The aspiring Hero named Shunshi had spent two days recovering in his bed from the brutal battle that he'd fought against the Mosquito Woman, alongside the young cyborg named Genos and the bald Hero named Saitama.

While he was resting, Shunshi had decided to grab his laptop and look up the two heroes that saved his life on the Hero Registry. This was due to a combination of genuine curiosity and having nothing better to do while he healed. However, even after looking over the Hero Registry over twenty times, the young man had found absolutely no trace of either of his saviors on it.

Confused at the lack of information on Genos and Saitama, Shunshi muttered speculations, "Maybe they both just joined up recently and haven't been officially added yet...? I guess I'll just ask them about it after I join the Hero Association myself. Yeah, that's probably the best way to handle it. I don't want Heroes as powerful as them to know I'm not registered yet. They might not let me train with them if I do... In fact, they might get mad."

Having scared himself with this idea, Shunshi created a vision in his mind of a furious Genos and Saitama, forcing him to leave their training grounds after finding out the truth about him.

This imaginary version of Genos that Shunshi had cooked up in his mind got one of his incinerators ready as he yelled at him, "How dare you lie to us like that! Leave or else you shale be incinerated!"

Then the imaginary version of Saitama cracked his knuckles and glared viciously at Shunshi while exclaiming furiously, "I can't believe that some fake Hero was wasting the time of an S-Class Hero like me! Get lost or get crushed, runt!"

Due to his vivid imagination's intensity, Shunshi began shuttering in fear at his fictitious versions of Genos and Saitama. So much so that he couldn't stay focused on his research anymore.


A few minutes of self-doubt and mindlessly staring at his computer screen later, Shunshi's father had walked into his son's room and saw that he was still in bed and looking through the Hero Association's website on his laptop.

He's still in bed? I thought he healed really fast now or something... Oh God, is he crippled?! Shunshi's father thought to himself in concern.

After processing all of his fearful ideas, Shunshi's father, in a mostly friendly but still concerned tone, asked his son, "Hey there. You feeling better yet?"

Having finally taken notice of his dad in his room, Shunshi snapped out of contemplation, closed his laptop, and replied with a smile, "Yeah, I am. Thanks for asking, dad. I'll be back in fighting condition by tomorrow morning."

Hearing that his boy still wanted to go out and fight monsters, Shunshi's father looked at his son with a mixture of worry and disappointment on his face.

Now speaking in a noticeably upset tone, Shunshi's dad asked, "Are you serious!? I thought that after you'd gotten your first real beating, you'd finally get some sense knocked into your head! Can't you just give up on all this Hero nonsense and finally get a real job?!"

Visibly flinching at his father's words, Shunshi was clearly frightened at the prospect of giving up on his dream, so he replied with a half pleading, half offended look, "Dad, please listen! I've met up with an A-Class hero and an S-Class Hero when I got these injuries. I'm gonna go train with them tomorrow. If the training goes as well as I expect it to, I'll be ready to join the Hero Association in a month. I'll probably even make it into B-Class...! Besides, the monster that beat me was a Demon Level threat... And you know that I've already beaten twelve Wolf Level threats and seven Tiger Level threats during my training. I'll totally make it into the Hero Association."

After hearing such words of certainty from his son, Shunshi's father looked at him with concern and sadness in his eyes for just a moment.

Eventually, the man grew a more serious expression and sternly commanded, "Either you join the Hero Association by the end of this month, or you get a job and give up on this whole Hero business for good. Deal?"

Feeling like this was reasonable, Shunshi's mood had drastically improved as he answered excitedly, "Of course! Thank you so much, dad!"

Seeing his son grow so happy, Shunshi's father couldn't help but smile in return. He then nodded to his boy and turned to walk away. As he left his son's room, he thought to himself in satisfaction, Everyone knows how tough the Hero Association is. Even with those new powers of his, he'll be lucky even to make it into C-Class. He'll give up on all this Hero nonsense soon enough, anyway. Then he'll get a proper job, be able to take care of himself, and start a family of his own... And hopefully not get himself killed one day fighting monsters.


At the dawn of the next day, Shunshi, dressed in his Hero armor, had followed the directions given to him by Saitama and made his way through City-Z once again to find his new teacher's home.

After running through the city for an hour, Shunshi came across a small apartment in an abandoned ghost-town. Puzzled at this sight, Shunshi looked over the directions once more to make sure that he hadn't made a wrong turn at some point.

Once he'd realized that this was actually where an S-Class Hero lived, Shunshi thought in an unsure tone, Huh... I guess I expected something bigger for an S-Class' house... Well, whatever. Maybe Saitama-Sensei just prefers smaller living conditions.

He then walked over to the apartment complex stairs and went up to the second floor, towards Saitama's home. While walking up the stairs, he noticed that Genos had gotten here before him and was standing outside of Saitama's room.

Happy to see his robot buddy again, Shunshi waved at Genos and greeted him somewhat excitedly, "Hey, Genos-Senpai! Good to see you here!"

Hearing his name being called out, Genos turned to see who was talking to him and saw Shunshi walking towards him.

Clearly having little interest in conversing with this armored individual, Genos responded to the friendly greeting by emotionlessly responding, "Oh, I see that you came here as well after all. Hello... Shunshi, was it?"

Shunshi rubbed the back of his helmet with his gauntleted hand and replied to Genos in a friendly tone, "Yes, that's correct! Thank you for remembering. You know, I usually have trouble remembering peoples' names, but you made a real impression, so your's managed to stick with me."

Genos just looked at Shunshi for a moment with an emotionless stare before replying with yet another emotionless declaration, "I see." Then, he turned back to face Saitama's door while also seeming to try to work up the courage for something.

After that awkward exchange, Shunshi thought in a bothered tone, Man, Genos-Senpai sure is a stoic guy. The two then continued standing outside of Saitama's room for a few more minutes.

Shunshi hadn't said anything else this entire time out of respect for his new Senapi, but his patience eventually broke, causing him to whisper, "Are we waiting for something or-?"

Without warning, Genos cut Shunshi off by suddenly shouting, "Sensei!" This out of nowhere shout from the, up until this point, unflinching Genos startled Shunshi, causing him to stagger backward a couple of steps. After Shunshi recomposed himself, he and Genos continued to wait outside of Saitama's room for a moment.

