At a military base on the outskirts of New York, in the afternoon.
Pepper Potts stood at the edge of the tarmac, her fingers tightly clutching the leather strap of her handbag.
Happy Hogan paced back and forth beside her, his fat face covered in beads of sweat.
“They said he’s fine,” Happy repeated for the thirty-seventh time.
“That’s what Rhodes said on the phone, right?”
“He said ‘Tony’s alive,'” Pepper said, staring at the transport plane slowly descending in the distance.
“He didn’t say ‘fine.'”
The moment the cabin door slid open, she held her breath.
Tony Stark walked out.
As sunlight struck his face, Pepper’s heart twitched violently.
It was an unnatural, ghastly paleness, like a waxed sculpture in a museum.
Yet his step was steady.
He didn’t even require Rhodes to support him, merely resting his arm on the colonel’s out of formality.
As Tony walked down the gangway, a medical team rushed forward with a gurney, but he waved them off and walked straight toward Pepper.
“Eyes red?”
Tony stopped in front of her, the corners of his mouth curling into a familiar smirk.
“Shedding tears for your missing boss?”
Pepper wanted to retort, to tell him she would never cry over an arrogant jerk like him, but her throat felt tight.
“I’m happy,” she managed to squeeze out.
“I hate looking for a new job.”
Tony’s expression froze for a fraction of a second before he shrugged.
“Well, vacation’s over.
Now, I want a cheeseburger, and…”
“No,” Pepper interrupted him.
“What you need right now is a hospital.”
“A hospital?”
Tony smiled, a laugh laced with a strange, chilling coldness.
“Pepper, you have no idea what I went through this week.
Right now, I only want to do two things: eat a burger, and hold a press conference.”
Pepper’s eyes widened.
“You almost died, Tony!
And all you’re thinking about is playing around?!”
“A press conference!” Tony raised his voice.
“I said a press conference!”
Their argument attracted even more attention.
Colonel Rhodes squeezed through to smooth things over.
“Get in the car first.
Tony needs rest.”
A silver Audi R8 was parked by the runway.
When Happy pulled open the door, his hands were trembling.
Tony climbed into the backseat, and Pepper followed him inside.
The moment the door closed, she reached out to hold his hand.
“Ah!”
She pulled her hand back instantly.
“Your hand…
why is it so cold?”
Tony looked down at his palm.
The skin was grayish-white, and the veins showed an unhealthy, bluish-black hue.
He flexed his fingers, his joints producing a faint *crack*.
“Preservation measures,” he said nonchalantly.
“This way, I won’t smell like rotting meat.”
Silence fell inside the car.
Happy looked back through the rearview mirror, his chubby face pale as a sheet.
“Boss, did you just say…
rotting meat?”
“Literally,” Tony leaned back into the leather seat.
“I died, Happy.
Heart stopped, breathing stopped, brain activity stopped.
By medical standards, I’m currently a walking corpse.”
*Screech—!*
The tires shrieked violently against the tarmac.
Happy slammed on the brakes, the car’s front bumper nearly crashing into the guardrail.
He turned his head, his eyes bulging wide.
“You…
what did you say?”
“I said I died!
Dead!
Don’t you understand English?”
Tony slapped the back of the seat.
“But I can still talk, I can still think, and I can still sit here arguing with you, so stop making a scene…
Drive!”
Happy didn’t move.
Pepper stared at Tony, a memory suddenly flashing through her mind.
Back inside the Chinese restaurant, Shaun Vance had brought out that orange-gold fruit and calmly said, *It bestows rebirth after death upon its consumer.*
“It’s that fruit,” her voice trembled.
“The Revive-Revive Fruit?”
Tony nodded.
“Ten million dollars to buy a life.
Pretty good value.”
“You call this ‘pretty good’?!”
Pepper grabbed his arm.
The touch was ice-cold and hard, like gripping marble.
“Tony, what…
what are you now?
A zombie?
