Dimensional Chat Group: Speed-o'-Light

Kizaru had once felt genuine goodwill toward the Hero Association, but after spending some time in the One Punch World, that goodwill had gradually shifted toward the heroes themselves.

He realized the higher-ups in the Association weren't all that different from the World Government or the Navy top brass from back home—except maybe a little less shameless.

Still, given how the Association had rotted this badly in just a few years since its founding, it was clearly cut from the same cloth.

Madam Perus frowned. For once, she could truly empathize with William.

Had she known Swift Flash would turn out to be this rebellious, she never would've agreed to promote Kizaru to S-Class.

Of course, that was just hindsight. If she'd been at Association HQ at the time, she'd probably have been crying and begging Kizaru to save her.

As Kizaru waited with a relaxed expression for the Association to explain themselves, the other S-Class heroes began shifting into "watching-the-show" mode.

Atomic Samurai briefly considered stepping in to smooth things over.

But seeing that Bang and Zombie Man weren't saying a word, he chose silence too.

The S-Class heroes didn't actually mind taking orders from the Association when it came to fighting monsters. Since someone was willing to speak up for them, no one else was about to contradict it at this point.

After all, heroes fought with their lives on the line because they wanted to protect more people. If the Association could help with that, then it was a good thing.

Besides, guys like Metal Bat were mostly here for the show. If he didn't find Kizaru so annoying, he'd probably be cheering by now.

"Our efforts aren't as simple as they may appear. While the Association's staff may not fight monsters on the front lines, please believe that we've always been standing with you in our own way."

Madam Perus spoke sincerely. Metal Bat, who moments ago had looked eager to watch the drama unfold, now nodded in agreement.

No one could seriously expect regular humans working for the Association to go toe-to-toe with monsters like they did.

But expecting someone like Metal Bat to catch Madam Perus subtly twisting the narrative was probably asking too much of his IQ.

Some S-Class heroes remained unimpressed, but the rest seemed willing to accept her explanation.

Seeing that, Kizaru didn't press the issue. He could easily expose the Association's true face if he wanted to, but there was no rush for that.

The real issue now was the looming God-level disaster. Kizaru was confident he could handle it alone, but he wasn't exactly in the mood to give it his all.

What he really wanted was to throw down with Boros, the so-called Dominator of the Universe. Such a powerful warrior being one-shotted by the Bald Demon Lord? That was just tragic.

"Next, I'll be presenting the monster attack trends of recent years…"

Sensing it was time to wrap things up, Madam Perus didn't keep grandstanding on behalf of the Association or its leadership. Instead, she handed the floor to the staff to share their findings on the current crisis.

Most of the S-Class heroes present had been directly involved in those incidents, but all they'd really noticed was that missions had been coming in faster than usual.

It wasn't until the Association staff laid everything out in charts and graphs that the trend became glaringly obvious.

"This is bad… I thought it was just my imagination, but I have been cutting down more monsters lately…"

Atomic Samurai stroked the sparse stubble on his chin, speaking with a sigh.

For a monster to require someone like him—ranked 4th among S-Class—to personally act, it had to be at least Demon-level, if not Dragon-level. Monsters that could wipe out a whole city were appearing more and more often. That was worrying.

"So you guys noticed too. I was wondering when I should bring it up…"

Child Emperor sucked on his lollipop as he pulled out a tablet from his backpack. A few taps later, he projected data even more detailed than what the Association had shown.

If the Association had merely noticed an increase in monster activity…

Then Child Emperor had gone further—using mathematical modeling to estimate their emergence patterns and general timing.

"Impressive. Truly a genius boy…"

Bang looked at the screen and nodded in admiration.

Kizaru also found himself agreeing. Even if Child Emperor's ceiling would likely never reach even Saitama's floor, considering his age, it reminded him a bit of himself back in the day.

Every time he saw Child Emperor, Kizaru couldn't help but think of his own time in the Navy Academy—showing off, getting into fights, and charming pretty naval girls.

Sadly, aside from him, no one had trained Life Return to the level of eternal youth. Even Sister Tsuru—once as pretty as the current Gion—had turned into an old woman Kizaru could barely look at.

Thank goodness he'd stuck to his rule of "no dipping in the company pool" back then. Otherwise, the past few decades would've been so awkward.

It was clear that the Association staff were doing their best. Unfortunately, Prophet Shibabawa's death had been too sudden—she'd only managed to give a vague timeline, without specifying the type of disaster.

Left with no other option, the Association could only list out all their potential predictions for the S-Class heroes to reference.

Among the many crisis scenarios spread across several pages of data, alien invasion stood out—and it had been given a surprisingly high priority.

Whether it was fortunate or not, the people of the One Punch world weren't entirely unfamiliar with aliens.

But their imaginations likely couldn't grasp why an alien would spend twenty years flying across the galaxy just to come to this "middle-of-nowhere" planet, all because of a prophecy, looking for a worthy opponent.

Put simply, he was showing up just to get beat down.

And that alien just so happened to be none other than the Dominator of the Universe—the infamous captain of the Dark Matter Thieves, feared across the stars.

"When I was a marine, I fought pirates. Now as a hero… still fighting pirates…"

It was only now that Kizaru remembered—technically, Boros and his crew were also pirates. Running into an admiral of the navy like him was, in a way, a perfect matchup.

And soon, his mind started to drift. Did that crew of "monsters and demons" on Boros' ship even count as humans?

After all, even someone like Tohru—a full-on dragon that could take human form—had been able to join the dimensional chat group. So it wouldn't make sense if those universe pirates, who didn't even look remotely human, couldn't get in too.

If that was the case, did it mean he could capture this gang of alien pirates—and maybe even bring their spaceship back to the One Piece world?

