Chapter 5: The Tyrannical Hero
[Flashback, fourteen years ago...]
"Hey, asshole! We're here to teach you a lesson!" A group of high-school teenagers appeared, holding pipes, bats, chains, and any kind of weapon a teenager could get their hands on.
"Hmm? Who're you?" A blond teenager with slicked-back hair barely looked up from his game console to register their appearance.
"Why you-"
"Hold there, Gouzou." A red-haired teenager said, stopping the largest of the group from rushing towards the blond teenager.
"Y-yes, Boss Ayato."
"Hey. Remember me?" The red-haired teenager asked the blond teenager.
As he finished up his game, the blond teenager turned off his game console and turned to look at the red-haired boy. Squinting his eyes, the blond teenager remembered a certain incident.
"...Aren't you that red-haired kid that peed himself in the park a few years ago?"
At that, the group of teenagers paled, as they warily stared at the red-haired boy.
"...Yep, that's me. Ayato."
"Ah. Right. Don't tell me you're here to take revenge for that time? I didn't even do anything to you then." The blond teenager said.
"No, this isn't about that time- though I'm flattered you remember me." The red-haired boy, Ayato, said. "No, you remember what happened two days ago? Anything come to mind when I mention the 'Pops-Tea Epics' near the supermarket?"
"Hmm... Oh, I stopped two guys from extorting someone. Those your underlings?"
"Yeah."
"Huh. You went from being an underling of someone muscling on a park to play baseball, to being the leader of a group of teenagers that extort others. Speaking of which, isn't that other guy beside you the one you were following that time?" The blond teenager pointed at the largest of the group.
"S-shut up! And how dare you talk rudely to Boss Ayato?!"
"...Boss? Seriously?"
"Yes, what about it?" Ayato's eyes narrowed.
"Do you make them call you boss, or did they just start calling you boss?"
"They started calling me that, I didn't ask for it."
"Hmm. Well, at least it isn't as lame as asking people to call you boss." The blond teenager shrugged, before standing up. "Well, I'm not going to say something cliche, like how extorting people is wrong, you should turn over a new leaf, etc. etc."
"I'll just make it simple." The blond-haired teenager raised his left fist, making the group of teenagers flinch.
"You're going to stop that."
"O-Or else?" Ayato said, attempting to regain a sense of bravado when facing the monster that beat up multiple people by himself, using a single punch each.
The blond-haired calmly walked towards Ayato, and despite his closeness and the fact that he was alone and unarmed against a group of teenagers with weapons, it felt as though they were the ones at his mercy.
"There is no 'else'. You'll do what I say."
"...If you think your strength is going to change things, you're dead wrong. We're a large group wielding weapons, and I don't see anything in your hands. No matter how strong you are, you can't possibly contend against this many people, can you?" Ayato said, motioning to his goons behind him.
"...Sigh. What a pain. Look, I'm-"
Suddenly, a loud crashing sound came about, with a giant mysterious being busting through a wall.
"Oh, shit! It's Piggy Bancon! We gotta get outta here!"
"There's no time! We can't outrun it!"
"We have weapons! Maybe we can take it down?!"
"Crap! We'll do this another time, for now, let's work together to-" Ayato was then interrupted by the blond teenager holding up a hand, motioning for him to stop.
"Good. I can do a demonstration." King slowly walked towards Piggy Bancon, who was charging towards them-
"Hey! Is he insane?!"
"He must be an idiot! No matter how strong he is, that's a mysterious being! The police and the military couldn't do anything to-"
CRACK
With a single casual punch, the blond teenager shattered the mysterious being's body, revealing a large trove of coins and bills. Strangely enough, there wasn't a sign of anything human- or monstrous anywhere inside it- It was just the shell, and the human-like arms and legs on the piggy bank's body.
As the blond teenager's fist smoked from the impact, he turned around to look at the group of teenagers wielding weapons. Even so, the weapons they held in their hands did little to reassure them, seeing as the teenager in front of them had killed a monster that the military and police had trouble with in one punch.
"I don't think I need to give another demonstration. However much you've extorted, donate that amount to charity or something. If you feel particularly remorseful, find the ones you've extorted, apologize to them, and return the money." The teenager said. "Don't even think of skipping out on it, understood?"
The group of teenagers wordlessly nodded.
"Hey, where'd it go?" A middle-school student appeared out of nowhere, looking worse-for-wear, with parts of his uniform torn. "Oh, there it- Woah! That's a lot of money!"
"Hmm? Where'd you come from?" The blond teenager asked.
"Oh, I was chasing after that mysterious being. It took 200 yen from me."
"...eh?" -The collective thoughts of the group of teenagers wielding weapons.
"What the hell? What kind of inane bullshit is that- trying to fight a mysterious being for just 200 yen? He's crazy!" Thought Ayato.
