Canon Fodder

CHAPTER 191 KING

My reconnaissance finally paid off. After a couple of days watching the large Hero Association building I finally found him. He wore baggy clothes, a baseball cap, and a mouth mask, but I knew it was him. My Increased Vision buff made it easy to see though we were so far away from one another. Jumping off the side of the building I landed easily. Joining the crowd I made my way over to him as he walked toward the Hero Association. 

“King,” I whispered. The big man stiffened. Seeing me out of the corner of his eye I flashed him a big smile. “Thought so. Keep walking.” The large man slowed down. I could hear the thump of his heart loudly in my ears. The King Engine was starting. 

“Calm down, I am here to talk,” I said. The Engine didn’t slow. “I was at the location where you supposedly slayed that giant the other day.” His heart rate increased, growing louder as we walked closer to the black sleek exterior of the Hero Association. “Interesting thing though. You didn’t touch the giant.” 

“I didn’t say I did,” he said quickly. “They keep putting words in my mouth.” 

“You didn’t deny it though,” I retorted. He didn’t have an answer for that. “I saw who beat that giant. It wasn’t you.” I let that sink in for him. Letting him think up bad scenarios that could happen. I assumed he took the acclaim because the Hero Association paid him. A Neet at heart, he spent his days playing video games. I doubted he wanted to get a job so stuck it out as the supposed strongest hero. 

King had the uncanny knack for attracting bad things. Time and time again whenever Saitama beat something, King was there. I suspected it was his own superpower. One he didn’t know about, but didn’t have any proof from the manga. Last I had read was just after the Monster Association had been beaten.

“I don’t really care why you let yourself get credit,” I told him. His eyes widened as he continued to sweat. He stopped walking, staring at me. “But if you get credit. I want some too.”

“Like what?” He asked. 

“They claim you’re the strongest hero. We both know that’s not true, but you provide hope to people, so I don’t plan to prove that you aren’t. No, I want you to tell them I am your disciple.”

“My what?!” He asked, his voice barely muffled by the mask. 

“Disciple. I want you to tell people I am your student, as you pass along the torch of the strongest hero,” I said. “It would draw attention away from you. People would challenge me before going for you. And I could skip up some ranks in the Hero rankings if people thought you personally endorsed me.” 

“Why would you want that?” He asked. 

“To save time,” I said. “I am strong, and could start out as a C-Rank like everyone else. But I want to rise up the ranks. I will act as your meatshield. You just have to introduce me. That’s it. It’s a win-win for you.” His heart rate had lowered, but it was still loud in my eardrums. “Or do you want it to come out that you’ve been taking credit for someone else’s work?”

“Was-was it you?” He asked. “Did you beat him?” 

“No, there is someone much stronger out there. Working in the shadows. Protecting people because he finds it fun. Not for the acclaim and money that we are going for,” I said. 

“Who?” 

“Does it matter?” I asked. “He will appear soon enough.”

King studied me for a time. Eventually he asked, “Are you sure you want this? It’s a pain in the ass most of the time.”

“Oh I’m sure,” I said and the quest popped up. 

—

“Lateral jumps, 30 seconds, go,” the examiner said as they clicked the stopwatch. I jumped from side to side in a blur. The wind roaring in my ears the force of it pushed the others away from me. I stopped as soon as I counted to 30 seconds. The examiner stared at me slack jawed as I moved onto the next test. Other heroes gave me annoyed or dumbstruck looks as I walked past. The man assigned to me gave me a thumbs up. 

It was the day after I had met/blackmailed King. The Hero Certification test happened to be that day. If I hadn’t found King I had planned on taking the test and blackmailing him later, but for once everything worked out. King did his job, introducing me as his disciple. The guy hadn’t really cared if I was strong, he just didn’t want to be outed. 

The Hero Association welcomed me with open arms. Assigning someone to watch me take the test to ensure I was well taken care of, they rolled out the red carpet for the S-Class heroes supposed disciple. Either way, this would make things much easier. The Heroes were broken up into grades. C grade was the lowest. You had to constantly patrol for villains and be seen disposing of them or risk being kicked out. If you were kicked out you would have to start all over again. 

After C there was B class, then A, and finally S-Class. King was currently the number 9 S Class Hero. They were talking about bumping him to number 5 after his takedown of the giant. Either way nothing I had done so far should mess up the canon. I kind of wanted to find Saitama, but also kind of not. They hadn’t talked about it in the manga, how he had become so strong. They said what he had done of course, but not what was special about Saitama. 

I was pretty sure he ran 10 kilometers, did about 1,000 pushups, situps, squats, and couldn’t use air conditioning. That was his training regimen daily for 2 to 3 years. That was it and he somehow became an impossibly strong hero. Either way it wasn’t normal. I doubted it was something I could learn. This world would provide me with plenty of training opportunities and fights though. 

I had learned that the first quest usually gave me a special power that my body in that world had. Naruto world gave me chakra, My Hero Academia gave me a quirk. So since my first quest rewarded me a Berserker Mode, I guessed that the scientist that kidnapped me had succeeded in making me gain power through anger. I wanted it. I was fairly certain that I passed out when it helped break me out of the drugs the doctor had me under. I had easily ripped 2 men apart. A strength that would probably take a lot of focus for me normally. Utilizing chakra and Haki to empower myself. If I had a challenge coming up, I felt a Berserker mode might be worth having. 

