Chapter 56 (Vigilantes)

Knuckleduster keeps his crosshairs on Number 6's head. His own digging told him the Villain Factory would use the Tokyo Sky Egg event as a proving ground, so he worked out which rooftop offered the best view of the tower and then which perch offered the best shot at that rooftop. A bird crosses the scope at the wrong instant and the round goes through the villain's left shoulder instead. Number 6 pinpoints the source at once and, wound and all, bounds building to building until he reaches him.

Greeted cheerfully, the vigilante observes that speed is only part of it: the body has been tinkered with. Number 6 agrees, calls himself a work in progress, and names the Quirk Overclock, the same one Knuckleduster carried as the hero O'Clock. He addresses him as "Master" and says he has wanted this meeting for ages. Knuckleduster's side of it is thinner. He knows the man runs the Next-Level Villains and holds his stolen Quirk, and nothing beyond that: no past to speak of, no identity, not so much as a name. Number 6 confirms it, agreeing that he is nobody at all, unformed, carrying a number where a real name should be, though he means to become O'Clock, since nothing else fits.

Told that most punks aim to be All Might, Number 6 concedes the power but calls the man limited, a hero who only moves once trouble has already arrived. Humanity got lucky such strength landed on someone decent, because being All Might offers exactly two roads, save the world or doom it, and no third. Power you cannot spend as you please is pointless to him, and living free is all he wants. O'Clock, by contrast, always got the first move and could beat anyone however he chose. That, he says, is a real hero. Knuckleduster tells him it is not.

The monologue continues. He claims to be the biggest fan there is, says watching O'Clock's career end felt like his own cue, and reveals he carved the scar into his own face out of respect. The request follows: acknowledge him as the successor. The answer is no, because a disciple already exists. Number 6 knows he means Koichi and dismisses him as an All Might admirer. That is exactly the point, Knuckleduster says, because O'Clock was never a hero, and he will not let a villain carrying his stolen Quirk go on existing.

Accepting the label, Number 6 asks what the vigilante plans now that his chance is gone. A second shot gets deflected by the Quirk. He tells Knuckleduster that a man without Overclock is nobody, promises to kill him, and claims the name for himself. Then he triggers the Quirk and a recording snags his attention: Knuckleduster's own voice detailing Overclock's fatal drawback. Intense concentration starves the brain of oxygen, and the faster the user runs, the harder the drain lands, so straining to follow audio played at three hundred times speed does it perfectly. Number 6 recognizes the trap too late, and Knuckleduster thumbs a detonator hidden in his trench coat.

Knuckleduster and Number 6 come face to face for the first time, the vigilante having predicted the Sky Egg attack and staked out a sniping position in advance.

Number 6 is confirmed to carry Overclock, the Quirk taken from Knuckleduster during his career as O'Clock, and asks to be named his successor. Refused, he attacks, and Knuckleduster baits him into an Overclock brain drain with a sped-up recording before detonating the rooftop.

Nineteen pages, released June 21, 2019 and collected in volume eight of the Hideyuki Furuhashi and Betten Court spin-off. Knuckleduster and Number 6 share the cover, and Episode 25 adapts the material.

Magazine serialization titled the chapter O'Clock (Okurokku) before the volume release changed it. Much of the supporting cast appears only in fantasy panels, and Koichi Haimawari is mentioned but never seen.