Chapter 173: Awakening of the Gods

The duel on Jupiter's moon tips steadily in Saitama's favor as he mirrors Garou's every technique. Even after Garou activates Mode: Saitama, the bald hero only grows stronger. When Garou lunges through a gateway, Saitama catches his fist and, half-frozen in Io's thin air with his clothing shredded, lets loose a Serious Sneeze that shreds the moon and tears into Jupiter itself. The blast scatters both of them into open space, where Garou locates Earth and tries to teleport home after landing a Nuclear Fission strike.

Saitama reappears behind him, casually crediting an accidental fart and a stomachache from the cold for slipping through the portal in time, then punches Garou back to the exact spot their fight began. Bewildered that Saitama refuses to finish him, Garou learns the hero simply is not built for killing and had promised Tareo he never would. That vow curdles when Garou spots the boy lying dead from radiation exposure. Wracked with guilt, he flees, branding himself the Ominous Future and mourning that the first person he hoped to save is gone.

Saitama pieces together that Garou fought to shield Tareo all along, and Garou, eyeing the spent core of Genos still in Saitama's grip, admits that beings of overwhelming strength need others as anchors. As his last wish, Garou asks Saitama to copy and surpass his art. Midway through the demonstration a voice from the heavens strips Garou's power, turning his body to salt, and he urges Saitama to watch closely. Armed with the time-leap, Saitama springs back to the instant Garou first faced the heroes and fells him with a single blow. The two Saitamas fuse into one, leaving him clutching the future core, remembering only a Gamma Ray Burst, and baffled by the hole torn in his crotch before Genos tackles him in apology.

Presented as the one hundred seventy-third chapter of the Monster Association Arc and collected in Volume 34, this entry carries the Japanese title Kamigami no Mezame and the Viz name The Awakening of the Gods. It partly adapts webcomic chapter 92, with Saitama and Garou featured on the cover. A volume bonus page shows a limbless, battered Genos hurtling through the air at a clocked speed of 312 kilometers per hour.