At first, Ethan thought that having Observation Haki would allow him to easily survive the chaotic battlefields of the Marvel world in the future.
But then, one winter, Ethan was hit by a pile of snow that fell from the roof.
That was when he realized that he had been thinking far too simply.
Observation Haki was one of the three types of Haki in One Piece.
It heightened one’s five senses, allowing the user to perceive the presence of living beings and changes in their emotions.
It could also be used to sense and avoid danger.
On Sky Island, it was known as “Mantra.”
It could even be described as the “power of hearing.”
As long as someone was alive, their body could produce a special sound.
By listening to those sounds, one could predict an opponent’s next movement and position.
With sufficient training, the range of this ability could also be greatly expanded.
In other words, Observation Haki didn’t actually allow someone to dodge bullets at will.
Rather, it allowed the user to sense where the person firing the gun intended to shoot and move before the bullet was fired.
As for Luffy being able to dodge the attacks of the Pacifistas in the original story, Ethan could only assume that the Pacifistas either possessed some form of life force or had their own thoughts.
That was why Ethan had been hit by the falling snow.
The incident scared the hell out of him.
He had read plenty of crossover novels before.
He knew that worlds like Marvel often contained elements from other movies and fictional universes.
What if there happened to be something like Final Destination?
Those things were dead objects.
He couldn’t sense their thoughts.
How was he supposed to predict something like that?
There was no way he could guarantee his safety.
So Ethan spent an entire year living cautiously, constantly watching the sky and his surroundings.
In the end, absolutely nothing happened.
He eventually realized that he had probably been overthinking things.
How could there possibly be that many accidents?
Still, he made up his mind.
He had to find a way to train his Observation Haki until it became something like the spiritual sense described in cultivation novels.
Only then could he truly guarantee his safety.
As for his body, Ethan’s physical condition was extremely healthy.
When he was five years old, he had mastered the ability to repel fatigue and pain.
After that, he began training like a madman.
Whenever he became tired, he simply used his ability to repel the fatigue and pain.
As a result, his body was now incredibly healthy without a single hidden injury.
Sometimes, Ethan even felt that the ability to repel fatigue might actually be his true cheat ability.
He also used his ability every day to perform extremely precise massages on his own body.
He could use the Paw-Paw Fruit’s repulsive force to create microscopic vibrations at speeds exceeding that of sound.
And he didn’t even need to physically move his hands.
The paw pads themselves could vibrate at incredible speeds.
It was similar to how Kuma created his Ursus Shock technique in the original story.
His hand could remain completely still while the paw pad itself vibrated at an astonishing speed.
Under this kind of constant “massage,” Ethan’s body gradually became stronger.
However, he had only reached the limits of the human body.
His physical abilities were roughly on the level of Captain America and Spider-Man.
It seemed that this world really was different from the One Piece world.
He couldn’t simply continue becoming stronger without limit.
“Hey, guys!
Did you see that yellow monkey just now?
He looked so scared.
Hahaha, that’s hilarious!”
Ethan had already walked quite a distance away when he heard them talking about him.
He stopped.
His expression remained completely emotionless.
But inside, he was already complaining.
I was clearly calm and expressionless just now.
How the hell did that look cowardly to him?
Should I kill him or kill all of them?
After thinking about it, Ethan lowered the bag in his hand and began removing his gloves.
I hope nobody steals my groceries.
I’ll deal with them and come right back.
It’ll be quick.
There isn’t anyone around, so it should be fine.
After removing his gloves, Ethan slowly lowered his hands to his sides.
His right hand moved almost imperceptibly.
In the next instant, his figure disappeared.
Only a small whirlwind remained behind, along with the bag filled with groceries.
Meanwhile, the group of burly men had nearly finished beating the young man.
They began searching his upper body, obviously looking for money.
Then Ethan suddenly appeared.
The men were startled.
The man who had shouted at Ethan earlier immediately recovered and pulled out a knife.
“Yellow monkey!
You’re back?
What do you want?
How did you appear here?!”
Ethan didn’t answer.
He simply took one step toward the man and quickly extended his hand.
“Bang!”
A faint sound rang out.
The burly man disappeared.
Only a small whirlwind remained where he had been standing.
The other men, along with the bloodied young man who had been beaten, stared blankly at the scene.
None of them could process what had just happened.
Their confusion didn’t affect Ethan.
He turned his head toward another man.
The man immediately turned around and tried to run.
“Please spare me!
I didn’t mean to!”
