"How could that happen?"
Dressed in a tracksuit, Saitama stood with his hands on his hips. Although his collar and back were soaked with sweat, he was undoubtedly in much better shape than King.
"When I started, I did twice as much training as you're doing now, and I'm still alive and well, aren't I? Besides, you've already improved a lot compared to a week ago. At first, you couldn't even manage twenty squats."
"No, no, no..."
At Saitama's words, King, who was sitting on the ground, shook his head like a rattle drum. "Everyone's different! I don't want to die young!"
The spitting image of Maruko's grandpa, only with hair, found a twig somewhere and poked King's thigh with it. "Come on, keep going a little longer!"
(⊙ꇴ⊙)
King shuddered all over. "Stay away from me!!"
"..."
Saitama, who had been thoroughly thrashed at video games, was letting a little personal resentment into things now. In King's eyes, his innocent grin was downright demonic.
Josen greeted them, bought drinks ahead of time to quench their thirst, then sat on a nearby bench to read the newspaper.
A purple hand appeared from time to time as the two passed by. Although it did not reap a reward every time, with enough attempts, it could always pluck one or two Limiter Fragments that dropped out of thin air.
-F-kid, how far along are we on the fragment cards?
[Fantasy Card: Limiter Fragments] ×71
Josen asked inwardly, and F-kid immediately answered.
Barring any surprises, the next Limiter Breakthrough would meet the fusion requirements when the fragment cards reached eighty. Progress was already close to ninety percent.
Josen's promise to help King get stronger had not been an empty one, but it required his own abilities to advance another step first.