Chapter 81: The strongest hero (Final)
Garou opened his eyes. He stood up and noticed that he was in a dim lit room. He was covered in bandages and had obviously been treated.
Garou didn't think of it at first, but then he remembered fighting a kid, being dragged away by a monster bird, and finally passing out.
He looked at his bandages and wondered who healed him while he was in that state. Who would ever want to help a hero hunter?
"Looks like you're finally awake."
Garou turned to the source of that voice, and it was the same little kid.
Ignoring the pain that was still on his body, he stepped back and got in a defensive guard.
"Relax, I am not here to fight you." Alex pulled up a chair and sat down.
"Yeah, right." Not believing him, Garou took this moment to strike Alex while the was at such close range. The room was small, meaning that there is less space for them to move.
Alex merely moved his hand, which is a new movement that Garou hadn't seen before. Then, he felt his own body moving on its own without his control.
"What? What did you do to me?"
"It's called 'blood bending' pretty convenient to immobilize weaklings if you ask me."
Blood bending comes from the world of Avatar: The last airbender. Only strong water benders can control a person during a full moon, except for that one time in the legend of Korra, but, the author has never seen the whole series.
The reason this happens, is because water benders control the blood of people and turn them into their puppets. Since the human body is mostly made up of water, water benders can use it to their advantage.
After spending another 1000 years in purgatory, anyone would be bored out of their minds. So Alex practiced his blood bending on some creatures that still roamed in purgatory along with other abilities he doesn't use often. After all that training, he could control others as long as they had water in their system.
Alex let go of Garou from his control.
"Garou, I said I am not here to fight. I only fought you because I know you are not the type to reason with words. I had to prove just how strong I am compared to you."
Garou stood up, but didn't attack Alex this time.
"Why should I listen to a kid like you?"
Alex closed his eyes and showed Garou his adult form.
"This is my true form. That other form was also me but from 2000 years ago."
Garou stood up not believing a word he said.
"2000 years? Please, anyone else could come up with a better like than that."
Alex knew he would not believe him. In this world, that kind of magic or logic doesn't exist.
*Boom*
The house shook angrily, like a bomb had set off nearby.
Garou was confused because he had no idea what that was.
"Take a look outside." Alex said.
He was curious, so he took a look outside through the window. What he saw shocked him to the core. Everything outside was destroyed.
"While you were asleep, already all of the cities had been destroyed."
"How… how long was I asleep?"
"About… 20 minutes."
"Twenty? That's a lie! Not even the most powerful nuclear bomb could cause that much damage in such a short amount of time."
"I'll show you." Alex lifted Garou up like nothing. He made a hole on the roof of the house and flew sky high with Garou.
"Not again." Garou did not like being dragged around
Alex used his Chastiefol in the form of a pillow to raise Garou up.
Once they were outside, Garou saw several people fighting, all of them had inhumane power that no one in this world should have.
Every single second that they fought, the Earth shook that felt like an earthquake.
"All of them, except the bald one, are a group called the 'Ten Commandments' people who have the greatest powers and fame in the multiverse."
Garou almost did not pay attention to him, because he compared himself to them and did not see himself winning against any of them.
"Where… where did they all come from? How come no one has ever heard of them until now?!" Garou has always been one to fight strong opponents, but he had never heard of Saitama or the other Commandments, which makes a lot of sense.
In a sense he felt scared. Like the time back then when Garou accidentally met Saitama, but attacked him because he thought he was a hero. But when his first attack did no damage to him at all, Garou got so scared that his sweat started to run away, literally speaking.
"Garou." Alex got close enough to Garou so all of his attention can be on him.
"I am offering you a chance to become stronger than you are right now. I cannot guarantee that you will be the strongest, but you will definitely be stronger than you are right now. This is a once in a lifetime opportunity for you."
"Join us Garou."
Garou took a second to think about it.
"Why me? There are people even stronger than I am, like Tornado, Blast, King."
Alex took made a common rock using the reality stone.
"Imagine that you are this rock. Common, small, worthless, you can find them anywhere. This is you right now."
Alex handed a confused Garou the rock.
"But, over time… that rock will show its true colours. And when someone refines that rock, a precious piece of gem will appear, topaz, diamond, or something else. That is you right now."
Alex transformed the rock in Garou's hands into a precious diamond.
"That is what I want you to join, Garou. Because I know that although you may be a common rock, you will transform into something more precious than that. And by that, I mean your potential."
