We find the Hero, Monster Mask, meeting up at his Master's home, alongside a few other Heroes. Saitama called for his students, Genos and Shunshi, as well as two of his acquaintances, King and Bang, to meet up at his apartment. The reason for this gathering of Heroes was for one specific goal. Blizzard Of Hell was still pestering Saitama to join the Blizzard Gang, so they challenged Saitama and his team to a competition.

Feeling a little bad at potentially having put everyone out, Saitama awkwardly apologized, "Thanks for showing up, guys. And sorry for bothering you all for something like this..."

Pumping his fist into the air, Shunshi proclaimed in an intensely dedicated tone, "Senpai and I will always answer the call when you put it out, Sensei!" As he shouted, his Kie flames engulfed his body as a reflection of the excitement that his armor was failing to contain.

Clenching his fist and raising it in front of himself, Genos surprisingly spoke up in agreement with his Junior, "For once, Shunshi is speaking the truth. You can always count on the two of us to deal with those who would pester you, Sensei."

Smiling with his intimidating face, King chimed in, "I'll always have your back, bro."

Waving off Saitama's concerns, Silver Fang cheerfully responded, "Oh, don't worry, Saitama. This may turn out to be a good opportunity for me to scout out some new students."

Grinning internally, the elderly Hero thought to himself in a scheming tone, And if I show Saitama that I'm willing to help him with his problems so readily, then perhaps he'd reconsider joining my school.

Relieved that he wasn't putting anyone out, Saitama smiled ever so slightly and addressed the whole group, "Alright then, everyone. Let's go see what Fubuki wants to challenge us with."

At this, this group of powerful Heroes followed Saitama as he walked down the street. Shunshi felt more relieved than ever that his armor concealed his expressions, as he was smiling like a mad man at getting the chance to walk alongside all these amazing Heroes.

Just barely managing to internalize his excitement, Monster Mask screamed into his thoughts, GO TEAM SAITAMA!


A few minutes into the walk, Shunshi approached Silver Fang, and politely greeted him, "Hello, Silver Fang-Sensei. How are you and Charanko holding up?"

Smiling with his mustache, S-Class' bronze medal answered his part-time student optimistically, "We're doing quite well actually. Ever since you got Charanko started on that Kie stuff, he's been motivated to work much harder. If he keeps this up, he may finally learn Fist Of Flowing Water Crushing Rock's first kata by the end of the week."

Not having realized just how little progress Charanko had made throughout his time with Bang, Shunshi flinched in bewilderment and disappointment.

"Oh... That's great...! Guess I'll try to teach him more about Kie in between my lessons with you," Shunshi retorted half-heartedly.

Feeling the awkward air coming off of his part-time student, Silver Fang chuckled slightly and smiled. He then decided to walk in silence in order to let Monster Mask calm down with the tranquility of their walk. Unfortunately, this only served to make Shunshi feel as if he had said something wrong and caused his uneasy tension to grow.


After reaching their destination, Saitama's group of friends found themselves walking into an office building with a sign that read, 'Meeting rooms for rent.' Moving through the building, they quickly found the room that the Blizzard Gang had rented out for the afternoon, hearing some talking coming from inside.

As Saitama opened the door for his team, Blizzard's voice could be heard, "See? Here's the fool now."

At their leader's announcement, the Blizzard Gang turned to see who Saitama had brought with him. There was A-Class' Rank 4, Monster Mask, S-Class' Rank 14, The Demon Cyborg, S-Class' Rank 7, King, and last but not least, there was S-Class' Rank 3, Silver Fang. Leading this group of highly ranked Heroes was B-Class' Rank 7, The Capped Baldy.

At the sight of the Heroes following Saitama, the members of the Blizzard Gang were visibly sweating with fear and anxiety, with one of them blurting out, "L-look who he brought with him! This is bad!"

Smiling confidently, Blizzard put her henchmen at ease by reassuring them, "Don't worry, everyone. This is about what I expected from him. Anyways, thank you for coming, Saitama."

Waving at Blizzard casually, Saitama responded in an uninterested tone, "Yeah. Wassup, Fubuki."

Stepping past his Master, as a killing aura emanated off of him, Genos' yellow eyes glowed with burning hatred as he scolded the Blizzard Gang, "I believe my Junior and I warned you of this beforehand, Blizzard. Our Sensei is a very busy man. This meeting had better be of importance, or he and I shall burn you to a crisp!"

Unphased by his top student's outburst, Saitama calmly stood behind Genos and spoke to him with the typical near-emotionless voice, "Dude, Genos. Cool it, man."

At the Caped Baldy's demand, Genos seemed to calm down slightly. However, Shunshi, with his personal loathing for the Blizzard Gang already well-rooted in his mind, was visibly clenching his armored fists and shaking with anger at the sight of them all.

Despite remembering what was a brutal battle for her against this A-Class Hero, Blizzard didn't visibly show any outward concern. In reality, though, she was internally fretting that he might lash out at her and her gang once again.

Fortunately for B-Class' number one, Silver Fang gave Shunshi an almost parentally stern look in reaction to his visible rage. Without any words being needed, this convinced Monster Mask to take a breath and cool his head about as much as Genos had.

Seeing how eager to fight the younger members of Saitama's team were, many members of the Blizzard Gang thought in unified fear, Are we gonna survive this?!

Blizzard herself was visibly calm as she asked the Capped Baldy, "So, this is Team Saitama?"

