The dust hadn't settled yet, and a white cape stood out starkly amidst the swirling metallic powder.
Saitama's feet missed a step, and he dropped a short distance before catching himself.
He instinctively scratched the back of his shiny bald head, looking around with a puzzled expression at the floating, dimly glinting metal dust.
"Huh?" he let out a short, confused sound.
His body was falling, but his head snapped up, eyes blazing like torches, piercing through the scattered dust to lock onto the top of a distant building that loomed like a black tombstone!
There, a lone figure stood.
A black trench coat fluttered in the lingering high-altitude wind, a katana wrapped with blue bindings gripped in hand.
Their eyes met.
Across thousands of meters of rubble and swirling dust.
Saitama's usually dazed, carefree face shed its dead-fish eyes, replaced by a sharp, intense gaze that burned with focus.
His falling body adjusted, landing steadily atop a massive chunk of building debris, his cape draping behind him.
Atop the skyscraper, a faint smile crept back onto Gaio's lips.
His pupils no longer held the cold, condescending stare of someone looking down on the world. Instead, a spark of pure, fiery excitement burned within—the thrill of meeting a worthy opponent.
The ruins fell silent.
The world held its breath.
Two figures, separated by drifting metallic mist and a scarred battlefield, locked eyes in a fierce, unspoken clash!
A silent current exploded where their gazes met, the air trembling with the force of their invisible collision.
---
The strongest of the strong had crossed paths.
"Hey! Who the heck are you?!" Saitama's shout echoed through the ruins, his voice shaking the scattered metal dust.
His grin widened, fists clenching instinctively—this feeling was too familiar, like the endless dream of battling the subterranean king.
At the edge of the rooftop, Gaio took a step forward.
The wind roared to life.
The Hero Association members' eyes widened in shock—the mysterious man plummeted straight toward the ground, hundreds of meters below!
His black coat billowed wildly, but halfway down the building, he vanished, as if erased from existence by an invisible hand.
"Where'd he go?!" Metal Bat growled, brows furrowed.
Gojo Satoru suddenly tilted his head back, then spun toward the center of the ruins. "Ha? Nero, you jerk—you're actually interested in that bald guy?!"
The dust hadn't cleared.
Five meters in front of Saitama, the air twisted.
Gaio stepped out from the distortion, black boots lightly touching the ground. His right hand rested on the hilt of his Enma blade, a smile playing on his lips.
"I'm Gaio."
"I'm Saitama! You feel it too, don't you?!" Saitama's grin stretched so wide it seemed to split his face, his fists crackling as he clenched them.
Gaio nodded slightly. "Yeah. You're someone who can actually get me excited."
"Hahaha!" Saitama threw his head back and laughed, as if Gaio had pulled the words straight from his mind.
"Wanna fight?" Gaio suggested, pulling a pair of black fingerless gloves from his coat pocket.
"You bet!" Saitama's fists collided, unleashing a sonic boom.
Gojo's ear caught Gaio's voice, sharp as a blade against his eardrum: "Get everyone out of here."
The playful smirk on Gojo's face froze.
"Alright, folks," Gojo turned with his usual carefree grin, "things are about to get real interesting—if we stick around, that is."
Tornado's green hair flared up. "What's that supposed to mean?"
"It means—" Gojo pointed to the center of the ruins, where two figures were squaring up, "that place is about to turn into hell."
The air warped.
The space around the two figures blurred, like heat waves rising off summer asphalt, but fiercer, more distorted.
Saitama's red gloves flickered in and out of the haze, his brow furrowing, but his fists stayed clenched.
Gaio's black coat fluttered in the warped space, his smile deepening—a sign that the demonic power within him was fully awakened.
"It's coming," Gaio said softly.
Gojo's figure vanished with a whoosh, leaving only a cheeky, "Have fun, you two~" lingering in the air.
Bang cast one last, deep look at the distorted space, his frail frame hunched but his steps resolute as he walked away.
Atomic Samurai sheathed his blade, hoisted his disciple Iaian over his shoulder, and left quickly.
Metal Bat grumbled under his breath, slinging his bat over his shoulder as he stomped off.
Puri-Puri Prisoner glanced back every few steps, reluctant to leave.
