After spending three days assisting the victims of the Dragon meteor in City-Z to reclaim as much of their lives as he could, Shunshi felt satisfied with his work. The young Hero had made sure to make time for Saitama's daily regiment but knew that he needed his Master's oversight to make any more real progress. As such, Shunshi decided he was overdue to visit Saitama and Genos.
Half an hour later, at Saitama's apartment. Genos was sweeping the floor when he heard someone knocking at the door. When he went to answer it, Genos was happy, or as close to happy as the young cyborg would get, when he saw Shunshi, dressed in his civilian clothes, had returned for another visit after being gone for so long. The yellow-eyed cyborg stepped aside and gestured for his blue-eyed junior to come in. However, before he took a step into the apartment, the hard-working Hero made sure to give a quick bow to his Senpai. After setting the backpack containing his armor on the ground next to the door, Shunshi noticed that his and Genos' Sensei was nowhere to be seen.
"Excuse me, Genos-Senpai, but do you know where Master Saitama is?" Shunshi asked, slightly disappointed.
Genos, who had already returned to sweeping, answered in his typical cold tone of voice, "Sensei told me that he went out to try and complete his weekly work quota early." After hearing this, Shunshi felt a little upset that he didn't get to see his Master right away but just took a deep breath and let out a melancholy sigh.
"Well then, I suppose I'll see if I can get my daily training done before Sensei returns. I only had enough time for Sensei's part of my training regiment for the past few days. I wanted to make sure that I could help as many people as possible after all," Shunshi explained with the utmost respect in his voice. Hearing his junior say this jogged something in Genos' memory that he felt was important enough to show to him.
After taking off his shirt to avoid getting too hot, Shunshi began the first part of his personal regiment, one-handed handstand push-ups. While Shunshi was getting to work on improving his body, the blonde cyborg took a seat parallel to him, pulled out his cellphone, and began pulling up the Hero Association website.
By the time Shunshi had completed over two hundred fifty of these push-ups, Genos shoved his cellphone in his junior's face while ordering him, "I want you to take a look at what I have on my phone."
Shunshi stopped what he was doing in an instant as he threw himself back onto his feet and responded with a slightly tired smile, "Yes, Senpai? What's up?" Putting his phone back up to eye-level with his junior, Genos showed Shunshi his profile on the Hero Association website
With an almost proud voice, Genos explained, "Due to the amount of community service that you have done in the wake of the meteor strike, your popularity has skyrocketed. As a result, you have moved up from rank 8 to rank 7 in A-Class."
Almost unable to believe what he'd been told, Shunshi smiled ecstatically as he exclaimed, "Wow, seriously?! I got another promotion? I knew Heroes could get promotions if they're popular, but I thought that only affected C-Class and B-Class Heroes. I had no idea that A-Class Heroes could move up in rank just by being popular too."
While putting away his phone, Genos explained, "From what I have learned in my research, normally, this does not happen. However, with how active you are in your heroic duties, combined with your recent acts of community service, you have become one of the most popular Heroes in A-Class. The sheer amount of work you do on a daily basis seems to surpass most C-Class Heroes, even though their position in the Hero Association is only maintained through regular work."
As he got ready to get back to his push-ups, Shunshi gave his final comment on this news in his usual humble tone, "That's pretty cool. Hope it doesn't go to my head."
About an hour and a half later, Saitama returned to his apartment. When he saw what was happening in his home, the bald Hero gave off a confused stare. He saw Shunshi and Genos sitting across from each other and reading some of his manga collection. Genos was reading the manga version of Ghost in the Shell with a very intense look in his eyes, while a tired-looking Shunshi was relaxing against the glass door that led out to Saitama's balcony as he casually read Yu Yu Hakusho.
Saitama made his presence known to his students with his usual emotionless tone, "Hey, Genos, I'm home. I took care of some sort of squid-faced monster, so my weekly quota is taken care of... I see Shunshi's here. That must mean you're done with the cleanup stuff you were doing. Congrats, I guess... So, why are you guys reading my manga?"
Bookmarking the page he was on and setting the graphic novel down, Genos explained, "Shunshi suggested that perhaps you unknowingly incorporated techniques from one of the manga you own into your training, Master. These might explain your exceptional strength. As such, we are studying them in an attempt to see if we can find a parallel between what you have shown us and the events in these stories."
Not fully understanding what he had just been told, Saitama gave Genos a funny look before shifting his gaze over to Shunshi, who smiled innocently at his Master before hiding his face behind the manga that he was reading. As Genos got back to his studying, Saitama walked over to the nervous-looking Shunshi, placed a finger on top of the book's spine, and moved it down from his student's face.
Looking Shunshi in his eyes, Saitama asked him with a concerned whisper, "Dude, what the heck is Genos talking about?"
Gulping anxiously, Shunshi answered Saitama in a tone reminiscent of how a child would speak with their upset parents, "I... I just wanted to read some manga after I finished my training, but Genos wouldn't let me touch any of them because they belong to you. So... I made up a lie about you getting your strength from reading manga... I'm sorry, Saitama-Sensei."
After hearing this, Saitama just barely contained his laughter before moving his finger away and letting a surprised Shunshi continue reading.
Saitama then grabbed a random volume of Dragon Ball, sat down against a wall, and started reading while thinking to himself in contentment, It wouldn't hurt to be lazy and read manga for the rest of the day. The three Heroes then spent their afternoon in each other's company, enjoying the simple pleasure of reading manga together.
The next day at Saitama's, the world's strongest Hero was once again reading one of his manga but with little interest this time. While Saitama was relaxing, Genos was drying dishes with a controlled heat blast from his hands. As Genos was doing these chores, Shunshi was performing handstand push-ups at lightning-fast speeds. As he worked, Genos decided to use his free hand to pull out his phone and check his Sensei's profile on the Hero Association website. After scrolling through it for a minute, he was happy with what he found.
While looking over his shoulder, Genos informed Saitama with a happy tone that he only ever addressed his Master with, "Sensei, it would seem that you have been promoted to rank 2 in C-Class. You are close to entering into B-Class."
B-Class, huh? So that would mean no more weekly quotas, right?" Saitama responded with a hint of interest in his voice.
"That is correct."
Shunshi was about to jump to his feet and state his excitement over his Master's inevitable promotion, but before he could, Genos' cellphone rang. The sudden noise surprised the older of the two students just as he was just about to flip to his feet, resulting in the ordinarily agile young man fumbling onto his face instead of skillfully landing on his feet as he'd intended.
"Oh, excuse me," the gold-haired cyborg said as he ignored Shunshi's somewhat amusing flop and answered his phone.
As the golden-haired cyborg spoke on the phone about going to J-City, Saitama couldn't help but chuckle at his second disciple's acrobatic mishap. However, when he noticed how embarrassed Shunshi was by his fluke, Saitama decided to draw attention away from it by turning on the disaster channel.
As soon as Saitama turned on the television, Genos walked back into the room and asked politely, "Master, the monster you defeated on the way home yesterday. By any chance, did it refer to itself as a Sea Folk?"
"I don't remember," Saitama lazily replied to this as he picked up a magazine to read. The second after Saitama said that, Genos and Shunshi saw that the news their Master had turned on was discussing the arrival of ten more of these Sea Folk in City-J.
In a minimally worried tone, Genos stated, "I was told that there is an A-Class Hero fighting them all on his own, and he is on the brink of defeat."
Curious if he could see how this A-Class was doing, Shunshi examined what was on screen. Instantly, worry snapped onto Shunshi's face from the sight on the television. Stinger, one of the Heroes he'd met before, was fighting these sea monsters and seemed to be in even worse shape than when they had finished fighting the ogre monsters from last week.
Watching as someone he considered to be his ally get brutalized, Shunshi turned around and exclaimed to Saitama, "Oh no! Sensei, we have to go help him!"
Saitama glanced at the Hero on the screen before asking Shunshi with a minimal amount of curiosity, "Why you so worried? Do you know that guy or something?"
With the concern in his posture growing by the second, Shunshi answered, "We worked together to fight monsters when the Hero Association called me in for an assignment. He was pretty nice to me at the time... I guess you could say we're acquaintances."
After glancing at the television to see the beaten and bruised Hero fighting for his life, Saitama stated in a semi-serious tone, "Okay, let's head out."
Meanwhile, in an apartment in one of the more peaceful parts of City-Z, the Hero, License-Less Rider, was listening to the same news broadcast as Saitama and his students.
C-Class' number one had just finished putting on his equipment and began running towards his place's door while declaring, "I'm on my way, buddy!"
At the same time, many other Heroes were also heading out to City-J to try and lend their aid to the struggling A-Class Hero as he fought to save the people of the city.
All the while, nearby the coast of City-J, a heavily injured Stinger was standing in the middle of six of the Sea Folk's corpses. The four remaining aquatic monsters were standing around the exhausted and bleeding Hero, all of them trying to surround him as they got ready to go in for the kill.
Stinger tightened his grip on his bamboo spear, let out a small laugh, and weakly proclaimed, "I gotta say, you've got spunk... ya slimy bastards! My beloved bamboo shoot here is stoked to battle enemies with some grit for a change! But I'm afraid it's time to end this."