A vampire?”
“I prefer to call myself ‘technically undead.'” Tony tried to pull his arm back, but Pepper held on tighter.
She turned to Happy, her voice firm and resolute.
“We’re not going to the hospital, and we’re not going to the press conference.
Go to Manhattan, to that Chinese restaurant.”
“Pepper—!”
“Go there now!”
Pepper’s voice carried an unquestionable authority.
“That Shaun Vance knows how to explain all of this.
Happy, drive!”
Happy glanced at Tony.
The latter rolled his eyes, but didn’t object.
The Audi R8 turned around, leaving the military base and leaving the media circus far behind.
Two and a half hours later, at Dragon Pavilion.
When the door chime rang, Shaun Vance was wiping down the kitchen counter.
He looked up and saw Tony and Pepper pushing the door open, his face showing not the slightest hint of surprise.
“Welcome back, Mr.
Stark.” Shaun Vance set his cloth down.
“Please, take a seat.”
Tony didn’t move, looking around the interior.
The six tables were empty, the calligraphy hanging on the wall remained the same, and everything looked identical to a week ago.
“You bought shares in my company,” Tony said bluntly.
“You scooped them up at rock-bottom prices while I was missing, and dumped them all yesterday, making a five-fold profit.”
Pepper looked at Shaun Vance in surprise.
Shaun Vance smiled faintly, turning to walk into the kitchen.
A few seconds later, he brought out a white porcelain dish bearing steam—or rather, frost—rising from a plate of egg fried rice.
Each grain of rice was distinct, the egg flakes golden, yet the entire dish was enveloped in a visible white cold mist.
“Try it,” he placed the plate in front of Tony.
“I trust that over these past few days, apart from alcohol, everything you ate tasted like wax.”
Tony stared at the plate of rice.
A wave of chill washed over him, causing frost to bloom instantly along the edge of the water glass on the table.
Yet, he caught a scent.
It was not the aroma of food for the living, but a…
hollow, cold fragrance, like the winter air of a graveyard.
He picked up a spoon and brought a mouthful to his lips.
Ice.
Bone-chilling ice.
Yet in the very next second, his tastebuds awakened.
The subtle sweetness of the rice, the richness of the eggs, and even the sharpness of the scallions—every flavor revealed itself clearly within the icy vessel.
Tony’s hand paused.
For the first time since his “death,” he was truly tasting something.
“You…” He looked up at Shaun Vance.
“You knew this would happen.”
“I am familiar with the traits of the Revive-Revive Fruit,” Shaun Vance said, pulling out a chair to sit down.
“An undead constitution, dulled senses, and a rejection of living energy.
Food for the living tastes like wax to you because your body can no longer process ‘living’ matter.”
Pepper leaned forward urgently.
“Then why does this work?”
“Underworld death energy cooking,” Shaun Vance pointed to the swirling cold mist on the plate.
“I used the fruit’s ability to convert the ingredients, transforming them into an ‘edible state for the undead.’ In essence, what you are consuming is not rice and eggs, but their ‘concept of death.'”
Tony took another spoonful, chewing slowly.
With every bite, the coldness inside his body grew more active, like a parched riverbed receiving a surge of fresh water.
The plate was cleared in no time.
Tony set down his spoon and looked directly at Shaun Vance.
“Tell me how to come back to life.
Truly come back to life.”
“Awakening.”
Shaun Vance uttered a single word.
“Every Devil Fruit possesses the potential for Awakening.
Once the Revive-Revive Fruit is fully awakened, it may be possible to reverse life and death, allowing you to return from the dead back to the living.”
“May be possible?” Pepper caught the key phrase.
“You’re not sure?”
Shaun Vance remained silent for a moment, then stood up and walked toward the counter.
He retrieved the thick *Devil Fruit Illustrated Guide*, flipped to a specific page, turned it around, and pushed it toward them.
On the page was a heart-shaped fruit, entirely pink, its surface covered in spiral patterns.
