Once the sun had been out for a couple of hours, Gray left his cave and headed to the nearest commercial district. He used his stolen yen to buy high-quality skillets, a portable gas burner, and a massive variety of spices, soy sauce, and curry blocks to ensure his next meals actually tasted good.
While Gray was busy shopping, Hawks was standing inside his office in Kyushu, completely flabbergasted by the update from his agency's data analysts. The investigator on the phone sounded just as stressed.
"Sir, we've run the video footage through every single biometric protocol we have," the analyst reported. "There is no record of this individual. No face ID matches, no quirk registration registry, no medical history, and he doesn't trigger a single hit on the national criminal or villain watchlists. It's like this guy doesn't even exist."
Hawks rubbed the back of his neck, his red wings twitching with anxiety as he replayed the memory of the stranger effortlessly dancing around his fastest feathers in the sky. "Keep digging," Hawks ordered. "Expand the search to deep historical archives or off-grid sectors. He didn't just drop out of the sky."
Hanging up the phone, Hawks stepped out onto his agency's private balcony. Knowing his internal team had hit a wall, he pulled out his encrypted phone and dialed a highly classified number. Since he was already deep into doing the dirty work and espionage assignments for the Hero Public Safety Commission, he decided to cash in a favor.
"It's Hawks," he said the moment the line clicked open. "I encountered an unregistered, unassisted flying individual yesterday who completely outmatched my aerial speed without breaking a sweat. My agency's database turned up a flat zero. I need the Commission to grant me immediate access to top-tier government satellite tracking, thermal regional scans, and surveillance files. We have a massive ghost on our radar."
The voice on the other end of the line simply said, "Understood," and immediately hung up. Hawks took a deep breath, knowing that the entire weight of the Hero Public Safety Commission's surveillance grid was now spinning up to search for a phantom.
Meanwhile, Gray had been on a successful shopping spree, thoroughly happy with his new haul. He was completely unaware that his brief aerial encounter had just put him directly in the sights of the most corrupt government agency in the country.
Making his way back to his mountain cave, Gray checked on his crops and saw that his Home Garden plots were ready for another harvest. This time, he gathered a massive batch of fresh rice and more tree meat, carefully filling his 40-slot inventory as much as possible. He had also bought a large plastic container from the city to neatly store his new cookware, portable burner, and array of spices, popping the entire container into an inventory slot to keep his cave clutter-free.
Sitting down by his campfire and waiting for his next gold upgrade, Gray started brainstorming better ways to locate Giran. He realized he could technically track down Re-Destro, the head of the Meta Liberation Army, and force his expert hacker guy to locate the broker. But at this early point in the timeline, Re-Destro was still publicly posing as a legitimate, high-profile businessman running the Detnerat Company.
Gray stood up and made up his mind. If he couldn't find Giran through street-level methods within the next three days, he would simply bypass the underworld entirely. He would hunt down Re-Destro, corner Skeptic, and force the cyber-expert to hand over all the tracking data he needed. He flatly refused to make Eri wait in that torture chamber a single second longer than necessary.
What Gray completely failed to plan for was the aftermath of his late-night alley sweeps. More than a few of the thugs he had lightly punched into unconsciousness had finally come to. The moment they realized they had been stripped of their wallets and every single yen they owned, their criminal pride vanished. They immediately went straight to the local police precinct and came clean about the entire incident.
Because Gray had operated out in the open, the police department's sketch artist was able to draft a highly accurate, hand-drawn portrait of his face based on the matching descriptions. The precinct didn't waste any time... they immediately duplicated the sketch and handed it out to various pro heroes on the local patrol routes, warning them to keep an eye out for the mugging criminal.
Without even wanting to, Gray had just generated a massive wave of the exact local attention he was trying to avoid.
At the main station, the lead detective of the investigation stood in front of a giant corkboard. He held a red marker, carefully circling every single alleyway and red-light district where Gray had ambushed the thugs. He stepped back, rubbing his temples as he tried to find a clean behavioral pattern, but Gray's movement data was completely scattered and made absolutely no logical sense. The poor detective was destined to spend the next few days completely stressed out of his mind by Gray's unpredictable shenanigans.