"Seriously? You realize that it's a mysterious being, right? Normal people wouldn't be able to just defeat it." The blond teenager said, saying what everyone else had in their minds.
"Well, I wouldn't know if I didn't try. Anyway, all that money..." The boy said, eyeing the large pile of money that came out of the mysterious being.
"...Ah, that's something." The blond teenager said, placing his fist above his palm in a gesture of an idea being formed.
"You lot." The teenager turned around to see the group of teenagers with weapons behind him.
"Yes?!" The group said, standing ramrod straight.
"Go collect as much money as you can carry from the mysterious being and give it back to the ones you extorted previously. If there's any excess, you can keep it or whatever. So long as you return the money you extorted from people."
"Hey, wait. I need my 200 yen first, okay?" The middle-school student asked.
"...You can take as much as you want, anyway. I doubt any of you combined would be able to carry more than 20% of what came out of it before the authorities discover the body and confiscate the rest of it."
"...Crap, you're right! I have to get as much as I can!" The boy said, taking off his shirt, and using it as a makeshift sling to carry the money.
At that, the rest of them realized that they had a chance to net a large amount of money from the mysterious being.
Only Ayato seemed to be unfazed by the money, staring at the blond teenager.
"...Well, I'll leave it up to you. You didn't seem like a bad person the last time I saw you, so I'll give you the benefit of the doubt this time. Don't walk down a bad road, turn over a new leaf, blah blah blah, all that cliche stuff." The blond teenager said, patting Ayato on the shoulder.
As the blond teenager walked away, Ayato only seemed to stand still, his fists clenched.
"...What kind of crap is that, killing a mysterious being in one punch? He may as well be The Strongest Man on Earth, with that kind of strength..."
Unknown to him, the blond teenager was still within listening distance.
"...The Strongest Man on Earth, huh?" The teenager looked up into the sky.
"Well, that's probably not wrong."
[Now...]
King looked at his left fist, smoking from the impact when he punched a mysterious being. Looking back up, the remains of the monster were on the ground- and behind it were buildings destroyed by the force of his punch.
"...Damn, I need to control my strength better. I've been unconsciously using more power since that fight with Saitama." King said to himself.
"Whoa! That guy took out a monster in one punch! Who is he?!" "Wait! Look closely! He has three scars on his left eye! That's King!" "King saved us!" "Three cheers for King!"
"...There goes my cover." King thought, picking up his cap that flew off. His disguise of a cap, sunglasses, and a face mask was pointless now- due to his display of might. Well, he was a hero. Letting a mysterious being rampage because he didn't want to be recognized was just irresponsible.
"...Sigh... I should just get it over with and quit, one of these days. I feel like I've dealt with more monsters since becoming a hero than before I became one." King thought.
"Well, I'd better get out of here before some fans swarm over me and start getting ideas of following me. If it's too late, I might need to cancel that meeting with Saitama."
"...So you got here first, King." Turning around towards the source of the voice, King looked up to see a floating young woman with green hair.
"Hey, Tatsumaki." King waved to the Rank 2 S-Class Hero.
"So you were here too, King! Thank goodness. Despite the... destruction, there doesn't seem to be any casualties from this." A Heroes Association employee said, running towards them.
"See, I told you someone else could handle it." Tatsumaki said. "I ended up coming here for nothing."
"Don't say that, Miss Tatsumaki. If King hadn't happened to be here, there might've been more damage caused by the mysterious being." The Heroes Association employee said.
"Still, even discounting me and King, aren't there other heroes in the Heroes Association?" Tatsumaki said. "Monsters pop up every day, and you guys rely on me too much. There are other professional heroes, let them do their job."
"They're probably just stretched thin." King added. "There's only 17 S-Class heroes, 30-ish A-Class, roughly 100 in B-Class, and less than 400 in C-Class. That may sound like a lot, but divided across 26 cities, there are bound to be some cities where there just aren't enough heroes to deal with monsters that show up."
"You're the only one that can fly, so if there's a threat where there aren't any heroes in the vicinity that can take care of them, then you'd be the first person- if not the only person to call."
"Well, I guess that does make sense... wait, I'm not the only one that can get to places quickly- Metal Knight has his robots!"
"But he doesn't take action unless he happens to need to test his new weapons." King said. "He barely takes action otherwise."
"Ugh- what's the point of him being a hero if he doesn't take action?!"
"Firepower. When he does take action, it's usually over quickly." King said. "That's why it's worth it to keep him in S-Class."
"Tch! It's like only half of the S-Class deserve being in S-Class!"
"The only requirement to being in S-Class is strength, not their heroic activities. Then again, you have a point. The difference in strength between the strongest S-Class and the weakest S-Class is greater than the difference between the weakest S-Class and the weakest C-Class."
