Saitama
Status: [Normal State]
Hero Title: Caped Baldy
Intelligence: 2 (normal)
Strength: 6 (superhuman, 705t–1000t)
Speed: 6 (lightspeed, 1,860,000 miles per second)
Endurance: 7 (nearly immortal)
Energy Projection: 5 (long-range single-energy release over extended time)
Combat Skills: 5 (mastery of one fighting style)
Justice Value: 3
"Uh… compared to this Captain America guy, I guess I'm a bit stronger?"
[Respected Host, your Normal State is your weakest, and you already completely outclass Captain America.]
In truth, Saitama also had Serious Mode, Angry Mode, and even Ultimate Mode. Of course, in the One Punch world, he had never needed to use Serious Mode, so even he didn't know his true limits.
"My mission is just to save that guy with the shield?"
[Yes, Host.]
…
At 5,000 meters altitude—
A deafening sonic boom split the air, the roaring wind like knives shattering reinforced glass. If not for the super-soldier serum, Steve Rogers would have suffocated from the high-altitude drop alone.
His enhanced vision clearly picked out a bald man on the small island below, gazing up at him.
Barring a miracle, the massive aircraft was going to crash right onto that island. The control systems were completely destroyed—there was no stopping it.
"Get out of there!! Damn it, why is there even someone here? Run!"
Steve shouted, but his voice was swallowed by the howling wind.
"What's going on? Steve!!"
Peggy's urgent voice came through the comms.
"There's someone at the crash site—damn it, the explosion will cover at least a one-kilometer radius, that guy—what the—?!"
As a symbol of justice, Steve could never watch an innocent die because of him. But his words stopped dead. His eyes widened, jaw dropping wide enough to fit two eggs.
…
Below—
Saitama swung his arms, finishing a few dozen seconds of warm-up. For the first time, his salted-fish face showed a hint of seriousness.
Like a predator, he hunched down, bent his knees slightly, clenched his fists, and his eyes sharpened.
Boom—
Explosive Step!
He shot upward like a shell. The ground beneath his feet split into a crater 20 meters wide and 5 meters deep, spiderweb cracks racing outward, the lone coconut tree shattering into splinters.
His speed shattered the sound barrier instantly—the sound itself lagging behind.
Steve's eyes bulged. "What the hell?!"
Have you ever seen anyone leap 5,000 meters in one jump?
Steve might have been considered a "mini-Superman" in the world's eyes, but that was only compared to ordinary humans. His strength and speed were far beyond normal—but nothing like this bald monster in a yellow jumpsuit, red gloves, and a white cape.
In a blink, the figure was at the nose of the massive aircraft, separated from Steve by only a layer of glass. Their eyes met.
"Steve! Steve! What's going on? Answer me!!"
Peggy's urgent voice blared from the comm, but Steve was frozen, mind blank.
"Normal Punch?"
Saitama aimed his red glove at the nose of the aircraft, ready to smash.
But seeing Steve's dazed face, he hesitated. "What if I accidentally kill him?"
He changed his fist into an open palm, fingers splaying as he pressed one hand against the falling aircraft's nose.
Thousands of tons of mass and all the momentum of the fall were concentrated into Saitama's hand.
"You're insane! Get out of the way! Who are you? You'll die doing this!"
Steve had snapped out of it, shouting in alarm.
For all his enhanced strength, even he couldn't stop the aircraft's fall. If humans like him were still within the realm of "people," then this Caped Baldy was already something beyond human.
Beep beep beep~~~
The sharp alarm blared. The diagnostics showed the entire front half of the Blackwing craft being rapidly destroyed—not from impact, but from being forcibly stopped mid-fall by this monster's strength. The armor warped and buckled.
And yet, the speed gauge… plummeted to zero.
At around 3,000 meters altitude—
The panoramic window shattered completely, the Blackwing's descent halted in midair.
Steve stared in horror. The nose was completely mangled, and a bald man in a yellow jumpsuit with a white cape was holding the entire thing up with one hand.
"Steve! Steve!! Are you alive? I just heard an explosion!!"
Peggy's voice was choked with panic.
"Peggy… you're not going to believe this… I'm just… floating here in midair…"
(End of Chapter)
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