Marvel: The Enlightened One#177+178: King Kong Lives on Skull Island, Adamantium

Kong's furious roar cut through the air and exploded in Hawk's ears.

For some reason... Hawk seemed to understand the meaning behind Kong's roar.

"Stay away from my home."

"!!!"

Hawk's eyebrows shot up instinctively. He looked at the massive thirty-two-meter gorilla in his field of vision—whose rough fur was bristling with rage—and instead of backing off, he flashed forward, practically hugging the coastline of Skull Island.

Seeing Hawk advance instead of retreat, Kong completely lost it.

With another roar, his massive arms ripped two more ancient trees—who knew how many years they'd been growing on the island—straight out of the ground and hurled them toward Hawk.

BOOM! BOOM!

Endless splinters rained down like snow once more, blanketing the forest below in a thick layer of wood chips.

"ROAR!" (Get out!)

"ROAR!"

Hawk's playful side kicked in. He mimicked Kong's roaring posture, spreading his own arms wide and bellowing right back at the giant ape. "I'm not going anywhere!"

He still didn't fully understand what was going on with this Skull Island.

But—

Leaving wasn't an option.

He could feel it—something he'd been searching for was on this island. He'd just been hesitating about whether to take the risk.

And then Kong showed up.

Hawk instantly stopped hesitating. He took another step forward, fully entering Skull Island's territory.

The next moment, That invisible Celestial pressure hit him instantly.

Hawk didn't try to resist it head-on. Instead, he gradually reduced the degree to which the Reality Stone was currently manifesting his Cosmo's power.

If his current manifested Cosmo strength was at Silver Saint one hundred percent—

Then—

When Hawk lowered the manifestation to around fifty percent Silver Saint level, the invisible Celestial pressure immediately weakened.

The pressure was still there, but it was enough for him to move freely.

Hawk thought to himself.

Meanwhile, in the distance, Kong—seeing Hawk not only provoke him again but actually step fully into his territory—became absolutely livid.

RUMBLE!

Kong's right foot came down, instantly crushing a small mound beneath it. Then his knees bent, and like a missile, he launched himself into the air. With both fists combined, he came crashing down toward Hawk like a mountain falling from the sky.

Hawk watched Kong hurtling toward him through the air. Just as Kong's double-fisted hammer blow was about to land like a collapsing mountain, Hawk raised his own fist. His punch arrived second but struck first, hitting Kong's chest at sonic speed.

WHAM!

Kong was instantly sent flying backward. His massive body sailed through the air like a dark cloud before crashing into the island's lake with a thunderous splash.

"Not bad."

After trading blows with Kong, Hawk—who had been slightly worried about lowering his power—was now completely at ease.

He still didn't understand what was going on with this island.

Hawk prepared to turn around. He figured he'd find Peter first—at least confirm whether Peter was alive or dead—and then go looking for whatever it was he'd come here for.

But just as he was about to leave, suddenly, a roar came from the lake.

The sound was no longer angry. It was urgent.

Hawk instinctively turned back to look.

What he saw—

Kong, with half his body submerged in the lake, now had countless tentacles covered in sharp bristles and barbed legs wrapped around the exposed portion of his body.

The tentacles coiled around Kong were tightening, trying to pull him fully underwater and drown him.

Kong struggled in the water, trying to break free from the increasingly constricting tentacles.

But it was useless.

Seeing Kong about to be dragged under, Hawk snapped into action. In two consecutive flashes, he appeared right in front of Kong.

The unknown creature at the bottom of the lake seemed to sense danger. One tentacle shot out of the water, whipping toward Hawk.

Hawk reached out with his right hand and grabbed the tentacle. Then, burning his Cosmo, he pulled on the tentacle with sudden force. With a mid-air suplex, he forcibly ripped the massive creature—which didn't want to lose its tentacle—straight out of the lake.

A gigantic creature, roughly thirty-three meters long, unique to Skull Island—a Swamp Giant Squid—burst from the water.

Never having imagined it could be dragged out by such a small thing, the Swamp Giant Squid panicked immediately. It made a split-second decision to sever the tentacle Hawk was holding, while its remaining tentacles latched onto Kong's body with wet sucking sounds, desperately trying to prevent itself from being thrown out completely.

Seeing this, Hawk channeled his telekinesis into a blade.

