In Another Timeline
"But hunting isn't limited to the Hunter." John adjusted his hood, looking at the Hunter before him with only one thing on his mind.
To understand how John got to Kraven, we would have to turn the clock back to the evening.
JohnHater4Life—No, no, Kyomoto is alive, right? She has to be.
IdrisIllaIllaInn my humble opinion, I think she is dead.
CopiumEnjoyer—What do you mean dead? The manga ended when she promised Fujino to be her assistant when she returns from the hospital.
HeartacheMerchant—Yeah, this is it, this poignant feeling that gets me hard.
ANormalDude—Hello, officer, there's a pervert here.
TheRealReader—Someone get this jiggaboo away from me. I am still trying to understand what this manga was about.
TruthBomb—It was about us, readers, suffering. The entire narrative built up around them being together, and then the writer pulls the rug.
DammS—At least they are together in another timeline.
Gail-Xuan—But, but… mitochondria is the powerhouse of the cell.
JPMarine—*insert disgusted Fujino
TheRealestRealist—Maybe that's all it was about.
Imanahaq—About the mitochondria?
TheRealestRealist—About how even if Kyomoto is gone from one Fujino's life, she is still there with every other version of her out there. God, I am losing brain cells and my manliness at the same time. I have been crying for an hour.
TheOnlyHG—Howl three times to regain your testosterone, top G.
John had returned from university to a slew of online cries and banter in the comment section. They had even started to use art from the manga for reactions. Especially the Fujino face when she sees Kyomoto's art for the first time.
The EP was rolling in well, and Gwen slipped away quoting lab work again.
'She's probably searching for the one who dropped by the theatre or the double bombing. Maybe both?' Aside from the bombing incident, he wanted to take care of the supposed hunter.
The hunter had seen him with Gwen. If he went after her, when she was in her civilian persona, her identity could get exposed. That wasn't an ideal situation.
He could only hope that she was going around in her Spiderwoman getup so she could handle things without worry of others' eyes.
With the whole tracking thing and the objectifying eyes, John started to narrow down who this supposed Hunter could be. And well, there was a clear standout name.
Kraven, the Hunter.
Basic Haki Package—12,000 EP
John looked at his target with a sigh. He was still 2000 EP short as the moon took to the sky.
Would Haki work with him? Yes, it was a will-based power.
And there wasn't a mention of any base One Piece physiology listed in the shop. That was the case with Cursed energy, coming from JJK. Along with the chakra paths, from Naruto too.
'Haki should help me offset the Hanma bloodline's urge.' John felt like something like this could absolutely bolster his mind, helping him suppress the body in times when he started to crave violence, like right now.
After all, Haki was the manifestation of will into the real world. To do that, he would need a strong will, and since he would get that with the purchase, he'd be able to find his centre much more easily.
But it might take him a few hours to get this; at least that was what he thought.
[Tony Stark finds your work amusing. +10 EP]
Until one of the most beloved MCU characters started reading Look Back.
[Tony Stark understands something about himself. +50 EP]
[Tony Stark notices his longing for approval. +100 EP]
[Tony Stark is imagining the people he would leave behind. +180 EP]
[Tony Stark has made a decision. +250 EP]
[Tony Stark is looking forward to what his decision will result in. +500 EP]
[Tony Stark is peeved that it took a story for him to understand his own problems. He is considering writing a strongly worded review. +1000 EP]
2090 points. That's what Tony gave him alone.
'Sweet.' He didn't expect Tony, of all people, to read this. It wasn't like he had targeted him either.
Still, John didn't linger on it for long. He opened the shop and made his purchase.
The swarm of purple fireflies entered his body. But there wasn't any discomfort.
They didn't spread through his body and started to gather in his brain. He felt a bit heavy-headed for a moment. But when he started to focus on his breathing, the pressure started to melt like fresh snow under the sun.
Something had changed in his mind. He could perceive it. Almost touch it. Focus on it. However, there was no need to fear it. This was his power. And his power only existed for him, and him alone. That part of the Hanma Bloodline was a useful one.
John opened his eyes and looked at his arm. His usually muscular forearm had a dark metallic sheen going up to his elbow.
Armament Haki's coating. He touched it with his other hand, feeling the toughness and the weight and how it felt against the skin.
He tried for Observation Haki, but that didn't work. Probably needed training for that one. And since it was basic Haki, he didn't get Conqueror's Haki with it. He needed to buy it separately for 15k EP.
"No aura farming for me, I suppose." John took a deep breath and pulled the hood over his head before leaving the house.
It was time to hunt the Hunter. And like any overconfident Hunter, this one had also left a trail behind.
That trail brought John to Kraven, who was currently on the ground, looking up at him.
"Color me surprised…" Kraven smiled, standing up. But even then, he didn't take his eyes off John.
'Where'd he go?' Still, John was gone.
All Kraven saw was a bullet heading for his head.
He jumped to the left as the bullet, no, the punch burrowed through a wall.
"I didn't come here for chit chat." John peeled the hood back. His eyes were calm, his words unhurried, and his body moving like water.
Effortless and devoid of any wasteful movements.