One of the Sea Folk, with a large amount of fury in its voice, tried to cut down to Stinger's confidence by declaring, "Quit your boasting, Human! Your ridiculous fan club ran off long ago!"
Another one of these giant creatures added to its brethren's statement in an equally threatening tone, "Your death will be painful! For the taking of our brothers' lives, you will suffer greatly!"
Stinger, with his one eye that hadn't been swollen shut, confidently looked over his remaining enemies and spoke to himself, "Four fish to go..." He then took up a fighting stance and spun his spear over his head fast enough to propel himself into the air,
While airborne, Stinger exclaimed wildly, "It's actually a lot easier... Without an audience!"
The yellow, squid-faced member Sea Folk shot one of its tentacles at Stinger while he was airborne, but the A-Class countered this by thrusting his spear forward. Somehow, his attack pierced lethal holes in all four of the monsters. He pulled off this feat by using his superhuman physiology to redirect his momentum each time his spear went through one of them, allowing him to take them all down before touching back down the ground.
As the last of the monsters collapsed in death, Stinger shouted in triumph, "Sing, bamboo shoot! Gigantic Drill Stinger Quadruple Thrust!"
After landing back on the ground, the nearly broken Hero managed to form a smile on his injured face while proclaiming confidently, "I did it. I beat those bastards! Did you see that, new guy?! I'm strong enough to make it by with more than just popularity! Heck, these monsters were probably God-Level Threats, and I beat them all by mysel-!" Before he could finish his sentence, another one of Sea Folk arrived. Moving faster than the A-Class Hero could process, the monster swiftly punched Stinger in his stomach, lifting him into the air by its fist.
This monster was noticeably different in appearance from the other Sea Folk. It was roughly three feet taller than the ones that came before it, was wearing a flashy crown, a red speedo, and a royal-looking cape. On top of that, this Sea Folk looked closer to a Human than the previous monsters, but it still had more than enough aquatic features on its seafoam green body to be identified as a member of the Sea Folk clan.
The royal monster looked at the near-dead Hero, balanced on its fist, scowled angrily, and stated in a cold and bloodthirsty tone of voice, "You know, when something as annoying as you exists, it's a pleasure to watch it die." With those words, a mighty and loud roar of thunder and lightning exploded in the sky behind it. It was almost as if God himself were warning the world of this creature's evil might.
Meanwhile, on the border of City-J, Saitama, Shunshi, and Genos, who was carrying his Arms-Mode briefcase, were running at superhuman speeds along a highway to reach the sight of the monster invasion. Unfortunately for Shunshi, just like when the three of them were headed for the House of Evolution, he had to give everything he had to keep up with his Sensei and Senpai.
Without turning to look at either of them, Saitama asked his students, "How much farther is it to City-J?"
"We are almost there, but I am not getting any readings," Genos quickly answered.
Shunshi, who was starting to run out of breath, glanced to his right and saw City-J's disaster shelter in the distance.
After thinking things over for a brief moment, the black-armored Hero shouted to Saitama and Genos, "Hey, guys. Let's be honest here. If I were to try and fight alongside you two, I'd probably just get in the way. So, I'm going over to the disaster shelter to guard the people who are hiding there. Even if these monsters somehow slip past you guys and make it there, they'd probably be so exhausted that even I could beat them. I promise I won't let any of the civilians get hurt if you let me go guard them, Master!"
Without so much as breaking his stride, Saitama shrugged at Shunshi's idea and emotionlessly responded, "Do whatever you feel like, man."
Genos then added a comment of his own, "It does make strategic sense to have someone stay back and guard the civilians. And it is as you said; you would likely only interfere if you attempted to fight by our side."
Having been given the okay, Shunshi smiled underneath his helmet, jumped off of the highway, and started hopping across buildings as he made his way towards the disaster shelter.
Only a few moments after Shunshi had left, Genos explained to Saitama, "Sensei, I shall scout ahead for us. Once the enemy's location is confirmed, I will let you know." The young cyborg then fired off the rockets on his back and blasted far ahead of his Master. Just as Genos blasted off, Saitama tried to ask him something, but his disciple was already too far away to hear him.
"Oh. Hey-." Was all the bald Hero could get out before Genos left.
Saitama was a bit disappointed at not getting to ask his question, but the strongest Hero's attention was quickly diverted away by a voice from one of the Hero Association's PA systems, "Attention, this is an emergency announcement from the Hero Association. The Threat Level is Tiger. Repeat, the Threat Level is Tiger."
Meanwhile, at one of the entrances to City-J, License-Less Rider was peddling along a traffic-filled street, with hundreds of people desperate to escape the monster invasion.
As he moved towards where the Sea Folk were last sighted, Rider was calling the Hero Association on his cellphone, "License-less Rider here. I'm heading in now. Give me the location."
Unfortunately, the top C-Class Hero's words were only answered by a mechanical voice telling him, "We're sorry; all lines are busy at this time."
Pissed off, License-Less Rider slammed his phone shut and yelled, "Where are they?!"
As soon as he asked this, a friendly voice called out to the cyclist for justice, "Hey! Best forget about it" Pulling up to the source of the voice, License-less Rider found the C-Class Hero, Funeral Suspenders, along with a few others of the C-Class in a pickup truck. It was evident that these low-ranked Heroes were driving away from the disaster with the rest of the fleeing civilians.
Once the Cyclist Of Justice had pulled up to the truck, Funeral Suspenders continued with his care-free explanation, "C-Class Heroes can't handle this one."
Confused by what he meant, License-less Rider let out a, "Huh?"
The truck driver, D-Pad, chimed in with a melancholy voice, "It's true. The word just came down."
All of a sudden, the Hero Association PA system cut off the C-Class Heroes' conversation, "Emergency evacuation warning. The Threat Level has been raised from Tiger to Demon. All resid-"
As the announcement continued, Funeral Suspenders smiled nervously and rhetorically asked License-less Rider, "See what I mean?" The noble cyclists mulled over this for a second before he suddenly gritted his teeth and peddled off as fast as he could towards the disaster, much to the surprise of the other Heroes.
All over the city, the evacuation warning repeated, "I repeat. All citizens of City-J evacuate immediately."
As it casually strolled through the city streets, the sea monster heard this announcement, prompting a sadistic retort from it, "Evacuate? The fools! As if I'd let even one of these apes escape my wrath!" With that, the monster opened its mouth for a smile, revealing a set of razor-sharp pearly whites.
While the sea monster continued its march, the A-Class Hero, Lightning Max, was observing it through a telescope from the top of a nearby building.
As Max set down his telescope, he cautiously thought aloud about what course of action he should take, "I see, so that's the one that got Stinger... but he's also the last of them. Should I wait for backup? Stinger managed to bring down ten of these guys on his own, but he's not that much stronger than me. If it's just one on one, then maybe I can-" Before he could make a decision, the sea monster had already moved so fast that it had moved from the street to the top of the building, found Max, and had gotten behind him, all the while keeping up its sadistic grin.
Feeling the aura of a killer behind him, Max realized what was happening. Out of fear for his safety, Lightning Max rapidly spun around in the air while spurting out gibberish and threw out a powerful kick into the creature's chest, which somehow caused a small explosion.
While feigning injury, the sea monster asked Max in a fake pleading tone, "That stings. Why would you do such a thing?"
Recognizing that this monster had been unphased by his attack, Max quickly thought to himself, How the hell did this guy get behind me?! Did my gunpowder charged kick not have any effect?! I can't win...
The sea beast, as its murderous eyes glowed yellow, politely asked the A-Class Hero trembling in front of it, "And who might you be?"
While sweating in fear, Lightning Max responded with false courage, "I am... the Hero called Lightning Max. Fight me!"
The sea monster tilted its head at this and asked, "Fight you?"
Max, while trying to mentally prepare himself for a quick brawl, thought confidently, I'll make a run for it as soon as-.
Getting his thoughts cut off by the sea monster once more, Lightning Max received such a powerful shot to his gut that it sent him hurdling into the building across the street from him.
After landing in a manager's office, Lightning Max thought to himself in pain, What the hell just happened...? I can't feel my body.
The Hero didn't have long to think this over, as blood began to pour from his mouth and the very building he was in shook. Despite being in such pain, Max gathered the strength he needed to pick his head up and look at what was in front of him. Unfortunately, Max would quickly wish that he hadn't. At his feet, he saw the sea monster crouching and grinning maniacally with a laugh that perfectly matched its horrible face.
Max forced himself to his feet while angrily exclaiming, "Dammit... You arrogant guppy!"
Two small jets suddenly emerged from the toe of the Hero's right shoe and went off, propelling Lightning's leg in a loop as he ferociously shouted, "Lightning Flying Backward Roundhouse Kick!" Colliding with the monster's face, the A-Class Hero's shoe let off an explosion with enough power to take out everything on that floor, aside from the support frames themselves. The blast could even be seen from outside of the structure as it took out every window on that floor.
As soon as the explosion died down, a hole was made in the building's wall with Lightning Max's unconscious body. In a near-death state, Max began hurdling towards the ground as bone-crushing rubble followed closely behind him.
