"Smack."
With a light sound, Saitama's right hand precisely caught Garou's fist.
Time seemed to freeze. Garou's ferocious expression stiffened in disbelief.
He never imagined that his punch—powerful enough to shatter mountains—would be so casually stopped by this bald man in front of him.
"I already said I don't have time to play with you…"
Saitama sighed, forming a hand blade with his left hand and lightly chopping the side of Garou's neck.
"Boom—!!!"
Garou's body shot downward like a cannonball, smashing into the ground.
The solid rock crumbled like fragile tofu, leaving behind a perfect human-shaped crater.
Garou's eyes spiraled instantly before he passed out like a baby.
Saitama looked at his palm, then at the unconscious Garou, murmuring, "He's probably not dead. Well… he's still breathing."
He looked around, scratched his shiny bald head, and muttered, "That guy who called himself Monster King earlier… he should be the boss, right? How should I notify Kaito…"
His ears twitched. From below came a sharp female scream, mixed with faint electrical buzzing.
"Huh? Sounds lively down there."
He crouched, tapped the ground with his knuckles, and prepared to punch through.
But a strange vibration suddenly echoed through the air.
"Wait! Saitama, don't come down yet!"
The voice came from everywhere at once. Saitama stopped his fist one centimeter from the ground.
"Kaito?" he tilted his head, eyes dull. "Where are you talking from?"
"I'm on the floor below," Kaito answered through the vibrating air. "It's… uh… a bit R-rated down here. Hold on, I'll come up."
"R-rated?" Saitama blinked in confusion but obediently lowered his fist. "Oh… okay."
---
Meanwhile, in the underground laboratory—
Black-Eyed Psykos straddled her original body. Her slender fingers expertly tore the silk nightgown into long strips.
With a devilish smile, she twisted Sykes's arms behind her back, binding them tightly with the makeshift fabric.
"Let go of me! You traitor!" Sykes thrashed, long blue hair scattering across the carpet.
The nightgown hung in shreds, revealing pale skin beneath.
"Don't be so impatient, Sister" Black-Eyed Psykos purred, picking up iodine and needles from the experimental table. "We have plenty of time to play slowly"
Sykes's pupils shrank; her body shivered uncontrollably.
The clone nearby didn't fare much better.
Her hands were bound as well, her body suspended from an experimental rack, her long legs dangling helplessly.
Whenever she tried to move, the collar around her neck released a faint electric current, forcing out restrained moans.
Kaito glanced at their trembling, bound bodies and instructed calmly:
"Don't overdo it. Leave them breathing. Everything else… do as you please."
"Got it" Black-Eyed Psykos said without looking back, tracing circles on Sykes's sensitive waist with an iodine-soaked swab. "I'll take very good care of my sisters"
Kaito shook his head and walked toward the corner.
Crimson-gold energy enveloped him once again, spiraling into the shape of a drill.
With a roar, he shot upward through the tunnel he created.
---
Back in the grotto, Saitama killed time by kicking pebbles.
Hearing movement, he turned and saw Kaito emerging from the ground.
"Kaito!" Saitama brightened, pointing at the remains of Orochi nearby. "I took out that big guy, so the crisis is over, right?"
His expression clearly read: I want to go home, watch TV, and eat snacks.
Kaito shook his head. "It's not over yet, Saitama."
"Huh?" Saitama deflated instantly. "Still not over?"
"Besides these Dragon-level executives," Kaito explained, "the Monster Association also has tens of thousands of Tiger-level and Wolf-level fodder monsters lurking underground. If we don't clean them out, they'll flood the city and cause massive casualties."
"Tsk… how troublesome."
Saitama scratched his shiny scalp irritably. Just imagining clearing so many fodder monsters gave him a headache.
In his opinion, this was far more tiresome than fighting one big monster.
Seeing this, Kaito couldn't help but chuckle. Then he walked toward a piece of Orochi's snake-head remains that was still wriggling.
This section of the remains was about as thick as an arm. Dark green blood seeped continuously from the severed end, yet it still writhed stubbornly, trying to slither away.
"What tenacious vitality." Kaito crouched down, pinching the chunk of snake flesh between two fingers. "As expected of Monster King Orochi."
In the original work, after Orochi was obliterated by Saitama's punch, its scattered remains devoured hordes of fodder monsters, eventually merging with Sykes to form Psykorochi—nearly pushing Tatsumaki to her limit.
Right now, Kaito could already sense Orochi's remains twitching throughout the cavern, instinctively hunting and devouring other monsters.
Saitama wandered over, poking the wriggling fragment with childlike curiosity. "Huh? It's not dead yet?"
He raised his fist, fully intending to unleash that punch with the causality-altering effect—wiping out the last trace of Orochi once and for all.
"Wait." Kaito stopped him immediately. "Don't rush to finish it."
"Hm?" Saitama blinked in confusion.
"At the moment, we've got a free scavenger working for us. Once it eats all the other monsters, then we take care of it. Much easier than doing all the cleanup ourselves."
Saitama paused, head tilted, then nodded slowly. It did make sense.
Cleaning up countless fodder monsters was annoying and boring. If they devoured each other first and he only had to handle the final survivor… that was practically a blessing.
"That's true! Kaito, you're so smart!" Saitama brightened instantly, relief washing over him at the thought of being able to slack off.
"So," Kaito dusted off his hands and stood, "all we need to do now is… wait."
"Wait?"
Saitama's face deflated again. "Just wait? That's so boring!"
A mischievous smile curved Kaito's lips. He let a surge of Haoshoku Haki burst out, instantly snuffing the life out of the snake-head fragment. Then he casually tucked it into his pocket—planning to bring it back as hot pot ingredients to fulfill his promise to Pig God.
After that, he crouched down and drew a neat tic-tac-toe grid in the dirt.
"Wanna play a round?"
"Alright!" Saitama lit up, plopping down cross-legged with childlike enthusiasm. "Not gonna brag, but I've never lost at this since I was a kid!"
"Oh~? Is that so?"
Kaito's smile widened even further.