"Taking over the world, becoming the queen of the entire Earth or something, isn't that a bit exaggerated?"
Ethan looked at Diana and didn't say anything more, but Diana felt uneasy under his gaze. She had no idea that in a certain parallel dimension, she really was a queen who had launched a war against all the forces on Earth, preparing to unify the entire planet.
"I felt like your gaze just now was a bit strange?"
"No, no, you're really overthinking it."
Ethan stood on the street, continuing to look around. He wasn't exactly unfamiliar with Los Angeles. In the Marvel Universe, his manor was located in Los Angeles, and in many worlds, Los Angeles was a very "important" city, including the Transformers world, where the company he established was also located in Los Angeles.
However, Los Angeles was vast, and although Ethan had been to the city in several worlds, he hadn't explored every corner of it. As he stood on the street looking around, he couldn't determine exactly where he was.
"Looks like we're quite far from the city center."
Compared to New York, which was full of skyscrapers, Los Angeles clearly had far fewer tall buildings, and the buildings weren't as densely packed. Judging by the sparsely populated streets, this should be a peripheral or suburban area, right?
After walking along the street for a short while, Ethan noticed a coffee shop around the corner ahead.
There was nothing unusual about it. It was just a coffee shop. However, the name of this coffee shop was Toretto's Market & Deli, which was quite noteworthy.
"Seems like this is the Toretto family's market."
In the first movie of this series, one of the male protagonists, Dominic Toretto, owned a market and deli, which was the place where the main character, Brian O'Conner, always went to eat sandwiches at the beginning.
"Want to go sit down?"
Diana was still looking around and nodded immediately when she heard Ethan's suggestion.
She knew that Ethan was very knowledgeable about many worlds, and even worlds he hadn't been to, he knew what would happen there.
In this situation, if he suddenly suggested going to a specific coffee shop, it meant that this coffee shop was not ordinary.
"But, do you have any money?"
"I have some cash in my storage space."
Besides using Luna to hack modern world devices to log into personal accounts and create a bank account, he had also specifically gotten some cash from Tony, from various periods, to use when running around.
There wasn't much cash, but how expensive could drinking coffee be?
Moreover, paper money was not difficult for Ethan to replicate. He could directly use magic to create banknotes.
No matter what, he didn't need to worry about not having money.
Walking into Toretto's Market & Deli, Ethan and Diana sat directly at the bar, and then the first female protagonist in this storyline, Mia Toretto, greeted them warmly.
"What can I get for you?"
Ethan looked up at Mia. His first thought was, "Time is truly a butcher's knife."
At this moment, Mia looked so fresh and youthful. Her cheeks were round and very cute. Although her eyebrows were a bit thick, it didn't affect her appearance. On the contrary, it made her look quite distinctive.
"Two bottles of beer."
Ethan glanced around. Although this place was called Toretto's Market & Deli, it sold a wide variety of items, including drinks and alcohol. There were shelves nearby with various fruits. It was more like a small supermarket than a traditional coffee shop.
Seeing the beer, he casually ordered two bottles, but the girl in front of him didn't move to get them and instead smiled at him.
"So what would you like?"
"Hmm?"
A soft chuckle from Diana beside him made Ethan realize his current appearance. The girl couldn't possibly serve him alcohol.
In this country, you could only buy and drink alcohol after reaching adulthood. Although many people didn't take this law seriously, with his current appearance, no store would openly sell him alcohol.
"A bottle of cola will do."
"Two bottles of beer still?" Mia asked Diana.
"One bottle is fine."
After placing the cola and beer in front of them, Mia glanced at the two with some curiosity.
The young man was handsome but looked at most fourteen years old. The beautiful woman next to him was definitely over twenty, and judging by her presence, at least twenty-four or twenty-five. They didn't seem like a couple.
Although both had excellent looks, there was no resemblance, so they probably weren't siblings either. She wasn't sure why the two were together.
Despite her curiosity, she didn't ask any annoying questions and walked to the side, continuing to flip through a magazine to pass the time, occasionally glancing at Ethan.
