Dimensional Chat Group: Speed-o'-Light

Zombie Man forced a thin smile and shook Kizaru's hand, even cracking a joke.

He was usually a loner, but with a full S-Class assembly like this, there was no way just one or two heroes could handle what was coming.

Zombie Man, driven by his sense of duty to protect others, knew he had to cooperate. And Kizaru—someone strong enough to keep Terrible Tornado in check—seemed like the ideal ally.

Strong enough to hold his own, and able to keep Tatsumaki from going off the rails—just those two traits were more than enough to satisfy him.

"With me here, there's no need for these weaklings…"

Tatsumaki muttered under her breath nearby. Fortunately, Zombie Man was long used to her attitude and didn't take offense at being lumped in with the "weaklings."

"Sis…"

Fubuki tugged gently at her sister's sleeve—Tatsumaki might not care, but there was no need to go out of her way to make enemies.

Not long after Kizaru arrived, a small figure on a flying hoverboard touched down in front of HQ—Child Emperor, backpack and all.

The sight gave Kizaru an odd sense of déjà vu. If the kid's head had been just a little bigger, he'd have looked suspiciously like a certain death god-grade elementary schooler from another universe.

Ranked fifth among S-Class, Child Emperor definitely looked the least like one—especially with that lollipop sticking out of his mouth.

"Oof… Terrible Tornado and Swift Flash? First time meeting. I'm Child Emperor. I heard you said you're going to take out Metal Knight?"

He hopped off the board, barely taller than Tatsumaki herself, and looked way, way up to get a good look at the towering Kizaru.

It was the first time he'd seen someone so tall. But compared to the grotesquely fat Pig God or the absurdly muscular Superalloy Darkshine, Kizaru—with his handsome face—actually felt relatively normal.

"Yeah. Is there a problem?"

Kizaru spoke up casually. If anyone in the One Punch Man world could rival Saitama in terms of absurdity, it had to be Child Emperor—a true cheat-level existence.

Despite still being an elementary schooler, he possessed a physique stronger than many A-Class heroes. And even more unreasonable was his genius mind—becoming Metal Knight's assistant at such a young age, and later defeating countless monsters with his own inventions, eventually ranking higher than Metal Knight himself as an S-Class hero.

"No! What I meant was… good luck! And watch out for that scheming old bastard's dirty tricks!"

Child Emperor didn't care in the slightest that he had once been Metal Knight's assistant. In fact, he'd love nothing more than to see Kizaru deal with that stubborn old man.

That said, he wasn't particularly optimistic about Kizaru's chances. Metal Knight was too deeply hidden—even as a former assistant, he didn't understand the man any better than anyone else.

"You don't mind?"

Kizaru gave Child Emperor a curious look. Fubuki had tattled earlier, telling him the kid used to be Metal Knight's assistant.

Originally, Kizaru had considered today's mission to be something like "kicking over a preschool." He hadn't expected Child Emperor to actively encourage him to go stir up trouble with Metal Knight.

"That old man's no good. If you're gonna take him down, make sure to punch him really hard for me!"

Child Emperor explained bluntly. The hero he truly admired was Blast, S-Class Rank 1. But after showing early signs of genius, he had been tricked by Dr. Bofoi—Metal Knight—into becoming his assistant.

Once he saw Metal Knight for who he really was, he didn't hesitate to leave and join the Hero Association on his own terms.

"Sure. I'll hit him real hard for you."

Kizaru agreed without much thought.

Maybe it was because he was gradually getting into the mindset of a Fleet Admiral, but whenever he met a gifted hero like this, he couldn't help wanting to recruit them into the Navy.

Especially someone like Child Emperor—both physically and mentally brilliant. In Zephyr's hands, a decade or so of training and he'd be a candidate for admiral. He might even have a shot at replacing Vegapunk someday.

Then again…

If he could freely travel between worlds, it was hard to say whether he'd stop at just recruiting a few prodigies.

Even as someone carrying the banner of justice, Kizaru couldn't promise that, when faced with an entire world that could be his for the taking, he wouldn't be tempted to claim it all.

"It's a deal then! Really hard!"

Whatever Metal Knight had done to piss him off, Child Emperor was now throwing mock punches in the air, as if pounding Metal Knight's face into the wind.