Shrugging, Saitama answered, "No, not really. These are just some friends and acquaintances who came when I asked. So, how are we gonna do this fight?"

In response to this question, a young woman in the Blizzard Gang, the B-Class Hero, Lily Of The Three-Sectioned-Staff, opened up a briefcase and handed a contract to her leader.

Placing the contract and a pen on the table in front of herself, Fubuki explained confidently, "First, you need to sign this agreement. It explains the rules and so forth, so no complaining about getting hurt."

Without thinking twice, Saitama signed the document while responding, "Sure. Whatever."

As soon as the world's strongest man finished signing his name, Blizzard swiped the document up and began gleefully reading aloud a section of it, "The losing team must do whatever the winning team says. Haha! You actually signed it!"

Realizing the mistake he'd just made, Saitama looked visibly embarrassed as he questioned, "Oh... Did it say that?"

At this revelation, if Shunshi hadn't been wearing armor, one could see the look of fury and fear appear on him at the idea of working for such an underhanded gang. This anger was not directed at his Master, though, but at the Blizzard Gang themselves for tricking him.

Placing his hand on Saitama's shoulder, King nonchalantly told him, "Saitama-bro, you should really read this stuff before you sign the terms of service."

Without wasting any more time, Blizzard turned and pointed at her minions dramatically as she ordered them, "Clear away all the desks and chairs!" Following her commands, Blizzard's gang began gathering up all the furniture in the room and putting it all in a corner.

Readying his incinerators, the Demon Cyborg asked, "Shall I destroy them all right away, Sensei?"

To the young cyborg's surprise, Silver Fang stepped in front of him and insisted, "No, Genos. Let me make the first attack. I'll end this in an instant and have them all join my dojo. Charanko will be surprised to have so many new juniors! Don't you think, Shunshi?"

Smirking behind his helmet as he nodded in agreement, the secondary-disciple thought proudly, Silver Fang-Sensei is the best martial artist in the world. He'll take out these crooks in an instant.

However, to the surprise of everyone in Saitama's entourage, none of the members of the Blizzard Gang were getting ready for combat. Instead, they were setting up a television and video game console.

After booting up a fighting game, Blizzard smirked at the confused Heroes and explained condescendingly, "The contract never specified what type of combat this would be. Are you fools ready?" As she asked this, a shorter member of the Blizzard Gang stepped up to the console. He had a mousy face, glasses, and a finely groomed haircut.

Recognizing this man from all the time he spent idolizing the Hero Association, Shunshi muttered out nervously, "Ah shit... That's Piko. He was a professional gamer before he became a Pro Hero."

Overhearing his junior's concerns with his mechanical ears, Genos whispered to him, "Do not fret. With our skill, speed, and reflexes, we all should still excel in all realms of combat. Even if the conditions do not take physical strength into account, our victory is assured."

Relaxing at his Senpai's confident and calculated words, Shunshi loosened up and regained his confidence that they would win. Unfortunately, just as Monster Mask's mind was at ease, he noticed that Bang had already lost due to having no idea how to play video games.

As Shunshi's jaw was dropped against his Helmet's faceplate, Saitama commented, "Bang, come on. All you did was press the taunt button."

While Silver Fang felt ashamed of himself, Genos walked up and grabbed the controller, exclaiming, "Do not fret, Master! I will defeat them all on my own!"

About thirty seconds after he'd said this, the Demon Cyborg accidentally crushed his controller.

Growing frustrated at his character not reacting to his button presses, Saitama's top student fumed, "My character is not responding, Sensei."

With an exasperated expression, the Capped Baldy snapped back at him, "That's because you broke your controller! Pressing the buttons harder doesn't make you hit harder!" Only a few seconds after this, Genos lost the fighting game as well.

Falling to his hands and knees in shame, Genos felt absolutely humiliated. Seeing that Shunshi was the next one up to play, the young cyborg's feelings only worsened. He feared that he was about to be humiliated further if his junior could succeed where he had failed.

If Shunshi weren't wearing his armor at this moment, his friends would see that he was visibly sweating at the prospect of this challenge. After taking a deep breath, the young Hero removed his gauntlets, cracked his fingers, and sat down to defend his Master's honor.

As he grabbed the controller, he explained out loud, "Alright. I haven't really played video games since I began my Hero training, but I played them nonstop back in high school. I'm familiar with this game franchise, so I might just stand a chance."

Once his match started, the blue-eyed Hero was clearly outmatched. Piko landed combo after combo in just the first few seconds. After struggling to regain footing in the battle, Shunshi actually managed to land a single short combo in return. Unfortunately, after this, Piko unleashed his ultimate combo and ended the virtual battle with a bang.

Furious and mortified that the prospect of having to work for the Blizzard Gang was looking more and more realistic by the second, it took everything the young man had to hold back his tears of anger and shame. Once again, thanks to his armor, all anyone could gather from Shunshi was that he was clenching his fists and shaking in anger.

Despite his junior being visibly upset, Genos was himself, also unhappy with him. Having seen that Shunshi actually seemed to know how to play the fighting game that he'd lost so easily to, Genos couldn't stop himself from glaring in frustration at him for surpassing him in any way.

Walking past his grieving students with confidence, Saitama actually smiled as he picked up the controller and bragged, "I'm actually pretty familiar with this game myself. I'll show you guys how it's done."

Despite his boasting, the world's strongest Hero lost within the first ten seconds of playing. At this, Saitama had no words, a look of disbelief and anger spreading over his face.

