"Mm, a duck?" Just then, Tohka noticed a duck sitting not far away, as well as a large yellow cocoon.
"Howard the Duck…and Adam's old cocoon, huh." She mumbled to herself while scanning the Collector's exhibits. Tohka knew these were just the tip of the iceberg; there was much more she couldn't see. Like that Aether—she still had no idea where the old man was keeping it.
"So, this is an Infinity Stone? Tohka, did you already know all this?" Compared to Tohka's distraction, the others were all dumbfounded by the Collector's explanation. They'd also overheard Tohka's earlier conversation—meaning the old fossil had another one in his possession.
"Mm, I knew." Hearing Miku's question, Tohka absentmindedly nodded. She'd seen scenes like this countless times already and didn't care. In this universe, everyone with any status knew about them, so she wasn't interested in listening further—his collection itself was far more interesting.
"I won't be your slave anymore." But just as Tohka was admiring the collection, another voice suddenly rang out. She reflexively shivered—she'd forgotten about that woman. In the movie, she'd died outright, but in the comics, she'd managed to draw power from the Power Stone and even hunted Star-Lord for a time. But none of that mattered now.
Because that woman grabbed the Power Stone—and the moment she did, it unleashed a tremendous energy. After all, this was power that could easily obliterate a galaxy. Even if only a little leaked out, Tohka didn't dare take it head-on. She immediately grabbed Miku and vanished.
"..."
"You saved me and I'm glad, but…where exactly are we?" Speechless, Miku looked around, her dead-fish eyes locked on Tohka. Just now, everything had gone blurry, and then they'd disappeared. When she came back to her senses, she was floating in open space. As for that giant skull—she had no idea where it was now, but she was sure it was far away.
"Damn it, looks like I really need to use this less. I can't control it properly at all." This time they were lucky—it was just empty space. If she'd popped into the middle of a star, she'd be in agony. Even if she survived, she'd be shedding layers of skin. So Tohka decided to rely on it as little as possible. She hadn't heard Miku, since in space her voice wouldn't carry. Probably Miku hadn't realized either—if she had, she could've just used spiritual telepathy.
"Tohka, how are we getting back?" Clearly, Miku realized the problem and quickly adjusted so Tohka could hear her voice again.
"No worries—just hold on. Let me find it. Time-space travel leaves a trail. If we follow the trajectory back, we should reappear near where we started. We'll be back soon." Hearing Miku's question, Tohka took out the Space Stone and began sensing her surroundings. Meanwhile, Ronan's warship was also en route to the giant skull.
"Alright, I've got it. Seriously, why does it have to be this slow? I hope we're not too late." Before long, Tohka found her target. She took Miku's hand, and they disappeared again.
"Alright, we're back. But have you forgotten something? We're still quite a distance away." This time it was Miku's turn to sigh and complain.
"Can't be helped—before, I left a special marker at your place so I could jump back precisely. But here, I didn't prepare anything, so this was the best I could do. Wait…what's that? Looks like Yondu's ship." Originally planning to take Miku directly inside, Tohka spotted a huge craft approaching. But unfortunately, compared to the ship, they were tiny—so no one noticed them.
But since it was here, Tohka decided she might as well board it. She pulled Miku along to the ship's hull, peering in through a window. Inside, she saw an unexpected scene: Star-Lord and Gamora cornered against the wall by a crowd, while the blue-skinned Yondu looked furious. Tohka knew he didn't really want to kill Star-Lord. He was just upset that Peter had pulled this stunt behind his back—he was worried about him. For all his fierce looks, Yondu was basically a big tsundere.
"Bang bang bang." But while Yondu was scolding Star-Lord, everyone heard a strange knocking sound. They turned to see Tohka and Miku outside. That alone surprised them—given what just happened, this pair should have been dead. Yet here they were, perfectly fine.
"Open the door and let us in. Otherwise, I'll break in myself." Knowing they couldn't talk through the glass, Tohka pulled out a sign with the words written on it. Just in case they didn't believe her, she also drew Tony's katana and gave it a little flourish as a warning.
"Wahahaha!" Honestly, Tohka's gestures weren't scary at all—more like adorable. Everyone inside burst out laughing. But not everyone joined in. Yondu, Gamora, and Star-Lord stayed quiet. The last two had seen Tohka's power firsthand. And as for Yondu—he was their leader, and he had a good eye. Anyone who could survive unprotected in space and then stroll up to a pirate ship without fear was no ordinary person.
"These are our people. What, you wanna find out if she can wreck your ship?" Seeing Yondu's serious face, Star-Lord smirked, using an exaggeratedly confident and threatening tone.
"Hmph." Yondu only snorted coldly at that, then motioned for his men to open the hatch and let them in. He didn't really want to kill Peter anyway—this was a perfect excuse to back down gracefully. With his permission, Tohka and Miku soon stepped aboard.