"Listen up, Kizaru!"
Barry pressed the muzzle of his gun hard against Bruce Banner's temple, even causing the skin to indent.
With a hideous expression, he roared, spit flying everywhere:
"This scientist is your target for this mission, isn't he?!"
"Now he's in my hands!"
"With just a flick of my finger—bang!"
"His head will explode like a rotten watermelon!"
"When that happens, you won't be able to explain it to that Vegapunk guy, will you?!"
At this point, Barry took a heavy breath and continued to roar:
"If you don't want him to die..."
"Prepare a fast ship for us immediately!"
"Let us leave this island!"
"Once we reach safety, we will naturally release him!"
"Otherwise... we'll take this genius scientist to the grave with us!!!"
After he finished shouting, the entire field fell into an eerie silence once again. Even the air seemed to have frozen.
Bruce Banner, who was being held by the neck, sighed helplessly.
Through his thick lenses, he looked at Barry, whose face was flushed with overexcitement. His eyes were filled with pity.
"Mister..."
"While I admire your courage,"
"But... do you really know what you're doing?"
"Shut up, four-eyes!"
Barry smashed the butt of his gun into Bruce Banner's shoulder, cursing viciously.
"Stay quiet! Or I'll blow your brains out right now!"
Bruce Banner winced in pain, his brow furrowing slightly. He looked down at the heart rate monitor on his wrist.
The numbers on it were beating slowly but steadily upward.
[85... 90... 95...]
"Sigh..."
He sighed again.
"I was just trying to warn you."
"There are some things you shouldn't touch."
"Especially... don't try to provoke an honest man who is working hard to control his emotions."
However, Barry, whose mind was clouded by the desire to survive, couldn't listen to such advice.
He stared fixedly at Kizaru in the sky, waiting for the Marine Admiral's reply.
In mid-air, Kizaru finally reacted.
He slowly landed on a protruding rock. With his hands in his pockets, he tilted his head and watched the absurd scene below.
The corners of his mouth slowly curled into an extremely playful arc.
"Oh~"
"What an unexpected development."
"To think someone would dare to take a hostage in front of me..."
"And the person being held... is that Dr. Banner."
Kizaru adjusted his sunglasses, his tone filled with undisguised mockery.
"How scary~"
"Young people these days, each one is bolder than the last."
"But..."
At this point, Kizaru paused. In the eyes hidden behind the lenses, a flash of pity—the kind one shows a dead man—flickered.
"I suggest you hurry up and let go."
"Otherwise..."
"Something very terrifying might happen~"
Hearing this, Barry's heart tightened. Something terrifying? Was this old man going to attack regardless of the hostage's safety?
"Stop trying to bluff me!"
Barry roared, his voice trembling with false bravado.
"I'll count to three!"
"If you don't agree to my terms, I'll fire!"
"One!!!"
Just then, a low, furious voice suddenly came from the deep pit nearby.
"A bunch of... trash who don't know the meaning of death."
Boom!
Debris flew!
Jack, who had already reverted to his hybrid form, dragged his two broken Shotel blades and stepped out of the pit one pace at a time.
His massive body was covered in shocking wounds, but this did not affect his suffocating pressure in the slightest.
Jack's murder-filled eyes stared intently at Barry's gang. He was like a furious lion looking at a pack of hyenas trying to steal its prey.
"You dare to interrupt my battle..."
"And you want to use my prey to negotiate with the Marines?"
"Who gave you the courage?!"
Thump!
Jack stomped his foot violently! The ground cracked instantly!
A violent killing intent, almost physical, crushed toward Barry and the others!
"Ah!!!"
Several cowardly pirate lackeys were so terrified by this killing intent that they collapsed to the ground, unable to even hold their weapons steady.
Barry's face was also pale, his legs shaking like sieves.
A Marine Admiral in front! Jack the Drought behind! This was simply a hell-mode start!
But he had no way out!
"Lord Jack, I did it for—" Barry explained tremulously.
"Shut up!" The stubborn Jack rebuked him, his voice full of killing intent.
"Did I give you permission to take the initiative?"
"Don't... don't come any closer!" Barry screamed, pressing the gun even harder against Bruce Banner's head.
"If anyone comes closer, I'll kill him!"
"I really will kill him!!!"
At this tense, hair-trigger moment of crisis, Bruce Banner, who was caught in the middle, suddenly looked up.
He took off the glasses on the bridge of his nose and carefully placed them into his jacket pocket.
Then, he looked at Barry, who was pointing the gun at him. A smile that was part helpless and part eerie appeared on his face.
"Actually..."
"I've been wanting to tell you a secret."
Barry was stunned and asked subconsciously, "Wha... what?"
Bruce Banner took a deep breath.
His originally gentle brown pupils were instantly replaced by a faint green hue. The veins on his neck began to bulge wildly!
Under the originally loose white lab coat, his muscles expanded rapidly as if they were being inflated!
That heart-pounding sound of tearing fabric rang out again!
Rip—!
"The secret is..."
"I really hate it..."
"...when people point a gun at my head!!!"
Roar————!!!
A roar that didn't sound human exploded in Barry's ear!
In the next second, a massive green palm, like one swatting a fly, directly grabbed Barry's head!
Then, it slammed him violently into the ground!
Boom!!!
[Ding! Astonishment value from Barry +99!]
[Ding! Astonishment value from Kizaru +66!]
[Ding! Astonishment value from Jack +88!]
Rumble——!!!
The earth trembled and debris flew.
Barry, who was just clamoring to negotiate with the Marine Admiral, was now completely silent. Even the flintlock pistol that had been pressed against Bruce Banner's forehead had turned into a piece of twisted scrap metal.
The dust slowly cleared. A suffocatingly terrifying aura, like a physical storm, instantly swept across the entire battlefield.
The pirate lackeys who were laughing at the weak scholar earlier were now like ducks with their necks squeezed.
Their mouths hung wide open and their eyes were almost popping out. Strange clicking sounds came from their throats, but they couldn't say a single word.
Because what appeared before them was no longer that gentle scientist who would advise them to "persuade people with reason."
But a... complete monster!
His height, which was originally only around 1.7 meters, had now skyrocketed to nearly three meters!
That loose white lab coat had long been shredded by his expanding muscles, with only a few tattered strips hanging on his body.
His originally fair skin had now turned a strange and deep dark green. Those bulging muscles looked as if they were carved from granite, filled with a sense of explosive power.
Especially those eyes. There were no pupils—only a field of dark green representing extreme rage and destruction!