On the bridge.
The wind stopped.
It didn’t stop naturally; it was instantly drained away by something.
The air was like a torn opening that suddenly snapped shut, and the resulting Impact pushed the remaining concrete fragments on the bridge deck, scattering them everywhere with a clatter.
General Ross stood at the helicopter cabin door, his hand still holding the binoculars, his entire body looking as if it had been pressed with a pause button.
He had seen it.
Yet it was as if he hadn’t seen anything at all.
A second ago, Hulk was still on the bridge, like a moving green bunker, charging toward the army’s defensive line.
Everyone was prepared for the worst.
Then— Then, that young man wearing the S.H.I.E.L.D.
uniform, who looked no different from an average passerby, moved slightly.
He just moved slightly.
In the next instant, Hulk flew off.
It was the kind of “flying” you see when playing baseball, where the ball is hit for a home run.
The two-hundred-plus-ton green muscular monster disappeared directly from the bridge deck like a cannonball, carving a perfect parabola toward Manhattan.
The bridge deck cracked.
The bridge piers shook.
Even the surface of the Hudson River was churned up into a wave over ten meters high.
Silence.
Deathly silence.
Everyone was looking for Hulk, but Hulk had already become an increasingly smaller green dot on the horizon, until finally, with a “bang,” he smashed into a block in Manhattan, sending up a mushroom cloud.
General Ross’s binoculars slipped from his hand, clattered onto the cabin floor, and bounced twice.
“How is this possible?” General Ross’s lips were trembling.
He had been chasing Hulk for three years.
Three years.
He had used tanks, armed helicopters, sonic cannons, and every means available.
Every time, Hulk was like an immovable wall.
And now, someone had kicked this wall flying with a single strike.
He hadn’t even seen how that kick was delivered.
General Ross turned his head to look at Fury.
Fury sat in the cabin, expressionless.
He looked very calm.
But General Ross noticed that the pupil of Fury’s single eye had shrunk to the size of a pinprick.
Fury’s heart was experiencing a magnitude-8 earthquake.
He had thought Luke’s abilities would be high.
From the day he recruited Luke, he knew this young man was not simple.
But the gap between “not simple” and “kicking Hulk out of the atmosphere with one kick” was roughly equivalent to the difference between “I think this dish might be a bit spicy” and “You served me a plate of dried chili peppers.” Fury’s gaze shifted away from the screen and swept toward the bridge deck in the distance.
The dust had not yet settled, looking like a grayish-yellow veil in the sunset’s afterglow.
A person stood in the dust.
Luke.
He was brushing dust off his body.
His left hand patted his right sleeve, his right hand patted his left sleeve, then he looked down at the white dust on his pant leg, frowned, and rubbed his other calf with the top of his foot.
That action didn’t look like someone who had just kicked Hulk two kilometers away.
It looked more like an office worker who had accidentally stepped onto a construction site on their way home from work.
After brushing off the dust, Luke looked up at the dust filling the sky, his expression clearly turning sour.
He took out his phone.
The phone in Fury’s pocket rang.
He answered instantly.
In the 0.3 seconds it took to pick up the phone, seventeen possibilities flashed through Fury’s mind.
Ranking first was the possibility that Luke’s ability had usage restrictions.
It might be one-time use.
It might have a cooldown time.
It might consume a massive amount of energy, and his body might already be at its limit.
If that were the case, then the problem arose.
The attack power was indeed terrifying, but if he could only strike once, and Hulk happened to withstand it— “Director!” Luke’s voice exploded from the receiver, very urgent.
Fury’s heart skipped a beat.
“It was a one-second kill!” Luke’s voice was fast and urgent.
“You can’t cut the pay!
We agreed on one million, and it’s one million!
You can’t lower the price just because I did it quickly; that’s unreasonable!” Fury was silent for two seconds.
He slowly moved the phone three centimeters away from his ear, then slowly put it back.
Damn it.
Still as unreliable as ever.
“Fine,” Fury said.
“Great.” Luke’s tone instantly lightened, but he immediately lowered his voice.
“Also, hurry up and hide my information.
Someone definitely filmed it just now.
The surveillance must be erased, and the satellite data must be deleted too.” “I kn—” “Becoming famous is a separate price.” Fury’s temple throbbed.
He was clearly a powerhouse capable of kicking Hulk away with one strike, yet he was born with a cowardly demeanor.
“I will handle it,” Fury said, pausing before his tone became professional.
“Regardless of anything else, since you’ve taken the money, you must ensure the containment of Hulk proceeds smoothly.
One hour, you cannot let him escape within an hour.” There was a moment of silence on the other end of the line.
“Director.” Luke’s voice sounded as if someone had grabbed him by the throat.
“What?” “A boss like you, who doesn’t care about employee safety, is destined to be strung up on a lamppost sooner or later.” Luke muttered something else, but Fury didn’t catch it clearly.
