Chapter 169 (Online)

"Daybreak" (夜明け, Yoake, Tonari: 214) is the 169th chapter of the One-Punch Man manga series.

Summary
With his divine power from "God" fading away, Garou reels in shock and pain, wondering about a mysterious punch that hit him and believing it was powerful enough to put even Saitama to shame. As he looks around, Garou sees several heroes, notably the Tank Topper Army, surrounding him. Saitama and Genos discuss the core the former is holding. Genos decides to plug the core to himself to verify its authenticity. Upon making a connection, the cyborg is overwhelmed by the core's memories; having traveled through time with Saitama, the core displays pivotal moments to Genos, such as the heroes' deaths due to the radiation emitted from Garou, his own demise at the latter's hands and Saitama's battle on Io.

Genos gathers himself and asserts that the core is indeed his, but from another time. Genos asks Saitama if he could remember anything, believing that the core and he had both come from the future. Genos proceeds to explain the hypothetical belief regarding a possible parallel world or theoretical multiverse, surmising the core had possibly come from an alternate timeline due to Saitama's actions. He states that though it is unknown how the divergence into different times had happened, it can be confirmed that there was a new Saitama that separated from the original who has time travelled and now merged with the past Saitama in the current timeline. He notes that the timing of the separating and merging may be a clue to what point in time the two worlds have separated. Genos goes on by stating that in the future that the core had arrived from, he was killed by Garou. Astounded by what he has learned from the core, Genos believes that no matter possible parallel worlds may exist, even in the worst possible scenario of his' and many other heroes' collective deaths, Saitama's capability to transcend and manipulate the laws of causality, is inescapable proof of his selfless, flawless heroism.

As Genos tries to relay his theory to Saitama on how he could have possibly travelled through time, Saitama is overwhelmed by the long explanation and does not follow what the cyborg said at all, much less comprehend the scientific logistics Genos is explaining to him. Ultimately, Genos is pleased that in order to save everyone, Saitama transcended even time and space.

Elsewhere, Tareo suddenly gets up, awoken by a voice calling to him. He sees a vision of Garou but watches as it fades away. Scratching his eyes as if he woke up from a dream, he hears a ruckus nearby and walks to it. Many lower ranking heroes are beating up an injured Garou who offers no resistance. Metal Bat steps up and yells them to stop. The heroes are livid at Metal Bat, with Sweet Mask mentioning how Garou had gone berserk earlier and that Garou will kill them all if nothing is done to him. Seething with rage, the A-Class hero proclaims that as a monster, Garou must be executed, something that Metal Bat vehemently disagrees to. Saitama joins the commotion and also disagrees with executing Garou.

When Saitama asks about the one responsible for Garou's defeat, Flashy Flash states that a naked man appeared out of nowhere and struck the Hero Hunter once, before flying away; he mentions that the movement used was similar to something Blast does. Sweet Mask and Sekingar are surprised to hear that Blast was involved. Genos tells Saitama that he has the lone right to decide how to deal with Garou, although Saitama intends to let the others beat him up until they are satisfied. As Garou is continuously beaten, Zombieman approaches and asks him a question regarding his strength. He inquires about a potential alternate source of his abnormal power, like "God" maybe, mentioning that a cadre of the Monster Association was akin. Flashy Flash is surprised to hear Zombieman mentioning "God", as Blast once spoke of something similar. Garou laughs at his question and claims that he is the only one responsible for what happened. Seeing Garou provoking the others to kill himself, Zombieman wonders if the Human Monster no longer has a desire to live. Sweet Mask steps up and prepares to kill Garou, but Tareo holds onto his leg, with Waganma and King in disbelief at his actions. Tareo calls out the heroes for beating Garou, explaining that he was saved by him several times and begging Garou to flee. Sweet Mask takes this as Garou luring a child to his side but Tareo denies this. He calmly states that the heroes will civilly treat Garou, asking the boy to step aside; Tareo instead repeats his words that he was going to execute him. As the heroes argue over Garou's fate, a powerful rumbling travels through the air.

With his King Engine running, King silences everyone. Bang speaks up and states that he will not let Garou slip his life away so easily, telling him he must make up for his actions by saving others. While Garou stays quiet, Saitama ironically expresses that saving people is what "Absolute Evil" is good at. The Caped Baldy further states that everyone has shown him his true self. Garou tells Saitama he will regret letting him go but Saitama replies that he won't, even adding his thanks to him for saving Genos and King (from Platinum Sperm and Evil Natural Water). King recalls how Saitama and he spoke about what to deal with Garou, with the former revealing that it was the latter who rescued King and Genos earlier. Before vanishing from sight, Garou tells the Caped Baldy that he disgusts him, much to everyone's shock. Sweet Mask is angered at the fleeing fugitive while Saitama is the only one seeming to track him leave, believing Garou would be fine.

Erupting from the ground, Metal Knight appears in a giant drill. Seeing the threat is over, he calls in hundreds to thousands of drones in order to repair the damage done. Talking to the other heroes, Metal Knight states that the ship he created, the Gotz Okkie, had detected the presence of a nuclear blast. He announces that there will be mandatory testing and decontamination for everyone present. Walking away while holding Genos' damaged upper body, Saitama audibly sighs, depressed about how they will have to look for what remains of their destroyed apartment after Genos will be repaired by Dr. Kuseno.

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