They eventually heard a lock come undone from inside the apartment and saw the door open up, with Saitama poking his shiny head out of it. He was fully dressed in his superhero costume, and he had an annoyed look on his face.

After taking a second to stare at the two young men that had come to him for training, Saitama asked them in a mixture of annoyance and surprise, "Oh, so you guys actually came?"

Both Genos and Shunshi quickly stood at attention and replied in unintentional unison, "Yes, Sensei!"

Saitama, somewhat annoyed by their response, asked the two younger heroes, "Can you guys not call me Sensei?"

Upon hearing this, Genos stated in a correcting tone of voice, "Master!"

This title making him no happier, Saitama shouted at Genos, with his patience wearing marginally thinner, "Not that either!"

Afterward, there was an awkward silence between the three of them that lasted for a few minutes. Shunshi began to sweat nervously because he kept expecting Saitama to ask Genos and himself about their Hero Association rank. However, much to his surprise and relief, Saitama never asked them about that. After a few more awkward seconds of silence, Saitama reluctantly chose to invite them both inside of his home.


Everyone took a seat at Saitama's coffee table and got settled down as he poured each of them a cup of tea. Shunshi had to take his gauntlets and helmet off so that he could properly hold and enjoy the drink provided by his gracious host.

Saitama, after sitting down, flatly stated in an uninterested tone, "Both of you just finish your tea and go home. I'm not looking for disciples."

Knowing he'd need this S-Class Hero's help to achieve the promise he'd made to his father, Shunshi was, understandably, very shocked and upset by Saitama's sudden change of mind.

Desperate not to be sent away, Shunshi, while looking at the ground in disappointment and defeat, humbly asked, "Oh, I'm sorry, sir... but maybe you could just tell us what you did to-?"

Ignoring that Shunshi was even talking, Genos stated, "But, Sensei! I need to get stronger!"

Not really having given much attention to what either of them had said, Saitama instead was stuck in his lazy thoughts as he looked at Genos and Shunshi for a moment.

After gaining a perplexed look on his face, Saitama blurted out with minimal shock, "Hey, wait a second. You guys are both back in one piece already. I thought that you two would be in the hospital or something for a little bit longer."

After gathering up some courage, Shunshi explained his unique situation to this great Hero, "Um... Well, one of my powers is that I... I heal faster than normal people do. So... I'm already good to go."

Genos then gave the explanation for his own condition in a much more serious tone, "My body is mostly mechanical. As long as there are spare parts available, I will be fully repaired in a matter of days."

Upon hearing these explanations given by these strange people, Saitama tilted his head and stated, "You two sure are odd ones."

This comment didn't faze Genos. Shunshi, however, looked a little offended but quickly let it go out of respect.

Without a moment of hesitation, Genos asked Saitama with great curiosity in his voice, "What kind of parts do you use, Sensei?"

Confused by Genos' question, Shunshi tried to hesitantly correct the cyborg Hero, "Um... he just told us that we're not his disciples, sir. And he's clearly not a cyborg, Senpai..."

Glancing over at Shunshi, Genos replied to him in an almost annoyed tone, "But to be so strong, he must be a-."

Saitama then chimed in, in a very bored tone of voice, "No. He's right. I Don't use any robot parts."

Even with Saitama's confirmation, Genos still looked a little confused, so he asked, "Then what is that skinned-colored armor on your head?"

Shunshi was shocked that Genos actually asked such an insensitive question, while Saitama responded in annoyance, "Yeah, that's my skin."

Still having a little bit of doubt, Genos thought out loud in a concerned and confused tone, "But that would mean you are bald, despite being so young." Shunshi's jaw dropped so hard when Genos stated this that, if he were still wearing his helmet, he would've smacked the jaw-piece with his chin.

Having lost his patience with the cyborg, Saitama yelled at him in outrage, "So I'm bald! What's your problem!?"

Once he'd realized to what level Genos' social ineptitude extended, Shunshi thought to himself, If this all turns out alright in the end, is Genos really going to be my Senpai?

After Saitama's angry outburst, Genos, with a small bit of excitement in his voice, asked Saitama, "Me? You will listen to my problems?"

Not sure of what to make of Genos now, Shunshi explained to him in a slightly less respectful tone than before, "That's clearly not what Saitama-Sensei meant, Genos-Senpai."

Saitama nodded his head in agreement and stated in another bored and disinterested tone, "Yeah, he's right. I'm good."

Genos, then, started explaining his backstory to Saitama anyway. Shunshi was, at first, starting to become a little annoyed with Genos' insistence, but he started becoming more interested when Genos actually got into his life story.

He told them that he was a fifteen-year-old boy who lived with a slightly poor family four years ago, but his life was still a happy one due to how kind-hearted his parents were. On one unfortunate day, his family and his hometown were destroyed by an insane cyborg going on a rampage. He tried to stop this man-made monstrosity himself but was too weak to do anything about it at the time and had to watch as his family was killed in front of him. After the mad cyborg had left, Genos' body was heavily damaged and near death, but fortunately, he was rescued by a scientist named Dr. Stench. At his own request, Genos was transformed into a, as he put it, Cyborg For Justice. Ever since then, Genos had been spending his life hunting down this mad cyborg and destroying any monsters and evil organizations that he happened to run into along the way, which ultimately led him to his near-fatal confrontation with the Mosquito Woman.

At this point, Shunshi just felt bad for having been as annoyed with Genos as he was just a few moments earlier.

Saitama, who also seemed to have gained sympathy for Genos, nodded his head and said, "I see-." Before he could continue with his sentence, however, Genos continued with his story.

He began stating obvious things, all of which were just basically "I need to get stronger to fight the mad cyborg," just said in different ways.

Shunshi was just confused as to why Genos was still talking, but he respected the cyborg too much now to interrupt him. Saitama, on the other hand, was clearly growing impatient once again.

When Genos started speaking in a continuously faster and faster tone of voice, while still stating the obvious, Saitama cut him off by shouting, "ENOUGH, YOU IDIOT! WHY DO YOU HAVE TO TALK FOR SO LONG!? SHORTEN IT TO TWENTY WORDS OR LESS!"

After an awkward silence, Shunshi, having been frightened by the outburst of someone he knew could kill him instantly, explained himself hesitantly, "I'm... I'm just a guy who wants to be strong enough to be a proper Hero, Sense- Er, I mean Saitama."