SLASH-SLASH-SLASH!

One by one, the tentacles attached to Kong's body were instantly severed. After the last tentacle was cut, the squid went flying through the air with a whoosh and crashed onto the grassy shore with a thunderous THUD.

Kong took the opportunity to stand up from the lake. With a disgusted expression, he peeled the slimy, still-oozing tentacles off his upper body.

After finishing that, Kong turned his gaze to Hawk.

Hawk smiled slightly and looked at Kong. "I'm here looking for someone. I won't be staying."

In his previous life, his favorite monster from Monsterverse had been King Kong.

That was also why he'd only knocked Kong away earlier instead of actually hurting him.

Standing atop the Empire State Building and swatting at planes—that was the ultimate dream for any man.

And Kong had achieved it.

Kong seemed to understand Hawk's meaning. Or maybe he was just grateful that Hawk had saved him. After staring at Hawk for a few seconds, Kong snorted a thick breath through his nostrils, then turned around. His massive body stirred the lake water as he walked toward the Swamp Giant Squid—which, instead of being happy to be on land, was now bouncing around trying to get back into the water.

Soon enough—

Kong's massive foot came down directly on the squid's equally massive head. With a wet SPLAT, thick fluid exploded beneath Kong's foot.

The next second, Kong bent down, grabbed one of the squid's severed tentacles, and with a heave, lifted the dead creature into the air. He turned his head once more to look at Hawk—who was hovering at eye level with him—and gave him a warning look full of intelligence and responsibility. Then he carried the Swamp Giant Squid toward the deep canyon in the distance.

Before long, Kong's figure completely disappeared into the depths of the canyon.

After watching Kong leave, Hawk withdrew his gaze and turned his attention to what looked like a primitive village settlement in the distance behind him.

He'd found Peter.

Right there in that village.

With a thought, Hawk's figure vanished. When he reappeared, he was hovering above the village.

The primitive settlement was filled with natives covered in strange, intricate tribal markings.

They were currently standing in front of one of the buildings, holding wooden weapons, looking extremely wary. The moment Hawk appeared out of thin air, they jumped in shock and seemed to freeze in confusion.

After a moment of panic, someone in the group suddenly shouted. Then, after the elder among them—dressed in relatively complete clothing and carrying numerous ornamental staffs—knelt before Hawk, the rest of the natives followed suit and dropped to their knees.

As they knelt, they continuously muttered something in their native language.

Hawk couldn't understand them, but that didn't stop him from realizing these natives thought he was a god.

Unfortunately—

He wasn't a god. At least not yet.

Hawk thought to himself. Too lazy to correct the natives, he scanned the area, then locked his gaze on a woman standing at the doorway of a stilt house at the far end of the village, her mouth hanging open as she stared at him.

The woman had changed into clothes matching the female natives, and her face was covered in what looked like unwashed mud.

But appearances could be deceiving.

Demeanor couldn't.

Hawk's figure vanished instantly.

"Found you."

"Ah!"

Felicia—who had still been hesitating about whether the figure hovering above really was Hawk—suddenly saw everything blur. The moment the silhouette appeared in front of her, she instinctively twisted at the waist and whipped her leg toward him in a roundhouse kick.

Hawk reached out with his right hand, caught Felicia's incoming leg, stopped her attack, then immediately released her.

He wasn't a pervert.

And more importantly—

A friend's wife is off-limits.

Hawk chuckled.

"This isn't the CEO I remember."

"..."

Felicia snapped out of it. After pulling her leg back, her mud-covered face broke into a look of pure joy.

"Hawk!"

"Yeah, it's me."

"Oh my God."

Seeing Hawk nod with a smile, Felicia immediately threw her arms around him in excitement. "You're finally here! Peter said once you found out we were missing, you'd definitely come for us."

Hawk laughed and hugged her back briefly.

But he kept it short.

Felicia then enthusiastically and happily invited Hawk into the stilt house behind her.

The house wasn't big.

But it was clean and gave off a warm, cozy feeling.

Hawk glanced around the interior, then looked at Felicia's face.

Meeting Hawk's gaze, Felicia touched the mud on her face and explained with a smile, "This is on purpose. In a place like this, these natives aren't as civilized as people on the outside."

Hawk nodded.

"Makes sense. Where's Peter?"

