Chapter 2

The bulk of the chapter unfolds three years ahead of the series' present. Saitama, then a full-haired job seeker, crosses paths with the Mysterious Being called Crablante. The creature is thrown by how Saitama refuses to flee, first taking him for a suicidal office worker, then noting the same dead-eyed look it carries and choosing to spare him. Crablante explains that its true target is a cleft-chinned boy who had scrawled nipples on it with a marker.

Saitama spots that very child kicking a ball in a nearby park. When Crablante lunges to kill the kid, Saitama throws himself in the way to shield him. The monster cannot grasp why a stranger would bother, and as it launches into a self-pitying rant, Saitama bursts out laughing, comparing it to a cartoon villain from his childhood. Struck aside, Saitama picks himself up, remembers his boyhood dream of downing any foe with a single blow, and challenges the crab. He weathers a beating, then loops his necktie around Crablante's eyestalk and tears it free, killing it. In the present, a bald and unstoppable Saitama recalls those days and admits that even limitless strength has left him unfulfilled.

Saitama, three years before the main timeline and still an unemployed salaryman, meets the Mysterious Being Crablante, who is hunting a cleft-chinned child. Saitama shields the boy, mocks the monster's villain speech, and after taking a beating kills Crablante by ripping out its eyestalk with his tie. The moment marks the rekindling of his childhood dream to be a hero. In the present day, the now super-powered Saitama reflects on the memory and his lingering dissatisfaction.

Titled Crab and Job Hunting, the chapter released on June 18, 2012 across sixteen pages, with Saitama on its cover, and corresponds to Chapter 2 of the webcomic. VIZ Media kept the title as Crab and Job Hunting. It belongs to Volume 1 and adapts into Episode 1 of the anime. Within the run it follows One Punch and precedes A Dangerous Being.