Chapter 70: The Real One Punch Man!?
In a modern city filled with towering buildings, Bane and Zoro walked down the bustling street.
When they passed a gold shop, Bane stopped and led Zoro inside.
"Boss, I have some gold I'd like to sell." Bane casually placed a finger-length piece of gold on the counter.
This gold was naturally part of the "junk" that Bane had picked up in Shandora, the land of gold, which he'd stored in his dark power.
After a quick transaction, Bane obtained a substantial amount of cash and left the gold shop with Zoro.
"Sure enough, gold is hard currency in any world," Bane said with satisfaction.
Gold held sufficient value in the Empire, in the pirate world, and here as well.
That's right—Bane and Zoro were no longer in the Empire. After several attempts, they'd finally determined they couldn't return to the pirate world in the short term. So they'd begun discussing whether to continue staying in the Empire and practice in secret, or find another world to travel to and see if they could gain new advantages.
Considering the turmoil and complicated situation in the Empire, Bane and Zoro had finally decided to venture into a new world.
Based on his experience in the pirate world, Bane felt that if he was lucky, he might arrive in a familiar world. In that case, he'd definitely have more advantages than staying in the Empire. At the same time, the energy stored in the original halo was enough to open the portal three times, so they had the capital to make mistakes.
If the chosen world proved very dangerous and unsuitable for them, they could simply leave. After all, the mysterious halo in Bane's body displayed many colors to choose from. At worst, they could return to the Empire and wait quietly to store enough energy to return to the pirate world.
After confirming their intention, Bane and Zoro had quickly opened the portal and arrived in this world.
At first, looking at this familiar yet unfamiliar urban environment, Bane thought he'd returned to Earth and felt excited. But soon, he noticed shelter reminders and slogans warning about monsters on many street billboards.
Combined with information he'd gathered from chatting with passersby, Bane was now certain this was the world of One Punch Man!
The city they were in was City Z, known as the "Gate of Hell"—also the city where Saitama, this world's protagonist, resided.
Compared to other cities in this world, City Z was undoubtedly special. It had endless monsters and many masters. It was also where various events involving the protagonist often took place.
Through his Observation Haki, Bane had gathered considerable information by monitoring the surrounding area. For example, this was the third year since the Hero Association's establishment, but there was no Devil Cyborg Genos among the S-class heroes. In other words, Saitama had already mastered his overwhelming power and become invincible, but hadn't yet joined the Hero Association.
However, considering when the Hero Association was established, Bane estimated Saitama's joining would happen soon.
"How do you feel about the language here?" Bane asked Zoro as they walked.
"The pronunciation is a little strange, but it's almost identical to the common language in our world," Zoro answered after thinking for a moment.
There was a common language in the pirate world. No matter what country, sea, or race—even islands that hadn't communicated with the outside world for thousands of years—the culture of this common language was prevalent.
Bane had long suspected that perhaps in a period earlier than eight hundred years ago, the world had experienced smooth cultural exchanges, eventually forming such a language.
Bane was a cheater. When he'd arrived in the pirate world, he'd automatically mastered the world's "common language and writing"—basic communication with normal people posed no problem. But when it came to regional dialects or ancient writing, he was lost. So when he'd come to this world, language communication wasn't an issue. Zoro had slight difficulties, but fortunately, this world's language was very similar to the pirate world's common tongue—only the pronunciation differed in some details. Zoro had followed Bane throughout the city, listening to conversations through Observation Haki. He could now basically communicate with locals, though at most others would treat him as an outsider.
After discussing the language issue, Zoro asked with suspicion, "You seem to have some understanding of this world?"
Zoro had been following Bane and naturally observed his behavior, trying to learn from him. After all, in his opinion, his senior brother had experience in world travel—shouldn't he learn from that?
As a result, during this process of listening and learning, Zoro discovered that Bane would specifically ask passersby about certain things. This behavior proved that Bane wasn't completely ignorant of this world.
"Well, the moment I pass through that door, I get fragments of information about this world. It's my special ability," Bane explained casually.
Zoro showed a look of understanding, then as if many things suddenly made sense, he clicked his tongue and said, "No wonder you knew so much intelligence and secrets on our side for no reason. So this is how it works..."
"Hahahaha, I told you not to ask about complicated matters. I didn't expect you were still secretly observing," Bane laughed.
Zoro also smiled. "I'm not blind, nor am I stupid. You didn't try to avoid me at all. How could I not guess?"
Bane shrugged. "I've told you my biggest secrets and brought you through firsthand, so there's no need to hide these little things from you."
After the two bantered for a while, Zoro finally showed a serious expression and asked, "So, is this world dangerous for us? Can we survive here with our strength?"
Bane listened, his expression looking somewhat uncertain.
"If you want to say it's dangerous, it's actually not that dangerous. With our strength, as long as we don't provoke certain people, we should be able to move around here without problems," Bane said in a troubled tone.
That was indeed the case. Setting aside the monsters for now—there were some very powerful ones among them. But talking about the human camp and comparing it to the Hero Association, among the S-class heroes, only Blast was truly formidable. This guy's upper strength limit was unknown, but he was definitely very strong. He also seemed to have mastered superpowers involving space and gravity.
Apart from him, in terms of raw power, only Tatsumaki could be considered somewhat threatening, but that was all.
After that, the S-class heroes had varying strength levels. The strong ones included Bang, Flashy Flash, and Metal Bat who relied on fighting spirit for power. The weaker ones included Tank-Top Master and Puri-Puri Prisoner.
Bane felt these people weren't threats. At least he and Zoro, who had now mastered the Thunder Fruit's power, should be able to handle them.
But thinking carefully, even Tank-Top Master wasn't simple. This guy could lift building-sized ruins with one hand's wrist strength alone, and it seemed effortless. The reason he gave people a weak impression, Bane thought, was because his opponents several times had been far stronger than him, making him appear weak.
However, although Bane didn't think S-class heroes like Bang could kill him, he still believed these people had many admirable qualities and could provide sufficient help.
For example, Bang, who knew the Flowing Water Rock Smashing Fist, could be called an authority in martial arts. His fighting technique was completely at the pinnacle. In terms of this skill alone, probably only his brother could compete with him.
In comparison, Bane's physical fitness far exceeded Bang's, but the difference in body utilization was like heaven and earth. If Bane could follow Bang and learn the essence of his martial arts, it would definitely benefit his future growth greatly.
Even though Bane had killed Crocodile and Enel successively in the pirate world, he actually lacked combat experience and his techniques weren't outstanding. His shortcomings were obvious—he relied entirely on physical fitness and fruit abilities.
So after confirming this world, Bane decided he'd try his best to make up for his defects and shortcomings here. At the same time, if he remembered correctly, this world's technology was very advanced. For example, the doctor from the House of Evolution had high scientific achievements and possessed something called limiter breaking research. Could he further strengthen himself here?
'But I always feel like the limiter concept isn't that simple in this world...' Bane thought to himself.
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