Hello, my readers. Before starting this chapter, i want you to know that the end of the first part of this story is near.
To explain more clearly, i divided the story into three parts:the first part ends at the end of the Dark Matter Thieves arc, the second one is the Monster Association arc (start of the second season of the anime, first attack if the Association, raid and the end), the third one...i won't say it now.
Also, in this chapter i will experiment with a concept regarding the natural monsters' behaviors. You'll understand as you read the chapter.
Now with the responses!
To Jackejsh:Oh, don't worry about it, i just have a soft spot for my characters, that's all! Also thanks for the compliments!
To Exodus12345:Most monsters will still be evil, but yes, some monsters not being bad does make more sense, since they're living beings as well.
Shinko was currently on a fishing boat with an old man in the ocean (at least the part controlled by J-city).
What was Shinko doing in the middle of the ocean?
The answer's simpler than anyone might think:the day after his encounter with Fubuki, Shinko needed a new source of income since his house was robbed last night.
The robber took half of Shinko's food, but the worst thing was that he took all of his income (30000 yen, the two thirds of which were a collective effort of the Wastelanders, the one third of it was Shinko's salary).
Of course, the others would catch the criminal, but Shinko didn't know how long would that take. Luckily, he found a paper in his mail which would make him gain a lot of money fast:the paper was written by an old fisherman who wanted to hire a strong person for one last fishing spree, before finally retiring.
And that was why Shinko had took this job.
But if he wanted to be honest with himself, Shinko only wanted to see the ocean:an endless blanket of alluring dark blue. He never really got the chance of seeing it with his own eyes and if it wasn't for the fact he had a job now, he would jump into the ocean and swim all the way back to Z city, but slowly.
Shinko's daydreaming was broken by his current boss.
"Entranced by the ocean huh? First time out here in the big blue?" the old man, named Hazbin, asked him as he, like Shinko, leaned on the iron railing of the side of the medium-sized boat.
It wasn't the latest technology. If anything, with its old wood, one would be wary of using it. But the boat did its job marvelously and at the end of the day that was what mattered.
"Yeah, i always wanted to see the sea ever since i was a kid" Shinko said with a smile.
Habzin laughed "By the way, where do you live, kid?" he asked.
"I used to live in E city, but i recently moved to Z city" Shinko answered.
Hazbin raised an eyebrow "Z city? I heard that place is home of monsters. How are managing there?" he exclaimed.
"Oh, don't worry sir, i can take care of myself!" Shinko reassured the old man.
"Don't have a doubt about that! You are a pretty strong fellow" Hazbin said, remembering how Shinko lifted 60 kg of fish with one hand.
Then something softly bumped into the side of the boat and the two stopped talking. Looking down they saw numerous packs of trash floating in the water.
Now the entire scenery was ruined and the sea looked sickly.
"Damn idiots at it again..." Hazbin muttered and Shinko looked at him confused.
"This is the handy work of various ships who think the ocean's their dump, makes me sick. Sometimes i try to clean up, but there's just too much trash around here and the boat's too small" Hazbin explained and Shinko silently agreed.
But then some water fell on him and, looking up, he saw that not only the sky was getting clouded, but it was starting to rain too.
The few droplets turned into a roaring storm as the sky darkened even further.
"What's happening?! It shouldn't rain now!" Hazbin shouted into the dark sky, while his mind was panicking.
Shinko, in the darkness of the horizon behind the boat, saw two big round yellow eyes emerging from the ocean.
The eyes belong to a humongous being, which then stretched his long, serpentine body and rose from the surface of the water, gaining the height of 12 meters.
Then lightning illuminated the being:it was a monster with the body of an eel and the head of a mix between a shark and a catfish.
"Who are you?" Shinko asked as he stood up to the sea monster.
"Silence, puny human. I am Abissal Sea Serpent, heavenly guardian of the ocean, and i am sick of the humans polluting it!" Sea Serpent shouted in rage.
"Wait, if that's what you're angry about, we can solve this problem without fighting! You have the right to be angry, but you can't kill people for this!" Shinko said, putting a foot on the railing, while Hazbin stood beside Shinko, looking surprised at the lack of fear of the boy.
"Oh really? Fine then, we shall decide who is right...with a fight!" Sea Serpent proclaimed as he got into position.
"Abissal Geyser!" Sea Serpent said as he fired a powerful stream of pressurized water from his mouth.
The stream crashed into Shinko's chest, making the boat tremble and Hazbin hide in fear.
This blast could very well pierce steel, but to Shinko it was a nuisance.
