Katakuri can use his Future Sight to see Vic's moves and trajectories, but pseudo-elementalization alone is not enough. He cannot completely pseudo-elementalize his body in the air, since he is not a true Logia, which would put him at a disadvantage.
Katakuri even used Armament Haki for defense, but even so, he had more wounds than before. When he Armament Haki to defend, he was also injured internally by Vic's even stronger Ryuo.
It can be said that Katakuri currently injured both internally and externally, and is already struggling to hold on. If this continues, with so many injuries, it will definitely affect his condition and his Observation Haki, and he will eventually be defeated.
He hadn't expected that Vic hadn't used his full strength against him. After mastering the Future Sight, he thought he could put up a fight, but now it seemed he had been tricked. Katakuri's expression was somewhat ferocious, and he felt extremely unwilling!
No matter how unwilling he was, it was useless. It was just that they were on different sides, and there was a grudge from before. Even if Vic admired him as a real man, it was useless. Vic had already decided to kill him, so his attacks were relentless and decisive!
Smoothie had already flown back using Geppo, but given the current state of their battle—no, under Vic's one-sided and aggressive offensive—she couldn't get involved at all. If Vic were to distract her even slightly, she couldn't withstand it. So she didn't intervene, but her worry was palpable.
Vic could see that Katakuri was on the verge of collapse. His Devil Fruit ability was no longer as smooth as before, and his Observation Haki, Future Sight, was also affected by his physical and mental exhaustion. He could no longer Future Sight with 100% accuracy, and his wounds were getting bigger and more numerous.
Just as Vic was about to end the battle with a swift, Wind Conception slash, something unexpected happened.
Vic's invisible and intangible Wind Conception slash was blocked in front of Katakuri by an invisible force, and the slash was directly shattered and dispersed into a gentle breeze.
Katakuri's Observation Haki, which allows him to foresee the Future Sight, couldn't detect such a slash until it struck the target. Only then could his Future Sight detect the slash and its point of impact through the target's wound.
But all we know is where the attack lands; we can't capture the shape, size, or trajectory of the slash. Most of Katakuri's wounds were caused by his Wind Conception Slash.
Because such a move would lengthen his reaction time, preventing him from using pseudo-elemental transformation to avoid damage in time, this slash was ineffective and was blocked by some kind of force, which was something Vic found very puzzling!
He knew this wasn't the power Katakuri and Smoothie used; if they still possessed such power, they would have used it long ago, not waited until a life-or-death situation.
The trump cards used when you're on the verge of death are basically one-time plays. What good are they after you've used them? You're still at the mercy of others, and they don't change the outcome at all. If they weren't one-time plays, you should have used them long ago. Would you have ended up battered and bruised?
Just as Vic was wondering what this power was, a sense of crisis surged within him, and he instantly vanished from his spot. A massive black slash sliced through the area where Vic had just stood and sent him flying towards the horizon.
Even Vic dared not take this slash lightly and try to withstand it head-on. This slash was comparable to his own full-force attack and could injure him.
However, his Observation Haki was always active, and apart from the people on the pirate ship and the warship, there was no other human presence nearby. It wasn't these people who made the move, and Smoothie next to him didn't have the strength to do so either.
Just as Vic was focusing his attention on sensing the unknown enemy with his Observation Haki, he seemed to sense something and looked in a certain direction!
There was a figure hovering in mid-air, rapidly approaching them as if teleporting. The person was shrouded in a black robe, with a black hood covering their head and face, making it impossible to see their features. In the blink of an eye, they arrived in front of the group from afar.
Vic's forehead was covered in cold sweat as he looked at the man. This man in black robes gave him a terrifying feeling. Although he looked like an ordinary person shrouded in black robes, could an ordinary person levitate in mid-air? Standing in the air without even moving his feet? Even Vic's advanced Geppo couldn't do that!
Could an ordinary person become invisible under Vic's Observation Haki? In Vic's Observation Haki perception, the place where the black-robed man stood was empty; there was no person or object at all!
That was less than twenty meters away from Vic! Even if Vic had used up some of his Observation Haki in the battle just now, surely he wouldn't have been unable to sense anything at such close range?
His body could recover its Haki in a few seconds, which would have been enough to allow him to sense things, but now he could only see with his naked eyes. His Observation Haki was completely useless against the black-robed man in front of him. This was why Vic was sweating. This man gave him a much greater sense of pressure than Kaido had given him before, as if he had encountered his natural enemy!
Vic was on high alert, as if he had encountered a mortal enemy, but Katakuri and Smoothie did not have this extreme sense of danger. One was too weak to sense it, and the other was battered and bruised by Vic and in a state of mental turmoil.
Furthermore, since the man in black robes was there to help them, he didn't sense this and was only wondering why the man in black robes had come to save them.
The newcomer, a figure about two meters tall, was not one of the powerful figures Katakuri recognized. Although the hood did not completely cover the newcomer's face, the black-robed man's face was like a black hole, attracting all the light. It was pitch black there, making it impossible to see his features, so Katakuri could not recognize who he was.
He suspected that his mother had invited him, as only someone as powerful as his mother could possibly summon such a powerful figure. He even suspected that the man in black robes was one of his mother's old lovers.
He hadn't had time to call his mother for help since then, and neither had Smoothie and Cracker. Could it have been those Homies who attacked him?
But would Dark Dragon just stand by and do nothing? Did he, like himself, not believe that anyone could arrive in time to provide assistance?
Even if Homies requested help, who could arrive in time to rescue them? Could this man in black robes be somewhere nearby?
Katakuri thought about it a lot, but still couldn't figure it out. However, he was relieved. If it weren't for that invisible force blocking the unseen slash, he would have been split in two.
Vic stared intently at the black-robed man's feet, but remained motionless. This mysterious man didn't need to levitate by stepping on the air; he was truly floating in mid-air!
This reminded Vic of the scenes he witnessed when he practiced Geppo and flew up to the Red Line. In those illusory images, seven humans dressed in different clothes could all float in the air!
That's ten thousand meters above the ground, in a place with thin air. That kind of flight couldn't possibly be the effect of a Devil Fruit ability. There can't be seven identical Devil Fruit, can there? Devil Fruit are all unique!