Breaking the Barrier (Saitama x Tatsumaki)

Martial Arts...They Suck

"Makes you look like one, too."

~~~

The tournament, for a lack of a better word, was lackluster. Boring. Mundane. Everything you could say about waiting in a doctor's office would likely apply to the tournament as a whole as well as the fights that took place there.

Half of the fights that the spectators saw were just as one would expect from high-level martial artists. Sportsmanship, camaraderie, respect, all that.

Yet, the other half was simply nothing like the other fighting tournaments.

Between two fighters, who simply wielded what the other fighters had, two limbs were used. An arm and a leg. Cost nothing but their opponents' pride.

Throughout the entire tournament, Tornado had been recognized by an insurmountable amount of people, who all questioned why she'd bother being there without voicing their curiosity.

To Tornado, there were only two people who seemed remotely interesting: Suiryu, and Bakuzan, though the latter instantly fell out of interest when his overwhelming arrogance was shown.

However, Suiryu seemed to be a different case, as he seemed to fight in the same sort of style as Saitama.

That being said, he clearly had more style and affinity for flair than Saitama, though that likely had to do with his power letting him glide through life.

Their fight was the only interesting thing that happened in the tournament.

Yet, there was something that was itching at Tatsumaki the entire time that they were fighting. Something that seemed...unnatural. The air seemed tainted, almost. A foul taste was left in her mouth, yet she couldn't quite place where it was coming from. It certainly wasn't from some of the fighters, though she bet that some of their armpits definitely could produce that smell given how some of them appeared as if they hadn't showered since the 1960s.

Now, to say that Saitama looked like he was getting knocked around like a ragdoll would be a severe understatement. Yet, Tornado couldn't muster the energy to care. She'd seen him take on a literal planet-busting alien. If Suiryu could really deal damage to Saitama, or at least provoke him like the alien did?

It'd take a lot more than whatever kicks he was throwing around.

She had to admit, she respected Suiryu. Most people wouldn't even be able to move like that for a few seconds without being completely winded.

Yet, the main indicator that told her about Suiryu's real inability to pose a challenge to Saitama?

When he kicked Saitama...there was no movement.

The only time Saitama'd been legitimately moved by an attacked while he was on guard was from Boros, and that attack didn't even hurt in the slightest.

This?

This was nothing compared to the monumental feat that was Saitama being moved by an attack.

And of course, to top all the boredom off, Suiryu interrupted the fight by talking about all these unnecessary desires, going for fun, getting strong because of it...it all seemed so...boring.

Like there was nothing to gain from doing all of this. Sure, the reality of it was that the strong had more freedom, but everyone already knew that.

Strength is power, whether anyone liked it or not.

Of course, when Suiryu knocked off Saitama's wig, that was pretty amusing.

"Charanko is disqualified!" The announcer yelled, as if it wasn't obvious that it wasn't even Charanko in the first place. "But what's this?! Suiryu doesn't care! He's still going!"