Saitama looked at Shunshi for a second with a somewhat sympathetic stare as he thought to himself, "This guy is a lot like me when I first started out... Except... Why do I feel like I'm getting a bit of a childish vibe from him?"

Turning his head to face his other guest, Saitama asked Genos a bit more patiently, "Okay, Genos. Have you shortened out what you want to say yet?"

Nodding, Genos came out of deep thought and replied, "Here is the short version, Sensei. Please teach me the way to become strong like you."

Having listened to what these two were here for, Saitama looked at them for a moment and, then, addressed them in a very stoic tone of voice, "Genos. Shunshi."

They both replied instantly, "Yes!?"

Saitama, then, continued in his stoic tone, "How old are you two?"

Genos replied attentively, "Nineteen."

When he heard Genos' age, Shunshi thought to himself in shock, He's nineteen?! He looks so much younger than me than that... Well, I guess he was turned into a cyborg back when he was only fifteen...

Due to him not answering the question, Saitama looked at Shunshi and asked him curiously, "Shunshi, you didn't give me an answer yet... Don't you know how old you are?"

His face having grown red, Shunshi replied in a slightly embarrassed and surprised tone, "Oh, sorry! I'm twenty years old, Sensei."

Then, Saitama put his hand on his chin and postulated, "You're both so young... I'm sure the two of you will surpass me in no time."

Completely taken back by the bald Hero's statement, Shunshi asked Saitama in surprise, "Wait! Really?!"

"Do you mean that?!" Genos asked in equal surprise.

"I'm twenty-five now, but I was twenty-two when I started training in the summer," Saitama explained to them proudly. Both Shunshi and Genos gained looks of surprise when they heard this, for if this was true, it sounded too good to be.

Almost unable to believe this, Shunshi pondered in utter bewilderment, Saitama-Sensei has only been training for three years like me...?! His training must be thousands of times harder than what I've been doing!

As his expression grew far more serious, Saitama declared to both men, "Sure, I'll teach you guys. But it won't be easy. It'll push you both to the point that you may even want to die. Do you two think you can handle it?"

Nodding his head, Genos replied confidently, "Yes, sir!"

Slamming his hand onto the coffee table, Shunshi replied excitedly, "I'll do anything it takes to get the strength needed to be a proper Hero, Master!"

All of a sudden, and without warning, Genos's yellow irises started flashing.

He quickly flipped around and got onto his hands and one knee in preparation to pounce at something, before stating, "Object approaching at high speed- It is here!"

Before either Saitama or Shunshi could ask Genos what he was talking about, a monster that looked like somewhat of a cross between a Human and a prey-mantis smashed through the wall of Saitama's apartment. Shunshi quickly began to put his helmet and gauntlets back on, but, by the time he had gotten even one of them on, Saitama had already punched the creature's head off.

As he took out the monster, Saitama exclaimed passive-aggressively, "Pay for my wall!"

At first, Shunshi looked surprised by how easily Saitama beat this creature, but then he internally accepted the sight, Well, he is an S-Class, after all.

Genos, then, turned to face the hole in the wall while stating coldly, "There are two more outside. Master, leave them to your students. Shunshi, follow me!"

The young cyborg swiftly jumped out of the hole in the wall of Saitama's home, quickly followed by Shunshi. However, when they landed on the ground, Saitama had already beaten them down there and had planted a frog creature and a slug creature face-first into the ground.

Despite how insanely fast Saitama had just moved, Genos simply reacted to this with an unphased voice, "Oh, never mind."

Shunshi, being completely overcome with admiration at Saitama's display of speed, stated in admiration, "Oh my God! You're ridiculously fast, Sensei!"

Not really giving any thought to his new students' comments, Saitama looked at the two monsters he had put in the ground and asked them, "Can't you guys just come through the door?"

A pair of clawed hands then suddenly popped out of the ground, grabbed Saitama by his ankles, and pulled him underground, all the way up to his neck.

When the two younger Heroes saw this, both Genos and Shunshi involuntarily shouted, "Master!"

But, before they could try to go and help him, he eased their worries by reassuring them, "No, I'm fine. Being underground feels kind of nice, actually. It's warm and cool at the same time. I feel like a bamboo shoot growing through the pavement. Maybe I'll take a nap."

Being understandably taken aback by Saitama's calm attitude in such a dangerous situation, Genos and Shunshi were frozen in place. That is until they heard a distant mechanical voice saying something inaudibly before some sort of robotic gorilla busted through the wall next to them.

Upon seeing this creature, Shunshi took a step back from it, while Genos asked himself in what sounded like a mixture of hope and anger, "A cyborg?! Could it be...?!"

While trying to look behind himself, since he had been facing the other way when he was pulled underground, Saitama asked Genos and Shunshi, "Huh? What's going on? I can't see."

Not wasting a moment, the cyborg gorilla threw a punch downwards at Shunshi and Genos. Shunshi was able to dodge the attack but was then hit in his chest by some of the debris that were sent flying from the road. Genos, however, managed to maneuver around the attack and quickly spin-kicked the gorilla in its head.

While getting back on his feet from the piece of asphalt hitting him, Shunshi asked Genos, "Do you need any help, Senpai?!"

Not wanting any disturbances with this, Genos quickly replied, "No!" And then ran at the guerrilla.

The two cyborgs collided arms with one another, with Genos telling his opponent in a cold fury, "I have a few questions for you."

While Genos struggled with the gorilla, Shunshi looked over at the two monsters that were stuck in the ground.

Walking over to them, he pulled them out of the sidewalk by their ankles and asked in a threatening tone, "Why are you idiots attacking Master Saitama's home?!" Before either of them could give him an answer, Shunshi froze in place as he saw a giant lion/Human hybrid walk up to Saitama while he was still embedded in the ground. This monstrous beast then started to laugh arrogantly at the trapped Hero.

The lion creature, with sadistic glee, taunted Saitama, "Looks like you're in what they call a tight spot. Good work, Ground Dragon!"

The mole creature that had pulled Saitama underground popped out of another hole a few feet away and replied in a disturbingly calm tone, "Well, it complicates things if they put up a fight."

Realizing that more enemies had arrived, Genos turned his head in concern for Saitama but was almost too late in realizing why this was a mistake.

"You should not turn away!" The gorilla stated with a mechanical voice. It then threw a punch at Genos, which he just narrowly deflected. Taking advantage of the fact that he was still in close proximity to his enemy, Genos thrusted his other hand at the gorilla and fired off a massive explosion of flame, which engulfed the entire street in front of him in a fiery blast.

