"What is that?"
Tony stared at the oddly shaped, brightly colored object in Qin Xiao's hand, his face full of confusion.
"This," Qin Xiao said lightly, "is a Devil Fruit.
Anyone who eats one becomes a 'Devil Fruit user.' The kind of power I possess—and the one Frank wields—comes from these fruits."
Frank, as someone who had already gone through it, spoke up. "He's right. I'm not a natural-born mutant. My abilities come from the fruit."
Tony blinked, clearly stunned. "You're not a mutant? Then you're saying… that thing turned you into this?"
"Yes," Frank said, giving a firm nod.
Tony's gaze snapped back to the fruit in disbelief.
"Just by eating something like that, your body turns into… mud? You can pull out weapons from your own body—guns, rockets, anything you want—and even bullets and shells can't hurt you?"
His voice rose in astonishment.
He had seen Frank's power with his own eyes.
When Tony was imprisoned in that cave, struggling to finish his first crude Iron Man suit, Frank had stormed into the base single-handedly.
Tony still remembered the scene vividly—Frank blocking the entire cave entrance by himself, turning the battlefield into hell on earth.
The terrorists' bullets had sunk into his body like they were hitting quicksand, doing no damage whatsoever.
Every time the gunfire paused, Frank would draw fresh weapons and ammo from his own liquefied form—rifles, grenades, even rocket launchers!
With that immortal body and endless firepower, Frank had annihilated the entire terrorist base alone.
Tony and Yinsen had been saved without even needing the armor Tony built.
Later, while waiting for Colonel Rhodes to pick them up, Tony had witnessed something even more unbelievable:
in the middle of the desert, Frank's body melted into a vast swamp of black mud that swallowed every weapon from the destroyed base into himself.
The thought of just how many guns, rockets, and bombs Frank was now carrying inside him made Tony's eyelids twitch.
If he unleashed everything he had absorbed, he could start a war in the streets of New York.
Until today, Tony had assumed Frank was a mutant—one of those born with genetic gifts.
But now, that assumption was shattered.
Frank's monstrous power came from that strange object in Qin Xiao's hand—the Devil Fruit.
Seeing Tony's stunned face, Qin Xiao's lips curled upward.
Perfect. The seed of curiosity had been planted.
Now came the real sales pitch.
"Each fruit grants a completely different ability," Qin Xiao explained.
"Frank here was a fully trained Marine—a super soldier and a master of weaponry.
For someone like him, the fruit that matched best was the Swamp-Swamp Fruit (Numi Numi no Mi).
This fruit allows the user to create and control a swamp, capable of engulfing anything within it.
Those things you call 'mud'? That's not mud—it's the manifestation of the fruit's power.
With it, Frank no longer has to worry about ammunition or supply limits."
Tony's eyes gleamed with intrigue. "Swamp-Swamp Fruit… Huh. That name fits perfectly.
Then what about the one in your hand? What's it called?"
"This one," Qin Xiao said, holding up the fruit, "is called the Yomi-Yomi no Mi—the Revive-Revive Fruit."
"Revive-Revive Fruit?" Tony frowned. "That doesn't sound like a good name."
Qin Xiao chuckled. "Oh? You don't think so?
This fruit grants its user the ability to return from the dead.
Even if your body has rotted to bone, you can come back to life.
Now, tell me, Tony Stark—does that sound like such a bad name to you?"
He deliberately left out one crucial detail—the side effect.
After resurrection, the user's second life would exist only in skeletal form.
But that "second life" came with its own terrifying perk: near-immortality.
After all, Brook—its previous user—had lived as a skeleton for over fifty years without aging a day.
Even shattered bones could be mended… by drinking milk.
"Come back to life…" Tony murmured.
"Come back to life!" Frank echoed, his voice tinged with shock and awe.
Tony's tone carried disbelief, but Frank—who had already experienced the impossible—believed every word.
A fruit that could bring a dead man back to life…
"Yes," Qin Xiao said smoothly. "It's a Devil Fruit—so of course it's tied to demons.
This one gives its user a chance to defy Hell itself.
When you die, your soul doesn't descend into the underworld—it can return to your body and live again."
His voice took on an almost seductive rhythm, weaving temptation into every word.
The name Devil Fruit was doing its job.
Every person he'd met—Kingpin, Frank, now Tony—had all assumed he was some kind of emissary of the Eastern Devil, walking among Westerners and granting demonic power in exchange for loyalty.
The fear in their hearts was real.
The name alone—Devil—was enough to make them tremble.
But power? Power was irresistible.
No matter the cost, no matter the danger, the allure of strength drowned out everything else.
Those who already lived in sin—men like Frank Castle and Wilson Fisk—had no reason to fear damnation.
They were bound for Hell anyway.
Why not strike a bargain with the Devil himself?
Whether Tony Stark would make that same choice… Qin Xiao wasn't sure.
But temptation, after all, was an art.
"So… a chance for my soul to avoid Hell," Tony said slowly. "That means the second time I die…"
He looked up at Qin Xiao, his voice calm but cold.
"…there's no escape. The second time, I will go to Hell."
PS: Please leave your powerstones, collections, and comments!
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