The Power of One-Punch Man

My goal:
To write regularly without caring about the bad quality, plot holes, ooc-ness, and the likes. To not quit or fully rewrite the story because of those. If a plot hole is discovered too late, it will be left as is or retconned, or whatever, as long as it doesn't lead me to quit or rewrite the entire thing.
Please don't make fun of me for how bad I am, but constructive criticism is welcome and appreciated. Any worthwhile criticism and suggestion will be put at the end of the relevant chapter (or maybe in an index somewhere) in a spoiler tag so that I don't forget.

I walk down the unfamiliar street under the night sky.

I should be feeling fear, apprehension, worry, anger, despair. I should be feeling something. Anything.

But I'm not. Maybe my emotions are muted, maybe I'm just an unfeeling bastard, or maybe I'm already feeling despair and have given up on living.

Either way, I don't feel anything as I keep walking.

Just earlier, I was teleported here with only a message:

[Hey, I'm giving you a part of my power and transporting you to another world. The power I'm giving you is super strength and perfect control. Good luck.]

That's it. I received that message and then I was teleported. When I realized it, I was already standing in an unfamiliar place and in an unfamiliar body.

The place I was teleported to was in front of a store, specifically, in front of its glass window pane. With its inside light turned off and outside light turned on, the glass pane turned into a mirror.

If I knew this world and was in a more composed mind, I would have found it strange that this store doesn't have its shutter down. Though even if I tried to investigate, I would have only found that this store's owner is just that careless, leaving his store unattended just because of the protection he is under.

But in my panicked state, I only pay attention to my sudden transfer, and then to my body.

My current body reflected by the mirror is of a bald man with asian features wearing an unbuttoned onsen shirt over a plain t-shirt and cargo shorts.

I look like a tourist just carefreely going out for a walk. Even though I was just kidnapped.

Still, this bald head, carefree outfit, and dead expression, they remind me of Saitama, the One-Punch Man. And the power given to me, super strength and perfect control, is also reminiscent of him. After all, Saitama practically never had trouble controlling his strength (though, that might be because of his training). So I really might have his power.

Even so, this is still kidnapping. After all, I was never asked for consent.

I felt anger for a moment at this kidnapping, even if I was given great power in exchange. But that anger didn't stay long, because a person capable of that, there's no way I can do anything to him.

And that's where we are right now.

Me walking aimlessly under the night sky, until I come across a scene.

A scene of a scaled man on fire duking it out with giant beasts.

'What?'

It is so bizarre that it stuns me for a moment, despite my similarly bizarre kidnapping.

The flaming scaled man is winning at first, his strength and fire overpowering the beasts, but little by little, he gets slower, takes more hits, until he finally goes down.

That's when I finally look at their surroundings. It is empty (probably reasonable considering it's night and there's a guy on fire fighting giant beasts there) save for several people on a rooftop near them.

It should be noted that I am still rather far away from them, yet I can still see them clearly.

Those people are in costumes. Honest to god costumes.

'This is getting more and more bizarre.' I think as I go towards them.

I should have been scared, but strangely, I'm not.

The group eventually separates, with most of them leaving on the beasts, while one stays behind.

I keep going closer and closer, but just before I reach the building the remaining person is on, another costumed guy arrives on what looks like a futuristic motorcycle.

As he stop his motorcycle, he get off, fires a dart on the downed man using his halberd, and then, after making sure the dart hits and checking me out for a moment, he fires a grappling hook from the same halberd toward the rooftop of the building, and flies up there.

'Wow, what kind of world is this?' I think as I move up the emergency staircase toward the rooftop.

A foreboding feeling has been building up inside me ever since I saw that guy fighting those beasts. That feeling got stronger when I saw those group and that blue guy on the bike.

I feel like I know them. But there's no way that can be true, people like them just don't exist in reality.

'But what about fiction?' I think, but I suppress my feelings as I focus on reaching the rooftop.

The moment I start focusing on the rooftop, I hear a conversation. The conversation of a man and a girl, the people on the rooftop.

'So I also have super-hearing,' I think before refocusing on hearing their conversation.

Lung, Wards, Tattletale, Grue, Regent, Hellhound. Those keywords finally make me realize where I am.

I am on Earth Bet.

Again, I don't feel any fear at that realization.

More important than that is what I should do with the people above. I initially approached them for information, so now that I know where I am, I don't need to ask them anymore.

But the blue guy above—Armsmaster—has already realized that I am moving toward them, probably from the sound of my feet. So I can't just leave or I'll look suspicious.

'So I might as well help the world just a little bit tonight.' I think as I make a decision to help the girl, Taylor Hebert, the protagonist.

"Yo." I say as I emerge on the rooftop, Armsmaster and Taylor looking at me.

"Are you with ABB?" Armsmaster asks.

"No, I'm a tourist." I stop. I don't get closer, seeing Armsmaster's wariness.

"You do look like one. But a tourist walking around at night?"

