"Rewind the footage three seconds."
Boros clearly realized how much trouble his impulsive command had caused for his subordinates.
But as the ruler of the universe, he neither needed nor cared to explain himself. He simply gave his orders with absolute authority.
The synthetic voice on the other end seemed to breathe a sigh of relief and hurriedly followed the command, rewinding the footage displayed on the virtual screen.
Soon, Kizaru's figure appeared on screen—and by sheer coincidence, the scout drone had captured the moment Kizaru looked up toward the sky. At the same time, Boros's giant singular eye happened to align with Kizaru's gaze.
Even through a screen, Boros could sense an indistinct threat emanating from Kizaru.
This is the one!
The warrior foretold in the prophecy who could give him a worthy, all-out battle!
By now, Boros didn't care about that so-called prophecy anymore. What he sought was simply a powerful enough opponent—and Kizaru had appeared before him at the perfect moment.
Even if that fortune-teller popped up right now and insisted Kizaru wasn't the warrior from the prophecy, Boros wouldn't believe it.
The last person who had given him this kind of threatening feeling was someone from before the formation of the Dark Matter Thieves—so long ago that even his memory of it had begun to blur.
"Increase speed! I want to meet this warrior as soon as possible!"
Boros could barely contain his excitement, even rising from his throne for a moment.
Before receiving the prophecy, he had ruled the universe for countless years. Like Saitama, he knew the profound loneliness of being invincible—but for Boros, that emptiness was even more extreme.
That's why, after receiving the prophecy, he didn't hesitate to spend twenty years crossing a vast distance just to reach Earth.
"Yes, Lord Boros!"
The synthetic voice groaned internally. The space-jump device had just completed a jump and needed several days to cool down. Even with the most advanced technology on board, the mothership's systems were strained after twenty years of nonstop travel.
But a command from Lord Boros was absolute. The AI had no choice but to grit its teeth and relay the order.
The mothership, which had been cruising at a regular pace through space, immediately accelerated upon receiving the command and began racing through the solar system toward Earth.
Meanwhile, despite confirming Boros's impending arrival, Kizaru made no special preparations.
He even had the leisure to take the two sisters out shopping, and later accompanied Fubuki to visit Tatsumaki's place.
The apartment where the domineering Tatsumaki lived matched her style—simple and bold in its design. However, the dreamy, pink-themed bedroom exposed her true tastes.
"You bastard! Who told you to look in here?!"
Tatsumaki, both embarrassed and angry, shoved Kizaru out of the bedroom. Unfortunately, without using her psychic powers, she was even weaker than Fubuki. Kizaru simply laughed and scooped her up with one arm—then pulled Fubuki in as well.
What happened after that is best left undescribed. Let's just say the clothes they bought during yesterday's shopping trip came in very handy.
"Where are we going today?"
Despite begging for mercy yesterday, Tatsumaki woke up the next morning with her usual arrogant swagger.
Seeing how full of energy she was, Kizaru briefly felt like he was the one being drained.
He couldn't help but marvel at how adaptable people could be. Tatsumaki had been a total novice just days ago, yet now she was starting to show signs of taking the lead.
And with Fubuki's own "combat strength" being nothing to scoff at—if Kizaru didn't have the endurance of a war machine, he might not have been able to handle the two sisters.
But thinking it through, even excluding Fubuki, Tatsumaki was a 28-year-old grown woman beneath her petite appearance. It wasn't fair to compare her to someone like Nami, who was still in her youthful prime.
"Anywhere you two want to go?"
Kizaru lounged back in an oversized armchair, his eyes roving hungrily over the tank top and hotpants Tatsumaki had just changed into.
Don't let her petite figure fool you—Tatsumaki had a thing for oversized items. Even that pink bed of hers was big enough for Kizaru to sprawl out on without a problem.
"Then let's go to the amusement park. I heard the rebuild made it even better than before."
Tatsumaki noticed Kizaru's gaze and, instead of shying away, pushed her chest out confidently.
Unfortunately, even as a young and wealthy "flat-chested heiress," there really wasn't much to show off.
"It's already rebuilt? Then let's go check it out."
Fubuki emerged from the room wearing the exact same tank top and hotpants combo as her sister. But unlike Tatsumaki's "sheer cliff," Fubuki's curvy figure made the outfit almost too eye-catching.
"The amusement park, huh? Yeah, let's take a look."
Kizaru's thoughts drifted to the amusement park on the Sabaody Archipelago. He wasn't sure if the facilities in the One Punch world could handle someone like him.
At nearly three meters tall, his "admiral-level" height was great in battle but a bit inconvenient in daily life.
Turned out he needn't have worried—most of the amusement park's rides were usable even for someone his size.
Ironically, Tatsumaki ran into more issues. Because of her height, she was mistaken for a kid several times. She nearly lost it and used her psychic powers to let those idiots experience free fall firsthand.
"Wait… this place looks kind of familiar."
Kizaru glanced around the amusement park. Something about the surroundings tickled his memory.
"That's because Vaccine Man was the one who destroyed the park last time. Look over there—there's the Hero Association headquarters. You defeated him right around there. That 'tunnel' you blasted through the ground? They turned it into a main road."
