Marvel: Starting with the Glint-Glint Fruit

"Tsk tsk, these members of Congress are all your people too, wow, that's really scary."

As Nigley flipped through the pictures on the memory film, he made some sarcastic remarks, but then his expression turned serious.

This is terrifying. The Strategic Homeland Defense, Attack and Logistics Agency (SWA), a special organization established during World War II, has grown and expanded over the decades without being known to the outside world.

Its missions include intelligence gathering, counterterrorism, counter-espionage, and dealing with supernatural and extraterrestrial threats, and it has a strict hierarchy and confidentiality.

Its authority is so high that it is only responsible to the White House Oval Office. Its agents are located all over the world to support global operations at any time. The agents include not only combat personnel, but also scientists, technicians, intelligence analysts and other professionals.

It also has schools and special agent training bases, and even a dedicated aircraft carrier fleet to support its operations.

The sheer size of their power made even someone as worldly-wise as Negril feel suffocated.

The director, now known as Nick Fury, is a figure even Alexander Pierce has to be wary of.

Within this organization, Hydra has infiltrated every aspect of society, with numerous private training bases and armed forces of all sizes spread across the globe.

If Pierce wanted, a small number of agents in the entire department could defect on the spot in an instant, including many high-ranking officials.

With his global reach and vast network of interests, Pierce is arguably one of the most influential figures in the world.

If it weren't for provoking her boss Matthew, Pierce might have continued to develop her career and secretly dominate the world under this identity.

Unfortunately, all of this ultimately comes down to their own boss.

Because the magical fruit that the BOSS gave her not only has the ability to extract and read memories, but also to tamper with memories and implant false memories.

This allows for the maximum degree of control.

Of course, this depends entirely on Pierce's will, but unfortunately, his will had just been destroyed by Matthew's Conqueror's Haki, causing his mental defenses to completely collapse. At this moment, he can only let Negri take Pierce's memories at will.

Chapter Twenty-Seven: Super Soldier Gene Formula

Pierce, who had been implanted with false memories by Negri, soon awoke from his dazed state.

He was like a completely different person.

“Ms. Negri, boss.”

He stood there with a look of fervor and respect, looking at Negri, but his gaze eventually settled on Matthew, who was sitting on the sofa flipping through documents.

"You know what to do next: erase all traces of our presence today."

Matthew said without looking up.

"Ok."

"Okay, next you will work with Nigley to use your strength to gather information on suspected supernatural events, as well as undead and demons. Also, you have kept the formula for the super soldier gene serum?"

"Yes, boss, we have never given up on researching the super soldier gene serum, and we have successfully cloned several Winter Soldier."

Pierce provided an explanation.

These Winter Soldier soldiers were no less physically capable than Captain America, Steve Rogers, but apart from Bucky Barnes, the rest of the Winter Soldier soldiers were frozen in a secret base in Siberia.

It's entirely because it's related to Hydra's strategic plans.

Since Hydra was eliminated during World War II, it has gone into hiding and lying dormant, and its strategic plan has been to hide and develop to the greatest extent possible.

During the Cold War, Hydra faced the problem of limited resources and needed to concentrate those resources on key projects and missions.

Choosing to freeze some of the super soldiers for contingencies is a strategy that saves resources while ensuring that these powerful soldiers can be quickly deployed in critical moments.

At the same time, it is important to avoid exposure. If these super soldiers are exposed too early, it may attract the attention of other major powers, especially the Strategic Homeland Defense, Attack and Logistics Agency led by Nick Fury.

For the remaining assassination missions, one Winter Soldier is sufficient.

The remaining super soldier gene formula has been studied with resources, but the main research direction is to optimize the formula to achieve a version without side effects, although the resources invested are not particularly large.

After all, due to the Insight Project, most of the resources were invested in this project.

This includes targeting mutants. If the Insight Project succeeds, the entire world will be incorporated into the algorithm. According to their plan, even mutants as powerful as Magneto and Professor X will die.

"Focus your resources on the Super Soldier Serum gene formula. I need a version of the formula without side effects. Use all your test subjects on drug trafficking, human trafficking, death row inmates, and recruit as many top scientists in biology and chemistry as possible from around the world."

After a moment's thought, Matthew gave clear instructions.

By using Pierce's resources to search for demons, he can hunt them down as quickly as possible, which is related to the Manifestation Devil Fruit.

Powerful Devil Fruits require a large number of Devil Souls.

The side-effect-free version of the Super Soldier Gene Serum laid the foundation for his subsequent training of Devil Fruit users.

Some Devil Fruits are powerful, but they require a strong enough physique to unleash their full potential. The genetic limits of ordinary people in this era are far inferior to the innate genes of the Pirate King.

Just like before when he didn't sign in and gained the "Grandma Talent".

Of course, some powerful ancient mythical beasts are exceptions. These Devil Fruits can directly break genetic limitations, and he also plans to use the top scientists he has recruited to study the genes of mythical beast Devil Fruit users.

If things go well, they might be able to continuously produce even stronger gene serum.

Of course, this move could never be carried out by Hydra under Pierce's command. Although the lower and middle levels of Hydra are brainwashed and loyal, there is still a large number of high-ranking officers who have not been brainwashed and have their own ideas.

Even if Negri later alters these people's memories, Matthew doesn't really trust them.

Because of the risks involved, the ability to alter memories is extremely common in this world, and there are many specially developed countermeasures. If something goes wrong, it could cause a lot of trouble.

You can use these people, but trust them? That's impossible.

They're all just tools; once their usefulness is exhausted, Matthew will discard them without hesitation to gain even greater benefits.

Including Pierce himself.

After explaining Matthew's main strategic components, Negri gave Pierce his personal contact information and left the villa.

