"Squared" (二乗, Jijō, Tonari: 211) is the 166th chapter of the One-Punch Man manga series.
Summary[]
Child Emperor and Waganma begin to bleed from their nose, before losing consciousness. Zombieman and Sekingar quickly rush to their aid, with the former noticing that clumps of hair are falling from the young hero's scalp.
Bang confronts Garou and reasons that his former student is harbouring something evil inside, demanding to return him. Garou claims that he is acting under his own will but the two are interrupted by the sudden appearance of Blast, emerging from a portal. Blast skips the pleasantries and tells Garou he is being controlled by "God", to the shock of the two; the hero warns him that any released attack will endanger the lives of all living things on the planet. When Garou doesn't respond, Blast shows him the effects of his actions.
Nearly every hero present has now lost consciousness from the cosmic radiation he emits. Blast surmises that Garou is still retaining his humanity and is not completely enslaved by God's will, hoping that he can be reasoned with to avoid conflict. His hopes are quickly shut down by Garou's laughter, finding enjoyment that his "divine power" is killing people by being near him. Garou proclaims he is the miserable future of the human race, "Disaster Level: God". Left with no choice, Blast orders Bang to stand down; the aged hero declares that Garou will have to kill him if he wants to accomplish his evil deeds.
Manako sees her chance to escape with the heroes now downed, only to bleed from the radiation as well and collapse. With her remaining strength, she looks up and sees Tareo, alone and unconscious.
A voice quickly demands that Bang and Blast move; Genos appears and rams into Garou with the last of his energy used in a final charge. Garou grabs him and realizes that Saitama must have been incredibly powerful to have an S-Class hero as an apprentice. Blast responds to the situation with Dimension Cannon, launching a miniature singularity at the two, although Garou manages to dodge. Blast immediately opens a portal above Garou and engulfs him holding Genos; Blast quickly emerges from the other side, using Gravity Knuckle to punch Garou into another portal, freeing Genos from his hold.
Garou finds himself being launched into the portals in a continuous loop and under heavy assault from Blast's punches. The hero suddenly connects the portals together and seals Garou in a pocket dimension. However, shortly after closing them, Garou emerges from his own portal, having added Blast's special moves to his arsenal. He attacks Blast with his newly created move Nuclear Fission: Gravity Knuckle, forcing him to go on the defensive and create several portals to redirect Garou's attack into the sky in order to prevent collateral damage. In the sky, a big portal created by Blast swallows the nuclear explosions generated from Garou's attack into an alternate dimension.
After the brief clash, Blast reasons that with so much energy being released, the planet will be killed off; he places transferring everyone out as his first objective. Garou is quite impressed that Blast is living up to his expectation as the highest ranked S-Class hero but remarks that now, he isn't worth his attention. Knowing that Saitama will return and the Caped Baldy was not going all out fighting him earlier, Garou believes that if he can copy and refine Saitama's full power, he can win. In order to force Saitama into revealing his full strength, Garou picks up the helpless Genos and impales him through his chest, taking off his power core, seemingly killing the cyborg.
As the sky begins to rain a black fluid likely from the nuclear fallout of Garou's attacks, Saitama appears to confront Garou, having returned from being sent away from the planet earlier, with Blast now the only remaining one standing. Seeing his deadpan expression, Garou taunts him by throwing Genos's depleted core at him. Saitama catches it and stares blankly, remembering Genos' previous words about how he is always on time, denying them by stating that he is usually always late. Enraged, Saitama launches a Serious Punch at the Hero Hunter. Garou instantly copies Saitama's killer move and responds with his own Serious Punch against him. Sensing both their energy, Blast becomes startled and believes that Earth will be destroyed by their clash.
Characters in Order of Appearance[]
- Garou (cover)
- Child Emperor
- Waganma
- Zombieman
- Sekingar
- Bang
- Bomb
- Tanktop Master
- Blast
- Mizuki
- Gearsper
- Pineapple
- Mohican
- Food Battler Futoshi
- Heavy Kong
- One Shotter
- Crescent Eyebroll
- Sneck
- Tareo
- Manako
- Genos
- Saitama
- Pig God
- Mountain Ape
- King
- Fubuki
- Tatsumaki
- Mumen Rider
- Lightning Max
- Flashy Flash
- Sweet Mask
Trivia[]
- The cover of this chapter showcases the infamous Horsehead Nebula on Garou's body, a small nebula from the constellation Orion bearing resemblance to an equine animal's head.
- Upon copying Blast's abilities, Garou briefly assumes a stance similar to that of Marshall D. Teach, a popular character from the famous series One Piece. Garou simultaneously using Gravity Knuckle in his right hand and Nuclear Fission in his left is akin to Marshall D. Teach simultaneously using the power of darkness in his right hand while in the left, the power of tremour.