Fubuki casually pointed north. Sure enough, just barely visible in that direction was the fortress-like silhouette of the Association HQ.
Even the path Kizaru had carved with his attack still had faint traces left. The sight made him raise his brows in surprise.
"Rebuilt this fast? It hasn't even been that long since I took out that 'Namekian.'"
Kizaru was a little stunned. It was only now that he noticed the entire City A had gone from near-total ruin to a state that wasn't quite fully restored but was at least 70-80% rebuilt.
This kind of speed would scare the crap out of the workers still rebuilding Marineford. And that wasn't even considering the fact that the scale here was far larger than a single amusement park—it was half a city.
If he didn't already know people couldn't travel between worlds, Kizaru would've wanted to hire some of those workers himself.
"Fast? I guess so. But if the Association's main construction team had done the job, it would've been even faster."
Tatsumaki didn't understand why Kizaru was so shocked. In her eyes, this pace was completely normal. Dragon-level monsters could flatten buildings without effort. Hell, even Demon-level ones could. If the One Punch world didn't rebuild quickly, it wouldn't be able to keep up with the demolition crew that was the monster population.
Just as Kizaru was inwardly complaining about this world's cheat-code-level infrastructure speed, both Tatsumaki's and Fubuki's phones rang at the exact same time.
"Hm? Emergency summons for S-Class?"
Tatsumaki checked her phone and immediately frowned.
She'd been planning to hang out with Kizaru and Fubuki a while longer. Why did the summons have to come now?
But she quickly realized—Kizaru was an S-Class hero too. He'd probably received the same message.
"It's an emergency summons from HQ. All S-Class heroes are to report immediately."
Fubuki looked up at Kizaru. Since he didn't like the hassle of carrying a communicator, he had Fubuki handle all his Hero Association messages. They were always together anyway, and if something needed his attention, it would reach him through her.
Fubuki, ever eager to boost the influence of her own faction, was more than happy to be Kizaru's liaison.
"Probably some end-of-the-world-level crisis. Whatever, not like we've got anything better to do. Let's go check it out."
Kizaru shrugged. He wasn't that into amusement parks anyway.
At his level, even without any special abilities, his raw physical speed exceeded Mach 10. Roller coasters were boring compared to what he could do on foot—riding them barely registered.
"Silver Fang and Atomic Samurai have already arrived in City A."
"…Heroes like them really are the Association's backbone."
"Metal Bat is on his way…"
"…Drive Knight is still en route…"
"Child Emperor is currently requesting leave from school…"
At Hero Association headquarters, over a dozen reception staff were working nonstop.
Though they usually held little status in the Association, today, the spotlight was entirely on the front desk—even the most seasoned employees were visibly nervous.
At that moment, Kizaru entered the Hero Association headquarters with Tatsumaki and Fubuki in tow.
"It's Swift Flash! And Terrible Tornado! Quick, notify Mr. William!"
The moment Kizaru appeared, the staff practically jumped. Ever since news of J-City executive William's incident had spread, Kizaru's reputation around HQ had started to take on an almost demonic tone.
Especially after rumors began to circulate—whether intentionally or not—that Swift Flash had declared war on Metal Knight, the ordinary staff had grown increasingly uneasy in his presence.
"Pretty lively here… though it looks like we're the first ones to arrive."
Kizaru remarked casually—he, Tatsumaki, and Fubuki hadn't rushed to get there.
He had assumed someone would have shown up before them, but apparently, they were the first.
"Other than Child Emperor, who's studying in A-City, and Metal Bat, who lives there too, the rest of the S-Class have to travel from farther away. No way they'd get here so fast."
Tatsumaki replied nonchalantly. As the Association's No. 2 ranked S-Class, she had significant authority—practically considered part of the inner circle by upper management.
But ever since she got close to Kizaru, her standing had become unstable. That much was obvious from how the emergency summons had been issued—no one even contacted her directly.
She was treated like any run-of-the-mill S-Class hero. Not that she cared in the slightest—Tatsumaki became a hero because she wanted to. Even without the Association, she'd still go around hunting monsters.
"Looks like someone did beat us here…"
Just as Kizaru finished speaking, a tired-looking man in a trench coat walked out from HQ.
"Terrible Tornado and… Swift Flash. Finally, the main firepower's arrived. No way I could handle this kind of mess alone…"
His words sounded like a sigh of relief, but his expression didn't change at all—so much so that it felt like he was being sarcastic.
"Tch, that guy's Zombie Man, ranked 8th among S-Class. Pretty weak, but when necessary, he's at least somewhat useful."
Tatsumaki looked at Zombie Man with clear disdain and offered Kizaru a casual introduction.
Her words carried a clear jab.
Yet Zombie Man didn't seem offended—in fact, he looked a little surprised.
In his memory, Terrible Tornado was always aloof and above-it-all. The fact that she would personally introduce someone to him? Just what was going on between her and Kizaru?
"Uh, I go by Swift Flash—or just Flash, if that's easier. Should I call you by your hero name?"
Kizaru tended to be friendly with most heroes, Saitama being the notable exception. Even someone like Zombie Man—who looked halfway to being an actual corpse—got a polite greeting and an outstretched hand.
"Whatever works. 'Dead guy' is fine too."
°°°
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