Ryuuto didn't even bother looking at the Penguin. He just tilted his head toward Katie Dee, a lazy grin tugging at his mouth.
"Tell me, Katie. Since when does a cheap little reptile get confident enough to hunt a lion? I'm dying to know."
Katie puffed her cheeks, glaring at the umbrella-wielding criminal in the distance.
"Brother, this guy's brain is cooked. Please fix it. Quickly."
"Gladly. I'll make sure he spends his next life locked up too."
Ryuuto raised the massive decapitating blade on his back. Chakra flared around him like a storm ripping open the sky. Every thug still conscious flinched, scrambling backwards across the ground. Must've hurt, judging by their screaming.
"Kid, that mouth of yours is impressive," the Penguin sneered, clicking open his black umbrella with a flourish. "But when we actually fight, don't disappoint me. Weak prey is boring."
"Right. You're definitely not normal," Ryuuto muttered. "Who carries an umbrella in broad daylight? You trying to cosplay as 'creepy uncle number seven'?"
The blade swung.
Breathless Murder Technique!
Ryuuto moved like a shadow peeled off the floor. One instant he was planted on the concrete, the next he was already mid-strike, his blade slicing down toward Penguin's skull.
"Oh? Cute! Let me roast that little bird of yours!"
The Penguin twisted mid-air, his body bending in an unnatural arc, spinning his umbrella like a turbine. Katie's eyes spun right along with it until she had to look away.
Then—
Roar!
A burst of fire exploded from the umbrella's tip, screaming across the space with enough heat to warp metal.
"You're seriously playing with fire in front of me?" Ryuuto snorted. "You've got guts, birdman. Let's see who gets roasted."
His hands blurred.
Fire Style: Great Fireball Technique!
He exhaled, launching a massive sphere of fire that swallowed the Penguin's flames whole. Heat waves rolled across the ground, knocking over several trash cans and nearly setting the thugs' pants on fire.
"W-what!?" Penguin shrieked. "You can use flames too!? And that strong!?"
"Looks like your fart-blast needed more seasoning," Ryuuto called back, grinning. "Does the chrysanthemum hurt?"
"Screw your uncle!"
Humiliated in front of his men, clothes scorched and smoking, Penguin's fury rose like a tidal wave. His eyes gleamed with murder.
"Fine. Let me show you this!"
He yanked out a glass vial filled with green liquid and hurled it straight at Ryuuto and Katie.
Ryuuto flicked a shuriken.
The bottle burst mid-air.
A cloud of foul-smelling green vapor spread instantly, sizzling as it evaporated.
The thugs panicked.
"The boss is serious—run!"
"We're dead if that stuff touches us!"
They scattered like roaches in a kitchen with the lights turned on.
Katie tightened her grip on Ryuuto's arm.
"Brother, that's biochemical bacteria! He just threw a whole lab's worth of evil at us!"
"It's fine," Ryuuto said calmly. "I'm not letting him win with a cheap move like that."
Secret Technique: Worm Wall!
Drawing on Shino's data packet, Ryuuto summoned a swarm of insects that spun into a protective vortex around him and Katie. The bacteria hit the barrier, and dozens of insects dropped dead instantly.
"Ha! HAHAHA!" Penguin cackled, watching the corpses fall. "You think a few bugs can stop something I developed? Keep dreaming, kid."
He lit a cigar, smirking like the villain he desperately wanted to be.
Ryuuto didn't blink.
Secret Technique: Cocoon Hatch!
More insects hatched, mutating, adapting, evolving mid-flight. Their bodies hardened, their carapaces gleaming as they devoured the bacteria at the molecular level.
The cloud vanished.
Every last drop.
Penguin froze.
"This… th-this is impossible! That bacteria cost me a fortune! You can't just—just—eat it with BUGS!"
His scream cracked, eyes bulging as Ryuuto's swarm grew larger, stronger, and very, very hungry.
His face turned pale.
And Ryuuto's grin sharpened.
"Relax, birdman. You wanted a lion? I'll give you the whole damn jungle."
The street trembled.
The real fight was only beginning.