85 Chapter 85: The End

At the city where I had fought All Might last year, I smiled as I walked with Tamaki, remembering the good old days.

Tamaki grumbled, "No insects for me this time."

I teased, "Can't look for spiders for you every now and then."

"Figured you'd say that. No need. I have learned a lot since last year," he replied, his lower half morphing into that of a snake. "I've eaten some shrimps. I can punch at bullet speed now." His hands turned into shrimp-like claws. "And I've got some Water Bears. I can handle All Might's strikes."

Water bears were very durable creatures. They can survive in the vacuum of space and in a highly radioactive environment.

I believed that I had a good influence on him to make him use his quirk more effectively.

"Too bad. You won't have to use most of your quirks," I replied. "I'll take on All Might on my own."

"Are you sure about that?" he asked in a low tone tinged with concern. "I know you're pretty strong, but that's All Might. You barely survived against him last year."

"I'm not the same person," I replied, floating in the air.

"Hope you've finished planning, for I am here," echoed All Might's vigorous voice. The next second, his behemoth figure landed in the middle of the test site, staring at us. "Now, let's take down the one who will make it to the finishing line."

He looked at Tamaki, who recoiled.

"The same strategy won't work twice, it seems," I commented dismissively.

All Might clenched his fist and punched forward.

All Might was stronger than the last time we sparred, as he was now fully healed thanks to Eri learning more about her quirk. As he punched the air, a violent pressure wind flew in our direction, lifting everything from the car to the concrete.

Tamaki slipped with his snake tail to the side. As for me, I didn't move aside. I stretched my hand forward, activating one of my lowest skills.

Buddha Palm.

At my current level, a 100-meter-long golden palm was released. The attacks annihilated each other.

All Might stared at me with awe, and he beamed. "Young man. I know that I said you'll surpass me eventually, but your progress seems quite fast. This means I'll take you fully seriously now."

"Just the words I hoped to hear," I replied with confidence. I believed that I surpassed him long ago.

Now, I could simply activate Aizawa's quirk and turn All Might into a regular man and beat him up easily.

But that's not the way to beat the strongest man in the world. And since he was about America and all, as a fan of Baki, I had to win in the contest of pure physical strength. You know, in that fight where Baki fought against the strongest man in the world and refused to use any technique or martial art. It showed the real way to defeat the strongest man in the world.

All Might vanished from his spot, appearing in front of me, clenching his fist tightly and punching toward my face.

I brought my hand up, feeling the heavy weight of his punch on my palm. The ground behind me cracked and was lifted because of the shockwave that spread.

"I don't think this is the serious you. Show me the power that you showed in your real peak," I invited. "At this rate, I'll be the one not to take you seriously."

"Shonen. If you want my real peak, you'll witness power that's greater than 60 times," he said. He didn't sound mocking or cocky, but rather concerned.

"I know," I replied, bending down and kicking him in the stomach, sending him flying across seven buildings, and he landed in the middle of the eighth.

All Might jumped back as if it was nothing, one hand on his abs. If you have to admire something about the humans of this world, it would be their durability.

"That hurt," All Might grumbled, his voice echoing high from the sky.

I lifted my head and looked up. He was in the middle of the sun, smiling. This may be the last time that I could go one on one against someone before turning into Saitama. Well, it's not like I haven't surpassed All Might already. I'm at least three ranks above when I last fought him, a total of 27 levels.

I squatted before throwing a punch up in the air, using only pure physical strength. A high air pressure left my fist. The number one hero crossed his arms in defense. The next second, he was sent flying many kilometers high in the air. From his struggling expression, he seemed to be fine.

Knowing that it would destroy the city if we fought here, I decided to fly up in the air.

-x-X-x-

In the monitoring room, everyone watched the fight with awe.

"How could someone grow up this much?" asked N13. It was no longer amusing to see them grow.

"It seems that All Might is the one who's struggling here," Aizawa commented, arms crossed. "Should I intervene?"

"In what world does that make any sense?" Midnight asked. She had known Kenshiro ever since he was a scaredy-boy who could barely hold himself together. Now, he was standing toe-to-toe against the strongest man in the world. She would be lying if she said she regretted rejecting him in the past. Hell, she could even have turned into pasta had they ever had that.

"Actually, it makes more sense," Nezu, who had his hands behind his back, shook his head. "Kenshiro, not only did he find a solution to give people superpowers, but he found a way to turn quirks into injections. I believe that he found ways to boost his own quirk. Maybe he gave himself a superman shot. It's never been specified that it works on quirkless."

Midnight turned to Nejire and asked, "Is that right?"

"I don't know," Nejire shrugged before looking at the screen and cheered. "Go Kenshiro!"

