Chaton moved with incredible speed, and his chosen route was reasonably sound.
Yet midway through his charge toward the "giant main body," his Observation Haki pricked him with a needle-sharp warning.
Instinctively, he used Soru to dart sideways at full speed.
-Whoosh!
A "familiar" golden beam skimmed his back and struck a distant rocky outcrop.
-Boom-kaboom!
The explosion was "familiar," too. The same laser Kizaru used.
In the heart of the battlefield, Bondrewd had somehow aimed his left hand in this direction, a faint glow lingering on his fingertip.
Then Yamato smashed him into "fragments" with her club.
But almost simultaneously, Bondrewd appeared out of thin air beside Kuzan and slashed at his calf.
"...Uh-"
Chaton had never expected Bondrewd to find time to take a shot at him while five powerful opponents surrounded him.
The interference had not injured Chaton, but it had forced him to pause.
And the consequence of that pause-
"Flowing Mochi!"
Locked in fierce combat with Marco, Katakuri foresaw what was happening and unleashed his awakened ability at full power.
The ground around him instantly "softened," transforming into thick white mochi that rolled like ocean waves.
This was not an attack on Marco. It was aimed at Chaton.
The mochi surged into a towering tsunami, rushing toward Chaton as though it would swallow everything and trap him in its white mire.
"Rankyaku: Ran!"
Chaton reacted almost instantly. Still airborne, his legs blurred into afterimages. Dozens of crescent-shaped slashing waves whistled toward the immense mochi wave before him.
-Thup, thup, thup, thup!
Like hot knives through butter, the slashing waves tore a jumble of openings through the thick mochi surge.
Chaton flashed through them.
"You're not getting past!"
"Stay right there!"
Oven and Daifuku stood like gate guardians between Chaton and the "giant main body."
At