The Greeting

[A long time ago...]

[Uncle Lander POV]

I finished disembarking from the chopper that had just landed at our destination a few minutes ago, making sure all the preparations were set to ensure my niece's successful disembarkation as well.

As requested, there was no one near to greet us except for one man, the warden of this godforsaken place.

"Hello, Mr. Lander. It's so nice to finally meet you in person. Welcome to Arizona State Prison," the man greeted me with a smile, extending his hand for a shake.

"You as well, Mr. Holes," I returned the man's handshake while clearly nervous about the meeting that was about to take place. "I hope that he has been informed of our arrival as well."

"Hahaha, surely you jest, Mr. Lander. There's not a thing that goes on in this prison without his knowledge. Please, he's waiting for you."

"Very well," I replied with a sigh while following the man, making sure my niece was always within arm's reach. "You know, Mr. Holes, I've heard tales about his residence here in the prison, the reason why they call him Mr. Unchained."

"Of course, Mr. Lander, I'm well aware of the rumors surrounding the man and even this prison," the man continued while leading us to a room specially prepared for our arrival beside the prison's entrance. "Unfortunately, it seems that you won't be able to confirm them on this trip."

"Mr. Oliva was very clear about ensuring that your niece doesn't enter the prison due to her age. She's far too innocent," the man said, giving a smile to my niece, who was currently in a wheelchair due to her condition.

"Thank you." I shook the man's hand once again, thanking him for his help in making this meeting a reality.

"No problem at all. Now please, enter. They're so eager to meet you both."

I followed his instructions, going through the doors that slid shut behind me, trapping us in place with that monster of a man. The room wasn't large in size, all things considered, only big enough to comfortably house its one piece of furniture, a large metal bed placed at the center.

"Mr. Lander," the man introduced himself, "Biscuit Oliva. It's very nice to finally meet you. And this sweet little darling with you must be Princess Diana, if I'm correct?"

Diana nodded her head in response to the man's question, completely disregarding his gigantic appearance, blushing a bit at the man's compliment as she did so.

"Ah, beautiful and pure. I'm sure you consider yourself a lucky man, Mr. Lander, having such a wonderful niece."

"Of course, Mr. Oliva, I couldn't be luckier."

"Now now, darling, don't start teasing the little girl. It's so unmanly of you." Our conversation was interrupted by the occupant of the bed, the same woman we had traveled all the way from England to see.

I brought my niece closer to the bed so she could have a good look at the woman, despite how much I dreaded the impact such an image would have on her psyche.

"Hello, sweetie." Just like my niece, the woman was sweet and caring despite her outward appearance. She spoke to Diana in such a loving tone.

"I've heard that you have the same condition as me?" 

My niece nodded her head, despite the great shock she had received upon witnessing the woman.

Her large body, her bloated skin... I'm sure it was horrifying knowing that despite all her effort, despite her countless hours at the gym, this was the future that was awaiting her at the end.

It felt hopeless.

"But," the woman continued, "I've also heard of your dedication to overcoming it."

"You're strong."

"Perhaps stronger than the big oaf standing next to me today."

"You're still young, and it's still in the early stages for you," the woman spoke with great strain, as if merely the act of speaking was draining her strength. "It's okay."

"I know what you're going through," the woman's words striking a chord with my niece.

"But it won't work," her next words crushing my niece's soul. "No matter how much effort you put into training your body, trying to overcome it through sheer exercise alone, it won't work."

"Even starving yourself—"

"MS. MARIA!" I finally couldn't take it anymore, shouting at the woman despite the presence of her monstrous husband.

'Giving such insane ideas to my innocent little niece, I take back what I said, she's a rotten woman down to her core.'

"If that's it, we're leaving." I got ready to take my detour back, to escape out of this hellhole of a place.

"WAIT!" I turned around with my niece in tow, surprised at the woman who was now standing in front of us, amazed at her strength to stand despite her weight.

"As you can see, even standing here is putting a great strain on my body," the woman explained her earlier words. "I'm not trying to harm your niece. I'm trying to save her from herself."

"No matter the amount of muscle you build, even if you are somehow miraculously able to 'overcome' your condition, your frame won't be able to handle it. You'll simply be crushed by your own weight."

"So what is she supposed to do!" I asked the question within my niece's heart, knowing full well that she was currently too broken by the woman's words to ask it herself.

"She's strong. She'll do it, she'll overcome this!" I pleaded with the woman with the last ounce of strength left in my body.

"She's strong, Mr. Lander," the man finally spoke, breaking his silence. "But how strong does she need to be? How strong do you want her to have to be?"

This time, even I couldn't respond to the man's questions, too powerless to form another lie for my niece to hang onto.

