Chapter 143

Thrilled that things are heating up, Kendo Rappa demands Hekiji Tengai drop the barrier he never asked for. Tengai calls the request selfish, since Overhaul's orders require the two of them to fight as a unit for his sake. Rappa answers with a flurry of punches that the barrier turns aside, and Tengai scolds him for recklessness. The argument ends where it started: Rappa hated being decided for, Tengai will let him do as he likes provided the job gets done, and Rappa is satisfied.

Attention returns to Fat Gum, who eats another volley while running the math. The punches come too fast to evade, tanking them forever means wearing down, and any opening he makes on Rappa gets sealed by a barrier. Taking Tengai out first is the only path, and it is closed while Red Riot is this badly hurt. So Fat Gum goads Rappa into settling which is stronger, those fists or his body. Rappa is delighted, Tengai declines to intervene, and the assault resumes.

Eijiro can only watch. Unbreakable, his newest technique, feels worthless, and he believes he has done nothing but obstruct. As Rappa escalates and Fat Gum begins to strain, Eijiro spirals over having no idea what to do, and Tengai reads acceptance of defeat in his eyes. Fat Gum, bleeding now, asks himself for a few more seconds and then names the flaw in the villains' assumption that he is only a shield: he has been drinking in every punch and stockpiling it. The absorption burns through his fat, thinning his defense, and converts what he took into raw power.

Tengai senses the trap and tells Rappa to end it, but Fat Gum cannot yet let the stored force out. Rappa, too excited to stop, keeps swinging. Then Eijiro steps into the line, takes the punches, and holds. Rappa praises the boy's toughness while Eijiro forces Hardening and throws a punch of his own, only for Tengai to shield Rappa. Bloodied on the ground, Eijiro rejects the sneer that his move was pointless: it bought the seconds Fat Gum needed. Now shrunken to a lean, corded frame, Fat Gum rebukes Tengai for the insult, since those few seconds of courage are exactly what turned every one of Rappa's blows into his strength.

Rappa and Tengai clash over Overhaul's orders, and Tengai agrees to stay out of the fight so long as Rappa delivers a win.

Fat Gum provokes Rappa into an exchange of blows while secretly absorbing and accumulating every punch, burning away his fat to do it.

Eijiro overcomes his despair long enough to distract Rappa and Tengai, giving Fat Gum the window to convert the stored attacks into power.

Titled Let's Rumble, Rappa!!, the chapter ran on July 3, 2017 in issue 31, runs seventeen pages, and is collected in volume 16. Episode 72 covers it.

Rappa, Tengai, and Fat Gum appear on the cover. Barrier, Strongarm, Fat Absorption, and Hardening feature, and Unbreakable is used as a super move.

The Battle of Spears and Shields continues within the Shie Hassaikai Raid. Horikoshi's comment celebrates receiving his figma and Nendoroid Deku figures, his first articulated ones.