400 Years of Life

"If you dare to deceive me, then—"

Gah—

Before Nick Fury could finish his threat, his mouth refused to open. All he could do was mumble, "Mm, mm, mm, mm, mm."

"Shh!" Kino raised a finger to his lips and blew lightly. "Mr. Nick Fury, it would be best if you didn't say the rest! Because you are not qualified to threaten me."

With that, Kino released the restriction.

"Urgh!"

"You should be grateful that I chose to be one of the good guys!"

After saying that, Kino ignored Blackhead and closed his eyes to rest.

"..."

About ten minutes later, a voice sounded from the electronic eye outside the sealed room.

"Level 4 Agent Grant Ward reporting in!"

Level 4?

Kino raised an imperceptible eyebrow. It seemed Grant had not yet risen to Level 7, as he had in Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.

He could roughly determine the period he was in now.

Dr. Bruce Banner had yet to test his gamma bomb or absorb radiation and turn into the big green guy.

Spider-Man, Peter Parker, had not yet sneaked into some science exhibition to pick up girls and accidentally engaged in a certain kind of "biting" physiological activity with Spider-Girl!

Iron Man was still awaiting his birth, while Robert Downey Jr... uh—Tony Stark was still playing the playboy, spending his days among models.

Kino was not especially clear on Marvel's timeline, but according to his deductions... a certain big green guy was about to arrive.

"Come in!"

At Nick Fury's gruff shout, Kino withdrew his attention.

The sealed room's door opened, then immediately shut again.

The tall, upright Grant Ward was somewhat confused, but also somewhat excited. Receiving him in a sealed room—did that mean there was some major mission for him? He did not believe his undercover Hydra mission had been exposed.

But when he saw Kino, he froze for a second.

Who was this guy?

He was certain he had never seen this man before. As far as he remembered, the only Asian in S.H.I.E.L.D. was Agent Melinda May! And judging by the way this man had his legs propped on the conference table, he clearly had no regard for Director Nick Fury. Was his background even greater than the director's? He knew the other two men, so... was today's matter because of this Asian man before him?

Hmm, perhaps he was not exactly Asian?

He was mixed-race!

After only one second of hesitation, Grant snapped to attention, standing straight with his hands behind his back like a soldier.

"Level 4 Agent Grant Ward reporting in!"

"Good!" Nick Fury merely gave him a brief glance before turning toward Kino.

Grant kept watching from the corner of his eye. Sure enough, this is about that stranger.

Mixed-race?

Kino was not mixed-race. He had a standard Eastern face. He had transmigrated into the world of One Piece, then accidentally traveled to the world of Fairy Tail. There, he ate high-calorie Western food, and after more than a decade of gradual changes and imitation, his appearance had become slightly more rugged.

Of course, that was not the key point.

After fusing with the flesh and blood power of the Black Dragon Acnologia, his entire appearance had changed. Specifically—his brow ridge had become higher, his eye sockets deeper, his nose bridge sharper, and his face more chiseled.

At first glance, he was an Eastern man.

At second glance, he was a mixed-race man with Eastern blood.

Grant had thought today's mission concerned this unfamiliar man who seemed to have quite an impressive background. Just as he was about to make an impression, the next sentence made his mind buzz as though he had fallen into an ice cellar!

"What mission did Hydra give you?"

Boom—

Grant Ward's mind raced. Had his identity been exposed? No, no. If it truly had been exposed, the director would not have invited him here. He would have been in a S.H.I.E.L.D. prison.

They were probably still in the stage of suspicion and verification!

It all hinged on this stranger.

Having made up his mind, Grant Ward tilted his head slightly and said with unusual calmness, "Who exactly are you, sir, and why are you asking that?"

Kino lazily picked his nose. "I don't like wasting time."

Then he suddenly raised a hand!

An invisible gravity pressed down, forcing Grant Ward directly to his knees.

Then Kino flipped his hand palm-up, and a strange book appeared out of thin air.

The book was ancient and weighty, exuding a dense aura of history.

Its cover, back cover, spine, and thick boards were of an indiscernible material, but the pages inside were all made of ancient parchment.

The most unusual thing was not its age or weight, but its color: half black and half white. The front sides of its pages were black while the reverse sides were white; or perhaps the front sides were white while the reverse sides were black. The cover was black, the back cover white, while the spine was white on top and black below.

Very strange!

Even stranger, an even more ancient lock fastened the book shut between its cover and back cover.

The lock was likewise half white and half black.

Nick Fury could no longer sit still. He sprang to his feet. "The... Darkhold?"

"What Darkhold?" Kino turned to glance at him.

Oh, right.

Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.'s fourth season had mentioned it. It was supposedly written billions of years ago by Chthon, one of the ancient gods who had already fallen into demonhood.

Chthon—rumored to be Earth's earliest lifeform, Earth's god of the underworld, and the strongest master of black magic. But he should have been far below Death, one of the five cosmic gods. After all, one was merely Earth's Grim Reaper, while the other was the endpoint of all life in the universe.

Marvel Girl, wielding the Phoenix Force, had instantly killed Galactus, another of the five cosmic gods. Therefore, Kino had no reason to fear Chthon, the god of the underworld.

Oh, right, this thing should have been in Doctor Strange's possession, shouldn't it?

Right, there was no Doctor Strange yet.

Uh... the one Doctor Strange had did not seem to be authentic either. It merely recorded some black magic from the Darkhold.

"This is not the Darkhold. It is the Book of Zeref!"

"Zeref?" Nick Fury frowned. It seemed... perhaps... it really did not match the information he had.

"Mm, a master of black magic with a lifespan of four hundred years, possessing the power to control death. Whenever his emotions became uncontrollable, waves of dark death would instantly kill every living thing within a hundred-mile radius. Plants withered, animals died, rocks cracked, and the earth turned to scorched soil. In short—everything withered!"

Gulp. Nick Fury was thoroughly frightened.

"But don't worry! Not long ago, I killed him, and this book became my personal property. It is now called the Book of Kino. After being refined by my power, it has become an entirely new work—one both righteous and evil, where angels and demons coexist, and both white magic and black magic are present!"

After speaking, he seemed to remember something.

"Oh, right, I keep forgetting to introduce myself. My name is Chino Marcus!"

Nick Fury rolled his one eye. You only remembered now?

But—a master of black magic with a four-hundred-year lifespan who controlled the power of death... how the hell had he killed him?