In 1975, Barry was still thinking about his parents.
Because of Saitama's sudden question, a thought quietly rose in his heart—a desire to test himself against Saitama.
"Since I'm going back to that point in the past to fight that lightning-wreathed figure," Barry thought, "then before that happens, I should at least find out how far I've grown!"
With that in mind, Barry nodded and said, "Saitama, even though I just saw how powerful you are, I still want to fight you. I hope I'm not causing you any trouble… but I really want to know whether I can defeat that enemy now!"
Barry Allen didn't tell Saitama who that enemy was.
Because in his mind, vengeance was an extremely personal matter.
But Saitama himself knew Barry's story very well.
Barry's parents had been framed in a scheme orchestrated by a time-traveler from the twenty-second century—Eobard Thawne.
However, since Barry didn't want him to interfere with this affair, Saitama could only accept Barry's current request.
Right then, Saitama stood in front of Barry.
"Come on," he said. "Let me see just how far you've grown."
In an instant, the Saitama who had just stepped out of one battle stepped right into another.
This time, his opponent was Barry Allen.
Whoosh.
The Barry of this moment had already reached an advanced Speed Force state—a terrifying level of speed that could even traverse time itself.
As he rushed toward Saitama, golden lightning flickered in his eyes.
His entire body became like a blur of shadow as he lunged in.
Boom—his fist came crashing forward.
Barry drove his punch straight at Saitama's face.
Saitama was a little startled.
"This guy really holds a grudge, huh?" he thought.
Ever since he'd beaten Barry up last time, now every single punch was aimed squarely at his face.
Wasn't there a saying that you don't hit a man in the face?
Of course, Saitama didn't realize this was just a cultural gap between East and West.
In Eastern culture, when facing an evenly matched opponent, you showed a certain level of respect. But over here in the West, things were simple and rough: however you fought didn't matter—so long as you took the other guy down.
That was why Barry opened with his strongest offensive right from the start.
In that instant when their fists collided, ripples exploded out from the point of impact.
A shockwave like a miniature mushroom cloud erupted on the spot.
Jefferson exclaimed, "Oh my god, Saitama's fighting someone again!"
Sara Lance stared. "Wait… doesn't that guy look just like Central City's Barry Allen?"
Captain Cold laughed. "Come on, Little Flash! Or maybe I should start calling you 'Bar-kid'?"
Heat Wave Mick yelled, "Either kill that bald guy or get killed by him!"
In the blink of an eye, the fight between the two escalated—up, up, and further up.
Barry watched, stunned, as his fist could only fight Saitama's punch to a standstill.
He was even more shocked inside.
After all, this was a punch enhanced by the Speed Force.
According to the law of momentum, that blow should have carried an impact that no one could withstand.
For Saitama to endure that punch head-on was neither scientific nor reasonable.
Then again, the fact that Barry had gained the Speed Force and traveled back to the past wasn't exactly scientific either, at least from the perspective of their current time. So Barry didn't dwell on that contradiction for long.
"Saitama, take another punch from me!" Barry shouted.
This time, he unleashed a special technique.
It was a tremendously powerful move that caused his own attack to carry a violent vibration.
In the Flash TV series, that trembling visual effect that appeared so often—it was exactly the same as the way Barry was attacking now.
Buzz, buzz, buzz, buzz!
Barry refused to believe that even his vibrating punch couldn't break through Saitama's guard.
As Barry charged in again, he had even mentally prepared himself to patch Saitama up afterward.
That punch's destructive power was nothing to sneeze at.
But just as the blow was about to land, Saitama suddenly moved.
Instead of meeting him head-on, Saitama stepped to Barry's side and clamped a hand around Barry's vibrating arm.
Then Saitama stamped his foot down hard onto the ground.
Barry's vibrating force, as though it had suddenly found an anchor point, poured straight into the earth.
Crack, crack, crack.
Spiderweb-like fissures spread rapidly across the ground.
Those cracks extended all the way to the feet of the other members of the Legends team.
Rip Hunter stared at the battle before him, face numb with shock. At this moment he really wanted to swear.
"Saitama is just too damn strong… he's actually overpowering Barry in vibration mode!"
Sara was speechless. "Is he… really human?"
Captain Cold muttered, "Maybe I should upgrade my gear a bit, or I'll never keep up with those two…"
Heat Wave Mick gazed at the fight, eyes full of envy. "Remember to upgrade mine too! Best if you can make me as strong as those two monsters!"
Pinned by Saitama's grip on his arm, Barry felt miserable.
"Saitama, fighting like this is kinda cheap, don't you think? Who fights like that?"
Saitama answered with complete seriousness, "Isn't this the normal thing to do? Your weakness is right here. When you use this move to attack me, you have to keep some part of yourself from vibrating, or else your attack can't actually land.
"Otherwise, you'd just phase straight through my body, wouldn't you?"
Barry went speechless.
He had never imagined that the move he prided himself on would have such a glaring weakness.
Right now, he felt he needed to rethink this technique from the ground up.
And from his clash with Saitama just now, he'd already gained a lot of ideas for how to improve.
At that moment, Barry struggled again.
"Since that move can't beat you," he said through gritted teeth, "I'll just use something else!"
Buzz, buzz, buzz.
Barry's other arm began to vibrate as well.
In an instant, the pivot point Saitama was holding started trembling in his grasp.
Under Barry's atomic-level vibration, his personal vibration frequency actually rose to the same level as Saitama's.
Using that power, he began to slip free of Saitama's grip at high speed.
Saitama watched Barry in front of him, wearing a helpless expression.
"Barry, you really think using this move will let you restart the fight with me? The thing is… this move also has a flaw."
Saitama's words sent a fresh shock through everyone present.
Could it be…
That Barry Allen's signature technique also had a fatal weakness buried inside it?!
(End of Chapter)
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