“Next is the 1500-meter dash,” the examiner announced. My group and I lined up. I poured chakra through my body and was speeding past them all. Completing it in less than 30 seconds. 

“Weightlifting.” I threw on huge weights. Thousands of pounds. Lifting it over my head with ease. 

“Vertical jump.” I jumped up, touching the 100 foot tall ceiling and then dropping down. 

“Long Jump” “Punching strength” “Shot put” I aced all. Far outpacing those around me. I left the examination with a bored look on my face. 

“Very well done, Mr. Watanabe,” the assigned assistant said. Walking me out, the man in the suit led me around. “You obviously passed this with flying colors. I believe you broke most of the records. Next you have the written exam.” 

“Lead the way,” I said. Seated with a much smaller group they passed out exams. It was fairly simple compared to the standards of UA. It tried to ask trick questions like: if you caught a purse snatcher, what do you do? A: Kill them without mercy, B: Take the money and beat him up, or C: Notify a police officer so they can apprehend the criminal and return the stolen items. 

There were also questions that asked about the levels of severity for attacks. They were pretty simple as well. They ranked villains based off of strength. Wolf was the lowest, and the most common. Petty thieves and groups like minded in such a way. Then there was Tiger, Demon, Dragon, and God levels. God level threats were threats to humanity. Such as meteors that could destroy the world. 

I answered the questions. Tripping up a little on the procedural questions I still felt I did rather well. Going to the locker room I hung out there until the assistant found me. “Congratulations,” he said with a side smile, handing me the manilla folder. I opened it to find I had been given Class B-Rank 2.

“We almost moved you to Rank A. But Class B-Rank 1 is rather strong,” the assistant said. “We thought it best to keep you there for the time being. Maybe learn a thing or 2 from her.”

“Her…right,” I said. I knew the Class B-Rank 1. I was excited to meet her. “Works for me. Hope it wasn’t too much trouble.”

“Oh no,” the man said, obviously relieved. “Anyone approaching King’s level is more than welcome here. He has beaten so many strong monsters we practically begged him to join. We let him skip this testing back in the day. It is good to see his student did so well.”

“I bet,” I said with a wry smile. “Anything else?” 

“A short seminar to explain things. Only 1 other person passed this time,” the man said as he walked me out. In my black hoodie I strolled out and was led to a room that resembled a class setting. Large tables were set out as if they expected many more people to pass. Inside the room I found someone that had caught my eye during the examination. 

“Hello,” the girl said excitedly as she waved at me. She had bright orange hair that was tied back. Wearing basically a swimsuit it showed off her muscular figure as I sat next to her. 

“How’s it going?” I asked. “I’m Weston.” 

“Mizuki,” she said. 

“Oh I know. I think I recognized you from TV, right?” I asked. I didn’t of course. I knew her from the manga. 

“Oh yeah? Can’t say I’ve been on TV in a while. I used to be an athlete,” she admitted. “But…I quit that.”

“You still look quite athletic to me,” I said, eyeing her up and down she had a nice rack. Unashamed with her near nude attire she smiled widely at me. 

“You were the star of the show out there,” she said. “I saw that vertical leap you did. How did you get so strong?” 

“Training,” I said. I was hitting on a girl, I wasn’t about to give King any credit. “Lots and lots of training. All leading to becoming a hero.” 

“Crazy,” she said with a smile. “I’ve been doing it for fun. It was only recently that I decided to become a hero.” The door opened to let someone in. It was another man I recognized. Black hair, angular face, he wore what looked like a snake skin suit. Or did snakes have scales? I thought on that as he talked. 

“Congratulations on passing the Hero Testing,” the man said. “I am Class A-Rank 44 hero Biting Snake Fist Sneck.” His hands whipped around striking a pose. Neither Mizuki or I reacted. He stayed like that for a moment then dropped his hands.

Coughing he recovered quickly. “Mizuki, you were granted Class C-Rank 15 based off your test. Most every hero not…fast tracked,” he said looking at me. “Will be a part of Class C for at least a little time. You will be required to patrol. Beating villains in the assigned area near your residence. If you go too long without beating anyone your rank will drop. Eventually you may be pushed out completely.”

“Oh no,” Mizuki said, sitting up stiff backed as she stared wide eyed at him. Her chest pushed out I couldn’t help but side eye it. 

“Weston!” The man said, slapping the podium as he stared at me. “Since you are riding in on the coattails of your supposed teacher, King. You have already been promoted to Class B-Rank 2.” 

“King, no way, that’s amazing,” Mizuki said. I blushed, more out of shame. Despite what I thought, I wasn’t as easy going as Saitama. It annoyed me for King to get some of the credit for the hard work I had put in over the years. 

“Don’t get cocky,” Sneck spat. “You will still be required to patrol, Weston. If you slack off you can be kicked out just as easily.” I nodded, ignoring his attitude. “You will be notified if your rank increases by drones or other methods. These are your Hero phones. We will assign you work if any pops up in your area…” 

He droned on becoming more professional as he read from a piece of paper. He left me with one piece of advice though. “Be careful out there. Many people will want to test the disciple of King. There are plenty of heroes out there that will be upset at you for bumping them down the list.” 

“Whatever,” I said boredly as my quest finished, and a new one popped up.