Just as he was about to collide with the street, a seven-foot-tall, muscular man ran underneath the falling Hero, catching him right before he was about to get crushed. This odd individual was wearing a prison uniform and a white sweater with a heart on it.
After setting the unconscious Max down, this man effeminately placed his hand on his chest and flirtatiously said, "I'm the S-Class Hero, Puri-Puri-Prisoner, and I escaped prison just to see you."
Prisoner's attention got taken off Lightning Max when he heard someone sarcastically tell him, "Well, well, imagine that. A Hero serving time in prison. I followed your example and decided to escape as well. Thanks for that."
The person speaking to the S-Class turned out to be none other than Speed-O-Sound Sonic, who was dressed in a prison uniform of his own.
Without batting an eye, Puri-Puri Prisoner calmly asked the ninja standing next to him, "Prisoner number 4188. Your name's Sonic, right? I can tell you're surprised, I know. I check up on all the boys who catch my eye. I'm serving a life sentence because I can't seem to control myself around cuties. If I see a beautiful man, I just take him."
Sonic, trying to avoid having to look at this odd man, decided to look at what was behind him instead, which just so happened to be the sea monster. The Prisoner took notice of the curious look on the ninja's face and looked behind himself as well.
Puri-Puri managed to get a look at the sea monster just as it sadistically addressed the next two Humans to stand in its way, "Well, well, more soldiers have come for me. Goodness, my fins are quivering."
Puri took a step forward to get into his combat stance, all the while exclaiming, "Oh my! I can feel the strength erupting out of him. Hang back, Sonic, dear."
As the beast walked closer and closer, Puri-Puri Prisoner's attitude shifted to a more aggressive one.
Eventually, the S-Class shouted at the monster in front of him in an accusatory tone, "A-Class rank 11, Sweet Stinger, and A-Class rank 20, Lightning Max. I fancied both of those lovelies. Now that Genos has passed me, I rank lowest in my class, but I'm still in S-Class, unlike those two you've defeated. I'll start things off at half power to gauge how much you can take!" The second the prison Hero said this, his muscles grew to the point that his sweater ripped off his body.
Puri-Puri Prisoner, horrified at what had just happened, shouted angrily at the monster, "YOU MADE ME RIP THE HANDMADE SWEATER MY BOYFRIEND MADE FOR ME! I'LL NEVER FORGIVE YOU, YOU BASTARD!"
Sonic gave a confused and almost horrified look at this strange Hero while the sea monster itself licked its lips in anticipation of combat and a possible feast to follow.
Meanwhile, Shunshi had reached the disaster shelter but was annoyed when he found that all the doors were sealed shut so long as monsters were rampaging.
After trying and failing to get into the structure for a few minutes, Shunshi thought to himself in annoyance, "Dammit...! Well, so long as the people are in there, they should be safe. Guess I could just stand guard outside. I did promise Sensei that I'd keep these people safe, and I guess it'd put fewer people at risk if I fought monsters out here rather than in there. Alright, people! You've all got yourselves an A-Class watchdog keeping you safe!"
With his will resolved, Shunshi patted the shelter as if to reaffirm his statement. Shunshi then folded his arms behind his back, stood at attention, and smiled contently.
Don't worry, Sensei. Anything that might slip past you and Senpai will get trounced by me before it can even get within shouting distance of the people in here!
As he mentally prepared himself for possible future combat, Shunshi looked off into the distance and saw some rain clouds starting to roll in.
This caused him to think aloud in a much more annoyed tone, "Oh, great. Looks like I get to stand guard in the rain. Just perfect... Think of the people, Shunshi. Think of the people."
Back over with Genos. The blonde cyborg was standing on top of a building and scanned the city until he eventually found high combat readings in the direction of Puri-Puri Prisoner's fight against the sea monster.
Once he found these readings, Genos calmly thought out loud, "Found them." He then took out his cell phone to try and call Saitama. Unfortunately, the rain clouds above were causing too much interference for him to get a signal.
Genos angrily exclaimed, "Dammit, I have no way to reach Master...! It cannot be helped."
Not discouraged by the absence of an unbeatable Hero to back him up, Genos quickly jumped down from the top of the building and started making his way to the source of the combat readings.
Back at the S-Class Hero's fight, Sonic had a disgusted look on his face as a slightly injured and fatigued Puri-Puri Prisoner had just finished a combo-attack that sent dust and debris flying everywhere. By now, the Hero's muscles had grown so large that they had ripped off all of his clothing, leaving the man stark-naked.
As soon as the smoke from the prison Hero's attack cleared up, the sea monster could be seen standing with its bruised-up arms held in defense.
"Are you done with your little combo, Human?" It sarcastically asked Prisoner. The fact that this monster was relatively unharmed came as a shock to both Puri-Puri Prisoner and Speed-O-Sound Sonic. Both of them couldn't help but gasp in surprise at the monster's endurance.
The beast then let out a compliment as Puri put his guard up, "I felt that, just a little."
Before the Hero could prepare another attack, the sea monster rushed him and hit him in his stomach, shoulder, and jaw with devastatingly powerful strikes.
While the Prisoner was struggling to remain standing, the monster coldly explained, "Hear me. The objective of a combination move is to finish your opponent. Each separate attack must be delivered with the intent to kill... like this!"
The sea monster, then, unleashed a flurry of bone-crushing and flesh ripping strikes, all finished off with a killer kick that sent Puri-Puri Prisoner flying through a nearby building. At that moment, the rain started to drizzle down from the cloud Shunshi noticed earlier.
While striking a dramatic pose to feel the rain, the sea monster asked Sonic in a colorful tone, "Isn't this fun?"
As he readied himself for combat, Sonic responded to the rhetorical question by asking a vexed question of his own, "Alright, who are you?"
The monster took up a new pose that demanded respect while exclaiming, "I am the Deep Sea King. As lord of the Clan of the Sea Folk, I claim this world as mine to rule. Do you dare defy me as well, Human?"
In response, Sonic let out a quick laugh before arrogantly asking the Deep Sea King, "You don't honestly think you have the strength to rule the surface all on your own, do you? How pathetic."
"Oh? Then I suppose I'll have to kill you," the Sea King retorted
Only becoming more annoyed, Sonic raised his hand defiantly at this and proclaimed, "That's my line. It's a shame, really. I would have let you live if you'd shown me the respect I'm due. I'm not a Hero, but I think I'll still eliminate you."
The Deep Sea King, seemingly having ignored Sonic's threat altogether, instead pleasantly noted how the intensity of the rain was picking up, "Ah, gentle rainfall."
Without a second of warning, the Sea King rushed at Sonic and tried to punch him into the ground, but the ninja easily jumped over the monster while criticizing, "Too slow!"
While he was still airborne, Sonic started spinning like a pinwheel before letting his foot collided with the beast, staggering it as he exclaimed, "Wind Blade Kick!"
Meanwhile, back with Shunshi at the disaster shelter, as the fight raged on in City-J, the young Hero was still standing guard outside of the disaster shelter. This was despite the fact that the heavens had opened up on him, and his costume was soaking wet, possibly risking rust.
Taking notice of just how wet he had gotten, Shunshi grumbled to himself out of aggravation, "I'm gonna catch a cold, aren't I?"
Back at the battle against the Deep Sea King, the midriff of Sonic's shirt had been torn off, as the ninja used his incredible speed to dance around the Deep Sea King's attacks effortlessly.
"It's useless. You may have power, but you're far too slow. You're never gonna defeat me," Sonic calmly explained.
As he got ready for another attack, the ninja exclaimed to the fish, "Thank you, Deep Sea King. Fighting something with power like yours' just confirms how strong I really am!"
The sound barrier-breaking ninja then jumped behind the Deep Sea King and onto a large building. As the ninja passed by the monster, the undersea royalty was hit with the shockwaves of dozens of invisible punches.
When the ninja's first foot touched down on the building, Sonic exclaimed, "My moves are the fastest and strongest!"
The Sea King then bent over backward in order to look up at Speed-O-Sound Sonic, all the while cackling madly as its eye twitched with anger.
After both of his feet landed on the building, Sonic took notice of his opponent's crazed actions and asked, "Now what? Losing your mind?"
Sonic almost bit his tongue when he saw the monster jump at him at speeds comparable to his own. The second the beast reached its foe, it threw a punch at the ninja with the force of a tidal wave behind it. Sonic just barely managed to jump out of the way of this attack as it nearly took off the entire roof of the building, causing a genuine sense of nervousness to overtake the assassin.
As the speed from his jump continued to cart him through the air, Sonic worriedly thought to himself, He's gotten faster!
The ninja then jumped across a few more buildings to gain some distance as he thought, He's stronger too. Where's this boost in power even coming from? Just as Sonic finished thinking, a now even larger Deep Sea King, with a much more fish-like head, landed behind the nervous ninja.
The Deep Sea King, in a chillingly calm tone of voice, explained to its prey, "The air on the surface shriveled me up a bit, but this rain has returned me to my old self. Now your attacks won't hurt me even a little!"
