Saitama vs. Awakened Garou

What are you supposed to be?

Saitama vs. Awakened Garou is the battle between Saitama and the Hero Hunter Garou, who has become a monster.

Prelude
After defeating Sage Centipede, Garou observes the surroundings and cannot see any S-Class hero. He comes to the conclusion that they have all been taken down and that it is the time for him to reach his ultimate goal, to become "Absolute Evil". However, a sudden anxiety feeling comes across him, much to his concern. As he is wondering what's happened to Evil Ocean Water, to Garou's surprise, Saitama lands behind Garou and asks what he is supposed to be. Although not knowing Saitama's identity, Garou still answers Saitama's question regarding what he is by stating that he is a monster who will cast all of humanity into the depths of despair and become "Absolute Evil". Saitama is confused about whether Garou is evil considering he's helped a helicopter from Sage Centipede. Garou reasons that he needs witnesses to spread fear and to know he is stronger than any hero and monster, stating that "Absolute Evil" correlates with absolute strength. Garou then tells Saitama to leave and quit his hero job, as he will annihilate both the Monster Association and Hero Association. After listening to Garou, Saitama begins to leave without acknowledging Garou as a monster, which prompts Garou to doubt if the hero was following what he said. Saitama, with a frustrated expression, speaks to him that he went out of his way to complain about the noise and somehow his house later got destroyed. Because of that, the hero is extremely upset and says that he would rather blow up the entire planet, making Garou shiver with his words. As Saitama leaves, Garou calls out to him, saying how he will pay should he underestimate "Absolute Evil" and charges at him with a punch. Unfortunately for him, Saitama is faster and with an impulsive punch, knocks Garou back before the latter could land the hit. After being punched, Garou manages to remember Saitama, identifying him as the bald guy he's run into several times before.

Battle
Garou recovers from being punched by Saitama and starts fighting him for real. They begin exchanging blows while crossing large distances, reaching far into the sky. Saitama attacks Garou with a punch aimed at his head but Garou manages to dodge it before ax-kicking him into ground, causing a landmass to severely crack. When Saitama stands up on his feet, Garou leaps down towards him with a hand-chop, striking his head directly, causing a forceful impact on the surroundings. However, the hand-chop is not enough to faze the hero, who retaliates with a simple headbutt that shatters Garou's forearm. Despite this, Garou manages to regenerate his forearm quickly and attempts a punch on Saitama, although the Caped Baldy is faster, punching him back first. After being knocked away a considerable distance by Saitama, Garou's body, in response to his anger, undergoes a mutation that increases his size and stature as well as his strength. At this moment, Tareo approaches him and tells him that he is a hero, which annoys Garou, who tries to explain again that he is not at all a hero. Even after what Garou says, the boy still insists that Garou is the greatest hero in his point of view and tells him to stop pretending to be a monster. Saitama slowly comes up to the two of them while commenting on what Garou has done, including hunting heroes, crushing dojos, and now playing monster and making kids cry. As Saitama takes his steps towards the Hero Hunter, Tareo tries to stop him from further fighting the hero, although Garou still punches Saitama hard in the head after being provoked by the Caped Baldy. Garou is surprised that Saitama is unscathed even after taking a punch so hard head-on while Saitama reassures a shocked Tareo that Garou will not be able to hurt him. Garou then tries to kick Saitama but is slapped away by the hero. Saitama asks Tareo if the boy wants him to stop Garou, which Tareo nods. Now that there are only the two of them, Saitama questions why Garou is acting like a monster despite previously having helped heroes. Garou tries to reason that he was merely using them to further his goals. After