Seeing as the two S-Class Heroes were conversing without him, the Heroes Association employee wisely decided to leave.
"Exactly. If other S-Classes can't pull their weight, then they don't deserve to be in S-Class."
"Well, it's not our business to judge our colleagues. The Heroes Association decided to put them in S-Class. That's it."
"Hmph. At least get some that are worth their salt. The new boy, Genos? He isn't even that impressive."
"Well, he's at least stronger than Puri-Puri Prisoner, I think."
"Ugh, the less I think of that creep, the better. I didn't think I'd be thankful for being a girl until I met him."
King shrugged and walked away.
"So, what were you doing here, King?" Tatsumaki levitated down to King's level and followed him.
"I was on my way to meet a friend." King added. "The monster just showed up, and it was in my way."
King then raised his left fist. "So I dealt with it."
"I saw that." Tatsumaki said, smiling. "Impressive."
"Hmm."
"Still, you could've done better. If you were going to attack with so much force that you'd destroy the buildings behind the mysterious being, at least aim it upwards, so the surroundings don't get damaged."
"That's a fair point." King said, looking at his fist. "I guess I didn't think too much about it."
"Hmph, at least put in some thought for the civilians around you. What if there was someone in the building that you destroyed?"
"Well, I at least knew there wouldn't be any casualties, so it's fine."
"Oh? How'd you be so sure there wouldn't be any casualties?"
"I have my ways."
"Is that so?" Tatsumaki said, an eyebrow raised.
King said nothing, as Tatsumaki followed along. The civilians around them gave them a wide berth- as they saw a rare sight of the Strongest Man on Earth and the Strongest Esper together.
"Where're you going?"
"Like I said- to meet a friend of mine."
"A friend of yours? Is it that 'trustworthy contact' that called you during the alien invasion?"
"The who now? Oh, right, that..."
[Flashback, during the alien invasion...]
"Four S-Class heroes can take care of the enemy on the ground. The problem is that." Child Emperor looked at the giant unidentified aircraft in the sky. "We can't reach it. Any aircraft would get shot down in seconds." Child Emperor said, with a lollipop in his mouth.
"King, you're the top fighter of the S-Class, give us your take." Darkshine said, turning to King.
"..." King said nothing, though the rumble of the King Engine could be heard.
"We should take advantage of the current situation." King finally said. "Though I presume the mysterious craft in the air was responsible for the destruction of City A in such a short time, it's currently dormant. I will board the UFO and attack from-"
~ring~
"...Hang on." King said, taking out a ringing phone and picking up the call.
"..."
"Yes, I'm about to attack it. Why?"
"..."
"Huh? Why?"
"..."
"Really? That soon?"
"..."
"Ah, got it. Anything else I need to know?"
"..."
"Great. Thanks."
*beep*
"Who was that?" Tatsumaki asked.
"A trusted contact of mine. Change of plans. We'll wait on standby."
" " " "Huh?" " " " Genos, Tatsumaki, Child Emperor, and Darkshine exclaimed at the same time.
"What do you mean, 'wait on standby'?! The city's been blown away, and you don't want us to do anything?!" Tatsumaki retorted.
"My contact says that the energy level of the ship is rising, which means they'll be firing another attack soon, so you'll need to wait here to intercept the next volley." King pointed at Tatsumaki. "Unless, of course, you want to leave the other S-Class heroes and any surviving civilians to die down there."
"Wait, where'd you even get this information from? Who called you earlier?" Child Emperor inquired.
"A trusted contact of mine." King said.
"Wait, even if we can trust your contact, why can't we go on the offensive?!" Tatsumaki yelled, unconvinced. "If we attack and take it down quickly, they won't have the opportunity to counterattack!"
"We don't know that. For all we know, if we attack them now, they might attack prematurely and lessen the potential damage, but even a weaker version of that attack would be catastrophic, considering that a probably full-powered attack wiped out City A." King said. "Also, we have two other good reasons to not board them now."
"If we board it and start attacking from the inside now, it might cause a panic among the invaders, and they might attempt to escape." King said. "And being stuck in space with a bunch of aliens on a half-destroyed spaceship isn't part of my plans today."
"Also, perhaps the ship will be weakened after firing an attack. Then, you can start the counter-offensive on the ship immediately after with less risk of them firing back."
"That does make sense..." Child Emperor said, before pulling out a screen from his backpack. "King's right. The energy levels in the ship are rapidly rising."
"If I were them, I'd focus fire on the S-Classes fighting the alien on the ground." King added. "It's your time to shine, Tatsumaki. I'll hang back for now."
"Tch! If this is a false alarm, you'll be sorry, King." Saying that, Tatsumaki flew off in the direction where the other S-Class heroes were.
