Chapter 172 (Online): New Home

With Black Sperm and Overgrown Rover shadowing him, Saitama makes his way to the Hero Association's base in A-City. Inside, officials are pitching a new line of fortified apartments to the public, boasting walls that shrug off monster attacks and a residency limited to A-Class heroes and above, who double as live-in guards. The audience bristles, noting that heroes can be hurt like anyone else, so the presenter pivots to the complex's hidden trump card.

Metal Knight's system, an AI meant to outperform every A-Class hero at once, is introduced just as the building's alarms blare. Outside, Saitama and his two monster tagalongs trip a Level 1 response, and a giant robot rolls out to exterminate the pair. Saitama smashes it, prompting the base to unleash steadily stronger units, all of which he swats aside like broken appliances. Heroes pour out to investigate, and one wails that each destroyed machine cost nine billion yen to build.

Dreading the bill, Saitama meekly claims the robots simply blew up on their own. When the staff press him, King appears and speaks up on his behalf, and Saitama hands back the damaged game console he had borrowed. King shrugs it off and departs. Hidden beneath Rover, Black Sperm is stunned to spot King and only then grasps that he is standing at Hero Association Headquarters. Forte, looking on, marvels that King would chat with such a nobody. The chapter closes by revealing Saitama's climb to A-Class Rank 39.

This 172nd chapter belongs to the Psychic Sisters Arc and carries the Viz title New Crib. Its cover gathers a large ensemble of S-Class and other prominent heroes, and it draws from webcomic chapter 96. Notably, the collected volume line renumbers this same story as Chapter 177, so the two entries recount identical events.