“I got a girlfriend.”
“My parents think we’re too noisy, so they want me to buy a house and move out.”
“But I don’t really know anything about that.”
“Then I remembered that you have the all-purpose Pepper, so I came to ask for your help.”
Ethan glanced at Tony, then at Pepper, before explaining.
Tony immediately realized it was a trivial matter.
“I understand.”
“Pepper, take care of this tomorrow.”
Pepper nodded.
“No problem.
Leave it to me.”
“Ethan, do you have any requirements for the house?”
“Uh…”
“Both Hannah and I attend Midtown High.”
“So preferably somewhere close to the school, but not right next to it.”
“I want to be able to walk to school with my girlfriend every morning.”
“And after school, we can walk home together and mess around along the way.”
Ethan explained his requirements seriously.
Tony’s eyelid twitched when he heard this.
Ethan looked at Ethan with a warm smile.
Pepper, meanwhile, looked slightly envious.
She even glanced at Tony.
Feeling Pepper’s gaze, Tony lowered his head and stared at his coffee.
A bead of cold sweat rolled down his forehead.
Pepper continued with her professional questions.
“What price range are you looking for?”
“An apartment or a villa?”
“Do you want a garden?”
“Uh…”
Ethan hesitated.
“I don’t really understand these things.”
“A house worth a few hundred thousand dollars should be enough, right?”
“After all, it’s only going to be Hannah and me living there.”
Tony immediately interrupted the conversation.
“Alright.”
“How can I make my lifesaver pay for his own house?”
“Pepper, tomorrow, find him a decent mid-sized villa.”
“I’ll pay for it.”
“Take care of everything and hand it over to our little bear.”
“That settles it.”
Pepper thought it over and nodded.
“Understood.”
“I’ll take care of it tomorrow.”
Ethan thought about it for a moment.
He didn’t refuse.
The matter was settled just like that.
After everything was finished, Ethan stood up.
He was ready to go home and sleep.
But Tony stopped him.
“Hey, little bear.”
“Don’t leave so quickly.”
“Come downstairs with me.”
“I want to show you something.”
Tony knew Ethan’s personality.
The boy didn’t talk much.
Once his business was finished, he usually disappeared immediately.
So Tony hurriedly stopped him.
Since Ethan wasn’t in a hurry anyway, he followed Tony and Ethan downstairs.
Pepper stayed behind to rest.
The moment Ethan entered the basement, his attention was immediately captured by the various high-tech machines and screens.
Then he noticed several limited-edition sports cars.
Once I’m old enough to get a driver’s license, I’ll have to see if I can convince Tony to give me one.
Overall, the entire basement was filled with an overwhelming atmosphere of advanced technology.
Ethan tried his best to remain calm.
Unfortunately, his expression betrayed him.
Tony and Ethan saw everything.
Tony immediately became smug.
“What do you think, little bear?”
“These are the things every real man should have.”
“But you’re about to see something that will make every man in the world go crazy.”
As he spoke, Tony led Ethan toward two sets of metal armor.
One of them had already been painted.
It was the familiar red-and-gold armor from the movies.
The other had not been painted yet.
It still retained its original silver metallic color.
Ethan stared at the armor without blinking.
Tony noticed his reaction and immediately smiled.
He stepped in front of Ethan and began putting on the painted armor.
Honestly, Ethan was practically kneeling as he watched the entire process.
Mechanical arms moved around Tony, assembling the armor piece by piece.
Once everything was in place, Tony stood there while JARVIS began testing its various systems.
The wings.
The shoulders.
The arms.
The back.
The legs.
Everything underwent tiny adjustments.
At that moment, Ethan was genuinely envious.
This is what it means to be a man.
Sports cars.
Weapons.
Guns.
Mechs.
All of these things were capable of igniting a man’s blood.
After the armor finished calibrating, Tony looked at Ethan.
“Well, little bear?”
“Very cool.”
“Very powerful.”
It was rare for this usually expressionless boy to praise him.
Tony was immediately delighted.
“So, do you think my Iron Armor can protect me now?”
Ethan looked at Tony.
He really wanted to criticize him.
But Tony wearing the Iron Armor had indeed reached an entirely different level.
He could now be considered one of the stronger individuals in the world.
At least, he had reached the same general level as Ethan.
Ethan had a hundred different ways to kill Tony.
But if Tony actually put on the armor and fought him head-on, Ethan wasn’t sure how he would deal with him.
Anyone who had watched the Marvel movies knew that superheroes fought each other all the time.
Yet very few could actually seriously injure one another.
They would fight until half the surrounding area was destroyed, while the two people involved would barely have a scratch.
At most, someone would suffer a nosebleed or a few bruises.
If Ethan fought Iron Man, he estimated that even his Pressure Cannon and Ursus Shock probably wouldn’t be enough to kill Tony.
Of course, he could keep sending Tony flying with his Paw-Paw Fruit ability.
But even then, he probably wouldn’t be able to seriously injure him.
Thinking about this, Ethan realized that his offensive abilities were still lacking.
Marvel’s heroes might not all have incredible attacking power.
But their ability to take a beating was ridiculous.
Ethan began thinking about the other heroes.
Apart from Black Widow, Hawkeye, and Falcon, he wasn’t even certain he could kill most of them in a direct fight.
Captain America wasn’t particularly powerful.
But that damn shield was practically a universal defensive tool.
Even now, Ethan had no idea what would happen if he tried to repel that shield.
Would he send the shield flying?
Or would the shield somehow send the force back at him?
Then there was Black Panther.
His entire body was protected by vibranium.
How was he supposed to kill someone like that?
He could only send him flying.
Spider-Man might be killable if Ethan went all out.
But that guy had Spider-Sense.
It wouldn’t be easy to land a hit on him.
Then there were Loki, Thor, and Hulk.
Each one was tougher than the last.
Again, Ethan could only send them flying.
There were also several heroes with particularly troublesome abilities.
Ant-Man could grow and shrink at will.
But against Ethan’s Observation Haki, he shouldn’t pose much of a threat.
Ethan should still be able to kill him.
Quicksilver was extremely fast.
But his speed was also countered to some extent by Observation Haki.
Ethan might be able to kill him.
But he couldn’t guarantee it.
Then there were Scarlet Witch and Vision.
Those two were truly troublesome.
Honestly, Ethan was somewhat wary of them.
He had never completely understood Scarlet Witch’s abilities.
She could control minds.
She could manipulate objects from a distance.
And she had all kinds of strange abilities.
As for Vision, he had a beam that could be fired from the gem on his forehead.
His body was incredibly powerful.
He could fly.
And, most importantly…
He could phase through objects.
Seriously?
He can actually phase through things?
Ethan wasn’t sure whether it worked like the Logia-type transformations from One Piece or like Obito’s space-based ability from Naruto.
Either way, Vision was extremely troublesome.
While Ethan was lost in thought and deciding that he needed to improve his offensive abilities, Tony finally spoke.
“Little bear.”
“Let’s form an alliance.”