Two-Face impatiently ripped off the hood, revealing Maroni's terrified face.
"Hahaha, you bastard, you finally fell into my hands," Harvey Dent's scarred face twisted with excitement and perverse delight.
Hardy took a few steps to the side.
He didn't want to get blood on himself in a moment.
After all, his Swallowtail coat was a meticulously crafted, perfect piece of fashion—what if he couldn't get it clean?
Maroni's mouth was stuffed with a rag, so he couldn't speak, only letting out muffled noises, who knows what he was trying to say.
Harvey Dent was about to remove the rag, but paused, pulling a coin from his pocket.
"I really want to hear you beg for mercy, but I also really want to hear you scream. As for which to choose, I'll leave it to absolute fairness. Heads, you beg. Tails, you scream."
The coin was tossed high, clattering crisply to the ground.
Tails.
Two-Face snapped his fingers.
A henchman took a small vial from a case and handed it to Harvey Dent.
"You know what this is?" Harvey Dent held the vial between two fingers, waving it in front of Maroni's face.
"This is ten milliliters of concentrated sulfuric acid—98.3% pure. I don't know if that's the same concentration you used to ruin me back then, but…"
With a pop, Harvey Dent uncorked the vial.
"I imagine the pain is the same."
A drop of concentrated sulfuric acid landed on Maroni's palm.
The pain was obvious.
Maroni's whole body trembled, his bound form writhing madly on the ground, his face flushed red, eyes bulging.
"Oh? Can't handle just that little bit? I—"
At a chemical plant under my control, I've prepared a whole pool of concentrated sulfuric acid just like this. When the time comes, I'll drip it, drop by drop, over every inch of your body! I want you to suffer ten times, a hundred times, a thousand times the pain I once endured!"
Harvey Dent grabbed Maroni by the neck and let another drop of sulfuric acid fall from Maroni's collar. Then he pulled the gag from Maroni's mouth.
"Ahhhhhh—!!"
The agonized screams made Harvey Dent close his eyes in pleasure, as if he were listening to a masterful concert.
A few seconds later, Harvey gave a subordinate a look. The man stepped forward and stuffed the gag back into Maroni's mouth.
The screams ceased, and Maroni was dragged onto a truck by Two-Face's suited men.
"Sorry, there's just so much to celebrate today—it's left me a bit intoxicated."
Harvey Dent straightened the collar of his half-black, half-white suit and spoke with elegance.
If you only looked at the unscarred half of his face, he really did look like a refined, successful professional.
"Oh? There's more to celebrate?"
Hardy's interest was piqued.
"Of course."
Harvey Dent took another vial from the box that held the sulfuric acid.
"What's that...?"
"The Titan serum."
As soon as Harvey finished speaking, he unhesitatingly plunged the syringe into the neck of the subordinate beside him.
Within a few breaths, the man's suit burst apart, black fabric strips hanging from his now-bulging frame.
"The effect seems weaker than what I've seen before."
Hardy, resting his chin on one hand, commented as he looked at the muscle-bound giant before him.
"That unknown organic compound still eludes us, so Dr. Victor had to try synthesizing it himself. In the end, he produced a similar alcohol-based compound. The effect is weaker, and it doesn't last as long, but it's less addictive."
"That's acceptable."
Hardy sensed something odd in Two-Face's demeanor.
"It's good enough—enough for me to reconsider whether you're strong enough to work with me."
Harvey Dent stepped back, drew two more vials, and injected them into the necks of the subordinates on either side of him.
"Really, I grew up in Gotham too. Do you think I don't know what people like you are thinking?"
You didn't need to be a genius to figure out what Harvey Dent was up to.
He just wanted to keep the spoils for himself.
And maybe double-cross his partners to recoup his investment.
If Harvey Dent weren't so ruthless, he wouldn't have his current status. He'd be better off running an honest, law-abiding business in Metropolis, where the crime rate is lowest.
Hardy watched as the muscle-bound giants charged at him and flicked his left hand.
The cargo door of the Hog United truck was instantly yanked open by a chakra thread.
A figure just as massive as the giants—Black Gold—lunged forward. With a pneumatic punch, he landed an uppercut squarely on the giant's chin.
"He's not out cold? Not bad—means I don't have to hold back."
Hardy watched as the giant, rubbing his chin, got up from the ground, flanked by the two newly transformed musclemen. He tugged on the chakra thread.
In the blink of an eye, Black Gold was covered head to toe, and without using any firearms, Hardy relied solely on his chakra manipulation and pneumatic devices to fight.
These guys who'd taken the Titan serum looked strong, but they weren't as tough as they seemed.
Against ordinary humans, the serum was overwhelming, but the overdeveloped muscles hampered their agility.
And it mattered who took the Titan serum.
Bane was highly compatible with the serum and possessed natural strength. After training under the League of Shadows, he had top-tier combat skills—and even without the serum, he was a formidable fighter.
Even after taking the serum, Bane's muscles didn't lose flexibility, allowing him to maximize the power of the Titan formula.
But Harvey Dent's men were just regular people—at best, strong and somewhat trained, but compared to Bane, the difference was night and day.
Not to mention, this was a further weakened version of the Titan serum.
"You don't need to step in. I'll handle this myself."
Hardy's voice came from beneath Black Gold's mask.
With a wave of his hand, Aman signaled the Hog United crew to stand down, though they still kept their guns trained on the enemy.
Harvey Dent likewise raised a hand, signaling his men to stay calm.
"Tear him apart!"
One of the giants swung his barrel-sized arm at Black Gold's head.
With Hardy's control, Black Gold spun, raised his left arm, and unleashed a pneumatic elbow strike into the giant's ribs.
With the enhanced artificial muscle fibers, Black Gold's pneumatic punch was even more powerful than before. Without holding back, the giant reeled as if struck by lightning, coughed up blood, and staggered back several steps.