MCU: No Limits

In a slightly fragile wooden chair, inside a small and dirty room, a young man with a face covered by a balaclava was counting a small pile of bills and coins in his hands.

"$98.20... $105.45... And $133.95." He said, gathering all the bills into a small, organized stack and placing the coins in small paper bags, before putting the stack of notes into a larger paper bag.

Sighing, he absentmindedly looked at the ceiling, his shoulders slumped.

"It's not enough to pay all the bills for the month, but it's a start. The important thing is to have patience."

Grabbing a blue backpack, he placed the paper bags filled with money inside the backpack, in a false bottom. Putting the backpack on his back, he opened the door to that room before descending the stairs of an old, unused apartment building.

He looked indifferently at the many graffiti on the walls, his eyes wandering, distractedly observing some symbols, before he continued walking on the dusty floor.

Some kind of spider began to climb up his leg, and the young man was about to kick it, but immediately stopped moving his leg when he saw it was just a tarantula. He picked it up, carefully.

Looking more closely, he saw that the tarantula was approximately 15 centimeters, it was a hairy spider with dark brown hairs, several eyes, and it bared its teeth threateningly at the young man, but it remained standing on the palm of his right hand - which was covered with a blue latex glove.

"Hello, little tarantula." He said, moving his thumb to gently stroke the tarantula's head. "Most likely, you are not radioactive. But even so, I'm not Peter Parker, girl."

Bending down and placing the tarantula on the ground, the young man quickly left the crumbling building, before starting to run at a moderate speed, traversing several streets during the evening, being careful not to be seen by certain security cameras.

Approximately two hours later, he can be seen discreetly entering through the back door of a house located in Chinatown, New York. Turning the doorknob of the back door and closing it after entering, he walked with slow and inaudible steps until he reached the clean and fragrant bathroom. 

Looking into the clean, crack-free mirror, the young man removed his balaclava and looked at his reflection in the mirror. His reflection showed the face of a young adult, but it seemed to be rejuvenating at an impressive speed.

Gripping the edge of the sink with a firm hold, the young man felt a pain that could not be described in words, feeling every part of his body undergoing an impressive regression. He felt as if infernal flames were burning every cell in his body, while his body was being reconstructed over and over again. He did not scream, despite the indescribable pain he was feeling.

With a shallow breath, he lifted his head, looking at his 5-year-old reflection before almost falling to the floor, but he leaned against the walls until he reached his room.

His clothes were often much larger than his small body, and he almost tripped when he stepped on his own pants a few times. The boy, Keiji, took off his clothes, shoes, and accessories and hid them under a loose floorboard in his room, beneath his bed.

Wearing his light pink pajamas that fit him just right, Keiji lay down on his bed and covered himself with the sheets, falling asleep a few minutes later.

A few hours later, a small hand emerged from under the sheets until its fingers reached a specific button on the alarm clock that played an irritating song that gave him headaches. When Keiji pressed the button, the music stopped.

Getting out of bed, Keiji put on his slippers and began stretching his body for the next 30 minutes.

He extended his left arm in front of his chest and pulled it back to his body with the other hand. Counting to 10 seconds with a lazy voice, he repeated the same stretch with the other arm.

Standing with his legs extended, Keiji leaned his torso forward and gently bent down, bringing his fingers close to his toes without bending his knees.

Then, still standing but with his legs slightly bent, Keiji pulled his right foot with his hand towards his glutes and slightly pushed his hip forward, holding this position for a full 10 seconds before doing the same with the other foot.

He repeated the three exercises a few more times until the clock on his alarm clock showed 4:30, the moment he finished putting on his gym clothes and stepped out the front door, starting to run through his neighborhood for the next 60 minutes.

With his back straight, shoulders relaxed, and head held high, Keiji looked ahead. He kept his arms bent at a 90-degree angle with his elbows back, his hands loose and relaxed.

Meanwhile, Keiji breathed deeply through his nose and exhaled through his mouth, always maintaining a steady rhythm. He landed on his right foot and pushed off the ground with the front part of his foot, walking at about 180 steps per minute.

Keiji also avoided running too fast or for too long, as well as not lifting his knees too high and avoiding jumping up and down. However, he gradually increased the speed and intensity of his run to a certain limit, aiming to avoid injuries or exhaustion.

When 60 minutes had passed, Keiji returned home and quickly took a hot shower.

Inside the bathtub, Keiji held a rubber duck that wore sunglasses and a red motorcycle helmet.

"We're both pathetic, you know, Mr. Ping?" Keiji murmured, squeezing the duck, which made a "quack" sound.

"Your existence is the same as mine. We are just tiny and insignificant specks of dust in this infinite multiverse. You just float in this bathtub much larger than you, and I am trying to adapt to this reality infinitely larger than both of us."

"You and I are two pathetic, weak beings, with no real power. We... We are just particles."

"But I am willing to become truly powerful... And I know what I will become."

"I will be an absolutely powerful existence." 

"I will be something as immeasurable as the countless stars in the vastness of the cosmos."

"I will be truly invincible." And he squeezed the rubber duck once more before placing it in a plastic box next to the bathtub.

Leaving the bathroom, Keiji dried his body with a towel before putting on simple but comfortable clothes. A long-sleeved plaid shirt over a light blue shirt, brown pants, socks that barely reached his heels, and a pair of red sneakers, which he tied with a double knot bow.

