On the pirate ship, the pirates brought by Ochoku looked at the fierce battle between Ochoku and Carlos, unable to help but exchange glances.
"What should we do? Captain Ochoku is fighting that new Senior Combatant. Should we help?"
"Help? Help who?"
"Are you an idiot! Help Captain Ochoku, of course! You're not thinking of helping that arrogant newcomer, are you?"
"Help... I want to help, but the problem is, how?"
A pirate pointed at Carlos, who had spread his wings and was flying in mid-air, pouncing down from the sky like a hawk hunting a rabbit, constantly attacking Ochoku.
"Can you fly? Or do you think our speed can keep up with them?"
The pirates looked at each other and fell silent.
Above the steamship in front of Kaido.
Swoosh! Swoosh! Swoosh!
The golden wings on Carlos's back flapped rapidly, carrying him as he dodged and moved across the massive ship, chasing after Ochoku's figure.
Having discarded the heavenly dragon halberd, he felt light and unburdened, his speed increasing by a significant margin.
But compared to Ochoku, who possessed the Instant Teleportation Fruit ability, there was still a clear and substantial gap.
If Ochoku were solely focused on dodging and escaping, Carlos would likely have no hope of catching him.
Fortunately, at this moment, Ochoku was clearly enraged to the extreme by Carlos's act of throwing the heavenly dragon halberd into the sea.
Therefore, he had no intention of retreating at all.
He wanted to kill Carlos right here to satisfy his hatred!
Gripping his long sword tightly, Ochoku constantly activated his teleportation to evade Carlos's repeated pursuits.
Then, at the very moment Carlos swung a punch, he would teleport to Carlos's side, dodge the fist, and swing his sword at high speed!
"Blink Slash!"
The cold, glinting blade slashed toward Carlos's chest and abdomen.
Within Carlos's eyes, the red glow representing the activation of Observation Haki flickered continuously.
Although he was far from reaching the level of predicting the future,
he was capturing Ochoku's movements every second.
Despite Ochoku's extremely fast teleportation speed,
with mental preparation, Carlos's movements still managed to barely keep up.
His right fist, wrapped in pitch-black Haki, struck toward his left side like lightning, colliding violently with the slashing blade!
Clang!
Amidst the buzzing sound of metal and stone shattering, that segment of the cold, glinting blade was sent flying by his punch.
"Observation Haki +0.2"
The wings on his back flapped, and amidst the whistling airflow, he pounced forward, his raised fist booming straight toward Ochoku's face!
"Hmph! Want to catch me? You're ten thousand years too early, brat!"
Without seeing Ochoku make any visible movement,
his figure in front of Carlos suddenly flickered to dozens of meters away, dodging the heavy punch Carlos had thrown head-on.
And in the interval of less than a tenth of a second before Carlos could pull back his right fist,
Ochoku, who had flickered dozens of meters away, abruptly appeared directly behind Carlos, thrusting his sword straight toward Carlos's heart!
This time, Carlos did not choose to use the wings on his back for defense.
Instead, he arched his back, and his wings flared out as golden feathers shot out toward Ochoku like sharp arrows!
Offense is the best defense!
The sky full of golden feathers whistled as they shot forward.
Ochoku let out a cold snort and once again sheathed his sword to teleport away.
This time, he teleported directly to the other end of the steamship, standing atop the mast at the stern, watching Carlos opposite him as he slowly raised the long sword in his hand.
His arm shook, and a pitch-black luster quietly emerged upon the long sword.
He naturally possessed the power of Armament Haki as well.
Wrapping Haki around the long sword, Ochoku was in no hurry to attack; instead, he turned and shouted toward the several pirate ships in the distance:
"You lot! Get into the sea immediately and find that heavenly dragon halberd for me!"
The pirates on the ships heard this and looked troubled: "Captain Ochoku! The water here is too deep, we probably can't dive that far down to the seabed..."
"Shut up!!"
Ochoku roared in a violent rage.
At the same time, he swung the Haki-wrapped long sword in his hand with force.
Swish!
A ten-meter-long black slash erupted from the long sword, flying past the pirate ship and slicing through the sea, leaving the pirates on board pale with fright.
"If you don't want to die, fish up that heavenly dragon halberd for me!!"
"Yes... yes! We'll go down and salvage it right now!"
Helpless, the pirates could only obey, jumping into the sea one after another, preparing to dive to the bottom to find the heavenly dragon halberd.
Carlos didn't care about this at all.
He didn't even have the intention to go over and stop them.
What a joke.
The heavenly dragon halberd weighed over sixty tons.
Of these pirates Ochoku brought, which one could swim up from the sea while carrying something weighing over sixty tons?
Not to mention the seawater here was at least several hundred, or even a thousand meters deep.
Among everyone present, the only one capable of swimming up from the sea with it was likely Kaido alone.
However, while Carlos didn't move, someone else did.
Perhaps he felt an itch to fight after watching the battle between Carlos and Ochoku,
or perhaps he was truly thinking of Carlos.
Kaido, who had been standing still on the steamship with his club on his shoulder for a long while, suddenly crouched down and exploded with incredible jumping power, leaping high from the ship. He crossed the hundred-meter-wide sea surface like a heavy cannonball, crashing directly onto one of the pirate ships.
His high-raised spiked club swept toward the caught-off-guard pirates.
"Wororororo! I hate taking advantage of people the most! You trash, can't you just stay to the side and watch the show?!"
The massive spiked club swung across, clearing a large section of the deck in one strike and sending a dozen unlucky pirates tumbling into the sea.
"Bastard! Newbie! What are you doing? Stop it right now!"
"Counterattack! Counterattack! Kill him!"
The pirates on the ship roared in anger one after another, charging at Kaido.
However, Kaido was not angry but delighted, laughing as he met them, swinging his club wildly!
"That Oni brat!!"
In the distance, seeing this scene, Ochoku gritted his teeth in anger. His body moved, seemingly intending to go over and deal with Kaido.
Swoosh! Swoosh!
Two crimson lasers shot through the air, passing through his body as it turned into an afterimage.
Carlos shot forward like lightning once again.
"Your opponent is me!"
"I've never considered a wet-behind-the-ears brat like you an opponent!"
Ochoku teleported to Carlos's side, his long sword unleashing a sudden slash from a distance.
The black slash whistled through the air, shooting forward!
"Let me show you my true strength!"
He teleported again, appearing on Carlos's right side, his long sword flaring out once more.
Another black slash shot through the air, heading straight for Carlos.
The interval between it and the previous slash was less than a tenth of a second!
"This move was originally intended to challenge Charlotte Linlin for the position of Third Division Captain."
Swish!
From behind Carlos.
Yet another black slash came cutting in diagonally!
"Carlos! It is your honor to die by this technique!"
Swish, swish, swish!
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