Saitama lumps Garou's "Absolute Evil" together with world peace, Garou angrily charges at Saitama. He manages to parry a punch from Saitama, hand-chops him in the right side of his face and lands a punch on his head before elbowing him in the stomach, all done very quickly. When Saitama grabs Garou's arm, Garou performs several lock-on moves that he eventually hits Saitama with a hard punch in the hip. Garou proceeds to use his God Slayer Instant Attack, slamming Saitama into ground with a flurry of punches and hand-strikes. However; Saitama soon emerges nearby after digging underground and throws a big rock at Garou while asking the Hero Hunter if he keeps avoiding his punches with martial arts, which Garou confirms while shattering the rock by rotating both his arms. Garou attempts a barrage of attacks on Saitama, but the hero manages to dodge, prompting him to remark that Saitama has amazing reflexes and agility but lacks skill and still has plenty of openings. Claiming to be able to read all of Saitama's moves, Garou declares that the hero will lose due to his lack of technique and being a complete amateur before sending him crashing into several buildings with his God Slayer Ascending Attack. Garou quickly catches up to Saitama and uses his Great Fa Jin, crashing him through the buildings, ultimately pulverizing them and generating dust smoke. Believing he has won, Garou states that Saitama may have incredible tough skin and bones but he cannot train his internal organs, which Garou believes to have been damaged by his attack. However, to his surprise, Saitama emerges completely unharmed. It is then shown that Garou, in destroying the buildings, accidentally saved five Hero Association staff members who have been inside an underground shelter trapped in the rubble. As all of them show their gratitude to him before leaving, Saitama ironically comments on how "Absolute Evil" is good at saving people. Enraged, Garou attacks Saitama again and soon evolves further, taking on a demonic form with a pair of wings and longhorns. While defending against an onslaught from him, Saitama states that Garou has improved a little, which angers the Hero Hunter, who with a punch, knocks him into a soon-to-erupt volcano. Garou immediately charges at Saitama and strikes him with both of his open palms, causing the mountain behind to shatter due to the powerful impact. After the attack, Garou is on his knees and panting while an unharmed Saitama simply punches him away. Recovering his balance, Garou is impressed that Saitama could withstand the attack that destroyed the volcano behind him. In destroying the volcano, Garou has accidentally saved a city from being covered by its lava flow, which catches Saitama's interest who comments that Garou has great hero instincts and reminds him of King. Garou grows two more arms and continues his onslaught on Saitama, showing clear panic trying to defeat the hero. Despite being attacked by the Hero Hunter who is using all of his four arms, Saitama still manages to dodge, and parries a flurry of Garou's punches one-handed while also telling him to give up. Afterwards, Garou places two of his hands on Saitama and takes a form that resembles a jet while his remaining two arms emit energy to act as propulsion. Garou follows with a mighty attack called Extreme Fa Jin, pushing Saitama into ground and creating intense seismic waves that pass through Earth's core. The attack is so immensely powerful that it distorts the space around Earth, moves tectonic plates, makes a continent raise up from the other side of the planet, messing with the magnetic as well as gravitational fields and subsequently causing the planet to bulge. Despite his efforts, Saitama is still unfazed by Garou's mighty attack and retaliates with his Consecutive Normal Punches. As the two of them return from the Earth's depth, Garou tries to fend off Saitama's flurry of punches but fails. At this moment, Garou recalls the "abominable fist" Sage Centipede has once mentioned and deduces that it is referring to Saitama instead of Garou himself. Saitama proceeds to punch Garou hard in the face, causing him to crash through several mountains and eventually fall to a massive puddle.