Having just watched her target lose to her challenge so easily, Blizzard couldn't help but laugh and proclaim with excitement, "Hahahaha! You guys should've rounded your skills out more! All you have left is King, who devotes all his time to physical combat! You've lost! Haha... ha...?"

The awkward tone of Fubuki's last laugh was due to the fear caused by something she saw out of the corner of her eyes. Shunshi was sitting in the corner of the room and holding a small Light Ball in his hand, making it seem as if he was getting ready to fight. Still remembering how badly she'd lost to the A-Class before, Blizzard started growing nervous, not knowing what he'd do once his team lost.

Unbeknownst to Fubuki, Shunshi wasn't even looking at her, as the grim thoughts going through his mind were all he could focus on, I can't work for someone as evil as Chilly Wind... I wonder if swallowing one of these would kill me... I'd need to remember to set it off.

As Shunshi and Fubuki both processed the dangerous outcomes that could result from Team Saitama losing, King walked up to the television and grabbed the controller with a solemn intensity. His King Engine started revving up for the challenge he was about to face, throwing Piko slightly off his game.


While King began his epic battle, other Heroes on the other side of town were holding their own meeting.

Inside of this city's Hero Association headquarters, the S-Class Hero, Child Emperor, had gathered a handful of other Heroes to meet up with him.

As the child prodigy finished tinkering with a strange mask-like device that resembled a cartoonish man with eight eyes, one could see who the Heroes who had assembled for him were. C-Class' Rank 89, Red Muffler was the first one. B-Class' Rank 56, Darkness Blade was also there, along with Great Philosopher and Stinger, who ranked as numbers 14 and 9 in A-Class, respectively.

Having finished the last adjustment his device needed, Child Emperor addressed the gathered Heroes while holding up his odd-looking mask, "Thanks for coming, everyone. This is Okame. A device I built. It's a mask for analyzing muscle mass, neural development, and weight distribution in order to get an overall physical score for what you're capable of. For example, I'll scan you, Red Muffler, and set you as a baseline for Heroes since you're C-Class."

Putting the mask on and scanning Red with it, Okame ringed for a second before Child Emperor stated, "It says you're at 100. Now, for the rest of you..."

Turning to the other Heroes he'd gathered, the S-Class child let his mask ring for a moment before he explained, "Darkness Blade is at 759, Great Philosopher is at 2,442, and Stinger is at 2,044."

The child Hero then turned to look at a Hero Association worker, who was nervously sitting across from a caged bear, and explained, "It also says that the worker over there is at 22 and the bear is at 905. So it looks like even C-Class Heroes are way stronger than a normal person."

Lastly, he looked at the Hero Association Chairman, Sitch, who was overseeing this project, and declared, "And it says that you're unmeasurable."

"I'm sorry, what?" Sitch asked, hoping to get clarification.

Tapping the mask against his face proudly, Child Emperor explained, "That's what happens when someone is too weak to even get a reading."

Smiling at this, Sitch exclaimed, "Amazing! What a wonderful device."

Getting out of his chair and handing Okame to Sitch to hold, Child Emperor responded, "Thanks. Now we can grade Heroes based on their strength and, more importantly, assign threat levels to monsters much more easily."

Deciding to try out the device himself, Sitch put Okame on and looked at Child Emperor in order to get his reading, but was overwhelmed with what he saw.

Reading the stats out to himself, Sitch thought in a panic, He's at 1,880?! But he's just a child!

Seeing what Sitch was doing, the youngest Hero bit at his lollipop and asked in a self-judgmental tone, "It's pretty low, right? I've been doing what I can to train, but I'm still only ten. However, in my case-." Before the kid could finish his sentence, an alarm started going off in the headquarters.

Looking at his wristwatch, the Emperor Of Children looked surprised as he exclaimed, "It's a monster alert! And it's for this town!"

"What, really?!" Stinger asked in shock.

Listening to their surroundings, the Heroes heard the automated alarms announce, "Evacuation alert! Evacuation alert! A monster has appeared in City-Y! Threat Level: Tiger! All residents should stay in-."

Cutting off their ability to hear the automated warning, Child Emperor threw on his backpack and shouted, "This is the perfect chance! Now I can scan a monster!"

As they all began rushing outdoors, Stinger gave the boy Hero a concerned look and asked, "Are you sure this'll be a good time?"


After rushing into the city, the Heroes found an entire block with rope-sized spider-webs strung along the buildings, with the webs holding various small animals in them. Eventually, they came across the monster responsible for this mess. A rhino-sized spider with a monstrous mouth that had, what looked like, the torso of an eyeless Human webbed to its head. At the moment, the creature was ripping open a soda machine and consuming the beverages inside, cans and all.

As the Heroes all got ready to fight this beast, Child Emperor quickly performed his experiment and scanned the monster, informing the group, "Okame says that thing has a score of 402. It's not even as strong as a bear. Enough regular people with the right equipment could probably handle this. I wonder why the announcement said, Tiger. This is obviously just Wolf."

Stepping forward confidently, Darkness Blade pointed his sword at the spider creature and exclaimed stoically, "If that's the case, then I, the man of 759, shall handle this."

Smiling, Child Emperor thought in a satisfied tone, Oh, cool. Seems like he likes his score.

However, before a proper fight could even start, the monster moved faster than any of the Heroes could follow. Within that moment, it broke Darkness Blade's sword in half and smashed him across his face, sending him skidding backward across the street.