Keiji left the room with a plastic stool in his arms, placing it in front of the stove before climbing onto the stool, deciding to make omelets.

Taking 2 eggs, he cracked them on the edge of a bowl and carefully tossed the egg whites and yolks into the same bowl before starting to stir with a wooden spoon.

After a few minutes of stirring, he poured the eggs into a frying pan that had already been greased with oil. Then, Keiji added salt, diced ham, and some pieces of cheese before adding some seasonings. He waited until the eggs were firm and flipped the omelette with a spatula, even though it was a bit difficult.

Turning off the stove, Keiji picked up the frying pan and got off the plastic stool, heading to the kitchen table. Slowly, Keiji raised his arm and flipped the pan, placing the omelet on a plate, which he quickly covered with a lid, preventing it from cooling down or flies from hovering over the omelet.

As Keiji began washing the kitchen utensils he had dirtied, he was thinking about his new job and, consequently, the skills and abilities of the Hatsu he had created.

Keiji decided not to work in the neighborhood where he lives, Chinatown, and decided that he would set up his small "store" of candies in Harlem, but only for a few hours a day before returning.

His Hatsu, a very important part of this dangerous endeavor, is simply called "Growth." Basically, the main ability of this Hatsu makes his body grow at absurd speeds until his body becomes what it would technically be at a certain age, which he decided would be 18. However, this growth is not without excruciating pain.

Both this rapid and enhanced growth and the non-instantaneous regression to your true biological age are extremely painful experiences, as all parts of your body are being destroyed and rebuilt at abnormally high rates. Moreover, this ability requires absurdly large amounts of aura to remain active and will need five times that amount to stay active for a longer period.

However, Keiji is not worried about the amounts of aura that this ability requires. From what he discovered, Keiji believes he possesses quantities far superior to anyone in the manga. And his talent and potential are by no means a small number, he quickly realized.

However, this Hatsu is of the Enhancement type and this is not Keiji's primary category. His level of Enhancement is lower than his level of Transmutation. Therefore, this ability would be more powerful if it belonged to a real user of that type.

When Keiji decided to create this ability, he initially thought about making something similar, but with Transmutation. He realized that this wouldn't work.

Nen cannot be seen by any camera or technological device; however, Keiji realized that his real body would be seen by cameras if it were made of aura. Moreover, people who cannot use Nen would still see him as a child, and that went against everything he was trying to achieve.

Keiji wants to do a simple job that pays money. He decided to sell sweets for that reason. However, he also decided that he wouldn't sell sweets in his neighborhood. Even though people in this neighborhood didn't know him, some still saw him running in the early hours of the morning. The undeniable resemblance that his enhanced body has with his real body is so obvious that it would not be ignored for long.

Therefore, he decided to go to a more distant place, but one that also has a considerable population. Harlem was his choice of workplace.

On the first day Keiji went there, he was treated with suspicion, both for being a stranger and for the clothes he wore, which gave him the air of someone who wasn't from the most trustworthy places in life.

However, he was frank. He explained that he was going to start an innocuous job and that it wouldn't harm anyone. Even though they noticed that Keiji was omitting some details, they decided to extend a bit of trust to Keiji.

Another thing is the name of his "persona." Michael, his name in his previous life, is how he is known in Harlem.

According to unfounded rumors that began to emerge before he even realized, Michael is someone very intimidating, but who decided to start selling candy to make a living when he irritated someone important. And Keiji, in his Michael persona, neither refuted nor confirmed that these rumors were true. He just smiled, remaining silent.

The moment he started making candies in the middle of the street, he had the barrel of a gun pressed against his back. However, he did not hesitate for a moment, just continuing to make his candies and answering questions as frankly as possible, without lies or omissions this time.

When people saw his suitcase for the first time, they weren't really prepared for it to turn into a complete table, with utensils and kitchen equipment inside.

In fact, this suitcase is an object he created using the abilities of Materialization. The interior of this suitcase is something very compact, but it does not exceed 3 square meters, and Keiji can simply make it disappear when he does not want to use that object. Everything stored in this bag must not exceed the size of its interior, it cannot be an object that is not normally used for cooking, and each individual object must weigh less than 1 kilogram.

Some of the children there were astonished when they saw his "magic suitcase," and they were always nearby, watching him make his candies with great attention. In fact, those children were only there so they could be the ones to decide if the candy was "good." Having candy tasters isn't really a bad thing, Keiji thought. After all, most of his customers are children.

However, Keiji is quite attentive to this. He is strict in their eyes, not allowing them to eat that junk before they have breakfast, and the adults there approved of his conduct when he explained why. Basically, he doesn't want anyone to faint from dizziness, have seizures, tinnitus, or a feeling of ear blockage due to the excessive consumption of sugary foods.

And while Keiji thought about this, he finished washing the things he had dirtied while making the omelet, and put each item in its place, in an organized manner.

While he was standing on the plastic stool, raising the arm that held a spatula, trying to put the spatula away in the cabinet. When he succeeded, he got down from the stool.

Keiji turned when he heard footsteps and grabbed an apple he had washed a few seconds earlier, taking a bite. He saw Keiko approaching the kitchen with a sleepy expression, rubbing her eyes.

"Hey, good morning, Keiko."

When Keiko saw her brother handing her the plate with an omelet that had a smile drawn with ketchup, she started to cry.