Chapter 166: Sinking Feeling

Having killed Sage Centipede, Garou scans the battered coastline for any surviving S-Class heroes and comes up empty. Deciding no threat is left, he begins embracing the mantle of Absolute Evil, telling himself nothing frightens him anymore, yet a persistent sense that he has forgotten something important nags at him. Saitama then strolls up and asks what he is supposed to be.

Garou takes the stranger for some low-tier hero handling rescue duty. He introduces himself and lays out his dream of blanketing the world in fear as Absolute Evil, but Saitama is unconvinced, noting that Garou just saved a helicopter and killed the centipede monster. Garou clarifies that he craves recognition of his power, insisting absolute evil is also absolute strength, and tells Saitama to quit heroics before the Hero Association falls.

Saitama offhandedly says Garou does not strike him as a monster, catching the Hero Hunter off guard. He goes on about how he had gone to complain over a noise beneath his home only for the building to be wrecked, leaving him furious enough to consider blowing up the planet, then warns Garou not to overdo the hero or monster business as he walks off.

A flicker of recognition makes Garou hesitate before he cautions that underestimating Absolute Evil is a deadly mistake and attacks. Saitama flattens him with a single punch, just as he had once after Garou skipped out on a meal. The blow finally jogs Garou's memory, and he realizes this is the odd bald man he has run into time and again, bitter at himself for overlooking the target that should have topped his list.

Known in Japanese as Fuan Yōso and released by Viz as Source of Anxiety, the chapter is collected in Volume 32 and adapts parts of webcomic chapters 87 and 93. Saitama and Garou share the cover, and the bonus page shows Saitama standing still in shallow water beneath the moon.

The same content ran earlier online as chapter 161. It follows Divide and precedes Greatest Hero.