Garou took a look at the diamond in his hand.
"But of course you can always decline. I am sure that there are smarter people who can see the value of joining this group. I don't like forcing people into my group. Only those who want to join are welcome. Your call."
"Wait,,, what exactly does it mean to join this group? Do I have to sacrifice my soul or something?"
"Not at all. Though you may sacrifice half of your humanity, you can always return to being one if you want… though I do expect you not to let me down."
Garou once again looked at the diamond in his hand. He held on tightly. He was going to decline, but Alex said something first.
"I know what you are thinking, and we are not heroes, Garou. We are also not a bunch of crazy killing machines. We are just a group of people who seeks to become the strongest."
"..."
"In fact, most of us here are villians from different worlds. I know you're not a killer, but you don't have to become one to join us."
"And if I say 'no?'"
"Then I will respect your decision. I have other people in mind who I can recruit. You are just the number 1# on list for now."
Garou took a minute to think it over. He has never joined a group before, except Bang's dojo. He only joined Bang so he could become stronger and betray them in the end.
'Maybe… I could do the same with these guys.'
"Garou, I don't care if you have intentions to betray us if you do decide to join this group. I know because that is who you are."
Garou was a bit shocked that Alex said that, because it was as if he had read his mind.
"Do you know why I don't care? Because no matter how powerful you become, you will never be able to beat me."
"You know this, and yet you want me to join this group?"
Garou did not lie, because Alex already caught him red handed. Lying would only make himself look like an idiot, and also because he will turn to stone, but he doesn't know that.
"What'll it be, Garou? Do you want to join us? If you do then you will leave this world and venture throughout places you never would have thought existed."
Garou did not give his response for the time being. It was literally life changing.
Alex knows that Garou needs to take some time to think about it.
"I will give you time to think about this. Until then, do not get close to me." Alex brought Garou to the ground safely.
*Boom*
A sudden explosion caught them off-guard. And a person launched himself at Alex by surprise.
Alex caught the person like a basketball, it was Madara. Madara got punched by Saitama so hard that he got launched back far.
"Hey, Madara, having fun?"
"Not now." Madara ignored Alex and resumed fighting Saitama.
Garou just saw how a man was launched by an unbelievable force and yet has the endurance to keep fighting back. He doesn't believe that he can do that.
Truthfully speaking, Garou could not. He fell unconscious to Saitama's punch and kick even when he was holding back 99.9% of his power.
"Oh yeah, drink this." Alex handed Garou the fountain of youth.
"What is this?"
"Immortality…"
Meanwhile…
The Commandments, except Alex, kept fighting Saitama.
Saitama still looked uninjured despite fighting for so long. His clothes might be tattered, but it was to be expected.
The others did not looked injured either, but that was because of their immortality. Had they no immortality, they would have died.
Then, there came a moment that they did not expect.
"Stop." Saitama said.
The Commandments did not attack him but were on guard. He has never said that in the entire time that they were fighting.
"I'm hungry." Saitama started to walk away to find the nearest food store. Not like there is a food store left.
Then he stopped when he finally noticed the destruction they had caused to all of all the cities. There are a handful of humans left. And most likely, all the food that was on this Earth had perished already.
Some of the Commandments started to get furious, while others laughed. The ones who were angry were Meruem and Madara, because their enemies have never took a snack break right in the middle of a fight.
Mihawk was used to carefree idiots, like Shanks.
"Everybody, stand down." A strong and deep voice sounded behind them. They knew who it was.
It was Alex, obviously.
"Did you manage to recruit him, hon?" Linlin asked with a smile. Despite fighting Saitama for so long, she still smiled when she saw him, the same went for Lili.
"I gave him time to think about it."
Alex proceeded to wall towards Saitama. He had been waiting for this moment for too long.
"Anderson," Meruem said, "Did you know that we had no chance against him?"
"I knew. But this was a great opportunity for all of you to see that you are not at the top, yet."
"Hon, how much of a chance do you have against him?" Lili asked. Not even all of them combined could stand a chance against Saitama.
"If I used the stones, 100%. But where is the fun in that?" Alex was going to do his best to not try to snap Saitama out of existence.
Alex wanted to test just how strong Saitama is. There is no way he could use a cheap trick like the snap.
They all wanted to keep fighting Saitama, but they knew that fighting alongside Alex, they would only be bothersome to him.
