Chapter 1: Like Looking In A Mirror
"Don't you think that punch was… a bit light, Saitama the hero?"
"Huh?" Saitama was perplexed. He had just punched this Boros guy into one of the structures supporting his ship, partly because he had said he went around killing off whole civilizations because of boredom, and partly because he had reminded Saitama of those darn telemarketers. But something was a bit strange.
"Oh, you can keep going?" Saitama had never encountered an enemy that had even survived one of his casual punches, much less could keep going no worse for the wear. "You're a lot stronger than you look at first glance, and definitely stronger than the other freaks around here."
"That punch was but a miniscule fraction of the power you possess. I am not so easily done in, Saitama the hero," Boros said matter of factly. The alien intruder was getting excited, even though he could tell that punch was massively weak compared to what the hero could put out, it had sent him flying, yet it did not break his armor.
Now Saitama definitely knew something was up. No one was privy to the fact that he held back in his fights hitherto, and this guy didn't look the least bit intimidated that a casual punch had sent him flying. He was wearing armor, so Saitama guessed that it had done a really good job of soaking up the impact. Yet, still, this sense of foreboding was a strange feeling. There wasn't a single entity alive that could outright scare him (or cause him to feel much emotion at all even), but this Boros guy was definitely a step above anything he had faced up until this point. Stranger still, he felt a sort of… companionship.
"Before we begin, I will explain some things to you, Saitama. This armor restricts my power, you see. Should it break, this world will come to an end unless you are the foe in the prophecy."
"Prophecy? You mean…" Saitama was mildly intrigued. What was this "prophecy" he spoke of?
The alien cyclops began speaking once again. "You see, I am simply too strong. For 20 years, I have wandered the galaxy in search of foes that would re-ignite my passion for battle, but none so far have proved worthy. You, on the other hand, have managed to make me excited at the prospect of fighting once more. Though I have not felt the same passion as decades ago, I feel that you will be-"
"20 WORDS OR LESS!" Saitama shouted out abruptly. The hero was never one for deep villain monologues, it was the very reason he couldn't even fathom facing someone like Sosuke Aizen from that Bleach manga he had read a few years ago. Boy does that dude talk a lot, everything is always "according to plan" with that douche.
Boros, having never met someone quite so brash in the face of an opponent, acquiesced nonetheless. "We will fight, and that is all." With a smirk that most of his crewman aboard his ship thought him incapable of making, Boros moved at speeds incomprehensible to the human eye… Well, a normal human's eyes anyway. Saitama had no difficulty tracking him. Appearing behind the hero, Boros slammed his fist into him, and noticed that Saitama didn't even bother to block his punch, taking it head on without so much as fidgeting a bit.
"Good, good. You are at least this sturdy, this should be fun!" Despite wearing such heavy-set armor, Boros was faster than most beings could perceive. Saitama thought this impressive, but it still did not satisfy him like the prophecy spoke of. Although, he was the slightest bit intrigued that this Boros character felt the need to hold back against him at all. Deciding to test him, he issued a simple counter-strike. Cranking his speed up slightly to the levels that Boros had just shown he could go on, Saitama maneuvered behind him and struck him dead on with a slightly more powerful punch, so as not to completely obliterate him (or so he thought).
"… It seems you won't take this seriously until I do, Saitama the hero. Well, if that's the case, how about we take the kiddy gloves off for a bit?" Boros was unmoved by the punch! This guy was much more powerful than any other enemy, extremely so in fact. Boasting a maniacal smile that only a true battle-maniac could, Boros elbowed Saitama and sent him flying through three pillars.
"Isn't this fun!?" The mad cyclops ran at Saitama, who had crashed into a final pillar. Breaking through the ones that Saitama had crashed through, Boros delivered a dropkick to the strongest hero and caused the pillar they were on to explode. However, they outsped the explosion with their immense speed, circling up the pillar to the top of Boros' ship. Boros was on the offensive, while Saitama simply dodged all hits. Going through the material of the ship, they came up in a chunk of it (still fighting and causing dents in it) before eventually splitting apart a few meters away from each other.
"He got my costume dirty, that sucks." Saitama, a bit peeved that Boros had gotten his costume dirty after he just recently washed it, reprimanded him.
"Dude, I know that you're the denominator of the universe or whatever, but you could PLEASE not throw dust particles everywhere you…" his rant was cut off by a knee to the face, followed by a 4 punch combo that ended in an uppercut. Saitama, battle instincts kicking in, immediately recovered and delivered a counter-strike.
"Normal Consecutive Punches" the hero said nonchalantly after landing and blitzing the alien cyclops who just interrupted him. With that, it happened. Boros armor broke, causing the alien to reflect on the situation at hand.
"This set of armor, used to seal in my immeasurable, irresistible power, has been broken." Saitama's response?
"Ok (._.)" The hero's face resembled that of a man who had just found out that his wife was cheating on him, but he was cheating on her as well. Thinking back a bit though, Saitama remembered that this guy had actually blitzed him before he finished his request. More so than it being rude, Saitama was actually caught off-guard by the speed of the alien, something not even an amped up Genos or Lump O' Coal Tonic (?) could do.
"You're pretty strong." Saitama actually felt a twinge of happiness, maybe this guy would be able to slightly challenge him, or as the alien cyclops might put it, "give stimulation" to his existence. Still feeling the need to tell him off, however, he started reprimanding again.
"Hey, you know it's pretty rude to interrupt somebody don't you?" H not only stood for hero, but for hypocrite as well in Saitama's case.
Boros, having finished off the transformation he was going through while Saitama was internally mulling things over, started to emit copious amounts of latent energy and responded in kind. What could this being, seemingly a match for Saitama's lesser focus, possibly say in retort to the hero's allegations?
"Well, it wasn't 20 words or less, you see." Saitama didn't know whether the alien was mocking him or actually took on his dislike of long-winded rants, but his face didn't share the same confusion. The shine on his bald head did a lap over it, before his face (now twisted into one of despair) pans back into view. This alien reminded him of Tatsumaki, and that actually put him in a bad mood (Tatsumaki and Genos were the only individuals so far who made him feel any type of emotion, and it's safe to say that Tornado's constant insults and snarks didn't incite happiness and rainbows within him).
"Wait. An opponent? An actual opponent made me feel something?"