...
True to King's word, the second volley of attacks was fired, aiming at the S-Class heroes on the ground. Tatsumaki stopped the attack and countered by sending the shells back to the ship, along with a sustained assault of debris.
Eventually, after 15 minutes, and a large explosion at the top of the ship that split the skies, the ship started to fall faster and faster.
"Looks like the ship is going down. Let's go check it out." Child Emperor said, going towards the ship.
King hung back and didn't follow. When there wasn't anyone in the vicinity, King breathed a sigh, took out a phone, and dialed a number.
After a while, the phone picked up.
"Hey. You're looking at the giant alien spaceship now, right?"
"Yes, I'm about to attack it. Why?"
[Now...]
"...No, it's not him." King said.
"If it's not him, then who're you meeting?"
"He's a fellow hero. He's in B-Class, though."
"B-Class? Why're you wasting your time with a B-Class hero?" Tatsumaki said, scoffing.
"He may be in B-Class now, but he's S-Class material," King said. "Trust me, I can vouch for his strength."
"Oh? Someone even you would vouch for? Wait, why's he in B-Class if he's that strong?"
"He didn't do well on his written test, so he got placed in C-Class." King smiled wryly. "He only got to B-Class after working his way up by doing regular hero activities."
"Wha- almost anyone with half a brain can do the written test! Isn't the written test for people to make up for their physical test?!"
"Yeah, I had roughly the same reaction as you. He had a perfect 50 on the physical test, but only 21 on the written test. Still, his power is S-Class."
"...Still, 21 on the written test?" Tatsumaki said, struggling to visualize how someone could score '21' on the written test and barely pass. "Is he... slow?"
"A bit rude to assume that, but no, not really."
"Not really? Then did he arrive late, or forget to answer a page? I don't get it!"
"Well, that's something I just found out," King said, smiling. "I did some digging out of curiosity and saw his written test paper. Here's the funny part- he didn't arrive late, or forget to answer a page. He just didn't answer properly. But, knowing him, it's more of a misunderstanding on his part."
"Huh? How?"
"So, you know that essay question that asks how you would deal with a specific monster in a specific situation? The one worth 20 marks?"
"Yeah, I remember it. Oh, wait, did he skip it?"
"No. He wrote all of three words. 'I'd punch it.'"
"...Pft!" Tatsumaki burst into laughter.
"Hahahahahaha! That's hilarious! Did he not notice it was an essay question?"
"No, he noticed. He just realistically answered the question. 'He'd punch it.'" King said, chuckling.
"Oh! Oh, that's too good! 'I'd punch it,' what a riot! Say, you don't mind if I meet your friend, right? He sounds like an interesting character."
"Sure." King shrugged.
As Tatsumaki followed King, she added one last statement.
"...You know, you're a lot more approachable than I thought, King."
"I could say the same to you. Didn't think you'd be this easy to talk to, Tatsumaki."
"I don't have an issue with talking to people. I just hate talking to incompetent people- or weaklings that fancy themselves 'heroes' when they're better off getting out of the way."
"Huh, same."
[A nondescript diner...]
"This is a pretty quiet place," Tatsumaki said, looking around in the diner. "Not a lot of people around."
"Well, I do like quiet places," King said. "Places without much foot traffic are a great place to relax without being bothered by fans."
"Well, I can understand not wanting to be bothered by fans, but can't you just tell them to leave?" Tatsumaki said.
"I can do that, but it's easier not to be recognized in the first place." King said. "To that end, a simple hoodie, cap, sunglasses, and face mask is enough."
"Hmm. Still, as an S-Class hero, can't you afford to go to a better place?" Tatsumaki asked. "Not that I mind going to a diner like this, but if you were to go to a high-class restaurant, most of the riff-raff can't follow you in, anyway."
"...I refuse to pay 30,000 yen for a meal that isn't even filling." King said, his face stony.
"Well, fair enough." Tatsumaki said. "Again, the meal's expensive because it tastes good, not because it's filling. If you just wanted filling food, you could go to a WcRomalds."
"There's too many people at a WcRomalds. I can only get deliveries if I don't want to be recognized."
"Fair enough."
King sat down, and Tatsumaki sat in the seat in front of him.
As King took out his laptop, the waitress approached them.
"Good afternoon! What can I- oh! Tornado of Terror! It's an honor to have an S-Class like you visit our diner!" The waitress said.
"Hey, I'm an S-Class too, you know?" King added.
"Oh, but you come all the time, Boss! It's the first time the Tornado of Terror has ever come here!"
"...Boss?" Tatsumaki raised an eyebrow.
"I'm having my usual." King said, not even addressing it.
"I'll have..." Tatsumaki scanned the menu. "The garlic bread and mushroom soup."
