"Translucent? What kind of name is that? How did I become Translucent?" Saitama muttered after hearing Skye tell him the nickname people had given him.
"That's because you're so fast that nobody can see what you look like. They can't even spot you, so they think you're invisible—that you're literally vanishing. That's why they gave you that nickname," Skye explained.
At the same time, as Skye looked at Saitama, she couldn't help sighing to herself.
When she'd first met Saitama, he'd saved her once, but at the time, she'd thought he was just, well, an ordinary person who looked a little ridiculous and knew a few moves. But later, Saitama's strength kept growing more and more incredible, until Skye could hardly believe it.
She'd heard of superheroes like Daredevil and had already thought they were impressive. But even though they were incredible, they were still just people. In the end, they couldn't surpass the limits of humanity. Saitama, however, was completely different. He was simply unbelievable.
The human eye couldn't even catch sight of Saitama. Just how fast was he? Faster than sound? Faster than light? There was no way a human could do that.
And with strength like his, he could easily make money if he wanted. Just his speed alone was enough. Neither human eyes nor cameras could catch him. He could easily borrow money from people and never pay it back. But—of all things—when she'd first met Saitama, he'd been hungry.
Funny, wasn't it? He was so strong, and with his abilities, he could get anything he wanted. Yet somehow, Saitama seemed like a man of principle, as if it had never even crossed his mind to do anything illegal. That was incredibly rare.
"So they call me Translucent because I'm so fast they can't see me? I get it." Saitama nodded thoughtfully, resting his hand on his chin.
"So, what are you going to do now? Slow down a little so people can see you?" Skye asked curiously.
"Why should I slow down so they can see me?" Saitama shook his head.
"But, but you're a superhero. You don't even let people see you, and they've given you a nickname like Translucent. Don't you want to change that?"
"Why should I?"
"Um, that way, you could get lots of admiration and praise. You could enjoy flowers and applause. And if you wanted money, plenty of people would gladly bring it to you."
"No thanks. I became a hero because I felt like it, not to get any of that." Saitama shook his head.
"You—while you're out being a hero, can't you enjoy a little admiration and praise, a little applause? What's wrong with that? It won't affect your work as a hero at all."
Honestly, Skye didn't really understand Saitama's way of thinking.
How should she put it? Skye had grown up in America, so of course she'd been influenced by American culture. Americans liked to make a show of themselves and brag. They never wanted to hide. If they got their hands on something valuable, at least half of them would show it off, enjoying the envious, jealous looks of others. In the East, by contrast, perhaps fewer than five percent of people would show off something valuable they'd gotten.
It was a difference in customs. That was why Americans liked Iron Man more.
So Skye couldn't quite understand Saitama's way of thinking. Of course, Saitama himself was a special case.
"It'd be a huge hassle. I've seen some celebrities, and it's a pain. People are watching them everywhere; they can't do anything. That sounds like a real bother." Saitama pursed his lips, then couldn't help muttering under his breath, "Still, I'm a little jealous."
"But this is enough for me. Sure, I didn't come up with the name Translucent, but it does represent me, at least. So many people know about Translucent now. That's already amazing. Before I came here, hardly anyone knew I existed. I didn't even have a nickname like this."
Saitama was a complete optimist—or perhaps he just didn't want to think too much. It was as if, as his hair gradually disappeared, his intelligence had started to decline too. Once he'd become bald, his intellect seemed to have no use anymore, so for the time being, he'd just let it sit idle.
Seeing Saitama look so satisfied, Skye couldn't help shaking her head. She still couldn't understand the way he thought.
"Fine, think whatever you like. Saitama, do you want to test your physical stats?" Skye blinked at him, her curiosity practically overflowing. She was just a hacker, not a scientist specializing in human physiology, but she couldn't help being curious about a monster like Saitama.
"A test? I'd rather not."
"Why not?"
"It's a hassle."
"..."
In the end, Skye brought out her inner little pest and badgered Saitama into taking a physical test.
Skye watched the stopwatch in her hand. She'd planned to test his speed, but Saitama finished the hundred-meter dash before she could even press the button. That was awkward.
Then there was weightlifting. Saitama lifted a dumbbell weighing several hundred pounds with one hand as easily as if it were a toy. His limit? No idea.
There were other tests, one after another, of all kinds. None of the results could be expressed with an accurate number. The only thing Skye knew was that every aspect of Saitama's physical abilities had gone off the charts—literally off the charts.
"Saitama, just tell me. You're not actually human, are you? You're an alien, or a god from mythology, right?" Skye stared at him, dumbfounded.
"Of course I am! I'm human, just a human!"
"Human? Heh. Hehehe..."
In a building shaped like a trident, a stern-faced woman in high heels walked to a door, her steps crisp and brisk. She gently knocked. A plaque on the door read "Director."
"Come in."
"Director Fury. Here's the information you asked me to look into." The woman set a stack of files in front of the bald, one-eyed Black man.
"Hill, did you find anything?" Nick Fury flipped through the files as he asked.
"I investigated everything I could about Translucent. His, her, or its true identity? Unknown. Species? Unknown. Characteristics? Unknown. Number? Unknown." Hill calmly gave her findings.
"Unknown? Hill, you're not telling me that besides a string of unknowns, you found nothing else at all, are you?" Nick Fury looked up and fixed Hill with a cold stare from his one eye.
"Sorry, Director Fury. No one has ever seen him, and he appears in several places almost simultaneously. His range of activity seems to cover all of New York, and sometimes he even goes outside the city. On top of that, neither the victims nor the perpetrators have any memory of Translucent. There isn't even a trace of him in the security footage from cameras all over New York."
"So, what's your conclusion?" Nick Fury frowned. This was a little tricky—no, extremely tricky.
"Translucent may be constantly invisible. And perhaps there's more than one of him. Or—"
"Or what?"
"There's only one Translucent, but he moves incredibly fast, perhaps even faster than light. Otherwise, there's no way to explain how he's appeared to stop crimes in several places almost simultaneously."
Hearing all this from Hill, Nick Fury couldn't help feeling a headache coming on. As someone who'd seen more than most, he knew the world was nowhere near as safe as it seemed. There were all kinds of more dangerous humans and creatures, even aliens and such, hidden from sight. But no one knew when disaster might strike.
A few years ago, a huge green guy had suddenly appeared. After that, Nick Fury wanted to put together a plan—an all-boys team, no, the Avengers Initiative. Well, the plan had actually been drafted a long, long time ago; it was only after the green giant appeared that he'd formally decided to make it happen.
Translucent's appearance had caught Nick Fury's attention almost immediately. But after all that effort, after doing so much, he'd ended up with nothing. Nick Fury felt like he might just vomit blood.
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