Ding! You got 100 prayer points!
Ding! You got 100 prayer points!
…
After waiting a while, Quinn couldn't help sighing after seeing the notification sounds no longer appearing in his mind. "Hawkeye, you're also a member of the Avengers. Why do you only give this much prayer value?"
By this time, he'd already returned to the convenience store.
Through the connection between the system and the puppets, he'd watched the entire battle between Hawkeye and Hayato Gokudera.
Although he complained that Hawkeye only provided so little prayer value, he could understand it.
The two had similar strength and similar fighting styles, so they wouldn't experience many emotions beyond combat factors because of each other's performance.
In fact, if it weren't for the supernatural abilities displayed by the box weapons, he probably wouldn't have even harvested two hundred prayer points.
"Sure enough, we still need to craft stories to make them empathize!" Quinn sighed, then looked at Otto who was eating and asked, "By the way, what did you want to tell me earlier?"
"Daredevil seems to be investigating us."
Otto put down the lunch Quinn had brought back, wiped rice from the corners of his mouth, and said, "According to what Xiaohua has discovered, he captured the contact person from the group who attacked us this morning, but hasn't found any useful information."
Xiaohua was a stray cat that often wandered in this alley, and Otto had given it that name.
After Daredevil came and left, Otto had thought the other party might use his ability to monitor the convenience store, so he'd asked nearby animals to search for Daredevil's presence in the area.
Then there was the scene reported earlier.
"Daredevil!"
Quinn scratched his head, somewhat troubled.
How to put it?
Hell's Kitchen did have a group of superheroes and supervillains, but they were all relatively weak (comparatively speaking), and their influence was basically limited to a few blocks—not on the same level as the Avengers and the enemies they dealt with.
Although the prayer value they could provide greatly exceeded ordinary people's, it was still extremely limited and not worth the trouble to plan around.
Quinn's original intention was to have the Vongola Family start from the underworld, then intersect with forces like S.H.I.E.L.D.
However, although their individual strength wasn't great, some abilities were very powerful.
For example, the power of the Iron Fist's Dragon God... Although this generation's Iron Fist was extremely disappointing, that didn't prevent a certain generation of Iron Fist from using the Dragon God's power to blow apart the complete Phoenix Force, causing fragments to spread across the multiverse.
This generation's Iron Fist being weak was the person's fault, not the ability's.
The same went for Daredevil.
Although he himself was just a master martial artist level guy, that radar-like hearing was genuinely overpowered.
If he'd set his sights on the convenience store, then Quinn had to pay attention to his usual words.
Especially when he often monitored puppets remotely, and when he saw some familiar or special situations, he couldn't help muttering to himself.
Although it happened hundreds of thousands of miles apart and didn't even exist in the public eye, sometimes fate could be so strange.
Maybe he'd stumble onto the truth by chance.
"Even with Otto's ability to counter surveillance, there's still a time lag in information transmission. That's a flaw..." Quinn pondered with his chin lowered, his expression sometimes conflicted, sometimes relaxed, as if he'd made a major decision. After a while, he sighed. "Forget it, this is it!"
Saying that, he pulled out a fist-sized fruit covered in strange patterns and handed it to Otto. "Otto, eat this!"
"Okay, boss."
Otto didn't hesitate, didn't ask what kind of fruit it was—just took it, opened his mouth, and bit into it.
Then…
"It's so disgusting!"
The moment he ate it, Otto's face turned pale.
"One bite is enough." After Quinn finished speaking, he looked at Otto curiously. "Feel your body—are there any other changes?"
"Changes?"
Otto raised his arms suspiciously and examined his body.
Then, as if sensing something, an invisible barrier unfolded.
Immediately, everything went quiet.
The movement of air, the stray cats rummaging through trash cans, people's voices and footsteps—all outside sounds disappeared.
"Seems to be a success." Quinn nodded with satisfaction. "From now on, always maintain a soundproof barrier in the store. Um, just block sounds from leaving the store—don't block sounds coming in from outside."
"Okay, boss."
Otto nodded, and without any visible movement, outside sounds returned.
—The Calm-Calm Fruit!
A Devil Fruit from the world of "One Piece" that would turn the user into a landlubber, but also grant strange abilities.
And the Calm-Calm Fruit's power was silence.
It could open an invisible barrier like a soundproof wall to block incoming sounds from outside or prevent sounds from within from escaping.
Most importantly, this ability consumed very little stamina. Even operating 24 hours a day created no burden. It perfectly countered Daredevil's ability.
This was one of the two useful items Quinn had drawn last time.
"Now I don't have to worry about that guy!"
Quinn nodded in satisfaction, then picked up his PSP and started playing.
…
Midtown Associates.
In the conference room on the top floor, all the Hell's Kitchen gang bosses had gathered, and the atmosphere was extremely tense.
"Did he really say that?"
After listening to Wesley's report, Madame Gao asked, and the translator at her side immediately converted her words into English.
After hearing this, Wesley nodded quickly. "Yes, these were his exact words. I didn't embellish anything."
"Hmph, just a mafia group that recently emerged, and they dare say such things!" The Japanese gang boss "Nobu" snorted coldly. "They're simply disrespecting us, and they claim they want to unify American gangs. Who do they think they are?"
"Now isn't the time to discuss this!"
The Russian gang leader "Vladimir" said, "My subordinates rely on human trafficking and transportation for their livelihood. The Vongola Family forbidding these two businesses cuts off my income!"
"Don't worry, it will be resolved."
Madame Gao narrowed her eyes, and a cold light flashed in her cloudy pupils.
As one of the five fingers of the Hand, she'd lived for 500 years—what kind of storms hadn't she weathered?
Vongola forbade drug trafficking and human trafficking... The former hindered her revenge, the latter hindered her longevity. How could she give up?
"...The other party's attitude is resolute, and it seems impossible to resolve through negotiation." Kingpin pondered, then said, "But the other party is a mafia that unified Harlem's gangs by force—it's very difficult to win through military might."
"I heard that Cottonmouth's sister is a Harlem city councilwoman!" Wesley spoke up at this point.
Kingpin's eyes lit up and he smiled confidently. "It seems we've found the solution!"
Character Notes:
Madame Gao - From Marvel Comics/MCU. One of the five fingers of the Hand organization. Has lived for centuries and is a master of mystical martial arts and manipulation.
Nobu - From Marvel Comics/MCU. A high-ranking member of the Hand organization and skilled ninja assassin.
Vladimir - From Marvel Comics/MCU. Leader of the Russian mafia operations in Hell's Kitchen.
Mariah Dillard - From Marvel Comics/MCU. Cottonmouth's sister (mentioned but not present). A Harlem city councilwoman involved in criminal activities.