Only Tornado lingered, floating in place, her green curls swaying without wind.
"Miss Tornado," Bang's aged but steady voice called from a distance, "that young man, Nero… that slash earlier…"
Tornado's small face tightened, her emerald eyes reflecting the increasingly warped space.
Finally, she let out a "Hmph," her petite frame enveloped in green light as she shot skyward, landing atop the Hero Association headquarters.
The moment she left—
BOOM!
The entire ruin shook!
Centered on the two figures, debris within a hundred-meter radius floated upward, then silently crumbled to dust in midair!
"Here I come!" Saitama roared, his figure blurring!
BOOM!
The air exploded! He closed the gap to Gaio in a blink, eyes sharp as blades, right fist cocked back to its limit before swinging forward with brutal simplicity!
Gaio's eyes widened slightly, his left hand flashing upward to block!
"Royal Block!"
Buzz!
Blue demonic energy coated his arm in an instant!
Saitama's heavy punch slammed to a stop an inch from Gaio's magic-clad palm!
Bang!
The wild force was deflected! Gaio's smirk grew, his blocking fist surging forward in a counterstrike!
The terrifying power of Saitama's punch, combined with Gaio's own strength, unleashed a devastating shockwave!
Saitama crossed his arms to brace himself!
BOOM!
He became a blurred streak, hurled back several kilometers by the overwhelming force, crashing into the ruins with a plume of dust!
"Awesome!" Saitama burst from the dust, unscathed, his face lit with pure excitement! His legs tensed to charge back—
Whoosh!
A black shadow flickered!
Gaio appeared right in front of him! His right hand gripped the Enma blade's hilt!
Iaido!
A blade flash? No flash!
A lethal sense of danger flooded Saitama's mind! Instinct took over—he threw himself backward!
Rip!
An invisible, space-tearing arc grazed past his nose! A half-collapsed skyscraper behind him was silently sliced in two!
"Tch," Gaio chuckled. His wrist flicked, the Enma blade blurring into a storm of strikes!
No dazzling blade light, no whistling air!
Just pure, extreme speed! Slashes too fast for the eye to follow!
Saitama's pupils shrank! His brain couldn't process it! But his body twisted, rolled, and dodged through the deadly blade net!
Slash! Slash! Slash!
His cheap white cape shredded into fluttering scraps!
He dodged desperately, each near-miss leaving him rolling in the dirt.
Dust coated his bald head and suit, but those space-cutting slashes were evaded by his pure combat instincts, at the cost of his iconic cape!
Amid the ruins, a bare-backed Saitama danced through an invisible storm of blades, each dodge heart-stoppingly close, each movement kicking up clouds of dust.
Gaio stood still, his right hand wielding the Enma blade at speeds beyond sight, eyes locked on the scrambling bald figure, his smile deepening.
"Hey, you! Don't you ever let up?!" Saitama yelled, tumbling through the blade net, his tattered cape flapping like a rag.
"Then fight back," Gaio replied, his wrist unrelenting, the blade forming a gray curtain.
At that response, the blade's momentum faltered for a split second!
A 0.0001-second gap!
"Ha!" Saitama's eyes flashed! His legs slammed into the ground!
BOOM!
The earth collapsed into a massive crater! He rocketed into the sky like a cannonball!
"Got my chance!" His ecstatic roar thundered across the ruins! Midair, his right fist drew back to its limit! Muscles bulged like dragons! His gaze pierced the clouds!
"Serious!!"
His fist aimed, the air screaming! Space visibly warped and twisted!
A destructive torrent, capable of leveling mountains and vaporizing cities, erupted from his fist, roaring toward Gaio like a divine hammer!
"—Punch!!!"
Gaio looked up!
Sheathed his blade! The motion so fast it blurred!
His right hand gripped the hilt tightly!
"Dimensional Slash: Sever!"
Clang!
The unsheathing sound tore through the heavens!
No massive blade arc!
Only a strange, mirror-like web of cracks appeared before the roaring fist wind!
Dense, spreading instantly, covering the entire destructive torrent!
Hiss!
Like a red-hot iron pressed into snow!
The city-destroying fist force hit the cracks and was swallowed whole!
No explosion, no shockwave! It vanished silently… completely!