Baffled, Child Emperor put Okame back on and scanned the spider creature again, shouting in confusion, "What?! Why is it so strong?! It's only at 420...! Wait, crud. Its lower half has its own reading... It's 6,999?! That would make it... a Demon-Level Threat!"

Readying his spear, Stinger snapped at the S-Class, "It's a little late to tell us that now!"

As he groveled in pain, Darkness Blade weakly lifted his fist into the air and muttered out in a punch-drunk tone, "You tell 'em..."

Not wanting to give this monster another second to attack them, the Great Philosopher shut the massive book he carried with him at all time, flexed his arm, and lifted it over his head.

He, then, leaped at the spider creature while swinging his book at it and shouting, "Three-Ton Philosophy!" Following the philosopher's example, Stinger launched a Giga-Thrust at the monster with his bamboo spear.

Even Red Muffler jump-kicked at the creature, shouting "Meteoric Kick!"

Despite their combined efforts, what transpired in the next few seconds left the gathered Heroes overwhelmed. During the first second, the Spider jumped out of the attacking Heroes' way and onto the side of a building. The attacks of Stinger and Great Philosopher missed their mark and smashed apart the street beneath them instead. In the next second, the creature shot a spray of webbing from its mouth at the A-Class Heroes and pulled their weapons away. One more second passed by as the spider leaped back down, smashed the A-Class Heroes with its mandibles, and spun around to do the same to Child Emperor, leaving the boy Hero with just enough time to lessen the impact by using his backpack as a shield. As a fourth second ticked by, Red Muffler landed on the ground, only to see that both the monster and his allies were gone.

Having lacked the reflexes to see what had just transpired, the C-Class Hero was left to ask, "Huh?! Where'd the monster go? Where'd everyone go?!"

As if to answer his question, one of the furry legs of the spider stomped onto Red's back and painfully pinned him to the ground.

While the C-Class frantically struggled to escape from the creature's hold, the Human torso on top of the monster cackled out, "HAHAHAHAHA! I am the Jumping Spider! A spider crawled into my ear while I was sleeping, and I never got it removed! Now, look what happened! I feel incredible! Everything looks like prey to me now! In fact, I think I'll get my first kill by feeding on you!"

Hearing what Jumping Spider had in store for him, Muffler turned his head in fear to see what was coming for him. Immediately, the Hero regretted his decision to look, as he saw the spider monster's massive maw of razor-sharp teeth getting closer to him. Understandably, this caused him to involuntarily shout out in fear.

Before Red Muffler or Jumping Spider could process what happened next, a ball of light came flying at the leg holding the Hero down. The resulting explosion took off the monster's furry limb, freeing the C-Class Hero. What came next was a blur of Fist Of Flowing Water Crushing Rock techniques that took off Jumping Spider's mandibles. Through this blur of motion, Silver Fang had appeared, grabbed Red Muffler, and got him to safety.

Just as Jumping Spider was about to try to recover and counter-attack, Genos showed up, with Shunshi standing next to him, gripping another Light Ball in his hand.

Before the monster could even move, Genos fired his incineration cannon and calmly stated, "Incinerate."

The blast hit the Human torso of Jumping Spider, destroying the head and the body while sending the arms flying away. As a result, the spider body, without its brain, flailed back onto its hind legs and let out a mindless roar.

As the creature let out its death cry, Saitama strolled up, lifted his fist, and declared, "Nice combo there, guys. I'll finish it off. Take this!- Ack!"

Once Saitama threw his punch at what was left of Jumping Spider, instead of blood and guts, a ton of webs came exploding out. This covered the Capped Baldy from head to toe in the sticky gunk.

While Saitama began tugging on the webs that covered him, Shunshi and Genos quickly rushed to his side. The two immediately began utilizing their flame-based abilities to pull off and burn away all the webbing.

As this oddball trio was getting rid of the webs, Child Emperor came walking back to the battle. As he trudged forward, his backpack opened up on its own in order to allow a set of four gigantic, mechanical legs to appear and lift the S-Class off of the ground.

The weight alone of these legs pierced the street every time they took a step, with Child Emperor declaring, "My physical strength may not be that great, but my body isn't the real indicator of my abilities! Allow me to demonstrate why I'm S-Class, spider monster!"

However, once he got close enough, he saw the remains of the monster's body lying on the ground. On top of that, the Demon Cyborg and the newest A-Class Hero were burning spider webs off of some other random Hero. Finally, Silver Fang was standing off to the side with Red Muffler, checking to see if he was injured.

Seeing all this, the kid Hero felt embarrassed for having made such a dramatic entrance for a conflict that was already resolved. As such, without words, he quickly put away his mechanical legs and started walking normally again. At the same time, civilians started arriving to take pictures of the scene with their phones. After spending a few seconds trying to figure out what had happened, King walked up to Child Emperor from behind, with the Blizzard Of Hell in tow.

Noticing his fellow S-Class, King casually addressed the young lad, "Oh. Hey, Child Emperor."

Seeing that King was on the scene, Child Emperor concluded, "Oh, King must've been the one to beat it."

A couple minutes later, the crowd of civilian onlookers had grown larger, and the injured Heroes had been gathered up by Bang. The Hero King and the young Emperor had also been having a discussion during this short period of time, with the child Hero explaining his newest invention to him.

