Marvel: I Trade Devil Fruits for Power

That night, all of New York's attention was focused on a single place.

The area where the giant yellow monster was rampaging.

No one knew how many people died there tonight.

No one knew how many buildings had been reduced to ruins.

And all of this—was merely the military hunting down a single person.

A green monster called the Hulk.

That night, the military surrounded a district and seemed to have successfully captured the Hulk.

The residents of the area all breathed sighs of relief.

They thought that, at least this time, there wouldn't be another disaster like the incident at the school a few days ago.

But reality never follows people's expectations.

Just as the military was preparing to withdraw, another monster appeared before everyone's eyes.

Yellow.

Hideous.

Terrifying.

A massive body.

Sunken ribs.

A spine lined with spikes.

The creature wandered through the streets wildly, overturning every vehicle in its path.

Cars looked like toys in its hands.

The retreating military was forced to turn back and attack the monster.

But none of it had any effect.

Bullets?

Even rockets couldn't pierce its defense.

How were they supposed to fight that?

Fortunately, the green monster that had been hunted down appeared as well.

Perhaps one mountain couldn't contain two tigers.

Or perhaps the two monsters already held a grudge against each other.

In any case, they immediately launched into a frenzied battle.

The civilians who thought they had been saved quickly realized—they had been far too naïve.

If the yellow monster alone represented destruction on the level of one—then the destruction caused by both monsters together was ten!

Their clashes shattered entire city blocks.

Their thrown attacks smashed through high-rise buildings.

Their mad dashes turned entire streets into seas of fire.

They were true monsters.

Residents who believed they were safe simply because they lived high above the streets soon discovered they were also in danger.

Several entire blocks were being steadily destroyed by the monsters' battle.

Terrified citizens even began fleeing New York itself.

Because if no one stopped them—their fight would spread across ten streets, dozens of streets—perhaps the entire city.

A deep sense of despair settled into everyone's hearts.

Inside S.H.I.E.L.D., Natasha and Hawkeye sped toward the battlefield in a car.

Nick Fury had told Natasha to experience the power of her Devil Fruit.

But after seeing the battle footage, she knew—she still wasn't strong enough.

Meanwhile, Fury had already contacted Tony Stark.

They needed Iron Man's support.

Unfortunately, Iron Man wasn't even in New York.

And S.H.I.E.L.D. wasn't the only group preparing to intervene.

At Xavier's School for Gifted Youngsters, Professor Charles had gathered the mutants.

Storm and Cyclops stood ready for battle at any moment.

If the military failed to contain the monsters within a limited area—the X-Men would step in.

At the New York Sanctum, Daniel stood quietly atop the roof beside the Ancient One.

Both watched the distant district engulfed in flames.

Daniel's hands trembled slightly.

They were sorcerers.

Normally, they did not interfere in battles of the mortal world.

The Ancient One simply stood there with her hands behind her back, slowly turning her folding fan.

She too was waiting.

Because she had already "seen" Qin Xiao appear.

Time passed.

The battle became increasingly dangerous.

Then suddenly—both giant monsters dropped to their knees.

Without warning.

Without resistance.

The green Hulk even slowly reverted back into human form.

The yellow monster clutched its head and slammed its forehead against the ground.

No one had any idea what had happened.

Through the live camera feed from one of the news helicopters overhead, the military transport helicopter slowly descended beside the two monsters.

A woman rushed out of the aircraft and ran directly toward the human-form Hulk.

Then another figure stepped out—an Eastern man.

He walked straight toward the giant yellow monster.

And then—right there on live television—the man displayed a horrifying power that stunned everyone watching.

His body transformed into a mass of sludge.

And he swallowed the kneeling yellow monster whole.

Literally swallowed it alive.

When he returned to human form—the yellow monster had completely vanished.

The military had forces this terrifying?

That was the thought shared by countless civilians at that moment.

The two monsters that had destroyed several city blocks—had simply been captured just like that?

People cursed the military for not deploying such power sooner.

At the same time, they grew deeply fearful of the military itself.

As expected of military power.

As the footage spread, many people who had been preparing to act finally relaxed slightly.

The Eastern Devil's Herald had taken away Abomination.

For many, that was a good thing.

But for others—it only created greater concern.

Nick Fury, for example.

That Eastern devil had just acquired another terrifying experimental specimen.

Fury absolutely did not believe Qin Xiao had appeared merely to calm the situation.

The Devil's Herald would never be that kind-hearted.

Which meant—he had targeted the yellow monster from the very beginning.

And now that creature, already monstrously powerful, had fallen into the Devil's Herald's hands.

What kind of monster would it become next?

No one knew.

Fury immediately ordered Natasha and Hawkeye to locate Qin Xiao as quickly as possible—and bring him back to S.H.I.E.L.D.

