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I am Saitama - Chapter 24: The Deep Sea Invasion (Part 2)
🕑 Added 2025-08-01 04:09:13 +0000 UTCThe streets of J-City had been flooded by the ocean, waves so powerful they swallowed cars, tore chunks out of buildings, and turned entire intersections into rivers of debris. From those same waves, nightmarish figures emerged—anthropomorphic hybrids of deep-sea creatures, their slimy, scaled bodies glistening under the gray, stormy skies. Tentacles writhed, webbed claws scraped against broken pavement, and rows of jagged teeth chattered hungrily as they advanced.
“AAAAHHHHH!!!”
“RUUUUUNNNNN!!”
“SOMEONE HELP!!”
The panicked cries of citizens echoed across the ruined coastal streets of J-City. Families fled in all directions, struggling to keep their footing in knee-high water as the aquatic invaders cut them off at every turn.
One of the larger monsters, a hulking anglerfish hybrid with glowing tendrils sprouting from its head, raised its clawed arms and bellowed, “We are messengers of the Deep Sea King!! Surrender Earth to us, the sea people—and then, offer yourselves as f—!!”
But it never finished the sentence.
In a sudden blur, the creature’s head was ripped clean off its shoulders, splattering dark blue blood across the already soaked streets. Its headless body toppled into the water with a splash.
“Not so fast, monster!!”
The voice came from a tall, lean young man standing atop a half-submerged delivery truck. He had spiky black hair and wore a fitted black battle suit made of reinforced bandages. In his hands, he carried a long brown-handled spear, the polished metal spearhead gleaming as he pointed it toward the enemy.
“There is nothing to be afraid of!!” he announced, puffing his chest out for effect. “I am the super popular A-Class Rank 11 hero—Stinger!!”
Gasps of relief followed his declaration.
“Stinger!!”
“I knew he would come!!”
“We’re saved!! He’ll protect us!!”
Hearing the cheers, Stinger smirked, his ego swelling. Hehe!! These cetaceans are nothing for an A-Class hero like me. I’ll take them all out, and the credit will be mine. Another step closer to the top.
He readied his spear, crouched for a jump—and froze.
A deafening WHOOSH tore through the flooded streets. The air pressure shifted violently, nearly knocking him off the truck. Stinger’s hair whipped backward as if caught in a jet engine. The water beneath him rippled and churned as a figure shot through the crowd of sea monsters like a human bullet, their speed so blinding it left a visible trail of displaced air in its wake.
The sea hybrids never had a chance to react. The force alone ripped through their ranks, severing limbs, scattering them like rag dolls into the water, or knocking them unconscious instantly.
“I AM SORRY!!” a voice called out, rapidly fading as the figure disappeared into the distance.
Stinger’s jaw dropped. “W-what the hell was that…?”
All that remained was carnage. The group of sea monsters he had been about to fight seconds ago now floated lifelessly in the water, their grotesque forms piled up on the streets. The citizens, too shocked to cheer, stared wide-eyed at the destruction.
“W-was that… another hero?” someone finally asked in a whisper.
Stinger clenched his spear, flustered and embarrassed. Whoever that was had completely stolen his moment. He didn’t even get a chance to throw a single spear strike.
“Tch… dammit,” he muttered, narrowing his eyes in the direction the figure had gone. “Who the hell was that guy…?”
Far ahead, Saitama sprinted across the flooded streets at supersonic speed, water exploding outward with every step. He grimaced as he glanced back at the trail of destruction behind him.
“Crap, I probably ruined that guy’s big entrance,” he muttered, referring to Stinger. “But I can’t waste time… I need to reach the Deep Sea King fast.”
CRUMBLE!! CRASH!!
What the hell was that?! It sounded like a whole building just collapsed! thought Saitama as a plume of smoke and debris rose into the air from several blocks away. His expression remained neutral, but internally, he was already gearing up for action.
That must be the Deep Sea King… or at least something as bad.
In the blink of an eye, Saitama had already launched himself toward the source of the impact. The force of his movement left a crater behind, and pedestrians looked up just in time to see a blur of motion cut across the skyline.
Seconds later, he arrived at the scene. What had once been a towering office building was now a pile of twisted steel, broken glass, and shattered concrete. Emergency sirens wailed in the background. Firefighters and rescue drones scrambled to contain the situation. And there, standing calmly among the rubble as if it were nothing more than a minor inconvenience, were three figures.
Saitama squinted.
“Oh great,” he muttered.
Standing with dramatic flair was Speed-o’-Sound Sonic, dressed in a tattered prison uniform. His long, black hair whipped in the wind, and he held his blade with that all-too-familiar manic glint in his eye.
"Of course it's him again."
Just behind him was Puri-Puri Prisoner, shirtless as usual, his prison jumpsuit torn at the waist and flapping like a cape. The man was massive—built like a brick wall carved from pure muscle—and his sparkling eyes lit up the moment he saw Saitama. In his arms, he carried a muscular, unconscious hero with a thick brow and cleft chin.
