Nine-and-a-half Months Ago
It was on the 1095fth night of his training regimen, walking home down the moonlit coastal section of Z city, that Saitama finally realized that something was… off. With him, specifically.
His sheer strength was the first tip-off. He always was aiming for overwhelming power, sure, and he got it. But he couldn't help but feel that this was… wrong. Unnatural, even. Like he violated some fundamental law of nature to attain this immeasurable might. I mean, he had a feeling something was amiss when his favorite tracksuit literally disintegrated into nothing after he punched that building-sized glass of water with legs and a face, and he was really holding back for that one. Had he not been wearing his suit under it, he probably would have had a pair of police cruisers arrive at his apartment the next day.
Speaking of which, the suit his old draper friend made him? Practically indestructible. It had been burned, slashed at, frozen, shot, even pepper-sprayed at one point by a very monster-like old lady, and not once did it tear or even stain. In fact, the one time anything like that happened was when he accidentally tore one of the seams in the leg while quickly trying to get the thing on. Pretty much the only thing he had to worry about was his cape, as it seemed to rip and tear more easily.
Then, one night, all the hair on his head fell out. His entire scalp was completely bare! There wasn't even a small tuft of hair left. It's not like he had a condition or anything like that; he wasn't even halfway through his 20's!
But then, there came the boredom. The all-encompassing, neverending, torturous boredom. Every enemy he faced, no matter how strong they were, would fall to just one of his punches. It wasn't long before battles became… tedious. Dull. Boring. And then, it seemed as if all his emotions were gone. He could no longer feel any joy, sorrow, or anger from anything. Only disappointment and a distant longing for... something. Anything!
Saitama dwelled on these thoughts as he let out a sigh. The cool ocean air, admittedly, felt refreshing after such a long and mostly uneventful day of hero work. Though, he wasn't even entirely sure why he was walking this way, and so late at night, instead of his usual route home.
"I guess I just wanted to shake things up?" Saitama internally wondered.
Saitama slowed his pace down slightly, taking in the beautiful scenery. The dark sea glittered with the dim light of the pale full moon while its waves crashed rhythmically against the rocks. The beach was very clean, too; not a speck of trash in sight. It was all so serene. Though, he couldn't appreciate it as much as he would have a year ago. At the same time, Saitama couldn't shake the feeling that something… major was going to happen. Something that would somehow make his already strange circumstances even stranger…
CRASH!
"Woah," Saitama said, plainly.
A giant dust cloud erupted in the distance, reaching hundreds of meters into the sky and blocking out the moon from Saitama's point of view. Letting out a low grumble, the tired hero crouched low to the ground and lept towards the cloud, cratering the ground beneath him.
"Why does it have to be so late?" He grumbled to himself as he soared to the impact. "Couldn't this have waited until tomorrow, or even… Is that a giant snake?"
"GAAAAAHHH!"
CRASH!
The beach sand was baked into glass and immediately shattered from the force of the impact. Dust was launched high into the air and the surrounding area, while the distinct sound of breaking metal and shattering glass could be heard. In the epicenter of the impact crater was a young woman with dark skin and long black hair.
She was Mayari, goddess of the moon. But as she was, she seemed no more human than you or I. Deep cuts and large bruises littered her well-built body and her breathing was ragged and labored. Her left eye was completely pale and pupilless, with a single long scar running vertically over it.
Suddenly, the sea began to boil and glow a dark red. The growing tempest was soon accompanied by violent tremors and a booming growl. Then, from the crimson light, a monolithic shadow exploded out of the black waters and rose thousands of meters into the sky. It climbed higher and higher into the sky, casting a shadow yards wide and miles long. Mayari could just barely make out its silhouette amongst the stars. It was a massive creature; serpentine in nature and colossal in size.
"Ay puta…" Mayari cursed in her native tongue.
Its two glowing red eyes stood in contrast to the white, twinkling stars. They were completely void of emotion, but she could feel the malice and… hunger that they projected.
"Foolish halfbreed", the monstrous creature bellowed. The very air was shaking by the volume of its voice.
Mayari rolled over on her side, causing a torrent of pain to flood her entire body. She spotted the hilt of her kampilan laying just a few feet away from her. The goddess grit her teeth and began to drag herself towards her signature weapon.
The great serpent did not react as she was making this futile effort. Instead, it turned its attention towards the sky, setting its sights on the only source of natural light insight. Its pupils dilated like a cat about to pounce on its prey and it launched its gargantuan body out of the water and into the sky, where it all but disappeared into the darkness. It let out a booming cackle as it flew up, which shook Mayari to the bone.
"Dammit… Urgh…" Mayari grunted. Each time she dragged herself across the baked sand, a rush of pain flowed through her body, but she pushed on. "Almost… there…"
Her kampilan was only inches away now. Her determination only grew as she reached out and at last, she grabbed it!
