Boom!!
A gigantic figure over three meters tall was blasted dozens of meters away like a cannonball.
Spider-Man, who had just been about to joke that things were getting interesting, froze.
He turned to look in the direction the Hulk had flown and saw that only Bruce Banner remained, lying on the ground.
He had transformed back less than a second after changing into the Hulk.
A look of shock appeared on Spider-Man's face. He hurriedly looked at the man from earlier.
"Holy crap! Man, you sent the Hulk flying dozens of meters with just one punch, and even turned him back into his original form. You're insanely awesome..."
"Peter Parker, be quiet," Lynn said flatly.
As he spoke, he turned to look at Black Widow beside him.
"Can I take it that S.H.I.E.L.D. intends to make an enemy of us too?"
As soon as he said this, the temperature around them seemed to plunge to freezing in an instant.
Black Widow Natasha raised her head and stared fixedly at the man in front of her.
She suddenly realized that she couldn't make out his face at all.
It was as if he were shrouded in shadow, making his expression impossible to see.
At the same time, an almost tangible aura radiated from him.
Black Widow felt as if she were standing in a boundless ocean.
The man before her was like an orca, baring his fangs as he stared at her.
A bead of cold sweat suddenly appeared on her forehead.
W-what was going on?
Suddenly, in the darkness obscuring his face, a pair of scarlet Mangekyō eyes snapped open.
Those eyes seemed to possess a power that could seize the soul, and Black Widow was drawn into them for a moment.
When she came to her senses, she realized that cold sweat had soaked her back.
Black Widow's heart jolted. Her beautiful eyes fixed on the man in front of her.
But Wolverine Logan and the mutant from earlier had somehow disappeared.
"He's already gone." Spider-Man came over, carrying the unconscious Bruce Banner.
Black Widow came to her senses and asked Spider-Man, "Do you know where he went?"
Spider-Man shook his head. "He was too fast. I couldn't see."
Although his dynamic vision was much better than most people's,
that guy's speed had to be at least supersonic.
All he could see were blurry afterimages in the air.
What's more, Wolverine and two other mutants had been following him.
"Who are they? Why did a battle like that break out on the outskirts of New York? And who made that crater, dozens of meters across?"
Spider-Man scratched his head and rambled on.
"Was it a missile strike or something? I feel like even a missile couldn't make a crater that big. And also..."
Natasha stared at the crater, dozens of meters across. Deep in her eyes, the faint outline of a Mangekyō appeared.
Night gradually fell.
In a hotel in New York,
Lynn had taken on the appearance of another large, burly man.
"You've been following me all this way. What do you want?"
He sat on the bed, looking at Wolverine Logan, Hans, and Matthews.
After Locke's armed forces had been wiped out, Hans broke free and quickly got Matthews out of there. That was why they hadn't been blown to pieces.
Seeing Lynn in the form of another man only deepened Wolverine Logan's shock.
He had so many terrifying abilities, and could even break through such fearsome armed firepower head-on.
Perhaps this man really could be their hope—the one who could establish the Locke Kingdom.
With that thought, he spoke at once. "We want to follow you."
"Follow me?" A trace of surprise crossed Lynn's face.
As far as he knew, Wolverine Logan wasn't the type to follow someone else.
There were two reasons for that. One was that Logan had been betrayed by mutants before.
The other was that Wolverine respected strength above all else. He would only respect someone stronger than himself.
There was no doubt that, in Wolverine's eyes, Lynn's destruction of Locke's armed squad had been like something a god or demon would do.
It had won Wolverine Logan over completely.
"That's right." Wolverine Logan nodded. "We want to follow you."
Hans and Matthews nodded too, looking at Lynn.
"Why do you want to follow me?" Lynn stared intently at the three of them.
As his words fell, he quietly released his Conqueror's Haki.
An almost tangible pressure filled the entire room.
In an instant, Logan felt as if a thousand pounds were pressing down on him. Cold sweat gradually beaded on his forehead.
Hans and Matthews were in the same state.
Logan gritted his teeth, knowing this was Lynn's test.
He said, "It's getting harder and harder for mutants and ordinary people to get along.
"Neither Professor X's X-Mansion nor Magneto's Brotherhood of Mutants is the kind of organization we want.
"So we want to follow you and help create a new world for mutants!"
"Create an entirely new world?" Lynn narrowed his eyes slightly as he looked at Logan, Hans, and the others.
The three of them immediately tensed. Then they straightened up, their faces set with determination.
Only after he saw tiny Mangekyō patterns appear in all three of their eyes did Lynn nod.
"Then kill the mayor of New York City, that bastard, and wait for my next order."
"Yes!" Without the slightest hesitation, Logan, Hans, and the others turned and left.
Lynn sat on the bed, a cold glint shining in his eyes.
From the records at Base 10, he had learned that most of the mutants at these bases had been brought in by armed squads.
Quite a few others had been caught after the American government detected signs of mutants and notified the bases to send people to capture them.
So if he wanted to create a new world for mutants, he would have to turn the entire American leadership into his own people.
As for how to turn them, Lynn already had an idea.
When his Electric Current Drive broke through 300,000 volts and he threw that overwhelmingly powerful punch,
he discovered that the ocular power of his Mangekyō Sharingan had increased even further.
When making eye contact, he could implant a Genjutsu Seed in someone's mind.
Through the Genjutsu Seed, he could control people when the time came.
This was a genjutsu Lynn had created after his ocular power increased, combining Observation Haki with the Perfect Realm.
It would prove immensely useful for his plans.
Take Black Widow earlier, or Wolverine Logan and the other two just now.
Although none of them had entered an illusion, Lynn was certain that when the time came, the Genjutsu Seed would make them serve him.
"S.H.I.E.L.D. and the mayor of New York have already made their moves.
"Next, I need to find a base and see if I can use Locke's appearance to infiltrate its headquarters."
With that thought, Lynn transformed back into Captain Locke.
Before you continue