That guy… Saitama squinted again. Was that Generic Hero Number 523?
Before he could say a word, Puri-Puri's gaze locked onto him.
"My, my~ What do we have here?" he purred, his tone dripping with flirtation. "Where did you come from, pretty boy?"
Saitama didn’t even blink.
Internally, however, he was screaming.
Nope. No. Not today. I'm not even close to pretty. I'm a bald egg. An egg!!
“Uh… I’m One Punch Man. S-Class hero,” Saitama replied flatly, trying to project as much detached professionalism as he could muster. “Pleasure to meet you, Puri-Puri Prisoner. And, uh… just so we’re clear, I don’t swing that way.”
Puri-Puri visibly deflated like a popped balloon, slumping slightly as he let out a disappointed sigh.
“A shame… But I suppose it’s still a pleasure to finally meet the new guy everyone’s been whispering about.”
That made Saitama tilt his head. “Wait, what? Whispering?”
The towering hero nodded with a grin. “Oh, I talk with several heroes now and then. Even some from Class S. And believe me, everyone’s been talking about you.”
Saitama blinked. “Really? But I haven’t even—”
“Most of them don’t know what to make of you,” Puri-Puri continued. “You appeared out of nowhere. You’re already Class S. You destroyed a meteor with one punch. That’s not the kind of thing that goes unnoticed, you know?”
“I guess,” said Saitama, scratching the back of his head. “Still feels weird.”
Sonic, who had been quietly watching the exchange with growing irritation, finally stepped forward. “Hmph. Tch. You’re not even trying to be intimidating, are you?” he sneered, blade gleaming in the sun. “You always look like you're half-asleep. It pisses me off.”
“...You again?” Saitama asked with a sigh.
“I took advantage of the chaos to escape prison, and now that we’ve crossed paths again, I’ll prove that I’m stronger than you!!” Sonic declared, striking a dramatic stance as his long black hair swayed behind him.
Before Saitama could respond, a deafening BOOM shattered the moment—an explosion erupted across the street, sending bits of concrete flying and a powerful shockwave rolling down the block. The ground trembled under their feet as debris fell like rain.
From the settling dust, a monstrous silhouette emerged. The creature towered over cars, tall and muscular with glistening scales in varying shades of emerald and blue. A long fish-like tail dragged behind him, and gills flared on the sides of his neck. His yellow, slitted eyes glowed with predatory malice.
Puri-Puri Prisoner gently set down the unconscious hero he had been carrying and cracked his knuckles with an audible POP.
“Looks like that monster survived,” he growled, his massive body tensing as he took a step forward.
“Yeah, the Deep Sea King,” said Saitama casually.
“Wait, the Deep Sea King?” Puri-Puri Prisoner turned, brows furrowed. “How do you know that monster’s name?”
Saitama blinked.
Uuuuuuhhhhh…
“Uuuuuuhhhhh, I… heard him say it… while I ran this way.”
There was a brief silence. Puri-Puri Prisoner squinted at him, as if trying to detect a lie.
Saitama kept a straight face, but internally he was screaming.
Please buy it, please buy it, please buy it—
“Well, that makes sense!!” Puri-Puri Prisoner suddenly said, giving a confident nod.
Saitama exhaled a breath he didn’t even know he was holding.
Phew!! Thank goodness his intelligence isn’t his strong point.
But just as he let himself relax, a deep, rumbling voice echoed from the monster ahead.
“So… you’re the bald one,” said the Deep Sea King, licking his lips with a long, forked tongue. “My warriors spoke of a man with no hair who tore through them like kelp in a typhoon.”
Saitama's eyes narrowed slightly. “Oh. So they were talking about me, huh?”
The Deep Sea King took a step forward, each movement accompanied by a heavy splash from the seawater still soaking the street.
“I was expecting someone… bigger,” he sneered. “But I can sense it now. That power. You… you’re the reason my children fell before they could spread our reign.”
Puri-Puri Prisoner turned toward Saitama in surprise. “Wait… you fought his soldiers?”
Sonic, who had remained silent for a moment, let out an annoyed scoff. “Tch. Of course he did. That’s just how he is—always meddling.”
The Deep Sea King’s lip curled in a savage grin. “No matter. I’ll take pleasure in ripping you apart, egghead. And after you’re gone, the land will drown under the rule of the seas.”
He crouched low, his muscles tensing, and then launched himself toward Saitama in a blur of movement—water exploding behind him.
“WATCH OUT!!” Puri-Puri Prisoner yelled, already moving to intercept.
But before he could reach the bald hero, Saitama had already disappeared.
CRACK!
A deafening sonic boom erupted behind the Deep Sea King. The monster skidded across the asphalt, confused.
He turned just in time to see Saitama behind him, adjusting his glove.
“Yeah, yeah… ‘ripping me apart’... whatever,” Saitama muttered, sounding bored. “You guys always say the same thing.”