Then the call hung up.
“Fury.” General Ross’s voice was as heavy as stone.
“Who is that person?” Fury put his phone back in his pocket.
“Which person?” “Don’t play dumb with me.” General Ross’s face flushed red.
“The one on the bridge!
The one who kicked Hulk—who exactly is that person?” Fury turned around to face General Ross.
“General.” “What?” “Who are you talking about?
My tactical camera malfunctioned just now; it didn’t record anything.” General Ross glared at Fury, his chest heaving as if a diesel engine were revving wildly inside.
“Fury!” “If the General wants to discuss the containment plan for Hulk, I am at your disposal at any time.” Fury’s tone remained unmoved.
“As for anything else, I have nothing to say.” General Ross’s fists clenched, his knuckles cracking.
But in the end, he didn’t say anything more.
General Ross didn’t speak again.
But there was something more in his eyes: vigilance, greed.
And calculation.
…
Manhattan.
In the ruins.
A minute ago, this was still a normal street.
Now it was a thirty-meter-diameter crater.
Luke flashed and appeared at the edge of the ruins.
Light Speed movement.
Before the rubble under his feet could be crushed, his figure had already come to a steady stop.
He looked down at his shoes, which were coated in a layer of dust.
He frowned and rubbed his soles against a piece of broken wall.
“Tsk.” Luke swept his gaze over the surrounding ruins.
Half the street had collapsed.
A fire hydrant had been smashed, and a column of water shot into the sky.
Cars were embedded in the walls like crushed soda cans.
In the distance, there was fire, smoke, and the sound of sirens rising and falling.
Luke stood next to a broken utility pole, looking around.
He had obtained roughly ninety percent of Kizaru’s abilities.
The core of the Glint-Glint Fruit.
Light Speed movement, Light Speed Kick, lasers, light swords—he basically had them all.
The power wasn’t one hundred percent, maybe about seventy or eighty percent, but it was enough to deal with most targets in this World.
For that kick against Hulk, he had only used sixty percent of his strength.
It wasn’t that he didn’t want to use one hundred percent.
It was that he was afraid of kicking the person out of existence.
Although Hulk’s durability was World-renowned, Luke was a cautious person.
One should always leave a margin when doing things, just like saving room for dessert at a buffet; it’s a basic requirement.
He put his hands in his pockets and tilted his head slightly.
“That was really scary~” His tone was drawn out, carrying a lazy, nonchalant air.
The ending note rose slightly, as if he were remarking on the nice weather today.
“Disappearing after one kick, just like a monster~” Luke was enjoying this subtle sense of chuunibyou when his peripheral vision suddenly caught something.
A red and blue bodysuit.
Lying under a pile of broken bricks.
The corners of Luke’s mouth stiffened.
He sighed in his heart.
As expected, he still came.
Spider-Man.
The friendly neighborhood Spider-Man.
The person in all of New York most capable of appearing where he shouldn’t.
Luke shook his head helplessly and extended one finger.
Just one.
His index finger.
…
Peter Parker felt like he might be dying.
Well, maybe not that dramatic, but he was indeed in a lot of pain.
He really hadn’t listened to Uncle Su’s advice and came anyway.
Then he saw Hulk.
Then Hulk was kicked flying.
Then he was buried by the Impact caused by Hulk’s landing.
The whole process took about three seconds.
Peter dug himself out of the pile of broken bricks, his Spider-Sense exploding wildly in his brain.
The surrounding buildings were still creaking, ready to collapse a second time at any moment.
He endured the pain all over his body and looked up.
He vaguely saw a person in the ruins.
A person wearing an ordinary black coat with an indistinguishable face, hands in his pockets, standing on the edge of the crater with his back to him.
Peter’s first reaction was, how did this person get in?
This area should have been cordoned off.
The second reaction was, wait, why is he standing next to Hulk?
Does he not know how dangerous that big green man is?
Bang!
The rubble behind the man exploded violently.
Hulk, with towering rage, roared and appeared behind the man.
A huge green shadow instantly completely engulfed the man in the suit.
Peter’s heart tightened abruptly.
“Look out——!!” He shouted these two words with all his might.
Web fluid had already shot from his wrist, but his body hadn’t had time to move.
Too far.
It was too late.
Hulk’s fist was already raised.
That fist, larger than a small car, carried World-destroying power as it crashed down toward the young man’s back.
Then— The man’s hand was pulled out of his pocket.
Only one finger was extended.
His index finger.
A flash of golden light suddenly bloomed on the fingertip.
That light looked like nothing Peter had ever seen.
It wasn’t a laser, not an energy wave, not the light from Iron Man’s armor thrusters.
It was pure, incandescent light, like a small Sun.
The next second.
The entire World lit up.