Fortunately, during his incubation period, the security in the affluent neighborhood where Pierce lived, while decent, wasn't overly strict; it was just normal security, with at most a surveillance and alarm system inside the villa.

Given Matthew and Negri's abilities, it couldn't be any simpler for them to come out and go.

After Matthew and Negril left, Pierce immediately went to the secret safe house set up in his villa, deleted the surveillance footage from that night, and also deleted any trace of Matthew and Negril's visit.

Then I took a shower and went to bed.

The plan Matthew gave us doesn't need to be implemented immediately; it can be carried out gradually later.

Matthew and Negril were driving towards the airport in a Chevrolet. Matthew, sitting in the passenger seat, looked at the neon lights on both sides of the road and was still refining the follow-up implementation plan in his mind.

Cultivating an army of Devil Fruit users is an inevitable path.

However, these people must be extremely loyal to themselves, especially those who have consumed top-tier Devil Fruits, for whom this must be guaranteed.

What kind of person is prone to fanaticism and loyalty towards themselves? Of course, it's someone who has fallen into darkness.

When people are in darkness and despair, and their hearts are ashen, a ray of light can dispel the darkness and despair. At that moment, they are most likely to become loyal. And there are far too many people like that in this world.

With Pierce's power providing cover, Matthew will likely avoid a lot of unnecessary trouble.

He will dedicate more of his remaining time to cultivation, hunting demons, and materializing Devil Fruits.

Matthew gained a basic understanding of demons from the battle between Devil's Jar and Jennifer.

Demons are very peculiar creatures. Regardless of whether they are strong or weak, they have a unique characteristic: they are difficult to kill with ordinary forces.

Without a specific, exclusive ritual and a true name, it is impossible to kill or banish a demon.

Demons possess many abilities and powers, such as black magic.

Jennifer was probably a relatively weak demon in Matthew's eyes.

Of course, this is because the curse was used as a bridge to steal and occupy the human body in the form of a soul; the true demon body should not be that weak.

Even when Matthew used his Armament Haki to attack, it was unable to cause fatal damage.

Chapter Twenty-Eight: Self-Confidence and Personal Charisma

One reason for this is that his own mastery of Armament Haki is not yet sufficient.

Conqueror's Haki can impact the soul and spirit of demons, but its most destructive effect comes from the Glint-Glint Fruit.

To some extent, the Glint-Glint Fruit possesses some of the characteristics of light, which are effective against demons. Combined with the powerful and highly concentrated energy explosion, it gives him the foundation to hunt demons.

To put it bluntly, Matthew's stats aren't good enough. His Armament Haki and Conqueror's Haki aren't at the Admiral level, let alone the level of Garp, Roger, or Whitebeard.

In his current state, even with the enhancement of Armament Haki, it would be difficult for him to kill a demon directly with ordinary physical attacks, but the Glint-Glint Fruit could.

Once the required values ​​are reached, even a demon can be destroyed with a single punch if one's Armament Haki reaches a certain level.

I still need to cultivate myself.

Hunting demons won't interfere with his training. Besides materializing Devil Fruits, combat is also a form of training for Matthew.

The path to growth is never a monotonous process of training or simply crushing weaker opponents; it also involves intense, brutal, and even desperate battles where one must fight back against seemingly insurmountable odds.

Battles act as a catalyst, fully unleashing the power accumulated during regular training, allowing one to grow stronger in combat.

It can only be described as killing two birds with one stone.

"Boss?"

While Matthew was thinking, he heard Negley's voice. Matthew glanced over and saw Negley driving attentively in the driver's seat.

"uh-huh?"

"Thank you," Nigley said abruptly.

"What are you thanking me for?"

“Thank you for leading me onto a more wonderful path,” Nigley said earnestly without turning his head.

Matthew smiled but did not answer.

Nigley continued, seemingly oblivious to his surroundings: "Since retiring, I've been lost for a long time. I didn't know what to do. I did a lot of jobs trying to find that emptiness, but I failed."

"But you made me rediscover that fighting spirit I once had."

"It even led me down a different path."

Negri's voice was calm, but beneath that calmness lay an intense passion.

She joined the army not only because of her family background, but also because she was not a content person. She possessed an adventurous spirit that ordinary people did not have, and she was unwilling to be ordinary.

She originally thought that the 101 Special Investigation Team was her home, but after retiring, she fell into confusion again.

This is evident from the fact that she has never married or even found a lover.

Deep down, she still longed to step into the "battlefield" again.

Matthew gave her another chance, and even opened up a path that was more colorful and exciting than before.

Hydra, super soldiers, demons, hell—things she had never even imagined before—appeared one by one.

Furthermore, Matthew also granted her the power of the Memory Fruit.

Negri has always been a smart man. There are no fools among the members of the Special Investigations Unit. The fact that Matthew gave her this ability shows that Matthew trusts her.

She likes and enjoys the feeling of being needed, trusted and valued.

Most importantly, Matthew's work style suited Negri's taste perfectly.

So, the only reward Nigley could offer was loyalty!

"It's still early, Negley."

Even without Observation Haki, Matthew could sense the burning passion in the heart of the woman beside him. Why would he give something like the Memory Fruit to Negri?

It was because he understood Negri's personality.

As long as she is given trust and what she needs, she is Matthew’s loyal warrior, and that is absolutely true.

There are far too many people like Negley.

Matthew is a cautious person with a very high desire for control. Unlike Nick Fury, who trusts no one, he has unique self-confidence in addition to his Observation Haki.

Observation Haki allows one to perceive other people's emotions.

Humans are creatures adept at disguise, but under the influence of Observation Haki, the truest emotions cannot escape his perception. Even demons, creatures that are cunning and adept at disguise, cannot escape his Observation Haki perception, let alone humans.