White smoke still rose from the soil around the charred crater.
Yang Ming shook his arms, the lingering Armament Haki ringing with the crisp clang of steel.
He looked down. Where Hound had been lying, there was now only a hole a meter wide. Clear traces of mechanical excavation marked its rim, and it led deep underground.
Faster than a rat.
Yang Ming didn't pursue him.
Bang, bang, bang, bang-!
Deep in the forest several kilometers away, a sudden barrage of automatic rifle fire erupted. These weren't the training blanks the instructors used, but live military full-metal-jacket rounds. The sound of bullets tearing through tree trunks carried clearly through the thunderstorm.
Yang Ming pushed up his gold-rimmed glasses, a cold gleam flashing across the lenses.
"Sister Lie, save them." Yang Ming tossed the unconscious girl in his arms to Retsu Unohana. "I'll go twist those rats' heads off."
The Main Force Defensive Position.
"Heads down! Get in the fucking mud and stay there!"
The Black Instructor shoved two terrified students into a puddle. A line of bullets immediately skimmed his scalp and shredded the bark behind him. Wood chips flew like blades, slicing several students' faces and drawing screams.
Jessica held an armored door torn from a military vehicle at the front of the group.
The relentless metallic impacts rattled her hands numb.
"What kind of lunatics did the boss piss off?" Jessica gritted her teeth and peered through the door's observation slit.
Through the curtain of rain, dozens of hunters in black tactical gear and night-vision goggles advanced in a fan-shaped formation. They weren't firing blindly; their tactical discipline was exceptional. Strangest of all, their fire was distributed extremely unevenly.
Jason lay in the muddy water, staring intently at the hunters' lines of fire.
They weren't shooting at