Ethan had been staying here for four days already.
Although his ability allowed him to return home within an hour, he still had to take Tony’s life seriously.
The round trip would take two hours.
What if Tony was killed during those two hours?
Ethan couldn’t afford to take that risk.
The cave Ethan was staying in wasn’t far from the cave where Tony and the others were being held.
In fact, if Ethan wanted to, he could even break through the rock and connect the two caves.
But when Ethan mentioned the idea to Tony, Tony immediately stopped him.
Breaking through the cave would create far too much noise.
Besides, Ethan didn’t know anything about geological surveying.
What if he accidentally caused the entire cave to collapse?
The geology here wasn’t particularly stable.
Unless there was absolutely no other choice, Tony didn’t want Ethan doing something that dangerous.
So the miserable Ethan could only continue waiting.
At this point, all his fantasies about being on a cool secret-agent mission had already been thrown to the other side of the world.
Finally, on the afternoon of the seventh day, Tony told him they were ready.
“Get ready.”
“Move ten minutes from now.”
After synchronizing their watches, Ethan silently stood up.
He took off his gloves, wiped away the tears of suffering from his face, and prepared to move.
Five minutes later, Ethan stood on top of a sand dune.
Below him was the terrorists’ base.
His plan was simple.
After rescuing Tony, he would slap Tony and Ethan onto this sand dune.
Then he would unleash a powerful attack on the terrorist base.
Of course, he had to look cool while doing it.
Ethan didn’t dare use his strongest attack before rescuing them.
If the cave collapsed and buried Tony and Ethan, everything would be over.
As Ethan watched the time and randomly let his thoughts wander, the black metal device suddenly rang again.
He answered the call.
Tony’s anxious voice immediately came through.
“Move early!”
“Do it now!”
“Quick!”
“Just like we planned.”
“You block the entrance and draw their fire.”
“Once we come out, slap us away.”
“Don’t worry about what’s happening inside.”
“Ethan, don’t come out!”
“Ethan is coming to draw their fire.”
“We still have time!”
Hearing Tony’s words, Ethan immediately understood what had happened.
The terrorists had probably discovered that Tony was building the armor.
They were about to make their move.
Ethan didn’t hesitate.
He focused his ability and instantly appeared at the cave entrance.
The terrorists guarding the area were stunned when a strange-looking—and somewhat adorable—teenager suddenly appeared in front of them.
They immediately opened fire.
At the same time, they shouted frantically into their radios.
Ethan remained completely calm.
Using Observation Haki, he made tiny movements from side to side, effortlessly avoiding the bullets.
At the same time, he repeatedly swung his hands toward the surrounding terrorists.
One after another, they collapsed in confusion.
Each man’s chest bore a deep paw-shaped mark.
Their chests were practically caved in from the impact.
Just as Ethan finished dealing with the nearby terrorists and was considering whether he should enter the cave to help Tony, he suddenly sensed a large number of people approaching.
Reinforcements.
Ethan took a deep breath.
He spread his legs and lowered his body into a wide stance.
His arms rose in front of him.
The posture looked somewhat like a sumo wrestler preparing for battle.
He simply waited.
A large group of terrorists soon appeared within his field of vision.
Ethan didn’t hesitate.
“Ursus Shock!”
He shouted and began rapidly thrusting his hands forward one after another.
Countless compressed-air paw-shaped projectiles shot toward the terrorists.
The men who had only just spotted Ethan didn’t even understand what was happening before they were knocked down.
More terrorists rushed forward to replace them.
They were immediately knocked down as well.
Ethan continued firing pressure cannons as if he were playing some kind of tower-defense game.
Explosions echoed throughout the area.
After a while, Ethan noticed that no more terrorists dared to approach.
He finally stopped firing and straightened up.
The moment he stood up, he sensed a bullet flying toward him.
Ethan casually extended his right hand.
Bang!
The bullet was deflected back in the direction it had come from.
A distant scream immediately followed.
Sniper?
Damn.
Wait…
Are those tanks and artillery units coming too?
They weren’t in the movie!
Why haven’t Tony and Ethan come out yet?
Just as Ethan sensed that the situation was getting worse, Tony finally emerged from the cave.
“Ethan!”
“How’s the situation?”
“Ethan has been shot in the leg!”
“We need to treat him quickly!”
Tony walked out wearing a bulky suit of armor.
One of his arms was supporting a somewhat frail, middle-aged man who looked considerably older than his actual age.
The moment Tony saw Ethan, he happily called out to him.
“The situation is under control for now.”
“I’ve taken out a group of terrorists.”
