Of course they were afraid. Who wouldn't be, standing before a man whose single punch had just punched through the atmosphere?
"Hey. What do you want?" Saitama's face showed a trace of impatience. The system's prompt said he still couldn't go back to his world, and that was what annoyed him most.
He was going to miss this week's supermarket mega-sale.
That was the real problem here.
"Um… would you… destroy the world?" the officer asked carefully.
"Huh? Why would I destroy the world?" Saitama planted his hands on his hips, clearly irritated.
"Ah?" The officer faltered.
"I'm just a hero for fun," Saitama said, pointing to his own nose. "Alright, Professor X—we should head back to America now, right?"
Hearing that, Professor X could only smile wryly. Saitama clearly had no idea what state the world was in. Yet for some reason, Charles felt oddly relieved.
Right. Maybe he didn't have to worry about what this world would become. After all… the strongest mutant on Earth seemed to be a good person.
At Saitama's request, the military immediately provided transport back to the United States. By the next day—no, by that world's early morning—people who'd braced for the end realized something else had happened.
Mutants. Everywhere.
At first, many didn't notice anything different. But once everyone began to recognize they had new abilities, chaos erupted in every corner of the globe.
The strong preyed on the weak. Robberies. Street fights. It didn't stop.
Mutants had once been a tiny minority. Overnight, their numbers had exploded. Things spiraled.
None of that, however, had anything to do with Saitama. He lay on the couch watching TV as if Professor X's house were his own. Beast sat nearby, eyes on the news.
"Looks like the world's about to change, Charles."
Professor X nodded lightly, helping the badly-injured Mystique along as they entered the room. He glanced at Saitama. "It seems, Saitama, that defeating Apocalypse had… quite a consequence."
Saitama blinked, slow to catch on. "Huh? What happened?"
"Er… a lot of people suddenly awakened powers," Beast said, setting the newspaper on the table with a sigh. "Places already mired in war either can't fight anymore… or they're even more chaotic than before."
He couldn't help confirming something to himself: Saitama's combat power was absurd—but in most other respects… was he just hopelessly dense? Or maybe "single-minded" was kinder.
Would sending Saitama out even help? Was he supposed to punch the whole planet into behaving, one by one?
Saitama pictured a world where huge numbers of people had become mutants. He went quiet for a second, then said, "Isn't that kind of normal?"
Honestly, to Saitama, his old world—and even the Marvel world up to now—were the weird ones. Back home, there were tons of ordinary people, sure, but also tons of powered heroes and monsters. Normal folks could awaken abilities—or turn themselves into monsters by various means. Maybe this world had just… turned into something like that.
He rested his chin on his hand. "Doesn't seem all that bad."
Professor X frowned. In truth, he didn't like it. The world had become chaotic and unordered—never a good sign.
"Humans are good at surviving," Saitama went on. "No matter how things change, people always find a way to live. Right?"
He turned to Charles.
"Er…" For some reason, Professor X found himself speechless at that simple line.
Saitama turned back to the TV. "Same goes for mutants, yeah? Even if everyone's panicking, you're still here, aren't you? So you can lead people through the chaos, right?"
Professor X's fingers trembled. Yes… that was right. In this situation, there were still things only he could do.
He slowly clenched his fists.
"Beast… the war in Vietnam should be over by now, right?" Charles said softly. "We should reopen the school."
Elsewhere in Europe, Magneto stood before the crowd that had gathered around him. "From here on, we must claim our happiness and our rights in this world. First, we bring stability. Do you understand?"
The mutants below nodded, half-understanding at best. What they did understand was that the man before them was the strongest mutant in this city.
"My name is Magneto—the one who will lead you into the future."
In government halls worldwide, leaders finally began to settle—if "settle" meant that, after fierce disagreement, a single theme emerged at last.
How to treat the people.
In the old world, a human's "value" was tied to their contribution to society—scientists, artists, manufacturers, professionals, laborers, beggars…
Now everything was upside down.
People who'd once offered little to society suddenly possessed terrifying power. What then? Should those with stronger combat potential and greater destructive capacity enjoy greater rights and better treatment? Even if some officials accepted that, most of the populace would not.
Which meant… it was time to set the rules.
(End of Chapter)
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