"He went out hunting with the hunting party."

"Hunting?"

Hawk was slightly surprised. He looked at Felicia. "You came in a month ago. Didn't you say you brought a month's worth of supplies?"

Felicia froze as well.

"A month ago?"

"Hawk."

"Peter and I have been living here for a year."

"..."

<><><><><><><><>

Question and answer.

Hawk froze.

Felicia froze too.

"A year?"

"A month?"

"..."

Hawk and Felicia locked eyes, both seeing the shock reflected in the other's gaze.

The next second, Hawk suddenly understood why he'd entered through the storm system at night but found it still daytime when he arrived.

The time flow here really was different from the outside.

Except—

"One month outside equals one year here."

"Then one day here would equal..."

Hawk's mind raced.

Felicia already had the answer.

"One day here is roughly twelve days outside."

"Holy hell."

Hawk stared at Felicia, who'd already done the math, and sucked in a sharp breath. His gaze swept across the cabin's layout once more.

From the moment he'd walked in, something about this clean, cozy cabin had felt off.

But he hadn't been able to put his finger on it at first.

Now he knew what was wrong.

This cabin—from the layout to the furnishings to the decorations—didn't match the aesthetic of the tattooed natives outside at all.

"So you and Peter built these chairs and tables too?"

"Mostly Peter."

Seeing Hawk change the subject, Felicia didn't dwell on the time flow issue. She followed his gaze and smiled. "Peter's really good with his hands."

When she talked about Peter, Felicia's face lit up with that unique expression women in love get when talking about their boyfriends.

Auras don't lie.

Hawk had initially thought Peter was here. When he'd only found Felicia and no Peter, he'd assumed his senses were off.

They weren't.

Peter's residual presence on Felicia was so strong it had reached the point where it could fool even Hawk's perception.

There was only one way that could happen.

Physical intimacy.

When Hawk heard Felicia praise how good Peter was with his hands, a flicker of something knowing crossed his eyes. But he quickly hid it.

"By the way, didn't you guys come here to find Peter's parents? Did you find them?"

"We did."

"So..."

"Like you just said—one day here equals twelve days outside. That explains why the Iwi Tribe kept saying Peter's parents died over a hundred years ago. At first, we thought it was a translation issue. Turns out... they were telling the truth."

One year on Skull Island equaled one month outside.

Peter's parents had disappeared over a decade ago. Converted to Skull Island time, that really was over a hundred years.

Just then—

Felicia seemed to remember something. She looked at Hawk. "Wait. You said it's only been a month outside? That should be when the supply team I arranged was supposed to arrive. How'd you end up here?"

Hawk snapped back to attention and looked at Felicia.

"I said you guys have been in here for over a month."

"Outside..."

"Your experimental platform's wiped out. Everyone's dead except one survivor. Guy named Oz or something."

"Oz?"

"Yeah."

Hawk nodded and gave Felicia a brief rundown of the night raid on the platform, then frowned. "Do you know anyone else who might have a grudge against you and know about your Pacific platform?"

Felicia was silent for a moment, then shook her head.

"Taking over Osborn Industries went smoothly. And the old shareholders don't push back against me the way they did with Harry. Our working relationship is good. I can't think of anyone who'd want to hurt me."

"Forget it. We'll deal with that later."

Seeing he wasn't getting anywhere, Hawk let it drop. At least Peter and Felicia were safe. That was what mattered.

Once again, as long as he and his friends were happy, that was enough.

He knew, for instance, that Felicia hadn't come here alone with Peter. There should have been an entire squad with them.

But Hawk didn't even ask.

Because he didn't care. So he didn't want to know.

"By the way, how long has Peter been gone? When's he getting back?"

"He left this morning. The village hunting party goes out every morning. They usually get back before sunset."

When Felicia talked about Peter, that lovestruck expression returned to her face. She smiled. "Peter's incredible. After we got here, the Iwi took us in. I managed to pick up some basic Iwi, but Peter... he's something else. It's dangerous out there, but he..."

She paused mid-sentence, meeting Hawk's eyes.

The next second—

Felicia looked away. "Hawk. Do you know what the Iwi Tribe was saying when they were bowing to you earlier?"

Hawk thought back to the natives prostrating themselves.

"God?"

"No."

"No? Then what?"

"They think you're their ancestor."

"Come again?"