"I just felt like walking around outside tonight." I say. I don't know why I sound so carefree.

"Anyway, I saw what you guys did," I continue, "That girl swarmed Lung with bunches of bugs: spiders, bees, ants, and things like that. I bet most of them are poisonous, so he'd be in pretty bad shape when he wakes up in the morning."

Then I look at Armsmaster and say,

"And then you shot him with some kind of dart. If that dart's specifically for Lung, like stopping his regeneration, he might actually die in the morning from poison." I say. "Of course I actually prefer that, but I don't want you to blame the girl for that."

Armsmaster looks at me in doubt (that's just a guess though, since only the bottom of his face is visible) before turning his head to Taylor.

"Is that true?" He asks.

"Y-yeah." She answers, her voice trembling, presumably from what I just said about Lung dying.

"Tch. We have to be quick then." Armsmaster says, "We need to decide who gets the credit."

"Ah-ah. Don't accept that, girl." I say before Taylor can answer. "He's probably going to say something about ABB retaliating against you, so him getting the credit would protect you, and some such things. I don't see the start of the fight, but there's gotta be bunches of ABB goons around, right? There's no way they'd believe Armsmaster beat Lung when they didn't see him then."

"You," Armsmaster says to me, "Don't interfere, this isn't any of your business."

I don't answer.

"And you," Armsmaster says to Taylor this time, "What you've done tonight is spectacular, but there will be consequences. Lung has two superpowered flunkies. Oni Lee and Bakuda. They'll try to get vengeance on the one responsible for their boss' capture. So keep your head down. Don't take the credit. Fly under the radar."

Being said that, Taylor looks at me. As if asking for my help.

"Like I said, those goons already know about you. Those two will take revenge on you no matter what, so just take the credit, that'll probably help you gain more allies."

Armsmaster frowns at my insistence, but says nothing. While Taylor looks to be thinking about it.

After a short time of no answer from Taylor, Armsmaster gets impatient and says,

"Tch, we have no time for this. You're not taking the credit right?"

Taylor jolted in surprise as her thought process is interrupted, but she quickly answers,

"No, I'll take the credit. Just hoping those two not knowing it seem foolish."

"You're making a mistake, Girl."

Armsmaster says before he step off the edge of the roof. Before long, we hear the sound of his motorcycle speeding off, presumably carrying Lung to jail.

Later during my contemplation, I would have found it strange that I'd suggest Taylor to take the credit at all, as it seems it would make the Protectorate her enemy, or at least make Armsmaster think badly of her, but after some more thinking, I would decide that what I did was a good thing, simply because it's the right thing to do.

A hero shouldn't take credit for someone else's work. No good person should.

"So, wanna follow him?" I say to Taylor who is about to turn around to head off.

"Wha- why?"

"That guy, I bet he's gonna wake up Panacea just to have her heal Lung. So if we follow him, we might get to meet Panacea."

"No! That's stalking. Besides Panacea will be inside a car most of the time anyway. We won't get to meet her." Taylor almost shouts, her surprise at being talked to and the fatigue from this long night causing her to unintentionally shift to a somewhat casual tone.

I reply,

"I guess you're right. Still, imagine getting woken up in the middle of the night just to heal some gang leader. Sigh, the poor girl just can't catch a break."

I shake my head and continue,

"Oh well, see ya. Remember to look for Oni Lee and Bakuda and kill them first before they kill you." I say as I turn around and start moving to the emergency staircase.

"Wait, are you seriously saying that?" Taylor says to my back, and without turning around, I gesture for her to come down with me. And I hear the sound of her footsteps behind me.

"Well, I guess you could try not to kill them. But that's risky. Or maybe you could just ask for help. Either way, you gotta find them first. Your power should be almost perfect for that."

The only better power for that would be a thinker power.

Come to think of it...

"I know one unaffiliated thinker, she's probably better at that than you, so you could ask her help, but she's being targeted by another gang, and that gang's got a mole in high position in PRT, so if you got her help you'll probably make enemies with three gangs."

I say as we go down the stairs. After a bit of silence, Taylor speaks.

"That girl, the gang targeting her, and the mole, who are they?" her tone serious in contrast to her earlier casualness.

"The girl's Dinah Alcott, the mayor's niece, the gang's Coil's Mercenaries, and the mole's Thomas Calvert. Don't spread those around. If Calvert found his identity compromised, he'll just escape, he's really good at that. So good that he can even escape perfect confinement. Those guys you just saved, the Undersiders, are actually on Coil's payroll." I answer without a thought.

I don't hear any answer from Taylor, but I know she's still walking behind me.

"I'd say your best bet is to get help, Tattletale should be eager to help you, though not the others in the Undersiders." I say, referring to my expectation of Taylor's thought of saving Dinah.

We walk in silence for a while, finally reaching the bottom and starting to walk on the road, when Taylor finally asks,

"How do you know so much?"