Both intrigued and worried, King stoically asked, "So, it's a mask that tells you how strong someone is with a number?"

Excited to get to talk more about his work, Emperor responded happily, "Yeah. It'll help us to categorize Heroes and Monsters more efficiently, and once I upgrade it to make it more accurate, it'll really make things run more smoothly."

Noticing that the most elderly of the Heroes was still standing off to the side, the most youthful of the Heroes asked, "Why don't I measure your strength, Bang?"

Politely lifting up his hand as he shook his head, Silver Fang replied calmly, "I'd like it if you didn't. I don't care for such things."

Feeling a little disappointed but respecting his elder's request, Child Emperor looked at the rest of the Heroes who'd shown up, and postulated, "Okay... And I can't measure Demon Cyborg since his body's mechanical... How about you...? Monster Mask, was it?"

After he and Genos had gotten as much of the webbing off of Saitama as they could, Shunshi had been spending the last couple minutes examining Stinger's unconscious body out of concern for his friend's health whilst also trying to stay out of the S-Class Heroes' way. However, when Child Emperor actually addressed him directly, he was happy at getting the chance to talk to yet another S-Class Hero.

Monster Mask turned to face Child Emperor, bowed politely, and responded attentively, "That is my Hero name, sir. And if you'd like to use that device on me, I wouldn't mind. It should help the Association as a whole after all, right?"

Smirking at the unusual amount of respect he was getting, Child Emperor quickly lifted up Okame and responded analytically, "Exactly, and thanks. Now let's see... 6,730? That's nearly as strong as that Demon-Level Threat we just fought. That's impressive. You're number 4 in A-Class, right?"

Standing at attention, the armor-clad Hero answered dutifully, "Yes, sir. That is correct. And thank you for the praise... Wait, you said that thing measures strength, right? Um, you mind if I try something and have you re-scan me?"

Nodding at this, the S-Class Hero responded excitedly, "Of course! Go ahead. I wanna test out Okame as much as I can."

After being given the go-ahead, Shunshi took a deep breath for a moment before conjuring up as large a field of Kie flames on himself as he possibly could. The after-effect caused Okame to start ringing more rapidly than before.

Once his invention had finished its work, Child Emperor blurted out, "7,807?! What the heck happened?! That's way stronger than the spider monster!"

Looking at his flame-covered arms, Shunshi gave his own theory as an explanation, "Well... My Kie has never made me hit any harder, but my skin and muscles always felt... reinforced when I'm like this. Almost as if my body was just given an extra set of armor. I thought the difference might show up on your device, so I was just curious... Gotta admit, though, I wasn't expecting the difference to be that big."

Looking extremely eager, the kid Hero exclaimed to Shunshi in an all-business tone of voice, "That's an awesome ability! You should be promoted to S-Class with strength like that!"

Flattered at having received such praise from another one of the S-Class Heroes, Monster Mask rubbed the back of his helmet and replied humbly, "That means a lot coming from you, sir. I actually got a letter a little while back from the Hero Association that I'm being considered for a promotion to S-Class. I don't really know if I'm actually that strong, but it certainly gives me hope that I'm nowhere near my limit yet, sir."

After hearing about the letter Monster Mask had received, Child Emperor put his hand to his chin and stated analytically, "Really? I see... I'll have to put a word in for you when I get the time. That should get you promoted faster. We desperately need more S-Class Heroes with all the strong monsters that have been popping up recently, after all."

Realizing that this was a good opportunity, Shunshi gestured to his Master and brought forth the following proposition, "Well, if you really think we need more S-Class Heroes, sir, then I'd suggest my Sensei here. He's responsible for making me as strong as I am now. He's an excellent choice for the position!"

Seeing that his second disciple was vouching for him to get a promotion, Saitama actually gained an interested expression and silently watched the conversation unfold.

Confused, Child Emperor asked, "Oh, you're that new student Silver Fang took on? You are aware of the fact that Bang's already Ranked 3 in S-Class, right?"

Flabbergasted, Shunshi quickly waved his hands and explained, "What? No...! Well, I mean... Silver Fang-Sensei is teaching me martial arts right now, but I meant Saitama-Sensei. He's showing me the best path to improving one's body and spirit... Come on, man. I even pointed at him."

Even Saitama himself was a bit confused and annoyed at this ridiculous mistake.

Once he corrected, Child Emperor looked inquisitively at the plain-looking man standing next to Monster Mask and Demon Cyborg. Physically, he was unimpressive by all accounts, excluding his gleaming head. He also still had a few spider webs stuck to him that did nothing to help with his impression.

Deciding to give Monster Mask's claim the benefit of the doubt, the child S-Class asked the B-Class, "Is that true, old guy?" At the same time, he started scanning Saitama with Okame without bothering to ask permission.

Understandably frustrated, Saitama angrily asked back, "Who you calling old guy?"

Wanting to defend his buddy's honor, King chimed in, "Yeah. His Hero name is the Capped Baldy."

Having willfully forgotten that fact, Saitama shrunk back and commented, "Ya know what? Old Guy is fine."

Once Okame had spent a few more moments than normal scanning Saitama, the mask gained a crack on it that Child Emperor did not take immediate notice of.

Pulling his mask off, the boy had an amused but disappointed look on his face as he explained, "He came up as being unreadable. Only those who are too weak to have a number come up like that. How'd you even make it into the Hero Association, let alone B-Class?"

