A cat's natural instinct with 本能

Kanji Explanation: Ability and capability with 能

Yui and her friends are in their secret base when a pigeon flies in and lands on the table between them. The group’s cat, Colonel Monochrome, leaps after it, but the pigeon escapes.

結衣(ゆい):: 「ビックリしたー」; “That surprised me!”
琴葉(ことは):: 「大佐(たいさ)が本能(ほんのう)をむき出(だ)しにしたな」; “The Colonel laid bare his instincts.”

Key Points

1本能(ほんのう) is instinct: an inborn ability or drive

本能(ほんのう) combines 本, “original/basic”, with 能, “ability”.

2むき出しにした means exposed openly

The Colonel’s instinct is described as laid bare when it leaps after the bird.
The phrase makes the reaction sound raw and animal-like.

3The verb phrase has an object marker

本能(ほんのう)を marks instinct as what the cat exposed.
That makes the word the object of the action, not the actor.