Chapter 130 – Awakening
Agent Hill's voice crackled over the communicator. Loki feared they would find the hosts he had planted on Earth.
"Why would Loki be concerned about that?" Thor asked, still confused.
"The Straw-Straw Fruit is powerful," Hill explained, "but the hosts Loki chose on Earth were a liability. Loki relied on Barton's organization for this mission, and most of those people are enemies of S.H.I.E.L.D. We have no pressure in dealing with them—in fact, we'd prefer to use Loki's actions as an excuse to eliminate them. But even if we couldn't, we were already tracking them. Barton leaked the information, and we are currently rounding them up. Loki likely sensed this threat, which is why he turned to the Chitauri for his hosts. He was certain they would be the force to conquer Earth. He never expected to run into a wall."
Hill's analysis hit the nail on the head. That had been Loki's exact train of thought. When he realized Barton had been compromised, he had immediately pivoted to his backup plan: stay hidden until the portal opened, then rush to the Chitauri base to plant his links. He had calculated for every variable—except for how easily the portal could be closed and the fatal flaw of the Chitauri's hive-mind signals.
"Urgh..."
Loki, bolstered by his Asgardian physiology, began to regain consciousness. He opened his eyes to see a circle of Avengers staring down at him.
"Loki," Captain Rogers stated firmly, "by the authority of the Avengers, you are under arrest."
...
Qin Xiao wasn't concerned with the scene outside. He returned to where Logan and the others were gathered. The Abomination had spent the battle smashing Leviathans, and he looked like he'd had the time of his life.
Qin Xiao found Frank Castle in a bizarre state. The vigilante had transformed himself into a massive swamp, attempting to swallow a gargantuan Leviathan—a vessel the size of a skyscraper! Frank stared at the alien wreckage with the adoration of a lover.
Qin Xiao sighed. He had urged Frank repeatedly to expand the range and power of the Swamp-Swamp Fruit, but Frank had been lukewarm, viewing the fruit mostly as a mobile armory and a survival tool for avoiding damage. Now, driven by the obsessive need to "collect" this Leviathan, he was finally straining his limits.
Qin Xiao opened a portal and stepped beside him. "You're a 'Weapons Master,' yet you're obsessed with an alien warship. If you'd listened to me and developed your fruit powers earlier, you would have absorbed this thing hours ago."
Frank blushed, a rare sight. "I get it, alright? I'll work on it. This fight opened my eyes. If there's a first alien invasion, there will be a second. Next time there's a ship this big, I will swallow it. I'm serious about this."
Qin Xiao nodded. If Frank could truly push the Swamp-Swamp Fruit to its limit, it would be a terrifying weapon. He knew the potential—the ability to engulf like the Sand-Sand Fruit, the crushing power of a desert burial, the fluidity of a water-based ninjutsu—but Frank was still too "salted fish" (lazy/complacent) in his training, fixated on filling his body space with guns rather than evolving his biology.
"If you truly understand, then consider this," Qin Xiao said, leaning in. "You think this ship is big? To the rest of the universe, it's a toy. If you pushed your fruit to the peak, you could swallow this ship in an instant. You wouldn't need to play around with these small-arms firefights. If you could become a swamp the size of an entire city, you could wipe out an entire invading army by yourself. Why bother with guns when you are the weapon?"
Frank's eyes began to glow with a new intensity.
"Maybe you're right," Frank muttered. "I've been trapped in the mindset of a Marine. I keep using my abilities as a locker for my old gear. My current weapons are fine for humans, but they're useless against warships. I need to get stronger."
Qin Xiao felt a glimmer of hope. "Frank, have you realized that when you turn into the swamp, you can increase your physical size?"
"I know that," Frank said. "That's just increasing the mass of the swamp."
"Exactly. But have you ever tried turning into a giant humanoid shape while maintaining that mass?"
Frank froze. "A giant humanoid form?"
"Yes. Use the swamp to build your own body. You could stand as tall as a building. Imagine the weapons you could wield then. You could lift a battleship's main cannon as easily as you lift a pistol."
Frank's eyes widened. The idea was brilliant. He'd always felt a gap between himself and the Abomination—a gap defined by brute strength and stature. If he could match the Abomination's size, he could fight him. And because he was a fluid, he could trap the Abomination within his own mass, negating the threat of the Quake-Quake Fruit.
"Qin, I see it now!" Frank shouted, clearly energized. "I'll develop it. But for now, I'm getting this ship. I can't let the cleanup crews take my prize."
Qin Xiao watched as Frank redoubled his efforts, his swampy mass expanding rapidly as he grunted with focus. Qin Xiao had been pouring effort into all his protégés—Thor, Fisk, Creed, Natasha—but watching the first one he'd empowered finally find his own path to growth was satisfying.
"Fine. Play with your ship. I'm going to check on the Abomination."
Qin Xiao turned and vanished, reappearing beside the Abomination.
"I've got a new opponent for you to play with."