Saitama stared down at the hole where the Mauler Twins had once been, his hands shoved lazily into his yellow jumpsuit pockets. Mark stood beside him, his mouth agape as he processed what had just happened. The two twins, notorious for their giant blue-skinned, muscle-bound appearances, had been reduced to nothing more than smears in the ground.
"I just… I don't get it," Mark muttered, still hovering a few feet off the ground. "One punch? Really?"
Saitama blinked, clearly uninterested in the gravity of the situation. "What? You don't think it's normal for one punch to take them down? I mean, they were loud and annoying. I couldn't let them keep going on like that."
Mark let out an incredulous laugh. "Normal? No, Saitama, it's definitely not normal. You've just destroyed two super-powered villains with one punch. Most heroes spend years trying to get that strong."
Saitama scratched his chin thoughtfully. "Well, I've been doing this for a while now. It's just... you get used to it after a while. You know? The punching. The constant punching."
Mark hovered next to him, still in disbelief. "But, like, do you ever get tired of it? The whole hero thing?"
Saitama shrugged. "Eh, sometimes. But I kind of like making people's day easier. I mean, who else is going to do it, right? Everyone else is too busy fighting other villains."
Mark blinked. "Wait, other villains? You've got to be kidding me. You've fought other villains?"
"Sure," Saitama said, looking mildly bored. "A couple of giant monster things. A few annoying robots. Nothing too impressive. I just go in, punch the bad guy, and then go home."
Mark stared at him. "And you don't get bored of that? It's... it's insane!"
Saitama sighed. "Yeah, it can be a little repetitive. But hey, at least I'm not out here looking for trouble like some people."
Mark's face lit up with a sudden idea. "You know what? You could totally be my mentor!"
Saitama turned to him, eyebrow raised. "Mentor? What's that?"
"It's where you teach me how to be a better hero!" Mark said, grinning. "You know, like some kind of mentor-student thing."
Saitama scratched his head. "I'm not much of a teacher. I mostly just punch things."
Mark's grin widened. "That's exactly what I need! You punch stuff, and I'll... uh, try to learn from you? We could team up! I mean, you've got tons of experience. You've been punching stuff for how long now?"
Saitama thought for a moment. "Uh... a while. At least ten years, I think."
Mark's jaw dropped. "Ten years?! And you still have no challenge? How is that even possible?!"
Saitama shrugged nonchalantly. "I guess I just get bored of things really easily. The villains here aren't that tough."
Mark flew a little higher, trying to wrap his head around everything. "Man, I can't believe this. You're like the perfect hero for this job. You don't even try and you just wipe the floor with bad guys!"
Saitama scratched the back of his head. "I guess. But like I said, it's not that exciting. If I could get into a good fight, maybe I'd actually have some fun."
Mark thought about that for a moment, then something clicked. "What if we found you a villain who could actually give you a challenge?"
Saitama raised an eyebrow. "Challenge? I don't know. You'd have to find someone real strong for that to happen. I've met a few powerful guys, but most of them didn't last long."
Mark grinned, clearly inspired. "What if we went looking for one? I mean, you've got all this strength and no one to fight, right?"
Saitama shrugged again. "Sounds... kinda interesting. But first, I could really use some food."
Mark blinked. "Wait, food? We're talking about fighting dangerous villains, and you're thinking about food?"
Saitama grinned. "Yeah, fighting's good and all, but if I don't get a good meal after, then what's the point?"
Mark groaned. "You've got to be kidding me. Fine. What do you want? Pizza? Burgers?"
"Something with good protein. And I need it to be fresh," Saitama replied with a grin. "None of that fast food stuff. Gotta keep my hero physique intact."
Mark facepalmed. "You're impossible, you know that?"
Meanwhile, in the hidden control room of the Global Defense Agency, Cecil Stedman sat in front of a bank of monitors, eyes narrowing at the footage of the recent Mauler Twins' defeat. The bald man in the yellow suit had left quite an impression.
"Who is this guy?" Cecil muttered to himself, tapping his fingers on the desk. "He's not in any of our records. No known alien signatures. No energy spikes. No nothing."
His assistant, a young woman in military attire, looked up from her computer screen. "Sir, we've been tracking his energy readings. He's... unusual."
Cecil stood up, walking toward the screens. The footage of Saitama's casual defeat of the Mauler Twins replayed on one screen. "Unusual? Explain."
"Well, his readings are off the charts. He doesn't seem to generate much energy, but the force behind his punch? It's incredible. He's powerful. Beyond anything we've seen. But it's like he's holding back—he's not even breaking a sweat."
Cecil narrowed his eyes. "Sounds like someone we need to keep an eye on. Send a team to track him. I want a full background check. And get the Guardians on standby. Just in case."
Back at the Grayson household, Mark and Saitama were sitting at the kitchen table, the smell of sizzling food filling the air. Mark's mom, Debbie Grayson, was cooking dinner, looking amused at the strange guest who had been brought into her home. Saitama, of course, had made himself at home in a way that only someone who had no sense of personal space could.
"So, Saitama," Debbie began as she set a plate of food in front of him, "what brings you to our neck of the woods?"
Saitama glanced at her and smiled awkwardly. "Oh, just some... dimensional travel mishap. I was trying to find Z-City and ended up here. No big deal. Your son invited me to dinner. Said something about a hero mentor thing."
Debbie blinked. "Hero mentor? Really?"
Mark, sitting across from Saitama, nodded. "Yeah! Saitama's like the best hero I've ever met! He punches anything that gets in his way."
Saitama grinned. "That's pretty much it. I punch stuff. Helps me stay in shape."
Debbie chuckled. "Well, that's one way to do it, I guess."
Mark's dad, Nolan Grayson (aka Omni-Man), entered the kitchen, his expression unreadable. He glanced at Saitama, then back at Mark, raising an eyebrow.
"Who's this?" Nolan asked, his tone neutral.
"Uh, Dad," Mark said hesitantly, "this is Saitama. He's... well, he's a hero. From another dimension."
Nolan's eyes narrowed slightly. "Another dimension, huh?"
Saitama, clearly unfazed by Nolan's scrutinizing gaze, casually dug into his food. "Yeah. I got lost. Happens a lot."
Debbie laughed nervously, trying to break the tension. "Well, we're happy to have you, Saitama. Just... try not to punch anything in the house."
Saitama raised an eyebrow. "I wasn't planning to. Unless the food is really bad, of course."
Mark's dad shook his head slowly. "Right. I'm sure this will be... interesting."
After dinner, Mark and Saitama sat on the couch, debating whether or not they should go out looking for more "challenges." Mark, excited about the idea, was already thinking of new villains to hunt down. Saitama, however, was more concerned with whether or not he'd find a decent supermarket before the night was over.
"So," Mark said, "what kind of challenge are you looking for? Something big, like a world-ending monster? Or maybe a strong villain?"
Saitama's eyes lit up. "Maybe a world-ending monster. I haven't fought one of those in a while. And they usually have good snacks afterward."
Mark laughed. "Alright. So, we're going to fight a world-ending monster for snacks. Got it."
Saitama grinned. "Yep. It's all about balance, right? Punching and snacks."
End of chapter 2