The two walked down the street, chatting as though no one else existed, ignoring the strange looks from passersby.
Saitama explained, "It's nothing major. You've been looking out for me all this time, right? I earned a little money from a part-time job recently, so I wanted to treat you to hot pot. It might not pack as much of a punch as your Sichuan hot pot, but I'm still pretty confident in my cooking!"
"Oh? Sounds good!"
Hearing Saitama's confident assurance, Josen immediately perked up. "Let's do it today. I just spent hours on a train, and I'm getting hungry."
"Huh... today?" Saitama instinctively touched the pocket sewn inside his uniform, his expression stiffening.
"What, is today a bad time?" Josen saw right through Saitama. Judging by the sudden aura of poverty radiating from the guy, he was probably broke.
"It's not exactly a bad time..."
"No problem. Let's go to my place, then. I'll supply the ingredients, and you do the cooking. Sound good?"
"Huh? But I was supposed to be treating you..."
"Next time, then."
"Okay, got it."
With hot pot decided on, they changed course and headed for a nearby supermarket.
They had barely taken two steps when a man and a woman dressed like reporters ran over from nearby. The camera on the man's shoulder and the microphone in the woman's hand were thrust toward Josen almost simultaneously.
Now that was professionalism.
"Excuse me, are you Mr. Josen, 'Wild Thunder,' one of the heroes who resolved the monster disaster in A City three days ago?"
"..."
Josen looked utterly baffled. When did I get a weird nickname like "Wild Thunder"?
"Well, if you mean the Crane Monster in A City, then yes, I was involved."
"Wonderful! We're reporters from Hero News. You're incredibly popular online right now, and your popularity is growing at a rate comparable to Miss Tornado of Terror's earlier rise. Could you spare some time for an exclusive interview?"
Josen glanced at Saitama, who had quietly stepped aside, and said, "You can schedule an interview through the Hero Association, but not today."
"Huh?" The blonde reporter covered her mouth in surprise, but professionally put away her microphone and signaled her partner to lower his camera. "Mr. Josen, our program has been getting excellent ratings lately. It could really help your exposure. Would you reconsider..."
"Sorry."
Josen shook his head and turned to walk toward Saitama.
"But why?" Growing anxious, the reporter even blurted out what she really thought. "If you're photographed hanging around with some shady weirdo like that and it gets out, it could hurt your popularity!"
"My friend isn't some shady weirdo." Josen stopped and turned back, looking seriously at the two reporters as they tried to follow him. "If you don't take that back, I'll refuse any interviews with you."
"S-sorry!"
Leaving the two uninvited reporters behind, Saitama suddenly said, "So you're a hero too, Josen? I thought you just worked as a police officer."
"Yeah. Being a hero is a side job, you could say, but it's also important work." Josen nodded, then had a thought and suggested, "By the way, Saitama, why don't you come register with the Hero Association with me? With your current strength, you'd have no trouble getting accepted."
"The Hero Association? An organization that manages heroes?" Saitama scratched his head. Whatever he imagined, it suddenly made him shudder. "I'll pass. I just want to be a hero for fun. If my hobby became a job, wouldn't that feel completely different from what I originally wanted?"
At Saitama's answer, Josen swallowed the words he had been about to say: "The pay's pretty good, you know."
"In that case, let's leave it for another time."
Josen spent a day selecting officers and putting the framework of the Special Affairs Section in place.
Since the section was newly established, everything had to start from scratch. Josen was in no hurry. He instructed them to handle the basic groundwork, and if a monster disaster occurred while he was away, Kyoko would serve as acting section chief and immediately contact Hero Association Joint Response.
In short: call for backup.
Once everything was arranged, Josen ignored the complaints from Kyoko and the others and comfortably settled into being a hands-off boss.
Well, saving the Metropolitan Police Department's top brass really did give him that kind of leverage.
He also remembered to inform Chief Xiong that he might be away for a while, then began preparing to travel between worlds.
With his current strength, there really wasn't much he needed to prepare.
The nature of his Stand Ability meant that anything turned into a card would remain in the exact state it had been in at that instant. Food, for example, would never grow moldy or spoil after being made into a card. Even when released, it would still be as hot as when it had just come out of the oven.
So, in theory, the fantasy card deck was a storage space with unlimited capacity.
Driven by a sense of danger when he first arrived in this world, Josen had always stocked his deck with plenty of everyday supplies. Water, ingredients, seasonings, and cookware-he had everything he needed to maintain a normal life even in disasters such as earthquakes or tsunamis.
He had kept that habit to this day.
With his growing fame, he rarely used the road roller attack he had favored most during his rookie days.
The main issue was that it was too brutal and didn't quite suit a hero's image.
But he wouldn't have to worry about that in another world. After all, Lord DIO had pretty good taste.
After replenishing some ingredients and everyday supplies, Josen flew alone to the outskirts of Z City.
Although this wasn't his first journey between worlds, his arrival in the One-Punch Man world had been completely involuntary. This time, he was choosing to travel to another world himself. A little caution couldn't hurt.
If the journey caused too much of a disturbance and destroyed something, it wouldn't be worth it.
Beyond the Abandoned Zone, dense forests covered the outskirts of the city.
Josen found a level clearing and landed. A shimmering lake lay beside it, with plenty of birds and wild animals living nearby, occasionally coming over to drink or hunt. The surroundings were wonderfully peaceful.
It would be a nice place to camp and fish in his spare time.
Josen made a mental note of the location and snapped his fingers. The Black Box Shard he had acquired in A City appeared in his hand out of thin air.
Stand Ability activated!
The white fantasy card shone, and the space before Josen twisted and spun, forming a pitch-black gateway into the void.
That looks pretty creepy. It's not going to take me straight to God's home, is it?
Josen promptly shook his head.
Quite apart from God still scheming every possible way to resurrect himself, any power sealed inside a fantasy card would inevitably fall under the control of his Stand Ability.
Let's go, then.
As Josen stepped into the space-time portal, the black gateway expanded slightly, then vanished.
The Space-Time Gap.
The first thing he felt was the weightlessness of stepping into empty air. Josen instinctively activated his psychic power to envelop his entire body, but it did nothing to improve the situation.
Or rather, the force dragging him down was beyond his current ability to resist!
Before you continue