The boy flicked his left hand at the stream, the shockwave the motion produced tearing through the stream and crashing hard on Sea Serpent's cheek.
The attack made him lose six teeth and draw blood.
His surprised look turned into an annoyed one as he faced Shinko, while a purple mark the form of his attacker's hand appeared on his cheek.
"Impressive, now block this! Abissal Pounce!" Sea Serpent shouted as the charged at the small boat. The cavities on his neck opened and propelled the monster by expelling pressurized water, making Sea Serpent as fast as a jet.
Shinko got into position and, once the monster was in reach, grabbed both of his jaws with his hands.
He then lifted the monster up, exposing his very long body, and then slammed him hard on the surface of the ocean.
As a roaring splash echoed among them and the ship wobbled, Shinko turned to Hazbin "Are you okay?"
The latter could not answer for a moment, but then calmed down and said "Don't worry, nothing's broken"
Shinko sighed in relief, but then the monster rose slowly from the surface, eyeing Shinko curiously.
While Hazbin went into 'panic mode' Shinko faced him with as well, looking into his eyes.
It was then that the beast looked down.
"You have won human, therefore i'll follow your suggestion and won't try to kill any human who goes into the ocean" Sea Serpent finally said.
Shinko's look brightened, but Hazbin spoke up.
"I-if you say so, then why is it still raining? Aren't you the cause of this?" he said uneasily.
"Unfortunately, this rain is not my doing, but it is the doing of the Deep Sea King, a ruthless monster who rules the seas of the so-called 'J city'. Unlike me, he will tread into the land and slaughter humans as he pleases. If you value their lives, then get back into the land and deal with him and his minions" Sea Serpent solemnly proclaimed.
"Well, what are we waiting for?! Let's start the boat right now!" Shinio said frantically, but the old sailor shook his head."Sadly we can't. With your battle on the boat, i think the engine (and probably the ship too) is as good as dead!" Hazbin said desperated.
Shinko gritted his teeth in frustration, then shook his head and said "Then i have an idea! Take a long rope and knot the two extremes at the knobs on the sides!"
Hazbin did as he was told, when he finished Shinko grabbed the middle section of the rope and jumped from the front of the ship.
Two seconds later the boat took off at high speed, showering Sea Serpent in a wave of water (which didn't bother him much).
Arrived at the dock, Shinko jumped on the concrete road and turned to Hazbin.
"Please don't forget to tell the others to not put trash into the ocean!"
Hazbin would have said something, but Shinko simply disappeared...and the concrete he was standing on shattered, sending a shockwave he had to shield himself from.
"Good luck, Shinko..." Hazbin said before heading to the rich part of the city. He would have a few words with those 'big shots', regardless of how busy they were.
X X X
The Deep Sea King was happy, very happy indeed:he had crushed all opposition without any challenge (with also the naked moron who couldn't do Consecutive Punches properly, HA!) and now he was approaching a dome-like structure, no doubt the place where those lowly humans were hiding.
The Deep Sea King jumped towards the building, ready to punch a hole into it.
Soon he would get to those humans, and then...
...and then nothing, because someone grabbed his cape and flung him in the opposite direction.
He was going really fast, so he couldn't see who threw him, but he would make them pay, sure of that he was.
Eventually The Deep Sea King skidded to a halt and realized that he was now really far from the building. But that wasn't his main concern anymore.
Shinko approached the monster with a serious face.
"So you are the pesky one threw me away? Very well, you're going to become a stain on this road!" The Deep Sea exclaimed, bloodlust evident in his voice.
"Likewise" Shinko simply said.
The monster then flung both of his fists at Shinko, who in turn caught them and pushed himself upwards.
He then headbutted The Deep Sea King, Shinko's head tearing through his body in a straight line and obliterating everything in his wake. Shinko's head then impacted with the road, shattering a good portion of it and destabilizing several buildings in the vicinity, thus creating an earthquake.
After a while Shinko took his head from the ground, but as he turned his head were wide with horror.
X X X
Puri Puri Prisoner was on a hurry and understandably so:The Deep Sea King was on the loose and innocent people could die!
But not if the angel of love didn't have anything to say about that! However he stopped because he had no clue to locate that bloodthirsty monster.
But the nearby earthquake could maybe help that.
So he runned to the location of the earthquake and found a gorgeous boy of the age on 18.
Upon seeing him, the boy froze, with horror clear in his eyes, and promptly struck his head into the already-shattered concrete.
But why would he do that? Couldn't he see that Puri Puri Prisoner meant no harm at all?
Oh well, nothing an Angel Hug couldn't fix.