But it was useless.
As the man ran, a figure suddenly appeared in front of him.
Ethan casually waved his hand.
And then—
There was nothing left.
Another man had disappeared.
Faced with such a bizarre situation, one of the two remaining white men suddenly dropped to his knees.
“Please spare me!
I’ll never do anything bad again!
I have children waiting for me at home!
They need the money!
Please!”
The other man pulled out a knife and pressed it against the throat of the young man they had beaten.
“Don’t come any closer!
I’ll kill him!”
Ethan remained silent.
He simply walked toward them step by step.
When he reached the kneeling man, he stopped for a moment.
“You can go.”
The man froze.
Then he scrambled to his feet and ran away as fast as he could.
“Thank you!
Thank you!”
The remaining man saw this.
He had never actually intended to kill anyone either.
He immediately threw away his knife and dropped to his knees.
“Please spare me!”
Ethan walked over, extended his hand, and the man disappeared as well.
Then Ethan turned toward the young man.
“Are you okay?”
The bloodied young man finally came back to his senses.
“I’m fine!
Thank you!
Thank you for saving me!”
He was terrified that Ethan might do the same thing to him without warning, so he hurriedly thanked him.
“Then I’ll be going.”
Ethan turned around and prepared to leave.
The young man suddenly spoke again.
“Wait!
I’m sorry, but…
what did you do to them?”
He didn’t dare ask directly whether Ethan had killed them.
“They’re two kilometers from here, by the river.”
After answering, Ethan lowered both hands.
His right hand moved toward his side.
Then he disappeared.
For a moment, the young man felt that the entire place was terrifying.
He struggled to stand and dragged himself home.
Ethan returned to where he had left his groceries.
He picked up the bag and slowly headed home.
His family lived in Queens.
People in the area weren’t particularly wealthy, and Ethan’s family was no exception.
They were an ordinary family.
Ethan, however, was already quite wealthy.
He simply hadn’t told his family.
He felt that suddenly becoming rich would change their family.
Whether those changes were good or bad, he didn’t want their lives to change just yet.
He planned to wait until the main storyline began.
Once that happened, he would send his parents and younger sister back to China.
As for whether his parents would agree or not, he would deal with that when the time came.
If they refused, then Ethan could only do everything in his power to protect them.
He already had a plan.
Once the Iron Man storyline began, he would find a way to contact Tony Stark.
Ideally, he would cooperate with Tony and use Tony’s influence to protect his family.
Although he knew Tony wouldn’t necessarily be easy to approach, anyone who had watched the movies knew there were several opportunities.
The first would be when Tony was kidnapped.
If Ethan could rescue him at that time, there was no doubt he would be able to establish a relationship with Tony.
The second opportunity would come during Iron Man 2, when Tony was poisoned by palladium.
If Ethan appeared then and told Tony about the key to creating the new element, he could establish a connection with Tony either through a deal or simply by giving him the information for free.
“Big Brother, you’re back!
Did you buy the fish I like?”
As soon as Ethan entered the house, a small figure rushed over and crashed into him.
She immediately reached into the grocery bag.
“Of course I did.
I bought fish, and I also bought some pumpkin.
Mom can make pumpkin cakes for us later.”
“Yay!
Yay!
We can have sweet-and-sour fish and pumpkin cakes!”
His nine-year-old sister jumped up and down happily.
Her name was Chloe Chen.
She had been born seven years after Ethan came into this family and was extremely attached to her older brother.
When she was little, she would hold the paw pads on Ethan’s hands whenever she went to sleep.
Even though she had grown older, she would sometimes still sneak into Ethan’s bed at night and hold his paw pads while sleeping.
Ethan was speechless about it.
He had decided that once she turned ten, he would absolutely stop letting her sleep in his bed.
She was his little sister, but he couldn’t allow her to develop such a habit.
Besides, Ethan was already planning to find her a good, honest husband when she grew up.
“Ethan, bring the vegetables over once you’re done buying them, then go watch TV.
Dinner will be ready as soon as your father gets home.”
His mother’s voice came from the kitchen.
“Is Dad still not home?
He should be back today after finishing his long-distance route, right?”
Ethan carried the groceries into the kitchen as he spoke.
“Who knows?
He’s been doing long-distance routes for the past two years.
Your father’s stomach isn’t very good either, and he often can’t eat on time because he’s out on the road.”
Emily Chen took the vegetables out of the bag.
“I really wish he’d quit that job.”