Gray continued making his trips down into the city, keeping his movements centered within Musutafu since it was where UA High School was located and where Deku lived. He walked down to the pristine, freshly cleaned beach and simply hung around by the shoreline for a bit, keeping an eye out just to see if he could spot the future green-haired hero.
At exactly 1:00 PM, Gray brought up his system interface to check on his gold progress. He officially purchased the next tier.
[New Upgrade]
(50 Gold) 10 Gold/Hour
[New Hourly Rate]
19 (18) Gold/Hour
Gold: 6
The next upgrade tier was only 5 hours away. Happy with the steady progress, Gray chose to keep doing what he was doing, casually exploring different neighborhoods to learn the layout of the city.
Eventually, his path took him right back to the commercial district where he had swept the alleys the night before. As he walked past a street corner, his eyes caught a group of police officers suddenly freezing and pointing directly at him. Sensing that something was definitely wrong, Gray picked up his pace and walked quickly toward a nearby alleyway. The moment he slipped out of public view, he effortlessly leaped straight up and landed on the rooftops.
He leaned over the edge of the concrete roof to listen in on the officers conversing down on the pavement. Within seconds, Gray finally pieced the puzzle together... a few of the muggers he had knocked out had actually run straight to the police, and now they had a sketch of his face distributed across the local patrol routes. He was officially a wanted man for robbery.
Gray simply shook his head in absolute annoyance, crossing his arms under his robed vest. "Fucking thugs," he muttered under his breath. "Can't even keep their mouths shut after trying to rob someone."
Gray stepped down from the roof once the officers had left the perimeter and headed straight back to his mountain cave.
Meanwhile, Hawks had spent the entire morning aggressively patrolling the skies trying to find the mysterious stranger. He kept a specialized group of local heroes on standby, ready to lock down any coordinate he flagged. Hawks managed to stop a few petty street crimes while he was circling the prefecture, but he didn't find a single trace of Gray anywhere in the sky.
Back inside his hidden cave, Gray suddenly noticed a few dots on his Map closing in on his location. He sighed heavily and quickly packed his cookware container, spices, and supplies safely away into his inventory.
Not even five minutes later, the figures closed the final distance to his location. Gray stepped out of the mouth of the cave and came face-to-face with a group of four heroes uniquely dressed in feline-themed outfits.
'The Wild Wild Pussycats, huh?' Gray thought to himself, looking over their vibrant costumes. 'I must be hidden somewhere near their mountain training camp base...'
The four rescue heroes approached Gray cautiously. Mandalay took the lead, her hand resting near her waist as she looked over his clothing.
"Hold it right there," Mandalay called out, her voice firm. "What are you doing out in this restricted mountain sector?"
Pixie-Bob stepped up beside her, her eyes scanning the perfectly blasted rock face of the newly created cave. "Hey, look at that rock wall. Did you do that? Creating an off-grid shelter and destroying public mountain property without a permit is a serious crime, you know?"
Gray let out a tired sigh. Not even two full days in this universe, and he had already been harassed by two completely different hero factions. It was becoming a massive pain in the ass, and it made him realize he needed to speed up his plans.
"I apologize," Gray said, keeping his voice perfectly neutral. "I didn't know this was someone's property. I'll pack up and leave right now."
"I'm afraid you're not free to go, young man," Mandalay said, stepping forward to block his path. "Given the damage to the mountain and your unregistered status, we're going to have to detain you and take you down to the nearest police station for questioning."
"Listen, I don't want any issues," Gray said, his frustration growing by the second as his Saiyan temper started flaring up. "I'm just looking for someone."
Ragdoll tilted her head, her wide eyes locked onto him. "Who exactly are you looking for out here in the middle of the woods?" If the man was looking for someone lost, they could help.
"I doubt you guys would be of any help," Gray muttered. "I'd love to stay and chat a bit more, but I'm a bit busy today."
Gray's boots lifted off the grass as he casually started floating straight up into the air. Seeing the suspect attempting to flee via a flight Quirk, the Wild, Wild Pussycats immediately jumped into action.