Meanwhile, in another part of the city, License-Less Rider was peddling through the streets as fast as he could to find the monsters. However, much to the law-abiding Hero's dismay, he hit a stoplight.
"Rrrgh, of all the times to hit a red light!" The rider fumed. However, License-less' attention was soon pulled away from the light and towards a bald man wearing an unimpressive, yellow superhero outfit while complaining about one of his companions running off.
After looking Saitama over, License-less Rider asked him, "Hold on, aren't you C-Class rank 2?"
Having just noticed the rider, Saitama responded with a small amount of interest, "That's right. You a Hero...? Have you seen Genos? He's... I guess he's a pal of mine... Sort of."
Back with Sonic's struggle against the king of the seas, explosions of dirt and debris could be seen going off throughout City-J, as Sonic and the Deep Sea King were plowing through buildings during their chase. While fleeing, Sonic jumped through a window, only for the building itself to be smashed through entirely by the Sea King.
My attacks really aren't having any effect! Am I lacking in power?! I can't kill him unarmed. I need to retreat for now and find a weapon!
In his attempt to run away and retrieve a weapon, Sonic began to jump towards the building on the other side of the street. Unfortunately, before he could get very far, the Deep Sea King's massive clawed hand came out of nowhere, closed around the ninja, and started to crush him.
"I finally caught you, runt!" The monster exclaimed.
As the monster started squeezing even tighter on the maggot who dared to oppose it, Sonic's voice condescendingly spoke out, "Snap snap, crack crack."
Having grown understandably confused, the Sea King opened up its hand to see its crushed prey. However, there was nothing in the beast's palm but the remnants of Sonic's prison uniform.
Suddenly, from the top of a faraway building, a now naked Sonic ordered the confused monster, "You wait right there. The next time we meet will be your demise!" The ninja then used his blinding speed to vanish without another word.
The Sea King smiled at this and spoke to itself, "No matter, the small fry can be let go."
As the battle against this monster waged on, numerous people at the disaster shelter grew restless.
A young boy who was hiding in there with his father asked fearfully, "Daddy, are the monsters still out there?"
Wanting to comfort his son, the boy's father smiled and explained to his boy, "Don't worry, we're safe as long as we're in here. And besides, if it comes down to it, I'm sure all of us together can handle a monster or two."
Outside of the shelter, the rain was coming down so hard that it was almost as if God was trying to flood the world with his tears.
As thunder and lightning exploded in the clouds above, a very annoyed and soaked Shunshi clenched his soggy gauntlets and screamed at the sky, "WHY?! WHY IS THERE SO MUCH RAIN?!"
Just then, the Deep Sea King walked out from around a nearby building and entered Shunshi's line of sight. The A-Class was a little surprised to see that one of the fish monsters had actually made it this far, but he quickly managed to recompose himself and smiled confidently behind his helmet.
Wow, that's a real ugly one. Looks like I'm gonna get a good workout in today after all. Don't worry, Sensei, I'll beat this monster in five seconds flat and make you proud! Shunshi thought in ignorance of his foe's abilities. Regardless, he was ready to fight and ignited his Kie.
The Deep Sea King, having only glanced at young Hero covered white flames, focused on the shelter and exclaimed, "I sense them... There's so many... It's coming from the building behind that soldier!"
Realizing that this freak of nature was out for the blood of the innocents, Shunshi rushed at the fish monster, a Light Ball in hand, ready to blow this fish into pieces.
Over a minute later, the people inside of the shelter had been listening to a series of loud explosions and colliding shockwaves going off outside. The A-Class Hero, Sneck, the B-Class Hero Jet Nice Guy, and the C-Class Heroes Bunbun Man and Allback Man had all gone to this shelter to seek safety as well. However, they realized that the time to fight had come, and so they gathered next to the wall that the sounds were coming from in preparation to defend the civilians.
While getting ready to fight, Sneck cautiously instructed the other Heroes, "If the monster gets through the wall, follow my lead and attack on my command. The four of us should be able to handle whatever this is if we work together."
"I gotta admit, it feels pretty reassuring having an A-Class Hero to fight alongside," Jet Nice Guy commented.
Focusing his gaze on the wall, Sneck retorted, "Right. Just make sure you're ready."
Meanwhile, License-less Rider was riding through City-J at a steady pace with Saitama hanging onto the back of his bike.
As the two C-Class Heroes rode through the city, Saitama asked License-less Rider in a slightly unsure tone, "You sure this is the way?"
The rider responded to this by confidently explaining, "Yes, since local residents are fleeing from this direction, we'll find monsters further up."
As soon as License-less Rider finished talking, Saitama saw the butt naked Speed-O-Sound Sonic run by them at a velocity that would have been impossible for an average human to see.
Baffled by this, Saitama asked License-less Rider, "Uh, did you just see a butt-naked guy run past us?"
Completely taken aback by this strange question, the top C-Class Hero could only respond with, "What?"
Without any warning, Saitama jumped off of the bike and started jogging in the direction that Sonic ran towards while explaining, "That guy must've evacuated mid-bath or something... I'm gonna check it out. You go ahead without me."
Deciding that his bald companion knew what he was doing, License-less Rider nodded to Saitama and responded to him in a mixture of determination and confusion, "Right, got it!"
Unfortunately, as soon as Saitama was out of earshot, the rider got a phone call from the Hero Association.
After he answered the phone, the rider spoke into it, "License-less Rider here... Yes, sir. Correct, we're on our way there now... What?! Did you say the shelter?! Ah, it was the other way!"
In his hurry to protect the civilians from the Sea Folk, License-less Rider tossed his phone onto the ground without even hanging up as he began peddling as fast as he could towards the disaster shelter.
Back at the shelter, after a few more moments of waiting, the Deep Sea King, whose shoulders were lit up with white flames, suddenly came bursting through the wall of the building. In one of its hands, the monster held up a heavily injured Shunshi by his broken leg. Everyone inside the shelter was shocked speechless by this sight.
With pure blood lust in its voice, the Sea King exclaimed to the terrified people, "One of your soldiers killed ten of my people. For every one of my dead, ten million of you humans shall die!"
The civilians in the shelter were horrified by this demon's declaration and started screaming in fear. Simultaneously, the four Heroes that had gathered next to the wall got ready for battle. However, as Shunshi was hanging by his broken leg, he found the strength to force himself through his pain when he heard all of the people screaming in fear.
Summoning what strength he had left, Shunshi used his free leg and kicked the Sea King in its ribs as hard as he could. This attack had enough power to cause the beast to stagger a bit and release its grip on the Hero's broken limb, dropping him face-first into the ground. Quickly getting up after his face-plant, the dark-clad Hero stood up as fast as he could while trying to balance himself on his good leg.
Taking notice of the other Heroes present at the shelter, Shunshi exclaimed to them, "All of you, get these people out of here! I'll hold this freak off for as long as I can!"
The four lower-ranked Heroes were paralyzed with fear for a moment, but Sneck quickly recomposed himself and ordered them, "You heard him! Let's get everyone out of here!"
The Heroes and civilians alike started running for the exit to the building, but the Deep Sea King immediately started charging them while shouting, "None of you are leaving here alive!"
Before the Sea King could get very far, Shunshi tossed three light balls into its eyes. This caused an explosion powerful enough to stun the monster for a few seconds. The young Hero took this opportunity to pounce at the Sea King and punch it in its face with a flaming fist. The armored Hero followed up this attack by forming as large of a light ball as he could in his other hand within the span of a second, shoving it into the demon's chest. The resulting explosion left the Deep Sea King's torso covered in white flames and seemed to keep it paralyzed with burning pain. As such, Shunshi felt confident and tried to jump in the air to kick the creature in its face. However, the ruler of the Sea Folk managed to recover from its injuries much faster than anticipated. By merely flexing its muscles, the monarch of the deep blew off all the fire on its body. Then, it grabbed Shunshi's good leg before he could strike the monster's face with it. The Sea King then crushed this limb in its palm, just like it had done to the last one.
As Shunshi let out a wale of pain, the Deep Sea King laughed sadistically before realizing that it felt hungry. The demon opened up its razored jaw and started moving it towards the torso of its next meal. Just as the monster was about to bite off the entire upper half of Shunshi's body, Sneck and Jet Nice Guy both rushed the preoccupied Sea King and threw punches into its torso as hard as they could.
As their fists connected with the monster's torso, Sneck and Jet Nice Guy both exclaimed, "We can't call ourselves Heroes if we just leave our fellow man to die!?"
The Sea King, more annoyed than injured by this combo attack, dropped Shunshi on the ground and threw a punch at the other two Heroes. Sneck just barely managed to move out of the way of the attack, but Jet got hit dead on and got split in half. Fortunately, Jet was a cyborg, so he was able to survive the injury. Unfortunately, this damage still took the B-Class out of the fight.
In a combination of fear and determination, Sneck tried to throw another attack, but the Deep Sea King stopped this with an attack of its own. Swiping at Sneck with its clawed hand, the Hero had no chance to defend himself from the Sea Beast and got sent flying into a wall with enough force to plant the Hero in it and knock him out cold.