The Deep Sea King’s pupils contracted into slits. For the first time… there was hesitation.
“Y-You’re fast…” he growled.
Saitama suddenly raised his right hand.
“Well, here comes the punch, so—brace yourself, fish-face.”
Saitama's arm moved almost lazily as he didn’t want the monster to explode and bath him on his blood and entrails however...
The moment his fist connected with the Deep Sea King's chest, reality seemed to snap.
A shockwave erupted in all directions—rattling windows, flipping cars, and blasting chunks of asphalt into the air. The Deep Sea King didn’t even have time to scream. His body detonated like an overripe melon under a sledgehammer. Blood, entrails, and pulverized fish-like bones splattered across the entire street in a crimson explosion.
Chunks of meat rained down like a grotesque summer shower.
Saitama stood in the middle of it, unmoving, now absolutely soaked in gore.
A long pause followed.
Then, he exhaled a frustrated sigh and looked down at himself.
“Damn it,” he muttered. “That’s the fifth time this week… I’m gonna have to wash the suit five times just to get the smell out again.”
He poked at a glob of what might’ve been a kidney clinging to his shoulder with a disgusted expression. It slowly slid off with a squelch.
Puri-Puri Prisoner was still standing a few meters away, mouth agape, arms frozen in his battle stance. Bits of the Deep Sea King’s exploded remains dripped from his face and chest, but he didn’t seem to notice.
“That… that was…” he stammered, voice cracking, “beautiful.”
Sonic, for once, didn’t have a witty comeback.
His wide violet eyes were fixed on the spot where the Deep Sea King once stood, now just a puddle of steaming, bloody slime.
“What the hell…” he whispered.
The admiration flickering in Sonic’s eyes was unmistakable. He couldn’t believe what he had just seen. The speed, the power, the sheer effortlessness…
“That power… That’s what I’ve been chasing all this time…”
But in his awe, he didn’t notice the wet footsteps behind him.
A hand touched his shoulder.
He barely had time to turn his head.
“Hey there!” said Saitama with a troll smile.
Sonic’s eyes widened. “Wha—?!”
With a flick of one finger to Sonic’s forehead, BOP, the ninja’s entire body was launched like a missile.
CRASH!
He soared backward at breakneck speed, smashing through a brick wall, then another, then a third—finally landing in a crumpled heap on the pavement, unconscious, legs twitching like a crushed insect.
Puri-Puri Prisoner turned toward the bald hero, eyes still wide.
“Saitama… that was…”
Saitama looked at his finger, then at the knocked-out ninja.
“Shit, I overdone it, oh well…”
He rubbed the back of his head with an awkward chuckle. “Guess I still don’t know my own strength.”
He glanced back down at his gore-soaked suit and sighed again.
“…Seriously, where do I even start with this mess…”
He pinched his cape with two fingers, holding it away from his body like it was a biohazard.
“This is gonna need bleach. A lot of bleach.”
Meanwhile, Puri-Puri Prisoner remained frozen in place, staring at the bald hero with wide, glimmering eyes. For once, he was at a loss for words.
So that’s why… That’s why the Association bumped him up to Class S so fast.
He looked at the crater where the Deep Sea King had once stood, then at the unconscious Sonic buried halfway into the rubble of a building.
He’s not just strong… he’s in a completely different league.
Prisoner swallowed hard, his muscles still tense.
Saitama casually approached him, wiping some blood off his face with a tissue he had pulled from a pocket. He was still covered in gore and had a liver stuck to his boot, but didn’t seem particularly fazed as he was already accustomed to the gore festival after taking out several monsters since he came to this world.
“Uh, hey,” he said, waving a hand to catch the larger man’s attention. “So, uh… you mind taking this guy back to prison?”
He thumbed toward Sonic’s unconscious form. “He kinda escaped and all… so, y’know. Would be bad if he just woke up and ran off again.”
Puri-Puri Prisoner blinked, pulled from his awe-struck trance.
“Ah—yes, yes, of course!” he said, puffing out his chest with pride. “I’ll make sure he returns to his cell with extra love and security!”
Saitama gave an awkward laugh at the phrasing and slowly backed a step away.
“Cool. Uh… thanks, I appreciate it.”
Then, without any warning, Saitama crouched just slightly and leapt.
There was a deep BOOM as the pavement beneath him cracked and shattered, and in the next instant, he was a blur in the sky. A streak of red and yellow shot upward and then arced across the horizon, vanishing into the distance like a human meteor.
Puri-Puri Prisoner shielded his face from the gust of wind that followed, his cape fluttering behind him.
He slowly looked back toward the broken street and what remained of the Deep Sea King.
“…So that’s what a real hero looks like,” he whispered.
Then, with a grunt, he walked over and effortlessly lifted Sonic with one hand, slinging the unconscious ninja over his shoulder.
“Don’t worry, sweetie,” he chuckled darkly, already heading toward the nearest Hero Association outpost. “You’ll be safe and very watched from now on…”
