Fine threads sliced through the air with a shrill whistle.
Ricardo did not look back. He merely leaned slightly to the left.
The threads skimmed his clothes and sliced the entire stone wall behind him into neat blocks, which collapsed with a crash.
Amid the spreading dust, the Horse-Eared Girl moved.
She lowered her body, tensed her leg muscles to their limit, then shot forward like a spring.
Rather than charging straight ahead, she zigzagged repeatedly, each push leaving a cracked footprint in the bricks.
The bull-headed warrior followed close behind.
His charge was an eruption of pure strength. Every step shook the corridor, his battle-axe dragging at his side, its edge reflecting a cold light.
Rossi did not move.
He closed his eyes and expanded his Observation Haki to its limit.
In his world of perception, everyone's presence became a flame of a different color-Doffy's was restless scarlet, Vergo's was somber black, the Horse-Eared Girl's was swift silver-white, and the bull-headed warrior's was heavy ocher.
And Ricardo...
Was a blank.
No, not a blank.
He was a void that absorbed and devoured every fluctuation, like a black hole no light could enter.
Rossi could only infer the man's position indirectly, through the distorted paths of the surrounding presences.
"Three steps left. Duck."
He shouted in his mind.
The Horse-Eared Girl changed her movements almost as soon as she heard him. The ** originally aimed at her throat swept downward, cutting through her fluttering hem.
Ricardo gave a soft "Oh?"
He sounded somewhat surprised.
The battle-axe followed immediately.
Rather than chopping downward, it swept up from below, cutting off any room to dodge.
Ricardo raised his left hand, pressed his index and middle fingers together, and lightly flicked the side of the axe blade.
Clang-
The vibrating metal's hum pierced