Fighting Someone with a Disability

"Sorry." Roland put his hand back on the steering wheel. "Anyway, you're not at peak human fighting ability yet, so don't even think about taking on Batman or Nightwing... Honestly, you'd probably struggle against Penguin right now."

"What?" Jason sounded unconvinced. "That short, fat guy?"

"Penguin's trained in martial arts and judo. He's an agile fat guy," Roland said. "You've still got work to do."

"Then... what about Mad Hatter?"

"Now you're comparing yourself to someone with a disability?" Roland rolled his eyes. "The guy weighs less than fifty kilos. Anyone could beat him."

"What about you? Is there no one in Gotham City who could beat you?"

"Hmm... There definitely will be someday. Right now... maybe a dozen or so." Roland thought about the Court of Owls' Talons. Every one of them was a skilled, agile fighter, and they were immortal. He'd heard that sixteen of them had abilities far beyond human limits. If he fought them, it was hard to say who would win.

The real problem was how unfair that immortality was. Even if he could beat them, finishing them off would be difficult.

"Gotham City has that many strong fighters?" Jason froze. He'd only been talking, after all. In his eyes, Roland's intelligence and character were fair game, but his fighting ability wasn't. And now Roland was telling him there were people in Gotham who could take on a monster like him?

"Yeah. We might run into them someday." Roland thought it over. The Court of Owls seemed to want secret control of Gotham City, which had nothing to do with him.

But they also had a scheme that reached beyond the Multiverse: establishing a connection to Barbatos, followed by an invasion from the Dark Multiverse...

That had plenty to do with him. Still, an event on that scale wouldn't happen anytime soon. He had time to grow stronger.

Once he saved up enough Goodwill Value and drew [DC God's Power], The Batman Who Laughs, Barbatos, Darkseid, and Steppenwolf could all come at him together and still lose.

Then Roland remembered the wheel's odds and his own luck, and sighed.

"By the way, how are we going to fence the goods in Blüdhaven?" Jason asked when Roland remained silent. "I don't know anyone here."

"Fence the goods?" Roland corrected him. "That means selling stolen property. Did we steal this stuff?"

"Didn't we?"

"Of course not." Roland patiently walked him through it. "Think about it. Where did the goods come from?"

"We took them from a gang."

"Nonsense. Did they belong to the gang? They fell into the river," Roland continued. "What's wrong with finding something that belongs to no one and selling it?"

"That makes sense." Jason was won over by his logic. "So we just go sell it?"

"Yeah. We'll sell it cheap to a fur shop. If they won't buy it, we'll stand outside their door and give it away for free

."

"...You really are rotten."

Blüdhaven.

It was a small city on the East Coast of the United States. A salty sea breeze carried moist air across their skin, pleasantly cool.

"The weather and air quality here are much better than in Gotham City," Roland observed. "Gotham's always dark and damp, and the air smells like kerosene."

"There aren't many factories here, and the population density is low."

"True. There's plenty of greenery, too."

They chatted as they walked into the biggest fur shop in the area and unloaded the furs for a low price, with a little pressure on the shopkeeper. Afterward, they found a garage and had a tire replaced on the big truck.

Once that was done, the two of them, hungry for most of the day, found an Italian restaurant and sat down to eat.

"I have to say, Italian food really is good," Roland said. "I've always liked pasta."

"You'd better not mean the noodles you cook yourself."

"Stop insulting my cooking. When it comes to boiling noodles, I'm actually pretty good."

"...Are you serious?"

"You don't know good food... I'll order." Roland called over a waiter. "Neapolitan pizza, double-cheese pizza, herb-roasted chicken, Italian sausage, prawns baked in sweet cream sauce, traditional Italian roasted vegetables, cream soup, tiramisu, cannoli, and cannoncini."

With money in his pocket, Roland was bolder about ordering. He went straight through the restaurant's signature dishes and ordered every one.

"That's a main, meat, vegetables, dessert, and soup, Father. That should be enough..." the waiter reminded him. "Our portions aren't small. What you've ordered is more than enough to eat."

"Let's start with that, then. Want anything else?" Roland handed the menu to Jason.

"That's enough, that's enough... This is a feast..." Jason set the menu aside and swallowed. "How are the two of us supposed to finish all that?"

"I could finish it by myself." Roland shrugged. Since gaining part of the Dragon bloodline, his appetite had grown several times over.

For a while, it had made him wonder whether the dragon blood in his veins came not from the King of Sky and Wind, but from the King of Earth and Mountains.

"You really can eat..." Jason watched Roland devour a cheese pizza in two bites and hurriedly dug in.

At this rate, Jason might not even get enough to fill him up.

"All right, I'm full. Let's head back to Gotham." Roland patted his stomach, paid the bill, and went outside to start the truck.

The drive back was much quieter, and Roland slowed down.

On the way out of the city, Roland was waiting at a traffic light when he spotted a familiar face in the passenger seat of the car beside him.

It was the bald, muscular man from earlier.

The bald man grew visibly agitated when he saw Roland. He tore off his seat belt with his bare hands, ripped the car door off, and climbed out.

"Looks like I'll have to fight after all." Roland jumped down from the truck and kicked the man away.

"What are you doing?" The man in the driver's seat pulled a gun and aimed it at Roland. "Don't move!"

"Oh, why does it suddenly feel like I'm back in Gotham?" Roland ducked with blinding speed, dodging a bullet, then picked up a broken side mirror from the ground and hurled it into the driver's head.

"Bro... brother..."

The bald man roared and charged Roland, but Roland struck his wound. A few punches later, the man was unconscious.

"Tch. He can take a hit." Roland shook out his hand and was about to call the police when someone in a blue bird Suit suddenly appeared in front of him.

"Hello. What happened here?"

"You're Nightwing." Roland recognized the distinctive blue bird Suit. "This guy's a Supervillain with mental problems. He's not very bright, but he has super strength and endurance. He came looking for trouble, so I took him down."