Okamoto Reiichi watched from the shrine, worried sick!
In just a few seconds, almost all of his remaining men had been wiped out!
Of course, Okamoto Reiichi didn't actually care about their lives. He knew that once the men protecting him were dead, he'd be next!
Okamoto Reiichi saw that his men were still playing by the rules of honor. Their opponent had come at them bare-handed, so they'd charged in with nothing but their fists. He couldn't help roaring:
"Baka! Are you all idiots?! You're out of bullets, so use your knives! Have you been in the United States so long that you've forgotten how to use a blade?!"
At Okamoto Reiichi's reminder, the men Toby was slaughtering finally remembered: right, they were true Neon Gang samurai! They'd always been skilled with blades!
They couldn't beat their opponent in hand-to-hand combat, but with so many of them, surely they could cut him down with their knives!
If they all surrounded him and landed one slash each, they could turn him into mincemeat!
The survivors immediately drew the katanas from their waists, their confidence restored as they surrounded Toby with vicious expressions!
"Bringing weapons to a boxing match?"
Toby gave a cold snort. He wasn't afraid in the least; he only looked down on them even more.
Since they'd decided to "cheat," there was no reason for him to keep playing this game of punching human punching bags.
Toby bent his knees and leaped upward.
To the remaining Neon Gang members' utter disbelief, Toby somehow defied the laws of physics and crouched upside down beneath a branch of the century-old cherry tree in the shrine courtyard!
But then came something even more outrageous. Toby, still crouched beneath the branch, stretched out both hands. Strands of white webbing shot from his wrists, each one precisely wrapping around a gang member's head!
Then Toby yanked on all the strands, his arms suddenly flexing with force. He hoisted the dozen or so remaining Neon Gang members into the air all at once, leaving them hanging from the tree branches!
Smack—
Only when a faint sound of something hitting the ground rang out did the Neon Gang leader, Okamoto Reiichi, snap out of his daze.
Okamoto Reiichi stared in terror at the towering figure who had entered the shrine and was slowly approaching him. Behind Toby, beneath the cherry tree, more than a dozen of his men dangled from the branches, their heads wrapped in webbing as they struggled frantically for air. He kept trying to back away in fear!
But he was already at the very back of the shrine. There was nowhere left to retreat; only the ancestral tablets stood behind him.
As he stumbled backward, he knocked over a whole pile of his ancestors' tablets with a clatter.
It was as if Okamoto Reiichi's ancestors were already calling him down below, urging this unfilial descendant to hurry up and join them!
But Okamoto Reiichi didn't want to die. He secretly reached one hand behind his back while urgently holding out the other toward Toby as he approached.
"Matte! Matte! You can't kill me! I have the Hand backing me. If you kill me, the Hand won't let you get away with it!"
"And we can talk! I can pay you! A lot of money!!"
Faced with Okamoto Reiichi's threats and bribes, Toby remained unmoved. He kept walking toward him!
The steady tap-tap-tap of his footsteps sounded like the grim reaper coming to claim a life...
When Toby was only seven steps away, Okamoto Reiichi, who had been acting meek and submissive, changed his tune in an instant. His expression turned vicious as he pulled a pistol from behind his back, aimed it at Toby's head, and pulled the trigger repeatedly without hesitation!
"Shine! Shine! Shine!!"
At more than seven steps, the gun was fast. Within seven steps, it was fast and accurate!
That was the greatest quick-draw technique of the century!
Unless his opponent was Superman, Okamoto Reiichi couldn't believe anyone could dodge his American-style quick draw at such close range!
And although Toby wasn't Superman, he had superhuman reflexes to rival his!
As if he'd known in advance that Okamoto Reiichi would shoot, and where he'd aim, Toby only tilted his head a few times, dodging every shot aimed at it with perfect precision!
"Nani?!"
Okamoto Reiichi's eyes widened. He couldn't believe anyone could dodge bullets, especially a rapid burst fired at close range!
But before he could reload, he felt a tight grip around his neck and found himself lifted off the ground!
Okamoto Reiichi immediately tried to bring his gun down on Toby's head, but the moment he raised his arm, Toby grabbed his gun hand with his other hand.
Crack-crack—
Amid a series of painfully audible crunches, Toby crushed the pistol and Okamoto Reiichi's hand together, squeezing metal and flesh into one mangled mass!
"AAAHHHHH! Baka! It hurts like hell! How dare you do this to me?! I'm Okamoto Reiichi of the Hand!"
They said pain in the fingers reached the heart.
With his entire hand crushed into a lump of mangled flesh, it was no wonder the pain made Okamoto Reiichi briefly forget to fear Toby and curse at him without thinking!
But the next moment, Okamoto Reiichi couldn't make a sound...
A hand smeared with his blood and flesh clamped over his mouth, cutting off his curses mid-sentence!
"P-please, spare me... I'll g-give you anything..."
With Toby physically shutting him up, Okamoto Reiichi finally remembered that his life was in the other man's hands. Fear returned to his eyes.
He immediately changed his tune again and begged Toby for mercy, but with his cheeks squeezed shut, all he could manage were muffled sounds.
Toby chuckled at Okamoto Reiichi's pleas. "You'll really give me anything? Then lend me your chamber pot of a head for a moment. I'm sure you won't mind, right?"
"Huh?"
Okamoto Reiichi was bewildered, but before he could react, he felt his neck tighten and his body go light...
The next moment, he saw his body fall to the ground!
Nani? How had his body ended up on the ground?
And why was it only his body, with no head? Where was his head?
What a head-scratcher...
Ten minutes later.
Fisk Tower.
Ding—
Kingpin's private elevator stopped at the top floor of Fisk Tower.
But when the elevator doors opened, the person who stepped out wasn't Kingpin, the underground emperor of New York. It was Toby, who had just slaughtered the entire Neon Gang.
In Toby's hand was Okamoto Reiichi's head, its eyes still open in death. Blood from the severed neck had stained the entire elevator floor red!
As Toby stepped out of the elevator, the spinal column still attached to Okamoto Reiichi's head dragged across Kingpin's luxurious carpet, leaving a conspicuous trail of blood!
Witnessing this flagrant violation of Fisk Tower's sanitation rules, Kingpin's secretary and security guards on the top floor didn't try to stop him. Instead, they all lowered their heads, not daring to look at the blood-soaked figure.
It was as if one glance would make their heads explode...
Ignoring the two guards by the door, who had their heads bowed and were sweating profusely, Toby kicked open the door to Kingpin's office and walked in.
Inside Kingpin's office stood one man and sat another.
The man in the chair was Kingpin, dressed in a white suit. He stood over two meters tall, and his build was so massive he barely looked human.
The man standing was Bullseye, dressed in a black suit, with the classic blond hair and blue eyes, and a sinister look on his face.
Seeing Toby walk in with Okamoto Reiichi's head in hand, Kingpin wasn't angry at all. A warm smile appeared on his face as he got up to greet him:
"Oh, look who's come home! My best business partner, my dearest friend Toby!"
"But why bring back the target's head? Surely you didn't think your Uncle Fisk wouldn't take your word for it?"
Toby tossed Okamoto Reiichi's head at Kingpin's feet, glanced at him, and said blandly:
"It has nothing to do with whether you trust me. It's professional courtesy for an assassin. Put the money on my black card, and let me use your shower."
Before you continue