[Op-Op Fruit]
[Ability: Perform arbitrary physical modifications, organ transplants, and disease cures within the created “Operation Domain.”]
[Ultimate Technique: Perpetual Youth Surgery]
[Cost: The user consumes their own life as fuel to perform a “true rebirth operation” on the target, reversing death.]
Pepper’s breathing hitched.
Tony stood up abruptly.
“No.”
“This is currently the most viable method,” Shaun Vance said calmly.
“After the user of the Op-Op Fruit awakens, they can perform the ultimate surgery—trading one life for another, allowing the dead to truly resurrect.”
“I said no!” Tony slammed his fist on the table, causing the plate to jump.
“Pepper, don’t even think about it!”
Pepper, however, stared dead-eyed at the text in the guide.
Her finger traced over the line that read “Cost,” her fingertip trembling slightly.
“How much?” she looked up and asked Shaun Vance.
“Pepper!” Tony grabbed her by the shoulders.
“Have you gone insane?
Trading your life for mine?
What kind of bullshit deal is that?!”
Pepper pushed his hand away, her eyes firmer than they had ever been.
“How much, Mr.
Vance?”
Shaun Vance looked at her and said slowly, “Twenty million dollars.
But the money isn’t the point, Miss Potts.
The point is the cost.
Once you eat this fruit, at some point in the future when you perform the ultimate surgery, you will die.
No exceptions.”
“I’ll buy it.”
Pepper pulled a checkbook from her purse—it held the emergency reserve authorization Tony had given her.
“Pepper Potts!” Tony roared.
“I won’t allow it!”
“Who are you to not allow it?”
Pepper turned to look at him, her eyes red, yet her stance unyielding.
“Tony Stark, I am your subordinate, not your wife.
I have the right to make my own choice!”
With a few swift scribbles, she signed the check, tore it off, and handed it to Shaun Vance.
“The fruit.”
Shaun Vance took the check, gave her a deep look, and walked into the back kitchen.
Tony tried to charge forward to stop him, but Pepper blocked his path.
She reached out to touch his face.
The ice-cold sensation broke her heart, but she smiled.
“Remember our first date?” she whispered.
“You said you’d always protect me.
Now it’s my turn to protect you.”
Shaun Vance stepped out carrying a wooden box.
The box opened to reveal the pink, heart-shaped fruit resting on a velvet cushion.
Pepper picked up the fruit without a moment’s hesitation.
“Wait!” For the first time, Tony’s voice carried pure panic.
“Pepper, I’m begging you, don’t…”
She took a bite.
The moment the flesh entered her mouth, Pepper’s expression twisted.
It was an indescribably bizarre flavor, like rotten sweetness mixed with the metallic taste of blood.
Yet she forced herself to chew and swallow.
Tony rushed over to snatch the fruit away, but it was already too late.
Pepper swallowed the final bite, covered her mouth, and gagged a few times before raising her head.
She opened her palm.
A faint pink glow emerged from her palm, soft and pure, like an operating room shadowless light.
The light gradually expanded, forming a spherical domain half a meter in diameter.
The air within the domain distorted slightly.
The water glass on the table floated into the air, and the frost on its glass wall melted away instantly.
“This is…”
Pepper looked at her hand.
“An embryonic Operation Domain,” Shaun Vance explained.
“You will need to learn medical knowledge, particularly surgery and anatomy.
The stronger your ability becomes, the larger your domain will be, and the more precise operations you will be able to perform.”
Tony stood frozen on the spot.
He looked at the light in Pepper’s palm, looked at the resolute look in her eyes, and suddenly felt a surge of suffocation—even though he no longer needed to breathe.
He reached out to touch her, but his hand stopped mid-air.
Pepper took the initiative to hold his hand.
This time, her palm was warm, while his remained cold.
“I will learn it,” she whispered softly.
“And then I’ll make you truly come back to life.”