The barbecue place Tony mentioned sat right in the middle of the area that had suffered the worst damage during the Chitauri invasion. Most of the nearby buildings had collapsed into rubble, leaving the streets littered with shattered concrete and twisted steel.
Yet somehow, the small kebab shop remained standing.
Only a few windows had cracked, and the interior was almost completely intact. The elderly couple who owned the place hadn't even been injured during the battle.
It was the kind of absurd good fortune that made people shake their heads in disbelief.
After eating, drinking, and saying their goodbyes to the others, Ethan teleported directly to Hawaii.
At that moment, Wanda and Pietro were having dinner with Wilson's family.
Despite sitting at the table, Wanda looked distracted, and Pietro seemed just as uneasy. Both of them kept glancing at the television from time to time.
When the Battle of New York had first begun, the news broadcast interrupted regular programming.
Aliens invading Earth.
At first, Wanda assumed it was some kind of elaborate prank or promotional stunt created by the television network. That belief lasted until the camera showed the enormous portal hanging above New York—and the lone figure standing beneath it.
The image on the broadcast was blurry, but Wanda recognized him instantly.
It was Ethan.
She immediately tried to open a portal to New York, but Pietro stopped her.
Not long after that, the television signal was suddenly cut off.
From that moment on, Wanda's anxiety only grew worse.
She knew Ethan was incredibly powerful.
But the enemy this time wasn't ordinary criminals or rival gangs.
They were aliens.
In every movie she had ever seen, alien invaders were terrifyingly strong. Even when heroes managed to defeat them, it usually came at the cost of their lives.
What if Ethan…
The more she thought about it, the more restless she became.
Finally, Wanda slammed her fork onto the table and stood up.
"No. Pietro, I'm going back to New York right now," she said firmly. "You're either coming with me or staying here."
Pietro sighed.
Seeing the determination in Wanda's expression, he knew there was no point trying to talk her out of it.
And to be honest, he was worried about Ethan too.
"Alright," Pietro said with a nod. "I'll go with you."
"I'll come too," Wilson suddenly added.
Wanda blinked in surprise.
"Uncle Wilson, you don't need to go back to New York with us," she said quickly.
Wilson simply smiled.
"Ethan is my friend."
Normally, Wilson never put himself in danger.
But this situation was different.
First of all, Ethan truly was his friend.
Second, if Ethan hadn't helped earlier, Vanessa and Richard would still be in New York right now. Just imagining what might have happened to them during the invasion made Wilson shiver.
Now that Ethan might be in danger, Wilson couldn't convince himself to sit back and ignore it.
Vanessa looked at her husband with concern.
The entire world had seen what was happening in New York. Of course she knew how dangerous the situation was.
But she also understood her husband very well.
Once Wilson made up his mind, no one could change it.
Just as the tense silence settled over the table, the front door opened.
Ethan walked in with a relaxed smile.
"You guys planning to head back to New York?" he asked casually. "Don't you want to stay in Hawaii a few more days? If you really want to go back, we can leave tomorrow morning."
The moment Wanda saw him, she rushed forward.
She grabbed his shoulders and quickly checked him from head to toe, making sure he wasn't injured anywhere.
Only after confirming he was completely unharmed did she finally relax.
"Who said I'm going back to New York?" Wanda said immediately. "Pietro was the one talking about going back. If it were up to me, I'd stay in Hawaii a few more days."
Pietro looked utterly wronged.
But under Wanda's threatening glare, he didn't dare say a word.
"Ethan, I'm very glad to see you're safe," Wilson said as he stepped forward and gave Ethan a firm hug.
"Same here, Wilson," Ethan replied warmly.
"What happened in New York?" Wilson asked.
Communication lines in New York were still down, and he hadn't been able to contact any of his people there.
"The battle's over," Ethan said with a smile. "We won. But the city's in pretty bad shape. When you go back, you'll probably be very busy."
Thinking about the piles of alien weapons scattered across the battlefield, Ethan couldn't help but smile inwardly.
Sooner or later, most of those weapons would disappear.
Where would they go?
Simple.
They would be sold.
And the buyers would inevitably be underground organizations.
With extraterrestrial weapons boosting their firepower, some criminal groups might start feeling bold enough to challenge Wilson's authority. However, Wilson had ruled New York's underworld for years.
His reputation alone would discourage most challengers.
"It sounds like a real headache," Wilson said with a chuckle.
Despite his words, he didn't seem particularly worried.
Wilson had never feared competition.
Even superheroes didn't intimidate him, let alone a few ambitious criminals.
After chatting with Wilson for a while and playing with little Richard, Ethan eventually returned to the hotel.
Pietro was immediately dragged away by Wanda for more training.
Later that night, Wanda pulled Ethan into their room for some rather intense "physical and mental exercises."
Two hours later, Wanda finally fell asleep.
Ethan quietly slipped out of the room and entered an empty one nearby.
It was time to start summoning.
Thinking about the 1250% summoning energy progress bar, Ethan couldn't suppress his excitement.
He wondered what kind of reward he would receive tonight.
Taking a deep breath, he forced himself to calm down.
Then his consciousness sank into the depths of his mental sea.
"Summon."
The moment the command was issued, the energy progress bar dropped from 1250% to 1150%.
In the next instant, a dark brown notebook appeared in Ethan's hand.
"Successful Summon: Death Note."
"Death Note: A notebook belonging to the Shinigami. The person whose name is written in this notebook will die. However, if the user does not have the target's face in mind, the effect will not activate. People with identical names will not be affected."
"If the cause of death is written after the name, the target will die exactly as written within forty seconds. If no cause is specified, the target will die of a heart attack."
Ethan stared at the notebook and rubbed his chin thoughtfully.
What if he wrote Thanos's name?
Would Thanos die instantly?
Curious, Ethan grabbed a pen from the nearby desk and opened the notebook.
He tried writing the name "Thanos."
Nothing happened.
The pen simply refused to write the name.
Ethan frowned slightly and tried another name.
"Odin Borson."
The result was the same.
The pen wouldn't move.
After thinking for a moment, Ethan tried a third name.
"Brown Davis."
This time, the name appeared on the page.
Brown Davis was the former director of the FBI's New York branch, someone Ethan had always disliked.
Forty seconds later, the summoning energy meter increased by 0.3%.
That meant Brown Davis was dead.
Judging by the small amount of energy gained, the man clearly hadn't been a particularly good person.
"So it only works on ordinary humans," Ethan muttered.
It seemed the Death Note couldn't affect extremely powerful beings.
Still, the notebook might have an upper limit somewhere. Ethan would have to test that later.
Although the limitation made the Death Note slightly disappointing, it was still very useful for Ethan.
At the very least, he no longer needed to leave the house on cold nights to hunt targets.
With just a pen and paper, the job could be done.
Of course, the notebook couldn't be left lying around.
When not in use, it had to remain inside his golden storage space. Losing something like this would cause enormous trouble.
"Good start," Ethan murmured. "Let's keep going."
With another thought, he activated the summoning again.
A strange red object suddenly appeared in his hands.
It looked vaguely like a giant swim ring—but far larger than any flotation device.
....
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