Absolute Comprehension—as the name implies, Karl can learn any move or technique at a glance and grasp it in an instant.
Unlike copying, this comprehension makes it his own, with his own style.
Without a doubt, this second trait is in no way inferior to Steel Body.
Karl himself has never truly been a "genius."
That he mastered both colors of Haki so young was thanks to his incomparable physique—his body has built-in advantages.
In truth, Karl's talent isn't bad, but it wasn't great either.
With a monster-class physique, he still couldn't teach himself the Navy's Rokushiki by sheer ability.
He could throw black Haki-laden slashes by brute force, yet couldn't perceive a swordsman's "breath of all things," the so-called cut-steel state.
But now, Karl is no longer a dullard with poor insight—he's the strongest "martial prodigy" in history.
Advanced applications of Haki, advanced swordcraft, advanced body techniques… so long as the person who knows them performs them once before him, Karl learns them at a glance, stamps them with his own mark, and makes them his.
Like Steel Body, it's another unreasonable, broken ability.
So Karl's eyes shone as he looked at Rayleigh. He clenched fists wrapped in flowing Haki and charged, shouting, "Uncle, if you've got the goods, bring them on!"
"Kid, your intentions are a little too obvious."
Watching Karl steal every trick, Rayleigh's mouth twitched.
At the same time, his heart filled with expectation.
A monster whose physical and learning gifts are both world-rare—once he enters that strongest sea, he'll cause a huge stir.
In the New World, ruled by the Four Emperors, a spoiler may appear.
Before that—
Let me confirm it: is his talent truly this overwhelming?
In that moment, Rayleigh forgot all about his former savior, Hachi.
Seeing Karl rush in with flowing Haki on his fists, Rayleigh's power stepped into yet another dimension, and he displayed what's called overwhelming might.
He raised a hand and caught Karl's flowing-Haki punch head-on, then with the other hand struck Karl's breastplate at a speed even Karl's Observation Haki couldn't fully predict.
Boom—!
A thunderous report sounded from Karl's chest and back.
His knight's armor—worth several million belli—shattered in an instant.
Then, like the Rokushiki secret art Rokuogan, an air cannon blasted out through Karl's back.
"Urgh…"
His chest hadn't caved, but Karl still spat blood—the first internal injury since he was born.
Yet even as he coughed blood, there wasn't a trace of weakness on his face. He looked at Rayleigh, grinned again, and said, "Thanks, Uncle. I learned another one!"
"…As expected, a monster."
With profound Observation Haki—as if seeing into the future—Rayleigh sighed once more, then chose to leap back and evade.
Boom—!
No sooner had he moved than the ground he'd stood on took Karl's punch.
Where the fist landed, the scene wasn't shattered rubble like before. The surface didn't crack at all; instead the ground drew inward in a shrunken ring, forming a sunken pit.
At first glance it looked ordinary, nothing like Karl's past, sprawling devastation.
But only someone who has mastered the highest Armament Haki application would know how terrifying that punch was.
In both power and level, it could not be mentioned in the same breath as Karl's old earth-splitting, rock-crushing blows.
In that single strike—beyond raw strength—Karl used Armament Haki hardening, coating, and emission.
Layering the methods let the flowing Haki not only project outward, but pass through a target's surface and destroy it from within.
That is Armament Haki's pinnacle—internal destruction.
In the original account, two years later Luffy had only hardening and coating; not until Wano did he, in a short time, learn advanced emission and the pinnacle internal destruction.
That pace was downright cheat-level.
Karl, however, learned emission and internal destruction with just two looks.
He's become the cheater among cheaters.
Absolute Comprehension is that absurd.
"Uncle, use everything you've got!"
Having pulped the red tree's interior with one punch, Karl looked up, eager to trade hundreds of rounds with Rayleigh—
But the Pirate King's right hand had vanished at some point.
"Where'd he go?"
Karl glanced around, baffled.
Sensing that Rayleigh wasn't hiding—he was truly gone—Karl immediately cast out his Observation Haki to seek him.
A second later, he scowled. "Tch… hitting someone and running? That's low!"
In Karl's perception, Rayleigh was pulling away at a speed not inferior to Karl's own.
In under three minutes, Rayleigh would slip beyond the range of Karl's island-spanning senses.
Clearly, Rayleigh had no intention of continuing the fight.
Hitting and running like that left Karl very annoyed.
And good thing Rayleigh ran, or Karl might not have held back from shouting:
"If you don't leave now, are you planning to get beaten to death?"
That "beaten to death" wasn't a joke.
Having watched Karl learn emission and internal destruction in two glances, Rayleigh felt real pain—on behalf of himself.
Most aboard the Oro Jackson were non-ability users.
Rayleigh and Roger were non-ability users.
Their peak lay in sword and Haki; though their bodies were strong enough to swim the Calm Belt, they still couldn't be compared to the supreme monsters.
Karl's physique, even if not yet at those monsters' level, already stood above Rayleigh's.
Beyond that terrifying body, he has a learning ability that "steals" techniques at a look—only a fool would keep fighting.
If he also got "stolen" swordcraft and other Haki applications, Rayleigh might not even make it out.
Let those with Devil Fruits have headaches over this kind of monster.
As for the octopus Hachi, Rayleigh could only offer a quiet apology.
That palm—let it count as vengeance paid.
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