With that display of firepower, Shunshi was sure that Genos had just won his fight, but, much to his shock, he was proven wrong when the gorilla just jumped out of the inferno without a single injury to be seen. It then tried to attack Genos by jumping on him, but he easily dodged this by jumping out of the way. This caused the gorilla to hit the ground instead, and destroy the street in a title wave of concrete.

While walking out of the crater it had created, the gorilla made another statement in its emotionless robot voice, "I am the pinnacle of the House of Evolution's science. I am Armored Gorilla. Your attacks have no effect on me."

Responding to this information, Genos asked Armored Gorilla in a mixture of anger and confusion, "The House of Evolution? What is that? And what does it want with my Master?"

Uninterested with Genos' questions, Armored Gorilla replied with its robotic voice while walking forward, "That is none of your business. It is our rule that anyone who interferes with us must be eliminated without fail. I must destroy you."

Feeling a little overwhelmed by the number of enemies that were attacking his allies, Shunshi decided to take a second to examine all of the monsters that had shown up quickly.

Thinking in a calculating tone, Shunshi came to this conclusion, This Armored Gorilla and that lion thing are probably both Demon Level threats, and that Ground Dragon thing might be a Tiger Level threat. He then glared at the two terrified monsters he had by the ankles and thought in a disgusted tone, These two, without question, are just average Wolf Level threats...

Shunshi, then, looked back over at Ground Dragon, just as that lion thing was trying to intimidate Saitama by putting its massive claws just inches away from the bald Hero's eyes.

Feeling as though the Tiger Threat was leaving itself open, Shunshi suddenly threw the two Wolves at Ground Dragon, knocking it out of its hole and onto its back with the other two monsters lying on top of it. Choosing to leave the lion creature's handling to Saitama, Shunshi just calmly started walking past the large beast while heading for the pile of weaker monsters, hoping that the Demon wouldn't pay him much attention.

The lion thing, not understanding that Shunshi had no intention of fighting it, angrily asked the Hero-in-training, "You think you can get the drop on the Beast King so easily, punk!? Take this!" The Beast King then thrusted one of its claws at a scared Shunshi, causing him to raise one of his arms in a desperate attempt at defense. But before the attack could hit the dark-clad young man, Saitama exploded out of the ground, appeared in front of Shunshi, and effortlessly pushed Beast King's hand to the side.

While picking away some dirt that was in his ear, Saitama explained to the monster in a very bored tone of voice, "Hey, he wasn't trying to attack you, moron. He's fighting your buddies. I'll take you on. Just try not to bore me too much, okay?" Then, Saitama jumped over the now furious Beast King and prompted it to try its luck at attacking this unimpressive-looking, yellow costumed man.

Beast King's response to this was to suddenly grow twice as muscular and shout savagely, "I'll claw your eyes out!" It then started slashing at Saitama with speeds that were far too fast for Shunshi's eyes to keep up with, destroying entire buildings with each slash.

While sweating with fear under his helmet, Shunshi thought to himself as he watched the Beast King unleash its attacks, Probably for the best that Sensei is the one taking that thing on...

Having regained consciousness, Ground Dragon pushed the frog and slug creatures off of itself in frustration. While getting back up, it saw that Beast King was obviously trying to kill Saitama.

Worried about their master losing a specimen, Ground Dragon shouted at the lion creature in a cautious and worried tone, "Don't kill him, Beast King! We still need to bring him back alive!"

While Ground Dragon was looking away, Shunshi quickly clawed at the monster's face, splattering blood onto his flame-enveloped armor as he viciously proclaimed, "I think you should be a bit more worried about how you're gonna keep yourself in one piece, rather than my Master!"

Seeing that Ground Dragon was in trouble, the frog creature quickly stood back up, took out a small sword, and tried to attack Shunshi from behind. However, the aspiring Hero quickly turned around and smacked the frog creature across its face with a backhanded fist, knocking it into a nearby road support pillar, cracking it in the process.

Ground Dragon, now covered in its own blood, exploded out from the ground below Shunshi and tried to slash at his chest. However, the would-be-Hero easily jumped backward and dodged the monster's attack before he spun around and kneed Ground Dragon in its head, sending it flying at the frog and damaging the road support pillar even further.

Shunshi, while raising his blood and flame-covered fist into the air, stated confidently, "I've beaten monsters several times stronger than all three of you put together! You can't win against me!"

Suddenly, though, the young man started having the single most painful headache of his entire life. While trying to find out why this was happening, he looked over at the now conscious slug creature, whose eyes were glowing an odd blue color.

The slug creature, with a sadistic smile on its face, proclaimed proudly, "Strength isn't the only way to win a fight!"

Before Shunshi could do anything to recover, both Ground Dragon and the frog attacked him. Ground Dragon slammed two boulders almost twice the size of Shunshi's head into his helmet with such strength that they turned to pebbles and caused a small cloud of dirt to form. Taking advantage of the cloud and the slug-man's headache attack, the frog swiftly thrusted its sword at Shunshi's chest-plate.

The slug, assuming that the black-armored obstruction in their plan had been dealt with, thought to itself with a grin, "That's what happens when you cross the House of Evolution!"

A split second later, the dirt cloud around Shunshi cleared up, showing that the frog's sword broke against his armor. In addition, aside from his hood being a little torn up and his helmet being lightly dented, Shunshi was completely unphased by Ground Dragon's attack.

The slug stopped its headache wave for just a few seconds, as it panicked and shouted, "That's not possible! A Human can't handle that kind of punishment!"

Instantly realizing that the unbearable headache was gone, Shunshi quickly turned around and threw one of his Light Balls at the slug, blowing its head clean off. He then turned back to face his other enemies. Thrusting his clawed fingers forwards, he impaled the frogman through its chest, killing it instantly.

After dropping the frog's corpse on the ground, Shunshi thought proudly with a smirk, That's two more dead Wolves to my name.

Knowing the fight wasn't over, the young Hero turned to his last opponent and acted before it had a chance to try and attack him again. Shunshi quickly grabbed Ground Dragon by its throat, rushed over to the same road support pillar from before, and pinned the creature against it.

While still covering himself in white fire, Shunshi explained the situation to Ground Dragon in a very threatening tone, "Okay, I tried asking the frog and the slug this question, and they didn't answer me! You saw how well that went for them. Now I guess I'll try asking you the same thing! Why the Hell are you shit-heads attacking my Master's home?!"