Feeling satisfied with itself after having dealt with those three, the Sea King began to rush at the civilians fleeing in fear. However, in a last-ditch effort to save the innocent people, Allback Man and Bunbun Man rushed at the demon, meeting it halfway from the civilians. Unfortunately, the monster effortlessly kicked them out of its way, nearly killing the two men in the process.
As the bloodthirsty monster was about to reach the civilians, Shunshi gathered his willpower and ignored his pain once more. By setting off two Light Balls under himself, Shunshi launched his body at the Deep Sea King. As soon as he landed on the Sea King's back, Shunshi focused his Kie flames onto his cape and wrapped it around the monster's face. This made the beast roar in pain as its head got engulfed in a sheet of endless white-hot fire.
Having grown infuriated with this A-Class Hero's persistence, the Deep Sea King grabbed Shunshi's cape and ripped it to pieces in an instant. The creature then grabbed the Hero's torso with as much crushing force as it could apply. This shattered nearly all of Shunshi's ribs and almost broke his spine.
Assuming that its enemy was finally dead, the Sea King tossed Shunshi's broken and bloodied body face-first into a wall as hard as it could. The monster's throw had enough force to destroy the jaw and nose-piece of the young Hero's helmet as his head became buried in concrete.
Meanwhile, at the street where License-less Rider had dropped his cell phone, Saitama, having given up his pursuit of Sonic, returned to where he last remembered seeing his fellow C-Class. Unfortunately, the bald Hero found nothing but a ringing phone sitting in the rain.
Back at the shelter, all of the civilians were cowering in fear next to the unopening door of the disaster shelter.
As the Deep Sea King slowly crept towards them, it asked, "What's wrong? Are you afraid that I'll hurt you? Well, don't worry... It will only be excruciating!"
Suddenly, there was a loud crashing noise. Everyone turned to look at the hole in the shelter where the Deep Sea King had made its entrants moments earlier. Standing there, everyone saw the newest S-Class Hero, Genos, ready for combat.
At the same time, with Saitama and License-less Rider's phone.
The strongest Hero answered the phone call and was greeted with, "License-less Rider, what's your location? This is beyond what you can handle. The monster even took out an S-Class Hero! We need to assemble a subjugation squad and fast!"
Saitama, slightly surprised by what he had just heard, asked the man on the other end of the line, "An S-Class Hero was defeated?"
Not recognizing the voice on the other end of the line, the Hero Association representative asked, "Who is this?! Where's License-less Rider?! What's going on!?"
Having somewhat pieced together who he was talking to, Saitama asked the phone, "Wait, is this the Hero Association?"
The representative responded to this question in the same anxious tone as before, "Yes, and who are you? Put on the owner of this cell phone right now!"
Ignoring this man's second request, Saitama answered his first question, "This is the Hero, Saitama."
Having heard the rumors about Saitama's test scores, the representative voice had a minuscule amount of hope as he asked, "Saitama?"
Back at the disaster shelter once again. The Deep Sea King ignored the noise it heard and was about to kill everyone, but was stopped by Genos' asking it, "You are one of the Sea Folk, correct?" The monster then glanced behind itself and acknowledged the metal man menacingly standing in the hole in the wall.
With a lack of interest in its voice, the monster asked the cyborg, "And what if I am? Are you another soldier that came to-?"
As the Sea King was trying to finish its sentence, Genos glanced into the crowd of people and saw the half-dead Shunshi lying on the ground with his head buried. Having grown somewhat angered at the sight of his fellow student in critical condition, Genos, in a pillar of electricity, jumped between the monster and the crowd.
With quiet fury, Genos proclaimed, "I am here to eliminate you!"
In an instant, the blonde cyborg fired off every jet in his back and rocketed himself forward. The split-second that Genos got within reach of the Deep Sea King, he punched it in its face while setting off an explosive stored in his wrist. The power of this attack sent the monster flying through another of the disaster shelter's walls with a cylinder of fire. The blast of fire that sent Sea King hurdling away was so intense that it melted holes in every building in its path for nearly a mile.
After the sound from Genos' incineration punch had died down and the rain became audible again, the young cyborg turned to the crowd of awe-struck people and asked them, "Was that the last of the Sea Folk?"
Instead of giving him a direct answer, the people just gasped in awe of the S-Class Hero that had come to save them before erupting into explosions of cheers.
Unconcerned with the praise he was getting, Genos thought to himself, They must have been quite desperate. Without a change in the young Hero's expression, he activated the life sign sensors in his eyes and looked over at Shunshi's unconscious body.
After examining his junior's vitals, Genos processed, His enhanced healing ability seems to be keeping him from dying, but he is still in critical condition. I think it would be wise for me to take him to a Hero Association hospital to accelerate the-.
As Genos was about to finish his thought, the Deep Sea King reappeared behind him.
Now back in its smaller form, it grabbed Genos' arm from behind and hit the young man in the side of his head with its free claw. The punch was so strong that it sent the metal Hero flying into the wall on the other end of the shelter. On top of that, the Sea King had also ripped off the arm it had in its grip. In fact, Genos wasn't just missing his right arm, as that attack had also removed the right half of his artificial face.
After this surprise assault, the leader of the Sea Folk exclaimed psychotically, "Now I'm angry! I'll tear you to shreds!" Despite the fact that the Sea King's cheek had been ripped open, the monster still spoke with the same level of elegant madness.
Genos seemed unconcerned with his injuries as he criticized himself and struggled to stand back up, "I let my guard down again... Why do I never learn?!"
While all of this was unfolding, Saitama was still on the phone with the Hero Association representative.
The man on the phone hesitantly asked Saitama, "You're C-Class rank 2... Are you sure about this?"
In his usual emotionless tone of voice, Saitama answered, "Yeah. Hurry it up. It's raining."
After mulling over Saitama's accomplishments since joining the Hero Association, the representative looked to his superior for approval.
Instantly realizing what his subordination was asking, the superior officer gave the order, "Let him go. This may be our chance to see how strong he really is."
Having been given the go, the representative spoke into his end of the line, "Saitama, here's the location. Now head there immediately."
Meanwhile, at the fight for survival at the disaster shelter, Genos had finally managed to stand back up, even as electricity poured out from his broken face.
Fearing for their safety, Genos yelled to everyone in the shelter, "Those of you who can still walk, leave the shelter now! I cannot promise that I will win. Run while I keep him busy!"
As the hole in the Deep Sea King's face healed up, it listened to what Genos said. This caused a look of pure hatred and insanity to spread across the monster's face. In an instant, it began rushing at the crowd of fleeing people, its claws and teeth ready to rip them all apart.
As it sprinted, the beast shrieked psychotically, "None of you monkeys will escape MMEEEE!"
Before it could reach the people, the Sea King was stopped by Genos. The cyborg had used the rockets in his shoulders to close the gap between himself and the monster quickly. Once he got near it, Genos kicked its highness in its face. At the same time, he had to tank a counter-punch that the creature threw out in retaliation. For a brief moment, the two of them were suspended in the place by the other's attacks. Genos was the first of the two to snap out of this. He slid his face away from the Deep Sea King's fist and down its arm to try and headbutt the monster. Unfortunately, the sea creature managed to dodge the attack while trying to hit Genos with its own flurry of strikes. However, despite the cyborg missing an arm, he was still able to perfectly dodge, block, and counter each of these supersonic attacks. Eventually, Genos managed to land a counter-blow to the Deep Sea King's face, causing the monster to spit out some of its purple blood.
Taking the split second that his attack bought him, Genos crouched down and uppercutted the Sea King in its torso. This attack hit the monster so hard that it smashed the creature through the roof of the shelter. Before it could even try to recollect its senses while still in the air, the Deep Sea King was hit with a massive blast of fire from Genos' incinerator. After getting badly burned by the flames for a few seconds, the Sea King repeated the technique it used against Shunshi, flexed all of its muscles as hard as it could, and extinguished the flames. Just as the Demon-Level monster was about to go back down to fight the S-Class Hero, said Hero appeared out behind the Sea King.
"Lightning Eyes!" Genos yelled as a massive burst of light suddenly flashed from his yellow eyes, blinding the demon. This stunned it long enough for the S-Class to ax-kicked the top of its head. The attack dented the king's crown, forced its head into its torso, and buried it up to its chest into the shelter's roof. Not letting up his assault for even an instant, Genos rocketed downwards at the rooted monster and started punching it as fast as his single arm would allow.
"Machine Gun Blow!" Genos shouted angrily. The fury behind the young cyborg's rain of burning hot metal fist was so great that it smashed yet another hole into the shelter's roof.
As it continued to get pelted, the Deep Sea King seemed unphased by these attacks, as it arrogantly asked, "You Humans really do like your combo attacks, don't you?"
After the two titans of power crashed down near the crowd of fleeing people, a cloud of dust and debris formed around them. Once the cloud cleared away, the people could see that the Sea King was back on the offensive, trying to land a punch on the cyborg Hero. Fortunately, Genos was able to block the monster's fist with his remaining arm.
While people continued to run away in search of an exit, a little girl in the crowd wanted to help the superhero that came to save her and her family.