Kraven saw another bullet heading for him. However, this time, he smiled. He ducked. A cloud of green smoke shot out of his vest.
The smoke covered John's face as Kraven rolled back. He had been working on a special poison for his special prey. But he didn't think he would have to use it this early.
Rather than a poison, it was closer to an anaesthetic. He was inspired by Doc Ock's version that he had made for Spiderwoman. There was a glint of anticipation as John inhaled all of it in one breath; that thing was strong enough to knock out a herd of elephants.
"Was this supposed to do something?" But it didn't affect him in the slightest.
Kraven pulled at the daggers in his pants and held them up with a wide smile as a flurry of bullets flew towards him.
Head, hands, joints, legs, and his vital organs- nothing was left untargeted. Kraven had dodged bullets before. But faced with these punches, his heart started to beat faster. Exhilaration filled him as they dodged and weaved in the deadly dance.
"As expected, you are wonderful." His dagger grazed John's jaw, then his shoulder, and thigh.
But one bullet connected to his shoulder.
Kraven loosened his upper body, going along with the punch's momentum to lessen the impact. Even after that, he heard a crack as his fingers trembled. The force had rattled his bones.
John, on the other hand, let out a relaxed breath. His hands were strengthened by the armament Haki, but that wasn't visible to the human eye. Still, it helped him throw punches while minimizing the risk of injuries. And the small cuts on him weren't much to worry about.
However, there was one thing. The more they clashed, the more the pattern emerged. He could notice the triggers before attacks. The moves before a feint. Even the direction the toe pointed told him a story.
[Hanma Bloodline (Awakening—21%)]
[Hanma Bloodline (Awakening—25%)]
[Hanma Bloodline (Awakening—29%)]
[Hanma Bloodline (Awakening—33%)]
[Hanma Bloodline (Awakening—35%)]
The more his punches flew, the more lethal they became. The more he dodged, the more seamless the movement turned out. His bones were creaking, his muscles were growing and compressing.
He wasn't becoming stronger. Just unlocking the latent potential that the Hanma bloodline came with.
The Hanma grew stronger the stronger their foe was. Give them one thing, and they learn ten in the heat of battle.
John had tried to run away from it before. Thinking it was too violent for him. But sometimes in life, violence was necessary. Just like reflection and control, it was part of human nature.
'All I have to do was embrace it within reason.' As the terrifying calm passed over his mind, the world shifted; it appeared laggy.
John looked at his prey, or former prey, his body already cooling down.
'Kraven has good endurance, so I need to end it strongly.' The circle beneath his feet expanded, from 4 meters to 7 meters, bringing the cautious Kraven under range.
However, a ground-shaking charge came from the left. John caught the hunk of metal, shaped like a rhino, trying to go through him.
He turned and caught the horn. Stopping it inches away from his abdomen. His shoes slid across the concrete as Rhino kept trying to overpower him single-mindedly.
Kraven had taken that opportunity to launch an assault to the flank as well.
'You should've gone to school.' John twisted his body using Judo and used the momentum alongside leverage to throw the back of rocks in the metal suit at the sprinting Kraven.
The Hunter refused to let Rhino land on the ground and cover his view. If he stalled even for a moment, John would recover from the throw action.
'Who told this stupid idiot to interfere?' Kraven's blood boiled as he slid on his knees and tilted his head back, taking the route below at the last second. Going under the tumbling mass of iron and idiocy.
And the moment his vision refocused on John, the bullet had made contact with his forehead.
No, it wasn't a bullet anymore. It was a pile bunker.
How? Unless John saw the future, he shouldn't be able to predict where he would go. Even then, to recover from an action that fast?
Kraven's head snapped back against the blow. The back of his skull bounced off the floor. But he managed to catch John's eyes. The certainty in them.
John was definitely seeing a different world from him.
'Observation Haki, it is more dizzying than expected.'
The world had become sharper, clearer even. People appeared overlaid with the silhouettes, moving forward before the body did. It was like dozens of frames had lined up to show him the path.
Using Armament Haki through the fight to grow familiarity with the power, and using Kraven's lethal attacks as training, John had unlocked Observation Haki through battle.
[Hanma Bloodline (Awakening—49%)]
Johnathan Grayson was a guy who just wanted to be a simple writer. But in this world, John had become something more than a writer.
'Maybe in another timeline, I am indeed a simple writer.' John looked at Kraven. He was barely conscious, trying to speak.
"You won… kill me…" He followed the law of the wild.
According to that, the one who lost, be it the Hunter or the Hunted, had forfeited their right to live to the victor.
However, John didn't give a hoot about someone else's code or law. He only celebrated silently, as the overwhelming euphoria that troubled him was gone for good now. Still, John was a Hanma, according to the system at least.
And to a Hanma, an opponent they had defeated wasn't any different from dead. Because they had no hopes of ever overturning that defeat no matter how much they struggled.
"If you are that ashamed, handle it yourself." With that, John turned on his heel and left.
Some may see this as mercy. But to someone like Kraven, this was worse than death.
'Killing someone… I might really have to think over that in a word like this.' There was a lot on John's mind, but mostly, he was mulling over what he should write next for his lovely readers.
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