"Would you like anything to drink with that?"
"Hmm... the apple cider sounds nice. I'll have that." Tatsumaki added.
"Alright. So garlic bread with mushroom soup, apple cider... and your usual, Boss. Is that everything?"
"Yes, that'll be everything." Tatsumaki confirmed.
"Actually, since Tatsumaki's getting garlic bread, I'll get a pizza with my usual. And some breadsticks, too." King added.
"Got it. Garlic bread with mushroom soup and apple cider for Miss Tornado, and a pizza, some breadsticks, with your usual, Boss?"
"Yep."
"Coming right up!"
As the waitress left, Tatsumaki stared at King, who opened his laptop.
"...So, are you going to explain the whole 'Boss' thing, or..."
"Look, I may or may not have been a delinquent boss in my youth." King said.
"Wha- you?! You were a delinquent?!"
"Not by choice, believe me." King said. "It was way easier to be their 'boss' than to leave them be."
"This sounds like a story I wanna hear! Expound!"
"Well..."
[Flashback, thirteen years ago, behind a high school...]
"Huh? Who're you?" A delinquent with a crew cut said, looking at a blond teenager with slicked-back hair.
"Someone who wants his money back." The blond teenager said.
"Money? What do you mean- oh... so you're one of the suckers that lent her money."
Behind the blond teenager was another teenager, a young girl with black hair, wearing glasses.
"Well, why are you coming to us? She borrowed money from you, so you should be asking her for money. She gave the money to us willingly, so-"
"I'm not here to argue." The blond teenager interrupted. "I'm here for my money. She says it's with you. So I'm taking it back from you."
"...You put him up to this, Mi-chan?" The delinquent looked at the girl. "You sure you wanna go this way? We can always pay a little visit to-"
"Hey." The blond teenager approached the delinquent.
"I'm talking to you."
"...sigh, they always think they're tough... until they get hit!" The delinquent threw a punch in the middle of his sentence.
"Gah!"
Holding his limp hand, the delinquent looked up to see the blond teenager completely unaffected by his punch.
"...They always think they're tough."
"GURK?!"
"...until they get hit."
The delinquent collapsed on the ground with a single punch to his gut.
"Ueno! Why you- Take this!" Another delinquent rushed at the blond teenager.
The result was the same.
"W-woah! You took them out in one punch!" The young girl behind the blond teenager said.
The blond teenager started checking the unconscious delinquents' pockets.
"W-what are you doing?"
"Looking for my money, obviously." The blond teenager said, as if it was the most normal thing to be doing- rifling through someone else's pockets.
"There's a wallet." Opening it, the blond teenager sighed. "It's empty. Did he already spend it?"
"Actually, if I'm not mistaken, yesterday was probably collection day."
"'Collection day'?"
"Yeah. All the delinquents in our year hand over the lion's share of the money they collected from others to the upperclassmen."
At that, a group of older delinquents were approaching them.
"...Who's this? Did they take out Ueno and Takashi?"
"Probably? He looks strong, plus, Ueno and Takashi were always pushovers, weren't they?"
"Whatever. Hey, you, you've got some nerve, taking out our cute little underlings. How're you going to make up for this, huh?"
"...I've got no time for this cliche bullshit. I just want my money back."
"You one of the people we collected from? What made you grow a pair?"
"Collected? I'm just here to get back the money I lent out."
"Oh, you lent money to someone who couldn't cough up their 'weekly fees'. Psh, that's your prob-!"
The blond teenager struck the talking delinquent in the chin.
"You don't seem to understand."
"That money isn't yours to have."
...
Mitani was shocked. She expected him to be strong, but not to this extent! He was always the quiet one in the back who was intimidating enough that the newbies didn't dare to collect money from him, so she assumed he was the strong, silent type! But she didn't think he was the 'beat up every single delinquent by himself' strong!
The blond teenager started rifling through their pockets again.
After 5 minutes, he breathed another sigh. "All of them are flat broke. Where the hell is my money?"
"Well, the second years have the third years to answer to..." Mitani added.
The blond teenager groaned.
"Alright, let's go see them, then."
"Eh?! Wait, now?!"
...
"Huh? Who's this guy?" A third-year delinquent with black slicked-back hair and a rough face said, looking at the blond teenager. "Want to join us, or something? Go look for the other first years."
"I'm here for my money."
"...Do you even know who you're dealing with?" The older teen said, chuckling as he and the others by him took out makeshift weapons. "You're going to regret this."
...
"I'm sorry. I didn't know who I was dealing with. I deeply regret my actions." The older delinquent said, doing a dogeza. Every other delinquent was out cold, or barely hanging on to consciousness.
"My money."
"..."
"..." The blond teenager raised his fist.
"No! Wait! I really don't have the money on me!"