"Don't worry."

Kizaru had some doubts about whether Metal Knight's body could handle one of his punches.

But a promise was a promise—he wasn't going back on it. So all he could do was silently offer a prayer for Metal Knight… and a moment of preemptive silence.

"Huh? Looks like someone else just showed up…"

Just as Child Emperor was about to say more, he caught a glimpse of a familiar figure appearing at the Hero Association's main gate.

"Tch. Someone actually beat me here?"

Soon, a rough-looking young man with the vibe of a delinquent high schooler appeared before them. He wore his school jacket loosely and had his trademark weapon slung across his shoulders. This was Metal Bat, S-Class Rank 16.

Fun fact: Metal Bat started out ranked 223rd in C-Class. Rising all the way up to S-Class made him a poster child for "hard work pays off."

"That guy's Metal Bat. A hot-blooded idiot with a one-track mind," Tatsumaki muttered to Kizaru, shooting the newcomer a glance.

Child Emperor, watching the way Tatsumaki and Kizaru seemed unusually close, paused. Then he rubbed his eyes in disbelief.

That Tatsumaki? The famously overbearing, prideful, short-tempered Tatsumaki? Showing a gentle side?

"Hey! You're that 'Swift Flash' or whatever, right?"

Before Kizaru could respond, Metal Bat suddenly locked eyes with him. His once-casual expression sharpened, and he raised his bat with clear hostility.

The move made Kizaru raise an eyebrow—but before he could even react, Tatsumaki had already stepped in front of him.

Despite being smaller and less visually intimidating than Metal Bat, her presence was far more overwhelming.

"What, got a problem with him?"

She glared, tone aggressive, clearly ready to start a fight if he so much as twitched wrong.

Don't be fooled by how often Tatsumaki seemed to get the short end of the stick around Kizaru—eventually even handing over herself and her sister to him.

That was purely because Kizaru was overwhelmingly powerful. Combine that with Fubuki playing the perfect "inside agent," constantly assisting from the sidelines, and it was no wonder Tatsumaki got dragged down.

The real Tatsumaki was the number two S-Class hero—high above everyone else. The Hero Association's ultimate weapon. A one-woman army who had singlehandedly wiped out countless monsters.

Forget low-ranking S-Class heroes like Metal Bat—even Child Emperor couldn't help twitching at the corner of his mouth and took half a step back.

He'd clearly underestimated the relationship between Terrible Tornado and Flashy Flash. Fortunately, he fully supported Kizaru's plan to deal with Metal Knight. Otherwise, he might've found himself getting schooled by a male-female tag team.

Two S-Class heroes teaming up was already borderline cheating. Even with only sparse information on Kizaru—mainly that he was absurdly fast and could shoot "light cannons" with his bare hands—Child Emperor ran some battle simulations on his portable computer.

Out of 100 simulated battles against Kizaru and Tatsumaki working together, he lost all 100.

Even when teaming up with Metal Bat and Zombie Man, his win rate never went above 13%.

Granted, that was mostly because Zombie Man's abilities were completely countered by the two psychics. If the team had included Silver Fang or Atomic Samurai instead, the odds might've been better.

Still, it was enough to show just how terrifying Flash and Tatsumaki could be together. If he were Metal Bat, Child Emperor would've immediately chosen to back down.

"Of course I've got a problem! Who does that guy think he is, acting like he's better than me!"

But Metal Bat wasn't backing down at all. Unlike other S-Class heroes known for their strength or technique, Metal Bat's defining trait was sheer stubbornness—or maybe just a one-track mind.

Once he set his mind to something, he wouldn't budge. Even against monsters far stronger than himself, he would fight to the bitter end.

Unless you could take him out in one hit, he'd just keep getting stronger the longer he fought—relying on his indomitable spirit to grind down enemies who were initially way out of his league.

"I outrank you by a long shot—you got a problem with me?"

Tatsumaki hovered in midair, literally looking down on Metal Bat with an aura of supreme authority.

This was her natural state—expecting her to act like she did around Kizaru in front of anyone else was just wishful thinking.

"Screw that! That guy only took down one monster—he's not even in the same league as you!"

Metal Bat shouted back, his voice loud but not entirely confident.

