Instinctively, he wanted to create some distance from Carlo first.
But barely a hundredth of a second after his body flickered dozens of meters away, two crimson lasers streaked after him and slammed into the deck at his feet.
A titanic shockwave erupted across the steamship's deck, blasting away the forward third of the vessel—along with the mountain of treasure piled on board.
Amid the blast's gale, Wang Zhi flickered away at even greater speed.
Yet before he could land again, two more scarlet rays lanced through the air and obliterated the mast beneath him!
Wang Zhi flashed once more!
"Fist Bone! Meteor!"
This time it wasn't a laser—it was Carlo's Haki-laden heavy punch.
Directly above Wang Zhi, Carlo punched downward.
A pitch-black spherical shockwave bloomed, snapping the entire steamship in half at the waist.
Millions of Berries in gold and silver were pulverized before Wang Zhi's heartbroken gaze and sent tumbling into the deep.
"Waaah!" Old Buck was swatted into the air and cartwheeled into the sea.
"celestial tribute! Carlo—what the hell are you doing?" Kaido, already fighting on the second pirate ship, looked back and gaped.
The massive haul of celestial tribute they'd gone to such lengths to seize—obliterated in one punch and dumped into the ocean.
What kind of wastrel move was this?
Hell, part of that loot had been his!
Carlo—he was having another episode.
The man had lost it!
No matter what Kaido thought,
Carlo, still airborne, pummeled the wreckage below with punch after punch like a madman, reducing the broken steamship to splinters.
Red rays from his eyes tore across the sea, not only shredding the floating debris but also sweeping toward Kaido and engulfing several pirate ships in their blast radius.
"Boom!"
A crimson laser pierced one pirate ship's hull, detonated its stores, and hurled the whole vessel sky-high.
"Damn it—you really are insane!"
Spotting the blazing ray slicing toward him, severing the mast and streaking straight for his face, Kaido cursed, spun, and dived into the sea.
The instant he hit the water, the ship behind him exploded.
The dozens of pirates aboard didn't even have time to scream before they were turned to ash.
Wang Zhi flickered to the last remaining pirate ship and stared up at Carlo hovering overhead; his face turned ashen.
"Damn it—does this bastard intend to…?"
He hadn't expected Carlo to find the flaw in his teleportation so quickly.
His power was virtually flawless,
but it had one fatal weakness:
no matter how fast he jumped, there was always a moment when he had to stop.
And at that instant, unable to fly, he needed a place to stand.
On an island or on solid ground it was fine—
as long as he had stamina he could keep using the ability.
But out here, with no land in sight,
his footholds were limited to these few ships.
Now Carlo clearly meant to destroy every last one, leaving him nowhere to stand!
The bad premonition had just surfaced when two lasers ripped through the air!
Realizing Carlo's intent, Wang Zhi clenched his teeth and slashed with his long blade.
The beams struck the weapon and were deflected,
but the terrible impact and searing heat still hurled him backward.
At the same instant, violent wind roared down from the sky.
Wang Zhi looked up to see a jet-black fist plummeting toward him.
Teeth clenched, eyes bloodshot, he dove skyward and slashed at the descending Carlo with his Haki-wrapped sword.
"Think this wins you the fight? Naive!"
"I'll cut you down with one stroke!"
"Flash—"
Before the word left his mouth, Carlo's fist smashed the blade aside and, like a meteor from the heavens, slammed into his face.
"Bang!"
Half a tongue and dozens of broken teeth shot from Wang Zhi's mouth.
He spun through the air dozens of times and crashed head-first into the deck,
knocked out cold.
Carlo landed on the ship and shouted to Kaido, who was drifting in the sea, "Hey, Kaido! Do me a favor and fish out the heavenly dragon halberd."
"In your dreams!" Kaido snarled, clutching a half-soaked treasure chest. "You lunatic! All that celestial tribute we worked for—gone! Look what you've done!"
"It's just money. I'll pay you back later. Right now get the halberd and let's leave. Something feels wrong."
Carlo flashed him a grin and glanced toward the distant sea.
His eight-star Observation Haki screamed that something dangerous was racing their way—
a threat far beyond the likes of Wang Zhi.
If they didn't leave now, he might really be in trouble.
"Pay me back? You got that kind of cash?"
Kaido stared in open disbelief.
Carlo: "You diving or not? If not, I'll blow up this ship and fly off alone. Unless you feel like swimming back to Hachinosu, you'd better hurry."
Kaido froze, then his eyes bulged.
"Bastard! Knew you were that kind of scum! Threats wrapped in fake promises!"
Still fuming, he finally dived to the seabed and retrieved the heavenly dragon halberd for Carlo—
without so much as a friendly glance, of course.
Once Old Buck had clambered back aboard, Carlo told him to start the engines for home.
Just then a thunderous voice rolled across the horizon, booming like a clap of thunder above them,
thick with shock.
"C…Carlo?!!"
The instant he heard it, Carlo shivered, grabbed Old Buck with his left hand and Kaido with his right, and ballooned in size.
"Damn it—move! Trouble's here!"
"Carlo! What the hell are you—" Kaido tried to struggle,
but out of the corner of his eye he spotted a tiny figure in the distant sky, rapidly growing larger.
"Boom! Boom! Boom!"
The figure's feet detonated massive air bursts, racing like a shooting star across the sky, shaking the heavens with each step.
In the blink of an eye the man closed from seven or eight kilometers to just one.
Kaido saw clearly: a square-jawed man with a scar at the corner of his left eye.
Though still a kilometer away, the man's bestial, suffocating aura already crashed over them like a tidal wave.
At the same moment the man raised his right fist high.
Black-red lightning crackled from the clenched hand, arcing across the sky like a storm.
"Damn it, Carlo! Look what you've done! Stop right there—I'm taking you in!"
"Fist Bone! Galaxy Impact!!!"
The "trouble" Carlo had mentioned.