Chapter 58: Lord of Hell's Kitchen and the Vongola Rings
The next morning, the news had already made its rounds.
Hell's Kitchen woke up knowing everything. The gang war. The Hand's destruction. Fisk's retirement. Ethan's ascension. The neighborhood was electrified — conversations spilling out of every doorway, every corner store, every breakfast table.
The mood was celebration.
Shops along the main streets put up sales and discounts to mark the occasion. Restaurants, grocers, street vendors — everyone wanted a piece of the energy. The commercial buzz was something Hell's Kitchen hadn't seen in years. Maybe ever.
And then the marches started.
Residents took to the streets carrying photos of Ethan, chanting his name. What began as a handful of people became dozens, then hundreds. The procession snaked through block after block, gathering size and volume.
In the crowd, an old man who'd lost family to gang violence clutched Ethan's photograph in trembling hands. Tears traced lines down his weathered face. "I finally see hope for Hell's Kitchen," he said, his voice rough but certain. "Ethan Cross is our real hero."
Others who had once been skeptical — who had quietly doubted whether one young man could truly change anything — now found themselves joining the march. They chanted a single phrase that caught fire and spread: "Ethan Cross — Lord of Hell's Kitchen."
The System notifications were flooding in.
「Congratulations, Host! Hell's Kitchen Resident E has added you as a friend.」
「...」
「Congratulations, Host! Matthew Michael Murdock has added you as a friend.」
Ethan, blissfully unaware of any of this, had just woken up.
He was still shaking off a bizarre dream — a horde of Deadpools chasing him through the streets of Hell's Kitchen, an army of red-suited maniacs descending on him from every direction. He'd woken up with his heart hammering.
He splashed cold water on his face, took a breath, and opened the System panel.
The screen was covered in friend notifications. An endless scroll of new names.
"Wait — did someone interesting sneak in there?" Ethan muttered, scrolling through the avalanche until a familiar name caught his eye.
Matthew Michael Murdock.
Daredevil had friended him. Ethan filed that away immediately — he needed to arrange a meeting. Hell's Kitchen was still short on capable people, and a blind lawyer who moonlit as a vigilante was exactly the kind of talent you didn't let slip through your fingers.
Ethan cracked his knuckles. "All right, System. The moment of truth. How many Friend Points do I have?"
「Current balance: 552 Friend Points. Convert to Family Points?」
His eyes lit up. Just as predicted. Enough for a proper ten-pull.
"Convert. All of it."
「Conversion complete. Current balance: 10 Family Points.」
「Use gacha?」
"Ten-pull. Let's go."
The roulette began to spin in his mind's eye, each rotation sending his pulse higher.
「Congratulations, Host! Drawn: Vongola Primo Growth Template!」
「Congratulations, Host! Drawn: Sky Ring!」
「Congratulations, Host! Drawn: Storm Ring!」
「Congratulations, Host! Drawn: Rain Ring!」
「Congratulations, Host! Drawn: Sun Ring!」
「Congratulations, Host! Drawn: Lightning Ring!」
「Congratulations, Host! Drawn: Cloud Ring!」
「Congratulations, Host! Drawn: Mist Ring!」
「Congratulations, Host! Drawn: Coyote Starrk Growth Template!」
「Congratulations, Host! Drawn: Horse Talisman!」
The emotional rollercoaster was real. Ethan's mood swung from elation to frustration and back again in the span of seconds.
"System. You couldn't just give me all seven rings in one draw? You had to waste seven separate slots on them? That's seven out of ten pulls gone on a single set!"
The System, as always, responded with absolute silence.
Ethan sighed and started sorting through his haul.
The Vongola Primo Growth Template was self-explanatory. That was going straight to his best friend. Ethan was half-convinced the gacha wasn't even random anymore — it had pulled the one template in the entire multiverse that perfectly matched Primo.
The Seven Vongola Rings — Sky, Storm, Rain, Sun, Lightning, Cloud, Mist — corresponded to each of Primo's seven Guardians. This was an epic-tier upgrade for the entire Vongola Family in one stroke.
The Coyote Starrk Growth Template had confused him for a moment. Starrk? As in, related to Tony? But when he checked the description, he realized it was from Bleach — Coyote Starrk, the Primera Espada, the strongest of the Arrancar under Aizen. His signature ability was splitting his own soul into a pack of spirit wolves.
Ethan was very pleased with this one. The ability set was solid.
And finally, the Horse Talisman — from Jackie Chan Adventures. Its power was to heal any disease and restore any broken object to its original state.
Ethan's mind immediately went to Wade. He could combine the Horse Talisman with the Senzu Beans and try to fix Deadpool's face. If anything could undo the permanent standoff between Wade's cancer and his healing factor, it was a magical artifact specifically designed to cure all ailments.
"System — apply both Growth Templates."
「Scanning Family members for optimal compatibility...」
「Match found: Vongola Primo — 99% compatibility with the Vongola Primo Growth Template. Apply?」
「Match found: John Wick — 75% compatibility with the Coyote Starrk Growth Template. Apply?」
"Apply both."
Primo's match was no surprise at all. But John Wick matching at 75% with the Primera Espada? That caught Ethan off guard. Then again — a quiet, lonely, devastatingly powerful man who'd lost everything he loved and fought with the exhausted grace of someone who just wanted it all to stop? Yeah. That tracked.
「Templates successfully applied. Vongola Primo and John Wick have integrated their Growth Templates. Host has synced automatically.」
"System — show me my stat sheet."
[ Name: Ethan Cross ][ Race: Human ][ Titles: Family Man Lv.3 · Lord of Hell's Kitchen Lv.1 ][ Skills: Gravity-Gravity Fruit · Magnetic Field Control · Dying Will Flame · Invisibility · Healing Factor · Quick Movement · Chaos Magic · Observation Haki · Sonído · Resurrección · Cero... ][ Talents: Cursed with Knowledge · Protagonist's Luck ][ Items: Senzu Beans · Horse Talisman · Eternal Spirit Blade · Lost Driver · Eternal Memory · New Element Schematic · Seven Vongola Rings ][ Family: Pietro Maximoff · Caine · John Wick · Winston · Marcus · Wanda Maximoff · Wilson Fisk · Vongola Primo · Richard Fisk · Vanessa Fisk ][ Friends: Wade Wilson (Dog) ★★★★ ... Wade Winston Wilson ★★★ · Tony Stark ★★★ · Yinsen ★★★ · Stephen Strange ★★ ... Matthew Michael Murdock ★ · Miles Morales ★ ][ Exclusive Skill: On Your Right Lv.1 ]
"System — what's this 'Lord of Hell's Kitchen' title about?"
「This title was bestowed upon you by the public. It functions similarly to titles such as 'Captain America' or 'Iron Man' — a name given by the people, not the System.」
Ethan blinked. He'd been asleep. He'd literally just woken up.
And he already had a superhero title.
Lord of Hell's Kitchen. He rolled the name around in his head. As far as titles went, it wasn't bad at all. Better than Spider-Man. Definitely better than Deadpool.
He allowed himself a moment of quiet pride, looking at the fully loaded stat sheet in front of him. Long-range capability. Defense. Speed. Melee. Magic. This was a genuine hexagonal warrior — no weaknesses, all strengths.
Then he pocketed the Horse Talisman and headed downstairs. Wade was about to get the surprise of his life.
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