Marvel: Starting with the Glint-Glint Fruit.

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

He was like a completely different person.

"Ms. Negley, 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'll work with Nigley to use your abilities to gather information on suspected supernatural events, as well as undead and demonic entities. Also, you've kept the Super Soldier Gene Serum formula, haven't you?"

"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 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."

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

By using Pierce's resources to search for demons, he can hunt them down as soon 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 serums.

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 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 is 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.