As if it never existed!
High in the sky, Saitama, expecting fireworks, stared with wide, dead-fish eyes.
"Huh?"
"You get distracted that easily in a fight?" Gaio's voice cut like a cold wind across the ground, clear and sharp. He held his iaido stance, golden light blazing in his eyes.
"Dimensional Slash: Absolute!"
Buzz!
The Enma blade unsheathed again!
And then—
Slash! Slash! Slash! Slash! Slash!
Countless narrow blue blade arcs appeared from nowhere! They filled the sky!
Dense, layered, like a suspended blue thorn hell!
Blocking every angle of escape! From all directions, with space-cutting shrieks, they surged toward the bald man in the sky!
No way out!
Saitama, suspended in midair, traded confusion for unprecedented focus!
He kicked the air!
BOOM!
A visible white shockwave exploded beneath his feet! His body stabilized!
Fists pulled back to his waist! He sank low, arms bent, muscles tensed to the limit! His red gloves glowed like molten lava under the blue blade light!
"Serious…"
His low growl rumbled like thunder.
"…Consecutive Punches!!!!"
BOOM! BOOM! BOOM! BOOM! BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!
His fists became a blurred red storm! Speed pushed to the extreme!
Each punch carried mountain-shattering force!
The red fist shadows roared like multiplying dragons, meeting the blue blade arcs from every direction!
Bang bang bang bang bang!
The sky erupted with collisions like ten-thousand-ton hammers striking steel! Red fist winds and blue blade arcs clashed, tore, and annihilated each other!
But—
Rip!
The piercing sound of cutting rang out!
The red fist torrent was sliced apart by the razor-sharp dimensional slashes!
The blue blade arcs, though weakened and shattered by the fists' immense power, pressed through the fist barrier, inching closer!
The thorn cage of blades tightened!
Saitama's cheap suit began to tear! But his eyes burned brighter!
The long-lost feeling of being pushed to his limit set his blood ablaze!
(Before Saitama became truly bald, he'd been pushed to his limits countless times.)
Exhilaration surged through every nerve like electricity!
This was the fight he'd dreamed of! This was an opponent worth going all out for!
"Haha… hahaha!" Maniacal laughter burst from his throat, pure and wild!
As the blue blade thorns closed in to overwhelm and shred him!
Below, in the ruins.
Gaio's brow twitched faintly.
Something's off.
Saitama… shouldn't be this limited. Could it be…
The moment the blades were about to consume Saitama—
At the center of the blue flood, time seemed to freeze for a split second.
Then, an indescribable, soul-shaking tremor erupted from that center!
Gaio's pupils contracted!
"Super…"
A low, restrained voice, carrying the power to topple continents, pierced the deafening collisions, hitting Gaio's ears like a primal beast's awakening growl!
"…Serious…"
Buzz!
Saitama's figure blurred at the heart of the blue hell!
Fist drawn back! Charging! One stance!
All his strength, will, and pent-up excitement poured into this single punch!
Space wailed as if breaking! Centered on his fist, it cracked like fragile glass, spiderwebbing with black fractures!
"…One!!!"
Gaio's heart skipped! His lips curled upward, not in mockery or disdain, but in pure, treasure-found joy!
Here it comes!!!
"—Punch!!!!"
BOOM!!!!
Saitama swung!
No light beam!
No shockwave!
Just pure, ultimate power! Breaking space's limits, shattering physical laws!
Space shattered like a mirror under a hammer!
Crack—BOOM!
From his fist, a massive, deep, chaotic black rift tore open! Like a gaping wound in the sky!
The blue dimensional slashes, in the face of this absolute force, shattered like waves on rocks, swept into the void rift, and vanished!
"Hahahahaha!!!"
Ecstatic laughter echoed through the shattered space!
Saitama held his punching stance, floating before the rapidly healing rift, his bald head gleaming in the chaotic spatial currents, his face alive with soul-deep, manic excitement!
Below, in the ruins.
Dust rolled away like waves, pushed by an invisible force.
Gaio looked up at the fractured sky and the ecstatic bald man, his smile shedding all coldness for the first time in battle, burning like magma through ice, wild and filled with the joy of meeting a true equal!