184. Roses and All By Myself Part II

*PEW BZZT*

Saitama leaps upward and punches it away, but it curves and blasts his torso.

*BOOM*

*SPLAT*

*COUGH SPUTTER*

Saitama has a hole at the left side of his torso.

"One Punch Man!" yelled Goku.

Saitama trembles as the world began to shake. He looks at his hands.

"You... injured... me..." whispered Saitama.

He smiles.

"Finally..." whispered Saitama. "A worthy opponent..."

Saitama leaps upward and throws his fist toward God-Emperor Kakarot.

"All my life... for the last three years... I felt nothing..."

Before...

"I was just a guy... A normal guy who saved a kid from an evil crab monster... And the exhilaration... The pain... The injury... It made me feel so good... And I fought. I kept fighting and I kept battling until I became the strongest in my dimension.

Every battle... I won...

I lost my sense of feeling. That dread. That fear of losing... That excitement... Gone... I just became a hero for fun."

Out of fear of the power he senses from Saitama, God-Emperor Kakarot turns left and dodges Saitama's attack.

He blasts a flurry of Ki toward Saitama, but Saitama dodges around, curving himself away from the energy bullets.

Giorno flies toward the pair.

But... Giorno turns to Goku.

"Do you mind helping him as well!?" asked Giorno.

"Nah!" laughed Goku. "This is his fight! He's got this!"

"Goku!" yelled Giorno. "DON'T SAY SOMETHING SO FUTILE!!! IF YOU'RE GONNA BE USELESS IN THIS FIGHT, YOU'RE NO BETTER THAN WORTHLESS TO US!!!"

"Ugh! Fine!" Goku yells, "Ka... Me... Ha... Me... HAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!!!"

*PEW BZZT*

God-Emperor Kakarot slaps it away with ease.

Goku transforms into a Super Saiyan and charges toward God-Emperor Kakarot, who transforms Super Saiyan as well.

Goku slams his fists toward God-Emperor Kakarot, who dodges his head over and over. The pair transform into Super Saiyan Blue and Super Saiyan Rose for the latter.

Goku releases Magic Dragon as his Stand blasts fists toward God-Emperor.

"DON-KAKAKAKAKAKA!!! DON-KA!!!"

Kakarot blasts a punch into Goku's chest and blows an energy blast into his chest, blasting it open.

Saitama, who rested on the ground, is healed by Giorno.

Saitama prepares to fight him once more.

"Are you kidding me!?" asked Giorno. "What's the point to fight him again!? He's obviously much more powerful than you are! What for!? PRIDE!?"

"It's not about pride!" yelled Saitama. "It's about the exhilaration."

Goku regenerated from his wounds and blasts Ki blasts toward Kakarot.

"Are you insane!? You're gonna get us-!" Giorno kept on talking in the background.

"It's the thrill, Giorno! It's the exhilaration you feel from your beating heart that seeps throughout your veins! It's that feeling that I've yearned for! That I've always wanted to feel once more! I wanted to feel, Giorno Giovanna!Here is Goku... Always feeling that exhilaration... And here I am... stuck to feeling almost nothing!"

"WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU TALK ABOUT!?" asked Giorno.

"I'm talking about life, Giorno!" yelled Saitama. Giorno's eyes quivered. "My entire so-called life? I felt nothing like this! Don't you get it!? I felt nothing! Not a single thing! This is my first injury after so many years of internal defeat! LET ME HAVE THIS!!! You know what it's like to not feel anything, correct!?"

"I do..." whispered Giorno. "Fine... But I'll help."

Saitama smirked.

"So be it, Giorno Giovanna!" smiled Saitama.

Saitama leaped upward while Giorno used Gold Experience Requiem to fly upward. Both went toward Kakarot.

"Special Attack Serious Series... SERIOUS PUNCH!!!"

*BOOM*

Kakarot blocks the attack and sneers.

Giorno blasts Gold Experience Requiem's fists toward Kakarot, who easily dodges all of them. "MUDA MUDA MUDA MUDA MUDA MUDA MUDA MUDA MUDA MUDA MUDA!!! MUDA!!!"

Giorno's Requiem failed to touch Kakarot's body.

Kakarot blasts Giorno's face open, but the action was reset to zero.

"NANI!?" Kakarot backed away in fear.

"Wait..." Giorno squints his eyes, as he sees Stand Energy leaving Saitama and entering Kakarot. "Kakarot is absorbing Saitama's life energy!Wait... No..."

"You serious dumbass..." whispered Giorno. "ARE YOU SERIOUSLY MAKING YOUR OPPONENT STRONGER!?"

Giorno looked at Saitama rather coldly. "In any moment now, I could run out of stamina, and he could kill all of us. AND YOU'RE MAKING HIM STRONGER!!!?"

"You don't understand! It's the only way!"

"Only way of what!?" asked Giorno.