"Then where the hell is it?" The blond teenager was starting to lose his patience.
"Well, while I may be the boss of this school, our school is still subordinate to another school, so-"
"So the money you collected goes to them. Figures." The blond teenager sighed.
"So... who do I look for to get my damn money?"
[Now...]
"So, yeah. One thing led to another." King said, drinking his grape soda that came in while he was telling his story.
Tatsumaki stared at King. "You tried to get your money back from some delinquents, and ended up becoming the regional boss of said delinquents in about... a day?"
"Well, it took a day to find the boss and beat him up, but I only really became boss after a while. Some weren't convinced and tried to gang up on me. A week later, no one really tried anymore."
"Did anyone ever try to use other weapons, besides things like a pipe or a bat?"
"Oh, there were some that tried with real bladed weapons, some that tried with makeshift spears, I think I remember one gang trying out having a volley of slings to pelt rocks at me from a distance."
"They never tried the second time, though."
"...Well, I'd have never guessed it, Boss." Tatsumaki smirked.
King cringed. "Please don't."
"Why? What's wrong, Boss?"
"I'll pay for your portion of the meal. Just please don't ever call me boss again."
"Oh, come on Boss, it's no big deal, is it?"
At King's cringing expression, Tatsumaki stifled a laugh as she sipped her apple cider. "This is fun!"
"Here you go! One order of garlic bread and mushroom soup, one pizza, and breadsticks!" The waiter came back with their food.
"Thanks, Mitani." King said.
As the two S-Class heroes dug in, Tatsumaki noticed something.
"...King."
"Yeah, I know. I'll let them have the first move. Try not to ruin this place, will you? I like coming here every now and then."
"Hmph, who do you think I am?"
Two shots were fired.
King caught one in between his fingers, Tatsumaki stopped the other with her ESP.
"Shit! They were onto us the whole time!"
"Doesn't matter! It's 5 against 2! Focus on King first, then we take care of Tatsumaki!"
As the 5 assassins rushed towards them, King sighed.
"Honestly, you'd think being an assassin would require you to have some common sense. Taking on two S-Class heroes at once?" King said.
"They're probably just small fry that don't even believe how strong S-Classes are. I've seen plenty like that before." Tatsumaki said, using her ESP to take the weapons out of the assassins' hands."
"Crap! She's disarmed us!" "Doesn't matter! If she could've, she would've stopped us instead of just disarming us! She has to be vulnerable now!" "Take out King first! Without her ESP, she's just a little girl!"
"...Little girl?" Tatsumaki said, her voice dangerously low.
"Uh oh." King said, knowing what would happen in the next 5 seconds if he didn't do anything.
So, King moved.
Knocking out every single assassin in an instant, King let their bodies unceremoniously crumple to the ground.
"That was fast." Tatsumaki said, surprised at King's speed. "That was faster than Flashy Flash, wasn't it?"
"I wouldn't know." King shrugged. "Still, I wonder who hired them? It takes not just suicidal bravery to take on an S-Class Hero, but pure stupidity. The minimum requirement to get into S-Class would be to take on an average Demon-level threat, and win. That alone should speak to how strong an S-Class is. And they decided to take on not just one, but two S-Classes?"
King chuckled. "It's actually funny."
"Well, I'm not surprised. There's a group that still think the Earth is flat." Tatsumaki said.
"Yeah, I'm fairly certain that half of them are there as a joke." King said. "Then again, the fact that just one person unironically believing it already makes these assassins look smarter in comparison."
"Hmm. Still, you want me to turn them in for you? I'll be going back after this meal, so I can just drop them off at the nearest police station- or heck, the Heroes Association HQ. The suits will probably be very interested to know who's targeting S-Class heroes, especially one as famous as you." Tatsumaki offered.
"Yeah, sure. Let's get back to our food, shall we?" King said, going back to his seat.
As the two of them went back to their seats and continued having their meal, the door to the diner opened.
Tatsumaki turned to look at the door, in case there were actually more assassins after them, and these five were just a diversion-
"Now, where is King... oh, there you- hey, wait a minute."
"You're that baldy from back then!" "You're that floating green kid that threw Genos into a wall!"
King swallowed his bite of pizza, and raised an eyebrow.
"Huh, the two of you know each other?"
...
...
...
"Oh, so you've met before. That's interesting." King said.
"Yeah, speaking of, Genos did get fixed up, but you need to apologize to him for smacking him into a wall."
"Hmph! He's the one who insulted me first!"
"And your response was to throw him into a wall? Not exactly very mature of you, Tatsumaki. I'm siding with Saitama on this one." King added.
"Grr... fine! Still- you said the B-Class hero was at least S-Class level! I don't buy that this baldy's that strong! After all, he was hanging around Genos, and he's weak!"
