Attribute: Seven-Star 70.245!"
"The Observation Haki attribute has also broken through 70!"
Checking the attribute panel that appeared in his mind and seeing his Observation Haki attribute value break through 70—following his Physique and Armament Haki—a hint of joy appeared in Carlo's eyes.
As expected!
Only this kind of extreme evasion and specialized training for predicting enemy attacks could rapidly increase the strength of Observation Haki.
As the Observation Haki attribute broke through to Seven-Star...
...the perception of Observation Haki was clearly strengthened.
Not only did the range of perception increase significantly...
...but the sensitivity of the perception was also remarkably enhanced.
This greatly improved Carlo's efficiency in dodging attacks.
*Whoosh, whoosh, whoosh!*
Dense slashes shot forward in unison.
Carlo dodged continuously.
"Observation Haki Attribute +0.5"
"Observation Haki Attribute +0.3"
"Observation Haki Attribute +0.8"
However, the number of slashes attacking simultaneously from all around was still too many.
So many that they exceeded Carlo's limit reaction speed.
Even though he dodged a portion of them, his body was still hit by many slashes.
Slashes of various sizes, some deep enough to see the bone, appeared all over his body!
Blood sprayed like a fountain, staining his entire body red.
With the accumulation of injuries and loss of blood, Carlo's reactions became sluggish, and his speed slowed down accordingly.
The number of times he was hit by slashes increased as well.
But Carlo's eyes grew brighter and brighter.
Over a dozen pitch-black slashes shot toward him at the same time.
"Paper Arts! Butterfly!"
Carlo's body became like a thin sheet of paper, rippling as he passed through the narrow gaps between the dozen or so slashes.
"Observation Haki +0.6"
"Observation Haki +0.7"
"Observation Haki +0.4"
As he continued to dodge, the increases in his Observation Haki attribute scrolled through the depths of his mind like a waterfall.
Carlo could clearly feel that he was about to touch that threshold.
It wasn't something like predicting the future.
But rather—
"Observation Haki: Eight-Star 80.044!"
"I've finally broken through to Eight-Star Observation Haki!"
Hearing the pleasant notification sound in his mind, Carlo was ecstatic.
At the same time, a mysterious and profound feeling surged in his heart.
He just floated there in the sky.
With his eyes closed.
He didn't need to listen with his ears.
He even abandoned his body's instinctive reactions.
He simply released his Observation Haki.
At this moment, Carlo could clearly feel this world—the world enveloped by his Observation Haki.
The flow of air.
The flow of the wind.
Wang Zhi's irritable, angry, and resentful emotions, as well as his killing intent.
The presence of the blades.
The presence of the steamship.
The angle of every single slash shooting toward him.
The positions of every pirate around them, as well as their fear of Kaido.
Even the heavenly dragon halberd deeply embedded in the seabed!
Everything, he felt it all.
This world was so transparent!
This wonderful feeling of transparency made Carlo simply name this Eight-Star Observation perception—
Total Clarity!
*Swoosh, swoosh, swoosh!*
Even more slashes, dozens or even hundreds of them, were once again unleashed by Wang Zhi.
But this time, Carlo was no longer just dodging.
He smiled and raised his right hand, which was wrapped in Haki, clenched it into a fist, and casually threw a punch at a slash flying from the right.
*Boom!*
The slash exploded upon impact.
More slashes flew in, but the movements of Carlo's hands suddenly stopped.
He just floated there in mid-air.
In the next moment, the slashes shooting through the air were affected by the explosion of the previous one. After shifting by extremely tiny angles, the slashes all collided with each other.
Like a chain reaction, they all exploded instantly!
And Carlo, standing at the center, was completely unharmed!
In Wang Zhi's eyes,
...he only saw Carlo casually throw a punch and destroy all the slashes he had spent a large amount of Haki to unleash.
This shocking scene left Wang Zhi filled with doubt and alarm.
"This kid's power... how did it suddenly become so strong?"