With all of her heart, she yelled words of support, "I... I just know you can do it, Mr. Robot!"
Annoyed with this Human pup's audacity to speak during its battle, the Deep Sea King spat a blob of green liquid at her and shouted, "Quiet!"
Genos knew that whatever this liquid was, it must be dangerous. Letting his heroic instincts take over, the Cyborg For Justice jumped in between the child and the blob of goo. As soon as the liquid made contact with him, Genos' metal body started melting. Much to the horror of the young girl he saved, Genos' remaining arm fell off and clattered onto the ground in front of her.
At the same time as Genos was falling apart, Shunshi had recovered enough from his injuries to regain consciousness and pull his head out of the wall. While looking at his surroundings with his barely functional eyes, the dark-clad Hero saw his Senpai being melted away by acid from the Deep Sea King, much to his horror. Out of desperation, Shunshi dug his gauntlets' claws into the ground and slowly started to drag himself towards Genos.
While Shunshi scraped along the ground, he muttered through the blood in his mouth, "Dnt wry, Gnsp, Il spv yuk!" (Translation: Don't worry, Genos-Senpai, I'll save you!)
As Genos gasped in pain from his half-melted body, he could hear the Sea King laugh and walk up to him. Rendered unable to defend himself, Genos could only stand there as the monster grabbed what was left of his hair. It then threw him against a wall with enough force to put a crater in it before finishing it off by drop-kicking Genos through the wall and into the rain outside.
The Sea King walked up to the newest hole in the wall and jumped out of it while accosting its beaten opponent, "If you had simply focused on me, that ball of acid would never have gotten anywhere near you. Instead, you chose to sacrifice yourself to save a runt. You're a fool, but I give you credit for giving me a few scratches," the demon then tapped the part of his face that Genos had punched off and condescended, "Of course, they've already healed...! Now die."
Just before this seemingly unstoppable force of evil could put an end to the young Hero's life, a voice from out of nowhere shouted, "Justice Crash!" Accompanying these words was a green bicycle that had been thrown the Sea King. Unfortunately, all it did was harmlessly bounce off the monster's stronger than steel muscles.
Annoyed that yet another distraction had arrived, the Deep Sea King turned to look behind itself as the veins on its head started popping out in anger. However, to the demon's confusion, this new enemy appeared to be nothing but a weak-looking warrior dressed in some sort of a cross between body armor and bicycle padding.
Unsure of what it was looking at, all the Sea King could say was, "Huuuuuh?"
In an attempt to waver the Sea King's courage and reassure the terrified civilians, License-Less Rider took up a combat stance and declared, "The cyclist for justice, License-Less Rider is here!"
Recognizing who License-Less Rider was from his research into the Hero Association's website, Genos grew concerned for the top C-Class Hero's safety. Even though he was unable to stand, Genos turned his head to the rider and tried to shout, "No, don't...!"
The people trapped inside the disaster shelter saw which Hero had shown up to save them now, with one man commenting, "License-Less Rider... License-Less Rider came out here to save us."
In a mixture of fear and concern, another man commented weakly, "But he's..."
Suddenly, License-Less Rider rushed at the Sea King and tried to punch it, but the demon simply stated, "I'm bored already," and easily caught the C-Class Hero's arm with one of its giant hands. The monster then started beating the Rider on the ground like a rag doll. Eventually, the sleeve of License-Less Rider's suite ripped off, sending the Hero flying away.
The Deep Sea King looked at the sleeve it removed in bewilderment before turning back to Genos and politely stating, "Oh, I'm sorry. I almost forgot to kill you!" However, the King was interrupted by License-Less Rider again when the Hero got back up and ran at the monster.
When he got close enough, License-Less Rider tackled the Sea King in an attempt to push it away from Genos, as he yelled in pain, "Justice... Tackle!" Having grown genuinely angry with the weak Hero's insistence on not dying, the Deep Sea King's face started morphing back into the shape of its more powerful form.
While desperately trying to push the monster away, the noble Rider began to say, "Nobody expects much-." Before License-Less Rider could finish talking, he was swiped away by the beast with an attack that had actual force put behind it. This swipe broke apart some of his armor and heavily injured his face. The Deep Sea King then turned to look at Genos once again.
After getting knocked away, the Rider looked up into the rain as his face began to bleed heavily.
"Not from me," he continued. As he got onto his hands and knees, License-Less Rider kept talking, "They think a C-Class Hero won't be much help."
He tried to force himself to stand back up but fell on his face as his blood mixed with the rainwater, while he continued, "I know that better than anyone! I'm too weak for B-Class."
License-Less Rider finally found the strength to stand back up, as he exclaimed furiously, "I'm not good enough, I know that much. I'm aware that I have no chance of beating you... No one needs to tell me... anything like that!"
More and more people gathered at the hole in the shelter and were watching and listening to License-Less Rider's speech. Without anyone noticing him, Shunshi had dragged himself to the edge of the hole and grew even more worried when he saw that one of his personal idols, License-Less Rider, was heavily injured and standing parallel to the demon. As he watched this, Shunshi became more determined than ever to lend what little aid he could. As such, he pulled himself off the ledge of the hole and let himself fall to the ground. After falling over a dozen feet, Shunshi painfully forced himself back onto his belly and began to drag himself towards the Hero and the monster.
The demon's body had fully grown back into its fish-like form and took notice of the Rider as he yelled at it, prompting the creature to ask, "What are you babbling on about!? Begging for your life!?" All the while, Genos was futilely trying to use the pistons in his shoulders to force himself back to his feet.
Ignoring the Deep Sea King's demeaning words, License-Less Rider clenched his fists and stated, "And yet, I have to try..."
The noble bicyclist then turned to face the Sea King once again as he took up a combat stance and shouted passionately, "It's not about winning or losing! It's about me taking you on! RIGHT HERE AND RIGHT NOW!"
The people who were watching this selfless Hero from the shelter all began to cry. The sight of his injured body, combined with his words, was too much for their hearts to take.
The Deep Sea King's patience had just about reached its limits, as it declared, "Enough of your rambling! It's time to finish you off!" Realizing that this truly could be the end of his life, the rider gritted his teeth and clenched his fists tighter than ever in preparation for his final moments.
However, the Hero was caught off guard when he heard the voice of a young boy in the shelter yelling with all of his might, "You can do it! License-Less Rider, you can do it! You're the Cyclist For Justice! You can beat him...! Beat that weird monster, beat him! I believe in you!" As those last words boomed out of the boy's mouth, tears began pouring from his eyes.
Despite the unholy amount of danger he was in, this child's words caused a confident smile to form on the Hero's face.
License-Less Rider wasn't the only person inspired by this child's call, as all the people trapped in the building started cheering words for the C-Class Hero with everything they had, "That's right, get him!" "Yeah, do it!" "We're all counting on you, License-Less Rider!" "Good luck! Beat him!"
After hearing so many words of encouragement from the people he had chosen to devote his life to protecting, the brave Rider got ready to fight. He pounded his fists together, flexed his muscles as hard as he could, and let out as powerful of a battle cry as Human lungs would allow. He then ran at the Deep Sea King to make one final attempt at fighting this monstrosity... Unfortunately, much to the horror of the onlookers, the Sea King quickly stopped this weak Hero in his tracks with a single powerful punch that knocked him out cold and sent him flying away.
Happy to destroy hope, the demon mocked the weakest foe it had yet fought, "Nothing but a pathetic waste of time... hmm?" To the confusion of the Sea King and the civilians, an unimpressive Hero in a yellow costume showed up and caught License-Less Rider just as he was about to hit the ground.
After making sure his fellow Hero was alright, Saitama congratulated him with genuine honesty, "Nice fight, man. Should be proud of yourself."
The Deep Sea King was about to lean over and ask Saitama who he was but stopped when it felt a slight pain coming from its right calf. It naturally looked down to investigate the source of its pain and was surprised when it saw Shunshi digging his claws and teeth into its flesh.
The Sea King angrily asked the Hero it had assumed was dead, "What do you think you're doing, you little flea!? Who permitted you to continue breathing!?"
Through the blood and Sea Folk flesh in his mouth, Shunshi furiously exclaimed, "Ig biff yr fict lig opf fergh ws yd ts sp!" (Translation "I'LL BITE YOUR FUCKING LEGS OFF FOR WHAT YOU DID TO GENOS-SENPAI!")
While all of this was happening, Saitama had set License-Less Rider down, noticed the half-melted Genos, and yelled to him with genuine concern, "Whoa, hey, Genos! Are you still alive over there?!"
With his one remaining eye, Genos looked up at Saitama and weakly spoke, "Mas... ter...?"
Saitama let out a sigh of relief at this but noticed something familiar-looking out of the corner of his eye. Looking to his left, Saitama saw a rabid-looking Shunshi biting the fish monster's leg. This was despite the fact that his body had over a dozen holes in it that bone was protruding through and blood was pouring from.
Now confused and concerned, Saitama yelled, "What the?! Shunshi?! Look at you! How are you even moving like that?!"
Realizing that his teacher had arrived, Shunshi snapped back to his senses, relaxed his jaw, and managed to ask, "Sen... sei?"