Hawk's eyebrows shot up.

He didn't even have any kids yet. How the hell had he suddenly become someone's ancestor?

Also, he'd originally thought Peter's love life would be full of obstacles. That no matter what, he'd definitely have kids before Peter did.

But now—

Damn time differential!

As Hawk processed his shock, his eyes flicked to Felicia's stomach. There, a Baby was growing strong.

Felicia noticed Hawk's glance but thought he was just shocked about the tribe's worship. She explained, "In Iwi Tribe legend, they're descendants of a god. That male god could also fly through the air and had immense strength. You match their description of their ancestor—flying through the air with incredible power."

Hawk let out a dry laugh. "If they really were descended from a god, they wouldn't be stuck on this dangerous island."

...

Felicia looked at Hawk. "By the way, are you thirsty? There's this special fruit here. Kind of like a coconut from outside, but it tastes way better. Peter brought back a few the other day. Let me get you one."

Hawk nodded.

"Sure."

"Just a sec."

Felicia smiled, turned, and went into the back room. She quickly returned carrying a blue fruit that looked similar to a coconut.

As Hawk took the fruit, Felicia grabbed the metal tool in her hand. "This thing's really hard. You can only open it with this—"

She stopped mid-sentence.

The metal tool had vanished from her hand.

She looked up—

Hawk was staring at the metal knife in his hand, completely absorbed.

"Uh... Hawk?"

"Yeah."

Hawk snapped out of it and looked at Felicia, gripping the metal knife. "Where'd you get this?"

Felicia answered without thinking. "Peter saved an Iwi Tribe kid a while back. They gave it to us as thanks. Why? Is there something wrong with the metal?"

Hawk shook his head.

Nothing wrong with the metal.

Except that the moment he'd seen it, the Sixth Sense that had been quietly humming in the background suddenly went silent.

Obviously—

This metal in his hand was exactly what his Sixth Sense had been pointing him toward. It might take a while to find, but it was worth it.

At first, he'd been curious about what could possibly require spending time to locate.

Hawk had assumed it meant the item was hard to find or difficult to obtain.

But no—

When his Sixth Sense said it would take "some time," it was referring to the time flow differential between Skull Island and the outside world. Even if he spent just one day here, twelve days would pass outside. That's exactly what the Sixth Sense had meant.

As for this metal?

Hawk's right hand—still gripping the metal—suddenly erupted in flames. White-hot fire engulfed the small piece of metal. It showed absolutely no signs of softening or melting.

Damn.

This metal's melting point was even higher than Vibranium?

Hawk stared at the metal, which remained completely unchanged even under the heat of his exploding Cosmo. He couldn't help but draw in a sharp breath as a particular metal came to mind—one that did indeed have a higher melting point than Vibranium and could be found on Earth.

Adamantium!

Vibranium was powerful. It could absorb kinetic energy. But that absorption wasn't limitless. Once it exceeded its capacity, it would break.

Case in point: Cap's shield.

Captain America's shield had been hacked apart in just a few strikes when Thanos used his double-bladed sword made from Uru metal.

But if Cap's shield had been made from Adamantium instead of Vibranium?

Let's just say—

Thanos could have hacked away until the end of time and it wouldn't have cracked.

Because Adamantium's defining trait was hardness.

Unprecedented hardness.

Adamantium had to be kept at extreme temperatures. Once it solidified, it was set forever. It could never change form again. It couldn't be broken down. Even if subjected to high heat again, it wouldn't remelt.

Put it this way—

Wolverine had survived the full force of the Phoenix—Jean's complete Phoenix Force—thanks to this metal.

The entire thing.

The only thing that could pierce Adamantium was Adamantium itself.

Hawk now fully understood why his Sixth Sense had led him here.

Because Adamantium was exactly what he needed.

Of course, he also needed Uru metal.

In the materials he needed to forge his true, complete Phoenix Cloth, Uru metal was his replacement for Vibranium.

He still needed substitutes for Stardust Sand and Gammanium.

He hadn't been in a rush before because he'd had no leads.

But now, Hawk stared at the piece of suspected Adamantium in his hand, his eyes burning with intensity.

He'd found his replacement for Stardust Sand.

Adamantium.

A Phoenix Cloth forged from a fusion of Uru metal and Adamantium would be truly indestructible.