"Actually, it was the opposite." King interjected. "Genos was the one hanging around Saitama. In fact, Genos is Saitama's disciple."
"...Really?" Tatsumaki raised an eyebrow, skeptical. "Look, the only reason I'm not immediately shooting this down in disbelief is because you vouched for him, but I'm still skeptical."
"Well, the best way to prove it is with evidence, I guess." King said, shrugging. "How about this, I and Saitama have a light spar, then you can decide whether or not he's strong."
"Oh! We're sparring again?!" Saitama said, excited. Tatsumaki raised an eyebrow at his excitement. Was he looking forward to sparring with King?
"Woah, there. We're not going too wild." King raised his hand. "We're not going back to that place that early. Just a bit of light exercise after the meal."
"Oh, okay." Saitama toned down his excitement. "Well, it's better than nothing, I guess."
"Right." King then pointed at the pizza. "Want some?"
"Sure." Saitama took a slice.
[45 minutes later, a certain canyon...]
"Woah. This place is beat up. What happened here?" Tatsumaki asked.
"We were sparring here last time." King said. "Anyway, shall we, Saitama?"
"Ready when you are."
In an instant, the two clashed.
Tatsumaki's barrier prevented her from being flung away from the sudden clash, but she could tell...
"I always knew King was strong, but to see him in action... as expected of King!"
She had seen King's handiwork before- one swift blow with overwhelming force to end the battle in an instant. But, that was King when facing a monster in public, where there were civilians around, and destruction of public property needed to be minimized. How would The Strongest Man on Earth fight, if there were no civilians, and no public infrastructure to get in the way?
Well, to put it one way, King was definitely worthy of the title of 'The Strongest Man on Earth'. If she had to bet between every other S-Class hero besides her and Blast against King? She'd always bet on King.
Still, the even more impressive part was that the baldy was actually keeping up with King!
"The baldy's actually keeping up with King! So he is strong! He really doesn't look the part at all... somewhat embarrassing, now that I remember what I said to him when I first met him. If he was this strong, then, yeah. It makes sense that Genos would be the one hanging around the baldy, instead." Tatsumaki thought. Now knowing how strong Saitama was, it was a bit embarrassing to have claimed that he came to the meeting to 'get close to S-Class heroes'.
The fact that the baldy was keeping up with King right now was a sign that he was stronger than most of the other S-Classes already!
"Wait, King did say this was only going to be a 'light exercise'. This is 'light'?!" Tatsumaki thought.
Tatsumaki knew herself. She was strong. At peak form, she could flatten any hero ranked below her in 5 seconds... or so she thought. Now, the exception would be King. And the baldy, probably. If King wasn't lying, and this was indeed 'light exercise' for him...
She might actually have trouble against King, even in peak form. Of course, she'd still win!
Probably.
"Wait, are they both... enjoying themselves?!" Even some S-Class would have trouble keeping up with them, but Tatsumaki wasn't the Rank 2 S-Class Hero for nothing. And from the brief flashes of expression she could notice from them...
They were both smiling!
"...Damn, they're battle junkies." Tatsumaki said to herself. She wasn't obsessed with certain media like certain individuals, but she at least knew enough to know certain tropes when she saw them. And King being a battle junkie wasn't one of them. Otherwise- why else would he be smiling like he was enjoying a leisurely activity- in the middle of a fight?!
Well, 'light exercise' for him, but still!
Eventually, the two of them stopped their 'light exercise'.
"Well, that was fun." King said, stretching. "Still, I saw some moves earlier that seemed familiar. Did you copy a few of my own from last time?"
"Yeah, they seemed interesting, so I thought I'd try it out."
"Well, when your moves consist of mostly straightforward and simple attacks, even basic martial arts moves would seem 'interesting'." King joked. "What next, you come up with 'serious redirection'?"
"He's actually joking around with the baldy. He really is a lot more approachable than he seems." Tatsumaki commented to herself.
"Still, to think King could be this friendly..."
"Wouldn't have thought it, seeing how he handled Sweet Mask after the alien invasion." Tatsumaki thought.
[Flashback, after the alien invasion...]
"Hey! I found some alien survivors!" Darkshine called out, attracting the attention of the heroes.
As they approached, Sweet Mask saw that Darkshine had collected the survivors and chained them together. Good. He could execute justice in one fell swoop. As he got closer-
"Stop right there, Sweet Mask." A voice called out.
"Hmm?" Tatsumaki looked in the direction of the voice.
"It's King. Oh, they found some alien survivors." Tatsumaki thought. "Sweet Mask is there too? What's that pretty boy doing here?"
"What do you mean by this, King?" Sweet Mask said, turning to look at King.
"I can tell that you're planning to kill those aliens. I'm telling you not to." King said, walking towards Sweet Mask.
