Amid the despair of impending doom, people saw a streak of yellow shoot skyward and plant itself beneath the meteor.
"It's the S-Class Rank 14 Caped Baldy! He's going to stop the meteor!"
"Go for it, Caped Baldy! If you hold it back, we'll vote for you—hang in there!"
"Yeah, Caped Baldy, you can do it! We'll always support you! That gleaming bald head of yours is the sexiest thing alive!"
"Caped Baldy!!"
"Caped Baldy!!"
"Caped Baldy!!"
From below, the crowd roared until their throats cracked, every eye blazing with the hope of survival.
Just as Saitama reached up to catch the meteor, the cheers made him crack; veins popped across his smooth scalp.
Shut up, all of you! You baldies!
Annoying as it was, they were still rooting for him, so Saitama faced the falling rock with a shade more seriousness.
The meteor filled his entire vision; he tried to lift it with bare hands.
On TV, superheroes always did it this way.
Catching crashing planes or falling meteors bare-handed—looked unbelievably cool.
All right, my turn to try!
The next instant, crushing force slammed into him; the boundless meteor bore down on a single tiny human.
But the Bald Demon King never felt pressure.
He hovered motionless in mid-air, determined to stop the whole thing.
Crack. Stone split. Saitama went silent.
His body was simply too tough—far denser than the rock—so he punched straight through the meteor instead of stopping it.
Like driving a nail into wood: toss soft tofu at the nail and the nail pierces through; the tofu can't stop it.
Helpless, Saitama dropped back to earth, staring at the human-shaped tunnel through the meteor. "KING, what now? I can't hold it. Guess I'll just blow it up with a punch."
Hearing him, King looked up, faint green light blooming in his eyes.
An oceanic surge of Psychokinesis burst out, coating the entire meteor, yet it barely slowed the fall—no real halt.
So we really can't stop the whole thing at once… In that case—
"Saitama, let's smash it together. Shatter it as finely as we can."
"Oh, why didn't you say so earlier? That's my specialty."
Saitama nodded, sinking into a crouch, right fist cocked back for a huge swing.
King's eyes lifted; blood-red steam erupted over his body, blazing like fire as ferocious Qi swept the sky.
Eight Gates – Death Gate – OPEN!!
"Here we go!"
King barked.
"Right! Stupid rock, trying to wreck my home—clearly after my autographed manga collection!"
The rooftop exploded into spider-web cracks; one red and one yellow figure shot skyward.
The crowd below stared, dumbstruck.
Above, the colossal meteor eclipsed the sky, burning like an apocalypse.
Below, two streaks of light—mere humans—dared to challenge the disaster with flesh and bone.
"Emperor Fist!"
"Serious Punch!"
Both fists landed on the pitted surface; for an instant the world went silent.
Sound itself was stolen, as if the Universe had hit mute.
The silence lasted less than a second before thunder rolled across the heavens.
BOOM—BOOM—BOOM!!
Titanic force poured from their fists into the meteor's core.
A solid shockwave of fist-wind and golden light pierced clean through the rock, shooting into distant space and vanishing into the void.
Under that power the meteor's face webbed with cracks, then detonated, countless stones spraying outward.
With a thought, King detonated the Emperor Fist's force inside every fragment; golden light flared, shattering them even smaller.
He raised his hand again—Energy Control. Golden motes appeared across the Space, threads of energy linking them into a gigantic net that blanketed Z-City.
Larger shards touched the net and were vaporized into dust; only pebbles slipped through, trailing sparks as they continued downward.
"Whoa, that move is seriously cool."
Saitama watched the dazzling energy net in open envy.
He glanced at his own red plastic glove and sighed.
Why can I only punch? Why can't I fire shiny energy beams like that?
Though the net had thinned the barrage, thousands of pebbles still rained on Z-City—smaller, but enough to cause damage.
In the next instant the Psychokinesis that had failed against the whole meteor now swept the city.
A pale green glow cradled every remaining stone, floating them en masse toward the empty outskirts.
Thus the meteor disaster was broken apart step by step, never harming the city.
A hush fell, then Z-City erupted in cheers—joy at survival and praise for its two heroes.
"Truly The Strongest Man on Earth! We love you, Lord KING!"
"Caped Baldy, you're the best! I just adore your sexy little bald head!"
At first the praise brought a small smile to Saitama's lips—until the last line wiped it away.
You wretched citizens—compliment me all you want, but leave my head out of it!