...
"Boss, another plate!"
Twenty minutes later, young Goku shoveled the last of the roasted meat and rice into his mouth with lightning speed and called out to the bearded owner.
The owner stood frozen, staring at the stack of dozens of empty plates piled high on Goku's table. He stammered in response, "There's... there's none left right now. You'll have to wait a while."
He had only been open for a short time. Even though his morning preparations for meat and rice were meant to feed dozens of adult customers, his stock had been completely depleted. He looked at Goku as if he were looking at a monster, his eyes wide with genuine fear.
Even the world's most famous competitive eaters couldn't polish off enough food for thirty grown men in twenty minutes, let alone a boy who looked barely twelve. The other customers in the shop were equally stunned. A few younger patrons had pulled out their phones, recording the scene and uploading the footage to Facebook.
The only person who remained calm was the young girl, Laura. She continued to play with her toy ball, though she cast a curious, analytical glance toward Goku.
*BANG!*
Suddenly, a gunshot rang out from the fifth floor of the building above.
Laura's expression instantly shifted into a mask of feral rage. With speed far exceeding that of a normal human, she bolted out of the shop.
"The lady is in danger!"
Goku's ears twitched. In a blur of motion, he vanished from his seat, overtaking Laura before she even reached the sidewalk. Without breaking stride, he planted his feet and launched himself upward.
With a single leap, he soared fifteen meters into the air, landing perfectly on the fifth-floor balcony and rushing into the apartment. Below, the crowd on the street erupted in screams of disbelief.
Inside the room, Gabriela was pinned to the floor by a hulking Mexican man. The man had been shot in the thigh and was bleeding profusely; his left hand was locked around Gabriela's throat, while his right hand pressed a handgun firmly against her forehead.
"Fuck! You stupid bitch! I tried to be nice!"
Seeing Goku suddenly burst into the room, the man didn't hesitate. He swung the gun toward the boy and pulled the trigger. Goku casually swatted the bullet aside with the back of his hand as if he were shooing away a fly.
"What the...!"
The man froze. Swatting a bullet? Was that even humanly possible? As Gabriela's boyfriend, he had been bought off by the Institute's Commander, but he hadn't been briefed on the true extent of mutant abilities—especially not whatever this boy was.
*BOOM!*
Before he could process the shock, Goku was already on him. A heavy kick connected with the man's side, sending him flying across the room. He slammed into the wall with a sickening thud and slumped to the floor, coughing up blood. Every bone in his torso felt shattered before he finally spiraled into unconsciousness.
"Are you okay, ma'am?"
"I'm... I'm okay. We have to get out of here. Now!"
Gabriela scrambled up, gasping for air as she clutched her bruised throat. She shot a look of pure loathing at her half-dead boyfriend and delivered several sharp kicks to his ribs for good measure. Grabbing a thick roll of cash from the table, she grabbed Goku's hand and ran for the door.
They ran into Laura on the stairs. Gabriela scooped her up, rushed to the car, and threw a hundred pesos at the bearded shop owner as she peeled out of the parking lot.
The owner stared at the hundred-peso bill in his hand as the car vanished into traffic. He opened his mouth to protest, then thought better of it. Normally, a hundred pesos was more than enough for two kids, but that boy had eaten the equivalent of a small banquet. He was facing a massive loss.
However, remembering the gunshot and the sight of the boy leaping five stories into the air, he decided silence was the safer option. 'Maybe,' he thought, 'I can use the footage to advertise this place as a viral 'superhero' restaurant.'
...
"Son, thank you for saving me back there!"
Gabriela kept her foot floored, weaving through traffic as they sped toward the outskirts of the city. She spoke to Goku through the rearview mirror.
"But I have to be honest with you. If you stay with us, things are going to get very dangerous. We're likely to run into the most terrifying, powerful people in this world. If you want, I can drop you off up ahead. I'll give you some money, and you can head south. Find a remote city and try to start over."
Originally, she had intended to adopt Goku and take him to "Eden" and eventually Canada. If she had gotten the money from her boyfriend without trouble, they could have rented a faster car and made a straight run for the border of North Dakota. Eden was rumored to be right on the edge of the border; once they reached it, Canada was only twenty kilometers away.
The Institute didn't know her specific destination, and she believed she could outrun them. But during the "loan" request, her boyfriend had managed to trick several pieces of information out of her and reported them to the Commander. Although he didn't get the exact coordinates, the Institute now knew they were heading for North Dakota.
She only realized she'd been betrayed when she saw him on the phone with the Commander. She had tried to shoot him, but his superior strength had allowed him to overpower her. If Goku hadn't arrived, she would be dead.
The stakes had changed. If it were just mercenaries, Goku and Laura might have stood a chance. But she knew the Institute held a trump card: the X-24.
The reason the Institute had ordered the execution of the other mutant children was that they had successfully created the X-24—a perfect clone of the X-Man known as Wolverine. He possessed an unstoppable healing factor and claws laced with indestructible Adamantium.
Most importantly, he was a mindless berserker under the Institute's total control. If the experiment was deemed a success, they could mass-produce him. Even without enough Adamantium, using inferior alloys would still create the world's most lethal killing machines.
She figured if Goku got out now and headed in the opposite direction, he would likely be ignored. The Institute's primary targets were her and Laura.
"The most terrifying and powerful guy in the world?" Goku's eyes instantly lit up. "Does that mean he's a real master?"
To Goku, self-improvement wasn't just about solo practice; it was about testing his limits against powerful opponents. That was the only way to truly grow.
"A master? I suppose you could call him that," Gabriela said, startled by his reaction.
Goku had used the term "master" , which Gabriela's brain translated as "someone incredibly skilled at fighting." The mysterious glowing gates hadn't just given Goku the ability to travel between worlds; they had granted him an innate understanding of the languages and scripts of the realms he visited.
"Then I definitely want to come with you!" Goku nodded firmly. "You guys are in trouble, so I'll protect you."
It wasn't just about fighting a strong opponent. Gabriela had fed him, and Goku was a boy who repaid his debts. Just as he had helped Suno against Muscle Tower and fought the Red Ribbon Army, he wouldn't abandon a friend in need.
"Thank you, Son. I'll do my best to protect you, too."
Seeing the unwavering determination in his eyes, Gabriela stopped arguing. Goku wasn't a normal child; his strength was immense, perhaps even surpassing Laura's.
With him by their side, their chances of reaching Eden actually improved. Besides, if they failed, the Institute would never let a "wild mutant" like Goku go free anyway. With his naive nature, he wouldn't be able to hide for long.
She also resolved that they *must* find Logan. Only the original Wolverine had a hope of stopping the horror that was X-24.
"The border is just ahead."
Gabriela breathed a sigh of relief as she saw the line of cars waiting at the border checkpoint. There were no black SUVs, no mercenaries in sight.
What she didn't know was that inside a room on the third floor of the border station, a mercenary captain was watching her car through a pair of high-powered binoculars.
"Commander, I have eyes on them. Don't worry, they aren't leaving this border."
...