So he went to the boy and squatted behind him, putting his hands on his shoulders and pulled as hard as he could.
After all, he couldn't hug him if he had his head into the road, that would look awkward...
After a while he concluded that the boy had amazing strength, for Puri Puri Prisoner could not move him by an inch.
Oh well, then he had to try harder.
X X X
Puri Puri Prisoner had REALLY good intentions for doing this, even if it could be seen as animalistic cruelty by knew when to restrain himself and did so accordingly.
However Ariol didn't care about any of that and wanted to free Shinko from this torture.
He, along with the Wastelanders, had caught the thief, thus retrieving their stolen he wanted to check on Shinko and came to J city.
And that was how Ariol, from the top of a building, jumped down to deliver a powerful kick to Puri's right cheek.
Due to Ariol's physical prowess and the fact that the hero was distracted, the attack worked and Puri Puri Prisoner went crashing into a wall.
"Ariol!" Shinko said with a relieved tone, his voice muffled by concrete.
"You'll have time to thank me later, now go!" Ariol said as he jumped to a building.
Shinko got his head out of the concrete and followed him.
X X X
If someone asked Great White how his day was going, he would answer by happily eating the one who asked.
The demon level monster, after swatting an idiot with goggles and a bicycle, was pounding the wall of the shelter for some time now and he thought he was close.
Finally the sturdy wall gave in and Great White stepped into the building, the citizens quaking in their boots at the mere sight.
"Finally i can deliver the punishment you so desperately needed!" the monster roared...and then exploded, for some reason.
As the corpse fell on the ground and a bald man in a yellow hero suit was revealed, his red glove steaming.
The crowd roared in excitement, but a person stood up, ready to ruin everything for the poor guy and mark Saitama as the biggest cheater in the hero world.
X X X
After six hours Shinko finally stopped shaking (to Ariol's relief) and went to watch TV.
The broadcast showed Puri Puri Prisoner rising from rank 17 to rank 16, while they also showed a small crowd calling a bald hero 'cheater'.
"That must be Saitama! But...how did that happen?" Shinko said aloud.
"Does it even matter? I don't think the bald guy even cares" Ariol piped up from behind, while he was drinking a beer can given to him by Beetle-Roach.
"I...guess you're right" Shinko finally said.
X X X
It was midnight and the moon made the entire ocean sparkle like sea of priceless jewels.
Nothing could be seen for miles, except for a huge, black ship which was still in the calm waters of J city.
Three men stepped out (presumably the sailors), talking and laughing about something.
"Did you hear that old geezer?" one of them said. "Sure did! That old guy's crazy i tell you!" another of them said as he started to laugh even harder.
"Yeah! Doesn't he know that we are some of the most important corporations that provide funds to the Hero Association? We ain't afraid of the monsters or the law! And if this 'Guardian of the sea' shows up, then we're going to sic the heroes on him!" the third one said angrily.
"Then, aren't you afraid of me?" a new voice said, but the three men couldn't locate it.
"Who's there?" the second one asked uneasily.
Then, around the boat, a serpentine body began to rise, effectively surrounding the ship on all sides. In this conditions, escape would be impossible.
At last, in front of the boat, the head of Abissal Sea Serpent rose from the water.
The three men, once so proud, screamed in fear and began to babble pleads and excuses.
"Silence you! I won't kill you, even if i would want to, but i have a job to give you" the monster said.
"W-what job?" the first person asked.
"You are some of the ones who pollute the ocean, which is my home. Therefore, you will help me clean it up" Sea Serpent said as copious amounts of trash started to rise.
"T-that's our trash" the third man said.
"exactly! How good of you to come clean, and didn't even have to tell you that twice! Now you'll have to pick it all up until your ship cannot contain any more!" Sea Serpent said happily.
As the three men hurried themselves to ready the tools needed for the task, Sea Serpent said ominously from behind them "I also trust that you do this EVERY NIGHT at this exact hour, or maybe we can discuss the terms of this deal at your dock"
The three men got faster (somehow) and the monster thought 'Not that i would do that anyway, but to them i might do that either way. Best of all, they can't even call heroes on me, since they'll NEVER find me in my element'
That would be a loooong night for these sailors, but forced labour was definitely better than death.
If you wanted to know, the reason of why i haven't implemented the scene where Saitama (to the public) becomes a fraud is because literally nothing would change there. In my stories, if a scene plays out just like the Canon version, i'll just give it a quick (but still detailed) mention.
Also, about the scene with Puri Puri Prisoner...i wanted to make him as much in character as possible, but i really couldn't resist.
Anyway, see you next Tuesday!