"ONLY WAY THAT I COULD LIVE AGAIN!!!" yelled Saitama.

Giorno sighs and facepalms. "Honestly..."

Meanwhile...

"YAYAYAYAYAYA!!!" Vegeta blasted punches and blasts toward Jotaro, who blocked all of them.

"Vegeta!" yelled Jotaro, whose Star Platinum blocked all the punches. "What the hell are you doing!?"

"BEING GOD!!! HAHAHAHAHA!!! AHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!Wait, no... That sounds somewhat counterintuitive.I'm trying to kill you because he's telling me to."

"Dang it!" yelled Goku Black, who strangles Mob. "Vegeta! You're not supposed to tell him! It's a secret!"

"Why are you doing this, then?" asked Jotaro.

"Because his Stand is that weird earring on his left ear that produces fumes which made me a zombie," said Vegeta.

"I'm seeing a bit of... aggression from you, Mr. Black..." whispered a beaten Mob in a trembling voice.

"Are you kidding me!? I beat you hard! Of course, I'm aggregatsukovated from you!"

"Grammar aside, he has a point," said Jotaro.

"You icky mortals! I, Zamas, shall destroy your worlds in my name to bring the world salvacation."

"You know... You're not really that big of a bad guy, are you? I think you just need friends..." whispered Mob.

Goku Black tightened his grip.

"Get your hands off of him!" yelled Jotaro.

"YA!!!" Vegeta blasts a flurry of Ki blasts as Jotaro teleports. Now, Vegeta and King Nothing are pinned down by Star Platinum.

"You can't just destroy worlds in your name... That's awful," said Mob.

"It's not because I don't have friends! It's because everybody is always mean to each other and acting like big jerks!" yelled Goku Black. "I've killed so many people to create a perfect world! BECAUSE ONLY I CAN DESTROY EVERYTHING!!! ONLY I CAN GIVE JUSTICE-!!!"

"You're not special," said Mob.

"What!?" asked Goku Black.

"Just because you're a god, you're special? You have a calling, according to you? I don't think so. I think that you're just a regular guy who doesn't have friends," said Mob, smiling.

"Wow... I... I didn't think it that way," said Goku Black.

Goku Black loosens his grip on Vegeta as he flies away.

"What!? What happened!? OH GOD!!! ZAMAS!!!" growled Vegeta.

"Stand down," said Jotaro.

"What!?" asked Vegeta.

"Stand down," Jotaro repeated.

Mob follows after. "I'll be your friend!"

"I've killed enough people in multiple Dimensions," said Goku Black. "I've samistically-..."

"Sadistically," corrected Jotaro and Vegeta.

"Sadistically tortured and injured my victims," said Goku Black.

"Yeah? But you were trying to do the right thing, right? I believe that everyone is special... and that means no one is," smiled Shigeo "Mob" Kageyama. "So... what you did was awful... But you could make things better by helping us."

"But why is everybody so mean to each other?"

"I used to question that, too," smiled Mob. "But when you think about it, you're just as awful as everyone is. If everyone's awful, no one is."

Goku Black sighed. "Fine... Okay..."

Goku Black offers Mob the Psycho the Ribs of the Holy Corpse.

"Thank you!" Mob smiles sweetly.

Goku Black's eyes quivered.

"I don't know how or why... But I feel a strong mental and spiritual connection with you," said Goku Black. "DIO wouldn't forgive me for this... But I know what it's like to live underneath an overbearing god... So I will help."

"Thank you!" nodded Mob.

Meanwhile...

Saitama's eyes quivered.

"YOU'RE NO BETTER THAN A TRAITOR OF THE FAMILIA!!!" yelled Giorno. "YOU'RE NO BETTER THAN SOMEONE WHO CHOOSES HIS OWN SELFISH DESIRE THAN THE PEOPLE HE CARES ABOUT!!!"

Giorno's eyes widen as he covers his mouth. He tears up as tears flow down his face.

"Spiacente..." Giorno wept. "I'm sorry... I was projecting myself into-... Spiacente... I didn't mean to insult you..."

"No," said Saitama. "I understand."

Saitama begins to weaken Kakarot and strengthen Goku.

Kakarot laughs. "I have infinite power, Bald One," he sneered. "There is nothing you can do to stop-!"

Goku enters Ultra Instinct.

"WHAT!?" asked Kakarot.

(theme begins)

Silvery energies emerge from Goku's body as he stared at Kakarot.

"An Ultra Instinct User!?" Kakarot backed away.

Goku slowly approached Kakarot.

He merely looked at him and-...

*SPLAT SPLAT SPLAT*

Kakarot i severely injured by Goku's punches.

Kakarot blocks all of Goku's next few punches as Kakarot punches a hole into Goku's chest. Goku roars and blasts his fists toward Kakarot, regenerating completely.

Goku and Kakarot blast fists at each other.

Saitama prepares an attack...

"Special attack... Super Serious Series..."

