Out of 550 million possible futures, there were only 3,560 where Thanos successfully snapped his fingers. That meant the Mad Titan's chance of victory was now less than one in one hundred thousand.
Not bad.
Ethan felt a wave of relief wash over him as he absorbed the numbers.
The reason the Ancient One's observations changed each time wasn't mysterious at all. Ethan understood the cause perfectly.
It was the summoning system.
Summoning was an ability that existed completely outside the normal flow of time. Every single summon created a butterfly effect that rippled through the timeline and altered the future in unpredictable ways.
Three years ago, Ethan didn't possess abilities like Stands, Atomic Collapse, or the Thunder Fruit. At that time, his chances of stopping Thanos had been much lower, probably relying heavily on foresight and careful preparation.
Even then, the probability of preventing the snap had been close to thirty percent.
Now things were completely different.
Three years later, Ethan possessed several absurdly powerful abilities. With the Stand world, Atomic Collapse, and the devastating power of the Thunder Fruit at his disposal, he was far stronger than before.
Against a version of Thanos capable of wiping out the MCU universe, Ethan still felt confident in his ability to win.
And the most important factor was time.
There were still several years left before the Infinity War.
During that time, Ethan could continue strengthening himself quietly. With every new summon, his power would grow further, and the Mad Titan's odds of success would drop even lower.
Steady.
Everything was steadily moving in the right direction.
Satisfied with the answer, Ethan prepared to leave. Just as he turned around, another thought suddenly occurred to him.
"Your Holiness," Ethan said, pausing. "There's one more thing."
The Ancient One looked at him calmly.
"You know Tony Stark, right? He's been pestering me every day asking to learn magic. The problem is that he doesn't have the talent to learn the abilities I use. Could I bring him here instead?"
The Ancient One smiled gently and nodded.
"Of course," she said. "In one parallel world, he is actually my apprentice. In that timeline he even replaced Strange as the Sorcerer Supreme. His talent for magic is quite remarkable."
Ethan couldn't help raising his eyebrows.
Only someone like the Ancient One could casually talk about parallel universes as if they were everyday occurrences.
But it made sense.
After all, she was someone who could ascend to become a Holy Spirit after death and serve Eternity itself.
At the moment, the Ancient One was likely standing at the absolute peak of the Godfather Level in terms of power. If she weren't that strong, Thanos would never have hesitated to invade Earth earlier.
Once she eventually chose to die and transform into a Holy Spirit, she would likely advance even further, reaching the level of a Single-Universe powerhouse.
The Marvel Universe's power scaling was rough but generally understandable.
From weakest to strongest, the tiers were roughly divided into Earth Level, Godfather Level, Single-Universe Level, Multi-Universe Level, Super-Universe Level, and finally the Almighty Universe Level.
Earth Level was easy to understand. Most superheroes operating on Earth belonged to this tier.
Captain America, Black Widow, Hawkeye, and Spider-Man all possessed abilities that exceeded normal human limits. Their strength, speed, or skills allowed them to perform feats ordinary people could never imagine, but they still remained within the scale of a single planet.
The Godfather Level was only one step above Earth Level, but the gap between the two was enormous.
Powerhouses like the Ancient One, Odin, and Dormammu belonged to this tier. These were ancient beings who had lived for thousands of years and possessed enough power to destroy planets with ease.
Even Thanos without the Infinity Gauntlet had only just stepped into the threshold of the Godfather Level.
Captain Marvel, despite her ability to tear apart a massive alien battleship, still hadn't fully crossed that threshold. At best she could be considered near the Godfather Level.
As for Ethan himself, his current strength was somewhere in the middle of that tier.
Beyond that was the Single-Universe Level.
Powerhouses of this level were extremely rare, and there were probably none within the MCU itself. Characters at this level included Omega-level mutants and beings like the Sentry, whose power rivaled millions of exploding stars.
Above that stood the Multi-Universe Level.
The Five Cosmic Gods of the Marvel universe—entities like Eternity and Infinity—belonged to this tier. They existed above any single universe and were unique presences across the entire multiverse.
Then there was the Super-Universe Level.
The most famous example of this level was the Living Tribunal, the administrator responsible for maintaining balance across countless universes. Interestingly enough, Thanos after obtaining the Heart of the Universe also reached this tier and easily defeated the Living Tribunal.
Finally, at the very top was the Almighty Universe Level.
This was the realm of the One-Above-All, the being responsible for defining and governing all concepts across existence.
After chatting with the Ancient One for a little while longer, Ethan finally left Kamar-Taj.
When he returned home, Wanda and Pietro weren't there.
Normally Wanda handled most of the cooking. Without her around, Ethan had no interest in making dinner himself.
So he decided to go out and eat instead.
He grabbed his car keys and drove out of the villa. The engine had barely left the driveway when something unexpected happened.
A red figure suddenly appeared in the middle of the road.
Before Ethan could react, the car slammed into the figure and sent him flying.
Ethan frowned immediately.
His Observation Haki had been active the entire time.
Even without boosting it using the power of the Thunder Fruit, his perception covered a radius of nearly seven hundred meters. Ethan was absolutely certain of one thing.
The person he had just hit hadn't been standing there a moment ago.
The figure had appeared out of thin air.
Teleportation?
Aside from himself, Ethan couldn't think of anyone in this universe who possessed that ability.
After a moment of thought, he decided not to overanalyze it yet.
First things first—he needed to check if the guy was dead.
If the man survived, Ethan could simply ask him what had happened.
Ethan stepped out of the car and walked toward the spot where the figure had landed.
When he got close enough to see the person clearly, Ethan froze.
The man lying several dozen meters away wore a red bodysuit that looked like it hadn't been washed in years. Two katanas were strapped to his back.
That appearance…
Ethan knew it far too well.
Marvel's most talkative antihero. A man with a regenerative healing factor and a brain that never followed normal logic.
Deadpool.
Ethan blinked in disbelief.
What the hell was going on?
There were no X-Men in this universe, so how could Deadpool appear here?
Was it some kind of cosplay?
No.
That wasn't possible either. In this world, there weren't even any X-Men comics.
While Ethan was still trying to make sense of the situation, the man lying on the ground suddenly groaned.
"Hey… buddy," the red-suited man said weakly. "My leg twisted into something that looks like modern art. Could you help straighten it out? My arm's broken too, so I can't reach it."
He paused for a second.
"If you help me, I'll sing for you. How about a Bob Dylan song? I love his 'My Heart Will Go On.'"
Yep.
This guy was definitely Deadpool.
"My Heart Will Go On is by Celine Dion," Ethan said flatly.
As he spoke, he used psychokinesis to straighten Deadpool's twisted leg.
"Hey, thanks!" Deadpool said happily. "Wait, what song did Bob Dylan sing again? Forget it. How about I tell you a joke instead? I'm the funniest superhero in Marvel, you know. Don't believe me? Alright, here's one—"
"Wade," Ethan interrupted immediately, "why are you in this universe?"
Deadpool had clearly been getting more excited by the second. If Ethan didn't stop him now, the guy could probably talk for two straight hours.
Marvel's strongest mouth wasn't a nickname given for no reason.
Deadpool blinked through the white lenses of his mask.
"Wait… I'm not in Universe 616?" he said. "Damn it, this teleportation belt is unreliable."
He suddenly leaned closer, lowering his voice conspiratorially.
"Do you know about Universe 616? I'll tell you a secret," Deadpool said. "We're all living inside a comic book. You probably don't believe me, but it's true. Just the other day I was chatting with an old guy named Stan Lee. Hey, you probably don't know who Stan Lee is, he's—"
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