Chapter 40: A Rational Team-Up

Octoid has left Shota Aizawa badly wounded and is closing in for the kill when Koichi Haimawari steps into the gap and lands a repulsion beam square in the villain's face. The rescue works, but it also means using an unlicensed Quirk with a professional hero watching, so Koichi tries to bluff his way out of the moment. The excuse goes nowhere because Octoid recovers quickly, furious at being struck.

The Hotta Brothers dose themselves with Trigger, take their transformed shapes, and join the fight. Koichi pleads self-defense for his earlier shot, and the brothers make the same argument while insisting their Trigger is a legal formulation. Aizawa waves the paperwork aside for later and takes the help, rigging his binding cloth into a sling for his damaged left arm.

Since nothing they throw lands with much force, Aizawa has Koichi keep firing, not to hurt Octoid but to hold his attention. Koichi objects that standing his ground is suicidal, and the hero clarifies the tactic: stay out of reach and keep the shots light and constant. Aizawa then asks the brothers for somewhere free of civilians. One of them knows a spot, and the group falls back toward it while Koichi keeps baiting Octoid into following.

The destination is the Hotta Brothers' warehouse, where Kirihito Kamachi is taking tea with music on. Jiro Hotta bursts in and tells him to clear out, which only earns a scolding about barging in unannounced. Koichi arrives next and reacts with alarm at seeing the Mantis Villain he traded blows with weeks earlier. Kamachi bristles and tells him off for sorting people into villains based on how they look. Aizawa and Ichiro come through soon after.

Deciding the whole business is not his problem, Kamachi returns to his tea. Then Octoid arrives and wrecks the place, which finally provokes him into attacking. Even a former Next-Level Villain proves outmatched, so the others move in. Aizawa and the Hotta Brothers pull the villain's focus while Koichi charges a heavier repulsion beam to fire from almost touching distance.

Koichi's intervention saves Aizawa's life and exposes his unlicensed Quirk use to a pro hero.

Aizawa accepts an impromptu alliance with a vigilante and two Trigger-using brothers, deferring the legal questions.

The group lures Octoid to the Hotta Brothers' warehouse to keep civilians clear of the fight.

Kirihito Kamachi is dragged into the battle after Octoid destroys his teatime, and proves unable to handle him alone.

The chapter closes as Koichi winds up a stronger beam for a shot delivered at arm's length.

This is the fortieth chapter of My Hero Academia: Vigilantes, written by Hideyuki Furuhashi and drawn by Betten Court. It runs 19 pages, sits in the sixth volume, and belongs to the Team Ups arc.

Publication came on October 27, 2018. Eraser Head takes the cover on his own, and the anime adapts the material as Episode 17.

Kirihito Kamachi, the Mantis Villain, had previously fought Koichi and appears here as a reformed Next-Level Villain.