Only there could they "monitor" his every move.

Of course, even Fury himself knew this was little more than self-comfort.

After all, just this time alone, Qin Xiao had vanished directly from S.H.I.E.L.D.'s sight.

By the time they got close, he had already completed everything he wanted.

Qin Xiao naturally knew there were cameras overhead filming everything.

But he didn't care in the slightest.

He knew perfectly well what his face represented to certain people now.

And this time, he was intentionally using the military's influence.

After tonight, his identity as the Devil's Herald would become even easier to leverage.

"Look—even the military works with me."

"Why shouldn't you trust me?"

Qin Xiao walked over to Betty.

"So, what now?

"Will you come with me?

"Or stay here and wait for them to take Dr. Banner away?"

Betty froze briefly before immediately understanding what he meant.

"We're leaving. Right now."

"Excellent. Follow me."

Qin Xiao directly opened a Mirror Dimension portal near the rear hatch of the helicopter.

Then he led Betty and Bruce Banner inside.

But from the perspective of outside observers—it simply looked like Qin Xiao had returned to the military aircraft after capturing the monsters.

The military mission was complete.

Qin Xiao was squeezing every ounce of value out of the military.

Inside the Mirror Dimension, the barely conscious Banner stared around in shock.

They had left.

But they also hadn't.

Inside the Mirror Dimension, nobody could see them.

Even if they stood openly in plain sight.

And the fractured, unreal scenery around them made it obvious—this was not the real world.

"Where exactly is this place?"

Banner finally asked the question weighing on him most.

"This is the Mirror Dimension.

"A secondary dimension existing outside mainstream spacetime.

"Within this dimension, we can do anything we want—but none of it affects the real world."

Qin Xiao gave a simple explanation.

Banner was stunned.

"A secondary dimension?

"A fragmented spatial layer? A wormhole connected to another universe?

"Or perhaps a parallel reality? A temporal rift?"

He instinctively tried to interpret it through science.

And the question instantly pushed Qin Xiao into unfamiliar territory.

Mirror Dimension stuff…

How was he supposed to explain the exact physics behind it?

That was completely outside his expertise.

"It's simply an independent space. The specifics aren't important.

"What matters is that you can now see the consequences of your battle with Abomination."

Qin Xiao immediately changed the subject.

If Banner discovered he wasn't actually that knowledgeable, his mysterious image would take a hit.

Sure, compared to a man with seven PhDs, Qin Xiao was lacking by… quite a lot.

But the aura had to be maintained.

After all—there were still many things he could do that Banner couldn't.

Banner stiffened.

The entire district was engulfed in flames.

Countless civilians were still fleeing.

And not just this street.

The surrounding blocks looked exactly the same.

Tonight's battle had harmed far too many people.

Even if he had been trying to stop Abomination—that didn't lessen his guilt.

"Bruce, Bruce, you need to understand—this isn't your fault.

"If anyone is to blame, it's my father.

"If he hadn't forced things this far, none of this would've happened.

"Besides, you already succeeded in controlling the Hulk once.

"Later, we can go back to Dr. Blue and continue the treatment to remove the Hulk serum.

"You can still become normal again."

Betty tried desperately to comfort him.

But Banner's expression shifted repeatedly.

"It's useless.

"That serum only suppresses the Hulk temporarily.

"Once the gamma radiation inside me exceeds a certain threshold, Hulk will return.

"And if I ever face mortal danger—Hulk will appear again too.

"In fact, even without the serum he injected earlier, I still would've transformed."

After this battle, Banner clearly understood his own condition.

Betty stared at him in disbelief.

"So all our efforts… were meaningless?"

"Maybe deep down, I already knew the answer.

"I just refused to believe it.

"Otherwise… I never would've considered jumping from that helicopter earlier.

"Wait… who actually stopped us?"

Banner finally realized something important.

How had he and Abomination been subdued?

Why did he remember nothing?

And where had Abomination gone?

Betty's expression changed repeatedly.

"Betty? What happened? Did something go wrong?"

Banner asked worriedly.

"In fact, Betty was the one who stopped both you and Abomination."

Qin Xiao casually dropped the bombshell.

"What?!

"Betty stopped us? How is that possible?!

"How did you do it?"

Banner stared at Betty in shock.

This woman was that powerful?

Did Hulk just calm down because he saw Betty?

But why didn't he remember anything?

Betty still looked conflicted.

Meanwhile, Qin Xiao continued spinning his "truth."

"Well… that's because Betty signed a contract with me.

"To help you, she consumed a Devil Fruit.

"It granted her the power to calm both you and Abomination.

"In a sense, she's now one of my devil apostles.

"A far more binding contract than the verbal agreement you made with me."

Qin Xiao once again displayed his devilish talent.

After all—manipulating people cost nothing.

"No! How could you do this?!"