He was famously stubborn, but even he got a little jittery facing the Hero Association's number two.

Still, most S-Class heroes would've backed off at this point, at least out of respect for Tatsumaki. The fact that Metal Bat didn't said a lot about how headstrong he was.

"Hmm… quite the sturdy physique…"

Kizaru didn't mind Metal Bat's slight disrespect at all. On the contrary, he was actively evaluating his muscle strength with his Observation Haki, intrigued.

Outside of psychics like Tatsumaki and Fubuki, most heroes were classic "physical types." In fact, they'd probably fit in perfectly in the pirate world.

Take Metal Bat, for instance. Sure, he only swung a bat—but if he learned Armament Haki or even all three types, he wouldn't be far off from a younger, broke version of Kaido.

"Sigh… youngsters really are full of energy. But could you give this old man a little peace and quiet?"

Just as the argument between Metal Bat and Tatsumaki started to heat up, an elderly, stooped man with a full head of white hair walked over. His voice was so calm that for a second, Kizaru thought Shanks had crossed worlds.

Though he didn't have Shanks' "Conqueror's Face Fruit," the old man's presence was still pretty effective.

Tatsumaki was still a bit unwilling to let it go, but Metal Bat finally backed down.

"Once we're through this crisis, I'm settling things with that guy!"

Metal Bat swung his bat with a scowl. It sounded like a threat—and anyone who knew him well knew that he would follow through.

"This is Bang, the third-ranked S-Class hero, also known as Silver Fang. He's a powerful martial artist, and his specialty is the Flowing Water Rock-Smashing Fist…"

Since Tatsumaki was still bickering with Metal Bat, the task of introducing the newcomers fell to Fubuki.

Compared to Tatsumaki's typical blunt introductions, Fubuki was clearly more thoughtful—she'd clearly done her homework.

"And this must be Swift Flash… My, no wonder Miss Tatsumaki's taken a liking to you…"

Bang walked over soon after, trailing behind Tatsumaki. Like Child Emperor, he'd quickly realized that the key to overcoming this crisis was standing right in front of them—Kizaru.

It wasn't that he could sense Kizaru's true strength. No, the crucial point was that Kizaru could somehow restrain Tatsumaki. And that alone was enough.

A fully unleashed Tornado of Terror could crush most powerful enemies singlehandedly—she was undoubtedly one of their main forces in this crisis.

Even so, Bang didn't underestimate Kizaru. After all, if someone could earn Tatsumaki's favor, they couldn't be weak. At the very least, they were worthy of their rank—S-Class, number 9.

"Nice to meet you."

Kizaru greeted him with a smile.

If this had been right after he'd first arrived in this world, he might have taken some interest in Bang's Flowing Water Rock-Smashing Fist.

But now? That martial art wasn't even worth using to pad his own technique. The only reason Kizaru bothered to be polite was out of respect for Bang's character.

"I'm Bang. Lord Flash, I've heard there was some… conflict between you and Metal Knight?"

Bang hadn't expected Kizaru to be so amicable. He'd assumed that anyone who could attract Tatsumaki's interest had to be another arrogant powerhouse. But now that they'd met? Kizaru might not be overly polite, but at least he was—well—normal.

Yes, just being a normal person was already a pleasant surprise for Bang. The S-Class was full of "problem children"—genuine normalcy was rare.

"Yeah, it started as a minor issue. All I wanted was for that rat to give a proper explanation. But he had the nerve to send a robot to attack me—so now he'll have to die for it."

Kizaru didn't even wait for Bang to mediate. He simply and flatly sentenced Metal Knight to death.

Back in the pirate world, he'd had to consider Old Man Sengoku's position. So he hadn't gone after those disgusting Navy HQ executives too hard—just made sure that over half of the ones who crossed him met various… accidents.

Things like pirate ambushes, sea king attacks, tsunamis, storms…

And as for why high-ranking admirals—who were supposedly Vice Admirals—were getting killed by pirates with bounties under a million Berries? That definitely had nothing to do with Kizaru.

But in the One Punch World—especially now that he was far stronger than he had been back then—Kizaru no longer needed to hold back.

If he said he was going to kill Metal Knight, then he'd kill him. The only reason he hadn't already was because he wanted Metal Knight to reveal a few more secret bases first.

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