"He's trying to escape! Tiger, bring him down!" Mandalay yelled.
The heavily muscled male hero dashed forward. "Don't think you can just fly away from us!" Tiger roared, throwing a punch straight at Gray's face.
Gray didn't even move his head. He caught Tiger's giant fist effortlessly with a single open palm, completely absorbing the impact without moving an inch. With a casual flick of his wrist, Gray simply launched the buff man away, sending him tumbling violently backward across the dirt.
Seeing their powerhouse colleague handled like a child, the remaining three heroes went completely serious. Pixie-Bob slammed her hands onto the earth, instantly activating her Earth Flow Quirk. "You asked for it!" she screamed.
The ground rumbled violently as she manifested dozens of towering earth golems, sending them lunging forward to hold Gray down. Gray didn't even use his ki blasts. Moving at baseline speed, he unleashed a flurry of casual physical strikes. Boom! Boom! Boom! He simply punched and shattered the massive dirt monsters into dust, destroying them almost as fast as she could mold them out of the mountain.
While Pixie-Bob kept up the distraction, Mandalay and Ragdoll quickly fell back toward the tree line. They pulled out their communication devices, dialed the central emergency network, and urgently requested combat backup.
Down at the Hero Public Safety Commission headquarters, the dispatchers intercepted the frantic distress call. Recognizing the description of an unassisted flyer holding off an entire pro-hero team with raw physical strength, they instantly patched through to Hawks' private earpiece.
"Hawks, do you copy?" the operator radioed urgently. "The unregistered person you flagged yesterday has just been located. He is currently engaged in a physical combat situation in the mountain sector, holding off the Wild Wild Pussycats. Sending you the exact GPS coordinates now."
High in the sky, miles away, Hawk's eyes widened beneath his yellow visor. "Copy that. I'm changing course now," he said, violently snapping his massive red wings back and exploding into a supersonic dive straight toward Gray's mountain coordinates.
On his way to the mountain, Hawks quickly forwarded the GPS coordinates to his agency to rally as much heavy backup as possible. He knew from experience that his own speed wasn't enough to touch this guy, so they needed every heavy hitter available. The radio transmission was heard by the Flame Hero, Endeavor, who immediately changed his course to join the hunt.
Back on the mountain face, Gray effortlessly pulverized the incoming earth golems. He had zero intention of making the pro heroes his permanent enemies, but since they flatly refused to listen and threw the first punches, he was absolutely going to defend himself. He carefully regulated his Saiyan strength to avoid causing any real injuries, but he was fully prepared to hand them a painful lesson if they kept pressing him.
Barely four minutes after the skirmish started, Hawks shattered the sound barrier and arrived on the scene.
Gray looked up and let out a deep, annoyed sigh. "Seriously, do you guys just harass people for the fun of it? People could be out there getting mugged or killed right now, and you guys are over here busting my balls over some bullshit."
Done playing defensive games, Gray decided to end it. "Since you guys wanna fight, then get ready." Gray completely disappeared from their line of sight and materialized instantly right behind Hawks. Mandalay reacted immediately, using her Telepath Quirk to scream a warning directly into Hawks's mind, but the warning was entirely too slow. The exact millisecond Hawks began to twist his torso around, Gray delivered a precise, controlled punch straight into the center of his stomach.
BOOM!
The impact was so dense that the shockwave echoed all the way down to the valley floor. The Wild Wild Pussycats were shocked and horrified as Hawks's eyes completely rolled white. The Number 3 Hero went unconscious in a split second, his body going limp as he began free-falling toward the jagged rocks below.
Before Hawks could hit the dirt, Gray blurred downward, catching the hero tightly by the collar of his jacket. He floated down smoothly, laid Hawks safely onto the grass, and turned toward the remaining three rescue heroes.
"Back off," Gray ordered.
Suddenly, he felt something approaching. A massive, roaring heat signature tore through the cloud line at incredible speed. Gray turned his head just in time to spot a towering figure engulfed in raging, blinding orange flames dropping straight from the sky.
The new arrival locked his eyes onto Gray and roared at the top of his lungs.
"JET BURN!"