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Kong's furious roar cut through the air and exploded in Hawk's ears.
For some reason... Hawk seemed to understand the meaning behind Kong's roar.
"Stay away from my home."
"!!!"
Hawk's eyebrows shot up instinctively. He looked at the massive thirty-two-meter gorilla in his field of vision—whose rough fur was bristling with rage—and instead of backing off, he flashed forward, practically hugging the coastline of Skull Island.
Seeing Hawk advance instead of retreat, Kong completely lost it.
With another roar, his massive arms ripped two more ancient trees—who knew how many years they'd been growing on the island—straight out of the ground and hurled them toward Hawk.
BOOM! BOOM!
Endless splinters rained down like snow once more, blanketing the forest below in a thick layer of wood chips.
"ROAR!" (Get out!)
"ROAR!"
Hawk's playful side kicked in. He mimicked Kong's roaring posture, spreading his own arms wide and bellowing right back at the giant ape. "I'm not going anywhere!"
He still didn't fully understand what was going on with this Skull Island.
But—
Leaving wasn't an option.
He could feel it—something he'd been searching for was on this island. He'd just been hesitating about whether to take the risk.
And then Kong showed up.
Hawk instantly stopped hesitating. He took another step forward, fully entering Skull Island's territory.
The next moment, That invisible Celestial pressure hit him instantly.
Hawk didn't try to resist it head-on. Instead, he gradually reduced the degree to which the Reality Stone was currently manifesting his Cosmo's power.
If his current manifested Cosmo strength was at Silver Saint one hundred percent—
Then—
When Hawk lowered the manifestation to around fifty percent Silver Saint level, the invisible Celestial pressure immediately weakened.
The pressure was still there, but it was enough for him to move freely.
Hawk thought to himself.
Meanwhile, in the distance, Kong—seeing Hawk not only provoke him again but actually step fully into his territory—became absolutely livid.
RUMBLE!
Kong's right foot came down, instantly crushing a small mound beneath it. Then his knees bent, and like a missile, he launched himself into the air. With both fists combined, he came crashing down toward Hawk like a mountain falling from the sky.
Hawk watched Kong hurtling toward him through the air. Just as Kong's double-fisted hammer blow was about to land like a collapsing mountain, Hawk raised his own fist. His punch arrived second but struck first, hitting Kong's chest at sonic speed.
WHAM!
Kong was instantly sent flying backward. His massive body sailed through the air like a dark cloud before crashing into the island's lake with a thunderous splash.
"Not bad."
After trading blows with Kong, Hawk—who had been slightly worried about lowering his power—was now completely at ease.
He still didn't understand what was going on with this island.
Hawk prepared to turn around. He figured he'd find Peter first—at least confirm whether Peter was alive or dead—and then go looking for whatever it was he'd come here for.
But just as he was about to leave, suddenly, a roar came from the lake.
The sound was no longer angry. It was urgent.
Hawk instinctively turned back to look.
What he saw—
Kong, with half his body submerged in the lake, now had countless tentacles covered in sharp bristles and barbed legs wrapped around the exposed portion of his body.
The tentacles coiled around Kong were tightening, trying to pull him fully underwater and drown him.
Kong struggled in the water, trying to break free from the increasingly constricting tentacles.
But it was useless.
Seeing Kong about to be dragged under, Hawk snapped into action. In two consecutive flashes, he appeared right in front of Kong.
The unknown creature at the bottom of the lake seemed to sense danger. One tentacle shot out of the water, whipping toward Hawk.
Hawk reached out with his right hand and grabbed the tentacle. Then, burning his Cosmo, he pulled on the tentacle with sudden force. With a mid-air suplex, he forcibly ripped the massive creature—which didn't want to lose its tentacle—straight out of the lake.
A gigantic creature, roughly thirty-three meters long, unique to Skull Island—a Swamp Giant Squid—burst from the water.
Never having imagined it could be dragged out by such a small thing, the Swamp Giant Squid panicked immediately. It made a split-second decision to sever the tentacle Hawk was holding, while its remaining tentacles latched onto Kong's body with wet sucking sounds, desperately trying to prevent itself from being thrown out completely.
Seeing this, Hawk channeled his telekinesis into a blade.
SLASH-SLASH-SLASH!
One by one, the tentacles attached to Kong's body were instantly severed. After the last tentacle was cut, the squid went flying through the air with a whoosh and crashed onto the grassy shore with a thunderous THUD.
