While Saitama was enjoying his hot pot, Gustave suddenly thought of something. The fighting opportunities he'd been desperately seeking—weren't there plenty of them in the One Punch Man world?
Among those countless varieties of monsters, many were incredibly powerful. Even if he encountered one he couldn't defeat, didn't he have Saitama backing him up?
"I'm a genius!"
Gustave was genuinely impressed by his own cleverness.
So, when Saitama finished his meal and stood up to pay the bill, Gustave said:
"You don't need to pay for this meal."
Free food made Saitama happy the same way supermarket discounts did, but that didn't mean Saitama was stupid. Although he appeared somewhat simple-minded, this inexplicable generosity still struck him as strange.
"Why not?"
Saitama stared at Gustave with his characteristic dead-fish eyes.
Gustave almost couldn't suppress his laughter—Saitama's usual simplified art style was genuinely hilarious.
"Saitama, I'm treating you to this meal, but it's not entirely free. I'd like to ask for your help with something."
If Gustave were a monster, Saitama wouldn't need to worry about anything and could simply solve the problem with one punch. Unfortunately, Gustave wasn't a monster and could actually be considered Saitama's friend. Moreover, Gustave had already treated him for free last time, which had made Saitama feel uncomfortable. Now that Gustave admitted there were conditions attached, Saitama actually felt more at ease.
"Then Gustave, what do you need my help with?"
"I want to visit your world for a while. Could I stay at your house during that time?"
Gustave remembered that in the One Punch Man world, many cities and buildings were reduced to ruins due to monster appearances. Although Gustave wasn't short on money, if he purchased real estate in such a world, he might go out for groceries and come back to find his house completely destroyed. Wouldn't that be a waste?
As the protagonist, Saitama's house seemed to have rarely been destroyed by monsters. Living at Saitama's place, Gustave wouldn't need to worry about encountering unbeatable opponents. Therefore, this seemed like the perfect solution.
"Well..."
Saitama was considering whether to agree to let Gustave live in his house. After all, Gustave hadn't charged him for two meals now, and he seemed to owe quite a few favors.
"Saitama, if I live at your house, I'll handle all the cooking."
Seeing Saitama's hesitation, Gustave played his trump card.
"Deal!"
Sure enough, when Saitama heard that Gustave would take over cooking duties, he agreed without a moment's hesitation.
"Then I'll go back to my room and grab some spare clothes and bedding, and we can head over?"
"No problem! I'll wait for you at the Gate of All Worlds!"
Thinking about leaving all the cooking to Gustave in the future, Saitama felt suddenly optimistic about his upcoming lifestyle.
And so, Gustave gathered a quilt, spare clothes, and toiletries, then followed Saitama to the One Punch Man world.
The two passed through the Gate of All Worlds and arrived at Saitama's apartment. Honestly, Saitama's place wasn't very large—roughly sixty square meters, with two bedrooms, a living room, a kitchen, and a bathroom. Come to think of it, before becoming One Punch Man, Saitama had been just an ordinary unemployed person, and his economic circumstances weren't particularly good.
Before becoming One Punch Man and meeting the "funding warrior" Genos who would eventually convince him to register as a professional hero, Saitama had apparently been surviving on odd jobs. His life had been rather difficult, truth be told.
Yet despite possessing such overwhelming strength, he never used it for personal gain or evil purposes. He always adhered to his original intention of becoming a hero—fighting monsters and protecting the weak. Saitama truly deserved to be called a genuine hero.
"Saitama, do you live here alone?"
After arriving, Gustave realized that Saitama apparently hadn't met the funding warrior Genos yet.
"Yeah, I live alone right now," Saitama confirmed with a nod.
'So I've arrived at the very beginning of the story?' Gustave thought to himself.
"Gustave, you can stay in this room."
Saitama brought Gustave to the second bedroom, opened the door, and revealed a room that clearly hadn't been occupied in quite some time.
"Thank you, Saitama."
"No problem. Do you need help unpacking?"
"No, I'm fine. Just go do whatever you normally do."
"Alright then."
Saitama left the room.
Gustave made up the bed he'd brought, hung up his clothes, found a suitable place for his toiletries, then emerged from the room.
After coming out, Gustave saw that Saitama had changed into casual home clothes and was sitting in the living room watching television.
Gustave approached Saitama, sat down beside him, and asked:
"Saitama, do you encounter monsters frequently around here?"
"How often do monsters appear?"
Hearing Gustave's question, Saitama raised his head, thought for a moment, recalled the strange creatures he'd encountered recently, then answered:
"Not that often. When it's frequent, I might see one every three or four days. When it's quiet, maybe once a week or so."
Hearing Saitama's answer, Gustave couldn't help but complain internally:
'That's already incredibly high, okay? If monster appearances were this frequent in the Nexus world, Jun would have been completely drained dry by now.'
After calming his thoughts, Gustave continued asking:
"So Saitama, how do you usually learn about monster appearances?"
Gustave remembered that Saitama didn't seem to possess any ability like Observation Haki that could detect threats in the surrounding environment. Could it be that every monster encounter was simply through protagonist luck?
"Oh, that. I learn about them from watching TV," Saitama said, pointing at the television.
"Watch TV?"
Gustave looked confused.
"That's right. Every time a monster shows up and causes damage, there's a news report on TV. I rush to the location they broadcast. Of course, sometimes I run into monsters when I'm just out shopping or something."
Saitama answered earnestly.
Gustave studied Saitama thoughtfully. Since he learned about monsters by watching TV, hadn't the broadcasts mentioned anything about becoming a registered professional hero?
Before Genos arrived, Saitama had been an unregistered hero for three years. All his heroic accomplishments had been mistakenly attributed to King, who had absolutely no desire to be a hero whatsoever. However, given Saitama's personality, this situation made perfect sense.
Someone who learned about monsters exclusively from television news apparently didn't even know to register with the Hero Association. This could only be explained as the author's narrative will.
However, Gustave had no intention of informing Saitama about professional hero registration. After all, he'd just arrived in the One Punch Man world, and it would be inappropriate to demonstrate that he knew more about this place than Saitama, an actual native. More importantly, this was Genos's fated encounter, and Gustave wouldn't steal the luck of a fellow warrior.
"Then you keep watching TV. Remember to tell me if there's any news about monster appearances. I'm going to check out the balcony view."
"Sure."
Saitama nodded and continued watching television.
Gustave stood up and walked to the balcony of Saitama's apartment. Looking outside, Gustave discovered that the neighborhood where Saitama lived was essentially divided into two completely different worlds. One side was ruins and rubble; the other side was a normal functioning human city.
After observing for a while, Gustave activated his Observation Haki and discovered that although Saitama's building and the immediate surrounding blocks remained intact, none of the other apartments contained any residents. The nearest human activity was three or four blocks away.
"It seems Saitama is single-handedly protecting this one patch of safe ground," Gustave murmured with genuine respect.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Writing takes time, coffee, and a lot of love.If you'd like to support my work, join me at [email protected]/GoldenGaruda
You'll get early access to over 50 chapters, selection on new series, and the satisfaction of knowing your support directly fuels more stories.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~