And besides, according to Alex, there is another universe that can rival them all in power. They will get their second chance to fight sooner or later.
"Let's go back." Linlin said and all of them jumped back far away.
Garou, who was far away, watched the scene of Alex about to fight with Saitama.
"So, you're the new Commandment." A woman's voice came behind him.
Garou was surprised to see 7 people sneak up on him without him noticing. They were the Commandments he just saw fighting Saitama.
Madara, Mihawk, Eggy and Steven recognized Garou from the vision that they saw.
They looked at each other not knowing what to say or think.
"I still haven't decided." Said Garou.
"I see." They stopped talking and looked at Alex's back figure.
Meanwhile…
"Hey! Saitama!"
Saitama turned back and saw a man he had never met before. It wasn't those Commandments that he fought, which surprised him.
"What?"
"I heard you were pretty strong. Want to fight me?"
"I am hungry right now and not in the mood to eat." Saitama already had his fill of fighting the Commandments, so he did not seek to fight again. But he was still hungry and all of the food places were gone.
"I see… if you make me admit defeat, I will restore the Earth to how it was. And you will be able to eat afterwards."
"You can do that?"
"I can. So… what do you say-."
Alex saw Saitama in front of him for one second, then the next second he felt something he hadn't felt in a long time.
Fear? No…
Hatred? Neither…
Killing intent? Defintely not...
He felt something he had not felt since he was a normal human, over 2000 years ago.
'This feeling... I have long forgotten about it... the fear of death...'
Death… was upon him.
Alex turned around to see death itself before him.
He remembered the same thing when he died during a store robbery, the time when he was helpless and weak to do anything.
And just like that, Alex's head was smashed to pieces by Saitama's fist.
The Commandments were shocked to see their leader die by a single punch. They honestly thought that Saitama was on his level, but no.
"Was he… holding back this whole time with us?" Asked Eggy.
As it turned out, Saitama was still holding back with the Commandments this whole time.
Like the time when Saitama fought Boros back then, he was still holding back.
Meruem clenched his fist in anger. Just how weak is he compared to the strongest there is? That was his thought as well as the others.
Linlin and Lili both harbored killing intent for Saitama after doing that to Alex.
"He died? Just like that?" Garou gasped in surprise.
"Garou, was it? A single punch is not enough to kill him." Linlin said.
At that moment, they saw Alex's head regrow to a perfect state.
"Damn. What power." Alex was satisfied to see Saitama's strength was stronger than him in his base form.
Saitama had fought monsters with regeneration abilities, so he was not surprised.
"Can you bring back the food stores now? And also bring everything back to the way it was?"
"The deal was if you made me admit defeat, and that was it."
"Oh… okay." Saitama wanted to throw another punch at Alex, but his fist was stopped by Alex easily.
Surprised that actually one of his punches was blocked, he gasped.
Alex's hair turned golden and longer. He was in super saiyan three form.
Alex kicked Saitama back, which did no damage to him.
"Super Saiyan three is still not enough. How about this." Alex's hair turned blue, which is obvious which transformation he was in. He thought that SSJ3 was enough, but no, which is why he transformed to blue.
Seeing his hair grow and change colours, Saitama touched his bald head. Somehow that made him angry.
"SO I DON'T HAVE HAIR!!! IS THAT A CRIME?!?! THERE ARE A LOT OF BALD PEOPLE BESIDES ME!!!"
Alex stood there confused. "I didn't say anything."
"SHUT UP YOU BALDY!!!" Saitama once again punched Alex but with a little more force, only to have his hand blocked and his entire body thrown by him.
Alex was surprised he could do that. Transforming into blue is enough to overpower Saitama? He still had other transformations that were much more powerful than blue.
Of course, Alex had his doubts about that. As far as he knew, Saitama could still be holding back.
Saitama was still not injured. He just laid there on the rubble that was once a city.
"How high is his power level?" Alex activated Balor's magical eye, which can tell him the power levels of anyone.
((Saitama inf.))
Just as he thought, Saitama's power level cannot be measured.
Saitama stood up and punched Alex once more. Alex was prepared and blocked it, but his arm was broken. Saitama used even more strength than last time and it broke his hand.
And also, the ground beneath them turned into a bottomless ravine. Saitama's strength broke a part of the Earth as if it were nothing.
Alex smiled, because it meant that Saitama was still powerful enough for Alex to use his strongest form.