Kong took the opportunity to stand up from the lake. With a disgusted expression, he peeled the slimy, still-oozing tentacles off his upper body.
After finishing that, Kong turned his gaze to Hawk.
Hawk smiled slightly and looked at Kong. "I'm here looking for someone. I won't be staying."
In his previous life, his favorite monster from Monsterverse had been King Kong.
That was also why he'd only knocked Kong away earlier instead of actually hurting him.
Standing atop the Empire State Building and swatting at planes—that was the ultimate dream for any man.
And Kong had achieved it.
Kong seemed to understand Hawk's meaning. Or maybe he was just grateful that Hawk had saved him. After staring at Hawk for a few seconds, Kong snorted a thick breath through his nostrils, then turned around. His massive body stirred the lake water as he walked toward the Swamp Giant Squid—which, instead of being happy to be on land, was now bouncing around trying to get back into the water.
Soon enough—
Kong's massive foot came down directly on the squid's equally massive head. With a wet SPLAT, thick fluid exploded beneath Kong's foot.
The next second, Kong bent down, grabbed one of the squid's severed tentacles, and with a heave, lifted the dead creature into the air. He turned his head once more to look at Hawk—who was hovering at eye level with him—and gave him a warning look full of intelligence and responsibility. Then he carried the Swamp Giant Squid toward the deep canyon in the distance.
Before long, Kong's figure completely disappeared into the depths of the canyon.
After watching Kong leave, Hawk withdrew his gaze and turned his attention to what looked like a primitive village settlement in the distance behind him.
He'd found Peter.
Right there in that village.
With a thought, Hawk's figure vanished. When he reappeared, he was hovering above the village.
The primitive settlement was filled with natives covered in strange, intricate tribal markings.
They were currently standing in front of one of the buildings, holding wooden weapons, looking extremely wary. The moment Hawk appeared out of thin air, they jumped in shock and seemed to freeze in confusion.
After a moment of panic, someone in the group suddenly shouted. Then, after the elder among them—dressed in relatively complete clothing and carrying numerous ornamental staffs—knelt before Hawk, the rest of the natives followed suit and dropped to their knees.
As they knelt, they continuously muttered something in their native language.
Hawk couldn't understand them, but that didn't stop him from realizing these natives thought he was a god.
Unfortunately—
He wasn't a god. At least not yet.
Hawk thought to himself. Too lazy to correct the natives, he scanned the area, then locked his gaze on a woman standing at the doorway of a stilt house at the far end of the village, her mouth hanging open as she stared at him.
The woman had changed into clothes matching the female natives, and her face was covered in what looked like unwashed mud.
But appearances could be deceiving.
Demeanor couldn't.
Hawk's figure vanished instantly.
"Found you."
"Ah!"
Felicia—who had still been hesitating about whether the figure hovering above really was Hawk—suddenly saw everything blur. The moment the silhouette appeared in front of her, she instinctively twisted at the waist and whipped her leg toward him in a roundhouse kick.
Hawk reached out with his right hand, caught Felicia's incoming leg, stopped her attack, then immediately released her.
He wasn't a pervert.
And more importantly—
A friend's wife is off-limits.
Hawk chuckled.
"This isn't the CEO I remember."
"..."
Felicia snapped out of it. After pulling her leg back, her mud-covered face broke into a look of pure joy.
"Hawk!"
"Yeah, it's me."
"Oh my God."
Seeing Hawk nod with a smile, Felicia immediately threw her arms around him in excitement. "You're finally here! Peter said once you found out we were missing, you'd definitely come for us."
Hawk laughed and hugged her back briefly.
But he kept it short.
Felicia then enthusiastically and happily invited Hawk into the stilt house behind her.
The house wasn't big.
But it was clean and gave off a warm, cozy feeling.
Hawk glanced around the interior, then looked at Felicia's face.
Meeting Hawk's gaze, Felicia touched the mud on her face and explained with a smile, "This is on purpose. In a place like this, these natives aren't as civilized as people on the outside."
Hawk nodded.
"Makes sense. Where's Peter?"
"He went out hunting with the hunting party."
"Hunting?"
Hawk was slightly surprised. He looked at Felicia. "You came in a month ago. Didn't you say you brought a month's worth of supplies?"
Felicia froze as well.
"A month ago?"
"Hawk."
"Peter and I have been living here for a year."
"..."
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