Super Fight Arc

Fourteenth in the series and the fifth arc of the Human Monster Saga, this chapter interlaces a fighting tournament with a wave of monster attacks unleashed by the Monster Association. Its through-line is the aspiring champion Suiryu, whose skill and cynicism about heroes are tested when the recruiter Gouketsu offers the martial artists a brutal choice, and whose survival ultimately hinges on Saitama.

Suiryu trades blows with the veteran Sneck, who dwells on whether heroes still matter as the younger fighter dodges everything and eventually knocks him out. Across the region the raid begins in earnest: Sweet Mask's concert, a hospital sheltering Tanktop Master and Mumen Rider, and a prison all come under monster attack. Gyoro Gyoro and Orochi weigh their progress from the Monster Association's lair, and on the road to the arena Gouketsu strikes down a wounded Genos.

In the ring, the tournament grinds forward with Volten, Choze, and Saitama all advancing. Elsewhere Drive Knight interrogates a captured monster, Child Emperor works to counter Eyesight's paralytic poison until Pig God swallows her whole, and Watchdog Man perches atop a defeated invasion force as Garou tries and fails to bring him down. When the Hundred-Eyes Octopus routs a cluster of heroes, Flashy Flash blinds it, and Tatsumaki finishes it by crushing it midair before scolding everyone for their slowness.

Away from the fighting, Atomic Samurai asks the Council of Swordmasters to help hunt Garou. Only Haragiri objects, revealing the Monster Cells gifted to him and transforming before ordering the others to consume theirs, upon which Atomic Samurai cuts him down. Back at the arena the final draws near, with Saitama and Suiryu both dispatching their opponents to reach the last round. Suiryu fights in earnest, relying on devastating kicks, and even knocks off Saitama's wig, though Saitama stays completely unharmed and warns him not to grow any stronger.

Disqualified for the wig, Saitama is declared the loser even as Suiryu keeps attacking, splitting the ring in two. Trying to mimic one of Suiryu's moves, Saitama accidentally launches him from the ring and slips away. The closing ceremony is then hijacked by monsters: the Three Crows return the fighters bound for the hospital, and Gouketsu announces that all of them will become monsters or die. Revealed as the first Super Fight champion, Gouketsu explains that Orochi once spared him in exchange for his loyalty.

Several fighters swallow Monster Cells and turn, and Suiryu, spurred by a promise to a watching civilian, cuts through the newly transformed Benpatsu, Hamukichi, Volten, and finally Choze. Facing Gouketsu, he briefly considers a cell before rejecting it, then attacks and is battered near to death. When Gouketsu orders the Three Crows to finish him, Sneck and Max intervene and destroy the trio, only to be overwhelmed themselves. Bakuzan, now a monster, intercepts the fleeing Suiryu and beats him mercilessly, breaking his legs and demanding he grovel, which Suiryu refuses.

As Bakuzan moves to stomp the fallen Sneck, Saitama arrives and confronts him, weathering a flurry of useless strikes before ending him with one punch. Warned by Suiryu about the Monster Association, Saitama instead pursues Gouketsu, whom he beheads in a single blow, the head landing back in the stadium. Nearby, Puri-Puri Prisoner crushes the spiked monster Free Hugger with bare hands before learning his cellmates have been abducted. Searching for more foes and finding only a wounded Water Gun, Saitama realizes the powerful monsters left half an hour earlier.

Reflecting that he gained nothing from the tournament and briefly doubting his identity as a hero, Saitama reminds himself that only his own satisfaction matters. He then runs into King, who offers the pointed observation that being the strongest hero does not make him the best, and invites him to play video games. Meanwhile a defeated Garou, having lost to Watchdog Man, encounters the pair and lunges at King, but Saitama kicks him aside and remarks that he hopes to face the Human Monster one day.

Gouketsu, the same figure who had earlier crushed Genos, assaults the Super Fight stadium with the Three Crows and is exposed as the very first Super Fight champion, a man turned monster after his defeat by Orochi. The raid marks a sharp escalation in the Monster Association's campaign against humanity and pulls Saitama toward the confrontation to come.