Saitama and his pupils were visibly annoyed by this analysis, but Child Emperor didn't notice as he asked, "Did this guy really train you, Monster Mask?"

His admiration for Saitama far outweighing his respect for other Heroes, Monster Mask snapped back, "YES! Me and Genos-Senpai!"

Surprised to hear this weak nobody wasn't just training an A-Class Hero, but an S-Class as well, the boy looked at the Demon Cyborg for confirmation, receiving it in the form of an angry nod from the blond.

Genos chose to say nothing at this time, preferring to let Saitama speak for himself. However, he was still very much enjoying the argument his junior was making on their Sensei's behalf.

Trying to find an explanation for this strangeness, Child Emperor shared the first hypothesis that came to mind, "Hmm... If that's really the case, then he must be the kind of guy who's an excellent coach but isn't actually all that strong himself. Hey, old guy. Have you considered opening up a service to train aspiring Heroes? With these two as an example, you'd probably be really good at it."

Thinking over all the annoyance that his two overbearing students already gave him, Saitama quickly put the kibosh on this idea, "Yeah, that's not happening."

Noticing how upset Saitama and his disciples were getting, King put his hand on Child Emperor's shoulder and tried to say something, "Hey, uh..." However, the King found himself otherwise lost for words. His nervousness over this situation caused his King Engine to begin revving up slightly.

Hearing the sound of the King Engine, Child Emperor realized something he had overlooked.

Taking a step back in respect of the strongest Hero, Child Emperor threw Okame back on and exclaimed nervously, "Oh! Sorry, King! I forgot to get your readings first. They'll probably be amazing... Huh...? Unreadable as well?" At this revelation, the King Engine became far more audible.

Finding himself confused once again, Child Emperor eventually realized what must be happening, "Oh, I think I get it. Okame only shows readings up to 9,999. Your abilities must be too high for it, King."

At this blatant double standard, Monster Mask couldn't help but cough in order to get the boy genius' attention once more as he gestured back over to Saitama.

Realizing what the A-Class was trying to imply, Child Emperor asked in disbelief, "Wait. You think that it's the same case for Capped Baldy? You can't be-."

To try and emphasize his point, Shunshi interrupted the younger Hero and insisted, "Look, you said I got over seven thousand on that thing, right? Well, I honestly don't think of myself as being especially strong, but Master Saitama was able to easily beat both myself and Genos-Senpai in a fight about a month ago. I think the problem here is that your mask doesn't have high enough standards if I'm that high on its scale."

Forced to accept that what Monster Mask was saying could be true, Child Emperor began to try and think up a solution.

Noticing Blizzard of Hell, who had been standing behind King with a defeated look on her face this whole time, he approached her and asked, "You mind if I scan you too? Just to get more data. That Capped Baldly guy is a B-Class Hero, and you're the top of B-Class after all."

Not really caring about anything anymore, Blizzard didn't even look at Child Emperor when she answered, "Sure, whatever..."

Putting Okame back on, Child Emperor explained, "Okay, so keep in mind that the average C-Class Hero should have a rating of around 100... And you're at 19."

At these words, an utterly broken expression washed over the Blizzard Of Hell's beautiful face, with her falling to her knees in despair soon after. All the while, Child Emperor's confusion continued to grow more and more.

In her grief, she exclaimed, "Not only is King a master of both real and virtual combat... Not only did your group of five beat my group of thirty-three... But now I'm even less than a C-Class Hero!?"

Feeling a sense of pity and embarrassment for her, Saitama calmly told Fubuki, "You're seriously overreacting, you know that?"

Looking down on Blizzard, Genos exclaimed in disgust, "She is not worth our time, Sensei. Leave her and let us go."

Smirking awkwardly, Saitama retorted this by reminding his top student, "Yeah, but... We beat her."

Smiling like a high schooler, King added, "Yeah. She's gotta do what we say now."

Being the last one to chime in, Shunshi shrugged and put forth his view on the topic, "Honestly, I don't care about getting a favor from her. I'm just happy that I didn't wind up having to work for someone like Chilly."

While Saitama and his pals talked between themselves, Blizzard bit her bottom lip, began sweating intensely, and monologued, "He's gonna tear down everything I've built... I'll lose my status as the number 1 B-Class Hero, and my achievements will collapse."

Still feeling slightly bad for her, Saitama looked down at Blizzard and explained, "Come on. Pull yourself together. You're too concerned with your rank and gang."

Looking back at the Capped Baldy miserably, Fubuki insisted, "You don't get it because you and my sister are strong naturally. For people like me, those things are necessary to prove that you're strong, climb to the top, and stay there. That's what my sister does without even trying..."

With a slightly puzzled look on his face, Saitama retorted this by explaining, "Huh? But you can't really be yourself if you do things that way. If you really wanna get strong... Then don't worry about the way others do things! Do things your own way."

As these Heroes had their conversation, Red Muffler and Child Emperor noticed something crawling along the ground that was coming from Jumping Spider's corpse. Upon closer inspection, they saw that a swarm of spiders had come from the monster's body and began chasing after all of the civilians.

Screaming at the other conscious Heroes, Child Emperor alerted them in a panic, "Little spiders are coming out of the monster's body!"

Pointing at how the arachnids were giving chase to the civilians, Red Muffler yelled, "They're going after people! They must be parasitic! We can't let any of them get away!"

Readying his hand cannons, Genos stomped on a few spiders and declared, "Grr! I shale just use my incinerators to destroy them all quickly!"