“But their main force is coming.”
“I’ll send you two to a sand dune across from here.”
“I prepared bandages and alcohol there.”
Ethan finally relaxed after seeing Tony.
Tony immediately nodded.
“Good.”
“Do it quickly.”
Ethan walked over.
He gave Tony and Ethan each a slap.
Their bodies instantly disappeared.
Ethan then slapped himself and disappeared as well.
Tony’s vision spun wildly.
He felt the violent wind rushing past him before his body slammed into the sand.
He slowly stood up and shook his head.
So this is what being launched by Ethan feels like?
I’m just a normal human, so he must have slowed me down.
Still…
this feels terrible.
Ethan’s experience was even worse.
Although Tony had already explained inside the cave that they would be launched away, experiencing it firsthand was something completely different.
And with a bullet wound in his leg, he almost passed out.
Tony quickly helped Ethan up.
A moment later, Ethan appeared beside them.
Tony immediately began grabbing the bandages and treating Ethan’s wound.
Ethan also began thanking Ethan for saving his life.
“Ethan, how are you going to get us back?”
After finishing the bandaging, Tony finally relaxed.
He looked toward Ethan.
Ethan could tell that Tony desperately wanted to return home.
“You give me a phone number.”
“I’ll fly away from here and call for a rescue team.”
“There’s no way I can safely slap you all the way home.”
“You’re too fragile.”
“Alright.”
Tony nodded.
“You’re leaving?”
“What about us?”
“Are we just supposed to stay here?”
“It’s safe here.”
“I just caused a huge disturbance at their base.”
“They’ll definitely go there first to investigate.”
“I’ll make the call for reinforcements.”
“Then I’ll come back.”
“Once their entire force arrives, I’ll give them something to remember.”
Ethan calmly finished speaking.
Then he disappeared.
Even Ethan, who had already experienced Ethan’s ability, still found the sight unbelievable.
“Tony.”
“Your friend is really young.”
“Yeah.”
“He’s still in high school.”
“That’s incredible.”
Ethan couldn’t help sighing.
After a while, Ethan returned.
He told Tony that the rescue team had already been contacted.
Then he began observing the terrorist base below.
Large numbers of terrorists rushed toward the area Ethan had attacked.
They were shouting angrily.
Several tanks also entered the base.
Ethan decided the timing was right.
He stood up.
Tony and Ethan looked at him in confusion.
Ethan raised both hands toward the sky.
A strange puff, puff sound began coming from his palms.
Tony and Ethan initially had no idea what he was doing.
Then they followed Ethan’s hands with their eyes.
Their expressions immediately changed.
The air above Ethan was beginning to compress.
An area more than a hundred meters across was slowly becoming visible.
At first, the compressed air was completely transparent.
Then it became faintly white.
The white gradually became denser.
Soon, it had taken on a strange reddish hue resembling the paw pads on Ethan’s hands.
“Are you making a super bomb?!”
Tony’s face turned pale.
“Damn it!”
“You’re compressing that much air!”
“Can you actually control it?”
“If it explodes in your hands, we’re all dead!”
Ethan’s face had also turned pale.
Ethan ignored them.
He continued compressing the air.
Slowly, the enormous mass of compressed air began shrinking.
A hundred-meter-wide paw gradually became smaller.
Ten meters.
Five meters.
One meter.
Finally, it was compressed down to the size of a human palm.
Ethan held the compressed mass between both hands.
He even rubbed it a few times.
After determining that it was finally ready, his expression became cold.
He looked down at the terrorist base.
Then he slowly extended both hands.
And released it.
The moment Ethan let go, the Paw-Paw Fruit ability activated.
The palm-sized compressed-air bomb was violently launched toward the terrorist base.
As it flew through the air, it began expanding.
By the time it reached the terrorists, it had grown to nearly two meters across.
A blinding white light flashed.
The terrorists didn’t even have time to react.
BOOM!
The compressed-air bomb exploded.
The resulting blast transformed the area into something resembling the end of the world.
A tremendous shockwave swept across the desert.
The powerful winds forced Tony and Ethan to shield their eyes.
Sand and dust filled the air.
Neither of them could even keep their eyes open.
When everything finally settled, Tony and Ethan looked down.
A gigantic crater had replaced a large portion of the terrorist base.
The two men stared at each other.
Then they simultaneously swallowed.
Neither of them said anything for several seconds.
Tony’s expression gradually became serious.
At that moment, he made a decision.
He absolutely had to maintain a good relationship with this seemingly adorable high-school student in the bear-themed suit.