The second this nat let go of it, the Deep Sea King kicked Shunshi away and into Genos. This caused the two of them to tumble around each other for a few feet until Saitama moved faster than what was perceivable and brought them to a gentle stop.
Once he made sure they were still alive, Saitama let out another sigh of relief and stood up while telling them, "You two sit tight for a second. I gotta pound this sea freak, or whatever it's called."
As soon as Saitama said this, the Deep Sea King appeared behind him and shouted, "I heard that!" It then swiftly punched Saitama as hard as it could in the back of his bald head. This caused his cranium to wobble a bit as the shockwaves of the attack canceled out gravity and sent the rain that had been pouring onto their heads flying upwards for a second.
Having grown somewhat angered at this monster, Saitama turned his head to glare at the Deep Sea King.
This surprised the beast of the sea somewhat, and as the rain started falling again, the Sea King complimented Saitama, "Impressive. Still on your feet after one of my punches. Clearly, you're different than the rest of the trash."
In a tone of honest confusion, Saitama dismissed the Sea King's compliment by explaining, "Huh? Your punch had no power behind it, that's all."
The Sea King mauled over Saitama's response for a second before it decided to start explaining just what it is to the bald Hero, "King of the seas, lord of the deep, that's me! All life on Earth comes from the sea as if the sea were our mother. In other words, as ruler of the seas, I am the absolute peak of a pyramid that includes every living organism on this planet! Defying me means-!"
Growing impatient with this fish guy's monologue, Saitama began to clean out his ear as he cut off the peak of the world's pyramid, "Yeah yeah. I got it, I got it. It's raining out, so let's get this over with."
Having endured enough of this small Hero's insolence, the mighty Deep Sea King let out a vicious roar as it threw its most powerful punch yet at this insect. However, this insect countered with an even faster and stronger punch aimed at the fish man's torso. This punch was so fast that no one was even able to see him throw it. The attack put a hole in the Sea King's massive body, annihilated all of its internal organs, knocked its eyeballs out, and caused its crown to unceremoniously roll off of its head. In fact, the shockwaves of this punch knocked all of the storm clouds in the city hundreds of miles away.
As the Deep Sea King's dead body collapsed to the ground, the people in the shelter simultaneously shouted, "WHAT?!" Before erupting into huge cheers of gratitude and love for the bald C-Class Hero that came to their rescue.
Saitama once again felt unsatisfied by his opponent and paid no attention to the cheers as he thought out loud, "Well... that was lame. I kinda had my hopes up too."
Afterward, the day following the monumental battle against the monster king of the deep sea had arrived. Saitama, Genos, and Shunshi were walking along the streets of Z-City to bring some groceries back to Saitama's home. As they walked, Shunshi seemed to be visibly upset about something other than the limp he was walking with.
However, Saitama was not carrying any of the bags himself. He had taken advantage of his disciples' willingness to do just about anything he asked and had them carry all of his groceries for him.
Although, after looking at Shunshi limp along for a bit longer, Saitama nervously scratched his face and asked the older of his two students, "Hey, Shunshi. Are you sure you're okay carrying things with your legs being as messed up as they are?"
After noticeably picking up his pace, Shunshi replied proudly to his Master's question, "Don't worry, Sensei. My healing abilities have gotten better since I started training with you! Before, I would've been stuck in bed for at least a couple weeks after that kind of beating. But now I'm already moving on my own again! I can carry these no problem... I just need another day or two before I'm ready to fight anything again."
In response to hearing the child-like purity of Shunshi's answer, Saitama looked off into the sky while thinking to himself in guilt, "Yeah, but... You're still not moving around all that well."
After the three of them continued walking for a few more feet, a black drone-type robot with the Hero Association's logo on it dropped a grey and black box in front of them and flew off just as fast as it had shown up.
Understandably confused by this, Saitama quickly asked, "What's that?"
As always, Genos was quick to answer Saitama's question, "It is the mail. The post office cannot come here. It is too dangerous, so the drone delivers the mail here now."
Growing minimally interested in this, Saitama asked, "The post office has a drone?"
This time Shunshi answered before Genos could, somewhat annoying the cyborg, "Nah, Sensei. It belongs to the Hero Association. They take care of the mail for any Heroes who live in places that are too dangerous for the normal mail systems to get to. I think it's mostly letters from the public, but you can get Hero work from it too!"
His interest having grown a little more at that info drop, Saitama responded, "Oh, I gotcha... Letters from the public... So, like, fan mail? Coolness."
Eager to see what kind of mail people like Saitama and Genos get, Shunshi excitedly exclaimed, "Well, let's hurry back to your place and see what you guys got!" Without any warning or hesitation, Shunshi dug his foot underneath the box and gently kicked it a few dozen feet into the air. At first, Saitama and Genos were reasonably concerned with what the weakest of their trio was doing. However, their worries were lessened, albeit only by a bit, when the box came back down and balanced perfectly on top of Shunshi's head.
After making sure he balanced the box correctly, Shunshi happily exclaimed, "Let's go!" Before running similarly to an excited school-girl towards Saitama's house.
Confused about what was going on, Saitama asked Genos, "Uh... Genos, what happened to his limp?"
Somewhat confused himself, Genos hypothesized, "Perhaps Shunshi's healing abilities have become stronger than even he himself has realized." As soon as this idea was put forth, the two of them heard an audible cracking sound that came from one of Shunshi's legs. This made Shunshi yelp out in pain as he crashed face-first into the ground.
Initially stunned by this, Genos adjusted his previous theory, "Or perhaps he simply ignored his wounds as a result of his sudden excitement..." As the agony of his re-broken legs fully set in, Shunshi let out an even louder shout of pain.
This prompted Genos to suggest, "Perhaps we should go help him, Master."
Saitama quickly agreed with this, awkwardly commenting, "Yeah... let's do that."
A few minutes later, everyone had made their way back to Saitama's apartment and were ready to check out the letters. That is, except for Shunshi, as he was resting his broken leg in the corner of the living room.
After opening the box, Genos got out one letter for himself and another for Saitama.
Genos quickly became annoyed when he saw that the first letter he opened was a love letter from a fangirl, complete with a chibi-drawing drawing of the viscous Hero's face.
Too curious for his own good in that moment, Shunshi handstand walked over to Genos to see what kind of letter his Senpai got. Quickly swiping the message away before Genos realized what he was doing, Shunshi instantly started to snicker when he saw its contents.
Pointing at the picture of chibi-Genos, Shunshi wore a huge grin as he exclaimed to the real Genos, "I never thought someone as scary looking as you could be made to look so cute, Senpai."
Shunshi's attempt at a playful nature instantly got replaced by fear when Genos pointed one of his incinerators at his junior and calmly stated, "It is considered rude to read other people's mail, Shunshi."
Genuinely concerned for his own safety, Shunshi dropped Genos' letter while thinking to himself, Okay... Looks like we switched back to scary pretty quickly.
Ignoring the friendly banter of his students, Saitama nervously opened up the letter Genos handed to him. As he opened the letter, he had his back turned to Genos and Shunshi.
This, unintentionally, revealed the contents of his letter to the two of them; big red letters that read, "NO ONE CARES ABOUT YOU, YOU COWARDLY CHEATING BASTARD! YOU FUCKING BALDY!"
After reading this letter, Shunshi was angry at whoever this person was who dared to insult Saitama-Sensei. On top of that, the message reminded him of the one civilian who made the claim that the Deep Sea King was weak in an attempt to make all the Heroes that fought the Sea Folk lose face. This man even claimed that the fights the Heroes put up were something that anyone could have done. This forced Saitama to claim that he only beat the Deep Sea King because the other Heroes had worn it down before he arrived and that he wanted to take all the credit. This saved the reputations of Genos, Shunshi, and the other Heroes but tanked Saitama's public reputation.
Genuinely furious, Genos's yellow eyes glowed with a burning passion as he stood up and stated, "Dammit! I will find out who sent it, Master!"
Unfazed by this insult, Saitama set this letter down and emotionlessly stated, "Wow, this guy must have too much free time on his hands."
Amazed by Saitama's calm reaction, Genos thought back to the annoying civilian as well. While everyone else at the scene believed Saitama was a dirty cheater, Genos and Shunshi understood what their Master's true intentions were that day. Knowing this only reinforced their loyalty to him.
Digging through the mail, Saitama found one more letter for himself and commented, "Hey, there's one more."
Genos and Shunshi were simultaneously peering over to see what this letter said. Of note was the fact that Genos had readied one of his incinerators to burn the message, while Shunshi's white flames had engulfed his body in rage. However, the two of them calmed down when they actually saw what the letter said.
At first, it seemed as if someone wanted to write an elaborate letter, but they then scribbled that out and simply wrote, "To the Hero Saitama, thanks."
When he read this, Saitama commented in an intrigued tone, "Someone's thanking me?"
Seeing this, Shunshi happily stated, "Of course they are! I'm surprised that crate isn't overflowing with letters just like that one."
At the same time, Genos deduced, "It must be from someone you saved personally."