Grabbing his senpai's arm, much to the cyborg's annoyance, Shunshi shouted at him while crushing some spiders himself, "No, don't! You'll hit the people!"

Losing his usual composure, Genos snapped back at Shunshi, "So what do you suggest we do!?"

Scratching her fingernails across the ground, Fubuki suddenly started radiating psychic energy as she growled out, "Do things my own way? You don't have to tell me that! That's what I've had to do all my life!" In an instant, all the spiders got sucked up in the storm of psychic power, getting crushed into a ball of black hairy legs.

As she killed the last of the parasite spiders, Blizzard clenched her fist in the air and declared, "I don't care if you and my sister are strong! I'll do things my own way...! King's awesome power just put me into shock for a moment. Nevertheless, I accept my defeat." At this, she flicked her finger at Saitama, using her powers to instantly clean off the last of the webs that Genos and Shunshi had missed.

With this ordeal over and done with, B-Class' number one began to walk away, eloquently declaring, "I'm leaving for now, but I haven't given up. Goodbye for now, Saitama."

Speaking up, Saitama stopped Blizzard by reminding her, "Hold it right there. You lost, so you gotta do what we say. And I want you to buy dinner for us all."

With a look of embarrassment, Fubuki stopped in place and thought, Oh, right... I was hoping he'd forgotten about that.

When he heard Saitama's plan, Shunshi approached and asked his teacher, "Um, Sensei...?"

Turning around to look at his student, Saitama asked back, "Wassup, Shunshi?"

Feeling like he was a samurai about to go against his lord's orders, Monster Mask regretfully requested, "Well... Do you mind if I accompany Stinger to the hospital and, then, go back out to patrol...? I'd rather not spend more time around Chilly Wind than I need to."

Seeing just how deep Monster Mask's pit of disgust went for her, Blizzard looked actively offended.

To the blue-eyed Hero's relief, Saitama simply shrugged and blandly answered, "If that's what you wanna do, go ahead. You're an adult, after all."

The second Saitama said this, one of the Hero Association's large, high-tech ambulances arrived on the scene to cart off the three unconscious Heroes.

As Shunshi hopped into the ambulance along with the three injured Heroes, and Saitama and his associates had gone off to have dinner, Child Emperor had stayed behind and was looking over Okame in a judgmental manner.

Processing all the information he'd gathered today, the boy thought to himself analytically, Blizzard is Tornado's sister... I can measure muscles with Okame, but things like psychic powers, techniques, and weapons can affect how strong someone is too. Until I can figure out how to properly measure all these factors, Okame is useless.

Having finally noticed the crack that Saitama had caused in Okame, Child Emperor asked himself, "Huh? Where did this come from?"


Meanwhile, in the large ambulance, Stinger had regained consciousness, and he and Shunshi had begun conversing.

Having removed his helmet, Shunshi continued the conversation by asking, "So, you're sure you'll be okay?"

Thinking back to when he fought the Sea Folk, Stinger chuckled painfully and replied, "I've had way worse, trust me. Besides, the Hero Association has the best doctors in the world. I'll be up and fighting by tomorrow. Heck, Lightning Genji'll be out by tomorrow night."

Shunshi looked a bit surprised by this information and asked back, "Really? I've never been to a Hero Association hospital. I heal really fast, so I always just go home to rest whenever I get hurt."

Looking annoyed and shocked at this revelation, Stinger had to take a moment before he responded in a deadpan tone, "Er... Of course, you do... (Sigh)... So, you serious that Great Philosopher tried to rookie crush you?"

At this, Shunshi clenched his fists and answered, "Yeah... I gotta say, I didn't think there'd be so many fake Heroes in the Hero Association. It really pisses me off."

Once Monster Mask had finished venting his feelings, he felt a large hand grab him by his shoulder.

Knowing who was in the cart behind him, Shunshi reacted by asking a monotone question, "I thought you were still out cold. What do you want, Philosopher?"

With such a stern response, the Philosopher's hand trembled.

Pulling his hand back, the Hero spoke softly, "I'm sorry..."

Surprised, Shunshi turned to look at Great Philosopher directly, while Stinger lifted his head up to try and get a better look at the upcoming conversation.

Seeing that he'd gained Monster Mask's honest attention, the older Hero continued speaking, as his usually stoic face grew somber, "I'm sorry. The way I acted when I first met you was inexcusable. I had mistakenly assumed by your costume that you'd be a cruel and selfish man... But more so, I selfishly wanted to retain my rank, even if it meant strong-arming you... To say that that isn't heroic behavior would be a grievous understatement. Especially after hearing of all the good you started doing afterward... You've saved so many lives, and if I'd had my way, you wouldn't have been able to do that... There's no way to make up for what I did. All I can do is beg for your forgiveness." As he finished the last words of his apology, tears began forming in this large man's eyes.

Shocked by the display of genuine regret from someone he'd already formed such a strong opinion on, Shunshi was left unsure of what to say next. Noticing that Monster Mask had been left speechless, Stinger nudged him as a clear gestured to say something.

After fiddling with his fingers for a moment, Shunshi responded awkwardly, "Erm... I... Well, um... If you're really sorry... If that's really the case, then I guess... I'll forgive you... You're a Hero, after all. You help people too... You've saved lives too."

More tears fell down the Great Philosopher's face at hearing this.

Weakly placing his palm to his face, the Hero cried out softly, "Thank you..."

