Along with the disappearance of the Sacred Ruins Trial Tower, forces from the three major factions gradually left City J, including people watching at the coast edge who slowly dispersed.
That trial tower only appeared for about half a month. Although the number of people who entered reached tens of thousands, only few managed to survive, and even fewer truly gained benefits from it.
This was very different from the Gold List, which made people deeply realize that to obtain great power instantly, very great sacrifice was also required.
One day later, in the middle of the sea not far from City J harbor.
A twisted spatial vortex appeared, vomiting out three figures. The black-robed figure holding a black cat, Enel shouldering Mjolnir hammer, and Gin who became the object of scramble by the three major factions before.
"Finally managed to leave..." The black-robed figure swept his gaze around.
Seeing the harbor that was already empty of crowds, he breathed a sigh of relief. The pressure given by that bald Third Place was truly too great for him. If he hadn't run quickly, he might have already been finished on the spot.
"Master, why are we still here?" Enel looked puzzled seeing the surrounding scenery.
He thought the black-robed figure was taking him across dimensions to go to a far place, unexpectedly they were still at the same location, just that the Trial Tower was no longer there.
Gin also looked at the black-robed figure full of question marks.
The black-robed figure said flatly: "I have my own plans. Follow me."
While saying so, he brought the two shooting rapidly toward the Naruto world's direction.
◆━⊰✿✧✿⊱━◆
At the same time, at a location not far from City J, a silver-haired young man was sitting inside a hotel. He stood near the window, staring at the empty coast with a furrowed forehead.
"The Sacred Ruins Trial Tower has already disappeared. Am I late again..."
He was Garou who had just arrived.
Initially he was very far from City J, and midway he was repeatedly blocked several times by groups from the Monster Association.
Although he had already made the Hidden Expert List and received Gold List rewards and was still in the protection period—so opponents couldn't kill him—their actual goal was wanting his Evolution Key.
After going through several life-and-death crises, Garou's power once again experienced a great leap. Now, he was already capable of fighting on par with several top-ranking people in S-Class. Whereas when he just got the Evolution Key, his power was just around A-Class level.
The essence of the Evolution Key was going through life-and-death crises, letting all cells be in a very active state to produce breakthroughs and evolve toward the most perfect condition.
Garou himself had very high martial arts talent; combined with the Evolution Key, his power and level now had completely surpassed his teacher, Bang.
*KNOCK-KNOCK-KNOCK!*
Suddenly, his room door was knocked.
"Who is it?" Garou turned very warily.
"Room service." a young man's voice was heard from behind the door.
Garou frowned, he walked behind the door and peeked through the peephole. Visible was a young uniformed waiter pushing a food cart.
Because Garou was still in the protection period, plus this area was previously filled with big figures, he wasn't afraid of minions from the Monster Association trying to create chaos. He directly opened the door.
"Who are you?" Garou asked directly.
The young man before him looked just in his teens, had a very clean and handsome face, and possessed a special aura that merged with nature. Hatred and goodness appeared to coexist in him, and in his eyes occasionally visible were flashes of red light. Clearly he wasn't an ordinary person.
"Mr. Garou, it really wasn't easy to find you..."
Suddenly, a languid voice was heard from the corner of the wall outside the door, the voice unclear whether male or female, with a slightly mocking tone.
Garou quickly turned his head. Outside the door, a young man wearing a long black robe was leaning against the wall, looking toward him while smiling faintly.
Garou's pupils shrank; this man gave him a very dangerous feeling, as if he was being watched by a snake.
"Orochimaru?"
Garou remembered that person's words in the live broadcast room.
The two people standing outside the door were none other than Orochimaru and Uchiha Sasuke.
Orochimaru had successfully taken over the Human-Immortal body, possessing a physical body that was theoretically perfect. Now his body had also been injected with large amounts of Hashirama cells, giving him longevity and power far greater than before.
"Exactly right."
Orochimaru looked at Garou with a beaming face, as if admiring a perfect work of art.
With the corners of his mouth slightly raised, he said: "May we come in to sit for a moment?"
Garou thought for a moment, then shifted aside to make way and said flatly: "Come in."
Sasuke and Orochimaru entered the room.
Garou closed the door, looking at the two who had already found their respective seats, then asked coldly: "Did you also come for the Evolution Key?"
"Of course!"
Orochimaru observed the furniture inside the room with curiosity.
Modern furniture like this was indeed far more unique compared to what existed in the Naruto world. The long journey to the One Punch Man world to find Garou truly opened his eyes.
Garou then looked at Sasuke and asked: "You're Uchiha Sasuke? Your rank isn't far different from mine and you also received great rewards. Did you also come to seize my Evolution Key?"
Sasuke shook his head: "I'm not interested in your reward. The one who wants the Evolution Key is him."
Orochimaru looked at Garou, his pupils changed to vertical like a snake's, and said without mincing words: "Garou, since I've already found you, you must realize you can't run. Hand over that Evolution Key to me, and I'll give you great power—power no less than top-ranking people on the Strongest List. If not, once your protection period ends, I'll take it myself from your corpse!"
Garou laughed coldly: "You're threatening me?"
Orochimaru shook his head slowly: "I'm not threatening you, I'm just stating facts. You know I have the power to do that."
Garou rubbed something and asked: "Why are you so sure that all three Evolution Keys haven't been used by me yet?"
Orochimaru instantly laughed: "Garou, perhaps you don't know yet. Since that mysterious Gold List appeared, I've always been studying it. Although until now I haven't known where it came from or what kind of existence it is, the items it gives aren't unique in nature. Understand my meaning?"
Garou frowned: "Explain more specifically."
Orochimaru said: "It means, all rewards from the Gold List can be 'dropped' (taken). As long as you find the right method, even special abilities can be transferred to others. For example this kid..."
Orochimaru pointed toward Sasuke. "A very powerful Blood Limit (Kekkei Genkai), Sharingan. You may have heard of it. He made the Hidden Expert List and obtained even more special eye techniques. But once his protection period ends, if I want his abilities, I can use special methods to gouge out his eyes and install them in my own body. Up to here, do you understand?"