PLEASE READ AUTHOR'S NOT

A/N: Hey guys! So this is the second story that I posted here on this website, and if you're wondering what this fan fiction actually is, let me recap for you. This fan fiction is an AU, or an alternate universe fan fiction of One Punch Man. In this story, Saitama decides to be a soldier instead of a hero. And also, unlike in the anime, the other characters may be different than their counterparts unlike in the original. Think of this as an apocalyptic AU, since this story is similar to an apocalypse happening. Anyways I hope you guys enjoy this story! (This was an AU that I thought of in Tumblr)

I do not own One Punch Man or its characters, OPM is originally made by ONE.

The Strongest Man Alive

...

Has it really been 3 years since then?

3 years of walking through this deserted land...

Huh, what happened back then?

Oh right...

I'm a soldier, a part of the 125th Fighter Squadron of the Marine Corps, serial number 528132.

The name's Saitama.

I remember back then when this world was a world of peace and tranquility. It stayed like that, even before the day I was born. Back then, everything was normal. Back then, I used to have hair. I use to live in City Z, just a normal city like every other city. City Z was populated, always bustling with life, with good people and average services. I lived just around the outskirts of City Z, but I was near enough to pass by the supermarkets to buy for some groceries whenever I needed to. Needless to say, during my teenage years, I lived a normal life that an average teenager would.

Though, when I was a kid, I had always dreamt of becoming a soldier, just like my dad.

I always wanted to follow in my father's footsteps, to be honest I wanted to be a soldier because of him. His good heart inspired me to become just like him. So, my goal was to serve in the army. To protect those in need, and to fight for those who needed it.

After graduating high school, I immediately registered to be in the army. I was thrilled to find out that I was accepted and expected to be sent off to a nearby training camp. I was sent to the marine corps recruit training, mostly referred to as "boot camp" by me and my fellow recruits. The camp was located far out of the outskirts of City Z, I was farther than I thought I was. I spent 12-weeks in what I thought was gruesome, torturous training back then to serve in the Marine Corps. I had to throw out my 'civilian' mindset out the window, and instill discipline into my behaviour. It was hard, but I was determined to be a soldier.

My mother said that it was a bad habit of mine...

Training was awful and gruesome, but in the end of it all I was deemed fit to serve in the army. And for the first time in my life, I felt accomplished, I felt that I had completed my goal, and that I was living it. At that time, I was able to feel victory. I had become the hero I had always dreamed of becoming...

But then, it happened...

The 'Omega Event'.

It happened on a normal Thursday afternoon, training went by swiftly, I completed the tasks that I was assigned to do every day. I was going through the normal routine as always.

But then a sudden alarm went off. At first I thought that it was another one of those surprise training drills if ever there was an emergency, but the frantic movement of soldiers and the sudden arrival of the general to the camp made me think otherwise. We were told to get into our fighting gears, get into our assigned squadrons and report to any nearby sergeants in the area about the current situation. I had no idea what was going on, and it seemed like my fellow colleagues had no idea what was going on as well.

That was then we all heard a sudden loud, animalistic roar. Everyone was stunned, but stood their ground. The loud roar continued, the sound intimidated me and I felt so small. Then, screams were heard and echoed through the camp. The screams were blood curdling, I couldn't help but cringe at the sound of it. The sound was followed by clicks and snaps of what I thought would be the sound of cracking bones and I felt an unpleasant shiver run up my spine at that very moment. I remember when the ground beneath my feet shook violently, and I fell to my knees and struggled to get up.

Then the sudden sound of the earth erupting echoed through the valley, I immediately shot up, and was scarred the moment my eyes met a large shadow looming above us.

A large four-legged like creature emerged from the earth among the mountains outside the training camp. It was the largest creature I had ever seen in my whole life. It looked similar to a praying mantis, its large shell was adorned with large spikes, its eyes were red, as red as blood, its antennas were as long as a plane. The creature was donned in black, and as it walked, the earth would shake beneath its weight. It towered over our fences, it was so big that the rays from the sun could no longer reach the earth due to its large body.

I remember the day that creature emerged from the earth, I remember the feeling of dread, fear and adrenaline run through my veins.

For the first time in my life I was scared.

And it all went downhill from there.

...

"Three years huh..." I sighed to myself, as I stared at the debris beneath my feet. I still wore the same marine corp outfit that I wore back then, when that very day happened. (of course I would occasionally wash it from time to time) With one last glance at the destroyed village behind me, I sighed and continued to trudge through the scattered debris, and into a grassy field ahead.

For 3 years I have been searching for any remaining human soldiers across the land.

For 3 years I have been searching for any squadrons left.

For 3 years I have been searching for a creature who would last more than one punch.

Yep, for the past 3 years ever since that event happened, I fought monsters that used to be way out of my league. It seemed that my constant fights with different monsters had boosted my strength. Because everyday, I would always encounter a monster one way or another. Sometimes, they would vary from creatures that would barely come to my height, to monsters that were bigger than the empire state building. And everyday, I would always struggle to take them down.

There were times when I fought with my gun or my blade, but most of the time I fought with my bare hands. I didn't know why I would always neglect to use my resources against my foes, but it seemed that it became a habit of mine. A habit that I got from my father.

After fighting various monsters for days and days, continuously every day, I had become strong.

I would always run about what I estimate to be around 10 kilometres everyday whenever a monster appeared and tried to chase me down.

During my free time, I would do 100 push ups, 100 squats and 100 sit-ups everyday, if you include the times whenever I would climb up a large monster, I always had to pull my body up.

It felt like hell, I felt like I would die any moment. I felt that I would either die from monsters, or die from exhaustion. But I kept going, even though my joints began making painful cracking noises whenever I ran, even when my arms could no longer lift my carbine, even when my legs would throb and ache agonizingly whenever I tried to run to my target, even when I felt like I would die or drop down at any moment I still kept on going. Everyday felt like you were being interrogated, it felt like you were being asked the same dreadful question over and over again. When are you going to give up?

But no matter what I didn't give up, I fought like hell to survive. I fought for those who couldn't even fight for themselves, and those who couldn't defend themselves.

Three years later, I noticed that all my hair fell off. But I had noticed a considerably large boost in my strength. Instead of relying on my firearms, I relied on my own brute strength. With one swift punch, I killed off any enemy in sight.

In the span of three years, I had gained the strength I never thought I could achieve but did. I exceeded my expectations and I exceeded my limits.

I gained the strength to defeat any enemies with merely one punch, and it came to the point that I didn't even need to put that much effort to fight.

But in exchange for strength, I realized that I lost something that made it essential to be human.

Back when I hadn't gained this strength, I felt all kinds of emotions whirling inside me when I fought.

Dread

Fear

Rage

Determination

But now, all I need was one punch to end it. Now, I no longer felt anything whenever I fought a monster.

For a long time I felt empty inside.

Maybe it could have been the boredom from fighting, or the fact that I haven't seen a fellow soldier for such a long time. For a long time I have not heard from any other fellow soldier, besides myself. I would trudge through thick and thin to find any human who served in the army.

That was my goal in the first place.

That was the order given to me, personally by the general.

I am still a soldier, this was what I signed up for and is willing to do at all costs.

Even when I no longer felt emotions, I still have a job to do.

I am a soldier...