She noticed that the two of them weren't chatting but were constantly looking around, even at her store. It was obvious they weren't locals. She knew everyone in the neighborhood and had never seen them before.
Just then, someone else walked in, and Mia immediately smiled when she saw who it was.
Although Ethan didn't turn around, he already knew who had arrived.
"Perfect timing."
This was the opening scene of the story. The protagonist, Brian O'Conner, always came to the Toretto family's market and deli to eat, giving the impression that he had a crush on the young and beautiful Mia.
Brian was also tall and handsome. There was nothing strange about him and Mia getting together.
However, Ethan knew that Brian frequently came here to get close to Mia not only because he genuinely liked her but also because he had a mission.
Brian was a police officer, working undercover to investigate a robbery. At the time, the FBI and the LAPD were working together, and Dominic Toretto was their primary suspect. That was the real reason Brian was here.
Brian sat down in the seat next to Ethan and looked over curiously.
He had come here many times and rarely encountered other customers, let alone strangers.
Seeing that Ethan was just a kid, he quickly looked away.
From Brian's professional perspective, he could tell that this young man likely came from a wealthy background. His clothes and mannerisms weren't something a low-income family could afford. Plus, there was a beautiful woman with him, and although her outfit was casual, it was clear her clothes and pants were not cheap.
Though he was puzzled why people like them would come to a small shop like this, it wasn't his business, and he wasn't interested in getting involved.
"Tuna sandwich on the side, right?"
As soon as Brian sat down, Mia, who had been flipping through a magazine, spoke first.
After withdrawing his gaze from Ethan, Brian turned to look at Mia, and after a few exchanges that made Ethan roll his eyes, Brian still ordered the "not-so-good-tasting tuna sandwich."
"..."
Ethan looked at Brian speechlessly, making Brian feel a bit uncomfortable.
"What?"
"You come here every day to eat something you think is bad? Looks like what you're really interested in isn't the sandwich."
Brian coughed, pretending not to understand, then took the sandwich Mia handed him and took a big bite.
Ethan noticed that Brian's gaze occasionally drifted to the bald man sitting in the booth across from them, Mia's brother, Dominic Toretto.
Dominic also glanced at Brian and Ethan. He wasn't very interested in Ethan, just a passing kid. As for the guy who might have eyes for his sister, he wasn't too concerned. He trusted his sister to handle it herself.
However, what happened next wasn't a scene of Mia rejecting Brian, but the return of Toretto's crew. One of them, Vince, had always liked Mia and was annoyed by Brian, this pretty boy, coming around to hit on the girl he liked.
Ethan was sitting there, originally just wanting to quietly watch the show, but Vince came over, tapped Ethan on the shoulder, and arrogantly said, "Kid, go sit over there."
The bar wasn't long. Brian, Ethan, and Diana just about filled it. So Vince was telling Ethan to move to make space to confront Brian or chase him off.
"What did you say?"
Vince had been focused on Brian. He thought that, given his reputation, his words were usually effective, and a young boy would be even less likely to resist.
As for Ethan's question, he assumed the kid didn't hear clearly.
"Go over there."
There were still a few tables set up near the entrance for customers drinking coffee.
"It's too sunny over there. I prefer it here."
Only then did Vince look at Ethan properly and pause for a second before focusing on him.
"Listen, kid... ah—"
Vince raised a finger and pointed at Ethan, but before he could say anything threatening, a sharp pain shot through his finger. Ethan had reached out, grabbed it, and gently bent it upward.
A wave of intense pain surged through him, and he involuntarily knelt to the ground. Ethan didn't move from his seat, holding Vince's finger with one hand, looking down at him with a disdainful expression, like he was looking at an idiot.
To be honest, Ethan chose to visit this world because he liked this film series.
But that didn't mean he was here to make friends with these people. Because there was one thing he would never overlook: including Dominic Toretto, this whole group were criminals.
(To be continued.)