A young man lay on the ground, stunned and disoriented. His clothes were a mess, and his round glasses sat crooked—an obvious sign of how utterly disheveled he was.
He didn't care about how he looked. The situation he faced was enormous, and the weight of it left him in a state of shock and disbelief.
"I—I got transmigrated?!" he stammered, hardly believing it. His hands trembled as he pushed his glasses back into place.
I can't believe this. That I, Drav Itsuki — a normal young man and university student — could experience transmigration!
Drav thought this with a mix of incredulity and wild excitement.
He still couldn't understand how a routine trip home from campus had ended with him being sent to another world.
At first he assumed it was only a dream. But the vivid pain and sensations pulsing through him proved the situation was painfully real.
As for how he knew he'd been transmigrated and not simply kidnapped—well...
SIREN
"ATTENTION!!! A DEMON-CLASS MONSTER HAS BEEN DETECTED IN CITY Y!!! ALL RESIDENTS MUST EVACUATE TO THE NEAREST SHELTER IMMEDIATELY! PLEASE REMAIN CALM! NEAREST HEROES ARE EN ROUTE!!!"
Yep. This was the world of One Punch Man — one of the most popular manga universes, famous for its absurdly overpowered protagonist, Saitama.
But there's a reason Saitama stands out as one of the strongest characters in fiction.
The villains here are outrageously powerful. Threats escalate from destroying cities (which technically a nation or country since there is no country in this world) to leveling continents, then planets, and even entire galaxies. Rumor even whispered that One Punch Man's final boss — GOD — might be a universal or multiversal-level entity.
Anyone could imagine how dangerous life as an ordinary passerby or NPC would be in such a world.
If you don't know how to defend yourself, all you can do is pray to survive the next day. A monster can appear at any moment.
So for Drav, this transmigration was both a curse and a strange kind of luck.
He didn't know whether to laugh or cry upon realizing where he was.
"Fucking hell! What weird luck I have! How did I end up in this chaotic world?!"
Drav didn't know what to do; he could only curse fate for dropping him into such danger.
He drew a deep breath and forced himself to calm down. There was no time to panic.
"For now, evacuate — in case a monster comes this way." Drav pushed himself up, straightened his clothes, and started running.
Please God—no monsters. Don't let there be a monster!
Unfortunately, he was praying to the wrong existence. In this world, "God" was not a benevolent savior, but the final villain lurking behind the curtain of fate.
As he ran as fast as he could, a black shadow suddenly fell over his field of vision. He froze, and a cold, menacing presence washed over him.
Without thinking, his body followed instinct. He ducked, and at the same moment a powerful gust raced over him as a massive monster's hand swiped past.
"Oh? Interesting! You managed to dodge my attack, insect," a playful voice called from behind, laced with curious amusement. Drav turned toward the sound.
"M-Monster!!!" Drav cried in panic when he saw the creature: a terrifying, three-meter-tall lizardlike behemoth—think Marvel's Lizard villain—looming before him, regarding Drav like prey and a toy.
"Hahaha!!! Yes! Tremble in fear! Fear me—Lizardman! You annoying insect!" the Lizardman bellowed, his voice echoing through the city.
"You insects used me as a guinea pig for your technological experiments! Now accept my vengeance for how you toyed with my life!!!" His words crackled with rage and a murderous aura, leaving anyone who heard them frozen in terror.
Shit! Shit! What do I do now? If I run, I'll be killed. If I do nothing, I'll meet the same end.
While the crowd trembled at Lizardman's roar, Drav's mind raced. For some reason, fear and stun effects that would normally terrify people didn't take hold of him.
That gave him a sliver of opportunity to think.
Right! A cheat! I mean, Goldenfinger! As a transmigrator, I'm supposed to get something like that, right? Right?!
Grasping at hope, he frantically tried to summon the cheats he thought should be available to him.
System! Chat group! Panel! Status! Come on! Come on! System!!!
He shouted at his mind, manic and desperate, but after several tries nothing appeared. The cheats he expected failed to materialize.
I—It's over!!! Wooo... My life is over!!!
Despair pooled in his chest. Tears spilled down his face as Lizardman refocused his gaze on him.
Well... this is really it... Goodbye, Father, Mother, Big Brother, Little Sister... I hope you live well... Sayonara, guys...
Surrendering, Drav closed his eyes and waited for the monster's blow.
But—
How can I just give up now, damn it! I haven't really lived yet! I haven't even enjoyed the benefits of transmigration!
A fierce resolve ignited inside him. It flared like a flame; his eyes snapped open. Instinct screamed through his limbs, urging him to dodge.
BOOM!!!