Being too proud to give into threats like this, Ground Dragon just glared at Shunshi and concocted a plan while sweating nervously, I Just have to keep him talking until Beast King beats down the new specimen. Then he'll rescue me.

Just as Ground Dragon thought this, Saitama, who had been effortlessly dodging all of the Beast King's attacks up until now, emotionlessly stated, "Consecutive normal punches." Then, he unleashed a flurry of casual punches at Beast King, destroying every part of its body from the waist up.

Horrified by what it had just seen, Ground Dragon shouted in disbelief, "You gotta be shitting mmeeeeee!"

Then, Saitama turned his head to face the pinned Ground Dragon while wearing an annoyed and threatening look on his face. Much to the mole monster's dismay, the bald superhuman started walking towards it, as it was still restrained by the man in the horrifying black armor.

In fear of Saitama, Ground Dragon quickly thought up a way to free itself. It thrusted its claws through the support pillar it was being pinned against, collapsing it. Since Shunshi was using his weight to keep Ground Dragon pinned against the structure, he fell over and lost his grip on the mole creature.

The instant it made contact with the street, Ground Dragon quickly started digging through the road at an unbelievably fast pace.

As he stumbled to his knees, Shunshi realized that his enemy had gotten away and exclaimed in annoyance, "Dammit!"

He then stood up and turned to face Saitama while addressing him in shame, "I'm so sorry, Sensei. I was sloppy, and he got-." However, Shunshi stopped talking when he noticed that, in place of where his Master was once standing, was now just a hole.

Both amazed and confused, Shunshi asked himself, Did Sensei actually just-? Before he could even finish that thought, Saitama exploded out of the ground, with Ground Dragon's blood on his fist.

At yet another display of Saitama's might, all Shunshi was able to say in this situation was, "Holy crap! You're awesome, Sensei!"

Hearing this, Saitama gave Shunshi an uncomfortable look and told him, "You don't need to praise me like that."

With Ground Dragon dealt with, Saitama and Shunshi remembered that Genos was still fighting. Curious and concerned for his safety, Saitama and Shunshi turned to see if Genos had won his battle as well. What they saw was Genos, with one of his hands pointed at a heavily damaged Armored Gorilla. The cyborg animal had lost both of its arms, as well as the helmet around its head. The two cyborgs were standing next to a destroyed street and a pile of ash in the shape of what used to be a tree.

As Saitama and Shunshi walked over to Genos, they heard him give the Armored Gorilla an ultimatum, "Answer the question or be eliminated. It is your choice."

Not one to be intimidated so easily, Armored Gorilla replied to the young cyborg's threat with its standard mechanical voice, "It is you who will be eliminated. I am only the third most powerful fighter in the House of Evolution. At your power, you stand no chance against our number two, the Beast King. You will be destroyed."

Hearing what this weird monkey guy said, Saitama held up the Beast King's eyeball and asked Armored Gorilla, "You mean this guy?"

While gleefully grinning, Shunshi stated with child-like proudness to Genos, "That's all that's left of the lion guy after Sensei was done with him!"

Hearing this, Genos metaphorically asked, "Is that so?" While continuing to point his hand at his beaten opponent. All three of the Heroes, then, glared at Armored Gorilla, waiting for an answer.

The cyborg ape just glared back at them for a moment, with its still mechanical-looking face. However, not wanting to die, its facade gave out as its face shifted into a much more organic look.

Now speaking in a normal and fearful voice, Armored Gorilla spoke to Saitama and his students much more humbly, "Look. I'm really sorry. I'll tell you everything, just don't kill me!"

Shunshi was completely caught off guard by this sudden change in demeanor from the gorilla cyborg and asked aloud, "What the heck?!"

Being almost as puzzled as the older of his two students, Saitama asked the gorilla in bored confusion, "What the- What happened to your robot voice?"

"Sorry. I was just trying to sound cool!" Armored Gorilla replied meekly.

Shunshi tilted his head in a mixture of surprise and confusion at this childish explanation, while even the stone-cold Genos cocked an eyebrow.

After a moment of awkward silence between the four, Armored Guerrilla began talking politely again, "I suppose I'll start from the beginning."

Clearing its throat, Armored Gorilla started telling a fairly compelling story about a scientist named Doctor Genus. Apparently, he was a child prodigy in the field of biology and became a part of the scientific community while he was still in the middle of his teenage years. The downside to his brilliance was that all of his ideas never received any support from any other scientists because they were seen as being too dangerous. Deciding that all the other members of the Human race were just cowardly animals compared to him and that he didn't need their help, he spent his entire life working alone on his research. At the age of seventy, he finally started to see results. He used his newfound genetic techniques to restore his youth. He then made many clones of himself and started something he called the 'House of Evolution,' with the goal of creating a new breed of Humanity. Genus' first experiments were on animals, but he soon shifted his focus to Human subjects.

Shunshi was actually getting really invested in this story, but, much to his surprise, Saitama interrupted the narrative by shouting angrily, "Shut up! Just get to the part that concerns me!"

Genos reinforced this by stating in a threatening manner, "Our Master is a very busy man! Shorten it to twenty words or less!"

Looking at his two superiors awkwardly, Shunshi halfheartedly added, "I, uh... Yeah!"

Armored Gorilla looked back and forth between the two angry members of its captors before replying fearfully, "I- I'm sorry." Knowing its life was almost certainly on the line, the ape took a couple of minutes to carefully think up how to summarize what it should say.

Eventually, Armored Gorilla explained in an anxious tone, "So, basically, my boss has become very interested in the bald g- er- your master's body."

Shaking his head at this, Saitama stated nonchalantly, "I don't swing that way."

With Saitama's blunt and ignorant response, Shunshi was forced to hold back a giggle.

"I think you misunderstood, Master. He plans to use your body, which surpasses normal Human limitations for research in his experiments on artificial evolution," Genos replied to Saitama's remark in order to clarify what was happening

After hearing Genos explain this, Shunshi, with clear resolve and enthusiasm, stated, "Well then, we gotta do something about that! These guys will just keep coming after Saitama-Sensei if we don't!"

Genos, who had the smallest hint of annoyance in his eye, turned to look at Shunshi while agreeing, "You are correct. We must take action."

Having become a little intrigued by all of this, Saitama responded to Genos and Shunshi, "Sure, guys. Let's go." He then started walking away.