After hearing his disciples' thoughts on the matter, Saitama asked, "I see. Is there any left?"
Grabbing one more letter from the pile, Genos handed it to Saitama and said, "There is one more from the Hero Association."
With a hint of genuine surprise, Saitama asked Genos, "What, seriously? Are they firing me...? Whatever, let me see." After opening the envelope, Saitama's confusion only grew larger when he saw that it was a message informing him that he had been promoted to rank 1 in C-Class.
Shunshi and Genos were both excited when they saw this, with Shunshi being far more vocal about it than Genos, "Alright! About damn time! If it were up to me, I'd put you all the way up in S-Class, Master!" Anyone could tell by the way he was pounding his fists in the air that Shunshi would be bouncing off the walls if it weren't for the crummy condition of his leg.
Genos smiled in the way that he only did towards Saitama and said to him, "Congratulations, Sensei."
Embarrassed by his students' praise, Saitama responded, "Uh... thanks... You guys are really weird sometimes. Anyways, what am I supposed to do now?"
Shunshi was quick to explain in a happy-go-lucky tone, "You just gotta go to Z-City's Hero Association headquarters and talk with the people running the place to get promoted to B-Class."
Nodding his head at this, Saitama stood up, stretched out his arms, and said, "That sounds simple enough. I'm heading out, I'll be back after... however long this takes."
Deciding to bring up what had been bothering him during their walk, Shunshi shouted to Saitama as he started making his way towards the door, "Master, wait! There's something I need to talk to you about before you go... If that's alright with you."
Not really bothered by this, Saitama replied, "What's up?"
Shunshi had to take a second to think of how to word what he wanted to say. All the while, he grew a more and more upset expression on his face.
After many failed attempts at making a coherent sentence in his thoughts, Shunshi finally managed to blurt out, "I'm sorry I failed you, Saitama-Sensei! I was supposed to keep all of the people in the shelter safe. I promised you that I would. But even with the help of four other Heroes, the sea monster completely overpowered me..."
Despite his legs being nowhere near fully healed, the black-haired Hero got onto his hands and knees and tried to sound as positive as possible as he said, "If you don't want a weakling like me for a disciple, then I'll understand you expelling me." As he said this, a painful smile was forced onto his face.
Saitama just continued with his emotionless stare while Genos started to think deeply about what Shunshi was proposing, Shunshi thinks that Master should expel him? Perhaps I should reassure him that he... But then again, he is considerably weaker than I am. I have had to save his life over and over again ever since we first met, and I am concerned that his presence may be slowing down the progress of my own training... Maybe it would benefit me if he left... Well, that choice is ultimately up to Sensei.
The three of them had been sitting in complete silence for a few minutes after that. Throughout that whole time, Shunshi was resting on his hands and knees as he held back the urge to cry behind his fake smile.
Saitama eventually broke this silence by asking, "So, I've been trying to figure out what exactly you mean when you say you failed me... What are you talking about?"
Surprised and confused, Shunshi explained, "I... I failed you because I couldn't beat the sea monster, Master."
Tilting his head, Saitama explained back to his student, "But... You never promised me that you'd beat any of the monsters, and I never told you to either. All you said was that you were gonna make sure those people didn't get hurt... and none of them did. You were able to keep the fish guy distracted long enough for Genos to get there, who also kept the guy busy long enough for me to get there. So you did your job. If that's all you wanted to talk about, then I'm gonna go to Hero HQ now."
Having been completely taken aback by his Sensei's words, Shunshi finally broke down and put a hand to his face as he started crying, "Th... Thank you for correcting me, Sensei!"
With a look of mixed emotions on his face, Genos walked over to Shunshi. Much to both the black-haired disciple and Saitama's confusion, Genos suddenly threw his fellow disciple over his shoulder.
Shunshi was going to ask Genos what he was doing, but the golden-haired cyborg calmly explained before he could be asked anything, "While you are out getting your promotion, Master, I will escort Shunshi home."
Embarrassed, Shunshi tried to explain, "Uh... Senpai, I appreciate the thought, but my legs will be healed up enough to start limping again in, like, ten or twenty minutes."
Unsatisfied with that, Genos countered this in a calculated tone while making sure to keep Shunshi on his shoulders, "Even though that may be true, based on the speeds you were displaying on our trip to the grocery store, it would take you an entire day to reach your home. If I were to carry you like this, then we could arrive at your home in no more than half an hour."
Seeing the logic in this but still feeling naturally embarrassed, Shunshi tried to argue back, "O- Okay. I... um... that makes sense. But I could just take a bus or..."
He then desperately looked to his Sensei for help in getting out of this. Unfortunately for Shunshi, Saitama had already left the apartment, not wanting to watch this strange scene unfold.
A little over thirty minutes of transport via possibly crazy cyborg later, Shunshi had arrived back home. Genos had been carrying Shunshi while jumping across rooftops before they finally arrived at his junior's home, leaving him feeling a bit jostled.
Genos carefully set Shunshi down on his legs and asked him, "How do your legs feel now?"
Smiling, Shunshi patted his left leg and answered, "This guy should be fully healed after a good night's sleep, but the other one is probably gonna take until the end of tomorrow to get better."
Nodding at this, Genos emotionlessly said, "I will inform Master that you will be taking tomorrow off then."
Genos then began to get some distance from Shunshi in preparation for another large jump, that is until his junior asked him, "Hey, Senpai. What do you think? Should Sensei have kicked me out?"
With his usual cold stare, Genos looked Shunshi in his eyes for a moment before answering, "I find you very annoying from time to time, so I would have liked it if he had. But Master approves of you, so I will continue doing my best to get along with you."
Shocked, Shunshi was visibly hurt by this, but he still forced out one of his signature humble smiles onto his face as he responded, "Oh, I understand. Thank you, Senpai."
Without responding to those words in any way, Genos jumped far out of Shunshi's view.
As he slowly limped towards his house, Shunshi decided to check his home's mailbox to see if there was something in there for him to get his mind off of what Genos had just said.
Aside from the standard bills and junk mail, Shunshi found five letters from fans addressed to him. On top of that, there was a small notification letter from the Hero Association. It let him know that he had been moved up another rank in A-Class, due to his bravery during the fight against the Deep Sea King.
Shunshi looked at this notification card with disinterest for a few seconds before sadly commenting, "Whatever." He then set the note on fire with his white flames, quickly reducing it to ash sprinkling the ground.
After walking into his home, Shunshi heard his parents talking to each other in the living room.
Otkan was responding to something Hanja had said in an ecstatic tone, "Yeah, you're right. I was worried Shunshi would waste his life when he became pro-Hero, but ever since he insisted on paying us rent with his A-Class checks, I think it all might've been worth it. With how much work our boy puts in for the Hero Association, our family will be swimming in money in just a little under a year. Heck, he might even meet a nice fangirl one day and start a family of his own."
Hanja barely contained her embarrassed expression as she responded, "Well... That's not exactly what I meant. Either way, I'm glad you're finally happy with our son's choice in life."
As he entered the room, Shunshi made his presence known to his parents by happily declaring, "Mom, Dad! I'm home!" He set the junk mail on the end of the family room table while putting the fan mail into his pocket. He then limped over to properly greet his parents.
Otkan quickly stood and threw open his arms as he proudly exclaimed, "There's our A-Class Hero! What kind of adventures were you up to today, son?"
Gaining a small smile from his father's genuine interest in his Hero work, Shunshi responded somewhat cheerfully, "Nothing today, dad. I still need to wait until the end of tomorrow for my injuries to finish healing."
Hanja let out a small laugh at that, commenting, "I wish I could've healed that fast, back when I broke my ankle all those years ago." Remembering this event from his childhood, Shunshi let out a small chuckle as well.
While going to get some coffee, Otkan asked his son, "So what were you doing today then?"
Shunshi scratched an itch on the back of his head as he nonchalantly replied, "Just went to visit my Sensei and Senpai to let them know I'm not dead."
Otkan actually giggled at the way Shunshi said that before recommending, "Well, if you need rest to get better, then why don't you go hit the hay?"
Shunshi only had to think this over for a split second before responding, "That's probably a good idea. I guess I'll see you guys tomorrow. Goodnight."
Hanja took a sip of her coffee as she replied happily, "Goodnight, dear."
Later, in Shunshi's room, he went to lie down in his bed. Before he did that, though, he turned on the tabletop lamp on his desk to have light to read the fan mail he had received. When he tore open the first of the five letters, Shunshi was surprised by its contents.
The letter read as such, "Hey, Shunshi! I'm really proud of the work you're doing now. You keep saving lives on your end, and I'll keep saving lives on mine at the hospital. Love, your sister, Ishisu."
Nearly crying tears of joy as he read his sister's letter, Shunshi thought over the kind words he'd just got from his father and the words of encouragement from his Master. Lastly, he thought about the faces of everyone who had ever thanked him for his work.
This caused the young man to comment, "I guess things really aren't so bad. I'll patch things up with Genos-Senpai in no time."
He then got to the next letter. It was from a little kid who wanted Shunshi to make him his sidekick. It was even complete with a crayon drawing of what the kid wanted his costume to look like.