Nejire knew the answer all along but decided to keep Kenshiro's secret for herself. It was as simple as sitting on his ass and making his energy grow. He could even make hers grow so much to a level he called the heavenly level. At that level, she could release shockwaves capable of annihilating a city easily. But at least, this way, she could take his pounding – he always leaves her sore, no matter how much stamina she'd gain.

"Some quirks are just as unique," muttered Midnight.

-x-X-x-

I stood in the sky, looking at All Might, who smiled at me. He clenched his fist tightly and punched toward my face, with strength that seemed to be folds larger than before. As his fist contacted my face, I countered with a punch simultaneously.

All Might and I flew away from each other. There were a few clouds around. But now, they disappeared.

I smirked and pushed myself forward, wrapping the space around me, making myself flicker toward All Might, who kicked the air behind him to stabilize himself.

All Might looked at me surprised before shouting, "Let's go all out!"

I held him by the collar

, and he did the same. And we punched each other at the same time, not backing away.

His punches were a bit painful yet gave me a sense of euphoria.

On the other hand, All Might's bright face that usually had a glint of blue started dying in red. As his fist contacted my face with a strength capable of changing the weather, I grabbed him by the collar and headbutted him on his chin. His blue eyes lost their glint, and soon, we descended from the sky. Just as I realized All Might lost his awareness, I held him, one hand on his back and the other on his knee. I carried him princess-style all the way down.

'Though I promised not to use a technique, I headbutted his jaw. That's like an assured knockout.'

I looked at his blood-covered face.

Placing a hand on his head, I cast a Great Healing Spell.

All Might suddenly sat up, breathing heavily.

He turned his face to me, asking in shock, "Did I just?"

"Take a nap. Yes," I nodded.

"Okay, I admit it, you're the strongest hero in the world now," All Might sighed. "Good grief."

I turned my head, wondering why the hell I hadn't heard the bell that indicated that we passed the test.

I jumped slightly, only to see Tamaki staring in our direction with awe while standing on the finishing line. I grimaced a bit.

"Take one more step," I shooed.

He snapped out of his daze and took one more step back. It seemed that he was more distracted by the battle.

As I landed on my feet, I looked at the sky. I believed that the structure of the clouds had changed. Someone from the weather news is going to lose their job.

Well, it wasn't my problem anyway. Now that I've defeated All Might in a battle of pure strength, there was nothing more that I could do. I have no enemies now.

-x-X-x-

Time-skip: 1 year.  

After another year at UA academy, I graduated at the top of the class.

I stood there at the platform, wearing that black hat, while staring at everyone.

"Well, I didn't expect that," I smiled as I picked up my degree, turning my face to see a large crowd of the press taking pictures of me. Everyone seemed to be excited to have a word from me.

"Nezu, why are the press here?"

"You've technically surpassed All Might," Nezu whispered as he handed me my degree. "They paid a lot of money to charity just to enter here."

"Are you a pimp?" I asked, feeling quite offended that people are paying to see me.

"No. I'm the principal," he replied with a warm smile.

Ignoring his answer, I couldn't blame him. I was a businessman and could understand him. And I was a bit famous. Because I had a hero license, I was active for a whole year while attending high school at the same time.

I was already the strongest being on the planet last year, and as I stand here today, I have achieved the immortality rank, and I'm an 7th-circle archmage. There were more power-ups to buy, but I hadn't since I didn't see the point.

Anyway, when you get into that level of power, where the world is between your fingertips, you develop that kind of ego. It was like I had that desire to beat up anyone that I didn't like. If a funny show was interrupted because they had to live stream a villain, I wouldn't just wait for them to upload the episode online. I'd go there and beat up the villain. And with that, it led me to develop the habit of beating anyone that I didn't like, which happened to be crazy villains.

That had gained me a huge boost of fame.

"Sir Kenshiro, may we have a word."

"Is it true that you've bribed the Head Minister to change Madam President?"

"Now that you graduated, will you increase your hero activity?"

"What do you have to say about the rumors that you're beating villains because you're bored and that you're a bored psychopath?"

"Is it true that you are the one behind passing the public use quirk law?"

Some of the questions were provoking, but these were just journalists doing their job. Also, it's not wise to beat them up publicly. Still, it left a bad taste in my mouth to let them talk like that and get away with it. I'd pay some money for someone to make them lose their jobs, that if I didn't forget about their existence.

Anyway, I've achieved what's important. Had things gone according to the original timeline, this country would have turned into a living hell with no heroes and only villains around. I'm quite happy that I could graduate from UA without Shigaraki and Tomura causing troubles. I now had another goal, which was to start a fine family.

I turned my head to the chairs in the front lines, where the graduates were sitting. Nejire sat there, smiling as usual. There was something more noticeable about her figure. Her belly got bigger.

'I'm becoming a father.' A small smile found its way to my face as I made my way to my seat, sitting next to her.

I didn't know what tomorrow may hold, but for now, I'm glad with what I've got.

... The end?

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