The rocket ignited.
Boom!
The column of flame from the main engine slammed into the flame trench, and orange-red fire rolled up from the tower's base. The entire launch tower seemed caught in an invisible giant's grip. Its steel framework twisted section by section, and bolts became red-hot bullets that whizzed past Peter's ear.
The platform beneath his feet suddenly tilted.
"Doctor Yang!"
"Stop yelling! Jump left!"
Yang Ming kicked aside the steel beam falling toward Gwen Stacy. His shin, coated in armament haki, collided with the steel. The beam bent on impact and spun into the inferno below.
A second later, the top of the tower broke off completely.
Peter barely had time to grab Gwen Stacy. Harry caught Holt by the collar, while Felicia kicked off a broken railing. The three researchers couldn't even get their screams out.
Everyone plummeted together amid shattered steel plates.
A wave of heat chased them from below.
Peter glanced down.
There was no ground beneath them.
Only a white-hot inferno formed by the engine exhaust.
Venom poked his head out from behind Gwen Stacy. For the first time, that enormous, bloody maw was clamped tightly shut.
"We hate fire."
"Shut up!" Gwen Stacy shouted into the wind.
"We're just sharing our final thoughts!"
Yang Ming ignored him.
Wind, explosions, and the screech of breaking metal mingled into a single roar.
His observation haki spread outward. Everyone's position, speed, and angle of rotation flooded his awareness, along with the trajectories of the steel framework flung up by the shock wave.
Eight yards.
Five... eight yards.
Seven yards.
I can't open it directly below us. The engine exhaust would pour straight through.
Too far away won't work either. Those three ordinary researchers won't survive a second impact.
Yang Ming twisted in midair and yanked