After trying to process what had just happened, Shunshi eventually smiled and replied kindly, "No problem. Just make sure you keep helping people, and we'll be even."

While Philosopher continued to silently cry for a few more moments, Shunshi pondered, Maybe... Maybe I should give Chilly a second chance... Everyone deserves to get a second chance, I guess. Right?


Meanwhile, Blizzard was at an expensive restaurant with Saitama's team. They all would have placed their orders by this point, but Fubuki was holding up this process because she was trying to count the calories of her order, only to start over repeatedly.

By her fourth recount, Saitama was starting to get visibly annoyed with her but was unable to say anything due to her footing the bill.


Back with Monster Mask's ride-along, they had reached their destination. Once the ambulance had arrived at the Hero Association hospital, Shunshi got out and waved goodbye to Stinger and Great Philosopher.

He had explained to them that he still needed to go train with Lin Lin, as well as go out on patrol for any more criminals or monsters.

After heading out to train and work, Shunshi repeated this same pattern uninterrupted for the next two days. His only means of mixing things up was through his regular interactions with Saitama, Genos, and Silver Fang.

Throughout this period of time, Shunshi and Lin Lin were making genuine progress in developing their new martial art, even creating some special techniques that were unique to the form.

This short period of sameness for the young Hero came to an end, though, when he received a call from Bang to come to the dojo right away.


Shunshi hadn't bothered to put on his armor for this visit, and once he'd arrived, he first met up with Charanko at the front hall of the dojo.

Seeing his fellow disciple of Fist Of Flowing Water Crushing Rock, Charanko excitedly greeted him, "Shunshi! I finally finished learning the first kata of Fist Of Flowing Water Crushing Rock! I think Bang-Sensei is gonna promote me to the next belt now. That must be why he called us here."

Despite his awkward feelings towards Charanko's minimal development, Shunshi couldn't help but feel happy for him.

Smiling back at Charanko, Shunshi responded, "That's great, man. Oh, by the way. Silver Fang-Sensei asked me to check if you'd made any more progress with studying Kie."

Smirking, the orange-haired martial artist answered confidently, "You bet! I haven't been able to start flames yet, but I can feel myself getting really warm when I'm meditating on it."

Due to having first discovered Kie by accident, Shunshi had no idea if this was normal or if it was even an actual sign of progress at all.

Despite the lack of concrete evidence, the Hero forced back a dumbfounded look and plastered a smile on, as he encouraged Charanko, "Good job, then. Keep up with your hard work."

The second these two had finished this conversation, Bang shouted at them from across the dojo, "CHARANKO! SHUNSHI! Come here right now!"

Both of the elderly master's students were taken off guard by this uncharacteristic display of aggression. Regardless, the two followed their orders and rushed to Bang's side. Once they were in front of him, the two young martial artists bowed on their knees and awaited instructions.

Glaring down at his only two students, Silver Fang exclaimed with quiet wrath, "Stand up and take up your best stances. You two will be facing off against me in a full-contact match."

Still remembering the match he'd had against Bang during his first day of lessons, Shunshi froze up at hearing this. However, when he saw Silver Fang take up an offensive stance of his own, he knew his secondary Master was being serious. In an instant, Shunshi grabbed Charanko by the collar of his gi and jumped backward, the latter of whom was stuck in disbelief at what he'd just heard.

As his black-haired companion took up a defensive stance, Charanko stumbled to his feet. Realizing that this was really happening, Charanko fearfully stood at Shunshi's side and took up a clumsy stance of his own.

The second both these young men had taken up their stances, the slaughter began.

In an instant, Charanko was struck with what seemed like hundreds of blows from Bang, leaving the young man a bloody and beaten mess on the ground. Shunshi took this opportunity and unleashed his Light-Kie Machine Gun in an attempt to take Silver Fang off guard.

To the surprise of both the master and the student, the first two punches actually managed to strike Bang across his face and stomach. Before this attack could do any more, Silver Fang started redirecting all of the punches with his martial arts' techniques. He would then carry on the momentum of these redirected attacks and strike back at Shunshi with twice the amount of power the young man was letting out.

As Bang started delivering the finishing blows, Shunshi thought in desperation, Screw it! I've got nothing to lose.

In that instant, Shunshi's white flames began igniting. Silver Fang could feel the heat rising off of his second student ahead of time and pulled back his fists just before they could get engulfed by the fire.

Deciding to give this everything he could muster, Shunshi readied himself for the first real utilization of his new martial art. Monster Mask's right arm began to vibrate as the flames on it started shrinking down visibly. Not wasting another second, Shunshi used his shaking arm to try and chop at Silver Fang.

At first, the old master was planning to simply redirect this attack and throw it back in Shunshi's face, as he'd done previously. However, as Shunshi got closer and closer, Bang could feel a killer aura coming off of this attack. Not wanting to take any risks, Bang snaked around the attack at the last instant and uppercutted Shunshi in his jaw with a proper strike.

The power behind Bang's blow was so strong that it had enough force to smash Shunshi through the roof of the dojo before he came crashing back down through it. With just this one full-power strike, Shunshi was out cold.

As his two students laid beaten on the ground, Silver Fang scolded them both, "Charanko. How long have you been here!? You've barely learned any of the basics! And, Shunshi! You haven't been here for nearly as long, but you began your training already at a superhuman level! You should both be much further along than this! I won't stand for having students of this pathetic caliber in my school! You're both expelled!"