"Yes!" she rejoiced. "Now, if I can just get up, I… oh…"
In one moment, Mayari's fighting spirit had all but disappeared, and the reality of the situation came crashing down upon her. The blade was broken, snapped off at the hilt. In disbelief, or the sickening feeling of despair, she let it slip out from her grasp and she turned herself back to face the sky. The goddess could see the sheer size of the monster, with its silhouette making an impossibly long line amidst the twinkling stars.
"I…," Mayari could almost see the creature gnash its jaws as it got closer and closer to the moon. It was nearly there now, and she was powerless to stop it. "… never stood a chance…"
BOOM!
An explosion sounded off just a few feet from Mayari, but it did not create a plume of dust. Instead, it seemingly pushed away all the air in the area, creating a brief vacuum around her. Mayari strained to lift her head to see just what could have caused something like that.
She saw it. She saw… him: a bald man, dressed in a… stupid yellow costume.
"Now, where'd that big snake go?" he asked, looking around. Despite standing only five feet away from her, he had yet to notice the wounded goddess lying in a crater of sand and glass.
"A-ano ba!? Sino...?" she stuttered.
Surprised, the man turned around, finally seeing Mayari. "Woah! Hey, are you ok!?" He hopped down into the crater and knelt by her side. "You're really banged up."
"I… I… " Mayari was too confused to form a proper response. But soon enough, she forced herself out of her stupor. "W-who are you!?"
"Me? I'm a hero for fun," the man replied, frankly. "But what happened to you?"
"I… was fighting, and… I lost," she answered. "Against the Bakunawa."
"The Bahu-know-how?"
"The Bakunawa," Mayari corrected. "Th-that thing!" She pointed towards the writhing dark outline in the night sky; cutting through the stars like some sort of living river.
"Huh… " The bald man mused. "What's it doing?"
"There's not enough time to explain! I have to…" Mayari tried to regain her footing, but a sharp pain in her side forced her down. "Augh! Dammit!"
The man's face grew just a slight bit more serious. He looked toward the sea and the shadowy form that came from it. He hummed in thought and started to walk towards the water. Mayari blinked with confusion. "What are you doing?" she asked.
"I'll be back," he reassured. "Don't worry."
"Wha-"
VWOOOM!
After a thunderous boom and a torrent of wind, the man disappeared. Mayari was left laying there, her mouth agape, trying in vain to comprehend what she saw. But what came next, no one, god or mortal, could foresee. The dark silhouette jolted and shook and suddenly, stood still. Then, a gargantuan shockwave boomed in from the sea and the Bakunawa fell into view. But only a portion of its body had appeared; the rest of its body was… severed off. The open wound was swamped in smoke and fresh blood, which trailed through the air as it plummeted toward Mayari. In a panic, she tried to crawl away, but her injuries slowed her movements like an immovable vice. The corpse was falling faster and faster and Mayari had yet to even leave the impact crater. It was only meters away from the ground now, and Mayari closed her eyes and braced herself for a quick end…
… which never came. Instead, she felt herself soaring through the air. She opened her eyes again and saw the bald man carrying her in his arms as they flew through the sky.
"Ano ba!?" Mayari gasped. "You can fly!?"
"Nah, jump good," the man answered calmly.
Mayari looked back at the corpse of the Bakunawa, and she saw the full extent of the damage the monster had suffered. It looked as if it had been cleaved in half by a mighty sword.
"How did you do that?!" She asked in complete shock and awe. "That thing's strong enough to devour the moon!"
The man spoke to her again, maintaining a calm, almost cold tone. "Really? I just punched it once. It didn't seem that strong to me."
"You killed it… with just one punch?!" she said incredulously. Mayari's shock only grew even more. "What the hell are you!?"
"I told you. I'm a guy who's a hero for fun," the man said with a slight smile. "I'm Saitama, by the way."
"Saitama… " The goddess repeated in dumbstruck awe.
"What's your name?" Saitama asked. The deity was caught off guard by his question, resulting in her flustered stammering.
"I-I'm Mayari," she said.
After that night, she tracked down Saitama and offered to aid him in battle to express her gratitude. But it did not take long for her to realize that the "hero for a hobby" truly needed no help. Still, Mayari would come over to Saitama's apartment, either to check up on him or to just hang out; watching TV and reading some of the manga he owns. Often she would accompany him on his routine patrols through the various cities and, on occasion, fight an overly boisterous monster or hilariously weak "super" villain. But Saitama would usually be the one to end the fights, with Mayari nearly bursting her gut with laughter. A month or so later, and the two had formed a sort of… loose friendship. Or something similar to that. Neither of them was really sure.
Updated some of Mayari's dialogue to actually speak Tagalog. Please let me know if I got some things wrong because I don't actually speak Tagalog. I know a few words and phrases in Visayan, but that's about it.