Star-Lord's Collection of Ego's Full-Frontal Photos

Ronan gave in.

Although it was humiliating, Ronan ultimately succumbed to his will.

He cannot die yet.

He must not die until he has avenged his loss to Xandar.

Ever since Ronan first underwent a warrior qualification test as a child, his beloved mother told him that the Xandarians were the ones who killed his grandfather and father.

His mother hoped that he would study hard and take revenge after he finished his studies.

Young Ronan followed his mother's instructions step by step until he joined the Kree Empire's Supreme Accuser Corps.

That was the center of power in the entire Kree Empire, and upon entering this center of power, Ronan unexpectedly discovered something rather unbelievable to him.

That is, the older generation of the entire Kree Accuser Corps avoided talking about his father's death.

Each time he raised a question, it was dismissed with a casual remark about Xandar.

Ronan's years of experience fighting in wars made him sense something fishy. With all the older generation of Accuser remaining silent about what happened back then, Ronan began his own secret investigation.

He felt that his father's death might not be so simple.

He searched through all the secrets accessible to beings of his level, but to no avail. During a routine battle with Xandar, Ronan unexpectedly captured a veteran of Xandar's Nova Corps.

From him, Ronan obtained a piece of information that was extremely important to him—when his father died, the former Nova Prime of Xandar was on her way to Hala, the homeworld of the Kree Empire, to negotiate with the Kree leadership. In other words, it was impossible for Nova Prime at that time to order the Nova Corps to annihilate the Kree army led by Ronan's father.

Ronan was greatly encouraged by this major discovery, feeling as if he had grasped a glimpse of the truth behind his father's death, and thus made a resolute decision.

He hacked into a top-secret database belonging to the Kree AI God, the Supreme Intelligence.

Indeed, as he suspected, the then-Queen of Xandar did sign a short-term peace treaty with the Kree leadership. Taking advantage of the time provided by this peace treaty, the Kree Empire swiftly annihilated the long-established Skrull Empire.

At this point, the message of revenge that his mother and his elders had given him was fragmented.

Fearing to alert the enemy, Ronan kept this secret to himself. After repeatedly achieving great feats for the Kree Empire, he set his sights on the Kree Empire's forbidden territory.

It is said that it contains all the major top-secret information from the birth of the Kree Empire to the present day.

Ronan felt that the truth he was looking for must be in there, and that there must be a reason why everyone was deceiving him.

So, on a dark and stormy night, Ronan, disguised, began his infiltration. Having done his homework thoroughly, Ronan's infiltration went smoothly, but just as he was about to push open the door to the truth and obtain the data, he was expelled by the [Supreme Intelligence] that had appeared out of nowhere.

There was no room for maneuver; Ronan the Accuser had once rendered great service to the Kree Empire, had transformed into Kree traitor.

The Supreme Intelligence must have something to hide; he must have touched upon some secrets from back then, which is why the Supreme Intelligence appeared and banished him.

The Kree Empire connection was severed. Ronan, though not hunted down, had no way to return. Therefore, he set his sights on Xandar, since the former Xandar queen had visited the Kree Empire and might know something, leaving some secret information for her successor.

This is why he sought to cooperate with Thanos.

He helped Thanos find the Power Stone, and in Thanos, Thanos lent him a large army to conquer Xandar and capture the current Nova Prime.

His power alone is insufficient to breach the defenses of Xandar.

"The story is good, but I'm not interested in your revenge ideas." On Ronan's flagship, Beckett, who had taken Ronan's place in the control seat, swung his toes lightly and summarized Ronan's confession in one sentence. His nonchalant manner made Ronan's heart tighten.

Judging from Beckett's words, it seems he doesn't want to honor the verbal agreement Thanos made with him earlier.

"How's the investigation on the Power Stone going?"

"We've already sent people to investigate." Ronan lowered his eyes, his face still bearing Beckett's shoe print, making him look particularly comical.

"People, time, place, and events."

"Say it now."

Beckett gave Ronan absolutely no chance to bluff.

Nam's usual excuses for Nebula simply wouldn't work on Beckett.

The unyielding tone made Ronan clench his fist, then slowly relax it.

"...yes."

Ronan took a deep breath and began to explain the progress in detail.

Nebula, who stood next to Beckett alongside The Other, had a strange glint in her eyes.

This was the first time she had ever seen Ronan so humble. Even when they were remotely connected with Thanos, South City been this humble.

Ronan even gave her the specific coordinates of a planet, a "treatment" she had never received before.

Nebula glanced at the unfamiliar Beckett in the control position, her mind surfacing with the domineering image of Beckett stepping on Ronan.

She gained a basic understanding of her brother, whom she had only heard of by name and never seen since she could remember.

"Your His Highness Beckett, why do I feel like these coordinates... look familiar?" The Other, who had been standing to Beckett's right with his hands behind his back, looked at the planetary coordinates and desolate image that Ronan had displayed, his small eyes filled with great confusion.

He felt the place looked familiar, as if he had been there before.

"It's Knowhere, Your His Highness Beckett." Woz, having finished writing the report "Beckett's Journey to Another World," popped up. As an Artificial Intelligence life form, it directly retrieved the name of this desolate planet from back then.

"Gaffa?"

This name, which only Beckett and The Others understood, filled Nebula with confusion.

The ruins of Gafa.

A man wearing a portable music player swayed freely through the ruins, dancing to the tune of "I'm the biggest idiot in the world," and easily arrived at his destination.

He also saw the target of his mission: a sphere made of a special metal.

"I found you, baby." A smile appeared on the man's innocent face, and he skillfully unlocked the protective mechanism and pocketed the [Cosmic Spirit Ball].

"Um?"

"What's this?"

The man, who had easily succeeded while humming a song, felt something under his feet. He squatted down, reached out and wiped the dust off the ground, revealing a photo album with an extremely provocative, or rather, eye-watering, cover.

On the cover is a review written by someone who claims to be an expert on cosmic relationships:

[He shattered societal prejudices, proving that men can also display their captivating bodies in the universe. He is a symbol of freedom...]

"???" Star-Lord flipped through the photo album filled with nude pictures, looking completely bewildered.

After a long pause, all I could do was sigh: You aliens really know how to have fun.

"This guy named Ego is really something..."

Stopping looking at him like he was an idiot, Star-Lord, thinking that "this thing might sell for some money even if I don't know what it is," put the photo album in his pocket.

"If you can make money from it, it's a symbol of freedom; if you can't sell it, you're just a scumbag trying to get attention!"

I wonder if Ego has any children. If he does, those kids are really unlucky to have such a troublesome father.

Star-Lord sighed, then stepped outside and heard the commotion of the outsiders.

So they began to skillfully escape.