Saitama, dressed in sportswear, stood with his hands on his hips. Although his collar and back were soaked with sweat, he was undoubtedly in much better shape than King.
"My initial training volume was twice yours, and I'm doing just fine now, aren't I? Besides, you've improved a lot since a week ago. At the beginning, you couldn't even do twenty squats."
Upon hearing Saitama's words, King—who was sitting on the ground—shook his head vigorously like a rattle. "People are different from one another, and I don't want to die young!"
The bald man found a twig somewhere and poked King's thigh. "Come on! Hang in there a little longer!"
King shuddered. "Don't come any closer!"
Saitama, who'd been getting completely crushed in games, was now somewhat driven by personal grudges. His innocent grin was seen as devilish by King.
Jordan greeted them, bought drinks in advance, then sat on a nearby bench to read the newspaper.
A purple hand would appear every now and then as the two passed by. Although it didn't always succeed, after a while, it would manage to pick off one or two "Limiter Fragments" that fell out of nowhere.
F-boy, how far have you progressed with the fragment cards?
[Fantasy Card: Limiter Fragment] ×71
Jordan asked mentally, and F-boy immediately gave an answer.
Barring any unforeseen circumstances, the next "Limiter Break" will meet the fusion condition when you have 80 fragments. At that point, the progress will be close to 90%.
Jordan's promise to King—to help him become stronger—was not unfounded, but it was contingent on Jordan's own abilities improving further.
As someone who'd been isekai'd, all he had to do was wait.
Time flew by as he spent his days slacking off, fighting monsters, and collecting Saitama.
As for King's current training with Saitama, consider it a test of his willpower before the plan was implemented.
The greatness of heroes lies in their noble stance in the face of fear.
King, who was currently being chased all over the place by Saitama, did not yet seem to possess such qualities.
An elderly man with silver hair, wearing a black fitted sweater, walked past outside the park, then turned back a few seconds later.
"Hey, isn't this..."
The old man paused, then stepped into the park.
"Oh ho ho. Mr. Jordan."
Jordan didn't seem surprised at all. He put down his newspaper, stood up, and made room for the old man. "Old man, it's been a long time."
He'd consciously limited the distance and precision of the passively activated Mind Network, but a powerhouse of Bang's level had a biomagnetic field as dazzling as a star—difficult to miss.
Bang was shocked. Had the kid already reached this level?
He'd originally thought to see if Jordan had made any progress over this period, but when he got closer, he found the young man had a faint sense of harmony between man and nature.
The old man's vision went black.
Sigh. I'm getting old.
There's absolutely nothing left to teach now.
Jordan smiled and helped the old man sit down, handing him a bottle of drink.
"We only have drinks here, old man. Would you like a bottle to quench your thirst?"
Bang didn't refuse. He took it and chugged down almost half the bottle.
At this point, he'd actually come to terms with it.
The forest is so big. We shouldn't put all our eggs in one basket. We should try a few more.
With this thought, the old man's gaze fell on the two people training.
After watching for a while, Bang's expression gradually shifted from curiosity to bewilderment. "Hey, Mr. Jordan, what are these two... doing?"
He naturally recognized Saitama. The new guy being chased so hard by Saitama was just an ordinary person.
Aside from his slightly fierce appearance.
After glancing at Saitama and his companion—who'd turned into playful chase, mainly King being unilaterally tortured—Jordan thought for a moment and decided to tell the truth.
"They're conducting today's training."
Bang saw that King was already in a state of near-blackout and felt a headache coming on. "How much training does it take to get to this level?"
"This is Saitama's training method." Jordan recalled while counting on his fingers. "100 push-ups, 100 sit-ups, 100 squats, and a 10-kilometer run. It's like this every day. He has to eat three meals a day. For breakfast, a banana is fine. He can't turn on the air conditioner in summer or winter—to train his spirit. That's about it."
What kind of absurd training method is that? It sounds pretty ordinary.
However, that guy named Saitama was indeed getting stronger at an astonishing speed. Could it be that this seemingly joking training method was actually effective?
Since it was strange knowledge that defied common sense, Bang quickly gave up thinking about it.
"By the way, Mr. Jordan, you know about the S-Class hero meeting being held in A-City this afternoon, right?"
"I know. The Z-City branch notified me yesterday." Jordan recalled receiving a call from Lanny. "They said I'd have to cooperate with the photoshoot for promotional photos after the meeting, which sounds like a lot of trouble."
"Indeed. I'm not very good at these things either, but setting an example for the public is also part of a hero's job." Bang put down his drink. "Since we've run into each other, how about we take the high-speed train together at noon?"
"How about this, old man—stay for lunch with us. After your lunch break, I'll take you to headquarters." Jordan thought for a moment. "Don't worry about being late. I have unique travel skills."
"Is that so?" Bang nodded, leaning back on the bench without any airs of a powerful figure. "Then I'll trouble Mr. Jordan to give me a ride."
A-City, Hero Association Headquarters
Jordan and Bang walked through the door, each with a toothpick in their mouth, looking like they'd just finished lunch.
King had been exhausted after barely completing half the training under Saitama's pressure, barely surviving by drinking soda.
Considering King's physical condition, Jordan had also used Mystical Palm Technique to help heal the damage inside his body.
Only through meticulous chakra perception did he discover that King's neglected body—while not exactly bad—was actually quite unhealthy.
In other words, this naturally fierce appearance is enough to impress people.
The first gathering of the hot pot team had been delayed quite a bit because of this. There was definitely no time to make their own hot pot, so everyone found a burger joint for lunch and decided to have a big meal when they got back in the evening.
The remaining two had now returned to Saitama's apartment. King, who'd been bullied all morning, was now on another battlefield, brutally beating Saitama. When Jordan and the others left, King was practically insane from the killing spree.
Fortunately, Saitama—who was both bad at games and loved to have fun—didn't back down. The two of them spent almost the entire week in this love-hate cycle, which made their lives quite interesting.