Chapter 146: Chapter 143: Muscle-headed
"Bastard!"
Chunks of debris flew through the air as Metal Bat swung his bat furiously. He stood up, wiping blood from his lips. His eyes narrowed as he scanned the area. "Where the hell did that damn alien go?! I'm not done with it!"
"Oi, oi… where is that damn alie—Huh?" Metal Bat paused, noticing Bang's ridiculous state, covered head to toe in dark liquid. He then turned to the puddle of similar liquid in front of them and asked, "The hell, is that the alien? What happened here?"
"Ito-kun, was that your doing? Did you take down the alien?" Superalloy Darkshine flexed his muscles as he approached. His shiny, tanned body gleamed in the light as he looked at Tsuna with new respect. "You might not have muscles like me. But it's surprising that you're strong enough. Even without muscle."
"Get out of my way!"
Just as Superalloy was about to strike another pose, his body floated into the air. He blinked in confusion, seeing himself glowing green. "Muscleeee!"
He was sent flying as Tatsumaki floated down toward Tsuna, circling him. She squinted, looking him up and down.
"Hmph. You feel different from before," Tatsumaki mumbled,"Tell me, Tuna. What did you do?"
Tsuna didn't answer her question. Instead, he look up at the battleship looming above them and said, "I thought you were going to take care of that."
"How annoying. Of course, I will. You're too weak to handle something like that, so I'd do it." Tatsumaki scoffed while crossing her arms, " And one more thing, don't tell me what to do!"
"Alright, alright, please take care of it," Tsuna sighed, rolling his eyes.
Her cheeks flushed slightly at the word "please," though she tried to hide it. With a huff, her lips curled into a smug smirk. "Shut up."
Tsuna he watched her float higher into the air as he thought, 'Exhausting...'
She raised her hands, and he could feel a massive surge of energy building within her small frame. Large chunks of debris from the destroyed buildings floated up around her. With a swift flick of her wrist, Tatsumaki sent the chunks soaring like missiles toward the battleship. Explosions erupted along its lower hull as the debris made impact.
'Though... her power is pretty reliable,' Tsuna admitted to himself, watching how the esper casually unleashed destruction without even breaking a sweat.
"Huh? The battle's over already?" Atomic Samurai finally came back. The samurai shrugged his shoulders as he surveyed the puddle of alien remains. He smiled at Tsuna and added, "You're full of surprises, Ito-kun. As expected of someone Bang has his eye on."
He walked closer and casually offered, "So, how about learning my—"
"Nope," Tsuna cut him off.
"...You didn't even let me finish."
Atomic Samurai frowned but didn't push it. Instead, he headed over to his unconscious disciple, Iaian. As he bent down, he noticed Bang, standing off to the side, wringing out his clothes, dark liquid splashing to the ground.
The sight made Atomic Samurai burst into laughter. "Bang, you look like you've been through a meat grinder!"
"Oh, shut up. I'm fine." Bang grumbled, twisting his clothes again. The foul-smelling liquid dripped off him, and he shot a look at Tsuna. "Look what you made me do, boy."
"MUSCLE!"
Superalloy Darkshine made his entrance once again, striking a dramatic pose. Atomic Samurai, now carrying Iaian in his arms, rolled his eyes at the flashy hero. Superalloy flexed his bulging back muscles, clearly enjoying the attention.
The muscular hero looked up at the sky, watching the 'fireworks' Tatsumaki was causing. Her tiny figure floated steadily in the air, as the debris raining down on the battleship.
"Whoa... check out those fireworks!" Superalloy whistled as the ship shook even harder. He grinned, adding, "As expected of her, huh? Tatsumaki's always reliable."
'That's not her doing,' Tsuna thought as he watched the battleship tremble even more violently.
He knew Tatsumaki understood a battle was happening up there. With a quick snap of his fingers, a metal chunk floated toward him, slowly reshaping itself into a hoverboard.
Metal Bat noticed and shouted, "Kid, where the hell are you going?"
Everyone turned to him, their faces filled with confusion. Tsuna shook his head and pointed upward.
"I'm going up."
"What?" they all muttered in disbelief.
Tsuna didn't bother explaining further. His figure shot into the sky, leaving them behind as he called out to Tatsumaki, "Midget aunty, take care of things down here. I'll check what's going on up there."
"WHO DID YOU CALL A MIDGET?! AND I'M NOT YOUR AUNTY YOU LITTLE TWAT! ARGHHH LISTEN TO ME YOU BASTARD!"
Tatsumaki sharply roared in fury. But Tsuna just chuckled, completely ignoring her outburst as he flew higher, heading straight for the battleship.
In the massive throne room that took up most of the space in the battleship, sonic booms echoed with each explosion. One after another, they shook the room as Boros, who Saitama was mildly glad was still alive, now seemed to go into some kind of "Super Saiyan" mode.
His pink hair glowed brightly as he unleashed a series of powerful strikes. Saitama opened his palms, calmly receiving each blow, his expression still as blank as ever.
Every movement between them broke the sound barrier, spreading destruction across the room. Saitama's eyes drifted toward the core in Boros' chest. He thought quietly to himself, 'Isn't that practically screaming his weakness?'
As an avid gamer, Saitama had seen this cliché so many times before. It was almost laughable.
"Hahaha! Saitama!"
Boros' laughter rang out through the chaos as he seemed to get faster.
His body glowed blue, his transformation becoming even more intense, like a Super Saiyan but in blue. With a flash, Boros landed a strike right in Saitama's chest, sending him flying with a boom. His body moved so fast that a halo formed from the sonic boom as he shot toward the ground.
But Saitama's face stayed unimpressed. His eyes followed Boros, who was already ahead of him, moving faster than his fall. Boros was waiting when Saitama would crash, and sent a brutal kick right to his gut.
To Saitama, it was barely a tickle.
Still, the force of the kick sent him crashing through the roof of the battleship, debris scattering everywhere.
"You're worthy! Hahaha!"
Boros laughed wildly as their battle continued in the air.
Though, it wasn't exactly a battle. Saitama mostly just slapped Boros' fists away, not bothering to strike back. His mind was elsewhere. He was trying to figure out how to take down this alien pirate king without crushing the core in his chest.
But no matter how hard he thought, he couldn't come up with a good plan. Meanwhile, Boros only seemed to grow more excited with each passing second.
"Of all the countless beings I've fought, only you have lasted this long! Now behold!" Boros' body began to glow, a massive halo of energy forming around him.
Without warning, he unleashed a giant beam of energy toward Saitama as he shouted, "Any normal creature hit by this would be vaporized!"
The beam hit Saitama dead-on, the impact sending shockwaves throughout the battleship. The air filled with scorching heat as the ship's metal turned red and molten, dark smoke billowing in its wake.
But Saitama stood right in the middle of the chaos, completely unaffected.
His face remained as unimpressed as ever. He sighed and muttered to himself, "Damn... I still can't think of anything!"