Chapter 186 (Online): Turning Point

With Saitama's old home reduced to rubble, he and Genos turn to the matter of where to live next. Saitama admits he picked the tiniest unit on offer and breaks the news that there is simply no room for his disciple to move in with him. Genos protests, but Saitama reasons that watching his mentor's everyday routine has taught him all it can. Fitted with fresh upgrades, Genos asks for a sparring match, and Saitama obliges.

They settle on an empty stretch of ground, trading worries about the swelling numbers of monsters as they walk. Genos thanks his teacher ahead of the bout and fires up his core for a brand new technique, Lightning Core. The flash is so blinding that Saitama shuts his eyes as the cyborg closes in with a punch.

At the last instant Genos pulls up short. Asked whether he still means to fight, he says no, claiming a clash with Saitama would only ruin his outfit, then asks whether Saitama thinks he has grown stronger. When Saitama simply points to the new parts, Genos begins to doubt whether swapping components makes any real difference. Trying to lift his spirits, Saitama offers that the dazzling move was remarkably bright, telling him that regardless of any added strength he has certainly gotten more radiant. Genos reads the moment differently, understanding that Saitama shut his eyes not only against the glare but out of indifference to the display, and concludes that his progress means nothing to the man he admires.

Feeling stalled, Genos confides that he is considering a change of scenery. He reveals his intention to leave the Hero Association for the Neo Heroes, a group founded in response to the association's mismanagement and the destruction it leaves behind, noting that many heroes are defecting and that he was recruited before the older body collapses. When Saitama asks whether revenge still fuels him, Genos confirms it, and Saitama floats the idea that the Rampaging Cyborg he chases might already be gone, perhaps beaten by Saitama himself among battles too dull to remember. Unsure he could defeat the machine as he is now, Genos holds to his transfer plan and even invites Saitama to come along, since the scouts wanted him to nominate anyone he respected. Saitama waves it off as too much bother, and in the end Genos elects to remain with the Hero Association after all.

The installment carries the title Turning Point, rendered as Magarikado, and belongs to the Neo Heroes Introduction Arc with Saitama featured on its cover. VIZ Media publishes it under the same name, and it adapts webcomic chapter 108. Readers have observed that Genos' strike in this chapter mirrors Saitama's from their very first spar back in Chapter 17, right down to a lizard perched atop the wreckage, both moments drawn across double-page spreads.