"Almost got me! I'm still alive!!!" he gasped, heart pounding, gratitude and adrenaline mixing as he stared at the ruined patch of asphalt where he had just been—scorched, cracked, and cratered.
"Oh? Interesting—again you managed to dodge my attack, you little insect. And it seems you're even immune to my Sonic Wave," Lizardman chuckled, his curiosity toward Drav growing. To him, Drav looked like an ordinary, weak human—far weaker than housewives or children.
Perhaps that was because Drav wasn't born in the One Punch Man world; he'd transmigrated physically, not been reincarnated. His body was different from the natives'—here, people harbored the potential to become superhuman, while Drav's physiology remained foreign.
"Then dodge this!" Lizardman snarled. At the same moment, an alarm flared in Drav's instincts and he reacted instantly.
BOOM.
"Ohoho… You evaded again. I never thought such a puny insect—less powerful than a baby insect—could dodge me repeatedly," Lizardman said, a flicker of surprise in his voice. He hadn't expected Drav to slip away once more.
"Ha… ha… ha… I—survived again…" Drav panted, his heart pounding so hard it felt like it would burst from his chest. He slapped at his ribcage and wiped the sweat that slicked his hair.
Again and again the sequence repeated: Lizardman attacked, Drav dodged. The pedestrians who had shaken off the Sonic Wave's stun watched in stunned silence, unable to tear their eyes away.
But Drav's repeated escapes stripped Lizardman of his playful composure. Anger and ferocity replaced amusement, and his strikes grew faster and sharper.
"You annoying piece of shit insect! Die—now!" Lizardman roared, unleashing a barrage of blows at Drav.
Concentrating, locked in some narrowing zone of survival, Drav kept evading on instinct. Still, he was only a regular human; a few of the lightning-fast strikes found their mark, opening wounds across his body.
Fatigue, pain, and dizziness battered him. Yet his stubborn human will kept him from collapsing.
"Annoying insect—die! Die!!!" The assault intensified, relentless and brutal, while Drav's body steadily weakened and slowed.
I—I can't give up! I don't want to die like this! Oooooh! Come on, my indomitable human will! Show how strong a human can be!
"Haaaaaa!!!" With a scream packed full of determination, Drav forced his exhausted, aching body to push past its limits. He overclocked himself—if only for a little—and his dodging speed snapped back, even showing signs of improving.
"What?! Impossible?!!" Lizardman watched in utter disbelief. The feeble insect before him should have been slowing down and collapsing; instead, he had become faster and stronger. The sight filled Lizardman with an inexplicable, cold fear.
Panic rattled through the lizard beast. Its attacks, now driven by fear, accelerated even more.
The result was devastating: the speed of Lizardman's onslaught far outstripped Drav's new burst. Despite the adrenaline and life-or-death desperation, Drav reached his limit—and soon, a brutal blow landed squarely on his left shoulder.
He was hurled like a bullet.
Before he could brace himself, Drav slammed into the cafe façade.
CRASH—BOOM.
Glass shattered. Tables and chairs tumbled, furniture splintering with a cacophony of breaking wood and clinking porcelain as if a giant had struck them. The smell of hot, fried oil and coffee turned to dust and smoke in the air.
When the dust settled, Drav lay motionless amid the wreckage—blood darkening his clothes, wounds streaking his skin.
"Is this the end?"
That was the last coherent thought before he was hurled away and darkness swallowed him.
He'd expected to die—to sleep forever—after the brutal beating he'd just taken: deep wounds, the hot iron tang of blood in his mouth, and the dizzy, sinking weight of pain that made every breath an effort.
But what came after the blackout was not the silence of death. He awoke in a strange place: dim, unfamiliar, with a chaotic mist curling and writhing around him like living smoke. The air felt cold and thin; it pressed against his skin and carried an odd metallic whisper.
"Is this the afterlife? Am I really dead now?" he murmured, eyes scanning the gloom with a mix of dread and curiosity.
Before he could make sense of anything, information popped into his mind as if downloaded—clean, undeniable. For a moment he was stunned, paralyzed by the sudden clarity.
Then something in him broke loose. Laughter—wild and relieved—burst out. "Ahahaha!!! This is my cheat! My Goldenfinger!!!" He laughed like a madman for a while, the sound echoing oddly in the mist, until the fit subsided and he drew himself together.
But doubt crept back in. "But... am I still alive back there?" he wondered, uncertain what state his physical body occupied now. After all, this place seemed lodged in his soul.
"I must still be alive," he told himself, trying to steady his hope. "Otherwise it'd be absurd to be handed a cheat after I'd already died."
He clung to that tiny optimism. Yet curiosity and surprise warred with it. "But this cheat… I didn't expect it to be like this," Drav muttered, astonished, as his cheat was different than he thought it was.