"Hahaha, sorry Girl, that's one of my biggest secret, I'm not gonna tell you for free. Though... Sleep with me and I'll tell you." I say, surprising not just her, but me as well.

Why did I so easily offer that? Come to think of it, why did I give so many information to Taylor?

"What!? Why are you so casually asking for sex? And just sex for one of your biggest secrets!?" Taylor almost shouts again, her tone breaking.

"Now, I wonder why, I don't know myself."

Casually asking for sex is a problem, but the bigger problem is casually offering my secret just for sex. Am I just that thirsty for sex? I don't think so, the thought of sex doesn't excite me (though that in itself is a problem) neither does my body react to it.

But the thought of giving away my secret doesn't horrify me either? What's going on? Is this the effect of muted emotion?

Before I can mull this over further, Taylor replies,

"A-alright. I'll do it. Give me your email address and we'll set up a meeting."

"..."

I am silent for a moment, my carefree mask ineffective against this unexpected answer. But eventually, I resolve myself and answer her,

"Sorry bud, I got no email. Actually, I got nothing. No money, no ID, no wallet, no home. I got kidnapped and dumped into Brockton Bay earlier. You two are actually the first Brocktonite I talked to."

I am still walking ahead of Taylor, so I can't see her face or body language, but I feel like I can sense her stopping as she exclaims,

"Wait!"

I turn around. I'm already several steps ahead of her, it seems.

"Didn't you say you're a tourist? Were you lying!?"

"An unwilling tourist. My kidnapping is non-consensual, but touring is my decision."

"Isn't that a big problem!? Why are you so carefree!?"

"Meh, I'll be fine. It'll work out one way or another."

Worst case scenario, I'll just sleep outside and hunt for food. Saitama's power should make hunting easy.

"Well, seems like this is a bust. See ya."

I say as I turn around and continue walking.

Come to think of it, I really asked for sex without thinking about the details, or rather, about my current situation. I guess I should think about it now.

"..it."

For food, I can just catch some fish or some other animals, even if there are none nearby, I can just go farther away. It should be possible with Saitama's power.

"..ait!"

The real problem is... money. There's no real easy money to get with just strength in modern society ... but come to think of it, this isn't real civilized modern society. There are gangs all around, I can just steal from them. And then, there's the bounties, the Kill Orders. Well, all those will be after testing my strength, I guess...

"I said, WAIT!!"

A hand grabs my arm. I instinctively stop in my tracks.

"What's wrong?" I ask Taylor, the one who stopped me.

"Why aren't you panicking, didn't you say you don't have anything? Why are you acting as if all is right in the world!?" Taylor lets go of my hand.

I'm not acting like that actually. I'm acting indifferent, as if nothing matters in the world. Though that's just a conjecture based on my muted emotion.

"Like I said, it'll work out one way or another."

"Ugh!" Taylor groans, holding her head as if nursing a headache. "How can you be so optimistic? I wish I could help you, but I don't really have much money myself."

Taylor continues.

"But I said I'll do it, so I'll do it. If you have no email we can just make an appointment now, if you have no house we can just do it in my house or in a motel or something, I should still have enough just for one night stay."

Taylor says, mumbling the last part, before turning to me, taking my hand and pulling me to the direction we're walking. I let her.

"I'll show you my house, meet me there after school."

"Huh." I say, flabbergasted at her willingness to expose her civilian identity.

We walk on for some time, Taylor still holding my arm, when a thought crosses my mind and I voice it.

"By the way, do you know any forest or mountain nearby? Or just a place without any people around?"

"Huh, why? Are you going to sleep there?"

"No, I'm gonna test my powers."

"Power!? You have power!?"

"Yeah, the guy who kidnapped me also gave me powers, super strength, he said. So I'm gonna need to test that out someplace."

"Ugh, of course you have power. Why am I even worrying? Alright, there's the abandoned industrial area past my home, and the trainyard beyond that, those places should be empty enough, and there's the forest that way, but you can't just destroy the trees there, okay?"

Taylor stops for a moment as she answers and points a direction when she mentions the forest, but quickly after that she resumes pulling me along to her home.

The path we walk isn't straight, but winding and twisting, likely to avoid gang members squatting the area.

Eventually, we arrive at her home.

"This is it. My house. Can you memorize the location?"

"Dunno. Can you write down the address just in case I can't?"

"Alright. Wait here." She said as she turns back to go inside.

"Wait." But I stop her. "Can you give me a ski mask or something? I want to hide my face."

"Sorry, I don't think we have one." Taylor says apologetically.

"I see." I say as I motion her to go back inside.

So she goes in. After some time, she comes back in casual clothing, her face fully visible.

'Hm... not bad...' I think, 'Her body is already pretty good, but her face isn't bad either.'

"Here. The address. My name is Taylor Hebert, come here at 3pm," she says, handing me a paper with an adress written on it.

"Sure," I say, accepting the paper and putting it in my pocket. "See ya."

And so, I turn back without waiting for an answer, toward the trainyard in order to test my strength.