"Where's the money?"
Zenkichi's voice was calm but carried weight as he looked at the man before him.
The area was deserted. If this person was the one waiting here, then he had to be the contact.
"Your strength is terrifying—beyond terrifying," the man said slowly. "To you, money should be meaningless. I don't understand why you're so insistent on it. Is it truly important to you? Or… do you simply take commitments very seriously?"
He turned his head slightly as he spoke, his voice low and deliberate.
Zenkichi studied him. He had sensed this man once before, back at the base, but hadn't bothered to examine him closely. Now, face to face, it was their first true meeting.
"Who are you?" Zenkichi asked flatly.
"You can call me… Dragonite."
The stranger's words rolled out slowly, as though savoring the moment.
Zenkichi's gaze sharpened. "And your purpose here today? Are you here to stand up for those cowards?"
Dragonite shook his head. "I have no intention of helping them. What I want is something else. Tell me—how did you obtain such overwhelming power? If I recall correctly, you weren't this strong before. Yet in such a short time, your strength has risen to a level that terrifies even me."
He narrowed his eyes. The hunger in his tone was unmistakable.
"You want to know the source of my power?" Zenkichi's voice dropped, cold and laced with killing intent. "There are questions you don't ask. You've just crossed a line."
The air around him grew heavy. His words alone carried the weight of lethal promise.
Dragonite, however, remained unfazed. He tilted his head, almost amused. "I've been watching you for a long time. The pace of your growth… it's frightening. Something like that shouldn't belong to one person alone. Power that immense should be shared, don't you think?"
Zenkichi chuckled, though his eyes stayed sharp. "Shared? You're joking. I've never met anyone so delusional."
"What if I say you have no choice?" Dragonite's voice hardened, his eyes burning with aggression.
Zenkichi's expression didn't waver. "Then what if I say no?"
"You won't say no," Dragonite replied confidently, stepping forward, his killing intent pressing down like a storm. "Because you're not qualified to refuse."
In the next instant, he moved. His figure blurred, vanishing and reappearing right before Zenkichi in the blink of an eye.
"Then I'll beat the answer out of you!"
Dragonite's fist crashed down, carrying terrifying force, aimed directly at Zenkichi's skull.
"Boom!"
The strike landed with explosive impact, power compressed into a single devastating point. The air trembled. The sheer force was enough to shatter boulders and collapse mountains.
The punch connected with Zenkichi's forehead, the shockwave rippling outward like a thunderclap. The raw power surged into him, rattling even his iron-like body. For a moment, his vision blurred under the sheer weight of the blow.
It was an attack worthy of a god.
Yet even as the ground cracked beneath his feet, Arakawa Zenkichi did not fall. His eyes focused, sharp as blades, and a faint smile tugged at the corner of his lips.
"You call that power?" he said quietly, his voice steady despite the impact. "You'll have to do better than that."
---
Man, too much nerfing, it's getting annoying...