When Ethan arrived at Tony’s house, he went straight to the basement under JARVIS’s guidance.
Tony and Ethan were already waiting for him.
“Bear Cub, the titanium alloy balls and cones you asked me to prepare are all ready.”
“I also prepared a five-meter-thick iron block for testing.
You can start whenever you’re ready.”
On the table beside Tony was a plate.
It contained several titanium alloy balls, each slightly smaller than the glass marbles Ethan had played with in his previous life.
There were also more than ten titanium alloy cones.
Each one was small enough to be held in one hand, with an extremely sharp tip.
“Yeah.”
“I’ve recently realized that my offensive power still isn’t enough, so I want to test an idea I came up with.”
The titanium alloy balls and cones were Ethan’s solution to his lack of offensive power.
Ethan had realized that if the shockwaves produced by rapidly repelling air weren’t powerful enough against certain future superheroes, then why not replace the air with something much harder?
That was the purpose of today’s experiment.
Ethan walked over to the plate and picked up one of the titanium alloy balls.
He examined it for a moment before turning his gaze toward the iron block.
The enormous cubic block was five meters long, five meters wide, and five meters high.
It was perfect for testing.
If he could punch straight through five meters of solid iron, then Ethan believed he should be able to penetrate even Hulk or Thor.
Of course, those people possessed powerful regenerative abilities.
But that was enough.
At least it meant he could actually threaten them.
After calming himself, Ethan held the ball between his fingers and flicked it toward the iron block.
At the same time, he activated the Paw-Paw Fruit with all his strength.
“Pff!”
A soft sound rang out.
Tony and Ethan watched as a tiny hole suddenly appeared in the iron block.
The hole went completely through it.
There was even another small hole in the wall behind the iron block.
Clearly, the titanium ball had effortlessly pierced through everything in its path before disappearing.
“How terrifying.”
“The ultimate limit of speed really is the ultimate limit of power.”
Tony couldn’t help commenting.
Then, as if he had thought of something, he looked at Ethan.
“You don’t even need to test those cones.”
“You can keep them as a trump card.”
“The ball is too small.”
“Even if it penetrated someone’s body, it wouldn’t necessarily be fatal unless you hit something vital, like the head.”
“But that cone is ten centimeters in diameter.”
“Anything you hit with that would be lethal.”
“Its penetrating power is also much greater than the ball’s.”
“Keep it as your trump card.”
Tony sighed.
“And now even my Iron Man armor doesn’t look so impressive in front of you.”
“Alright.”
“Thanks, Tony.”
Ethan suddenly thought of something else.
“By the way, Tony, can you make me another suit based on this costume and hat?”
“It mainly needs to have somewhere to store the balls and cones.”
Ethan felt much more confident now that he had temporarily solved his biggest problem: insufficient offensive power.
With Observation Haki and the Paw-Paw Fruit, both of which could be considered extremely versatile abilities, Ethan was confident that he would eventually occupy an important position in the Avengers.
But he wasn’t satisfied yet.
Over the past few days, Ethan had gained a new understanding of his ability to repel people.
He was only one step away from developing it.
Once he succeeded, he would be able to send people flying extremely far without injuring them.
If he could master that ability, his importance to the Avengers would increase dramatically.
With Ethan around, they could rapidly reach any battlefield and provide support to the others.
And if things went badly, he could also evacuate everyone immediately.
That meant Ethan could possess tremendous strategic value even without overwhelming offensive power.
“Don’t worry, Bear Cub.”
“I’ll make you an exact copy of your little bear costume.”
Tony rolled his eyes at him.
“Then I’ll head home.”
“I still have something to do.”
“It’s Sunday.”
“What could you possibly have to do?”
“Spending a little less time with your girlfriend won’t kill you.”
“Come have a drink with us.”
Tony’s eyes twitched when he saw Ethan preparing to leave immediately after finishing his business.
“No, it’s not that.”
“I’m meeting Hannah’s family today.”
“Both our families are going to discuss our engagement.”
Ethan felt that he was being a little rude, so he explained.
“What?”
“You’re getting engaged?”
“Last time Pepper was here, I didn’t want to say too much.”
“But you really can’t do this.”
“I’ve heard Pepper mention that Hannah is a very kind girl.”
“But you’re still too young and haven’t experienced enough.”
“Choosing someone this early isn’t necessarily a good thing.”
“And you’re still so young.
Why are you getting engaged already?”
Tony had been planning to wait until Ethan turned eighteen and then take him out to have some fun.
So he hurriedly tried to convince him otherwise.
“No need.”
“I’ve already decided on Hannah.”
“I’m not like you, Playboy.”
Ethan clearly looked down on Tony’s private life.
Although, secretly, he was a little envious.
“Tony, I support Ethan.”
“A man with a family is a complete man.”
“You should settle down too.”
Ethan, who had been quietly smiling as he watched Ethan and Tony talk, finally spoke.
“Speaking of which, Tony, I’m going home.”
“What?”
“Ethan, you’re going home?”
Tony was slightly worried.
“That’s right.”
“You told me in the cave that you wanted to return home after getting out.”
“But things aren’t very peaceful there right now.”
“No matter what happens, I have to go back.”
“That is my home.”
“And if I die, don’t be sad.”
“I’ll simply be going to see my family.”
Ethan smiled.
There was no fear of death in his expression.
“Alright.”
“I respect your decision.”
Tony saw that Ethan had made up his mind and didn’t say anything more.
“I wish you the best.”
Ethan gave Ethan his blessing before activating his ability and leaving.
Meanwhile, Tony began making arrangements for Ethan’s journey home.
After returning home, Ethan immediately became busy with Hannah.
By the time lunchtime was approaching, both families had arrived at the villa.
The two families quickly hit it off.
Everyone was very satisfied with each other’s children.
Hannah’s younger brother, James Max, also dragged Chloe along with him.
The two children ran around the house together.
During lunch, Ethan announced that he and Hannah had decided to get engaged.
Neither family’s parents objected.
Hannah’s mother was even moved to tears of happiness.
The two families then agreed to hold Ethan and Hannah’s engagement ceremony during the winter break, about a month and a half later.
And so, everyone spent the rest of the day happily together.
For the following week, Ethan and Hannah continued going to school together every day.
They held hands on their way there and back.
And, as usual, they shamelessly showed off their affection in front of everyone.