"Wait, we're going right now?" Shunshi and Genos asked simultaneously. Both of them were confused as to why Saitama was in such a hurry despite having just finished a battle.

In response to their question, Saitama pulled a flyer out from his belt and said with a small smile, "Yeah, we need to handle this quickly. There's a sale on vegetables tomorrow. Can't do it then."

Shunshi, after trying to understand why a wealthy S-Class would need to be concerned about vegetable sales, dismissed his concern and started following after Saitama.

Having some more questions of his own, Genos stayed and interrogated Armored Gorilla about the House of Evolution's cyborg constructions. After finding out that Armored Gorilla was their only combat cyborg, the yellow-eyed young man let out a frustrated sigh before leaving and quickly catching up to Saitama and Shunshi.


A little over an hour later, the three Heroes had been running for miles and, eventually, came across some woods.

Noticeably starting to run short on breath, Shunshi had to use everything he had to keep up with Genos and Saitama. Despite his obvious fatigue, neither of them took notice of this.

After Saitama stepped on a wild bear that tried to get in the group's way, Genos commented in surprise, "I did not think we would be running the whole way there."

Misunderstanding his Senpai's comment, Shunshi asked, "What are you talking about? We're all faster on foot than we'd be if we took a car or something."

This also prompted Saitama to ask his cyborg disciple, "How else did you think we'd get there?"

Genos replied in a matter-of-fact tone, "I assumed that you could fly, Sensei."

Not understanding that Genos had simply overestimated the variety of powers he had, Saitama replied hesitantly, "You're aware that Humans can't fly, right?"

Having become even more impressed by Saitama, Genos responded to him in admiration, "In that case, it is amazing that you are never late. You are a true Hero."

Hearing Genos say this, Shunshi realized just how much he agreed with him internally, Wow... Saitama-Sensei really is something else. As he was thinking this, he was also looking straight ahead at Saitama. Just then, a ray of sunlight came down through the leaves and highlighted the wonderful Hero in all of his glory.

After all that, just as the three of them jumped over a mountain, Saitama commented on Genos' praise of him, "Actually, I hardly ever arrive on time."

Stunned by this, Shunshi almost failed to make the jump.

After clearing the jump over the mountain, the three of them came across a large building that was made out of pure metal and was eight stories tall.

Less than a minute after they had landed and finished examining the building, Genos, without a second of warning, fired off a huge wave of fire, turning the entire structure, as well as over several hundred feet of the mountainside, to ash and rubble.

Genuinely surprised by Genos' actions, Saitama asked him, "What was that all about? "

Seeing nothing wrong with what he had done, Genos replied in a bit of confusion, "I found this to be the best way to deal with the enemy as efficiently as possible."

Having wanted to see if these guys could give him a challenge, Saitama replied in disappointment, "Well, that's true, but-."

Suddenly, Shunshi cut off Saitama by shouting at Genos in a horrified and infuriated tone, "Senpai! What the Hell is wrong with you!?"

Genuinely surprised by this sudden outburst from his, up until now, humble junior, Genos responded with startled confusion, "What is wrong? If you are upset at not getting to fight, I believe that I already explained why I took my-."

Cutting Genos off once again, Shunshi yelled out in a disgusted tone, "Don't you get it, Senpai?! What if there were Humans being kept prisoner in there for that Genus guy's experiments!? If so, then you just murdered them! We should've tried to save them!"

After Shunshi finished his rant, Genos grew genuine shock and regret before commenting quietly, "I... I never even considered that..."

Not wanting to dwell on such a depressing subject like this, Saitama gave a small smile to both of them and said, "If what we heard about this place is true from that gorilla guy, then any people that might've been in there were already turned into freakish monsters. We couldn't save them at that point and, if I were in their shoes, I would've wanted to be dead anyway."

Genos was clearly having a hard time coming to terms with the idea that he might have killed innocent people, but he eventually let his Sensei's words comfort him. However, Shunshi was having a much harder time accepting that they couldn't have saved any people that may have been in the building.

After Saitama gave him a look of slight sympathy for another minute or so, Shunshi took a deep breath and hesitantly responded, "If you say so, Sensei."

Wanting to at least make sure that the enemy had been dealt with, the three of them decided to take a quick look around the burnt remains of the House of Evolution. Sifting through the debris, Saitama quickly found a hatch made of, what looked like, reinforced titanium.

He then ripped the hatch's door out of the ground like it was made of cardboard while commenting, "Looks like there's a basement."

Genos and Shunshi, after exchanging serious glances with each other, backed up their Master and walked into what was left of the House of Evolution. And, while they were doing this, Saitama decided to pick his nose.


After they had been walking down a large hallway for about twelve minutes or more, some sort of huge, brownish-gray beetle/Human creature was rushing down the hallway towards the three of them. In one of its massive hands, it was carrying a beaten up, well-dressed, young man who was wearing cracked glasses.

While continuing to run at full speed, the beetle creature, in an excited tone, asked the young man, "So which one is it?"

While cringing in pain, the young man replied to the monster, "The bald one in the middle."

Realizing the hostile intentions of this monster, Shunshi got ready to fight while contemplating confidently, I bet Master could already beat something like this on his own, but with Genos and me by his side, there's no-.

Before he could finish his thought, the monster slammed both him and Genos into parallel walls while exclaiming sadistically, "Then I guess we won't need these two!"

Saitama looked at both sides of himself while asking with some real concern in his voice, "Genos!? Shunshi!? Are you two, alright?!"

The monster, uninterested with the bald Hero's concerns, spoke to Saitama while wearing a sadistic smile, "I am Kabuto! I'm the strongest weapon that the House of Evolution has to offer! Follow me to the fighting arena so that we can kill each other!"

Saitama, actually looking a little bit angry, replied to Kabuto, "You'll pay for making Genos and Shunshi look like bad modern art! Lead the way!"


Kabuto led Saitama to a large, white room and asked him rhetorically as they walked to parallel sides of the arena, "Pretty big, eh? It's the biggest room in the entire facility! This is where all new experiments test out their combat capabilities against each other! Now... Time to start the killing!"

However, before either the creature or Saitama could begin attacking each other, Genos and Shunshi, despite both of them being heavily injured, showed up at the room's entrance. Not wanting to give in to his injuries, Genos fired a wave of fire at Kabuto.

