"Okay!"
Fury nodded, placed his hands and knees on the sofa armrest, crossed his arms in front of his chest, and listened intently.
Although he still had many questions... For example, what kind of power was the Dying Will Flame, what did the different Guardians represent, what was the situation with this baby, who was the guy with dual pupils, and so on.
But he also understood that the two sides currently only had the most basic trust brought by their cooperation intentions, and it was impossible to disclose such deep secrets at will.
On the contrary, rash inquiries would arouse suspicion from the other party and break the hard-earned foundation of trust.
"I know what you want to know, and we also want to know something..." Tsuna looked at Fury seriously. "But before the official exchange of information, I want to confirm one thing: you, or the forces behind you—can you represent this country?"
"Hm?"
Fury blinked in confusion.
He turned his head to look at Barton beside him. Seeing that the other party was also puzzled, he looked back at Tsuna. "I don't understand what you mean by asking?"
"It's very simple. I don't want to finish talking to you, then have to run around to all kinds of different agencies one after another."
"I see." Fury understood, then replied seriously, "The S.H.I.E.L.D. I belong to is part of the United Nations organization and has absolute authority in supernatural events. Although we cannot represent this country, we can assure you that as long as you comply with this country's laws, no department will come to trouble you."
"I see!" Tsuna laughed lightly. "But we are the mafia, and it's impossible to obey all laws."
"..."
Fury was silent.
In the face of Tsuna's frank confession, he didn't know how to answer.
From his standpoint, breaking the law was absolutely not allowed, but directly refusing at this moment would undoubtedly make this hard-earned negotiation opportunity collapse.
For a while, he didn't know what to say, and the atmosphere became tense.
"Hahaha... Don't be so nervous!"
Takeshi Yamamoto leaned on the back of the sofa behind Tsunayoshi, a big-brother-like smile on his face. "Although we're the mafia, we have no intention of breaking away from human society's rules."
The meaning was very simple. When something went wrong, they'd handle it according to standard procedures.
They weren't looking down on all beings from a high place.
Although Fury and Barton were both dissatisfied with this answer, they didn't dwell on it when they thought of more important matters.
"Acceptable."
After thinking for a while, Fury nodded. "So, can we ask questions now?"
"Please do!"
"Where are you from?"
While questioning, Fury stared intently at Tsuna's eyes, as if to confirm whether the answer was truthful through his gaze.
But in reality, confirming a lie through eye contact was a very unreliable method.
When a person with poor psychological fortitude encountered such a situation, even if they told the truth, their eyes would waver. People with strong psychological fortitude could remain very calm even if Mount Tai collapsed before them.
Fury never thought of using this method to confirm whether the other party was lying.
If the other party's mental fortitude wasn't strong enough, they'd unknowingly fall into a passive position, letting the entire conversation fall under his control.
It was a very useful negotiation skill.
But Tsuna didn't care about his gaze at all, his expression remaining indifferent. "The Vongola Family is a mafia family from Sicily, Italy, and we're all from there."
"But we checked the local situation through the Italian branch, and there's no such mafia named 'Vongola' at all. There's no such family anywhere in the world!"
"Data from all over the world..." Tsuna muttered to himself, then chuckled. "Being able to query global data in such a short period—it seems you really are an official organization that can represent this planet."
Fury: "..."
Barton: "..."
Did this count as the hunter being hunted?
Fury had always used others' words like this before, or found useful information from them, but this time it was reversed.
Although this was all irrelevant information and he'd never thought of keeping it secret, he still felt a bit odd being confirmed this way.
But at the same time, through this incident, he also realized this young mafia boss wasn't just someone with extraordinary power—he also had keen observation and excellent psychological fortitude, and was a qualified leader.
"...So, can you explain it?"
After a moment of silence, Fury asked.
His tone had become more respectful.
Or perhaps it could be said—more serious.
Fury had come to regard Tsuna as someone who must be "valued" even in the area of negotiation where he excelled.
"I cannot explain."
Unexpectedly, Tsuna gave an unacceptable answer, but what he said afterward was accepted by Fury and Barton.
"Your question is exactly what we want to confirm..." Tsuna said with a serious face. "We were holding a banquet for the Ninth Boss's birthday, but without any warning, we appeared in Harlem, USA from Italy. And after a short period of intelligence gathering, we found much that conflicts with our knowledge.
Your S.H.I.E.L.D.... Maybe our level wasn't enough, and we didn't know about this department. But Stark Industries, Osborn Industries, Hammer Industries... these world-famous corporate giants."
"What does this mean?"
Fury glanced at Barton in confusion, then looked at Tsuna, hoping he could explain in detail.
"It means that in the United States we know, these companies don't exist. Not only that, but the year we were in was 2023, yet here it's 2008."
"...Are you trying to say you're from the future?" Fury asked calmly after being silent for a while.
But though his expression was calm, his heart had already turned upside down.
Time travel!
Even if he'd seen the high technology of aliens and the mighty power of someone god-like like Carol, he couldn't keep calm about something like time travel.
Barton, on the other hand, was even more stunned.
"I thought so too at first, but after thinking about it, I felt it was wrong." Tsuna said, "Because I hadn't heard of these big companies in 2008. If I just wasn't interested in these companies at that time and didn't understand them, that would be fine. But when I was a kid, I also admired superheroes, and it's impossible I wouldn't know about a world-famous superhero like Iron Man.
What's more, we Vongola also have some expertise in time travel. If it were simple timeline crossing, it's impossible we wouldn't know."
The ability to travel through time...
Fury wrote down the keywords, and while he became more and more wary of the Vongola Family, there was no change on his face. "So, what do you mean?"
"Parallel universe!" Tsuna said indifferently. "I guess we may have traveled to the Earth of a parallel universe."