In the police car.
After starting the engine, Johnson stared in bewilderment. With a wave of his hand, a white-quality common card materialized from thin air, displaying a carefree bald head with lifeless fish eyes.
Getting a Fantasy Card from just one brief encounter — this was unprecedented in his experience.
Did I just activate my Stand ability? I have no idea!
With any other Monster, I'd need to fight a boss battle first and actively collect the dropped rewards.
Chalking it up to Saitama's unique nature as a child of this world, Johnson turned his attention to the card in his hand.
╔══════════════════════╗
FANTASY CARD: Limiter Fragment
CARD TYPE: Special Card
RARITY: N
┌─ SYSTEM DESCRIPTION ─┐
An unknown fragment from an unknown source.
┌─ PRIMARY FUNCTION — ??? ─┐
???
┌─ ??? ─┐
???
╚══════════════════════╝
Johnson: "…?"
The question marks on the card left him puzzled.
He understood limiters well — as Dr. Genus, the tech villain, had explained in the original story, they were one of this world's fundamental rules.
All living beings have inherent limits they cannot surpass, regardless of effort. These growth restrictions — called limiters — allow creatures to develop while maintaining their species' survival instincts and rationality.
Put simply, S-Class heroes are born with broader limiters than normal humans, as seen in Child Emperor's genius intellect, Tatsumaki's psychic powers, and Bang's martial arts talent.
When humans transform into Monsters, their species change resets their limiter. Saitama remains the only being who removed his limiter while maintaining human form.
As for this "Limiter Fragment"... The automatically generated N Card's Stand feedback revealed nothing about its function. Yet being Saitama's product, Johnson doubted it could be useless.
He decided to store it in his card library for now. After all, the Fantasy Card library was limitless — he could collect anything without worry.
While the encounter with Saitama seemed minor, Johnson couldn't shake an inexplicable sense of unease. What others saw as terrifying Monster disasters had become precious, non-renewable resources in his eyes.
If baldy showed up again... well, he'd better get paid extra!
✱✱✱✱✱✱✱✱✱✱
A month passed.
During this time, Z-City saw no Demon-level or higher disasters, but Wolf and Tiger-level Monsters sprouted up like bamboo shoots after rain.
Onion Monster, Sausage Monster, Mailbox Monster, Toilet Monster... These everyday objects kept transforming into Monsters, their triggers unknown.
While hunting them down, Johnson couldn't shake the feeling these Monsters were meant for Saitama's leveling.
It felt like... he was kill-stealing.
His diligent patrolling (card drawing) had somewhat improved his base abilities. But drawing cards was pure luck — no matter how handsome you were, like the readers of a certain Patreon translator, you couldn't influence it.
Limited by drop rates, he was still focused on strengthening his basic attributes — which, ironically, mirrored what that future baldy was doing.
During his recent patrols, Johnson had begun sensing vague gazes following him. Yet whenever he actively used his Spider Sense to investigate, he couldn't pinpoint their source.
The absence of detected threats suggested no immediate danger, but he maintained his vigilance.
Though others might be unaware, Johnson knew the Monster Association's headquarters lay directly beneath Z-City. Being watched, given his frequent activities, was inevitable.
Still, there was no shame in growing stronger. The Hero Association's rising prominence meant they were the ones in the spotlight now. With their backing, Johnson felt secure.
At the police station.
"Johnson, Chief Bear wants to see you."
"Me?" Johnson looked up from his reports, surprised, and turned to the blushing female officer, "Do you know what it's about, Kyoko?"
"I don't know." Kyoko said, touching her lips thoughtfully as she batted her large eyes, "Some visitors arrived at the chief's office early this morning — it might be related to them?"
"Visitors... alright, I got it."
As Kyoko left, her ponytail swaying, Johnson set aside his work and headed toward the chief's office at the corridor's end.
"PCZ9527 reporting."
"Come in."
Three men in suits sat on the sofa opposite the chief. As Johnson entered, their gazes snapped toward him in unison, studying him from head to toe. He fought back a frown.
What are you guys doing, 3D printing?
"Chief, you called for me?"
"Yes." Noticing the visitors' increasingly intense stares, Chief Bear cleared his throat twice to break their focus, "This is our excellent officer, Johnson. You may discuss your proposal with him directly."
Huh?
Johnson caught the chief's displeased tone and felt bewildered. What proposal? How could the chief throw him into this without any explanation?
"Yes, thank you for the introduction!" The three men in black suits rose in perfect synchronization. Their leader, after thanking Chief Bear, approached Johnson, "Mr. Johnson, it's an honor to meet you! I'm an executive from the Hero Association's Z-City branch — please call me Bucky."
"Hello..."
"We've come today to invite you to join the Hero Association as a professional hero. Of course, this won't affect your current job — you'll just need to cooperate with our publicity during your free time. We've already discussed this with Chief Bear! We're confident we can make you Z-City's... no, the entire Association's most popular ace hero!"
At the mention of his name, Chief Bear rolled his eyes, "Hold on — I haven't agreed to anything. Though I won't interfere if you can convince Johnson."
Ah, so these were the Hero Association people, Johnson realized.
In a modern city filled with surveillance cameras and smartphones, complete anonymity was impossible.
No wonder Chief Bear seemed displeased — he'd never liked this competing civilian organization. But with official backing now in place, the Hero Association's expansion was inevitable, and there was nothing he could do about it.
Johnson nodded, finally understanding the source of that mysterious feeling of being watched lately.
The Hero Association had been following him!
That explained why his Spider Sense hadn't triggered any alerts.
After careful consideration, Johnson asked, "Could you tell me more about the duties and obligations of becoming a hero?"
Bucky, the Association executive, nodded eagerly, "Of course! We've brought all the materials with us — we can find a place to discuss the details."