Alex wondered why Saitama held back so much.
Alex stepped back far to get some distance away from Saitama.
"Saitama!" Alex said loudly.
"What?!"
"Tell me, are holding back on purpose because you know you are powerful enough to destroy the Earth."
"Of course I am! If I destroyed the Earth, then where would I live?"
"I thought so."
Alex knew that if both Saitama and him fought on Earth, it will be destroyed. Even Alex doesn't know if he can breath in space should that ever happen.
Now he knew that having too much power can be a burden.
At that moment, he felt a bit sympathy for Saitama.
"Let's take this to a place that we can both fight without restrictions."
Alex got close to Saitama, and brought him and himself to Purgatory. Alex wanted to fight Saitama at his strongest, and Purgatory is the perfect place to do that.
He wanted to prove that he was stronger than Saitama, but cannot do that if Saitama holds back.
The Commandments just stood there, doing nothing.
"Where did they go?" Asked Garou.
Meruem, Linlin, Lili and Steven knew exactly where he went. Just thinking about that place made them shudder. It wasn't a bad place, well kinda, but the part that made them shudder in fear was how long they stayed in that place.
"They should be here any second now." Linlin confidently said.
When one is in Purgatory, staying there for a whole year is equivalent to a whole minute in the real world.
But, with Alex's time stone, he can make 1000 years in Purgatory equal to 1 second in the real world. He can even extend the time if he wanted, there was no limit to what he could do with his time stone.
But, several minutes passed and nothing happened.
They waited, and waited. They kept waiting for Alex to show up.
"Strange… it's been 5 minutes and nothing has happened." Meruem said. That should be the equivlalent of a lot of years.
"And there is no way to communicate with him. We just have to keep waiting."
But, then a figure appeared. It was Alex and him alone.
"...?" They knew it was Alex, but he looked completely different. Before he left, he was tall, clean, mature, but he looked no different from a complete mess.
He was fully naked. Dried blood could be seen on his body. His hair covered most of his body, it grew as much as goku's hair when in SSJ3 mode. But it was more dirty and a long beard and mustache covered his face.
Eggy turned around a bit to not see the thing dangling between his thighs.
"Hey guys. Long time no see." Alex did not care if they saw him naked. He felt satisfied leaving Purgatory.
"How long were you gone for?" Asked Mihawk.
"I don't know. I lost count after 5 million years."
Alex scratched his head, and several lice and dust came out of it. He hasn't showered in god knows how long.
They had trouble believing Alex.
"Ha! Just kidding. I was only gone for like a few days." Alex deactivated the reality stone, and all the excessive hair was gone from his body. The blood still remained to show that he had a tough fight.
"Then... why did you take so long?"
"Because I knew you guys would worry about me, and I was right. I just used the time stone to make it seem like I was gone for a long time."
He put up a smile, everyone except Garou, noticed that the smile was forced, there is a hint of sadness in his eyes.
"Let us draw you a bath." Linlin and Lili grabbed his hands and brought him away. They ignored the smell coming from his body, which made their noses twitch a bit.
It was the smell that one has when they go to Purgatory. It smelled rancid, pungent, and like sweaty gym socks.
"Anderson, did you kill him?" Meruem wanted to know, as well as the others. They couldn't kill Saitama together, much less hurt him.
Alex smiled. He showed them the soul of Saitama.
"I did."
The Commandments expected it, but they were also a bit mad that they did not get to kill him themselves. But Saitama was too strong to kill.
Alex activated the time stone. The Earth that was destroyed, the cities that were turned to rubble, the dead people, came back to how they were before they were destroyed. Everyone then acted as if nothing happened.
Literally, everyone who had died on Earth came back with no recollection of what had happened. They had no idea they died but came back to life.
That also included the S-class heroes and all the powerful villians.
The Commandments had no idea why Alex did what he did. He is not known to help others, if he was, then he would have used the time stone to bring back all of the people he killed in MGA.
There was a change in Alex's eyes. There was a hint of anger and sorrow. He held tightly onto the infinity stones in his hand.
"I am a man of my word, Saitama. You win."
The soul in his hand, which was Saitama's, vanished into thin air.
{You have offered the soul of the MC of this world, Saitama}
{You can now leave this world anytime you want}
"PERVERT!!!" A woman's scream could be heard across the street. She pointed at Alex who was naked and in public.
Weekly Power Status
-- Power
Ranking 
-- Power
stone