As he slowly gets up, Garou is shocked and angered by Saitama's overwhelming power, viewing him as the embodiment of unfairness. Because of this, Garou charges at Saitama with a punch, refusing to lose to him. However, Saitama punches Garou, sending him flying away, destroying Garou's monster form and exposing his true human form buried inside of his monster body. As Garou laments being beaten by such unfairness, he hears a voice calling to him. The voice tells him that there is only one fist that can counter "The Fist that has Turned Against God". Garou then sees a vision of Bang hovering above him and offering Garou his hand.

Afterwards, Saitama ominously notes that something is coming, and sees Garou leap down from behind to face him again. Saitama exclaims that Garou's changed costumes again, while Garou, having received powers from "God", replies that the only way to counter "The Fist that has Turned Against God" is "The Fist of God". Garou, now appearing as a void of stars and galaxies, takes a fighting stance with his new form called Awakened Garou: Cosmic Fear Mode, readying for another round against the invincible hero. Having now gained the knowledge of all the flow of energy that courses through the universe as well as the behavior of the forces of the cosmos, Garou utilizes said flow of energy to deliver a cataclysmic attack towards Saitama dubbed as All Life Eradication Fist: Nuclear Fission. The attack results in a massive nuclear explosion followed by several more that reach into the sky as Garou continues his attack while the surviving heroes, including Psykos who has emerged since her defeat at the hand of Tatsumaki, stare in amazement and horror. The heroes in question see the battle between Saitama and Garou obscured by a mountainous cloud from Garous's attack as their silhouettes can be seen briefly through flashes of power. Despite the enormous force behind the attack, Saitama was more concerned over his outfit much to Garou's bewilderment. Nevertheless, Garou proclaims that he feels like he can do anything before explaining to Saitama that in martial arts there are secret techniques known as Shakkei where a martial artist can borrow the power of nature by imitating the movements of living things. Garou prefers to address them as "modes" since to him they sound cooler. He demonstrates one of these modes and that being Mode: Saitama as Saitama's own face appears in place of Garou's featureless void-like face which greatly surprises the hero. Garou duplicates and utilizes Saitama's Consecutive Normal Punches, assaulting the hero with his own technique, prompting Saitama to respond with his own Consecutive Normal Punches. Their fists collide in an even exchange of blows creating enormous destruction around them from the force of their blows. The exchange ends with Saitama and Garou simultaneously landing a punch to one another's faces and the two fall back into the water below. Both Saitama and Garou quickly leap out of the water with Garou then taunting Saitama on how he must be at a loss for words upon finding someone who could seemingly match him blow for blow. While Saitama is dismayed at thinking back to how he promised Tareo to not get scratched, this only causes Garou to show Tareo how powerless heroes are. He begins to charge as his body is encased in a singularity before unleashing another extremely powerful attack called All Life Eradication Fist: Gamma Ray Burst towards Saitama. The hero realizes that if that attack even grazes the ground it would be really bad which he decides to jump high in the air for the attack to not reach the ground though Garou thinks he is attempting to dodge it by jumping. The attack hits and completely engulfs Saitama, sending him off the planet. With Garou believing to have eradicated Saitama, the Hero Hunter lands on a pile of debris and confronts the members of the Hero Association. The remaining heroes immediately realize that the man standing before them was the source of the massive explosions just moments before. Only the S-Class heroes remain on the spot while the lower ranked heroes begin to run away in terror. Seeing this, Garou questions if he has finally achieved his ultimate goal; becoming absolute evil. He looks into the sky and says the words "thank you," although it is not clear who exactly he is speaking to. Bang, being one of the heroes who chose to stay rather than run away, confronts Garou and asks if a monster did something to him. Garou then reveals that he wasn't truly tricked by the entity that approached him earlier, and instead knew all along that the strange figure who took on the form of Bang wasn't actually his former master. Regardless, Garou simply coming into contact with the entity was enough to turn the young martial artist into the "Avatar of God," although Garou denies that he has become a puppet and states that what he is doing is of his own free will. After making this clear, Garou decides that it is now time to conduct evil.

As Garou approaches the remaining heroes, Child Emperor and Waganma start to bleed from their noses. Moments later, the two children collapse onto the ground, unconscious. Despite Garou stating that he is in control of his own actions, Bang still believes that there is something evil within Garou, and that this evil is controlling him. Suddenly, the S-Class Rank 1 hero, Blast, teleports into the area and introduces himself to Garou. He attempts to reason with Garou, stating that he is being controlled by the mysterious entity known as "God," and emphasizes that in Garou's current form, any attack unleashed would endanger all life on Earth. Although Garou still retains his careless demeanor, he is seemingly somewhat intrigued by what Blast has said and asks what he should do about it. Blast offers to transport Garou into another dimension, but the young martial artist declines the offer and instead boasts about how his mere presence is causing people to die, believing that he has finally become the symbol of fear. Bang attempts to stop Garou from proceeding, but suddenly Genos, using the remaining bits of power he has left, hurls himself towards the seemingly invincible enemy and headbutts him in the chest, although to no avail. Garou grabs the young hero by the hair, but before anything can be done, Blast intervenes and a brief battle ensues between the two. Although Blast manages to ward off the attacks, Garou believes that Blast is still far below him. Garou realizes that Saitama was still holding back and thus decides to kill Genos in order to draw out the full power of Saitama, who is still nowhere to be seen. Garou then impales Genos through the chest and rips out his "Core." Moments later, after Genos is seemingly killed by Garou, Saitama returns back to Earth as black liquid begins to rain down due to the nuclear fallout that resulted from Garou's Gamma Ray Burst. He stands in front of Garou with Blast at the other side while everyone else, including Bang, has passed out from the cosmic radiation emitted by Garou. Seeing what seems to be Genos' lifeless corpse, Saitama questions if he truly has a hero's intuition. Saitama, now with a serious expression on his face, unleashes a Serious Punch towards Garou, who responds with a Serious Punch of his own, having mimicked Saitama once again using Mode: Saitama. Blast immediately and fearfully realizes that the two colliding attacks will shatter the Earth.

Trivia

 * In the original webcomic, after Garou transformed into a monster, Black Sperm referred to him as Awakened Garou (覚醒したガロウ, Kakusei-shita Garō). This term was eventually introduced in the manga after "God" bestowed powers upon Garou, with the Hero Hunter then referring to himself as Awakened Garou: Cosmic Fear Mode (覚醒ガロウ: 宇宙的コズミック 恐怖フィアー モード, Kakusei Garō: Kozumikku Fiā Mōdo).