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The hall, lit only by the glow of monitoring equipment, grew quieter still. The technicians had stopped pretending to work. They held their breath, not daring to turn around, straining to catch every word passing between the two men.
Every single one of them was praying this didn't escalate. If a real clash broke out down here, they were the ones who'd pay for it.
None of them thought they'd survive long in seawater.
"Is that meant to be a threat?" General McCarthy's composure had cracked , not visibly, not yet, but the ease was gone from his face. He had to hold his position. He had to.
He was also taking a reading on this alien. The fact that the other party wouldn't harm ordinary people gave him an angle. A little room to work with.
Should a good person be held at gunpoint?
Ordinary people might argue the point. But for someone sitting where McCarthy sat, the answer was simple: yes. A good person is exactly who you point a gun at.
Kindness isn't leverage. Not at this table.
"What do you think?" Natsuki said.
Same tone. Same posture. Nothing had changed.
This old man commanded power that most humans couldn't even conceive of. But what did that matter? Natsuki judged people by what was inside them, not the titles they carried. No matter how much authority you held, it was still just authority within a single civilization.
The initiative had never left Natsuki's hands.
"I think there's no need for conflict between us." McCarthy shifted, measured. "You handle the Titan problems for us, and we meet every one of your demands in return. A mutual benefit. I think that's entirely possible."
His intent to reel Natsuki in couldn't have been more obvious.
Natsuki looked at him , at this stubborn old man who simply refused to quit , and felt something he hadn't felt in a long time. A familiar weariness.
Every word out of this man's mouth was layers of maneuvering, probing, pulling. A few minutes ago he was talking about going through proper channels. Now he was promising to meet every demand. Not even a flicker of embarrassment.
"You've misunderstood something from the very start," Natsuki said.
"I didn't come here to negotiate with you. So tell me — why exactly would I need a win-win?"
He tilted his head toward the far end of the hall.
The monitoring room went a few decibels quieter. Every technician slowly turned to look at the massive observation window at the back of the hall. Their faces went blank. No one made a sound.
Beside Natsuki, Dr. Ishiro Serizawa's eyes moved.
"What?"
McCarthy frowned. What was this?
He turned around slowly, half-convinced it was nothing.
His eyes went wide.
Through the observation window, in the dark water beyond the glass, something enormous was waiting. Its dorsal fins pulsed with light, the only illumination in this stretch of sea. And its eyes , cold, fierce, fixed , were looking directly at him.
A Titan.
The one called Godzilla.
One gesture. That was all it would take to put everyone in this outpost on the ocean floor. In that moment, the military technicians and their general finally understood what the word "Titan" actually meant , not as a classification, not as a designation, but as a feeling pressing down on your chest.
It made no sound. It simply waited in the water, its shadow swallowing the entire underwater outpost whole.
"What the..."
"Everyone , weapons ready, now!" McCarthy snapped back to himself, voice cracking across the room. Godzilla wasn't here for a social call. He knew that much. "Immediately!"
Outpost 54 was equipped with magnesium laser cannons, purpose-built for exactly this scenario. They'd also brought a miniature Oxygen Destroyer as a contingency , tested in Tokyo Bay, proven effective against Godzilla.
But.
"SKREEOOOONK—!!"
Godzilla's dorsal fins blazed to full brightness. It threw its head back and fired.
The atomic breath detonated through the water column. Outpost 54 lurched. A beam of blue-white energy tore upward through the ocean, broke the surface, and split the cloud cover apart in a single stroke. There was no warning. No time to respond.
If that blast had been aimed at the outpost, no one inside would have lived to tell the story.
"Relax." Natsuki stood in the center of the hall, completely still while the floor shook around him. He looked through the observation window and spoke at a normal volume. "It'll be wrapped up soon. I'll come find you in a bit."
Here was the truth of it: Godzilla had come looking for Natsuki. As the planet's guardian, it had things to ask , what had happened during this stretch of time, what had Natsuki run into. These were things it needed to know.
But Natsuki had been standing here talking to McCarthy the entire time.
Godzilla had been left waiting.
It was annoyed. So it had drifted close to the outpost and let off one round of atomic breath. Just a nudge.
At Natsuki's words, Godzilla swept its gaze across the people in the hall. Then it turned, slow and unhurried, and swam deeper into the dark.
"Sir." One of the military technicians finally found his voice. "Godzilla is... leaving."
McCarthy didn't answer.
In the span of a few seconds, his aging body had been through something like a rollercoaster, his heart still hammering against his ribs.
It had all happened so fast.
He looked at Natsuki. This time, he said nothing.
Godzilla's appearance. The words this man had spoken. Together they confirmed one thing beyond any doubt.
They weren't qualified to sit across a negotiating table from him. The idea of leveraging his principles against him , of using the fact that he wouldn't hurt innocent people as a tool , was a fantasy.
He had intelligence. He had principles. But those things didn't make him safer.
They made him more terrifying than any Titan.
"As you can see," Natsuki said, "that one's been patient long enough."
"I'm not going to waste any more words on you." He paused, just briefly. "You're not worth them."
"Return Monarch to Serizawa. As for what comes next — you already know."
He gave Dr. Ishiro Serizawa a short nod, turned, and walked out.
The big one waiting in the deep had been impatient enough as it was. He'd go calm it down. Probably wanted to talk about Kong.
"Aliens..." McCarthy said quietly, watching the figure disappear through the door. Something distant had settled into his eyes. "They really are something else entirely."
Falling out with him outright? No. None of them would dare.
Satellites from a dozen countries had captured the footage , the alien giant splitting the sea during the battle with Ghidorah. Everyone in a position to know understood precisely what one of those massive light wheels would do to a human city if it came down on one.
And then there was the beam that had punched straight up from the Hollow Earth to the surface, boring a new passage through the planet's crust. That had been him too.
If they pushed that man far enough, McCarthy had no doubt at all that he could erase every trace of human civilization inside three minutes.
"You're a lucky man, Mr. Serizawa," he said, his voice low.
Dr. Ishiro Serizawa shook his head.
"No, General."
"The lucky ones aren't me." He looked out through the observation window at the dark and empty water beyond. "The lucky ones are us. All of us."
➤ Next: If You Think You Can Do It, Then You Do It
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