If that worked out, it would easily be Kizaru's biggest gain since joining the dimensional chat group.

"Hey. What're you spacing out about?"

The meeting had ended, and most of the S-Class heroes were already trickling out. Tatsumaki only noticed Kizaru still sitting there in a daze afterward.

"Hm? It's over already?"

Kizaru lifted his head, already mentally ready to "return to old habits."

It was only then that he realized the large meeting room was now empty except for himself and the sisters, Tatsumaki and Fubuki.

Since only S-Class heroes could attend the meeting, Fubuki—just like Atomic Samurai's three disciples—had been waiting outside. Only once the meeting ended could she come in.

"Boring, right? You'll get used to it eventually. That lot's totally useless at getting things done—meetings, meetings, all they ever do is hold more meetings…"

Tatsumaki grumbled non-stop, her petite face full of complaints. For someone as impatient as her, the Hero Association's work style was more frustrating than anything.

"Sis, what's the Association planning to do?"

Fubuki asked curiously. Until now, she had deliberately avoided getting involved in S-Class affairs out of respect for her sister.

But now that Kizaru had become the ninth-ranked S-Class hero—and she and Tatsumaki had reconciled—Fubuki naturally wanted to understand what S-Class work actually involved.

"What else? They've got us rotating on duty shifts, just in case a God-level disaster shows up out of nowhere…"

Tatsumaki curled her lip dismissively.

Of course, the real arrangements were a lot more complicated than she made them sound, but ignoring the minor details, the Association was being unusually cautious.

Maybe those higher-ups had scared themselves with their own overthinking. Even those who had been on vacation had rushed back to headquarters as fast as possible.

With no clear idea what kind of disaster might happen, the Hero Association HQ—now packed with S-Class heroes—was arguably the safest place in the world.

What the higher-ups hadn't considered, however, was that their enemy wasn't just any disaster.

It was Boros, the galactic overlord in search of worthy opponents.

And the moment Earth's top fighters—all its S-Class heroes—gathered in one place, they inevitably drew the attention of the Dark Matter Thieves.

After several days of travel, the massive mothership finally arrived in orbit—just a few thousand kilometers from Earth.

That distance sounded far, but for a ship that had crossed galaxies, it was practically within reach.

"At last, I've found it. After such a long wait… after crossing such unimaginable distances… the moment is near. A battle… against warriors strong enough to face me!"

Seated on his throne, Boros stared down at the blue planet through the ship's transparent floor, barely containing his excitement as he murmured to himself.

Standing before him were the three top combat officers of the Dark Matter Thieves—warriors who had once followed him in conquering the stars.

Yet before Boros, neither Melzargard, with his limitless regenerative abilities and virtual immortality…

Nor Geryuganshoop, the universe's greatest esper…

Nor Groribas, a warrior of mysterious origins and immense strength…

None of them could compare to the opponent Boros was now seeking.

"Lord Boros, we've confirmed the powerful individuals on this planet. Nearly all of them are concentrated in one specific area. The one you seek must be among them!"

Geryuganshoop, who looked like a floating alien octopus, reported respectfully. During the time their mothership had hovered near Earth, the probes they released had completed a rough scan of the entire planet.

They'd confirmed that the native inhabitants had seemingly sensed something was coming and were gathering their strongest individuals—who had originally been scattered across the globe—into one region, likely to resist an unknown threat.

But in Geryuganshoop's eyes, all of these efforts were pointless. Even if the prophesied warrior truly existed on this planet, there was no way he could rival Lord Boros.

"Lord Boros, should we proceed as usual and send a final ultimatum to this planet's rulers?"

That was Groribas speaking—his head and fists were both lined with toothy maws. At first glance, he looked like a common Wolf- or Tiger-level monster. But this alien's power far exceeded that of even Demon-level threats.

"No need. We'll land directly. Kill anyone who gets in the way, and bring the prophesied warrior to me."

Boros's voice was cold and sharp. As the ruler of a vast interstellar empire who had laid waste to countless worlds, he hardly cared about the lives of Earth's inhabitants.

If it had been before he discovered Kizaru, perhaps he would have been willing to wait a little longer—for twenty years he'd searched patiently for the warrior in the prophecy.

But now that he knew of Kizaru's existence, there was no more need for waiting. Compared to his looming battle with Kizaru, destroying a single planet was a trivial matter.

"Yes, Lord Boros!"

The three officers responded firmly. They were the ones aboard the ship who revered Boros most deeply—and feared him the most.

If he ordered them to wander the cosmos aimlessly for twenty years, or to attack a worthless planet solely to satisfy his thirst for battle…

They would obey without the slightest complaint.

Soon, the massive spaceship appeared just outside Earth's atmosphere, heading directly toward City A.

The planet's artificial satellites were the first to detect the unidentified craft—

Only to be destroyed seconds later.

Fortunately, the Hero Association headquarters received the alert in time and immediately mobilized all available heroes to prepare for the invasion from space.

Woooooo… Woooooo…

The shrill sound of the alarm echoed across Hero Association HQ and the skies above City A. The citizens, seasoned by years of disasters, dove quickly into underground shelters like clockwork.

Only the most powerful S-Class heroes remained above, along with a handful of brave A-Class volunteers.

At first, it was just a small dot in the sky—but in the blink of an eye, a colossal ship, over ten kilometers long, appeared over City A.

"Let's give the natives of this planet a proper greeting…"

Geryuganshoop extended a tentacle, and using his incredible psychic power, solidified several billion cubic meters of air beneath the ship, rapidly compressing it into a dense cube of only hundreds of thousands of cubic meters.

Then, he sent the massive block hurtling toward the ground.

°°°

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