Despite being left unphased by the attack, Kabuto turned to look at the two wounded warriors that had come to fight it and asked excitedly, "Oh. So the two flies are still alive?"

Genos, who had been leaning against a wall up until this point, suddenly started dashing at incredible speeds towards the abomination of science called Kabuto. While Genos moved in for the frontal assault, Shunshi, whose hood had been torn off and torso armor had been wrecked, started preparing to fire a large Light Ball.

Genos quickly closed the gap in distance between himself and Kabuto, kicked it in its head, and then darted away. After getting a sufficient amount of distance between himself and his enemy, Genos started moving in a circle around Kabuto whilst shooting off rays of fire at it as fast as he could.

The blond-haired cyborg then jumped into the air above Kabuto, making the beetle monster exclaim, "You fool!"

As the furious cyborg fell downwards, his yellow eyes began to glow violently, and he unleashed a flurry of punches that were powered by rockets in his arms, while shouting with passionate rage, "MACHINE GUN BLOW!"

After this assault, Kabuto, having been completely unscathed by all of the attacks, punched Genos in his artificial face hard enough to smash off half of it in the process, revealing the robotics underneath his fake skin. The force of this punch was so strong that it sent Genos flying across the room, but, fortunately for him, he was caught by Saitama.

With a hint of genuine concern in his voice, Saitama asked Genos, "Hey, you okay, man?"

Ignoring the damage that had been done to his body, Genos just stated stubbornly, "Just leave him to me, Sensei!"

Not wanting Genos to get himself killed, Saitama calmly said as he set him down, "Don't push yourself. Your face is cracked, and you're all smashed up."

Ignoring his Master's words, and despite having been laid down on his back, Genos fired off one more massive ray of fire at Kabuto, a ray that was just as powerful as the one that he used to destroy the House of Evolution's main structure earlier. However, instead of being afraid of the destructive flames heading for it, Kabuto just smiled insanely and counter-attacked by breathing a tornado out of its mouth, knocking Genos's attack right back at him. This resulted in a look of fear, shock, and confusion forming on Genos' face.

After the fire had passed over the two of them, Saitama asked Genos with a bit more concern than before, "Genos! You okay?"

Still not wanting to give up, Genos replied weakly, "Yes... Master... I am fine..."

Not believing this for a second, Saitama lightly tugged on Genos's now frilled hair and told him in an accusing tone, "Don't lie! Just look at your head!"

Shunshi, who had been charging up his Light Ball this entire time, rushed into the room and jumped in between Kabuto and his new friends while shouting, "Eat this, you freak! My strongest attack! MINIATURE WHITE SUN!" He, then, hurled a Light Ball at Kabuto that was as big as his six-foot-one self.

Kabuto, again without a hint of fear, replied to Shunshi in a gleeful tone as the attack came its way, "Gladly!" It, then, opened up its jaw to an inhuman size, and, just as the attack was about to hit the beast, it put the Light Ball inside of its mouth.

Unable to believe what he'd just seen, Shunshi shouted in furious disbelief, "You've gotta be kidding me!"

Just as the explosion went off in its mouth, Kabuto unhinged its jaw, allowing the explosive force to travel in a wave that hit Shunshi dead on. This blast knocked off his helmet, tore off some more of his armor, broke several bones in his body, and ripped away some of his flesh that had been exposed.

This feat of power from Kabuto caused Shunshi to think to himself in despair as he was sent flying, This guy must be another Demon Level... No, this thing must be a Dragon Level threat...

Shunshi was sent flying over Saitama's head, but the bald Hero grabbed onto Shunshi's cape before he went too far and set him down next to Genos.

Saitama, after he had put down both of his would-be students, spoke to them with a mixture of concern and annoyance, "Look. Just let me handle this freak, guys."

Kabuto heard Saitama say this and asked him in a tone that combined sarcasm and excitement, "Handel me!?" It then laughed and stuck out his tongue while spinning it in a circle at Saitama.

While looking at Kabuto with a mixed expression, Saitama commented, "Now you've gone and gotten my hopes up!"

Just as Saitama said this, Shunshi noticed that the young man this beetle monster was carrying earlier had stumbled to the edge of the room while smiling peculiarly.

Having put two and two together, Shunshi spoke up in a hostile tone while glaring at this man, "I guess that guy must be the good Dr. Genus." Unconcerned with Dr. Genus showing up to watch, Saitama started walking towards Kabuto.

This prompted the large monster to point both of its index fingers at him and exclaim, "I see. I see! You're supposed to be really strong!"

Unconcerned with Kabuto's comments, Saitama just stated coldly, "Don't disappoint me!" This comment caused some confusion in the mind of the top monster of the House of Evolution.

Noticing the confusion on Kabuto's face, Saitama explained in a matter-of-fact tone, "You're supposed to be the strongest weapon in this place, so, with all of that confidence oozing off of you, you'd better put up a good fight."

Kabuto smiled at this, disappeared into thin air, and reappeared behind Saitama, ready to punch him. Both Genos and Shunshi looked at this with concern while Dr. Genus' face beamed with joy. But, to everyone's surprise, Kabuto suddenly looked horrified before backing off. Desperate to get away from its opponent, the monster unfolded its insect wings and quickly flew to the other side of the room.

Unsure as to why his opponent retreated, Saitama asked Kabuto, "Hey, what are you doing?"

Seemingly haven been frozen, Kabuto just stayed on the other side of the room for a moment, a moment in which it looked too terrified to move.

Eventually deciding to voice its fears, Kabuto shouted angrily at Saitama, "YOU BASTARD! How in the Hell did you get so strong!?"

Saitama just looked at Kabuto for a moment before getting a more serious expression on his face and asking the monster, "So, you wanna know too? Fine then, I'll tell you. Genos, Shunshi! You two listen up as well!" Realizing what their Master was about to say to everyone, both Genos and Shunshi looked extremely surprised, eager, and hesitant.

Unsure of how he should feel in this situation, Genos thought to himself in a mixture of eagerness and surprise, He is going to tell us right now? The secret to Master's power...

His pupils having almost fully dilated, Shunshi pondered the possibilities with a swirl of fear and anticipation, The training regiment of an S-Class Hero... I'm gonna learn the secret... Will my body even be able to handle that level of training? Even after I know what to do?

Dr. Genus then fully made his way into the room and said to Saitama, while gripping his arm in pain, "I would like to know too."