Goku prepares a Kamehameha...

"Ka... Me... Ha... Me..."

"Super Serious Punch."

"HAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!!!"

*PEW BZZT*

Saitama lept toward Kakarot.

*BANG*

The entire sky of the planet split in half for a second, as the morning sky became space for a split second. The clouds all over the world were halved. Several stars in the direction of the pair's attacks had massive solar storms that shook the worlds that orbited those very stars. A few black holes were formed in the distant nothingness.

Saitama floated back to the ground, panting very heavily. Goku did so as well.

Giorno's eyes widened in fear.

"Is it over?" asked Giorno.

From the dust, Kakarot in his new form, Super Saiyan White, coupled with pure white eyes and white hair with no eyebrows, floated above them.

"Oh, you foolish trio... I am God-Emperor Kakarot!" he howled. "I AM THE DESTROYER OF ALL WORLDS!!! YOU ALL MEAN NOTHING TO ME!!! I'VE SEEN THANOSES DIE AND BEERUSES ERASED!!! THERE IS NOTHING THAT CAN DEFEAT ME!!!"

"You feel nothing... don't you?" asked Saitama.

"What!?" asked Kakarot.

"You feel... nothing... This? This wasn't even a battle."

Goku smiled and gave Giorno, who was behind a rock, a thumbs up, as Giorno sneaked and floated toward Kakarot from behind.

(Saitama's dramatic theme begins)

"You want power..." said Goku. "You think that you can get stronger and stronger... That you've ignored everyone and everything else that's important in your life. You know what that gave me? A really angry son, another son who thinks that I'm the best who I kinda leave all the time, a wife who constabantly screams at me, and everyone in the world including your friends thinking that I'm a denace the menace. You should know that between you and me, you're not really that special. Why? Because we're the same guy, in and out.Knowing that there's a variable of me out there that's so goodie and friendly should kill you, huh? Is that why you chose this mission, Kaka Carrot Cake? To get to me?"

Kakarot's eyes quivered.

"You feel cold... Worthless... and like you're no one in this world that anyone will ever care about..." said Saitama. "You don't care about yourself at all, really... You don't wanna hear anyone calling out your name...You're not here for fortune, fame, or glory...Instead, you fight knowing nobody even knowing your name...No matter how many foes, you never turn your back on them...You'll stay until you taste the dirt of defeat someday, right...? That's who you are, aren't you? Well, so am I. You just feel empty... A shell... You live to fight, searching for a worthy opponent.I understand everything you are and everything you accomplished.Your accomplishments are curses...That's why... I have to apologize...For this."

"Huh!?" asked Kakarot.

"MUDA!!!" yelled Gold Experience Requiem, as Kakarot is slowly erased.

Kakarot trembled in fear and gasped as his body slowly dusted. Kakarot smirks slightly.

"I'm sorry to beat you... this way... But I know that inside, you're so tragically happy that there's a power out there that's able to end your suffering..." A tear flows down Saitama's eye. "You're so happy, aren't you? Happy that you feel something... It hurts that you're happy... You hate that you're happy... It's awful that you're happy... But this is just how things are, huh? Gomenasai, Kakarotto-san... I'm sorry that I made you feel my pain... Sayonara..."

"Thank you..." whispered Kakarot, closing his eyes as tears flow down his face.

(theme ends)

Kakarot dusts to nothingness as Saitama wipes his tear with his sleeves.

Giorno floats down to Saitama and grabs his shoulder.

"Want to learn to make Margherite Pizza that I learned to bake recently?" smiled Giorno.

Goku's eyes quivered as he smiled.

Saitama smiles.

"LET'S DO IT!!!" laughed Goku with a shaky voice.

Giorno pats Goku's head as he laughs.

"Yeah... Let's go home," smiled Saitama.

"There you are," said Jotaro, meeting with them. "Polnareff is at the south of the island. We have to get there."

Giorno runs to Jotaro and hugs him.

"Oy!" yelled Jotaro, angrily. "What the hell do you think you're-!?"

Giorno laughed and wept.

Jotaro turns red softly and sighs. "Yare yare daze..."

Jotaro shakily and hesitantly pats Giorno's back.

"Whatever you're going through, we'll figure this out, alright?" asked Jotaro.

"Yeah! Yeah, I will!" wept Giorno.

Meanwhile...

DIO uses The Phantom of the Opera, Jonathan's Stand, a purple vine, to watch the group through a television.

"Goku Black betrayed me... And Giorno is beginning to act more humane..." DIO squinted his eyes.

"Lord DIO!" yelled The Reverse-Flash, genuflecting before him. "Pucci and Kira are dead... So is God-Emperor Kakarot..."

"Eobard..." growled DIO. "Your variant was murdered by three Joestars in the Prince Dimension, I heard... You're beginning to fear them as your Remnant's thoughts and memories returned to your very own... I need them dead, Thawne... If you don't... I'll erase you as well..."