Chapter 177

Nagumo stares as Kindaka finally stirs. Shocked to hear he spent eight years comatose, Kindaka notes Nagumo looks unchanged and recalls their old bodyguard job alongside Sakamoto, Rion, and Uzuki, then asks whether the others survived. Nagumo brings him up to speed and hands over a life-support bill of 1.2 million yen a month, totaling roughly 1.15 billion across eight years, before departing. To pay it, Kindaka plans to clear bounties and fixes on the billion-yen mark set for Sakamoto, though the overweight, retired figure Nagumo described hardly matches the friend he remembers.

On a scorching day, Sakamoto jogs with Shin and Heisuke to train them, doubting his own methods since he never had a teacher. Kindaka suddenly bounds across rooftops to reach them, and Sakamoto freezes at the sight, warning the boys that this man can kill in an instant. Kindaka blasts Sakamoto into a building. Shin tries to command him to stop, but Kindaka dodges so fast a bystander freezes instead, and though Heisuke's sniping earns silent praise, Kindaka flings both youths aside. He catches the falling Sakamoto, dismissing his claims of identity as a cheap imitation, since the real Sakamoto was a friend whose skill he knew intimately.

To prove himself, Sakamoto lands a heavy punch that sends Kindaka onto a speeding train, races along after him, and strikes again, hurling them both off. Meeting Sakamoto's glare, Kindaka at last accepts who he is, praises Shin and Heisuke, and asks what they were up to. Sakamoto begins explaining the training when a realization dawns, and he turns to Kindaka to announce he has found the perfect master.

Kindaka wakes after eight years, learns from Nagumo of the group's fate, and inherits a life-support bill near 1.15 billion yen. Intending to fund it through bounties, he targets Sakamoto without recognizing him. A fierce rooftop-and-train battle follows, during which Shin's command power and Heisuke's marksmanship fail to stop him, until Sakamoto's strength convinces Kindaka of his true identity. Sakamoto then resolves to make Kindaka the master he has been seeking.

Titled Kindaka, this is the one hundred seventy-seventh chapter of the JAA Jail Arc. It ran in the combined issue 36/37 of 2024 on August 5, 2024, and is collected in Volume 20. The color spread shows Shin reading My Hero Academia, whose final chapter appeared in the same Weekly Shonen Jump issue. Fans also note a numerical error in the English translation of the bill, stemming from the different digit-grouping systems in Japanese and English.