Saitama saw this injured man and, having no idea where he came from, asked, "Who are you?"

Didn't you hear me a second ago? Shunshi critiqued internally.

The doctor answered this question without hesitation while stumbling forward, "I am Genus."

Saitama looked confused for a minute but then said dismissively, "Whatever, just listen up. The most important part is to stick to this training regiment, no matter what!"

Genus and Kabuto were both surprised by what Saitama had just said. Each of them reflexively flinched back somewhat.

This statement alone caused them both to think, Training?! Not artificial enhancements, not some kind of super drug?! Just training?!

Saitama, having now composed himself more seriously than either Genos or Shunshi had seen from him thus far, dramatically exclaimed, "Listen, Genos, Shunshi; you have to keep doing it, every day, no matter how difficult it gets. It took me a full three years to get this strong... ONE-HUNDRED PUSH-UPS! ONE-HUNDRED SIT-UPS! ONE-HUNDRED SQUATS! AND A TEN-KILOMETER RUN! EVERY! SINGLE! DAY! And, of course, make sure you eat three meals daily! Just a banana in the morning is fine. But never EVER use the air conditioner in the summer or heat in the winter, so you can strengthen the mind... In the beginning, you'll wish you were dead. You might start thinking, 'What's the harm in taking a day off?' But for me, in order to be a strong Hero, even if I was spitting up blood, I never stopped! I toughed it out and endured the pain. I did squats even when my legs felt like they couldn't move! Even when my arms started making weird clicking noises, I kept doing push-ups. A year and a half later, I started to notice a difference. I was bald, and I had become stronger! In other words, you gotta train like Hell, to the point where your hair falls out. That's the only way to become truly strong. The guys who are fooling around with this new Human race and evolution junk, they're never gonna make it this far. I'm this strong because we Human beings have the power to make ourselves' stronger!"

Everyone present was stunned-silent that this was what the hyper-powerful Saitama did for his training.

Eventually, Genos blurted out, "Sensei, you are so... full of crap! That is nothing but standard strength training! It is not even all that intense for a superhuman!"

Saitama, having nearly died from this training regiment, just looked confused by Genos' statement.

With clear sorrow and disbelief in his voice, Shunshi asked Saitama, "You're... You're just joking, right, Saitama-Sensei? To trick these guys, right? I've been training for three years as well, and my training regiment is dozens of times harder than that."

Having grown even more upset, Genos yelled angrily at Saitama, "I did not come to you for jokes!"

After taking a second to think this over, Saitama, with a contemplative expression, explained himself, "Look, guys, I don't know what to say. You may not believe me, but that's really all I did." The clear sincerity of Saitama's voice just served to confuse Genos and Shunshi even further.

Kabuto, unable to believe Saitama's explanation, shouted out in an enraged tone, "Fine! Don't tell me! I'll just kill you with my full power and secure my place on top of the world!"

Horrified by what his creation just said, Dr. Genus pleaded to Kabuto in a desperate tone of voice, "No, Kabuto! Don't turn on Carnage mode! You'll go on another rampage!"

Kabuto then started to grow even bigger than it already was, as red flashing lights and warning sirens went off in the combat room. In addition, four titanium doors, each of which being several feet thick, closed around the room's entrance. Pieces of Kabuto's armor-like skin fell off of its body, its horn doubled in size and became razor-sharp, and its skin changed from a brownish-gray color to purple with green lines. Finally, its eyes changed to a completely glowing red color, while all of its teeth changed from human-like to razer sharp.

At the sight of this monstrous transformation, Shunshi thought in despair, Oh God... The full power of a Dragon Level threat... I know you're joking about how you trained... But please, please be stronger than this monster, Sensei!

After finishing its transformation, Kabuto shouted ferociously at Saitama, "Face the power of my Carnage Mode! While I'm like this, you will call me Carnage Kabuto!"

Suddenly, the white walls of the room changed into what looked like a bottomless, black pit made from red-lined blocks.

Carnage Kabuto then declared to Saitama with blood lust in its voice, "When I'm like this, my lust for death can't be quelled, and I lose all control! I'll be like this for an entire week! Once I kill you, I'll go into the cities and start destroying them until next Saturday! If you're really a Hero, then try and stop me!"

When he heard Kabuto say this, Saitama gained a look of despair and fear on his face. Suddenly, Carnage Kabuto disappeared and reappeared in front of Saitama, sending him flying with a punch from the monstrosity's massive fist.

It then caught up with its victim and unleashed a flurry of punches on him while chanting, "Death death death death death death death!"

This pattern of Saitama getting knocked around the room like a rag doll continued on for a while, causing Genos and Shunshi to both slowly lose hope that they would get out of here alive.

Eventually, after having grown tenser and tenser over this situation, Saitama threw a punch back at Carnage Kabuto's impending fist, destroying its entire body,

While he threw the punch, Saitama yelled with utter defeat and horror, "I MESSED UP! Today was the big sale!" This sudden turnaround shocked everyone in the room beyond belief.

As Saitama was screaming about missing the supermarket's vegetable sale, Shunshi looked at Carnage Kabuto's splattered remains.

After fully realizing what had just happened, the blue-eyed Hero thought with hesitant acceptance, Maybe I should try adding Master's training regiment to my own and see where that gets me...

Saitama had fallen to his knees and was shouting in misery as he grabbed at his hairless scalp, "I messed up!"

Not fully able to accept what he had just seen, Dr. Genus asked everyone in the room, "What just happened?!"

Hearing his question, Genos walked up to Dr. Genus, took out the supermarket flyer, and explained almost emotionlessly, "I think our Master is upset about this." With that, he left Genus to stew on the truth of the vegetable sale that had set Saitama off.

Genos then ran over to Saitama, who was being comforted by Shunshi, and said in a hurrying tone, "Master! The sale still lasts for a few hours! If we all hurry, then we can make it in time!"

Hearing this snapped Saitama out of his stupor and caused him to ask in a combination of joy and surprise, "SERIOUSLY!? Then let's go!"

"Yes, Sensei!" Genos and Shunshi responded attentively.

Saitama then ran up to the wall of the House of Evolution and punched a hole through the mountain that it was inside of. Shunshi, Genos, and himself then helped themselves to this new exit and ran off.

Dr. Genus, after the bald Hero for fun that ruined his life's work, had left, thought to himself in despair as snot drooled from his nose, I think I'm done with evolution...