Chapter 2: The Unworthy Hero’s First Battle

The unstable black armor settled onto Saiga Noburu’s body, humming with faint, chaotic astral energy.
He flexed his hands slowly.

It’s still heavy… still unstable… and I still have no idea how to use any of this.

The Mutated Seaweed monster recoiled at the sight of him, tendrils writhing.

Then it squinted.

Tilted its head.

And jabbed a tendril toward him.

“Alright, Sentai-boy! Where is it? Your sword? Your blaster? One of those flashy Sentai toys you people love waving around?”

It raised both tendrils theatrically.

“Come on! Show me your weapon! It’s tradition!”

Noburu stared blankly.

“Weapon?”

He looked to his left.

His right.

At his empty hands.

“…Nope.”

The monster froze.

Like a computer that had just blue-screened.

“…What did you just say.”

Noburu repeated:

“I don’t have one.”

The monster staggered backward, seaweed flopping in disbelief.

“YOU—YOU’RE FIGHTING ME BAREHANDED!? Who does that!?”

Noburu shrugged casually.

“I’m broke.”

The monster threw its tendrils into the air.

“THAT’S NOT A VALID HERO EXCUSE!”

It pointed accusingly.

“Sentai are supposed to transform, pose, shout moves, and THEN swing a shiny mythical weapon! What are you even doing!?”

Noburu cracked his knuckles.

“I trained for this.”

The monster gaped.

“TRAINED!? To fistfight AN ABOMINATION!?”

“Pretty much.”

The Mutated Seaweed slapped its own head.

“WHAT KIND OF TRAINING MONTAGE DID YOU HAVE!?”

Noburu took one step forward.

Then another.

The monster panicked.

“WAIT—WAIT—STOP! YOU’RE NOT SERIOUSLY GOING TO—”

But he already dashed in.

“<Iron Fist>!”

His fist glowed—unstable, bright, not even slightly official.

“THAT’S NOT EVEN A REAL SENTAI TECHNIQUE—!!”

BAAAAAAAAAAM!!

The monster flew across the street and slammed into a parked minivan with enough force to set off a hysterical alarm.

Crowd reactions erupted instantly:

“HE PUNCHED A MONSTER INTO A CAR!?”
“IS THAT EVEN LEGAL!?”
“I GOT THAT ON VIDEO—UPLOADING!”

The monster staggered up, dizzy.

“My back—! Do seaweeds even have backs!?”

Noburu stared at his glowing hand.

“Huh… it worked.”

He clenched his fist experimentally.

“Iron Fist. Not bad.”

The monster screeched.

“STOP NAMING RANDOM MOVES! YOU’RE NOT EVEN USING SENTAI LOGIC!”

Noburu cracked his neck.

“Alright then. Let’s try another one.”

The monster waved its tendrils frantically.

“NO—NO—DON’T YOU DARE—!!”

But Noburu was already running.

Jumping.

Twisting through the air.

“<Saiga Kick>!”

KAAAA-BOOOOOOOM!!

The explosion swallowed the monster and the minivan in a bright, chaotic blast.

When the smoke cleared…

The monster was gone.
Completely disintegrated.

The entire street fell silent.

Then—

“HE DID IT!!”
“THE BLACK SENTAI WON WITHOUT A WEAPON!”
“THIS IS GOING VIRAL—NO, IT’S ALREADY VIRAL!”

A young boy ran up to him—the boy he had saved.

His eyes sparkled with awe.

“Mister! Mister! You’re amazing!”

Noburu froze.

The boy pointed proudly at him and shouted to the crowd:

“He’s the real hero! If not for him, hope would never come!”

Cheers erupted.

People cried.
People laughed.
People filmed every second.

The boy tugged his armor and whispered:

“Don’t worry… I won’t tell anyone who you are.”

Noburu swallowed hard.

Kid… you have no idea what trouble you just saved me from.

Hashtags exploded online:

#BlackSentai
#NewSentai
#PunchFirstAskLater
#SentaiNoWeaponStyle

Reaction videos.
Fan art.
Merchandise mocks.
Conspiracy theories.

The world had crowned its newest hero.

Even if that hero didn’t want the crown.

Inside a heavily secured control room, alarms kept blaring.

“Unregistered Sentai detected!”
“Transformation pattern unknown!”
“Possible monster disguise!”
“Track immediately!”

Commanders slammed their desks.

“Monitor this entity closely. If it shows hostility, we eliminate it at once. No exceptions.”

A sleek black sedan waited at the airport.

Natsumi Kanzaki—silver hair tied neatly into a ponytail, pale blue eyes sharp with calculation—entered the vehicle and opened her tablet.

A video auto-played:

The Black Sentai punching the Mutated Seaweed monster into a minivan.
Followed by his explosive kick.

Millions of views.
Thousands of comments.
Every angle imaginable.

Natsumi’s lips curved faintly.

“Interesting…”

She tapped the screen again.

“Very interesting.”

A hero who should not exist…
had just become her newest research target.