The relationship between Saitama and Lynn wasn't bad.
Because the residents of City Z had all moved to the core area, the outskirts had become a ghost town long ago.
Living in the outskirts of City Z, Saitama spent every day training alone and clearing out Monsters.
But that changed two years ago.
A black-haired youth wearing a martial arts gi—Lynn—moved in next door to him.
Just like himself, Lynn persisted in training every day and cleared out Monsters on the road.
However, for some reason, Lynn's growth rate wasn't as fast as his own; as time passed, the gap in strength between the two grew wider and wider.
Saitama had tried sharing his training method with Lynn midway through, but Lynn gave up after trying it for a while.
According to the other party, everyone's training method is unique, and this abnormal method of his didn't suit him.
After that, Saitama never shared his training method again, and Lynn continued to persist in his training and clearing out Monsters as usual.
However, in their daily lives of training and clearing Monsters, Lynn would often seek him out to act as a punching bag, claiming under the fine name of not needing to worry about anyone getting hurt.
While it was true that Saitama wouldn't get hurt, standing there and getting hit while zoning out was a very boring thing for him; it was easy to fall asleep while it was happening.
"Lynn, don't you have a very powerful master? If you want a punching bag, go find him."
"It's not about being a punching bag."
"Really?"
Saitama stared at Lynn suspiciously.
"Of course, it's true. I no longer need to hit a punching bag to maintain my psychological balance."
"Hey! Did you just say something outrageous! What the hell is 'psychological balance'!"
"That's not important."
Lynn waved his hand, ignoring Saitama's "That's very important" comment, and continued.
"I want to ask you to take me along when you fight Monsters, or go fight Monsters with me."
"Together? Why?"
"I awakened a new ability not long ago; fighting powerful Monsters can make me stronger."
"And you, Saitama, always seem to run into powerful Monsters, which is just right for me."
"Powerful Monsters? Are there any?"
Saitama tried hard to recall.
In his memory, basically every Monster he encountered was settled with a single punch; there were no 'powerful Monsters' like Lynn mentioned.
Furthermore, bringing Lynn along to deal with Monsters always felt like a hassle; after all, he fought Monsters to be a Hero.
With a big attention-grabber like Lynn around, even if he defeated a Monster, the crowd's attention would be stolen by the other guy.
"Lynn, you..."
"Taking me to fight Monsters will get you money. Plus, I'll take over your three meals a day from now on."
"I accept your request!"
Saitama instantly straightened his posture. "While I can't guarantee I'll bring you every time, if there's an opportunity, I'll call you to join me."
"That's enough for me."
Lynn nodded with satisfaction.
Caped Baldy, get daze!
...
Time passed, and in the blink of an eye, the next day arrived.
Because he had awakened the Mist Space, Lynn rarely gave himself a break and slept for six hours.
Waking up at five in the morning, Lynn went out to buy some ingredients after practicing a set of fist techniques on the empty street.
When he returned, a conspicuous row of craters had appeared on the street below, and Saitama was yawning in his pajamas.
"Lynn, you're back just in time."
He pointed to the row of figures behind him. "Just now while I was sleeping, a Monster calling himself the Subterranean King suddenly popped up from under the building. After I dealt with him, his lackeys surrendered."
Subterranean King?
Lynn glanced behind Saitama; excluding the already dead Subterranean King, there were about fifty Subterraneans in total.
At this moment, these Subterraneans were kneeling on the ground, holding white flags and constantly crying out for mercy.
Boom—!
Golden lightning crashed down. The souls of the Subterraneans were drawn by a barrier and merged into Lynn's body.
Just like the earthworm Monster from yesterday, these Subterraneans provided a very weak boost to him, but over fifty souls still increased his power somewhat.
"Here, this is the reward."
Lynn casually took out a dozen ten-thousand-yen bills and handed them over.
"Next time, it would be best if you leave the Subterranean King for me too."
"Ooh! I'm rich!"
Saitama took the bills with a look of pleasant surprise.
The resentment he felt because the Subterranean King's strength didn't match his dream instantly vanished. Saitama followed behind Lynn, counting the bills one by one several times.
It wasn't until they walked home and closed the door that he remembered something else a beat late.
"Lynn, what was that lightning bolt just now?"
"My newly awakened superpower."
With a thought from Lynn, two new arms grew from his back and picked up kitchen knives. "By the way, I have more than one superpower. Besides controlling lightning, I can also control flesh and blood."
"If you see me turn into another form, take note. Don't treat me as a Monster; it would be very troublesome."
"Uh, that feels a bit strange..."
Saitama leaned curiously toward Lynn.
He certainly wouldn't treat Lynn as a Monster to be eliminated.
Just like Garou in the original story, he had his own logic for judging whether someone was a Monster.
Although this logic was somewhat unique, Lynn, as a friend, would still be considered human no matter how strange he became.
"Lynn, do you have any other superpowers?"
"Yes, I can also chop vegetables like this."
With a thought, Lynn's Dismantle instantly generated a dozen blades that shredded the potatoes nearby.
Arms moving and stove fire rising, after a dazzling performance, a plate of fried rice was placed in front of Saitama.
"Oh, that looks amazing."
Saitama looked like he was having his eyes opened.
It was his first time seeing a superpower, and using a superpower to make fried rice was even more unheard of.
Feeling the deliciousness bursting on his tongue, Saitama became increasingly curious about superpowers.
"Lynn, is your cooking so good because it's enhanced by superpowers?"
"No, I can do the same thing without superpowers. Didn't you see that last night?"
"Oh, I guess that's true."
Saitama lost interest in superpowers.
Ring ring ring~! Ring ring ring~!
Just as the two were enjoying breakfast, a cell phone rang.
Lynn took out his phone and answered; Sitch's iconic face appeared on the screen.
"Good morning, Lynn. I've found the information on the Dragon-level Monster you asked for yesterday."
"So fast?"
A look of surprise appeared on Lynn's face.
Although Dragon-level Monsters frequently appeared in the One Punch world, their actual number wasn't so high that they could be encountered every day.
Glancing at the TV nearby broadcasting the weather, Lynn had an idea about Sitch's intelligence.
"Where is the meeting point?"
"31 kilometers southwest of City L. Members of the logistics unit are already prepared there."
Sitch paused here. "By the way, the S-Class Hero ranked second, Terrible Tornado, will also participate in this operation."
...