"Wha- Kill them?! Why?! We can't!" Darkshine said, moving in front of the alien survivors. "As far as we know, they may be prisoners of the invaders! We can't just kill them without asking questions-"
"Are you trying to protect evil?" Sweet Mask said coldly. "They do not deserve to-"
"Whether they deserve to live or not is not up to you." King said. "They're worth more alive than dead. Don't blind yourself to the bigger picture, Sweet Mask."
"Hmph." Sweet Mask scoffed. "Even so..."
King placed his hand on Sweet Mask's shoulder.
Everyone felt a chill.
"I wasn't asking, Sweet Mask."
"...Are you threatening me, King?"
"No. I'm telling you. We are going to take these aliens back, and interrogate them. You won't be doing anything to them. That's what's going to happen."
Sweet Mask said nothing for a brief moment, before moving to strike-
King grabbed Sweet Mask's right hand mid-strike.
An immense pressure bore down on everyone near King. Even Tatsumaki, from a distance, could tell...
" " " "King's mad." " " "
"...This is a waste of time, Sweet Mask."
"I'm only going to say this once. STAND DOWN."
"...Tch!" Sweet Mask forced his right hand out of King's grasp. Even so, everyone could tell- Sweet Mask was backing down.
"I'll remember this, King." Sweet Mask glared at King, before walking away.
"Phew... Sweet Mask is lucky. He pissed King off and lived!" Darkshine breathed a sigh of relief, thankful that there wasn't a dead hero after having the Alien Invasion taken care of.
From above, Tatsumaki watched with interest. Sweet Mask actually backed down? Granted, even Tatsumaki could tell that facing an angered King wasn't smart- but still! Sweet Mask was notorious for being obnoxiously stubborn. The fact that he actually backed down spoke volumes about King, who was the reason Sweet Mask backed down at all.
In that moment, despite doing nothing more than blocking a strike from Sweet Mask, King seemed unapproachable. Unassailable. Uncompromising.
Like a Tyrant.
[Now...]
"Hmph, you really can't judge a book by its cover." Tatsumaki said aloud.
"See, I told you Saitama was strong." King said, misunderstanding what Tatsumaki meant.
"Yeah, yeah." Tatsumaki said, not bothering to correct the misunderstanding.
"Still, if the baldy's this strong, why isn't he already in S-Class?" Tatsumaki questioned. "He's Genos's master, right? If he's stronger than Genos, then he should be in S-Class, not B-Class."
"Yeah, I offered to vouch for him myself, but-"
"I just wanted to climb up the ladder myself. No point getting coasted to a higher position without working for it." Saitama said.
"-what he said." King continued.
"...Well, I'm not going to tell you what to do, I guess." Tatsumaki shrugged. If he wanted to work his way up himself, then let him.
"Actually, he's currently in B-Class right now, isn't he? Fubuki's also in B-Class, and she's gathering a bunch of people in B-Class to form her Blizzard Group..."
Tatsumaki smiled. "I've an idea..."
[Omake: King's 'Usual']
"Thank you for the meal." Saitama said, putting his hands together after finishing his food. Tatsumaki followed suit. "Thank you for the meal."
"...King?" Saitama raised an eyebrow.
"Hm? Oh, I still have an order coming." King said.
"You do?"
"Oh, yeah, I remember that. You asked for 'your usual'." Tatsumaki said. "What is it?"
Right on cue, Mitani appeared once more.
"Sorry for the delay! Your usual, Boss!"
"Huh, what is- woah." Saitama turned to look at the waitress, only to see what King's 'usual' was.
"Oh. My. God." Tatsumaki managed to get out, almost rendered speechless at King's 'usual'.
It was a mountain of meats, cheese, and fried eggs. Next to the mountain was five burgers the size of a football. Beside the platter was a bottle of bourbon, and a 5L bottle of cola.
"...King. That is a lot of food." Saitama said.
"Yes."
"...Can you finish that?" Tatsumaki asked.
"Yes."
And with that, King started eating.
On the side, Tatsumaki lightly kicked Saitama.
"Pst. Baldy."
"What? And don't call me baldy."
"Do you think King can really finish all of that?"
"Well, he did say he could."
"I don't buy it. He's probably going to take some back as takeout or something."
"...Probably."
Contrary to their expectations (and mild terror), King did in fact finish everything. Even the bourbon.
"Right. Thank you for the meal." King said, putting his hands together.
"...What?" King raised an eyebrow at Saitama and Tatsumaki's shocked (and slightly scared) expressions.
"...Dude. You don't look like you ate all that. That was a lot of food. I don't see any sign of that." Saitama said, pointing at King's unchanged belly.
"And?"
"...You know what, forget it. Let's just leave."