The man came closer, putting his hand on my shoulder in support of my currently disheveled state.

"It's gonna be okay." The man came closer to my niece, putting his hand over her head, taking her under his wing.

"Can you really help her, dear?" the woman pleaded, finally asking a worthwhile question since the start of this conversation.

The man responded, while picking up his wife in a hug despite her gargantuan body, lifting her up as if she were as light as a feather.

"Anything for you, dear."

[Present day]

[Kuzan POV]

It was finally nighttime, and all of my preparations were set. All of the hidden cameras I had previously installed with Xiao Li's help indicated that the time was right to make my move.

'It was a lot of work, but it was worth it, killing two birds with one stone.'

Ever since I'd woken up in this world, I had two inherent strengths working for me that were always at my disposal. One of them, of course, was the Martial System, without which I'm sure I wouldn't be anywhere as close as I am now on my path to achieving my goal.

The other one, however, was my knowledge of the 'future.' This was no less useful in helping me get started on my path. Places I needed to visit, people I needed to 'encounter,' ways to convince them to teach me, opportunities I needed to seize—they were all within my grasp. 

For that exact reason, I had spent so much of the initial part of my journey planning out everything that would need to take place. My path to strength, what I needed to do to reach my goal in the shortest amount of time possible, making plans A, B, C... all the way down the alphabet. 

I would need to utilize every resource I had, every trick at my disposal if I wanted to come even close to reaching his level of strength.

"I'm far from ready to face him." I wasn't stupid enough to consider myself strong when someone like him existed in this world.

I was still a little cub sharpening my claws. I wasn't about to provoke the lion before I had time to grow.

'Where would be the fun in that?' It would be too one-sided of a match.

Thus, I had taken great care while setting up the cameras, recording the man's every move, only entering the park when all of the others had left.

'They really did a number on you, didn't they?' I spoke to the man lying in a pool of his blood, with his hand having been cut off previously and his face literally smashed in by the Ogre.

'You an unlucky son of a gun, meeting him when you're only that strong. I almost feel bad for you. Lucky for you, I'm only here for some of you.'

I continued past his completely unconscious body, putting on the special gloves I had brought along for this occasion. I picked up his decapitated hand and sealed it in the bag I had also had made just for this occasion.

'And done.' I nodded to myself, happy at having completed my mission and securing the 'gift' without hazard.

However, just as I was about to leave, I turned to my side with my ears having just picked up some noise from the surrounding bushes.

"You can stop pretending. I see you. You can come out now." I spoke in a calm but firm tone, displaying just how serious I was about having been found out.

'Who is it?' I tried to determine the identity of my pursuer. My body reacted instantly at the sign of any possible threats and was already ready to defend itself no matter the assailant.

What I was not expecting, however, was for a short but heavily muscular man to pop out his head at my request, on top of which he was literally wearing a black ski mask as if to show off his ill intent.

'WTF?' I was confused at this unexpected development, having expected either Gaia or Master Motobe to make an appearance instead.

"Who are you, and what do you want?" I demanded, but the man, still visibly shaken at having been discovered, chose to run away instead of answering my questions.

"Oh no you don't!" I screamed at the man while utilizing my experience in battle to predict his next movement. It was unnecessary, though, as he wasn't exactly spectacularly fast or anything.

I sent out a straight punch to his chest, just enough to incapacitate him and stop him from escaping. However, I pulled back the strength behind my blow at the last moment, having just felt something on his chest that I was not expecting.

'It was soft—'

In my confusion, the man reached inside his clothes, which consisted of a large T-shirt and some jeans, and pulled out some kind of round object.

My eyes widened in realization as he prepared to use it, recognizing it as one of Xiao Li's smoke bombs.

I reacted quickly, stealing the bomb from his hand before he could set it off.

"Explain," I growled, still bewildered by the unexpected turn of events.

In response, the 'man's' body released smoke, as if burning up from the inside out.

'I can tell, it's not a trick. It's coming out from inside his body through his skin, but how?'

However, the evening still had surprises left in store as the 'man' suddenly started to 'shrink,' deflating like a balloon running out of air, leaving smoke in his wake.

"Really, Kuzan," spoke a girlish voice instead of the gruff voice I had half-expected. "You ruined my entire plan."

"Oh?" I asked the girl, still unable to clearly identify her due to all the smoke around us, waving it away to get a better look.

"Yeah, I was gonna jump out and surprise you like Batman, but you found my hiding spot before I could," the girl continued her accusations, seemingly happy despite her plan being ruined by me as she stated.

Finally, I was able to get a clear look at the girl after the smoke dissipated around us. I asked again, wanting to make sure that I had correctly identified the suspect currently in my custody.

"Diana?"